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!

Hello,

When is weigh in? I am skipping this week. Had viral infection for a week and ate anything that made me feel better - so that would be cake.
Feeling fat and fed up! Decided to have 4 very strict weeks until Christmas (although have 2 night outs so strict apart from that!).

Good luck with starting tomorrow Sol.
Not long til 14lbs Green :)

How are you Rachy?

You're doing so well Green, even if it's hard it seems to be paying off.

Yes, James Duncan is super-strict, you can lose a stone in a week. Today's menu is:

Breakfast:1 slice of dry toast with 1 grilled tomato or tinned tomatoes.
Lunch: Any amount of fresh fruit.
Dinner: 2 hard boiled eggs, salad and grapefruit.

I did it last year and lost about 8 lbs I think but I only lasted 5 days due to Ds2 not sleeping and me losing my mind.

I hope you're feeling better Beyond. I'll do a 4 week torture diet plan with you. I'm thinking of doing James Duncan for 5 days and then taking the weekend off, for the next 4 weeks. It works out at approx. 1000-1200 cals per day, so not too bad.

I suppose it isn't that bad if you are only doing it for 5 days. No worse than Exante!

I think I just find the concept of eating normally difficult. I'm getting there slowly. I've been much more controlled about snacking and less lazy about cooking. I don't actually feel deprived, I'm just coming round to the idea that my eating habits were not ideal and I have to change them in the long term.

I think if I stay on plan I'll be at a weight I'm definitely happy with by next winter. If I really push it could be sooner, but I don't want to feel like I've failed if I don't get there.

Anyway, I've figured that I'm mainly doing this as I don't want the DDs to think that dieting is a normal thing to do. My DMs lifetime of diets has definitely affected my eating habits and I don't want to pass that on.

My DM slightly annoyed me last week at WW. I got weighed and the leader was saying 'well done etc'. DM asked how much I'd lost that week and when I told her she said 'oh you're so lucky'!?
I had to point out that luck had nothing to do with it. Then she blamed my dad for her poor week as he'd bought some mince pies.
I've already decided that no Christmas food will be brought into the house until Christmas Eve!

Luck definitely has nothing to do with it Green. You have lost weight through sheer hard work and determination, you should be so proud of that. You're right, it's not the best to teach kids that dieting is normal, my eating habits are horrendous and I would hate to pass them on.

There's a lot to be said for taking your time with weightloss, I love a good fad diet but they really don't work long-term (I say while currently on another fad diet). Have you a goal weight in mind?

I feel so overweight at the moment. I have developed these haunches of fat on my hips that are revolting (they also keep pushing down my jeans when I bend over, it's grim), I caught sight of my reflection in the bathroom mirror as I was stepping in to the shower and the rear-view is awful. I got a bit of a shock, I think that's why I am determined to do something about it today.

green I plan to carry on bf till he is 10 months - when I go back to work. You are right no two children are ever the same. Ds1 slept through at 3 months I was spoilt :) you have done so well with WW and it was your will power that has got you this far.

sol I like you "love" a fad diet the most recent one was a beach body which I did in the summer lost 10lbs but put it all back on when stopped. How are you feeling after the start of your diet? I will have to google it as I have never heard about him before.

beyond I hope you are feeling better?

I did the James Duncan diet last year Rachey and I lost 8lbs in 5 days, I hope to see it through to 7 days this year. I only put the 8lbs on in the last month but that was due to some appalling binge eating. I find reading threads on other websites about how they are coping to be very motivational. I was reading one on Rollercoaster and everyone who stuck to it properly lost between 7-13lbs.

I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 3lbs exactly since yesterday. I'm fairly impressed with that. It will spur me on to stay on plan.

That's fantastic Sol, you'll be feeling much better about yourself by the end of the week. The lumpy bits will soon disappear, I think they are usually first to go once the bloat disappears.

I'd love the lose another 3 stones, but for the time being I'm aiming for another 2. That is the minimum I need to lose.

I like fad diets too, it just my celebration meal once I've finished the diet seems to extend into weeks then months! I did think Exante was good when I did it properly. It did take quite along time to put the weight back on, I just lack will power! I would have given up with WW if I wasn't going to a meeting.

Rachey I do think it's easier stopping BF when they are younger. DD2 had no intention of stopping, it was like my shameful secret! I feel much better for stopping. Im less hungry too.

Hi Beyond, hope you feel better now. Don't be too strict on yourself or you'll end up ill again.

I slipped up a little and had two handfuls of Ds' crisps. But I hope it won't mess up everything too much.

I am feeling pretty happy Green, I know what you mean about the diminishing will power. Depending on the results from this week, I think I might do it one week on, one week off until Christmas. I'll keep my weeks off full of protein (I've been eating a ton of carbs lately) and stop the snacking. I keep gravitating towards the biscuit tin where the cinnamon cookies, I snack constantly.

What are your meals like for the week? Are they filling? I think weight watchers is in my dieting future for the New Year.

I stole some of DDs crisper earlier and now I'm obsessing.

I think it's going to be hard in the run up to Christmas. Maybe I should avoid the shops altogether till then?

I do try to make filling meals, it's helped with snacking a lot. Rather than making things very low point I'm trying to bulk them up with protein/ pulses. I've been having a savoury breakfast later in the morning. In the afternoon I've found that oats mixed with grated apple, frozen blueberries and yogurt is really sweet and filling.

3lbs - I might need to join you Sol.

I have 3 days of exante left and so I decided to kick start with the last of my supplies. I did manage to lose 2 lbs in the past 2 weeks. From my weigh in today , I'd like to lose 26lbs (although originally I was planning on another 6)

I like the sound of the oats, apple, blueberries and yogurt. Got a feeling ww will be in my future too :)

I am sure a few crisps won't hurt.

So hard to diet when you re tired and bf'ing Rachy.

Off to google james Duncan.

evening all,

sol 3lb is amazing.......and you get to eat toast :) I could do this diet, I love fruit. I would struggle with having my coffee black thou. Its strange how there are no weights Im so used to weighing everything.

green I love adding lentils to things.........chilli, spag bol ect and I dont serve pasta or rice, I have a sprilizer and use veg like courgette. Im a awful snacker and picker. I would happily starve myself till mid day then pick while ds1 eats lunch then have my lunch then snack.

beyond 1lb a week is good. Thanks for the encouraging words I am really struggling at the moment with my food.....exercise is the easy part at the moment.

I weighed myself on sunday and I was 12 st 3lb. I keep hoovering between 12st and 12st 6lb I cant seem to get below 12 cause I keep eating. I think I will be joining WW

Morning,

Green your meals sound lovely. I fire pulses in everything. I make a gorgeous split pea dahl that is so filling and taste amazing. It's a normal dahl recipe but I just swap out the lentils as they can be a bit repetitive.

Beyond congratulations on your 2lbs, come join me in James Duncan land, it's not so bad. I admire you for going back to Exante, I couldn't face that again, although the chicken soup was delish.

Rachey I hover too, I find it easy enough to maintain my weight as such, but dropping down in to another set of stones has always posed a problem. You don't need to weigh anything, just have a chicken breast not a whole chicken (there was a lady on a thread I was reading who ate a whole one and couldn't figure out why she lost nothing). The salad is lettuce, tomato, cucumber and celary so not very exciting but some days I'm so hungry that I am delighted with it. You can add a little balsamic vinegar too.

Another 3lbs down this morning, so that's 6lbs in 2 days. I can't really see any difference in my face or anything, but I am so determined to stick to it that I'm sure next week I'll see it.

I know this is going to make me sound incredibly vain, but the other reason I am so focused is because I am meeting up with some friends of mine soon that I haven't seen in about 3 months. I was always the chubbier of the group growing up, then in my mid-twenties I was pretty ill, but really skinny (with lots of make up on I looked amazing) and there was definitely a shift in how I was viewed, not in a bitchy way, but I no longer filled a certain "role" within the group (sarcastic fatty). I think when I put back on the weight (due to massive amounts of medication) they were all kind of relieved that group dynamic had returned to normal.

When we all meet up again old roles seem to resurface and I hate it. So I want to look great and feel confident again. I know it might sound like these friends are dreadful, they're not, they're lovely. And when we get together in groups of two or three it's great, but put the lot of us together and suddenly some an revert to being teenagers. So yeah, I need to look casually amazing and losing weight will help with that.

My meals today are:

-grapefruit and a boiled egg.
-any amount of fresh fruit (I avoid bananas because they are so high in sugar)
-2 grilled lamb chops with salad and a grapefruit.

I don't eat eggs or meat so I have silken tofu scramble for breakfast and either quorn burgers or firm tofu steaks for dinner. I have quorn "chicken" fillets when it's a chicken dinner.

Veered off plan a bit and had a tofu steak for lunch. It's so cold here I couldn't face fruit. I don't think it will make much difference. I hope.

God I'm bloody starving. Early dinner for me today. Except I never got to the shop because the kids are sick and I have no salad. That's the biggest part of the dinner

Keep going Sol! Sorry re your lack of salad, any veggies instead? Hope DC better soon.

Interesting what you say re friend dynamics. When are you meeting up?
I lost 2 stone about 10 years ago and 2 people never mentioned it! (the skinny ones...)

I hover to rachy. I think 2 weeks of ww could get you into the 11's :)

Another 3lbs is amazing Sol.

Think I'll join you on Monday, I can't eat lamb (yuk) but I could substitute some chicken or beef maybe?

Can you give me an example of your fruit lunch please?

I couldn't have veggies Beyond, it's the salad or nothing. It was ok. I don't think I'll lose much tomorrow, maybe 0.5-1lb, I ate off plan so it mightn't work. But I won't feel too disappointed.

It's worth doing, even just to break bad habits. I could never stop myself having a glass of wine and a little bowl of something in the evening - now I'm not bothered. I'm genuinely not hungry. And it's shone a light on how much mindless snacking I did throughout the day.

My fruit lunch is a handful of grapes (or 2 handfuls if they're very small), a satsuma, a chopped up apple and sometimes a few strawberries but the kids usually take these out of the bowl and eat them. I love melon but can't find it in our local shop at the moment. If I'm not arsed preparing fruit or if I'm out I just buy one of those fruit salad packs that they sell in supermarkets, they're great.

The only thing I notice is that I suffer a big sugar crash about 90 minutes after I eat it and I feel very hungry and tired - so I have a big coffee to see me through.

I'm meeting up with my friends 2 weekends before Christmas (the date escapes me) so I'm hoping to have done this plan on a week on/week off basis until then. That's really shitty that your friends didn't mention your weightloss, I bet you looked great. We women can be bloody funny creatures can't we.

So many posts!

Rachey I would love a spiraliser. I might have to invest in one after the success that is cauliflower rice! Do you steam the courgette after, or just have it raw? I do like courgette.

I don't know if I'd get away with adding lentils to dishes that don't normally have them in though. DH is a funny creature.
The split pea dhal sounds amazing Sol. I made pea and ham soup the other week, but it was more like pease pudding, for a Northerner it's a staple food. It was amazing.

DD was crying. Where was I?

I lost another 1 lb this week. So 14.5lb in total and I got another silver 7. Yay.

Tofu steak sounds bizarre Sol.

Congratulations on your 1lb Green. You must be so thrilled to have lost over a stone. Yay!!!! What is your goal weight?

There's spiraliser's in the Black Friday deals on Amazon. I didn't look at any of the reviews but some of them were reduced to £15. It might be worth a look. I'm not too keen on courgettes unless they're very thinly sliced and heavily spiced, they can be very watery.

The split pea dhal is gorgeous. I had to nearly triple the cooking time and put loads more spices in because they used so much more water, but it was fab. I cooked a garlic and coriander naan and sliced it lengthways in half, chopped it in to squares and then spread the dhal on it. Wouldn't be the most healthy dinner ever if you do the naan bread thing but it was lovely. I did it with baked wraps as well - I cut them in to triangles and dry baked them until crisp - yum!

Tofu steak isn't terribly appetising unless your cook it in quite a bit of oil, which I can't do. It's just a big, thick piece of firm tofu that is marinaded in...well, whatever you want and then fry or grill or bake (you need quite a bit of oil for this too or it's really dry). DH is horrified that it's called a steak, he thinks it's blasphemy - he is really fussy about his steak.

weigh day........ Im back to 12st. Only another 30lbs to go, wow that sounds soo much. I should maybe do smaller goals :)

sol 6lbs is amazing in 2 days. The food doesnt sound to bad either. I have full faith that you will show up to meet your friends and show them how fantastic and fabulous you look. :) Its funny as I play that role as well in my group of friends. I think as long as you are still losing the odd slip up is ok? No?

green I have mine raw, i have tried it with other veg but that has the best result even OH is on board with the veg instead of pasta.

beyond I think WW is my calling in the new year. I just struggle to find the time to attend meetings and I feel that is where I would benefit the most.

Tofu steak, is that just tofu seasoned? I like tofu but struggle with seasoning.

Wee done on being down to 12 stone Rachey, you'll be in the 11's in no time. Can you make getting in to the 11's your first goal and then 11 stone 7lbs your next one? Writing out the pounds and then striking them off as you lose them is very satisfying.

You need tons of seasoning for tofu, otherwise it's really bland.

I stayed the same today but I wasn't too fussed as I still feel really full after all my food yesterday and I knew I couldn't keep losing 3 lbs per day - even though I want to.

WELL DONE not wee done. Sorry Rachey.

Yay well done Green and Rachy. Super super progress :)

How was your weigh in today Sol?

Liking all your recipes - I need to widen our menus and cut down on carbs.