Week 1 of Lighter Life

My friend and I went along to our first Lighter Life session yesterday. We'd a chatty car journey and I even drove too far! There are 6 other women in our group, two others around my age and all the rest in their 30s. All seemed really nice and it'll be fun getting to know them, I'm sure.

We all got weighed and measured and now I have to convert my weight from kilos - 142.3. Yikes, it converts to 22 stone 5 lbs!! Fully clothed, of course, and after eating all day. I usually weigh myself first thing in the morning! Oh well - here we go, here we go, here we go...!

Mary, our counsellor, used a little bit of CBT to help us realise how our thoughts can affect our feelings and, if we consciously change the thoughts, we can consequently change our feelings and behaviour. It was a powerful example: after demonstrating how I could resist her trying to push down my outstretched arm, she had me stand with eyes closed and say 10 times, "I am a weak and vulnerable person". Difficult to say over and over... I didn't want to be saying that about myself. When she then tried to push my outstretched arm again, I was amazed that I couldn't push against her til my arm had dropped almost to my side! To combat that, I then stood and said, "I am a strong and confident person," and my arm fully resisted again. Tricks? Perhaps, but I guess it illustrated her point.

The best bit was being given a whole carrier of different food pack items: 3 vanilla shakes, 3 strawberry shakes, 3 chocolate shakes, 3 banana shakes, 2 mushroom soups, 3 vegetable soups, 2 chicken soups, 3 tomato soups, 2 Tai chilli soups, 1 lemon bar, 1 toffee flavour bar, 1 crispy cranberry and raspberry bar, 1 crispy peanut bar. And a shaker to shake each of them in!

We are to have 4 packs per day - no less. And to drink to thirst, gradually over the course of the day. We can have any kind of water - plain, mineral or soda - black coffee and black leaf tea, any other kind of leaf tea (green, peppermint, etc) but no fruit or flower teas, special LL Water Flavours, LL Savoury Drinks, tabasco sauce, pepper, a little salt, tablet sweeteners - and nuffink else. (Actually I've checked and it's also ok to use peppermint Rennies!)

There are a few more varieties of bar available, I think. We don't get to eat them until the 4th day - Saturday! Something to look forward to.

We were told to expect it to get a bit difficult in the next few days, that we could suffer from headaches, nausea, dizziness, constipation... but that we had to be sure to stay hydrated. I feel slightly nervous about having a blood sugar low and struggling through that, but once ketosis sets in (when your body starts to use your fat reserves), things even out and you lose your appetite. Yes it is extreme. It's not something I'd normally consider doing, but desperate situations lead to desperate measures...

My friend and I had our last supper after the meeting! A fish supper in the car in a Dingwall car park!! Actually I didn't enjoy it that much... And I had a whole load of chocolate once I got home too...

So, to today, Day One:
Breakfast was strawberry shake. Surprisingly pleasant and tasting of cereal along with the strawberry. I was verrrrrry hungry later in the morning, which made me wonder how I'm going to cope.

Lunch was a sachet of chicken soup. Again, fairly tasty. I needed the Rennies afterwards though! And again in the evening after my evening meal of vegetable soup. This smelled horrible in powder form but was actually quite tasty once mixed up. I'm wondering if the soy in the meal packs is what's giving me indigestion... Only time will tell. Fortunately only one Rennie has settled my tummy on both occasions and I will still be suffering from the effects of last night's fish supper...!
I'm looking forward to a hot chocolate (making up the chocolate shake with hot water instead of cold) before bedtime.

So - so far so good! I was desperately hungry before "dinner", but I suspect I was just a bit late with it as I didn't get home til about 6.30 pm. I've been amazed at how often I think of food. "Oh I'm going there, I can just pick up a little something... Oh no I can't!" "There's a piece of bread... oh no I can't eat that." "I'm going home, I can have... Oh no I can't..." Sooo often, all day, at the most surprising times.

I'm delighted to have discovered this evening that I enjoy weak black Earl Grey tea! I am hungry as I write but that's ok... I'll get used to it, I know, and it'll go in a few days. I'm hoping I won't find this first week too difficult. I've got all sorts of other little problems going on and it might all just add up - oops, there I go being negative! Turning it on its head - this week might be a challenge but I'll get through it fine!

The donating and sponsoring has kind of ground to a halt at the moment. Once I've begun to lose some weight - and have some proof it's going to happen - I intend to heat up the campaign!