Two weeks later

I had a bit of a wobbly earlier this week when it looked like I had put on around 800g, despite pretty much sticking to the Phase 6/7 rules - which started making me depressed.

Luckily I was able to keep calm and think through exactly what I was eating, the only real variable being my afternoon snack, which I had replaced the Alizonne bar with an Alpen/Weetabix bar. As these contain wheat & dairy I suspected they were causing the issue, so got some Alizonne bars, and have spent the week alternating one day of these with an Alpro Soya yogurt.

I jumped on the scale this morning and it appears to have worked, as my home scale is showing 71kg on the dot - so if anything I've shifted a bit more off - hurray!

I'm flying out to visit my parents next week so am delighted the weight is back under control as weighing myself won't be possible there, so I'll have to just be sensible

One week later

So, it's been one week since my Alizonne Phase 8 appointment, and this week of all weeks presented a challenge, as I was travelling for work from Monday afternoon until Tuesday evening - so had dinner, breakfast and lunch out.

I then had my wedding anniversary (8th!) dinner on Tuesday when I got back to London.

All in all quite a few meals out, however I'm pleased to say I managed to make sensible choices, and having jumped on the scale this morning am about 100g lighter than what my home scale said last week - so am managing to maintain.

I know it's early days, but I'm really hoping this means I can balance eating/drinking out with good choices and maintenance .....

Quick update - Day 5

I had an LPG session at Alizonne this morning, and quickly jumped on the scale just to see how I'm doing so far. I was quite chuffed to see I'm holding steady at 72kg - which is probably actually slightly less as this was after I'd had breakfast this morning and 3 glasses of water.

So far so good - keep going ........

The End - Day 197

So, I had my final official Phase 8 Alizonne appointment today....... I have to admit I was feeling a bit apprehensive, how will I cope in the "real" world with no regimented routine and no specific rules on what I can/can't eat?

I turned up at 8.15am only to be told that they had a burglary last night, with someone nicking their medgem machine, so they had to take a manual estimation of my final resting medgem, and I'll have to go back once the machine has been replaced for a final, proper reading. In the meantime they've estimated this at 1,500 - which means I'll need 1,500 calories daily to maintain my current weight - although with exercise I can have an extra 150 calories.

My final stats have ended up as:

Weight - 72kg (2.3kg loss since last weigh in) - 37.9kg lost in total
Weight in stone - 11st 4lb - 6st lost exactly, or 83.6lbs
Body fat - 35%, which is 2% above desired body fat %, so the doctor has recommended I slowly try to shift around 2kg more, which should bring this to the correct level
BMI - 28, which is the upper end of normal, so if I do shift the 2kg mentioned it probably wouldn't be a bad thing

The key thing right now is to stabilise and stop losing - which to be honest feels weird as I can't remember any time in my life where the objective has been to maintain the weight rather than lose - so that's definitely going to be an adjustment.

Alizonne also gave me a huge, thick book containing the calorie count of pretty much every food imaginable, so what I'm going to do now is set up a spreadsheet plotting the different types of foods I generally eat or would like to eat - that way I can have easy access to good vs bad choices to keep me on track.

I've also decided to keep breakfast, morning snack, and lunch pretty much the same, as I'm enjoying those already and they work for me. That should leave afternoon snack and dinner as the opportunities for consuming extra calories.

We are going to see my parents, who are slowly recovering from the accident, in August for 2 weeks, so I need to be in good control of Phase 8 by then.

I will keep posting on progress, updates and general thoughts, as this is where the real journey begins - the rest of my life ......

I hope if anyone finds this blog that it helps you discover the true inner you - have courage, make a commitment to yourself and your health and you too can do it. I wish you well ;)

Measurements - after day 192

I started the alternate Phase 6/Phase 7 this week, and it felt great getting some carbs back in the diet - although I was somewhat petrified I'd immediately feel the pain on the scale - but thankfully that hasn't happened.

I definitely feel SO much more confident about my body now, enough to wear a short strappy top with my leggings to my Movers & Shapers session yesterday.

This week's measurements are:

Bust - 87cm (2cm loss since last measurements - 21cm lost in total - 2cm below target - wow!)
Waist - 78cm (2cm loss since last measurements - 26cm loss in total - 6cm to go) - finally getting close!
Hips - 95cm (1cm loss since last measurements - 36cm loss in total - 0cm to go) - HIT TARGET!!!!

I also lost 2cm on my arms and 1cm on my thighs. Clearly my body seems to be loving phasing off.

My home scale says I weigh around 71.7kg now, so I continue having a bit of buffer below my 75kg target, which is exacly what I wanted. It also means I have now lost a whopping 6 stone!!! I have to be honest, I never thought I was carrying that much excess weight on me, and can't even imagine where I was hiding it all.

One thing I do need to check with the Alizonne doctor when I go for my last phasing off appointment on 15th July is why my BMI is apparently "overweight", when I thought targets were set based on getting to a healthy BMI. Am very confused about that, especially as the NHS Direct website says I'd need to get down to about 62kg to be at a healthy BMI, which seems a really low number.......

Will update after Thursday's Alizonne appointment on how it all went

End of Phase 6 and weigh in - Day 187

I had my first LPG/endermologie only treatment at Alizonne today, with weight as follows:

Current weight - 74.3kg (1.7kg loss since last weigh in) - 35.6kg total lost to date
Weight in stone - 11st 9lb - 5st 9lbs lost to date, or 78.5lbs
Weight to lose 0kg!!!

Tomorrow I start Phase 7, which I'll stay on until my phasing off doctor's appointment on 15th July

Measurements - after day 185

Phase 6 seems to be going well and I'm definitely feeling as though I'm stepping back into normality. I attended a networking function this week and was even able to have food they were serving at a BBQ they had, although I did have a pre-cooked meal in my bag in case it was needed ;)

This week's measurements are:

Bust - 89cm (0cm loss since last measurements - 19cm lost in total - 0cm to go)
Waist - 80cm (2cm loss since last measurements - 24cm loss in total - 8cm to go) - finally into single digits!
Hips - 96cm (1cm loss since last measurements - 35cm loss in total - 1cm to go)

I lost 0.5cm on my arms but nothing on my thighs.

My home scale says I weigh around 73kg now, so I have a bit of buffer below my 75kg target, although do have an Alizonne session tomorrow (LPG/endermologie only as I'm done with ultrasound!), so we'll see what their "official" scale says. Tomorrow is my last day on Phase 6 as I move onto Phase 7 on Tuesday, which I'll be on for about 10 days until my final doctor's review on 15th July