Want to look GOOD by June 4th - that's just over a month. Please share your weight loss and toning tips

[Cristiane]

Back story is that I have just tried a week of pig to twig (Atkins type diet)

I feel horrific and haven't lost any weight. Kind of feel faint and my head feels very odd and I cannot face it any more. Just ate some boiled potatoes with olive oil and feel a bit stronger. I just don't think that diet is for me. I also slept very badly on it.

But... I want to look better in a month than I do now!

Despite moving house and working full time and having two DDs, I will try to find the time to do the 30 day shred plus I do walk 15 mins each way before getting on bus to the office. I wear MBTs even though they look horrible.

But it's the diet side of things that I get stuck on... If I deny myself something I then fantasise about it. I actually eat very healthily, and cook everything from scratch, don't have diet coke cravings or eat many sweet things. I get low blood sugar moments and have low blood pressure so anything too extreme and I faint or get ill (sounds very dramatic, maybe I'm just a wuss)...

Please share your successful dieting tips. I am 69 kilos and 5'6". I would like to be 59-60 kilos. I was 56 kilos before having DD1. Bloody hell.

Pass have a look at this diagram, as you can see it could be the deltoid (which is a shoulder muscle) or the pectoralis (chest) when during the movement do you feel pain? (of course it could be neither of these and something else entirely, the complexity of the human body!)

notyummy - no insider knowledge and I know people who do teach box then knees then full. Have you tried to do a box press up? it's quite an awkward uncomfortable move hence why I avoid it (also good form is important in push ups so teaching that from day 1 is important I think.

Libra - think you are right about form with press-ups. Easier to start in the correct body shape and increase the load I think. I was always 'offered' the box press-up as an easier alternative to press-ups on the knees when doing circuit training, but didn't do it!

chulita, my understanding is you need some fat to feel full and satisfied. I do weight it out though. It is also important for me to eat food in its most natural form and with the least ingredients possible. Ingredients which I recognise and would have in my cupboards. Which is why I avoid 'diet' food and anything with artificial sweetners in.
This and the shred has got me to goal weight and BMI of 21.9. I have known DH (not intimately) but since I was a teenager and he thinks I look better than ever, and I'm now 40.

I agree with you re fat, it's just the amounts I struggle with.

I did the Shred on Sunday but missed yesterday cos my bum was sooooo sore. I thought that since it'd only been about 3 weeks since I stopped I should just jump in at level 2...big mistake. I'm hoping to get back to it today but at level 1. I'm just so bored of level 1 now!

blossoming those snacks sound like just the kind of thing I could get into

i will have to get the ian marber book you recommend. but until it arrives can you talk me through a typical day or two?

Aha, yes, must be the pectoralis! Gosh, you are clever, Libra :) It didn't hurt at all when I was doing the press-up, it just hurt the next day. Isn't it bad for you to excercise when amsucle is hurting? I thought that was a sign that the muscle was damaged and needed to heal - have I completely made that up?!

cristiane, I had a great day yesterday and this is what I ate:
breakfast: alpen no added sugar, one slice of wholemeal toast with St Dalfour no added sugar orange jam.
morning snack: apple and almonds
lunch, grilled chicken kebabs with courgette/pepper/red onion and brown rice.
snack: apple and one of dd's Organix Oatibar things, the carrot ones
before shredding: oatcakes and cheddar (at 5pm with dcs eating their tea)
post shredding: banana and yoghurt.
I don't really have supper anymore, I need the daily diet book too, to give me more ideas.
Not too many calories yesterday, but good combinations for me. Down side, I am more hungry today!

Wow blossoming, your food choices sound yummy. I agree with you regarding full fat. I certainly feel more satisfied on full fat foods and think I therefore eat less overall because of that. Are you not bothering with dinner these days because you're full?

By the way, was it on this thread that I read about the 80/20 statistic? Because I've read that too - that exercise alone will not shift weight quickly, you need to focus on food primarily. I never lost weight on exercise alone; however I rarely put on weight with exercise alone. I've only ever lost weight when my focus shifts to diet.

PassTheTwiglets, what sports bras are you using? I'm an F-cup and can jump all I want in Shock Absorber Run bra, best I've tried and i've tried many.

I tried a Shock Absorbver one but ti did nothing so then I got the Freya underwired one which was better but is still not great. But then I'm an HH so I think nothing short of scaffolding is going to do the trick :)

bsshbossh, I wasn't hungry yesterday and went to bed late. However I am hungry today and so have just had scrambled egg on wholemeal toast after school run. I eat my main meal at lunchtime and have a sort of 'supper' at 5pm then shred ar 7.30 after dc's bedtime.
Finding different protein is a challenge for me, especially on holiday. Baked beans are a source if you don't mind the sugar. But I am being very strict this week after a very carb heavy holiday over Easter.

blossoming do you let yourself eat any pasta any more?

naturelover - Dr Zermati is really good - über sensible.

cristiane, I do eat pasta, but not often. I had it every night on holiday though! And I often make lasagna on Saturdays. When I started on this I'd make pasta for the others and a jacket potato for myself with whatever sauce they were having. I can't bring myself to eat brown pasta, but I love brown rice. I've always had a big appetite and this method suits me.

Cristiane,

I cannot do low carbing due to dizzyness, headaches and sleeping badly.

Some people have a more sensitive "blood sugar". basically, your blood sugar plummets, causing these symptoms. Most people have a bloodsugar level that simply does never get as low as mine (or yours) .

I have on occasion fainted, which is rubbish. My DS1 (but not DS2) has the same and becomes very unwell if the gap between meals is too long (sweating, shaky and sometimes even vomiting). Eating (wholegrain) carbs for mke is essential to feel o.k.

For me low carbing doesn't work, but I guess my normal style of eating is very paul mcKenna.

bonsoir I was starting to think I was the only person who'd ever heard of Zermati. I can't even remember where I read about him, and it's years since I lived in France.

I used to be a fan of Montignac until I realised it's still a diet and where there are "rules", I crave what I'm not supposed to have.

I'm re-reading it because since weaning DS my weight has crept up a bit and it's freaking me out. And the more I think about food and diet, the more I eat

I haven't read McKenna but it sounds like it's along the same lines as Zermati.

Where Zermati is really good at is explaining why we have to accept that we have a "natural" slim weight which it is really easy to maintain if we eat healthily and exercise moderately and regularly. But woe betide she who wishes to maintain an unnatural weight.

I suspect my ideal weight is below my natural weight, hence the years and years of hunger-cravings-weight gain. I need to make peace with my body I think. Especially as I know that being 63kg/1.73m is actually ok.

That is a lower bmi than mine naturelover, and I wear dress size 10 or 12.

I just failed and had pizza, I'm now far too full to Shred so I'm going to see if I can wait an hour or so and fit it in. I hate it when I do that!

blossoming I did a week of eating yoghurt with fruit in the evening rather than a 'proper' meal and actually I did very well on it. I loved going to bed without a hugely full feeling. I'd do it more but when DH is at work he wants a proper meal in the evening and I'm cooking twice in a day...

My dh has got used to me not eating with him during the week. I cook in the morning, say a chilli; I eat it at lunch with my brown rice, dcs have it at 5, then dh at 8. I do white rice for them, microwave 11 mins.
At the week end we all eat at lunchtime.
I think there's a saying: breakfast like a king, dine like a pauper, which I quite relate to!

Libra, thanks for the modified star jumps link. Although it wasn't so bad today, as I did it in a carpeted room, wearing trainers, as apposed to bare feet on a hard floor. The lunges are the bit I'm wary of, but I just don't go too low. I'm hoping if a strengthen my legs, my knees won't suffer so much.

Today was only day two, but muscles all over my body are now stiff and achy.

hi girls- started the shred last month (5' 6 12st 11lb) but has severe back pain after 1st session and was in pain for 10 days (re occurring problem). Any ideas how to adapt the 30 day shred for this? I NEED 2 stone off badly

You will ache Memud but dont let it derail you - it just shows that you are working hard.

Rusmum - that sounds difficult re your back. I think you probably need to try and track down the root cause of the problem before you can think about modifying any exercises. Perhaps try a range of exercises slowly and carefully and see what appears to cause issues?