We're Doing This Again. Day 1

It's been ages since I posted something on here. How have you guys been?

2020 started on a terrible note with me losing my Mum. Months of depression led to me stuffing my face with all sorts of of junk. Of course, with the metabolism I have, it was only a matter of time before I messed up all my hard work.

So, here we are, 6lbs shy from where it all began in the first place. A part of me is embarrassed that I;m back at this weight, but the other half realized that life isn't a linear journey. Sometimes things do not go according to plan and it is how you handle the situation that really matters.

That being said, I finally started the One2One diet again today, 4th May 2021. For those that don't know much about the plan, you are basically replacing foods with meal replacement shakes, soups, smoothies and savory meals. This program forces the body into fat burning mode, since there are no carbs available for the body to use as energy. The program which comes in various stages, allows you to discipline yourself with the Sole Source stage for about 12 weeks before introducing normal foods gradually into your diet.

I find that doing this strict diet may be the kick in the butt I need to get my weight back in check. With the joint aches I've been experiencing, I daresay losing some kilos will turn the situation around.

The day started on a great note. I must say that being very busy with work also took my mind off food. Sipping green tea also helped with suppressing my appetite and I've had one meal so far.

Starting weight is 247lbs and the plan is to get to Onederland by September. Will be logging daily and posting my meals.

Today's meals are Cappuccino Shake, Original Porridge and Green Pesto Pasta.

Wish me luck. 

This is Hard!!

I'm struggling here. I keep falling off the wagon on Day 3. Can't tell if my hormones are working against me here. Resumed the gym after a two-week break today and the experience was a millimeter away from hell. I don't remember the last time I felt like I was gonna die. Finished my session feeling like I was going to puke on my personal trainer.

Anyhoo, I began visiting the dietitian just to keep me on track, since everything else seems to be backfiring on me.

I'm going to try again from tomorrow and this time I'm not going to stop till I get the prize.

Time To Get Serious

So I got a little lazy and gained some weight. To be honest, I'm not upset about it. I'm actually thankful that I'm still a long way from where I started.

That being said, it's time to get the extra weight off pronto.

Serious business starts from tomorrow, and I'm going to use the Cambridge Weight Plan to shed the 10kg that needs to go.

Wish me luck.

Day 157.... Step 2 Beckons

Oh my goodness! The week has been absolutely fabulous! I'm becoming smaller by the day and I'm loving the compliments that are coming my way.

Meanwhile, my consultant and I have agreed that it's time to move to Step 2. This step allows 3 Cambridge products in addition to a 200 calorie meal, made up primarily of proteins and veggies. To ensure maximum success on this Step, I have actually created recipes on MyFitnessPal with measurements calculated to ensure that the meals are actually 200 calories. This is a lot of work but once the recipe is created, you are sorted for life.

I must say I'm very excited that I will be eating stuff other than the products. Considering how long it's been, I'm sure my palate will appreciate the difference in flavors.

Weigh in was great this week. I lost 1kg/2.2lbs. I'm actually eager to leave the 80s and move to the 70s.

Will be sharing some images and recipes once I start. Till then, enjoy the weekend y'all.

Cheers.

Days 44 - 64

Wow! It's been that long. I've still been on plan but have been too busy to post on here. The plan is going pretty well and I'm still losing, in case you were wondering whether I fell off.

Today is Day 64 and I have lost 35lbs in total. I'm super happy about that, as I can finally wear a number of clothes that didn't even fit three years ago because of my weight gain. The plan now is to hold off buying new clothes till it's really necessary.

Anyhoo, I have 20 days left to complete Step 1 and move to Step 2. I'm a bit nervous about the fact that I will be introducing real food but, I'm sure the meal planning is what I'm worried about. At the moment I don't have to think about weighing, cooking and measuring my calories, but from Step 2 I'm going to have to deal with that. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

My consultant entered me for a summer weight loss challenge spanning twelve weeks. The goal is to lose at least 4.4lbs each week till the end of the 12-week period, translating to a total of about 52lbs. On average I lose 3lbs meaning that if I'm able to keep this going for twelve weeks I could lose an additional 36lbs to what I've already lost.

This is going to be exciting and I will keep you posted.

Cheers.

Days 35-43 and Weigh In

The days are going by with ease and I have stayed on track. This diet isn't as hard as it is made out to be once you settle into the rhythm of things.

Fell sick due to the TOTM and still stayed on plan. Was so nauseous that I even ended up taking shakes instead of doing my usual spaghetti Bolognese for dinner. You can therefore imagine my disdain when the scales read a loss of 1.2kg this week. Why?????

I know that the weight loss slows down a bit but I can't be doing all this hard work to see such a minute loss on the scale. Next course of action is to start working out and see if this will make a difference at my next weigh in.

6 weeks down, 6 more to go and I'll be done with Step 1 of the Cambridge Diet.

Day 5 - No Hunger

It's been five days already! Five days since I decided to give the Cambridge Weight Plan a go. My first weigh in is on Wednesday and I'm quite optimistic about it being a very good weigh in.

Today has been quite a slow day for me as TOM came knocking and the cramps that came with it made it impossible to move about as much as I normally would have. 

On the meal front, here's a summary of what I took today.

Breakfast:

I tried the apple and cinnamon porridge. It was good, but I don't see myself taking that often. 

Lunch:

Lunch was a toffee and walnut shake - absolutely horrible. I did not taste the toffee in the shake at all. In fact, it was quite bland. I'm never picking that shake again. 

Dinner:

The chocolate mint shake I had this evening was quite an interesting one. I loved the fact that I could taste the mint with each sip of the shake. Will I have it again? Definitely! However, I'm sure I would prefer plain old chocolate.

I resume work tomorrow and I must confess that I'm nervous about meal times at work. I do not need any naysayers talking about how this diet may not be ideal and blah blah blah. My plan therefore is to be discreet when making my meals. Will be doing more of the shakes at work and having the meals and porridge at home.

Day 5 down, 79 to go.

Getting Back To Where I Left Off....

After a year of working at a fun but most often stressful job, eating junk at late hours and gaining back kilos that I'm ashamed to write here, I figured it was time I got extra serious about dropping this weight once and for all.

My approach this year is quite simple. Moderation. The key word here is to have whatever I want, as long as I am eating in moderation and making the amount of calories I'm entitled to daily.

I'm exercising too. I do walks and the elliptical as much as I can. Eventually, I will be at a steady pace of exercising on a daily basis too.

I got a Fitbit Flex which has been aiding me with increasing my movement throughout the day. Will share that in another post.

Wish me luck as we try to kick the weight off this year.

Cheers.

Reboot.

I keep posting that I am going back to healthy eating and fail to do so. I'm not proud of it but I guess so much was going on in my life that I kind of put my weight loss endeavors at the end of my priority list. After looking deep within and reminding myself why I decided to lose weight in the first place, I decided to start over.

So I finally rebooted my system last week. By reboot I mean resumed healthy eating patterns. And after a few days I began to feel better about myself. I also started eating breakfast at home. I take Lipton tea with skimmed milk and, an omelet with loads of veggies plus two slices of wheat bread for breakfast. Not only does this keep me full, it also helps me avoid junk food such as the pastries that are sold a few blocks away from my workplace.

I sometimes take some fruit as a mid-morning snack. It is usually some pineapple or mango. This keeps me going till about 2-3pm when I take lunch; my heavy meal of the day. Now I hardly take much for supper. It is either some cereal or a glass of juice with a slice of wheat bread.

I have also started weighing my foods for accurate figures. I read somewhere that it helps with weight loss because you get to know exactly how many calories you are consuming, as compared to just measuring and eyeballing quantities. Though I use Myfitnesspal to log in my daily intake I may consider actually writing down what I eat with pen and paper soon. Oh well, let's wait and see.

So, this morning I weighed and realized that I was at 101.8kg. I weighed 103.2kg last Sunday, meaning that I have lost 1.4kg. Under normal circumstances I would rejoice, but I've been here before. All I want to do now is continue watching my food intake and see if I can get to at least 95kg by the end of the month.

I intend to start exercising regularly again. It's the rainy season here so I will have to work out indoors more often.

Change Is Coming....

Wow! Didn't realize that so much time has passed since I last blogged. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy and, as if that wasn't enough, I came down with Malaria on Tuesday. It was just awful lying in bed as I kept being hit with dizzying headaches. Made me realize that I need to take better care of myself.

That being said, I've decided to reboot my weight loss engine. After months of consideration, I've decided to give up meat for a while. I may eat meat once a week or fortnightly; haven't really made a final decision on that. I also realized that my weight loss has stalled for a while due to my bad eating habits so I'm going back to the starting point. Thankfully, I've been keeping a food journal so I'm going to do all the good things that had the weight coming off.

I guess my decision to do this came at the right time because I actually had a very serious discussion concerning my diet and weight this morning. I was glad we did because it reminded me that I will always have the support of family no matter what.

And I guess the weekly weigh-ins are going to be making a comeback on this blog. :-)

Gotta go get on the elliptical now. Have a great weekend my friends.

December is Here.

November has come and gone. It was a great month for me. I joined a weight loss forum and logged in all my meals and exercises. I failed to journal for only two days but on the whole I believe I did great. Logging my food intake really made me watch what I was eating. I think it also motivated me to exercise regularly too. Seeing people journal Taebo, Leslie Sansone videos, Body Pump, Insanity etc. made me realize that if people are working harder to achieve their goals, so must I.

Anyways, I gave my tickers a reboot. I said I was not going to disclose my weight earlier till i reached 200lbs but, where is the accountability to you guys if you can't witness my losses and gains? So I've decided to continue the weekly weigh-ins even though I'm not 200lbs. :-) 

How many of you guys have heard about the Warrior Diet? The folks at the weight loss forum seem to be into it because most of them have lost crazy amounts of lbs by following the program. Apparently, you eat  little during the day and then eat (not overeat) your main meal for dinner. I tried it during the week and I must say it's not a bad regime. You get to eat fruits and vegetables in the day and then adequate amounts of carbs and proteins at night. I must confess that it does take a bit of discipline to ensure that you don't binge :-)

I'm hoping that if I follow my diet and exercise plans to the letter I would be able to reach Onederland by Christmas. I'm also thinking of getting a camera so that I can post more pictures here.

Here's to a great month. Cheers.

Getting Back On The Wagon & Jogging Outdoors.

It's interesting how we bloggers find ourselves in the occasional rut every year. I started this year on a great note and them BAM! Everything just went haywire after my birthday in April. I haven't gained more than I weighed at the beginning of the year but, I feel like all my good work just went up in smoke almost instantly. My eating was terrible; inadequate portions of the wrong stuff, less exercise etc. I still feel fit and the clothes still fit comfortably (Thank God!) but seeing numbers that you don't want to see on the scale is still a constant reminder that I'm doing something wrong.

I was so close to Onederland in April but now I'm 10lbs away from that destination. My exercise routines suffered after my gym membership expired. The fees were getting more ridiculous by the day so I decided to get an elliptical at home. Worst idea ever! I used the thing for only two months and the damn thing is already giving me problems. I seriously contemplated going to another gym after this. After all, I know for a fact that I do well when I work out in that environment. I even went to the gym yesterday to make enquiries on the the cost of a year's subscription. The guy at the gym said it would cost me $620. This includes access to the pool, aerobic classes and use of the gym. I'm still thinking about whether I want to put that much money into it.

My mom believes that it would be better for me to save that money, invest in good running shoes and start jogging outdoors. I've therefore decided to give that a try for now and see how things go. In fact, we went out for a 60min power walk this morning and I felt really great afterwards. We'll take it one day at a time, right?

I sincerely apologize to those who feel let down. I know how it feels when someone who is supposed to motivate you starts to disappoint. I do promise, to try harder.

Cheers.

September, Month of Action!

 

 

 

So, my plan to lose 10 pounds by November 16 was set in motion this morning. Anybody done Insanity before? The Fit Test was crazy! Anyways, I plan on alternating between the Insanity Videos, my elliptical trainer and my favorite piece of equipment: the jumprope this month.

I will also document my daily food intake and activity on my blog for accountability's sake. I'm ready for this!

 

Happy Monday Folks.

My Obsession with the Number 199.

In one of my previous posts I said I was not going to post any weigh ins until I saw the number 200lbs on the scale. However, due to so many frustrating weigh ins I've decided to break the rule. This morning I stood on the scale and saw 209lbs so, my goal for the next two months is to hit 199lbs by November 16. Thankfully, now that I have an elliptical in my bedroom I can workout at 12 midnight, 3am or any other time I feel like it.

What do you think? Is 10lbs in two and a half months workable?

C25K W7D2

Oh yes! I finished Day 2 today. Hopefully Day 3 will be dealt with on Thursday. :-) I love the way my day has started.

Random & Goals for June.

Show of hands, during a grueling workout at the gym, how many of you out there sometimes find yourselves thinking "gee, I must look pretty funny/silly/ugly/weird etc, right about now"? The last time I was at the gym and I happened to look at the mirrors, I had a good laugh. You should have seen my face. Lol!

Anyways, I have gained about 6lbs. I honestly don't know if it's muscle, fat or water but I do know this, if it's not muscle, it's coming off. On that note I've decided to break my goals for the month of June into weekly goals.

The overall goal for the month of June is to lose 8-10lbs. The goals for the first week in June are to:

• lose at least 2lbs
• exercise for at least 35 minutes, 7 days a week
• eat more fruits and vegetables
• note take any fruit juices and diet coke.

I can do this. I did it before and I will do it again.Sigh

When It's Obvious You Are Failing....

These last two months have been crazy. I think I never fully got back into full gear after my birthday. The exercise has been good but the diet has been really BAD! I finally got the knock I needed when I stood on the scale this morning and saw a number I didn't like. I'm even too embarrassed to share the figure with you :-(.

I guess I know what to do. I always do. Starting from tomorrow, I'm going be embarking on a three day detox to reboot my healthy eating habit. Just fruits and vegetables. I promise to post pictures this time.

Twice A Day Update

So, I started the twice a day exercise challenge last week. The goal was to exercise twice a day at least three times a week. I did that for the first time yesterday. Here are my stats.

Morning Session

Cardio: on treadmill

Distance: 5.5km

Time: 63 minutes

Calories Burnt: 713 calories.

Evening Session

Warm Up: 15 minutes on elliptical

6 sets of 12 reps of hip abduction

3 sets of 12 reps for bicep curls

3 sets of 12 reps of shoulder press

3 sets of 10 reps for lateral pull downs

3 sets of 10 reps for seated extensions

Wow! I didn't think I had it in me.

I even had enough energy to go for a morning session today and, I plan on going this evening. Will fill you in on the details later. How is your week going with regards to exercise?

Twice A Day Challenge - Day 1

So I started the challenge today because I renewed my gym membership yesterday. The day started with 20 minutes on the elliptical and 44 minutes on the treadmill. I felt sooo good afterwards. 

I went back this evening and spent 30 minutes at kickcardio, 7 minutes on the treadmill and 11 minutes on the elliptical. So, I guess Day 1 was okay. Right?

Twice A Day Challenge.

I've been good with my food and exercise this week. Except yesterday's workout was mainly low intensity due to the nagging headache and body aches. I just needed at least 30 minutes of exercise to feel that I had put in some extra activity in my day. :-)

Anyways, my membership at the gym expires at the end of the month and I was thinking of paying for a 6month membership which costs about $585. Unfortunately, since I don't have that much I tried convincing my Dad to help me with some of the money so I can focus on my health. He agreed on one condition; I workout twice a day! I was almost tempted to say no but then I realized, "maybe I can do this". I could do cardio in the morning and resistance exercises in the evening or the other way around. Besides, I've gotten to far to let money be a setback, especially when the condition has to do with weight loss.

So, I've decided that in the month of February, I'm going to challenge myself to workout twice a day at least three times a week and then do my once a day routine twice. That totals to five days a week. What do you  folks think? Your opinions really matter.