OK, sorry I know I’m not the best at these before and after photos – I don’t know how people take selfies so easily. Somehow my hand is always in the way or I end up taking a picture with only half my body in shot. And it’s pitch black outside so I had to arrange a lamp directed straight at my body… I’ll stop making excuses now.
So today I hit my first goal, which was to lose 25 lbs, and ended up losing an extra couple for good measure.
That’s 27% of the way towards my ultimate goal to lose 100 lbs *self-five*. Also, my BMI has gone from 38 to 33.7.
However, I am going to make some changes to how I’ve been doing things. Firstly, I promised myself that once I hit 15 stone 7 lbs or less I would start running again. Very much like starting a new food plan, with running the first couple of weeks are the hardest and then it becomes habit. I am not looking forward to starting again, but I know that a month down the line I will feel so much better for it. I’ll be posting about the running programme I’ll be starting later on this week.
Although my mentor says that I can start jogging gently again whilst still remaining on Sole Source (450 calories) I don’t feel like that’s sensible. I want to be a good runner and although my energy for day-to-day tasks is fine, I have never felt energetic enough for proper exercise since I started on this low calorie diet. I’m also burning muscle as well as fat at the moment, which I can’t see is healthy for running.
Therefore I’m going to take a break from Sole Source for a while and start on the Cambridge step 2. This bumps up my daily calories from 450 to around 810 and means I actually get to eat something (other than my frozen milkshakes!) I’m really looking forward to eating proper food, as I have been getting very bored with the CWP products after 6 weeks. Saying that, I am worried that with the re-introduction of food I will have to be very careful about portion control and emotional eating. If I find it too hard to limit myself I can always return to step one again for a bit of a breather.
So on step 2 I will eat 3 Cambridge weight products per day (in my case this is pretty much 3 frozen milkshakes, with the occasional soup when I’m working), plus one meal of a protein rich food with 80g of vegetables, 425 ml of skimmed milk (yes! I can drink tea again!), plus the usual four pints of water.
You can’t have your cake and eat it (bad proverb for someone losing weight)
The main problem that I’m having at the moment is that I am feeling really good about having lost weight, but I am also really craving carb laden food. I want to be skinny and I want to eat pasta and biscuits. Sadly I have to choose.
I had a look through my wardrobe this weekend and I can now fit into a load of clothes that I haven’t been able to wear for about a year. I feel really good about myself being able to wear them again, and proud that I’ve shed 27 lbs. Despite this I still want to eat crap, but I need to learn about moderation.
Saying that, I had a ‘cheat’ day today. To celebrate my weigh in I had dinner of a greek salad (with olives and feta) with salmon and a crusty bread roll with margarine, followed by a flapjack for dessert. It wasn’t a brilliant choice, however in the past it could have been a dinner or cheesy chips with a bag of doughnuts so I’m feeling positive about small changes. Even if it slows my loss this week, I need to keep the long term in mind and that means being able to have occasional cheat days, but just not allowing them to become the norm.
I need to constantly remind myself why I’m doing this. This week my two challenges will be making sure I can re-introduce food into my life in moderation, and ensuring that excuses don’t hinder starting my running plan. I have told myself I will start it this Saturday, so please keep me accountable if I fail to mention this ever again.
I will be regretting that bread roll I had for dinner for the next three days as my body will be going back into ketosis, but damn it was good in the moment.
Less of Me 