Well, here I am again. Happy New Year and all that jazz. It’s been a while since my last update so here goes. The pre Christmas stint on Exante went reasonably well but it became more and more difficult the closer we got to Christmas. I lost over 20lbs though to get down from 17 Stone 11 down to around 16 3ish. Then I went into Christmas. To be honest, the fallout from Christmas wasn’t as bad as previous years. I still put on half a shone (currently 16 stone 11lbs) but I’m sure that is just “holiday weight” that I would lose over time. I was always considering whether to go back to the packs after Christmas and I have decided to but, more on that later.
With the yo yo nature of my weight since 2008 when I started this blog it has been hard to see some of the positives. Now, with that said, I am more or less exactly 5 stone lighter today that I was in August of 2008. Almost 3 and half years later! Now when you read the amount of horror stories that I have about people putting ALL (and sometimes more) of their weight back on, I can’t help but have a small sense of pride in what I have achieved so far. The tail end of 2011 taught me a lot about my limits. After a few weeks of hardcore Exante, I started to eat food again but kept my diet much more in the realms of Lighterlife Routeto Management. Low carb, salads, soups etc. I actually relatively easily maintained for a good few weeks leading up to Christmas.
Looking back at my prior January posts has some interesting numbers
Jan 2009 – I finished the abstinence phase of lighterlife at 13 stone 10lbs.
Jan 2010 – 16 stone 10lbs.
Jan 2011 – 17 Stone 10lbs
Jan 2012 – 16Stone 11lbs
It’s very clear from the above that 2009 is the year I lost it big time. Putting on 3 stone in a year is bad enough but you then have to factor in that I was on Route to management until May! That 2nd half of 2009 clearly demonstrates that I was nowhere near ready to go it alone. Most of 2010 was obviously pretty low as well, leading up to the do or die period of Jan 2011. Only then, 4 stone heavier than when I finished, did I really start to get serious about where I wanted to be. I think I was so close to throwing in the towel at that point that another crack at a VLCD was the right thing to do.
So that comes to 2012. Should I be happy that I have stopped the rot and am a stone lighter than this time last year? Maybe. It’s been up and down over the last 12 months though. As a result I’ve decided to carry on with Exante. One final push back to the realms of the 14s if I can then have another crack at maintaining at a weight I actually want to be at. I still believe I can do it long term. I just refuse to slip so much that I can’t face it. Soooooooooooooooooooo, how long we looking at? I’m committing to at least 3 weeks total abstinence and may consider a further 3 weeks after that. Something I do want to continue for as long as possible is 2 packs a day for Breakfast and lunch. I will be easing myself back in to food much more gently this time. Also looking to build up my fitness at the same time, along with cutting way back on the booze front.
I guess when I look at this it isn’t anything I haven’t said before. However, I’m still here, still trying. Surely that’s what counts……
G
