New direction

emilyuk1000

Hey everyone,

I've been on here a while now and I know that it works - I've done it before, lost 18lbs a few years ago by counting every calorie but that's slowly gone back on. I've tried tis again but this time my life is a lot busier (new job, new (and dilapidated) house, more exams) and I've finding it difficult to motivate myself to spend the time logging everything.

So I've decided to try something different and I'm writing this as a commitment to see it through. I came across the Les Mills 21 Day Challenge on the internet which is basically a low carb meal plan over 3 weeks after which you add some healthy carbs and try to maintain the healthy eating 80% of the time. It's pretty easy to follow - ladies have 5 small meals per day consisting of protein the size of your palm, 1-2 handfuls of vegetables and 1 thumbful of good fats.

My only concerns were:
- the complete lack of sweet things, so I added the option of apples and fat free yogurt (I've read articles that note research suggests both these things increase weight loss anyway) mixed together with some nuts meets the protein, veg (kind of!) and fats requirement, and the odd low calorie ice-lolly (the freeze at home variety)
- one of the 5 meals is a protein shake to be taken after exercise, I only intend to work out Monday - Friday so I'm skipping this at the weekends and I'll be having it before because I tend to workout in the evenings and the shake I have includes caffeine.

My starting weight is 144.25lbs. This is how I've done so far:

Day 1
I started on Saturday (27th July) and had a vegetable omelette for breakfast - good start because eggs aren't my favourite breakfast I ran out of time for a snack and we went to the pub for lunch but I stuck with it and had a steak salad. There was some dressing I would guess isn't low carb and some cheese which I largely avoided plus I only had one drink and that was a ginger ale which I think will be lower in sugar than the berry cider I would usually go for. This made me sleepy and I had a nap when I got in missing another snack and resulting in the ordering of a Chinese takeaway as I couldn't be bothered to cook - not a good start! I made the best of it having one chicken wing, one grilled dumpling (can't resist the starters!) and then beef with cashew nuts, no rice, no noodles, no prawn crackers and finished off with an ice lolly. All in all not great for day 1!

Day 2
I couldn't face eggs for breakfast so I went with my cheat, a chopped apple, fat free natural yogurt and a few walnuts which was surprisingly tasty. We went sofa shopping (for the new house not that its ready for furniture yet!) so again I missed a snack and I had leftover Chinese takeaway for lunch, one chicken wing, one grilled dumpling and special in black pepper sauce plus an ice lolly. I spent the afternoon boiling a ham and roasting a lamb shoulder in preparation for the week ahead and squeezed in a bit of studying (Accountancy) before dinner - roast lamb with carrots, red onions and green beans finished with an ice lolly. Later on I was starting to feel a bit hungry so I had my apple, yogurt, walnut combo again before bed.

Day 3
Even though I haven't stuck rigidly to the plan so far I felt like checking my weight this morning and I've dropped 1lb now down to 143.25lbs. I want to make a conscious effort to drink more water today - for my weight the program says I need 2.2 litres, so far today I've had 1.5 litres so I'm doing ok. Breakfast was more apple, yogurt, walnuts (getting a bit addicted) then I had a mid morning snack of roast lamb and almond slaw - one of the plan recipes which I was a bit sceptical about but is delicious, and a lunch of ham salad with walnuts (sticking with the protein, veg, fat rule). I'll be having a protein shake about 4pm ready for my run at 5pm and then dinner will be a roast chicken with salad and almond slaw.

I'm quite pleased with how it's been going but later in the week will be the test. I haven't had any chocolate cravings so far but my work has a Starbucks on site with the offer of frappuccinos, cakes and ice creams so I'll have to stay strong! I'll be updating my progress later on in the week and I'm committed to seeing it through, only 18 days to go.

Emily

xampx

A 3 week restricted eating plan is fine (= it will probably work if you stick to it), however what happens when you start eating properly again?

If you crave sweet things, make up your own plan, work out your TDEE minus 10-20% depending how much you aim to lose, do a little exercise where you can (I have been renovating a house, theres some good workouts there!) and plan your daily/weekly meals so you get to snack on the things you like and crave.

A deprived diet is never going to be sustainable. If you want chocolate, eat chocolate, just don't eat a family sized bar every night.