I need a good kick up the arse!

[Drogon]

I've been low carbing for just over a year now and have lost just over 3 stone. For a while it was easy and I lost a 1lb a week steadily and didn't crave sugar (my biggest downfall of all!)

Then I had a small blip which seems to have set me off on a huge yoyo spiral for the past six months or so. I go sometimes days, sometimes weeks following this WOE and lose what i gained after a binge (I am a sugar binger, when I fall off the wagon I don't just fall off, I fall off and the wagon reverses on me!)

Then I seemed to sort myself out and was eating on plan, just like before, but my weight was not budging. I kept on plan believing that I was doing the same as before and my body would catch up. Then I started logging my carbs on MFP and saw I had allowed "sneaky carbs" into my diet (too many peppers, onions etc) so went a bit crazy and cut down on what veg I would eat and keeping my carbs extremely low.

So fast forward to now and last night I ruined 2 weeks worth of good, healthy eating by caving and eating a huge bar of chocolate. I had weighed in expecting to have lost at least 1lb after another good week but instead I had gained 2lbs and was devastated. I'm not due on so don't think it was the usual monthly bloating. I don't know why I do it to myself. I had really clear short term goals. Lose 3 more lbs to get to 3 and a half stone loss. Then 7lbs more and I would have broken the 4 stone barrier. I have a pair of smart black jeans that are just a bit too tight to wear and they were my motivation to get to 4 stone loss but they've been sitting in my wardrobe for months.

I'm sorry, I'm aware this is turning into a huge self pitying rant, I'm feeling really low and ugly at the moment and after a clothes shopping trip to try and perk myself up went disastrously wrong I'm feeling even worse.

So, to actually be practical and not such a misery I think my two problems are:

1. I don't drink nearly enough water. I know how important it is. I know it would help. But I still chose to drink crappy diet coke instead which I know is crap for me. When I'm on plan this is like my sweet treat and I hate the thought of cutting it out when I still drank it when I first started and lost weight.
   
   
2. My protein and fat levels are roughly the same. After MFP logging I noticed that my fat wasn't high enough, but I struggle with ways to get more fat into my diet. I eat a lot of eggs, tuna and meat. I cook with cream and cheese but sometimes just don't feel like the same old cheese sauce dish.
   I'm trying to up my fats but I cook in butter, use olive oil or mayonnaise for salads, have cheese and use the fattiest meats I can.
   
   If anyone has made it this far, can you offer me some words of encouragement/kick up the arse please?
   
   I keep thinking maybe I'll go back to calorie counting but then I remember how hungry I felt and I don't want to feel hungry after low carbing and losing weight whilst NOT starving. But I think low carbing just isn't working for me?
   
   I'm going to try MFP again to log all my food but it is a huge pain in the arse as now me and DP cook everything from scratch and I don't measure ingredients when I make curries or cheese sauce so it would be a huge faff!
   
   I'm also going to drink more water and cut the diet coke out if I can.
   
   Anyway I'm going to stop typing this now and come back later in the hopes of someone offering me magic words of wisdom

[Drogon]

Well I gave myself a good kick up the backside today anyway

Had a good rant to DP about my weight woes and he decided to walk me to work instead of taking the bus (it's a 30 minute walk so I really have no excuse not to do it, I'm just too lazy!)

Have had 3 good healthy meals and tonight dragged myself off the settee and did the first run of C25K, something I did regularly but stopped when I fell pregnant!

So here's to tomorrow

[YellowJellyBeanz]

What are you eating for your meals and snacks?

[Drogon]

So today I had

Chicken pieces dipped in full fat cream cheese and a boiled egg. Normal breakfast would be scrambled eggs, boiled eggs with full fat mayo, leftovers from night before.

Lunch was a chicken salad with peppers, lettuce and some onions and garlic mayonnaise. Lunch is normally a salad with chicken/tuna mayo/egg mayo as it's quick to prepare for work.

Dinner was a picnic style as DD was being a fusspot! We had some boiled eggs, salami, bacon, peppers, tomatoes and cream cheese. Again dinner is normally some type of meat with vegetables. I like making curries and chicken in cheese sauce but we also have burgers with salad or chilli with salad.

Snacks are normally a couple of squares of dark chocolate (usually 85% but I've found I've gotten used to it and can eat more than I need to eat to satisfy the sweet craving, carbs are probably creeping in here!), pepperamis, cured meats or boiled eggs, Brazil nuts when I remember I've bought them.

I drink far too much coffee with cream (I've had 3 cups today and not enough water!)

I've also got into the habit of allowing myself an options hot chocolate with a bit of squirty cream which is fairly low carb, but adding it to the carbs I get from my vegetables probably makes my overall carb count too high.

I think I'm eating right, I'm trying to make an effort to up my fats but I'm conscious of having too much dairy in case it's affecting my weightloss. I also know that it's the snacks that are probably having the biggest effect (plus the lack of willpower and caving into awful sugar binges every couple of weeks!) as I'm not as strict with "treats" as I used to be.

It just doesn't feel as easy as it used to

[YellowJellyBeanz]

I agree I lost stones in the past very quickly but finding it extremely difficult now