A Chance to Start Again

[SAM55]

So, week 1 of the milk diet done and dusted!

Result: -6lbs!

I really am pleased about it and am excited to see what the next few weeks brings. The date for my next appointment is the 6th March, which in hindsight I should have waited for my next date and worked back four weeks from that and started my milk diet then. The nurse I last saw at L&D said that you can do 12 weeks on it, so if my next appointment was a bit over 4 weeks that it wasn't a problem. She also told me that if I was really struggling that I could give her a ring and she'd tell me what to do next. Thing is... although I do have a few moments here and there, by and large I'm doing well on it so, if they want to see commitment, then I'm going to just carry on until my next appointment.

I had a moment Saturday night while fixing dinner for my husband, though. Now, while it was pretty much an emotional meltdown, it was also a bit of an ah-ha! moment for me. While cooking, it started out that I felt annoyed that I couldn't have a normal meal with my family, but then it went to me beating myself up for letting myself get to the stage that the only way to "fix" me is to end up being cut stem to stern and I felt so angry that I couldn't be "normal". My husband came into the kitchen and asked me how I was, which my natural first reaction to that question (as it is for many others) was to say that I was fine, but I backtracked and told him exactly how I was feeling. He gave me a big hug, told me that the past is the past and that it can't be changed, but that I was making steps to make things better in the future. He also told me that by doing all of this, that I'd gain so much from it in the end, that it would all be worth it. Then to put the icing on the cake he said that he was really proud of me and how well I've been doing. Well, what could I say? That put everything in perspective and cheered me up quite a bit.

So what are some things I've learned over the last week?
1. The ad slogan for milk in the US (Milk - it does a body good.) is pretty spot on!
2. That it's a bloody good thing that I've always loved milk.
3. People who find out have been incredibly supportive and are behind me completely.
4. I'm stronger and more persistent than I thought I was!

Well done on getting through the first week on the milk diet and for your growing self awareness. An exercise like this certainly helps us to find how much around eating is in our heads.

Out of interest have they put you on an A-Z multivitamin for the duration? I know people who have been on the milk diet for long periods so it isn't unknown. Just make sure you manage any constipation well.

 

[Bling Babe]

Well done on completing week 1 of the milk diet, it can be quite empowering, you’ll look back and realise the time flies by. Keep up the good work xx

 

[OkieGirl]

You is on it!!!!
Keep it up & tell your husband maybe he could make his own dinner

I could do that, but I'm kind of thinking that it's something that I will still have to do once I've had surgery and I will have to learn to live with my diet and way I eat being different from my family's in many ways. To be fair to him though, he did make his own dinner on Sunday, so it's something!

Great start 6 lbs in the first week. I have also just finished week 1 of 2 of the milk diet ( 2nd time for me) as part of my pre-op. I have an appointment at L&D on 6th March too.
If you are getting bored of chicken oxo, try knorr stock cubes , they come in different flavours such as pork, ham and fish and i found them stronger than oxo for putting in hot milk. I was working and visiting clients when on the milk diet and would turn up with a pint of milk made up with crusha or stock cubes for lunch and have it while they tucked into their lunch. They were always impressed that i could do that and where very supportive.
Having the support helps and seeing the weight loss does encourage you to stick with it.
Good luck

I would love to use Knorr Stock Pots. You know, the jellied ones in the little pots? I have always found their flavour to be far superior to the normal cubes. Maybe I can get in touch with them and ask. As is, so far so good. I so look forward to my salty drink!

Well done on getting through the first week on the milk diet and for your growing self awareness. An exercise like this certainly helps us to find how much around eating is in our heads.

Out of interest have they put you on an A-Z multivitamin for the duration? I know people who have been on the milk diet for long periods so it isn't unknown. Just make sure you manage any constipation well.

You're right, a lot of eating is definitely in our heads. It's also amazing to see how many people also have these issues when you tell them what you're doing. They seem to project them onto you.

They told me to take an A-Z while doing the milk diet, so that's all good. I've also started taking a Fybogel a day which seems to be doing just fine.

Well done on completing week 1 of the milk diet, it can be quite empowering, you’ll look back and realise the time flies by. Keep up the good work xx

So far so good! Hopefully the rest goes quickly too!

 

[_Victoria_]

Congratulations on your first week, 6lb is a great start!

I could do that, but I'm kind of thinking that it's something that I will still have to do once I've had surgery and I will have to learn to live with my diet and way I eat being different from my family's in many ways. To be fair to him though, he did make his own dinner on Sunday, so it's something!

I feel exactly like this too. I still live at home with my Mom and my sisters visit most days with their kids. My whole family has their own issues with food but my Mom especially is trying really hard not to eat anything i can't have in front of me. Now... i think this is really kind of her and it's nice that she's being so supportive but at the same time I don't want her missing out just because i have to. And i try to explain that it's something I'm going to have to get used to long term because in reality i'm not going to be able to eat the same as them again at all after my surgery. It's a battle with ourselves, there's always going to be temptation and we're the ones that need to learn to not give into it.

I admire you for being able to stick with the milk diet. I know i couldn't do it so i'm lucky that the hospital i'm at gives you a choice of which pre op diet you choose to do. Keep up the good work, focus on the end result. If i feel tempted to cheat in my head i list all the things i'm doing this for and it's helped to keep me motivated. What your husband said is really sweet and completely true!! You got this

 

[OkieGirl]

Congratulations on your first week, 6lb is a great start!



I feel exactly like this too. I still live at home with my Mom and my sisters visit most days with their kids. My whole family has their own issues with food but my Mom especially is trying really hard not to eat anything i can't have in front of me. Now... i think this is really kind of her and it's nice that she's being so supportive but at the same time I don't want her missing out just because i have to. And i try to explain that it's something I'm going to have to get used to long term because in reality i'm not going to be able to eat the same as them again at all after my surgery. It's a battle with ourselves, there's always going to be temptation and we're the ones that need to learn to not give into it.

I admire you for being able to stick with the milk diet. I know i couldn't do it so i'm lucky that the hospital i'm at gives you a choice of which pre op diet you choose to do. Keep up the good work, focus on the end result. If i feel tempted to cheat in my head i list all the things i'm doing this for and it's helped to keep me motivated. What your husband said is really sweet and completely true!! You got this

Thanks @_Victoria_ !

I have decided that eventually our evening meals will be things that I can eat with the right amount of allocated calories simply because I am not a short order cook and this is not a restaurant! They can eat what I eat. I do have people who try not to eat things in front of me or will ask if it's OK and I tell them to go right ahead. Just as you said, just because I have to do this, doesn't mean everyone else has to do it.

It's really strange to me that after the initial week, I feel pretty content with the milk diet. The issues I was having with head hunger seem to be subsiding, or at the very least I can definitely tell the difference and can acknowledge it for what it is and ignore it. Thankfully I'm still liking milk, but I always was a big milk drinker when I was a kid and have always liked it. The biggest problem I have at the moment is my bloody hormones are kicking off and so I'm retaining water. I weighed yesterday (yes, I know, I should only do it once a week!) and found that I'd not lost anything this week. Now, I don't believe this at all simply because I can see my cheekbones more and my jeans are feeling looser in the waist and thighs and I've been sticking to the diet like glue. Also my craving for salty things has peaked, but meh. After next week I should, hopefully, start dropping again. In all truth, I'm really proud of myself because in the past not losing anything would have made me flip a table, throw my hands up in despair/resignation, and start eating again.

On Friday I had one of those strange moments where it was like... what the heck dude, why did you feel the need to say that? I was at choir practice and at the end of it we kind of have a catch up and a final prayer. During this, our choir director asked me to share with the group about my meeting with the Bishop's Examining Chaplain. I'm hoping to eventually be selected to start training as a vicar and this is one of the stages of the process leading up to that. Anyway, after I told everyone, he then adds, "And Mandy is visibly shrinking before our very eyes!" Ugh. I already had told him that while I don't really care that people know what's going on with me, but I didn't really want to draw heaps of attention to it. I may have to take him to task if he does it again. Honestly I don't think he meant to be rude, he's just one of these super oblivious people who says things before they think!

 

[OkieGirl]

Week 2 of milk diet: -3lbs

I'm pretty pleased. I'm nearly halfway to my 20lb target given to me!

Apart from that, it's been pretty quiet. I've gotten the swing of the milk diet now and I don't really think twice about it. People still ask me how I can live without food, but I do remind them that milk is a food and it's doing the trick and I feel quite satisfied with it.

 

[OkieGirl]

Welp, I better fess up. I stumbled and fell today and had a pack of crisps and a seafood stick. Obviously I'm not proud of it, and even after I had them I knew that I hadn't really enjoyed them. I have no idea why I did it because I wasn't experiencing any of the usual triggers for me (bored, mad, etc.). Just got it in my head that I had to have them.

Oh well. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. It's done now. All I can do is pick myself up and get right back on the milky horse!

 

[Laaux]

Welp, I better fess up. I stumbled and fell today and had a pack of crisps and a seafood stick. Obviously I'm not proud of it, and even after I had them I knew that I hadn't really enjoyed them. I have no idea why I did it because I wasn't experiencing any of the usual triggers for me (bored, mad, etc.). Just got it in my head that I had to have them.

Oh well. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. It's done now. All I can do is pick myself up and get right back on the milky horse!

Don’t fret, just keep calm and carry on! We’re all only human at the end of the day x

 

[_Victoria_]

It's good to not beat yourself up, especially if you're a stress eater because then you tend to feel more tempted to get completely off track. It happened, you know it wasn't the best thing and you're moving on from it You're doing really really well! Congratulations on the weight loss for the second week. Keep it up Xx

 

[Maria61]

Welp, I better fess up. I stumbled and fell today and had a pack of crisps and a seafood stick. Obviously I'm not proud of it, and even after I had them I knew that I hadn't really enjoyed them. I have no idea why I did it because I wasn't experiencing any of the usual triggers for me (bored, mad, etc.). Just got it in my head that I had to have them.

Oh well. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. It's done now. All I can do is pick myself up and get right back on the milky horse!

Keep going one day at a time xxx

 

[Emma1504]

One day at a time!!!!
You got this!

 

[OkieGirl]

Week 3: -1lb

Meh. I guess a loss is a loss, but I really did expect it to be dropping off more than that doing the milk diet. I suppose I should really think that I'm half way to my 20lb goal that was set for me.

What I'm uncertain of, however, is if that 20lbs was supposed to all come off during the milk diet or if that's just my goal for tier three. Any other L&Ders able to shed some light on this? After having a 6lb loss my first week and then that was halved the second and then almost halved again in the third, I'm really hoping that they weren't expecting 20lbs gone in four weeks! As it is, I'm carrying on until I go back on the 6th March, which gives me another 5 weeks so maybe by then I'll be in the home stretch. Hrm.

 

[Bling Babe]

Your doing really well, they told me the milk diet would help to lose the 5%, in my case I did lose it, but basically you don’t move forward on tier 3 until you lose 5%, mind you that may have changed now. Don’t worry though you will be fine even if you lose the rest on the re-feed diet xxxx

 

[SAM55]

Week 3: -1lb

Meh. I guess a loss is a loss, but I really did expect it to be dropping off more than that doing the milk diet. I suppose I should really think that I'm half way to my 20lb goal that was set for me.

What I'm uncertain of, however, is if that 20lbs was supposed to all come off during the milk diet or if that's just my goal for tier three. Any other L&Ders able to shed some light on this? After having a 6lb loss my first week and then that was halved the second and then almost halved again in the third, I'm really hoping that they weren't expecting 20lbs gone in four weeks! As it is, I'm carrying on until I go back on the 6th March, which gives me another 5 weeks so maybe by then I'll be in the home stretch. Hrm.

Most of your loss in the first week will have been water so as you go on you will lose less eac week once it starts on the fat. On my 2 week LRD I lost 13lb on the milk diet and that was considered to be a good loss. Sounds like you are doing ok

 

[_Victoria_]

It's still going the right way! don't get disheartened With my hospital they wanted you to lose between 5 and 10% during the LSD so 20lbs would be about right i think. When your BMI is over a certain number though you have to do the LSD for longer. My BMI was over 60 so i had to do it for 6 weeks so i had time to lose the 5-10%
I was really stressed about not losing enough but it comes off eventually! It really slowed for me too after the first week.

 

[OkieGirl]

It's still going the right way! don't get disheartened With my hospital they wanted you to lose between 5 and 10% during the LSD so 20lbs would be about right i think. When your BMI is over a certain number though you have to do the LSD for longer. My BMI was over 60 so i had to do it for 6 weeks so i had time to lose the 5-10%
I was really stressed about not losing enough but it comes off eventually! It really slowed for me too after the first week.

Luton and Dunstable seems to be weird in starting off tier three with the milk (LSD) diet. I can't say I've noticed any others on here say their hospital does that. Initially I was only supposed to do it for 4 weeks, but jumped the gun before I got the date for my next appointment so have decided to carry on for another 4 weeks.

As you said, it's going in the right direction so I should still be pleased about it. It's far too easy to look at it in terms of how much in total I need to lose and that's when it feels like more of a fail than a win. Every day I have to remind myself that it's going to take baby steps in the here and now to get me to where I want to be (surgery and goal weight). In the meantime, I'll keep drinking the milk!

 

[Bling Babe]

8 weeks is such a long time to be on the milk diet OkieGirl, you can lose the rest while your on their 3 I’m not sure if I made that clear in my last post, you are doing incredibly well but as Victoria says please don’t beat yourself up xxx

 

[OkieGirl]

8 weeks is such a long time to be on the milk diet OkieGirl, you can lose the rest while your on their 3 I’m not sure if I made that clear in my last post, you are doing incredibly well but as Victoria says please don’t beat yourself up xxx

No worries! I'm not beating myself up. As Victoria said, it's still moving in the right direction and I'm better focusing on small baby step goals rather than looking at the entire picture. My main reasoning for staying on the milk diet until my next appointment is because I'm worried that without direction from the dietitians, I'll end up backtracking terribly. It's just easier sticking with the milk until then and the nurse said you can do it for 12 weeks. Honestly though, I'm doing good on it. I've not been hungry and I can't even say there's anything I'm particularly craving. Apart from that one episode with the bag of crisps, I've been sticking to it.

 

[OkieGirl]

Week 4: -2 lbs!

I'm really pleased because this makes a total of 12lbs down, only 8 to go to my goal! Woo!

Also, today I had someone say to me they can really see it in my face that I'm losing weight, which really gave me a boost. I mean, my mom has said it to me nearly every week, but mom's are supposed to say that kind of thing! But even I am starting to see a difference. It was really weird moment this weekend when I realized that for the first time in a veeeery long time I could easily feel the outline of my cheekbone. Also my double chin isn't quite as double as it used to be! So yay!

 

[_Victoria_]

That's so great @OkieGirl!! It's nice when you start to notice the changes and even nicer when other people notice. Makes all the hard work worth it Xx