this dog is going down!

[doghouse]

I started SB this week - decided not to wait until Monday, because as they say to coin a cliche there is no time like the present;-) My goal is to be back at my wedding weight of 75kg. I am 5'7" (and not big boned!) Anyway today I am down two kgs - and feeling absolutely fine - and more importanly positive that I will reach my goal. Over the weekend, I intend to set some mini goals lest I become too daunted. Will be back then

[TryAgainEm]

Just wanted to say GoodLuck as you start!

[2cats1kid]

Good luck, doghouse! I start phase 2 on Monday, have lost 5lbs, gained loads of energy, and am more focussed after nearly two weeks than I have ever been on any diet/eating plan before!

[doghouse]

Thanks for the messages. Now on day 3 and I decided not to get on the scale today. No reason, just thought I would try not to be too obsessive, and I have done well so far. I even managed to control myself at a child's birthday party - in the past I would have 'tidied' up my 2 and a half year olds wasted cup cake, but yesterday I said "take it away darling, your mum is on the beach!" I did not go for my 35 minute walk this morning, but think I will go later on with the children and dogs. I feel so much better when I exercise, it is just sometimes a challenge to get out of the bed!

[doghouse]

Day 4 - and if Martha Beck is right, I am on my way to my first win! I went for a walk yesterday afternoon in the blazing sun, it reminded me why it is worth waking up at 5h30am. Anyway, I felt better for doing it and will be doing it again this afternoon while the children and husband play on jumping castles and water slides at the rellies. It will be nice to walk in a different neighbourhood.
Time to start being accountable for my food now:
Yesterday.
B- omlette with mushrooms, tomatoes and red peppers
S - 10 pecan nuts
L- Avo salsa and humous on the side
S - 5 pecan nuts - did not need them.
S - Trout with spinich/feta/ff milk pureed , squash
throughout day, 3 cups coffee with ff milk, 2 cups tea. i know, too much!
Today (had and and planned)
B - 1/4 cup beans cooked with tomotoes, green peppers, garlic herbs etc. (all sb friendly), with one scrambled egg and parsley with a light sprinkling of parmesan
L- Grilled periperi lean pork fillet, plenty salad
D - 1 cup of aforementioned beans, with little bit of feta crumbled on it, 1 cup salad
Am cutting down on the caffeine today as much as I love it.

Feeling full of energy, positive and no hunger pangs or no headaches (although perhaps if I cut out the caffeine this would change as i detoxified!) Could not resist getting on the scale this am - now down 5lbs since start.

[doghouse]

Well, I have just survived my first meal out and I am so proud of myself! Tomorrow I have a couple more girlfriends and their children coming for lunch (school hols! Got to entertain the kiddy winkles) Anyway, I am putting them on the beach and they will be fine! It was today I was wondering how I was going to resist temptation.
So my food journal, I need to do this more regularly to keep myself accountable. still too much tea and coffee throughout the day, but it is with ff milk and no sugar or sweetner (which I have never liked anyway so not such a sacrifice;-)
Monday
B - 3 cups or so - salad with feta cheese (yes really, it is not too bad! - infact after a morning walk, it feels kind of normal!) tspn olive oil and tspn balsamic
S- 15 pecan nuts. can someone clear up for me if this is 15 whole pecan nuts in their shells or half pecan nuts already done for you?? i suspect the latter.
L- Grilled periperi chicken breast with plenty salad (lettuce , tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions, red peppers and avocado - that is my bog basis)
S - hummus, with veg crudites (cousin came for afternoon tea and was somewhat surprised at the cake and biccies but enjoyed it anyway!!)
D- Roasted courgettes, bringal, peppers, squash, tomatoes, onion, fresh herbs and garlic and olive oil , yum! grilled bream (tialpia)

Today

B- Gem squash that I had cooked the day before but not served, topped with left over chicken breast (not much), and a few roasted veg. Surprisingly excellent brekkie. Oh maybe the light dusting of parmesan helped.
S- 15 pecan nuts
L- bream carpacio (OMG - divine! - that is thinly sliced fish 'cooked' in olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt) with a small greek side salad no dressing (used what the fish was in)
D- Salad and and poached chicken breast in herbs

I said I was not going to get on the scale then decided to anyway and am now down 7 lbs - this is day 6 for me, so I am thrilled. 10% of goal weight loss achieved. Yippee.
xx

[doghouse]

Well, I have been caught up in other forums, but a quick update on the life and times.

It is now day 12 for me, and I have not got on the scale for the last couple of days because i had put on 200g on saturday when i thought i had lost;-) so I guess I should not weigh so often, it is obviously there are going to be fluctuations.
SInce starting I assume I have lost just over 3 kgs, (7 lbs) , but am feeling so much healthier and energetic. I have been posting my meal plans on the forum anyone starting on 24th August, so I will not repeat those.
Now I must fine tune, I think I am not being careful enough with portion sizes. Until I get used to them visually I think I better weigh and measure. I cheated yesterday with my daughter's left over raw carrots - who would have thought that would have been a cheat three weeks ago!! Ha, ha, ha, but I am reallllly looking forward to adding them again in phase two and also some fruit. Our mulberry tree is hanging low with the most plump, purple, plops of deliciousness. Girls are picking and eating them off the tree and looking like the pie thieves from Richard Scarry's book! I also want to look like a pie thief!

[doghouse]

Had a pretty good week, although today I have had some cravings for something, but i am not even sure what. I missed my arvie tea, so maybe I will make a fake hot chocolate with cocoa powder, ff milk, water and a sweetner. i say i have had a good week but i snuck a few of those darm purple plops of lusciousness into my mouth when collecting mulberry leaves for the newest members of the household - ten silkworms. i have also not weighed so much (good thing perhaps?) because i am sure the scale needs new batteries. depending on which tiles on the bathroom floor i put it, the darn thing gives me different readings by half a kilo! i did weigh on thursday - got on a few times to get the final concensus - on the two week anniversary on sb. i am down 3.7 kgs, not bad although i had of course hoped for more!! no spurprises there. i do like weighing more often than is recommended because it either boosts you or makes you cognisant of what nears your mouth for the rest of the day! Exercise has also been going reasonably well although I have missed a couple of days here and there . I need to build up the time, now school is back DH is setting the alarm at 5h30 so there is no excuse, I just need to haul myself out of the sack and get going earlier! Right now I am only doing about 30-35 minutes. Better than nothing. It is such an effort and when I start off I say to myself, oh i am just going to go round the block and then come home for a cuppa tea, but then i get going and the tea is less appealling that the firmer bod! Am moving into phase 2 on Monday, excited about that - am looking forward to a few legal fruits. funnily enough have no desire to introduce the bread back yet, but some ww pasta from time to time will be jolly nice!

[doghouse]

Spending too much time on the internet and not enough time studying so I am going to only post in SBO now..... that will be my journal now.

[PaulaB]

hi, just found your thread and was thinking a journal might be right for me until I read:

Spending too much time on the internet and not enough time studying so I am going to only post in SBO now..... that will be my journal now.

I'm going to do the same, see you in the Phase 2 discussion SBO, see ya there buddy!

[doghouse]

I thought it might be a good idea to post a monthly progress report, and I intend to be here until i reach my goal .... that is the sad (but inevitable) thing - one has to keep on the woe that lost you the excess baggage in the first place. but this is the happy thing...... because i love this eating/life plan i am optimistic and hopeful this will be a life long change!! how did i get fat in the first place, by eating the wrong foods, in the wrong quantities, not exercising consistently and generally going down an extremely slipperly slope! have i been angelic the duration of my 9 weeks here? Aaaah NO!!! but when i do stumble (which I do - today- case in point!) I MUST dust myself off and get back to the plan. My weight is now down by 7.8 kgs(about 17 lbs) and i have lost an inch at least on all problem areas! Feel so much better and am starting to get comments about how much weight i have lost. YAY! Exercise plan also going relatively well. For now I ensure I get to exercise at least 5 times a week x 35-45 mins , although I would like to up that to 6 x 60 minutes.

[doghouse]

Going to post my weekly food all in one go so I can see at a glance how my week went and the results..... so this week i was thrilled because I dropped quite a bit of weight - normally i do 300 g a week! frustratingly slow for me . Altogether I am now down 9kgs (about 20 lbs). I measure once a month and today i did it - my three month marker... well it was intesting to say the least. mostly an half an inch to an inch gone in most areas since last month BUT waist went up by half an inch and bottom freckle thighs the same. Now I certainly do not feel as though I have gained inches because I am fitting into a pair of trousers I bought in April (w/o trying them on!) and when I got them home they did not fit - now they are loose! anway, because of that I refuse to be bleak. maybe last month i was pulling the tape measure too much
Monday 02/11
Exercise: 35 min walk
B: piece ww toast with feta and roasted veggies
MS: ½ chicken breast, banana chips
L: celery and 1 T peanut butter
AS: nothing
D: ham, gem squash, cabbage relish (the last of it!) , green beans

Tuesday 03/11
Exercise: 40 min walk, with some running
B: roasted veg and feta omelette
MS: 1 banana
L: red lentil curry, poppadums, on a bed of cauli
AS: celery and small piece of ham
D: herbed bream, with salsa, cucumber and red onion salad
ES: fake mochaccino and a peach

Wednesday 04/11
Exercise: nothing
B: oyster mushroom and parmesan omelette
MS: hummus and celery
L: whole wheat toast, 1 slice ham, 2 t mayo, plenty salad, 1 orange
AS: some illegal dates!  and they were not even that fresh..... tut tut
D: thai fish cake to start, then ½ peri peri chicken breast with plenty of salad


Thursday 05/11
Exercise: 40 min walk
B: scrambled egg with oyster mushroom, tomato and pc ww toast
MS: hummus and cucumber/celery sticks,
L: banana, sweet potato gingered chips (totally yum!)
AS: 10 pecan nuts
D: large pork chop, (not ideal!) butternut, roasted cauli and aubergine


Friday 06/11
Exercise: 45 min walk
B: poached egg, fresh tomato, w w toast with marmite
MS: peach, spicy roasted chickpeas
L: red lentil curry with tomato, chilli and onion sambal, ff yoghurt
AS: bean brownie
D: sbd friendly pizza - lots of veg included with bits of bacon and moz/feta cheese (too much cheese)
ES: -

Saturday 07/11
Exercise: 1 hour walk
B: 2 egg scrambled with oyster mush, tomatoes, spring onion, light dusting of parmesan
MS: half bean brownie (do not know who ate the other half!!)
L: large salad with feta cheese
AS: part of supper as we were going to a play... 4 courgette ‘burgers’
D: late dinner: ostrich carpacio (had my veg earlier)

Sunday 08/11
Exercise: taking the kids for bike ride and dog for a walk - so very gentle walk for 30 mins
B: poached egg, fresh tomato with T avo on ww toast
MS: hummus and cucumber
L: pork chop (small) small steak (braai/bbq) and salad
AS: nothing
D: thai fish and veggie soup that i made - it was nice!


Right this is updated on Monday morning. I weigh twice a week (against my better judgement ) and that 1.6 kg loss that I was so happy about on thursday..... now it is only my usual +-300g loss, because I have gained 1.2 kg!! if it were not so annoying I would laugh. but it is infuriating, it seems my body only wants to let go of 300g a week, so contrary to what RR says, i am proving that weight loss IS actually predicatable!!

[doghouse]

Monday 09/11
Exercise: 45 min walk
B: ww toast with feta and tomatoes
MS: peach and small piece of left over pork chop
L: 2 pc ww toast, with hummus, plenty cucumber and some red onion (too much toast today)
AS: 1 cup ww pasta with pesto, feta, sundried tomato ('tidied' up kids supper! )
D: pesto chicken with big salad

Tuesday 10/11
Exercise: 45 minute walk
B: veg and feta quiche cup
MS: left over thai fish and veggie soup
L: left over chicken breast, ¼ cup left over pesto pasta, large salad
AS: 15 pecan nuts. Feta, sundried tomato, basil lettuce wraps
D: ostrich carpaccio with big green salad
ES: cocoa with ff milk and sweetener

Wednesday 11/11
Exercise: nothing
B: 2 small veg and feta quiche cups
MS: 1 pc ww bread, 1 dspn macadamia nut spread, 1 peach
L: 1 pc ww bread with marmite, seafood , broccoli, courgette, chilli stiry fry, 1 tbspn beans
AS: 1 pc ww bread with marmite and 1 peach (another bad bread day )
D: red lentil curry, on a bed of cauli, with tomato/onion sambal, ff yoghurt
ES: banana

Thursday 12/11
Weigh Day: stayed the same, total loss 9 kgs
Exercise: 40 min walk
B: 1 veg and feta quiche
MS: cannot remember - but had something i am sure
L: feta and tomato ww sandwich
AS: 1 dspn hummus
D: ham (too much, i felt full and i definitely over did it)plenty roasted veggies, incl. Butternut in the mix


Friday 13/11
Exercise: 45 min walk
B: scrambled eggs with little spinach and parsley, w w toast with marmite
MS: cucumber (lots to make up for lack of veg at brekkie ) hummus
L: large green salad with ham, not excessive this time
AS: nothing
D: lamb and chana dhal curry, steamed broccoli and 4 mini pappadums
ES: 2 peaches, but it could have been worse if I had gone for what I felt like!

Saturday 14/11
Exercise: nothing
B: bowl of oats with ff milk & raisins (not ideal but oats tasted foul and had no banana in the house)
MS: hummus in lettuce leaves
L: ham, lettuce and baby tomatoes, 1 small dark chocolate - amazing that i was satisfied with just one - a miracle to be sure!! 2 glasses wine at an exhibition opening - well it was my birthday!!!
AS: nothing
D: sbd friendly bacon and veggie pizza, glass of wine

Sunday 15/11
Exercise: 1 hour walk
B: ww toast, egg, broccoli, sundried tomato and a light sprinkling of mozarella
MS: banana
L: 2 x peri peri chicken kebabs, big salad
AS: chick pea brownie (only pulse available - but they worked!)
D: red lentil curry, tomato and onion sambal , cucumber/mint/garlic/lf yoghurt

I am starting to get nervous for the holidays now - we do not celebrate thanksgiving so that is one hurdle I do not have to haul my somewhat ample (but getting smaller) bottom over.. however, Christmas holiday - beg - end dec.... is an incredibly social time. We are meant to be travelling to South Africa mid dec. and it seems whenever we cross the border, it is like i get a 5 kgs injection at the borderpost!! (all that sitting in a car) , then after Christmas we have been invited on a house boat on lake Kariba. now this i the most awesome holiday and i am truly excited and happy we have been asked. HOWEVER, in my experience on the house boat, one just eats LOADS, drinks loads, watches the sunset, watches the sunrise, watches the animals and yaks and then that all again the next day - NO exercise to speak of.... anyway, i am conjuring up ways to overcome these fears of mine..... but just thought i would verbalise them because they have been playing on my mind. what is PREDICTABLE about me and weight is I can GAIN 5 kgs in two weeks - but only lose 300 g a week . not!

[PaulaB]

hiya there. Please don't get all tangled up with the holidays. Doesn't each day have enough worries in it? Why not start practicing the 3 bite rule? If you start now, it will be second nature. (I was going to say "piece of cake" )

[doghouse]

that is funny paulab, but you are right. the three bite rule. it is hard, at boarding school we were FORCED to eat everything off our plate and old habits die hard, added to which, living in africa, surrounded by poverty, i hate waste - so I must just make, look and taste less. but as you say, i must not get myself into a tizz already! by the way thanks for the nice things you said about greg's work. i also think he is good!