Weighed early as off to the Peaks today. Just 2.5lbs since Monday, but that’s now a pleasing 40lb loss over all - just 16lbs to go. I won’t even see scales over this next (food) week, but will stay mostly on plan in the hope that I can get down to just one stone to go. Have good Easter’s y’all - stay strong!
 
Greetings from the provinces.

Had a boiled egg, spinach and a few mushrooms for breakfast yesterday. Felt pretty weird eating breakfast with everyone, albeit measly, when I’ve worked so hard not to. But I promised to eat food this week, so there you have it. I’m doing it. Skipped the roast and wine for a shake though, desperate to stay on target. Tomorrow I’m having a (real, not dust) soup for lunch, which again will feel weird.

Mind you, I’ve just read, that yonder back in Minimin land, chocolate and other goodies are back on the menu. I now just feel like a mean fool for telling my wee ones I wouldn’t even have one of their mini eggs. Perhaps my steadfastness is just pure selfishness. I just don’t know anymore.

In vaguely related news. I’m going to take a bit of a forum break. It’s all doing my head in, a bit, and I feel conflicted. Some of the photos of feasts on a few of the other areas also just made me realise that I simply do not understand the self perpetuating cyclical diet thing at all. It’s making me doubt any reason in my conviction, and instead is making me feel self-centred , though I know that in the longer term the health benefits I wanted to achieve initially are still necessary, and will benefit others too.

So good luck to all — you lovely, lovely people -- especially those who made me feel so welcome when I arrived.

I’m going to finish this shake. Then I’m going to finish food week. Then I’m going back to full shake again, and see if I can get to goal sometime in May, back as a Secret Dieter. :)

See you on the other side. x
 
Just 9lbs more to go now. From today I'm adding Fage 0% yoghurt and flax for breakfast, and a bar to my previously strict three shake days. I need the extra fuel because I'm also going to be visiting the gym three times a week (free weights / body weight exercises) on top of my daily walk. That should crack it hopefully, while reducing the jelly tum by goal.

Have great weeks all, and more happy WI news. I think this sunshine is the best exercise impetus of all; cutting grass and hedges most of the day yesterday was very satisfying! Just had to remember to have pints of water only, and not pints of anything more appealing!
 
Great to hear you've kept going. Fantastic effort! Yep, I should be done about mid may too and in theory want to start on the exercise side too, but not hugely enthusiastic about it this time for some reason.
 
Well done on your fabulous weight loss FF. good luck for the last few pounds x
 
Enjoying having yoghurt and flax for breakfast last couple of days on top of my three shakes. More energy, less dizzy after a long walk. Yesterday also added a protein shake (rather than an extra meal bar) early evening as it seemed a better idea in preperation for a gym session. Sounds sophisticated and professional doesn't it? It reeeaally isn't. I glugged down a (horrible, by the way!) veggie protein choco concoction just before the end of work, then did a repetitive 'high-intensity' (oooooh!) free weights routine. Like jelly by the end, and acheing shoulders now, but in a good way. Rowing tonight. This will definitely, definitely slow my weight loss, but I'm worried there's no point just being the right 'number' while basically being a shrunken version of my shapeless self, covered up with smaller clothes. Hopefully the gym and walking will make me flatter and trimmer as it becomes just part of my weekly routine. Or I'll drop dead from malnutrition and exhaustion - we'll see I guess! :)
 
It sounds more than it is. And to be honest, although it is a little exhausting (in a satisfying way), the extra protein helps a lot, and there is a certain smug joy in being able to bend and recover that little bit better now I have a slightly smaller tum! I still have a way to go in terms of weight - and the last part seems the hardest to shift - but I'm now more interested in reducing the wobbliness of what I will be left with once I'm done. And it's sunny out, so the walking part is an absolute pleasure after the office, to be honest! I'm not being a gym bod lycra fanatic or anything, just taking the opportunity to get into some good habits that will help me have a more interesting diet in the future. I realise that it's all a bit of a bore, too!
 
Schadenfreude, anyone?

I may be feeling quite virtuous this evening, but BLOODY HELL am I tired and achey! No gym tomorrow only every other day. Blimey. Fake Coco Pops then bed I think! :) Haha.


It sounds more than it is. And to be honest, although it is a little exhausting (in a satisfying way), the extra protein helps a lot, and there is a certain smug joy in being able to bend and recover that little bit better now I have a slightly smaller tum! I still have a way to go in terms of weight - and the last part seems the hardest to shift - but I'm now more interested in reducing the wobbliness of what I will be left with once I'm done. And it's sunny out, so the walking part is an absolute pleasure after the office, to be honest! I'm not being a gym bod lycra fanatic or anything, just taking the opportunity to get into some good habits that will help me have a more interesting diet in the future. I realise that it's all a bit of a bore, too!
 
Walking three miles every day without fail, but only doing weights/rowing on Mon/Wed/Fri, as any more regularly than that is just too much for me at the moment. I have some of that Fage 0% yoghurt for brekky on those days, and also have a MyProtein (also part of The Hut Group, like Exante) protein shake half an hour before the gym. If you want to know for absolute certain that the Exante shakes are actually rather YUMMY for what they are, I recommend trying a MyProtein Vegan Protein Shake. Blimey! Hard to describe. Pond water? It really is a matter of just downing it and making nasty faces for five minutes! Haha. The Bar Zero things are good though. About 20g of protein and barely any carbs. Terrible texture and more bearable than enjoyable, but nowhere near as bad as those protein shakes! Mind you, they do their job - just enough energy to perform...
 
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Wow, the mega discipline continues! And I thought just the Exante thing was super hard-core. Bet zonking on to the pillow at night feels good tho :)
 
Friday at last. My working week is getting a bit ridiculous at the moment. I hope this morning's rain dissipates soon as I'd rather go for my lunchtime march without the drizzle to be honest! It's a gym day today, so will hold off until lunch for some fake coco-pops, then have a MyProtein thingy around 5pm before some virtue signalling in the lycra lounge. Then home with a couple of packs in hand for a Friday evening orgy of gin guzzling and pizza scoffing of diet milkshake and BBC4.
 
Stayed the same weight this week, which is actually quite remarkable given the extra chunk of protein in shake or bar form I'm having before every workout. I calculated it to work that way, but even so, I'm learning so much more about how my body works and responds to nutrition. I still have 9lbs to go to my target (which was set to include an extra half stone loss for bounce-back). But that might actually hang around for a while, now that I'm exploring weights more. So for now I'll continue to work on getting that stomach flatter and firming up generally rather than worrying about the scales (although I'll still check in on Monday mornings ).

So with all that positivity out of the way, it's time for me to be a bit of an arsehat (yet again). Brace yourself for more advice from the inexpert mind of a diet victim!

I'm going to sound mean, but here's the truth. I cannot emphasize enough that once you've got the first couple of weeks down on this thing, it is actually sticking to the plan at all times and ensuring you DO have three litres of water a day that is the ONLY thing that will stop you feeling so much hunger and guarantee success.

All the little workarounds and snack ideas etc... they may sound appealing and well-intentioned. And they may make you feel better in that instant. But will make you have evening hunger pangs, they will make your spare time miserable and consumed with diet thoughts at all times, and they'll slow your losses in the longer term, never allowing you to get into gear properly or make steady consistent progress. This diet, and other VLCDs, can only work if you are really disciplined. They are for people who know that syns and points and treats and blah... ultimately just prolong the battle and turn a diet from a mission, into a lifestyle. If you've already decided that weight loss is absolutely essential for you life to progress, and not just a nice-to-have improvement to your looks or fashion plans --- if you reeeeaally want it and need it --- just do it. Do it following the simple rules. Do it and don;t stop doing it until you're done. No amount of paperwork or tickers or treats is going to get you there, just your own mental strength.

If you have treats because you always feel hungry, then you will always feel hungry. When you think "Aaaaarg, I reaaally need something to eat, now, my life is crap and nobody understands!" Well, sadly, you still just have to NOT eat outside your plan. Have a pint of water, and go do something else other than eat. Decorate, knit a jumper, go for a walk, pickle stuff - do anything that isn't passive (watching telly won't work in the first weeks). Hunger at the start means your body is demanding more fuel and of course is used to getting what it wants, when it wants it through eating on demand. A VLCD, and ketosis in particular, hurts to start with because your body and brain must retrain to use the fuel sources you already have, in excess, in your body. Once the fat starts burning off, and you see the results on the scale (I'm not going to count the intial 6-9lb or whatever water loss, because we all expereince that, and you should actually plan to regain that initial drop when you stop anyway) you just need to stick to it. Three packs and lots of water. You will lose a stone a month, every month. But the more you try to adapt the diet to be more pleasant, the less likely it will work and the less likely you will be able to stick to it, not just physically, but mentally. As you progress you learn, and may be able to tweak stuff a bit. But for most, the 'treats' and tweaks are too early, and actually at any point are just conjured forms of acceptable gratification that will make life more miserable for you over the long stretch.

I know this sounds mean and nasty, but it's the truth of it. It would obviously be waaaaaaay easier to say "well done hon, you are doing great, we all have wobbles, by the way have you tried some whole cream in your coffee?" etc... But there really is no point in doing it at all unless you are genuinely committed and are ready and prepared to just do it. Otherwise it is just a waste of money -- as well as threadbare emotion that you probably have little of to spare. I believe that there is no point placating or encouraging any other course of action, as it is just making that person's task longer, harder, more unpleasant and ultimately doomed to fail. Tough love I suppose, although that sounds a lazy cliché. Don't expect your weekend blowout to have no impact on your emotional state through the following week.

Sorry, I know we all want to add more treats and more packs and dump some of the discipline with no consequence, but VLC diets don't work that way. That's more of a Slimming World approach; lose a 1lb a week on average over a year by making small changes to what you eat, be allowed jelly and whippy cream every day. And of course SW is fine! Maybe more healthy, who's to say? But what you certainly cannot do, is to try to combine the two philosophies. Delve into the forum - you'll find the same, achingly tragic cyclical stories again and again and again and again. Until they stop. And that person either stays fat forever or gets totally exasparated with the comfort culture, and becomes driven and unstoppable in their desire to achieve their goals.

I believe that many of the people I talk to most often on this forum have simply had their fill of dieting, they are sick of feeling sick, and as a result are inexorably driven towards their goals with a vengeance. I pity those that try and get in their way as they get closer to the finish line! But reading some older stories - and more worryingly some very new ones - I'm concerned that the current popularity and undoubted promise of a VLCD is blinding many people to the hard work and commitment that is still required to make them work in a healthy and happy way.

So there you have it. It's not nice, but it's the truth as I see it. If you want honest help and practical support, I'm very happy to offer a harsher alternative that won't be to everyone's tastes! I think I mayhave benefitted from more home truths and less mollifying over the years. And of course if you'd prefer to hear many, far kinder voices of comfort, well then you won't go without those either.
 
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