Week 6 - Low Carb Bootcamp - We're Past the Halfway Point!

[BIWI]

Morning! In a rush, so not much time to post - off to Leeds today so have to go for my train.

Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Weight Tracker

Talk later ...

BIWI i end up eating some form of lettuce/mixed salad leaves along with tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumber, pepper etc and then mayo or a dressing of some sort... but it's pretty much the same one over and over and I'm getting bored!

Dh and I love hot salad daisy.

Panfry chicken, chorizo, mushrooms and brie.

Add to lambs lettuce and add oil and vinegar.

Yum.

I slice up a red pepper and fry it in olive oil till it's soft and nicely charred, then deglaze the pan with a bit of red wine vinegar, and pour the lot over some iceberg lettuce, to which I add some finely chopped shallot and some grated Parmesan.

Robert Carrier recipe: roasted blanched almonds, cubed avocado, cucumber, tomatoes and Cheshire cheese with a dressing of olive oil, white wine vinegar, a bit of tomato purée, crushed garlic and a dash of Tabasco. Yummy.

All sound good! I think I've realised my problem with nice salads is that lunch meals to me should be frugal and very quick so adding extra to salads tends to mean ££ and I feel I should be living on soup made of limp veg etc.... (& I'm just as bored of soup) plus I want lunches to be quick and easy to make & clear up... Does everyone else find LC expensive? Good heathy food much it is costing more.

daisy - do you add some meat/fish whatever to that salad? I really don't think eating salad plus dressing would keep me going..! The easiest salad I throw together at the moment is just lettuce/cucumber/an avocado/tin of tuna, mixed up with loads of dressing. Or add some soft-boiled eggs to give it a nicoise taste, or alternatively grilled chicken/bacon/lettuce/parmesan with a caesar dressing. I have to have my salads substantial or they don't feel me up!

Initially I thought it was more expensive: then I added up the cost of all the Mars bars, creme eggs, Caramel bars, crunchies..... that I'm not buying any more. Or the biscuits and crisps and all the diet drinks. Then there's the fact that I can buy the cheap (ie non-steak) mince and other cheap cuts of meat like pork belly or rolled shoulder of pork or breast of lamb. Home made coleslaw is cheap and filling. Water is free :)

I then realised that I was eating better food, enjoying it more and overall it wasn't costing me any more :)

You need to be canny to make your shopping cheaper daisy.

Waitrose reductions this week were

Pork shoulder marinated in fennel £16 down to £3 has served us for 3 meals.

Whole chickens....bought 3 for £1.70!!

Prawns 49p

Smoked salmon/cream cheese filler 50p

12 avocados for 55p

prettybird - that's such a good point. I just filled the car up with petrol and was mooching about the M&S bit of the petrol station when I realised I didn't really want anything. Left empty handed whereas before I would have spent a few quid on nonsense just for the sake of it.

Yes I do add protein to my salads, it's just the basic salad bit that bores me!

Ruprekt.. I shop carefully for bargains and shop around but we've gone from £50/week to £80/week and that's due to the increase in meat. I buy meat according to best price and if I find a good offer then I will bulk buy. I still buy baking stuff and squash, crisps, potatoes, rice etc for rest of family but even so, they don't eat huge quantities of crisps (DH only, 1 packet a day) etc.. so can't reduce that. I can't go evenings as both dc have activities on plus I often end up having food delivered as if DH isn't here to help then carrying bags/pushing trolley etc causes a Fibro flare...

We don't buy treats such as Mars bars etc more than say 1-2/month or biscuits (I bake which I've always found cheaper) and DH shares a 40p lidl bottle of coke with the kids 1-2 a month as a treat.. this hasn't changed as I didn't have those things (barr home baked goods) anyway plus it was always a limited treat.

Fucking hell ruprekt you jammy bugger! eva thanks for those uplifting words. I have done this once before and I remember at the end, when I was a size eight, thinking anybody who didn't do this was really missing out. I spent ninety percent of my time obsessing over being too fat, when I'm too fat, so really, I know that I've just got to hang in there. I also know that even a couple of stone off is going to be a huge boost, and then, actually, just getting below the 17 stone mark is going to feel tremendous. I also know that I'm lucky to be so tall, and 'Miranda at her largest' type of shape. And that I have got excellent skin that snaps back. These are my positives and I shall shout them, along with my shit, to remember everyday that I am lucky!

Food

B already mentioned up thread

L - roast pork with crackling, spinach and broccoli tips

S - pork and crackling

D- beef chunks casseroled with mushrooms, spinach, and the tiniest bit of cream and yoghurt and goats cheese all stirred in.

4 litres water and several berry teas

Meal plan for this week.....

Roast chicken and veg leftovers

Sausages and celeriac mash with broccoli.

Creamy prawns with courgetti

Steak with mushrooms, swede chips.

Cod fillet with pesto, salad

Chilli with cauliflower rice.

Beat me, BIWI, for I have fallen.

I know why. Potentially homeless in 2 weeks as contract hasn't arrived, let alone been signed, living in chaos as packing in hope, river flooded and threatening to come into the house again, stressful ex disappeared AGAIN at the mention of divorce, work is beyond nightmares and has reduced me to tears twice this week. But all that is fairly par for the course ATM.

I don't know why I thought a bottle of wine, 250g of raisins, half a packet of cheese, a whole chicken (bar one leg) and a whole, huge, jar of pickle would solve any of it .

Sorry for SMS, but am seriously off the rails. Back on the water now wondering WTF happened. (and also thinking must secretly have stomach of iron).

The other thing I should've mentioned is that once I've properly adapted to the WoE is that my appetite decreases so that I eat less so that in itself saves money.

If I've had eggs and something else proteiny for breakfast/lunch, I'm quite happy to have a cheap (home made) vegetable soup for lunch/dinner.

But I admit I shouldn't have judged others on how much junk I used to eat

Bloody hell, Athel, you deserve a medal for that sort of stress....... hope things get a little better and easier soon.

Thanks, Billy. Me too.

Forgot to say that my car started making hideous noises yesterday and I am relying on that thing to do most of the moving, as I can't afford full moving services. Certainly can't afford another car. Of all the bloody timing. Off to see my local friendly mechanic at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

It's a wonderful thing though, my car; corners like a wardrobe balanced on a shopping trolley, but carries tardis like amounts of stuff.

Oops Eva I missed your post. The court stress has fizzled out, although we are now part-way through having to deal with SS thanks to my ex for making outrageous (and totally untrue) allegations about me. It has all been going well - I have nothing to hide, thankfully! - but it's still nerve-wracking.

I don't feel dread about having to continue with this, I don't understand why I don't eat like it all the time - it's not rational, because rationally I know that i enjoy it, I like the food, I feel better, etc etc. I know it is good for me, it shouldn't feel like a chore. I really do believe that it's mainly the fact that you have to eat differently to the majority that makes you feel as though you're walking a bit of a tightrope. I've had odd days off the LC recently, and to me it's such a scary prospect, because it means eating compulsively, stupidly, and for the wrong reasons if I start eating carbs. I just can't seem to eat them in a moderate fashion.

Sorry to hear you have troubles athlestane - you often have such wise words for everyone else - I wish I had some for you < offers hand holding until someone wiser and more eloquent comes along>
Work tears are never pleasant -most unfair , I hope this week is looking like it will be better .
Flooding / moving and divorce are - I am sure , on the ' most stressful life events list' so it is quite understandable to have derailed slightly but it all sounds low carbish
Hope it's all bearable .

x post. Athel that does indeed sound monumentally stressful.

Nothing wrong with some of those food items you listed... I think it could have been a lot worse!

Athelstane - best wishes for your car, your move and everything else.

Heliumheart, I can eat them moderately either it seems.

Thanks, Helium, Hugh and Humphrey. With the benefit of hindsight, my magnificent, ginormous brain suggests this may have been why I was into ripping heads off last week, rather than any WOE.

And to echo 2/3rds of you, yes - hadn't realised how addictive carbs were until I hadn't had many for the last however many weeks we've been doing this. Once I'd started I just couldn't stop; didn't want to stop; couldn't cram down food fast enough. And yet have been the hungriest today I have been all month .

Helium, I am truly glad that SS are at least getting a wriggle on with all this nonsense rather than dragging it out over months and months for you.

Have you asked them whether they include a report on recommendations over false accusations, given it's someone who still has contact with the children? (apol's if he's not the father, I genuinely can't remember if you said so).

Same here Athel.....cramming them in.