Total Solution Becky Does Exante....

TexMexBex

Member
So having proudly worn a size 12 dress on my birthday last November weighing in at 12st 8lb, I am now almost back at the start of my weightloss journey.

I started at 15st 4lb and went with weight watchers on the propoints plan, which was amazing as it was so easy to point up convenience foods (boots meal deals and the like) as I work full time and I am a full time student in the evenings. I lost a good amount of weight and really dedicated myself to it, however with the 'great weight watchers collapse' (as I like to call it) I was left with no guidance or security from the plan. Smart points didn't work for me as I wasn't able to commit the necessary time to food prep and needed a diet where I could just grab and go.

I'd allowed for a little weight gain around my birthday and planned to get straight back to tracking after, but then the app went down, the plan changed, it was then Christmas and New Year, which meant my usual foodie trip to Edinburgh, then it was New York for Valentines (I mean American Food!
o_O). So I gained much more than planned for!

I then tried slimming world, which again I found didn't work well with my lifestyle. Then it was Easter and then a trip to the Caribbean (jerk chicken!!
:p), followed by a girls holiday to Crete:icecream: and now here I am, having gained 2 stone :(

So now, with no further holidays or excuses to eat planned, I am going to try Exante. All the food seems pretty quick and easy to prepare and it is known for having fast results if you really commit yourself. I ordered the 6 week breakfast lunch and dinner bumper pack and I have made a nifty excel spreadsheet of all my meals for the next 6 weeks.

This morning for breakfast is the Breakfast Eggs. I have then planned a lateish lunch of Exante Pizza, with their Tiramisu as a light dinner (on account of the late pizza lunch).

I'm so excited to get started as I am fully committed to doing this, hence keeping a diary so that I can be honest about my successes and failures in a supportive community. Otherwise I'd just keep quiet and lie to myself!!
:oops:
 
Goodluck Bex!

:)

Exante is a hard one, make sure to get your water in and did you order any shakes?

What meals are you looking most forward to out of the ones you bought?

Iv got a mates holiday in 4 weeks and hoping to lose 3-4 inches off of my waist by then!
 
Hi, this is my second day! And so far so good! I'm too scared to weigh myself but think I have about 21 lbs to lose. Got a wedding mid July. I don't expect to lose it all by then, but hopefully put a big dent in it!

Good luck, I look forward to reading your successes!
 
Goodluck Bex!

:)

Exante is a hard one, make sure to get your water in and did you order any shakes?

What meals are you looking most forward to out of the ones you bought?

Iv got a mates holiday in 4 weeks and hoping to lose 3-4 inches off of my waist by then!
Thanks Bethiee!
I got quite a few shakes, some came as part of the pack but I ordered some extras also! I've got lots of chocolate orange, almond and vanilla and hot chocolate and ginger, also have some of the smoothies. Quite looking forward to the ones I ordered extra like the White chocolate and raspberry, lemon cheesecake and creamy coconut :p

Also looking forward to trying the carbonara, but unfortunately I've not scheduled that in until next Saturday.

Oh wow! 3-4 inches is quite a lot but I'm sure you can do it, especially as you have a holiday goal you're working toward to keep you focused
 
Hi, this is my second day! And so far so good! I'm too scared to weigh myself but think I have about 21 lbs to lose. Got a wedding mid July. I don't expect to lose it all by then, but hopefully put a big dent in it!

Good luck, I look forward to reading your successes!
Eeek! I'm waiting for it to get hard, as it's my first day I'm obviously running on willpower at the moment. My boyfriend has been kind enough to offer to have a bigger lunch at work and swap his dinners for protein shakes so that I don't get tempted to ditch the diet when we eat together in the evenings.

21lbs is totally doable, I know you've not weighed but sometimes it's easier to go on how you look and feel about yourself rather than get bogged down with a number.

Good luck Ruby- we can do this!!!
 
Thanks Bethiee!
I got quite a few shakes, some came as part of the pack but I ordered some extras also! I've got lots of chocolate orange, almond and vanilla and hot chocolate and ginger, also have some of the smoothies. Quite looking forward to the ones I ordered extra like the White chocolate and raspberry, lemon cheesecake and creamy coconut :p

Also looking forward to trying the carbonara, but unfortunately I've not scheduled that in until next Saturday.

Oh wow! 3-4 inches is quite a lot but I'm sure you can do it, especially as you have a holiday goal you're working toward to keep you focused


I haven't tried any of those first shakes! Keep me informed as to what they are like. I love the banana and mint chocolate ones so far. Strawberry is my least favourite. We have lemon cheesecake and toffee to try tomorrow!

Carbonara is pretty decent, nice taste but I add a little garlic powder and black pepper to perk it up. It's pretty tasty as it is though :)

We can do our goals! Set some mini ones along the way to keep motivated and I think Exante is one of the better VLCD for the variety!
 
Okay so I survived day one! Even with a trip to the cinema.. BUT I'm not going to lie, I did get hungry. I managed to stave off hunger with water, black coffee and coke zero. Although I did have 2 500ml bottles of coke zero which is more than what Exante recommend, however I'm not going to stress about it until ketosis has kicked in as hopefully I'll feel less hungry and not need to fill up on fizz.

So my verdict on the food so far:
Breakfast Eggs- I added some herbs and pepper just to give these a little flavour as they are pretty bland. Oddly once whipped up they are more of a batter consistency and as I tried to have them omelette style rather than scrambled they reminded me a little of a American style pancake. Perfectly edible though!
Pizza- So the dough isn't a dough, again batter like but stickier than the eggs, worked fairly well though but I imagine the reason they say to eat it within 10 minutes is because as it cools it goes a little rubbery, but it's lovely when warm. The tomato sauce on the other hand smelt like cheap tomato cuppa soup when I mixed it up, so I added 5ml of Lea & Perrins and some oregano and garlic granules to perk it up, I was pleasantly surprised when the whole thing tasted really yummy. I think it would be seriously good with some roasted Mediterranean veggies and a tablespoon of low fat cheddar on the top- but not until much further on in the diet.
Chocolate Orange Shake- I decided to swap my Tiramisu for a chocolate orange shake last night. It came out nice and thick but even with the Exante shaker it took some serious work to get the lumps out! It was nice, it definitely had a chocolate orange flavour but it wasn't overly sweet. My boyfriend had a sip and decided the Cambridge chocolate orange shakes are nicer (he dabbled with Cambridge last year when trying to shift a few last minute pounds before his marathon).

This morning I have had my breakfast which was the Apple & Cinnamon Porridge and all I can say is OMG it was good, far better than I expected. It is a readybrek consistency and it does have a slightly chemical tang (could be the added vitamins and minerals) but it is so sweet and creamy. I may have to order some additionals as I've worked my current supply into my meal plan, but I think if I get any major sweet cravings I can swap out my next meal for one of these and it should be enough to keep me on track.

I'm now planning on my tiramisu for lunch today, followed by the tomato and basil soup for dinner. I'm kind of dreading the soup as I've heard some awful things about it, and I only really like Heinz tomato soup, powdered tomato has never been a good thing for me, but we shall see- I could be surprised, right??!
 
Well done Becky - you're doing great! :D

Exante has such a wide choice of products, and I think there's something to suit everyone :)

I don't do shakes - just not my thing - but I enjoy most of the hot meals

......tomato soup being the exception, sorry o_O

My favourites are the curry and apple crumble packs - lovely! :D
 
Yay! Well done for surviving day 1, especially going to the cinema with all that temptation! You've nearly finished day 2 now as well.

I'm glad you've enjoyed what you're eating. I haven't tried the pizza or the eggs so you're doing better than me!

I like most of the shakes I've tried apart from the chocolate one which was odd. I like to soups too although the mushroom one is my favourite.

Hope today has gone as well as yesterday!
 
Glad you are enjoying the food! Besides the tomato soup I've enjoyed everything so far (I can eat anything).

Chocolate pudding tonight was good!
 
I've just made it through my first day too so I'm not far behind some of you! It was more enjoyable in terms of food and achievable than I'd expected too, but lets see how day 2 goes first.

Keep going and good luck!
 
Yay! Well done for surviving day 1, especially going to the cinema with all that temptation! You've nearly finished day 2 now as well.

I'm glad you've enjoyed what you're eating. I haven't tried the pizza or the eggs so you're doing better than me!

I like most of the shakes I've tried apart from the chocolate one which was odd. I like to soups too although the mushroom one is my favourite.

Hope today has gone as well as yesterday!

Thank you! Yes, I got there in the end :)

Glad you are enjoying the food! Besides the tomato soup I've enjoyed everything so far (I can eat anything).

Chocolate pudding tonight was good!

Oooh I can't wait to try my gooey chocolate pudding! Practically drooling at the thought of it!

I've just made it through my first day too so I'm not far behind some of you! It was more enjoyable in terms of food and achievable than I'd expected too, but lets see how day 2 goes first.

Keep going and good luck!
How have you been getting on Spethyla?

Hi and good luck!

How are you getting on? x
Thanks Natalie! It's going ok thank you, but I am really relying on willpower as i'm just so hungry today!
 
Well done for hanging on in there, hungry days are a nightmare but once ketosis kicks in they few and far between! It will be worth it in the end I promise!!
 
Okay so I'm nearly at the end of day 3 and so far so good!

I had the dreaded Tomato & Basil Soup yesterday and surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I feared! It was actually sort of bland, and I was expecting a pretty offensive flavour. I saw one reviewer has described it as 'foamy', initially I agreed with this but the more I ate I decided it wasn't so much foamy as thick and waxy, it sort of reminded me of a potato based soup where waxy potatoes have been used instead of floury ones. I think I had geared myself up for it to be a lot worse than it was, which probably helped me stomach it.

Also I tried the Tiramisu which was like a runny, vaguely coffee flavoured angel delight. I noted that the instructions of the dessert say to add 150ml of water, whereas shakes are 200ml, so I've pretty much decided that next time I'll just add the 200ml and have it as a shake instead!

I'm particularly proud of my progress yesterday as I went to Westfield with my boyfriend, and the drive there was horrendous and stressful. I then managed to get through the outing with only a starbucks Americano (no milk or sugar) and a bottle of sparkling water- while James tucked into a large cinnamon latte and a chocolate muffin, so much for being supportive! I then went to visit my friends to belatedly give them their birthday gifts and had only a cup of black tea. So I'm super proud to have tackled a couple of social situations where eating would have usually been first port of call.

This morning I had the Vanilla Cereal for breakfast which was very sweet and yummy, I was stirring in the water as I added it and stopped short of putting all the water in as I wanted it to be a little thicker and creamier.

Sweet & Sour Noodles
were my lunch and these were interesting. Definitely not a flavour I would call sweet and sour, can't quite describe the flavour if I'm honest but it was pleasant and oddly comforting. It kept me full from 12.30 until about 5. But by the time I got home from work tonight I was starving!

I decided on Carbonara for dinner tonight and have to say I was disappointed. It's not that it wasn't nice, it just didn't taste like carbonara, it also seemed to me like a super small portion.

I'm struggling a little tonight as I'm itching to celebrate as I found out I got a new job I applied for at my current workplace. It's not so much a step up as a step in a new direction and having done the same thing for the last 6 1/2 years I definitely ready for something new. Now I'd usually crack open a bottle of Prosecco or a decent Rioja in celebration but I don't want to make an exception this early on in the diet. I suppose I will have to wait until the 16th and 17th of June when I have scheduled a couple of days off. It is James' birthday so we are off to see Coldplay on the Thursday with his birthday (and a couple of meals out) on the Friday. It works well for me to wait to celebrate until that weekend as my last working day in my current role will be James' birthday, so we can have a double celebration.

I'm hoping ketosis kicks in soon as I am really hungry and with the never ending array of cakes offered up by colleagues it's taking a lot of determination to say no! I have some ketosticks which I'm going to start using from tomorrow to track my progress, fingers crossed I feel a little less hungry and deprived tomorrow!

Thanks everyone for all your kind messages of encouragement and support, they are very much appreciated! How are you all getting on??
 
Well done on the diet and the job! Had the spaghetti tonight and it was delicious! This is day four for me and I can definitely say that there are much longer periods of not feeling hungry.

I'm impressed you avoided multiple temptations! My goal was to be 100% for three days. Now aiming to be 100% for a week.

(A word of caution -the gooey pud was overcooked with a minute and a half, I've since read the reviews and a minute is probably better to keep it gooey)
 
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