Thursday 28 July 2011

Slimming World Success Stories

Look up Slimming World Success Stories on Google and you'll quickly be reminded of what kind of changes you can expect to see in your life by simply sticking with the programme.

Unlike a lot of other diet plans it feels like Slimming World is more about the long term rewards rather than short terms (losses and gains!).

Here are a few I've found this week:

Welsh mum's slimdown from 18 s 5 to 11 s 10 (a 7 st 5lb loss!)

Pensioner loses 8 stone.

Yummy Mummy loses 3 st 13lbs.

Military wife drops 8 dress sizes and 5 1/2 stone!

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Weigh in - Week 6 - Success!

This week's Slimming World weigh in went much better than expected! Another 1.5lbs has left me FOREVER... officially bringing me to 18 st. 4.5 lbs. There are a lot of big goals in the next few weeks which will help keep me focused:
  • Hitting 1 1/2 stone - just 4lbs away
  • Hitting next stone - just 5lbs away
  • Club 10 - within 7 lbs
To help me on my way, I've purchased a set of scales and a measuring cup. I'm getting a bit lazy about weighing and measuring... I really think that getting into the habit of checking my measurements could help me hit these goals in the next 2, 3 and 5 weeks (respectively). That said, I'm going to go all out on the speed foods this week and see if I can make those goals a reality that little bit sooner! 

Monday 25 July 2011

Weigh in - Week 5 - Success!

Thinking about my week 6 post - weighing in later on today - I realised that I forgot to post last week's results: 3.5lbs down! This brings my total weight loss in 5 weeks to 15.5lbs (3.1lbs a week). Plus, I got my 1 stone award!

Not quite sure how the scales will favour me later. I feel thinner - but my homescales aren't showing massive losses. I've been 95% good this past week, so I'm hoping for a 1lb weight loss tonight.  Not sure why - possibly just allowing myself to get hungry - but I maxed out my syns nearly every day! And then there's Saturday where I added about 5 syns extra to that count!

I just feel so bloated... which leads me to a yucky issue. So, sensitive readers please look away!  Not sure whether it's dehydration or a lack of fibre, but I'm afflicted by the Slimming World constipation issue. I'm hoping to avoid the dreaded ScanBran, but not quite sure how. Let's face it, I eat a tonne of fruit and veggies each day - surely that helps keep things, erm, moving. Yesterday I had blueberries, strawberries, bananas, carrots, broccoli, green salad with cucumber and tomato. I might start looking at new Hex Bs. Perhaps adding dried fruits to the diet might help! That or some more water-based fruit and veg (apples, lettuce, celery, etc). Plus I'm looking to up my water levels and perhaps reduce the white flour in my syns! It means bye bye biscuits, but hello weight loss!

So let's see whether I'm in the scale's favour today... And, whatever the case may be I know that once this downstairs issue is cleared up I'll probably have lost another stone! haha!

Sunday 17 July 2011

Does the Lighter Life diet work?

In a nutshell, yes, Lighter Life does work. Anything that low in calories is bound to shed pounds... even without exercise. Of course you didn't ask for how long it works...

One can't help but be impressed by the recent before and after pictures of actress Pauline Quirk. She's lost a whopping 6 stone (84lbs) in just 6 months by following the strict liquid diet regime. How long she keeps this svelte silhouette will depend on how much Lighter Life has taught her about healthy eating, moderation and fitness.

A few years back I must confess that I did get in touch with  LL representative to find out more. After all, when you want rid of something - particularly weight - you want it done quickly...at all costs. For me, the costs were prohibitive as I was knowingly aware that I'd most likely have to keep repeating the plan over and over for long term success.

While I congratulate Pauline on her hard work and weight loss success story and wish her the best at sustaining her new figure, I can't help but think we'll see a much curvier Pauline reappearing in the next year or two.

Over the past week I've been thinking about my weight loss so far, particularly my 1.5 lb loss over the past week. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't want all the weight gone now or if I thought it was all going so much slower than it went on Atkins Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, Weight Watchers or any of the other diets I have tried over the years. 

But that's my emotions going into overdrive. Removing them from the equation, I can see that each pound I'm losing is one which I am weighing bye-bye to forever. I don't ever want to creep into the 19 stones again just as I am sure that - in a few weeks - I'm never going to want to creep into the 18 stones again. While I'm here though, I'll enjoy the ride and the slow descent into health.

Yes, I'm eating less but I'm also not living in denial (I had cookies today!!) and I'm actually enjoying exercise. I never thought I could say that when I was trying to lose weight.

Tomorrow is weigh in and I'm really quite keenly pursuing that 1 stone award. It would really mean a lot to get that now. But if I don't, that's ok as I know I tried and - more importantly - I won't have gained - rebound weight or otherwise.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Weigh in: Week 4 - Success!

Not sure about you, but I have a serious case of scale-watcher-itis... and it really got me good last night. You see, I've been stepping onto the bathroom scales every morning for the past month. And yesterday it showed that I had lost 3lbs over the past week. Of course, looks can be quite deceiving! Calibration is a real issue that I hadn't considered. So, you can imagine my concerns when I hopped on the scales at meeting last night and found out I'd lost just 1.5lbs.

So, it's been a successful week... just not as successful as I'd hoped for. Went back to rock climbing last night after a few days off (tendonitis of the pinky) and planning on some spinning tonight. I'm aiming to do some swimming tomorrow, so really pulling out the stops to get myself to that 1 stone award this week. Bring it on!

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Slimming World shopping list for this week

One of the best ways I find to keep on track with Slimming World is to create a meal plan and shopping list each week. Here's my Slimming World meal plan for the week ahead:

Monday

Breakfast               Raspberries, strawberries and banana with Mullerlight Vanilla
Lunch                    Spicy sweet and sour mugshot
Dinner                   Turkey chili beef with black eyed peas and kidney beans
Snacks                  Apples and grapes,
                             carrot with spring onion dip (Total Greek yoghurt w/ spring onion)                 
Tuesday

Breakfast              Mushrooms on wholemeal toast with grilled tomato
Lunch                   Jacket potato with diced ham, pineapple and low fat grated cheddar
Dinner                  Spaghetti bolognese
Snacks                  Sugar snap peas, orange segments

Wednesday

Breakfast            Omlette with mushroom, spring onions and peppers and cheese
Lunch                 Couscous, Mediterranean vegetables and side salad
Dinner                Cottage pie with swede and carrot mash topping
Snacks                Apples and grapes

Thursday
Breakfast           Quorn sausage, mushrooms, beans, poached egg and grilled tomato
Lunch                 Jacket potato with vegetarian chilli
Dinner                Sweet and sour chicken, noodles and stirfry vegetables
Snacks                Mugshot, peaches, pineapple
Friday
Breakfast           Oat so simple sachet with grated apple and cinnamon; orange and grapefruit segments
Lunch                Barley and butternut squash hot pot
Dinner               Gammon steak, pineapple rings, sweet potato chips and peas
Snacks               Strawberries, raspberries

Saturday
Breakfast          Bacon, tomato, mushroom and egg on toast
Lunch               Baked tortilla salad basket (4.5 syns)
Dinner              Tuna Pasta Bake

Sunday
Breakfast         Eggs Benedict (3 syns)
Lunch              Ham, cheese and lettuce rollups
Dinner             Seafood Paella (2.5 syns)

Dukan Diet: What's the verdict?

The British Nutrition Foundation has given its verdict on the famous Dukan diet. Dr Elisabeth Weichselbaum of the British Nutrition Foundation suggests that cutting out a whole food group from your diet - in this case, starch and carbohydrates - is never a good idea. 

She explains: "If you restrict yourself for a week, you may not really risk your health, but for a longer period of time you will miss out on important nutrients."

Instead, she suggests that the best way of losing weight is through continued eating of a balanced diet... sensibly!

She adds that high-protein diets do lead to weight loss. She advises that cutting out carbohydrates for a short period to kick-start a diet is acceptable.

"But in the long term, if you have anything that's too restrictive you will risk your health."

Diets that are higher in carbohydrates and lower in protein are "generally associated with lower risk", Dr Weichselbaum says. "High-protein" can mean "high-fat", she points out, if people eat fatty meats.

And if "high-protein" means "low-fibre", constipation is very likely to be the result. Check out the four case histories to see what other types of side effects of Dukan you can expect.

Weigh in: Week 3 - Success!

Last night's weigh in went really well as I dropped a further 2.5 lbs. So my grand total in three weeks of following Slimming World is 10.5lbs. My goal for next week is 2lbs realistically, but how chuffed would I be if I managed to get my 1 stone? I'd be freakin' ecstatic.

So this week my main focus is continuing to stick with the programme... which isn't too difficult. Luckily my social life is almost exclusively activity-based which really helps!

One difficulty has cropped up. While gardening on Sunday I've damaged my pinky. I'm heading to minor injuries this afternoon to get it checked out - but I have a feeling it will mean no climbing tonight. I'm not 100 per cent sure how much I use my pinkie in climbing, so I might just have to give it a try while Sam's on the walls. I'll be there anyway, so I ought to make the most of it.

Whatever the case may be I'm sticking with my 30 minute dog walks each morning and two sessions of laser tag this week.  If I can't climb tonight I'll try and squeeze in a 30 min. swim tomorrow night to make up for it and/or take the dog on an evening walk tonight.

Monday 4 July 2011

Weight loss saves woman's life

Can losing weight save your life? For one mum losing 6 stone helped her spot 3 cancerous tumours in her breast. Read more about this story here.

Shame leads 27 stone granny to lose 10 stone in one year

Making that break with food often begins with a disastrous weight-inspired event. For one British grandmother, breaking the sofa inspired her to get fitted with a gastric sleeve. And in just a year the woman, who weighed 27 stone, lost more than 10 stone!

While I haven't been involved in any breakages in recent years, I can safely say that I've noticed seats becoming tighter and more uncomfortable. On my last plane journey, for example, the seat belt was extended to its maximum. It's going to be a little while until I take my next flight, so I'm aiming to have at least a few inches spare on my next trip.

Closer to home, I've noticed that my white plastic garden chairs are such a tight fit that I have to sit on the edge. With this in mind my short-term goal is to be able to sit properly in one by the end of the summer!

Tonight is my third weigh-in with Slimming World. I'm not sure if I should feel relieved or worried, but I had no nightmares about gaining/overeating last night. I've been sticking to the plan and eating my syns - nothing more, nothing less. I'm also feeling more comfortable with making food choices. I have a few breakfasts, lunches and dinners to choose from... and I'm always on the prowl for more.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Can liposcution help you lose weight?

 According to some people, seeing the fat removed from your body can be the kickstart to a healthy eating regime. I must admit, however, that this taking things a step too far! I have my own issues with bariatric surgery, but I'm aware that it can deliver quick and relatively safe results for the individuals involved. But relying on liposuction to help you lose weight is just insane! It's like relying on Botox to keep you wrinkle-free! One woman even started speaking to her doctor on the subject while still pregnant with her second child!! Call me old fashioned, but your body is holding those baby fat reserves for a reason - let your baby use them!