Consolidation Anjuschka's journey through Conso (closed)

[anjuschka]

Thanks re: the dresses, I'm gonna have to have a look in town this week...
by then I'll probably be a size 14, been baking (and eating) more biscuits after a very good start to the day.

Conso carb day today - but the carbs were already contained in the biscuits I think, otherwise pasta tonight!

B: Fruit juice. Dukan bread with extra light cheese & roast chicken, yoghurt
S post-swimming: Egg
L: Smoked trout, tomato, lettuce, cottage cheese, dukan-friendly custard.
S: 4 small home-baked biscuits (full of butter and sugar)
D: Baked fish parcels & baked pumpkin, WM pasta. Pear.
Post-choir snack: we'll see, hopefully yoghurt!!

This afternoon I've promised that I'll make popcorn with the kids. I don't think I'll eat too much of that, and it will be unsugared / unflavoured too so quite safe in the bigger picture.

 

[Bubblemum]

Oh those dresses are gorgeous. I dont have any nice dresses. I will some day

 

[Maintainer]

I couldn't open the link to the first dress, but the second two were gorgeous! The middle one very unforgiving cut so, if you can get that on, BUY IT!! Lovely!!

Perhaps take a good friend with you so that she can give you an honest opinion if you're not sure. Black is good for evenings, but daytime around the house in your slippers less so... mind you, neither dress would be appropriate for that anyway, so if you feel you have no occasion on the horizon at which to STUN in those dresses, get yourself one booked pronto! Just imagine turning up at your office party dressed to kill!

Oh and stop nibbling! Celebration meal is a meal not a day!!

 

[anjuschka]

Thanks Jo,

very nice of you to say so. I suspect I won't buy any dress. My work do is just not that kind of event really, and for Christmas day I'll need something more practical as I usually end up sitting on the floor with the kids for a lot of the time. I will find a nice outfit, probably a nice top or a less glitzy / more practical dress... But I had fun trying on a few more today. Like an all-over spangle 'flapper' style dress which looked really cool and authentic as I'm pretty flat chested now

And yes I KNOW about Celebration MEAL not DAY - doesn't mean I'm willing or able to do anything about it at the weekend though... But yesterday evening I did only have a yoghurt when I came home, no popcorn earlier with the kids, and I have been good today:

B: D bread with EL Philly, chicken slices, yoghurt
S: apple
L: Beefburgers and courgettes from Sunday, Rye bread with lettuce and ham, tomato. Mini babybel. Yoghurt
D: chicken "stirfry" with carrots and onions
Post yoga S: yoghurt

Tomorrow:
B: D porridge, quark
S: green tea
L: Leftover chinese chicken, Rye bread with EL philly and lettuce, fruit (Pear or orange)
D (celebration?): beef& veg stew (inc peas) with Couscous , maybe a nice dessert?...

 

[kidsmademefat]

now i am so jealous reading your delicious menus anja. Sounds better than CHICKEN!!!!!!!! lol Your lucky that your little "treats" dont seem to effect your weight. Since monday i have been 70kg, up 2kg on my goal and after two days of attack i am only down to 68.7kg. OOPS Next time i get to consolidation im going to be stricter.

Buy the dress and wear it around the house if you have to, you deserve it xx

 

[anjuschka]

Talking of treats - I was good today, and just now reached for the cottage cheese again, not the biscuit tin!
This morning was busy in meetings etc and only stopped at 12, was really hungry by then (my breakfast is usually 6.30am).
Just been shopping getting in supplies for tomorrow: I have prawns and smoked trout lined up, and tinned (brine) mackerel too, just in case. Oh and Tesco now stock Muller light Vanilla in big 500gr pots - currently on offer too!

I think the plan is:

B: D Porridge and quark
S: gree tea
L: Smoked Trout, egg, yoghurt sauce. Cottage cheese, yoghurt
D: Prawn omelette, yoghurt

Ok - DD2 crying got to go!

 

[anjuschka]

My resistance *can* be strong!

Hello,

just an update on a successful day so far:

This morning packaged up some of my home made biscuits (there are 4 kinds by now) to post out as a present to my sister. And not crumb passed my lips. I can still do it if I try hard enough. DD1 sampled a couple and gave them the thumbs-up, and took a couple in her packed lunch too.

I've stuck to the menu made up yesterday. I also lasted all morning with just a coffee and a green tea before munching through my lunch at about 12.30 (like now...).

Sue: I seem to get away with the treats as I am fairly active - this week on Monday night my bicycle had a flat tyre - so rush back home pushing the bike (and jump in the car - not so good for activity ).

As a result I walked to work in the morning the next day - in a rush, 45 mins of energetic walking and then of course the same back in the evening (energetic but less rushed...). So I'm sure those extra exertions will have taken care of a Lebkuchen or two - for THIS WEEK.
But I will TRY HARDER to resist between now and Christmas!

 

[anjuschka]

So here I am again. WI went fine I'm STS at 62 phew but I will be stricter now. Really busy a work and busy weekend ahead so you may not hear from me for a while.

Today: PVC
B: D porridge, quark, kiwi fruit
S: tea
L: dill Herring & egg salad with rye bread, a bit of left-over prawn omelette from last night, broccoli, tomato. Yoghurt.
D (carb): Spaghetting bolognese (lean!), yoghurt

Tomorrow planning a Christmas cookie baking day with friends and kids so Celebration meal lunch with everyone:

B: D porridge, yoghurt, Egg (to get me through the morning)
L: Winder soup and home made bread and salad. Home baked biscuits for dessert no doubt
D: Chicken & Leek stew, yoghurt

the rest of the week's main dinners should work out as follows (at least that's what I shopped for!):

Sun PV:
D: Venison stew

Mon PV: Dukan cottage pie made with turkey mince and cauli mash. We'll see what the kids think! I'll have real potato mash for them on the side...

Tue: PVC Chicken winter bake with rice

Wed: Celebration (if feeling brave): 'Real' Quiche and veg.

Have a good weekend everyone I must get back to work now....

 

[jaqys]

Well done on the resistence so far.
Bet your house smells amazing with all the cooking.

Have a great weekend.

 

[anjuschka]

Hello,

I've just written a long reply in Laura's diary so I'll be cheeky and paste most of it over here too!

Onto me! I've lost weight again which I'm not majorly happy about. I've followed conso properly (bread or rice cake/cheese, fruit daily, carbs once a week and a celebration meal once a week) and even had a few cheats in there. So, for those who have done this before, do I increase fruit, cheese, carbs, celebration meals? Or all of these?

(That will teach me to say I found conso easy).

Hi hope the snow is not bothering you too much - we've managed to avoid it so far !

As for losing too much weight - I found the same and the first thing I did was have two fruit portions a day, quite soon in PhI. And then I took it as an excuse to add a little 'treat' into nearly each day - sometimes I take a biscuit into work, or have one in the evening, a choc digestive, or a few nutty bites etc... there was also that week when my parents had brought me a box of Belgian chocs and I had 3 every day...

I managed to STS for a couple of weeks, but when I had lost two weeks in a row again (below 62) I switched to phase two, possibly one week early. I've only been there for a few weeks now (lost count) and last weekend was a home-baking related 'disaster' so I was glad to have STS by Friday! However I tend to do 3 carb meals and one gala meal so far. And I now manage to have my carbs not always in the evening, being able to take carb meal leftovers into work etc. We'll see what the scales say this week.

Over time I have used the continued losses as excuses for 'permission' to be more lax: I use cornflour in sauces when needed, have spoonfuls of my kid's cereals, lick the spoon when cooking, accept the odd biscuit at work etc etc. Maybe it's not a bad thing to add a few carbs here and there. Today I had a forkful of baked beans , and a couple of chocolate wafers in the evening. But I really managed strict PV conso for the rest of today, no more biscuits at family snack time.

I have no specific solution for you, I think we all have to juggle the carbs and see at which point we manage to STS.

I attach my weight curve from about the 10.Sept when I started conso after passing the 64kg mark, and you can see how after a downward trend it now fluctuates much more as I try to find the right balance whilst eating more carbs from about the first week in November IIRC...

 

[anjuschka]

But now for the real diary entry.

We had a busy two days but I can report a successful weekend (we'll see what the scales say at the end though!)

Saturday went as planned with 'gala' lunch, winter soup with lentils and barley, some bread with pate, and home made shortbread-type biscuits and one home made lebkuchen for dessert. Dinner was back to strict dukan with chicken and leek stew with quark sauce and yoghurt for dessert.

I'm even more pleased with today: to avoid temptation at family snack time I made my oat bran allowance into 6 muffins and had a dukan-friendly pancake with cottage cheese and kiwi fruit for breakfast instead! Yum, just too much effort to do that every day.
The muffin strategy worked very well, and for lunch we had cheese on toast, I added some steamed veg to mine and they had sausages with it. And tonight I made Venison stew, yum yum, I mopped it up with cauli mash while DH had proper mash...

I was no saint though: when we came in from that very cold walk this afternoon, I did have a dukan-friendly hot choc (everyone else had 'proper' ones), but made with a teaspoon of normal cocoa powder. And tonight I had a couple of chocolate wafers as already mentioned in the last post.

Also lots of walking to and from the theatre (puppet show) with DD1 today, 20 energetic mins each way (she cycled and I walked quickly alongside), and a half-hour walk with DD2 in the pram earlier too. The weather was COLD but too gorgeous not to go out!

The rest of my cauli mash has already been made into my cottage pie for tomorrow: A base of turkey mince seasoned and simmered with onions, carrots and celery, and the cauli mash topped with cheese (I used less than 80gr and that looks pretty generous, so I could have half the pie (intended for 4) and still not exceed my allowance).

Everyone have a good week ahead, and those of you with snow I hope it's not too much of a problem!

 

[Maintainer]

Hello there,

It's certainly not cheeky to copy your own advice over here - and perhaps reading it twice might help some of us when we get into Conso.

I for one am learning a lot reading your diary... I see how you do sporadically show you're human and have a little extra, then how you compensate thereafter. Also your exercise levels are high and you're burning up any excess calories.

I note no alcohol in your gala meal. Is that typical for you?

x

 

[anjuschka]

No that was a 'light lunch' round the table with visitors and 4 kids so alcohol not a question. Might have had some in the evening but forgot to put a bottle in the fridge so went without. I usually do have a glass of wine with a Gala meal.

 

[Maintainer]

On French sites I read, most go hell for leather on gala meals taking him literally on the "apero, starter, main, dessert, wine" theme. Whereas I see more restraint over here... (funny really since it's the reverse in Cruise where I see more sticking to it rigidly always!!)

 

[anjuschka]

Yes I guessed that. Presumably it's cultural - starter?? It must be a VERY SPECIAL occasion for me to contemplate making one that's not just a salad (and then it's on the side!) The French still cultivate the art of dining, here most can't even be bothered to cook properly any more, or eat as a family, and look where that's landed us: HERE
Or have I got this wrong - probably: generalisations always are.

BTW my kids did not appreciate my turkey cottage pie with cauli mash, but I think DH did... but he says he would prefer it with proper mash

 

[robinhood]

On the other hand, we do have starters (regularly) and I'm on this forum.... I make the kids sit at the table for anything they eat, a snack is a proper meal in this house.

(So why are there regularly crumbs on the sofa?)

 

[Maintainer]

I think Anja's right ref the French conserving the family meal time, and it's good that you too have kept that going Robin. I know my Mum did. Nowadays it's so easy to buy pretty much anything you want in supermarkets in the UK and you can soon see with new people's questions, who is used to cooking and who is not. Many have to completely change their lifestyle to lose weight which probably isn't a bad thing.

For instance, I rarely did a proper weekly shop before 2002 when I really seriously faced my weight issue. I'd buy essentials but mainly decide as and when what I fancied eating, which usually wasn't healthy... and why waste time cooking when you can buy it ready made / take out / or just fry it up.

Yes I agree with you Anja that a lot of people's weight problems have been created by this "ready made" culture... less so here perhaps because we can't get such a wide range of products. More now than when I arrived mind so it'll end up the same here.

I guess also, in our parents' day, it was less common to work full time whereas now women have to be superwomen taking care of house and home (and healthy eating?) and holding down a full time job too...

 

[anjuschka]

On the other hand, we do have starters (regularly) and I'm on this forum.... I make the kids sit at the table for anything they eat, a snack is a proper meal in this house.

(So why are there regularly crumbs on the sofa?)

Oh absolutely, and here I am too; we also sit down as a family apart from the odd night off (so I can eat my food in PEACE), we have defined 'snack' times, which the kids just need to get through the day. I don't do starters but I'm better with desserts ;-)

I tend to over-do the evening munchies, or the stress related grazing at work.... Actual meals have always been quite healthy for us - and of course we have Pizza and other convenience foods too - but not 'ready meals'. And we don't own a deep fat fryer... though I have been tempted at times!

 

[anjuschka]

Anyway,

two busy days later and it's waaay past my bed time again

Monday was an okay PV day:

B; Porridge with yoghurt, fuit juice
S; apple
L: Left-over spaghetti & tom sauce & a little cheese (instead of bread). Egg & ham.
D: Cottage pie made with turkey mince and cauli mash. Some cheese in there too. Yoghurt
S: baked custard

And today PV+carbs
B: Porridge with apple & cinnamon, yoghurt
S; Bread with extra-light cheese & lettuce
L: Smoked Mackerel, tomato, cottage cheese. yoghurt
D: roasted chicken and pumpkin, sm baked potato (no butter). yoghurt
S; baked custard, chocolate biscuit...

Tomorrow I'll have another 'gala' meal but definitely without wine etc as it's mid-week. The plan is:

B; Porridge etc
S; Pear
L: Leftover portion of cottage pie, , yoghurt. Bread with cheese & tomato
D: Quiche, PEAS yay! and rice. Maybe a home made biscuit or two for dessert!

And then we'll see what the scales say on Friday!!

 

[anjuschka]

It's time for fussy Thursday!

Today:

B: dukan porridge & yoghurt
L: roast chicken (from Tue), egg, cottage cheese, pickled herring in quark-dill sauce. Yoghurt
D: Baked Salmon (arrhg just remembered that I forgot to take it out of the freezer *sigh*) with quark sauce. Baked custard

My'gala' meal yesterday consisted of quiche, brown rice, sautéed (no fat) cabbage, some baked beans from the kids. A mini Magnum ice-cream and some biscuits for dessert.
The rest of the day went as planned, with no straying except 4 dried apricots - I still need help with my transition issues...

I found some more 'before' pictures from 2003, mind you I was about 11 weeks pg with DD1, but noone knew at that point. They might give you a giggle Anja the belly dancer (actually it's 'Raqs Sharki' - Egyption Dance!!)

Hope this works:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1154085&l=be2dbcb230&id=666282391

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1154086&l=2feb593404&id=666282391

Unfortunately I've not kept up the dancing, my teacher gave up and I found it hard to find a new one I liked... It's on my to-do-again-oneday list!!