It's Now Or Never

Ok, well I've been sniffing about on this board for the past few days, trying to decide what is the right route for me. Anyway, given the forum I'm writing on, clearly I decided to go Slimming World.

Like many on here I've struggled with weight problems for most of my adult life. At 37 I now weigh nearly 17 stone, and am getting painful knees, due to the onset of arthritis, made worse by being overweight. I'm constantly tired and sluggish and feel like I'm wasting my life. I'm a single Mum to a lovely 8 year old boy and I want my memories of his childhood to be ones where I'm playing with him, rather than sitting back and watching. I also work, so life does get hectic.
I'm going to join a class tomorrow evening, so I'll get my starting weight and suss the diet. I'm home working Tues so can plan my weeks food and get the shopping done.

I think one of the challenges for me will be to get back into the habit of swimming (and other exercise).

So I'll post again after my class tomorrow hopefully with my eating plan ready to go and full of motivation. Must admit, I'm really looking forward to it.

Pinkie1973 said:

Like many on here I've struggled with weight problems for most of my adult life. At 37 I now weigh nearly 17 stone, and am getting painful knees, due to the onset of arthritis, made worse by being overweight. I'm constantly tired and sluggish and feel like I'm wasting my life. I'm a single Mum to a lovely 8 year old boy and I want my memories of his childhood to be ones where I'm playing with him, rather than sitting back and watching. I also work, so life does get hectic.

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I think you might be my SW twin! I'm 36, about 17 stone, and I have sore knees and back because of onset of arthritis. I was constantly tired and sluggish before last week. I'm mum to a lovely 6 year old boy who I also sit and watch rather than play with. I also work, but only 3 days a week.

I've struggled with weight and eating disorders all my life and after one week on SW, I'm really wishing I had started 5 years ago when my Mum told me about it. This diet makes me feel great - lighter, healthier and happier and more energetic! Amazing!

Looking forward to seeing your plan and hearing how you got on at the group. :0)

Hi Pootler - yay a SW twin! Maybe we can motivate each other. Do you keep a diary on here, I'll look for it.

Yeah I only do 3 in the office, and two half days at home. Though in reality I seem to doing full time hours. I think that's something else that I need to get control over.

Yikes! Weighed in at 17st on the nose.

So am gonna have a nice warn bath once the Bairn is in bed, read through all the booklets, then plan my food for the weekend. First day on the plan tomorrow.

I stayed to most of the class, but had to leave early as I needed to pick my son up. Some is better than none though, and staying to the class I think will be really useful for me. I also bought the 12 week plan too. Here goes, I'm actually really excited.

Just come back from the shops - which was far less painless than I thought it might be. However, I did end up buying some clothes - a really nice jacket reduced to £15! Eek - not so good for the bank balance, and at a size 20 it is far too snug to wear right now. But it was really nice (a sort of plum and black coloured flock effect, would look lovely with jeans when I've lost about a stone). So that's my first goal I guess - get into the new jacket!

Am only posting quickly now as I feel I need to write something to keep going through my first day. I'm homeworking today (not usual for me on a Tuesday). I had my usual breakfast - a bit of a cheat as I am using up the canned fruit before I start getting into the habit of fresh fruit. Though I'm a little worried as the fresh fruit won't have the added juice and I might not like it as much - in which case I won't stick to it. What I have now breakfast wise generally works - but I'm prepared to try new things. Anyhoooo.... for this week I am finishing off the canned stuff, should take me through to Friday if I eek it out (which I try to, cost wise). Just hope the fresh fruit doesn't prove too expensive!

I've planned my meals for the week, so I'm reasonably well organised. Involves a bit of cooking, and again, I've tried to get myself into trying new things - so am giving that quorn sausage recipe in one of the books a bash tonight. Seemed like a good one that the bairn might enjoy too, then I can freeze half of it for another day. Am also planning some roasted veg and bacon couscous to make up, so I can take it into work for lunch Thurs/Fri. Bought some dwarf green beans to pick at. I don't have time to prepare food at work - in fact I barely take lunch, usually sit at my desk picking while working. So I may try a new habit there now that I think of it. I will try and sit out in the pitstop, if only for 20 mins, and eat my lunch away from my desk. Just gotta do it now! There you go - it was worth having a ramble, I've given myself a couple of goals and a way to change a bad habit. Go me! lol

Well done for taking matters into your own hands You definitely seem to be motivated which is what you need in the beginning. I've been back on plan for 2 weeks now and my motivation has been good, but like you, I struggle to eat when I'm at work. My body is used to only having something small for lunch and then a big meal at night. I am having to learn to get up 5 mins earlier in order to have breakfast and have a decent lunch, in the short time I allow myself at work. My boss has been on hols for the past couple of weeks so I will need a proper routine by her return on Thursday eeks!!!

I'm really hopeful that 2011 is gonna be the year of success for everyone on here - everyone wants it so much and deserves it. Fingers crossed for us all! xx

Thank you Maverick - yes my god it would be nice to actually be happy with my body. We do all deserve it - people don't realise how tough it is to lose weight. It should be easy and obvious - but somehow that eludes my big fat butt! ;-)

Decided to have a portion of savoury rice for lunch (I put down 1.5 syns for that?) and was trying to decide how I could work in the superfree food - then I had one of my revelations - I get them from time to time - and chopped up half a bag of dwarf green beans and stirred in for the the last 5 mins while the rice was cooking. Made a big old bowlful up, and it's really tasty, the beans work really well with it - almost as if they were supposed to be there. So feeling pretty pleased right now.

The trouble for me at work too - is that I have what is in effect a starbucks 2 floors up from me - so it's just a matter of popping upstairs, and oh look, a large hazelnut latte and a cookie came back down with me. Some days I have been known to have 3 of each!!! That is terrible, and would go a long way to explaining my hips. Clearly the cookies have to go - I don't really even enjoy them that much, not really - and any future lattes will be skinny and come out of my healthy eating allowance. Oh the good intentions!

That getting up earlier idea is good too Maverick. For different reasons for me - but I have found if I get up at 5.45 rather 6.00 - I can sit down and have a cup of tea and get my head together in the morning. It means I am less stressed and have got everything together before I walk out the door. If I'm less stressed at the start of the day that has got to help the diet, even if only a tiny bit surely!

Verbose aren't I?

Well thankfully I don't have distractions like that at work, I work in a very rural area, where the nearest shop is half a mile away so unlike a lot of people I have no temtaption at work, unless my boss has beenb cooking!!

Some savoury rice is free, depending which it is, but I love it and I always bulk it out with the superfree foods. I've been making lots of soup recently too, great for lunches and you don't have to think about adding the superfree cos it's already in there!!

You get up at 5.45?? I struggle to get up at 7.15 and that's early for me lol. My body hates mornings and it's not because I'm a night owl either, I'm just lazy!! Maybe once i get some exercise going I'll be more awake in the mornings etc... Here's hoping anyway!!

Yeah the trouble with commuting into London, and having a sprog is that I have to allow for getting the sprog to the childminder as well as getting ready, getting to the train station etc etc.

I recently bought myself one of those little cup flask things and have a cup of tea on the train while I play solitaire/sudoku for a bit on my phone. Then I have a little nap and recouperate for the walk to work. Mental isn't it!!

I've been reading on another diary (LittleSausage) about a 12 speed soup, so may try that out next week. Like you say a good way of including the super speedy business.

How do you find out which savoury rice is free? Do they sell a book on these things?

Day 1: 18/01/11

B: 42g branflakes (HEA), 1/7th can each of prunes, cherries, blackcurrants & blackberries (hereafter known as mixed canned fruit - for this week I am taking it as my fruit allowance), Shape yoghurt (free dairy)

Snack: 1 apples

Lunch: Sainsburys savoury rice (1.5 syns), half a bag of green beans, banana milkshake (made with 250ml sweetened soya milk + 2 bananas - now recalc'd at 8 syns!)

Dinner: the speedy bangers + beans in the start up book. 4 quorn sausages, canellini, borlotti and baked beans, trimmed bacon, passata. All free.

Snack: 1 apple

Throughout the day I had 4 cups of tea with skimmed milk (2 syns), and a cup with semi-skimed milk (1 syn)

Total syns: 12.5

So how did today go? Well I haven't felt hungry all day. I feel like I've eaten much stodgier food that I ordinarily would on a diet. I had a chat with my sister earlier, and decided I would split down the banana shake into two. One after lunch (as I really fancied something sweet) and another for later - like now (it's about 19:00 and I am feeling peckish for something sweet).

But overall, I feel comfortable, not too full, and not hungry. I may well have another cuppa, and make up that missing 1/2 syn to a total of 5 though. The rice really worked well for me - however, I want to try and not do the same thing everyday (which is where I believe I've failed in the past). So I will save the extra packet I bought for the weekend.

I am thinking about what to do with the canned fruit. I am worried that I just can't afford all the fresh fruit that I would like to have with that meal - and it would be the soft fruit that tends to be more expensive. I will get a variety of stuff in my shop at the weekend and see how it pans out. But if it proves too expensive I may have to go back to the canned fruit I did above - I think that works out about 5 syns. If so, so be it. I just didn't want to use my syns up each day on that. We'll see.

I'm a bit worried about how I'm working the diet - I'm really having to think about it all. But given I wanted to do SW because I needed a shake up, I think that's a good thing. I wanted to try new recipes and find a different way of dieting, and that's what I'm doing. It's all good.

Right - I have just discovered the SW online tool - and therefore need to correct a couple of things.

Breakfast - I need to allow a point for the prunes - which would be pointed even if they were fresh (which I did actual record in my diary, just didn't note it on here)

My Sainsburys savoury rice is FREE!!!!

So I need to knock 1.5 points off for that.

So overall, I had 3.5 syns. I think for tomorrow I need to work in a bit more vegetables as part of my 1/3 a day. Possibly also need to stop worrying about this canned fruit and just syn the lot. Onwards and upwards!

Add a couple of clementines, oh god they were delicious!

Day 2: 19/01/11

Eek, well I committed a bit of a cardinal syn today - I ate something, then checked the points. Won't be doing that again!

NB: since jules pointed out my banana faux pas, I have now recalculated the shake as well - also not planned at the beginning of the day!

Other than that, I've eaten well - but was a bit picky all morning, and I know that is because I ate my breakfast late. Now I think about it, whenever I do that, I end up over compensating later. So something to watch out for.

So, to my food:

Breakfast:
mixed canned fruit (1 syn for the prunes), branflakes (HEB) and a shape yoghurt. 4 rashers of rindless back bacon, grilled.

Snack:
2 clementines, 1 apple, cups of tea - throughout day (1/2 my HEA)

Lunch:
Full Sainsburys basics bag of stir fry vegetable - done in 3 stages with some frylight oil, a little soy sauce and a dash of worcestershire sauce. Banana milkshake - 1 banana (4 syns), 125ml soya milk (1/2 HEA)

Dinner
Spaghetti bolognaise (free as made with extra lean beef mince and other fresh/free ingredients), 1 tspn parmesan (1.5 syns) and wait for it 1/3 of a garlic baguette, which I have just calculated to be 15 syns!!!!!

Total of 22.5 syns.

So a complete difference to yesterday - over the two days I've done on average 11 syns. The downfall was definitely the garlic bread - I figured about 3 syns a slice so had 3 slices. Hey ho, lesson learnt, and technically I needed to use a few after yesterday. Think I will try and keep it back underneath 10 syns for the rest of the week though, would like to try and stay within 70 syns for the entire week.

Other than that (and as I learnt a lesson the hard way I will forgive myself), a fairly good day foodwise. It's nice not feeling so bloated etc (though I do feel quite full now, just after tea).

Am roasting veg as I type to go with couscous for my lunches over the next two days

Hello, sounds like you're doing great. Good idea to buy yourself a jacket that's too small as it's very motivating!!

Sorry to be a nitpicker but just wondered if you knew that bananas are no longer free if u blend them up in a milkshake or smoothie. When blended, cooked or mashed they have a syn value which can be found in the back of your book.

Sorry if you already knew that, wasn't sure if you had synned it or not from looking at your diary.

Oh and as for the mixed fruit have you thought of buying frozen mixed summer berries? Really cheap compared to fresh. You can defrost in advance and mix with yog, fromage frais, quark or porridge.

B*gger, no I didn't! Eel! Just as well I only had a little shake then. Oh hell. Thanks for letting me know though, and for the fruit tip. That could def work actually. Will look out for some this weekends. Hmm, maybe I need to sun for 5 syns a day not 10 now then lol. I'll be the first person in class to put on weight in their first week at this rate lol

Thank you! x

OK - I've now gone back and recalculated the past 2 days - making a total now of 35 syns. So half my allowance for the week in just 2 days!! Def being good now!

Nice one! Good luck for the next few days.

Thank you Jules.

Day 3 - January 20th

Felt quite bloated after yesterday - so amazingly my body was actually telling me I'd had enough. Wonder if I'd have felt the same if I'd not discovered the banana faux pas.....? Anyhoooooo, onwards and upwards and all that. I've been very good today, though I still feel a bit stodgy around the middle. I don't think it will be a great first week effort weight loss wise. What I have noticed though, is how much less I'm eating compared to before. Well, possibly not volume wise, but I'm definitely eating much more fruit (which was always my thing I resorted to, I love fruit) than I have done of late. Of late (before the diet) I really was just eating junk food, over and over and over. So when thinking about the banana over eating of the past couple of days, what did occur to me, was even with that, I've still eaten less than I have before the diet. Obviously now, I'm writing it all down here and in my diary, and with the SW system its getting me think about what I put in my mouth again. So all good!

So my food....

Breakfast: branflakes (HEB), mixed fruit, prunes (1 syn) and shape yoghurt.
Mid morning snack: apple
Lunch: couscous with roasted vegetables, followed by a banana
Snack on way home (train): apple
Dinner: HUGE spag bol - all free except 1/2 syn for the olive oil, 2 tspns parmesan - 3 syns and a banana and a clementine for afters.
Tea throughout the day with skimmed milk as my HEA.

Total syns today: 4.5
Total syns for the week: 39.5

So good - and I realised that I never felt too full or too hungry, so think I kept a good balance there. Am going to try and get a half decent nights kip too, as work is horrendously busy, and another of my resolves is to stop working at home in the evening. Tonight will be my first night of that for a while. And I forgot to eat away from my desk - remembered as I finished up.
So tomorrow: leave work at work, go to the pitstop for my lunch. Yay!

Hey! I felt much the same as you do now but in in my second week- really full to burst and bored of eating delicious food!! Because being on SW allowed me to have so much of the food I used to deny myself (ie carbs!) my body took it's time to get used to it! But now I'm back to eating for Britain!

Have you got some good recipes to keep you going?xxx