Maintaining weight & cheaters confessional

[EvaTheOptimist]

Thanks to BIWI's bootcamp I've lost loads of weight. I'm determined not to put it all back on. So I am now consciously trying to maintain my new weight.

I finished the last bootcamp on 150.8lb. My aim is to stay below 11 stone (154lb). Since bootcamp I have weighed between 149lb and 151.6lb. I think this roughly counts as maintaining!

My plan or experiment is to see whether basically eating bootcamp style, but with 3-4 off-piste moments per week (eg chocolate, toast, special treat meal etc) will do the trick of maintaining.

Post here to share your experience of maintaining the low carb way.

Also feel free to confess any cheating here, offload and wail in a safe space!!

Oh my actual fuck. One of the twins is now vomming. Normally I'd be laid back about this, but I have an awful feeling he's picked up my campy. Shit shit shit fuck. On the plus side, he's a neat puker. My eldest is a puking fool. Think standing spraying it through his fingers type thing.... He's already puked twice, once straight in the bog, and just now in to the glass teapot I re-purposed as a puke pot. Touch wood, he's not spilled a drop, bless him.

I picked up my antib's today, so I spoke with the doc and he said get a shit pot at the same time and we'll test him straight away. The poor bairn has a temp, terrible stomach cramps and looks like a zombie. Oh I feel so awful for him. I'd rather I had it again than watch him suffer. He's shivering away next to me semi dazed. I had to take him with me to get the sample pot as I was scared to leave him home with his brother. He looks so ill. I managed to dash into sainsbos and pick up some grub, a shit load of schloer and stocked up on calpol. He's diligently sipping at fluids.

Yeay peony puppy arrival! I have a client who got a springer/cocker spaniel and she crated him whilst she worked from day one. Before he was able to come on walks with me, I would go midday and spend half an hour playing with him in their yard. He'd be crated from nine am, and then after my visit, until her three ds would be home from school, which finishes at 2.40pm rund here, so home by three. The eldest was about 16 at the time, and was responsible. They'd come straight in and take the puppy out in the yard, feed him, play, praise and treat when he peed/pooed and keep him in the kitchen watching him like a hawk, or popping him back in his crate if he was sleepy and they weren't cuddling him. Could you do the same routine ish? Are you crating, or having a puppy zone? Or just letting him roam?

notso yup totally agree.

Oh god, going to ring nhs direct, he's writhing in agony.

Oh Trash your poor son! Can they not just write him the prescription for the antibiotics straightaway, do they really have to wait for the tests?

Sayra amazing job on the presentation and questions and exciting opportunity. You most definitely rock!

Well done for both barrels on old employer Peony - what's the new job?

Minny I reckon your DD must think you're ace. Definitely agree with the "Mummy may bite" thing Trash!

Stunt score tonight? spill the beans

I've been very busy half-terming but have had all low-carb days except one, yesterday - had a nice lunch out that included potatoes and birthday cake in the evening. It has been said many times on these threads, but the cake just wasn't that nice. when will I learn

Still, it was a planned in advance cheat to celebrate a birthday, so all in control.

What I have been enjoying in the last couple of days is compliments on my weightloss/not putting back on, and added self-confidence from not feeling fat.

trash - just read this . Hope you have not had an awful night with poor DS . I presume - fluids/ painkillers and antibiotics with be needed . I feel for you - it's crap when the kids are ill .

Re puppy advice - yes we have a crate , so based on your advice we have a plan - MIL will come all Morning trying to get her to read puppy care manual DD1 will take over at lunch time until I get home with DD3 ( having collected her from nursery) . Repeat for a month and then new fab Nanny starts ( on board with puppy training !)

I wish I could give up work and look after all of them - but ... Am 'breadwinner' - hate the term, but it is what it is .

eva - it's the job I got last bootcamp , I have just had a long notice period . I will be the 'Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children' for the county - working for the CCG . Gulp ..... Big job - but everything I have done has been leading me here, so feel ready .

eva - that self confidence thing - it's a great thing . I feel sad that my mood/confidence is attached to my weight , but I think it is . Trying to change that for DDx3 somehow ?

stunt - you just have to feed it to any potentials ....

Re: weight loss journey - it feels wierd but I think I may be 'there' .... stunts macros and trashys heads up about excessive veg .... Has stripped the last 6 lb in two weeks .
So I am 154lb at 5'10 . If I look up my 'ideal' weight it's another half a stone off - but I am
Not sure that's right for my 45 year old face ...
So - I have taken photo as can't ever believe I don't need to be thinner . Might post later if brave enough ...

peony and eva thanks guys. I have things to say about excellent posts but a little incoherent. Bastard emergency doc aka NHS 111 made me have a flipping ambulance up to a and e at ten pm. The boy was admitted cos not tolerating oral fluids plus terrible stomach cramps. Good news is he's rallied after a night of IVs. Bad news, am knackered as sat up watching he didn't squash the drip in his sleep

Gunna spleep n then catch up chat. Home in bed together now. Dp has our dogs plus two I'm looking after. Boy two with daddy. Zzzzzzzzzz

Poor trashy and trashboy...... you are certainly having your share..... I think this is IT for your run of bad luck young lady

Hello everyone. So this is where everyone is!

Trash! what a night! Actually I feel I love the NHS for making your son have an ambulance and looking after him. You don't need a night without sleep in your state though.

Peony complete congratulations for reaching the weight you want to be. Wow! and 6lbs in 2 weeks is seriously impressive, especially so close to goal. I remember your new job now - so very good luck.

And also good luck in being slightly more controlled in maintaining your new weight than I am currently being... its a different mindset and needs practice!

Hello lowcarb try not to get distracted by any mentions of off-piste behaviour here.

We're going home from a half-term week away tomorrow, back to more food normality and also lots of work & commitments crowding back in. Blurrghh. And, a pile of washing. Paying the mortgage before Monday. Facing the fact that DS has no socks without holes. Reality!

eva I think you are right - the hard part starts now. I have no idea when or how the 6lb came off, I am a complete scales 'avoider', as if I feel I have been 'good' and I gain a lb etc - I fall into 'sod it' mode and become a carby twat. So - I had assumed I was STS, as clothes all fit the same, and then DH remarked that I was looking 'sleek' gin talking I expect, so I weighed and ' whoosh' and now today it has ' stuck' and I am still down and clothes are looser.

I think it just hadn't quite twigged in my brain about fat/ water/ protein - all that stuff. Despite being told a million times - something just clicked in my head.

I do think the test now is to wean myself off MFP and try and just live this WOE without props. I also don't want the main thread to go down this line of MFP, as I really don't think they need it unless they are bubbling above goal. After all the whole point of Biwi's bootcamp is no calorie counting, no measuring - just good healthy tasty food.

must go - have left DD3 being ' quiet' too long in the kitchen - likely to mean mischief ....!

So - here we 'before ' and 'after'
4.5 stones off . 3 miserable and starving on various WW type diet ( whatever was in Sunday supplements !) and 1.5 on fabulous healthy energy giving bootcamp .

I think I could lose a bit more - but will see hiw maintain acne goes . Very happy for thoughts - friends and family are just 'polite ' and I always want to be thinner and think always will, as grew up with the supermodel concept

Sorry - ' how maintenance' not maintain acne !!

Sorry - ' how maintenance' not maintain acne !!

You look fab Peony, lean and fit. You've done so well and I think you're right that you're at a good maintenance weight. For a maintenance type diet I recommend looking at Briffa's Escape the Diet Trap or phase 3 of the Idiot Prood Diet. Atkins' carb ladder is great for gradually adding carbs back in. Basically just start adding healthy carbs such as apples, pears, potato, sweet potato and white rice, whichever foods appeal the most and see what you can eat without your weight increasing or any other symptoms, e.g. I get tummy ache when I eat white bread but wheaten bread seems to be okay. I recommend having an upper limit on the scales, if you reach that weight then you need to scale back on the carbs a bit and that way you forestall the weight going on again. I find at maintenance then I can have a treat such as my illicit love, chips and curry sauce, or eat some of the rice in a Wagamamas dish and it doesn't derail me with carb cravings. But it has to be occasional, two or more days of being a carby twat causes issues.

Lol at idiot prood diet. Oh spellcheck how you love to betray me when I least expect it.

Wow Peony, hugely well done. You do look really great, I hope you're enjoying that sleek feeling.

I'm so grateful that you pointed out that it was eating more fat that shifted that last bit for you - I have been at the same weight really since Easter - gaining and losing the same bit - and I think my "I'm having artificial sweeteners" initial diagnosis was actually wrong (not saying that they are fine, I know they are to be avoided) but I've cut them out completely and still going nowhere. It's been a kind of revelation the last couple of days, and whilst I agree there is a beauty in not needing to count, just enjoy lovely food, I've got another 3 stone to go, so I need to work on how and what I'm eating, and I'm hoping I'll be on the move, downwards, soon.

Sorry, much wittering.

Eva hope you've had a nice week away, how wonderful that you've only had the odd off-piste moment. Shame the cake didn't meet expectations.

trashy how's your lovely boy doing? I really hope that he is better quickly and if the bug is isolated it's very soon. I know you will know this but you all including him (and most 9ish year old boys I know aren't the most enthusiastic at this) have got to have the most diligent handwashing you've ever had to get this stopped and the other one not to get it. Do you know the proper handwashing method they use in hospitals? Will post a link to it if it helps. I hope you've both had some sleep and if I lived nearby I'd bring you some dinner round or help somehow.

Sayra hope the rest of the conference has gone well and you aren't too stressed about lab time

Stunt thank you for all your wisdom, I am hoovering it up, some of it to store until I need it. I've just finished Kendrick's "The Great Cholesterol Con" which has somewhat rattled my foundations... very good read. I did wonder what your thoughts were - only if you were interested in sharing them.

notso what are you studying?? I'm intrigued by what you do as it involves Polling Stations and a Masters in something... no need to say, just find other people's paths very interesting.

I'm going to do some creating today, of fat bombs and spinach and ham kind of egg pancakes. For me, cooking = therapy and baking is best avoided!

Oh my peony.... I have the urge to lick those abs! You look amazing. I would kill for those leggies too. Mega congratulations on the new job too.

eva I'm massively in agreement about lovely NHS. We're so lucky here in Newcastle. My local hospital the RVI is 5 mins from the house. It's an amazing place. We are always taken care of to an exceptional standard. We had to be isolated so had a lovely en suite room of our own, and the nurses were all treasures. Even though he's nine, ds (who's very shy) has an eye for the ladies. There were a succession of really gorgeous young nurses to look after him. We discovered he's the same as me and immune to magic cream, so he had to grit his teeth whilst they put the cannula in, but they were so good, and it was fine. All the doctors were really hot guys. It was quite bonkers...

Hoping you are ok and not crashing too hard back to mortgage-y holey socked reality!

I am always buggered after the half term or 'holidays'. I worked out this was because I usually have extra work on. So going back is like a break.... Looking forward to having just my lil rude dog and dps staffie (Charles) to watch over. Having said that, I'm down to one extra, and she's leaving at six. Lovely dp has walked them all this morning, so me and poorly ds are languishing on my mega bed. Dp has gone out for the day, but is getting some lc favourites for a special 'date night' dinner for him and me tonight. It's nice just having the one dc, as the other little fella has defected off to daddies as they have family visiting, so I'm able to pour all the love into the recovering boy.

Feeling super motivated re food. Bit of a wobbly day yesterday. I ate three ginger biscuits for breakfast, then egg mayo and ham for lunch. Several slugs of schloer, a few crisps, and then a tuna mayo salad and last thing some baby beetroot and chunks of cheddar Oh and I was about three quarters of a litre down on water. But today I'm back on track. Had yoghurt and berries, and chugging away at my water.

Will check in later.

Ooh and hiya lowcarb welcome to the naughty girls thread

oh x-post LMD helloooooo! How lovely to see you here.

You would have laughed at my hand washing anality over the last month. The dc's have been trained in proper handwashing tekkers. There are instructional diagrams on all of the soap dispensers at school. (My youngest two are funny little weirdos - competative conformists. They check each other re teeth cleaning times, hand washing techniques and eating seven portions of fruit and veg daily )

I will also confess to taking a set of nail clippers to us all and cutting everyones nails back to the quick. (damn my gorgeous long nails!)

I heard differing things from different doctors at the hospital. The first doc thought it highly unlikely dc had caught campy from me. Other friends kids have had a d + v thing. The second doc said it was quite likely he did have, and wanted to test. The third and final doc who we saw on the ward, was not bothered either way, and didn't need to test poo. I guess the different opinions were based on the state of ds at the time. The third doc saw him when he'd had a night of IV fluids and anti vom meds, so ds was much perkier, and keeping food and fluids down. He's fragile, but not in pain now, and has had a bowl of chocolate cheerios this morning, which has stayed down and not caused terrible pain. So fingers crossed it's just a bug. Yippee xx

Trashy your poor DS, glad he's on the mend. Fingers crossed his twin doesn't get it. We had cryptosporidium in school after a trip to a farm and it took weeks to shift with parents bringing kids in when they still had the shits because they needed to go to work and reinfecting others. In the end the head had a TA on bog patrol and anyone with the wildies was sent home and the cleaner had to blitz the loos again.

Peony we got Divadog just after DD finished her GCSEs and it was the ideal time, she was home to keep an eye on her, the weather was good for training although she was housetrained when we brought her home and Diva was still a novelty so she sat/played with her all the time. and you are looking foxy

LMD I'm not bright enough for a masters, I'm doing the School Business Manager's cert because the governors want the school to be responsible for its own finances do they know what they're trusting me with/I can't balance my own account and it'll mean a nice pay rise I did the elections years ago bf before kids and when I mentioned it in passing whilst killing time at a disciplinary I'm one of a dying breed that can still use shorthand so I get seconded whenever a scribe is needed and the solicitor advising the panel put a word in for me at the next election. Like most things its who you know or being in the right place at the right time.

How exciting minny...not really for anyone who gets it but it is Cryptosporidium that I work on!

Will post properly later I just saw the word Cryptosporidium and got all excited

Peony you look absolutely amazing. If I end up looking like you I'll be over the moon. You should be very proud.

Right, here goes. Time to catch up on everything this week.

First of all RE funding etc, thank you all who replied. Eva there is a possibility of my stipend being continued but it is a funny sort of thing that means I need to be very careful about what I am doing. The institute doesn't allow students to be paid for writing up so I'd need to still be doing lab work for that to happen...

One problem with my supervisors (they are the loveliest people and I consider them as friends not just supervisors/bosses) is that they have never had to struggle for money so don't realise that this is a real issue for me. I am going to arrange a meeting with them ASAP to discuss my write up and also what might happen after.

Minny I've not thought about lecturing or anything, one of the other students does some so I might speak to her about it. Thanks for that

peony I think the postman must have stolen the teabags still no sign, never mind I hope whoever got them enjoyed them!

You look amazing! I hope that in a year or two I look that great too. Well done, we should have a BC Hall of Fame where all the success stories start a before and after picture thread. Would help the rest of us see what we can achive.

So stunt did you score?

Hi lowcarb

The rest of the conference went really well, I have never been so happy before. I had so many people saying how much they loved what I'd done, how it was interesting and new. Can they help me with anything. Can I test some of their samples in my lab as they are worried that the methods they are using are not sensitive enough. Would I like to visit their lab?

I honestly looked like this the whole conference ->

Some of the biggest names in Cryptosporidium spoke to me and someone who has a species named after them stopped me in the street and said "loved your presentation, great work".

And, just to top it all off I weighed myself this morning and I am 4lbs down despite some not so LC eating. Though as LMD said Sweden have changed their food recommendations so most of the meals were LC friendly, it was just the wine and "fika" (coffee and cake) that weren't

Away to catch up on main thread now.

Sayra what a coincidence. I'm convinced a couple of kids had it before the residential but at the bug's peak we had 27 of 32 kids off. We've visited the same farm for years and they're so hot on hygiene but 2 + 2 made 9, parents were going to the local press and all visits were suspended while the farm was investigated - just whatthey needed before the Easter break. We're still waiting for the final report but only 3 kids were confirmed and one doesn't attend our school but is a relative of the boy.

Lovely weather here so going to chill in the garden. DH has done his chores so he can go out to play with his helicopter DD is scouring the net for a torrent of a programme she has on series link but didn't record because sky changed the time and its got footage of her audition and the after discussion so she'll be sucking up all the bandwidth when she finds it so no MN for me.

Crypto is just so easy to catch. The wee buggers are very difficult to kill and you only need 1 oocyst to cause disease, infected animals/children shed billions of them so its easy to spread. One thing about crypto is that using these antibacterial gels won't do anything (not sure what farm does but lots of them have gels next to animals and sinks etc further away) proper hand washing to physically remove the parasite from hands is what you need to do. Lots of outbreaks in the UK are linked to petting zoos, swimming pools and recently pre-packed "ready to eat" salad...so always re-wash your salad!

omg - I live on pre-packed salad........ and don't wash it........ I will now.

I don't wash mine either!

Oh fuck me neither... Although recent events have in fact changed my habits drastically. I've been actually refrigerating food I've cooked as soon as it's cooled and other wierd normal food hygiene practices. Loving the terror on the other thread... snigger. Ds 2 definitely mending, but off school tomorrow. I'm definitely much better, just perma knackered. Bought some Elizabeth Arden face jiz today. Was in centre of Newcastle 'doing shopping' for two hours. Luxury, except found nothing I wanted to wear, and kept seeing reflection of myself looking fat, wan and hideously ugly. Pulled self together, bought face jiz and came home, more resolved to continue than ever, and desperate for an entire wardrobe of clothes (not bought from asda) plus my own hairdresser.