trying to lose 40lbs by end of March 2017

[Pinkemi]

Hi All,

So I am getting married at the end of April 2017 and am really wanting to lose 40lbs by that time. It would take me from 15st ish to 12st, which is the last weight I remember being actually happy with the way that I look. I really, seriously, do not want to be the size that I am for my wedding!!

I havent bought the Atkins book (running a little low on funds) but have been reading about low carb diets etc online and thought "what have I got to lose?!" I have jumped from diet to diet with not a lot of sucess. Slimming world I found too easy to over eat.. but VLCD such as Exante too restrictive which meant I binged. I have come to realise I am an emotional eater.. so I need to learn to recognise what TRUE hunger is like.

I aimed to start my new regime today, but it is my mother in-laws birthday today and I ate the slice of cake before I even thought about it! gah. Re-start tomorrow....

Breakfast- 2x HECK Chicken chipolata sausages, 2 x hard boiled eggs
Lunch- 3x stalk of celery with a mini pot of humous, 2x light babybel, 1x cheddar babybel
Snacks- slice of birthday cake, mini toblerone.

Starting weight- 15stone 5lbs (215lbs)

 

[Pinkemi]

So I have been dabbling with this for a while I have to admit.. trying to cut the carbs down gradully before today I thought I just have to get on with it..

But one thing I have noticed over the past couple of weeks is that my mood has dropped terribly. The other day I burst into tears for no reason at all... Anyone else found this? A drop in your mood?

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 2

Breakfast- 2 hard boiled eggs, 2x light babybel and 1x cheddar babybel.

Lunch- 3x celery stalks, mini pot of humous and 3x snacking chorizo sticks.

Mood

So.. after failing miserablly yesterday, I have upped my calories to 1,500 and put my Carbs % down to 5%.. which means I will be attempting to eat around 20grams of Carbs a day. Now for me.. this is going to be very low! Most of the time my daily carbs would be over 50% of my food intake.

But I woke up this morning and thought enough is enough.. I NEED to lose weight before my wedding.. there is no two ways about it.

Last night I caved into temptation by having not only rice with my curry but also a small bit of nan bread. And then to top it off.. i had a small slice of birthday cake. :/ I can tell that this style of eating will take me a while to get used to.

Weight- 15st 1.4lbs

 

[Pinkemi]

Mood update:

So I am really struggling with "mental-hunger" today... not physical hunger as my stomach hasn't rumbled once today.. but "mental-hunger" where I am like.. what can I eat next? I'm sure its because work is particularily boring today.. so I'm eating coz I'm bored.. but its not helpful! Might have to take a walk or something just to stop my mental hunger from taking over.

I need to work on this though.. having a desk job is NOT good for your waistline if you let it get to you.

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 2 continued

Why didn't I take into consideration the fact that greek yogurt and blueberries will have carbs in them!! 18g of carbs. Thats bumped me right up meaing I have non left for supper.

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 3

Breakfast- 2x Heck Sausages, 2x Bacon medalions and 1x fried egg.

on a Wednesday I nornally work from home, so thats why I had the fried egg instead of a hard boiled one!

Ramblings
So.. it seems like the evenings are my downfall. Got home and my OH had cooked supper already which was cous cous and beans and sweetcorn! (I never realised sweetcorn had so many carbs in it. ) So I was over on my calories and over on my carbs.. again. But actually in the grand scheme of things... I didn't do too badly compared to normal. Normally I would be eating about 200g (according to MFP) of Carbs EVERY DAY. no word of a lie.. over 50% of my daily food intake used to be by carbs. No wonder I was always getting that 4pm slump and reached for the cakes. but anyway.. I think my 88g yesterday was still not great.. but better. I'm trying not to beat myself up too much about it.

Weight- 15st 0.6lbs! (in 3 days I have lost just under 5lbs!)

 

[Marysu]

Well done on your loss This board has gotten so quiet. You'll learn a lot your first week on where you are going wrong. You can't go to far wrong with meats, eggs, cheese, butter, Mayo etc. My go to meals when I'm out and about are Caesar salads without the croutons, burgers no bun, chicken and bacon from the deli etc. You will get the hang of this I promise, and it does work. Don't worry to much about the scales. Measurements are a much better indication of loss. So get a tape and measure every week. You can do this P.S. meal plan as much a possible and get your water in

 

[Pinkemi]

Hi Marsyu! Pretty sad how excited I got that someone commented on my diary! haha.

Thanks for the tips btw.. I was worrying that I'm not getting enough veggies in... but am just cooking up a big batch of soup which will hopefully sort this problem out for the next few days.

 

[Marysu]

I was the worst with veggies I previously lots over 50lbs before I had my last baby and maintained until he was 6ish months old and dues the BC implant and other meds I put it all on again and then some Two of my go to winter recipes where chicken soup (just celery, chicken pieces, stock and cream, I blended it but some don't like that as the chicken is gritty but it tastes fantastic. You could play around with it and blend everything except the chicken ) then broccoli and cheese soup ( stock broccoli and grated cheddar added at the end then blend). Both those soup fill you right up and I used to just graze on it all day. If someone had told me I'd be eating and loving soup with cheese in it I would have laughed at them lol.

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 3 continued

Lunch- Smoked salmon with a blop of cream cheese ontop of "courgeti", mushrooms, spinach and asparagus.

I forgot that these are all watery veggies and tried to stir fry them.. but i obviously didn't do it for long enough as its more like a soup.. but actually still pretty tasty.

I have been a FIEND in the kitchen today. Roasted a chicken.. made some soup... and did my breakfast prep (fried some sausages, bacon and hard boiled some eggs.)

I CAN DO THIS!

 

[Marysu]

Looks like you have it all under control

 

[Pinkemi]

You say that now.. but I have just found the last slice of birthday cake in the fridge. I am trying my hardest to stop myself from eating it. I bloody love cake.. what can I have thats sweet? *raiding the cupboards!!*

going for a cup of fruit tea and hope that the craving goes away...

 

[Marysu]

Cream with splenda, or cream cheese, cream and sweetener whisked together with splenda and vanilla essence is nice too. The first week is horrible with cravings I won't lie but it passes then and you won't really be hungry either. Don't eat that cake, think of your wedding dress lol.

 

[Pinkemi]

So I didnt eat the cake.. but I succumed to a bit of Toblerone and a thorntons chocolate. So.. not as terrible as the cake would have been.. but still about 24g of carbs I didnt need. (18g in ONE triangle of Salted almond Toblerone. Gutted.)

 

[Pinkemi]

Hunger isnt a problem per say for me.. its the mental hunger. I start thinking about sweet things and just can't get past that craving.. I end up eating tons of other stuff just to get rid of it. (which in itself is counter-active.) At least I guess I only had one triangle, (instead of the normal three.) Small baby steps...

 

[Marysu]

I hope it was a huge triangle for 18g of sugar lol

 

[nutty me]

Hi found your diary! Interesting reading, I too am an emotional eater and really need to control this. Im starting on Monday, just making alist for shopping Monday and food planning for the week. Ive have tried this woe before and stopped due to really bad abdominal pain due to the high fat. So this time slow and steady. Look forward to seeing your journey x

 

[Pinkemi]

Haha! I wise it was a huge triangle.. it was just a normal sized one. We then went to the cinema and my friend offered me peanut M&M's and before I knew what I was doing.. I had eaten a handful. *sigh*

Hi Nutty me! Sorry to hear about your adominal pain.. thats not good! Maybe this time it will be better. *fingers crossed!*

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 4

Breakfast- 3 x Heck chicken sausages and 2x bacon medalions
Lunch- Homemade Cauli, Gammon and Pattypan (squash) soup
Snacks- 2x Hard boiled eggs, 1x cheddar babybel and 2x light babybel (and maybe some green olives if I get hungry.. but its pushing my soduim up way too high.)

So I've just calculated that in MFP and all that gives me 22g of Carbs. (DAMN IT!)

Ramblings

So I am struggling to keep my carb levels below 20grams.. even though I have now replaced my milk with almond milk. Stopped eating pasta and bread. Rice.. I have every now and then. Chocolate I only have every now and then. Its frustrating how bloody hard this is!

But actually... I know I keep repeating this, but I need to keep reminding myself.. that before this way of eating I was eating about 200g of carbs a day (according to MFP). So managing to get to as low as I am... I'm proud of that. Now I need to stop weighing myself everyday and do some exercise! haha

Weight- 15st! (210lbs)

 

[Pinkemi]

Day 4 continued

Beginning to get very bored of Bacon and Eggs. (Never thought I would say that!) Going to have to try and find a substitute so that I don't go off the rails.

Also.. I think im due this weekend.. which means I'm going to have to work extra hard not to grab the chocolate etc when I want comfort food.