BordersGirl's Final Phase to Goal - I lost 6 stone!!

Argh! can't believe I missed the breaking news!! Wow!! In the 11's!! Enjoy your Easter break (watch out with the wine you'll get tipsy from the first few sips I;m sure after being in ketosis!!). Enjoy the good food and relax. You'll break that 12st barrier again in no time and be in the 11's again very soon! Very pleased for you!!!
 
Have a lovely Easter and see you when you get back :)
 
Thanks everyone :). The 11 was still there this morning but will be gone by tomorrow due to general pigging out!

So today (first day of my break) was a bit of an experiment in seeing the things I naturally gravitate to off diet. Nothing was off limits and I just had what I wanted, when I wanted it. Started off OKish - I had a small helping of porridge made with water followed by a Biggest Loser snack bar. I wanted a banana instead of the snack bar but none in the house. Then I had a Go Ahead cake slice mid morning but I might have had fruit instead had there been some in the house - supermarket Easter delivery doesn't arrive until tomorrow.

Lunch was a sandwich made with chicken breast and a Penguin biscuit - didn't realise that they had 106 calories for a small biscuit until I logged it in MFP! In the afternoon it started to go a bit awol. 2 more cake slices with coffee and then I had prawns in breadcrumbs with garlic and ginger that have winked at me everytime I have opened the freezer recently (out of my system now!) and southern fried potato wedges in the evening. Portion control is still a problem - I need to weigh everything as there were far too many wedges (looked like a small portion on the oven try but was huge when tipped on the plate!). I probably should have had at least a third less of both that would have saved me a couple of hundred calories just in 1 meal.

Finishing off with my first alcoholic drink since 3rd Jan and the total calories came in at a whopping 1800 (a whole 1000 more than my recent diet rations!). The worst thing is that the carbs are a whopping 230g compared to only 85g of protein. Definitely not a balanced day in terms of nutrition and I'm going to need to find some more healthy choices as snacks in future. I like bananas but even they seem very carb heavy, although maybe they're more nutritious? 1800 calories is just about my maintenance level so where I would not gain or lose (in theory!). Of course I expect to gain half a stone this week coming out of Ketosis.

So MFP is proving useful during this voyage of discovery in helping me understand about choices, calories and carbs. So even though I was a pig today I am now a more educated pig ;) and I hope to process this date mentally to understand the changes I need to make for maintenance. I'm on a complete break so not limiting choice but the way my head works will be useful info for me :)
 
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I think you did really well BG. Also I think that when we have our breaks we tend to gravitate towards bad foods, or carb filled food as thats what we have been missing, once at goal I think you will find that your plan of refeeding and slowly reintroducing carbs and fats, you will balance them better throughout the week. I do really think using mfp will help me maintain or continue to slowly lose after the wedding.

Enjoy your break, I had a damons meal. 3 course (fair enough didn't eat it all) then breakfast the next day, then a carvery, then doritos and chocolate, then we went to seafront and I had an ice cream, tuna melt and dohnuts! That was my break, but I certainly wouldn't be doing that once at goal, but the main thing was the scales flew right up afterwards, but after a few days back on plan, they dropped back again.

xx
 
I love MFP its great for when you think hhhmmm I fancy...I look at cals and think erm...No thanks ;o) its saved my toosh a few times I can tell you. Well done for the break and it does you good to try things and then look at healthier options :) x x x
 
So today was 'interesting'. I started off with porridge - a larger helping (200 cal) than the small (70 cal) portion I had yesterday to see whether it would mean that I wasn't wanting to snack so much mid morning. Pretty much did that. Felt no hunger until just before noon when I decided to have a Go Ahead cake slice (89 cals). Then for lunch at around 2pm I had some French bread and cheese and a Go Ahead fruit slice. Quite quickly afterwards I had that sugar rush and dip / light headedness that I haven't had since I started this diet. Was definitely the sugar in the Go Ahead things I think, and possibly the fact that I was eating refined carbs in the white bread. So I had a cup of coffee and a BL Snack bar and felt much better afterwards. I definitely think I need to steer clear of the high sugar things (I knew that really to be honest) and eat more low GL foods (my plan for maintenance). This just about confirmed that theory.

So after a disaster with the shopping delivery (they somehow missed out almost all of my chilled food so no meat / fish etc for Easter). Well I say that but I have 2 freezers full of things but that's not really the point. They are supposed to be delivering it tomorrow but we shall see .....

So tonight I decided to ditch most of the carbs for my evening meal and I had 3 pork meatballs (mainly because that's what the OH was having and my fish hadn't turned up!) in a very small portion of spicy tomato pasta sauce, and some stir fried mushrooms, red peppers and courgette. Almost like a normal S&S protein meal but I enjoyed the pasta sauce a lot (minus the pasta). I didn't miss the carbs in the meal. And I've just had a margarita. Oh alcohol how I have missed you ;) :). It's given me the munchies a bit just as I knew it would but it was lovely and I'm having another in a minute. I have no clue how to work out the calories in that but I bet they are terrible! I entered something up from MFP but it wasn't quite the same as I had (but cals were equally terrible I think!). Definitely going to be a weekend treat, and will usually be white wine that is not quite as terrible as that's my usual tipple.

I didn't weigh this morning as I forgot (see the minute I step away from the diet the weighing obsession leaves me!) but I will do so tomorrow. I bet I'm up at least a couple of pounds already as I left ketosis with a bang :). If I'm only 7lbs up at the end of the break I'll be happy with that as that's pretty much what I always puts on once I'm out of ketosis.
 
Sounds like another good day, you do seem very controlled still BG, even though you are indulging in little treats you aren't going mad and you are being quite sensible. I am sure the scales won't go up a whole lot more than 7lbs, and even if they do it will come right down again afterwards. xx
 
So this morning I weighed in and the scales have gone up 3.4lbs. I'm totally not surprised by that as I'm expecting a 7lb gain once my glycogen stores refill. I know it's not all fat as I've had less than 2000 calories on each day of my break so far and it takes an excess of 3000 calories or so to gain a pound in weight. I am being a bit more conscious of what I'm having but am certainly not depriving myself at all. Today so far I have had cereal and a banana for breakfast (I miss fruit!), 2 hot cross buns and a fat free yoghurt for lunch although I was the cross one when I realised that those 2 small buns were over 300 calories - I would have only had 1 had I known beforehand, and a cup of coffee and 3 toffees this afternoon. I plan to have salmon, new potatoes (just 3 small ones) and veggies this evening and maybe some tropical fruit and creme fraiche, and some white wine :). Should be just under 2000 calories all in. My maintenance plan involves being a lot more strict during the week to leave me scope to have alcohol and some treats at weekends. I feel that I can do that as if I can keep to around 2000 calories without depriving myself at all at the moment then I think that I will be able to do it as a regular thing. I'll need to weigh in every Friday and Monday I think to check the weekend damage so that I ensure that I'm keeping my weight stable once I'm at goal. Logging in MFP, weighing in a couple of times a week and adjusting calorie intake to rectify any damage will be key for maintaining. I've been far more conscious of what I have been eating during this break than on previous breaks as I've had the discipline of logging everything as I go. The calories in fairly innocuous things can be pretty scary! I've found this break far more enlightening than other breaks where I didn't really count anything at all and when I did it was a mental count and I had no idea how calorific some of the things I was eating were!

I'm not updating my tickers etc until after I've been back on plan for a week otherwise they'll be up and down (I hope!) faster than a tart's knickers :). Hopefully I will be back to where I left off on Wed 18th April (fingers crossed). My next time off plan after that will be for a friend's hen night at the end of May. Might even be nearly at goal by then with any luck.
 
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Dinner was as per plan above and I clocked in at exactly 2000 calories once the wine was poured. I'm ok with that as it's not a 'school night'. School nights need to come in at 1200 calories or less in the main once I'm in maintenance but if I have something like porridge breakfast, banana snack, and chicken / tuna salad and a fat free yoghurt for lunch that's around 600 calories and leaves me with 600 for the evening which if I'm alcohol free should be more than enough during the week. So I could have a meal and a BL snack bar (for example). In theory that should leave me at least 400 calories to save for the weekend meaning that I can have my 1600 calories (or whatever maintenance levels are plus about another 800 saved from during the week making 2400 for the weekend. I don't suppose I'll need that many but it means I have some scope to indulge if I want to. Perfect. Sounds like a plan :)
 
Sounds like you're doing well for your time 'off' BG! All good signs for maintenance which is rapidly approaching for you!!
Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend x
 
I doubt you will have gained much fat BG if at all. You know what I ate last weekend! and the scales shot right upand to be truthful I weighed in at 14 st 7lbs on my scales on monday I am now sitting at 13st 11lbs, so it was all probably water thats whooshed straight back out.
 
Sounds like your doing fab hun, i came off plan for 4 days over easter! loved it but found it a little daunting, i have gained a few pounds but im back on plan as of yesterday to aim to get to 10.7 by 6th may! ideally if not then thats fine too but thats what im aiming for. I too wrote everything down and tried to plan my meals whilst off plan but im not going to lie i went crazy with chocolate and loved eery mouthful.lol! enjoy your break see you back soon, i too am not updating my trackers until next week once ive been back on plan for a week :) good luck huni and enjoy, you so deserve it xx
 
Thanks Sonia, and good luck with getting back on plan too.

So I'm back on the wagon today. Gained 7.8lbs during my week off which is pretty much as I expected given that I generally gain about half a stone leaving ketosis. I tracked everything religiously via MFP and sometimes I was under 2000 calories (earlier in the week) and other times I was a bit over (when I started on the chocolate!). Didn't go mad though - came out at about 2200 calories or so. Realistically I know that means that I can't have put on much 'real' fat as I haven't had more than about 1000 calories over my maintenance weight.

Work was an absolute breeze. Had my shake at 11 as I was in meetings most of the morning, my bar at 1pm and then some cucumber in the afternoon. After this evening's fare I came in at 700 calories for the day and 65g carbs. I have felt fine but day 2 is always the worst for me but generally I start to go back into ketosis by the end of day 2 so fingers crossed it's a breeze this time as it is usually. I'm far too busy at work at the mo to even think about food which is good. I enjoyed my break but I'm looking forward to feeling less bloated to be honest and want get back to my previous weight PDQ so that I can start tackling that last stone or 2. Fingers crossed I can lose my gain by WI next week.

My tickers are all staying where they are as I'm confident I can lose the weight by next week :).​
 
Welcome back! Good to have you.
 
You have done so well and Im loving seeing wehat you are eating on your week off and then getting back on plan its amazing I really think I need to do mfp aswell it seems to be keeping averyone on track - well done again look forward to reading more
xxx
 
BG love your focus! I do hope you sail through today and imagine if you are really busy at work you won't even notice the time and the day will fly by. This is so very exicitng, you are so close to goal!
 
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