So as you’ll recall from my previous post about joining fat club (Slimming World), I thought I would blog my progress as I think it will make me more accountable and I’m going into this with a positive mind that I can do this and blogging for some reason I think blogging will help.
So my first week has been great as finally my body has started to experience what real food is like again, you know the kind of food that gets yanked out the ground or falls off trees or the types of foods that have minimal packaging and you actually need to prepare it. Yes folks, I’m talking about vegetables, fruits, beans, pulses, lean meat, and some dairy that on this diet you can eat unlimited amounts of. Yes, you heard it here first – well that’s probably a lie, not the fact you can eat unlimited amounts but that you heard it here first. But you really can eat unlimited amounts of them and in fact the more of the fruits and veg (there are a few exceptions) you eat then the more you will supposedly loose. It just seems alien to whatever society has told us about diets as diets are supposed to be about suffering but it works. Fill yourself up on all these foods and you’re less likely to reach for all the high calorific, full of sugar and fat foods.
Now I actually prefer eating healthy and would love a diet of all this stuff however it does require a bit of extra work like food shopping which is really not my favourite pastime, preparing and cooking, so really that’s what’s been holding me back but now spring is here it’s a fabulous time for new starts and also to come out of hibernation plus I know eating healthier and cutting out alcohol is only going to give me increased energy etc so i’ve started this at a good time.
First week was pretty easy, although the first couple of days were a tiny bit hard as we didn’t really have much food in the house so it’s hard to eat a lot of the ‘speed’ foods when you don’t have any! Now, I’m getting technical, yes speed foods which mainly consist of fruits and vegetables are supposed to speed up the weight loss so effectively the more you eat the more you loose! Yes totally my kind of diet especially when these foods are full of nutrients.
I was pretty motivated all week and really didn’t need to even think about going off piste and synning! Yes there is a thing called synning which allows you to eat what you want but it has to be measured and all foods that are not free have a syn value. You’re not supposed to go over 15 syns a day but if you do then you can always make up for it the next day by having less or no syns. Personally, I don’t like how they are called syns as it’s putting negative connotations on foods and some of the foods actually happen to be really good for your body such as avocado, nuts and seeds but due to their fat content they are obviously not going to aid weight loss. Anyway, this synning lark is great for people who feel deprived by diets as it does allow you to eat any type of food but it just means you can’t eat a lot of it to stay within your synning limits.
Even on a night out I felt motivated and was still able to enjoy a few drinks but I just planned ahead and instead of glugging on the vino I switched to dark and stormy’s (rum, ginger ale and lime) as these are a much lower syn value and it meant I could have quite a few drinks and still keep within my daily syn’s. It wouldn’t had really mattered if I’d have doubled my daily syns as I hadn’t really had any all week.
So first week kind of flew by with me eating probably more than I would normally as when you are on a diet you have to think more about what you are going to eat etc rather than just reach for anything. Also I don’t know if you’ve seen the slimming world paraphernalia but it’s just full of pictures of really mouth watering dishes which doesn’t help although it’s great that there is so many dishes you can choose from and all the traditional dishes you were brought up on – spag bol, chile con carne, shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, a fry up and Sunday roasts are all on there but obviously their recipes are the lower fat and sugar versions and actually are much tastier to me than shop bought sauces etc.
So day of weigh in, note to self, DO NOT EAT BAKED BEANS ON WEIGH IN DAY! Yes, I learnt the hard way and had a can of beans in the morning which left me bloated all day and I know you shouldn’t weigh yourself in the week but I had been doing on a daily basis and I’d literally put 3lb’s on from eating the beans! I had 3 hours to take it off so was drinking different herbal teas – chamomile, peppermint, ginger etc that help de-bloat, I took the dog for a good walk – exercise helps to get rid of the excess gas and had hot water with lemon squeezed in. This all did the trick and after making a deposit on the throne I’d managed to get rid of that extra 3lbs!
So step on the scales at fat club and oooosh! 5 1/2 lbs lost in my first week! Yes I’ll have that and committed to loose another 3lb for next week. Now I know it’s not healthy to lose more than about 2lb a week but to be honest the first week or two is usually a lot of water retention you are losing so after week 3 I’ll be happy if I can then lose a steady 2lb a week!
Also not only did I experience a decent loss but I had been suffering with dermatitis on my arms for the past few years on and off and it’s completely cleared up, plus my skin is a lot more hydrated and not as dry due replacing alcohol with water!
Right best get off and do some online shopping for the week ahead – yes highly recommend online shopping as less tempted to get things that you don’t need!
Will see you back here soon for the next update!
e bar was a novelty at first and it was like being a kid in a sweet shop. Not sure about you but when I was a kid I loved playing shop and it was a bit like that only playing barwoman. Anyway I think we all know where this is all going…the more we used the bar the more we started to get even more cuddly than we were.
I made a conscious decision years ago to accept myself for how I am and accepted that my weight can go up and down and that I am not defined by how I appear on the outside but who I am as a person. With this acceptance actually led to weight loss and to me eating much healthier and ditching the negative connotations I had with food. Yes, I still put on weight if I consume too much but I also lose weight, it’s never more than a few pounds either way but this is not a conscious effort and just happens.
at play.
you that you should look and be a certain size. The media lies and tells us that it’s all about outer beauty and it seems being a kind, caring person with inner beauty is nowhere near as important as looking the part! So when you don’t measure up to that image then you are in some way a failure or not good enough. What a warped lie, yet a very powerful one and it’s no wonder that there is such a big incidence of adolescents that suffer with eating disorders when this is what society is telling them.
Talk to any tall, slim, attractive girl and see if how she looks has made her happy. I think you may find that they have their own problems from looking that way. I’ve had friends who’ve struggled to make friends as other girls would think they were ‘up themselves’ or ‘who does she think she is’ just based on how they look. People who think these things are obviously insecure and not at peace with how they look but still it’s not exactly their fault if they have pretty faces and lovely figures. I’ve also known girls to be bullied because of being ‘too beautiful’. So the grass is not greener on the other side.
would not see that I was fat – in reality, when you are bigger you actually look slimmer by wearing more fitting clothes! I remember one period of my life, probably early twenties when people would ask if I had a boyfriend, I would look at them in disbelief that they had asked a question like that and would think ‘Look at me, of course I don’t’ but outwardly I’d make a joke of it by saying ‘No, I haven’t found anyone good enough for me yet’ or ‘I’m far too happy being single, I don’t want to be tied down’. I really did believe that no one would want to go out with me because of the way I looked. In reality I gave off the ‘I don’t want a boyfriend vibe’ and ‘Don’t come near me’ so there were guys interested but I acted like I wasn’t bothered by them so they didn’t pursue me. Them not pursuing me was my affirmation that they didn’t find me attractive. Now I look back and see how silly my line of thinking was and how warped my outlook was but back then it was my reality. Self fulfilling prophecies really do have a lot to answer for.
kind of gal and I consciously made the decision that I wasn’t going to let food control me anymore and I decided to be nice to myself and give myself a bit of acceptance and self love. I decided that if people didn’t like me because I was fat then that was their lookout. And in reality, I’d suspect there are very few people in the world that would not like someone due to their size and if they were that shallow then why would I be bothered what they thought anyway? Ahhh…but you do when you can’t see the wood for the trees.
We can be our own worst enemies and critics – why do we allow that? Just think of all that wasted energy you spend on criticising and hating yourself, where does it get you? Why not focus our energies on learning to love ourselves as we are and gaining acceptance of ourselves?
naturally goes down. If I fancy eating a bar of lard for breakfast I will and I refuse to feel guilty for doing so (although I can safely say I don’t get the urge to), if I want 5 plates full of buffet food at that party I will have it and guess what I may feel a bit full and wish I hadn’t ate quite so much but do I feel guilty and start counting up all the calories I’ve consumed? NO because let me tell you this, I prefer to live my life to the full and not waste my time on all these insecurities and fear. As a result I have a very healthy self esteem, I like myself (mostly, it wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have the odd wobble here and there) and above all I am a pretty healthy size. I don’t know whether it’s an age thing but the foods I’m attracted to now has completely changed to what I craved before, so now the thought of a nice healthy salad is far more mouth watering and attractive than a chocolate bar. They say you get out what you put in so feed your body with great nutrition and you’re going to get more out of it than feeding yourself with crap!
Chrissy's World - Stolen Moments in Time... 