Five months later - The End

Today was a hugely momentous day – as I had my very last LPG/endermologie appointment and weigh in at Alizonne

I booked it especially as we just got back from a 2-week holiday in the US (large portions!) and it’s just after Christmas, so in a way this was meant as a bit of a test to myself to see how well I’ve coped

First – the holiday. Generally I found it easier than I thought I would, largely because as I can’t have gluten or dairy it does cut out pretty much all the bad temptations out there. Although I did watch what I ate, I did have some treats and did sometimes have 2 courses, so definitely didn’t feel deprived at all. Unfortunately during the holiday my husband got sick and ended up in hospital for 5 days, cue eating from a hospital cafeteria again – although I will say at least the choices weren’t just hot sandwiches, so I was able to keep to a balanced diet

Second – Christmas. Again, with a bit of foresight and planning I managed to navigate this. I make a dairy free chocolate mousse which everyone loves, and which I did have some of. I stayed away from snacking outside the 2-4 hour windows, but aside from that it was fairly easy

So, although my home scale has me slightly lower, I weigh myself first thing in the morning at home, whereas my Alizonne appointment was this evening:

Current weight - 67kg (200g loss since last weigh in) - 42.9kg lost to date
Weight in stone - 10st 7lb (1lb loss since last weigh in) - 6st 11lbs lost to date, or 94.6lbs

So, at the end of this momentous journey, what have I learnt?

Well, I’ve learnt that I’m much stronger than I thought I was. I’ve always been determined, but usually became despondent if I didn’t see results – but I guess the beauty of Alizonne is that you do see results, and fast. What I mean by strong though is how I was able to stick with it during what has without a doubt been the hardest year of my life emotionally: from my parents’ accident to the challenges at work and from starting a new job to my husband’s illness. I don’t know whether it was easier given this was frequently the only thing I felt I had any control over when everything else was falling apart, maybe it was

I’ve finally figured out that not every diet works for everyone, and the reason Alizonne worked for me is because it matched my personality and who I am – this is I think the trick that so many people are missing and something I intend to do something about

I’ve learnt that there are a few essential Alizonne fundamentals that are good practice to follow for the rest of my life:

• Eat every 2-4 hours

• Eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day

• Drink 2 litres of water every day

• Understand calories – the book they give you at the end is an invaluable source of helping you get a grip on what is a good vs bad calorie

• Know your medgem and mentally keep tabs on how you track through the day – without being obsessive

And my own three little additions:

• Weigh yourself regularly – it helps you keep a check on things so you can nip problems in the bud, and when you see things are under control it is a fantastic morale boost and helps keep you motivated

• Listen to your body – it will tell you whether it’s happy or not

• Look at old photos of yourself regularly – it will remind you what you used to look like and each time you do make a promise to yourself “NEVER AGAIN”

I’ll be dipping in and out of the blog now, as I think it has served its purpose – but I do hope if you’ve found this it provides you with some help on your own journey. Good luck!

Four months later

Wow, so much has happened since I last posted, including me starting the new job and getting stuck into everything - which has made it feel like absolute ages since my last Alizonne appointment, even though it has actually only been a month.

I got back to the UK after a work trip today, and had a Venti Starbucks coffee just before my Alizonne weigh in and LPG/Endermologie, but even so I'm quite pleased with the results:

Current weight - 67.2kg (100g loss since last weigh in) - 42.7kg lost to date
Weight in stone - 10st 8lb (0lb loss since last weigh in) - 6st 10lbs lost to date, or 94.2lbs

My home scale actually has me weighing less, but even with the Alizonne weight I'm still happy - yippee!

Just one more weigh in next month and then I'm going to go it alone .....

Three months later

I can't believe it's already been 3 months since I phased off Alizonne. In some ways it feels like I finished ages ago, but then went I went back for my LPG/endermologie treatment today it felt like I've never been away.

Anyway, the continuing good news on the weight front:

Current weight - 67.3kg (1.1kg loss since last weigh in) - 42.6kg total lost to date
Weight in stone - 10st 8lb (2lb loss since last weigh in) - 6st 10lbs lost to date, or 93.9lbs

I am genuinely not trying to lose any more weight, but it still feels quite good to see my body is able to pretty much maintain without me feeling deprived - although I am getting chocolate cravings today as my period started ;)

Hooray!!

One month later

It's been a month-ish since I finished Phase 7 and moved to Phase 8, and I had my first month official weigh-in and LPG/endermologie Alizonne treatment. We've also just got back from our 2 week trip to see my folks, where I had no access to a scale and only some control over my food, so I wanted to see how I'd done.

The good news is the results have been good - which despite the shock of my medgem reading just before I went away was great to see:

Current weight - 70.4kg (1.6kg loss since last weigh in) - 39.5kg total lost to date
Weight in stone - 11st 1lb (3lbs loss since last weigh in) - 6st 3lbs lost to date, or 87.1lbs

I am getting my medgem reading done again next week to double check it - really hoping the initial 1,180 reading was wrong!

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

End of Phase 4 and weigh in - Day 173

I had my last ultrasound treatment at Alizonne today, as well as endermologie/LPG. And, best bit was the weigh in (NEVER thought I'd ever say those words!):

Current weight - 76kg (2.5kg loss since last weigh in) - 33.9kg total lost to date
Weight in stone - 11st 13lb - 5st 5lbs lost to date, or 74.8lbs
Weight to lose (to hit lower target of 75kg/11st 11lbs) - 1kg or 2.2lbs

I'm so close now I can just about taste it.

Tomorrow I start Phase 5 for one week, and will be having half the allowed quantity of cheese, as I'm having the lactofree cheese which isn't low fat as well as tuna in my salad. Looking forward to it!

Only 3 weeks left to go .......

Measurements - after day 171

Tomorrow is my last day on Phase 4 - unbelievable! I had my very last snack sachet (vanilla dessert) this afternoon, and my last lunchtime sachet tomorrow will be sheep's milk. From then on all I'll have left for the remaining 3 weeks on Alizonne is snack bars.

I have my last combined ultrasound and LPG treatment at Alizonne tomorrow evening, so will update weight then. I have booked LPG treatments only for July, and will then make a call on what happens from August onwards.

In the meantime, this week's measurements are:

Bust - 89cm (0cm loss since last measurements - 19cm lost in total - 0cm to go)
Waist - 82cm (1cm loss since last measurements - 22cm loss in total - 10cm to go)
Hips - 98cm (1cm loss since last measurements - 33cm loss in total - 3cm to go - almost there!)

I didn't lose anything on my arms or thighs unfortunately.

Yesterday I decided to finally do a big clear out of the spare room wardrobe, where I've been storing up all the clothes that have been getting too big for me. I created 3 piles - clothes to keep in storage (size 16 and under only to hedge my bets!), clothes for charity and clothes to give to my mum, as she loves nothing better than getting my old clothes. It may seem foolish keeping any clothes, but my thinking is to keep them until I'm through the 12 months of Phase 8, then I can safely get rid of them. At one point I pulled out a lovely pair of black cargo trousers, which I used to wear and feel really good in - in a size 22. I put them on and I'm not kidding - you could easily fit another half of me in there there was SO much excess space! It made me so emotional I burst into tears, and my wonderful husband had to give me cuddle, but they were honestly just tears of emotion and joy.

I am determined never again to let myself get to that size again, never again .......

End of phase 1 & weigh in - Day 68

Hard to believe it, but today marks the end of the Alizonne Phase 1 for me, and I feel a bit wistful because although it's great I haven't achieved what I set out to achieve, which was to hit 89kg before moving on to Phase 2.

I knew it wasn't going to be a great week, so can't say I was that surprised to have only lost 0.7kg this week - which puts me at 94.2kg (14st 11lbs) - but at least I lost something.

The ultrasound plates have now been moved to my thighs, with only 2 on my stomach. Unfortunately one of the plates seems to have singed me a bit just above my left knee. Endermologie was fine.

Phase 2 starts tomorrow, which is basically exactly the same as Phase 1, just replacing either the lunch or dinner sachet with meat, chicken, fish or eggs. I'm hoping that the switch to "real" protein will kick start something in my body and get things really kicking. Come on body - let's go .....

Doctor's appointment - Day 64

So, I saw the doctor at Alizonne this morning and we agreed that although I'm about 5.9kg away from where I should be to phase off she's going to move me on.

My appointment is next week Monday, at which point the therapist is going to move me to Phase 2. On the one hand I'm delighted - protein at last! On the other it's a shame I'm not at the goal I should be at, but I'm just not willing to take the risk on the May trips messing up all the hard work.

Hopefully I can drop around 1.5kg this week, so I'm only 4-4.5kg off. And off course, there's always the chance my body loves Phase 2 and starts speeding up ;)

Most of the fat on the side of my tummy is now gone, so what I'm left with at the moment is excess skin (scary!) but she wants to keep 2 plates right on the front by my belly button as there's still some there. The 10 remaining endermologie plates will go around my thighs.

End of my worst week to date - Day 48

I guess I knew it was going to be bad given poor cm loss at the weekend and what the home scale was saying, and I was right. I had my Alizonne ultrasound and endermologie sessions today and I only lost 0.6kg (just over 1lb) this week. So I now weigh 15st6lbs

To say I feel gutted is an understatement..... I've done everything perfectly, haven't deviated from any of the rules and yet for some stubborn reason my body is not co-operating. I do wonder whether having the stool softener they recommended for 2 days has impacted things - I just don't know.... I had to resort to a little cry and a cuddle when I got home and saw my beloved husband

The worst thing is that I desperately want to have phased off fully before my work trip to Australia and then 2 weeks of holiday the last week in May/June, but based on my current loss rate the therapist thinks I'm going to be left with 3 options:

• Phase off earlier so I'm done by the time I leave, which means I probably won't have hit my target weight (no way of knowing by how much I'll be off at this stage)
• Get to Phase 4 (which means I'll be at target weight but not phased off - she thinks this is possible based on my current average weight loss), postpone Phases 4-7 until after I'm back, which probably means I'll have to stay on each phase for longer than 1 week to get back on track
• Get to Phase 4, try to do phases 5 & 6 on holiday, probably for a few weeks longer each

I really want to phase off by the time I leave, but also desperately want to hit Size 12, so maybe the right decision is to get to the size I want and then phase off, irrespective of weight - I just don't know

The only upside is that I still have 2 more sessions before my next doctor's appointment to decide, so there is a chance this week and next could be better, which may give me the answer I need ......

Taking the good with the bad - Day 33

Well, they say you have to take the good with the bad, and I guess this week has been testament to that.

First, the good news - measurements yesterday:

Bust - 103cm (2cm loss this week - 5cm loss in total - 14cm to go)
Waist - 99cm (1cm loss this week - 5cm loss in total - 27cm to go) - finally below 1m - yay!
Hips - 120cm (4cm loss this week - 11cm loss in total - 25cm to go) - yippee!

Then, I had my Alizonne session this evening and the bad news - I haven't lost any further weight since my doctor's appointment, and am still 100.7kg - bummer! I've decided I can't let this demotivate me, I have to stick with it and given I'm still seeing good centimetre loss I just need to keep at it - especially as it could just be PMT related.

The ultrasound made me really itchy today, but thankfully the endermologie was nowhere near as bad as it has been.

More to follow once I've been measured again on Sunday

Halleluyah - Doc's appointment - Day 29

So, I'm almost halfway through Phase 1 of Alizonne and had my first doctor's appointment to get my blood test results.

Luckily everything showed up normally, so all good there. I've also lost 1.1% of body fat, which according to her is fantastic. She checked my stomach and the Ultrasound seems to be breaking up the fat on my stomach, so she's recommended keeping the treatment on there for another 4 weeks, after which it will switch to my thighs - which need some attention too.

Best of all, I managed to shift additional weight since my last Ultrasound and Endermologie session on Monday, and have hit 100.7kg (15 stone 12)! That puts me just 0.7kg above where I should be, but I am super super chuffed, particularly given how far behind I was last week.

SO, SO happy I can't even begin to describe the feeling.....

Mixed emotions - Day 20

20 days in, I can't believe it.....

I had my Ultrasound and Endermologie treatment at Alizonne today. Thankfully the therapist was gentler with me, and it was nowhere near as painful.

Unfortunately, I only lost 1.3kg (2.8lbs) this week, ending up at 103.4kg - which puts me around 0.6kg below where I should be. They are estimating I should be at 100kg next week - which means I need to lose quite a massive 3.4kg in the next week to keep on track.

I'm feeling quite gutted, but still determined to keep going. I still lost something, in fact more than I have on many other diets, and I'm told it can be quite common for the body to hold on to fat sometimes.

I desperately hope things will pick up next week - please, please, please......

On the upside, my dreaded trip to Sweden, originally planned for the first week in Feb, has been postponed. I really didn't want to go given how difficult it would be to keep on track and not compromise, so this is fantastic news.

End of week 2 - Day 14

So, end of week 2 and although it's going fantastically well I haven't felt great today. I've been really achy in certain areas where the Endermologie machine was rubbed over me especially hard, like the top of my hips, outside of my arms and sides of my thighs. I've also got a horribly sore shoulder muscle on my right side, completely unrelated, which has meant I'm in quite a lot of pain.

Never mind though, I managed to soldier on and even invented a new recipe for dinner:

Pre-heat over to 180-degrees
Place 2 large mushrooms upside down on a baking sheet and remove their stalks
Sprinkle salt, pepper and 1/4 tablespoon olive oil on each one
Separately, finely chop the stalks and pak choi
Mix up a sachet of soup (I used the thai curry), slowly adding a little bit of water until a smooth paste has formed
Add the chopped stalks and pak choi to the soup mixture
Season with garlic flakes, chilli and mixed herbs
Spoon mixture into mushrooms, pushing them firmly in
Grind some pepper on top and sprinkle 1/4 tablespoon over each mushroom
Place in oven for 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are soft and cooked

Very filling and I'll definitely have it again!

Oh yeah - weight on Day 13

So, had my Ultrasound and Endermologie treatment at Alizonne today. For some reason the Endermologie was really painful, even after the therapist turned down the intensity. She thinks it could be because I just finished my period, but I don't know - all I know is afterwards I already had a bruise coming up on my left thigh, ouch!

On the massive upside, I've lost another 2.4kg (5.28lbs!) - bang on with the 5lbs minimum I wanted to lose each week. So, since starting I've lost 3.5kg - over half a stone at 7.7lbs! Doesn't sound like much but it has only been 12 full days.

I also swapped a few sachets for some additional pizza, one pancake, leek & potato soup and a caramel dessert - which I haven't had in an assorted box before. I still have a few to swap, but they didn't have anything else I wanted to I'll store these until next Monday when I'm next there.

Menu and weight - Day 5

First day back at work today so it was always going to be interesting to see how I got on, but all things considered it went very well:

Breakfast (7am finish): herb omelette

Snack (11am finish): hot chocolate

Lunch (2.30pm finish): vegetable soup with salad including skimmed yoghurt dressing. Again, my stomach felt fine which is great to see

Snack (5.30pm finish): plain chocolate dessert. I made the mistake of trying to mix this up at work which didn't really work, so in future will make this up at home and take it in refregerated which should work better

Dinner (9.30pm finish): cheese and bacon omelette with sauteed pak choi, tomato, mushrooms and red pepper - yum!

I also had an ultrasound and endermologie appointment at Alizonne this evening and the good news is I've lost 1.3kg in 4 and a bit days! Don't know whether this is good or not, but the therapist seemed pleased and based on my calculations I think I'm on track (hopefully!)

I also bought food for the week, again with an extra box for variety:

• 1 box assorted savouries - although I'm going to have these mostly for dinner rather than breakfast in future
• 2 boxes assorted soups - to be used for lunches and as broths and sauces for dinners
• 1 box hot choc - don't think I need to say anymore on this one ;)
• 1 box vanilla dessert - ditto - what can I say ;)
• 1 box plain choc dessert

I also exchanged 6 of my cappuccino sachets, as I haven't really enjoyed them, for a few new things to try:

• Oatmeal
• Pancake with apricot jelly
• Pancake with choc spread
• Pizza margharita

Just need to figure out what I do about a work lunch on Friday now - either bail out, don't eat anything there or try to get them to cook something.....

I'm on my way

I will post on food intake for day 1 later, but just wanted to post quickly about my experience yesterday at Alizonne.

I arrived for my appointment and had a few spare minutes to book in my next few weeks of treatments. Unfortunately I forgot my work diary at home so only managed to get 2 of the 4 weeks booked - leaving the rest to book the next day by phone.

I then got taken by a lovely therapist called Gloria to a treatment room, where I was told to strip down to my underwear. After weighing me (somehow I'm 1.5kg lighter than the first time I went!), I lay on my back on a bed so she could slather gel on and then strap a silicone belt over my stomach. Into this she slipped in plastic rods and then attached electric currents to the rods for the Ultrasound machine. Once she turned them on I was told I could feel itchy, but I didn't - this could be down to the stimulation I already get from the powerplate sessions at Movers & Shapers. What I did feel was small pin prick sensations - not painful just strange.

After around 20-25 minutes of this Gloria left the room and I had to take off my underwear and put on a full body stocking - not attractive I can tell you! I then lay on the bed while she used the Endermologie machine on me - basically a hoover type machine. The areas where I have the most cellulite were the most painful and she had to turn the pressure down, but the rest were ok.

All in all both treatments took an hour and 15 minutes, but we chatted throughout so it really flew by. Unfortunately I can't substitute skimmed yoghurt with soya yoghurt so will either need to find an alternative or live without.

Afterwards I picked up my pack of starter vitamins and food for the week (each box has 7 packs in):

• 1 pack assorted savouries
• 1 pack assorted soups
• 1 pack assorted desserts
• 1 pack cappuccino
• 1 pack hot choc
• 1 pack potato pie with herbs

I followed their advice of buying an extra pack as some I won't like as much as others.

Once we left we decided to have my "last meal" at Wagamama where I totally filled up.

Bring it on!