Liver Diet Day 4

Total calories: 615

I feel much better today, no headache or listlessness.  The yellow fruit yoghurts are proving a hit and I'm having no trouble chugging them down, which has made life a little easier.

I am getting a little bored with my diet though, which is to be expected.

The odd chemical/gassy smell has remained, although it's not as strong as it was (I did check with John, who said he definitely couldn't smell anything, so it's just me) but now, I've got a strange taste in my mouth, which has reduced my desire to drink water. 

This has resulted in a reduction of my water intake, which I need to address, so I'm going to get some no added sugar squash tomorrow.

I'm still craving, although it's not for anything specific, just food, any food and I'm finding it strange to still be so hungry at times - usually, I feel bloated because I have a tendency to eat too much, now, I'm feeling hollow and empty.

I had a bath last night and decided to do everything in one go, so I washed my hair, put a treatment on it, did my face with a special face wash I have, used my sugar scrub and by the time I was ready to get out of the bath, I felt like I was going to pass out.

I managed to shuffle into the front room and sit down, but I still felt really ill and John had to help me to the back door to get some fresh air.

It took a good 20 minutes before I began to feel better and I think this was all down to overdoing things in a hot, steamy room whilst having no energy stores.

Still, at least I'm clean, sweet-smelling and smooth :)

All in all, I feel proud of myself for coping so well and would give myself a pat on the back if I could.

Liver Diet Day 3

Total calories: 680

Well, today when I woke up, I felt better.  My headache had gone and I generally had more energy.

I asked Ash if she would mind nipping to Tesco to get me some more yoghurts, which she did and I had another cheat-free day.

On the downside, I found that I missed normal food much more today than I have so far.

I was craving anything, literally!  It wasn't difficult to resist, but it was annoying to have to put up with the craving.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be easier and I'm seriously considering getting a days worth of Slimfast, just for a change.

One thing that really cheered me up was getting on the scales.  I discovered I'd lost two pounds in two days :)

Liver Diet Day 2

Total calories: 705

I woke up today with the headache I went to be with.  I still put this down to lack of calories and sugar withdrawal.

I faced my breakfast with trepidation and did not enjoy my yoghurt so I opened the strawberry one I'd frozen yesterday but I was very disappointed.

It had frozen solid and had ice crystals on the top.  Leaving it to thaw for 10-15 minutes didn't help either as it went watery and seemed to separate.

I started to feel desperate.  This is only day two - how am I going to survive if I can't eat the yoghurt part of the diet?

Lunch was soup and another yoghurt which I again, didn't enjoy.  

I'd tried nearly all the flavours in the fridge and didn't like any of them and the added problem was the sugar free jelly and ice poles that I'd bought.  They both tasted awful!

I left a message on the weight loss forum that I belong to and quickly received messages, suggesting different yoghurts to try.

After a good couple of hours checking the sugar content on the website, I concluded that there was only one flavour of two brands of yoghurts that I could eat because of their sugar content (I'm limited to less than 10g per 100g)

Finally, a lady left a message to say Morrison's were doing Slimfasts for £1 per bottle.  I didn't want to spend £5 per day on Slimfast but felt I was running out of options.

Luckily, my daughter Ash encouraged me to try one more pack of yoghurts - success!  Peach and pineapple, mango and passion fruit and mandarin.

For some reason, these yoghurts were thick and creamy and didn't have the horrible after-taste I'd been experiencing with all the other favours.

I immediately tucked into two pots and went to bed without feeling hungry.

I still felt weak and still had a headache, but I felt a lot more positive.  Tomorrow I will be buying more orange fruit yoghurts - roll on Monday.

Liver Diet Day 1

Total calories: 548

I got up fairly early today because we had a lot of running around to do.  

I was still quite full from last nights pig out but after 30 minutes or so, I thought I'd better have my first yoghurt of the day.

I picked a Mullerlight fat free strawberry flavoured one.  It was, well, not great.  I've never been a lover of yoghurt but I've had better tasting ones!

I also had a cup of coffee - I had to measure out 200ml of milk and store it separately in the fridge - that's my allowance for the day.

After breakfast, we hit the shops.  We had to pay a visit to the vets, The Pound Shop, Tesco, the Co-Op and Iceland.  By the time we got home, I was starving.

Once the shopping was put away, I warmed up a tin of weight watchers chicken, potato and leek soup.  I added some herbs to jazz it up and it was very nice.  I then had another yoghurt, this time, a toffee flavoured one.  This one tasted worse than the strawberry.  I'm now getting a little worried that the soup and yoghurt diet may not be the diet for me.

The afternoon was spent helping to clear out Ash's room.  What a tip!  We still hadn't finished by 6:20pm and my stomach was beginning to ask for food.  One thing I've noticed today is that I can clearly tell when I'm properly hungry.  Not picking has made this very clear to me, something that has never really been that clear before.

This time, I had two tins of weight watchers soup - hearty vegetable broth.  I won't buy this one again as it was very bland, but it did fill me up.

I'm going to wait until later to have another yoghurt because I've bunged one in the freezer - I'm hoping fat free yoghurt tastes better frozen!

I'm also waiting for my sugar free ice poles to freeze.  I've got a major thing for them at the moment.

It hasn't been difficult to stick to the diet but having said that, it is only day one.  John has been great and even offered to eat his steak sandwich in the garden but I said no and enjoyed a nice cold pint of water while he chowed down.

Day one is almost over and I'm still alive lol! 

Footnote:  I started to feel ill later on in the evening.  I felt very lethargic and got a headache.  I tried a couple of the ice poles and they had a strange taste to them but John said they tasted fine.  I also started to smell an odd gassy/chemical smell but John couldn't smell anything.  By the time I went to bed I felt worse and the headache got pretty bad.  I got up with it as well.

The Last Supper

Today has been a funny day.  I feel as if I've been in limbo, waiting for tomorrow and the start of my liver diet.

I've done some checking and worked out that consuming 4 Weight Watchers soups and 4 Mullerlight yoghurts will give me an approximate intake of 764 calories per day - if I can't lose some weight on this two week diet, there's no hope for me!

My husband has been very kind and understanding and bought me my favourite take-away for dinner, peri peri chicken with rice and salad (yes, I do eat salad).

After dinner, I began to panic, realising this was it - after tomorrow there would be no more eating and drinking the stuff that I'd been feasting on for most of my life.

It's a scary prospect.  I won't even be able to pop a french fry into my mouth!  I'll have to think about every single item that I eat and drink for the foreseeable future.

My lovely husband, sensing my change in mood,went out and bought me a bottle of Crabbies and a large block of chocolate.

Strangely, I didn't enjoy them as much as I thought I would and this made me feel very annoyed as I'd consumed these extra calories for no reason.

Tomorrow is a brand new day for me and I've been making plans to keep myself busy for the next two weeks, doing jobs around the house and having a clear out.  I'll be making regular posts from now on with what I'm eating and drinking and how I'm feeling.

The countdown has now begun...

A Greedy Weekend!

The beginning of August is both a cause of celebration and sadness.

It's my wedding anniversary on 1st August and the anniversary of my mothers death on 4th August, so I always approach this particular month with very mixed feelings.

This year however, I've been in a much happier frame of mind, probably due to the excitement of my coming surgery and my husband decided that he would be taking me out for a nice meal, just the two of us, to celebrate 17 years of married bliss.

We had a lovely indian meal on the Saturday and planned to go the cemetery on the Sunday, but then, my in-laws decided that they wanted us all to go out for a meal so we ended up at the Harvester Sunday afternoon.

We had a drink while we waited for a table and then stuffed ourselves silly on salad, ribs and profiteroles.

I did not intend to make such a pig of myself and felt rather guilty afterwards, especially when the in-laws refused to let us pay!

I am now on the last week before I start my liver diet and will be going shopping for diet soup, low fat, low sugar yoghurt, sugar free ice pops, squash and jelly.

I would also like to add that we went to the cemetery and tidied up my mum's grave, laid flowers and remembered her in an appropriate manner.  She's been gone for 14 years now and I still miss her very much.

Second Thoughts?

All the way through, I've been really positive about having weight loss surgery, but recently, there's been some negativity regarding the whole process which has caused me to second guess my decision.

I was reading in the paper about a woman who'd had a gastric bypass and then a tummy tuck to remove the excess skin.

The cosmetic surgery had gone terribly wrong, leaving the woman with permanent scarring and chronic pain.

Most of the comments that were left were appalling, calling the woman lazy, accusing her of spending tax payers money on unnecessary surgery and suggesting she should have got off her arse and lost the weight naturally.

I was then introduced to a friend of a friend, who had heard that I was due to have surgery and she immediately asked if I was paying for it myself.

I get angry with myself because I'm too sensitive and thin skinned and other people's negative opinions bother me, when they shouldn't.

Why do people have such a negative attitude towards weight loss surgery, especially when it's on the NHS?

If I were bulimic or anorexic, would they feel the same?  If I got drunk and walked out in front of a car and needed surgery, would they feel the same?

Why do people having weight loss surgery ALWAYS have to defend themselves?

I started to have second thoughts about my decision, worrying about what people were saying and thinking behind my back.

But then I realised - IT'S NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS!

I've paid into the NHS, so has my husband, my parents, his parents etc - so why shouldn't I be entitled to surgery?  

I'm hoping that the surgery will drastically improve, if not cure some of my health problems, there-by reducing my need for NHS treatment in the future.

So to all those people who don't agree with my decision to have surgery, just remember one thing...you're not paying for it, mine and my family's contributions have already covered the cost, so jog on!