JamesR Diary - Man Plan

[JamesR]

If anyone reads this, hello. I'm James. I've decided to sign up here and use this diary as much needed motivation and support. I've been on Minimins before on one of the low carb forums under a different name. I've got a new account as I realised I use the other name on every site i'm on and didn't want people seeing the ins and outs of my battle with my weight. I had decent success before, losing 7 stone but then lost my job and regained 8.5.

My weight is holding me back so much. I'm sick of being single. I'm sick of being big. I'm sick of not having a career and settling for a job I hate because I don't think anyone else will hire me. I'm sick of being the family black sheep and hearing about other people my age getting married, having kids, buying houses, going on nice holidays etc. I always feel sorry for my mum when she meets up with family or her friends and has to listen all of their kids' achievements while having nothing to say about me other than everything is still the same. I'm a nice guy (if I say so myself!) but i've got a massive chip on my shoulder about being viewed as a failure. Maybe it's all in my head, I really don't know. Anyway, today I decided to do something about it and put all the Exante products i've collected over the last few months to good use. I have loads of bars and shakes from other doomed attempts to do it my own way. I've decided to stop obsessing and just follow the man plan. 800-850 calories. 3 produces and 200 kcals of high protein, low carb food.

I have 185 days until I am 30. I spent my 29th birthday sitting in my garden drinking wondering where it all went wrong. Six months later i've achieved nothing.

My highest weight was 26 stone 9 pounds. I'm now roughly 23 7 although i'm sure after a day eating crap i'll be heavier than that tomorrow when I do a proper weigh in for my starting weight.

Thanks to anyone who has read this far. Feels good to vent.

 

[JamesR]

Weigh in 23 13.6 pounds. Ouch. I was 23 6.4 two days ago so hopefully it's mostly water from being an idiot the last two days.

I've had apple and cinnamon porridge so far today which was surprisingly nice. Making this thread last night made me feel like I was already on the diet when I got up. If I hadn't have posted this I would have thought i'll start Exante tomorrow and just calorie count today. I think I might try a shake a bit later.

I've been reading some of the other diaries and seeing what other people have done. Very inspiring.

 

[Silvalady]

Hi James

As a fellow overweight person, well done for taking the step to change your life. All your reasons for changing are similar to mine, I have little self confidence, if I hear people laughing i think their laughing at me, i won't go swimming with my kids, or go to the fairground incase I'm too big for the rides. I won't dance at parties and just sit there earing and drinking, if I'm honest I've got 11 stones to lose to get to a healthy weight. I am restarting exante next Monday 27th, it's my hubby's 50th on Friday so I'm getting the party and the weekend out of the way first. I did start it in January but came off it as had too many social occasions and it's so hard for me to go to a meal and sit drinking water whilst everyone eats. So after Monday I'm going to be a hermit... lol. One thing I would suggest and where I went wrong is I thought if I eat proteins now and again it will be ok, but of course once I eat some food it all went downhill, so for me no cheating and 3 packs a day and that's it.
So although there's not that many people on this forum just make a diary anyway everyday, write your feelings and what you eat, and keep reading others diaries they really do inspire you. Good thing about this diet is that the weight comes off fast which Is what i need, I've not got the patience for 2lbs a week loss on sw or ww

Anyway good luck and keep us posted how your getting along

 

[JamesR]

Hi James

As a fellow overweight person, well done for taking the step to change your life. All your reasons for changing are similar to mine, I have little self confidence, if I hear people laughing i think their laughing at me, i won't go swimming with my kids, or go to the fairground incase I'm too big for the rides. I won't dance at parties and just sit there earing and drinking, if I'm honest I've got 11 stones to lose to get to a healthy weight. I am restarting exante next Monday 27th, it's my hubby's 50th on Friday so I'm getting the party and the weekend out of the way first. I did start it in January but came off it as had too many social occasions and it's so hard for me to go to a meal and sit drinking water whilst everyone eats. So after Monday I'm going to be a hermit... lol. One thing I would suggest and where I went wrong is I thought if I eat proteins now and again it will be ok, but of course once I eat some food it all went downhill, so for me no cheating and 3 packs a day and that's it.
So although there's not that many people on this forum just make a diary anyway everyday, write your feelings and what you eat, and keep reading others diaries they really do inspire you. Good thing about this diet is that the weight comes off fast which Is what i need, I've not got the patience for 2lbs a week loss on sw or ww

Anyway good luck and keep us posted how your getting along

Thanks for the reply, it's much appreciated. It adds much needed accountability to know people are reading. I think all overweight people have the same reasons for losing weight. Years ago I sat at work making a list of all the reasons I needed to do it. I got to about 100 and could have added thousands more over the years. I'm sick of it now. I've been very big all my adult life and I just want to be normal. I agree with you about the 2 pounds a week thing. It's a really depressing thought that every stone would take 7 weeks. Good luck for when you get started.

I've been off work today. I worked Saturday so had today off instead and I thought I might struggle with boredom. It's been ok though and although i'm mildly hungry now i'm quite enjoying imaging my body burning up some stored fat.

My food for today:

Food Kcals Protein Carbs Fat Fibre Salt


Exante Apple and Cinnamon Porridge 202 17 17.7 6.4 4.1 0.88

Exante Almond Milk and Vanilla Shake 200 17.1 17.1 6.6 5 0.91

Exante Spaghetti Bolognese 202 18.3 20.5 3.9 7.2 1.96

Cajun Hot Beef Jerky 133 25 1.9 2.8 0 2.5

Small Skinny Latte – Costa 66 6.9 9 0.5 0 0.2

TOTAL 803 84.3 66.2 20.2 16.3 6.45

I'm pleased with that. I won't make a habit of the latte and I know it's not strictly 'on plan' but it has a bit of protein and came out of my 200 calories of food. You're also allowed 100ml skimmed milk on the man plan so I don't think it will do any harm once a week or so. I fully intend to use the 200 kcals on getting as much protein as I can in future. The lack of protein is something that has put me off this diet in the past. Another thing is that much of the protein comes from soy so i'd like to add as much quality non soy protein as possible within those calories and i'll try and have at least one shake per day as they seem to be based on milk protein instead of soy. I'll pick up some 'protein cheese' from Tesco. It is natural cheese with only 2g fat per 100g and something like 37g protein per 100g. 169 kcals per 100g as well which is good.

I found the shake for lunch quite nice which I wasn't expecting. Decent flavour. Unfortunately I only got 1 of those to try in a box of 50 shakes. Plenty of vanilla ones though. I was going to have a cookie for dinner but came across the bolognese when looking through my bag of Exante products. I thought I would try it and didn't hold out much hope to be honest. The first thing I noticed was that it smelled nice and I was surprised that it made a fairly decent amount which took me a while to eat. I was impressed with the taste as well. I'm not sure how much difference a hot meal makes but it felt more substantial than a bar and I might order more, especially now they do macaroni cheese which i'd like to try.

Decent day overall. I'm now working for the next 4 days so hopefully that will keep me on track. Friday and the weekend will be a big test but I have to remember how much I want and need to stick to this.

 

[Fatimah]

Hi James,

Just stumbled upon your diary, I have also started on 20th feb and the first weekend was my struggling point too, I have managed to stay 100% since 20th so let's see how I do on this weekend..!! how are you getting on?

xxx
Fatimah