What, no weigh in?

Indeed. Tuesday this week was the day after a food day, and although I didn't stuff my face or eat lots of rubbish, it was all fairly stodgy and there was quite a lot of bread eaten. I thought about weighing in on Wednesday morning instead but in the end decided not to. The reasoning was that as I was 19 stone 1 on the nose last week, weighing in and still seeing 19 stone something (which seemed a possibility after Monday's consumption) rather than 18 stone something would have been thoroughly irritating and may have triggered a protracted sulk.

So, here I am, now on week six of the protein waters and still pretty much sticking to it. Mind you, I ate an orange this evening rather than have one of the PWs. I was starving! I bought some casein protein on Monday in the BX and it just doesn't seem to satisfy me as much as the whey protein I've been using. I tried alternating Designer Whey and this Optimum Nutrition stuff but it hasn't really helped. It might just be a hungry time of month, although I am only around mid-cycle so I shouldn't yet be feeling too terribly hungry. I thoroughly enjoyed that orange, for what it's worth.

Himself is off work this week. We're supposed to be sorting out the garage but haven't done too much as of yet. There has been some stuff removed, but really only additional stuff that I'd put in there (a few bags of stuff out the old camper and a couple of rugs - we've clearly got a mouse problem in the garage!), a folding bed. I've put the bikes in the back garden under a tarpaulin for now to get them out the way. Plan is to make room then assemble the tool bench and bring the personally owned tools down from his work so they can be stored until we move. The problem is going to be making room.

Today I went to the DIY store and bought twenty packing boxes and more bubble wrap. I have three big rolls of bubble wrap now, the theory being you can never have too much bubble wrap. I'm thinking given all the blankets, quilts and clothes we have that I may go back to the BX and get some of the storage bags you vacuum all the air out of to make them much smaller, which will help cut down on the amount of space all of that takes up. Tomorrow I will likely start packing up the spare bedroom which has most of my stuff in it, as I know what's what in there and what can be kept and what thrown out.

When Himself goes back to work next week I can start on the living room - if I get the back room sorted out before then, I may start on the basement. Oh, that will be so much fun.

I'm feeling pretty good weight wise today. I hate the fact that it is such a slog to get the weight off, but there you go - realistically I've been losing at a pretty good rate over the last few weeks so I can't be too annoyed about it. And I have only got five weeks under my belt! It's odd that I should be feeling so bouncy about it because I had a bit of a splurge last night. Had a tuna Subway for lunch/dinner in late afternoon and had three or four pieces of dark chocolate Toblerone and a large (not huge) bag of Cheetos (Flaming Hot, thanks, if you're buying) over the course of about six hours in the evening. Very enjoyable!

I don't often eat that sort of thing, but I don't tend to deny myself if that's what I feel like eating. Tomorrow will be probably steak and salad for dinner; Sunday I think I will be making a Danish dish involving sliced pork belly, potatoes and parsley sauce. I'm going to have a big omelette with bacon, peppers, spinach, onion and mushroom for breakfast tomorrow. I can't bloody wait!

Four weeks of Alternate Daily Fasting

Today marks four weeks since I began the 1-Day Diet; if you're not aware of what that entails, it's quite simply eating one day and the next drinking seven to nine protein waters instead of taking in food.

I'm not due to weigh in until tomorrow morning, and today is a protein water (PW) day, so I will break down the losses I've recorded then. Unfortunately I didn't weigh myself before I started, but my estimate would be that I was around the twenty stone mark again.

While the author of the book, Jennifer Jolan, reckons that a typical loss over the first month for many with a lot of weight to lose is 20-35 pounds, I am not going to see anything like that rate of loss. I'm fairly certain of that; I'm expecting to find tomorrow morning that I am averaging around 2.5-3 lbs a week off. Of course, it depends on whether I am weighing in the morning after a PW day or a food day; after a PW day there appears to be at least a 3 lbs loss. After a food day, a little over a pound. I've really not been doing this for long enough to say with any certainty, though.

To be honest, even if it does settle down to giving me a one to two pound average loss each week, I will probably still continue on with it. It's easy, I'm not hungry on the PW days and I am finding that my appetite is less, I get fuller quicker and I am more likely to choose healthier options on food days than I was previously.

I suppose I've answered the question of whether or not I intend to continue on with the ADF long-term with my previous paragraph! Overall I'm very happy with it. I seem to be reasonably healthy, the change in shape is noticeable to others as well as to me, my clothes fit better and I have lost almost a dress size in just a month. I'd hope to lose at least a couple more stones between now and the end of August; if the average does settle to around two pounds a week that should be achievable. I have sixteen weeks left, so at two pounds a week that would be 32 pounds, or two stone four pounds. I was 19 stone 3 last Tuesday morning, so I think depending on what tomorrow's result is I could reasonably expect to hit 17 stone by the time we leave for Florida.

That will be the lightest I've weighed in almost eighteen months. Still a stone and a half over my lowest weight in years, but not an unfamiliar weight for me. I could well be back to my lowest weight by Christmas, if I can keep this going, you never know! That would be pretty amazing, though I am not really expecting it. All I can do is my best.

Wednesday Morning update

1.2 pounds lighter this morning, after a PW day yesterday. Happy with that.

Went shopping with the neighbour earlier. She's in her mid-80s and has a few mobility issues as a result, so I have been mowing the lawn for her for the last few years. As her pain issues are worsening of late, I also take her shopping from time to time. She can walk there using her late husband's wheeled walker, but the walk back after being on her feet for ninety minutes she finds very painful.

Picked up a couple of pairs of Capri pants as it was gloriously hot and sunny. The clouds immediately came over. I was unsure what size to get...I knew my 50s from last year were tight, and that the jeans I picked up in Aldi were a 52 and are getting baggy as I lose weight, but the 52s that were out of the packaging looked quite small. I picked up a pair of 54s and a pair of 52s, figuring I could always take them back if they didn't fit. The 54s fit okay; they're baggy round the waist but that's normal for me. On that basis I haven't tried the 52s, but I am fairly certain they won't go near me. Oh well, something else to slim into!

I forget to mention that I bought a dress yesterday. We had to go to the biggest supermarket to replace a kitchen item, and I saw a lovely geometric print black and white wrap dress. They didn't have a 52/54 but I felt that that might be a touch on the large side, so picked up a 48/50 (that's a UK 20-22). It very nearly fits perfectly, there's just a bit too much wodge left on my left hip. The dress drapes beautifully on the other side of my midsection, but seems to cling rather too lovingly to my left hip and the top of my left thigh. I reckon half a stone or so should see it fit fine, though. Another month, tops.

Anyway, just a quick update for now.

Weigh in Day!

Well, Auntie Flo is still hanging around, I've had two niggly migraines and yesterday was a food day that involved three scoops of ice cream from a proper ice cream place, 50 g of Whole Nut and two burgers in a giant bread bun along with four crispy cooked slices of pork belly, so I wasn't expecting great things.

1.2 lbs down.

That is really quite impressive, considering all of the above, so I'm happy!

Himself has just helped me make an Excel spreadsheet. This will show my weight, whether I've lost or gained, my current BMI and my target weight for the week if I am losing two pounds a week. I think Excel is far, far too complicated. But that's just me; it's uncomfortably like maths, algebra in particular. Add in the fact that I don't really understand how spreadsheets work and just know what I want them to do, and it is really rather a pain in the proverbial.

Obviously enough, today is a PW day. We went out to dinner tonight. He had two sausages, potato salad, bread and mustard. I had a bottle of still mineral water over lemon.

I cannot believe I sat there and watched him eat! And, of course, every time I open the fridge to get my cold water out for a PW or a drink, I am assailed by the smell of last night's left over burgers and pork belly. They will not survive the morning, tomorrow, I fear!

I'm going to check my weight tomorrow morning, too, see how it looks after a day on the PWs just to see if it really is working. I haven't seen the massive losses Jennifer Jolan promises - unless I lost 11 pounds my first week! That's assuming my recorded losses of 3.8 lbs and 1.2 lbs mean a possible 3.8 lbs off next week, that is to say, because that's the only way I am going to have lost 20 lbs. I don't think I had that kind of loss in my first week.

Anyway, the weight is dropping, so I am happy. I'm certainly prepared to stick with it for a while longer. I'd like to say until we go to Florida, but I make no promises.

The downside to sleeping like a teenager yesterday

...is the sleepless night that follows.

The upside to that, though, is that I had Himself out the door by 7 am and breakfast already well underway by the time he left. Said breakfast consisted of one sliced tomato, a handful of spinach, half a punnet of mushrooms, onion, bacon, one whole egg and a dollop of egg white and some low fat grated cheese. Two or three portions of veggies in one gorgeous omelette, devoured by 7.25. Lots of protein, too. That should keep me going for a fair while longer!

The sun was shining at dawn. It's still shining now. This means that later on today I can finally get the grass cut in our back garden and our lovely neighbour's garden, too. Then a quick nip round to the front to get the grass mown out there, too. I need to pay some attention to our box hedge out there as well, it seems to have an infestation of some kind of moth larvae and is looking very sorry for itself.

I'm planning a Greek salad for lunch, but realised that I forgot to buy cucumbers when I was shopping on Saturday. I've no spring onions, either. Fortunately, there's a very new greengrocers opened within a five minute walk from the house, so I shall walk over there later. That takes me past the outdoor swimming pool and I can check and see when it will open for the season at the same time. I don't think it can have opened yet as usually they trumpet it on the front page of the local magazine which is published weekly and pushed through the letterbox on a Friday.

I want to start walking again, too, if I can fit that in, as my legs are wobbly as anything and really need toning up. It's also good for my stress levels and my blood pressure, and besides, I love being out in the fresh air. Yes, gardening will do that, too, but I want to do some exercise of a more formal nature besides. Ten minutes to and from the shops isn't really cutting it on that front. I suppose the gardening on top will make up for it to a degree, but still....

Even had I managed to sleep last night, I was still needing to visit the bathroom every forty-five minutes or so till around 4 am. That's lessened now, happily, though I've downed half a litre of water already and am contemplating a coffee as I type. I am not completely caffeine free, but I do avoid it for the most part on a PW day. It should buck me up a little, too, I am starting to feel a touch sleepy.

I started a new crochet project yesterday afternoon - I've a pregnant friend who had her gender scan on Saturday and is having her second baby boy later in the year. Very exciting for her! I'm doubly pleased because before their first boy arrived they'd had two unsuccessful IVF attempts, then discovered they'd managed it on their own. And that turned out to be no fluke as they've done it again! Another friend of many years has also found herself expecting despite medical opinion that it was never going to happen, so it's been a grand few months on the baby front.

I shall be blogging about the crochet project on my other blog, later.

Happy Sunday!

Weekends are a little bit odd when you're following an Alternate Daily Fasting programme. One day every weekend involves eating no food whatsoever, so Himself is finding that he doesn't get a cooked breakfast one day of each weekend. I do make food for him, of course I do, and I would quite happily cook toast and bacon for him to eat in front of me, it doesn't actually bother me at all. 

Today, though, I had another niggling, lurking migraine that meant I slept for almost fourteen hours. I felt like a teenager again, and thanks to Flo I have the bad skin and the greasy hair to go with that feeling! The poor chap had to fend for himself first thing, so he made some microwave popcorn. He even fed the cats. I made him a couple of rounds of peanut butter sandwiches, then for dinner he just wanted macaroni and cheese. (Must put some more on the shopping list).

I haven't had time to down seven to nine protein waters, as I hadn't on Friday, so I've had six and doubled the amount of powder in the last one so technically that's the same as having seven. I have been to the loo so many times I'd put a racehorse to shame, and my rings are spinning around my fingers as a result. 

Still no Coke Zero - that's four days now, I think. Can't quite believe that, I thought that stuff was a permanent fixture in my life. There's about 36 cans sitting in the dining area, so I may drive over to Himself's work and give it to the guys in the shop, as at least two of them drink diet soda. (Excuse the Americanism). Not much point in having it in the house if it isn't going to get drunk, and it removes any temptation that there might be. Oddly enough, I haven't been craving it. I prefer water at the moment, usually with lime juice squeezed in (need some more squeezy lime juice, too!) 

Can't wait for weigh in on Tuesday. Not expecting to see a huge loss as tomorrow is a food day, so I may do a confirmation weigh in on Wednesday morning as well and see what the scales say then, too. I think I started this on April 15 or 16 so the month will be up a week Tuesday; of course I don't know how much I lost the first week, but it will be interesting to see how much I've managed to lose over the three weeks on from that. 19 stone 7.4 was the first recorded weight, 19 stone 4.2 the next, so I would love to see at least another six pounds gone by the time the month is up. 

I sat down and worked out the other night that I had 119 days or 17 weeks in which to lose 42 pounds, if I want to drop three stone and be 16 stone 4 by the end of August. That's about 2.5 pounds a week, which is really a lot to aim for, but if you don't aim high you get nowhere. Looking at it another way, it's equivalent to losing a hair over ten pounds a month for the next four months. I don't feel daunted by the thought of doing that, because I know fine well I managed to drop four stone from May 22 to November 1 three years ago when I started the previous WW plan. 

I think it's entirely possible; if I don't get there, at least I know that I was around 18 stone the last time my sister-in-law saw me, so if I am lighter than that by half a stone to a stone she may actually notice a difference. And who knows, the weight may even fall off quicker than I'm aiming for? (Pigs might fly, too, but remember, aim high!)

The 1-Day Diet - progress has been recorded

I can't quite remember whether I mentioned that, prior to starting the 1-Day Diet, I hadn't dared step on the scales and intended to go by the fit of two pairs of too-small Capri pants I have as to whether I'd lost weight or not?

Well. I didn't dare weigh myself before starting. I have two pairs of German size 50 Capri pants, one pair which I could wriggle into and almost fasten up and one pair which were nowhere near going up, let alone fastening. After two weeks, I can get into the pair I could almost fasten up, and indeed fasten them. I dare not sit down, but I can do up both buttons and the zip. The blue pair are still maybe three inches shy of fastening, but getting closer. There's definitely a fair bit less tummy to the fore and evidence of my waist reappearing.

I did weigh myself after the first week; as I started on a Monday morning, I weighed in the following Tuesday so as to record a full week of losses. Whatever I may have weighed when starting, I was 19 stone 7.4 lbs a week later. You may imagine, given that Jennifer Jolan reckons you can lose 20-35 pounds in your first month, that I was very probably close on 20 stone, if not a little more. This Tuesday I was 19 stone 4.2 lbs, a respectable but not jaw-dropping 3.2 pounds lighter.

I think I will try and do an Excel spreadsheet to record all this stuff. I'm pretty sure Himself can help me with that, he's rather good at that sort of thing. That way I can have a nice visual record of my progress. Yes, I think I will do that, after I have a shower.

I do realise I blogged about this earlier on, a little, but I don't remember putting it all in the one post, so...there you go.

Feeling empowered!

I've just cancelled my WeightWatchers Online subscription, and do you know what? I feel absolutely fine about it!

For those who may read this and who are unaware, WW UK has made a recent addition to the site blog system: any blog post by any member may be shared on Facebook or Twitter by anyone at all. I could copy, say, terrymurray's blogs to Facebook or Twitter and she mine, were we so inclined (we are not). Many, many members have complained about this to the WW team, and the constant refrain is 'We're working on it'.

Well, work away by all means, but you ain't getting any more of my money while you're working on it.

As for the weight loss, when I weighed in on Tuesday morning I'd lost 3.2 pounds. Not that much considering I've been following the 1-Day Diet and thus practising alternate daily fasting, but when you think that I was due a visit from Auntie Flo (she arrived yesterday morning, along with a migraine) which can mean a 7-9 pound gain, pretty damn good. We shall see what next Tuesday brings; it may be Wednesday when I record my weight as Monday this week was a PW day and Tuesday a food day; next week Monday will be a food day, so I may weigh more than I will on Wednesday after a PW day. If you see what I mean!

I will continue to blog here. I may not do so as often as on WW as I tend to forget about this site! Perhaps if I blog often enough I will eventually get an icon on my home page on Chrome to remind me. Ha ha.

Right, off to the WW site I go to do a quick 'ta ra then, I'm off' blog and redirect those who are interested this way!