New You Plan

[FluffyWabbit]

Well, I can't see that these VLCD type diets are being talked about much.

Probably has a lot to do with the injections that people favour these days.

But, I find this weight loss journey that I'm on kind of surreal and a little lonely.

Everyone knows I'm doing it but we don't talk about it much.

Don't get me wrong. I have all the support in the world, all of the encouragement and even a mini-me that is on this plan with me but we kind of just do it and get on with things.

I started a Penzu journal as a way to keep myself focused during this diet, but no one can see it or comment on it, so there's no one to share it with and no one who can learn from it but me.

I like to process information and I like to share things so I'll probably just talk to myself here.

So, I have lost just under 4 stone this year. I'm on the final stretch of this diet. My BMI is hovering at just around 25.1 down from 34 in January. My aim was to get to 21/22 BMI but I think I've fallen off the wagon a few too many times to get there with only 4 weeks left.

That's ok!

Jean size went from 12/14 to 6/8.

Comments are crazy.

My hairdresser calls me 'tiny' and even the neighbour commented on my weight! I don't ever talk to the neighbour and he's a man! He out of the blue told me he'd noticed my weight loss (WHEN WAS HE LOOKING AND WHY) and then told me he started injections for weight loss.

Very strange but also funny to me!

I started my weight loss journey 20 something years ago and weighed over 25 stone! Not good for someone who is just 5'2"!

Tons of excess skin. Not overly happy with what's happened under my once plump and youthful chin but what can I do?

This post is pretty long. I might make it my second accountability journal, along with Penzu, but we'll see how things go.

Feel free to say HI or ask me stuff or make fun of me or whatever.

I don't mind the company!

Take one day at a time! If you did great yesterday, then accept that you did great! Doing okay, or well or good is perfectly fine. Doing better than doing nothing is also fine. I had to learn this so I could actually progress and not go backward in chasing perfection. You can do it!

You've caught me right that's what is taking place with me right now I have too much in my mind to deal with.
I need to focus but with clear mind and when I do something right I need to accept i have done well. It can be hard at times.

Energy flagging today.

Despite the surplus from the other day, I'm starting to feel like I'm burning through it which is a good thing. No one needs all that extra sugar, or sugar alcohols, calories etc, I know. But, it's a hard road when the body starts to purge all of what gave me extra energy in the first place and transition to burning other energy sources (hopefully, FAT).

So, here we are, having another black coffee and pretending we don't miss things like cheese and other chewable food items. No one ever seems to mention how much you'll miss CHEWING. But, I guess this must be a similar experience for people who have orthodontics e.g. braces so I guess I shouldn't complain that much.

I am still fighting with the disappointment of my blip, even though I know it probably is the break I needed to help me get through these last days. But, getting through them, larger than I wanted to be at the end, doesn't offer tons of consolation. So, kinda feeling sorry for myself even though I did what I did for the reasons I did it!

I keep asking AI what my final weight will be because I am too scared to get on the scale and confirm anything. Plus, before my hiccup, I did promise to not get back on the scales until we're done with the plan. So, I need to keep my word to myself on at least one point, right!?

Anyway, gonna go enjoy my black coffee and hope it wakes me up so I can stay on a nice sleep schedule for as long as possible.

Dinner is only 2 hours away!

So, I weighed and it wasn't good news!

Back up to 10 stone! Wow, 2 days of overindulgence and ChatGPT is telling me that it will take all of the remaining 22 days to get back to where I started last Friday! Is this true?

I don't know! Guess we'll find out!

Woke up at 3:30 am and had my electrolytes and black coffee.

Breakfast scheduled for 6 a.m.

I'm trying to not be mad.

Try to relax that will help. Am back on my cardio. Got 2 days in need to get today in too.
Thankyou to your motivation.

Just woke up and started some coffee because I have a busy day today!

Did not weigh!

Yesterday, bought a pair of size 6 jeans, size 6 trousers and a size 6 denim jacket (which is too big but was on sale) and so I consider yesterday pretty successful despite the weigh-in the day before!

I'm pretty happy about being a size 6 since I started this journey 20 something years ago at size 28/30. I can't remember 100% but I was shopping at the speciality area in H&M (they didn't have the selection they have today), Yours and had lost significant weight before I could shop at M&S and fit their size 24s.

So, weight loss is not always about the scale, I guess.

I finally got rid of all the meals I don't like from the New You Plan and now only have things that I like, which is great.

Today is banoffee porridge, strawberry bar, banoffee shake and broccoli pasta.

I'm so looking forward to some eggs, cheese and a steak.

21 days left!

20 days left

I weighed and I shouldn't have because I knew I wouldn't like the result and I don't.

I don't know why my weight is up 4 lbs from this time last week. Well, I do know. I ate 7000 calories in 2 days (Saturday and early hours of Monday morning).

That takes my daily 'average' up to 1700 calories for the past week which is a lot when I'm supposed to be doing a VLCD of between 500-800 calories.

However, I am hoping the scale isn't showing all fat and the 3500 calorie calculation holds true. If that is the case, I have barely gained half a pound and the rest of the increased weight, as reflected on the scale, is water, glycogen etc.

Really overthinking this now. I think because it's crunch time, with only 20 days left, I'm trying to squeeze as much optimism into a successful end result as possible.

I really wouldn't care this much but I have a 2 week holiday coming up in 3 weeks so it will be the first time in 6 months where I'll be faced with the test of 'real' food and not just intermittent refeed days used to self medicate insomnia, restless legs etc. The last 3 weeks of September will be entirely devoid of my total meal replacements and I'm kind of nervous about this - well, a lot nervous!

If all goes okay, then great. If not, I have 4 weeks left of Shake that Weight which will help me recoup some of whatever I gain when I'm away, I hope. I'm not sure how successful I'm likely to be, without VLCD, over the upcoming holidays after that.

I know I've never gained back any of the weight I've lost since starting this weight loss thing over 20 years ago. But, I've never been this low in weight before and I really want to lose about 14 more pounds. I never really had a goal in the past apart from lose and don't regain. I never really felt attached to a goal number, so this feels different because I want this to be the FINAL YEAR of LOSING.

After getting to around 22/23 BMI, I want to gain muscle and the ability to maintain as I am, wherever I am, if that makes sense.

So, a lot of thought and emotion is attached to this time around which is a new experience for me.

I had my bar at 4 a.m. this morning with half a cup of cold, black coffee. DH woke me up humming in his sleep and I had pretty bad muscle cramps. So, only slept until 1:30 am having gone to bed after 10 pm. Not sure a nap can be avoided today.

Next stop is brunch at 10 am which will be apple cinnamon oatmeal, some kind of shake and spaghetti Bolognese.

I'm trying to stay positive but, realistically, how much can anyone lose in 20 days?

Woke up at 3 am something because DH was tossing and turning like a psychopath. Shared the guestroom with the hamster for an hour and here we are.

Despite eating all my food at 11 am yesterday, due to no sleep which spikes blood sugar and affects ghrelin (so Dr internet says), I managed to eat nothing for the rest of the day apart from 8 fresh raspberries from the garden so did ok.

Today marks 5 days of staying on plan which is a record for me. When I had problems with restless legs/leg cramps yesterday, and I believe another instance this week, I didn't self medicate by eating.

Instead, I just woke up and felt sorry for myself and moved on with life. I figured I have tried 'medicating' on a number of occasions throughout this process and, even though it helps me for that evening, restless legs returns and my diet is derailed for at least a week. I don't know how much that new found enlightenment will matter this late in the game, but better late than never, I guess.

The past 2 nights I have been a little hungry but have gone to bed instead of eating.

Woke up this morning and took electrolytes, first thing, and having 500ml or so of water before diving into a full day of black coffee.

NSV: did not weigh so, literally, a non-scale victory!

Breakfast is in about an hour. Red berry porridge on the menu. Traded a bar with DD so have cottage pie for 10 a.m., chocolate shake at 2 p.m. and 'spicy noodle' for 6 p.m.

I helped myself to some chocolate balls from DDs snack allowance, yesterday. I am trying to stay away from the plans snacks. Even though they are allowed and encouraged, they bring extra calories and I just don't need those if I don't need those!

Trying to resist the urge to 'top up' the plan before I go away for a couple of weeks. When I return from my trip, it'll be exactly 12 weeks to the day until Christmas Eve. I don't think this would be a good time to try and resume a very expensive plan and it might not be needed.

19 days to go!

Last week of summer holidays need to get into gear with my weight loss and what am in putting for calories.
Last week need to get back on my wagon. Next week will be a busy week for everything. School run work ect. My eldest will be going to high school first year. That's putting me down but I have faith in her. last week to make sure everything is in its place. will be hard but no harm in traying.

So, you know those people who do these VLCD diets and never once mess up and lose crazy amounts of weight in 2 days or less? Then, they are the new sponsor for the programme and everyone is skinny and rich?

Yeah, that's not me.

I had ANOTHER high calorie, off plan day on bank holiday Sunday where I consumed roughly 5,000 calories! Mostly carbs, maybe all carbs, and I just didn't care!

That means, even with VLCD for 6 more days, I will have managed to maintain my current weight and expect no weight loss.

Honestly, I'm having diet fatigue at this point. I've been doing this for 6 months and all the NSVs in the world is not making me feel motivated.

Despite that, I went right back up on the wagon yesterday because I have 16 days left and I'm going to see this through. It might not be PERFECT but it will be COMPLETE.

The scale jumped back up to where it was when I ate too much about 12 days ago. I am in a circular pattern, atm, but ChatGPT tells me that I will be at a new low weight in 16 days if I stay the course from yesterday.

I think even I can manage just 16 more days. That said, I thought I could manage 31 days and messed that up at least 3 times since then.

So, if you ever embark on a journey like mine, I hope you don't feel badly when you're not PERFECT every.single.day. If ChatGPT is correct, I will have lost over 4 stone since January. Yes, I could've lost more, faster, whatever, whatever. But, I could have also GAINED it and I fought every step of the way.

Pro tip: ELECTROLYTES are necessary + water and especially when drinking coffee for energy or appetite suppressant. Extra food won't stop the muscle cramps or restless legs.

On this point, I may have been able to DIY my VLCD, as I did in the beginning. But, I thought I was mineral/vitamin deficient when I really might have just been dehydrated.

Live and learn.

I’ve recently lost 4 stone on MJ, but with the recent price hikes, I’ve decided to go cold turkey from it and calorie count instead. My thinking is that it was the low cals that was making me lose weight, the MJ just took away the hunger, so really I should still do as well if I can stick to the calories. I’m aiming for 1200 per day.

1200 wasn't low enough for me, but I'm near target weight, and very short.

I think you're right about MJ taking the hunger but keto/low carb will do a similar thing and is probably better for you!

Are you starting with low cal now?

Yes, I went away on holiday last month and took my last jab before then. I put weight on on holiday, but was fine with that, and have been trying to get back into being on 1200 without the jabs.

How many cals do you do? I’m 5ft 2 but need to lose another 2st ish

I'm on the New You Plan which is 500-800 cals/day depending on if you have a snack or not. I'm also 5'2".

I wasn't prepared to wait around to lose this weight which is why I opted to do it quickly. I've been doing this my whole life and this is going to be the last year for me!

Ah I hadn’t realised the title of the thread was an actual plan, sorry. I’ll have a look into it, thanks!

Morning! Did you get a chance to have a look?

14 days left

Sunday was a huge 'fall off the wagon' day for no reason apart from sugar craves which are through the roof.

Before I started this diet, I was doing keto and I did not crave sugar at all. I have never, in my whole life, been someone who caves to sugar. Apart from one exception, which is Easter, and when I eat all my eggs in one day so they're gone on the Monday - ha!

Now, though, I am craving sugar a LOT! I think it's one of the ingredients in these bars from this diet. I have binged on the bars and then gone and found other things to follow them up with! WHO AM I?

Anyway, obviously, the scale is up but I'm doing the best I can with what little time there is left.

I will be taking a break, assuming I don't hit goal weight, from September to October and resuming in October, if needed.

Hoping my delivery comes from New You because I have swapped bars out for soups which I hope will curb my insatiable sugar cravings on this last stretch.

ChatGPT has me 3 pounds lower than my lowest weight, at the end of the 14 days, which puts me about 3 pounds into 'healthy' BMI.

ChatGPT also lies.

Let's just see what happens, eh?

13 days

Well, I am struggling but I'm here. I'm HERE! Wasn't that a song in a musical by Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand or something?

Anyway, had some dark chocolate last night because I think PMS is just an extra beast, recently. It's not an excuse. It was chocolate or resorting to being violent against pillows and weeds in the garden and I chose chocolate. 100% dark. I did what I could!

I've decided after my 2 week trip, where I'll aim to not eat sugar as much as possible and eat red meat and other chewable proteins as much as possible, I will do another 6-8 weeks of this plan.

I am just under 14 lbs from my ultimate goal but I am not going to reach this in 2 weeks. Disappointing but I have to be realistic.

The difference for this next round is that I will NOT be ordering BARS because I love them so much that they are dangerous to me. Instead, I will replace these with soups.

I also have a fairly lengthy list of foods I don't like from the plan, so I will know to not order these and that, hopefully, will assist with some of the diet fatigue.

No scale update. With PMS and extra calories, many times this week, I don't think it would be realistic or productive.

Until tomorrow..........

12 days left

BUT, I have ordered another 6 weeks of New You food to start up after my return from my 2 week holiday in just 2 weeks. I figure the remainder of this plan now will set me up to have a little wiggle room during holiday and THEN I can get back down to business when I return.

I am disappointed that I still have weight to lose. Almost exactly a stone, to be precise. I know I set the goal for myself, but it was a goal and I feel like I failed it. Or, if not failed, underestimated the difficulty of staying on track, the blips caused by restless legs, insomnia, the inability to chew, diet fatigue etc.

I have learned a lot about myself since I started this in February! I'm pretty tough but not invincible - ha - who knew.

To date, I've lost 3 stone and 10 pounds. I know people lose more, faster, but I'm me and this is my result so it is what it is?

I have moved from obesity class II to bouncing in and out of healthy BMI, give or take 5 pounds, depending on when I weigh. My ultimate goal is to just be firmly in the middle of the healthy BMI range and then I can resume gym, muscle building etc.

If anyone has any thoughts on this goal, I'm happy to hear them!

Couldn't sleep last night, so had all of the rations for today at 1 am! Slept like a baby but now I'm going to fast today until 6 am. I don't mind. The sacrifice for sleep is definitely worth any discomfort today and I haven't had any discomfort yet and we're 12 hours after the fact. I've done this many times before so not concerned.

Well, if you're out there reading this, hope it helps you in some small way. I guess, unfortunately, I will still be updating for awhile - ha.

Have a great weekend.

Hi! Sorry, I’ve been away for a few days. That didn’t help the calorie counting 😂 I’ve just had a look into it, I’ve tried something similar before with packets and bars but I can’t remember what it was called. I think I ended up making crisps out of the soups in order to eat something different 😂 I’m going to try and stick to just counting what I eat, but I may need to cut down the calories in order to lose weight. And I need to be stricter on the weekend as that’s when the wheels fall off.

You sound like you’ve done great losing nearly 4st since February! I hope you managed to get some sleep last night?

Hi there ive not posted for a while. Its been a busy tough week. But il be alright. Ive proper messed my food up but m not giving up Monday a new start and full on focus thats my plan. And I know il do it.

Your plan sounds great! I definitely wouldn't be on this plan if I wasn't in a hurry to get this final bit of weight off. I had a lot of calculators telling me that I'd pretty much be retired before I lost the weight I needed to lose so this plan helped me do it in less than a year, instead.

Got some sleep, thanks! Can't believe what a difference that can make!

Hope you have a really positive week! Let me know how it goes!

Hey there!

Sounds like you're busy a lot! It can be hard to focus on weight when you have real life getting in the way!

I hope you have a great start to the week!

I believe you can do whatever you set your mind to! There is no messing up - just going forward!

Take it from me - I keep messing up and still going ha!

10 days left

Weight today is 9 stone 12 lbs which is up 2 pounds from my lowest weight on 14 August.

Well, what can I say.

Those Co-op cookies are so delicious and, once I gave myself permission to go off plan, I had them a few days in the week + a lot of some keto lemon cake I made. The keto cake was NOT as great as the Co-op cookies. I love those things so much.

But, anyway, here we are on the other side after giving myself permission to fail, basically.

That's ok. We're not doing that again since I saw, in real time, how a few days can set me back on my weight goals for WEEKS. It's not fair, but that's life.

So, I'm just counting down the days until I have my planned 'off plan' day with DH and then I'm not sure if I'll do the plan for 3 days before holiday or just manage with real food until I'm back from holiday.

I'm not overly worried about gaining weight on holiday because I just don't eat that much when I'm away. Also, the stuff I do eat is normally steak, fish, vegetables etc.

What will be interesting is learning to manage my appetite/TDEE at a new weight that is a lot less than it was in February.

So, we'll see how it all goes.

Todays meals: Caramel chocolate shake, red berry porridge, tomato soup and 'spicy noodle' for dinner.

I ordered another 6 weeks of the program, over the weekend, so it will be ready to greet me when I come off the plane.

Think I'll have an okay day today?

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Until tomorrow...........

Hi there morning. Thankyou for your motivation and your spot on again your words mean alot. I promise you this summer has been very busy. This week will be a challenge. Have my eldest starting her secondary school. My head has been everywhere but I am ready for this week. My weight has been maintained but not gone down this week it will be going down.