Decided to do Exante

ladybird777

Silver Member
I've tried it all but lately I am my heaviest ever. I lost 6 stone doing intermittant fasting and SW which took me 3 years up to 2014 and gradually have put it all back on and more, partly due to health problems, kidney disease and lack of mobility caused by a bad break of my foot a year ago which still hasn't healed properly and lockdown. I used to walk for my job at least 14 miles every other day but I can't do that anymore. The latest is I have put a stone on in 7 days doing low calorie diet this past week. I was like what actual when I got on the scales today. :eek: It could be fluid cos of my kidneys as my measurements are the same or maybe I misread the scales at the grand weigh in last week. ( am blind as a bat ) but even so it demoralising and shows no loss regardless.

Anyway. I ordered two weeks of Exante to see if I can shift any doing that strictly. If it works I will carry on with it. I've ordered an online shop for my two sons and made sure nothing on it is tempting to me. They will keep treats in their rooms. I'll be back with questions but my only one is how to get off it once at goal and I am a LONG way from that. Right, off to update the bad news on my stats.
 
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I had my weigh in today for my first day of Exante but the delivery is still in transit. It is coming today tho. I have actually lost 10lb my first week doing what I did before which was eating during a window of between 6 pm and 10 pm only and sticking to low carb and low sugar. Am down from 15.2 to 14.6. It's strange how the scales didn't show yesterday but do today. I measured my waist....37 inch on a slack tape and 42 inches on my stomach. My stomach has always been an issue since I had twins after 5 pregnancies back to back. We'll see how Exante goes. If I run true to form I won't lose anything now for a couple of weeks. I tend to get a big whoosh and then nothing for a while. I hope everyone else is getting on OK.
 
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The Exante delivery arrived. I bought a two week box to try it and it seems the cheapest way. It has a fairly good range inside, tho many more shakes then anything else. Some soup, really yummy looking bars and a few meal replacements..like pancakes. As I was hungry I decided to have the cinnamon and apple porridge. The actual pack is not on the website for some reason but I have two in the delivery box. First impresssions weren't great. Despite using slightly less water than the insructions it seemed very thin but I left it to stand a bit and was amazed at how nice it actually tasted. So off to a good start. :)
 
Todays food:-
Apple and cinnamon porridge meal replacement...delicious.
Red Thai chicken soup meal replacement....Not too bad but not my favourite I think.
Peanut butter bar....these are great and I ordered 24 on a special offer deal off Exante.
two eggs scrambled in microwave with herbs.
I've drank a lot of water...too much for my kidney really. Am going to get some water enhancer or Robinson's Summer Creations cos it's too much drinking tap water.

My stomach is rumbling and gurgling. My achilles heel is I cannot sleep if I m hungry. It's going to be a very long night. Tomorrow I will have to try and eat even later.
 
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I've been waiting to be added to the Exante fb group since Tuesday. Maybe they have enough members. I'd have liked some advice cos some of the approved food for the 200 calories mistifies me. ie I can eat 200 calories of skinny noodles.....like what with cos that is the 200 calories used up. I expect it means with soy sauce.Then I heard we can drink Bovril. I have no idea if that is actually true. Also what is the weight loss like with a "sensible meal" each day? Am not going there with that idea at the moment cos I could eat a scabby donkey.

Today I have had nothing to eat yet. Just two mugs of very strong tea with soya milk. Am trying to have most of my meal replacement later in the day. I got through the night with 3 cats in bed with me and sitting up to drink water every hour or so to stave of the hunger pangs. I didn't cave tho and raid the fridge. It helped the online food shops comes tomorrow and so there is very little in there to tempt me. I live very close to the sea and a storm raged all night and the rain lashed down. I quite like nights like that tucked up in bed all cosy. I live in a beautful place. I am very hungry but I am starting to get a taste in my mouth which is a sign of ketosis.

I remember in 2015 I could fast for 4 days straight with no problems. I wonder if I can get back to that again? I have been thinking about how I put the weight back on and why. I think I need to get my head around that. I was maintaining quite well until the end of 2016. My weight stay around 10 stone with little effort. I was walking a lot due to my job but around that time I started travelling a lot.......it crept on while I was travelling. Beer here, fast food there, trying the local cuisine in various countries. I'd come home and lose a bit but never as much as I'd put on.

Then my health issues got worse, first with my fractured foot which has never healed properly due to having foot drop on the foot that got fractured so no walking. I used to walk 60 km plus every week. I hardly walk at all now. It's a chore to go to the shops. I am not sure what to do about that. Am thinking I need to don my big girl support boots and push through the pain. Then I got Covid. I was ill but not ill enough to go in hospital. I was in Berlin at the time and felt safer there than in UK tbh. I had to isolate there and came home, once I was no longer infectious, on a repariation flight into the chaos of UK lockdown. I've been ill ever since. Over 6 months on I still have health problems due to it. I've heard it's called Long Covid and the symptoms are pretty much what I have. I am hoping losing the excess lard will help me feel better.
 
12.15 pm had a chocolate flavoured shake cos I was going wobbly after moving the sofa. It's really nice. Not too sweet and gives me a chocolate hit.

I got an email a sofa I had bought weeks ago was finally being delivered ( what happened to phoning first lol) so had to get my son's to help me put the old one outside for the council. It was no mean feat with an angled front door and very narrow porch area. Plus nearly getting blown away and soaked to the skin. I am really excited it is arriving tho. The old one was a sofa bed that is at least 10 years old that belonged to my ex dh and was used constantly until a few weeks ago. My cats had scratched it too. The new one is a corner one so we can all sit on it instead of having to drag a chair through from the kitchen. I spent the lockdown slowly decorating our living room on days I felt well enough. All the furniture matches now too. It looked like a junk shop before.

I feel very hot today....not sure why. I thought ketosis was supposed to make me cold.
 
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Had a bar...strawberry jam and yogurt crunch bar. It was tasty. Also just had apple crumble and custard meal replacement for tea. Nice but very, very sweet. I feel quite ill today. Headache and shaky. Very hot. Also slighty annoyed all the time. Took it out on a pan lol The replacements keep me OK for around 3 hours then it is a down hill spiral to shaky hunger. I am considering going cold turkey and not eating at all for 24 hours cos I feel like everytime I have a replacement meal I am getting knocked out of the process to ketosis. When I did intermittant fasting I did a full fast on the fast day, despite being allowed 500 calories. If I ate those 500 calories the effect was worse then not eating at all. I just got more hungry. I'd eat a reasonable amount on the non fast day and then buckle up for 24/36 hours of fasting and just have water. Not sure how that would work with Exante. I think I'll push through until Monday and if I am not in ketosis by then have a rethink about how to achieve that.
 
If you are very carb sensitive the bars might be enough to affect you but I wouldn't worry too much-it took me 6 days to get into ketosis(not on exante but a similar diet) where it usually takes me 3. I can sympathise with your health issues as I have a chronic illness and also had covid(in Feb before they were allowed to test random people so it wasn't confirmed but I'm 100% sure it was) and then flu a month later which led to my immune system going on strike and a longer hospital stay.
If you are finding yourself feeling shaky try splitting a pack in 2 and having half at a time but closer together. Also try Marigold Bouillon in between. It does get better.
 
Thank you for your reply Bluebell :) Thanks for the boullion tip. I've got a shop coming tomorrow so I've put it on the order. I do feel a bit better today. I didn't wake up starving and I am having my first shake nowwhich is much later then I normally manage. Ive got an order of replacement bars coming today too. I only had 10 in the two week pack and prefer them to the soup. It's hard isn't it when you are ill? I kind of pushed through a lot...I had to travel during lockdowns in two countries once I wasn't infectious and can remember nearly passing out at the airport. Now my body is saying no lol

Todays extravaganza is banana shake made into a milk shake. The first one I don't like much. The banana flavour taste chemically. However is cold and it is theres so I'll down it.
 
Thank you for your reply Bluebell :) Thanks for the boullion tip. I've got a shop coming tomorrow so I've put it on the order. I do feel a bit better today. I didn't wake up starving and I am having my first shake nowwhich is much later then I normally manage. Ive got an order of replacement bars coming today too. I only had 10 in the two week pack and prefer them to the soup. It's hard isn't it when you are ill? I kind of pushed through a lot...I had to travel during lockdowns in two countries once I wasn't infectious and can remember nearly passing out at the airport. Now my body is saying no lol

Todays extravaganza is banana shake made into a milk shake. The first one I don't like much. The banana flavour taste chemically. However is cold and it is theres so I'll down it.
I'm not keen on banana either. Travelling is hard even when you're feeling great so it's a lot harder when you'er not feeling well.
 
So yesterday I only had 3 replacements. This was more accident then planned as I forgot.

Yesterday's was banana milk shake, a peanut butter bar and a lemon bar. I usually eat something before bed but my online grocery shop arrived very late and it was full of the dried and jar stuff I have bought for when I finish Exante. By the time I put it all away and made some supper for ds I forgot. I've decided to do a low carb, dairy free, plant protein and healthy fats WOE once I get to goal weight or near it and have one meal a day. Am not great with carbs or dairy. I am copying and pasting recipes off various u tube videos o. meals. It's not the best thing to watch when on a vlcd but now am not hungry anymore it's doable.

Today I have had a peanut butter bar and a leek and potato soup. I am not stoked with the soups. I manage to avoid lumps by mixing it with a bit of hot water before putting the rest of the water in but then it went bit claggy.

:)Health wise am not wonderful tbh. I am not hungry anymore but I've got a bad cold now so am craving oranges and for some strange reason watercress lol. I might have a bowl of green salad for my 4th meal today. I made a pasta bake for my lads today. Putting on the cheese halfway through cooking without eating any was a test but I managed it. My next test tomorrow is making chocolate cake for them without licking the bowl out.Just watched the F1 with ds and cleaned the cooker....long overdue.

I seem to be sleeping better. Usually I am awake until well gone 2 am and up again at 8 at the latest. I am getting much earlier to bed and sllghtly later getting up. Good job I've no work at the moment. Tomorrow I am out of quarantine so can go and get my prescription from the chemist. Rock and roll.
 
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I have a cold too so I sympathise. Hope you get better soon
 
Welcome to minimins and best of luck on your exante journey.

It must be so much more difficult when you have health issues so I applaud you for sticking to it.

I'm on Exante and I love it, find it so much easier than any other diet as it takes the food options out so it's less complicated.

I do have 1,000 calories a day so either 3 or 4 shakes then top up with food (mostly) from the approved food list.
 
Thanks for the reply Dolly Rocker. I am on 800 calories at the moment but I start work again on Thursday so I might have to up it cos am on my feet all day. Not sure how it will pan out at the moment.
 
Yeah you might need to increase it, when I was on 800 I was hardly losing anything, upped it to 1,000 and the weight started coming off straight away.

It's just trying to figure out what is best for our bodies, can be frustrating at times but it is what it is.
 
Yes. I don't think I can do a fairly manual job on 800 calories, not with being so ill all year on top. It's only part time at the moment anyway. I have my weigh in on Thursday. I lost 12lb last week doing restricted window fasting so I'll be interested to see how Exante has compared. I am not expecting a massive loss this week as I usually don't after a big one the week before. I'd be happy if Ive got into the 13's but not disappointed if I don't.
 
Yeah I'm the same. I'm due a STS or a gain this week I go with how I've been losing so far.

I'm due TOTM this week then next week I am away to a lodge for 3 nights so if I can stay about the same weight it will be a miracle!
 
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