Louisa's Weight Loss Blog

I wasn’t able to write my blog post yesterday because I had such a busy day.

I temped at an event in Nottingham, working as a steward for the most popular bit of the event – the luminarium. It was pretty cool, the kids loved it but as it was free, people queued for about an hour and a half just to go in to the sculpture! It was getting really annoying though, people kept trying to jump the queue and others tried to get in after it was closed. For the record, I couldn’t care less how far you’ve come just to see this thing, if you pitch up at 3.45pm when the event closes at 4pm and expect to walk straight in just cos you look at me like a kicked spaniel, you want your bumps read.

I lugged a few metal traffic barriers around and now have a bruised shoulder. After over 9 hours of work and only 30 mins break, I had to walk for half an hour home. Luckily, Jonny was an absolute babe and had got up early to deliver me safely to the event which was really helpful otherwise I would have been shattered on arrival.

When I finally got home, Jonny was about to put a pizza in the oven but I was so hungry I asked him to rethink the strategy. He mad a tuna and pasta bake instead… not the best we’d ever had but it was food and I was starving. I then had to get ready and rush out because we were off to see Michael MacIntyre at the ice arena. It’s just a few moments from my house and it was fab! He was so funny! He said that someone had told him that he walks like a toddler who has done twosies in his nappy and later on in his performance, I thought, IT’S TRUE! In the second half my cheeks were so very badly aching. This is good but I did start to worry I’d get wrinkles… I love humourous observations about people’s relationships, mainly because they are echoed in ALL relationships. A couple of times I said to Jonny “It’s funny cos it’s true!” For the record, I don’t care about his morning breath, it’s a fact of life and I have a strong stomach. He has less of a strong stomach but he is learning to cope when I have coffee breath in the morning. Well, I assume he is learning to cope, he pulls that horrible face much less…

We were going to go out with his work mates after but they flaked on us. Jonny didn’t want to end the evening so we went off to a casino. He lost £24 odd on a bonus slots game by trying to double it. He won a bit more back but still made a loss on the evening. That’s the nature of gambling my friends, you don’t always win big like we did back over Easter!

Saturday’s food diary:

Breakfast: Two shredded wheat with skimmed milk

Lunch:Two hot ring doughnuts and a couple of chips

Dinner: Tuna and pasta bake

Snack: Turkey breast sub on hearty italian bread with olives, tomatoes, cucumber and sweetcorn. No sauce.

Proactol: 4

Exercise: 1 hour of walking and a physical day of work!

I don’t know about everyone else, but time seems to be flying by at the moment. Even though I’ve been spending a huge amount of time on my own, my own company isn’t beginning to make me as crazy as I thought. I just need to stop referring to myself as ‘we’ before I start pickling vegetables for entertainment and calling any passing cat ‘my baby’. *shudders*

Today was another odd day. I had to have a late breakfast as I had forgotten to buy milk and I had a job interview at 10am. It seemed to go well, they made all the right noises but I have been to so many job interviews over the last few months that I thought it went well but I couldn’t even begin to speculate on my actual chances of getting it! Will keep you lovely people all up to date though. We need to get me working again before I become an agoraphobic.

This weird start meant that my daily meal structure was messed up for the whole day.It was due to bad meal planning on my part and I accept that.

Breakfast: Large slice of coconut cake

Lunch: Shredded wheat with skimmed milk

Snack: Small bowl of pasta and pesto

Dinner: Steak and ale pie with potatoes, carrots, courgettes and runner beans fried up in olive oil and dessert was a big slice of coconut cake

Proactol: Four

Exercise: None

Tomorrow I am working at the castle for this big event, stewarding is always fun… unless you’re wanting to go on all the fun things but can’t! This means an early night for me apparently… she says writing this at 23.57pm. Doh.

Yes my friends, poorlysick is a word… and if it isn’t, I hope my usage of it on the world wide web will get it into the Oxford Concise in the next year or so…

The brutal truth is that I have had a migraine this evening. It started in the early afternoon as just feeling a bit foggy and crap but on walking into the city centre to attend a short training session before embarking on a temp stewarding role at Nottingham’s city castle this Saturday, I felt weak and sick. I stopped at Starbucks and bought a slice of carrot cake and a bottle of carbonated water, thinking it was possibly blood sugar related as I had a rather late lunch at 2pm. Sat in the room, I felt weaker and weaker and had to wear my glasses just so I could keep my eyes open and appear engaged. I had intended to walk home but after 10 mins, gave up and got a taxi. This was rather fortunate as I made it up to the bathroom in time to be sick.

I hate, loathe and detest people being sick in public. I understand it can come over very suddenly but this is rare. Nobody wants to watch a young lady barf in the street whether it is due to intoxication or illness. Considering I have to walk through a dodgy area to get home, I do prefer to keep quite a brisk step!

This all reminded me of two years ago when I was literally struck down with glandular fever. I had never been so ill in my living memory. Apologies for the graphic explanation, but I slept for roughly 22 hours a day with my mouth open because my tonsils were so swollen and covered in white joojoo that I couldn’t even swallow. Nobody wanted to come into my room because the white joojoo smelled so bad. I didn’t eat or wash for almost a week and my first bath only happened because my twin sister had to hold me up to walk me to the bathroom and put me in the bath. I was too weak to even wash my own hair. When I was finally lucid enough to sit up in bed aware of my surroundings, I ordered in a large Dominos cheese and tomato pizza and ate it over an agonising two days.

At Alton Towers after a sleep on the damp grass

I hadn’t noticed any weight loss or a change in my body until I put on outdoor clothes for the first time. My family was horrified by my appearance so I weighed myself. 9 stone 5lbs and I looked like I was bordering on an eating disorder. My auntie was upset by how unwell I had been and how I looked, she invited me round to her house in the mornings for a change of scenery and left lots of goodies around so I could try and gain a little weight back to look more healthy.

My point is that you can’t really control illness and you certainly should never hope for it as a means to lose weight as you will gain it much quicker once you’re back to full health. Also, when you are ill your body needs calories to fix itself so don’t use illness as a dieting opportunity as it will probably backfire!

Anyway, my dinner tonight was rice and runner beans as that was all I could stomach as around 8pm and I knew I had to eat otherwise my headache would get worse. About 10.30pm I made myself some pasta and pesto. My breakfast was two shredded wheat with milk and lunch was Winnie the Pooh Pasta shapes with a couple of soft bread rolls. I only took two proactol today so food diary is looking a tad pathetic. Not including the carrot cake because I was unlucky enough to deposit that in a bucket in my living room. Classy bird!

Dear dieter friends,

I have reached that stage, middle of the second week of my diet where I am tired, fed up and ready to ditch the diet. It happens to everyone so I don’t feel like I’ve failed or anything because I know I can work through the apathy.

When someone is trying to sell you something relating to a diet, they will always try and market their product as the easy way out of doing hard work. I will never spin anyone a line like that because I truly believe that nothing worth having ever comes easily. Losing weight isn’t easy like clicking your fingers, blowing a whistle or putting your underwear on in the morning (excluding bras… I still struggle some days). I have found the Proactol slimming aid I have been taking after every meal helpful as I believe it  has helped to lessen my appetite but the food that I eat is still my choice and slimming pills that would help you lose weight despite doing no exercise and eating crap do not exist! If you read the leaflet, they all will tell you that they won’t work unless they are combined with a good diet and exercise. This is why they are referred to more accurately as slimming aids.

Without wishing to sound like I’m placing a gypsy curse on you because I am being very honest here: you will lose motivation at some point early on into your diet. You might even gain weight for a while but hang in there! Your body has probably gone into a mild shock and is trying to regulate itself. So many dieters have a good first week and then gain the second so they give up trying and resign themselves to being fatties for life. The trick is keeping your motivation up and you can only really do that with support. Tell your family, tell your friends and tell your colleagues that you are on a diet and you need their support. There is no shame in asking for help and people will be pleased that you have confided in them and trust them to be of assistance in your moments of weakness. Being honest about your intentions and your lack of motivation will allow others to support you when you’re not feeling strong enough to do it yourself. Willpower and determination are not always enough on their own.

Wednesday’s food diary:

Breakfast: Large bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes with 1% fat milk

Lunch: Two seeded bagels and cream cheese

Dinner: Chicken hoi sin sauce stir fry with noodles.

Snack: Cheese roll… I became rather peckish because I hadn’t eaten all my veggies. Doh!

Proactol: 5, one after each meal and two after my fatty cheese roll.

Exercise: 40 mins of walking

It was really chilly yesterday evening! The afternoon was beautifully sunny up here in Nottingham whilst I understand it was grey and miserable back home in Gloucestershire, much to my mum’s displeasure. It’s still not that warm though, what is happening to our BBQ autumn that we were promised by the Weather Man?!

I hate it when the nights start to draw in, it happens so quickly and you don’t even notice it until you step outside the door at 8pm to realise it’s dark out there! It makes exercising e.g. jogging harder too, because if you don’t live in a particularly salubrious area, it is perfectly understandable to be nervous for two reasons:

• You are worried of experiencing crime under the veil of darkness
• Even if you are wearing reflective gear, it is still possible to be hurt by a cyclist with no lights or a car driver not paying attention.

The truth is that women out on their own at night are more vulnerable in general. I would advise that you go running with a friend or two in winter. You could try to run during daylight hours over the weekend and stick to spin or swim classes in the week if you prefer to run alone

Running is a great way to exercise if you’re not looking to spend money. Many people enjoy listening to dance, trance or house music when running to help with the pacing. I like to listen to power ballads and rock music but that’s a personal preference! The key thing to remember when running in the dark: we want you safe and slim!

On to Tuesday’s diary, apologies it is a bit late!

Breakfast: Large bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes with 1% fat milk

Lunch: 2 seeded bagels with cream cheese

Dinner: Spaghetti bolognaise with cheese on top. Muller strawberry rice pudding.

Proactol: 4

Exercise: 20 lengths swimming

Drinking coffee before my 10k run for Cancer Research last October

Wow! You would not have believed how nervous I was yesterday before my very first weigh in. I have been taking diet pill Proactol to help me lose weight. The last 14lbs is always the hardest as it is very stubborn and I need help! As I have spent the last week updating this blog about my daily progress and scouring the internet for useful weight loss tips, I didn’t want to let you (or myself!) down by gaining instead of losing weight.

Jonny and I filmed a short video of my first weigh in on wii fit, I can rather triumphantly announce that in my first week, I have lost 2lbs in weight! This might not sound like anything to be excited about, but any seasoned dieter will tell you that 2lbs a week is a good rate to lose weight at. If you lose much more per week, you are possibly limiting your calories and increasing your exercise in a way that is not sustainable in the long run.

Think about it, if you cut your calorie intake to 1500 a day and lose weight but then go back up to the government  recommended 2000 cals per day for an active female, you WILL put the weight back on. This is why a diet need to be a life style change, not a quick fix. All of the tips that I publish are small changes that can make a huge difference when combined with other factors.

To see if Proactol actually works, I have tried to eat as normally as possible, minus the constant snacking but increase my exercise as well as taking the pills.

Monday’s food diary:

Breakfast: Large bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes with skimmed milk.

Snack: 3 choc chip cookies

Lunch: Seeded bagel with cream cheese and a v. naughty belgian bun.

Dinner: Chicken korma with poppadoms, rice and naan bread and a glass of red wine.

Proactol: 4

Exercise: None today

Urrrrrgh! I have boobed today! Eating Sunday lunch with Jonny’s parents is always a lovely experience… there is conversation and everyone takes their time eating. It’s rather civilised, it’s just I always end up eating so much! I had a lovely doze in the sunshine in the afternoon, I had some lovely beach day dream as the sun was so warm on my skin that it was really easy to just hear waves crashing around me. Bliss!

Wow, so here goes Sunday’s food diary!

Breakfast: Two shreaded wheat and semi-skimmed milk

Lunch: Moroccan soup, chicken breast, sausage, parsnips, potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, small slice of chocolate cake and two strawberries, slice of cheese and coffee

Dinner: Cheese sandwich and a packet of skittles.

Proactol: Because I ate a lot at lunch and I had a cheese sarnie (high in fat) I had 2 Proactol after each meal – five in total today.

Exercise: 20 min walk with the dogs.

The TV was good last night. Jonny and I watched Derren Brown on Channel 4 sincerely hoping to be stuck to our seats but alas, it wasn’t to be. Apparently, 1 in 4 people did get stuck but I’m still dubious. Whilst I’m happy that this ought to mean that I am not sensitive to suggestion and persuasion without awareness, I’m still disappointed! I picked up the phone and left it by the sofa feeling hopeful… now I just feel like a prat!

Saturday’s TV was good too with walk on the wild side and x factor, yay! We’re just chilling this weekend, it’s been a whirlwind of a week so it’s good to do absolutely nothing. I had to get my ‘principled’ hat on regarding Jonny’s car insurance today but I will talk about that tomorrow as I expect to have achieved more by then. It doesn’t help that I’ve not felt very well this evening, headache with a sicky feeling. I work through the discomfort to write my daily blog. Now there is dedication for you!

We are not normally big fans of TV but so far this weekend, our evenings have revolved around it. Last weekend we were a bit more cultured and went to see some historic sites in Lincoln with a friend which was quite pleasant as it was very sunny and I got to wear my lovely orange skirt.

Louisa and Jonny in front of Lincoln cathedral squinting in the sunshine!

When you are working hard to lose weight, it is very important to take a break and appreciate your spare time. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, weight loss is meant to enhance your life, not take over it! The famous golden rule of dieting is: if you’re good 80% of the time, you can be naughty (ish!) for the rest of the time. Many dieters will say ‘sod it!’ and have dessert after dinner at the weekend. You don’t even really have to exercise if you don’t want to over the weekend because, as I have already explained in my Weight Loss Tips, you only need to exercise every 48 hours to keep your metabolism up and burning calories more efficiently.

Breakfast: Scrambled egg on two slices of toast

Lunch: Cheddar ploughmans with ham, celery, tomato, brown seeded bread and an apple

Dinner: Burger (no bap) with salad and home made potato chunks. Dessert was 2 strawberries and some tiramisu.

Proactol: 3

I have been such a good girl today. I walked into town, wandered around carrying a heavy bag and arrived back home after three hours. I think that’s adequate exercise! I did something really stupid though, I’ve dropped my bank card somewhere and can’t remember where I put it so had to report it lost. Damn.

Was messed around about that job I mentioned yesterday but I’m not too worried now, was invited to an interview next friday with an internet marketing company which I am very excited about. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I was also very restrained with food too, I didn’t eat whilst in town so I didn’t have lunch until 2pm but by then I was pretty hungry. I was starving again by 5pm and Jonny was due to come round for dinner until 7pm so I decided to take my own advice and do some writing for TotalChunk to pass the time before the Simpsons at 6pm! I did treat myself and have rather a lot of angel delight left over from yesterday. When I say a lot of angel delight, I mean I finished it completely! I’ve not snacked today so I’m sure it’s fine.

I do of course worry about my first weigh in, has my effort been worth it? I feel a bit slimmer today but I’m not sure if that’s down to progress or wishful thinking!

Breakfast: Museli and skimmed milk

Lunch: Princess spaghetti shapes and two slices of toast

Dinner: Spag bol with a bit of cheese… then lots of angel delight. Glass of wine after dinner watching tv cuddling up to the lovely Jonny.

Proactol: 4, I had two after dinner attempting to be consistent with the amount of pills taken.

Had some semi good news today. Might be starting a job on Monday!! Have to sort out the details tomorrow but the prospect of having a reason to leave the house every day is very appealing! It’s not exactly a career job, just part-time reception work but it’s ideal for me because I’d be working afternoons. This means I can be more careful about what I have for lunch. Often if you’re busy working you can be caught unawares and  risk eating something calorific without even realising.

Did you know that a Mc Donald’s cheese burger and medium fries has 600 odd calories? This is less than there is in a ploughman’s cheese baguette that averages 700 odd calories? I’m not sure about the fat and salt content but that just goes to show YOU NEED TO READ THE LABEL WHEN EATING OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOME!

Jonny and I went out bowling this evening and then off for a couple of drinks in the city centre, it was really good to get out of the house for a bit as I’d got myself in a bit of a depressed state of intense boredom earlier on. I think seeing so few people every day is starting to have a bit of a negative effect. Jonny has been nagging me to get my arse into gear and join a netball team which I had planned to do when I moved up but a lack of a job equals a lack of funds that I can’t justify spending on socialising once I actually do meet people! I have looked at a lacrosse team and I’m hoping to contact them next week and see what the deal is with their team.

On to la food diary:

Breakfast: Museli with skimmed milk

Lunch: Tuna sandwich and a muller light yoghurt (toffee)

Snack: Two crumpets with vegan butter

Dinner: Low fat chicken kiev, rice and green beans

Snack: 4 table spoons of butterscotch angel delight and a slice of toast with vegan butter

Proactol: Five, 1 after each meal.

Exercise: 50 mins walking