Loz's weight loss diary

[Loz1986]

My name's Loz and for the last couple of years, I have been thinking about my weight. It had never really bothered me before - I was fat and happy! But it is starting to bother me now.

About 2 years ago, I started a more desk-based job (I'm a nurse and used to be kept busy running around our huge ward and moving patients around the hospital, I now work as a specialist nurse, see patients in my own clinic and sit at a computer most of the day). I didn't really alter my eating habit so have continued to get heavier and heavier.

I weighed myself in work yesterday and was disgusted to find that I weighed 148kg. I'm ashamed even writing that down. I want to lose weight, I don't really know how much exactly, but I know it's going to be a lot. I need to get my BMI down to below 35 (about 114kg - I'm very tall), other than that, I think I will see when I get there. I currently have a BMI of 45.1.

I see patients at work who are coming in for bariatric surgery who have a lower BMI than me and who are a hell of a lot lighter than me and I find that quite upsetting (I'm not a bariatric nurse specialist, by the way).

I have two main motivations for this:
1 - I turn 30 this year. I'm not going to get down to anywhere near a BMI of 35 by the time I turn 30, but I would like to be well on my way.
2 - I plan to have IVF next year and need to have a BMI below 35 for that.

My third (minor) motivation is that my sister has recently got engaged. She hasn't yet planned a date for her wedding, but she has asked me to be her bridesmaid. I don't want to be huge for that (unless it's a result of motivation number 2!).

My birthday is in October (23 weeks away), I'm not too sure what I could realistically lose before then? 20 kgs (44lb)? 25kg (55lb)? That would bring me down below the 127kg I was for a long time. I would like to be below 127kg - I would be in the teens then in stones! And I know 30's not old, but I am getting older. I see a lot of patients at work with medical problems as a result of being overweight, and I really don't want to be one of them.

I'm not planning on following a particular diet. I just want to eat healthier, cut out a lot of the rubbish foods from my diet (I love chocolate) and I'm going to try and up my exercise (not difficult - it's really non-existent!). There is a reasonably priced gym near where I work, so I'm working up the courage to join there. I used to love going to the gym in school - I loved the cardio machines, and could quite easily beat the boys on them, even though I was overweight back then, too. I want to get back to that sort of level of fitness.

 

[Mini]

Welcome Loz

Between your own plan which sounds very good and your reasons and motivation for losing weight you are well on your way on your weight loss journey.

I think chocolate is a major problem for a lot of us...Once I start I find it difficult to stop

Your post is a great introduction and has the beginnings of a very good diary and if you would like me to move it into general diaries I would be more than happy to and I can leave a redirect here in this forum.

Wishing you good luck on your weight loss journey.

 

[Loz1986]

Hi Mini,

That would be great. Thank you

 

[Mini]

Hi Mini,

That would be great. Thank you

Done

If you need any help be sure to ask...also if you want it moved again at any stage.

You can change your title if you ever want to, by clicking on Thread Tools at the top of your first post

 

[Loz1986]

So, day 1 gone.

In hindsight, today wasn't the best day to start a new diet - my sister had planned a BBQ! However, whilst I didn't eat the most healthily, I know it could have been worse.

Breakfast - 2 small pears
Lunch - 2 hobnobs (as my sister and her fiancé were really late getting to mums with the BBQ). I ended up cooking the BBQ, and had a couple of hot dogs (quorn) and a quorn chicken burger type thing with salad. I only had one beer (I can't drink very much beer, I'm more of a wine or cocktail girl, but everyone else was on the beer so thought it would be rude to open the wine instead) then stuck to coffee.
Dinner - toast
Snack - pear

No chocolate!

I didn't do any planned exercise, but I was up and down the garden hosting the BBQ my sister had arranged, and did some pottering in the garden late afternoon/early evening when everybody else was a little tipsy.

Tomorrow, I shall take a trip to the supermarket and do some stocking up with healthy food. I always end up buying lunch at work - as well as being really expensive, there's not a huge selection there and I wouldn't say they have a particularly healthy selection available. I could go to the main restaurant, but that is the other end of the hospital and is always really busy, so between walking there and back and queuing, I would have used up most of my lunch break. Anyway, I really need to dig the garden, too, and mow my lawn, so that should be my exercise for the day. I have so many veg seeds that I need to get in and I really look forward to all the fresh, home grown fruit and veg I have over the summer.

 

[Loz1986]

I would say today has been a good day.

I spent less than £30 in the supermarket on shopping for the week - including treats for the cats and a Tupperware box (where do the lids go? - I've lost count of the number I have bought!). I so wanted to get some chocolate (I always get chocolate when I go shopping). I resisted, despite going down the chocolate aisle. Instead, I bought a cheese pastry and had it with my lunch. (I know, loads of calories in it, but it wasn't chocolate, so that's a good thing).

I've made my lunch for tomorrow and have just got to remember to pick it up out of the fridge! That's the bit I usually forget on the odd occasion I've taken lunch in. It's not so bad in the winter, I put it in the car the night before and it stays cold enough, but I don't really fancy wilt spinach and gone off pasta and cheese! I was planning on leaving my purse at home, that way I wouldn't be able to get anything for lunch at work or anything on the way home, but if I forget to pick up my lunch, I will be very hungry all day.

I don't think my diet has been too bad today - I think I've had around 1600-1700 calories. I had toast x2 for breakfast, a tuna and salad sandwich and a cheese pastry for lunch and a roast chicken dinner this evening, with a pudding (we always go to my nan's for Sunday dinner). Minimal calories for drinks - I've had either two or three coffees with semi-skimmed milk, otherwise it has been water for me. I actually quite like plain water, so that's one good thing about my pre-diet eating habits. I went through a phase when I was a student nurse, and again when I worked on my last ward after nights of drinking quite a lot of fizzy pop. If I go out for a meal, I'll have a lemonade or an elderflower, but other than that, I rarely drink anything fizzy (except prosecco!).

Exercise-wise, I did a couple of hours in the garden digging the vegetable patch. I've still got some to do, but I was pleased to get some seeds in the ground at least. I ran out of time for mowing the lawn - I'll try and do that some time this week instead.

 

[Loz1986]

Today's been quite a good day, too!

I didn't have breakfast (I don't normally, and know I should, but I can't make lots of changes at once, can I?).

I had two coffees throughout the day, both with a small amount of semi-skimmed milk - I've had other drinks, but they've either been water or sugar-free squash.

Lunch was pasta with a little bit of cheese (about half a handful of grated cheddar) and about a tablespoon of light mayo - I don't eat most meats so am limited on the proteins I can take to work - served with plenty of raw spinach which is one of my favourite vegetables. I almost didn't fancy it at lunch time and considered having something else, but I had no money in my purse. The pasta and cheese was quite bland, but having spinach with each forkful made it taste amazing!

For dinner, I had a chicken sandwich. And I've had a muller yoghurt this evening - it was so yummy I could have had two, but didn't.

Still no chocolate; I think the last time I had chocolate was Wednesday!

I think I might be slightly too low on the calories today?

I've had quite a sedentary day at work, but since coming home, I've been busy. I've mowed the lawn (I used my nan's manual, not electric, mower) and made dinner for tomorrow - couscous with veg. I've only done couscous once or twice before, and that was a Moroccan chicken thing which was really nice. On it's own with veg, it reminds me a bit of semolina pudding or rice pudding or something (yuck!) so not sure what that's going to taste like tomorrow, but I'll give it a go!

I was going to weigh myself at work today but didn't get a chance. I probably shouldn't yet anyway as I only weighed myself on Friday. Hopefully I'll have lost something!

 

[anothergo@sw]

Well done! Let us know how tomorrow goes.

 

[tickettyboo]

Hello and welcome, just been catching up on your posts. As Mini said, you have lots of reasons to lose weight and with summer coming it's a good time to start! I am one of those older people you quoted where being over weight has caused health problems. I'm 61 in a couple of weeks and have severe arthritis in both knees largely caused by years of carrying too many lb's. At 30 running around after my kids I never thought of the future, but here I am facing a total knee replacement in my left leg on Friday with the right one to be done in the future. I had to get my BMI under 35 to have the surgery so have been doing a VLCD meal replacement diet to get it off quickly.

Good luck for your journey x

 

[Loz1986]

Good luck for Friday, tickettyboo!

It's not just the future that I am concerned about - I saw a girl at work recently, about 25 or 26, who was a type 2 diabetic! If it wasn't for work, I don't think the future would be such a motivation, I wouldn't see the older (and 61's not old!) people who have all the health complications of being overweight, many of which create a vicious circle of limiting exercise causing further weight gain leading to further health problems and so on. I don't want my future to be like that.

Today wasn't such a good day. I really couldn't face the couscous concoction I made last night. Instead, I went to the shop and bought a baguette and a cake (woops). I knew I would regret it. I knew as I walked to the shop that I wouldn't be able to resist one of those cakes (they are my absolute favourite) and yet, as I stood in the queue to pay, I picked one up. As I sat down to eat my lunch, I knew that I would feel bad for eating that cake. And yet, I ate it. When I got home this evening, I worked out that that lunch was around 800 calories! 800 calories! That was a normal lunch for me last week - no wonder I've gotten as big as I am. Hopefully, though, now I know the calories content and how bad and regretful it made me feel, that will be the last time.

I had to do some shopping on the way home, just a few bits and bobs (had a wonder around a few of the shops), and as I walked around the shop, I thought 'ooh, a chocolate bar, I've already messed today up, why not?' Thankfully, I had some willpower and instead bought a packet of bon bons. I've had 3 and they are now sitting in my car.

I got home and decided I would have the couscous from lunch. To be honest, it didn't look or smell as bad as it did last night. I managed about a third of it but it was just so bland and the mixture of textures was all just so wrong, so I binned it. I made a salad for tomorrow lunch time so I made extra and had some tonight. I've just had a muller yogurt and a couple of cheddar crackers (only 20 calories each - I had some along with a banana last night late evening as I was starving) and I've got some satsumas/tangerines which I think I'll have a little later if I'm hungry.

I had breakfast today - 2 small bananas. At least I did something right!

I've had 3 coffees with a drop of semi-skimmed milk.

I think I've had around 1700-1800 calories today.

I've been looking at swim suits and sports bras. I was going to do some exercising at home last night (nothing too exciting, just some jogging on the spot, star jumps, that kind off thing) but I'm far too well blessed to do so without a sports bra!

I think I may have been looking at hotels for IVF too much recently - the adverts that pop up as the bottom of the page, of a lot of websites with adverts in fact, are for hotels or travel companies. Ah well, I don't mind the bit of extra motivation!

 

[Loz1986]

After lunch today, I weighed myself...1.6kg lost! I'm so happy! With a BBQ Saturday and a little slip yesterday, and having already eaten lunch, I think that is not a bad loss for just under 5 days.

I've had a good day today. I had an apple for breakfast (that's breakfast two days in a row!), chicken salad sandwich for lunch and pasta with a little cheese and light mayo (I really can't eat dry pasta), some chicken and a heap of veg for dinner - I couldn't eat it all, previously, I would have thought 'oh this is nice, I want to eat it all,' but this time, I acknowledged that I was full (finished the mushrooms!) and then got rid of the rest. I had a handful of bon bons earlier today and I've had one coffee with a little milk. I think that's no more than around 1200 calories. I'll probably have some fruit or a yogurt a little later.

Tomorrow is nurse's day and some of the other nurses are planning on bringing in cake. I will probably have one, I'll just make sure I'll have a smaller one (or maybe they'll all be cream and then I won't eat them!).

 

[Minerva]

Good luck on your journey Loz! Having some good motivations is important, and starting to think in a more healthy balanced way is great! Once you get this sort of thinking under the belt, of being more careful each day, you might develop an understanding of what sort of diet plan you want to follow - and we do need one, for structure and to set our boundaries. I found when I had a relaxed diet plan I tended to go off the path quite a lot with "a little bit extra won't hurt"... but it does add up.

Also - if you don't usually have breakfast - (in my opinion) there's no need to. If you're not used to it, then there's a lot of benefits to having a longer fasting period after the last meal (dinner - sleep - all the way to lunch) and that is called intermittent fasting. It's also generally good for maintenance in the long run. So long as you're not ravenous by lunchtime and compensate, then you're actually cutting calories significantly and also utilising the fat-burn stage of your body when it depletes glycogen over the 12-14 hours of zero intake. I'm doing 16:8, so 16 hours of fasting (most of the time longer) and calorie count the eating window. I'm also sedentary and I don't restrict the foods I have when I do eat - so long as I don't go over 1200 (it's usually lower). I have lost 20 lbs (on unofficial WI this morning ) in nearly 7 weeks. I'm also 30, so, that may give you some indication of what you could hope to achieve with calorie counting generally. You could lose more because your BMI is higher and it takes more energy to move around, so you could easily go up to 1400-1500 as your daily maximum and still lose steadily. I found losses (and energy levels) were also better when I stuck to mostly protein rather than carbs when I do eat, but I don't pay it too much attention, I still have some bread, rice, potatoes for dinner, but not everyday!

Well done on your loss this week, 1.6kg is fantastic! x

 

[Loz1986]

Thank you, Minerva. And 20lb is amazing - well done!

I'm not sure I could cut carbs - a meal doesn't feel right without carbs to me (probably being brought up with an old fashioned diet of potatoes and carrots with everything! - they're about the only foods my family never used to burn) - but I have reduced the amount of bread I'm eating, as I could quite easily live off the stuff. I'm also quite limited with my proteins - I eat cheese, birds and fish and generally don't eat other meats (thought I will have them very occasionally) - I find most fish too smelly to eat in an office environment and I don't really like taking chicken in to work if it's too hot as I do worry about salmonella with chicken.

16:8 sounds interesting and it would basically be how I'd be eating anyway. I never normally have breakfast unless I'm away somewhere or up stupidly early for something (like before 5am), and I'm not usually too hungry by lunch time - to be honest, if I'm at home alone all day, sometimes it can be 8 or 9pm before I decide I'm hungry enough to eat (though I'm usually really hungry by then and pig out) - so I think I eat at lunch time because it's 'normal.'

I have considered the 5:2 diet, which I guess is the same principle really; once I've settled in to my new eating ways a bit, I may start doing that one.

I've not had a bad day today considering I knew there would be lots of cakes in the office - I had a wrap for lunch (about 300 calories) and a slice of cake (about 400 calories). I had to pop out after work so got something to eat whilst I was out (I really didn't fancy pasta again) so had a baguette which was about 700 (!) calories. I probably should have gone for a sandwich instead, but I didn't make it a meal deal and pick up some chocolate and orange juice like I would have done previously. Anyway, I'm not going to have anything more to eat tonight - just lots of water to drink.

I hope the weather stays nice this weekend - I can get on with the garden and maybe take one of my mum's dogs out for a really long walk. It's absolutely beautiful where I live, and quite nice where mum lives, too, so I really should get out more and enjoy the gorgeous countryside more.

 

[Loz1986]

I weighed myself at work today 145.3kg - and I'd had two coffees and needed a wee at that point

I didn't have breakfast this morning, I had a cupcake (left over from yesterday) foisted on me as I was leaving work at lunch time, and I had an apple on the way home. I went to visit my nan after work and did her lawn for her (it's quite a big lawn and she only has a push mower, so I'm definitely counting that as exercise), she made me a cheese sandwich and a scone for dinner and I had some toast a little later on. I don't think I've done too badly on the calorie-front today.

Got a busy weekend planned doing things for the family; I've got to do some work in mum's garden for her and am going to take one/some of the dogs out on a nice long walk over the weekend and then Sunday dinner at nan's, as usual.

 

[Loz1986]

And it's definitely over a week since I had chocolate, which is such an achievement!

 

[Loz1986]

Today hasn't been a good day. I've probably eaten more than I should have. I think I've had about 1800 calories. I had chocolate today. Cadbury's Twirl. I was expecting to bite in to it and feel as though I'd died and gone to heaven. I didn't. Yeah, it was nice, but it wasn't amazing or anything. I didn't feel the need to go to the shop and buy chocolate. I'm hoping my thing for chocolate has passed now.

On a more positive note, I was busy at mum's today doing her garden for her, so I may have burned a few of those calories off.

 

[Loz1986]

Today was better than yesterday, though still not a good day - it's very difficult when my nan wants to feed us all up on cakes etc every Sunday (as has been the tradition since I can remember). I think it was probably around 1800 calories again today. I didn't get to take any of the dogs out on the long walk I had planned. Instead, nan had some jobs she wanted me to do and wanted me to take her visiting, so I ended up running around after her all afternoon.

Back to work tomorrow. I feel as though I have more control at work over what I eat so I'm actually looking forward to getting there in the morning!

 

[Loz1986]

After my not-so-great weekend, I reluctantly stepped on the scales at work today (having already had a coffee to drink), expecting to have gained some weight. But, I had lost some! I'm now 144.9kg, which means I have lost 10% of my initial weight loss goal! And it means I have now lost just over ! It's a ridiculously small amount compared to what I have got to lose, but it's definitely a step in the right direction and I'm so happy to have lost it. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I think my cheek bones may (possibly) be slightly more defined - though it may just have been that I had caught myself at a slightly different angle in the mirror,
I think my next very short term goal will be to get to under 30kg to lose (initially) - that means I need to lose over 900g (just under 2lb), which is easily do-able this week, I'm sure.
Today's been quite a good day, I've had around 1200 calories so far, but I may yet have a yogurt or an apple this evening.

 

[Bethiee]

Have you thought about getting the odd meal replacement packet to keep calories down? Some of them are relatively tasty, low calorie and low carb instead of following the diet directly?

Just a suggestion! You seem more positive than when you went for your first food shop so you can tell you are looking at this positively and sustainably which is the big part

Goodluck Loz!

 

[Minerva]

The more healthy/ mindful approach is working for you! I'm glad to see it. Well done on your loss so far! Onwards and downwards x