so bloody damn hard

[calligas]

Going in to my 5th week and its getting harder by the day. Any older members got any tips, did u eva cave in and get back on, or did u just ride it thro, yambabe can u honestly say u was a good girl all thro? i really can;t see how people stick to this for a very long time, what is the trick, advice please, as i wanna do this, but boy am i finding it harder and harder,

HELP!!!!!!​

 

[markanderl]

Hi Shirley, yeah, those who said it gets easier are not telling the truth. Fortunately I have not caved in but thanks to you yesterday I did not. It was the 1st day I have really struggled and I guess that type of day will happen again, but I can honestly say I do not want it to happen again as it was just horrible, but I know it will.

We are only human and get tempted, with regards to eating, in almost everything we do, smell and see. If it's not walking past a KFC it's watching food on TV. If it's not smelling cooking at home it's watching people eating at work. If it's not sitting on the beach watching someone eating an ice cream it's hearing the ice cream truck coming round 3 times a day.

We are on the most extreme of diets, other than just starving, and we chose this. We took the 1st step to better our appearance and just for that reason we owe it to ourselves to see it through.

Shirley you have shown how strong you are, you do not give yourself enough praise, yes you faltered but you got back and started again, I can honestly tell you that I doubt I would have been able to do that, so you have shown that you can do this.

I find that focusing on the end goal and not wanting to let everyone, and myself, down and that gets me through the day. I also could never give those who think this is a bad diet the pleasure of telling me " I told you so", and I have those at work who would. No Shirley, we are doing this for ourselves, number one we are, and like I said before we owe to ourselves.

Shirley you are a pillar of strength on this forum as I am sure you are for those who know you and it is now time to be a pillar of strength for yourself, praise yourself, give yourself credit and accept praise when given.

Hang in there Shirley, I for one would be gutted if you caved in for good.

 

[wannadrop3st]

DO NOT CAVE IN....PLEASE :cry:
I did CD last year and lost 3 stone in 11 weeks, then Xmas came and interupted my plans (my choice) and after that i never really got back on track.
I remember coming on Minimins for the first time and reading all the CD storys, and also noticing the CD returners thread, and i thought to myself 'losers, why would you do this diet to put it all back on??'
Little did i know then that i would become one of the poeple i thought of as 'losers'
Trust me, once you stray it is sooooo much harder to get back on 100%, so why give yourself the heartache...
Stick to the plan and you will be finished in no time, you have been fab so far, you need to see this journey through and never had to come back to this extreme of dieting....
Keep the end goal in sight and drink the water and you will be fine..... the alternative is to end up like me, constantly fighting with yourself to stick to the diet, every day a struggle, but this is the only diet that works for me...
Good luck

 

[yummy101]

There will be lots of really hard days.

I am not as knowledgeable as some on this forum, but I have lost nearly 6 stone on Exante since Dec 2009. I ate over Christmas, but got back on track as soon as the festivities finished. If one of my family is having a birthday meal celebration, I eat out. I try not to drink as although I used to be a regular wine drinker, now it really upsets my tummy. I went on holiday to Florida for 3 weeks in April and although moderating my eating, I enjoyed a low carb meal each evening. As soon as I got home, I was anxious to get back onto my diet.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that life happens. I want to be able to go out to eat and not let it 'ruin' my diet. You have to look at the big picture and compare how you eat now with how you used to eat. You mustn't let the diet control you. Having a day when you don't stick to the diet doesn't mean everything is ruined and you have failed. You have to just accept that you have eaten and get back to your regime. Try to keep your goal in sight and celebrate what you have achieved so far.

I am rambling, I know, but it makes me upset when people think they have failed when they gave a 'bad' day. Look at how you have suceeded so far and just get back to what you know works. It is not the end of the world, far from it.

You are all doing so well and supporting each other through the tricky times and that is great - just don't forget to live as well!

Good luck. xx

 

[markanderl]

Calli, Yummy is quite correct in her post above, we still have to live and having faltered does not mean you have failed. Jeez girl you got back to your regine the very next day.

 

[Dietkitty]

Hello my lovely, are you feeling better today? I struggle every day and I don't find it at all easy to stick to this! I'm back home after a couple of days away so am trying to get back to total. We ate out both nights and I was good with the food but did have a drink which I regret now.
Hope you've managed to stick with it x

 

[i'mgonnabeskinnybyXmas]

Calli, I'm a newb, so i can't speak from experience, but you're already well past the halfway mark which is a brilliant achievement, and the end is nearly in sight... whatever you choose, good luck!

 

[Yambabe]

What yummy says is spot-on.

I was 100% for about the first 8 weeks, then it got harder and harder. I didn't cave as such, my downfall is nibbling.

So I might be preparing the OH's tea and I'd nick a couple of his chips, or a sausage or something. Now I know full well that for me that is the start of a slippery slope when I am dieting, it's exactly what I've done before on all those diets I've failed at over the years. I start letting the little things creep in, then the little things get bigger and bigger until it's all out of control and I'm right back where I started from.

I wasn't having that this time, so I thought and thought about it and decided to give myself a "nibble allowance" of 50 cals a day. I could have a snack! And do you know almost immediately because it was now "allowed" I stopped wanting to......... so it was all in my head, my rebellious child was trying to see if she could push the boundaries again.

As we've got more into summer and our social life has got busier, especially at weekends, I dropped the "nibble allowance" during the week and started to eat at weekends. Not hugely, I tried to be sensible and stay low-cal and low-carb, but I didn't always succeed.

However, what that did mean was that although my losses slowed right down I was still losing, and I realised that maybe I needed a better grasp of portion control so I didn't go quite so OTT on my weekends "off".

Hence my decision to start my refeed which I know you've read about on the other thread. I'm not sure I could go back to 100% TS now even if I wanted to, but I think that's the important thing, right now I really don't want to.

I'm lucky that with the odd weekend off and being reasonably sensible I managed to stay in control, and that I'd been able to stick to the plan (within my own self-imposed limits) for long enough to shift a good chunk of the weight I wanted to lose - close on 4 stone in fact - before I started my proper refeed.

So now I'm at the stage where I don't mind slower losses cos I know I am learning about the nutrition my body needs, learning about portion control and feeling confident about doing more exercise cos I am taking in more protein.

I have never felt like I have "failed" on this diet so far because I'm not treating it as a test. If I've slipped off the wagon (and I have a couple of times) I have just got right back on it the next day or even later the same day.

The whole point of the abstinenece period for me was to give me time out from food and some time to think about my relationship with it, but I didn't want to be in the position of others I have seen on VLCD where they almost become scared to eat agan - that's not good in my opinion. All the time I was on TS I was always thinking at the back of my mind about how and when I would start to refeed.

That time is going to be different for all of us, same as the weightloss levels on TS are different for all of us.

I think you have to trust your own instincts to a certain degree. If your mind and body are telling you it's time to refeed then maybe it is. Matbe it's time to move up to WS, or to devise your own refeed schedule like I have, or to re-assess your goals.

When I initially started Exante I was only going to do it for a month, then I was going to see if I could maintain for a couple of months, then maybe have another go at it. That was the plan, cos I never thought I could stick a packs-only regime out for more than a month. But I have, and so have you.

In your heart of hearts you will know what is right for you. If you can't stay total (cos lets face it, it's so effing boring after a while!) then don't, but that doesn't mean you have to go back to where you were. On the other hand, you have done very well so far and already proved you are a stronger person than you ever thought. So why not build on that strength and just keep going for a little longer?

All of these thoughts and more have been going through my head in the last 5 1/2 months. I've been full of self-doubt and often self-pity. But I'm still here and still on track even if I have changed direction slightly to suit me better!

You can be to, if you believe in yourself enough. You deserve to be slimmer, healthier and happier. How you get there is, in the end, entirely down to you.

 

[calligas]

OMG. i am so close to tears, you guys are a godsend, i think in my heart i know i am strong, but when i eat something i shuldn i feel i failed. And as some of u have mentioned i have not because i have got straight back on.
i think the trouble with me is i am to honest, as i tell u when i slip up, but i can;t help it as i am honest to myself also.
And yes jo, i was like u were, yesterday i nicked a couple of chips from my OH plate and thought straight away i had failed again.
I think i have just got to accept if i nibble then it is not the end of the world, but if i don;t then i have been extremly good.
Sorry to rabble on, just expressing how i feel.
Failing is just a let down for me, and somehow i have fixated my head on if i eat, i am a failure. So thanks guys, i have to say i am not a failure as i am trying really hard, and even tho i cave in sometimes i get right back on.
Hope i make sense x
thanks again

 

[Quak]

You are so NOT a failure - getting back on is the hardest thing to do and you have shown you can do it - carry on doing what you are doing, the weight is coming off at a good rate!

I will be back with you tomorrow as I have had a weeks holiday - from life and from maintenance and have pigged out big-style so I am having at least a week back on packs to get me back on track try and finally get to goal.

Bren xx

 

[calligas]

thanks for yr message bren, and good luck, you have answered a few questions for me, and i feel more positive now, if i fall then just jump back on. x

 

[Miss Bean]

Calligas - You know tonight I fancied some chicken, I'm only on day 3 of this diet but I thought you know what if I don't have something I'm gonna blow it. I can smell all this food and it's making me want to eat it all, so I'm letting myself have something I know won't blow the whole thing out of control. Like Yambabe suggested in another post I think if you need to eat something then eat something on the allowed list and don't feel bad about it. We're normal human beings it's natural to want to eat food of course it is. I mean living on powder for 5 weeks is an amazing achievement it doesn't make you any less of a person if you have something to eat. My friend who does this diet and has done for the same amount of time as you has one day a week where he has a meal at the end of the day - a salad with some chicken, or a tin of tuna something like that and he says it helps to stay in control.

When I was on Lipotrim in some social situations or just when I fancied it I would have a bit of chicken breast because I wanted it, and I learnt not to feel guilty about it, because I think if you didn't want or crave food at some point there must be some kind of super mental steel blockage in your mind and you would be superwoman!!

Either way , whatever you decide you have come so far and done so well, there are not many people that could manage to refrain from solid food and things for 5 weeks. Just remember you are not a failure no matter what, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Good Luck Girl xxx