I'm still peeved because the chemist hasn't been able to get hold of my 3 injection pens of liraglutide that are on my diabetes repeat prescription, but online pharmacies are having no problem getting hold of it, to sell at £75/pen.
My weight loss had been averaging 3kg/month since February 2022 when I started following the Zoe nutritional guidance, but has slowed down drastically since I had to start using insulin again from mid September. After more than the usual amount of concentration to stay below a self imposed 2000kcal/day limit in November I was very disappointed to only have lost 0.4g at the end of four weeks.
When my Christmas groceries were delivered on the 21st December I decided not to bother with any kind of calorie restriction over Christmas and New Year. I did keep up the habit of not eating from 4pm till 10am, having at least one portion each of kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut and kefir daily, eating as many different plants as possible, especially the ones containing high levels of phytochemicals, and (after reading Ultra Processed People) I read the ingredients list of everything in my shopping basket, and put back all the old favourites that contained weird non-food ingredients.
I kept on logging everything in the myfitnesspal food diary, and while chomping my way through several boxes of all butter mince pies spread with brandy butter, boxes of Lindt dark chocolate truffles, Genoa cake and Danish marzipan, lebkuchen, several home made nut roasts (made with loads of different chopped nuts, chopped roast chestnuts, fresh cranberries, finely grated root vegetables, mixed herbs and spices, no breadcrumbs because I forgot them while mixing all that lot and spooning it into an assortment of small loaf tins), all 400g of Sainsbury's "haute fromagerie" French cheese selection, a big lump of Stilton, some Wensleydale with cranberries and cointreau, (and fucknose what else I've already managed to repress) I'd been clocking up between 2300 and 3700kcals/day.
So at the end of the next 4 week period, when I climbed on the scales on 10th January, I was expecting to have put some of the weight back on, the only question was how much?
Bafflingly the scales showed that I had lost 0.5kg during the last 4 weeks. So I'd actually lost 0.1kg more over Christmas, when eating to my heart's content (and beyond) compared to when I'd been working so hard to stay below a 2000 kcal limit!
The only explanation I've managed to come up with is that my metabolism must speed up when I eat more, and slow down when I eat fewer calories.
I'm going to test that new theory by eating between 2200 and 2300 kcals/day which will allow me to feel contentedly full, and have fun coming up with meals that pander to my gut microbiome, without my ever feeling deprived or restricted in what I am "allowed" to eat.
I spoke to the diabetes consultant on the phone last week, tragically they don't foresee the NHS being able to source any liraglutide or semaglutide until sometime in 2025 at the earliest. (Plenty of unnecessary foot amputations ahoy!) So now, when I eat carbs I have to count them and inject insulin, which it clears the glucose from my blood and quickly converts it all into fat. I have to accept that weight loss is going to be a lot slower while as the world shortage continues. Won't be forever though, because the pharmaceutical companies are acutely aware of the money they are missing out on, and are expanding their production as quickly as they can. It's just that world demand keeps increasing at a speed that outpaces their ability to create new production lines.
I've decided that the wisest thing to do now is forget about calorie restrictions, and concentrate entirely on eating to boost the good denizens of my gut microbiome, use the EMS machine and the vibration plate every day, and go out for a trundle round the block leaning on my glorious shopping trolley/zimmer frame/mobile chair in the open air whenever I feel up to it.
I'd eaten the last slice of my delicious wholemeal bread (Hodmedods meadowblend #2 - google it and read the ingredients list!) and not got round to refilling the bread machine, so had to defrost a wholemeal pitta bread to go with my breakfast kippers, spinach and kimchi, washed down with coffee and kombucha this morning. Couldn't be arsed cooking anything for lunch so weighed out 35g of Brave crunchy chickpeas with sea salt and vinegar, mixed with a teaspoon of green nori seaweed sprinkles, took 15g of Montezuma's Absolute Dark chocolate (100% chocolate, no other ingredients, very grown up taste) to dip in my hot coffee, and a banana. Now there's an acorn squash baking in the halogen oven, which will be going into soup along with red lentils, sweet potato, frozen vegetable base mix (finely chopped onions, carrots & celery), a couple of bay leaves, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp ground ginger, dried sage, a mini bottle of red wine and a vegetable stock cube. That will make 6 generous servings of soup, and I'll have the first portion for tea today, with a defrosted North Staffordshire oatcake spread with Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs, and a few fork fulls of sauerkraut before being rolled up and dipped piggishly into the soup. If I'm feeling particularly kitchen goddessy I might grate some Gruyere cheese over the hot soup, but I probably won't bother because of having to find the grater, not grate my fingers and then find room for it in the dishwasher. (I have one of those smaller dishwashers that sits on top of the kitchen counter). Kefir mixed with Greek yogurt and defrosted blueberries for afters, and that's me done for the day, apart from whatever teas I drink in the evening (current choices are oolong, purple, green, white, peppermint or camomile).
I can't say it's a hard life. I'm very fortunate to be able to afford to keep the freezer stocked with bread, fruit and vegetables, and have groceries delivered to my door every week to top up the fresh supplies. I don't have anyone else to care for, (except for some fish in an aquarium who will never be able to write exposés about my neglect in the tabloids). I'm still so doddery that just having a shower is a major undertaking, so having a robot vacuum cleaner, washing machine and dishwasher that allow me to (more or less) keep on top of the senile decay are also much appreciated blessings. I recently discovered gel drain cleaner, which solved the problem of not being able to bend down far enough to pull up the drain cover in the shower and hoik out the mat of soap encrusted hair (I call it the Shadow Poodle) that builds up down there and slows the water from draining when I'm showering. Life is full of luxuries that I can manage to afford now that I've got my old age pension.