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Oodles' Weekly Weigh In

Well done on your weight loss oodles, that's brilliant :clap:

Haha great that you got through the family meal by being very clever. I've done that, said I've had a big meal earlier, to cover up the fact I was hardly eating anything. :D

Lots of exciting times ahead eh! Bring it on :D
 
Well another first - experienced my first meal out! Stayed with friends for a couple of days and we went to Wetherspoons for lunch yesterday. Wetherspoons are great - they post all the calories for each meal! Ended up having the piri piri chicken breast (257 cals) with a side salad and managed half (with no piri piri sauce). My friends had a surf and turf which looked and smelled divine! But I coped :)

But that's all I'd had to eat yesterday after a very milky coffee for breakfast and the last of my trusty pot of roasted soy beans while we were out. When I drove back late last night I decided to see what the service station had to offer. I perused the sarnies and salivated, but they had no packet ham or anything and as I had a 2h drive I knew I had to eat something. I decided to go for the lowest calorie option I could find, which was a packet of skips. I ate the whole bag :/ they were delicious! But I was surprised I could manage the whole bag. I guess though they dissolve to nothing. This was definitely a one off and I know there is no nutritious value in them but it was about 10pm and I didn't want to get weak on the drive home.

Plus I have a swimming session today so I'm sure I'll burn them off ;)

Went swimming on Tuesday for the first time in about 15 years. It was so so so amazing. I love swimming so much. I had swimming lessons every week throughout my childhood until I was about 13 and then regularly went with my family. I used to love being in the water so much. I was a little apprehensive as I have asthma now so worried my chest might feel tight but it was absolutely fine. It was like I'd never been out of the water, apart from my nose and my breathing on front crawl. I spent about 20 mins re teaching myself how to get my front crawl breathing right again! My nose, however... Seems to have forgotten how to swim. It would not work when I did a handstand or tried to do the turn at the end of the length instead of stopping and starting. Stupid nose.

I ached the next day which was a good feeling :) worked my legs and arms separately with the aid of a handy float. And when I got out the pool oh my goodness - exhaustion! My legs and arms felt like jelly!! I forgot how much the water supports you!

Got another session today and my last one on Friday. I wish I could carry on all the time! But sadly this isn't possible. But when I get back home after my week off I can restart the davina DVDs.

According to my mum's scales I reached 22st today which, if they match my scales at home, would be a total loss of just over 5st. I'm not recording it on here til I get home in case they don't match my scales. However if my scales agree, then woop! My friends said they could see I'd lost a lot of weight but I don't really see it yet. I seem to have the balance right now finally with smaller portions and more exercise. At long last!
 
hey well done you, I love swimming, although my 9 year old thinks its hilarious because she swims like a fish while i swim like a brick lol I tried aquarobics recently its great fun and i wasn't the biggest there (made a nice change) keep up the good work!!! xxx
 
Ah swimming is such a distant memory now... :cry:

I actually haven't been able to do any exercise this week as I've had my gardener round every evening and then my mum down at the weekend. So tonight I am back on it! I lost about 2lb this week which is fine, but I want MORE lol.

Also last week I was graced with my TOTM - well I say that but actually I haven't been graced in well over a year, in fact since I lost a couple of stone with slimming world last year. So on the one hand I was excited that perhaps it was a sign that my PCOS might be getting kicked into touch, but on the other hand UGH. So I actually wasn't feeling much like bouncing around the lounge much last week.

The good news is that the weekend was amazing, was shopping for seven hours on Saturday! And yesterday went to see family. And I spied that The Range was busy putting up their Christmas decs!! It's almost that time of year... woop! :xmascheers:

Happy Monday y'all
 
I really wanted to get a kick start back into exercise this week! Sadly I managed to sprain my ankle somehow. Methinks it was from my re-start with Davina. And while I've been holed up working from home I've been obsessing about bad food this week. My melon just hasn't been doing it for me. Finally today I cooked some chips (small potato cut up and cooked with frylight in the oven). So good. Really hit the spot! Hopefully it will drive off notions of Maccy Ds for a long while! Surprised I managed to finish it with no ill effects, as I can usually only manage half a jacket potato when I cook one.

Really excited as my journey into the 200s seems ever closer! My ankle is less painful now and I've got it strapped up to within an inch of its life but I don't think I'll be venturing into the land of DVDs until the swelling goes down. I hope it all goes before Hallowe'en, I've been glitterising some heels to wear for a murder mystery I'm going to. They are a truly beautiful shade of purple, just need to do the heels in black holo glitter and they're done. I've got my dress (vintage style black pouffy thing) and my shoes, so hopefully my ankle will resemble an ankle and not a melon by then. Was very excited, got the dress off ebay (a 22!) and it almost fit when I tried it on last week. In that I could zip it up but couldn't breathe :) it's really short though - knee length. I haven't worn anything above the calf since... well, ever. I really wanted to work my legs constantly until hallowe'en to shrink the calves as much as possible, but of course damaged myself in the process. I hope I'm brave enough to wear the dress. I will be sitting down the whole time so no-one will see, but still... I don't want to look embarrassing. The dress gives me a bit of a waist though! From the waist up it looks really nice. Though the shoes are the star of the show- I hope I can show them off on the night! I'll post some before and afters of the shoes when they're done. I've never customised shoes before, I'm really happy with them! :dooney:
 
Well my bridesmaid dresses will turn up today. So excited yet nervous!

Because I had to get them from a specific website to match the colour and material of the other bridesmaid dresses (with my choice of design as I am Best Woman) I had to get them from China, and because I know they will need to be altered I couldn't wait much longer to get them, even though the wedding isn't until 27th Dec. I ended up getting two dresses because I literally don't know what size I'll be by then. I'm hoping they will both be too small right now! Luckily as coming from China they were uber cheap lol.

I've become addicted to buying clothes off ebay which is totally stupid, because even though they're cheap I will soon have loads of clothes that won't fit. So no more ebay for me. It's been my dream to wear a wool skirt with tights and heels all my life, and now I own the wool skirt, and the tights. I tried it on last night with a black woolly jumper and I thought I looked nice. I couldn't believe it, I nearly sent a pic to my friend lol. Sadly can't wear said outfit for an event next week because the skirt is a 22 (from Monsoon! Which is like a real shop and everything!!) and only does up if I pull it really high lol. Even with spanx it doesn't sit where it should. But before the winter is out I WILL WEAR IT.

I have been freaking out about my hair. For the past few weeks it's been coming out in clumps and I was already losing it due to stupid hormones! However this week I bought some clip in extensions and some hair fibres and some powder. Between the three of those I'm pretty sure I will get away with having my hair down for special occasions. I'm going to debut them next Saturday when I'm going to a murder mystery. I tried the extensions in one evening this week and nearly cried as it looked like I had normal person's hair. I just hope they stay in for several hours!

I've also changed my diet this week to up the protein and the hair loss seems to have improved, judging from the smaller clumps after washing it. I'm also taking hair, skin and nails, and folic acid, and I just got some Rogaine for women to try but I'm a bit scared about that.

As for weight loss, well it's steady. I got below the 300 woop! And have now lost just over 6 stone. One more stone and that's 100lb gone. I've realised my weight loss is going to go in steps. I have this app which tracks weight loss on a graph, and you can export the values to excel and play around with it there. As my nurse said when I last went back for a chat, weight loss is not linear, and mine looks like a stair case. A week of amazingness, a week of nothingness. But now I'm used to that I realise this is just how it's working for me.

Still haven't gotten back to the DVDs as I'm worried I will damage myself and I have too much coming up to risk it.

I've also been trying different foods. Watching bake off, omg I have been craving bread, biscuits, cakes... I've found though that Weight Watchers biscuits and little cakes are great to take that edge off, and they're only around 70 cals each. I still am scared to try normal bread but I can handle toasted Nimble, though I don't have it very often at all as I find it unnecessary - I mean it's no bake off stuffed bread creation is it? I found some turkey bacon at Asda's last week so I might give a turkey bacon toasted sandwich a go this weekend. I also tried WW sausages last weekend which were very nice when you haven't had a sausage in 5 months! And only 50-60 cals each!

I have to go to Dublin for a week again in about 10 days. I'm a bit nervous as I was so ill last time, but I was on soft food stage then so I might cope better. We'll see I guess!
 
Well, I just got back from another week working in Dublin. Did much better this time with no sickness! I avoided room service more this time and found a supermarket and bought prawns and chicken and stuff and kept them in my room fridge. Though I did try a room service steak - and managed it! Not the whole thing obv but I made a good indentation! And also I managed half a panini. I must be a lot more resilient nowadays. I've been scared to try bread at all after the last Dublin trip. I even managed a low fat petrol station sarnie last night on the drive back home (270 cals - thought that was acceptable) except it took me all night to eat it. I still can't manage full fat cheese but I'm not sad about that. It just tastes so oily these days.

As per usual we went out to the pub one night from the office and my boss bought us loads of chicken wings and chips. Obv I had to eat some, as I don't eat in the office while I'm there so they would know I wasn't eating. I had two bbq chicken wings and two chips and felt totally fine. The best thing about it though was that I didn't feel like I particularly wanted them. The chips weren't very flavoursome - but I did enjoy the wings. I thought 2 were ok though. It was nice as a treat but I didn't come back to the hotel and stuff my face with a bowl of them, as I may have done beforehand.

So I spent the week on cups of tea, protein drinks and more adventurous meals (chicken burger with no bun - that didn't go down quite as well as the steak). And I lost about 6lb that week. Including 1/4 of a shepherds pie on the greasy spoon on the ferry back.

The biggest achievement was that on Thursday my boss had organised a tour of the labs for us all, all morning. Absolute terror filled me. I half stopped working in a lab cos the lab coats were too small. I felt ok once I got there and it was just a high vis jacket and some steel toe capped boots. Both were fine (XL jacket). A huge sigh of relief. But then we went into the sterile area and had to wear trousers over our clothes and a tunic, as well as hair nets and shoe covers. And no make up. I wanted to BOLT. But their sizes went up to 5xl so I picked a 3xl top and troos. The top was actually a M in a 3xl bag which annoyed me so I had to go back out and get another one. Just swiped a 5xl as it was closest. It swamped me but I liked that feeling. The 3XL troos were kind of big and I was happy with that.
Then we went to a manufacturing site and I was given a lab coat off the rack which not only fitted, but I could button it all the way down! And finally we went into the packaging plant and we had to wear full overalls. I did eventually get into a 3XL but it was tight on the legs.

I just kept thinking if it had been 6 months ago I wouldn't have been able to get into a lab coat or those overalls and I'm so grateful that I had this op and was able to have a somewhat normal experience. They're talking about going on another tour in Nov somewhere else in Ireland. I will try and get out of it because there is still a huge chance I won't be able to fit into the gear.

I'm starting to see myself as a normal person now. I don't feel like people would necessarily stare at me if I walked down the street. I can buy clothes from some normal shops now, I'm a 22 on top and 22/24 (wide leg) trousers. So compared to the 32 I was in trouser size before, I'm really happy. I don't know actually what size I was on top because I used to hide under baggy clothes. But I bought a coat at George at Asda's last week, and a Christmas jumper from Matalan and also some shoes. It feels so good to be able to look for myself at clothes when shopping with my mum and sister.

So hallowe'en is on Sat and I'm still in 2 minds re: the knee length dress. I decided to take 2 outfits and my friends will choose for me. I hope they choose the dress as I love it so much, but I totally trust their opinion and they will tell me if I look stupid.

Then... the wedding. Well I must have been optimistic when ordering my dress lol. Neither one fit and the bigger one doesn't even do up at the back! I had to order a bigger size which came today, so hopefully that one will be ok.

So down to numbers. Well as of tomorrow it will be 4 months since I had my op. Since I started the pre-op in May:

I have
  • Lost 97lb
  • Gone from 27st to almost 20st
  • Gone from size 32 trousers to 22/24

And most importantly I find myself slowly becoming 'myself' again. I'm looking at buying the types of clothes I used to wear instead of dark drab clothes. When I was in the office in Ireland I was gossiping and chatting to the team, and some of them I hadn't spoken to before. I thought I was unable to just sit and chat anymore, because I've been locked away from people for 4 years. I don't know whether it was because I wasn't in an office or because I had no confidence, but I definitely feel that I am changing into the happier person I used to be. Really the only remnant of unhappiness is being in the UK office where I am shut away all day and I don't speak to anyone. But that will change next year ;)

I've also started collecting photos of myself. Old ones I had from before the LST and then various snapshots since. It's weird but I now think I'm the size I used to think I was when I was bigger, does that make sense? I guess I never saw myself as big as I was really. I've been trying to think of the last time I was a size 22, it might have been when I was working in a lab. Perhaps 10/11 years ago? Whilst at uni. I wish I had saved some of those clothes lol.

Oh I also bought an inspirational jumper. It was the only one left, I had coveted it for a while, but as XL it fits a size 14/16. So next year will be the year of the inspirational jumper!!

Sorry for another long update. I hadn't posted for a while!
 
Well only a 2lb loss this week but this is a slow week on my staircase of weightloss! I did hit the 7st mark though. 2 more lb till the 100lb mark.

I managed to do the bridesmaid dress up this week but only by turning it so the zip was at the front... Only problem is I couldn't then turn it round the back again!! Still, I have 2 months til it needs to fit me. Fingers crossed!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
After a spooky Hallowe'en I have lost another 2lb and am now at 101lb loss!

In other news, I did wear the dress, lots of glitter and I felt like the belle of Blackpool. Will try and post a pic but I don't have a full length one yet.
 
Well the achievement of the week is that I can now get the bridesmaid dress zipped up and the right way round! Woop!!

It's the hen do next weekend. I splurged a little at Asda's on clothes... BUT got them all in smaller sizes and they fit! So I guess I'm now a 20 on top and perhaps a 22 (wide leg) on the bottom :) I even wore a size 22 jeans from Dorothy Perkins to work on Friday! One difference I see with 'normal shop' jeans is that the waist is so much lower which is soooooo much better. The waistband on my size 22 jeans from Evans sits right under my bra which means I do a great Simon Cowell impression, but that I have to wear baggy tops to hide the bulk of the zip! I'm loving these Dorothy Perkins jeans so much. Even if they are slightly too short.

People at work have been mentioning the weight loss, but I've just been saying I have a bridesmaid dress to get into. They're all happy for me.

I popped round to my best friend's parents last weekend to drop off some photos they had lent me for hen do preparation. I didn't see his mum but his dad just stared at me in shock and kept saying how well I was looking, without saying what he was really thinking: OMG she's lost sooooooo much weight. Pretty awks.

So I was really excited to see the hallowe'en photos as I felt so glam, but when they came back I looked the same as I always did... I have to remind myself I'm still a size 20/22 and shouldn't be expecting to see a size 10 but I guess I just didn't look as good as I thought I did! Which was a bit of a bummer. Now I'm on the laptop I'll have another go at posting some comparisons.

I had a real pig out day yesterday but also a revelation. I had sliced beef with lettuce for breakfast (like a sandwich but the lettuce replaced the bread), then HALF A 500g PACK of edamame pods, then a WW quiche (left the pastry) for tea and I gave some frozen yoghurt a go which was delish. I'm slightly stressing about Christmas day. I can use the wedding on 27th as a reason not to eat a lot, but every year for our breakfast my parents put on a feast of party food - sausage rolls, spring rolls, prawn toast, mini pizzas, onion bhajis etc. I asked my dad to get some satays or tandoori chicken or something so I could avoid the greasy stuff. But after my edamame feast yesterday I'm going to do some edamame and then I can fill my plate up with those and leave the pods and it will look like I ate loads! Woop!!
 
Hi oodles83,

I just read through from your first post and I really enjoyed reading about your journey. You look amazing in those photographs and to me there is a huge difference in your appearance. I have read of people not "seeing" their own weightloss, I suppose it takes a while for our brains to adjust. I especially love how you describe how you are coming back to yourself again, those pictures of you at the Halloween party look nothing like the person you described in your earlier posts, who was more or less a recluse and not participating in life at all.

thank you for sharing your experiences oodles, I look forward to reading more,

fiona
 
First off, thanks Fiona for your post :) it was lovely!

I survived the hen do. All went to plan and aside from some work drama which was preying on my mind, it was a success and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

My best friend's mum kept saying how good I looked and how proud she was of me, which was sweet. And I dunno if the mirror at the house was particularly flattering, but I looked... kinda small! I also wore the wool skirt which now fits and I might even brave wearing it to work next week when I'm in Dublin (again - sigh).

Food was awkward but I was so busy anyway that no-one really questioned how little I ate. But last night I couldn't avoid Sunday lunch at my grandma's and I ate like half a chicken breast and nothing else. I think I'm going to have to make a better attempt at avoiding family meals, then I only have Christmas to deal with. When I move back to my hometown next year I'm not going to be able to avoid weekly meals but I'll have to get creative I guess.

A weekend of being too busy to eat seems to have kick started the weight loss again - my mum's scales this morning showed 19st - that's an 8st loss since May. So that's good!

Anyway, hope you all had nice weekends.
 
Well, I survived another week in Dublin. The last 2 days we went on a company jolly to Galway and I had zero control over my food. On Thursday we had lunch provided by the hotel where we had full day meetings, and it was soup and sandwiches. The soup was really creamy and I saw some oil on there, so I just dipped my spoon in and felt it was probably a bad idea to continue so I had to face sandwiches!

I love sandwiches.

My family in fact call me Sandwich Girl because of my love for them.

But after having had bad experiences in the past with even toasted Nimble bread I have steered clear of bread, so I was nervous... but these were white bread and I had two quarters of sarnies - I had to eat something. I left the crusts/most of the quarters so I didn't splurge but they were very delicious. I LOVE BREAD.

Then in the evening we all went for dinner and I skipped the starter and had grilled seabass as it was the healthiest choice. Except it came with some cream sauce so I managed to eat 3/4 of it (the bits without the sauce), then they brought out the roast potatoes... I had four. FOUR. (Littlest ones.) So in one day I ate white bread and roast potatoes. Oh and I'd ordered a pumpkin pie for dessert as I knew I wouldn't like it, and tasted a bit of the filling only, no pastry.

Karma then struck as I broke two nails (wedding in 4 weeks... nail extensions here I come).

On the Friday we had lunch at the site in Galway we were visiting. Again, sandwiches but this time with wraps, sarnies and hot chicken goujons and cooked cocktail sausages. I had a chicken goujon (delicious) and picked a little bit of chicken filling out of a wrap.

So I feel I survived the food situation quite well but ate very badly. Managed somehow to lose 5lbs though! Will update my sig with the November loss when we move into December (tomorrow - how has December come upon us so quickly!).

We did have to have a site tour which involved a high vis jacket (too small) and also a lab coat. They only had L which almost fit... I couldn't zip it over my hips so had to old it closed. I was the only one who couldn't do it up which was a reminder that I still have a long way to go on my weight loss journey, but I just have to remember that it would have been worse if I had done the tour last year when I was bigger.

5 months out now and enjoying being smaller but the wobbles are terrible. Once I move next year and have sold my house I'll have enough money for the plastic surgery so I just need to keep on at this (no chicken goujons!) as I won't want to have the surgery until Project Oodles is complete.

And one of my calves has not shrunk at all. So I look a bit deformed. I hope I haven't got one of those big things that just hang off you (I can't remember the name, begins with L). Just have to hope it corrects itself in time!!

But I found myself this week potentially being in a place where I might want to start dating in the future at one point. I felt that urge to have someone to cuddle up to, which I haven't felt in 4 years. I know I won't have the confidence to go on a date until after the surgery and after the scars have healed (if even then) but it's another sign that perhaps I'm becoming more of a rounded person. And that the exile I've put myself into for all these years might be coming to an end. It's kind of a nice feeling but also quite sad to know I won't be able to do anything about it for like 2 years or longer. Every time I look in the mirror without clothes on all I see is skin and it's horrible! But it doesn't get me down. Because no-one needs to know. And in a few years when I'm finished I will look amazing ;)

My favourite things this week:
- seatbelt on coach doing up and having room
- seatbelt in my dad's old car going round me with inches to spare (in April this year the seatbelt would not close)
- considering booking a weekend in Europe next year because I feel I might be able to fit in a plane now without a seat extender!
- realising my clavicle is visible at all times now
- thinking I'm sleeping on something hard but it was actually my hip bone poking out onto the bed
- wearing a watch for the first time in 12 years and it looking comfortably loose
- buying a beautiful ring because perhaps my hands are no longer too ugly for jewellery (although since breaking my nails they are again hideous)

Now on the countdown to Christmas, I'm slightly concerned about the Christmas dinner but hey at least I know I can eat roast potatoes now ;) otherwise i'll just roll myself in sparkles and enjoy the build up!!
 
Gah

Like no weight loss this week at all! Rude. However, I'm not freaking out. In fact I'm not even weighing myself daily anymore, and not just because I've been getting up far too late for work lol.

I know I haven't been eating a lot, so it will come off eventually. I'm calm.

In fact I even got into the SMALLER bridesmaid dress this week! Can you adam and eve it. Okay I couldn't keep it on very long for risk of breaking it (eek) but I have 23 days to be able to breathe in it. The other one is far too big now. I just need to either 1) find a seamstress who can shorten it in a matter of days, or 2) wear really high heels so I don't trip on it!

I'm excited as after Christmas I can start exercising again. Especially with no loss this week I know the golden period is coming to an end. I just can't risk any damages before Christmas. And then I have 3 months to lose as much as possible before the holiday and also... well... I kinda googled jobs yesterday for the first time in about 6 months. I really should stay for my bonus in March but I had a bad week and yesterday was all: Let's just see what else is there...

I found of course THE perfect job for me. Even though I have none of the qualifications I could potentially blag myself an interview at least. But now I face dilemmas.
Pros:
- I know it's better to get a job while I still have another, and my plan to quit in April without necessarily having somewhere to go won't look good on my cv
- This job is where I want it to be, in the dept I want to be in, and actually uses skills I have (although I don't have any formal qualifications to back it up so probably wouldn't get an interview)
- I would get to spend time with lots of people
- The money is great for the area I'm moving to

Cons:
- Literally just the bonus situation.

Putting it like that I know I have to apply for it, don't I? It's such a big step, and I didn't want to start looking until April but perhaps I won't get laughed out of the interview room (if I get that far) now I'm smaller? I'm pretty sure I weigh less now than I did first year of uni, and I've got loads of jobs since then.

Oh god

Is life beginning?!?!
 
I still haven't lost any weight and last night couldn't do up the smaller dress. I have been eating more but still below 1000 cals. I've been very bad on protein though. All I want are potatoes :'(

I know I must change how I'm eating, so it's all about meat tonight! Actually no, I need to defrost some. Perhaps some quorn from the freezer will be ok. I thought though if my calories were way down below 1000 I would still lose weight, but alas no. Previously I had been on about 600 but I thought if I up them to kick my body into shock if might a) spur on my weight loss and b) help the hair situation. I was mistaken on both counts! My bmr apparently is near 2000 so if I'm eating half of that (at most), why am I not losing? Perhaps the pcos means any sliver of potato and my body hangs onto it for dear life. I dunno. It's so frustrating! And makes no mathematical sense!

I'll be starting back on the DVDs in the new year so that will help.

It's just a bit disheartening but I'll be over it!

Also I applied for the job. At the time I thought life will be so much easier if I don't get an interview, but now I'm so desperate to get out of here and have my life start I reeeeeally want it. Which means I won't get it lol. We shall see!

Also of course if my totm had sprung back into a regular action after all these years, I should be due another next week. So possibly this is to blame for my mood and the fact I can't do the dress up ;) I hope not, because I don't want to deal with this craziness for one week out of 4! No wonder life has been so calm for the past few years... Who'd be a woman eh.
 
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