TTfans diary and lessons learned

TTfan

TTfan

Full Member
Hi everyone, this isn't so much a diary, but I've been on my diet for 18 months, I'm 200g off being a BMI of 25 (although still another 8ish pounds to go to my target) and I just wanted to record some of the things I've learned along the way, so hopefully I won't fall into the same traps as I did before and regain the weight.
 
Lesson 1: I have always kept an eye on my weight by judging myself on how tight my clothes are, what I look like in photos etc. This is utter rubbish and doesn't work. For me, losing 3 stone has only meant a decrease from a size 16 to a 12/14, so just because I've stayed the same clothes size doesn't mean that I haven't put on loads of weight. From now on I must keep weighing myself and make sure that my weight stays constant(ish).

Lesson 2: I can't be trusted around food. I've been weighing out my food before I cook it for 18 months, but STILL if I cook something without weighing it first I'll end up with a massive portion, and once it's cooked, I'll eat it. Likewise, if I'm on my own, or bored I WILL treat myself if there is food around and once I start eating bad food I don't stop. Occasional days or weekends of gluttony are fine, but for me, maintaining this weightloss will be a life long effort.
 
TTfan said:
Lesson 1: I have always kept an eye on my weight by judging myself on how tight my clothes are, what I look like in photos etc. This is utter rubbish and doesn't work. For me, losing 3 stone has only meant a decrease from a size 16 to a 12/14, so just because I've stayed the same clothes size doesn't mean that I haven't put on loads of weight. From now on I must keep weighing myself and make sure that my weight stays constant(ish).

Lesson 2: I can't be trusted around food. I've been weighing out my food before I cook it for 18 months, but STILL if I cook something without weighing it first I'll end up with a massive portion, and once it's cooked, I'll eat it. Likewise, if I'm on my own, or bored I WILL treat myself if there is food around and once I start eating bad food I don't stop. Occasional days or weekends of gluttony are fine, but for me, maintaining this weightloss will be a life long effort.
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Hi TTfan. There are a few people on here that are close to target weight or are already there and maintaining, so I think you will get alot out of reading their diaries. :)

As for the odd day or weekend of gluttony, all of us on here suffer from that so you are not alone.

Good luck xx
 
Good luck on shifting the last few pounds! :)
 
Thanks both of you :) sadly it's not going so great at the moment due to a couple of days off, which brings me to lesson 3:

Lesson 3: weight goes on really easily and comes off really difficultly. The disparity between the 2 is not fair and it's so depressing having to lose the same pounds twice. Always mentally weigh up whether a few naughty days are really worth it. If they are worth it then fine, but always be aware that that's the choice you're making.
 
I'm nearly at goal too, so I'll be writing up some tips that I've learned along the way too. :) You've done really well to get to where you are, and I hope those last few pounds will come off quickly for you :)

As for lesson 2 (portion sizes), sadly that's just a case of trying to control yourself. We've all been there, trying to convince ourselves that an overflowing pot of pasta is a 'portion' when it could probably feed a small family and their dog. When I was bigger, I used to use half a bag of pasta (250g) for my dinner. Not because I was a greedy savage but because I thought that was a normal amount for dinner since we had HUGE dinner plates and 250g filled the bowls quite nicely. It's only through CC'ing (an getting smaller bowls) that I've educated myself and I would never dream of eating 250g of pasta and I don't think my tummy would appreciate it to much either! However, I've found that if you FORCE yourself to start weighing your food, your body starts to adapt and weighing becomes second nature and not a chore at all. Also, I've found ways to have a lot more food for my calories. For example, last night I had 2 helpings of dinner - but all within my calorie range. It was because I put the right lower-cal stuff in my pasta that I could afford to have more. Before with a cheese, milk, flour and butter sauce and grated cheese on top, I would probably of been only able to of half a quarter of what I had last night for the same number of calories.

Good luck, I hope those last few pounds come off soon xx
 
Hi everyone, I'm in desperate need of a rant! I'm really having a very bad week with the diet and I'm really really fed up. I get why I was overweight for most of my life, I get that I ate too much and had no self control, and I get that that was my fault. But this diet is so hard and just feels so unfair. I've been dieting for 18 months now, and just feel fed up with being on a diet and STILL needing to lose weight. And what has made me fed up so much this week is that at the end of last week I was 200g from my BMI being 25 - 200g!!! But then I came back to the UK for a long weekend to go to a friends wedding, and I allowed myself a weekend off the diet, but I got back on Sunday evening and have weighed myself every day and I am still 1.5kg (about 3lbs I think) more than I was this time last week - how on earth did I put on 1.5 kilos in 3 days?!!!! All week I've been seeing numbers on the scales that I haven't seen for about a month and it just feels so horribly unfair. Why is it so hard to make it come off? Why does it go back on so easily?! What makes it even worse is that my boyfriend who came back to the UK with me, and ate just as badly as I did is already back to the same weight as he was before last weekend. It's so unfair that he can binge eat for a weekend and it has no long lasting effect on my weight, but when I do it my weight just skyrockets. Of course eating out for 3 days and going to a wedding I was expecting to see my weight go up a bit but 1.5 kilos just seems excessive and I'm finding it really really hard to get my head back into the diet in order to lose 3 lbs that I've already lost once.

GRRRRRRRR! Sorry for the rant!

Happyhealthy: thank you for your encouragement. I've definitely found the same, in the past I could also posh off 250g of pasta in a meal, and I always thought that was a normal amount. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I've come quite a long way with this diet, meals that I would still have felt hungry after 18 months ago, now fill me up or make me too full, but on the same lines, I'm all too aware that it's a slippery slope back to the 250g portions and that I can't trust myself!
 
:( your right!! That does seem very very unfair!! I hope your feeling better now tho!!

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Awk babe, I feel so sorry for you BUT there is light at the end of the tunnel! Unless you ate 10,500 calories over your maintenance calories (ie. Nearly 6,000 calories each day) you will not of put on true weight. The food that you would of eaten would of been high in salt and also slightly more than you'd be used to and because of this your body will retain water. You need to drink lots of water over the next few days and I promise you your weight will all down. Ive only ever had one day that I ate over my maintenance calories (my birthday) and for about 5 days after the scales showed me as 2lb over what I was the day before my birthday. It wasn't until I tanked down that water that I literally woke up the next morning and I had lost the extra weight and an extra pound. :D youve probably heard it so many times that your now not even reading it bit water really is the healthy eaters best friend :)
 
Thanks both of you, it's always nice to have some sympathy when you feel down :) I've taken your advice happyhealthy and am drinking loads of water, and I forced myself out for a run yesterday, sitting around feeling angry and sorry for myself won't re-lose this kilo!

So today some positives for motivation:
-Oh wow! I do have collar bones, ribs and cheek bones afterall!
-My original fitness goal was to be able to run 5km. Now on a good day I can run 8km. This is the first time in my life I have been able to run anything like that distance.
-My original weight goal was to get down to my post uni weight, I'm now a stone below it.
-I ache less, I feel better, and my skin has a healthy glow. My knees and ankles no longer hurt when I've been on my feet for a while
-I can go hiking without fear and dread, instead of that horrible panic I always used to feel that I wouldn't be able to keep up or get to the top of the mountain.

and the last and most satisfying one of today:
I may have put on weight last weekend which is stubbornly refusing to move, but I am *still* sitting here today wearing size 12 jeans, for the first time in my adult life!

So, stop moping around you silly girl, get back to it and lose that last pesky stone!
 
TTfan said:
Thanks both of you, it's always nice to have some sympathy when you feel down :) I've taken your advice happyhealthy and am drinking loads of water, and I forced myself out for a run yesterday, sitting around feeling angry and sorry for myself won't re-lose this kilo!

So today some positives for motivation:
-Oh wow! I do have collar bones, ribs and cheek bones afterall!
-My original fitness goal was to be able to run 5km. Now on a good day I can run 8km. This is the first time in my life I have been able to run anything like that distance.
-My original weight goal was to get down to my post uni weight, I'm now a stone below it.
-I ache less, I feel better, and my skin has a healthy glow. My knees and ankles no longer hurt when I've been on my feet for a while
-I can go hiking without fear and dread, instead of that horrible panic I always used to feel that I wouldn't be able to keep up or get to the top of the mountain.

and the last and most satisfying one of today:
I may have put on weight last weekend which is stubbornly refusing to move, but I am *still* sitting here today wearing size 12 jeans, for the first time in my adult life!

So, stop moping around you silly girl, get back to it and lose that last pesky stone!
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Well done! There's some people on this site (and don't worry it's none of the CC regulars, it's few on other parts of the site) that I can be reading their posts and think that even though these people are losing weight, they're just not in the right mind frame, it's like they don't even know what they're doing. They're just doing what someone else tells them to do and crossing their fingers that the scales go down. However, you seem to really know what you're talking about and definitely have the right head on you for all this weight loss shizzle. You know that the road is bumpy and most importantly, you pick yourself up again when you go over these bumps. So even if these small set backs means that it takes you a month or so longer than planned to lose the weight, at least you know you will get there! And size 12 jeans!Wooo :party0049: I hadn't been a size 12 since I'd been about 12 myself, so when I brought a pair into the fitting room and tried them on a few months ago and they fitted I nearly burst into tears of joy. 'twas emotional :D And how weird is it to feel collar and hips bones haha!
 
Happyhealthy said it all really. I think you are doing amazingly.
All those positives you wrote out, you should print off and stick them to your fridge, for when you feel down next time :D and, always pull out those size 12's. If that can't motivate you, I don't know what will.

You're fab hun, dont ever forget that :D
 
Thanks for your lovely words both of you :)

Some more positivity to end the week on. Good things so far:
-Not worrying when someone sits next to me on the bus - I now fit in the seats!
-Having to get my engagement ring taken in by 2 sizes :)
-Bra size gone down by 2 back sizes and one cup size (it would appear that I carry more fat on my back than on my boobs, which is strange as my boobs are still a G cup!)

Right, back to finish off Friday's jobs, drink water, out for a run, then back to the lessons learned next week. Have a good weekend everyone!
 
Welcome... just wanted to say that I am very jelous of how close to goal you are... so on those bad days remember someone in the world is envious of you... namely ME!!! lol!!! Good luck with the last push to goal! x
 
Lindsey, you're too kind! It's good to know that I'm the object of someone's envy though, thank you!

Happy healthy: I forgot to reply to your previous comment, getting into size 12 jeans was possibly the best moment of my life. I think there were genuine actual tears! And so funny about collar and hip bones! Sometimes I find myself idly touching my collar bones without thinking, I think I'm just so surprised that they're there!

So I had a good but slightly stressful weekend. My parents came to visit and wanted to talk about the wedding (I get married next year), which caused a bit of friction between strong willed boyfriend and strong willed father, but it could have been much worse. Anyway, I ate like a pig, but this morning's weigh in wasn't as bad as expected. Boyfriend and I have booked a posh meal out for the end of July and we have no more trips or visitors before then so no excuses not to stick to the diet!

Today's positive: I can cross my legs without accidentally kicking the person sitting next to me! First time ever!
Today's lesson: Just because it's low calorie and low fat doesn't mean that you can eat as much of it as you like and not put on weight!
 
Lol I will remember that in the unlikely event of me ever going running :)

Is your posh meal to celebrate anything nice? Xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
:) I like to be of help.

The posh meal is a belated celebration of my work contract being extended. Plus we like food. But I thought if I booked it a month in advance then I have a month to look forward to it while dieting properly. It's so sad, a couple of years ago I would have just gone to celebrate, but now I have to savour and look forward to everything and try to work out how to fit it into my diet!
 
TTfan said:
:) I like to be of help.

The posh meal is a belated celebration of my work contract being extended. Plus we like food. But I thought if I booked it a month in advance then I have a month to look forward to it while dieting properly. It's so sad, a couple of years ago I would have just gone to celebrate, but now I have to savour and look forward to everything and try to work out how to fit it into my diet!
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Ohh sounds like a lovely meal. But I know what you meal about planning. You'll get to a stage nearer goal where you'll just need to adapt your food for that day instead of incorporating the meal into your whole week. I used to think "Ahhh! I can't keep doing this everytime I want to go for a meal" but now it's like "Yummy yum, but I just won't have a big lunch" - if that makes any sense lol. What did you have to eat? xx
 
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