Emma Cossey, aged 25 and a half, takes on The Special K 2 Week Plan.
I can't deny it any longer. After months of eating out with my boyfriend Peter, enjoying cocktails with friends and working from home within 5ft of the kitchen, my weight has shot up. The proof? My favourite jeans stubbornly refuse to do up and I've had to reach for the kind of control pants Gok Wan adores. Bad times.
With two weddings and a holiday coming up in the next few weeks, I need to shift some of the weight quickly and safely.
Having a busy social and work life means I need an eating plan that can fit in around it. So, when I found out about Special K's budget-friendly 2 week plan, I thought I'd give it a go. Eat yummy cereal for breakfast and lunch or dinner and fit into one of those gorgeous red dresses from the TV ads? Why not eh?
Here's how I got on.
Day One
Breakfast: Special K Red Berries
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Special K Red Berries
Snack: Carrots
Dinner: Lamb chops, new potato, veg
Feeling: Tired and hungry
Weight: 174lbs
Exercise: 10 minute dog walk
So, the first day. I awoke feeling motivated at the concept of dropping some of this excess weight, and happily tucked into my Special K Red Berries. It's a good mix of carbs and fruit and sorts out my sweet tooth for a couple of hours. A snack of a banana a couple of hours later tied me over until 11.30am. Which was when the smugness disappeared, and the hunger pangs kicked in. Clearly, my tummy was missing its mid-morning chocolate-covered snack attack. One glass of water later and my hunger pangs reduced enough to wait until my lunch of another bowl of Special K Red Berries.
An afternoon snack of some sliced raw carrots and a dinner of two lamb chops with new potatoes and vegetables followed, along with a quick walk for the dog.
At the end of my first day I felt tired, probably due to the lack of sugar and caffeine. I had moments of hunger throughout the day but having a proper meal in the evening helped hunger levels in the evening, as did regular glasses of water. Eating Special K for lunch is actually easier than hunting around the fridge for something tasty, so I like the convenience.
Day two
Breakfast: Special K Red Berries
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Special K Red Berries
Snack: Summer fruits with natural yoghurt
Dinner: Chicken with cheese and mustard crust (from website recipe)
Feeling: Good! Bit hungry but energised
Weight: 173.5lbs
Exercise: 10 minute dog walk, 20 minute Power Plates class
This morning I popped onto the Special K website to see what resources they had to help me through the next couple of weeks. There's a clever desktop application that lets you check and update your daily meal plan, check out the support section to see how others are doing, and check out the nutritional advice. There's also a section on the site for recipes, which led to me creating my rather tasty and very easy dinner of chicken with a cheese and mustard crust. Yum!
Had a Power Plates lesson mid-afternoon, which helped avoid my usual biscuit-yearning. Thanks to the exercise and the increase in fruit and veg in my diet, my energy levels seem to have improved significantly too. Enjoying the eating plan so far.
Day three
Breakfast: Special K Bliss Strawberry & Chocolate
Snack: Handful of grapes
Lunch: Special K Sustain
Snack: Nothing
Dinner: Ate out: Buffet
Feeling: Blissful and pampered
Weight: 173lbs
Exercise: 10 minute dog walk
This afternoon I had the task of reviewing a local spa with my sister which, admittedly, involved very little exercise and a lot of pampering. However, nothing can motivate you to lose weight quite as much as seeing yourself in the mirror, wearing a pair of spa-provided paper pants.
Before heading to the spa I enjoyed my chocolate and strawberry breakfast and my filling lunch, which really did keep me full until about 6pm. Particularly impressive considering the lack of an afternoon snack today, think Sustain will be my lunchtime choice from now on. Still really enjoying the cereals, especially given the huge variety of flavours. I noticed on the forums that someone mentioned trying the cereals with hot milk, which sounds like a nice change later on in the week.
Dinner. Yeah.....about that. We were supposed to get a nutritionally balanced meal as part of the deal, but they swapped it for an English buffet. I have zero self-control around buffets. Especially when it's a buffet filled with classic favourites like fish and chips, toad in the hole, bread and butter pudding and chocolate torte. Carb heaven.
Less said about that the better really. I managed to maintain some form of control though and ate less than usual, piling my plate with vegetables. I even managed to say no to an oh-so-tempting glass of rose. I guess the results will show when I weigh in tomorrow.
Day four
Breakfast: Special K Bliss Strawberry & Chocolate
Snack: Bowl of strawberries
Lunch: Special K Sustain
Snack: Handful of grapes
Dinner: Ate out: Steak, potatoes and vegetables.
Feeling: Good! Less bloated and more energetic
Weight: 172lbs
Exercise: 10 minute dog walk, 20 minute power plates class
Day four and I nervously edge towards the scales. I wasn't expecting a pretty result after last night's buffet, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the needle move down rather than up.
What followed was a happy dance stolen from Joey from Friends. It wasn't pretty.
I stuck with Special K Bliss and Special K Sustain for my meal choices, and I'm still enjoying the convenience of it. The snacks of fruit and vegetables are helping my sugar levels too. Saying that, my will power was seriously tested when a box of Danish pastries turned up in the house.
The evening bought a date with Peter, who's finished a long run of night shifts. To celebrate we went to Old Orleans (a restaurant a little similar to TGI Fridays. But without the badges and the scary perma-smiles) and followed it up with a trip to the cinema. After sticking to the plan all day, I felt virtuous enough to indulge in a steak with vegetable and potatoes. It's quite liberating not having to calorie count dinner, although obviously don't go mad.
On a side note, the cereal meals are keeping me fuller for longer. Think my stomach is shrinking a bit, which is going to be great after the two week plan too.
Day Five
Breakfast: Special K Bliss Strawberry & Chocolate
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Special K Sustain
Snack: Baby corn
Dinner: Chilli
Feeling: Tempted
Weight: 172lbs
Exercise: 20 minute dog walk.
Today was the toughest on the eating plan so far. Working from home without the afternoon distraction of a workout or an evening activity meant I spent most of the day daydreaming about food. Toast topped with glossy mounds of melted cheese. Nutty, yummy chocolate brownies. Chicken korma with all the trimmings.....
Anyway, the benefit of this eating plan means I get to enjoy a decent hot dinner of chilli and rice, which feels like a treat after cereal, fruit and vegetables during the day, so I tried to focus on that rather than by diving into the fridge. A longer dog walk in the afternoon and upping my water intake also helped.
The scales are showing a loss so far of 2lbs, which is good considering Wednesday's buffet slip up and my dinner out last night. I'm hoping for a weight loss of 3lbs by the end of this weekend, and a total of 6lbs by the end of next week. The Special K advice section suggests visualising the end result, so I've now got a mental image of fitting into my jeans again fixed in my head.
I'm off to a family BBQ tomorrow, so I'll have my afternoon snack just before I go so I resist the urge to go crazy with my portion size, as suggested by the advice section, and will try to avoid the crisps and peanuts!
Day Six
Breakfast: Special K Fruit & Nut clusters
Snack: None (late breakfast)
Lunch: Special K Sustain
Snack: Baby corn
Dinner: BBQ Birthday
Feeling:
Weight: 172lbs
Exercise: 20 minute dog walk.
Woke up this morning craving something a little different, so I cracked open a box of Special K Fruit & Nut. I used to love Fruit 'n' Fibre as a kid, and this is really similar (with the added bonus of a few tasty clusters) so it was a welcome alternative to my usual chocolate-based brekkie.
Watching my sister tuck into a hot bacon and egg buttie at lunch was fairly painful today, particularly as she's the one in the family blessed with a speedy metabolism, but I'm determined to keep going with the eating plan.
That determination trebled when I received three lovely compliments from family members and Peter, asking if I've lost weight. I've only dropped a couple of lbs so far, but the lack of bloated Buddha belly seems to be making a difference. And I didn't even have to wear my rib-bustin' suck in pants. Hurrah! Managed to remain fairly restrained at the BBQ and stick to a hot pork roll.
Day Seven
Breakfast: Special K Fruit & Nut clusters
Snack: None (late breakfast)
Lunch: Special K Sustain
Snack: Half a banana
Dinner: Toad in the hole. Possibly some fruit crumble too.
Feeling: :Lazy
Weight: 172lbs
Exercise: Um....I walked up and down the stairs a bit.
Lazy day today, with an afternoon trip to the cinema. Sunday is usually a veg out session, so it's a challenge to stick to my two bowls of cereal. Which is perhaps why I got greedy and enjoyed a dinner of home made toad in the hole followed by a bowl of fruit crumble. Probably not on the list of healthy dinners.
Regretted it big time an hour later when the Buddha belly returned. Eating so much made me feel uncomfortable and sick, and I couldn't sleep for hours. Lesson learned.
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