A diary to help me get rid of the last 10ish Lbs!!

Right then this is it, a concerted effort to get down to 9st. Firstly a bit about me. I'm 31, 5"4 and have been overweight since I was about 18 when I got with my first serious boyfriend. I love to cook and eat and just gradually piled on the lbs through Uni and beyond. I met my husband in the last year of Uni and he was never really bothered about my weight and in turn neither was I. I have always been sporty but was never "too" overweight for it to cause me any real concern.

I dabbled with WW and SW for a while, re-gaining what I had lost after a brief spell. From getting engaged in 2005 to getting married in 2006 I put on a stone and a half, how did that happen? I thought brides were meant to lose weight?!! Needless to say although I felt good on the day some of the photos leave a lot to be desired and I do regret not gripping my weight beforehand.

In 2007 I was deployed to Afghanistan with the RAF and the heat combined with a lack of food choice meant I lost a stone without trying. I had a hint of being slimmer and I wanted more of it. I then managed to hover around the 11 stone mark for a good few years until I went on holiday to Egypt in 2010. I went scuba diving and felt horrendous trying to pull my wetsuit on and off.

Unfortunately my marriage broke up around this time and running and slimming helped me through this time. I re-joined SW at 11st 7lbs on 4 Apr 10. By 31st Jan I was at my original target of 10st. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to keep at target for long as I had moved into the Mess on base where all food is cooked for you (and is lovely) and drink is plentiful and cheap. By 31 Mar 11 I was 10st 11.

Since 1 Apr, I have been deployed in the Middle East on a USAF base. The food is mostly American and not that healthy. My saviour is grilled chicken and salad which I have most days and I also have the opportunity to go to the gym everyday. This has helped me get to my current weight of around 136lbs, although I seem to hover anywhere between 134-140lbs. So I have reset my target weight to 126lbs (9st) as I still have a lot of flab lurking around. I have been trying to do SW (mostly red days) and have also been using MyFitnessPal to keep track of calories and exercise, although the amount of fruit I eat tends to put me over most days so this is a bit frustrating.

Anyway sorry for the waffle, hopefully by writing things down I can get to my new target by Sep. My food plan won't change much from day-to-day but hopefully I will stay on track. Today looks like this:

Red day:

BF:
-Kashi Go Lean (45g) (The cereals come in pre-packaged containers) - Now technically this isn't a HEB but it is the best cereal on offer so I am counting it as one. The syn calculator counts it as 7 syns (so maybe I should use 1 syn?) and it has 9g of Fibre, 12 g of Protein, 1g of Fat and only 140 cals. The next best cereal would be raisin bran but I would have to use a HEB and 5 1/2 syns for that.
- Banana
- 200ml of skimmed milk (part of HEA)

L:
-Grilled chicken breast
-Salad
-Sweet chilli sauce (1.5 syns)
-Apricot fruit layer yoghurt (3 syns)
- Kiwi/Peach/Plum

D:
-Tuna
- Wholemeal wrap (I looked up the syns for this and one came back as only 2 1/2 syns which I thought was very good as I know they are usually 4)
- Tomato/Lettuce/Cucumber
- Hellmans light mayo (2 syns)

S:
-Fibre Plus (HEB)
-Quakers Chewy Bar (5 syns)
-Kiwi/Plum/Apple
- Rest of HEA in teas

So I make that 14 syns if I count the cereal as a HEB. The other thing is that I work nights so eat these meals in a weird order. So dinner at midnight, breakfast at 5 am and lunch at 7pm.

Sorry for the waffle. I am sooo missing being able to shop and cook for myself, but I am here until Oct and I need all the help I can get to stay away from the American pancakes, the free icecream, tex mex and cookies etc.

Off to the gym in a bit.
 
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Hi and good luck with your weightloss, it can't be easy doing it in your situation. My husband is in the RAF, and spent 4 months OOA last year in the middle East also. We don't eat meat at all (do eat fish), so he found choices limiting for a different reason. I hate not having control over what I can eat, so it must be frustrating.
If your on an American base, hopefully the gym will be extremely well kitted out, which will help you out in that respect. I wish you well, and will be interested in your diary and how it all goes. :0)
 
Thanks Chillihot (I am luvin the name. I have chilil on everything and anything)

You are right about the gym, we have two and they are both awesome. It's good that I can go in the middle of the night when they are quieter and cooler. It was 117 degrees here today!!

I managed to burn 634 cals at the gym last night doing 6.8 km on the treadmill and 15 mins of rowing. I have a heart rate monitor and it really motivates me to see the numbers going up.

Food wise I have done ok too. Today I have had:

Midnight Dinner:
Chicken Breast
Wholemeal Tortilla Wrap (2.5 syns)
28g Cheese (HEA)
BBQ Sauce (1 syn
Lettuce/tomato/cucumber/jalapenos
Milk Choc Fibre Plus Bar for afters (HEB)

This was lovely and almost as good as a Nandos. Except there was no Portuguese custard tart at the end of it. I love those.

Breakfast at 0500 after the gym:
Kashi Go Lean (HEB)
200ml skimmed milk (part of HEA)
Banana/Peach/Plum

Lunch when I came into work at 1900:
Chicken Breast
Brocolli
Lettuce/Tomato/Cucumber/Carrot/Celery/Radish/Green Pepper/Jalapenos
Sweet chilli sauce (1.5 syns)
Natural Yoghurt (2.5 syns) mixed with 1 tsp of Cadburys Instant Hot Choc (1 syn)
Peach/Nectarine/Kiwi

I only discovered that the yoghurt was 2.5 syns today as I had been avoiding it because it said full cream on it. Turns out the one I had been having which was made with skimmed milk was 3 syns. So I am happy and am going to get some Options sachets sent out to me so that I can mix it up as I would do at home. It's not as nice as 0% Total though.

That takes me up to 8.5 syns and both HEA (will use remainder in teas) and HEBs used. I should last now until midnight but if I do get peckish I might have a Pear or a Fibre Plus or Both!. I am conscious that I am eating a lot of fruit though and am worried that this might slow my losses down. Has anyone found this to be the case?

I am loving reading through the recipes on here but it is making me very homesick and desperately wanting to get back into my own kitchen so I can get creating again. I'm on leave next week so will see what I can do then. It will be nice to have a break from chicken and salad at any rate.

Forgot to say that I am on a Red day today.
 
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Even though I have been exercising every day and watching what I eat, I haven't felt any silmmer over the last 3 weeks and teh scales have practically hovered around the same mark. I am just going to have to trust that SW works. I know it does, it has got me this far but I am just wondering if it will help me get rid of the last 10lbs, given that I am at the lightest I have been since I hit this weight on the way up the first time around when I was probably about 15. Do I need to be even stricter with my intake? I don't think I could eat much healthier or do much more physical activity so fingers crossed it will come off. I guess I just have to be patient and accept it may be 1/2 lb at a time now rather than the bigger losses at the beginning.

So anyway last night I ran 10km at the gym and burned 699 cals. So that was good. I plucked for an Extra Easy day today to mix it up a bit:

Dinner at Midnight:
Jkt Pot
Tuna
Sweet Chilli Sauce (1.5 syns)
Kidney Beans/Carrots/Radish/Celery/Cucumber/Pepper
Kiwi/Pear

Breakfast after Gym at 0500hrs:
Go Lean Cereal (HEB)
Banana/Peach
200ml Skimmed Milk (part of HEA)

Lunch at 1900 hrs:
Spaghetti
Meat and Tomato Sauce
Cauliflower/Sweetcorn/Green Beans/Broad Beans
Natural Yoghurt (2.5 syns)
1 Tsp Hot Choc (1 syn)
Kiwi/Peach/Nectarine/Pineapple

Snack at 2100 hrs:
Milk Choc Fibre Plus (5.5 syns)

So I make that 10 1/2 syns and I will use up rest of HEA in tea. I am trying to have more green tea though which will hopefully help as well. I am drink a lot of water, maybe 3/4 litres a day so there really isn't much more I could do apart from go on a starvation diet, which isn't going to happen.

I just need to believe and persevere.
 
Sounds to me like you are doing fantastically well both food and exercise wise!! Don't give up, and def stick to SW it will come off, but as you say, may take longer as you have so little to loose now. You have inspired me to get some exercise in today too, so thanx for that, and good luck with the weight loss! :0)
 
Oh and by the way... I have fruit salad most mornings for breakfast and fill up with fruit throughout the day. Although my weightloss is slow now too, I know it's good for me, and it seems to keep coming off, so I wouldn't worry about the amount of fruit either, its got to be better than snacking on something more processed.
 
I have the guilt. Why? Well because I had something for lunch that wasn't chicken or salad for a change. And I can't be 100% what was in it or how it was cooked. I still think I'm on plan though so why do I feel so bad about having a change? I also forgot that I needed to Syn peas. Damn it.

Anyway I shall make it up in the gym later. Last night I ran 6km and did 15 mins on the rower burning 527 cals.

Food for me today has been:

Dinner at Midnight:

Chicken breast
Cheese (HEA)
WM Tortilla (2.5 syns)
Lettuce/Pepper/Jalapenos/Tomato/Cucumber/Radish/Celery/Carrots
Dressing made with 3 tsp of yoghurt mixed with sweet chilli sauce (1.5 syns)
Peach

Breakfast at 0500:
Kashi Go Lean (HEB)
200ml of skimmed milk (part of HEA)
Banana/Nectarine
Girl Scout Cranberry Cookie (3 syns and so not worth it!)

Lunch at 1900:
Salisbury Steak (which I believe is a patty fashioned from mince beef)
Peas (1 syn as didn't have many)
Roasted Veg
Peach
I have added 3.5 syns to account for any unknowns in cokking and and that it probably wasn't lean mince

Snack at 2200:
Yoghurt (2.5 syns)
1 tsp of Hot Choc (1 syn)
Mango/2 x Nectarine
Fibre Plus Bar (HEB)

I am panicking now as I go home on R & R in 2 days (yay!!) and I have a summer ball to go to. I have ordered 2 dresses from ebay in different styles and sizes. I really hope one of them fits. I have a constant feeling of bloatedness though and my stomach looks as big as it ever has been. I am wondering if it is just because the rest of me has shrunk and that is the last bit to go? My boobs have definitely gone and all of the bras I have out here with me are massive. An emergency shop is in order when I get back home. I always wanted smaller boobs but now they are, I hate them. They are all skin and saggyness. Yuck.

Chillihot, i'm pleased you are with me on the fruit thing. I only had the blinking cookie this morning because my kiwi wasn't ripe.
 
I'm proper grumpy today. I'm in the "if you need something doing right do it yourself mood". I'm also annoyed that today is my weigh-in day as it is usually my half-day off and I go to the gym when I have woken up and weigh myself before I have eaten anything, but because I am hopefully flying home tomorrow I have had to come in to work. Hopefully I can get to the gym tomorrow when I get up instead. It would be nice to see what's what before I go on leave and inevitably put a few lbs on.

And I will. I know that as I will be traipsing around the country visiting friends and family. I also have a few dos to go to so that will mean booze and I haven't touched a drop for the last 3 months. My plan is to be as good as I can on the days when I can, keep running if I can and try not to just throw caution to the wind. My Mom and Dad both do SW, Mom is at Target and Dad just toys with it. Hopefully at least when I am at their house the temptations will be few.

I think my main problem will be clothes. I wear the same uniform day in, day out here, so inch loss is difficult to judge. Fingers crossed some clothes at home fit me otherwise it will be an expensive time. And I don't want to really buy summer clothes for 2 weeks wear. Food has been pretty much the same as usual, although fruit choices here are lacking today.

Dinner at Midnight:
Chicken Breast
Cheese (HEA)
WM tortilla wrap = 2.5 syns
Yoghurt Dressing = 1.5 syns
Lettuce/Tom/Cucumber/Radish/Celery/Jalapenos/Peppers/Carrots
Peach

Snacks:
Quaker Chewy Bar = 5 syns
Fibre Plus (HEB)

Breakfast after gym at 0500:
Kashi Go Lean (HEB)
Banana/Apple
Skimmed Milk (HEA)

Lunch at 1900:
Chicken Breast
Brocolli
Lettuce/Tom/Cucumber/Radish/Celery/Jalapenos/Peppers/Carrots
Yoghurt Dressing = 1.5 syns
Pear/Kiwi/Banana
Yoghurt = 2.5 syns
Hot Choc = 1 syn

So I make that 14 syns. My gym exploits last night had me doing 6.8km on the treadmill and 15 mins rowing burning 596 cals. Not bad. I am hoping to squeeze another two gym seshes in before I fly for damage limitation.
 
Wow you are doing well... I hope your R&R goes well, and enjoy without worrying too much!! Haven't managed to get on my lappy for a few days now, and a weekend away in between at a hotel meant loads of food and drinkies EEK! Back on track this week though!
 
Ok then. Back from R & R and back on the plan. I overindulged massively and feel as though I have gained at least 5lbs if not more. I haven't weighed myself yet though but will do on the 1st.

I still managed to get quite a bit of running in and ran 14.33km on one morning so hopefully that will have limited the damage somewhat. Back in the gym tomorrow and back posting my food diary as well.

I have 3 months left and will make the most of it. It was so uplifting to receive loads of positive comments from family and friends (and Men ;-)) about how good I was looking. I want to get back to where I was and then some before I return in October.
 
Ok so I weighed myself this morning finally, and I have put on as expected. I am peeed off with myself for indulging so much but it could have been a heck of a lot worse if I hadn't have done so much running as well. I also spent a lot of money but hey ho it was fun.

I was in the gym at 0400 this morning. Start of a new regime and time to get serious again. I did day 1 level 1 of Jillian Michaels 30DS which burned 180 cals and then went for a short run as my legs didn't want to move (220 cals) and a little row for 15 mins (100 cals). So 500 in total today and I may well go swimming later if I am not too tired. I woud like to aim for between 600-700 a day if I can.

I have exactly 14 weeks left until I go home so I am hoping for a loss of around 1.5lbs a week to get me near my target. I had a binge last night I am ashamed to say and devoured almost a whole pack of kallo rice cakes amongst other stuff but I know I can do this, I just need to get my mind back on track.

Red Day today:

Breakfast: Scrambled egg with ham, mushroom, tomatoes, jalapenos and tomato. 2 x plums.

AM snack: 5 scan bran (HEB), Banana, 15g of Peanut Butter (4.5 Syns)

Lunch: Chicken and Salad

PM Snack: Yoghurt (2.5 Syns), Options White (2 Syns), Pear

Dinner: Chicken and Salad, Sweet Chilli Sauce (1.5 syns)

So that leaves me 2 x HEA to use up and one will probably be used in tea throughout the day, 1 x HEB and so may have a couple of Alpen Lights and a few syns.
 
Well I'm back in the zone, kind of. Food wise I am and I have been to the gym but it seems like doubly hard work than 2 weeks ago. My running legs aren't back yet.

So I did day 2 of level 1 30DS and 5km. That was 600 cals burned so not too bad.

Food wise I had another red day:

Breakfast:
Scrambled egg with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onion.

Am Snack:
4 Kallo Rice Cakes (HEB)
Philadephia light (HEA)
Banana

Lunch:
Yoghurt (2.5 Syns)
Options Hazelnut (1.5 syns)
Kiwi
Mango

Dinner:
Chicken Breast
Green Beans
Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, celery, carrot and peppers

PM Snack:
2 x Alpen Light (HEB)
Plus milk in Tea all day (HEA)

Hopefully I can shift what I have gained in the last 2 weeks in the same amount of time and then resume the push to target.
 
Up at 4 am this morning to go to the gym. I am feeling better for being back on the diet and exercise routine though. I did day 3 of level 1 30DS, only burned 130 cals but I can feel it working, especially in my thighs. My legs were too heavy to run after that, which is concerning me slightly as I don't want my running to suffer whilst I'm doing the 30DS so I might have to try and run beforehand or do one in the morning and one in the evening. So instead of running I did a mix of rowing, cycling and cross trainer to burn another 250 cals. Not as much as I normally do but my legs were really not playing today.

I had a sneaky peak on the scales and it looks like I have lost 4 out of the 10.5lbs I put on already. So hopefully the rest will follow in short order.

Food wise today this is the plan:

Red Day

Breakfast:
Omelette with onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, ham
Watermelon and grapes

AM Snack:
4 x Kallo Rice Cakes (HEB)
Philadelphia Light (HEA)
Banana

Lunch:
Salad
Yoghurt (2.5 syns)
Pear
Options White Hot Choc (2 syns)

Dinner:
Chicken
Salad

PM Snack:
2 x Alpen Lights (HEB)
Tea with milk through the day (HEA)
 
Hodgeypodgy! Your post just made me......... HUNGRY! And crave for yogurt! I think I'm gonna have this too > Breakfast:
Scrambled egg with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onion.

Thanks for the plan! LoL.
 
I think I might be drinking toooooooo much water. Well it is over 100 degs here. Last night I had to get up to go to the toilet 4 times!! Which meant I was way too tired to go to the gym at 4am this morning, so I shall have to force myself to go after work tonight. I am going to try and run first and then do day 4 of the 30DS.
I am still being 100% on plan. I resisted a lot today as well. My colleague got promoted and the thing here seems to be to get ice cream cake and doughnuts. The cake looked like a cake and was literally made up of chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream with cream on top. Luckily for me I don’t like chocolate ice cream so that was avoided. The doughnuts were a little bit harder to resist but I managed by staying in the next room.

I plumped for an EE day today because I had peas and sweetcorn for lunch.

Breakfast:
Scrambled Egg, Mango (not together obviously as that would be weird)

AM Snackeroony:

2 x Kallo High Fibre Rice Cakes (1/2 HEB) with Philadelphia Light (HEA) and Banana

Lunch:
Chicken breast with greens and mixed veg which included: Peas, Sweetcorn, Green Beans and Broad Beans. Put a dash of sweet chilli sauce on (1 1/2 Syns)

PM Snackette:
Yoghurt (2 1/2 syns) with Hazelnut Options (1 1/2 syns) and a kiwi and peach
1 x Alpen light (1/2 HEB)


Dinner will be:

Chicken breast with salad and probably another dash of sweet chilli sauce (1 1/2 Syns)

Sorry for making you hungry Desperate2bslim. I didn't have anything with my egg today as we were running late and there was a queue for me to order my usual scrambled egg mix (scrambled with everything minus cheese) so I just grabbed something from the servery.

When I was on leave I became addicted to anything coated in yoghurt. Especially raisins and cranberries. They are quite high in syns though so I am going cold turkey on them because you can't just have a small handful. I am also craving Total 0% Yoghurt. The stuff here is very sloppy but it will have to do. I am also craving all things lemon. My Mom is sending me out some Lemon Curd so I can have a smidgen of that with my yoghurt or on a crispbread or something. I love it mixed with Quark but I don't think that would survive the transit.

I think I will feel much more positive once my shift pattern is sorted out properly. I am used to working nights and am on days at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to get into a routine soon and get my exercise mojo properly back on track.
 
Whooopeee!! I seem to have got my running mojo back. I did 5k on the treadmill this morning followed by Day5 Level 1 of the 30DS. Burning 622 cals. I didn't finish work until late last night so didn't get to go to the gym but did do the Shred in my room instead. So I got the tick in the box even if I did only burn 150 cals. Better than nothing eh?

It's another Red day.

Breakfast: Yoghurt (2.5 syns) with grapefruit, peach, plum and an apple. I also sprinkled on 1/4 cup of Go Lean Crunch which is a US Granola type cereal with high fibre and protein (3 syns)

AM Munchies: 2 x Kallo high fibre rice cakes (1/2 HEB), banana and philly light (HEA)

Lunch: Tuna, salad and a WM wrap (2.5 syns) with a dash of sweet chilli sauce (1.5 syns)

PM Snack: Yoghurt (2.5 syns) mixed with options white hot choc (2 syns) kiwi, plum

Dinner: Not sure yet but probably chicken with salad or veg

Other snacks: 2 x Alpen Light (HEB) and milk in tea (HEA)

So thats 14 syns and nearly all HE's used.
 
So up at the crack of sparrows again to get in a pre-work gym sesh. I did 5k and D6L1 of the 30DS. I upped the weights this time as well as I feel it was getting a bit too comfortable. 630 cals burned anyhoo so not bad before 0530 am.

I've been on plan all day and it's * week so have just had a chocolate fix with a fibre plus bar.

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
Watermelon, pineapple, grapes

AM Snack:
2 x Rice cakes (1/2 HEB), Philly (HEA) and a Banana

Lunch:
Chicken Breast, carrots, brocolli and sprouts

PM Snack:
Yoghurt (2.5 syns), Sun wheel pear and apple fruit spread (1 syn), Kiwi, plum and peach and Alpen light (1/2 HEB)

Dinner:
Salad with chickpeas and a dash of sweet chilli sauce (1.5 syns)

And as I just mentioned I have just had a dark fibre plus bar (6 syns) so that's 11 in total and 1 hea and 1 heb as it's a EE day.

My uniform is starting to feel looser again so hopefully by next week I will be back as I was before I went away.
 
I wasn't entirely happy with today, on plan but just feel a bit full now. I also didn't manage to do my full run as my knee started hurting, so I did a mixture of x trainer, rower and L1D7 - 530 cals.

EE day

Breakfast:
Omelette with ham, mushroom, tomato, onion and peppers
Watermelon and grapes

AM Snack time:
4 x rice cakes (HEB)
Light Philly (HEA)
Peanut Butter (3 syns)
Banana

Lunch:
Yoghurt (2.5 syns)
Apple/Kiwi/Mango/Plum
1/2 cup of Go Lean Crunch (3 syns)
White Options (2 syns)

PM Snack:
Plum

Dinner:
Chicken
Salad with Kidney Beans and Green Beans
Pineapple

Hopefully I can resume normal running in the morning otherwise it takes me ages to burn the same calories. Weigh in day tomorrow as well eek!!
 
Well it was a successful day all bar one aspect of it - My knee is still booogered and I am struggling to run. I have necked some Ibruprofen now and am going to ice it in a bit so hopefully normal running services can be resumed ASAP.

It was my afternoon off today so didn't have to get up so early to go to the gym as went this afternoon instead. I burned 600 cals in total including level 1 day 8 of the 30DS, rowing and the cross trainer. I then walked back across camp which is about 1.5 miles in 120 deg with a heavy back pack and this burned another 200 cals so not bad. Because I didn't get up early I was going to postpone weigh in until tomorrow, because I like to weigh in before I have had anything to eat. As it happens I weighed anyway to see what was what, because I went to a different gym I could do it in the nuddy so I think that compensated for the food I had eaten already. Anyway it said 6lbs off!! Yay!! So hopefully another good week and I will be back to my pre-leave weight.

I did another extra easy day today:

Breakfast:
Scrambled egg with ham, tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms
Watermelon and grapes

AM Snack:
2 x Kallo Rice Cakes (3 syns)
banana
light Philadelphia (HEA)
10g of Sun wheel fruit spread (1 syn)

Lunch:
Yoghurt (2.5 syns) with mint options (2 syns)
Apple, Kiwi, Plum
1/4 cup go lean crunch (3 syns)

Dinner:
Chicken
Salad with Chickpeas and Kidney Beans
Pasta
Fat free vinegarette

PM Snack:
Dar Choc Fibre Plus (HEB)

So that be that for today. Up early again tomorrow for level 1 Day 9 of the 30DS. Looking forward to level 2 I must say.
 
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