Back on my diet and feeling optimistic!

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 1
Starting Weight: 17st 2.75lbs
Exercise: Spent 6 hours painting the living room and hallway.
Mood: Optimistic

Breakfast: 1 banana.
Lunch: 1 roll with butter, thin cheese and loads of salad; 1 handful of cheese savouries.
Dinner: Cottage pie with sliced potatoes on top, lots of extra veg.(The bloody cottage pie took ages to brown nicely with spray-on sunflower oil instead of butter)
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: 2 nectarines (I don't allow myself any sweet things except fruit until after dinner); saucer of sweet treats to last me all evening (15 assorted sweets and a Freddo)

[ALoadOfTwaddle]

Good for you! How'd today go?

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 2
Weight: 17st
Exercise: Another 6 hours decorating, but fairly low-level exercise
Mood: Happy

Breakfast: none
Lunch: 1 nectarine; 1 corned beef salad sandwich (granary bread)
Dinner: 4 fish fingers, 2 potato waffles and baked beans
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: 1 banana; 1 jam-and-cream biscuit (I was at my writers' group, OK it was breaking my own rule but I usually have 4 and I was ravenous); saucer of sweet treats

[FlamedToACrisp]

And a small bunch of grapes - just found them in the fridge!

[ALoadOfTwaddle]

Well done, keep at it!

[SirJamesTalbotAndHisSpeculum]

I thought that diet drinks made you hungry?

But well done all the same.

I have lost six stone and have three to go.

[FlamedToACrisp]

@ALoadOfTwaddle thanks for being the first person to encourage me!

@SirJamesTalbotAndHisSpeculum oh, I'm hungry all right, but I'm sticking to it! I tell myself it's because I have to eat 'not enough' in order to use my fat stores to make up the difference, so of course I'm feeling hungry. Hungry is good - it shows the diet will work.

Unfortunately, diet cola is the only drink I like, apart from things like strawberry milkshake or pineapple juice, which are more fattening. I'll probably have a glass of these occasionally, but I hate tea and coffee.

Your weight loss is great - well done! Do you have any special tips/favourite foods?

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 3
Weight: 16st 13.75lbs
Exercise: 4 hours decorating. My fitbit wasn't impressed today
Mood: Slightly irritable, but not because of the diet. I'm just a grumpy cow!

Breakfast: 1 banana.
Lunch: Cheese and tomato sandwich (white bread) and a bunch of grapes
Dinner: Roast chicken, beef savoury rice, peas, sweetcorn
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: 1 nectarine, bunch of grapes; saucer of sweet treats

I know. It's just too riveting for words. But it helps to know I will have to admit what I've eaten, even if no one else actually gives a toss.

[Isittheend]

Well done Flamed. I've kept a food diary since March. I eat sugar free jelly (make up a bowl and always have it in the fridge) it is sweet to help with cravings and filling.

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 4
Weight: 16st 11.5lbs
Exercise: um... none
Mood: Lazy!

Breakfast: 1 banana.
Lunch: Ham and tomato sandwich (white bread) and a bunch of grapes
Dinner: Gammon steak, pineapple, new potatoes, peas, grilled tomato (eating out at a chips-with-everything pub - for £14 I expected a giant plateful, but actually the portion wasn't that large and I was hungry again an hour later! Bravely managed to resist a sundae to follow... mainly because they were £8!)
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: saucer of sweet treats

[FlamedToACrisp]

My DH just made himself some delicious-looking buttery toast with Marmite. I want some now...

[ALoadOfTwaddle]

Ooh, I love buttery marmite on toast.

[FlamedToACrisp]

@ALoadOfTwaddle so do I! You're not helping!

but I bravely resisted.

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 5
Weight: 16st 12lbs
Exercise: 7 hours of decorating, mostly balancing precariously on a ladder across the stairwell (will this house never get finished?)
Mood: Hungry! I could have eaten twice this much.

Breakfast: none
Lunch: Cheese salad sandwich (granary bread) and a bunch of grapes
Dinner: 3 skinless chipolata sausages, oven chips and baked beans.
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: 1 nectarine, the last few grapes; saucer of sweet treats

I definitely need to buy some more fruit.

[Hiphopopotamus]

So what diet are you doing? Calorie counting?

[ALoadOfTwaddle]

You know, you could probably swap your saucer of sweet treats for something more filling without gaining significant calories. Also, you shouldn't really skip breakfast, it's bad for the metabolism.

[FlamedToACrisp]

@Hiphopopotamus At this stage, I'm not calorie counting, but I'm aware of which foods are fattening (all the yummy ones, basically) and trying not to be greedy with them. Once I get nearer my target, or if I stop losing weight, I'll be more calorie-conscious, but I need a diet which fits in with normal life, without poring over the backs of packets.

@ALoadOfTwaddle I do know, but it's only my sweeties which keep me motivated. Gradually, I'll reduce the amount. At the moment, I know I can swap if I'd prefer a snack - but I never do. I don't really want breakfast most of the time, so it seems ridiculous to eat when I don't want to. If I actually feel hungry, I would have a slice of toast or some cereal for breakfast, but I usually only want a banana.

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 5
Weight: 16 st 10.5 lbs
Exercise: Yet more decorating
Mood: Sorrowful - my sister died in July, and it would have been her birthday today Felt better after a good cry, and had people round tonight to play silly games to take my mind off it.

Breakfast: Bourbon biscuit and 2 ibuprofen
Lunch: Cheese and marmite sandwich (50-50 bread) and a bunch of grapes
Dinner: Ohhh dear. I knew I'd have to admit it! Lasagne, boiled potatoes, salad, half a slice of bread & butter, sm piece of cheese, 1 Tuc biscuit, 3 gruyere and poppy seed twists, 1 apple pie, 1 bakewell slice, 1 jam and cream biscuit. This is the trouble with buffet meals... but I don't think I was that greedy tbh - I had small portions and skipped my sweeties tonight to pay for the sweet things. It's resisting the leftovers which is the problem!
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: none (so far -oops!)

[Wobblywibblywoo]

I’ve just come across your thread, your doing so well, and your starting weight is the same as mine, I’m trying to be good too but it’s so hard.

[Wobblywibblywoo]

My I ask how tall you are, I’m 5ft 9in

[FlamedToACrisp]

@Wobblywibblywoo I am 5'4" tall - and about the same sideways!

I've found it fairly bearable so far, although I'm hungry, because I'm keeping busy. Also, I know this diet works for me because I used it to lose weight for my wedding. Stupidly, before I reached a sensible weight I stopped on my hen night and some crept back after the wedding. What are your 'danger' foods? What did you eat today?

[Alwaysgrey]

I think you’re doing grand. I’m sorry about your sister. It must be very hard. I’m a similar starting weight and starting again tomorrow. I feel like a lump and kids want to go swimming with them and I feel embarrassed.

[FlamedToACrisp]

DAY 6
Weight: 16 st 10 lbs
Exercise: And still more decorating
Mood: Calm

Breakfast: 1 banana
Lunch: Cheese and tomato sandwich (50-50 bread) and some strawberries
Dinner: Lasagne, 2 potato waffles, 1 nectarine
Drinks: Diet Pepsi.
Snacks: sm bunch of grapes; saucer of sweet treats

[FlamedToACrisp]

@Alwaysgrey well, I wish you luck with it, you have a good incentive to get fit for your kids. If you're not ready to strip off yet, how about taking them for a kick-about down the park?

What's your worst temptation? Mine is sugar - as you've probably spotted.

[Alwaysgrey]

Crisps. And pizza. Carbs are my downfall. I’ll take them to the park but I love swimming and I know once in nobody will be looking but I feel lumpy. I don’t want them embarrassed by me. Especially as one child in my eldest’s class (they’re 10) told her that I was fat 😕

[Namechange3007]

Well done. It's so so hard. Keep at it. Do you like water to drink? Diet fizzy does mess up your metabolism.