11 weeks to do the best I can

[Gakatsbsk]

Hello

after 18 months of dealing with covid as a HCP, the subsequent depression and c-ptsd I finally feel ready to start eating better again. Thankfully I haven’t put much weight on (a few lbs) since I last was on track, but also haven’t lost any obviously.

I weight the top end of 12st. I wish to be 10st. However, I’m realistic that 11 weeks isn’t long enough to achieve this.

11 weeks is from a week tomorrow. I go to Paris at the weekend and don’t want to pressure myself although hope to be healthier but not pressured.

However, in 11 weeks we will be heading to Gran Canaria and I want to feel better. I don’t just mean with how I look, I mean with how I feel from my diet.

Another complication is I am showing as almost pre diabetic on bloods. This is a massive wake up call.

I also have an under active thyroid and ADHD. I will start ADHD meds next week, the symptoms of which will help my healthy eating.

For the first four weeks I am planning to do 2 x exante shakes and 1x healthy meal or 3-4x exante shakes. This is mainly because I have so much exante in my house which I got free and I may as well use it up. It was also controversially recommended by the diabetes team. (I’m a HCP myself). After this I’d be planning calorie counting with healthy meals.

anyway posting here in the past has helped me along. Thanks for reading x

Good luck op

Try to get the Chloe Madely Body Blitz book - it’s so good. It really changes your diet and how you think about food. It’s not the most exciting food you’ll ever eat but do it for just 4 weeks. Then after that you can take some of the ideas and apply them to a more relaxed diet. It’s high protein/low carb mainly. I love the breakfast protein shake (I add frozen berries to mine, Aldi ones are great value) and have had that every day for almost a year now. Fills you up until lunch!

I find what works in general for me is low sugar, no alcohol, only brown rice/pasta (and limit that to 3 x per week maximum), lots of eggs, healthy fats like avocado, nut butter. Plus watch those sneaky calories that add nothing - sugar in tea, sauces on food, honey, jam. I allow myself one low sugar ginger biscuit (Nairns brand) every day and one it two squares of very dark chocolate. Then once a week a proper treat - slice of cake OR takeaway - that sort of thing. Just watch your portion sizes on take aways!!!

Contraindications for Exante are ”Taking ANY prescription medication”
www.exantediet.com/how-it-works/who-is-exante-diet-suitable-for/contraindications.list

you could lose a couple of stone in that time and feel healthier in yourself but I would stick to tracking calories on My fitness Pal, watching motivational people on Insta/ TT to keep you on track and working out your TDEE, reducing the amount by 20%, to get a realistic calorie target for weight loss.
tdeecalculator.net/

This guy is very informative about calories, diets and weight loss.
vm.tiktok.com/ZMLtFW8Au/

Thanks everyone, really helpful.

@Wouldntitbenicetobeinyourshoes thanks, that’s a contraindication for all VLCD, unless medically recommended/ supervised. However, I will probably just use MFP and use up the exante shakes 1-2 a day as protein shakes instead.

This sounds like me 4 years ago. I was 11 weeks away from my 40th birthday and decided I needed to do something. I didn't set myself any weight related targets. Just that I was going to commit to myself and make this change a long term one. I lost 12kg in those 11 weeks.

You've got this.

Can I ask what you did and did you keep the weight off?

Back in Feb I started dieting for a holiday in May. Had just over 2 stone to lose. Lost 11b in 8 weeks, by:

Cutting snacking
Three meals a day (to help with the snacking and over eating)

This was the initial 2 weeks that saw 3 or 4lbs shift. I then started logging everything, and aimed for about 800 calorie deficit. I did not include exercise in the calculation.

I also set macro targets. This helped with cravings.

I eventually hit the dreaded plateau and felt despondent and eventually went low carb and low cal by doing Fast 800. Lost another 6.6lb in 9 days. I almost wish I started on Fast 800 as at yhis rate I would have met my goal 3 weeks ago. A compromise could have been 1000 calories a day max, as opposed to 1200 I was eating.

I guess for me the first thing was a change in mindset. The focus was not weight loss but being and living healthily. I started going to the gym, I reduced carbs and sugar and I made sure I was in bed at 10pm every night. I just wanted to feel better more than anything else. The scales will always go up and down. The key is to not let that distract you. Slow and consistent is always going to win the race.

Today marks 4 years since I started and made that decision. I now weigh 5 stones lighter.

Could've written your OP. HCP dealing with PTSD too, eating chocolate and carbs by the bucketload. Now 3st heavier than I was in 2019.

Lots of CBT and medication later, I finally feel in a place to move forwards, and have a birthday this summer I want to use as a goal. (Though I've got 14 weeks rather than 11).

Plan- reduce carbs, commitment to 30mins/day x 6 days per week of exercise with 10,000 steps per day as well. Lots of veg and colourful food. Lots of dog walking and fresh air. Planning meals and batch cooking. Friends, sunshine and things to look forward to help. New exercise clothes so that I look good. A realisation that i won't always feel motivated, but that I get up and do what I need to do anyway.

I'm 2/52 in and though not really seen the scales shift, feeling 110% better.

Good luck