Well, I am glad to say I'm finally back on track to getting skinny. Summer 2008 I started Lighterlife at 15st 2lbs, then managed to get down to 13st 8lbs on it which was brilliant. However, in the middle of that I went away to Malaysia for a month (and didn't put on any weight there) but once I came home I slipped back into old habits. To cut a long story short, between late August 2008 and September 2010 I got up to 16st. Clearly the thought that I was a huge 12lbs heavier than when I started LL, and a whopping 2st 6lbs heavier than after losing some weight before was not a good one.
It's amazing how rubbish being fat can make you feel! Despite not having been so depressed about my weight this time (I think there's a certain "I'm clearly a fatty, deal with it" mentality when you're 6st overweight) I wasn't happy in myself, and I certainly was not happy every time I went clothes shopping! At 16st I was a definite size 20 (unable to be in denial at this point). I had stopped buying new clothes with a view to losing weight - but wasn't actually losing weight. So I pretty much lived in one pair of jeans, one pair of black trousers and numerous cardigan & vest top combos in boring block colours. Not a great fashion statement!
Anyway, after lots of ridiculous binge eating sessions with the intention of getting up the next day and eating sensibly (as if that was going to happen), I stumbled across the Cambridge Diet online. I made an appointment with a counsellor near to where I live and decided that I was finally going to succeed in losing weight and being the person that I wanted to be.
My CD counsellor is great, really bubbly & friendly. She's really thin so looking at her makes me think *I want to look like that*. When I did LL before, my counsellor was really really lovely, but she wasn't exactly skinny. I think it's easier to be motivated if the person who is giving you advice is really fit and healthy.
It's not been plain sailing on CD, I started before Christmas and had a few weeks where I didn't exercise any willpower whatsoever and consequently didn't lose any weight, I even had 1 week where I put on weight. I think putting on weight was enough to scare me into submission and since then I've been doing much better.
Since Christmas I have gone from 15st 6lbs down to 14st 8lbs. I am hoping that this week's weightloss will be good!
For anyone that is thinking about losing weight I would recommend the cambridge diet. I am doing the stage where you have 2 meal replacement sachets and a light evening meal without carbohydrates each day. I'm finding it totally manageable. For me, the idea of solely eating sachets for weeks on end is not good! I think once I get down to 12st 7ish I may consider this to lose the rest of the weight though.
Although the sachets are good, I would say the best thing about cambridge is my counsellor. I think it probably doesn't matter too much which diet plan you follow (ie weight watchers, rosemary conley etc) but it definitely matters who you are answerable to each week! Although paying to attend a weekly meeting in any form may seem like a waste of money when you can very easily weigh yourself at home each week, the fact that someone else is monitoring your results is a great motivation! There's no room for denial when another person is watching!
I hope I can continue to lose weight and eventually reach my goal of 10st!
Have been getting on really well with my diet in general - a few slip-ups along the way - but even when this happens I am still eating below 2000 calories in a day - which is good.
Am starting to think very differently about food - and when I have slipped up I haven't even enjoyed the food I've eaten.
Lighterlife has taken the enjoyment out of food - which for me is a really good thing - I used to think that I couldn't live if I wasn't eating nice food - but now I'm starting to think of it as an energy source.
At my last meeting I had lost a stone in 4 weeks, I have a meeting again tomorrow night so we'll see how this week has gone! I feel a lot better and have been doing much more exercise than I previously would have. After a pretty bad time at work today I got pretty down so decided to get on my exercise bike, then that got me in the mood for exercise so I went for a power-walk for over an hour - am knackered now but it really improved my mood and I'm hoping it'll help me to sleep better tonight!
All in all I feel so much better for having lost a stone - I still have a long way to go, and am determined to stick with this. Can't wait to see how good it feels to be back down to a healthy weight!
Been really good this week (ok may have cheated once...but who's telling! and did more exercise & missed out foodpacks to counteract that) anyway the long and the short of it is that this week I lost 7.5lbs which I'm overjoyed with.
Feel much more motivated now, and am going to be perfect for the next two weeks (as regatta is coming up and want to be a size 16 at least by then so will have more clothes choice!). I realise this may be a little over-ambitious and may not make it to a size 16 then (currently size 18, two weeks and 8.5lbs ago I was a big size 18/size 20 in denial!) fingers crossed though. Hopefully if I do some exercise everyday and stick to the lighterlife plan I will make it.
Had a really good meeting with our group tonight, everyone's so supportive and nice. Also am starting to notice that the others are looking different, some have lost almost 2st in 3 weeks!
Managed to get back into some jeans that I had given up on a while back, this feels really good. Also went out with the family on Saturday and Mum quietly says to me "your jeans are too big, i mean you don't look like a tramp but i can see there's some room in them. maybe buy some smaller ones?!" which felt really good!
Had a great chat with the others tonight, everyone's starting to open up more - trading stories of being the fat friend etc. It's refreshing to know that I'm not the only one that has felt this way.
Feel a lot better in myself now too, aside from being pleased that I'm thinner, I feel happier. I think I had reached rock-bottom before I started this, and was probably depressed. On my low days I dreaded leaving the house. Pathetic that this isn't something we can all speak more openly about, as no doubt I am not the only person to have felt this way! Still, they say obesity is depressing, so as the weight comes off I hope to return to being the person I used to be!
Was really bad yesterday. Started out ok, had 2 foodpacks in the morning, then went out for the afternoon. By the time I got home I was so hungry and weak I was alternating between thinking I might faint or eat my own hand. So then I finally made it home (having managed not to faint or eat my own hand) and had another foodpack. Although that made me feel much better, by this time I had decided I was going to eat something. So stupidly went to sainsburys on the way to work, with a major mars bar craving. Once there I couldn't find individual mars bars so bought a pack of 5 (what idiot does this when on a diet) and in the course of the evening I ate not 1, not 2 but 3 mars bars. Felt ridiculously sick and feel like a failure.
Weighed myself this morning and luckily haven't actually put any weight on, but haven't lost any more. Given that I was supposed to have started this on Tuesday, but I actually started Wednesday, then gave up, so started properly Thursday, messed up Friday and am now on Saturday hoping not to give up today...my lighterlife people are not going to be thinking I've done very well when they weigh me on Monday night.
Last week's group had all done well and lost loads of weight, I just hope that throughout today, tomorrow and monday I lose at least another 4lbs otherwise it will be evident that I haven't even tried :-s
Got a work night out tomorrow...luckily no food involved in that, will just have to try really really hard not to drink. AHHHHH!!!
I must admit I thought this would be easier than it is. In last Monday's session we were told to think of it as being easy and achievable (positive mental attitude and all that) so I adopted this attitude...and now am struggling as it's so hard!
Just need to get some more willpower, and not go for too long without a foodpack so I don't feel awful and hit the chocolate again!
Went to my first lighterlife meeting on Monday night. Everyone in the group seems really nice, which is good. I had started in the 2nd week into the plan (due to my GP being an arse and refusing to sign my consent form) so I'm a week behind the others. One lady had lost a stone in 1 week. Am starting to feel that I'll get competitive over this!
Didn't start on the foodpacks on Tuesday as I was hosting a dinner party then heading into town for a big night out with my uni friends - thought it would be a nice last day of real food! However hadn't really considered the effect of trying to start a new diet with a hangover. To cut a long story short, I am starting properly today.
Managed to sleep until 11am (fairly normal for a student) as hoped then had less time to be tempted by normal food! We have to drink 4 litres of water a day on this diet, so I've filled the firdge with glasses and jugs of water! It's going to be hard.
Just got to face my first foodpack of the day now (they're not the nicest things ever) !
Have now contacted lighterlife so am waiting for them to get back to me so I can begin my quest to get skinny!
Am a little apprehensive but also sort of excited to get started. Hopefully I will manage to stick to the plan, which claims to guarentee you lose at least 3 st in 14 weeks. I am hoping to lose more than that, so we'll see how it goes!
