My Weight Loss Blog

Today is day two and it’s Sunday, which means my parents normally come over and I cook a huge Sunday dinner with all the trimmings. I tend to have a bit of a lie in on a Sunday while Neil gets up and sorts Danielle out, so I have my breakfast a little later than ususal about 9.15am, and take my first two tablets of the day.

I start to prepare for dinner and time seems to fly until we all sat around the dinner table. I feel really stodged and quite guilty after eating all the chicken, roast potatoes, stuffing and apple pie with custard. In hindsight, I maybe should have passed on the pudding but it’s my favourite and I just couldn’t resist. It says on the Proactol box take 3 tablets after a high fat meal, so I decided this was definitely a high fat meal and I took 3 tablets.

I didn’t really fancy much for tea, I still felt quite full from dinner which was good, so I just had a few slices of toast with jam and a yogurt, and took my last two tablets.

I’ve took a total of 7 tablets today.

Well this is it, the first day of my new diet. I woke up feeling quite excited and ready to start my challenge (I hope this enthusiasm lasts!). I’m going to be to be sticking to my normal meals, as I want to see what effect Proactol will have on my normal eating habits. Hopefully I won’t be snacking so much in between meals, at least that’s the idea!

8AM – So first thing for breakfast I have my usual cereal, Crunchy nut cornflakes and take my first two tablets with my cup of tea. When I first opened the packet the tablets looked quite big (like horse tablets!) but they were easy to swallow, and didn’t have any particular taste either so that was good.

11AM – Around 11am I started to feel a little peckish, this is when I normally go through half a pack of biscuits with my tea. I had a quick nibble of just one Rich tea biscuit, just to take my craving away.

1.30PM – For lunch I have a beef salad cob and a packet of French fries crisps, and take my next two tablets.

4.15PM – Getting the usual munchies again, so I raid the fridge and find a muller yogurt in there.

6.30PM – Have a chicken stir fry with plain rice and sweet and sour sauce, and take my last two tablets of the day.

I’m feeling quite pleased with how today has gone. I think it will probably take a few days for the tablets to kick in, I’ve had a total of 6 tablets today, and it says on the packet that you can have a maximum of 9 in a day, so I will see how I go.

My help in a box!

Well I was pleasantly surprised when the doorbell rang this afternoon, it was the delivery man with my box of Proactol tablets! I didn’t think I would receive them this fast as I only ordered them monday. On first impressions they look great, the packaging is neat and the tablets are a decent size, let’s hope they do what they say on the box!

The instructions inside say “To lose weight, take 2 – 3 Proactol tablets after each main meal.” I am going to start in the morning (Saturday) with my breakfast as it’s gone 3pm already, and I want to have a full day of taking the tablets. I think I will start by taking 2 tablets with my meals for the first week and see how I go on.

I am really motivated to lose weight now, I have my pills and I have my readers spurring me on. Tomorrow when I take my diet pills, I’ll know that the start of a new life and a new beginning is ahead of me

As I embark on my weight loss journey, it got me thinking as to why I was overweight in the first place. I thought it would be interesting to have a poll on my blog to see what’s the main reason people over eat.

Ok, I’ll start first – mine is lack of willpower. I crave sweet stuff and I can never just have one biscuit with my tea, I have to wolf down the whole pack. I know I shouldn’t and I feel terribly guilty afterwards, but I just can’t seem to stop myself.

I decided to have a good clear out of my wardrobe today. I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of all my big baggy tops and jumpers that I have been hiding under for so long, and make way for all those new flattering clothes I can buy when I reach my goal. I practically live in jogging bottoms these days, and my fashion sense seems to have gone out the window! I think it’s because I am just so used to throwing on the first baggiest thing I can find, in a vain attempt to hide all my lumps and bumps.

I will fit into it again!

I found one of my old ‘pre baby’ tops lurking in the bottom of my wardrobe, it’s a lovely little purple top I bought from Next for mine and Neil’s anniversary. It sounds silly but just holding it bought back so many memories, back then I was a size 10/12 and comfortable with my body. Now I’m struggling to squeeze into a size 18, I feel so upset I could cry, and it makes me wonder how I let myself get into this situation.

I hold my top up to the huge ‘tents’ I am wearing nowdays and it looks so tiny in comparison. I feel guilty and depressed, but if anything, it makes me more determined than ever to lose weight and get back into this top. So I decide to hang it in pride of place in my wardrobe, and every time I open that door, its a little reminder of what I am aiming towards.

I found a handy little weight loss ruler online, allowing me to track my weight loss towards my goal weight, and it shows my progress each week in pounds. I though it would be a great little visual aid to keep me motivated.

I will weigh myself weekly to monitor my progress, so hopefully that sliding bar will be moving closer and closer to my goal as each week goes past (at least that’s the plan!).

As you can see below it has started on my current weight which is 13 stone 9 pounds (191 pounds) and my goal on the right hand side is 9 stone 7 pounds (133 pounds). It also says my current body mass index is 32.8, which officially classes me as obese! When I get all the way to my goal weight, my BMI will be 22.8 which will be perfect and in the healthy range.

I have 58 pounds to go to get to my target, bring it on!

My name is Rachael Jenkins, I’m a 31 year old full time mum to my beautiful daughter Danielle, darling husband Neil, and the only other man in my life….our beloved jack russell Eddie!

My daughter Danielle aged 9 months

I have decided to write this weight loss blog in the hope that it will give me some motivation to lose some much needed weight, and give inspiration to other people in the same boat.

After the birth of our daughter Danielle 9 months ago, I have struggled to lose my baby weight and my waist and thighs have just ballooned. I guess watching what I eat everyday isn’t at the top of my list of priorties anymore since giving birth! I would just grab the first thing I could find in the cupboard during the day, such as crisps and chocolate bars, something I could quickly eat inbetween my hectic schedule of nappy changing and bottle feeding.

When Neil came home from work, I was just too tired to cook, so most nights I would just sit in front of the telly and gorge myself on junk food and takeaways. This daily routine saw the scales reach my current weight of 13 stone 9 pounds, and at 5ft 4″ and size 16 – 18, I feel like a blubber whale.

The final straw was our recent outing last week to Neil’s parents, his mother who has never been one to sit on the fence, was bouncing Danielle on her knee when she proclaimed to the room” Ooohh hasn’t she got chubby legs…..she must get those from your side of the family” I have never been so embarrased, I raised a half smile but I was crying on the inside, is this what she really thought? was it her (not so) subtle way of telling me she thought I should lose some weight? or was I just being paranoid?

That’s it, now I have had enough and I am ready to declare war on my bulge. I am tired of being ashamed by the way I look, being terrified if Neil catches a glimpse of me in my birthday suit with the lights on, and not being able to wear all the gorgeous fashionable clothes I longingly gaze at in the shop windows.

I know being overweight is no good for my health either, I can’t even go up the stairs without puffing and blowing by the time I get to the top step. I mean how am I ever going to keep up with Danielle as she gets older?!

I am determined to lose weight, I have hope and I am going to do it for myself. From looking at a BMI calculator, my goal weight is 9 and a half stone, this would take me into the healthy range for my height. So just over 4 stone, that’s my target, and that would hopefully bring me down to a slender size 10 to 12.

Today I have taken my first step and ordered a box of Proactol weight loss tablets from the Proactol website. I remember reading about these in the paper, and I know this seems a little extreme but desperate times call for desperate measures! Stay tuned! x