13 Stone 4lb lost in 32 weeks, now slimmer of the year 2007 runner up

Thursday 25 October 2007

Week 39, 7th week of maintenance completed

Well its been 7 weeks now on maintenance and I am loving it, I am not having food cravings and I am really enjoying loads of fresh veg and salad with controlled amounts of carbs and protein. I do still enjoy a sugar free jelly each evening as well!!

I have not been for a weigh in this week as I am now seeing my CDC once a fortnight so I do not have a weight update to post as I prefer to rely on my CDC's scales for an accurate comparative reading. A pound out at this stage could make all the difference!!

I have however had some fantastic news today.... My wife and I have been shortlisted for the slimmer of the year final!! I received a call from my CDC congratulating me and arranging a meeting for us to attend with the CD PR man!!

I am soooo excited this diet has really made my year and to now be shortlisted has had me doing cartwheels!!

I will be back next week (Thursday evening) with an official weigh in update, fingers crossed for a neutral weight gain / loss. I am still walking my dog for an hour each morning, this is now also followed every other morning with a 2 mile jog!! yes I have started jogging at some unearthly hour of the morning (5am) Me jogging??? was never heard of when I was 25 and a half stone!!

see you all soon
Alan

Thursday 18 October 2007

Week 38, end of 6 weeks of maintenance

Well that's another week over, it has flown by and seemed very hectic
Tonight has been busy, my wife is now working again and I am on dinner duty as soon as I get in the door, served up at 6.15pm and then straight off for a 7pm weigh in (I did feel bloated).
This week I showed a weight gain on my CDC's scales of 3lb heavier than my scales showed last week. however this is still 1lb lighter than 2 weeks ago when I last visited her. We must not forget my indulgent trip to Venice!! and any repercussions from over-eating.
I have decide I will not get on my own scales now for the next fortnight when I go back for my next weigh in. So I will not post my next weight update until 2 weeks time.
Tomorrow is the closing date for entries to be received for slimmer of the year they presumably then start the mammoth job of sorting them to some sort of criteria. i am not sure if it is done on most weight lost, % of body weight lost or just a good story. I wait with baited breath!!

I Will pop back soon but at the latest 2 weeks time with my next official weigh in result.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions
best wishes everyone
Alan thebigdiet@hotmail.com

Tuesday 16 October 2007

9 hours in Venice

Just thought I would update you on my whistle stop tour of Venice last Friday.
Last week it was my wife's birthday and the weekend was our wedding anniversary so I planned a surprise trip to Venice for the day for her.
We set off from home at 0400 and flew out of stanstead at 0630 we had a fabulous 9 hours in Venice, the weather was gorgeous, 22 degrees C, bright blue sky it was fabulous.

We had decided that we would have a day of "indulgence" we did not want to travel all that way to only eat lettuce. We made a conscious decision that we would not go mad but would eat what we fancied and get right back on track the following day.

I started the day with a healthy banana and cereal bar washed down with a skinny cappuccino in the departure lounge
later in the morning I had an apple, the we went for lunch, one of the main things we wanted to do, we had researched a lovely restaurant online, one that locals use (my wife's mum is Italian so we wanted some nice food not that prepared for tourists!)
Since pasta and its various sauces is something we cook at home regularly I decided to go for something different. I chose seafood risotto followed by Chateaubriand. Both of these food were gorgeous the meat course came out with lightly battered courgettes and aubergine and I loved every bite.
I declined the desert menu choosing instead to go for a cheese course, a lovely board of high fat Italian cheeses, a lovely mix of hard and soft cheeses made a delightful end to the meal. I never drank alcohol, I had decided to drink nice pellagrino water instead
We stopped at various coffee bars for a nice espresso (I am a bit of a "nice" coffee lover) there is something about the atmosphere whether its stood at a coffee bar ( similar to standing at the bar of a pub) or sat by a canal watching the world go by with the sun shining, either way the culture was lovely.
later in the afternoon we had some lovely Italian Gelatto (ice cream) as only the Italians can make it!! 15 flavours to choose from how could I possibly decide on what to choose for my 4 small scoops... divine!!
In the evening I had a ham salad roll from a deli near to Rialto bridge followed by the most luxurious piece of soft nutty nougat from a lovely choclatier shop.

Once we had landed we headed home after an hours delay at passport control.We were both feeling peckish (by this time it was 0130hours) we committed the ultimate sin and went to the kebab shop, yes it was just as good as I remembered... I love a nice Doner
On Saturday we got straight back onto our healthy eating regime and have not wavered since. I am just hoping that the day does not have too much of an adverse affect on the scales this Thursday

Thursday 11 October 2007

Week 37, end of 5th week of maintenance

Hi everyone,
Well it looks like things are starting to plateau out a bit. I have been on my own scales tonight at the same time as my normal weigh in and have shown a 4lb weight loss, taking me back down to just under my target weight. I had once again just had my dinner so it should be a fairly good comparison to my CDC's scales.

I have had a good week weight wise making the most of 3 meals per day with plenty of veg and a few bits of fruit each day. I am now going to switch to following a weight watchers plan basing my points allowance on 27 which should in theory allow me to lose some weight. As I have said before I don't want to lose any weight but I will slowly increase the points to achieve a balance. The 1500 plan on Cambridge fits in very nicely with weight watchers and as I have said before I need something to carry on with as a lifelong programme. (I am not going to meetings but just plan on using it as a measuring guideline at home and documenting everything I eat)
I still feel like I need a control mechanism in place now my journey on CD is over. I need to have boundaries to avoid going back to old habits..... one thing is for sure I do not want to put the weight back on... EVER!!

I have loved doing the CD plan and fully wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who really wants to lose their weight. I hope that my blog lives on as an inspiration to others who may be considering starting CD.
I will still be back posting a weekly update for the time being just to let you know that I am "settled" on a lifelong journey of skinniness.
I hope to be shortlisted for slimmer of the year and look forward to meeting many others at the ceremony if I am successfully shortlisted.

Incidentally my wife lost 5lb this week. It seems like it took both of us a couple of weeks to balance after completing sole source.
Today is my wife's birthday and the weekend is our wedding anniversary so as a surprise I arranged a day trip to Venice for my wife. Yes just one day in Venice!! we fly out of Stansted at 0630 and back again at about 10pm giving us loads of time for a nice lunch and a bit of sightseeing, all for not much more than it would cost us to go to London on the train for the day!!

Yes we are going on a plane... a first in a long time, previously would not have been possible / comfortable prior to losing the weight... Thank you CD you have made my year. here's to a lovely trip, its due to be sunshine and 22 degrees

So I am off now to get an early night as we need to hit the road very early tomorrow morning

Thursday 4 October 2007

Week 36 end of 4 weeks of maintenance

So another week draws to a close. This week I have shown a 2lb weight gain!! I do feel a little bloated (and very disappointed with myself) I had just 30 mins before my weigh in had my dinner.
This week has been a nice week I attended a family wedding at the weekend where I ate a 3 course nouveau cuisine meal which by its nature consisted of fairly small potion sizes. Yes I did eat the desert it was lovely!! I had a brandy basket with summer fruits and cinnamon ice cream scrumptious!! it was however only the size of a cup cake and one small scoop of ice cream. This obviously would not have broken the bank calorie wise and I have not fallen off the wagon or anything, I just enjoyed that one meal. I also did not touch a drop of drink, I had a glass of champagne poured for me for the toasts, I lifted the glass to my lips but not one drop passed into my mouth!!
My wife has also shown a 2lb weight gain this week having also eaten the same as me
.
I am still going to step up the maintenance scale this week and plan on a mixture of the 1200 / 1500 plan which incidentally I have point scored on weight watchers (my choice of lifelong maintenance) and it does not end up more than about 14 points per day which is well below the 27 I would be allowed if I attended a meeting with the intention of losing weight at my current weight.
I just need my weight to peak and I hope then start decreasing, it must surely start soon, I am not cheating and don't even crave "naughties" but it must start to decline soon!! if not I'll have to hit the sole source wagon again!!!!
I am not seeing my CD counsellor next week but have an appointment for the following week so we will See how things go with 2 more weeks under my belt. She has forbid me to get on my own scales for the next fortnight as I am becoming a bit obsessed with my weight!! however the good news is my 32" trousers still fit very comfortably so I am happy really :-)