Jane Plan

NanaKay, I have had minor side effects from the Methotrexate, burning mouth and hair loss, but upping the folic acid has eliminated them. I have no evidence that the drug is doing any good as my symptoms seem to be dependent on the Prednisolone dose. I originally had Polymyalgia with no steroids but had to resort to them when I had a massive total body RA flare up leading to my diagnosis of PMR induced RA. I find getting up, having a bath then an hour and a quarter long walk gets me moving in the mornings. I am sure losing weight will ease the pressure on my joints so must get motivated to shed some pounds.

Morning Shysal.

For me all these different diet plans do not suit my personality and after a few days I give them up. I agree wholeheartedly withHildaW that the Healthy Eating Regimen plus exercise works. You already do the exercise which is great.

This is what worked for me but of course you must tailor the diet to your needs.

Nothing is out of bounds on my diet but portion control is. If I know I can’t have something I want it all the more. Initially I counted calories following the NHS Diet Plan found online. I got my scales out and weighed food. After about 3 weeks I didn’t have to count calories anymore as I knew more or less what I could have.

I worked out what my calorie count should be through the NHS Diet Plan site and added a further 100 calories as I thought it was too low. I think I ate about 1300 cals a day.

Here are a few tips I drink 7Up Free most days but water it down by 50%. If I go out with friends for coffee and cake I have the cake, cut it in portions eat 2 mouthfuls and take the rest home to eat in a similar fashion over the next few days.

I often cut back on some food item in order to have an nice glass of chilled wine in the evening.

Don’t expect quick weight loss. It has taken me about 9 months to lose just over a stone. I occasionally take one day off.

This has worked well for me.

Best of luck.

NanKate....you are spot on with the whole idea of forbidden foods becoming just so impossible to ignore...as soon as something is 'banned' you suddenly crave it.
I just follow a 'little and good' rule thus if I fancy cake its got to be good quality and ideally homemade. We regularly go to a social occasion where there are cakes and biscuits handed about but they are cheap supermarket ones, all sugar and preservatives and I honestly can do without them...and this is from a life long cake fiend. The thought of wasting calories on cheap and nasty stuff that ultimately can give me indigestion just does not excite me. Not to be seen to be being standoffish I just gracefully accept one small thing and make it last...if no one is looking I'll even dispose of some of it.

It dawned on me the other day whilst having lunch with daughter that social eating is also good for me...neither of us can chatter freely and eat and so we automatically take much longer and end up felling fuller on less!

Its always the slow gentle solutions that work best...as someone once pointed out its taken years to put the extra weight on....you cannot loose it over night...also if you do its muscle and water you loose first....its the deep stored fat that you want to shift...another reason to use exercise...and that's what shifts the stored stuff if done properly!
Oh dear have just found another 'just in case' packet of mince pies in the cupboard!!!!!!!

We are of a like mind HildaW. I realise my portion control must be for life not just a one month blitz on calories.

When I told DH I had reached the weight I was when we got married his reply was 'I hope you don't expect me to carry you over the threshold' :-)

I haven't tried this one but did do something similar called Diet Chef a couple of years ago. Grampy and I did it together and I actually emptied my cupboards of all temptations before we started.

I found the meals needed 'topping up' with extra veggies and after 2 weeks I was bored to death with it all. Grampy carried on regardless and we made it to the end having lost about 21lbs each.

However , that all went back on again in quite a short space of time . The benefit of the plan was the portion control but the downside was I wasn't learning anything so went straight back to my bad ways afterwards.

From my point of view its a quick fix solution but not a long term one.

We follow the Slimming World diet now, we're seeing real results and we're learning about making better choices and better portion control going forward.

I think your diet Anja is far too restrictive to live on forever - that's where SW scores - nothing is out of bounds - even that slice of cake :-)

What are the chances that having eaten the Jane Plan supply of food for a day, you will still feel hungry and end up eating other food as well?

You are not greedy, steroids make you feel hungry. I was put on a course of steriods and immediately began to feel ravenously hungry all the time. This side effect was not listed on the leaflet accompanying the pills, but as soon as a googled 'hungry all the time' or similar, the first page of results were all about hunger and steroids. Thankfully I was only on a short course of steroids so the problem was short lived.

Losing weight starts with the mind, not the mouth. Nothing will work if, deep down, you are hoping to return to old eating habits after the weight is gone. The first thing to do is to find a pattern of eating you enjoy and which doesn't increase your weight, then work out ways to reduce it to help you lose weight.

What worked for me was the 5:2. I developed an eating pattern that kept my weight steady and once I was in the swing of it, cut down to 500 calories 2 days a week. On the other 5 days I was able to eat normally, so I kept up the swing of what is to be my life time eating pattern. On high days and holidays, I enjoy eating without reserve, but find my new eating pattern also limits how much I now want to eat when it is no holds barred.

Micheal Mosley has now revised his eating plan to include 800 calories on the 2 days or 800 calories a day for a limited time.
He also advocates eating over a shorter period of time which is what some people are following on 16:8.

Yes, I have been reading that, but having found a system (5:2 and 500 cals a day) that suits me, I am sticking to it.

Seems like you have a great morning routine shysal, I need to work on mine a bit more, work days I stagger out of the house and then sit at my desk all day and non work days I lounge around in the couch until the prednisone kicks in.
Interesting about the methotrexate not really doing anything, that’s a fear of mine, fighting the side effects for nothing. I’m only at 8mg and I do have pain, but really trying hard to try other things like losing 30lb instead of increasing the prednisone to 9 or 10mg.

Hi Shysal: I did try the Jane Plan a couple of years ago - and did lose some weight. I was able to choose meals from a menu. I don’t eat meat but do eat fish - unfortunately the fishy dishes weren’t available at timeof ordering, for some reason, so I had vegetarian dishes with rather too many duplicated. Some were delicious but a few I found borderline unpleasant. I’m not against having a lot of soup, but I think I could have bought tastier soup from the supermarket. I can say that the plan helped me with portion control. For example, a ‘treat’ would be one little biscuit wrapped in cellophane. I ate it slowly! However I did not feel inclined to do more than a month. Several packets of the soup remained in the pantry for months afterwards, reproaching me...

You know, this is one thing about ready meals. They allow you to see the amounts of calories and protein you are getting from your main meal.

I’ve tried all sorts of plans and diets and shakes over the years. The weight comes off but when I then return to their so-called maintenance diets, it creeps straight back on again. Usually plus a pound or two more.

However, at the beginning of December a health check at the doctors indicated my cholesterol was a bit on the high side. The doctor immediately prescribed statins which made me feel terrible. Soo, I stopped taking them and have been on a low cholesterol diet ever since, cutting out dairy and animal fats. Next week I find out if the level has gone down. But - the side effect is that I’ve lost half a stone! Without even really trying! Smaller but better cuts of meat (no mince) and loads of veg and salad made sense but I’ve been snacking on nuts, fat free home made biscuits and cakes, dark chocolate (which I prefer) - and even occasional sugary sweets!

So I think it’s a case of finding the right diet for you. Finding the foods your body needs and a regime which suits it rather than a package deal which may leave you with cravings.

Fingers crossed I’ve now found a diet for life!