Diary of a first timer!

CrazyDogLady

CrazyDogLady

Member
Hey everyone

This is my first time on Exante...and indeed any kind of meal replacement diet at all! I've lost weight before but just with calorie control of food.

However, in recent years my weight has escalated quite quickly due to my love of binging on copious amounts of carbs and sugar in the evening. 🤦

I weighed myself yesterday (Saturday) and am 13st 9lbs. I'd like to be under 10st so have set myself a 4 stone goal.

Planning on an epic holiday adventure in May 19 so I want to get cracking and get myself fit before then. I also suspect I have insulin resistance problems and I've heard good things about vlcd for improving that.

I've been lurking on here and reading the posts which I've found incredibly motivating so I've decided to keep a diary of my own to help keep me on track....here we go.... let's do this!!!
 
Just swinging by to wish you good luck! I'll be rooting for you.

And I totally hear you about binging in the evenings - I used to be chronic for that.
 
Thanks for the good luck messages everyone. 😊

I'm doing pretty well I think - I'd give myself a solid 8 out of 10. I haven't managed to solely have 3 shakes a day - I've felt really hungry despite necking loads of water. The shakes seem to ward off the hunger for about 3 hours and then I start to feel a bit feral for food!!

However I've managed to be really disciplined by my standards and am just adding in some cheese or yoghurt in the evening to help fill me up.

I've also started going for walks everyday so will calibrate how many calories I eat if I do a particularly long walk.

I'm feeling really positive about it though. I can't tell you how many times in the past I was "going to start a diet tomorrow" and never did...or if I did I lasted about 1 meal! But I know I'm on to something this time round - replacing meals with shakes is building some kinda discipline in me with food and I really like that!

I LOVE the exante shakes which is a big bonus! Can't wait for Saturday weigh-in day now!
 
I'm so glad you're feeling good!

I would recommend not adding to the plan if you can possibly help it - I mean, you will start to feel less feral after about a week and you sort of need to get through the feral period. I think by throwing in extras (especially something like cheese!) you might just be delaying your ketosis and therefore just extending your feralness.

Everyone is difference about what mix of products works for them - but if you're getting psychologically needy for the act of eating you could try throwing in a bar or a meal so it feels more like you're taking on food. The other thing I've found (again this is very much a personal taste thing) is that the Exante shakes are really rich. So sometimes what I do is I use half the powder with the recommended amount of water and save the rest for later. And, bam, suddenly you've doubled your meals. That can get me through a long day.

Finally if you're really struggling with three products maybe consider taking on a fourth, at least for the first week or so? You'll still be on 800 calories a day which is absolutely low enough to get you into ketosis. And you won't be jiggering with your body with throwing in random acts of cheese.
 
Thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of cutting the packs in half - the Illusive obvious 🙄, that's a great idea! I'll do that with my lunchtime one tomorrow so that the packs are more spread out and see how I get on.

I find they do stop the hunger so maybe spreading them out will help me keep the hunger away for longer.

I'm not underestimating what a shock this must be to my system too! My stomach is used to being full of junk food and rarely would I let myself go long enough without eating to even feel hungry!

I'm doing a two mile walk most days and hope to gradually increase this over the coming weeks and months. And when I'm a bit lighter I'll start introducing some more strength training. Whilst I'm not expecting to have lost loads of weight on my first week, I can feel that things are definitely going in the right direction and that in a couple of weeks I think I'll have my exante routine nailed 💪.

Bring on Saturday weigh-day!
 
How are you doing with the hunger, CDL?

I totally get about the eating-before-hungry thing. I used to do that - I used to eat all the time, basically for any reason at all, feeling sad, feeling happy, feeling angry, feeling bored. And I think it totally messed with my body and my head.

Something I find useful to think about when I have The Hunger which may or may not work for you, is that I try to differentiate between physical hunger and psychological hunger and the ways they overlap and they ways they don't. Physical hunger comes with actual physical symptoms: light-headedness, pain in the stomach, etc. Psychological hunger feels super real but is actually just ... the habit of eating all the time catching up with you. And I've found with psychological hunger that if you distract yourself from it it goes away again. So maybe if you feel hunger, and it doesn't come with physical symptoms, challenge yourself to do something else for 20 minutes. And see how you feel after that.
 
Thanks @castingnasturtiums - I'm doing ok, I had 4 products yesterday cos I was feeling properly hungry. 3 today and a bit headachey but doing alright.

Totally know what you mean about the psychological 'hunger'...most of the time I'm not properly hungry, it's just after years of overeating its weird sitting down in the evenings and not eating - which is why I think the shakes and bars are SO good for me for breaking that habit and unhealthy relationship with food. I know I've just got to power on through and I was super pleased with myself when the other half was having a bbq last night and I stuck to my shake...I could never have imagined I'd be able to do that but anytime the thoughts about the munchies creep in I remind myself how awesome it'll feel to step on the scales on Saturday and see any number less than the 13st 9lbs I'm at. 💪

Another fab thing is that I'm keeping up my daily walkies! I find it really helps me mentally. Im doing around 2 miles at the mo and when I'm out on my route I have a little daydream about being fit enough to jog the route one day. Going to treat myself to a proper pair of trainers tomorrow 😁
 
@gymbunny yes, you're right! I've been necking the water when the munchies creep in too. I've actually got a funny taste in my mouth this evening so wonder it that's ketosis a-knocking? 🤔
The heatwave is at least helping the habit of downing the water at the moment!!
 
You can also get basically calorie-free water flavouring from Exante - although the actual taste of this varies from "this is okay" to "my wee would actually be nicer right now". If I'm feeling extra hungry I treat myself to some flavoured-water. I think have a taste in the mouth can sort of deceive you a bit into feeling you've consumed something, especially since water itself is so nothingy.

Glad to hear the walks are going well. That weird taste may very well be ketosis - I don't often get it, but I remember a sort of metallicy heaviness back when I first started, and it was late at night so I hadn't taken on a product for hours.

If you're suddenly full of beans and physical hunger is mostly gone - then, yep, you made it! Welcome to ketosis!
 
Just a little note to say it's day 6 and I'm ploughing on great 💪. Hunger isn't as crazy today - I was pretty hungry at lunchtime but had one of the bars and it stopped, so think I'll be fine til this evening. Off out to treat myself to a decent pair of trainers now. @castingnasturtiums - thank you, I'll have a look at the water flavourings as I haven't noticed those before 👍😊
 
First week done - lost 3lbs 😊
I don't think that's a massive loss for a first week but I didn't get off to a great start and struggled a bit (cheese snacking has been my downfall!). However, I think I'm finding my stride with this now - I've never felt as motivated or determined as I do right now.

I have a couple of social occasions over the next month and I'm already planning ahead and looking at the restaurant menus and, for me, one of the most amazing things is that I don't feel remotely tempted by the carby options at all. I think these shakes and bars are giving me a new respect or appreciation of 'proper' food.

I'm quite pleased with 3lbs - I've had a really rubbish 18 months with illness so I always knew it would be difficult to find the energy to start this. But here I am and I AM going to reach my goal.

I intend on sticking to the shakes (3 a day) and if I feel like I'm struggling then I'll just have an egg with some veg or a chicken salad - basically I think a good compromise for me is Total Solution some days and The Man Plan other days depending on how much walking I've done.

Ideally I want to have achieved my 4 stone weight loss (or I suppose that should be 3st 11lbs now 😁) by Christmas time. Very happy to have found this forum - I think it'll play a big part in me getting there as keeping a diary and reading other posts is a real motivator too.

Right...time to get moving and start the day! Bring on week 2! 💪
 
Hey. Well done on the loss and great to nibble away at your Christmas weight target rather than cheese🤣😂.
I think that's a great idea: upping your food on strenuous days. 600+ calories really doesn't lend itself to much physical activity.

Have a lovely day! Sun's out! ☀️🌞🔆
 
Very well done! Social events that you cannot avoid are bound to be difficult. I read someone else's diary here and it was nice to see them going straight back to it even if they slipped. However i think them sticking to a mix of protein and greens on most ocassions really helped them.
Ive got a 90th birthday to attend and then it's my partner's birthday also a month after. Just 2 massive events where I plan to actually engage a bit with regular food. Not sure if this is the right way but my plan is to stick to ths 600-800cals for those days (preferably the first) by only having that particular meal. Im going to only have lean meat (lean fish or grilled chicken should be easy to get in a restaurant, right?) and some garden salad with no dressing. I think that will satisfy curious eyes without getting me out of ketosis.
Have a lovely, sunny rest of the day
 
Congratulations - I know you've probably read about people having bigger losses in first week, but 3lb is a good start, especially because - as you said - you didn't really start the plan properly for about 3-4 days (because snacking will have stopped you getting into ketosis).

If you stick with it, no cheating at all, I think you will see a big loss by the end of next week.

And I'm so glad to hear your head is in a good place for continuing!
 
Thank you all. Yes, Im happy with 3lb - obviously the more I lose, the merrier but anything that's a loss then I'll take it.

I'm noticing my patterns now too, which makes it easier to control the chances of falling off the diet. I find the shakes satisfy the hunger more than the bars for me. I ordered some soups but can't stomach soup in this weather - but they'll come in handy soon no doubt.

Another thing I've done is to put two glasses in my kitchen. One is filled with 56 marbles to represent each pound i need to shed, the other is empty. As I lose a lb I move one of the marbles into the empty glass - so I've been able to move 3 marbles across this week. There's something really satisfying about doing that for some reason 😁

Hope you all are ploughing on great on your exante journeys and enjoying this sunshine x
 
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