Thoughts on the first two weeks of dieting

It’s only been two weeks so far and there have been many highs and lows and all kinds of emotions. Anger, grumpiness, tears and laughs but underneath the moans about wanting to eat the cake that’s been brought into the office (Again!) I’m kind of enjoying it. 

Writing about dieting isn’t something I thought I would ever write about on this blog, in fact when I started this blog 7.5 years ago I was a skinny little 26 year old travelling the globe who fluctuated only a few pounds per country depending whether I liked the food or not.

India – helloooo puri and curry for breakfast…
Nepal – if I see another Dhal Baat I might scream!

Anyway here I am writing about dieting because right now it’s one of the big things going on in my life and I’m determined to turn this blog back into a blog where I blog about the stuff I’m up to (yes I said blog three times in one sentence!)

“A year from now you’ll be glad you started today”

Someone – about dieting or business or anything really…

I chose to start Slimming World (over any other diet) because mum was already doing it and I’ve seen her lose over 6 stone! Having noticed my body get bigger and bigger each month it was about time I did something about it. 

Now I was the first to judge diets, having been Skinny Ginny Jenny for the first 30 years of my life I was a smug little piglet, who ate what I wanted without gaining much weight. Then the thirties came and my metabolism changed, but my diet of ice cream for breakfast (or treacle sponge) didn’t! 

Diets were all a fad I thought, the only way to really lose weight was to eat less and exercise more… but the thing was I wasn’t doing that. The odd run, the occasional healthy salad… for me the motivation wasn’t there, but the call of the ice cream tub was!

It’s only been two weeks and I know I have a lot still to learn (and lose!) but I am determined to stick to it and hope that writing about it will help me too. 

“The first bite tastes as good as the last”

Mum – stolen from someone at Slimming World

So here are a few things I’ve learnt about dieting in my first two weeks of slimming world. I’d love to hear your dieting stories or tips too. 

Monitor what you eat… no cheating

Even if you have a total blow out day write it down so you know where you’ve gone wrong if you don’t lose any weight. Certain foods you should weigh (you won’t believe how small a 40g portion of cereal is) and listen to what the book says (for Slimming World) – sometimes things you don’t think are too bad are a crazy amount of syns, where as other things you think are bad might be ok. I’ve learnt a lot about what I put in my body and know I’ve got a lot still to learn.

A support network is compulsory

I burst into tears my first weigh in at Slimming World, I’d lost 7.5lbs which is pretty epic for one week, but I thought my original weight was lower than it was (didn’t notice the zero beside the 1) so in my mind I’d put on weight. Also the emotions of the first week were so high it all just seemed a bit much.

The second week I almost left after weigh in, before the discussion, after not losing anything, but I decided to stick around and I’m so glad I did. You learn so much from everyone else’s stories, new recipes they’ve tried, what helped them lose more or where they went wrong.

At the end of week two one of the girls came up to me and said ‘well done for maintaining your amazing loss from last week’ and you know what that really helped and has got me all guns blazing again for a loss next week. 

I’m doing it with mum too so there’s a bit of healthy competition. 🙂

Whatever you do don’t keep it a secret as the more people realise the more likely they are to support you. My boyfriend has been a star and is unofficially dieting with me as we cook and eat together every night. I’m probably becoming a bit of a ‘diet snore’ but for me talking about it helps.

The body sometimes just does what it wants

Don’t beat yourself up about it! The body is a funny thing and sometimes you can do everything you can to diet and the weight just doesn’t go. Give it time and maybe the following week it will all drop off (she says… fingers crossed!)

Exercise will always help but muscle weighs more

I know the next step for me is regular exercise, but you know, one step at a time. It’s always going to help, even if just to make you more toned and get your limbs moving properly, but ultimately it’s the food you put in that’s going to help the most. 

0% fat yoghurt is the new chocolate cake!

Vanilla yoghurt, toffee yoghurt, plain yoghurt, strawberry yoghurt, yoghurt with strawberries, yoghurt with banana, yoghurt with your chilli, yoghurt with your curry, yoghurt as raita, yoghurt as Tzatsiki…

In short I’ve eaten a lot of yoghurt and it is my new go to when I’m in need of a tasty snack. Make sure its 0% fat though! I recommend toffee and vanilla yoghurt mixed with banana for a banoffee style dessert! YUM!

So there you have it lessons learnt so far from just a couple of weeks of ‘finally’ starting that diet. It isn’t for everyone and I’ve had a couple of comments suggesting I’m bad for going on an ‘official’ diet but one thing is certain…

I am doing this for me, for my confidence, for my clothes (the small ones that are lonely and unworn in the wardrobe) and most importantly… for my health! 

Wish me luck on making it to target… if I do I’m buying myself a ‘new’ car!

Have you done a diet? Got any tips/experiences to share?