25 stone to 19 stone in 8 months.

[366to266]

Bluey it occurred to me yesterday that we could have a chocolate flavour meal replacement shake to satisfy the choc craving. What do you think?

 

[TracyGWill]

Hi Helena, here to subscribe! xx

 

[366to266]

Hi Helena, here to subscribe! xx

Blimey Tracy how can anyone lose 149lb? That's just insane

In fact that is more than my boy fiend weighs!!!!

You've lost a whole person - one that you were (like me) lugging around with every step you took.
I can't really get my head around that. It's too amazing.

 

[TracyGWill]

Blimey Tracy how can anyone lose 149lb? That's just insane

In fact that is more than my boy fiend weighs!!!!

You've lost a whole person - one that you were (like me) lugging around with every step you took.
I can't really get my head around that. It's too amazing.

Thanks so much, Helena! I know, it does seem a bit surreal to me, that I once weighed literally twice what I do now. It really has been worth just plodding on with it and making it a real lifestyle change, rather than seeing it as a finite process. I've had to do it completely with nutrition, as I don't exercise at all due to health issues - not ideal, obviously, but shows it can be done, lol. xx

 

[366to266]

Tracy please please tell me how it feels... when you walk, when you lie down, get up, sleep, bend down. I cannot even remember a time when I was slim anymore. I am 56 and when I was 18 I was already 15 stone, so I literally cannot remember. You are my great heroine, you know! I'd love to have your before-and-after photos on my fridge, to inspire me, to stop me from giving up.

I did NOT expect to have lost another 1.5lb since yesterday, particularly as I had two chocolate bars and went over my calories by 150. Weight loss since Monday= 5.5lb which is insane!

 

[TracyGWill]

That's very flattering, Helena, thank you!

Wow, where do I start?! There are so many things that have improved with weight loss. Just a few examples:

- I no longer get crippling heartburn at night;
- I don't snore any more (suspect I may have had some degree of sleep apnoea);
- I can easily fit into chairs with arms;
I can pull my chair right up to my desk at work;
- I can bend over without feeling like I'm suffocating;
- I can buy size 12-14 clothes;
- I can cross my legs;
- My husband can get his arms round me (and finally weighs more than me!);
- I don't feel like I embarrass my daughter (well, any more than a parent automatically embarrasses a 14 year old!).

Those are just a few things that immediately spring to mind, lol. So many things are improved, sometimes I need to remind myself of that fact! Weight loss isn't the answer to all life's problems as we all know - I still worry about work, money, family etc., but it certainly helps a lot! As I've explained on that other thread, I have serious mobility issues related to my former weight, but even that would be so much worse if I was still morbidly obese - every pound you weigh is multiplied fourfold through your knee joints, I was told, so I have 600lbs less pressure on them than I would have done!

Here's my latest little before and after:



xx

 

[366to266]

Thank you so much for sharing that Tracy. I look forward to some of those "goodies" coming my way. Thanks also for the pic. I see you have lost a chin! I think I have found it ~ tight here between my face and my neck You can have it back anytime LOL.

I have horrendous, untreated sleep apnoea. It often ruins my whole day, I go through the day like a zombie. I can stop it by sleeping sitting upright, but tend to slip down during sleep and often wake up feeling panic-stricken, dizzy and gasping for breath. I long to be able to lie flat when I sleep.

I doubt if I will ever weigh less than my b/f. To be only double (instead of nearly triple) his weight would be an achievement!

 

[TracyGWill]

That's another positive I forgot to mention - I feel a lot less tired in general! I'm sure that's a lot to do with better quality sleep due to unobstructed breathing. I've suffered from ME for the last 25 years, so I do still rest a lot, but it's improved so much.

I never thought I'd get to a lower weight than my husband either, as he's a very slim athlete, but I think you'll find, as I did, that when you start to lose more it suddenly seems a lot more achievable! For instance, my initial weight target was still in the overweight BMI category, because I never for one moment thought I could get below 12 stone, or be less than a size 18. I told myself I couldn't achieve too much because of my age, health etc., but I suppose it's natural to not want to set your expectations too high. Sorry, I'm rambling, lol. xx

 

[Blue Butterfly]

Bluey it occurred to me yesterday that we could have a chocolate flavour meal replacement shake to satisfy the choc craving. What do you think?

Of all the meal replacements I've tried the chocolate ones are the only ones that don't taste like the flavour they are meant to be!
A real small choc bar would be so much better and about the same calories...when I'm more 'in the zone' on my diet I will treat myself to a choc bar or some crisps.

 

[366to266]

That's another positive I forgot to mention - I feel a lot less tired in general! I'm sure that's a lot to do with better quality sleep due to unobstructed breathing. I've suffered from ME for the last 25 years, so I do still rest a lot, but it's improved so much.

I never thought I'd get to a lower weight than my husband either, as he's a very slim athlete, but I think you'll find, as I did, that when you start to lose more it suddenly seems a lot more achievable! For instance, my initial weight target was still in the overweight BMI category, because I never for one moment thought I could get below 12 stone, or be less than a size 18. I told myself I couldn't achieve too much because of my age, health etc., but I suppose it's natural to not want to set your expectations too high. Sorry, I'm rambling, lol. xx

Please do "ramble" to your heart's content. You have a willing and attentive audience in me!

Did you find that, as you lost weight, you had to reduce calories even more?

Mr Asda just visited so I am trying my first Weightwatchers dessert. It is a frozen honeycombe concoction and there is no way one would guess it was a "diet" product. 77 calories. It's utterly gorgeous. Of course the problem is, how to stop eating the other one in the pack on the same day.

I remember when I was trying to give up fags, one trick was to buy a brand that I did not like, that way I would only have one if I was truly desperate. Maybe I should only buy chocolate bars that I don't like all that much.

 

[TracyGWill]

Lol, I do ramble - I think it's because I've spent a lot of time trying to understand the psychology of overeating and weight loss over the last three years, to try to make sure I really crack it this time! Even read a few self-help books, which I've never done before.

Yes, I did have to reduce my calories as I went. As I mentioned on the other thread, I started on around 2,000 then reduced it as losses stalled. I've never gone lower than around 1,400 though.

Ooh, thought of another benefit - my bad lower back pain has almost completely disappeared, lol.

If I was going to try eversion therapy with chocolate I'd buy Cadbury's as I don't like it! Unfortunately I buy Galaxy Ripples, which I love, and have one every night! xx

 

[366to266]

I've spent a lot of time trying to understand the psychology of overeating ... nfortunately I buy Galaxy Ripples, which I love, and have one every night! xx

Hurrah! I am a "Ripple Girl" too. But I won't buy them. I'm buying Milky Way. Fudge and Curly Wurly as they have half the calories.

Now, please DO share with me anything you like about the psychology of overeating. I have been trying to stop myself from overeating for a long, long time. My history is one of dieting then overeating, rinse and repeat. Seems I am never just eating normally. I've lost a stone and gained it back time and time again.

Unfortunately it seems I am an emotional eater who eats for comfort, out of anger, to stuff down my feelings instead of expressing them. I had the misfortune to fall hopelessly, passionately in love with a man who refused to be monogamous. I tried for a long time to accept the way he was and not express my feelings to him about it (as it was pointless because he refuses to change and there is no point in nagging). One time, when my b/f told me he had started up yet another relationship with a new woman (third time in four years) I was absolutely distraught, devastated, in so much emotional pain I didn't know what to do with myself. I wanted to scream at him, punch him, kill him, and indeed kill her. All my anger had to be suppressed. So I ate, and ate and ate and ate and ate. I could not stop myself. Some days I felt suicidal. Then one day he told me it hadn't worked out with her, they weren't going to become lovers after all (which is what he had hoped for). I then found that I was able to stop the overeating. I am 100% aware that I should not have let some bloomin man ruin my life and my health, that I should have stopped being his puppet, but there you are, that was my (stupid) and uncontrollable reaction to his action. It taught me one of the reasons I overate.

If you could see what I was stuffing down my gullet until a week ago you'd faint. I have many times in the past eaten a big meal then gone back to the kitchen and made another, equally big. I've eaten until I feel so stuffed I am nearly sick. At that moment I've said "Never again" and then the next day gone and done the same darned thing again. A chip shop in town delivers, but only if you order £10 worth of food. So a few times I ordered large cod and chips twice (£10.80) and ate one portion that night and the next for breakfast. I kid you not. I locked the door so I would not be seen and I ate cod and chips at 7am. (It was utterly wonderful.)

Eventually last week I said "No - this has GOT to stop" and I set myself 1600 calories to stick to for one month. If I can make it for a month, then I can do another month. Seems to me that the "sensible" me has to use psychological trickery to fool the overeating me into promising to stick to a diet by making it seem achievable. So my first goal was to stick to the calories for 30 days. I didn't set a weight loss goal, because we cannot control that. However, my username is a goal, because I started at 366 4 years ago and after the diet-binge-diet-binge thing I landed up last Monday at 352 and now I am 346.5.

Anyway, I am finding it stupidly easy, much much easier than I thought. There is no way to fail on this, unless you fall off and don't get back on. I wasted so many years trying to do Atkins, but failed because you have to be so strict. One little thing and you are out of ketosis and you just think "sod it, I've blown it, might as well give up." Calorie counting is crazily easy by comparison with Atkins. Even if I had fish and chips it would not be the end of the world! I could even budget for it in my calorie count, and maybe take in fewer on the surrounding days.

I cannot tell you what a relief it is to be able to eat a plum --- yummy! A sandwich feels like the most decadent thing ever!

Now who's rambling?

 

[TracyGWill]

It's so hard being an emotional eater, I know. It's good to know what your "triggers" are to start you off overeating. I think I'm quite lucky in that I'm not a comfort eater - anxiety and depression make me want to eat less, not more, and I've dieted my way through the deaths of both my mother-in-law and own Mum, as well as three operations of my own and serious ill health of my Dad, all in the last three years - things like that don't make me turn to food, and I know I'm fortunate in that respect. Overeating for me is a celebration, what I do when I'm happy, on holiday, getting together with family and, more to the point, relaxing at home in front of the telly, which I do a lot of when I'm not at work! I read a good book about different types of emotional eating, called Beyond Temptation, by a pair of British sisters. Another good one is Eating Less by Gillian Riley, I really liked that one - she talks a lot of sense about not depriving yourself that really resonated with me. I also bought the Paul Mackenna gastric band book and CD, but it didn't do anything for me because I wasn't willing to adopt his golden rules of eating - my fault, not his, and I know a lot of people have had good results with it.

Before I started reading things like that, as well as coming onto this forum and watching every weight loss programme going, I honestly used to wonder whether anyone else ate as much or as badly as me, because I felt so abnormal, and it's rather comforting to know that other people have exactly the same issues, to find my own issues so accurately described by others.

I'm sorry to hear you've had relationship stresses, I know how badly that can affect you if you're prone to comfort eat. I was single for a long time after university, and eventually married in 1999 when I was 37, a year after meeting my husband, then had Kathryn just under a year after that - so a lot of change in a short space of time, lol. But after the initial shock to the system I settled into marriage and motherhood and ate my way up to my highest weight of 21.5 stone, having yo-yo'd up and down (mostly up!) with my weight since childhood. xx

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

Tracy really is awesome isn't she She's my proper inspiration and proof that you don't have to do everything by the 'rule' book to look as amazing as she does

I just want to put in a good word for a Cadbury's Fudge. It's brilliant! What you do it, put in on a teaplate and cut it into ten small slices. Then you sit in front of the TV with a mug of tea and eat each tiny piece really slowly, putting it on your tongue and trying to hold it there for as long as poss so the tastebuds get as much as they can of it. I tend to press it with my tongue against the roof of my mouth till it disintegrates. The ten pieces last for ages and all for just 115 calories!

The other lifesaver is a Curly Wurly. It looks like a huge amount of treat but only has about 100 calories, and again you can cut it up and eat it really slowly.

Helena

I hear you sister! I LOVE fudges. Put them in the freezer too so you have to suck them.... amazing!

40g crunchies are 185. The multipack ones are 8g lighter (check the pack) and come in at 150

The slimfast chocolate bars are approx 95 cals each (the caramel and nutty ones are HEAVENLY)

I love how positive you sound hun My mum is 57 and when I try and get her to eat healthy with me (we don't live together but talk on the phone loads every day) she says she's too old to lose weight now and it makes me so mad!!

I don't like fudge But am craving choc as totm is due. I'm just worried if I have one 'naughty' thing it'll lead to a binge.

You can let yourself have 'treats' if you can cope with it, it's the way it keeps you on the diet and stops you giving in entirely. Calorie COunting is perfect for that as you can factor them in

My mum's 58 and she wants to lose weight. She's not at all good at sticking in her calories though (1530) and is almost always at least 200 over.

HOWEVER, that is much better than what she was eating before hand so it's still a win and she has lost some.

Bluey it occurred to me yesterday that we could have a chocolate flavour meal replacement shake to satisfy the choc craving. What do you think?

Of all the meal replacements I've tried the chocolate ones are the only ones that don't taste like the flavour they are meant to be!
A real small choc bar would be so much better and about the same calories...when I'm more 'in the zone' on my diet I will treat myself to a choc bar or some crisps.

I've only tried the Slim Fast chocolate shakes but they're not really chocolate-y in a satisfy cravings way IMO. They're also 230 cals. They're pleasant enough but I don't think it'd help your calorie intake. They sell them in single ready made bottles in places like Superdrug and supermarkets though so you can always give them a try and see if it helps you.

Please do "ramble" to your heart's content. You have a willing and attentive audience in me!

Did you find that, as you lost weight, you had to reduce calories even more?

Mr Asda just visited so I am trying my first Weightwatchers dessert. It is a frozen honeycombe concoction and there is no way one would guess it was a "diet" product. 77 calories. It's utterly gorgeous. Of course the problem is, how to stop eating the other one in the pack on the same day.

I remember when I was trying to give up fags, one trick was to buy a brand that I did not like, that way I would only have one if I was truly desperate. Maybe I should only buy chocolate bars that I don't like all that much.

The weightwatchers puddings are awesome If you have a heron/farmfoods/iceland near you it's worth stocking up instore as they always have them for a pound (each shop sells the different desserts here - there's the ice cream pots (the choc/honeycomb one, ice cream whirls, toffee cheesecake thing, caramel something etc etc) There's a caramel one that's approx 177 but is heavenly. Yours may have more choice than ours does too - we're a little backwater town and the end of the line for a train line so there's not a massive amount of choice here.

On the other hand, the little frozen moouse/icecream pots are

 

[366to266]

The slimfast chocolate bars are approx 95 cals each (the caramel and nutty ones are HEAVENLY)
The weightwatchers puddings are awesome If you have a heron/farmfoods/iceland near you it's worth stocking up instore as they always have them for a pound

Princess, the end of your posting is missing my lovely!

I wish your mum all the luck in the world. Maybe show her my daily menus as an example of how to eat quite a lot of food within ones calorie count. Not that I am perfect every day.

I wonder where you live, at the end of a railway line!

To be honest, I wish the weightwatchers puddings did not exist. Having half a dozen in the fridge is a massive and constant temptation (I work from home). I have already eaten two honeycombe ones today. They are just TOO bl00dy good! Will someone please take them away? Had my first one yesterday and it gave me terrible wind, real stomach pain of wind, then of course this had to come out, which was incredibly difficult as I had company LOL. Then later my bottie exploded. But even all that hasn't put me off having two today. This is my addictive personality and habitual overeating coming out. I won't order them again. I think I should learn to love raw carrots and fruit. Far better. And besides, those weightwatchers puddings are choc full of chemicals and frankenfoods. Disgusting little concoctions, really. Ugh.

So today I was up early and spent 2 hrs on my feet making 13 portions of cottage pie and freezing them in plastic boxes retained from so many Chinese takeaways. It's curious to think that these boxes, once used to make me fat, will be re-used in the quest to get slim! The purpose of this messy exercise was to create microwaveable ready-meals that have no chemicals, preservatives, artificial junk etc. It's also much cheaper per portion than the nicer supermarket ready meals (i.e. Marks & Sparks etc) working out at less than £1 a meal. I dry-fried the mince, which was 5% fat, and mixed that with Bisto, passata, carrots, leeks, onions and cabbage all bought in microwave-in-the-bag packs, and topped that with fresh microwaved jacket potato, mashed with milk no butter, and with all the skin left on ~ for the vitamins. The 13th portion I ate for breakfast and it tasted a LOT better and more nutritious than the shop bought ones.

I am feeling ravenously hungry today and fighting the urge to eat by trying to concentrate on my work (book editing). I think the Weightwatchers pots make me hungrier.

Helena

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

Ooh sorry hun, don't know what happened there. It should say:

On the other hand, the little frozen mousse/ice cream pots are under 90 cals so are much easier for a little treat when there's not a lot of calories left. IIRC the ice cream pots are vanilla/strawberry, caramel/vanilla and chocolate/vanilla.

Mums not really able to cook for herself so she's reliant on the meals that I provide for her (I'm her carer). She's also not able to get out alone so she's not buying sneaky things.... but she's not at all great with the willpower. We do have the biscuits in (weight watchers ones or go aheads etc so not really high calories or ridiculous amounts open) They're all great as one packets to help the sugar rush or for a snack that's well within the limits when you have just one..... but she won't just have one packet. I'll be other places and come through to find wrappers around her. She won't just have a few grapes, she'll eat near on the full amount. She'll eat the full bag of cherries or strawberries etc...

I'm going to fight it in that once these biscuits etc are gone there won't be anymore brought in - but I'm slightly concerned she might turn to something else, but we'll have to cross that line when we see it.

The honeycomb ones are ridiculously gorgeous aren't they. I try and make them last as long as possible. For a chocolate dessert too the chocolate ones DO actually taste a bit chocolate-y too! I understand about the temptation though. It's the caramel crunch ones that get me!

Batch cooking is a great tool when losing weight too. Not only is it cheaper, but you know exacty what is in it, no preservatives, no bad stuff... they should also be less calories than even a weightwatchers/healthy living et al type meal too. The potato ricer is the best kitchen gadget I think I've ever bought. Perfect mash with no additions whatsoever

Good luck lovely xxx

 

[GretaGrip]

Just popping in to see how you're doing. Seems like a great start!

Re the WW desserts, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. They're full of sh1t.

Can you eat dairy ? A better - and nicer tasting ! - dessert would be thick, live natural yogurt with raspberries and a chunk of 85% chocolate grated on top. Very filling due to the good fats and low carb schtick, and good for you too.

If you don't like yogurt then I'd consider one of those small green and blacks bars.

Have a curly wurly as a one stone loss reward : )

 

[366to266]

Finished today at 1642 calories. I thank you, ladies, for your messages and will reply ore fully tomorrow. nightie night xx

 

[TracyGWill]

Ooh your homemade cottage pie sounds lovely, Helena, I could just eat some of that! xx

 

[Karens100dayys]

Fab number for today lovely, shepherds pie is one of my favs and my sons I have a lovely slim world recipe for cowboy pie just spiced up shep pie really but with Worcestershire sauce and baked beans tis lovely. ?

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