Shelly Belly's Bridesmaid Blitz

I had such a milestone day, I just have to share it with you.

I woke up this morning and it was my rest day from Insanity (phew, because I really needed it!). I weighed myself, because I just can't help myself, and the scale said 10st 13.75lb!!!!! I was so excited I did a crazy naked dance around my house. No one in the history of mankind has ever been so excited about a quarter of a pound before, I guarantee it!

Today was my final day of working at the hotel and as usual our lunches were plated and brought out to us. Luckily, one of the interns asked the waiter what we were having beforehand, and when the waiter said cous cous, I immediately panicked. With most Tunisian dishes, I can just eat around the carbs and still have a pretty Dukan-Friendly Meal, but cous cous is usually served with a little fatty lamb and some veggies (often including potatoes among them). The old me would have not caused a fuss, and would have probably just kept quiet, but, excited as I am now in the 10s, I had the courage to go and talk to the waiter privately and he arranged for the chef to cook me some grilled chicken, spinach and courgettes! So kind, and I was so happy. :)

When I got home tonight it was so hot, so I put on some shorts to mooch about the house in. I just pulled them out on the wardrobe without thinking. They were a size 14 pair that I had bought before a holiday to Greece last summer. When I bought them, they were really tight and I actually thought I should have bought the bigger size as on a number of occasions, I had to undo the top button to sit down. When I put them on tonight, without thinking and I looked down, I just burst into tears. They are so loose now. There is a good 4 inches of space. This is the first non-scale result where I have really felt like my body is really changing. They were tears of relief. I finally feel like the misery of my fat-girl days is ending and I am reclaiming my body back.

It feels incredible.

I also cannot believe I ran a marathon two weeks after I got back from Greece, at that weight. Wowza! I was nuts!
 
That is such a wonderful, happy email, Shelly. I may have to run around the house and do a crazy naked dance of my own.

You go girl!!! And well done for speaking up at lunch and asking for something else to eat.

Happy Friday lovely.

Cx
 
Hi, after messing about, i am starting Dukan on the 14th July......and loved reading your diary.....very inspirational and truthful. I have about 2.5 stone to lose and am looking forward to starting. I am also a veggie, so realise it might be more restrictive but i did atkins before and it still worked well for me. Just wanted to say well done though- i' m like you and totally understood your naked dance.....i was ready to dance naked for you too!!
 
:banana dancer: I will be doing the exact same thing when my scales read 15 something, they seem to have been on 16 forever. I will have to pick my moment though as i wouldn't want to emotionally scar my children!
 
Hehe! I love the thoughts of us all doing our naked dances!!

The scales are driving me completely nuts. Completely!
On Friday I was delighted and bemused to see 10st 13lbs. Just like that... amazing! Then Saturday, for no reason that I could fathom (Friday was even a PP day) they read 11st 0.5lbs. It's so dis-heartening. I know that there are lots of changes going on in my body, and I'm sure that I'm just re-jigging and realigning, but it drives me crazy.
On Saturday night I had some drinks, not loads, but enough to make me relax my eating and I ate a load of chicken wings!! I did pick the skin off though... I was at a pool party and there was champagne (a bit of a rarety here) and I succombed to the peer pressure. There was also some really delicious, smooth Tequila. I woke up, 11st 1.5lb and so mad at myself! I have just 3 weeks until I go back to the UK for the first wedding of the summer and there are going to be a million pictures, and I really am working out so hard o look my best, so I was so angry that I had let myself slip like that!!! Grrrr!

Yesterday was a pretty perfect PP day, and the whole chickens are on sale for Ramadan, so I roasted one for the week.

9 week weigh in this morning: 11st 0.5lb
Annoying that I can't record under 11, But I guess I will soon.

Otherwise this week I'm planning to REALLY cut down on the sweeteners. Sugar-free gum is my vice. I chew so much. It needs to stop, not only for the sweeteners, which are un-natural Frankenfoods, but also for the sake of my poor jaws. So that's the plan this week. No gum in the office. Also the good doctors had recommended maybe 2 sweeteners per day? I must get through 20. seriously!

wish me luck!

xoxoxox
 
Oh Shelly, I'm sure it's just a temporary blip, you've been so good till now. I bet if you weigh on Tuesday or Wednesday half of it will be gone.

I know what you mean about the sweeteners, but I have such a sweet tooth I don't think I could do it. But it's the sf gum and sweets that I really have to watch out for. They give me the gurgles like nobody's business!

Cx
 
Hey hey! 11st 0.75 today.
What?!
Annoying, yes, but I feel like there's a whoosh fairy on the horizon as I'm feeling slim today - so I'll hold on to that.

It's annoying. I ate perfectly yesterday, Oat (and a spoonful of wheat) bran Galette and egg whites for breakfast. Yassa Poulet for lunch (which is a Senegalese dish with chicken cooked in onions, and now I think amount it, there was quite a bit of oil) and turkey breast baked in tomatoes with mushrooms and courgette for tea. Maybe it was all that oil! OMG. I'm turning into one of those people from "Secret Eaters" who are like "No, No, I never snack or eat unhealthy, I can't imagine how on earth I gain weight!". Then they are shown footage of them eating a whole packet of Kit Kats. Hehe! I mean, I don't ever snack, but there probably was alot of oil at lunchtime. Maybe I'm a bit delusional and getting a bit cocky.
It's tempting to drop the wheatbran out of my morning galette, but it's really helping (if you catch my drift).

Okay. Enough musing. Just gonna crack on today. PV day and I have some yumbo roast chicken for lunch (and dinner too! lucky me!! hehe!)
 
Shelly my scales go up and down all week and there's often no rhyme or reason. You're talking 1/4 lb which could be a few gulps of water! Seriously don't stress about the scales too much. I've cut down on my weigh ins as they just stress me out and determine my mood for the day. You've done so well and you've only a stone to go so the losses will be less. By the end of the week though i'm sure you'll have a number that you're happy with:scale:
 
Tryin Again, you are a voice of infinite reason!!! I will definitely cut down the weighs. I'll try to stay off the scales until next Monday. It will drive me nutso, so be prepared for more posting on here, but it's the only way to deal with these daily mood swings that the scales bring.

In other news, the trousers that were miles away from doing up a couple of weeks ago (the size 12 ones) - now do up!! I can't bend or sit down in them though, so I can't actually wear them yet, but still, they go on!!
I still have quite a big bottom...

But then... no one ever wrote a song about a small ass... ;) Have a good day xxx
 
Hahahahaha - nice one, Shelly!

Agree about the scales - don't sweat it! I weigh daily but mostly because I don't want to rely on a good result on one day of the week. If the scales have been down during the week but then up on Monday morning (which is what I count for my stats), then at least I know it's just a blip.

That Senegalese dish sounds delicious - maybe you can make your own dukan friendly version?

Cx
 
I had a super delicious dinner last night - PP days had started getting to me... but not anymore!

My littlest sister went out to a Mexican restaurant last night and put the absolutely yummiest picture on ********* and it started a craving :(
Then I remembered that I had some Fajita spice mix in my cupboard so....

Shelly's Fabulous Fajitas (PP Day)
Some chicken (I used cooked but if you have raw, cook it first ;) )
Fajita spice (I have a "Discovery" one, or you can use Old El Paso, just use 2 tsps... or if you wanna make it from scratch use 1 tsp chilli powder and half a tsp of each: cumin, garlic powder oregano, cinnamon , coriander and cayenne pepper)
1 little onion (Calm down Dr D, it's just a "garnish"!!!)
3 Egg whites
A sense of imagination for the guacamole and salsa ;)

1. Cook up that chicken, or if it's already cooked, whack it in the pan with the onions. Add the spices.
2. Meanwhile in another (good quality, non-stick) pan, cook the egg whites one at a time on a low heat into little egg white pancakes
3. Whack it on a plate and get wrapping, for a super-protein, Dukan extravaganza!!

I was so excited last night, I even took a photo...
fajita.jpg

Hasta Luego!! xoxox
 
Yum! Chicken AND egg!

Love the recipe, Shelly, thanks for sharing :)
 
Hey Gang!

Been feeling a bit demotivated - I guess when you have been slimmer, you are just itching to get back to where you were before - I can almost taste the victory... oh wait, that's chicken... that's probably chicken I can taste... ;)

But I need to remember my mantra: "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to achieve, the time will pass anyway"

The scales are moving in the right direction. It's just that I face daily temptations that sometimes drive me plain nuts... and my tummy is still so flabby :(

Anyway - let's not dwell on this - I have been reading some the the diaries on here of people who stuck diligently to the diet for month and months and months and eventually reached their goals. And they have been encouraging me so much. It has been just two months and in all actuality, it's not that difficult to eat like this at all. I'm never hungry, I'm eating real food and I'm finding exercise easier... erg! AND I'm losing weight - seriously? Why am I actually moaning...?!

I talked to my best friend last night about Herbalife. She's in the UK and she was saying how everyone in her office was doing it. One woman had lost a stone in two weeks. I looked it up and did a bit of research and found out that not only is it just a controlled-cal shake of around 100 cals, with about 15g carbs, 1g fat and 9g protein (so if you wanted, you could replace your breakfast and lunch with 200ml of regular skimmed milk and multivitamin and get pretty much the same nutrition), and it is furiously expensive, but it is also a pyramid scheme, meaning that the buyers buy an insanely expensive product, the sellers make no money and you don't even get to eat and learn about real food, so when you're done, you put it all back on again. It made me grateful to have this diet. I can go out and eat, I can socialise, I eat real food and I am not bringing on anyone's economic doom of having to buy any special products. The only special thing is the Oatbran or "son d'avoine" as we call it here, which I buy from a little lady in a tiny health shop here. I kinda love it when I march in once a month and pick it up of the shelf and she says "Ahhh, le régime Dukan, ça marche? Non?!" (ahh the Dukan Diet works, huh?!) and then she winks at me. Hehe! I love that this was a French thing first.

So yeah, sorry for the rambling - some people seem to use these Diaries to actually record what they eat, but I seem to be using it to record the little dramas and moods as I go on this journey.

Ooh! I was supposed to go for lunch today and as it's a PP day, I was a bit worried about this, but my lunch date just cancelled - a sign from the universe. Does this ever happen to you...? you think you're almost about to slip and then something happens to facilitate you staying on plan? The Dukan angels are watching over me... or perhaps it's just the whoosh fairy ;)

Have a good day xxx
 
Good Morning!!! :)

Had a really rough week at work this week and so decided to meet the girls for a drink last night. The bar had run out of coke zero and diet coke, so I just had a bottle of sparkling water! and others in the group were eating too! Steaks and chips and puddings and white, and I was knocking back the water! Hehe! I am certainly a changed woman! They were all really supportive though.
When they had their desserts, I guess the waiter felt sorry for the non-eaters and brought us some complimentary lemon sorbet. I just pushed mine away and watched it sadly melt for the rest of the evening!! :)

We still had a massive laugh and exercised or tummy muscles, and made loads of nice plans for the weekend - literally cannot wait, BBQs swimming, sunbathing galore!!

This morning was day 15 of insanity, so I did the fitness test again, and I cannot believe how much I have improved - can't see too many physical differences in my body, so the fitness improvement makes me feel really motivated.

Popping out at lunchtime today to buy a dress for the wedding in London in two weeks. I spotted it yesterday - I hope they have my size!

Also going for an Iftar tonight, which is the Ramadan breaking fast meal. A little nervous as there will be alot of food on offer, but my host knows that I'm being careful with my food and so I'm sure he will let me skip dessert and sugary drinks. Just plan to focus on the salads and the meat to see me through. Not gonna fast today, as I don't want to roll up there crazy hungry.

Yippee for the weekend!
 
Hi Shelly, i love reading your diary, your life sounds so much fun and very exotic to me! I can relate to your frustration about wanting to be slimmer NOW! The first stone and a half i lost only took me to where i'd normally start dieting and now the losses are slower it does feel like a slow process. I'm now loosing 1-2lbs a week which is what we are told to expect, but i have friends on weight watchers who have so much more food available to them and are loosing the same. I have to remind myself that this is what works for me, when theres more choice of food i can't seem to cope and just eat eat eat. Dukan is unlimited amounts of the allowed foods but i don't feel the need to eat vast quantities. Odd some might say lol. I think you are doing amazingly with the travelling, social life ect. I was in a coffee shop yesterday with a skinny late and i watched person after person walk past with muffins, pastries, drinks with whipped cream on top..............i did feel a bit sorry for myself for a moment but then i remembered i was drinking my coffee in a pair of trousers 2 sizes smaller than 10 weeks ago and just felt smug ha!
 
Shelly PLEASE don't stop posting about the daily dramas - this is so much more fun than reading menus :)

I love hearing about the travels and the challenges you're overcoming. Absolutely amazing that you managed a girls' night out and just drank water! It reminds me of when I stopped smoking years ago: I thought I'd have to stop going out rather than sit in the pub without a cigarette. And then I realized that it was the laughs and the company that mattered, not whether I was eating/drinking/smoking. So good for you! (Ah, the days when you could still smoke inside pubs, eh?!!)

Hope your Monday is off to a great start,

Cx
 
You guys are so lovely! I'm so sorry, I just love whittering on, I love chatting away about this stuff and it's so good that I get to talk about it with you guys ;)

I have to say, weighing once a week is brilliant. I went to bed all excited last night, wondering what the scales would say! I definitely want to stay off for a week again. I'm planning from now on to just weigh on Mondays. I got a massive lovely reward this morning 10st 11.25lb!! AMAZING! I could not believe it! It feels wonderful!

My disbelief... here's why...
On Friday night I went for the Iftar. I ate SO MUCH. I had cheekily skipped my oatbran so that if some carbs crept in I wouldn't feel so guilty, but oatbran aside, there was a bit of a carb overload. Some of the things were pretty Dukan friendly - I had an amazing Chicken and Coriander Soup that I went home with the recipe for, and the main course was oven baked Chicken cooked in vegetables. But the other courses... The Seafood Pastilla turned out to be a vermicelli rice pie! and there were Algerian Boureks, which are like Spicy Ground Beef Spring Rolls. And there was Dessert.... oh there was dessert! My host proudly informed me that his wife made the best Tiramisu in the world.

So... In a state of mild panic, and realising my colleague had literally taken the whole day off to cook for us, I slipped gently into a consolidation rules celebration meal. I avoided what I could - the bread, the dates, the fruit juice, and just had one serving of each course, no seconds, and water, and stopped when I was full. It wasn't perfect. I left there feeling like a baby hippo, but it was okay.

Usually, I would have panicked, not had a plan, eaten like crazy telling myself "I'll do a week of attack straight after this" and then been in tears the next day on the scales, at the frustration of what had happened, only to binge later in the week as I tried to starve off the event. This time was different. I drew a line under it. I came home, drank two glasses of water and went to bed. In the morning, I did not weigh myself. I planned a PP weekend, and had breakfast as usual, even though I wasn't especially hungry. I didn't freak out over it. I just moved on. This is the only way to do this. To remember that in the same way that a perfect meal will not make you thin, a meal off-plan will not make you fat. It's about consistency.

The weekend was brilliant, went to the pool on Saturday morning and then spoke to one of my sisters for hours on Saturday afternoon. I just have to tell you that 10 weeks ago, just before I started this, my sister was here with her son. We went for the weekend down to a resort to hang out in the pool and on the beach. The whole time I was there I was so shy about my body, I wore, not only a one-piece swimming costume, but a t-shirt over it too. And it was just me and my sister. This weekend, I lay out in the sun in a 2-piece bikini. Yeah, my body is not perfect, but it's mine, and I have worked hard to make it stronger and a bit leaner. It felt wonderful. Saturday afternoon I had a BBQ, and I took my own jerk chicken breast kebabs and beef burgers. Everyone loved them!

On Sunday I went shopping for a dress for the wedding I have in two weeks. I'm really keen to look nice because I have been dating my boyfriend for just 6 months, and this is the first time I'm really meeting all his friends properly. There isn't great shopping here, but there are a few of the European lines: Zara, Mango, Benetton and Bershka. I tend to find that their clothes are not necessarily designed for the typical British pear shape, which I tend to rock. Last year, I had a wedding to attend in October (I think I'm that age) and I went to a million shops and could not find a thing to wear. I remember being in the changing room in Mango, in tears, whatsapping my friend pictures, and planning my "letter of regret" to say that I couldn't go. In the end, the only thing I could find was in a little Italian boutique, cost a bomb, and didn't make me feel nice at all as I spent the whole time trying to cover my stomach with my pashmina, even though I was wearing two pairs of spanx. This time I can fit into clothes off the rail!! OFF THE RAIL!! It feels amazing. I promise I will upload some pics. Tonight I'll dig out some from 10 weeks ago and from now. 20lbs down, it's time to celebrate :)

Back on the PV today. Ladies - Cucumber Water. Seriously. I though it sounded pretentious too. Then I left some cucumbers in a jug of water overnight and my life changed. It tastes like heaven!

Have an awesome week xoxo
 
tryin again said:
i have friends on weight watchers who have so much more food available to them and are loosing the same. I have to remind myself that this is what works for me, when theres more choice of food i can't seem to cope and just eat eat eat.
Click to expand...

Oh Tryin again! you and I are in exactly the same boat! I have now lost 20lb is exactly 10 weeks, so it is basically 2lb a week on average, and given the quicker early losses, it's going alot slower! I have 3 sisters - one of which is getting married, and for which I'm really trying to shed for, and we, along with my Mum are all dieting furiously! Mum's on WW, one sister is on Slimming World, other sister is on an exercise bootcamp program, and the bride is on calorie counting. Everyone is losing at different rates, but you are completely right - Sometimes I hear my sister talking about a 4lb loss in a week on Slimming World and it drives me crazy as she seems to be eating loads of jacket potatoes, McDonalds, Chips and other naughties... then I remember that she has to weigh out her cereal every morning... and all of a sudden it doesn't seem quite so appealing, plus there are weeks when she puts on weight, one week, and then another consecutively. On Dukan, you almost never hear of that happening.

I know myself, and I know that I cannot leave a table hungry without feeling sad and deprived. I also cannot just eat one doughnut, without wildly wanting another one.

I once read in an article reviewing all different diets: Atkins, Dukan, IM, VLC, SW, WW, LighterLife, The Cambridge Diet... that although all of these will make you lose weight, the only diet that works is the one the user can stick to. For me, it's Dukan. It's where I'm at. When I told my best friend that I was going back on Dukan she just messaged me back with "...and now the universe is right and in balance again, I could never do it (she loves her Atkins) but you on Dukan is the most natural thing in the world!"

Amazing work in your progress! You have definitely earnt the right for some smuggness. And however slowly it's coming off, It's coming off - and that's the main thing! We're gonna get there! are you getting excited for your holiday? xoxo
 
I couldn't wait - I have attached the 20lb progress picture now - I hope you can all see the difference!
The one at the beach, I was literally sucking everything in and hoping to get a good picture - that's my nephew in the front, throwing superhero poses ;)
progress3.jpg
 
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