Morning all. Answers to some of your questions here - apologies if I'm repeating anyone else's posts, but easier to deal with this all in one go.
@FrenchBoule, yes venusandmars is quite right - thirst, despite drinking plenty of water, indicates that you need more sodium. Along with potassium and magnesium, sodium is a key electrolyte.
So - add salt to your food and make sure you're cooking with it. Try also the salt + lemon drink suggested. It could also be worth getting hold of an electrolyte supplement, like Zero by High5
@oviraptor21
I've been having 'fresh' soup for some lunches. Varies between 2 and 4g carb per 100g. I presume this is OK?
When you say 'fresh', using speech marks, I presume you mean chilled, branded soup rather than soup you've made yourself?
That carb count per 100g is OK, but it also depends on how much you're eating. The New Covent Garden Soup Co packs are 560g, so that would be 22.4g carbs if you ate the whole lot, which is quite a lot! Obviously if you're only eating half the pack, and it's 2g carbs per 100g then it's a different story!
Which soups are you buying, out of interest?
@DollyDingleberry why would it look odd to take your own food in? Plenty of people take a packed lunch to work. Sounds too risky to me to wait and see what's on the menu, and could be setting yourself up to fail. Lots of people will be on diets at this time of the year, so it should come as no surprise to anyone else if you want to bring your own food in. Or - is there any chance you could call the bistro manager and ask what's on the menu today? Then at least you're prepared and can work out your strategy. If they're cooking something impossible to swerve, like pasta or pizza, then if you really can't take in your own food, make sure you have a very decent breakfast so you're not hungry at lunchtime
@ThatsAllFolks you won't be burning muscle, you will be burning fat. That's the whole point of this initial strict fortnight - to switch our bodies from burning carbs to burning fat. As long as you're burning your body fat, you have no need to access your muscles for energy
@DearZoom as you're still adapting, it's possible that you will still find yourself hungry between meals - especially if you're cold! It's perfectly fine to snack on low carb things at the moment. Also, make sure you're getting plenty of fat and protein at meals and in any snacks.
@Random789
I managed to lose a couple of pounds this week but I do need to step up my game. Overdosed on ricotta and cocoa nibs yesterday evening, and also the portions I make of my healthy low-carb main meals are just too huge. It's not that they are giving me excessive carbs or calories (the bulk is mostly vegetables). The problem is that it means my eating is catering to a sort of greedy anxiety, a need to comfort myself by prolonging the eating.
I understand the emotional element of this - but speaking practically, be careful if most of what you're eating is vegetables, as this will push your macros out of whack - remember, this is high fat, medium protein and low carb. Although we do advocate most of your carbs coming from vegetables and salad, it's also very important that you're getting more protein and lots of fat - sounds like you might not be doing this. And that will also result in real hunger, not just emotional hunger.
@Jezzballs2000 I am totally with you about the tax return fear! I made myself sit down and do mine a couple of weeks ago and (like a lot of things that you put off doing) it was a lot simpler than I had imagined. And - a definite NSV
) - it worked out that HMRC owed me money! Which they also paid me very promptly. It was in my bank account within a week. So there's an incentive to do it!
If you Google 'low carb' and 'anxiety' you get all manner of conflicting results - some say yes it causes anxiety/depression, some say it improves both conditions. From a non-scientist's POV, I'd say that if you are suffering from this (tax return to one side), it's most likely to be a temporary thing while your body adjusts.
However, just to be on the safe side, can you list out for me what you've been eating/drinking over the last few days and let's see if there's anything we can help you with. It could be, for example, that you're going too low on the carbs.