Club Diet Plate

I've just bought plates for my mum and dad and decided to get one for myself. Dad has just been diagnosed with diabetes and trying to get his head round more sensible eating. I've successfully lost weight with Slimming World in the past and I know it works - I'm not hugely overweight but half a stone really does make a difference to my frame of mind and the way my clothes fit and I begin to feel frumpy and irritable. I can't seem to keep up the good habits, lapse, get cross with myself and don't weigh from week to week and then find I've put on half a stone which is a devil to shift. Every time I get to my ideal weight and feel so good I say that I will NEVER go back to being where I'm unhappy... I've said that AT LEAST 3 times now.

Have been halfheartedly doing SW all this year and it's not made any difference this time. Seem to have more days where I've nearly been good all day, then spoil it! I'm not sure that the huge portions you can have on it play to my strengths cus I do tend to be a bit greedy. Also I wonder whether the menopause slows down weight loss or just makes it more difficult to get your head into gear. Either way, I'm struggling! I'm hoping that following some of the SW extra easy or red and green plans, combined with the portion control of The Plate at evening meal time will help me. Typically I'd have 2 weetabix and a banana for breakfast (bit stuck in my ways there) and when at work I mainly eat fruit (eg apples/kiwis/another banana) or some cold meat slices for snacking on/or cooked king prawns maybe and a low fat Activia. I do tend to eat a large pile at teatime. Mainly I don't snack other than fruit in the evening when my head is 'right' but other days I will just start on the biscuits and can't stop and could happily devour a packet. I've got a sweet tooth so biscuits and choc and cakes are my downfall - I shouldn't buy them or have them in the house really but my partner likes them and sometimes if there is nothing sweet in I have to go out and buy something cus I get fidgety and can't stop thinking about it!

Weekends mainly I have a complete 'day off' as we may go out walking in the hills (I live in your area Kay so no excuse not to exercise by having lovely walks!) We will have a pub lunch or tea/cake and coffee etc. Can take or leave alcohol. Have tried taking pack ups when I'm in my 'good' mode, but we usually end up in a pub/go for a curry regardless.

Have been trying to get a bit more exercise in during the week but after being really good for about 3 weeks that's lapsed again this week, I really just need to get motivated again before a big holiday at the end of the year (away for 2 months and want to be able to fit in all my clothes and have a bit of leeway so that I can relax and not worry too much but not come back having to start all over again). I really need to lose at least 10lb before mid November. It all sounds so easy and doable writing it down like this so why can't I do it and keep sabotaging myself!?

I'm going to use the plate on Sunday for the first time properly - it looks like it will be a shock to the system to see how much of each type of food I SHOULD be having.

Sorry to woffle on, thanks for reading and for any tips anyone can offer!
Deb

Hi Debs, It's great to have someone from my neck of the woods on the forum! The walking and countryside around here is a real gift to us - a four hour walk around Froggatt Edge on the way to Calver is highly recommended it is a definite fat burner!

Reading through your normal regime - bar the biscuits and sweet tooth, you are doing everything right except your evening meal, which is when the diet plate comes into its own!

Your Diet Plate is perfect for you to manage that meal, it will teach you good portion control so that you dont yo-yo. And, when you do get to your goal weight, 10lbs should come off in 5-6 weeks easily, then use it Monday - Friday and only at weekends let yourself relax and indulge your sweet tooth! And no more abnormal meals you can mix your carbs and proteins, tuck into your favourite meal without guilt.

That way you should maintain your goal weight. The great thing about TDP is it literally does teach you visually what your portion ssize should be - take tonight for me, I was out dining at a friends house and was served 3 times the amount of potato I have on my diet plate.

As I know the portions so well now, it was easy for me to cut the amount I was allowing myself and leave the rest. And as far as my host was concerned, he understood and was happy for me to leave it.

Let us know how you get on, hope to see you on here a lot. The course is underway again after a blip, hopefully it will be launched in the not too distant future.
K

Thanks for your reply Kay! Not been out Froggatt way for ages, will bear that in mind, we do walk a fair bit round our way in Glossop, Cown Edge literally on our doorstep.

I tried the plate yesterday for my evening meal. I initially had a big lip on cus of the 'small' amount of meat (pork chunks I'd marinated in yoghurt lemon and lime, then cooked it with red onions/garlic/ginger/mushrooms/peppers/fresh mint/lemon/lime/coriander/soysauce which smelt lovely and I'd normally want a full plate of it) but knew I had to give it a chance - I filled the veg area up with carrots/broc/cauli and put some new potatoes in their skins in the carbs area and settled down to eat it convinced it wouldn't be enough but once I got started I ended up not having 2 of the potatoes and the amount of meat was actually just right! Amazing!

Today's tea was a similar concoction but with mini chicken fillets of which I had 2 (probably used to have at least 5)! I did noodles instead of new potatoes-my usual amount was way too large for the marked portion so I removed all the excess and put it in a bowl for another meal tomorrow, did the veg and added a bowl of salad on the side too-felt really full. WIll just have satsuma and/or yoghurt for snack this evening.

So far so good! I'm really pleased the portion sizes have surprised me - in a good way! - and shown that I can actually be satisfied with the measured amount.

Will continue for the rest of the week and report in again after Friday's tea but feeling full of hope - not full of biscuits!

Good luck to everyone giving it a whirl
Deb

Hi Debs,

I hope the weather is hot enough for you? How are you getting on with it this week, are you checking into the weekly weigh in thread. I'm going to, this morning the scales showed a 3lb weight loss - could be fluid but I like to think not.
K

Yes I'll check out the weigh in thread - I don't usually weigh until Fridays so it won't be a full week of the plate, just 5 days - but I did have a sneaky weigh this morning and I was 3lb down from last Friday so that seems promising to say the least and like you, hoping it's not just fluid!! Well done on that loss, it's a good one, it's such a good feeling to see a loss and can get you into a completely different, determined mindset.

Hi Debs, I started again on Monday, so far I am doing fabulous with it again, it feels like I am in the same frame of mind I was when I first did it all those years ago. I lost 6 stones and slimmed down from a size 24-26 to a size 14 - 16.

At that point, men started coming out of the wood work at me, and it rather scared me, so i purposely put some back on. At a 16-18 only the brave approach me. However, although I have maintained a size 16-18 for a decade, after my horse riding accident in January at Hargate, I started to put weight on through inactivity, too quickly surprisingly.

This has has spurred me on to start again and behve myself (sometimes I am just too close to my product) - and in doing so, now I am ten years older, and a bit more seasoned as in old and well out of my divorce, I dont think i would mind too much if I got male attention this time. So my goal now is not only to get to a size 14 - but to 10-12 this time.

The way I am going this week I should do it! Have to say tonight I am hungrier than ususal I have not had my banana and apple today, just porridge and a chicken sub for lunch. Tonight I have a pork chop (eye of) new potatoes, green beans and broccoli of which I eat a ton! I think the lack of fruit has told on me, but i bought a punnet of cherries on the way home so will be ok.
keep on, you are doing great.
K

Hi K
I've checked into the weigh in page - just over 3.5lbs so very chuffed indeed!

Your story and others have valid reasons for putting on weight - overcoming obstacles - I feel really mine has just been greed - maybe a bit of comfort eating if I get a little bit stressed, poor planning and kidding myself. This stupid cycle has to stop and while this motivated head is on, it is great. Just need to up the exercise a bit too.

Hope you enjoyed your cherries! I have eaten cherries this week for the first time in years - didn't realise I liked them and been through 3 punnets! Had cantaloupe melon and bought pears which weren't a regular on my shopping list, just for a change. It's good to try something different now and again to stop being in a rut. I have actually noticed the taste of my main meal much more this week and for that reason enjoyed them more! As I dish up the meal it still doesn't look enough to satisfy my appetite at first, but it really is once I've started eating and I don't want to go back for seconds.

Thanks for having such a brilliant but simple idea that does seem to work - but it's down to us now to use it and stick with it. What happens when we get to target weight and don't want to lose more, still worth using it but on 3 days a week perhaps and by that time we'll all be in better habits anyway? Just need to be mindful of not creeping back into bad ways for too many days at a time. Might have to buy a melamine one plate to take on holiday - a 2 months hol is going to be a challenge, but we are staying in some self-catering places along the way and even I with my greediness couldn't eat out every evening for 2 months!

Good luck, will check again on Sunday to see how everyone is doing - have a good weekend all
Deb

Hi Debs,

A 2 month holiday, lucky you! By then though you will have the portion sizes firmly set in your minds eye, it will be an interesting experiment to see how well you can discipline yourself to stick to them without that physical plate to help guide.

Incidentally the maintenance is 5 days on 2 days off, so Monday -Friday diet plate, weekend knock yourself out. But, if you KYO too much it will show, so just go back to the 7 days untill back to goal. Worth every penny isn't it?
best
K
PS: My weigh in is on Monday - i will let you know how I get on.