Bad end to the week and my first weigh-in

I found last week a quiet and easy week.  Don’t get me wrong I had some challenges, like ensuring my water intake was 2ltrs a day, which for some reason I am finding it harder to drink since having Luke.  But all in all it was not as bad as I had imagined.  Friday was my niece’s big 18^th Birthday party.  I was told that there would be salads for me to enjoy, but the buffet was your typical party food which I could have stuffed myself with all night. But I was very good considering my situation, and stuck to a few light bites. Although I think the main thing that let me down was the Archers and diet lemonade. Although I don’t know why I bothered saying “diet lemonade” as the alcohol content made it bad enough that normal lemonade probably would not have made that much of a difference. But then thinking about it, trying to cut out sugars/fats and calories wherever possible is always a good thing in my book :0)

I did keep my alcohol consumption in control. Although later that evening I wish I had a little more to ease the pain… A group of us (my niece & her boyfriend, my nephew & his girlfriend, my sister in-law and a few friends) decided to go to a club after the party had finished, I was not too sure about going (just having had Luke a few weeks ago and all) but my sister-in-law and I get on very well and she wanted me to go, so I agreed. After paying for the taxi in town and queuing up for about 10 minutes, we were getting our money out ready to pay at the door to get in, and a bloke come over and said “Don’t bother love, you aren’t getting in” when I asked why, he looked me up and down and said “Because you have trainers on”.  I explained to him that I had just had a baby and that I cannot wear shoes yet (considering I only really own boots – I hate to show my chubby ankles) – even my midwife said to lay off the shoes until my body settles down.  He said “I understand, but you still ain’t going in”, as he again looked me up and down. Now forgive me if I am wrong but the way he looked me up and down, gave me the impression it wasn’t just my shoes that were stopping me from going in.  Everyone around was looking at me, and I felt like the fattest person who ever walked the Earth!  I just wanted to run home sit on my bed and eat!  My sister-in-law was begging me to try and get in and stick with her, but I said that I just wanted to go home. So I walked off and then I remembered that she was due to come back to mine and my husband was going to drive her home. So instead of being brave and walking back to the queue, I thought I would phone her mobile, but she did not answer, so I ended walking back to the queue anyway to ask my nephew to make sure my sister-in-law got home OK and was taken to her door. By the time I got there they were at the front of the queue, and my sister-in-law saw me and tried persuading another guy to let me in.  He was all for letting me in until he realised the guy that had said no in the first place was the club owner!Anyway the silver lining of the evening was I got in a 15 minute walk (all up hill!) so I am counting that toward a little exercise for the day :0)  If my husband had not called me to tell me he was going to pick me up as he did not want me walking home alone at that time of night (my sister-in-law had phoned him) I could have probably got another 30 minutes or so in! 

Anyway! The weigh-in!  Monday I stepped on the scales and they told me I had lost 5 1/2lb, going from 21^st 13 1/2lb (307.5lbs) to 21^st 8lb (302 lbs). How did I feel??? – I had mixed emotions, I have said all along that I am in this for the long haul and I am not expecting to lose loads in one go. Then there is a little bit inside that was wishing for a miracle – to lose a stone (14lbs) or more in a week, which I know is totally unrealistic. I was blaming myself for Friday night (if I had not gone out could I have lost more?), and hitting myself for not doing better. But then Leigh reminded me that 5 1/2lb is a good amount to lose, and on the diet you should look to lose around 3.3lb per week. So I lost over what was expected of me. And my BMI has gone down by 1%.  So I am feeling better, and I am looking at Friday as something to learn from…

1)      Always prepare yourself when going out – what is the likelihood that the party/event you’re going to will accommodate your dietary needs?

2)      If someone looks you up and down, and you just know they’re trying to work out how much you weigh, just tell them that you’re  ??st ??lb of pure respect for other people, and they could probably learn a thing or two from you.

3)      Cutting out sugary drinks, fats etc. wherever possible is better than not trying at all

4)      A little bit of exercise is better than no exercise! – If you meant to do it or not!

Talking of exercise, I am looking to increase my current level of virtually 0 (unless I can count running round after a 21 month old & a 3 week old???). 

Preparation

Generally when someone starts a new diet, they go though a lot of mental and physical preparation. They throw out food they have stocked up in their cupboards ready for the Monday start.

I on the other hand have decided that I will be gradually eating up what we do have in the cupboards & fridge-freezer and only buy in “good” foods. This way there is no waste and I can also gradually introduce this diet to my whole family.

I think the toughest part to overcome is the mental preparation, a lot of people (including myself) start a diet on the off-chance of losing a few pounds before their next big event. I think this is destined for failure, once their event is over with they end up putting on more weight.

I think that planning to change your life-style for the long term good is a better way to look at things, this way you lose the weight and it’s more likely to stay off, as you have not run back to the chocolate biscuits 5 minutes after your event has happened. Although I do think that having an event to aim for to start with is a good idea, it spurs you on to stick to your new way of living.

To help me stick with my new way of living I have drawn up a few charts and a small schedule to monitor my weight loss.

I am going to :

* Weigh myself every Monday and take note of my BMI, Water and fat percentage using some fancy new scales I bought before hand.

* Each month on the 1^st I am going to take pictures of myself – front view, side view and back view.  And measure my arms, chest, waist, hips & thighs.

I am hoping that this will allow me to see the weight loss, and progress I am making, and spur me on to work hard at it.

To help me in my new life-style, and to save me from temptation my husband Steve has agreed to join me, which will help a lot. I always found it hard to start a diet, and then sit and watch him dig into something naughty but very nice, and what would make it worse is him saying “did you want some”… I would look at him and say “no, no I am fine” what I was really thinking was, “yes, I would, now give it here!”

I think if you live with a partner and they are willing to join you, your success rate will probably be higher, than if your partner is stuck in your old way of living.    

Hello World – This is me, and its time to Salubritise me!

Hi, my name is Sarah I am 24 years old and I have 2 young boys. I live in Kent were I met and married my husband Steve.  I have always suffered with my weight, and was often bullied at school, which I found was my catch 22 situation. I relied on food to help me get through the bullying, yet it was doing this that caused me to grow to the size I was which just hindered the situation I was in. When I left school I did something very silly, I went on a crash diet that I came up with myself and exercised every spare minute I had and within 3 months I had gone from a dress size 20-22 down to a baggy size 12!  Some people would say I was on the verge of becoming anorexic, which scared me. Unfortunately there came some events in my life that caused me to turn back to my comfort foods, this caused me to rocket straight up to a size 24!

Myself and my husband the decided that we would lose the weight by going on a “diet”. I say “diet” because I feel that when we use this word people automatically think of it as a product that will help you lose weight and get you to the size you want to be, but then it’s up to you. So after jumping from one “diet” to another we lost a good amount of weight between us but for me it still was not enough.   I have polycystic ovarian syndrome which caused us to have fertility problems, and being “over weight” was just hindering our success of having the baby we both desperately wanted. So I found a diet (similar to the Salubrity Diet) that I was not completely happy with but it helped me to lose a few more pounds and after having a little ovarian surgery I finally fell pregnant with our son Michael. During my pregnancy I did the usual thing a pregnant woman does, and ate what I wanted when I wanted and said “I will lose the weight after I have had the baby”.Well it was about Michaels 1^st Birthday that I decided that I really needed to get stuck into my weight loss again, but having Michael around me just made it that much harder. Because of course you have to “try” what you’re giving your little one to make sure its good enough, and nothing is to be wasted!

In December 2006 I was rushed to hospital as My Dr thought that I had a cyst on my ovary that was about to burst. I was in a lot of pain and discomfort, and was scared of what could have happened. But I got the shock of my life when I was told that I was in-fact pregnant again.  I was determined not to put on as much weight as I did in my first pregnancy, and my friend Leigh told me about a diet she has been researching and sent me over some details. To be honest it looked scary! But I really wanted to keep control of my weight gain, especially as I was diagnosed with Gestational diabetes, which meant I had to check my blood before and after every meal, and inject insulin at every meal time.  

Although this sounds scary, I believe that by slowly introducing myself to the Salubrity Diet I was able to keep the amount of insulin down to the very minimum and keep my diabetes under control. I kept in close contact with my Midwife, Doctor, Nurses and Consultant and they monitored me, and were very happy with the way my diabetes was managed by myself.   Now after having Luke on 16 May 2007, I am determined to lose this weight more than ever!I am currently a size 26-28! Although this is too big for anyone’s liking I feel that it could have been a lot worse! So I am now going to change my lifestyle and be salubritised. This blog is going to be my Diary and I will keep you up-dated with good days/bad days, my progress and any tips I may come across.   My Starting Weight: 21Stone 13 1/2lb (307.5 lbs) Dress size: 26 – 28 (US: 30 – 32)