25 stone to 19 stone in 8 months.

[TracyGWill]

Thank you, Helena, that's very kind. I'm happy to help in any small way possible.

Well ok, if you really want them, here's a few before and after pics!









xx

 

[Bigbear]

Wow Tracey!, completely astonishing!! True inspiration.

Helena, all of your posts are really making me smile, sounds like you are back on track, back in the zone and back on regular posts. Really good to see you back xxxx

 

[TracyGWill]

Wow Tracey!, completely astonishing!! True inspiration.

Helena, all of your posts are really making me smile, sounds like you are back on track, back in the zone and back on regular posts. Really good to see you back xxxx

Thanks very much, hon, I appreciate that very much! xx

 

[ladyfelsham]

"Take it one day at a time, don't set unrealistic targets, don't try to change everything at once, still allow yourself to enjoy your food."

That's it exactly! I'll buy a t-shirt

Great to read about your upbeat focus, Helena, you can do this - and we will all be here with you, travelling along the same road xxx

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

Glad you sound more upbeat lovely Tracy has it perfectly - and that's why she is our Queen! You need to allow yourself time to get used to things. It's when things become a habit and second nature that is when you've cracked it - and it does take time!

 

[366to266]

Hi my ladies!

I am not quite back on track yet. I am still being wayward but fewer times. Finding it hard to discipline myself as usual. I feel a bit like an adult fighting a naughty child.

Thanks for the photos Tracy. I think you were very beautiful woman even before you lost weight. Its interesting to see a person's face when she'd lost such a huge amount ; you can still just about see the same features, just slightly different shape.

I have a QUESTION ..... ! I want to add rolled (?) oats to my daily bowl of live bio yoghurt and fruit. I am looking at Tesco online but everything seems to be porridge. Are the raw oats you put on a dessert the same as porridge only not cooked or in milk?


Helena

 

[jules1981]

Hi sweets i am yoying with being good and then going off track its hard isn't it.

I think the oats are the same thing hun. xxxx

 

[366to266]

Hi sweets i am yoying with being good and then going off track its hard isn't it.

I think the oats are the same thing hun. xxxx

Cheers, Jules.

Yes, it is really hard. I long for cakes, pastries, chocolate .... feel like I want to sit on the sofa all day with 100 items and devour them with mugs of tea.

Instead I am allowed ONE Slimfast caramel. Hmph!

 

[jules1981]

I often have an options hot chocolate that sometimes is a fix for my choc cravings.

Enjoy your Slim fast bar hun HUGS xxx

 

[TracyGWill]

Hi Helena! Thank you very much for the compliments! I certainly never thought of myself as anything approaching beautiful, but I can at least stand to look at photos of myself now! I know it's all a matter of confidence and self-esteem, but I've never been brimming over with either of those.

Something you just posted struck me, that you're only allowed one Slimfast bar, and it reminded me of a book I have on my Kindle and have read several times. I feel it really resonated with me and helped shape the attitude to food that I've tried to adopt over the last few years. It's called Eating Less by Gillian Riley. She talks a lot about getting out of the mindset of telling yourself you're not allowed to eat certain things, which is why I thought of it now. I don't follow all her principles, as she advocates not weighing yourself and stuff, but I really found I could relate to so much of what she said (she's British, which helps in that regard) and have recommended it to quite a few people on here. Maybe worth a look? xx

 

[hershey]

You can have those things you want in moderation. If you are counting cals you could make room for it in your daily amount. Or do what I do and have a treat day once a week so you aren't missing out xx

 

[ladyfelsham]

Gillian Riley is fab, a friend of mine went to one of her seminars to give up smoking a few years ago and raved about her.

 

[Bigbear]

I think rolled oats are the same thing Helena.
you could probably toast them so they dont go mushy in the yoghurt (would scatter them in a baking tray and out in oven for 5-10 mins)

 

[PrincessSparklePants]

Thinking about it, it makes sense to not think "I can only have such and such." and more "I can have whatever I want... I just need to make good decisions." (ie - lower calorie/healthier options.)

Hope you're ok love xxx

 

[bliss]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me joining in :wavey:

For some its best to have a proper full fat chocolate bar, than having these lower cal, smaller,two bites & they are gone, sized bars. Most average size chocolate bars are around 230, ie kit kat chunky,mars bar & maltersers are 187 cals & you feel like you've had a proper choc treat, not a taster of one, if you know what I mean.

 

[Lily]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me joining in :wavey:

For some its best to have a proper full fat chocolate bar, than having these lower cal, smaller,two bites & they are gone, sized bars. Most average size chocolate bars are around 230, ie kit kat chunky,mars bar & maltersers are 187 cals & you feel like you've had a proper choc treat, not a taster of one, if you know what I mean.

Oh, how I wish I was one of those "some". If I have the real thing I can't ever stop at one. Now you might say "don't have more than one in the house then!" but with OH and DS in the house, that's not realistic. They try very hard not to let me have more but then have to deal with my chocolate-deprived rage. So it's best not to go there, for me, anyway.

Hi Helena, glad to read you're doing ok. I've started posting under my original username again (I had a brief stint as WinterJasmine in the hope that a fresh start would do the trick of getting me magically on the path to slimdom, but perhaps unsurprisingly it didn't work out. So Lily has been pulled back out of mothballs).

Hope you're having a good weekend x

 

[TracyGWill]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me joining in :wavey: For some its best to have a proper full fat chocolate bar, than having these lower cal, smaller,two bites & they are gone, sized bars. Most average size chocolate bars are around 230, ie kit kat chunky,mars bar & maltersers are 187 cals & you feel like you've had a proper choc treat, not a taster of one, if you know what I mean.

I have a Ripple every night with my coffee - 174 yummy calories! xx

 

[366to266]

I'm like Lily. If it's too yummy then I want more.

The Slimfast caramel bars really are the way to go. They are delicious and because they are so hard and chewy, you can make one last for ages, especially if you chop it into tiny dice then place each one individually on the tongue and make the most of it. If one isn't enough, I can have two for 190 calories.

My problem with Ripples (oh my goodness, just typing that word makes me swoon with sheer love!) is that I like them too much. I'd have one, then grab my purse and be down the sweetshop and buying another 9 before my brain could kick in and stop me.

I did a similar thing when I was giving up smoking: I bought a brand that I disliked. That way, I only had one when I was really desperate.

At the moment I feel like a child who is trying to walk but keeps falling down. Yesterday I was doing OK till I caught sight of the clock and it was 1755. I thought "Sweetshop shuts in 5 mins... if I want any choccies, I have to go right now!" And before I knew it, I was back at my desk, savouring a whole bag of Cadbury's Chocolate Popcorn, followed by a whole family bar of Galaxy Caramel. I dread reading the calories.... ok I'm gonna fish the bags out of the bin...

Popcorn 119g. 490c for 100g.
Caramel 135g 498c for 100g.

So I had about 1,100 calories in 10 minutes, in chocolate. This has got to stop. Why do I do it? It's not going to get me to where I want to be. It's irrational, illogical, self destructive, impulsive, childish, and above all, stupid.

 

[Instant_Karma]

It sounds like you have an almost obsessive attitude to some foods, Helena. I was just the same, and I changed food obsessions regularly; one month it might be Ben & Jerry's ice cream (1 tub per day!), another it might be vegetable spring rolls, or pancakes with syrup (8 in a sitting), or even certain types of sugary cereal (1 pack per day) . The only way I have found to conquer these obsessions is to go completely and utterly cold turkey and wait until the cravings pass. It will happen eventually. Being away from those things made me realise how little I'd actually needed/wanted them; in the end I just ate them out of habit and it sounds like you are the same with chocolate. It's just finding the willpower to stop and develop different eating habits.

 

[TracyGWill]

I was like that with chocolate! So I did actually cut out "proper" chocolate for a while when I started this journey (hate that word, it's such a cliche, but does seem to apply in this instance!). I still had things like cereal bars with bits of chocolate in them, and Options drinks etc. I can't remember how long it was before I reintroduced actual chocolate bars, but it was long enough for me to have established my new way of reduced calorie eating. Nowadays I always eat chocolate with a mug of black, unsweetened coffee, and make sure I finish the chocolate before the coffee. That way the coffee has a sort of palate cleansing effect, so I'm not left with the taste of delicious chocolatey goodness in my mouth making me want more!! That's one of my little tricks that helps me control my food obsessions, which I definitely still have and probably always will. xx