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!

The first day in underway and I'm having the veg soup for breakfast. I'm freezing and fancied a warm meal, also Dh loves porridge so I think I'll let him have it all. The soup has a weird taste and didn't blend properly, when I used the hand blender it showered me with scalding hot soup so I'll have to get out the proper blender. I'd give the soup 4/10.

Just did the weekly shop too and only had to buy stuff for the kids which was 50 euro cheaper than the normal shop. Probably due to not having to buy lots of meat and lunches for DH.

You're right, it is very hard to get the balance right with kids. We don't buy junk food unless we are having visitors (biscuits, cake that sort of thing) but we never say they can't have chocolate or chips or crisps because it just makes a big deal out of it. We try and keep them active too so that they burn off what they eat and enjoy playing sports and being out and about (that's the bit I struggle with tbh).

No doubt I'm getting it wrong somehow and I should be feeding them quinoa and tofu at every opportunity but I want them to taste lots of different stuff.

WW is like a cult. People get absolutely obsessed with it. And then they have a massive binge and struggle to get back on track. I remember watching a lady I worked with having zero points soup for every meal for 1 week because she was going to a wedding on the Saturday and didn't want to screw up her Monday weigh in. She had lost all sense of perspective.

I meant to say yesterday Green your school trip sounded lovely. Did you go with older kids or was it with your DD's?

Having the Exante carbonara as my lunch. It's actually quite nice but to watery , definitely going to add less water the next time. It smells like wet cardboard but tastes alright.

Felt quite hungry but had a coffee earlier.

Had the indian curry rice curry thing. It was gorgeous. Nearly broke the bowl trying to scrape the last little bit out. Didn't add all the water (added 150 ml of water instead of 200 ml) and the texture was lovely. Ear marking all of them for me so Dh doesn't eat them.

Day 1 of Exante is done. Feeling hungry but optimistic. I know that tomorrow will be harder but I have bottled water and panadol to hand. Come on ketosis!!!!

I even got DH to take before and after shots (not underwear ones, I didn't want the camera lense to smash) so I can see how I am changing. Need to get a new battery in the weighing scales so I can monitor progress.

Going to try and have different meals every day so I don't get bored. Does anyone know if I can make the pancakes in advance and then bring them with me to have later in the day?

How's everyone else's day going? Sorry for posting so much but I am trying to stay out of the kitchen.

That's good to know about the curry. I find the Carbonara watery too (I forget to add less water). I can't remember how I mixed the soup, it might have been with the hand blender on a slow speed in a Pyrex jug? The vegetable soup is best with seasoning.
You should try the porridge, the apple one is really nice.

You can't pre mix/ cook the packs. Something to do with the vitamins degenerating, it has something on the packet about eating stuff within 20minutes? Do you have any bars to take with you?

You've had a good day though? Did you drink loads? It's a good idea to keep trying different packs.

I've had another fast day. I hope I can last until bedtime now.
I went on the trip with DD1's nursery.

I think I might need to add the water a little slower, I kind of chucked it all in. I'm going to try a Thai Chicken soup tomorrow for breakfast, sweet and sour noodles for lunch and red bean chilli for dinner. Thanks for the seasoning tip, I'll try that. I didn't drink a lot more than normal, I didn't want to drink if I wasn't thirsty. I've been reading the Minimins diaries for inspiration though.

You're doing brilliantly with your fasting. Have you weighed in yet? Can you try to keep busy for a while and then head to bed early to stop you snacking? That's my plan.

That's a pity that I can't take the pancakes with me, I have bars but I'm keeping them for later on when I might want something sweet. I got packs of chocolate cake mix too, I'm going to have one of those on Easter Sunday.

I weighed myself tonight (no idea why?). I'd lost the weight I thought I'd put back on over the weekend. To make more sense - I was 13stone 10lb last Friday. I'm 13stone 11lb tonight. Maybe if I don't go overboard tomorrow I might be even lighter on Friday?
I've been in the shower and I'm going to go to bed soon. I have milk allowance left so I'll have a big cup of tea. I feel hungry still. DH brought in a bottle of wine last night (I refused any!) and it's calling to me from the fridge. Drinking on a school night is not a good idea though.

I like the red bean chilli. The Thai soup is okay but I add chilli flakes to it. I've not tried the noodles so I'm looking forward to hearing about them. I think I read on Minimims that the chocolate puddings are nice.
If I can get back into Exante and feel like doing it for longer I might try some of the new products. Otherwise I just want to use up what I have. I think I would look into whey protein and protein bars for the future though. Maybe more natural based ones than Exante though.mi think they are handy for breakfasts/snacks.

It's probably best to ration the bars, like I said I ate far too many of them last week. When I restart I'm going to try to stick to the shakes and porridge.

I think you supposed to drink more to flush everything out? I felt better for it after I got into ketosis. It's one of the few good habits that I've kept up since the 'Great post Christmas Diet Disaster fail'

Well done Sol and Green.
You are both really motivated. Interesting to see how our childhoods have affected our eating habits. Also very keen not to pass any issues on to DC. I always make sure I have a soup when they are having their lunch and dinner so they don't pick up on anything.
Also interested in your views on the food packs, only had shakes/bars and soups so far, wondering if I should branch out.

I weighed myself and think I have gained 4lbs, looking forward to starting again on Monday.
I have had the kind of day where dieting was put in perspective. Lots of desperate sad situations at work, people going through terrible times. It's good (although horrifically sad) to have a reminder every now and then.

Day 2 has been a touch harder than Day 1, I'm hungrier and have a headache brewing.

I had the Thai chicken soup for breakfast, it was lovely. I had to keep adding more hot water though as it kept getting thicker and thicker. But that just made it more of a substantial meal so I was happy with that.

I had the pouch of sweet and sour noodles for lunch, they were really nice but didn't need as much water as was advised on the packet. I could imagine they would be delicious with a few drops of soy sauce but it's full of sugar so decided not to add it.

Red bean chilli for dinner but I'm trying to leave it as late as possible to eat it.

Poor DH is having a horrible day. He hates the food and I can't see him sticking to it past today. I don't blame him. I got a series of miserable texts from him saying he couldn't finish the meals because they were awful.

Sorry to hear you had a rough day at work Beyond. How are you doing today? 4 lbs isn't too bad if you've been eating loads and having friends over. You'll tackle it on Monday, don't worry about it until then.

You're doing great Green, you'll be back on track in no time. I read that you can only have 1 bar per day because they are higher in carbs. Would you try doing Exante for 4 days per week and then have 3 days of just regular healthy eating? It might be less intense.

I was moaning about day 2 last week. I think it's an angry hungry day.
I found day 3 easier (until I ate all the bars!). I think I knew that about the Exante bars, I was just trying to kid myself that it would work . Lesson learnt, I will ration them when I restart.
You still sound like you had a good day Sol. Have you tried the chilli yet?Your poor DH though, get him a curry!

Have you had a better day Beyond? Your job sounds intense. I am going round in a self obessed bubble though. I need to get out more.
I think you should enjoy the weekend and not worry. If you get back on track next week you'll lose any extra weight quickly.

I was 13st 9lb this morning. I've ate all the carbs since, but I'm pleased that 5:2 works so well. I'm going to try to squeeze 2 fast days in next week. DH is off work, so we want to go out. I'm enjoying a G&T now. It is after all a bank holiday.

Oh my God, super jealous of your G&T. Enjoy! That's great that you are 13 stone 9 lbs, you must be so happy. How many fast days did you have this week?

I had the chilli, I added some extra chilli as it was not quite spicy enough for me. It was really nice, but the portions seem so small when I am so hungry. I also tried the Elderflower and white wine powder that you add to fizzy water, it was quite sweet so I had to drink it through a straw to stop my teeth zinging but it is very refreshing.

DH is trying again tomorrow but with the lack of beer and food he doesn't like I can't see him lasting much longer. He said if his breakfast is crap he is giving in.

I have a couple of Exante based questions:
Do you think I could have 4 pouches/shakes per day? Surely that would only be 800 cals, would it make a huge amount of difference to weight loss?
Wine can't be had on the diet because of all the sugar. But what about vodka and Coke Zero?

I just fasted on Monday and Wednesday. I think waiting until 5pm and having just one meal worked well for me. The Exante last week probably helped too (even if I didn't get into Ketosis). I just feel like 5:2 might be a long term solution for me, especially if I can cook a 400 calorie meal on an evening. The children won't know that I'm dieting and DH will be fed healthy too.

I know I'll be back up to 14stone after the weekend, but it makes me feel like I've tried!

I think I added spices to most savoury Exante meals. I think the texture of some of them was most off putting, more than the actual taste. I only have afew soups left now. I'm definitely going to use everything up.

The Exante website has all the different plans on it so it might give you an idea of what you can have. I don't think 4 packs would cause much harm if you are in ketosis. I was having a meal every day after the first couple of weeks, mainly eggs and veg or meat and veg. So I was having over 800 calories and still losing. Maybe that would be something to consider? (With veggie options obviously) you might not lose so much though. I found celery sticks good if I needed something extra.

Not sure about the vodka. Maybe it would be okay if you stuck to just one. (I find this hard!) I've heard bad things about drinking when in ketosis.
I want vodka and coke now though.

How much does your DH want to lose?

Oh no, what happens when you drink in ketosis?

I was thinking if I could stick to Exante five days a week and then have hummous and veg, soup and quorn stuff on the weekends it might make the whole thing more tolerable. I'm going to stick to it until next Friday and then try the weekend off. I have 2 stone to definitely lose and then I'll see how I look. I'll be 11.5 stone then and I can't remember what I look like at that weight.

What sort of food were you making for the low cal dinners? I'm dreadful at trying to work out how to make filling meals.

You get really pissed. I can't remember the scientific reasons why. Value for money though

My dinners were more low carb than low cal (I could be bothered to work out calories) . Mainly they were egg based (fried/ poached with spinach/mushrooms). Or I'd have Exante pancakes with Greek yogurt. DH had an Indian occasionally and I would have chicken curry and some sagg or mushroom bhaji. Other times I'd just have a plate of celery, cucumber, avocado, cheese.
I usually had two packs and then something on an evening.

Or did you mean dinners this week on 5:2? I just had a tin of soup with bread one night and a jacket potato with half a tin of beans the other.
I've pinched my parents 5:2 book for ideas in future.

God those meals sound lovely. I'm absolutely starving. Thinking of heading to bed so I don't eat anything. I'm not a huge egg fan but I can swap them for tofu.

I'm liking the sound of getting a bit pissed on a vodka, I usually only have 1 or 2 because I am terrified of getting a hangover (mine tend to be dreadful).

Eggs were my heroes when I was really going for it. I put hot sauce on everything too!
Do you like mushrooms? They could make some nice meals.
I'm sure there's a thread/sticky on Minimims about drinking alcohol. I think it can be dangerous.

Found it! Maybe have some carbs first.?

DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL IF YOU ARE KETOTIC!
Alcohol is a powerful inhibitor of gluconeogenesis. In fact, it forces part of the gluconeogenic metabolic process into reverse. This means that if all the glucose in the blood is being derived from gluconeogenesis then the consumption of alcohol will inevitably cause the blood glucose level to fall. Worse still, the alcohol also stops ketone body production, thus leaving the brain entirely without fuel.
A person who is ketotic is 100% reliant on gluconeogenesis to maintain adequate levels of glucose in the blood. If, under these circumstances alcohol is taken, the person will become disorientated and might lose consciousness, not just from the alcohol, but from low blood sugar. Needless to say, this could be very dangerous, and even fatal.
Alcohol does not have these effects if the glycogen stores in the liver are normal. Under these circumstances the blood glucose level in the blood is maintained by the breakdown of liver glycogen, a process that is not influenced by alcohol. If a person becomes confused under these circumstances it is due simply to the pharmacological effects of the alcohol!

Maybe I'll give the booze a miss if it's going to be bad for me (not that I didn't know about that before).

I love mushrooms. I like to roast them whole with salt and garlic (and loads of olive oil). I.AM.STARVING!

No vodka for me for a while I think. It doesn't seem worth it after reading that. Thanks for finding it and re-posting it.

Really struggling today. I woke up ravenously hungry so I had maple syrup pancakes for breakfast - a little sweet but really nice. Still couldn't shake the grumpy hunger so I had half a chocolate orange bar (Dh and the kids ate the other half) - it was lovely, very zingy. I know I'm not supposed to add a snack but I was being an absolute cow to the kids and realised nothing was worth being an asshole for. The bar re-set something and then I felt great. I wonder was it the fact I'm missing sugar and got a bit of a sweet hit from the bars?

Having pasta, mushroom and ham soup for lunch. Really thick and feels like a big pasta dinner, I've had to add loads of extra water to it so that it's not too thick.

I had a sneaky weigh in this morning and I have lost 4.8 lbs in 2 days, not too bad There is a huge difference in my back fat and my clavicle is now peeking out under the neck of my tee-shirt. Yay!

Don't think I'm in ketosis yet, there has been no decrease in my appetite and I haven't got that ketosis "high" that everyone goes on about.

Exante porridge scones:
Mix the sachet with less water to a stickier, firmer consistency. Put in oven at GM 6 until cooked.

Apparently if you make the mixture quite runny (like cake mix) you can put it on greaseproof paper in the oven and make in to biscuits. Lots of praise for the apple and cinnamon porridge turned in to biscuits.

Shake pancakes:
Mix the pack to pouring consistecy.
Pour onto a plate and pop in to microwave for a minute or so.
Let it cool a bit then lift it off.

The pancakes seem to get mixed reviews, a lot of people were saying to bung in an egg and it works better.

Just thought these might give you some more options if you are looking to use up porridge or shakes.

Has anyone used the carb free pasta - slim pasta - to bulk out the meals? Is it utter slime or ok?

Oh and apparently if you microwave a shake in a ramekin it turns out like a sponge/muffin. I was thinking that could be really nice if you fancied a dessert and still want to stay on plan.

I've been researching different ways to mix up the meals because I think it could get boring very quickly otherwise.

I had the spag bol for dinner and it was quite nice. I added extra garlic, chilli and a pinch of salt to give it a little extra taste. I haven't repeated any meals yet because I'm afraid of eating all of the nice ones and ending up with weeks worth of food I don't like.

Tomorrow is:
Breakfast - sausage mix (going to add extra spices as advised by the internet Exante guru's)
Lunch - Tomato and Basil soup (I don't think either of you liked this one. So I have a mushroom one as a back up)
Dinner - Exante Pizza (even this looks a bit dodgy on the website so I'm going to add lots of garlic and herbs to the sauce and try to put something in the base as I imagine it's going to be fairly tasteless, I just can't figure out what though).

Sorry for writing so much today, I just need to keep my mind off my belly

Hope everyone is having a good day!

All those recipes sound really interesting. Thanks, I've enjoyed read them. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to it (properly, not with all the bars!)
Well done on your loss. That's excellent after 2 days. I'll bet you get I to ketosis tomorrow and lose even more. You are doing really well. I think you were right to have some of the bar earlier. It's amazing how quickly the weight comes off when you do it properly and you can see a visible difference too.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about the sausage and pizza. I
Heard that the sausage mix is nice but haven't heard much about the pizza.

The tomato soup was weird. But I didn't like the one you had earlier, so you might actually enjoy it! Add some pepper or something though. The mushroom is quite nice.

Are you doing anything for Easter? We are going to the inlaws place in Durham tomorrow and staying the night. I'm sure it will involve lots of food but I'm going to enjoy. I'll diet later!

Hope you are having a good bank holiday Beyond

I think you should enjoy your weekend Green and then sort it all out next week. Will you have a good time? I really wish Easter wasn't slap bang in the middle of my first week, there's chocolate all over my bloody house.

I also saw a recipe to turn the soups in to crisps. You mix it into a paste and spread small spoonfuls out on a microwavable plate. Cook for 90 secs, turn over and cook for 10 secs, leave to cool and then scoff! You have to drink a lot more water to because you're missing out on the water that would normally be in the soup.

I NEED to go in to ketosis, I am so hungry I could eat the hind leg off a scabby dog.

You'll be in ketosis tomorrow. Leave the dog alone!
We'll have a nice weekend. DD2 won't sleep in a cot so I'll have to stay with her on the bed. I'll have a nice time on the iPad! My inlaws are not that bad. They just have their momements like I've described!

I'm not too bothered by chocolate. I'm quite good at ignoring it now. We always have some in the house as the girls always seem to get a lot given at Christmas and Easter. Crisps, nuts, good cheese and wine are my downfalls. Oh and bread of course.
I'll eat some chocolate of course, I'm only human. I'm glad that no one buys me any now though.

DH is taking next week off, which is rare. So we'll probably have some meals out. I'm hoping to squeeze a couple of fast days in, but I'm not going to be too bothered if I can't.
You're inspiring me with your enthusiasm, so I'm hoping to have a good result when I get back to the Exante. I plan to start it again on the 13th. I'd start earlier but it's our anniversary next weekend so we're hoping to get out without the girls for a nice meal. Otherwise I would have started earlier.