Ann loses 6lbs on the first week of her post christmas motivation weight loss programme

Having lost over a stone with Motivation before Christmas, I had let things slide a little over the Christmas period and decided to start afresh on a ten week programme for the new year. To my surprise and utter delight, I have lost six pounds already in my first week back, despite a little indiscretion over the weekend.

Of course, like everything else I put off going back after Christmas for a while, but finally started back last week and to my surprise, the damage of Christmas hadn’t been anything nearly as bad as I thought, although I had gained a few pounds.

So last week, armed with protein bars, my Motivation CD and my inspirational book by Dr Maurice Larocque, I started again after a great chat with Siobhan, my Motivation counsellor in their offices at Old Cornmarket (Penny Lane).

Her encouragement convinced me that 2015 really will be my year to lose weight and keep it off.

Over many decades, I have tried all sorts of diets and every kind of weight loss programme imaginable - but I’m still a very, very large lady and I’ll be keeping you abreast of my progress over the next ten weeks as I continue my weight loss journey with the clinic.

I know how to eat healthily, I know what is healthy and unhealthy - the problem is I have never seem to be able to act on it! Since I started with Motivation, I have been impressed at the fact they want to tackle why I eat, as well as what I eat.

I enjoy eating - I eat when I’m sad, when I’m worried, but also when I’m celebrating and after a tough few years where I had to cope with bereavement and a loved one’s serious illness, I had really piled on the pounds.

The entire Motivation programme is aimed at breaking the self destructive cycle of overeating and will help me deal with the way I think about food and why I make the choices I do!

The diet is based on eating little and often, with protein every few hours to keep the hunger pangs at bay. I also have a book by the doctor behind the programme, Dr Larocque and a CD in which he examines the link between our thought processes, emotions and actions. There is a five minute relaxation piece at the end of this CD where I can learn to relax and deal more positively with aspects of life I cannot change. I’ve also been given a visualisation task where I imagine myself at my ideal weight and how I behave as that person. The diet itself can appear daunting at first. You can eat plenty of protein, fruit and vegetables, but the fact that I can only have two portions of carbohydrate a day initially seemed difficult. That is just two slices of bread or one slice and one potato.

However, the protein supplement bars that look, smell and taste like chocolate bars, which I take as snacks twice a day between meals certainly helps. In fact it is surprising how little hunger I feel. The portein bars really keep hunger at bay. There are other protein snacks - you can choose which two you want and some are porridge, soups or other savoury snacks, but I stuck to the sweet ones.

I had an egg each morning, cooked in a variety of ways, with some fruit, while lunch included something like ham or chicken slices, or a bit of salmon with plenty of salad and one slice of bread. For dinner, I had some kind of cooked meat with vegetables and a small portion of carbohydrate such as potato rice or pasta. I snacked on fruit and two of the protein bars. I stuck to the programme well, listened to the CD’s and read the book, but then at the weekend while visiting an aunt, I was presented with a calorie laden, but delicious meal, which I was afraid would wreck my diet. The meal had been cooked for me, so I felt it would have been incredibly rude not to partake, and I ate some of it.

The Motivation message was strong in me though, as I pretended to be full and left some - even though it was delicious and could have eaten it all. Luckily by keeping to the diet the rest of the week and not over-indulging on Saturday, I still manged to lose six pounds.

Given Satuday’s events, I was really surprised, but absolutely delighted. I’m now looking forward to the weeks ahead and am hoping for similar results as time goes on. I’ll keep you posted!