BIG changes

More things have changed. The Big News is that, due to my current financial situation, I've had to make the decision to stop doing Lighter Life. I simply do not have the cash in the bank to pay for it... I'm disappointed, as I kind of wanted to be an advocate for it - and to maybe feature in future tv commercials! ;-) Seriously, I would like to train as an LL Counsellor and I had hoped to go all the way with it, so I could sincerely speak from the heart about its efficacy. However, I do still feel it's done a lot for me - brought my weight down by 92 lbs (6 stone 8 lbs) - and helped me on the way to being slim again. I'm going to miss quite a lot of things about it, actually, believe it or not!

• The drives through to the Black Isle every week, listening to cds at full blast!
• LL Banoffee Pie (peanut bar, "toffee" bar - the inverted commas are there for a reason! - banana shake and vanilla shake) - they've kept me going these past few months.
• The thai chilli soup and the chicken soup made into "poppadums".
• The fruit drink powder to add to water and make it so much more palatable to drink (though I suspect it's the aspartame in it that makes it addictive...)
• Having the opportunity to stop off at Tesco while through there, especially when I was finally able to get into their cheap clothes!

Ah well, farewell Lighter Life. It worked brilliantly for me and I'd recommend it to anyone (thanks again, Lindsey, for recommending it to me!). If my finances improve (which isn't looking likely at all!) I may go back to it one day, if need be...

And the other Big News is that I've just placed an order for Diet Chef meals!! My sister (who is also using Diet Chef) is still helping me out with the costs of losing weight so I've been able to order 5 weeks in advance - actually 4 weeks + 1 week free, which has cost me only £30 a week!!! A huge difference to the £49.50 + petrol + food for 7 meals that LL has cost me this past week. This has been a lifesaver for me - thank you, Big Sis!

So... my new food packs - this time real food - are due to arrive on Thursday. Until then I have to try to eat as sensibly as possible. I have one LL food pack left, which is for tomorrow's lunch. I've yet to check with Donna if she has any more food packs I can get from her (to be replaced as soon as I can along with the others she "lent" me last week) to see me through to Thursday. If not, it's down to me to make sensible real food choices for the next 3 days. Eeeek!!

I'm a wee bitty concerned that I won't find the DC meals as filling as the LL ones, as the latter is designed to be low carb and, once in ketosis, the appetite is supressed. However, the DC meals are all low GI which, to my mind, is the next best thing. I will just have to keep an eye on my carb intake. And besides, I was still always hungry with LL food packs anyway, so I'm well used to that...

I've ordered (I think) at least one of each of their products (one wasn't available) to give them all a try. The ones my sister doesn't recommend(!), I've ordered only 1 of, just to see if it might be to my taste when it's not to hers. Namely, Parsnip and Honey soup - bit too sweet, by the sounds of it, but I have a very sweet tooth, so you just never know.

Yesterday I was at a BBQ to celebrate Donna and Duncan's 1st wedding anniversary, which started well with me eating my one protein meal + salad. It fairly quickly deteriorated, however, when someone turned up with a large tub of ice cream, cones and strawberry syrup. After partaking of that, I picked all day... *sigh* This kind of eating doesn't bode well for the long term but I'm still happy to say I've lost so much weight. Here's hoping I can keep it off in the long run. I've stuck to my plan today with my remaining LL food packs and my protein (stir fried turkey breast with chilli sauce and steamed spinach - yum!) and salad meal tonight. Breakfast tomorrow will be my protein meal (eggs) as I have only an LL mushroom soup left and I'm sorry but I can't face that first thing in the morning!!

Come Friday, it'll be ALL CHANGE!

One thing I've noticed that this past week of LL Route to Management has done for me is to really appreciate the taste of real (and healthy, fresh) food. It's been a real pleasure to eat each of my RtM protein meals and I've even noticed the stirrings of the desire to cook again. That's been a long time in resurrecting, I can tell you. Years of family cooking every single day of the week really spoiled the pleasure of cooking for me many, many moons ago. One of my favourite cartoons (which happens to be a feminist one) is of a contestant sitting in the Mistressmind chair being asked, "And what will the kids have for tea tonight?" The answer is - "PASS!"

PS Another aspect of giving up on LL that is unfortunate is the weekly weigh in. I will have to just do this myself once a week and will report it here. As there was always a discrepancy between my naked-first-thing-in-the-morning weigh in at home and the LL counsellor's fully-clothed-mid-afternoon weigh in, I'll continue to take that few pounds into account and try to be as accurate as I can about how much has actually been lost (as opposed to what I actually weigh):

According to LL, my initial weight was 22 stone 5 lbs. If I'd had scales at the time, I reckon I would have weighed 22 stone. So I'm going to err on the side of caution and say that the difference is likely to be 3lbs (and that I was probably heavier than I thought at the beginning). Unfortunately, I've got no comparisons of weight over the past 6 months to go by (I don't think...). So, every time I weigh myself, I'll add 3 lbs onto it, to keep in line with what I think I've lost... I hope that makes sense to me in the morning!