Week 4 - Low Carb Bootcamp - Coming to the end of our first month

[BIWI]

I know! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for your delectation!

Remember, week 4 is, like week 3, a time when weight loss tends to be pretty slow, if not non-existent. KOKO and persevere, and things will get going again soon.

But not if you cheat! Whilst many of you have been very honest about your transgressions, just remember that this WOE is not a very forgiving one. It's not like a calorie-controlled diet, where you can compensate for one 'bad' day with a 'good' one. As some of you have already found out the hard way!

Hanging my head in shame for being negative 😔 thank you Jiminny for the slap.

All I can say to all of you out there who can use your legs even just a little bit - walk, slowly if you have to and just a short distance to start with, I really understand those of you battling through pain, fatigue and ill health and I know how hard it is. There are lots of people on this thread who get the battle you are fighting every day so use us to help you celebrate the little victories. But enjoy your legs, don't take them for granted, wonder at the way they just do their thing because I just took mine for granted and now every time I go out, even after seven years I watch people walking and I'm so in awe and very jealous that they can do it. Take an extra walk up and down a flight of stairs for me today

Warning TMI in the next part of my post.
So I was exhausted after yesterday and so exhausted that my DH stepped in. He put me to bed, made me a burger and salad because I said I was too fat to eat and didn't deserve any food, then he put splints on my three non working limbs, made me drink 1L of water, attached me to sats monitor, gave me a sedative, sorted out an in dwelling catheter because I'm too lazy to get out of bed at night and hooked me up to the ventilator.
I slept for eight hours, cleared all the carbon dioxide from my system, pissed 4.5L overnight and have just done a 4lb poo with the aid of my anal irrigation kit.
After yesterday I've accepted that I really am still in the very early stages of recovery from a huge frigging spinal surgery, seven weeks in hospital much of which was in ICU and I need to concentrate on my recovery more. I was discharged home from HDU, a very unusual measure because my paralysed diaphragm (which has only just been diagnosed after living with it for 9 years) means that my health is and always will be very fragile. My bedroom looks like a hospital full of special equipment that keeps me alive because I need it.

Despite all of my challenges and only one working limb 💪🏼 I've managed to lose weight during a period when my mother died, I've had three weeks of strong antibiotics for a really nasty kidney infection and yesterday I was at a fundraising event that I organised for my sewing** group, we raised £200 and my husband bought me a ton of fabric which I haven't seen yet, it's waiting in my studio.
I fucking rock LCHF, my fat can piss right off, I will be thin next year for my son's wedding, I will be light enough for DH to carry me up and down the stairs if the lift breaks down or there is a fire because he worries about it.
I love this thread and all the lovely people on it.

I have stuck to the rules BUT every day I have sugar in the morphine syrup that helps control my pain. I have three choices to change that:

1. Swop to slow release morphine - it will keep my pain under control but I don't like using it because I will have morphine in my system when I don't need it and that will lead to dependency issues which I will have to deal with further down the line.
2. Swop to tablets, no sugar but take much longer to work. 30 minutes instead of 10 and I can't take little sips of a tablet when I just need a little top up. This will mean I will have to plan more carefully when I know something like having a shower is going to cause me more pain.
3. Stop taking morphine and do less, stay in bed more and slow my recovery.

* #namastebitches #myfatcanpissrightoff*

Wow Sayrra! It's as if someone has sliced 1/3 off you!

Sayrra to be fair you look pretty damn great! Not surprised you're happy with yourself. You should be. I am so much flabbier than you! Damn it Great pole outfit btw.

thanks for the ideas

Strawberries and cream or
Floater Coffee it is.

I expect their cream will have some sugar in it, but it has to be better than a big dish of icecream.

C4 you are truly fucking incredible. It must be devastating adjusting to being so limited.
I really can't walk much. For years and years I struggled to even walk around my house because I was in terrible pain. Actually in large part thanks to this woe and my inflammation dampening, I can walk now. Not much and only on a good day but I've started walking on the only flat street next to my flat when I can for 10 minutes because walking = JOY.
I pity myself a lot really but I do try and pinch myself and think, for years I'd have killed to walk even this much. I get payback from it. It makes me ill but oh the pleasure. It's so amazing when your body works. It's so lovely seeing the flowers and feeling free (lots of places where wheelchairs won't go) I will appreciate it even more after reading what you've written. So sorry you've had that taken away from you. It's so unfair.

They also do a diabetic sugar free frozen full fat yoghurt with just berries? If not feign sensitive teeth and just have a drink. Good luck!

That sounds good as well.

I think I have reverse body dysmorphia, how can I see myself like I really am so that I will work harder to lose weight.

SayrraT, if I could do all the pole and horse and amazing stuff you seem to do, I'd be feeling pretty damn good as well!

There's no reason we should dislike our looks or ourselves simply for being overweight. I know lots of beautiful fat women.

Personally, I have a "such a pretty face" (not so humble brag). I've been told this my whole life so it must be true. It's nothing to do with me, all down to the luck of the genetic lottery (thanks, Mum), and I've felt fabulous about myself at varying weights (and bad about myself at varying weights), all because of confidence in my "such a pretty face."

There's also confidence in our achievements, our personalities, our characters, in being loved. All of which can make us feel happy with our lives and ourselves.

So it's not that being obese should make one feel ugly or bad. It shouldn't.

In my case the "pretty face" kept me feeling pretty good despite my weight gain for a long time, until I gained too much. I was in denial about it, regardless of what the numbers and my subtly downward-shifting activity levels told me. Big mistake, but I'll spare everyone the details for now.

What is important for you to consider is your overall heath and happiness for the rest of your life. You seem relatively young and might not fully absorb how time will wear down your body, regardless of how fit and active you are now. You might "know" but not yet know that it will be increasingly difficult to lose weight with age.

So if I were you I'd think about (and be motivated by) the very long term positive impact that eliminating obesity from your life will have on your ability to enjoy it to its fullest for the rest of your years.

You can still be happy with yourself but have reasons to lose weight.

C4 you are actually incredible, I don't even know how to put into words how amazing I think you are.

clear yes, I think that is the kind of thing I need to keep in mind. I'm not planning on stopping losing or anything I just feel "wrong" being happy with myself. Although if I didn't I'm not sure I'd do the things I do.

My biggest motivation just now is being a bridesmaid next year for a friend. I was measured a couple weeks back and a size 22 dress ordered. I am determined that my dress will need to be taken in as I suggested ordering a 20 (my measurements ranged from 16-22) as I was losing weight and I got from everyone.

That's better hello positivity

Despite all of my challenges and only one working limb 💪🏼

c4 I've made an exception to my outright loathing of posters using non-mumsnet emojis, just for you. Because your reference to that one working limb says so very much about your strength of character and sense of humour.

Weirdly, your post made me laugh!

Not sure why half of my post was in bold it didn't look that way when I wrote it.

I really need your help in deciding what to do about my sugary morphine habit, I've got to ditch the syrup or as much of it as I can. To give it some context I take about 70ml most days when I'm doing normal everyday stuff like showering, making my own food, doing stuff in my studio. So making food requires 10ml, a shower 7ml, going out in electric wheelchair 5ml, car journey 10ml, making food 7ml, getting ready for bed 10ml etc etc

I feel supremely unqualified to help you with the morphine dilemma, c4.

Do you anticipate the pain should lessen further into your recovery?

Lunch. Haddock, a bok choi type veg, small avocado. Also had a lump o' butter. Very tasty.

C4 if you need it for different things throughout the day surely slow release is actually appropriate?

Cleareyes I'm so happy that I made you laugh. I could post much more gross stuff than catheters and anal irrigation.

Sayrra thank you for the love, I think you are amazing and it's fantastic that you love yourself it's something we all need to do more.

Dustmotes thank you, I think you're pretty awesome yourself.

Cleareyes yes it will, it will also be something I will always need for breakthrough pain but when fully recovered I will be back down to 100ml a month hopefully. It's part of the circle I'm trying to square, the morphine helps me do stuff and keeps me sane, it also feeds me sugar that I don't want or need.

Dustmotes that's exactly what some of the medics say but if you have morphine when you are in pain it attaches to the pain receptors in your brain and reduces the pain, if you have morphine in your bloodstream and no pain it attaches to pleasure receptors and that's what leads to dependency and addiction. It also makes it almost impossible to monitor accurately how much pain you're in.
I feel like I'm talking myself out of slow release - thank you.

Just been catching up. BIWI warned everyone at the start of this week that week 4 is hard and many of us are finding that. Please, don't give up, it's worth it in the end. And, do you know what will happen if you give up? You'll put on weight. I speak from bitter experience.
I think everyone is a bit more positive today.
Also, if you are going to struggle if you gain/ don't lose weight tomorrow, then, really consider NOT weighing. I know I bang on about this, but I am finding this BC emotionally easier. I don't know if some of it is that I am more in the swing of it, but I'm sure a large part of it is that I'm not weighing, therefore, in my head I have lost two stone in 4 weeks.
My NSV's this BC:
Acne far, far better
IBS better
Sleep better
No afternoon slump
Starting to fit into some of my old size 12 clothes. To put this into context, I was a tight size 16 on 1st January.

C4 you are bloody amazing. Is it worth have a low dose of the long acting morphine, then you might need less of the syrup. If you need the quick hit the syrup gives you, it would be a shame to stop it completely.
Oldbooks I can see a difference
Sayrra Great pics and you deserve to feel good about yourself. You have a strong, healthy body ad look fab

So, on the train back from London. Had a fab day yesterday. Rather annoyingly, in the rush to leave, I forgot my lc lunch yesterday so had a chicken wrap on the train - 59g carbs, definitely not worth it.
Skipped the early evening cocktails, but had champagne and dry white wine later in the evening. Dinner was lush - duck and crayfish terrine starter and belly pork with the best crackling ever with spring greens and bacon for main. Had a couple of mouthfuls of someones cheese for dessert and an espresso with cream.

Today have had/ will be having:
B: bacon, scrambled eggs, fried mushroom and a sausage and two creamy coffees
L: nothing as I'm still stuffed
D: pork again with veg
Will then be fasting again after dinner.

C4 I definitely can't comment on the morphine, but I don't think suggestion 3 is a good idea if it will slow your recovery. You must need the morphine. Have you spoken to your doctors to see what they think?

Namaste bitches. Pity fest over. I'm back on it.

C4 the sugar in your morphine sounds like a nessasary evil for the time being. If it's working for you don't do anything that could put back or stall your recovery.

sayrra. Also long as you do t feel like you are going to stop LCHF as you have reached goal then your mindset is still fine, you will just start feeling more and more positive about yourself the more you lose.

c4 you rock x

SayrraT, you don't have to answer this, but what is your goal weight range?

I could post much more gross stuff than catheters and anal irrigation.

It wasn't those that made me laugh, it was the colossal Eff Off to the shite hand dealt you by life. Nicely communicated through the mighty, muscly arm emoji.

Can't really advise on the oramorph, and if it's what you need, and it's otherwise the best mode of delivery for you, then the sugar may be a necessary evil. I had morphine patches for over a year though, and came off them with no problems at all, and though I had rescue morphine prescribed during that time, I rarely (once, I think) had to use it. I'd get a bit of pain sometimes when the patch was needing changed, (which was sort of reassuring that I did still need it), but overall I found it helped not be be planning tound my pain all the time. Hope you find a solunion that works well for you.