Coming off TS

[Yambabe]

I've decided it's time to do it properly.

I've been eating at weekends for the last 6 weeks or so and that's been going OK, but having given it some thought I don't think I've still got the mindset to do TS properly any more so I've been pondering on where to go next.

I've done a fair bit of research and reading on the refeed procedures for all the VLCDs and I'm going to steal the Cambridge option for now I think, using their 810 plan as a basis for slowly adding food back in on a regular basis. I also want to start really boosting up my activity levels and having the extra calories should allow me to do this with no risk to my health.

Current plan is to keep a food diary (I use a free tracker website called Sparkpeople and will also be making notes in my blog to start with) and have approx 800 cals per day as a mixture of packs and foods for the next couple of months, then move up to 1000 cals when I get to BMI 25, 1200 cals for a little while after that and then around 1400 cals which should in theory be my maintenance level.

I have my Exante shakes, soups and bars and I also have some packs that I've ordered from the Avidlite site, I've got low-carb muesli and porridge (at approx 120 cals each), shepherds pie meal (200 cals) and some bars (185 cals). I also have some Slimfast meal bars (210 cals).

Each day's menu will depend on how I feel. I may just have 4 packs some days, I may have 3 packs and a couple of snacks, I may have 2 packs and a proper meal or I may only have one pack with a couple of small meals and snacks.

I'll be using the WS allowed food lists as a guide most days, with the addition of a few extra veg (mushrooms, carrots, onions, peppers and tomatoes) and occasionally some cheese. I'm intending staying fairly low-carb but not necessarily in ketosis as I also intend to have an occasional glass of wine or baileys!

I should still lose around 1lb or so a week so not as quick as I've been so far but if I stall or get frustrated I will still have the option of going back to TS for a couple of weeks to give myself a bit of a boost.

Although my weight goal remains the same at the moment I may change it as I get a bit closer to it, as my actual goal is to reduce my body fat to 25% rather than to depend on a figure on the scales that I have basically plucked out of the air on a whim when I started on Exante. Currently my body fat is around 35% - that's down from a scary 59% when I started!

I'll still be around to offer advice, encouragement or occasionally insults to you lot though!

Wish me luck, I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[Den]

Good luck! I'm in my 3rd week and am aiming for realistic results with a time goal of Christmas to get to a healthier weight.

If you're looking for a good exercise, that is a hoot, try kickboxing. I now go three times a week and you can burn off upto 800 calories in a 1 hour session, you also get to hit things which helps with the frustration issues of eight loss!!

I started that first before taking up Exante TS, but wanted to lose weigh just a tad quicker - it's workin!

All the best.

Dx

 

[Yambabe]

Dunno about kickboxing D, but I already train with an ex-boxer once a week and do a fair bit of ordinary boxing! I even have my own gloves........

I'll be upping that to two sessions a week at some point before the end of this month, possibly more when I get to goal.

 

[claireabelle]

good luck hun, make sur eyou are back to moan, all the best with it xxx

 

[Quak]

Go Yam, you are doing brilliantly and am sure you will achieve your goal xxxxxxxxxxx think you are ace !!!

 

[Myr]

Really looking forward to seeing how it continues to work for you Yam and will follow with interest. Your refeeding plan sounds very well thought out.

Love Myr xxx

 

[Myr]

Oh and Bren,

You are looking terrific. The Wedding Album pics fantastic

Love Myr xxx

 

[Isis1981]

Good luck! i am sure you can make anything you do work for you

 

[Yambabe]

Well yesterday I had:

half an exante shake (100 cals)
half a bag of dietimeal muesli (60 cals)
exante bar (210 cals)
125g pack crayfish tails (85 cals)
mini milky bar (70 cals)
exante soup (205 cals)

which is a total of around 730 cals.

Today I've had:

dietimeal porridge (120 cals)
half bag dietimeal muesli (60 cals)
exante bar (210 cals)
dietimeal bar (185 cals)
BIG prawn salad (250 cals)

giving a total of around 825 cals.

I'm not too worried about going over today as I was so far under yesterday. I did have far more prawns than I really needed though, a whole 250g pack!

I did them in a sort of marie-rose sauce made up of 50g low-fat yogurt, a teaspoon of low-sugar ketchup, a teaspoon of garlic puree and some chilli flakes. The salad was loads of leaves and cucumber with 4 cherry tomatoes, 2 small slices of red onion and a tablespoon of grated raw carrot.

I feel very full at the moment, bordering on uncomfortable in fact. Hopefully I'll walk that off with the dog in a bit..........

Incidentally when any of you get to this stage or just fancy a change from your Exante stuff I can highly recommend the dietimeal muesli. It's choc and caramel flavour and it's bloody gorgeous! A pack is 30g and dry has about 120 cals, I've been having it straight out of the packet as a snack throughout the day rather than as a meal in itself. If you have it with skimmed milk it goes up to about 190 cals I think. I'm actually quite proud that I managed to stop at half a pack each day though, shows that I do have some willpower! (although I was only intending to have half the dietimeal bar as a snack too and that turned into a whole one - oops! Ah well, the time to work on my greed is now I suppose!)

 

[Yambabe]

Oooh dilemma, I've got some calories left over so far today and I'm not sure what to do with them!

Up to now today's total is 645 cals:

half Exante shake 100 cals
Dietimeal bar 185 cals
100g prawns with balsamic salsa* 120 cals
baked chicken breast** with veg 240 cals

*To make balsamic salsa I took a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and mixed it with half a teaspoon of honey, added salt and pepper and some dried minced garlic then put chopped-up cucumber, onion and tomato in and left it overnight.

**Chicken breast was baked in tinfoil with a little water and some garlic and rosemary. Veg was a little parsnip, then courgette, cauliflower and broccoli.

So I have 155 cals left to use up later if I want them, that's loads. Am trying to think what to have, I could be good and have the other half of my milkshake or a small portion of yogurt with some dietimeal muesli or a dietimeal porridge, I could be bad and have TWO little milky bars or a couple of biscuits or I could be really evil and have a glass of wine or a baileys!

Hmmm, decisions decisions....... At the moment I'm full of chicken and don't want anything, will see how I go on later I think. Yogurt or shake is looking favourite at the moment.

 

[justgina]

Good luck with this Yambabe. I've just weaned myself totally off Exante and am now just trying to stay low carb at around 1600 cals which I seem to be maintaining on.
I wish you every success in losing those last few pounds. they are certainly the hardest so stay strong and don't lose the same ones over and over..

Good luck.

 

[Isis1981]

You are doing great! Sounds like fun actually lol x

 

[Yambabe]

Cheers Gina, good to see you are still around (even if it's only occasionally!) and good to hear that you are now maintaining OK.

 

[Yambabe]

I was good. I've just had the other half-shake so 745 cals in total for today.

 

[wannabesize10]

Hi Yambabe,

firstly wow well done on your fantastic weight loss you have done so well, and seem so determine to get to your goal ,

i just wanted to know how you measured your body fat do you have some fancy scales ? as i would like to do this as i am over 10 stone but size 10-8 and it just seems strange as my work collegue is 9 stone and size 12-14 ... so thinking it might help me to as well to find out my body fat , to be honest i'm more a size 10 after gaining a bit of weight but i start exante on sunday and can't wait !

well done again loved looking at your pics you look younger happier healthier what a wonderful achievement ! xx

 

[Yambabe]

Yes, my scales measure my body fat.

I got mine from Tesco, I think they were about £20 so not that cheap but worth it I think cos some weeks even if I've not lost much the fat has changed. I seem to remember Maggie finding some really good ones in Home Bargains for about £10 though, so have a bit of a shop around before you buy any.

They also tell me my muscle percentage which is also useful - as you know it's possible to lose quite a bit of muscle when doing VLCD and I'm doing resistance excercise to try and combat this. It's working too, so far my muscle percentage has actually increased since I've been doing this!

 

[markanderl]

I think mine does the same but I threw the booklet away and have no idea how to set the thing up. Might have a try and see how things go. I am still old school and am no good at these things.

 

[Yambabe]

Ha, by a total fluke I managed to get dead on 800 cals today I think.

So today Ive had:

Dietimeal muesli with low-fat yogurt 180 cals
Exante soup 200 cals
Dietimeal bar 185 cals
Steamed smoked fish with asparagus and "seaweed"* 235 cals

I'm hoping to have a first go at a proper running routine later on so hopefully all the iron I've had today will help!

*the "seaweed" is an idea I got from the meal sticky at the top of the page. Take a big bowlful of curly kale (I use between 75-100g), stir in a teaspoon of stir-fry or sesame oil, add some salt. Spread on a baking tray and put under a hot grill for just a couple of minutes til it starts to go brown & crispy at the edges. Very very like seaweed that you get from the chinese, very very filling (100g is a LOT of kale!) and very very tasty.

We're away this weekend so I may have to do an early weigh-in tomorrow or possibly a late one on Monday. It'll be interesting to see how I've got on.

 

[Isis1981]

Oracle of exante Knowledge

Is it just chicken and fish meat wise that I can eat during refeed?

 

[Yambabe]

Not really no. The book says chicken, fish, turkey, tofu, quorn, seafood and cottage cheese but also says 100g.

I have tended to go more by cals when I did my AAMs, I was aiming for a 400-cal meal so I tried to aim for approx 150-200 cals of protein - that left lots of cals for veg, fruit and milk/yogurt to go with it! That worked out at up to 200g of chicken, 160g of most fish (except salmon, beware of salmon!) or a whopping 300g of prawns.

If I fancied red meat I had it - problem being that it's much higher in cals than chicken or fish so my portion was generally 75-100g, much smaller and less satisfying, that's why I tended to avoid it mostly.

Again now I'm refeeding although I use the principles in the book I go more by cals (and to an extent carbs). The only thing I daren't have even now is bacon cos it's over 350 cals per 100g even for lean back. 2 rashers of bacon would therefore be nearly half of my daily calorie allowance! I'm hoping to add it back in when I move up to 1000 calories, or possibly not until 1200. So it could be a while yet. However, I have re-discovered turkey bacon, only 51 cals per 100g so I'm having that in an omelette tomorrow!

I think it's just a case of learning the basic principles then reading the labels or looking up the nutritional values on the net before you go shopping. I hope so anyway!