Scan Bran Challenge

If you're a Slimming Worlder, you probably know about Scan Bran. It looks and tastes like carpet tiles, but it's pure bran. We all know what bran does, right? You can see why this stuff has a great deal of appeal for weight loss searchers.

Luckily, the Slimming World community have got creative with scan bran. They make it into cakes, bread or use it as a cereal. A whole cake made with 5 scan bran counts as your healthy extra B choice, and can easily be very low syn to totally syn free. A whole cake a day and it's actually supposed to be good for you? Winner right there, right? 

And you know what, it certainly keeps things moving. As long as you drink enough, that is, or else it will just sit in your stomach like a lead weight. 

The scan bran challenge is simple enough. 5 scan bran a day for 5 days, and drink at least 5 glasses of water for the 7 days. Make sure you stop eating the bran two days before you weigh to give it time to work through your system. 

In my research, I found fantastic results. Most at about 2 or 3 pounds, but it was not uncommon to see 5 or even 7 pounds in a single week. The people that didn't seem to get good results either didn't drink enough or didn't stop eating it long enough before weigh in. Simple enough, stick to the plan and your laughing all the way to the scales. 

My first week I made a rookie mistake. I stuck to the scan bran challenge plan to the letter, but let the slimming world plan fall to the wayside. I ate crap. A lot of crap. But the extra fibre was doing its job so I felt thinner. Unfortunately though, I wasn't lighter. I maintained. 

The second week, I got my act together. I ate well, still sticking to the scan bran challenge but instead finishing on the Sunday instead of the Monday to allow enough time before my Wednesday afternoon weigh in. It worked, and I achieved a 1.5lb loss. 

Now, I'll point out here that I am a mere 4.5lbs off target, and my target is pretty low. So any loss is a major achievement right now. I was really happy, but I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed at the same time. 

Sorry if this is tmi, but I was pooping multiple times a day. Literally, 3 to 5 times. Easy poops too. I can't stress enough how important water is. In the morning, it wouldn't be until I had drunk half a litre of water that I realised I needed to go - the water really gets things going. 

The cakes were pretty good too. Sure, they were bran-y, but what do you expect. Be careful of all the sugar or sweetener in them, even if it is free. I ate a lot of sugar on my challenge, in fruit and sweetener and can't help but wonder if that held me back slightly. 

A particular favourite cake was the Jamaican Ginger cake, but I also tried chocolate beetroot, cherry bakewell and a tomato bread. I even experimented with making scan bran tortilla wraps. For breakfast every morning, I would blitz 2 or 3 in my nutribullet and layer the powder with sweetened quark and fresh fruit. It was lovely. 

So 2 weeks and a 1.5lb loss. I enjoyed the challenge a lot, and would definitely recommend it to anyone. It's very easy to do, as long as you have the time to make the cakes and make sure you drink the water. I was averaging about 2.5 to 3 litres a day. 

The best tip I can give you though, is to make sure you food optimise. The added fibre is all well and good, but get your speed in and choose your syns carefully to get the best results. 

Slimming World and Slimfast

A few weeks ago, I decided to conduct a little experiment. By putting together the Slimfast plan and the principles of slimming world, I couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't get impressive results. I had figured it all out down to the last detail, so that I could be totally on plan for both diets.

Hopefully, if you're reading this, you already know the basics of the slimming world plan. 1 healthy extra A, such as mik and cheese, 1 healthy extra B, such as cereals and bread, unlimited free foods, such as fruit and veg, and 5-15 syns a day for anything else. 

The Slimfast plan is very simple. 3 x 100 calorie snacks, such as cereal bars or fruit, 2 x Slimfast shakes, and 1 x 600 calorie meal.

The first thing I did was figure out how many syns a Slimfast shake is. Now this was slightly complicated, because the nutritional info is for a shake 'made up as directed' with 250ml of skimmed milk. Sure, you could use skimmed milk, but then you'd go over your healthy extra a choice allowance. So I sat down and worked out how many syns the milk would be and then subtracted it from the total syns of the shake. This left me with 7.5 syns per serving, which is two scoops of powder. So two shakes would be 15 syns. Made up with almond milk, I could use my healthy A choice, but I would only use half my HexA for unsweetened almond milk, leaving the other half to bulk up my meal or as a snack. 

Then, I figured out I could swap the Slimfast snacks bars for hi-if light bars or alpen light to provide my healthy extra B choice, as well as two of my three snacks. The other snack could be fruit. 

For the 600 calorie meal, as long as it was syn free and completely comprised of free foods, it would fit in perfectly with both plans. Obviously, speed options would be better here, but after a liquid diet for the rest of the day, I found myself needing the extra carbohydrates. 

So, to sum up, the combined Slimfast Slimming World plan looked something like this.

Breakfast

2 scoops of Slimfast powder (7.5 syns) made up with 250 ml of unsweetened almond milk (1/4 HexA)

Snack

1 alpen light bar (1/2 HexB)

Lunch 

2 scoops of Slimfast powder (7.5 syns) made up with 250 ml of unsweetened almond milk (1/4 HexA)

Snack 

100 cals fruit, such as 1 pear, a handful of grapes etc

Dinner

Syn free meal, such as spaghetti bolognese, jacket potato and salad or risotto, as long as it doesn't exceed 600 cals and to include 1/2 HexA. 

Snack

1 hi-fi light bar (1/2 HexB)

So how did it go? Great. I wasn't hungry, I had fewer cravings because I was having so much chocolate based products in the shakes and the snacks, and it was really easy to stay to plan as I was eating so regularly. 

In the first week, I lost 1lb. I was a little disappointed, I had been expecting at least double that, if not more. I had seen other results of people doing similar things, normally following the Slimfast plan but with a syn free dinner, so not quite as complicated as my plan, and getting 5-10lbs lost in a single week. 

So, for my second week, I decided to incorporate more SP days. This was much harder, and I did feel more hungry and craved more carbs, such as pasta and potato. The result? 2lb loss.

Two weeks of not being allowed any syns as I used them all up on shakes and I only had three pounds to show for it. Sure, 3lb is great and I'm by no means complaining, especially as it got me to my next award, but it does feel like a lot of work for not much result. I have done better on weeks where I used up all my syns on rubbish as long as I stuck to plan otherwise. Yes, I did enjoy it, especially as it was so much easier to prepare two skakes in the morning as opposed to a breakfast and lunch, but it was expensive, monotonous and didn't give me the results I hoped for. 

Give it a go if you want, I didn't get massive results but that doesn't mean that you won't. I think how much you have to loose has a huge part to play. I was just over half a stone from target when I tried this experiment, so maybe if you have a little more to loose it'll work better for you.

If you do try it, I'd love to know how you get on. You can find me on Instagram @dietstartsonmonday.


EDIT - I will admit to being a little shocked this evening when I randomly checked this blog for the first time in nearly 4 years and saw that this post has got a lot of interest! I’d like to remind readers that this post was written a long time ago, and the Slimming World plan has changed a lot since then. Back then, you got a full litre of unsweetened almond milk as a Healthy Extra. I don’t follow the Slimming World or SlimFast plans anymore so cannot comment on whether this approach would still be ‘on plan’, but I wish you all the best if you do decide to try it! 

Slimming World - Weeks Seven & Eight

Slimming World - Weeks Seven & Eight. Originally posted 24th April 2016.

Yeah I know. It's been a while. I may not have been blogging, but that does not mean I have stopped slimming. 

Over the past two weeks, I have lost another pound. Yeah it's not huge. But you know, it's hard. I think it's harder the longer you do it for. I maintained last week, which is the closest to a gain I've been. I'm determined not to gain though. Although the three pizzas I had in the space of 6 days last week seem to suggest otherwise ...

We've been to another couple of groups and I think we've settled on one. Wednesday straight after school. It should mean that it doesn't cut into the evening, and hopefully means I won't be tempted to get takeaway and binge when I get home. It's early enough in the week to not just give myself a long weekend off too. At least, that's the hope. 

My main problem is that I binge. I do really well and then my brain just breaks and all of a sudden I've gone so majorly off plan that even getting straight back in it doesn't make a difference. The damage is done. Take Friday for example. I had a really good day. HeB cereal with heA milk for breakfast. Soup for lunch. Mullerlight for a snack. Then I had to go to sainsburies on the way home to pick up something for my fully free on plan slimming world dinner, and somehow ended up buying and subsequently eating a whole fresh baguette with a load of butter. A whole baguette. Then half a big bar of chocolate left over from my low syn dessert. All within about 10 mins. This was the day after I got a large cheesy bites and ate all but one slice. On my own. It's not that I'm hungry, nor that I feel full afterwards. God, I've never realised how much of a cliche I am. No food can fill the emptiness inside or some such shit. 

I guess just need to work on my emotional binging. I'm planning all my meal and it's not like I don't have enough food. I just can't help but loose control sometimes. I'm determined to not be too far behind Rachey, and she got her stone award last week. At this point, I'm only about 2kg or 5.5lb off that stone off. If I try really hard, I should be able to get that in two weeks. 

Here's hoping anyway.

Slimming World - Weeks Five & Six

Slimming World - Weeks Five & Six. Originally posted 9th April 2016.

Result - 1/2lb loss

Ok so after two weeks a half a pound loss might seem like a bit of a disappointment. You could not be more wrong. I'm so proud of that half a pound loss. 

You see, Easter happened during those two weeks. Easter is my favourite time of year, with all my favourite foods; Easter eggs, simnel cake, creme eggs, mini eggs, fruit cake with marzipan in it, egg shaped chocolate ... You just can't get better food than Easter food. 

So I ate a lot over Easter weekend. And I mean a lot. But then I tried to be super good afterwards, having a week of normal on plan eating and a few days of SP to try and get myself of the pathological need to basically starve myself in the days before weigh in ... At least that was the plan. 

Knowing I had eaten so much, practically regaining my last two weeks loss in just one weekend, meant that I had a huge amount of guilt. Yes, I tried to eat well, but it's also the Easter holidays and some times I went out to eat and probably made choices that weren't fully thought out, leading to even more guilt. My diet from waking up on Wednesday morning until I weighed in on Thursday evening consisted of half a bowl of salad, an almond milk soy protein shake, an alpen light bar and a babybel light, all of which were on Wednesday. 

I'm going to be honest, I'm starting to scare myself. I've cried more about my weight this week than I ever have. I'm so proud of my half a stone, and I so want to reach my target healthily. I just really need to work on not being afraid to gain.

Slimming World - Week Four

Slimming World - Week Four. Originally posted 25th March 2016. 

Result: 1.5lb loss.

This week was a momentous week in my Slimming World journey. This week, I achieved my first award, granting me a precidicious certificate and a shiny sticker on the back of my book. 

 

It was a close call, for the longest time I didn't think I was going to manage it, even though I only had a pound and a half to lose to achieve my half a stone. The start of the week hadn't gone well. Wagamamas on Friday followed by two nights of pasta bake rocketed my syns, and if I hadn't done a few days of speed foods only over the Monday and the Tuesday, there wouldn't have been a chance in hell. I did feel a little bit cheated as we decided to try a Wednesday class as opposed to our normal Thursday, so lost a whole day of potential weight loss, but never mind. 

Again, this weeks group was a world apart from every other one we had tried. For a start, it was crazy busy. Like huge. Normally, there is the consultant and maybe one or two helpers. This group had the consultant and at least 6 helpers. Two people logging you in and taking payment, two people weighing, and two people on the shop. The line was constant and the seats for group filled, even though many weigh in and leave. The consultant said something along the lines of that in that one session, we had cumulatively lost about 300lbs. Due to the group being so much larger, we did spend a good hour and a half there, and while that was fine at 9am during the Easter holidays, there is no way we can devote that much time a week every week, especially when we normally go in the evening and Rachey has to get home to see her son before his bedtime. None the less, we learned a lot of tips and the group itself was much less click-y and very welcoming. The consultant could tell straight away that we were visiting, and was clearly very knowledgable. We're still sampling groups but I certainly won't mind going back to this group again. 

We've both booked a week off next week, so I have a week and a half to get myself back on track after Easter. I also quite want to try and train myself off needing to starve myself with speed free foods only in the preceding 48 hours to weigh in. Staying on plan and making up my own are two very different things. I'm going to try and cut down my fruit intake, and really work on upping my vegetables, as well as drinking more. 

Easter weekend isn't going to go well, and I'm not going to sacrifice my Easter eggs for the sake of being good, but I'm fully planning to be 100% on plan from Monday onwards.

Fingers crossed I can achieve my stone off sticker within another 4 weeks! Then I'll be half way to target! 

Slimming World - Week Three

Slimming World - Week Three. Originally posted 21 March 2016.

Result: 1lb loss.

So this post is a little late. My weigh in day is a Thursday and it's currently Monday. This is partly because I'm lazy, but also because I was super naughty last week. 

I supposed I was partly spurred on by my excellent result of week 2. I had told myself that I would treat myself to a pizza if I achieved over a 2lb loss, and seeing as I did, I upheld my promise. I was good, I didn't order anything else, but still, strike one. Then Friday started well but I just didn't follow the plan past lunch time. Neither did I for most of the rest of the week, including another load of pizza on Monday. Tuesday wasn't too bad but it wasn't exactly great either, with lemon tart, a load of goats cheese and probably 20 syns worth of chocolate tofu mousse. It was only on Wednesday and Thursday that I really kicked my arse into gear and tried to undo the damage. 

Breakfast on Wednesday consisted of fruit tea and some watermelon. Lunch was an apple and a pear. Dinner was speed veg in passatta. Thursday consisted of half an apple and garcinia tablets to try to stave off the hunger. 

Needless to say, I was pretty darn grumpy. I love fruit, and it definitely helps shift some weight quickly, but a healthy diet it does not make. Sure, I lost my pound, and saw that as a huge achievement, but now im struggling to get back to that, let alone lose my target of another one and a half pound. 

In other news, we tried out a different group this week, and boy, was it different. The weigh in was a lot busier, with a constant queue of people even though we were early to begin with. The group was about the same size as our original group, but everyone seemed a lot more familiar together, laughing and joking. The consultant was lovely (also clearly well educated in SW judging by all her awards) and played a game of setting the two sides of the room against each other to win the most points, based on feedback and losses at the scales. It was a whole different world and I much preferred it. I felt like I came away with more tips and motivation than I have done in three groups worth at the last place. We're going to another one this week just due to timing, so we'll see how this one measures up. 

So that's it for now. I think any other week I would have been really disappointed in my 1lb loss, but this week, it was a bloody miracle to lose anything. 

What's more, I'm only one and a half pounds off my half a stone award! 

Slimming World - Week Two

Slimming World - Week Two. Originally posted 10th March 2016.

Result: 3lb loss.

At today's weigh in, I was so super nervous. As I stood on the scales, my brain went blank and I couldn't even work out whether I'd lost or gained. 

I had weighed myself last night before bed and after converting the kilos into stone and pounds, concluded that I should expect a 3lb loss. Then I spent the rest of today talking myself out of it. I told myself to not expect anything, that any loss is a success, that eating anything more than salad on weigh in day was a foolish thing to do. 

Basically, my point here is even though I knew that I was likely to have met my 2lb loss target, and probably even exceeded it, the idea of the public weigh in still made my anxiety levels soar and my head go to dark places. You find yourself wondering how heavy your clothes are, whether your glasses will be significantly heavier than your lenses, whether a fart will help you loose weight, and feel guilty over eating a bloody babybel the day before because you know cheese doesn't digest as quickly as fruit and veg.

Having said all of this, I am thrilled with my week two results. If I loose the same next week, I'll achieve my half a stone award in just three weeks. I think that's pretty good going to be honest. 

What did I do differently this week to achieve double the loss of my first week? Other than two cheat meals early on in the week, I managed to stick to the plan 100%. I ate loads of free foods, especially the speed foods, made sure to measure out my healthy extras and be super strict with my syns. I have aimed at between 11-15 syns a day and on only one day did I go over and even then it was only by half a syn. I think one thing I didn't wrong last week was to use oat so simple as my Healthy B, when really I should have synned it. This week, I've been using porridge oats and oat milk, and then using the remainder of my Healthy A allowance on something else, which I didn't do before, probably leaving me with over half my Healthy A left over each day. 

Protein is still an issue for me. I don't really know how to change that. I'm taking iron supplements so fingers crossed my iron intake is okay at least. 

On the day before and the day of weigh in, I decided to only eat free fruit and veg that are also speed foods. So no pasta, potatoes, bananas and the like. I think it worked, I'll try it again next week and see how it works the second week around. I'm not going to do it for more than a day  and a half though, life's too short to only eat salad for days on end. 

Slimming World - Week One

Slimming World - Week One. Originally posted 5th March 2016.

Result: 1.5lb loss

So, first week of slimming world done and dusted. And no, it wasn't so bad. But did I stay on plan and follow it to the letter? God no. I'd had half a Pizza Hut cheesy bites pizza a little over 24 hours after joining up. 

To be honest, that really sums up my experience of my first week of slimming world, I either was very good or very bad. There was no in between, no just going a little over my syns, it was either be right on target or majorly over. 

For the most part, once you get your head around the complexities of the plan, it's easy enough to follow. Eat the free food freely, measure out your healthy extras and count everything else as syns. 

However, as a vegetarian who can't eat quorn, I feel like the plan severely limits my protein intake. Protein is important, both nutritionally but also to aid weight loss. But on this plan, my syn free protein is very much limited to fat free dairy products such as cottage cheese, eggs and pulses. I have to syn the meat substitutes I can eat, namely the Linda McCartney products. I asked my consultant if I could have protein powder as a supplement, and she informed me that just one scoop of soy protein would cost me a massive 6 syns. When you factor in that I should be having a least two a day, it gets ridiculous. Sure, meat eaters can eat as much bacon as they want, but I am forced to limit my main source of protein.

Having said this, I still have faith in the plan. I intend to do much better this week, especially over the weekend and during the week. I'm not too worried about being 100% slimming world goddess right after the weigh in day, which for me is a Thursday, so I went out for dinner on Thursday and Friday evening and didn't worry about staying on plan. But from now on, I'm going to try much harder. I'm even contemplating trying the SP plan from Monday, along with going to the gym to help boost my results.

 I guess we'll see how it goes. 

Slimming World - And So It Begins

Slimming World: And so it begins. Originally posted 26th February 2016.

So today I joined a local Slimming World group. 

You know me, I like to try everything on my endless journey to weight loss. I've tried the Forever Living Clean 9, 5:2 fast dieting, Slimfast, gluten free, mono-dieting and probably a load more that I can't think of right now. At school, half the staff seem to be on Slimming World and they all speak very highly of it, so I thought why not give it a go. So I dragged a trusty friend with me and now we both have 6 weeks prepaid and shiny new membership cards. 

Ok, so I admit to having borrowed an old version of the plan's guidebook and putting it semi in to use over the past couple of weeks, but from now, I'm going to follow it to the letter. I don't really see how eating as much fruit, vegetables, and pasta as I want can help me lose weight, but we'll see. 

My first impression of the group was a massive eye roll to be honest. We spent 10 mins being talked through the plan while everyone else was weighed. Then we all sat in a semi circle and clapped for 30 mins. This is not an exaggeration. We clapped for bloody everyone no matter whether they had lost weight, put it on or stayed the same. I was expecting some hints or tips, but to be honest, the most I got from it was that one of the members missed drinking copious amounts of alcohol and everyone else was fine, thank you very much, now move on to the next person. I'm not sure I want to sit in these groups but for £5 a week I'm intending to get my bloody money's worth. 

That's another thing, the price. I had scrounged around to find 5 pound coins to pay the £4.95 fee advertised on the website. Nowhere did I see that it cost you an extra £5 to join, nor did the group leader inform me when I contacted her for details on how to join. So it was a bit of a surprise when the money guy turned around demanding £9.95 and I had no extra money with which to pay him. So my friend and I had no choice but to desperately try to find a cash point. We decided to prepay for 6 weeks to avoid similar occurrences in the future. 

Lastly, I want to touch on a more delicate subject. I don't want to judge anyone on their size, but I must admit that it doesn't leave you with much hope for the success of the plan when the people running the meetings are all somewhat on the larger side. It just doesn't seems a very effective advert for the product they are trying to sell. Don't get me wrong, I realise I know nothing of their journeys to get to where they are now, but still, maybe it would be more helpful to introduce the plan with your own success story just to prove that you're doing for that reason as opposed to achieving an extra income. The books claim that the group leaders are highly trained, but I can't help but wonder if they would spot the warning signs of eating disorders and the like.

Anyway, we'll see how week one goes. I intend to do a weekly summary for the 6 weeks, so I shall keep you posted on my progress as well as explaining a bit more about the program. 

C9 - The Results

C9 - The Results. Originally posted 30th September 2015.

So I finished my c9 cleanse on Sunday, and did my final weigh in and measurements on Monday. Today is Wednesday, so this may prepare you a little for my final thoughts on the plan.

Firstly, let's go through the numbers. 

My start weight was 73.9kg. After the 9 days, my finish weight was 72.4kg. To say that I'm disappointed in this would be an understatement. I followed the plan to the letter, but for some reason, I seemed to peak half way through and then started to slowly put weight back on. 

Worse than the less than drastic weight loss is the almost total absence of inch loss. My waist, thigh, arm and hip measurements stayed exactly the same. I lost a lowly 1/2 inch from my bust. 

I did this plan expecting drastic results. Yes, I got a positive result, I lost weight, but was it worth it? That's something I don't think I can answer positively. I am disappointed. I did not achieve even close to my goals. In fact, all the plan has done for me is to make me feel that my goals are that much more unachievable.

I have not noticed an improvement in my energy levels. Despite people telling me my skin looks very clear, I can't say I have noticed a change. My hair feels more greasy than normal, and looking at a photo taken when my hair was freshly washed, I can't help but think it looks lank and lifeless. 

Also, and stop reading now if you don't want to know bowel stuff, but I didn't poo for a full week between incident on day 2 and the morning of day 9, as well as rather smelly wind after the cleanse had finished. 

This doesn't change the sucess stories associated with the c9, especially from people who I have seen doing their own plan. However, there is a huge expectation that if everyone else is seemingly loosing stones and inches over the course of the plan, and that hurts deeply when you don't achieve the same results. 

I feel a failure even though I tried my absolute best.

I feel angry at myself for having fallen for a product that promises such drastic results. 

I feel upset that I have been through such an emotional roller coaster and have nothing to show for it. 

I feel like not getting the results I expected from this plan has the very real potential to put me on a very slippery slope in regards to my view of myself. 

C9 - Day Eight

C9 - Day 8. Originally posted 26th September 2015.

Today is my first day of feeling utterly and absolutely demotivated. I don't see the point in carrying on anymore. 

It's 11am, and I'm still in bed. So much for all that energy you're supposed to get on the clean9. 

I just weighed myself and realised that there is absolutely no chance I am going to loose the last two kilos I wanted as my minimum loss in the next 48 hour.

Looking at myself, I am no thinner, no less bloated, and nor do I feel any happier about my body. 

Today is one of my friends birthday, and she's having a party for her 2 year old this afternoon. I can't help but think what is the point in trying to carry on with this facade when there is no chance of a feeling of accomplishment at the end of it. 

I warned myself in previous posts that I don't have the mental strength for this. 

I thought that I had nothing to lose. That the chance of loosing a little weight was worth the £100 price tag. But now I feel like I've failed even though I've been so careful to keep well within the plans perametres. 

I've taken all the tablets. I've drunk all the gel. I've had the shakes with almond milk rather than milk to cut out the fat and up the protein. I've kept within my 600 cal limit for meals, even including free foods. I've stayed up late in the night doing all of the blogilates 30 day challenges for my half an hour exercise, even on top of classes and walks. 

And still I'm sat here crying my eyes out because it's all been for nothing. 

C9 - Days Four, Five and Six

C9 - Days 4-6. Originally posted 24th September 2015.

Sorry I've not posted in a few days. There are a few reasons why. Firstly, things will get kind of repetitive now that the plan is the same for the rest of the cleanse, secondly, that nothing of note has happened, and thirdly, and most thruthfully, I just plain forgot. 

Ok, so what's been going on in the world of doing the clean 9? 

Well, I still think there is a huge mental element to this that I'm not sure I have the strength for. There is still a degree of food guilt, even though my total calories for an average day is below 900 cals.

I don't feel any different in terms of my energy, something that the plan and previous users have all claimed increases dramatically on the plan. I also haven't noticed any improvement to my hair, skin or nails, although I was told today by two completely unrelated people that my skin looked very healthy. To be honest, I've never been great at noticing things like this anyway, but if my mum and my boss notice a difference, then I'll take it. 

I'm very much enjoying drinking less aloe. However, I do find myself more hungry  than I did when I ate practically nothing on the first two days. I think the aloe must fill you up due to it being a gel. On the other hand, the fact that I find it hard to keep on top of my water consumption and to take the pills at regular intervals while at school might also have a part to play. I'm quite often coming home at half 3 having not drunk or eaten anything since about 8.30. 

Having said that, the 600 cals of an evening meal is plenty. I wouldn't say I'm stuffed after every meal, but it's certainly a decent amount. I have had two veg fajitas with cheese, sour cream and salsa for 3 of my 4 meals on the cleanse so far, and it's probably as much as I would want normally to be honest. I might shake it up and have enchiladas tomorrow. 

This morning was weigh in and measure up day. I have steadily lost weight during the cleanse up to now, having lost just shy of 1.5kg over the past 6 days. I did not loose any inches though, and I didn't realise how important this was to me until it didn't happen. The number on the scales going down is all well and good, but it does kind of feel a bit pointless when you can't see the change on the outside. 

I'm still hopeful for the end of the plan, but right now, I'm not to happy with all my progress pics not showing any progress. Without a noticeable change, it's just a load of photos of me in my bra and pants for no reason. 

I'll probably not post again until day 9, and then I'll do a results post the next day. I'm nervous I won't meet my 'under 70kg' goal, so really going to try to step it up over the last few days. Gymming every day even if it's on my own, trying harder with my water .... I will do this. 

C9 - Day Three

C9: Day 3. Originally posted 21st September 2015

I sure you'll all be thrilled to know that I woke up this morning exactly as I had gone to bed. The loo issue of last night has declined to rear its ugly head again thus far. 

Day 3 marks the end of never ending aloe, as now I'm down to just one 120ml serving a day. You know, I drank a whole litre of the stuff over the weekend! A litre! I also get to eat 600 cals. Which sounds lovely. It's not.

There is a huge mental and emotional risk in this cleanse that I hadn't really taken into consideration before. 

Most people are doing this for the weight loss, myself one of them. Most people are obviously desperate to go down the route of spending so much money to loose a few pounds, and again, I happily admit to being one of those people. So imagine you've got through the first two days by eating next to nothing, and see that you've lost 1.3kg. It feels good. It feels great, even. Then you make yourself this lovely looking meal and suddenly, you're wracked with guilt over eating high GI veg in a tortilla wrap. A small voice in your head tells you to eat it because you obviously need to eat, but a louder voice makes you very aware that every bite you take is all of that work over the past two days gone to waste. 

Maybe it's just me that thinks like that, maybe most people reach day 3 and are so excited by the prospect of food that these dark thoughts don't enter their minds. I hope so, because I can very easily see one of the side effects of the C9 being anorexia. 

All of this aside, day three went well. I lost a lot of my structure today due to being at work, and so I possibly might be one bottle of water down on what I should be. I did a fitness class today, and while I only had a few grapes before hand for energy, afterwards I couldn't have felt less hungry if I tried.

Apparently day 4 is the hardest .... Roll on ....

C9 - Day Two

C9 - Day 2. Originally posted 20th September 2015

I warn you now. I said that I would give a no holes barred account of this journey. And I hold true to that. If you don't want to hear about my bowel movements, then stop reading now. 

Day two was much the same as day one, tablets, water and constant weeing. Today I drank the aloe straight from the fridge, and this was a HUGE improvement. I didn't retch at all today, sure, it still wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't as bad as at room temperature either. I also ate less, swapping yesterday's bowl of fruit for lettuce and a few grapes and strawberries. It was supposed to be a salad but the cucumber had gone off. I still didn't feel unbearably hungry, although I could easily have eaten, and didn't get faint until literally just now, when I was brushing my teeth, and started to feel a bit tingly from low blood sugar. 

What did happen today though I feel is something that does need talking about. At the end of the day, this a cleanse, and all of the stuff you're flushing out with aloe and water has to go somewhere. This evening, I was happily watching 2012 when I felt the urge to fart. I was alone so I just let it happen. 

It was not a fart. 

Luckily I made it to the loo, but still, I wasn't prepared for that sort of reaction. Worse still, I'm now terrified that I'm going to shit myself every time I need to fart, or that it'll happen at school and it'll be horrific. 

I'm tempted to wear a night time sanitary pad just to make sure. 

Tomorrow marks a decrease in aloe, an increase in shakes and the introduction of 600 cals. I think it'll be trickier at school to drink enough and do the tablets on time, but we'll see. It's also weigh in day tomorrow so I'll be interested in the progress so far. 

Fingers crossed tomorrow doesn't start with me waking up covered from head to toe in diarrhoea. 

C9 - Day One

C9 - Day One. Originally posted 20th September 2015

So it's nearing midnight and I'm all tucked up in bed after my first day on the c9 cleanse by Forever Living. 

First thing is first, the aloe. My first impressions were that it was nowhere near as bad as I had expected from what I have read. It's an odd flavour and texture and smell, unlike anything else. It does have bits in it, so think orange juice with pulp and that's kind of what to expect texture wise. It did not get better over the course of the 4 lots of 120ml servings, and by the end of the day it was tricky to get the whole lot down without retching. 

The tablets are FREAKING HUGE. I've never been good at taking tablets, I just physically can't do it. I only manage antibiotics by eating a banana at the same time as taking them, but bananas are a no go on this cleanse, and I don't think even that would have helped. The therm tablets were just coated pressed powder, so I could easily break those down to more manageable chunks, but the garcinia I really struggled with. So in the end, I bit into them and sucked out the inside. It worked for me, it tastes a bit like peanut butter and is the same consistency. I don't know if that's ok to do it like that, but it was my only option, and I figure it's best to have them like that than not at all. 

I had read someone's post that suggested that the aloe was fine but she couldn't stomach the fibre. I have no idea what she was talking about, dissolved in a glass of water I could barely tell it was in there. So nothing to worry about there in my opinion.

I ordered the chocolate shake. People say it's too sweet, but I can't say I found it ridiculously so. I had it with almond milk, and that's what I could taste for the most part. I much prefer slimfast, but it was by no means bad.

I'm not doing to go into the details of what you do and when, because there is plenty of information out there to tell you. For me, day one seemed to consist of constantly taking pills, drinking water, and going to the loo. It takes a lot of time and I'm glad I chose to start on a day off from work. 

Did I feel hungry? 

Yes.

Did I feel hungry enough to make it difficult? 

No. I didn't eat anything but the pills until about 7pm, where I had a small bowl of fruit from the free foods list. Apple, blueberries, strawberries and grapes. They didn't particularily make me feel less hungry, but was probably useful for my blood sugar. Plus, it's amazing how the aloe nearly making you throw up kills your appetite! Joke. But really. I also had three cups of echinacea and raspberry tea, which is lovely, by the way. Total calories consumed including the pills and gel was 447, with nearly 200 of that being the tea and fruit. Very low calorie.

Did I feel energised? 

Hard to say. I woke up excited, both about the prospect of starting the cleanse as well as going to my induction to the gym. So I felt very bouncy this morning, but as to whether that's due to the effects of the aloe, I have no idea. I'd say too early to tell at this point. 

Did I feel faint or need a nap? 

Nope, and nope. When I did the 5:2, I would often feel my energy just disappear, my blood sugar drop and would need a nap to reset my body. I didn't feel that need at all today. Sure I wasn't super active, but for the most part I felt pretty good throughout. 

One other thing to note is that I'm additionally taking three Forever Bee Pollen tablets with this cleanse. I had a pack come with the trail basket I got so figured why not. The old version of clean 9 used bee pollen instead of the therm, so hopefully they don't counteract each other in any way. I've found it really useful so far in taking away the aloe aftertaste. 

So in summary, Day 1 has gone well. Wasn't too hard, but also wasn't easy. I'm not looking forward to more aloe gel, but after tomorrow the dosage drops to just one serving, so that shouldn't be too bad. 

Let's see what day 2 brings. 

Clean 9 Detox: Why I'm doing it

Originally posted: 19th September 2015

I spent a long time deciding whether to do the C9 cleanse from Forever Living. For starters, the RRP of over £100 makes this a huge financial commitment. But after hearing two success stories from friends and hundreds more online, I decided to take the plunge and go for it. 

Best case scenario is I loose weight, feel great and kick start my new healthy lifestyle. 

Worse case scenario is nothing changes but the figure on my bank statement. 

To me, it was a worthwhile risk. But then again, I'm desperate to loose weight, to feel happier in my own skin. 

About this time last year, I noticed my weight start to climb. I had always hovered around the 66kg mark, and was happy and content with that. If I started to veer too close to 68kgs, I would cut down on the bad stuff and do a few blogilates videos and that would be fine. However, I started to notice that method didn't work anymore. I would exercise religiously, follow the 5:2 diet to the letter, eat nothing but raw fruit and veg, and still I was putting on weight as steadily as when I did nothing at all, eating junk food. The turning point was at Christmas, when I spent the week spanning Christmas with a horrible cold, and didn't eat anything that stayed down for three days. I still put on weight at the same rate. I spoke to the doctor, had tests for diabetes and thryoid, spoke to my gynea about whether my PCOS was having a part to play, but everything came back normal and I was told in no uncertain terms that I just had to get on with it. My weight peaked at 75kg, and since then has hovered at that mark for the past couple of months. So now seems to be the time to make a change that will hopefully work. 

At my happiest, I was 63kg, which was about 3 years ago while filming Chronicles. I'm well aware that this weight was attained by bad means; working hard, eating very little and a new relationship killing my appetite were the main contributing factors here. I don't expect to be this light or skinny again. I do hope to have the same feeling of being content with my body though.

My goals for the C9 are purely to feel better about myself. Yes, it's true that a drop in the number on my scales will help that, and I'd really like to be below the 70kg mark again over the course of this detox. But I also want to feel better, be fitter, have more energy. 

Fingers crossed the C9 helps me do this. I've joined a gym too, so literally pulling out all stops here. Sure my bank balance won't be happy, but if I am, it's all worth it. 

I'll be blogging my C9 journey day by day, so check back for that. I'm going to be brutally honest, none of this whole "I've done the C9 it's amazing and I'm a forever distributor so buy yours from me now!". If I don't like it, if it doesn't help, if the aloe tastes like death, you'll know about it in harsh, deeply truthful, too-much-information detail. 

So .... let's do this. 

My Weight Loss Journey

I have always been the same weight. Between 66-67kg. It never seemed to matter what I ate, but if the scales started to rise slightly, I'd just cut back on the snacks, do a little exercise and I'd soon be back to my normal range. Easy. 

That was until about 4 years ago. 

I was working away in London on a long shoot. The catering wasn't great, we were working ridiculously long 15-16 hour days, 6 days a week, and I barely ate or drank. I lost weight. Then I started a new relationship and my appetite just vanished. I lost more weight. I was down to about 60kg, and even though I knew that it was achieved by bad means, I was happy with it. 

Then things got back to normal, I settled into my relationship and started to put the weight back on. It was ok, as I knew if it got too high I could easily get myself back down to my normal range. But this time it wasn't so easy. My weight kept climbing. 

I'd eat healthily and my weight would go up. 

I'd eat rubbish and my weight would go up.

I'd exercise an hour a day and my weight would go up. 

I'd do nothing and my weight would go up.

I'd be really poorly with a tummy bug, throwing up for days and not eating a thing, and still, my weight would go up. 

I'm not talking about quickly here, I'm talking about over the course of months, but a steady weight gain that I could no longer control. It was terrifying for me. 

I've never been massive. I'm quite tall, so I've always been able to hide any small gains with my height. But this time, my clothes were no longer fitting. I was started to get disgusted with the size of my stomach and thighs. I've never understood how someone can compare themselves to an apple or a pear until I stood I front of the mirror wearing a slimming costume and literally saw a pear in front of me.

I was wearing shape wear on a daily basis. Shaping tights, shaping pants, sometimes both. People didn't understand why I was freaking out, but they didn't realise to the extent I was hiding it. It didn't seem a big deal to them, I'm sure it doesn't to you either, but it was literally an ever growing problem for me. 

I tried Slimfast. I tried 5:2. I tried the Forever Living C9. I went gluten free for a month. I contemplated becoming a fruitarian and tried mono-dieting. I've never been a drinker, and I've been caffeine free for about 3 years. I don't eat meat or fish having being vegetarian for about 15 years. Bar an occasional indulgence of takeaway pizza, I have always eaten prettily healthily. I started to research weight loss ideas on pro ana websites. All I lost was money and time and I was starting to scare myself. 

I went to the doctors and had tests to check my thyroid and for diabetes. I was actually disappointed when the results came back clear because it would have been an answer, an explanation of what was happening. I even went to my gynaecologist to find out whether it had anything to do with my PCOS. She told me in no uncertain terms that I just needed to get control of my weight, without any advice as to how. 

So when I reached the category of overweight, and by far the heaviest I have ever been by about 10kg, I decided to pull out the big guns. I convinced my best friend Rachel to join Slimming World and I really haven't looked back since. Sure, it's been hard, and at the start I was really starting to worry about my mental health. But now I can honestly say it's just part of life. 

This is week 12 and I'm going to get my stone award at weigh in on wednesday. A stone!! It's not dropped off, but to see even a small change in the scales has been such a relief to me, because it's been consistent. 

I've read up on metabolic damage, and can't help but think maybe that's what happened to me. It's why I started this story on my weight loss, because I honestly think that's where everything started to go wrong. I know it's a controversial topic, but regardless, something wasn't right and now Slimming World is helping me get my body back on track.

An Introduction

Hello!

My name is Heather. 

'Diet Starts Monday' has always been my mantra. 

I've been blogging the little things in my life for about 7 years, kind of like an online diary, so if you want to know more about me, please feel free to head over to my other blog, MBGthree. Otherwise, this blog is to document my weight loss / healthy eating journey. 

First thing first, I am not overweight. I've got really close to that line, and I'm determined not to cross it. I don't want to turn around one day and have 20 stone to lose. I would much rather make the small changes now. 

So that's what I'm doing. I'm currently on my 11th week of Slimming World, and so far it's the only thing I've tried that seems to work for me. I've lost just shy of a stone, with another stone to lose before I hit my target. 

So I'm sticking with it.