My Slimming World Journey - 1 Month In - Inc weight loss & photos!

Background/Reasons for 'dieting'

My weight has been a battle for the past couple of years.. it's gradually increased ever since I left uni 7 years ago. I've been on umpteenth diets, some have lasted days, some have lasted a few weeks, but I've never had the willpower to stick to one long enough to see great results that I'm happy with, and more importantly, results that I maintained.

If you read my '2015 Diary Events' you will know that I have 2 main events this year - My 30th birthday and a trip to Florida. I went to Florida almost 2 years ago now and I left that country not visiting a single waterpark. The only time my body saw a swimming pool was for 10 minutes, and that was only because we had our own private villa and everyone was out (i.e. my brother/dad etc) except my boyfriend and I, so I quickly jumped in for a dip, only to be forced out 10 mins later because of a late night thunderstorm. This made me sad because as a kid I used to love the water, and could play in it for hours, whether that be in a simple swimming pool or at a water park, so as you can imagine, I was pretty gutted when I revisited Florida and didn't have the confidence to bare all around a waterpark. Not only that but hot weather obviously means less clothes, and I just felt yucky and that people were secretly judging me. I felt ugly and didn't want to be in many photos because I was too conscious.

Knowing that this year's holiday will be our last 'big' holiday for a while, I wanted to make it a good one - I want to feel confident, healthy, light... like there's a spring in my step almost. I want to actually be in photos this time, as opposed to being the one taking them.

This is why I joined slimming world along with my friend, and I wanted to take you along on the ride. I'm going to do monthly updates (I figured monthly would be most attainable for me!). The posts will include my weight loss and thoughts, as well as meals that I've been eating, hoping to maybe give you some inspiration.

Weight Loss Although I'm not going to give you my starting weight (as I don't feel comfortable disclosing that on here just yet) I will still share with you my weekly losses (or gains!).

Week 1: -4lb
Week 2: -2lb
Week 3: -2.5 lb

Total weight loss for month 1 = 8.5lb.

Thoughts

Week one I felt I breezed through. I got a little bit addicted to weighing myself almost every day for a full week, but was loving watching the scales decrease. I sampled my first few SW meals (one being nice, the other being totally bland!). I was extremely happy with my 4lb loss. I don't think I've ever lost that much in one week.
Week two I felt a little bit disheartened. I weighed myself 4 days in and the scales hadn't budged from my weekly weigh in that I do myself on a Monday morning. I felt deflated, knowing I was sticking to the plan, and even exercised a little, but nothing. My friend pointed out that maybe it was because I had ate carbs for 3 days running at tea time - Mash on the Tuesday, Jacket Pot on Wed, and SW chips on Thurs - All of which have probably just sat in me which I haven't burnt off because I just veg out at night and then go to sleep, so the carbs have no where to go! I decided to switch it up and make sure I wasn't eating these types of foods for tea and it seemed to work. I went out for something to eat at the weekend and although I tried to look for something healthy, there wasn't a great deal. I went for beef stroganoff (which can I say was A-mazing, the sauce was made with what tasted like cream.. yum!). I didn't eat all of this though, simply becaue I was stuffed! Weigh in came and I was a little nervous.. expecting a 1lb - 1.5lb loss at the very most, and I ended up losing 2lb which was a nice surprise!
Week three I started the week being less careful than usual, and being a bit more 'lenient' with syns in my head. I didn't over-eat as such,  It was little things that I was doing (i.e. putting butter on bread etc and not spreading thinly!) - this is where I could go massively wrong. This was the week I also discovered a cookies & cream spread that Mike had bought in the cupboard. Usually I don't touch these kinds of foods because I don't like them, especially not on bread anyway, and tend to eat them by the spoonful instead if I do like them. Out of curiosity I tried this one and oh.my.god. It was SO good, and definitely up there with Nutella, if not better! Every day since I've had at least a few spoonfuls of this, so this really made me unhopeful about my next weigh in, but I felt like I just couldn't stop eating it. I did try and ask Mike to hide it, but he said I need to take control over my willpower instead, so left it in the cupboard. This was not good!
Week 3-4 I've called it week 3-4 because this is the last week of the month but will cross over into February, but whilst it is still January, my OCD tells me this needs to go into this post ;-)
3 days after my 3rd weigh-in, I feel like I've spoilt it a little - it was my friends last day at work today so we went and had a quick meal out in our lunch break (we're both on SW). We both ordered quiche, chips and salad.. followed by cornflake tart. The annoying thing was, it wasn't even that nice, but I ate the majority of both dishes. Later on today after arriving home I continued to have a Jaffa cake roll and bag of crisps, so I've completely gone over my syns today, and I'm scared that this is going to have an effect on next week's weigh in.
Also a few days ago Mike (my boyfriend) gave me a pretty attractive incentive. He said if I can lose a stone by the end of Feb I can treat myself to 10 Lush bath bombs (I'm pretty obsessed with Lush at the mo!). I've worked it out and it means I need to lose at least 1.5lb every week for the next 4 weeks. It's pretty do-able IF I don't make too many slip-ups.


Meal Inspiration

The majority of these are SW recipes. They may not look presentation-worthy but most of them were delish!
Smaller photos - 1st Column - Turkey Mince Moroccan Meatballs | Salmon & Veg | Chicken, Garlic & Lemon Casserole | Beef Stew. 2nd Column - 'Eggy' Bread | ? | Ham & Mushroom 'Cakes' (these were like omlettes but cooked in a muffin tin) SW Chips & Beans | Jacket Pot with beans and salad. 2 large photos - Mini Fry-Up | Spicy Chicken & Broccoli with green beans.

Overall Thoughts/What I've learnt

The first month has definitely not been as hard as I had anticipated. At times I've craved, but I've been able to fight the urge for the most part. I think also because I haven't completely neglected myself of sweet foods (which is my downfall) I haven't felt like I've been 'missing out' - I've always had some form of low-syn chocolate snack in the cupboard, and for the most part been content with just having one and drawing a line for the day. I've learnt not to over-stock the cupboards with treats, just in case. I've really changed my eating habits, and spent a hell of a lot of time cooking and food prepping! I've played with spices that I've never used before, and managed to create a fair few yummy (SW) dishes. I've ate more fruit this past month than I think I have in my entire life! I've sampled new foods, and discovered foods that I also hate! It's made me a lot more adventurous in the kitchen and I'm loving the results. (And don't forget, my 8.5lb weight loss was achieved in 3 weeks, not a month, because we started 1 week into Jan!). I've done almost zilch exercise, which, whilst I'm still losing weight, I'm happy with! Haha - why exercise when you can get away with not doing any and still lose?! I know in the near future I will have to start moving in order to begin shifting more lbs but for the time being, I'm enjoying just eating healthy and losing those extra lbs! One step at a time...!

Are you on Slimming World? Get in touch! I'd love to share my experience with more people! Also follow me on Instagram for regular SW updates! @kateld85. Follow me on GFC or bloglovin for monthly updates and my progress!