Diet Challenge

Sunday 30 November 2008

So I reported that Ashlee Simpson-Wentzgave birthto baby Bronx Mowgli just over a week ago.  Whenever a skinny celeb gets pregnant I always use that as an excuse to lose some weight before they appear on the scene again skinny 6 weeks after giving birth.  However, every time, I think I have enough time and before I know it 10 months has passed, the celeb’s had the baby and skinny again andI’m still the same weight if not slightly more.  I mean I’ve been doing this (or not doing this) for ages.  It started withBritney Spears with her first pregnancy, then there was Nicole Ritchie, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera and now Ashlee Simpson andstill I have not lost a single pound… In fact, during this time I’ve put on 10.

So now I have decided to take drastic measures.  Ashlee Simpson I imagine will stay hidden until the New Year and then she will reappear a size zero again.  So that gives me just over 4 weeks to lose the weight I’ve been trying to for the last couple of years.  Now I’m not crazy I will never be a size zero and that’s not what I am aiming for, I am aiming to lose 28lbs that is 2st.  I am currently 152lbs which is 10st 12 if I reach my goal andlose 24lbs I will be 124lbs which is 8st 8, I will be happy to get down to 9st.  With the weight loss at 5ft 6 I will still be comfortably in me ideal BMI group so I’m not doing anything dangerous.

The diet I have chosen to complete my challenge is the Maple Syrup Detox diet, made famous by Beyonce Knowles who lost 20lbs in less than 14 days for her role in Dreamgirls.  I plan to do this detox for between 10-14 days dependent on how I feel and how much weight I lose.

For this diet all you need is natural Maple Syrup, lemons and Cayenne pepper or ground ginger dependent on what taste you like.  You can drink as much of the mixture as you like but ideally between 6 and 9 glasses per day will suffice.  The mixture consists of 2 table spoons of syrup, 2 table spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and a dash of Cayenne or ground ginger for every half pint of hot or cold water.

I’m starting the diet tomorrow and will check in daily to let you all know how it’s going and whether it is worth it.

My body motivation minus the boob job

Monday 1st December

So I started the diet today and to be honest it was pretty easy.  I made a 1.5litre bottle of the mixture so I could take it to work and not have to worry about measuring it all out while I was there I also drank a glass before I went to work. 

I don’t normally drink that much fluid in life so had a feeling I would find that part hard but it was actually alright.  I didn’t like the cayenne pepper so will probably try it with ground ginger next time.  Anyway all was going well, I didn’t eat anything all day and then… I went home.

As soon as I stepped through the door I couldn’t stop thinking about food and I wasn’t even hungry I was just thinking about it for the sake of it.  So I caved and made myself spaghetti Bolognese and then after that I had beams of toast I had a complete binge, it was terrible but tasted great. 

I’m a failure.

Tuesday 2nd December

I woke up today with the worst headache and stomach cramps, I have a feeling it was because I ate when I shouldn’t have which is my own fault.  I’m off sick from work today so will be attempting the diet again from Thursday. 

I’ll let you know how I fair.

January 12th 2009

I’ve noticed that you guys have been checking in to see how I’m doing and you’ll be disappointed to hear that I’ve been rubbish.  I fell at the first hurdle on the Maple Syrup Diet, then with Christmas and the holidays failed with my vegetable diet.

Well a new day and a new year has come and I am determined to get to my goal weight.  Today I have re-started the maple syrup diet and am determined to see it through for the full 2 weeks.  I am slightly  adapting the diet to suit me, I will fast during the day drinking only my mixture, around 4/5 glasses and then have a small well balanced meal in the evening.  This variation will still get results… I hope and is more realistic to keep up and adopt into a way of life.

I am half a day in and haven’t cheated once.  I have even been to lunch with friends and only had a peppermint tea.  Peppermint tea is the only drink apart from the mixture that you are allowed while following this diet.  I’ve never had peppermint tea before but it was quite pleasant and will definitely be a treat for me. 

The main challenge for me will be returning home for the night as I know there is a lot of food in my freezer, but maybe it’s a good thing it’s frozen…

At 3.57pm today I had a peppermint tea and 2 jaffa cakes.  No more cheating.  Not bad for the day so far though.  I will not let you down the 20lbs are coming off.

13th January

Well it’s day 2, I’ve already had 3 glasses of the mixture and a peppermint tea.  It’s 12.25 and I have developed a slight headache but nothing to major.  Not hungry at all, but feel a bit bloated.  Will try and stay strong to beat the afternoon boredom. 

Something terrible happened, I got a headache due to hunger although I didn’t feel hungry, guess it was my body trying to tell me to eat so I went to Prett and bought a tuna sandwich…  Yes I broke the diet yet again, I am hopeless. 

I emailed my friends and told them what happened and my friend Hannah volunteered to be my diet buddy.  A diet buddy is the classic buddy system where you give each other weight loss tips and support and achieve your goal together so I decided to try this system and achieve my goal this way.  Our goal date is May, we both have to be at our goal weight by then, just in time for summer.

14th January 2009

My first day of the buddy system, our new diet plan is to aim to eat around 5 times a day, I had read this is what Halle Berry does somewhere.  Breakfast, light snack at 11am like a banana, Ryvita etc, lunch, another light snack around 4pm and the dinner.  Completely cutting out all junk, chocolate, crisps, cake etc.

Hannah is spot on at the moment with nuts as her 11am snack and a chicken salad for lunch.  I didn’t do too bad either with small bowl of porridge for brekkie, banana for snack and tuna and cucumber Sandwich and apple for lunch. 

Things haven taken a turn for the worse, I had dinner round my friends house, who for the record I did tell was on a diet, she cooked a humongous dinner which involved garlic butter muscles, crusty bread, grilled Mackerel, basmatti rice, salad and apple pie… yes I could have said no but I’m me andas you’ve read I’m not too good around food.

15th January 2009

I am back on track, Cheerios for breakfast and soup for lunch.  I’m doing okay so far.  I watched The Hills last night and really want to be one of those skinny bitches.  It’s hard work, they clearly never eat but I;m going to try.

19th January 2009

I think I’ve had a breakthrough.  Over the weekend I was watching ‘The Hills’ and those girls are so skinny I got chatting to my mum and we decided to embark on the healthy eating diet together along with writing our food diary each night.  We went out to our local supermarket and bought our food for the week and were determined to keep to the diet.

So today’s my first dy of this set regime, I have 30g of Bran Flakes for breakfast with skimmed milk, a banana at 11am along with drinking lots of water thoughout the day of course.  for lunch under 200g of no fat yogurt with a chopped kiwi and a handful of mixed peanuts and raisons also an apple for desert.  At 4pm it’s snack time again, 2 slices of Ryvita (only 66Cals) and peppermint tea, then for dinner at around 7.30 I get my George Foreman out and grill a salmon steak with steamed vegetables.

Having all the food there and knowing exactly what I’m going to eat has really helped, I haven’t cheated once, I even feel healthier and lighter although I’m sure if I weighed myself I’d be the same.  I’m not going to weigh myself until Sunday.

This diet feels great.

My new motivation, Megan Fox has a 22inch waist

20th January 2009

Day 2 of set diet regime, had my bran flakes and about to have my banana, doing good so far.  I may switch to green tea as I’ve heard this burns up to 400 cals by just drinking the stuff, not sure if that’s true so I’ll google it.

22 January 2009

I’m doing great, it’s the 4th day in and I’m going strong.  Had my Bran Flakes for breakfast again with a banana at 11.  I’ve decided to treat myself and had a look at this amazing calorie counter site to find a tasty snack for myself.   I decided to go for Hula Hoops, boring but a classic.  So I added Hula Hoops to my lunch which was yogurt, nuts and kiwi.

I also weighed myself, baring in mind I did this just after I had a shower, and I was 9 pounds less than what I was on Sunday night.  Amazing but I did weigh myself Sunday night fully clothed, so I think I may have just lost a couple of pounds… but not bad for 4 days.

I’m on my way…

Monday 26th January 2009

Well I’ve got great news, after weighing myself last night I was amazed to find that I had lost 8lbs, yes 8lbs in 1 week and I didn’t have to starve myself either, amazing.  This week I am even more determined to stick to my diet. 

This week I have switched my Ryvitas for rice cakes as it varies my snacks I also got caramel flavoured ones in case I fancy something sweet after my dinner. 

Went great today not cheated although I did have 4 plain rice cakes and 3 caramel ones during the course of the day… Don’t worry I will remedy that and be strict from tomorrow.  Not bad though.

Tuesday 27th January 2009

Started the day with my usual 30g of Bran Flakes and a banana at 11, just had lunch which was gorgeous. 

This week for lunch I am having a quarter of cucumber and yellow pepper chopped with diced avocado and spring onion mixed with half a can of tuna with a lemon juice dressing, I’m also using hot sauce on all my meals, bar breakfast of course, as I’ve heard this is good for digestion. 

Still drinking lots of water and peppermint tea… woohoo.

Friday 30th January 2009

Well things took a turn for the worse from Wednesday, I have cheated a few times this week but not in a major way and I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  So what are the positives for week 2?  Well as of Wednesday I decided to add 20 minutes of Pilate’s to my regime which I will be doing every day.  I plan to do this DVD for the next 2 weeks after that I will add a specialised ab and thigh workout which I will do on alternate days, you know one day 20 min workout and abs the next 20 min workout and thighs etc.

So what are the foods I cheated with, well this week I have had 2 shortbread biscuits, 2 packs of supernoodles, some macaroni cheese from fresh and wild and a penguin bar.  Now I say 2 packs of Supernoodles but I haven’t actually had the 2nd pack yet but may have them tonight with my dinner.  I know it may seem like a lot but the mac and cheese was with tofu and broccoli at Fresh & Wild, and the shortbread fingers were 95cals each… not terrible.

Anyway I have a feeling when I do the weigh in on Sunday I probably wouldn’t have lost as much as last week if anything.  Am not giving up, this is an ongoing mission.

Thursday 26th February

So you haven’t heard from me for a while, that’s not because I have fallen off the wagon it’s mainly due to nothing major happening with my weight loss at the moment.  I have been hanging around the 143lbs mark for a while now so decided to do something drastic…  Okay maybe not drastic like not eating but lets say I’ve became more pro-active.  On Monday I went onto Ebay and decided to win myself a cross Trainer and I did,  I won the auction woohoo.  So come Saturday when I collect it I plan to do at least 30 minutes on it everyday and remember the key here is the phrase ‘at least’.

In other news I went to give blood on Tuesday like I have been every 4 months and was told after the blood test that I was unable to donate due to lack of iron.  I couldn’t believe it I was so disappointed, from being on this healthy eating diet I now have developed an iron deficiency, bloody typical. 

Do you know the advice i was given eat more bloody green veg, if I eat more I’ll become one.  I’m sure it’s all fine I’ll just get a supplement or something.  Really looking forward to my cross trainer coming I will definitely be skinny for summer.

Friday 20th March

Woohoo it’s the first day of spring. 

Well here’s the update.  I am 12lbs away from my ideal weight and I can’t bloody believe it, thought I was never going to get there.  Also went to the docs office about the low iron thing and it was all nothing to worry about only a prob if giving blood so some iron tablets a week before should solve everything.

I’ve been using my cross trainer for 45 mins a day with the help of the lovely Lady Gaga giving me the motivational tracks to keep me going.  I’m still eating well and not had a spud in what seems like forever.  I’m going to add all the toning faff to my regime too from Monday which is good because I can build muscle definition pretty quick.  Aiming to be at my goal in a month which is just before my 25th birthday so everything looking like it’s on track.

Did have a few blueberry muffin episodes last week but a least I worked off the calories… I know it’s no excuse but they just taste so good. 

Anyway will keep you posted.