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!!

trash sounds like it might be worth you (or your DP!) buying some really good probiotics, so that you can repopulate the good bacteria in your gut.

Have you got a decent health food shop near you? You need to buy something like acidophilus, and it should be stored in the fridge, as it is a live bacteria.

Oh, and just to let you all know, I'm going on holiday on Thursday and won't be back until Mon 2 June. I've asked StuntNun if she will start the new chat threads for me, but also please could I ask you all to keep an eye on the boards? I'd really value your help/experience - just as long as you don't start talking about cheating while I'm away

Enjoy your holiday BIWI

We will be good, honest and yes happy to keep eye on threads and answer what I can. Thank goodness StuntsexybumNun is around, she is very good at answering questions.

Stunt that bottom is practically airborne! No lowslung-ness there. (Minny I realise that low-slung was a terrible thing for your Dad to have said, but it is also a great and funny description.)

Happy holidays BIWI I hope you have a fantastic time. I promise to confine all talk of cheating to this thread only. What cheating? There is none, none I tell you. Not for at least a couple of days now

Well I don't know what the docs told you about how long it might take you to recover Trash, but I would not hesitate to go back to them. You are properly poorly and even now you are still in a state that would have any of us ringing for an emergency GP appointment. I don't know what you were thinking allowing DP's mum to come round at a time like this

I love the idea of Sayra needing top-level trustworthiness, working with someone who loves precise instructions. I can feel the nerdish joy you must have both felt, from here.

Ah Minny so wonderful that your DD says she's had some of her best times with you! I feel this would not be my DD's current description. I read a recent interview by Kate Humble where she said of her childhood something like- "I found my little brother unbearably annoying and my mum got on my tits all the time" "Wow an uncanny description of my DD's life" I thought.

I'm finally here again and determined to catch up with you all. Have tried to catch up with this thread over the last couple of days but just not quite managing it. Have totally given up on the main BC thread and bootcamp for now. Sorry BIWI.

Sayra sorry those stupid old judges obviously didn't know their arse from their elbow. And I loved your nipple tassles.

He spent yesterday evening in frozen terror with tissue paper hanging out of his nostrils as I was getting properly cross

This made me choke on my tea! Hope you feel better soon Trashy, it all sounds bloody awful. I think you should go back to the docs as it's been going on so long. You must be getting dehydrated too. Probiotics sound like a good plan.

Notso I wish CrazyCocker would walk round puddles... she prefers to plunge in up to her waist, and then pee in the middle of them. She doesn't like going out in the rain though.

Peony a last minute refusal to go to the beach then going for a bike ride the day after would have had me very indeed. You're either ill or you aren't!

Eva well done on getting a grip on the eating. When you've finished with it, could you pass that grip to me? Actually I haven't gone overboard silly like before, but definitely not eating properly low carb. Just haven't got the head space to devote to it right now. I haven't put a load of weight on, though I defo need to lose half a stone and preferably a stone, still. My abdomen is very bloated though, and has been for a while. Odd pains and discomfort too, so really need to go and get it checked out. Probably my endometriosis playing silly buggers, but I must admit the dread phrase 'ovarian cancer' keeps niggling at the back of my mind. I'm sure it's not - a flare of endometriosis is vastly more likely. Anyway my size 14 trousers are tight around the waist again, even though I'm over a stone and a half lighter than when I first started BC last year. Which is annoying.

Sayra ooh Sweden, how exciting! I went for a long w'end in Stockholm once, a long time ago, and loved it. Very beautiful. Expensive though, especially booze.

Elma I often skip breakfast but couldn't skip lunch. And certainly not dinner, that's the main event of the day!

Holger onwards and upwards and away from the bread!

Stunt loving your bum. Now that just sounds very wrong!

BIWI have a wonderful holiday.

All ok here, other than off piste eating and annoying tummy as described. Spending every spare moment trying to find a car to replace the one I crashed a few weeks ago. Have now read dozens of used car reviews, thousands of used car ads, thousands of random things about the merits of deisel vs petrol, the 1.8 LX vs the 2.0 ghia etc etc ad infinitum.

I. Am. Totally. Fucking. Crap. At. Making. Fucking. Decisions.

I drive myself round and round in ever decreasing circles until I'm spinning on the spot at a hundred mph. Hopeless. I haven't even been to see a fucking car yet - by the time I decide to ring up about them, they've been sold!

In desperation at my panicky state of being over the last few months, I went to the GP last week. Had lost my temper and really shouted at DD over something relatively minor... I asked her to go out into the garden for five minutes to get a breath of fresh air and move her body a bit, before we started doing some learning. She argued, huffed and puffed, stomped around and finally pulled a garden chair, scraping (knowing I can't bear sounds like that) across the patio to sit in front of the patio doors, arms folded, staring resentfully down the garden. Who the fuck could object to spending five minutes (or fifty) in a garden full of flowers, birds and a wildlife pond, on a gloriously sunny day at the height of spring? Who? Who FFS???? Having been determinedly patient all day with her through gritted teeth whilst conducting the daily torture (for both of us) session which is maths lesson, I was then unprepared for such random unreasonableness and lost my temper. Ended up in floods of tears (both of us) and I felt like an absolute shit for upsetting her (she can't really help it, and she's a lovely kid).

Sooooo, doc has given me a low dose of propanolol, a beta blocker, on top of my usual antidepressants. It's worked like a charm and I feel so much more normal. Still get anxious thoughts (am absurdly anxious person) but when I haven't got a constantly racing pulse and knotted stomach, they're a lot easier to put into perspective and I'm not overwhelmed by physical feelings of panic. In the first 24 hrs my BP went from 132/90 to 118/80, and my resting pulse rate from 84 to 68. I can't remember my pulse ever being below 70bpm!

With my newfound clarity, I've decided to sign DD up for an online secondary school. Now I've just got to persuade her dad to pay half (more, ideally, but that's unlikely) of the £2300 a year fees. The people who run it - www.interhigh.co.uk - are partnering with these people - www.weyecademy.com - to start a state online secondary. If it gets approved, it will open in Sept '15, so she could move there and do her GCSEs for free (it can be expensive home edding to GCSE level). The thought of someone else teaching her (who is actually a good teacher!), and handing over the responsibility for her day to day education to someone else is like lifting a weight off my shoulders tbh. I can think of disadvantages to an online school over a bricks and mortar one, but for DD with her particular situation, I think it'd be the best fit for her. It would still let her keep her current close friendship group of home ed kids, too, which is really important to me (and her).

Right well that's more than enough SMS from me. Must go back to obsessively looking at cars.

Lurve ya all.

Wow Crabby cars are just so BORING aren't they, that's the problem. I think I'd be tempted to buy one "man-style" - just buy the first one that fits and not look any further. I'd go to the local 2nd-hand car lot and test drive anything within my budget... and go home with the first one that doesn't have an annoying characteristics.

Also I think you have made a stunningly sensible decision for your DD's education. The online learning will mean she keeps all the current advantages of home education BUT she will have additional feedback from someone who isn't you, on how she's doing and what she should be aiming for. I think that's going to be a very healthy situation.

I reckon carbs do all sorts of interesting things to us - yes wind and bloating, but also I think they have hormonal effects too (PCOS sufferers report reduced symptoms on low-carb). So an endometriosis flare could indeed be likely, you poor thing. Its always good for your peace of mind to check these things out with a doctor though.

Today I stepped on the scales today to see if I was starting a snail-like progress down from 152.8lb. Well today I am 150.6 lb. I never saw 2lb come off overnight on bootcamp, so I suspect my carby-eating of late last week filled up my glycogen stores and that was the last of them going away? will have to look to StuntNun for any more scientific explanation

Basically I'm a jammy bugger. And I am now mentally awarding myself some of my niece's birthday cake next Saturday.

So don't worry Crabby I think if you are keeping carbs lower than you used to eat and reverting to low-carb as a "usual" when you can, hopefully you will stay in a state where it can come off again relatively easily.

Buy a Ford Focus Crabby. Or don't if you don't want to but they're good cars, there's loads of them about and they're cheap to fix. They can have trouble with the steering racks so don't buy one if there's any clackiness to the steering at the extremes of turning the wheel.

Eva you accidentally did a carb refeed. We're not allowed to talk about them as they basically involve triggering a whoosh by eating a load of extra carbs one day (having a few drinks can work too). They are a bit controversial because (a) you can't be certain when you're due a whoosh so they don't always work, and (b) they encourage cheating which always tends to get out of hand on the Bootcamp threads.

I found the ultimate snack...... marmite wierdo, as no longer have the stamina for gin wierdo (picture on phone - will post it next)

at " the worst taboulleh ever"

minny.... chuckling childishly as Minny is the word for fanjo down here in Somerset ! I may have to embellish it slightly

stunt - great tush..... Mine look quite good ( if a bit flat) side on - but its the width thats the problem.... I loo like ' Mr Strong' ( must be all the eggs eva

EVa you are a jammy bitch...

crabbydarling Sounds like a horrid standoff moment with DD - the sort we all wish we could avoid but none of us can - and with hindsight we ALWAYS know what we would say and do.

BEing able to share responsibility for education would be a huge relief I expect - I really do admire you for home ed - I know I couldn't do it too thick and too impatient..... Sounds quite pricey though .

Cars,,,zzzzzzz If you need a breather my DH adores cars.... if you give him a price, a set of requirements ( he does not accommodate colour mean shit) he will look for you !

I have finally found the cococnut cream - yeah..... will try tomorrow.

I am having a mindful off piste evening a la chinese takeaway tonight DD2's treat for some good mid term results. I will be as LC as poss - but I am the stage where I don't fuss if I have a moment off at at a tangent - infact I love the weight I am I think - its easy to maintain on this WOE and everything fits well.

I am a size 10, 5'10" and a little over 11 stone. My BM! is 22 or 23 I think, but I am very muscular now. I was heading for 10st 7lbs - but my body seems to really like this weight -so I am not sure I should fight it. ! Also at 45 I don't want the gaunt face look.....

Yummy !

Arrived at my work thingy. It's a buffet tonight so hopefully I can pick all lc things. I 've got babybels and can go to shops if need be. Lunch tomorrow might be harder.

On phone with limited internet so can't do long post but crabby nice to see you.

Back Friday so will catch up then.

BIWI have a lovely holiday.

Trashy you really need to get yourself back to the doctors. I'll try and do a selfie of my arse to cheer you up but please no more multi-coloured poo updates

crabby lovely to see you. Don't beat yourself up about ranting at DD, we've all lost it at some point well I definitely have and aspies can be particularly hard, there's no way I could've homeschooled DS. Fingers crossed XP chips in, for all his silly mistakes he sounds like a good dad deep down.

Marmite= bluerghhhhhhhhhhhhhh, shudders at the thought of it

Waves to everyone else the brats have gone in so going to sit in the sun while it lasts

Hiya crabby

too fucking weak to pos, but wanted to check in

peony so impressed at muscly you

fantastic arse stunt although disappointed at amount of clothes restricting my view

Sayra there's a waitrose in Hexham. Are you staying in the centre?

I washed my hair for the first time since ill. To be frank it needed doing when I got ill. I'm shagged

Thanks for acidophilus advice BIWI We have a holland and barratts in town, but I may just order some online as fuck knows when I'll be up and about feels like never

I'm paranoid I'll lose all my hard won clients, as they will either be making alternative arrangements or realising they don't need me [panic]

Good luck Sayra its harder when you're standing in front of temptation at a buffet...

Peony don't make me start thinking about Mr Strong. Its wrong to have a crush on a Mr Man. Its the trick of carrying a basket with just his little finger that does it for me.

I know what you mean about liking the weight you are now - that happened to me at 10 stone 10 (I'm 5 foot 7-and-a-half). Definitely OK to have a mindful takeaway.

Although Stunt I feel no truer words have ever been spoken than this: "cheating always tends to get out of hand". Hmm. Yes.

I want to ask more about the science of what happens in a carb refeed but I see we are not allowed to talk about it, might have to go and google.

Poor Trash well done for washing your hair. Big effort. Can DP not go and buy you the acidophilus?

Agree with Minny marmite babybels what work of the devil is this?

groo - marmite babybels ffs might try them when better

eva it's ridiculously thick and long - took aaaaages

ordered acidophilus, plus some spirulina online

Buffet impossible, I ate the insides of some pastry things and salad. I just have to do my best. Just back from meeting so too tired to go to waitrose (even if it's open, not sure) yes trashy in county hotel. Will stop in morning for lc lunch supplies and breakfast will be smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.

Eva I think what happens in a carb refeed is that as you have lost fat it has been replaced with an equal amount of water. When you eat carbs (and if it's a planned refeed it should be healthy carbs such as a baked potato or white rice) then your glycogen stores are temporarily partially refilled along with three or four times their weight it water. When you continue to eat low carb then you use up the glycogen stores, the water goes with it and so does the excess water you have been storing in your fat cells. So it really is just a way of triggering a whoosh, nothing will happen if you weren't ready for a whoosh anyway. And of course the risk is that the carbs will lead to more carbs and then you're off the wagon. I find the principle of homeostasis seems to explain a lot of the problems people experience when losing weight. Your body wants to stay the same, this is where the setpoint theory comes from. So even though you're using up your fat stores your body attempts to preserve its size because change is costly. A whoosh occurs when a certain amount of water in your fat cells is reached and it's a systemic effect so that a load of fat cells release their water and shrink at the same time, they don't react individually.

In my weight loss journey I reached my goal weight last November (the day after Bootcamp ended!) then STS pretty much until very recently. I think that six months at a steady weight reset my body's setpoint so now if I have a carby meal or fall into a box of chocolates (damn hubby keeps buying them) or have a few alcoholic drinks one night, then I don't see a big weight gain anymore, my body can handle the occasional indulgence. Having said that I eat differently now so for example I went to Wagamamas for my birthday but I only ate a quarter of the rice served with my meal (I know! Rice as a treat!) Or at a birthday party I might have one small slice of cake. I'm sure if I went back to eating as I was before then the weight would creep on again before I knew it.

Stunt so if I have a baked potato do I still add fat to my meal - I can't get below 133 and keep bobbing between that and 135 despite sticking to the rules and reducing portion sizes drools at the thought of a buttery baked spud with tomorrow's steak

On election duty so its going to be a long day must resist the box of carby goodies my colleagues for the day have brought

Hello to my old friends (and new),
Full of another sinus bug and been in bed but unable to sleep most of the night, reading this thread kept me very entertained. I think I vaguely knew some of you were here as you have reached target which remains a really strong encouraging hopeful message to me. Eva thank you for your namecheck on the main thread.
I think, given that time is limited and about to become more so, I'm best placed on the other thread - firstly because I would be a hypocrite to be here given that despite having lost almost 2 stone, I am a couple of pounds over 14 stone and to get my BMI under 25 I'd need to get down to 10 stone 10. I'm aiming for under 13 stone by the end of the year, and would happily settle for around 11stone7 by this time next year, as a BMI of 22-28 is increasingly thought to carry no major health risks. I'm doing this for health but the damned caring about what I look like keeps drifting into my thinking really - I want to do what I can to push what my genetics inevitably holds further up the road. And also, you (StuntNun and Eva especially) being "old timers" on the last thread, which was my first thread, really helped me, and so I want to give back, which I am trying to do. I hope I am managing to trouble shoot a bit even though I missed BIWI's plea to do so.
Hope you all keep doing well and working out what maintaining is for each of us - I like seeing that it's different for different people and that's ok, it's ok to have different relationships with food, and different goals. BIWI hope you have a great holiday and I'm sorry that you being vulnerable and me (amongst others) causing you pain on the last thread still hurts.
Waves to all but won't namecheck in case I miss someone.

Aw, LittleMiss - honestly, don't worry. It's all fine. Your contributions to Bootcamp have been brilliant. You have a way of being able to give a scientific/medical/doctor's perspective which is really helpful and so incredibly valuable. Just like the stuff that StuntNun posts, it's stuff I can't offer because I just don't have the right scientific background. I can parrot stuff that I've read, or give my opinions based on what I (think) I've learnt, but I'm always wary that I risk being something of a charlatan! So your posts are a very important counterpoint to mine.

We're all packed and ready to go - when DH gets off his arse and goes to have a shower. We're going through the very predictable routine here, chez BIWI, where he always wants to leave at the very last minute and I'm ready to go about 3 hours too early. The thought of getting somewhere late, and the possible ramifications, makes me very panicky.

However.

I'm also resigned to a couple of weeks of non-Bootcamp eating. I will have some control over what I eat/drink over the next few days in Spain, but when I go off to Canada I am at the mercy of family. I'm not going to even start trying to talk about low carbing, so I'm just going to go with the flow.

Trying to buy new clothes for my holiday has made me only too aware of how much the weight has crept back on, and I know that the next couple of weeks aren't going to help, but I'm also not going to beat myself up about it - just prepare myself for a 'hard return' when I get back!

Hope you all have a good couple of weeks, and hope hissy's DS continues to recover, and trashcan gets her innards sorted!

I bought a car! I finally bought a fucking car!!! God the relief of actually making a decision is immense. Now I just have to worry about whether I made the right decision...

Thank you Peony for the offer of your DH. Stunt my poor old car that I wrecked is a Focus. I did start out by thinking I'd get another one but in the end decided that we needed something a bit bigger. At weekends we drive a fair bit and DD has to sit in the back because DP's in the front. She complains bitterly about the lack of legroom. She's 5'2" or more, so she's adult-sized already really. Also I quite often have another couple of kids in there too, and on Sundays we walk my friend's big lurcher and he's a bit cramped in the boot.

Eva I wish I could be as spontaneous as to do what you suggested! Instead, I am compelled to exhaustively (and exhaustingly) research exactly which would be the best car for our tiny budget, go over with a fine tooth comb every single advert, and not even go and see the bloody things! It's really no mystery where much of DD's Aspergers comes from...

Anyway we are the proud owners of a 2L (too big an engine really - wanted a 1.8) Ford Mondeo Ghia. Black, not a mark on it. Beautiful inside... Heated seats!! Multiplayer CD, which will be fab on long journeys as only had a crap radio and non-functional cassette player in the Focus. It's a 2003 reg with 69,500 miles on it and full service history. £1700 including a hundred quid discount and £40 off for the wrecked Focus.

Thank you all for your kind words about DD. I do struggle with the home ed and worrying that I'm not giving her the best education. The other HE parents seem to breeze through it and have the confidence that they'll get the education they need, but DD is so resistant to trying new things, because of her AS. She's a bright kid and I think she'll work better for someone else than she does for me. The things I really value about HE - the flexibility, the wonderful friends she has - we wouldn't lose with Interhigh. Real time attendance isn't compulsory (obviously important though), so she could still attend her youth group every other Friday and then watch the missed lessons later (all lessons are recorded and uploaded to their server so that you can watch them again). Most lessons are finished by lunchtime anyway, so she could still attend HE activities in the afternoon.

I really feel that this is the right thing for her so I hope her dad steps up. You're right Minny he's a good dad and he loves DD very much. If we go halves then that's £100 per month each, which will be a squeeze but we could just about manage. If the state school version gets off the ground then it might only be a year anyway and then we'd get it for free (with less flexibility though).

Trashy I hope your poor tum and bum are feeling better and that you haven't buried DP under the patio yet.

Sayra 'buffet impossible' made me - I heard the mission impossible theme in my head!

LMiss great to see you here. Do stick around for non-BC related chat! Hope you feel better soon, sinus pain is an absolute bastard.

BIWI have a fandabbydozy carby hols.

" I am the stage where I don't fuss if I have a moment off at at a tangent - infact I love the weight I am I think - its easy to maintain on this WOE and everything fits well "

What utter bollocks I talk....

Clearly that was when I WAS eating BC stylee and in control...... One single night of mindful who am I kidding, - I mean mindless carbing.... and I fell in the trough and ate like a carb hoover..... and this morning - my water is a struggle, the kids toast looks appealing..... and I can see just how easy it would be to fall back into carbytwatness...... for gods sake Peonypants get a grip....

trashkins this still sounds hideous for you. I wonder if you should try and drink some protein shake type energy stuff - as you haven't really eaten much at all for days and I would get on the blower to the GP ? I am sure your clients will stick with you - I bet they love you.

Eva at Mr Strongs little finger

lmd nice to see you over here

crabby... can I just say ... TMI warning ......if DH turns our heated seats on without me knowing, it makes me feel like I am about to .......have an orgasmic moment....... just saying.......

ps....... to all you dog experts....... what is the best dog food these days .... for a strapping Lab pup ( not here yet - but just doing my reseach,.... and puppy ' nesting !)

Ooh ooh I've extensively researched pooch food. These are my findings.

Lots of people rate raw food. I am sure it's good but feel scared of it and hate smelly wet food.

Of the dry foods, the top top one I found was called 'Lily's Kitchen' it's pricey, but has an 80% fresh free range proper meat content, and the other 20% is healthy goodness vegetable/plant matter

The next one is 'Canogan' - we buy 15kilos for £57 and it lasts about 2 months - averages about £1 a day. The meat content is 60% and again it's actual meat, not derivatives, plus the other 40% is nice veggie/plant stuff.

The budget dry that lots of friends and customers use is 'Harringtons' and I think that's £4 quid a bag.

Canogan don't do puppy food, but the Trashpup has switched to it very successfully from Royal Canin which the breeder had her on. We get lovely little dark solid poos from her and fellas staffie.

I've got to take some turd up to the doctors this afternoon. Spoke to them again this morning, and doc says she'd put money on it being bacterial - Salmonella or Campylobacter. Fuuuuuuuck. But at least I'm over the worst

Am still in bed.... trying to rouse the energy to get up and do housework....

Thanks trash - will get onto it.
Don't even think about housework - its evil and only needs doing again very soon after.

I failed at the housework - it's a fucking disgrace round here - there's piles of laundry, some wet some dirty everywhere ... If dp braves it round here tonight I'm going to beg him to sort out the laundry and at least take out the rubbish and the recycling. We'll have a take away from the lebanese tonight, as I just can't face cooking. Actually I can barely stand up now, but that's because I did the school run (albeit in the car) and then collected a poop pot from the docs, came home, shat, took it back... stood for aaaaages 5 mins whilst the receptionist twisted her face at having to take a poo sample, and made a huge fuss as there wasn't gloves available and she had to get off her arse and get some from the nurse.