Total Solution Samprand's Exante Diary - It's Time To Make Some Changes: Goodbye "Fat Me" :)

[DustQueen]

Are days 2 and 3 as bad as I've heard? lol At least you're almost over the hump now

They can be but at least you still have some of the enthusiasm left that disappears a few months in

 

[Samprand]

They can be but at least you still have some of the enthusiasm left that disappears a few months in

Oh dear, I'm a little bit scared now lol

 

[DustQueen]

Oh dear, I'm a little bit scared now lol

Don't be it's only harder when you're more happy with your weight and there's less drive, but that's a good thing less fat, less desperate, more happy

 

[Samprand]

Ah ok I'm with you now Right now it seems strange to picture myself ever being any less unhappy about my weight than I am at the moment, so it doesn't feel like I'll ever lose motivation as I just want it gone, but I'm sure I will at some point lol It happens to everyone, no matter how much we want it, there are still cravings and habits to fight.

Do you think I will last for a 12 hour shift on Wednesday? I'm worried I'm going to start feeling dodgy but won't be allowed to go home :sick:

 

[DustQueen]

Ah ok I'm with you now Right now it seems strange to picture myself ever being any less unhappy about my weight than I am at the moment, so it doesn't feel like I'll ever lose motivation as I just want it gone, but I'm sure I will at some point lol It happens to everyone, no matter how much we want it, there are still cravings and habits to fight.

Do you think I will last for a 12 hour shift on Wednesday? I'm worried I'm going to start feeling dodgy but won't be allowed to go home :sick:

Hopefully you'll be ok lots of water and take some paracetamol with you x what day will you be on then?

 

[Samprand]

It should be Day 2 if my order arrives tomorrow x

 

[DustQueen]

It should be Day 2 if my order arrives tomorrow x

It affects different people differently you could be absolutely fine but I'd make sure I had packs water and paracetamol with me just in case x

 

[tubbynomore]

Good luck with your journey Sam. You have put your heart on your sleeve and found some great motivation. Long may it continue. xx

 

[Samprand]

Thanks for the kind words nursetubs I thought it was best to be honest about my eating habits as if I fibbed I'd only be lying to myself, and I feel like I can say things here and people will actually understand and not judge or make fun of me. It must be hard for other people to truly understand how our minds work around food, so I don't like to talk about it much with others as I reckon they would think I'm so weird lol

Good luck to you hun Well done on your losses so far xx

 

[Samprand]

Tuesday 10.01.12 - DAY 1

Weighed in today at 16st 12lbs, so the weight I lost before Christmas has came back since my scales have been broken. So I've got new scales now, and that's the weight they said. Urgh back to square one. But that's ok.

Well so far today, I've had......nothing! My packs haven't arrived yet but are due between half past 1 and half past 2, so I'm hoping I'll have my first shake around 3pm, then either soup or bar at 6, then whatever pack's left around 8, then I'll have a bath and an early night ready for my incredibly early start in the morning and 12 hour shift tomorrow So after my 3rd pack today I won't eat again until around 11.30am tomorrow at the earliest when I go on break.

Had quite a busy morning today, went to an appointment with my Mum, and was asked by my boyfriend to pick him up a McDonald's for lunch tut tut! So I got it for him and for my mum (nothing for myself obviously) and felt quite good to not cave in and order something for myself, especially when they say "anything else?..." it would have been so easy to say yeah I want 20 burgers for myself lol but I didn't, so YAY!! Obstacle One avoided Then when we got back to my place about an hour ago mum wanted to go into the shop round the corner, so I avoided all eye contact with the lovely chocolate goodies and crisps etc at the counter, Mum got her bits and I left empty handed. So that's Obstacle Two avoided aswell

I'm going to fill up a few bottles with water and put them in the fridge, and also going to refill the ice tray so I can have a calorie/fat/carb-free munch on them if things get desperate lol

So today is ok up to this point

Both mum and my boyfriend have said today "Well why don't you start tomorrow/next week/next month...Don't you want any McDonald's? Don't you want any chocolates?" and so on, I just keep saying "NO!!!" and am using my stubbornness for something positive for once. It's not a case of not wanting these things, more that I don't need them, although I never have, but now I'm happy to say no instead of saying oh well ok then or yessss more please, another bowl full, another helping, another snack, another chocolate.

So I don't need or want that stuff any more.

Enough is enough.

 

[Alex_1978]

Hi Sam,
I've just read through your diary and I can genuinely empathise with everything you've written.
I eat for lots of reasons other than hunger, as I'm sure a lot of us do, and my portion sizes are (were?) out of control! Doing Weight Watchers or calorie counting was a constant struggle for me, as I was always trying to work out what I could have to maximise my portion size and minimise my hunger!
In fact, a fear of being hungry has been pretty much constant throughout my adult life....which is pretty sad when you think about it.

What's different with Exante is that there are no choices to make - no points to count, no treats to squeeze in, no bargaining with yourself, no anything really - just you and your packs, and I find this quite calming really.
Hunger was an issue for me for the first couple of weeks to be honest, probably because my stomach was the size of a big gaping cave by the time I started! but after a while, the hunger and the cravings subsided, and Exante became a routine - a boring one, and an antisocial one, but a comforting one nonetheless.
And you KNOW that there's no way you can gain fat while you're only having 600 calories per day, so you just have to sit back and wait for the pounds to drop off.

Simples really

Good luck with your first week - get the first few days over with and you'll be fine!
x

 

[Samprand]

Hi Sam,
I've just read through your diary and I can genuinely empathise with everything you've written.
I eat for lots of reasons other than hunger, as I'm sure a lot of us do, and my portion sizes are (were?) out of control! Doing Weight Watchers or calorie counting was a constant struggle for me, as I was always trying to work out what I could have to maximise my portion size and minimise my hunger!
In fact, a fear of being hungry has been pretty much constant throughout my adult life....which is pretty sad when you think about it.

What's different with Exante is that there are no choices to make - no points to count, no treats to squeeze in, no bargaining with yourself, no anything really - just you and your packs, and I find this quite calming really.
Hunger was an issue for me for the first couple of weeks to be honest, probably because my stomach was the size of a big gaping cave by the time I started! but after a while, the hunger and the cravings subsided, and Exante became a routine - a boring one, and an antisocial one, but a comforting one nonetheless.
And you KNOW that there's no way you can gain fat while you're only having 600 calories per day, so you just have to sit back and wait for the pounds to drop off.

Simples really

Good luck with your first week - get the first few days over with and you'll be fine!
x

I think I've had the 'fear' of being hungry too lol It sounds so silly when we reflect on our habits and see them in that way but at the time, it's completely legit to us

That's what I like about Exante, nothing's left for me to try to justify to myself, like having 2 helpings of food and thinking I'll just be extra good tomorrow, because tomorrow NEVER came and still hasn't lol

I suppose the routine and lack of freedom (for want of a better word) of Exante mean you can't really make any mistakes or accidentally come off plan, you're either on it or you're not, there's no way to kid yourself. Did the control make you feel kind of safe?

I'm hoping the weight drops off for me in the same way it does for everyone else, I'm scared I'm somehow different to everyone else and will only lose 1/2 a pound in the first week or something stupid like that lol x

 

[Alex_1978]

I suppose the routine and lack of freedom (for want of a better word) of Exante mean you can't really make any mistakes or accidentally come off plan, you're either on it or you're not, there's no way to kid yourself. Did the control make you feel kind of safe?

Yeah, exactly When I've dieted in the past, I've always pushed the boundaries, guessing points/calories, squeezing extra treats in, and promising myself that I would get away with it. With Exante there's no kidding yourself - you're either sticking to it, or you're not.
Obviously there are times when you may need to add a meal (WS) or eat a bit of protein to get you through a rough patch (and I don't see that as cheating) but on the whole, you know that you're only going to be having the packs, and they do make you feel 'safe' because as long as you have them, you can't go wrong!

Don't worry about not losing weight though - you can't consume only 600 calories per day and not lose weight (unless you had something medical going on, but you've lost weight before so there's no reason you can't this time!)
Everyone's losses are different though, and yours will be different from week to week. It's hard to not get disheartened when you've had a 'perfect' week and you only lose a pound or so, but I find it helpful to remind myself of all the other factors that influence weight loss like fluid retention/TOTM, constipation, exercise and the downright randomness of the human body!
On average you'll lose a stone a month, so it helps to look at the average rather than getting too bogged down by your weekly result.
Trust in Exante and you'll be fine. It gets easier the longer you do it, and it really does work!
x

 

[Samprand]

Yeah, exactly When I've dieted in the past, I've always pushed the boundaries, guessing points/calories, squeezing extra treats in, and promising myself that I would get away with it. With Exante there's no kidding yourself - you're either sticking to it, or you're not.
Obviously there are times when you may need to add a meal (WS) or eat a bit of protein to get you through a rough patch (and I don't see that as cheating) but on the whole, you know that you're only going to be having the packs, and they do make you feel 'safe' because as long as you have them, you can't go wrong!

Don't worry about not losing weight though - you can't consume only 600 calories per day and not lose weight (unless you had something medical going on, but you've lost weight before so there's no reason you can't this time!)
Everyone's losses are different though, and yours will be different from week to week. It's hard to not get disheartened when you've had a 'perfect' week and you only lose a pound or so, but I find it helpful to remind myself of all the other factors that influence weight loss like fluid retention/TOTM, constipation, exercise and the downright randomness of the human body!
On average you'll lose a stone a month, so it helps to look at the average rather than getting too bogged down by your weekly result.
Trust in Exante and you'll be fine. It gets easier the longer you do it, and it really does work!
x

I've been exactly the same as you in the past with regards to trying to push the boundaries, knowing I shouldn't, but doing it anyway. No I wouldn't see adding a meal as cheating either, if it's what gets us through then I'm all for it, and as long as we're 100% (or near enough) the rest of the time, there's literally no physical way we won't lose weight. That said, I'm going to plan a takeaway for Valentine's day so I've got something to look forward to (seriously, I'm addicted to chinese takeaways lol) and it's a whole 5 weeks away, there's a thread for people who would like to be 100% until then on the Exante forums: http://www.minimins.com/exante/249943-operation-dustmuff.html

I'm not surprised it gets upsetting if you maybe only lose a pound or 2 during a week, but it's important to remember how much you've lost altogether

I'm hoping I can stick with Exante, right now I'm feeling good about it. I flipped a coin to decide if I should weigh myself today or not, and it landed on heads so I HAD to weigh myself hehe and the scales are showing a loss already, I know it's probably mostly water loss at this stage but it's still encouraging x

 

[Samprand]

Right, well - I'm at the end of Day 1 now, I've had a banana shake, mushroom soup and a toffee, nut & raisin bar, and I quite enjoyed all of them. I was dreading the mushroom soup so thought I'd have it and get it out the way lol but to my amazement, I really liked it, and I don't even normally like mushrooms. Also had a cup of tea with 2 sweeteners and half a spoon of skimmed milk powder, and a few glasses of water. I do need to drink more though, so will work on this.

There's been a few times where I've thought 'hmm I could eat something now', but to be honest I've not even actually missed proper food yet. I know it's still only early days but I'm happy I've got day one under my will-soon-be-smaller-belt

Work all day tomorrow, I'll be glad to get it out the way. Planning to take a chocolate orange bar and a shake with me, and to keep chugging the water down to up my fluid intake to hopefully avoid the headaches, then I'll have a soup when I eventually get home

Will be going to bed in a sec, to keep myself out of trouble

 

[lulubenice]

hi sam, we've started the same day! I'll keep checking your diary to see how you are going, it'll be good to have someone at the same point as me throughout these next challenging weeks... plus I get the 12 hour shift thing.. I'm a band 7 labour ward midwifery sister and work 12.5 hour days/nights in no fixed pattern. Plus we always get chocolates bought for us and when you are busy and hungry and feeling stressed, a handful of Heroes go down a treat huh! I've done it before combining work with vlcd and it got easier but nights were the hardest, something about being up at 3am that makes you crave comfort food. Fortunately at the moment I'm off til May on maternity leave so I've not got to contend with both at the minute. Anyway good luck I'll be following your progress! x L

 

[Samprand]

Wednesday 11th Jan - Day 2

hi sam, we've started the same day! I'll keep checking your diary to see how you are going, it'll be good to have someone at the same point as me throughout these next challenging weeks... plus I get the 12 hour shift thing.. I'm a band 7 labour ward midwifery sister and work 12.5 hour days/nights in no fixed pattern. Plus we always get chocolates bought for us and when you are busy and hungry and feeling stressed, a handful of Heroes go down a treat huh! I've done it before combining work with vlcd and it got easier but nights were the hardest, something about being up at 3am that makes you crave comfort food. Fortunately at the moment I'm off til May on maternity leave so I've not got to contend with both at the minute. Anyway good luck I'll be following your progress! x L

How have you done today? Urgh yes the shifts, the evil 12 hour shifts lol I get temptation at work too, I work in a residential home, so we have to cook tea etc, today it was beef, roast potatoes and veg for lunch and gammon and fried egg rolls for tea, was so hard to resist. I know I could have had gammon if I wanted to (I think) but thought it would be better to be completely 100% for as long as I can manage. I ended up having NO packs all day as I only got to actually sit down and have a break for a total of 30 bloody minutes today in a 12 hour shift, surely that's not right. My back, feet and knees are killing me I took a shake and bar with me but never got round to having them, every time I so much as even thought about having one something came up, so I've only had water today. I'm not hungry though strangely enough, but will make sure I have my packs before I go to bed

Congrats on the bambino You looking forward to getting back to work? x

 

[lulubenice]

How have you done today? Urgh yes the shifts, the evil 12 hour shifts lol I get temptation at work too, I work in a residential home, so we have to cook tea etc, today it was beef, roast potatoes and veg for lunch and gammon and fried egg rolls for tea, was so hard to resist. I know I could have had gammon if I wanted to (I think) but thought it would be better to be completely 100% for as long as I can manage. I ended up having NO packs all day as I only got to actually sit down and have a break for a total of 30 bloody minutes today in a 12 hour shift, surely that's not right. My back, feet and knees are killing me I took a shake and bar with me but never got round to having them, every time I so much as even thought about having one something came up, so I've only had water today. I'm not hungry though strangely enough, but will make sure I have my packs before I go to bed

Congrats on the bambino You looking forward to getting back to work? x

Day two has been harder that's
for sure, just hunger pangs and headache but I've been good, started with the bar.. chocolate orange.. didn't like it, but fortunately my OH does so he can have those and I can have the other flavour. So instead... I have an emergency box of Atkins bars, they had 1 calorie more and 1g of carbs less than the Exante bar and less fat so i figured it wasn't a bad emergency substitute! I then decided I wanted to save two packs til tonight so I had several cups of black coffee and two cups of bouillon to make it through. Then I had the vegetable soup... my god I absolutely loved it! Cambridge soups always had such a vile aftertaste and I actually really enjoyed drinking it! Now
I'm having a choc shake as a hot chocolate.. it's ok with a couple of sweeteners in... I definitely remember working 12.5hr shifts with absolutely no chance to eat the three packs, like you I usually managed to shove a bar down but rarely got chance for much else, even drinking the water was inconvenient because didn't have time to frequently pee! We often joke we need catheterising and it's par for the course that we don't get breaks, I try to give the girls breaks but that's always at my own expense, the band 7 almost never gets a proper break. Saying that, yeah I really am looking forward to going back to work!! I went up
to labour ward yesterday just to see the girls and I do really miss it! I don't know how you managed not to eat any gammon, I think that would have tested me to the limit, so it's fortunate that I'm stuck at home with the baby and absolutely no good... can't even nip to the shops as it's impossible to 'nip' anywhere now it involves putting on hats and coats and carseats and prams... did manage a walk with the dog and baby in his chicco harness today, only thirty mins but made harder work by the fact I was carrying 10lb plus of baby in front of me! Heres to day three and no headache and hopefully ketosis!! I really want to lose 7-10lb in week one... do you have a goal? x

 

[Stapo60]

Just keep on to the end of the road

 

[Samprand]

Day two has been harder that's
for sure, just hunger pangs and headache but I've been good, started with the bar.. chocolate orange.. didn't like it, but fortunately my OH does so he can have those and I can have the other flavour. So instead... I have an emergency box of Atkins bars, they had 1 calorie more and 1g of carbs less than the Exante bar and less fat so i figured it wasn't a bad emergency substitute! I then decided I wanted to save two packs til tonight so I had several cups of black coffee and two cups of bouillon to make it through. Then I had the vegetable soup... my god I absolutely loved it! Cambridge soups always had such a vile aftertaste and I actually really enjoyed drinking it! Now
I'm having a choc shake as a hot chocolate.. it's ok with a couple of sweeteners in... I definitely remember working 12.5hr shifts with absolutely no chance to eat the three packs, like you I usually managed to shove a bar down but rarely got chance for much else, even drinking the water was inconvenient because didn't have time to frequently pee! We often joke we need catheterising and it's par for the course that we don't get breaks, I try to give the girls breaks but that's always at my own expense, the band 7 almost never gets a proper break. Saying that, yeah I really am looking forward to going back to work!! I went up
to labour ward yesterday just to see the girls and I do really miss it! I don't know how you managed not to eat any gammon, I think that would have tested me to the limit, so it's fortunate that I'm stuck at home with the baby and absolutely no good... can't even nip to the shops as it's impossible to 'nip' anywhere now it involves putting on hats and coats and carseats and prams... did manage a walk with the dog and baby in his chicco harness today, only thirty mins but made harder work by the fact I was carrying 10lb plus of baby in front of me! Heres to day three and no headache and hopefully ketosis!! I really want to lose 7-10lb in week one... do you have a goal? x

So you didn't like the chocolate orange bar, that's the one I'm going to have in a mo lol Think I'll try the vanilla shake and thai chicken soup too. I've read about those Atkins bars, I think a lot of people have them as an extra snack throughout the day, and they stay in ketosis because it's still an incredibly low amount of calories. Oh I can't stand black tea or coffee, and don't like stock-y things like Oxo or bouillon, so well done for surviving the day on them! It's weird to think that with such manic and hectic jobs we even have time to overeat and gain weight, yet somehow, I managed it lol Getting catheterised isn't a bad idea haha! Your job sounds mental, but I'm guessing you probably think the same as me - you do it because you love it

Oh godddd yes all the food was hard to resist, especially the gammon, it was just there looking at me, I even found myself trying to avoid eye contact with it lol Sounds like going out is a bit of a mission, I can imagine! But you managed a 30min walk, that's great. Kept you busy and burnt some calories too. Have you got any ketostix? Mine have arrived today from ebay, ironically I now don't have to pee despite being desperate for one many times at work today. I'm tempted to weigh either now or tomorrow morning, but I'm trying to wait until I weigh in on Tuesday...but I think I might have used up all my willpower on that gammon lol Mmm I could have quite happily just went face-down in the pile of it and ate the lot, that would have been embarassing but worth it. My boyfriend ordered me some clothes which arrived today, they're all intentionally a few sizes too small, so some added motivation. 7-10lbs would be a great loss, I don't really have a number in mind. I weighed myself last night and the scales said 16st 8lbs, which would mean a 4lb loss in one day, so I didn't take much notice, then again, on this diet that is possible lol That's why I kind of want to weigh now, to see if they say I'm even lower, but I'm trying to be good x