Cerulean's Maintenance Diary - 20 wks of SSing - Maintaining since 25/07/11

Cerulean

Silver Member
Hello, I'm back! I've been lurking for a few weeks and I don't really recognise anyone! I did LL in 2007 and lost 8 stone and eventually put 7 of that back on. So this year I started CD for the 3rd time (I managed 10 weeks in 2009 and got down to 12.5 stone from 15.5 stone) and a few weeks last year until I decided it wasn'tthe right time for me...for lots of different reasons mainly because I needed to be mega sociable for a lot of last year. Anyway, here I am...I've done 4 and a bit weeks 100% and have almost lost 2 stone.

I'm in a play next week so that's a new one on me! Never SSed whilst being on stage before.

I have a blog where you can see the whole gory story if you want...and also have a look at how my first 4 weeks of getting back into it have gone. To be honest, it's as hard as you think it is.

Tonight's a bit of a toughie and a first, as I've just done an audition which means I'm riding high on adrenaline and I would normally wind down with some booze or some food...but I can't...and not even chamomile tea :((( - ugh what a palaver.

Anyway - I just want to show you that you can do it once, and again, and again until you get it right...I'm not giving up this time. Really not!
 
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I remember you Hun..I've been a long time (mainly)lurker/poster so I tend to remember all the old posters. Well done on your loss so far and never, ever give up. I've been on CD too many times to count and have hopefully conquered it this time - I've lost 201lbs and have 9lbs to go..yay!! Good luck, I look forward to seeing how you get on xx
 
LOL, I remember you too - or at least, I recognise your name!

:welcome: back hun - and well done on getting to week 5 already - and 2 stones down! :happy096:
 
So the last day of week 5

So the last two days have been busy. All day Monday was in the theatre - 12 hours in total, painting the set and repeating scenes sometimes 15 times (!) for the technical cues. Last night was opening night. Very odd not to have a little drink afterwards. Monday was surprisingly easy...the pub has a massive cloche over a pile of scotch eggs and pork pies...my favourite sort of food in the world but they remain quite easy to resist as I can just defer the pleasure and remember what they taste like, remind myself how awful my stomach would feel if I ate one and think about how well I've done so quickly so far. What I hadn't counted on was the director insisting several times that I eat during the breaks - and then I realised that he must have twigged that I've suddenly lost a lot of weight and must be suspecting the worst! I don't really want to explain the diet to my cast members as what we're doing is fairly physical (my part is not quite so physical, but we are standing around and moving about for hours in a very hot theatre and I have a lot of vocal stuff to do) and the diet requires a lot of careful explanation and we have a medically trained person in the cast who has a very lack and white view of things. So I put my heebie jeebies around food down to the fact that I'm on a diet that means I have to avoid all sugar so I can't eat pre-prepared food in case it has sugar in it. Which I suppose is kinda true! There are sort of two schools of thought with actors, one side like to be very social and boozy and foody (the side I got into last year!) and the other are very pure during a production run - no late nights and pizzas - what you're doing is very demanding. It's kind of interesting to not be able to quell my nerves with sugary drinks and calm down the adrenaline rush with a drink afterwards. I lost 3lbs overnight - I suspect cos the lights are so hot....Oh the worst thing during the dress rehearsal/tech day was that someone picked up my big water bottle and walked off with it (and there's a lurgy going around so i didn't want to drink from anyone else's) so I did 5 hours dry with no access to water - I still feel dehydrated!

Still...it's nice to know I'm a week away from my happier weight range...

And hello to people who remember my name from the olden days!
 
The final curtain

So - in an hour's time I have to set off for the theatre for my second to last warm-up and the first of two shows today...all week I have managed to avoid the dreaded dome of scotch eggs and not drink or eat, despite sweets and biscuits and all the sugary treats the other actors use to share and be sociable (and get sudden rushes of energy). As I am out all day in a place where it wouldn't be hygenic to make food packs (seriously, the theatre dressing rooms MING - and after a week of 6 men and 7 women being crammed into them, boy are they foisty), I've got two in this morning (foodpacks that is) and I'll take a tetra out for tea.

Last night was interesting. I've just been running off after the curtain comes down, not hanging around for the inevitable offers of drinks, but as it was Friday I stayed for an hour chatting and socialising with the nice people who were saying lovely things about my acting (and who doesn't want to hand round to hear that?) but it was hard explaining that I couldn't drink. Even confessing to a friend that I was on a strict diet mean that she just said 'Oh then have vodka lime and soda then' or 'what about a gin and slimline?' I just said 'If I have one I'll want more so I'll stick to soft drinks I think'.

Friday night is traditionally kebab night for my theatre company...the director looked really sad when I said I wouldn't stick around...thing is I guess with all the running around I'm doing this week, some grilled chicken and plain salad would have been fine, but I figured - why would I want to spend a fiver on some grilled chicken and some salad I don't particularly want (and be in danger of snaffling flatbreads as well) just to be sociable. I can be sociable in a few months, right now I have other priorities.

I had some fantastic compliments on my acting - and I really really want to make the most of this. I am going to make a complete go of it. I've been looking around for casting calls and thinking of getting extras work just to get back into the being around cameras kind of jig...just hanging back for a couple of months to get down to a 12-14 so I'm not stuck doing busty tart wif a heart character parts!

Er - sure I had something else I wanted to say - ah well - have smashing Saturdays...the readthrough for the next play I'm auditioning for is tomorrow...which is interesting as it is on the Marathon course!!! I shall have to cross the course somehow as it'll be round the time the people at the back are passing by! One day son - that'll be me!
 
Phew!

I have no idea how I did today...I did a pitch perfect performance at the matinee - all my friends had come to see me and I rushed up to see them in my break. But I couldn't deal with talking to them. Listening, fine, but conversation and explaining - made me irritable. I suspect its the mental drain of having to concentrate and having been only around the cast for the last two weeks - suddenly switching from superficial, witty banter with relative strangers to life stuff with people who've known me for years...bit of a major leap.

Also, fool that I am, I forgot my tetra so it's only now at 4 in the morning after a smooth but fraught nightbus journey home that I've managed my final food pack.

I had a headache and energy slump in the middle of the evening performance once I'd done my most important bits of the play and I didn't think I'd make it to the cast party...but I did and eventually by 2am we'd done the presentations, I was the only person not drinking. I was offered everything from champagne to slice after slice of pizza. I panged after the pizza and stared at it a lot but kept thinking 'It's supermarket pizza, you never buy it for yourself so why would you even want a slice?'

It was a bit of a battle, but I just kept thinking about my next weigh in on Mon or Tues - after a week off from weighing-in due to being in the play and good losses, my 2 week WI would be something like a 9lbs loss (yes I do weigh myself every day, always have) so I just focused on my CDC's pleased reaction and my glowing goody goodyness. Am such a girlie swot!

To get through the 3 hours of party, I had two small bottles of zero drinks, they helped me massively...I think I might have had to bail before the presentations which I was so glad I was part of...

It's been a wild ride doing this on SS for most of the rehearsal period, but hey - if I can stick it through this, I'm doing way better than my other attempts since the first time round - am v proud.

And now sleep...

zzzzzzzzzzzz
 
6 week WI tonight - quite excited! Pretty sure I've officially lost 2 stone...just wish I didn't feel so bunged up and rubbish - and work will be quite busy today, I think. Ah well - onwards and downwards! :)
 
Soooo - 6 week WI tonight - I've lost 7lbs since my last Tuesday WI before the play 2 weeks ago.

A total of 29lbs gone...2st 1lb in 6 weeks...a perfect stone in the last 4 weeks! Uncanny!

Only downer is I think my CDC measures me funny - have lost absolutely no inches in 2 weeks WHICH CAN'T BE RIGHT!!!! as I'm definitely down an entire dress size now. May have to start measuring myself!

Even better, it's not even 6 weeks since I started the diet...not bad for 5 weeks 5 days ;) my own official home WI is on Thursday morning.
 
LOL, you've obviously lost weight from the parts that she didn't measure! :D

Well done hun - that's a brilliant result! :happy096:
 
well done on the weight loss hun your doing so well:)x
 
Heh Lily...that's exactly what she said! And thanks Mum of five...gosh - you're flying towards your goal! Sort of the same speed as me but lower down the scales...

Today I realised that I'm only 3 weeks or so away from having done 365 days of abstinence over 4 and a quarter years. Yikes. Not to mention the fact that by the time I'm done I will have lost about 21 stone over the last 4.5 years. I only weigh 15 stone. What is this all about?!

I did a lot of reading about maintenance today. I am going to work bloody hard at getting this right.
 
Hello there...I like a weigh in and my CD journey is a bit odd this time round because I went to Heston Blumenthal's new restaurant the day after my first weigh-in (not sure that's how CD would advise you to go down through the steps, but I had had the table booked for months!) son on agreement with my CDC I started the day after. Hilariously I lost about 3lbs that day because all I ate was that meal. I wish I could afford that diet every day!

So, as I plan to keep measuring my weight forever and ever I decided it would be best to weigh in on my home scales the momet I started the diet, do 6 weeks ago today my home weight was 237.6...Due to the quick loss of 3lbs it's a little slower, but lower than my weigh ins with my CDC...and so I came out today at 209.6 - so that's me in the 14s and with 2 stone off in 6 weeks.

I have no idea how my scales decided to suddenly jump down a lb so it would be exactly 2 stone, but bless 'em, they did!

Also, I am keeping a track of how much weight I lose each day as I don't get disheartened by fluctuations - I just want to understand more about where and when the weight goes. I have some very interesting findings to do with water and exercise - and they're not what you think!!! I shall publish my results in week 10 as I will have three attempts worth of data by then ;)

I walked home yesterday in the lovely lovely sun - luckily ketosis makes it feel cooler than it really is, but aww it was a smashing walk. Happy days!
 
Day - er - 44? Think so. A Good Friday

Well I was up with the crack - I should really have been cleaning and tidying the house, but Good Friday was my downfall last year (a couple of weeks in) so I wanted to keep busy and distracted and away from it all. So I got a cheap train to Balcombe which is a few minutes south of Gatwick on the train. Lots of bluebells and Easter chicks. My only gripe with SSing in the spring is that I miss collecting ramsons - wild garlic. I love it and not being able to gather it when they charge a fortune for it in the farmer's market makes me a little wistful. Luckily this time the largest patch on a public right of way was between two cow fields so there were dung covered flies everywhere and it sort of put me off!

What a glorious day. 11 miles walked - another pound off and I'm going home to see my Mummy and Daddy and brother (ha! I typed "bother") and sister tomorrow.

One small problem...and it really is a 'my diamond shoes are too tight' issue...a friend of mine keeps insiting I join him for drinkies on the Thames. I really mustn't go - there's no way I could convince him I should just drink water on a day like today!
 
Easter without the eggs

Phew...well one more day of being at the pub to go. Dunno how I got through yesterday...I had to walk past the pass of the pub kitchen about 20 times...all that meat and gravy and mountains of roasties....and my packs don't taste as nice here (think its the terribly hard water plus I have special pepper at home) and I forgot my Pu er tea. Whingy mcWhinge.

I definitely almost caved a couple of times...luckily I've booked a weigh-in straight off the train tomorrow so that helped me stay in the game. Also Thursday will be day 50 of 100% Ss so that's a good milestone to reach...and almost a third of the way through. Mind over matter. Especially when there are enough chocolate eggs in this house to start a confectionary fertility clinic.

Did an 8 mile walk down to the Severn and back today. Feel properly tuckered out!
 
Soooo - Week 7 CDC weigh in

The weigh in was 2 hours later than I usually weigh in so I had drunk all of my water and I wasn't wearing my usual 1/2lb dress...and I still lost 5lbs. Admittedly I have walked a good 30 miles in the last week (in addition to just getting about on a daily basis)...

But that's almost 2.5 stone in 7 weeks...and I have a feeling when I do my official home weigh in on Thursday the results may be even better. What a week!

What was even more of a boost was my CDC was overjoyed with the 5lbs loss as I think I was her final post Easter weigh in - she said there had been a lot of slips and giving in. I told her that I had come very close...it's only knowing how rubbish I would feel if I had eaten that stopped me!
 
Beginning of Week 8

Blimey - it's all a bit tough, innit? I read through my first time round diary and I seem to think that the first 8 weeks are the toughest...in fact I seem to remember that back in the day Week 8 was a somewhat notorious week, whether it was down to people having lost more than 2 stone and thinking - 'well that's great, I can slack off a bit'...or whether it's the feeling of being a couple of dress sizes down and getting your first compliments...I dunno - but yesterday - the first day of Week 8 was an absolute pig. I think it might have been being around my eating partner in crime. Which was odd and brought back all sorts of foodie sensations.

I suppose it's back to basics and realising that I need a mini-goal. And looking through my diary I realise that the next 16lbs is the difference from being a borderline 18 to being a borderline 14-16 - in 4-5 weeks time I could be just about doing up my size 14 jeans. Eeek! Also - I have my next theatre group meeting in 2 weeks...I could be heading just into the 13s by then...and then by the auditions the following week, definitely in the 13s. ooh - I've just remembered what that audition might be for....okay - I feel focused now...:)

Soooo - onwards and downwards. Hurray!
 
Just keep swimmin'

So, yeah, I went swimming in my gym. I am ashamed to say that I think that was the first time I have been to my gym this year, but how nice to go back 7lbs lighter than I was last time I used it - but how did I manage to put on 2 stone between October and March? Inattention, I guess, when I exercise 3 times a week and walk to work a couple of times and lay off the booze, my weight stabilises. When I don't it goes on. Simple as. Except clearly not - I really must stop life and colds getting in the way - seriously - a cold can give me a 3 week hiatus in exercise. Must Stop Getting Colds!

I like being fit. I took my rucksack to my CDCs the other night as I had just crossed London to get to my weigh-in after my holiday. As I left I got my oyster card ready and said 'Just so I don't have to fumble for it if I end up running for the bus' (I can see the if the bus is coming as I walk round the corner from my counsellors) and she said 'Don't be running with that rucksack' and I looked at her and said 'You'd be surprised!' and she said 'Oh yeah, you're really fit'.

Oh - my official home weigh in was this morning, so - it was 204.2 - so that really is 2st 6 in 7 weeks. First time round it was 2st 10 in 7 weeks but I started a stone heavier.

Also, I've noticed something nice this time round - my losses are very even. No STS one week, 8lbs the next. I always had my doubts about my LLC's scales!

So it's a 3 mile round trip walk and I swam for about 35 mins. Exciting, eh?
 
Day 53. Yeah - wow! 53 days!

I did my sums and if I want to do two lots of 12 weeks on SS, Day 56 is when I am 1/3 of the way through. So that's reassuring.

Been walking a lot this week. All other forms of exercise involve expenditure. Ptth. I really do need to get my bike fixed up (will cost at least 70 quid) and buy new trainers, but due to my floppy feet I can only run in trainers that cost over £90. Yeah I could whack it on the credit card, but this is not 2007, Sarah, oh no. This is 2011, we are reducing our credit card bill, not adding to it, aren't we?

Anyway, sod this, I'm off up the heath and maybe the rose gardens at Regent's Park. I love the rose gardens.
 
I love reading your posts, you crack me up.

Have a good day :)
 
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