Oh my gosh!

I woke up this morning and decided that I needed to blog. Not because I want to brag, but because there are so many good things going on in my life at the moment, I wanted to show everyone that yes - it does get better! Don't get me wrong, sometimes work sucks and sometimes I have days where I hate everything. But then there are days like today were everything is all good!

I opened my eyes this morning after snoozing my alarm for the gazillionth time and still felt tired. I'm not a morning person and never will be (except for my birthday and Christmas Day when I get up at 5am obviously). Getting up in the morning is something that takes me a while, but eventually I mustered up the energy to rise from my slumber. Feeling curious I thought I'd weigh myself. No real reason for it - I have been off the Exante diet for two weeks now and just eating healthily so I wasn't expecting any significant weight loss but thought I'd see where I was at. Well to my surprise I had lost another 2.5 lbs which brings me to the 2 stone weight loss mark! 2 whole stone gone! 28lbs!

When I say I was surprised I mean it. For the last two weekends I have had naughty Saturdays and eaten some unhealthy things and drank some alcoholic beverages. I think the term 'cheat meal' doesn't cover what happened on the Saturday just gone; Costa Gingerbread Latte for breakfast, a cupcake, bread, breaded chicken, two slices of pizza, Doritos and salsa, popcorn and a LOT of vodka with some Jagerbombs thrown in for good measure. Oh and Sunday morning I had a fried brekky at the café. Oops.

But adding all that into consideration, I've still lost 2.5lbs since I stopped doing Exante two weeks ago which isn't too shabby. Now I'm not saying that as long as you eat healthy Monday-Friday you can eat whatever you want on the weekends, trust me it doesn't work like that. That's how I gained all the weight in the beginning anyway. But everything I did have, I had in moderation. I would have eaten so much more before the diet, but I managed to control myself into having just one cupcake and just one piece of bread and just two (small I might add) slices of pizza. I may have gone a bit overboard with the vodka, and my head would have probably appreciated it if I'd controlled myself in that respect with the way I felt Sunday morning but you live and you learn. I've become a bit of a lightweight in my new 'lighter' form, so I'll have to watch how much I'm drinking more closely in the future. Yay for saving money on nights out!

So after I was finished jumping up and down with glee after learning about my new weight loss I was ready for the day ahead. It's Friday, it's payday and my lovely boyfriend is going to make me dinner tonight. Life is good.

At the beginning of 2015 I was insecure, unhappy with how I looked and felt and just plain fed up. I was in a job that I hated and getting no where fast with moving out into my own place. Well, look at me now. I've lost a bit of weight, feel more confident, I'm doing a job that I love and thanks to a very nice pay rise from my new employers my savings have rocketed. My point is, things do get better. When you're in all the crap and everything is going wrong it is hard to be optimistic, and the worst thing is when all everyone is telling you is that it will get better. How do they know? Are they psychic? No. But maybe they've been in a really crappy place too, and now they are on the other side of it. Maybe they can see the potential in you and that you will be able to get through whatever challenges come your way. And I bet you in a few months when you're through all the crap, you'll be saying exactly the same to someone else.

2015 has definitely been a year of positive changes for me, and I feel like it's been a long time overdue. Right now, I'm in a really good place in my life. It's just an added bonus that it's Autumn and fast approaching Christmas which is my favourite time of year! I'm not one of those crazy people who puts their Christmas tree up early - we put it up 12 days before Christmas and take it down 12 days after, just because that's how it's always been. However, I do get super excited and feel super festive SUPER early. I start buying my Christmas presents in October, and I've wrapped all my presents as well. Because why not? Anything to do with Christmas makes me feel 5 years old again and I want to jump up and down with joy! My Christmas baking sessions will begin soon, so I'll be adding some recipes and ideas onto my blog for you to try at home - including a massive gingerbread house!

I've rambled on for long enough now, but just a final message to everyone reading. You are beautiful, you are amazing, and whatever crap you are going through right now won't last forever. You are strong enough to make it through. I believe in you!

It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change

This is probably going to be my last 'diet' related post for a while. I've officially finished my journey with Exante and now I'm back on the healthy eating routine; and as the title of this blog post suggests it is a permanent lifestyle change not a diet.

I'm so happy to be eating actual food again, rather than shakes and bars. I've definitely missed my breakfast smoothies and my salads for lunch, so getting back to healthy eating has been heaven. I've made a few changes to my diet, ensuring my carbohydrate intake is still relatively low, and my protein and fat intake at the higher end of the scale.

I've started using My Fitness Pal again to track my calories and macros to ensure I'm on track. I used this app when I lost my 14lbs through healthy eating and exercise earlier this year, and it definitely helps me avoid bad food choices when I know I have to input them into my daily food diary!

My daily calorie intake is set at 1,200 which is the recommended intake to be able to lose roughly 1.5lbs per week. I've altered my macros to lower my carbohydrate intake as the 'default' that the app set my carb allowance at was too high for me at the moment.

My macros are currently set as:

• 120g Protein - 40% daily intake
• 40g Fat - 30% daily intake
• 90g Carbohydrates - 30% daily intake

I'm going to keep my macros like this for 4 weeks and introduce exercise back into my routine. From there I will be able to assess my weight loss and see if anything needs altering. It's going to be pretty trial and error at the moment, so I will persevere and see how I go!

I have been off of Exante products officially for 6 days so far, and have managed to maintain my weight. I even had a 'cheat' on Halloween last weekend and ate some popcorn and Skittles! It's all about balance. 

I am relatively happy at the weight I am at the moment but would still like to lose another 14lbs. I'm going to keep going until I reach a comfortable weight, then will transfer over to maintainence. This part is going to be slow and steady, rather than the drastic weight loss that I experienced with Exante. My aim is to lose 7lbs by February 2016, then another 7lbs by May 2016. My target obviously may change depending on how I feel/look but as long as at the end I am happy, really that's all that matters.

On a side note, you've hopefully noticed that my blog design has changed quite a lot! I have been playing about with the template and design for the past couple of weeks (hence not writing any blog posts) but I'm happy with how it looks now so there will be a lot more posts from me in the near future. From now I will be posting more fashion hauls and beauty/make up review type posts, along with featuring some of my favourite healthy recipes for you to try. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

It's time for a change up

I'm currently half way through week 7 of the Exante diet and I'm feeling like it's time for a change. As this current moment I have lost a total of 22.5lbs over the past 6 and a bit weeks which is fantastic, but I'm gasping for some 'normal' food.

Luckily next week is food week, which means I will be incorporating a lovely high protein low carb evening meal. Usually during food week you are supposed to have your three packs as well as the meal, which I found difficult during my first food week. This time I am going to change things up a bit and just have two packs per day and a healthy meal in the evening. I am then planning to continue this on through the next couple of months, whilst slowly introducing normal food back into my diet and coming off of the Exante packs.

The main reason for this is that my weight loss has slowed right down over the past few weeks. I have been chatting to a few of my fellow Exantians who have also been having the same sort of problem, and we have put it down to one thing; carbohydrate intake. Having three packs of Exante per day results in you having around 60g of carbs, however for some of us carb sensitive beings, 60g is too high to remain in ketosis. To test whether this is applicable to me, I will be swapping out one of my Exante packs for a low carb high protein meal, meaning that I will be consuming between 40g - 45g of carbs a day. If my weight loss speeds up then that is a clear indicator that 60g of carbs per day is too high for me to remain in ketosis.

Obviously this is completely trial and error, however if it speeds up my weight loss and proves that I may be slightly carb sensitive then it will obviously be a lot of help. I also believe that having more protein and vegetables is way healthier than an Exante pack anyway, and it will definitely help with my digestion which has been affected by Exante.

I am planning to do this 2 pack/1 meal routine until the middle to end of November, or until I reach my goal weight (whichever comes first). I will then remove Exante products from my diet and start to eat real healthy food, whilst still keeping my carb intake low.  I will be upping my carb intake to a maximum of 80g per day for maintenance, however if I continue to lose weight I will then up it again until I am happily maintaining my goal weight. Like I mentioned before, it's all a bit trial and error to see what works for you.

I have put together a few low carb recipes and meal ideas for when I finish my Exante journey, which I will share in my next post!

So I’ve been away for a while..

I always seem to have bad timing when starting a blog. However the time I started this one couldn’t be helped as it was born from my experiences with starting the Exante diet. However, at the moment it has coincided with a lot of work and a lot of exhaustion!

I’m not going to sit and make excuses, I am simply going to pick up from where I left off and update you on what has been going on over the past couple of weeks I've been absent.

I think the most important thing to mention is that I am now nearing the end of week 6 on the Exante diet and so far I have lost a massive 18lbs! I'm definitely noticing a difference in my clothing, as well as receiving a couple of compliments which clearly means its working. I have stuck to the diet 98% (no not 100% but I will explain) and it's paid off. It is definitely easier as you get further through the diet because you just become used to this way of life I suppose, however of course I am looking forward to finishing.

So.. the little 2% cheat I had.. yeah, lets talk about that. Basically I went to see Michael McIntyre (AMAZING) at the O2 on Sunday 4th October with my sister. Myself and my sister are always at the O2 seeing bands, comedy acts and the like that it has become a tradition that we go quite early, have a meal and chill out then go to see the show. Honestly, I was feeling selfish and so pleased with reaching the 1 stone loss mark the week before, that I thought I would 'treat' myself. Now if you're imagining me sitting in TGI Fridays downing countless cocktails, potato skins, BBQ ribs, fries and ice cream sundaes then unfortunately you would be wrong. We went to Nandos and I had a very healthy 'food week' type meal of Avocado and Bean salad with Butterfly Chicken. No sauces, no carbs. Oh and I drank water. We even went to Starbucks (another tradition) and I had a Green Tea; managing to resist the absolutely amazing Pumpkin Spiced Latte!

I'd only had a milkshake during the day and decided to take a bar with me to have during the show if I got peckish, which I ended up eating at about 10pm! And do you know what? I didn't feel like I missed out. My meal at Nandos was delicious and MASSIVE - it took me ages to eat and filled me up for a good few hours. I saw a change in myself. Yes we are going out, and you could say it's a special occasion, but why does that mean that I need to eat a whole load of carbs and calorific food to enjoy myself? It doesn't! I think the Nandos salad and chicken will be a staple part of my social diet from now on - and if you haven't tried it, do it! 

Well that was last Sunday, and so far this week I have lost 2lbs so it can't have hurt my diet too much. This doesn't mean that every weekend I will now be going to Nandos just because I can, but that if there is a social occasion that I want to attend then I'm not going to deprive myself of that - I do have options. And after all, food week is only 9 days away which will satisfy my chicken salad cravings!

Mentioning food week, I realised that I didn't post about it whilst I was actually doing it. Let's just say it was beautiful. It was tough to be able to actually eat all three packs then a meal, but by the end of the week I was well into the swing of it and sad to say goodbye. I stuck to the meals that I had planned out consisting of either chicken breast or turkey steak with a side of an avocado and cucumber salad or a load of broccoli. It was delicious!

I haven't decided completely what my relationship with Exante holds for the future at the moment. My weight loss is slowing down (which is to be expected) and I feel like having two packs and a high protein low carb meal per day rather than three packs may give me a boost and help my digestion! I'm going to keep going 100% until the end of October, take a look at my losses and make a decision - and I promise I will keep you updated!

I hope you all have a lovely day, and a lovely weekend! I'll be back very soon!

Finished week three!

It's done! I'm sitting here now drinking my peppermint tea and thinking about how quickly the past three weeks have gone, and how far I've come.

Now that the first three weeks of my journey on the Exante diet have been completed, tomorrow I will be tackling food week. As I've mentioned in a previous post, food week is mandatory every fourth week on Exante to give your body a bit of a break from the diet and helps to avoid developing health problems that are common with VLCD's such as gallstones. 

On food week you have a couple of options for what you can chose to do. If you would like to avoid food completely through fear of falling off the wagon, you can add in a minimum of 200 calories of milk per day along with having the usual three packs. This could mean that you use milk in your tea/coffee or in your shakes. Alternatively you can 'treat' yourself to some actual real food! (Yeah I know right.. amazing!) Which needs to be very low carb to ensure you stay in ketosis. I have taken some inspiration from the ketosis recipes on the Exante website and will be having the following meals:

- Cajun turkey steak with a cucumber and avocado salad

- Seasoned chicken breast with broccoli and spinach

Another option I may use is adding a chicken breast to the 'indian style curry and rice' meal pack on Saturday night so I feel like I'm eating an actual takeaway! What a rebel!

The past two weeks of weight loss have slowed right down for me; this week I only lost 1.5lbs. However when you add it all together over the whole three weeks I have be doing Exante, I have lost a total of 12lbs! Food week should give my metabolism a bit of a boost so I'm hoping to lose another 2lbs next week, meaning I will have achieved my target of losing 1 stone in a month! 

To say that I'm proud of myself is an understatement. I am a determined girl who decided she wanted to lose weight and probably chose one of the hardest ways to do it. The amount of cakes, biscuits, pizza and other naughty foods that I have said no to over the past three weeks has made me really realize that I don't need all those extra 'treats'. I've started to put together a low carb, high protein/healthy fat diet for when I finish Exante and researching different ways of cooking has shown me that there are so many options available to me! 

Whilst on this journey I will put together and post some of my low carb recipes to help my fellow Exantians and all you other beautiful people to make good food choices. Together we will be healthy!

xoxo

Week two on Exante almost done!

So the dreaded week two is almost over and I’m not actually looking forward to weighing in on Monday. Most people experience hardly any loss on the second week of Exante – maybe a couple of lbs if that – and after losing such a massive amount in the first week, it’s a bit of a de-motivator. You’ve just got to keep at it, and week three usually offers a pretty good loss again.

I have felt a bit down this week though, it has to be said. I had a couple of cheeky weigh ins and noticed that my weight had actually gone up 1lb! I’ve stuck to the plan 100% so this felt horrible to be putting ON weight when you basically feel like your starving yourself. Seeing that really put me in a bad mood, but after chatting to my fellow Exantians they explained it could be any number of things! Changes in hormones, water retention and being a bit ‘backed up’ can all play a massive part in this diet and weight fluctuations. The key is to not let it get you down and to keep at it. DO NOT GIVE UP!

On the plus side, being on this diet now feels like the norm. I have the same daily routine and it works for me. It’s refreshing to not have to think about food; which let’s face it was a massive part of my life beforehand. I mean, I LOVE FOOD. Which is the precise reason why I’m on this diet; I was like food’s clingy girlfriend who never wanted to let go. But look at me now, 12 whole days and I haven’t eaten anything but Exante meals. I’m growing! Or shrinking I suppose.

This is my daily routine which has worked out pretty well over the last two weeks:

7.00am     Out of bed, get ready for work, drink a glass of water

8.00am     Arrive at work, drink a black coffee

9.00am     I make sure I’ve drunk at least 0.5ltr of water by this time

10.00am   Drink a peppermint green tea

11.00am    I make sure I’ve drunk at least 1ltr of water by this time

12.00am   Drink a black coffee and eat half of an Exante bar

1.00pm      Drink a peppermint green tea

2.00pm      I make sure I’ve drunk at least 1.5ltrs of water by this time

3.00pm      Drink a black coffee and eat the other half of my Exante bar

4.00pm     Drink a peppermint green tea

5.00pm     Home time! I make sure I’ve drunk at least 2ltrs of water by this time

6.00pm     Have an Exante shake

7.00pm     Drink a peppermint green tea

8.00pm     Have another Exante pack of my choice – either another shake or a ‘meal’

9.00pm     Drink a glass of water

10.00pm   Get into bed with a peppermint green tea and relax!

That’s just how I do things and it’s worked well for me. If you’re having trouble, try having your first pack as late in the day as possible because then it means that you’ve got two more packs to have in the evenings which is when most people get the munchies! Also try splitting your packs as well :) 

I hope these ramblings have helped in some way! I’ve decided I am going to vary the posts on this blog, so they won’t all be about Exante and instead I will feature more ‘bloggy’ things like articles on Fashion, Beauty, Health, Travel etc. I hope you enjoy!

xoxo

My first week on the Exante diet

I’ve decided to document my journey on the Exante diet for others to be able to see what it involves. When looking into doing the Exante diet I found it very hard to find other people who had done the diet and what their experiences have been, so if you are interested in doing this diet then I hope this blog will help you!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram - jodibbs 

I started the Exante diet on Monday 31st August 2015. If you don’t know what Exante is, it’s a company that offer a range of diet meal replacement products with several different plans for you to follow. I am currently on the Total Solution - Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) plan which involves consuming just 600 calories a day consisting of three 200 calories ‘meals’. Unlike other similar diets - like the Cambridge Diet – there is no weekly weigh in, support groups or consultants. I am a member of a great Facebook group where we chat daily about being on the diet and offer each other motivation and support.

You can get a wide variety of different meals on the VLCD such as:
   -  Shakes and smoothies
   -  Bars
   -  Pancakes
   -  Porridge
   -  Hot meals like curry, noodles, spag bol etc.
   -  Desserts

Originally I had decided that I would just use the shakes and bars for the diet, however after completing my first week, I think introducing the hot meal options is going to be the best for me. Now that the weather is getting colder, in the evenings sometimes the last thing you want is a cold milkshake for your dinner!

I’ve found all of the meals that I’ve had so far really tasty. They definitely taste ‘artificial’ but that’s the same with any meal replacement product. Once you are used to the taste and the concept of not eating real food, the whole thing isn’t that bad.

And the weight loss is a great motivator as well! I have 42lbs in total to lose and I am aiming to get all the weight off by December in time for Christmas. In my first week I have lost a grand total of 9lbs which means I’ve achieved 20% of my weight loss goal already! Now that seems like a lot, but it is a realistic amount for the first week on a VLCD as you are cutting your calories very low very quickly. It is a drastic diet for dramatic weight loss, and as long as you stick to the plan 100% then you can achieve the results you want.

Being on this diet and sticking to it 100% means that you also have to avoid certain things as well. The idea of the diet is that your body goes into ‘ketosis’ which basically means that your body is burning your fat stores for energy due to the lack of food you are eating and this is why you lose weight. Some things like citric acid can throw your body out of ketosis and will stop/slow the fat burning process. This means you need to avoid fruit flavoured teas and some flavoured water that contain citric acid. You also need to stop having milk in your tea. Going without milk has been hard for me as I really enjoy my tea, however I’ve now adjusted to drinking black coffee and peppermint green tea (which I also believe has helped a lot with the weight loss so far).

So what do I eat? Well, during the week I will have 1 bar and 2 milkshakes as my meals, and then on the weekends I ‘treat’ myself to either porridge or pancakes for breakfast, a bar/shake for lunch, then a hot meal for dinner such as the curry. I have found that this diet is quite easy to achieve during the week when I’m at work as there aren’t many distractions and keeping busy helps with the hunger pangs. Weekends are most definitely the hardest. Whilst I am on this diet I have had to cancel social events during September and October which involve food; which includes my best friend’s birthday meal! It may seem drastic but I’m in the right mind-set to be able to do this now, and if I keep putting it off because of various social events I’ll never start. There will always be some sort of excuse!

I’m not going to lie, starting this diet is HARD. I’m not going to pretend it’s easy, because it’s not. You will be hungry for the first few days, but once your body goes into ketosis and starts using your fat stores for energy, the hunger subsides and it gets a bit easier. You’ll still want ‘normal’ food though. Believe me, when you’re sitting next to your boyfriend when he’s eating a big plate of chicken and pasta and you are sat cradling a cup of green tea it really doesn’t seem fair.

The key is to remember WHY you’re doing this in the first place. You want to lose that weight and be healthy. And it’s only for a couple of months of your life! In the grand scheme of things, a couple of months of sacrifice to be closer to achieving the body you want isn’t such a disaster after all.

I’ll keep updating this blog throughout my progress, including weekly weigh ins and possibly some photo comparisons. Anyone is currently on Exante or looking at doing it, please feel free to comment with your input and ask questions. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the first week without the support of my fellow ‘Exantians’ so I am here for you! We are all in this together! 

xoxo