Remember me?

Apologies for the huge delay in writing - busier these days than I was during the summer. I've been feeling really impatient recently with it - not losing enough or quickly enough but I just looked back at some old blogs - I was down 24 kilos or 52 pounds on the 18th of September - today it's the 2nd of November - so just over six weeks later and I'm down 32 kilos as of this morning which is 70 pounds or 5 stone!
That's eight kilos in six weeks - I don't know what I'm getting so impatient about!!
Possibly it's because I bought a pair of skinny jeans three weeks ago in a size 16 which is my big goal. They did fit but were too tight so I couldn't really wear them. Now, three weeks on, they're looser around the bottom and waist but still way too tight around my calves - I can't really sit in them! Maybe that's why I've been getting disheartened - my legs aren't shrinking at all despite doing pilates twice a week and aqua aerobics once.
Also, I have some pairs of size 16 jeans that I used to fit into about 6 years ago and I still can't get them on, even though my size 18 jeans, which were too tight a month ago are now baggy and unattractive on me.
I think I'm just a bit fed up of not fitting into nice clothes yet - I've lost so much and I'm so close to my goal of being a size 16 but it's taking ages to do this final step. I'm easily a size 16 on top - even size 14s fit me but it's my stupid stumpy legs that are slowing things down on the jeans front.

In other news - John and I have been going out loads the last few weeks - big night of drinking every weekend. I've been keeping to the ADF routine fairly well but it's still not good. Last weekend, we went out the Friday night and I got a McDonald's on the way home, then had to work on Saturday so, since I was dying and wrecked, I ate all around me. I did fast on Sunday but on Monday we went for lunch at my parents' house and I just ate everything I wanted again, which resulted in a day of 3000 calories!

Felt awful after that, plus I caught a cold, so fasted on Tuesday and then had two half days of 750 calories on Wednesday and Thursday. Feasted yesterday but stopped at 1300 calories. Thought a week of low calories, lots of soup, and no sugar or bread might do me good. And it does seem to have if the scales are anything to go by!

Back to normal today anyway and I think I've managed to avoid a night out - John and I are going to the cinema. It'll be tough - I'll have to smell his popcorn but I think some time away from alcohol would be a good idea!

Nice Surprise

Well I still haven't lost any more weight - so I've been at this weight now for just over a week.
Was getting a bit frustrated and was telling a friend at work - she mentioned that now I'm exercising - possibly I'm finally getting some muscle which weighs quite a bit. I kind of pooh-poohed that, as I'm not really killing myself with the exercise and Pilates is a lot of stretching and toning - I'm not doing weights or anything.

However, this afternoon I tried on a pair of jeans that were too tight to wear comfortably last weekend and they fit better - so much better that I'm now wearing them. They're still a little too tight but still.
Also, the test pair of jeans that I have lined up - an old pair that are a size down from where I am now - fit! Very tightly - there's no way I could actually wear them yet - they squish around my belly and my bottom is a little too "defined" in them but it's a big improvement from when they only went up to my knees a month ago!
So, my reasoning is that even if I haven't lost much weight recently - maybe my friend is right and it is because I'm gaining muscle and the fat is still dropping off.

It's very exciting because to be at the next size down is my goal for the end of November and I'm nearly there! Another few kilos and I'll fit into them comfortably and then I can go shopping!

I've been really good all week - fasted on Monday, had a very light feast day on Tuesday of 1000 calories, fasted on Wednesday, had another light feast day of 1500 calories yesterday and fasted today. Tomorrow is a feast day but we're going for lunch at my parents' on Sunday. As I want to be able to eat normally then, I'm going to do a half-feast day tomorrow - 1000 calories again or so. And then Sunday I'll have a good feed. Normally, if there was some sort of occasion after a feast day, I'd just have two feast days in a row, but I really don't want a repeat of last weekend.

I wish I could see some movement on the scales though - I get very impatient when it hasn't moved in a while.

The voucher I got for four yoga classes finishes on Wednesday. I really liked it but I can't afford to keep going. I remembered though that my sister has the Wii Fit and it has a yoga instructor on it. So I'm going to collect it tomorrow and then I can start doing some yoga at home. I figure that if I do it maybe twice a week, with Pilates twice a week and Aqua Aerobics once, I'll be doing fairly well!

I'm even thinking of asking for a gym membership for my birthday in November... what has happened to me???

I Amaze Myself...

So - it's been a while. Back at work and things are busy. The last time I wrote, I had just finished a kick-start experiment - eating about 1800 calories or so for three days in a row to try to get over my plateau. Nothing happened for a few days, in fact, when I weighed myself right after my three days, I had gained a kilo which I was furious about - considering my calories had still been low enough. However, that kilo went within a day or so and in the last four days I've lost another two kilos - at last! That's 22 kilos now, or 49 pounds. Another mountain left to go but at least now I just look overweight, instead of looking waddly. Eight kilos to go until my next goal weight at the end of November. I should make it - I hope.

I have great hopes that things will begin to move a bit faster though because... I've started going to the gym!!!! Well, I've been to one class. But I'm booked in for three more this week - and since I had to pay in advance, chances are good I'll go. I went to Pilates on Thursday night, and I'm booked in for Zumba on Monday night, and more Pilates on Tuesday and Thursday. It's €8 a go, which isn't the cheapest but it's not too bad either. There's no point getting a membership yet - I do know myself very well after all. If I'm still going in a month, I might join.

I don't know what suddenly persuaded me. I do prefer classes to going for walks but normally I can't be bothered to actually drive to a class. But I was reading on Wednesday night and just suddenly a longing to be slim and toned came into my mind - so I rang and booked straight away. Possibly it's motivated by the fact that people keep congratulating me at work but my weight loss has slowed down - I want it to start up again so that I keep hearing nice things! Also, my "Before" picture, that I took back in mid-July shows no difference to how I look now. Apart from possibly less fat on my back. Quite disappointing really. Another motivator is that I found a load of clothes from about six years ago when I'd lost another pile of weight and there are a pair of jeans that are a size down from now and only go up as far as my knees. So I have a new test pair. My previous test pair are on me as I type, and from fitting halfway up my hips, they now have to be belted on.

So - hopefully a new dawn has arisen. I'm hoping that after a while, I'll start to love these classes. All the people who post amazing "before and after" photos on Tumblr say how they lost weight through dieting and exercising - and they all seem to love exercising now. I'm really hoping I'll get into it too.
I did enjoy Pilates on Thursday - it was tough - at one point I thought my hip was actually going to break off - but I felt really good when I came home and all day yesterday too. I'm in agony though - my muscles are killing me. I can't lift my arms very well - even typing now is hurting them! But it's a nice pain - I like knowing that I actually worked some muscles for once.

Hopefully some of the flabbier bits will start to become less wobbly within the next couple of months!

Rewards

So had my first day back at work with all the staff back and it was great - so many people commented on how much weight I'd lost and I got wolf-whistled at and all!

It was a great feeling and gave me an extra push to keep going, which I think I've maybe been needing recently, what with things slowing down and all.

Today was my last day of my kickstart experiment - I ate about 2000 calories today and I have to say that I'll be glad to get back to fasting tomorrow. I feel bloated and sluggish. It's my fault - I could have upped my calories on potatoes and pasta instead of cheese - but anyway. At least the fast tomorrow will feel good. And hopefully I'll see some movement on the scales in the next few days.

Even if I don't, I'm just going to keep going as normal now for a few weeks - no more experiments. I can't plateau forever - I'll have to lose weight at some point!

I'm pleased at how I feel tonight - I was worried that three days of feasting would make me slip out of it a bit - I mean, today, at work, I had two biscuits at the morning break and I did get a moment of worry at one point, thinking, "Oh no, am I slipping back into my 'pick at everything' habits but I don't think so. I stopped at two without too much temptation, whereas last year I'd easily have polished off about four or five. But tonight, as I said, I'm actually looking forward to fasting tomorrow. Feels cleansing.

Shift Please...

I am experimenting again.

I took 3 photos of myself in my underwear about five weeks ago. I compared myself with them last night, and while there is some difference, it's minimal. I had to really look carefully to find anything. I'm a bit annoyed by this, as well as the fact that I haven't really lost weight in about two weeks - I've been hovering on going down one kilo recently but it's not certain enough to please me. So I'm having three feast days in a row, to try and kickstart things again.
As I've said before, I should be eating 2200 calories on feast days, but I usually eat about 1700 or so. I genuinely find it difficult to go above this - I don't want to eat lots of junk all the time to make it, or have huge portions, as I am trying to form better eating habits. However, I wonder if maybe the huge slowdown in weight loss is due to this - my metabolism slowing down maybe?

So yesterday I had a feast day, and today and tomorrow too. Now, I'm not too happy with myself, because yesterday I had pizza and quite a bit of cheese, and today I had even more cheese and some crisps. I haven't gone above 1800 calories either day but I know that saturated fat is not the way to be going either. Tomorrow is the staff lunch - first day back at work after the summer - and there'll be salads but also cake - all of which I intend to eat. So tomorrow night I'm going to have lots of vegetables - I'm worrying a bit for my insides. I'm also worrying that all this saturated fat will mean a rise on the scales in the morning...
Hopefully then, once I start fasting again, I should lose a bit more weight. That seems to have triggered weight loss the last time I did this.

The reason I'm so impatient at the moment is that I'm bordering on going down the next dress size, and I really need new jeans for work but I want to fit into them comfortably, instead of squeezing myself in, when I go to buy them.

However, aside from all the moaning, I just spent a very enjoyable hour. I tried on all my clothes that haven't fit me in three years and they nearly all fit now, apart from a couple of tops that fit but still look a bit tight. So my wardrobe has tripled which is great!

I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow - I'd better get lots of comments on my weight loss!

Success

It worked! I lost another kilo yesterday morning and it's still gone today. So that seems to be proof that the odd cheat day works.

Such a relief to see some movement on the scales and also might relax me a bit about feast days.

Yesterday was a feast day. I had a bowl of melon for breakfast - 300g was 106 calories.

For lunch I had a toastie - ham, cheese, bit of mayonnaise and mustard, and tomatoes. With a dessert of mandarin pieces and a quarter of a banana that all came to 340 calories.

In the afternoon, John bought a roast chicken as part of his "bulk up" regime and I picked at that a bit. I counted 100g worth which is 190 calories.

For dinner I had made a Bolognese sauce - I had it with wholegrain noodles instead of pasta but I allowed myself 50g of grated cheese. It came to 650 calories.

With milk for coffee added in, the whole day was 1481 calories. Pretty reasonable. We had planned to go to the cinema and I was looking forward to having some popcorn but in the end we couldn't be bothered. So we're going on Friday night instead. Which luckily, happens to be another feast day so I'll definitely have some then!

Fast today - it's half three and I'm getting hungry. I've had two cups of coffee which is 80 calories of milk. Bit of a waste really - I was allowing myself one cup a day but it smelled so good... Making a proper roast chicken dinner tonight - I'll have some of the meat and the vegetables but no roast potatoes. I'll save that for tomorrow.

I must say, we're saving a fortune on our weekly shopping. I did a shop this morning and it was the first time in a month! I was away for a week in between but still.

I also have noticed that for the first time in my life, I'm being tempted by fruit. I normally avoid fruit - love vegetables but fruit bores me. However, today in the supermarket, I bought strawberries, a melon and apricots and I'm looking forward to them. I've read blogs where people on ADF find that they appreciate the taste of fruit and enjoy them more than before and I always scoffed at them a bit, thinking, "that'll never happen to me". But it kind of is. I think I'm enjoying having a bit of sweetness whilst knowing that it's actually good for me, and not a waste of calories. Having said that, I did buy some 70% dark chocolate today. Going to have one piece on my feast days with a cup of coffee after dinner. Mmmm.....

Looking at the "My FitnessPal" app - my nutrient intake is slowly getting better. My vitamin C intake is high, and my vitamin A and calcium intake is getting better. My iron is consistently low though, I really need to work on that. I was full of confidence last night eating my minced beef Bolognese, thinking, "At last, I'll be stuffed with iron" but no... it's not that high at all. Only 8%.

I may have to start taking supplements. Not ideal but I'm not going to eat red meat or shellfish every day and I am eating a good variety of vegetables already.

Sigh.

Self-Experimentation

Yesterday was supposed to be a fast day. However, since John was going to be working last night too, my dad invited me over for dinner. As a result, I decided to have another feast day. I was hoping really that if I ate freely, and didn't restrict at all, my next fast day might have bigger weight consequences.

So, for breakfast, I had a bowl of soup, and as a big treat, I had a small white roll with some butter and honey. 361 calories.

For lunch I had... wait for it... some more soup, with wensydale and cranberry cheese and multigrain crackers. That's the last of that cheese though so I'll have to come up with a new snack! That came to 229 calories.

For dinner, my dad had bought crisps as nibbles. The pack was 150g so I assumed that I had half that - which came to 379 calories. Crazy! For dinner we had two small chicken and mushroom pies each, 840 calories (I was on a roll) and for dessert we had strawberries. He had his with cream but I had mine with milk and no sugar. The strawberries were 81 calories and the milk was about 300. So that meal came to 1600 calories, and 2190 for the day in total. Which, considering I didn't restrict myself wasn't too bad really, but to be honest, if I didn't have dieting in the back of my mind, lunch would probably have been a toastie which would have driven things way up!

I didn't weigh myself this morning and I fasted all day. Apart from milk in coffee (123 calories) I just had a small dinner there of a tin of tuna, two tomatoes, some lettuce and some light mayonnaise. 336 calories and 456 for the day in total.

That's it now for today so tomorrow morning will be the test. It'll be interesting to see if the odd cheat day like that will kick my body into losing weight again. It had better.

Surely restricting calories should be enough. I mean, even if it's slow, I can't survive on 2100 calories every two days and not lose weight... Surely!!!

Fingers crossed for the morning anyway...!

AAAARRRGGHHH!!

I've been struggling a bit the last few days. I've stuck to the diet but it hasn't been as enjoyable as in previous weeks. I think it stems mainly from my weight barely moving.
I was reading up on weight plateaus online - seems that being consistently under your calorie count can cause it. So I was wondering if I'm eating enough on feast days. But I do get to about 1600 or 1700 calories most feast days. So my body's hardly in starvation mode. Maybe I just need more patience. I mean, I've lost 11 kilos in a month. That's 24 pounds. Obviously, that's really good. It's just that it all flew off at the beginning and it has slowed down a lot in the last two weeks.

So yesterday, for my fast day, I made mushroom soup and had that with my favourite snack of the moment - wenslydale and cranberry cheese with multigrain crackers. That came to 310 calories. We had dinner early as John was on the night shift, so by about ten o'clock I was hungry again. I was going to have more crackers but I held off. I had a two spoonfuls of soup and a big glass of water. It did help.

I was working in the bookshop today. I had a few messages to do so I left home early and ended up with half an hour to spare. Since I'd had no breakfast, I was starving, so went into a restaurant and got breakfast. I'll admit my eye paused on the Irish Breakfast but my extreme lack of funding stepped in there. I did consider a scone but whilst I knew I could have it, I really felt that I should eat something nutritious. So I had a fruit salad served with natural yoghurt, and a coffee. It was really nice and about 149 calories. Whilst the Irish Breakfast, or the scone might have been even nicer, I still would have felt a bit guilty, feast day or not, and I really do need to get more vitamins. My diet is still very high in carbohydrates which don't supply much else.

Lunch was limited, as I was in the shop and a kettle is all we have access to. So I had a powdered mushroom soup and a multigrain demi baguette. 198 calories and lacking in any goodness whatsoever!

For dinner, I made a pork and apple stuffing roast, with carrots, baby potatoes and mushrooms. That came to about 964 calories and I left quite a bit on my plate - which is pretty much unheard of for me. So the day came to 1311 calories in all. I should probably eat something else. I read a blog (can't remember where) about a girl who at 1200 calories reached a weight plateau. She upped her calories to 1700 and started losing again. So, in light of that, I'm going to have a late night snack. I am hungry - it's eleven o'clock and we ate at half five again as John had to go to work. But now I'm tormented by the idea of eating late at night. Arghhh....

As well as following ADF, I'm also trying to break a lifetime of bad habits - snacking in between meals, and late at night, especially when I'm on my own.

What do I do???

Am I? Aren't I?

So, woke up and weighed myself - down a kilo after all. Kind of. The bar was kind of hovering depending on how my feet were placed. But I'm saying it is a kilo to keep myself happy.
I know you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but it's the most exciting part of my day! (Though John wants me to mention that it comes second to spending time with him... :) ) I've lost another inch from my hips too which is nice but I haven't noticed it in my clothes yet. Everything else has been the same for the last two weeks. Which makes sense as I haven't lost much weight...

Today was a feast day. I was saying yesterday how James B. Johnson, who wrote "The Alternate-Day Diet" warns against counting calories on feast days, in case "diet fatigue" sets in. I was thinking about this, as I've mentioned before that I'm really careful on feast days and count everything, trying not to go above 2000 calories, at most. I've decided not to worry about my way of doing it. If I do really want something, I do feel free to eat it on feast days. The only difference is that I count it and try to take only a bit so that I don't go over my calories. And if that teaches me portion control, it can only be a good thing!

So today I had A LOT of coffee - I'm going to allow myself to do that on feast days and try to abstain or have one cup only on fast days. That was 240 calories.
I didn't feel like breakfast as I got up late. For lunch I finished my vegetable soup and had a bread roll with it. 285 calories.

Dinner was a feast! I had chicken and wholegrain noodles with peanuts, raisins, green peppers and mushrooms, all in a Thai red curry sauce. 597 calories.

I also picked a little throughout the day but counted it. I had half a shortbread biscuit, a TINY bit of chocolate, and as a snack just now I had 33g of wenslydale and cranberry cheese, 4 multigrain crackers and 30g of a fruit tart I made for John. 360 calories in all. So that comes to 1452 calories for the day which I'm very happy about.

I checked my RMR, and it's 1908 calories. I'm going to try to stay below that on feast days if I can. That doesn't allow for any movement at all - even for a sedentary lifestyle - with no exercise and a desk job, it would go up to just over 2000 calories. However, as I'm the laziest person ever, I'm not even going to allow for that much movement. For example, I literally moved from chair to chair today and that was the extent of my exercise.

As I said in a previous post, I had very bad eczema when I was about 12 or 13. My arms, knees and chest were so itchy that I would scratch till they bled, and I ended up with huge scabs everywhere. Sexy. Anyway, at that time my mother took me to get an allergy test done, to see if we could help it. I was allergic to lots of things but the two main ones were sugar and yeast. Sugar is the one that actually caused me to itch everywhere, but I found that, as I got older, it generally didn't cause me any problem as long as I drank a decent amount of water every day. (Perhaps a pity, in terms of weight...) Yeast causes me to get very bloated and have awful stomach cramps, which sometimes double me over. However, as with sugar, as long as I don't eat bread all day long, and drink water, it rarely troubles me. I usually would have about two slices of bread a day, or else a small roll, and that was fine.
All that to say, however, that since starting my diet, nearly four weeks ago, my intake of bread has lessened considerably since it's so calorific. I think that possibly, as a result, I've become more intolerant to it. I had a roll for lunch and I'm really crampy now.
So I'm going to not eat bread for a few days, and then try again in about five or six days maybe. If I get cramps again, I'll know and it'll be bye bye to yeast. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a fluke cramp because I love my bread!!!

I have also found that I've become much more intolerant to rich food. I get heartburn now much more easily on a feast day. Whilst what I'm eating now is SO much healthier than before I started this diet, I'm still having cheese and pate on feast days and I think my body is not appreciating it as it used to. It doesn't really bother me though. Anything that discourages me from eating fatty foods can only be good!

Stuck

So... Weighed myself yesterday - had gone up one kilo. But since I suspect the two I had lost on Sunday were water retention, I was quite happy. Until I weighed myself this morning - up another kilo. So haven't moved in over a week now. Bit fed up.

I decided to carefully calculate how much that quiche I made was and was horrified to discover that it was 4000! Since I had a quarter on Sunday, a fast day, I had 1000 calories instead of my usual 500. Just shows how off food estimations can be. No more guessing.

Yesterday,  I had a lot of coffee, which means a lot of milk. Fat-free but still. Uses up a lot of precious calories. I had focaccia and guacamole like I'd been promising myself for days for breakfast, which came to 215 calories. I'd had a big pint of water before which helped to fill me up faster.

For lunch I had some mushroom soup, three multigrain crackers and 30g of wenslydale and cranberry cheese. 375 calories.

For dinner, John and I finished the quiche with some salad. So that was another 1000 calories.
I also had half a shortbread biscuit and a piece of chocolate through out the day - 108 calories.

So that came to 1787 calories for the whole day. Which is fine and still under 2000. But since my weight hasn't moved, I feel like I've been overindulging and I can see myself getting hung up on my feast days. Which you're really not supposed to do. I bought the book, "The Alternate-Day Diet: The Original Fasting Diet" by James B. Johnson M.D. and he specifically says not to be too careful on feast days, or it just becomes another diet and you'll get bored of it too.

I don't know. He also says that three weeks seems to be the sticky part. Weight tends to not move and people become lazier about food choices, with calories creeping back up. It's important to be really, really strict about tracking everything that passes your lips, even if it's a quarter of a biscuit. I think on fast days I'm ok, I still am very careful but I can see how on feast days, my total might be 100 or so calories more than I calculate, if I take an (albeit tiny) taste of John's dessert, or forget to count one cup of milky coffee.

So as of today I'm going to make sure EVERYTHING is noted. Today is a fast day, and I made vegetable soup for myself. I'm not going to eat anything until dinnertime, and then I'll have a big bowl of that, which is 114 calories. Maybe I'll have some crackers and cheese - 187 calories, or maybe not. No harm in stopping at 114 calories either.

Just wish I could see some more results - it's exciting and pleasurable to do when things are moving but otherwise... not so much.

Oh Come On!!

Weighed myself this morning - nothing. Haven't moved at all in the last week. I'm quite disappointed. I mean, I did eat well in France, and even the days where I splurged a bit weren't too bad, considering it was the only meal of the day. My mum thinks it might be the wine - she says that she finds that whilst it's not too bad in calories, it seems to stop her losing weight. Blast.

I have to go out to that birthday tonight and I do want a few drinks. I'm going to have vodka with orange juice, as it should help my stomach not feel too sick but after tonight I'm not drinking again for a couple of weeks. It was very disheartening to have made a big effort all week to find that I haven't moved.
It has been just over three weeks now though since I started dieting - maybe I've reached my first plateau phase. It had better not last too long!

Got up late this morning - John made me two soft-boiled eggs which I had with a pint of water and a cup of coffee. I was stuffed after that so ended up not having any guacamole or anything else. He's making pork medallions with apple compote and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight and once I've eaten and changed we'll be rushing out the door as we're meeting friends early. So in spite of it being a feast day, it sounds like I won't be going overboard too much.

I'll have the guacamole on Monday.