It's time ....

Mel P

Full Member
Hi everyone,

After this past week, I have decided it is time for me to officially move onto RTM. My next weigh in is on Tuesday evening (after missing last week) and I hope to be 3 to 4 lbs off my target.

I have eaten over this past week as I was on a training course and although I made excuses for not joining lunch I was appearing unsociable by not joining in the evenings (didn't on Mon/Tues night but I started getting strange looks/questions). I didn't know anyone on the course so everyone saw me as "normal" and I didn't want them to think otherwise.

Thanks to Sean's food list, I pretty much stuck to 1st week RTM and just had salad (no dressing) and grilled chicken & salmon - while everyone else tucked into starter, main & desert! The good news is that despite this I still managed to lose 1kg this week (according to my home scale anyway).

After being quite apprehensive about RTM, I am now really looking forward to this part of my journey and future. I've registered myself on Food Focus and will probably use this forum as a place to record my thoughts (and any troubles) on the journey.
 
good luck
look forward to reading your posts on here
daisy x
 
Welcome Mel, RTM is exciting if you have any questions please ask away

Good luck :)
 
Thanks Sean & Daisy.

I had my last developers meeting last night, have got my RTM books and am now officially on RTM. I lost 4lbs over the past 2 weeks so now only 3lbs off target which I will hopefully be able to lose during RTM. My RTM meetings will be a Wednesday night but as I have already eaten, I will use Mondays as my "start" date.

I'm a bit sad to be leaving my Foundation/Developer group behind as every one of them has been great and so supportive. 6 of us moved from Foundation to Developers so we have been together for a long time now. The good news is I will definitely be staying in touch and I hope I've made some good friends there :)

I have my first real challenges coming up on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday is a team meal at an Indian, so if anyone has any "healthy" suggestions, please let me know. Saturday is a party with snacks and we all know how fattening those are likely to be! I plan on having my meal before going so I'm hopefully not tempted to snack, but my biggest challenge will be forgoing the alcohol - I know I musn't have anything, but I'm already thinking of a lovely glass of red wine (oh dear :sigh:)

Will let you know how I get on!



 
Hi Mel

Good luck on your RTM journey. It sounds like you have a few challenges ahead!

Indian - healthiest has to be a tandoori, plain rice and salad option. Ignore the breads and poppadoms and pickles as these are loaded, as are any meals with sauces which have loads of Ghee, oil, sugar and possibly cream involved.

i'm still in Developers and will be there for another 10 weeks at least. But have been tracking those on RTM to learn as much as I can about folks experiences and what I might expect.

Be aware of what alcohol can do to your inhibitions around food. Sean and Daisys logs will tell you of their experiences....
xx
 
Thanks for the tip on the Indian t_i. I know the alcohol is going to be my biggest downfall, so I'm hoping I get through the evening with an Adult head on for a change :)

 
Well yesterday things fell apart a bit, but having just logged everything I ate and drank - turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought calorie wise, but the foods where all wrong.

It was a team building day and what I hadn't realised is that my Manager had planned a little walking excursion up & down hills. It was lovely, but it was 3 hours of hard walking and I didn't have any water with me. So by the end of the day the voice in my head was "go on - you've earned it".

At the Indian last night I had Scallops (fried in butter:sigh:) with salad to start, followed by Prawn Bhuna. I only had half the Bhuna, so not a massive portion. No rice BUT half a chapati and a quarter of naan bread. To top it all, I ordered a beer thinking it would be a small 330ml bottle (as they normally are), but turns out they server bottles twice the size (660ml).

By the time I got back to the hotel, I felt bloated and ill and this morning on the drive home, I was full of hatred and self loathing for myself.

I am feeling a little better about myself now and when I think about it, the "old" me would have finished all the Bhuna, had 2 to 3 rather large bottles of beer, onoin bhajis, all the chapati and probably the naan as well as some rice. So from that perspective at least I was able to control myself to some extent.

All I can do now, is try and put it behind me, stop beating myself up and look forward to today as another day.
 
Sounds to me that you controlled yourself OK given the fact of the 3 hour walk. Don't beat yourself up about it, but use it as a learning experience - this is what RTM is all about. The important thing is to note how your behaviour has changed from what it used to be...
 
Well yesterday afternoon was the party. Fortunately, most of the food was on plan, but I still wasn't perfect. I had a small piece of poached salmon with a few prawns and salad, which had I stopped there would have been perfect. However, I didn't ... I also had 6 cherrys for desert, a piece of wholemeal bread and 2 small glasses of rose wine (and they where small glasses packed with ice, so probably only equated to just over 1 small glass).

Although not all the best choices, I am pleased that I resisted the crisps, nuts, cake, cream, pasta salad, coronation chicken and all the other lovely foods on offer so under the circumstances I am relatively pleased with myself.

Fortunately I have no more "eating" events planned for the next 3 weeks so I am back on plan 100% until I head off on holiday - just at the start of week 5 RTM so at least if I have a glass of wine then it will be on plan ;)

 
Sounds pretty good to me Mel - I wouldn't beat yourself up on the whole you've made good choices and stayed in control. RTM isn't 'perfect' in the same was abstinence is as your facing daily challenges and choices. Looks to me like you're getting along fine :)
 
hi mel
the choices you made at the party sound good! don't worry about the cherries at all - and the wine and bread really aren't the end of the world, just don't make them a habit yet!
daisy x
 
Today has been a strange day ... I went shopping this morning to get some more salad and fish. I decided to have some smoked mackerel and have it for lunch with salad. I had about 80g and thoroughly enjoyed it. After lunch I logged it on food focus and was horrified to realise that 80g portion totalled 268 calories alone along with 23g of fat.

Apart from the Indian night out and party, I have been very good with sticking to plan and averaging about 650 calories a day. But this mackerel thing threw me completely and I went to the biscuit tin for comfort (more precisely a Special K bar). I wasn't hungry, I didn't need it, but I stopped caring ... and I still feel the same now.

Today with the mackerel, bar and LL packs I have managed to tot up 910 calories :cry: Deep down I know it's not the end of the world, but what get's me is I thought I was being good and making a good choice.

No more mackerel for me and back on plan but I'm amazed at how "down" it is making me feel. I guess with the party and Indian - I knew it was going to be "off plan" so was mentally prepared. I also managed to keep my calorie intake to 1100 on both those occasions.

No real point to this - just a place for me to put my feelings as I go through the RTM journey. Off to weigh in tonight and my first official RTM meeting so hopefully that will help.
 
hi there
remember the fat in mackerel is good fat - and you should be eating 2 portions a week at least.

i was 'struggling' with this but then realised that the only reason i 'know' about the calories is from being on this forum.

if you follow the RTM guidelines and you have a portion of fish as advised on there, - the calories don't actually come into it. 80g is a portion, so in fact you haven't strayed from the plan at all

its the same with food like avocado - high in fat, but extremely healthy eaten in moderation
again nuts - in moderation, full of extremely important things!!

so, don't beat yourself up
daisy x
 
Thanks Daisy - I feel much better this morning and you are right - at least it was "good" fat.

I have also now officially reached my goal :bliss:. First week of RTM and I managed to lose 3lbs - despite the curry evening and party on Saturday. I am really pleased as I had thought I would probably STS or lose 1lb maybe.

I won't be getting complacent though and will be closely monitoring what I eat as I progress through the weeks of RTM and I am sure there will be many more ups & downs to come :)
 
well done on reaching goal!!!
daisy x
 
Congrats on reaching goal. What a buzz that must be!

You sound like you are doing really well on RTM with fairly sensible and well thought out choices based on the activities in your life. Remember to log your exercise too.
 
Thanks Daisy & t_i - I couldn't wipe the grin off my face last night. I would still like to lose a couple more lbs in the early stages of RTM as I suspect I may gain a couple in the later stages (particularly with a week in Portugal during Week 5!).


Remember to log your exercise too.

The little bit that I do get's logged (including my 3 hr walk last week). I tend to be far more active at weekends - it's during the week, sitting in front of a computer for 10 hrs a day that's the problem :sigh:
 
Rambling thoughts of the day :)

I now understand what Minerva & Sean where talking about how it can become a habit when it comes to the food logging. I started logging everything I eat on Food Focus after I started eating again (15th June). I log every last morsel I eat including an estimate of the milk I use in tea & coffee. I am also religously measuring all of my food so I can get an idea of portion sizes and how many cals there are in things.


Fear ....
At the moment I am absolutely terrified of putting the weight back on and I am dreading the first time I go for weigh in and I STS. After 20 weeks odd of showing a weight loss every week, I'm not sure I'm mentally ready for that yet. All this and only into week 2 of RTM officially - I hate to think what I'll be like towards the end.


Counting ...
I always said I would stop at a comfortable size 12, which I now am, but there is the little voice inside my head saying maybe just that little bit more. I think that may be partly why I am consciously/subconsioucly restricting myself to around 650 cals a day (including packs & food). I expect that next week when I'm down to 2 packs a day and fruit is back on the menu, that will change.


Mind Games ....
I know it's going to take my mind a while to catch up, particularly considering I haven't been this weight for over 20 years, but it is bizarre how I still feel like a fat person - not fat masquerading as thin ... but fat. When I went on a plane about 4 weeks ago and I was sitting in the seat, my first thought was they had made the seats bigger and added more leg room! Just didn't occur to me that it was me that was smaller. I see the difference, as does everyone around me ... my mind just doesn't register it :confused: I know/hope it will eventually catch up - I just wish it would hurry up about it :)

 
Horse Riding

Today I went horse riding again for the first time in about 8 years. I used to ride regularly as a teenager and apart from a brief spell of riding 8 years ago, I haven't been back because of my weight (most ask you what you weigh and have "weight limits"). What a pleasure it was to be able to put my weight down as 10 stone this morning :D

I went with one of the other ladies from my Foundation group and what a fab morning it was.

Not feeling sore yet, but a bit stiff ... I have no doubt the soreness and double the stiffness will set in tomorrow, but that's a small price to pay for a great morning :D and we'll be going back again without a doubt.
 
Mel - that's fab! It's on my list of activities to revive when I get to goal too. I am already planning a weekend away with my sis in November, and riding is on the agenda :D.

Definitely feel good about your achievement!
 
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