Bagpuss's Diary...

[Bagpuss1]

Hello there,

I started another VLCD on 01/01/20 - not a 'new year new you' thing, just have got the big events of the previous 6 weeks out of the way, and Jan is a quiet month. So ideal time to get going, not least because I have 5 days for the dodgy lead-in period before I go back to work. Owing to economy, S'n'S is my weapon of choice, although this might change in the future.

I have done these before to greater or lesser success, and was even a member of this site some years ago. Being a complete nerd, have read just about everything I can find on VLCDs over the past few years, including the medical research so I'm not short of information! but my problem is accountability. My original plan is to do CD or similar so I had to report in to someone, but until the finances are a little more stable, I'll have to go down the economy route. I've done it before (although not as far as I needed), I can do it again. So while feeling rather rough yesterday, day 3, I was googling for success stories as a bit of encouragement, and came across this site again! Splendid.

So a bit of background. Always been overweight, I just would like to be less overweight. I would like to be back at a certain point, and when I'm there, I'll decide what to do next. I significantly sprained my ankle at a festival last year, and therefore movement has been curtailed since the end of May, but I'm now slowly getting back on the activity wagon. This had been incredibly frustrating, Not just the injury, but being mostly sedentary has meant I have lost any stamina I once had, confidence in my ankle, and confidence in me. My attempts at increasing activity shall form part of this diary too.

With regard to activity, I'm also a bit spurred on by 'Red January' for mental health - https://redtogether.co.uk/

So, it seems to be a quiet forum at the mo, so it may be that no-one ever reads this, but that's OK. I've got it off my chest.

Have a great day, peeps. x

 

[Bagpuss1]

Hoorah! Online.

Today is Day 6. I appear to be over the worst, and that is nice. Because it could have been a problem... but wasn't.

Today is my first day back at work after the Xmas break. Now, when deciding whether to do a VLCD again or not was whether it would interfere with work. I was already taking protein shakes for breakfast (on the rare occasions I got organised in the mornings) so practicality wasn't really an issue. What I didn't need though, was the occasional lightheadedness or tiredness, which sometimes happens. That is part of the reason why I started when I did, so I could get the first 5 days over at a time when I didn't need to leave the house, if the keto flu properly hit. (I didn't have a lead-in period which I might have done were it not Christmas...)

In truth, days 2-3 were a bit hangovery, day 4 was okayish but I had a nap in the afternoon (which may well have happened anyway) and day 5 was a bit fuzzy. Day 6, today, started a bit fuzzy, but that was not aided by the 6am alarm. Got organised, got my assorted collection of stuff together, left the shake in the shaker for the drive to work, and actually the busyness of work was a suitable distraction. And the need to concentrate at work probably cleared and focussed my mind, rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. So all in all, a positive day, VLCD wise...

I started this on a Wednesday. We usually count in weeks. I had planned to change my 'official' weigh-in day to a Saturday, which is why you might have seen 'Week 1 ' in my signature. But I changed my mind and will stick to wednesdays and do proper weeks. I tend to be a bit of a random frequent weigher especially this week when I've needed a reason to continue, and it only takes seconds, really, even when I am a bit chaotic. So there shall be a new Week 1 entry on Wednesday...

 

[Bagpuss1]

Day 7.... Not a good day.
Ketones are a diuretic. This is one of the reasons why your are encouraged to drink litres of water. Lots of ketones are a bigger diuretic. But as ketones are a diuretic, drinking litres of water is not difficult. And at the moment, it's exiting as often as it's entering... This too had better calm down a bit. (I believe it does, but it had better be quick!)

Now, being in my mid forties, getting up once or twice in the night for a bathroom trip is not unusual. I'm used to it. However having been 3 times during the night and waking up a fourth time early this morning was beyond a joke. Disturbed sleep = bad day at work. By mid afternoon I won't go so far to say 'out of breath', but I was exhausted, with a sense of humour failure. Much procrastination followed, as I couldn't focus.

So yesterday evening I got home, had a meal, and did plenty of jobs around the home before retiring to write the above. Tonight, a very early night, duvet, laptop, and a wasted evening all in the name of 'self-care', as lack of sleep is the first thing to make my mood dip. Not had anything to drink since about 7:30, just to get some sleep tonight...

Much more of that will be a deal-breaker. Will see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

 

[debbie12slim]

I agree with a cut off time for the water intake, I try not to drink anything after 4am so I am not up and down to the loo all day. Hopefully our bladders will adjust and trips will be less frequent.

 

[Bagpuss1]

Thank you Debbie, glad it's not just me. Having tried to get into a habit of drinking when I'm thirsty and consistently throughout the day, which is apparently *a good thing to do*, it feels odd having to go back on it. Ah well, whatever it takes.

However this morning's news - first official Week 1 weigh in, (as opposed to the other 7 unofficial ones )- loss of 6.2 kg. for those who work in English kilos, that's 13.66 lb. The general rules of Maths allows me to round up... so a stone! lol

Last time this much of a loss occurred with a VLCD when I was half this age (lipotrim, week 1, 1st1lb), so it's all a pleasant surprise. I know some of it is water, but I have done the maths and science, it would amount to no more than 2 kilos of it, at most.

I also usually whine about it making no difference until I've lost at least twice as much, but actually, this dress I'm wearing today is a little bit roomier.

Now I need to go and eat something...

 

[Mini]

Great result!

Well done

 

[debbie12slim]

Fab weight loss well done

 

[boing]

SUPERB!!
Well done

 

[Bagpuss1]

Thank you all. x To be fair, my body did all the hard work

Sorted out the getting up in the night thing, but I appear to be having a generally light sleeping phase, seems to be another known side effect, so sleep has marginally improved, but not much. so am reaching for the nytol until it passes.

But anyway, that aside... A rather significant NSV happened today. This year's adventures will not just about losing weight, but some other things too.

A bit of back-story. My husband and I used to be reasonably competent rock 'n' roll jive dancers (photographic evidence attached. I like this photo so much I use this as my FB avatar...). I've always been fat to a greater or lesser extent, I just plan to be less so than I am now. Now... between injuries, both mine and husband's (not related but not helpful), a really cr@ppy time of life, depression, medication, jobs, etc we kinda went less and less, and it got intermittent. Then every 6 months or so I'd find inspiration to go back, and then the enthusiasm would peter-out as life took over, etc. You get the picture. So, as things started to come together last year, I found new jive classes in a nearby village.... and then I horribly sprained my ankle at a vintage festival. Not a twist, but the sort of injury that usually puts people on crutches, off work and in physio. (But that's another story.

So that was that. The past the past 7 months have been mostly exercise free whether I wanted to or not, as just daily pottering about and driving caused enough pain and discomfort, which got both tiring and tiresome. It's been a long wait, but this even we tentatively back to our first jive class in actual *years*.

New classes, new people. Some fellas usually have a reaction of reticence to having to dance with the fat bird (they don't always know they're doing it, this is usual when we join a new class), but they'll get used to it. This class do exactly the same moves as we learned several years ago, so we managed to slot right in, and despite being *very* rusty, we weren't the worst in the room . Ankle uncomfortable towards the end and will probably hurt tomorrow, but I managed to do the full 45 minutes, with a creditable charleston stroll at the end. Exhausted and worn out, but exceptionally satisfying. Was really surprised and chuffed at how *well* it went.

Had a GREAT time! Home, shower, write this entry, attempt to sleep. x

 

[debbie12slim]

Good for you xx I have always wanted to learn to Jive, hubby has no rhythm whatsoever except for dancing to SKA.

 

[Bagpuss1]

Good for you xx I have always wanted to learn to Jive, hubby has no rhythm whatsoever except for dancing to SKA.

As it happens, neither does mine, and throw in quite severe dyslexia - marching was apparently a challenge! lol, but we just kept going, and kept going... and to be fair, the blokes don't have to move much. Alternatively, go on your own

 

[Bagpuss1]

Hello Sunday evening...

Well, owing to being 1) out for most of the day on Sat, and 2) Mostly at home on Sun, I decided to have an experiment at doing the 800cal/Low Carb/Vegetarian with real food. It's doable. On Saturday it involved both Boots and Holland and Barrett, on Sunday it involved a lot of Salad and lightly sauteed herbed Tofu. Which was rather nice. the official VLCD products and snacks can get quite expensive too, so it helps to make them stretch a bit.

A burst of real food can help because 1) it aids the digestive tract, YKWIM; and 2) Can help jolt this ol' corpus out of a plateau, which is where I was headed this week. Yes, at the moment, I'm an everyday weigher. There really is no problem with it if 1) you're doing it for information and understanding, and 2) it doesn't set your mood for the day. My weight really does fluctuate throughout the week, and I can indeed plateau at the drop of a hat - sometimes for weeks, on a 'normal' diet. So I like to know about it.

I was also considering the reasons why I was doing this...

• To finally get my ankle to heal.
• To get back into Vivien of Holloway dresses. And House of Foxy. And the decent Collectif ones, come to that.
• To stop feeling the dread when there are stairs involved.
• To start using my bicycle without fear of being out of breath and stranded within a minute.
• To stop getting flashbacks to injuring my ankle every time I look at a pair of non-flat shoes (even through injury was not shoe related. I keep getting this mental image/GIF of it going again. I might need therapy. But in the meantime I'd like to regain some confidence on my feet.)
• To stop aching and being tired out so quickly, especially when dancing.
• Buying clothes is a general PITA - I'd also like to find more in chazzers and on ebay.

Now, I realised that they were generally practical and mechanical objectives, and not expressly related to the way I look. Which is good both good, and a revelation. If someone was carrying around an 80lb Bergen and complained that their knee hurt, they couldn't take the stairs and couldn't get a coat over the top of it, you'd suggest they put the rucksack down. That's effectively what I'm doing. No 'new me', no 'changing my life', just... getting shot of some mass....

I remember a time when I managed all of these things, and my weight goal is loosely related to what I was at that time - and a bit more, to make it a nice round number. But if I manage to achieve those some time later this year then I'll be properly made-up....

 

[debbie12slim]

Hi, this makes sense and it is uncanny but I was thinking almost the same. I have swapped VLCD shakes for Keto, I will try this for 2 weeks with exercise and see how I get on, if it is not what I expected I can always go back to lipotrim. I take it you love the 50 style of dressing, I am a huge fan and bought quite a lot of outfits in a size 14 as an inspiration to lose weight. I have a few swing dresses and some high waist jeans which I am desperate to get into. We can do this xx

 

[Bagpuss1]

Hi, this makes sense and it is uncanny but I was thinking almost the same. I have swapped VLCD shakes for Keto, I will try this for 2 weeks with exercise and see how I get on, if it is not what I expected I can always go back to lipotrim. I take it you love the 50 style of dressing, I am a huge fan and bought quite a lot of outfits in a size 14 as an inspiration to lose weight. I have a few swing dresses and some high waist jeans which I am desperate to get into. We can do this xx

Yeah, although I use the VLCD products largely for convenience during the week, I am largely working along the lines of Dr Michael Moseley's research covered in a couple of Horizon programmes and his book 'Fast 800'. (But which ever way you do it, the principle is the same = 800cal/Keto). Being a bit of an academic, I like something with a good, solid evidence base.

And yes, we vintage! Assorted eras, depending on where we're going and what we're up to. I got married in a VoH (Still fat, but less so) and that's really what I'm aiming to get back to. I could pretty much do everything I wanted to do back then. I couldn't give a hoot about BMI or the definitions, it's a load of misapplied rubbish anyway. At the last time of checking my HbA1C, Cholesterol and blood pressure are all normal for a normal person (Which surprises the medical profession, but I've been a reasonably active veggie for over 20 years. )

 

[debbie12slim]

I NEED A WHOOSH

 

[Bagpuss1]

I NEED A WHOOSH

yep me too really. Lost a kilo this week, which given the effort I put in can leave one feeling a little short changed. However as I noted in my signature, a poor/plateauy second week is utterly and completely normal...

Onwards and downwards...

 

[debbie12slim]

I am losing inches though my size 16 jeans are getting baggy and I have to keep pulling them up LOL I am going to order a 50's style coat at the weekend from Collectif and going for the size 14. xx

 

[Bagpuss1]

I am losing inches though my size 16 jeans are getting baggy and I have to keep pulling them up LOL I am going to order a 50's style coat at the weekend from Collectif and going for the size 14. xx

Nice one!

 

[MrsP89]

Hey @Bagpuss1 ! I found another thread of yours

Loving the jive photo, and good to hear you're getting back into it. I used to salsa, but haven't been for years. I might have a look to see if anywhere around here does classes... You've got me thinking now lol.

I know what you mean about doctors being surprised at normal BP, cholesterol etc. I've had doctors repeat it because they think there's been an error - I *must* have high BP because I'm so fat! I do wish doctors wouldn't have preconceived ideas about us based on our weight....

I'll follow you here too hope the night time toilet trips are lessening for you

 

[Bagpuss1]

Hello! this, I suppose, is my more official mumbling thread, and in places, a but if a dumping ground for thoughts. Now I have the requisite number of posts I'll ask to get it shifted to the 'general weight loss diaries' section, as no-one seems to bother this forum. I can't really share stuff on facebook, my non-fat husband is very supportive but doesn't *really* understand, so here some of it is, really. I feel I'm not getting in the way of someone else's conversation on my own diary thread! lol

I used to love salsa, did that years ago when I was living in Brum before I met my husband - got as far as the improvers group. I would go again, but my poor rhythmically-challenged hubster wouldn't cope. We're doing well to get where we are with jive, so one set of steps at a time. Would like to give swing another go, so we might try that again once the jive habit is set. We can just about social foxtrot too...

I have a real grudge about the assumptions of some of the medical profession. I know they have little time to see you, and they have to draw a conclusion on what you've told them pretty quickly, but giving you a quick once-up-and-down is no substitute for having a quick flick through your records. I had my carpal tunnel done 3 years ago (hardcore studying, not from being fat) and the consultant held-up my surgery until I could prove I wasn't diabetic. This is from a bloke who when I turned up for appointments insisted I had a problem with the wrong wrist...

I've recently changed surgeries because (and I have a long tolerance for these things) I'd finally had enough, as the locum I saw wouldn't properly chat about the thing I went in for, instead insisting I have a set of blood tests and come back. I'd actually have gone for the tests, it was the dismissive attitude that got up my nose, when I was clearly upset about something and (so it turns out) suffering from anxiety at the time. So, they got fired and I self-referred instead.

As an addendum, I got invited for a free flu jab again earlier this week. I'm not entitled to a free flu jab. So went into new doc and to cut a long story short, someone from my old practice has written 'consider influenza vaccination - in high risk group' without giving any indication of what high risk group they considered me to be in. No-one could see why that note was there. I mentioned this to my old practice last year but instead of fixing it, they just hit the button to say I declined the jab, which I didn't. Hopefully new practice is going to get my records right... But yeah, I'm not a habitual doctor-botherer... but I worry if something important happens, no one's going to properly listen.