Hungry Hippo: One Way Trip to Slendordom

And so it begins: my once of a lifetime trip to Slendordom. Skinnysville. Twiggytown. Call it what you like, it still seems a long way off to me, which is rather why I only plan on going once (somewhat like Alaska).

If you don't mind, I am going to chronicle my journey here. Why? For a number of reasons, including:

a) apart from my flatmate, no-one knows I am undertaking this diet. I simply couldn't bear the interrogation from third parties;
b) so that when I am feeling down I can look back and see how far I have come; and finally
c) in case anyone out there feels the same as I do.

I don't expect anyone to reply or comment. With a board as productive as this, there are many ongoing threads and I will feel no hardship or abandonment if you'd rather play the word association game than listen to my trite mumblings! Even if nobody cares to read, the very knowledge that my weight is public information will inspire me enough to reduce it. In fact, if I could somehow get the BBC to broadcast it on their nightly news I might suddenly become the first person to drop ten stone in a weekend. God knows how...

(and incidentally God, if you exist, and you happen to be reading, do us all a favour and tell us how).

So here I am, waiting for my boss to leave the office before I submit my first post, and dreaming of the day when I can submit my last.

Much love,

Hungry Hippo
x
 
HH, what do you do for a living, because if you're not a writer you really are in the wrong profession!

Have you seen the number of replies you had to your last post? I have a funny feeling that you'll be having no shortage of replies! We're all here to help. We've all come from that place! And there's always someone hanging around here ready to offer some advice, or just listen!

Good luck to you HH, I know you'll be doing so well!
 
And so it begins: my once of a lifetime trip to Slendordom. Skinnysville. Twiggytown. Call it what you like, it still seems a long way off to me, which is rather why I only plan on going once (somewhat like Alaska).

Hey HH
Budge up and make room for me on this trip, I've on day 4 and feel like I need a travelling buddy!
;);););)
I bet there's a few more that wanna join us xxx
 
Brilliant post - you do make me laugh! Great motivation to document your journey too - I to am looking forward to reading your last post!

Gx
 
Um, just one question, what's wrong with Alaska? Only I'm going in September and forwarned is forearmed and all that!
 
Thanks, guys, I really am touched - though I hope by the time I reach my goal weight you'll all be out enjoying your hot new bods in the sunshine!

And Paula (Georgie too), thank you so much for compliment. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a writer?! Sadly I'm not, just an average secretary in an average business doing an average job. I can dream, though!

Hungry Hippo
x
 
Um, just one question, what's wrong with Alaska?

Nothing at all, save for the fact it's probably melting in this day and age! Only that it's a long way to travel, (well, 'tis for me in Dorset, UK, anyway!) so I wouldn't be inclined to go on a yearly basis!!

Hungry Hippo
x

PS - Hope you have a fantastic time. It's Alaska - how can you not?!
 
DAY: 1 DATE: 10th January 2008 WEIGHT: 19 stone something

Aileen Wuornos had a hamburger.
Robert Alton Harris had KFC.
Victor Feguer had a single olive.

For my last meal, I went to Frankie & Benny’s. Boy, did I eat in style.

Is it wise, do you think, on your last dinner before dieting, to eat as little as you can (in preparation), or make the most of it while you can (go nuts)?

Needless to say, I chose the latter. I would love to describe what I had, but it is bound to either upset or frustrate me, or leave me choking on my own saliva. After Frankie and Benny’s I visited another Ben – the kind who has set up home with Jerry. Two scoops and a film later, I drank my last bottle of Coke (from a glass bottle – the kind of expense and luxury usually only reserved for birthdays and Christmas), ate four packets of Wotsits and half a bag of popcorn. In a word: yum.

I have no idea why I ate so much. To get it out of the house, thereby decreasing temptation? To give me an internal supply to get me through the next few weeks? How about the fact it tastes so nice and, though I would loathe to be described as greedy (too many Scrooge connotations), I will plainly admit to being gluttonous. What about the fact I enjoy instant gratification? If I didn’t, dieting would be easier and I’d probably "battle the bulge," and all other weight-loss clichés, with the assistance of a less extreme plan. For me, the instant result of unwrap-mouth-swallow-happiness is a lot more addictive than waiting seven days for my liquid diet to transform me. Nonetheless, I will persevere. Besides, I’m only on day one!

In not giving my accurate weight above I am not attempting to cheat anyone. What’s a little more honesty between friends? (Apparently telling my flatmate I wasn’t very happy she only has four stone to lose is a little too much honesty.) The inaccuracy comes instead from my sheer horror at seeing the numbers ‘19’ in flashing red light before me, and the subsequent backing off the scales, followed by the requisite four-minute self-hatred. Tonight I shall endeavour to brave the scales once more. Perhaps I ought to name my scales, to make them less intimidating - a silly name, like Bucky Allcars or Lucy Waitordye.

So I am approximately thirteen and a half hours into my diet. Whilst the local tap water isn’t quite as sensational as anything made by Schweppes, it’s not too bad. This evening I might spoil myself with a little Vittel and spicy tomato soup. Breakfast consisted of a strawberry shake, which I was relieved to find ssn’t too much like strawberry milkshake – which I fervently hate. I must remember to make a note of which flavours I enjoy, so as to avoid finishing the diet with 273,454 leftover banana sachets. Personally I can’t wait to try the broccoli and cheese soup, although I gather only a small minority would share my excitement. Yesterday I was thinking of all the things I will miss most, and broccoli was surprisingly high up the list. I know that in only four short weeks I can enjoy two spoons’ worth of greens, but that’s a little shy of my usual quantity.

I’m going to miss Coke (please note the capitalisation, I’m not THAT kind of addict). I’m going to miss ice-cream. I’m going to miss bread. I’m going to miss Italian food as if it were my arm. A day will come in approximately 2.8 weeks when I will be 99% certain that tortilla chips are more important than my health, my figure, my self-worth. That’s the day when I will need my friends most.

Furthermore, I am going to miss the occasion of food. I am going to miss the, "hey, come round my house for dinner!" and the "let’s go to the pub and moan about work" lunches. Don’t get me started on how awful it’s going to be at Easter.

Anyway, that’s too far in the distance for me to think of now. It’s hard enough to envisage tomorrow, yet alone the day after. That’s what dieting is all about though, right? One day at a time. One day at a time and one pound at a time.

I only wish they disappeared in similar timescales.

Hungry Hippo
x
 
Hi HH i joined this site and plucked up thecourage to phone my CDC when I read your first post,so i'll be reading your progress and comparing it with mine.Best of luck i'm sure we'll both do great.Suex.
 
Hey the first Dorset person I've come across on here - yay! I started of at scarily close to 20st too (end of July) and now I'm about (WI tomorrow!) 13:5 ish and my size 16 jeans are becoming worrying loose (worryingly because it will mean I need to buy more - I've already had to buy loads of pairs!) So thats 6 stone in under 6 months - would have been more but I ate for a few days over Christmas (apart from that I haven't touched ANY food since I started - I don't do AAM week) and although I didn't put on any weight over Christmas - I've only lost 3lb in the last 3 weeks - fingers crossed for a better result tomorrow!
Make sure you drink lots of water (I usually put away 5l a day) and I think the water flavouring is a god send - makes it much easier to drink, even more so if the waters warm.
I started out on LL and I got told at the beginning on the LL forum that if I was to give up - I would never know what I would have lost next week - this is the one bit of wisdom that I keep at the back of my mind all the time - feel free to use it too!

MM x
 
I agree with everyone else, I can't wait to read more posts from you as you have fantastic success on CD - I'm sure with your attitude you'll do fantastically well x

Corinne x
 
What lovely posts you have HH. Can't wait to read of your progress. I am sure, absolutely positive even, that you WILL succeed on this. xxx
 
For my last meal, I went to Frankie & Benny’s. Boy, did I eat in style.

I like your style! Now imagine WORKING there, and getting free food! Some of us are supervisors training to be managers in the hell that is F&Bs.

Can't walk past the hot plate any more!!

Love your posts, stay stong, you'll be AMAZING at this diet xxx
 
DAY: 1 (Again. Maybe) DATE: 11th January 2008 WEIGHT: 19st.10lbs

This is the second (and I hope last) time I begin the Cambridge Diet.

Despite my best intentions, despite the encouragement, I failed on my very first day. However, I prefer to look at it less as failing and more like a false start. A trial run or a sampler. A taster course.
As I mentioned yesterday, the day began with a strawberry shake and continued with water. All was going well. I had a terrible day at work (when don’t I?), but I was looking forward to going home to my spicy tomato soup and cats. A miniature sense of accomplishment kept me going – I had avoided those work pitfalls: colleagues offering me iced buns, the stash of couscous in my bottom drawer. But then I went and ruined it all. Or rather, my doctor ruined it all.

Given that I have elevenish stone to lose (I still haven’t decided my target weight – I guess it’s probably a lot like happiness – you’ll know what it is when you get it), I have a BMI of over 40. Hence the need for my doctor’s illegible scribble on my health questionnaire. Having dropped this form in at my GP’s office on Wednesday, I assumed that by Thursday it would have been completed. I was told that the secretary would call me once the form was ready to collect, however in my eagerness I thought I would put in the inevitable chaser call – for which I felt a little guilty. Other people seem to be able to make chaser calls remorselessly; unfortunately, when I try, I suffer from feelings of timewasting and 'patheticness,' (which is such a lame feeling the word to describe it doesn't even exist).

Upon ringing the surgery I was promptly told that my doctor would only sign if I paid £30 for the privilege. Even then, if the doctor reviewed my medical history and decided to see me first, that figure would raise to £50. £50 for the pleasure of dieting! The receptionist, who clearly did not want to talk to me, and whose work I empathise with, declared that as the Cambridge Diet was not an "NHS approved" diet, I had to pay charges for all and any work undertaken in connection with my choice. How outrageous! Do GPs receive a commission for each patient they refer to the NHS scheme? Do the top ministers at the Department of Health receive an extra Bentley per ten clients referred to NHS approved programmes? Don’t the NHS incorrectly diagnose and "treat" thousands of patients per year, thus proving their expertise to be less than infallible?

My initial instinct was to tell the receptionist how much more I would cost the NHS if I continued to remain a "fattie" and had a heart attack, a triple by-pass and months of post-coronary care. Solicitors will charge as little as £7 for a measly signature. How is a fee of £30 justifiable? Is my doctor money-sucking or is this a common practice? Either way, I think it’s wrong. Anyway, whilst these thoughts were running through my overloaded and chocolate-prohibited brain, it was all I could do on the phone to feebly say thank you and hang up – and then promptly burst into tears.

Let’s be honest: we love the diet, we love the rapidity, but we don’t love the cost. It’s not the cheapest way to lose weight. With the addition of a £30/£50 doctor’s fee, I wasn’t entirely sure I could do it. Not that I can’t afford to, I can (at a stretch), but… and I hate to sound like a headmaster… it’s the principle of the matter!

I pondered this dilemma on my bus ride home. Uncertain, I got home and sat in front of a box of chocolate fingers, waiting for a sign. At which point my Dad phoned to tell me he’d had to have his cat put to sleep. And that was the end of my eighteen hour diet.

Furthermore, all that water inspired an urgent need to run to the bathroom, when I found my period had arrived in a blaze of glory. Well, they do say these things come in threes. Maybe that’s why I had three slices of pizza. Three slices of garlic bread. And twenty four chocolate fingers – that’s eight times three. Did I have three times the guilt? No. I had none. I felt that my every thought, emotion and mouthful were one hundred percent justified. I felt sad and pained, and comforted by my food – and, for maybe the first time ever, I felt that was okay. I didn’t feel I was harming my good intentions, or myself. I felt I got exactly what I needed.

Today I restarted the diet. I welcomed my Friday with a chocolate shake (not bad, but hardly a pain au chocolat) and a pint of water. I came to work, and am currently sitting at my desk, not entirely sure whether my diet has restarted or not. Until I resolve the issue with the doctor, I suppose not, as my counsellor will (rightfully so – I must reluctantly say) not provide me with any more sachets. My current pack will only last until next Wednesday.

What to do?

Whatever happens, I am glad that I don’t hate myself for eating last night. I’m glad that I retained a feeling of comfort and reassurance. I’m glad there are some luxuries a doctor can’t charge you for.

Hungry Hippo
x


One more thing: Rest In Peace, Lucky. A wonderful boy with a wonderul character.
 
Oh hun! Thats absolutely awful! *big hugs*
I comepletely sympathise with you and its no wonder you gave in and had some food.
Is there no way you can find another doctor who will sign it without charging you. Most doctors sign without any problems.
I'm so sorry yesterday was so bad! *HUGE HUGS!*
 
My GP charged me - and it's not uncommon I'm afraid (can be up to £150 I believe). Seems particularly galling given that you're trying to improve your health.
 
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