Slimming World to Harcombe?

[FourArms]

I've been doing SW since 29/8. Initially on EE and now mainly on red days.

However although I've lost 1lb short of 2
stone I haven't lost any weight this week and I've stuck to the plan with the exception of maybe not enough syns / HEB.

Have seen the Harcombe diet and this seems to be more like what I'm doing at the moment although I'll have to swap coffee and skimmed milk for herbal tea and stop my 10 a day satsuma habit ;)

Just wondered what people's losses had been in phase 1 switching from SW? My BMI is still in the low 30s so I've got plenty to lose!

Nothing lost yesterday, but as I had guests for the day I am just pleased that I didn't gain.

Made a massive Lasagne for friends and a seperate one for me. In mine I substituted Spinach for the pasta. I know the cheese sauce is definately not P1 but it was really yummy and a recipie I will keep up my sleeve for P2/3.

I eat loads of cauliflower! It's lovely with butter and a little grated cheese on top when we're not doing phase 1 anymore.

Yesterday for lunch I had a whole pack of prawns! (I had to
grab something in my way into work, as I had nothing suitable at home). I need to make some soup so I have something in.

I haven't weighed myself, but clothes don't feel too tight tbh. I daren't weigh myself, because I know how depressed I get and tend to go off the rails. I'll just go by how my clothes feel for now and maybe measure or weigh at a later date when I'm back on track.

Baileys ice cream is a good idea . My dh would be very happy with that

Spinach lasagne sounds lovely. A relative tried a butternut squash version and said that was nice. I've eaten lots of cream & cheese over Christmas... will have to stop that again soon.

Just had chicken salad for lunch (with olive oil & balsamic dressing which is a P1 cheat).

Bought some nuts & mayo in Aldi today - fairly low carb. Will have to check if they're P2 friendly.

Clothes tightness seems a good idea SG. At the end of the day that matters more than weight anyway. I really feel like I'm getting leaner now and I like it even if sometimes the scales stay the same!

I've eaten really healthily today Fried mushrooms, fried leftover mashed swede and a fried egg for breakfast, a couple of gluten free crackers with a little Stilton for lunch (I know it's not Harcombe friendly, but I'm trying to stay at least gluten free at the moment) and fried salmon with buttered carrots and cauliflower for lunch.

We're not going out tonight, but I will probably have a glass or two of something alcoholic

Enjoy SG :)

We've had a lovely NYE meal, but the glass and a half of champagne have gone straight to my head!

Pea & Pesto velouté

Garlic prawns

Pot roast garlic & lemon chicken with Mediterranean vegetables and halloumi served with a side salad and olive oil dressing

Palate cleanser - champagne jelly (cheat but only 120ml between 4) with mixed berries

Chocolate mousse (double cream and 90% dark chocolate)

Cheeseboard

Decaffeinated espresso

Well done SG. Are you staying Gluten Free for any particular reason or just preference. I am a Coeliac, so share the need to be GF. This diet makes that very easy.

Your menu sounds amazing FA.

I wish I could report being good yesterday but it all went terribly wrong once I got to my New Years Eve party. I was so fed up not being able to drink that I hoovered up all the Cheese, Colesaw and Chocolate in site. 1lb on this morning is a justly deserved punishment.

That goodness the festivities are over. I now just have to crawl back on to the wagon and concentrate on eating clean.

Happy New Year to allof you !!

Hi, I've started the Harcombe today in an attempt to lose 1.5 stone before May and was hoping for some advice on my menu today as feel like I've eaten loads!

Didn't have time for breakfast unfortunately.

Lunch was a frittata made with 3 eggs, bacon, pepper, asparagus and cherry tomatoes.

Dinner, roast chicken, Brown rice and roasted veg, carrots, parsnip, pepper, onion, courgette and garlic.

Had a few green olives earlier too.

Have done loads of different diets before and am really hoping this will be the one I stick with :-)

Thanks for any help and advice you can give me.

NSHTH - how did yesterday go? I'm up a bit from Tuesday, but really looking forward to a strict P1 now :)

LittlePudding1 - welcome to the group! Good luck with your target. I'm by no means a Harcombe guru but will do my best :)

Didn't have time for breakfast unfortunately.
Try to eat breakfast - the plan really encourages 3 good meals a day with ideally no snacking.

Lunch was a frittata made with 3 eggs, bacon, pepper, asparagus and cherry tomatoes.
Sounds good, remember bacon is processed so shouldn't be a daily thing. It does seem to make me retain water, but doesn't for others. Would maybe have been more filling combined with a plate of salad too?

Dinner, roast chicken, Brown rice and roasted veg, carrots, parsnip, pepper, onion, courgette and garlic.
Parsnip is a high carb veg so best avoided - along with rice this is a high carb meal. Dark green veg - e.g cabbage are lowest carb in general - try to include more of those to lower carbs, although if you're going to eat more colourful veg it should be with a low fat meat so roast chicken minus skin would be great.

Had a few green olives earlier too.
Fine to snack if you must, but try to avoid it if poss and fill up at meals instead. I snack on crudités, but I think I read olives are fine too.

What have you been drinking?

HTH :)

The Low Carb Plate: Fruit and Vegetable Ratio

The largest food group in your low carb diet should be vegetables (excluding starchy ones like corn, potatoes and beets).

But how many vegetables and fruits should you eat? Ideally, at least half of your plate should be covered with vegetables.

At breakfast, add vegetables to an omelet or quiche.
For a well-balanced low carb lunch, try a large salad with protein and dressing.
For dinner, choose a cut of meat, poultry or seafood with a side of vegetables and a small garden salad.

Guess the Carbs Without a List

Most non-starchy vegetables are very low in carbs, less than 5 grams in half a cup. However, there are differences between them.

If you don’t have a list handy to check the carb counts, estimate the amounts based on what the fruit or vegetable looks like.

Here’s a quick, general rule:

Divide vegetables into four groups, depending on what part of the plant they come from.

1. Leaves (the least amount of carbs)

Trace carbs are wrapped in so much fiber that there is little, if any, impact on blood sugar. They are rich in phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. Examples: lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, herbs.

1. Stems and Flowers (very low carb)

Some stem and flower vegetables are asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms.

1. Fruits (moderate amounts of carbs)

The fruit is the part of the plant that contains seeds. Botanically, this is the fruit of the plant, although we tend to call it “fruit” only if it’s sweet.

Examples of “fruit” include peppers, squashes of all types, green beans, tomatoes, okra, and eggplant. Avocado is also a fruit, but is lower in carbs than the others.

1. Roots (very high in carbs)

Many roots, such as parsnips, water chestnuts, potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams are high in carbs. However, some are actually lower in carbs, such as jicama, radishes, celery root and carrots.

I found this list which might help, there are loads available if you google carb count of veg.

Lowest

Asparagus
Bean sprouts
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Swiss chard
Cucumber
Endive
Lettuce
Mustard Greens
Radish
Spinach

Next lowest

Beans (string)
Beets
Brussel sprouts
Chives
Dandelion greens
Eggplant
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Okra
Onion
Parsley
Pepper (red)
Pimento
Pumpkin
Rutabaga
Turnip

NotSure, I suffer with IBS and eating GF seems to help. As the IBS has been having quite an impact on my wellbeing, I'm concentrating on sorting that out for now. I haven't had tests - gp not very interested

Not doing well from a Harcombe point of view, drinking too much alcohol and eating too much chocolate I will get back on track, I promise. Tough times here at the moment and the stress is getting to me

Oooh, you are much better at understanding this diet than I am FA. I know the advice was for LP1 but it is very useful for me as well.

Welcome LP1. If you listen to FA you have a very good chance of succeeding. My experience is that I have never experienced hunger on this diet, but FA and several of the others have lost more weight than I have managed.

I hope the GF diet helps you with your IBS SG. I have a close friend who suffers badly with IBS and she says her life has been transformed by ditching Gluten. I was diagnosed as a Coeliac very young but still know the pain that can be experienced if I eat Gluten by mistake. Some Coeliacs will only suffer silent symptoms, but others will be highly Gluten reactive experiencing real pain as well as the Gut damage that accompanies Coeliac disease. Other people I know have been told they are not Coeliac but still they experience pain and discomfort from Gluten intolerence.

I am frequently frustrated by the attitudes of the medical profession to IBS. I think it is a diagnosis that covers a multitude of very real issues, but the medical profession appear to be reluctant to explore those issues more deeply and determine what the underlying problems are. I assume that is because the funding is just not there for research into a condition that just causes misery, rather than actually killing you.

As a Coeliac, my advice would be - stick to fresh food where possible, understand the sort of products that may contain hidden Gluten (e.g. Soy Sauce,MSG etc), check packaging meticulously and each time you purchase (some companies change their recipies regularly) and never trust a Chef who tells you his dishes are Gluten Free without questioning some of the potential problem areas. (I have lost count of how many times I have been served so called Gluten Free dishes containing MSG).

Also be aware that you may have other food related sensitivities. I react very badly to Bananas, Mango and Oranges and have no idea why.

Yesterday wasn't good FA. I was a tired from New Year's Eve, missed breakfast and felt down all day. Hence I sort of followed the diet, but in a comfort eating kind of way.

Have been much better today, I have only eaten 55 Carbs and feel much more in control.

I m having a rubbish day, got bad news this morning and had huge row with dh. Consequently sought solace in chocolate . Otherwise bacon and egg for breakfast, swede and bolognese for dinner.

Well done for sticking to any of the diet SG.

I am aware of your other threads and really feel for you in relation to the decisions you are trying to make.

Don't stress about perfect dieting right now. Any non sugar choices you make will help in the long run and if you need chocolate right now, have it.

Remember, 'this too will pass' !!

Thanks NotSure, life seems tough at present and I'm tired of it all!!

Thanks for the advice Fourarms. I wasn't sure about the parsnips so will definitely cut those out.

I've been trying to cut out the caffeine and just drink water but the headache got too much so I unfortunately succumbed to a coffee. I'll try to go without tomorrow and drink more water instead.

I had bacon and tomatoes for breakfast today, will have eggs instead tomorrow so as not eating bacon everyday. Chicken salad for lunch and chicken stir fry with brown rice for dinner.

Had some fridge raiders between lunch and dinner as was starving but no other snacks. Will make some crudites for tomorrow just in case.

Do you find you become less hungry and feel less of a need to snack as time goes on?

Life must always come first I think, not seen your other threads SG but best wishes. Is 95% choc an option? I don't find it anywhere near as moreish as milk choc which I could easily eat 400g of!!

Well done for today NSHTH. It's hard getting back into the mentality isn't it? Had a big family dinner tonight, so although I feel in my head that I've done well, in reality there have been a number of cheats.

B - salad (thought I'd run out of NLY!)

L - salad with oil & mustard ( ) dressing and two eggs scrambled with butter

D - roast lamb, mint sauce ( ), carrot & swede, cabbage & leek, cauliflower and sprouts & pancetta. Dessert was NLY with a spoonful of double cream ( ) to sweeten it (found some at back of fridge but it's not my fav brand)

Drinks: not enough. 3 caff coffees with milk and 3/4 pint of water. Trying to get another pint down before bed.

Will try harder to keep to P1 tomorrow. Amazing how you get complacent.

Next target - 12lb off by 13th Feb. 6 weeks so 2lb a week.
On the way I'll be passing through losing 17.5% of my starting weight, getting into overweight category, losing 3 stone, losing 20% of my starting weight and into the next stone below. Wish me luck! :)

Sorry, cross posted LP.

Definitely become less hungry as you go on - fat keeps you fuller for longer. Fridge raiders would be a no no on Harcombe - plain meat would be fine though.

I find a coffee first thing wards off the headache better than waiting. One a day is a good compromise.

I found my losses increased when I cut the rice / porridge option, but you'll probably still get a good loss with it. If you mix carbs & fat, try to keep to low- fat meat like chicken.

HTH :)

Sorry for being negative yesterday. Onwards and upwards ...

I like 85% chocolate, not found 95% yet, but suspect it would be expensive!

Gosh FA that is some target, although I think you follow the diet much better than I do and have incredible willpower.

I have 25 lb left to lose and am aiming for a lb a week. I like P1, partially because there is less room to slip up, but need my Oats (I never bother with rice) and a few berries every day. I cant stand the yoghurt, so make my porridge with water and use the berries to sweeten it. I am totally caffeine free.

I agree on the 95% chocolate. I can only cope with one square whereas previously it would have been industrial quantities. I got mine in Sainsburys SG, same price as the other Lindt options. I have dscovered that eating any chocolate gives me horrendous headaches. As I have always been plagued with headaches, I now realise that these have probably always been chocolate related. I love the fact that I rarely have any headache since starting this diet.

1.8lb off today and now only 2lb away from my pre Christmas low, so once again the scales are responding

I think mine might be Lindt too... It was on a good offer in Sainsburys before Christmas so I stocked up. It will take me ages to get through though at 1 square a day!

Well done NSHTH. You must have had a great day yesterday! Glad to hear you've tracked down the source of your headaches - I've been plagued with one since before Christmas. I think it's probably sinus related, but it's driving me mad now. I've been trying to avoid taking ibuprofen as I've read that it halts weight loss on a LC diet but paracetamol doesn't cut it :(

I'm down 1.2lb today which takes me to 0.2lb above my 23rd Dec weight. I had a lower weigh in on the 21st but it was a big drop from the day before and I was 1lb up the day after so I'm going to ignore it as a fluke.

B - salad (lettuce, cabbage & carrot) with oil, NLY and a coffee with milk

Have a good day everyone :)

Hello - may I join? The Harcombe diet is fab, and the only thing that works for me as a busy 50-something with little time for exercise.

I was at goal weight before Christmas, so have turned back to it to get rid of a few lbs of Christmas indulgence. For some reason phase 2 doesn't work for me - I suspect that's because I am near my correct weight.

My top tips are :

Always have allowed food and snacks with you - olives are good.

Eat loads of good quality food with plenty of fat to begin with so you feel satisfied - your appetite will decrease as you go.

Keep something back from dinner the night before to have for lunch the next day - eg any leftover fish or meat in a salad.

Make homemade mayo to add more interest to salads:
Whizz 2 whole eggs in a processor, drizzle in light olive oil with motor running so it makes an emulsion, add lemon juice and seasoning to taste. I don't check the quantity of oil, but it's probably a cup full - just add slowly.

Make soup with allowed vegetables - more filling than salad.

I make my own yogurt too - lots of recipes online - I make it in a cast iron pan, wrap it in a towel and put it in airing cupboard overnight. I usually have this with rice cereal for breakfast.

I sometimes replace the cereal with rice cakes with sliced tomato, salt and pepper and olive oil.

Welcome FOA :)

Fab tips thankyou. I am going to try and make my own yoghurt and mayo this week. My airing cupboard isn't all that warm, would a hot water bottle help do you think?

How much have you got to lose?

Not sure about the hot water bottle - if you have a slow cooker, I know there are recipes online for that method. Otherwise, yes, try wrapping the hot water bottle next to a heat-retaining pan in a towel and put it in the warmest place you can for about 8 hours.

I haven't weighed since Christmas, so not sure what the damage is.

It's more to get rid of the 'wheat and wine belly' - so maybe 2 or 3 lbs which come off very quickly once I start Harcombe phase 1.

Good luck all!

I've got some Pyrex pyroflam dishes which might work well... Will do some research now!