Weigh Day Results 28 April 2011

Not really surprisingly I had a 2.5lb gain this week. That means my end weight after the Lent Challenge is 14 stone 9lb.  A little bit disappointing as that is just 6lb in 8 weeks, especially as I had lost 8.5 lb last week.

My Award and prize Tiara which is in celebration
 of tomorrows Royal Wedding

Measurements 10 March 2011 compared with Today

Bust (in bra) 44 inch 43.5 difference -0.5 inch

Above belly button 40 inch 38 inch -2 inch

Below belly button 43 inch 42 inch -1 inch

Hips 46 inch 45 inch - 1 inch

Thigh left 26 inch  26 inch  -0 inch

Thigh right 27 26 inch -1 inch

Calf left 17 inch  17 inch -0 inch

Calf right 17.5 inch 17.5 inch  -0 inch


Next goal


I feel thinner, well not so much this week but definitely last week. Obviously the first thing is to get the weight off that I gained this week and then I am going to start aiming for the 2 stone award, I know I am skipping one, but I whenever I get close to it I gain weight so I figure forgetting it is there is a better idea.  I want to weigh 13 stone 13 by the 30 June 2011 that is 10 lb in 9 weeks that should be completely possible.  I may be going to a wedding the week after as such my goal is to look decidedly more svelte than I do at the moment.

I will be writing my food diary on a new page challenge to lose 10lb in 9 weeks

Other news


I found out this evening that I had been slimmer of the month for March, My consultant has been off sick a lot recently and she missed giving it out when it was due.  It is a shame really because I think I would have felt more motivated if I has known I had achieved that, as never in my entire SW life have I ever managed it before Still I will hold the fact that I can do it close to my heart as I attempt to undo the damage caused by my binge session by sticking to 70 syns this coming week.

Wish me luck... 

Naughty, Naughty Girl

Oh bother, it goes from bad to worse.  I have just taken part in some semi concious binge eating.

I walked in the door after physio to an empty house, my house guests have finally gone home, I have my house back hooray. So what do you do when you have your own house to yourself for the first time in 5 months; you clearly celebrate by eating half the kitchen, unfortunately it wasn't the sin free half. I didn't even mean to do it, I knew I shouldn't be sat eating out the remaining contents of a nutella jar with my finger.  I definitely knew I shouldn't be stuffing rich tea biscuits into my mouth with reckless abandon, but I couldn't seem to stop, it was like I was possessed.  And what was the result of 5 minutes of insanity;  feeling sick, guilty and depressed because I have totally messed up the week, and I doubt the scales will be going down tomorrow.

I feel a bit like an addict at AA confessing my deepest secrets - Hi my name is Susie and I am a binge eater!

Getting back on track - syn free snacks

Despite my rather optimistic entry the other day I still managed to derail from the plan over the bank holiday weekend.  Well they do say you should write what you know, and I sure do know how to fall off a diet.

I wasn't absolutely terrible, I didn't eat a small child or anything (actually would that be lean meat..?), I did however go over my syns again, yes I know it is becoming a habit - show me the faintest glimpse of an award and I start back peddling.  I have however hit today with the determination to take control of a bad weekend and stop it becoming and awful week, this is difficult because once I start eating things I shouldn't that is all I want to eat.  I have been trawling the cupboards (not to mention the fridge, freezer, pantry.. you will be glad to know I stopped at the dish washer, I haven't got as low as licking the plates clean yet) for syn free snacks to get me through the day.

So far I have eaten:

Crab sticks (free on red and EE)
Frozen cherries - straight out of the freezer (free on all)
Pickled eggs (free on all)
Oranges cut into four pieces (free on all)
Pickled onions (free on all)
Muller Lights (free on all)

I would love to know what anyone else eats for quick syn free snacks - please feel free to share...

Bank Holiday Slimming

Bank Holidays

The next few weeks are a bit of a dieting nightmare not only is it Easter, May Day and Spring Bank, we also have a Royal Wedding to contend with.  The weather seems to have changed for the better, there is a smell of BBQ's in the air and the beer garden at the local is looking ever so tempting... and don't get me started on the easter eggs and hot cross buns.



'Oh go on then...' the bank holiday diet trap

Sometimes it seems really easy to forget why we are putting ourselves through a diet or 'eating plan'.  The constant planning and saying 'no' to unhealthy food and writing down everything we eat becomes a chore. When everyone else it enjoying the holiday without even considering what is passing their lips it is all too easy to say 'blow it' and do the same. You have a few naughty things, then stop counting syns but 'try' to make good choices. You forget what you have eaten and without even realising you are way over the weekly allowance.

Excuses, Excuses 

The problem with this is that especially at this time of year is that one bad day can so easily become a terrible week. When weigh day comes you either get away with it: a loss, maintain or a tiny 'acceptable' gain and you think "well that worked out OK, maybe I can do that again"; or you have a big gain which leaves you feeling gutted then the excuses start - "I wasn't that bad", "I only had what they had", "you can't diet on a holiday", "I am never going to do this", "I don't want this diet to rule my life", "I will be good next week".

Losing Control

Usually when that happens I go home thinking 'Its a new week I will start again' ... but what's that, oh another bank holiday, and before you know it someone calls and you hear yourself saying 'yes it would be lovely to come round for tea/out for drinks/join you for dinner' and then it's  'well maybe I will just start again next week'.  Assuming you are not so racked with guilt that you don't go to class (the worse thing you can possibly do by the way) you are almost certain to put on more weight and the vicious cycle starts again, worse case scenario you miss a couple of groups, you know you have put on weight and you can't face everyone knowing how badly you have done so stop going completely and decide being fat isn't that bad.

Do you want a new life?

I have been thinking about the meaning behind all the days off and celebration and wondering how it could be turned around to motivate the bewildered slimmer.  Putting aside any religious meaning, the main theme of this time of year is rebirth, from flowers to little lambs the world is coming alive after winter. Where there was nothing there is life, and I think for me at least, the idea of a new life; one without excess weight, low self esteem and fear of food is something really exciting.  I am trying to keep that in mind through the coming weeks and hopefully this year I will not fall into the bank holiday diet trap. 

Slimming World Weigh Day - Results of Challenge Week 7

Another week has passed,  despite a bit of an iffy weekend, I have lost another 1lb.  I am pleased, but this next award is still evading me. The diary challenge ends next Thursday so it would be nice to get my stone and a half as a fitting reward for completing it.   

I am wondering what my next challenge should be, it has definitely helped writing a food diary so I will probably keep it up; this time though I think I need a more definite goal rather than just a pledge to stick to it.  Assuming I get my goal for next week the next award would be for club 10 (for losing 10% of your starting weigh) which is only an additional couple of pounds, whilst at this rate it would probably take me until next year to get there it isn't exactly aiming high.  I could aim for my 2 stone award - realistically at my current weight loss rate that would take another 7 to 8 weeks.  I think that I should aim for doing it in 7 weeks, which would take me to 9 June.  So my next goal starting 28 April is to get my 2 stone award by 9 June 2011.

I went shopping today (Tesco has 25% off all clothing - it would be rude not to), I picked up 5 items in a size 16 without trying them on, got them home and they all fit.  So happy, I haven't worn a size 16 in about 5 years it is the first time since I have been on this diet attempt that I have had to go out and buy a smaller size; I still had size 18's in my wardrobe that I was squishing into when I was really a size 20 so the change between those sizes wasn't really noticable.  Despite the small losses the fact that I could buy clothes in a smaller size means that I am feeling really motivated again, the ounces may be slow to fall but the inches are definitely disappearing.

Results of Slimming World Lent Challenge Week 6

There are good weeks and there are bad ones; unfortunately two weeks of flexible syns have resulted in my first gain, 0.5lbs.  I am disappointed, I didn't go that far over my syns and it isn't like I have lost much for weeks.  I need to think how I can speed up my weight loss. To make it worse; I have been invited out for tea on Saturday, I can't imagine it is going to be low in syns and as flexible syns are not working for me at the moment, so that is another challenge.

Somedays it all seems so hard, having to worry about everything that passes your lips, constantly thinking about food.  Why can't I have been born with a fast metabolism, why did I put on all this weight again, why doesn't everything go the way you plan.

I am slipping into a bad mood so I am going to leave it at that, wish me luck!

Slimming World All Day Breakfast Quiche

Boiled pasta shapes (I used Macaroni)
Joe's Chipolata Sausages cooked and cut into quarters
diced cooked Weight Watchers extra trimmed bacon ( all fat trimmed off)
Cherry tomatoes halved
2 cartons of fat free Longley Farm cottage cheese (other fat free cottage cheese can be used instead)
4 medium sized eggs

1.)blend eggs and cottage cheese together (set aside)
2.)place a layer of pasta in the bottom of a flan dish
3.)pour on enough of the egg mixture to cover (about a third)
4.) lay out sausage pieces evenly across pasta layer
5.) add more pasta and  another third of the egg mixture
6.) lay out bacon on top of the pasta
7.) add remaining egg mixture
8.) lay tomato halves on top


bake at 190 degrees for 40 mins

My slimming story - results of challenge week 5.

Another week and another 1lb loss. I have lost for 5 weeks in a row now, a miracle for me.  I have a long history when it comes to my weight losses and gains, so if you are sitting comfortably I thought I might take a moment to share my story.

I wasn't a fat child, but I was tall for my age, I towered above my friends; I started puberty at 8 had to wear a bra at middle school,  this made me hate doing sport in front of people. When the underarm hair started sprouting at age 9 I would do anything to get out of going swimming, I hated being different, I remember once being picked on by some teenagers because I played with babies, I didn't, they were friends from my class.

The lack of exercise combined with comfort eating meant that I started to gain weight in high school, by then other kids were catching up with me, in height and bra size, but the damage to my self esteem had already been done.  I never felt I fitted in and used to spend every summer dreaming that I would lose weight, my spots would miraculously disappear and I would go back to school thin, pretty and popular.  I started my first diet at 13, well it was more a case of only eating one meal a day.  I started calorie counting the year after, I lost a bit of weight but was totally overshadowed in my great unveil by a girl who came back half the size, with a whole new look and bags of confidence.  Despite the diets I was pretty much constantly a size 14 I felt fat and uncomfortable especially when my legs would rub together when I walked (I would give my right arm to be that size now, even with the sore legs).

I met my first serious boyfriend when I was 17, we both lived at home with our parents and soon we were eating takeaways two or three times a week, going to the pub on a weekend and generally living as unhealthily as possible, a year later I was a size 16.  Not long after that I went through a pretty dark period in my life, to be honest after years of self hatred I finally flipped.  I don't have much memory of my eighteenth year, I went from one anti depressant to another and spent most of my time in bed. I turned down all the offers I had for university and avoided thinking about the future.  I finally found some medication which let me function, albeit in a flat emotionless way but I was out of bed and could make plans. I made it through my A-levels by some miracle and decided to go an study an art foundation course at another local college, by then I was a large size 16.

I started making some changes to my life during that year, I had art therapy and gradually stopped taking medication as I learnt to deal with my emotions and some of the issues I had been carrying around for years.  I also joined a slimming club one with a restrictive calorie controlled diet. I applied to study Art and English at university and for the first time in my life I was happy. I lost weight and by the time I started university I was a size 12.  University life is notoriously unhealthy and without sticking to the diet 100% it was no surprise that by the end of the second year I was squeezing into size 16 trousers. I realised I would have to do something about it, in another year I would be graduating and that meant photos, photos that parents would want to put up on the wall,  and I was determined not to look fat in them.

I joined Slimming World the first time in May 2002 and I weighed just under 14 stone. The diet was a revelation, I could eat loads and still lose weight. I worked out how to save syns for nights out and new what I could have at the Indian takeaway.  The best thing was that I finally realised my dream of coming back visibly thinner from a summer break. By the time I returned for autumn term I had lost 1 stone 9lb's and was getting loads of compliments.  By the time I left university I was back down to a size 12, by May 2004 I was at my target weight of 10 stone 2lbs and a size 8/10.

Since then I have gradually gained all the weight back again plus a few more stone, I have rejoined slimming world numerous times, lost half a stone and then quit again, gone back another stone heavier each time.  I have been a member at my current group since October 2009 when I rejoined I was 15stone 13, I messed about at it for over a year, but this time I didn't quit and now, I hope, I am finally moving towards my goal again; this time I am only aiming for 11 stone 3lb, that was the weight I was happiest at and one I hope is maintainable.

I am excited to see how the story develops and I hope like all the best stories, that it has a happy ending

Flexible Syns - because this week I need them!

I went out last night, I tried to be good but on totalling up the syns I seemed to have gone totally off the rails - oops! So for the first time ever (well in the 10 years I have been playing at Slimming World) I am going to give this flexible syn thing a go.

The theory is that every so often we need more than our allotted 105 syns a week, no amount of saving up or cutting down is going to give you enough flexibility for this particular week.  So you set yourself a goal of how many syns you are planning on having in one day, say an extra 30 above your normal allowance, you count them, if it isn't enough you just count some more.  You get to the end of the day write them all down and draw a line under them.  The next day you go back to having your regular allowance of 15 syns of whatever you usually have.

Yesterday I went out to Loch Fyne, I chose really well I thought - a sharing platter which was pretty much all fish.  Moules Provençal, which is mussels with a tomato sauce, and I left most of the sauce. I had one small slice of wholemeal bread and two tiny pieces of white French bread.  Then there was the wine 3 x 175ml glasses hmm 18 syns there; worse still there was the dessert, oh dear chocolate cheesecake with lemon sorbet and a spicy pineapple compote.  OK it was lovely but at approx 21 syns that really pushed up my count.  So adding it all up I had a total of 60.5 syns yesterday.

Best case scenario
I had already had 21 syns so that is 81.5 syns.  I usually have about 30 on a Saturday so I could count 30.5 as flexible syns.  That means I had eaten 51 non flexible syns. I had 29 non flexible syns today so that means I have had 80 non flexible syns and should have 25 non flexible syns left for the rest of the week.

Worse case scenario
I count all 60.5 as flexible syns so I only had 21 non flexible syns plus 29 non flexible syns today which gives me a total of 50 none flexible syns.  leaving me with 55 non flexible syns for the rest of the week.

The idea is not to feel deprived so I suppose it depends how the week goes I can choose to have between 25 and 55 syns and still remain in control.  I will obviously try for the lower amount, but will try not to throw the teddy out if I go closer to the upper amount.

To summarise I either have 105 (plus 30.5 flexible syns) or 105 (plus 60.5 flexible syns) or somewhere in the middle.  Do flexible syns work? We will see on Thursday.