New Mums: Pre-diet we had pride, now we want new bodies!

[SolitudeSometimesIs]

Here we go again!

Ok it's the magic thread where we find inspiration, motivation and actually see the results we want and manage to hold on to them once we get them.

No more excuses (unless they are hilarious or necessary).

Welcome all!

Did you start again yesterday Sol? Crisps are my down fall at the moment, and chocolate raisins.

I did another fast day on Wednesday, but haven't stopped eating since yesterday afternoon.

On a more positive note the 2 Oasis dresses I bought (just to wear) almost fit. They will look better if I lose 10lb, but I get get them on and fastened without any thing looking like it will explode. So that's good?

Definitely going back onto Exante on the 11th May. I'll,try to do 2 fast days next week. I'll weigh myself then.

I'm not surprised that your friend isn't happy. Although it will hopefully come straight off as that isn't a massive amount to eat. I don't think WW is for everyone and it certainly doesn't help if you have issues with food. The loss is too slow for me.
Do you still go to your group with Gastric Band woman?

How are you doing Beyond? Hope you both have a good weekend/bank holiday.

I've been on and off the Exante thing all weekend. I had a massive migraine yesterday complete with blurred vision so I wasn't arsed eating properly. I also have a trapped nerve in my shoulder which is just horrible. So basically I am falling apart. I have to try my dress on today and I'm not sure I can because I can't really lift my arm and I'm in no humour to wrestle myself in to Spanx - I have the dress one and I keep gouging my face on the bloody underwired cups in the bra bit because it's so feckin tight.

Sorry for the whine. I am biding my time until DH wakes and he can massage my shoulder for me and hopefully un-scrunch (proper medical term) the muscles.

That is fantastic about your Oasis dresses Green, you must be delighted. How are you finding doing fast days? I need to start 5:2 after this wedding.

I don't see GBL anymore. She got progressively nasty and at the last meet up I went to she deliberately gave my DS1 food he is allergic to after I had told her not to. Cue a bit dose of meds for DS and me losing my rag and screaming like a banshee at her because she had done it purely to be a nasty cow.

Some of the others still see her and I hear about her and her weightloss. She has lost about 6 stone but still lies about how.

How are you both doing?

No dieting for me this week! Ordered some Exante on the BOGOF today so I'm starting properly on Monday (I know for the 6th time this year!)

I was okay with fast days last week but ate and drank lots over the weekend. Mine and DD's Birthdays this week so lots of eating cake to happen!

How is your shoulder Sol? Hope it's feeling better, back pain is horrible. The Spanx sounds like an instrument of torture. When is the wedding? How is your dress without the Spanx?

What a cow GBL is! I wouldn't be going near people who would deliberately do that to children either.

Sorry not been around, pretty busy and actually need a break from my up and down dieting. I am boring myself

Well done on the dresses and fast days Green. When is your birthday?

We've had quite a few celebrations too - much cake has been eaten and I am out again tomorrow.

GBL is vile. Hope your shoulder is better and no more migraines.

Enjoy the birthdays Green and your wedding this weekend Sol. I bet you will look fantastic (spanx or not!)

Hi Beyond. I know what you mean about the dieting. I think I'm going to have to start exercising or except my size!

It's all go in May isn't it?

My Birthday is tomorrow. DH is away so might just go for a meal with my parents. Got a party for 30 children to cater for on Saturday so nothing wild will be happening.

Have a good time tomorrow. Enjoy your wedding Sol.

Hi all,

having a very up and down week this week. I made a slight effort with Exante but with a teething baby and DS who broke his arm, it has been a mad week.

Happy Birthday Green, I hope you had a great day! And good luck with the 30 children tomorrow. I will rejoin you with the re-start on Monday, you can't diet on your birthday! Did you have a lovely day?

How's all with you Beyond? I hear you with the up and down dieting. Sometimes it's great to take some time off.

Was pretty much "on" Exante today, having a bar as I type - I had low fat hummous and carrot sticks as one of the meals though. I'm on a massive carb comedown from the massive bowl of pasta I had yesterday and to be honest I felt so bloated and crap after it - but it was sooo tasty!

I got an email from Exante saying some X factor contestant is signed up to show us all how easy it is. I wondered would her blog reflect some of the on/off, I'm so hungry I could eat a dead dog style posts that go on here.

I think life has over taken all of our diets at this stage. I try to make sensible choices where possible (happily forgetting the pasta from yesterday) but I feel I need to make some sort of long term plan. I think low carb may be the way to go.

I have seen some of the pictures from the wedding and I think I look good. My face is so much thinner and my body has gone from being huge to looking good (with 2 sets of Spanx underneath my dress). My next goal is to get in to 12's and I want to do that by my birthday.

I hope your son's arm is getting better Sol.

Well done on getting back on the Exante. I was going to start today but didn't feel great. Going to do it tomorrow, I got some new products which I'm strangely excited about. The wedding I'm going to is 3 weeks on Saturday, still need to order my dress!
I saw the email from Exante too but I was more interested in the exclusive new products in the box. I'll have to have another look. No idea about X Factor people though!

Really pleased that you are happy about the wedding pictures. How on earth did you breathe with 2 sets of Spanx though? Hope it was a good day too.

I had a good Birthday thanks. The party went well too. I was very tired after it all though!

Ooooh what new Exante stuff did you get?

I am seriously missing normal food, but I feel guilty having a very expensive box of diet food in the press under the stairs. Could you ease in to Exante by low-carbing this week and then 5:2 next week and then 1 week of Exante? It might be easier.

Are you going to order the Oasis dress? Think how great you'll feel after you lose 7 lbs. I know it made a big difference to how I felt as well as making a difference as to how I looked.

Two sets of Spanx were quite the adventure when I needed to pee but other than that they were fine. I had the shorts pair and the dress one underneath my outfit.

I got some of the sausage mix, Tiramisu, chocolate and salted caramel puddings and some of the crumble. I bought some more porridge and pancakes too. Not loads just 2 or 3 packs of each. I feel bad because I still have lots of shakes left but I don't think I can just survive on those!

I managed to start today. I really hope I can get properly into it. 7lb will make a huge difference.
I'm not sure if I can be bothered to low carb properly. The Exante just seems easier at the moment. I might get some low carb stuff in for the weekend to stop myself getting too tempted to cheat.

I have the Oasis dress but it's tight around the chest. I don't think I'll slim into it but it has a 90 day return so I'll see. Going to order the Mint velvet dress tomorrow. I might need to have another look online incase it doesn't fit.

I have Spanx shorts but I'm hoping I can avoid them.

I've just ordered this dress www.matalan.co.uk/womens/brands/fwm-by-fenn-wright-manson/s2599998/fwm-fit-and-flare-dress--rrp--89.99

That Matalan dress is gorgeous.

I made ShakeCakes today because I can't bear the shakes. Make it in to paste with a little water with sweetener dissolved in it, I put extra water in so it was less thick. Bung it in the microwave and check on it every 25 seconds until it's firmed up. It goes spongy and is quite tasty. I made it with the hazelnut shake and it was nice. Way nicer than drinking it anyway!

Apparently you can make ice cream with the vanilla one by making it up and freezing it. I think I'll try that next. I have tons of shakes but they are grim.

Definitely worth trying to get you through.

You'll need to report back on how the new foods tasted.

I'm hoping the dress will look nice on, mainly because it's so cheap! I'm not feeling the love for formal clothes at the moment, elastic waist bands are more my style.

I will have to try that recipe for Shakecakes. I was going to have a shake tonight but had no ice. I always whizz them up with lots of ice and a small amount of water and they are quite like ice cream type shakes if you get the quantity right.

I had the sausage mix for dinner, it was better than I thought. I've just had a salted caramel pudding. I think I over cooked it as it was slightly rubbery and tasted quite 'eggy'. So that was disappointing as it tasted quite nice when I tasted the 'raw' batter.

I think style evolves as you get older, the call of the super restrictive dress and sky high heels is definitely heard less around here. The dress is a bargain, you would be mad not to buy it. I have a whopper vein running up my leg from my pregnancies so it's full length for me sadly. If you have nice legs you should show them off.

I like the sausage mix, it's really nice with extra cayenne and chilli powder. I can't make the sausage shapes though, they're more like squashed sausages. I had an egg with them sometimes if I was starving.

I'm really hungry tonight. But I will not break. Also spectacularly sleep deprived due to the sun waking the kids mad early this morning. I think I need to get black out blinds for their bedrooms. I swear I'll get them every Summer and then never bother, I might strike while the iron is hot and get them tomorrow before I am driven demented by early rising kids.

How has today gone? I've managed to stick to it again. I want real food already. Once this wedding is out the way and I've used up my stash I am going to focus on being fit and healthy. Even if it means a slow loss.

My legs are okay, they are shapely from the knee down! I'll just have to fake tan. I always feel like I'm too short and fat for Maxi dresses, although I have got a couple of more casual things. I need to find time to actually go shopping and try things on. I don't know what suits me anymore.
If the Matalan dress fits and looks okay I'll probably stick with that. I'll never look amazing. I'll just make sure my hair and makeup are nice.

I will try the additions to the sausage mix. I tried the cheese and bacon scone mix today, it wasn't great. Easier to eat than some of the other savoury food but tasted in no way like a cheese scone.

I think I've got some sort of intolerance to something in Exante. last time I tried for the week I ended up with a bad stomach and it's starting again today. Going to cut out the coffee tomorrow to see if that helps but I'm wondering if it's the sweeteners in the Exante? My stomach is really swollen tonight, not nice.

Did you get the blinds? Someone I was talking to yesterday had also just ordered some. DD1 has been refusing to go to sleep as it's not dark. Then I can't wake her. I think I prefer that to early mornings.

Well, I'm not going to lie, I was dreadful today. I had a bag of crisps, shared some peanuts with DH (I ate 90% of them) and had a few bites of DS1's pasta, oh and I had some croissant. BUT I am due my period tomorrow so that's my excuse. Sorry!

I feel the same as you with regards to wedding deadlines, it's like a means to an end.

Sorry to hear your stomach is being dodgy. The sweetener in Exante is quite harsh, there's no way I could do it long term. Do you think it might just be your system clearing itself out? Did you suffer from that when you did Exante long term? Could you try 2 packs and a protein meal? You can't stick to it if it makes you unwell.

I ordered the blinds. Measuring the windows was a pain in the arse - I got DH to re-check the measurements and they'll be ready next Monday. Our windows are larger than standard size so we had to get made to measure ones. DS1 will be way happier, as the sun beams in to his bedroom in the morning too and he is up at 7am which is too early for me!

PMT is awful. I think you did really well. How has the weekend been?

I've decided just to look forward to the wedding and try to stop stressing. I've bought a dress that is lovely and fits ( I have 2 sizes of course!). The Matalan dress is nice but too long and the colour is quite dull, not very summer wedding. So it's going back as I don't think I've got any reason to wear it.

I've packed away the Exante and put it away. It was making me feel ill and my stomach looked about 7mo pregnant. I succumbed to PMT at the weekend.

I love a faddy diet though so I dug out my '17 day diet' book. I did this after DD1 and lost my pregancy weight quite quickly. It's basically lots of lean protein and veg for 17 days. Limited fruit, 2 servings of probiotics per day and 2 servings of oil. It's suppose to wean you off sugar quickly, you can't have milk.
I'm looking forward to it actually. After Exante it feels like a treat to be allowed some real food.

I hope you get your blinds today. 7am is when we should all get up in our house but I'm often dragging DD1 out of bed at 7:30. I might get some blackouts anyway as she won't go to sleep.

Have a good day.

Hope you are okay too Beyond

Hi,

sorry I haven't been around. I caught some sort of dodgy tummy thing over the weekend. Feeling a bit better today so I'm back on Exante because I got the date wrong for the next wedding we have and it turns out it's this Friday and not in 2 weeks. So I need to lose about 5 lbs in 5 days. I'd prefer 7lbs to go but I will do what I can.

I think you're right to send back the dress if you won't wear it. There's nothing worse than having clothes you're not too fond of hanging around in your wardrobe.

What's the 17 day diet? I love a good faddy diet and the more complicated the better. I think high protein is the way to go for weightloss. Have you started it yet? Do you have to drink the oil?

Could you sell the Exante food online or swap it on a Facebook site?

Glad you're feeling better. Good luck with the Exante, could you take some probiotics to help your stomach? I don't want you developing the problem I have with Exante!

Are you wearing your Phase a Eight dress again? You're right about unloved clothes hanging in the wardrobe. I spent ages last week sorting out clothes and shoes. I don't need to start buying more things that I never wear.

The 17 day diet is an American doctors diet and book.

The picture shows the food you can have during the first 17 days. The book says you can have tea/coffee but no milk and you have to have 8 glasses of water every day. The oil is for cooking and salad dressing! Even I'd draw the line at drinking it!

Then you do another 17 days but add in 2 servings of 'starches'. I can't remember what the next 17 days introduces (maybe different proteins?). Then you go onto maintainance or back to the start of if still need to lose more weight. It's supposed to help your body get into fat burning mode.

I did the first 17 days 3 years ago. Then I kept doing it during the week and eating more normally on a weekend. It did work, but most diets do if you stick to them! (The hardest part!) I like diets were you lose a lot initially and I think it helps me stay on track. I lost about 1.5 stone in 8 weeks last time.

I might use the Exante as deserts/treats. I mainly have shakes, porridge and pancakes left. they might be handy if I want something sweet instead of eating something sugary.

I'm sure Exante and myself will be re United at some point in the future!

That list of food sounds really nice. So much variety and there's a distinct lack of rehydrating that needs to be done. It'll be a nice break from the Exante.

Having the Exante to have as snacks would be good, at least they're only 200 cals so you'll never eat loads of them. I'm going to use all my stuff up and then go low carb. My friend is hassling me to join the gym with her and thinks I'm just being lazy when I say I don't fancy heading to the gym at 8 pm. She has no kids and doesn't really understand why I am so unwilling to work out in the evenings. I think I might get the Davina fitness dvd to try though.

I don't think Exante is to blame for my dodgy stomach, I think it was the food we were served, or possibly the water (it comes from a well). Every time I eat something at SIL's I end up unwell so I avoid it where possible but I couldn't this time. Poor DH wasn't well this time too and we ate the same as the kids but we drank water whereas the kids had bottles of water from home. I really thought I was going to die of stomach cramps yesterday.

Well water!!! OMG . Where do they live? This is why I prefer suburban life. (Did you lose any weight though?)

I hear you on the exercise. SIL was offering to go with me, but as she works full time it's just not possible. 8pm is not when i want to start either. I have a child free friend who is unrealistic about a lot of things too. It's annoying, I wonder if I was that clueless about children before I had them. I know I was on some things. But some of the things she expects are ridiculous.

I've been thinking about doing a DVD during the day. Maybe we could start together. Are any of the Davina ones available on You Tube? I have a couple of hers. They are good but hard work for someone unfit like me.

Day one of the diet has been okay. I want to eat something else but nothing on the list appeals and I'm not really hungry. I've got some herbal tea instead. I need to plan some exciting meals. I had stir fry for dinner which was quite boring. Salad for lunch and Spanish style omelette for lunch/snacks. Plus Yakult, yogurt and 2 apples. It better work.

They live in the middle of no where on a farm, except it's not a farm any more. It's kind of hard to explain. The farm shut down and SIL's FIL carved up all his land and all his kids built houses on it and SIL lives there with her husband. They all live on top of each other though and trot in and out of each others houses, it's really stifling. But they have wells for their water, that's not too unusual for the countryside here - but my suburban stomach couldn't cope. I lost 2 lbs but I would rather be 2 lbs heavier than go through that again.

I was so clueless about kids when I was younger but I guess that's allowed as long as expectations aren't too OTT. At 8 pm I finally get some time to see DH and sit on my arse, the thoughts of heading off to the gym puts me in a bad mood.

I was going to get DH to see if he could download her 15 min dvd that was out recently. I've read loads of reviews from unfit people like myself and they found it good. There was a huge thread about it on here after Christmas. I'll definitely start with you. The Shred was too much, I'm very unfit and I can't bear the pain.

Your menu sounds nice. Definitely put a meal plan together so you have lots of options. You could make taco mix with minced turkey, veg and lots of chopped tomatoes and chilli and serve it in lettuce wraps with salsa and sour cream.

Tempeh is really nice too but you have to marinate it for hours, so bung it in a ziplock bag in the morning and let it sit in the fridge for hours before dinner to let it absorb all the flavours.

Could you finely slice some of the veg, spray them with oil and a little salt and roast them until they turn in to crisps?

God I'm starving.

I'm starving too. Those food ideas sound really good. Especially the crisps, you are a genius. I did the taco thing last time i did the diet. I'll have to get some shopping in.

I'll ask my DH about that DVD too. I also enjoy sitting around after 8pm. Plus it seems to be the only time I get to have a shower in peace and get my hair to look normal.

Now I'm wondering about water supplies on farms.

Children in bed - feet up!

That's the motto in this house.

Can you imagine hauling your bones to a gym so late at night. I'd end crying on a treadmill.

Although I had a great idea for a car park. You know the way there are parent and baby spots, well I'd like Harassed Mother spots. Somewhere tucked down the back of the car park with wifi and access to coffee is the Harassed Mother spot. You pull in for 30 mins, read a magazine, eat some junk food and have a coffee. No talking, no interacting, no having to pretend there was a large queue in the supermarket for the milk you had to go and get just so you could ditch the kids with your DH and escape, no excuses necessary, no kids, no husband, no judgement - The Harassed Mother spot.

Wouldn't that be lovely?