Day one

I have to admit this isn't my first day of dieting (again), as opposed to my first day of blogging. I've been eating pretty well for a couple of weeks - which means that I don't expect to have massive losses in my first weeks (as is common when people embark on a new diets).

I'm doing a variation of the optifast diet once again. However, rather than taking on the rather extreme 3 shakes a day option, I'm doing the second stage to keep myself sane. I track my calories carefully using calorie king and try to limit my intake to between 800 and 1,200 calories per day.

Food:
Breakfast - optifast shake
Lunch - vegetable soup
Afternoon - second optifast shake
Dinner - beef meatballs (approx 100g), tomato pasta sauce, steamed cauliflower, asparagus and zucchini.

Exercise:
Various weights machines, 10 minutes cycling, 15 minutes on the treadclimber.

Round two...

Well it has been almost 10 months since I've last posted on this blog. A lot has changed in my life since then, between new jobs and relationships it's been a very interesting time in my life. One think I can say for sure, is that losing the 10kg has given me such a wonderful sense of confidence and improved my self-esteem dramatically.

One thing that hasn't changed, for better or worse since I last posted, is my weight. On the one hand I'm very thankful that since losing 10kg last year - I have been able to maintain my weight for the past 10 months. Don't get me wrong - there have been a few ups and downs, but overall I don't think my weight has fluctuated more than 2 or 3 kg. On the other hand, I still haven't reached my goal.

Reading back on my final post here, I weighed in at 87kg. I can happily say that I've lost a couple more kg since that point in time and my stable weight seems to be around the 85kg mark.

Once again, I've decided to embark back on my weight loss journey towards a healthy BMI. I have to admit have a couple of big events coming up in my life - one of my closest friends is getting married (so I'm keen to make sure I look gorgeous at her wedding). The other event is something I think I'd rather keep to myself at this point in time.

So what on earth is my plan of action? Well firstly, I want to start blogging again. Last time around the act of blogging to keep track of my ups and downs was really therapeutic - even if only for me.

As far as the diet goes - I'm once again concentrating on what I eat and trying to exercise regularly.

For me personally - I think I need to break things down into really really small goals. As I've said, my weight has been pretty stable - with my lowest weight being around 84kg.

So for the time being, my goal is to get to 83kg. It's a figure I'm yet to see on my scales - but only a couple of kg from where I currently am (85.3kg). Oh well - here goes nothing.

Thoughts and comments - 84 days are done

Well I know it's been a long while since I've posted on here. Unfortunately during the last couple of weeks of my 84 day challenge I ran into a difficult spot in my life and have been a bit of an emotional wreck. This consequently brought on emotional eating which is never a good thing.

Things are still tough at the moment and I'm going through what seems like one of the most challenging periods in my life to date. On the bright side I've managed to reign myself in once again. I'm still following Optifast, but I'm taking a more relaxed approach at the moment.

I feel bad that I haven't done a summary of my experiences, considering I blogged so reguarly for a majority of the 84 days.

Weight loss is simultaneously the easiest thing and hardest thing I have ever done in my life. At the end of the day it largely a numbers game - eat less calories than you expend during the day and you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. This is the simplicity behind the optifast diet - your calorie intake is so controlled that if you follow it you will lose weight. I say largely because obviously anyone who has ever tried to lose weight before will know of the perils of plateaus and those weeks where you do everything right only to not lose a single gram (or even gain). These are the kinds of moments you want to go screaming and eat a whole tub of icecream. I know it can be one of the most emotionally draining experiences for anyone who is trying to lose weight, but persist, it will come off. It may take time, but it will happen.

So why is losing weight the hardest thing I've ever done... well other than the dreaded plateau, there's life. Life gets in the way all the time. In my social group celebrating is surrounded by food, from birthday cake to dinner parties and Friday night wine. I love food. I love cooking, I love entertaining, I love anyone who cooks for me. When it comes to a restrictive diet like optifast, it's pretty darn hard to function like a normal person. There are situations where if someone cooks for me, I'm not going to say no to their beautiful pasta that they've put their heart and soul into cooking. Maybe I'm not as strong as other people, maybe I'm a realist. Whatever the case, I'm slowly coming to accept that I have to be ok with the fact that I will lose less weight if I eat more food.

Here I am, on the first day of Spring. Despite a minor hiccup in the weight loss journey, I've actually managed to lose more weight. I weighed in this morning at exactly 87kg. I'm so close to my mini-goal of losing 10kg that I can almost taste it. I think it's going to be even sweeter than that sticky date pudding I turned down 2 weeks ago.

I'm not going to be posting my daily intake, it's a bit onerous, as much as it helped to keep me on track at the start. Ultimately, if this is going to be a life change for me, I need to be able to eat without analysing each and every mouthful.

Here's hoping for another 84 days of success and (hopefully) another 8kg gone.

Ahhh, help!

Well I'm not sure what's going on with me at the moment, I just can't seem to stay focused and my eating habits have totally gone out the window. In the interests of full disclosure I'll put up what I've been eating. It's a bit of a mess and I can't figure it out. I've been feeling so good about myself, so why on earth would I want to go back to my previous weight?

Even more shocking is that I totally forgot today was my weigh in day. I'm not sure if it's a subconscious thing because I'm worried to see what the scales will say after a terrible week... or if it's legitimately because I was running late for work and forgot.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or advice I'd appreciate them. I'm determined not to let one bad week stop me in my tracks!

DAY SEVENTY-SIX

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: apple
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt (x 2) and an apple
Dinner: roast chicken, roast potatoes, asparagus and broccolini
Snack: choc coated almonds
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

Zumba class - 1 hour.

DAY SEVENTY-SEVEN

AKA - Worst. Day. Ever.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: apple
Lunch: pizza and salad
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae yoghurt, two chocolate biscuits
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and salad
Snack: choc-coated almonds and about 5 bacci chocolates.
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

I had a really good session at the gym (over an hour doing my new program of weights and cardio). Unfortuantely that doesn't quite make up for the pizza and chocolate I ate.

Day Seventy-Five

DAY SEVENTY-FIVE

Hmm, so much for being back on the program! The allure of a cookie from a well-meaning co-worker was my undoing.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Orange
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt 200g (104 calories) and an apple
Dinner: 1 sanitarium soy burger and salad
Snack: evil chocolate cookie
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

Took my parent's dog for a quick walk. I'm a bit naughty and skipped out on going to the gym in favour of dinner with my family.

Off the wagon

Whoops, after hitting the dreaded plateau and decided that I would "increase my calorie count slightly" I ended up falling off the wagon badly. I guess I met up with my hopes of increasing my calorie count but failed to take account of the ever important proviso of "slightly".

My weekend was somewhat of a perpetual pig-out... pad thai, tacos, sour cream, guacamole, wine.... I could go on but I won't, you get the general drift.

I think the thing that I'm most disappointed about and wary of is how easy it is to fall into those patterns of overeating. There was more than one occasion when I was physically stuffed but still ate more food because I love the taste.

It puts things back into perspective that this is going to be a life-long battle for me to overcome my food addiction. I need to consciously thing about and be aware of every single piece of food that I put into my mouth.

In better news, I'm back on plan today. It won't surprise me if I have a gain this week, but that's ok, I have no-one to blame but myself. I've also had a work-out program written up for me at my gym which is exciting. It has lots of weights and a variety of cardio, so hopefully that will give me more motivation to fit some more exercise in.

Day Seventy-One

DAY SEVENTY-ONE

After my low weight loss again this week, I thought I'd try eating a little bit different today to see if that's enough to encourage my body to drop some more kg's. I didn't follow the transitional phase exactly (I didn't have any fruit at work). However, I did have a dinner of approximately 300 calories and a diet yoghurt.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt 200g (104 calories)
Dinner: 2 sanitarium soy hot dogs (170 cals), leek and cabbage (cooked down together with some olive oil)
Snack: diet jelly
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

I had an assessment at the gym today - which meant that I had to do some riding and other exercises.