Harcombe - anyone want to join in?

[kazzawazzawoo]

Is anyone else following the Harcombe way of eating?

I've been following this on and off for about two years, but recently lost the plot and dived into a pile of crisps and milk chocolate

I need to get back on track and wondered if anyone would like to keep me company and also inspire me with meal plans, recipes etc as I get bored sometimes of the same old thing.

You might be able to find a Harcombe support thread on the board. I don't have time to look right now but I've seen one before.

I was on the other thread, but it's died a death

I'll join you, but a newbie over here so bear with me!!

I did thd before I got pregnant (baby now 6 months) and have been back on it in the last few months. Did brilliantly on phase 1 for a couple of weeks then started to experiment due to feeling bored and utterly shattered! so added cheese, odd strawberries and cream, 85% choc, pecans, blocks of creamed coconut (like in the butternut squash recipe) and real coconut. not all at once, but in addictive proportions! So have gone back to super strict phase 1, and seem to be doing good again.

Definitely need some recipe inspiration!!

Hi Charlielf Glad I'm not alone. I'm an emotional eater and need to stop eating chocolate when I'm stressed or bored.

I try to stay away from dairy except for a little cheese as it doesn't agree with me.

I'm on a really tight budget, can only afford cheaper meats. and veg.

Hi all!
I've just done day 1. I've bought the recipe book and it seems really good. Tonight I had tandoori chicken which I'd never have though of cooking otherwise.

What's the weight loss like on this? I've never done it before (but have done pretty much ALL other diets!). I'm just fed up with dieting and failing and this just seems like healthy eating and not too restrictive.

Hi Rosie I hope you get on ok with this way of eating.

It seems to depend how much you need to lose. Dh has a lot of weight to lose and loses 2 lb every week, after an initial 5 lb in 5 days.

3 days in and 4lb off

Better than that though, I feel great. No cravings, just enjoying real food and cooking lots.

That's great
What sort of things are you eating?
I'm struggling at the weekends, but manage most of the time during the week, except I have the tiniest smidge of syrup on my porridge because I can't stand it without and don't like berries with it.

I'm eating lots of meat .

General day either porridge or bacon & eggs, salad & chicken/egg/beef, steak/fish & veg. Snacking on olives!

I'm also trying out new stuff from internet, interest is great! Cauliflower crisps and rice are a new fave.

TBH I was trying to do meal replacements so this is a dream!

Good luck! I was on the original thread with Kazza.... I've lost nearly 5 stone now :) Still loving saying that I'm a high fat diet to lose weight!

Can I (re)join you?

I too fell off the Harcombe wagon and have just nearly finished day 1 of The Idiot Proof diet which is low carb. I'm really going to try to stick with this for the 2 week tough induction phase, then go to Harcombe phase 1.

I've had a gorgeous supper tonight - cooked chicken from a roast a few days ago, fried in butter with leeks, then a bit of double cream and lemon juice added. My veg was cauliflower mash - microwaved frozen cauli, drained and then whizzed with the stick blender with a bit more butter.

I have to say, though, I feel a bit rubbish. I've had a headache most of the day despite drinking loads of water, but as this is my first caffeine free day in a very long time I'm guessing it's due to that.

I've fallen off the wagon too, need to get back on soon. I signed up for the july blitz, I'll try to stick with it from Tuesday.

Oh bloody hell, I've had a blip too. Just stopped focusing and fallen back into bad habits.

Back on tomorrow mainly cause I feel a bit crap stuffed full of sugar and carbs!

Forgot to say that's great Fourarms. How long has that taken you?

Since Sept last year :)

I could have done it faster, but I'm happy.

I've let things slip terribly and have piled on weight again, so need to knuckle down big time!

Does anyone have a foolproof recipe for Frittata? I need something quick for breakfast. At the moment I've been having porridge, but I only like it with half tsp sugar sprinkled over.

Hi Kazza,

I'm back around the 148lb weight that I was in March and dabbling with every diet going! (But not managing to stick to any of them) I couldn't cope with the very low carb of Idiot Proof, although did get into the habit of drinking tons of water. Had a couple of 500 calorie days as some of my friends are doing this and seemingly getting on well with it, but it goes against the Harcombe ethos, although it is easy enough to do if you have the right mindset.

I don't have a frittata recipe I'm afraid, but I can't really face cooked breakfast every day and don't like cold cooked egg recipes. I had a NLY for breakfast this morning and a 0% fat NLY as a snack. Then met a friend at MacDonalds and although I wasn't hungry and had planned to not eat, ended up buying a Big Tasty. Because they now have the calorie content on the packaging I saw that it was 830 cals , so cut it in half and my friend ate the other half!

Needless to say, I have not Harcombed this evening, I had chilli with (brown) rice for tea, and a bottle of lager and 2 bags of crisps - so far. I just seem to have developed a really bad attitude to food which I never had when I was younger, and because I'm not very tall (5'2") weighing nearly 11 stone is not good and I'm now creeping into the top end of the 'overweight' BMI range and very close to 'obese'. Not good at all. Zoe Harcombe is the same height as me and weighs 8 stone!!

Tomorrow is another day and I'm planning on having:

Decaff cappucino (skimmed milk)
NLY
Ham salad or another NLY if I'm not feeling hungry
Baked brussels and bacon.
Lots of water

Good luck!

Hi Rosina. I'm trying not to have dairy, as it seems to make me ill, although some cheese is ok.

I'm determined to be back on track tomorrow. I've put away all the chocolate. I've cooked some sausages to have with egg mayo tomorrow morning. Lunch is in the fridge too, tuna mayo and egg salad. Dinner will be slow cooked pork with veg of some sort.

I drink a lot of black decaf coffee but not enough water.

I tend to eat for the wrong reasons so need to stop eating out of boredom or stress.

I'm not sure how I'll cope at work without snacks.

Hope you manage ok tomorrow

I've done ok so far today. I had 2 cold sausages with 2 hard boiled eggs and a spoon of mayonnaise for breakfast and salad with tuna mayonnaise and hard boiled egg and a few tiny cubes of cheddar for lunch.

So far I've had 2 mugs of black decaff coffee.

For dinner I had roast pork with crackling, green beans in butter and a few brussel sprouts.

I'm really craving something sweet, but determined not to give in.

Hi kazza,

Well done for sticking to the plan for today.

I did okay until after tea today when I had a Magnum, (and 2 bags of crisps between tea and now).

I just need a foolproof anti- sweet, anti crisps mechanism. I buy them because of the kids packed lunches, so can't really empty my cupboard of everything nice bad. At least not until the summer holidays start anyway, which is only another week.

I've got a wedding to go to in September, so I could do with losing a fair bit before then and just need to get my head straight with that as my goal I think.

can you buy snacks they like but you don't? That's what I do with biscuits, I buy jaffa cakes because I hate them but dd loves them.

I entered my meals for yesterday into MFP and I only had 5% carbs! I really don't miss things like rice pasta, potatoes most of the time, chocolate and crisps are my downfall

Today I've had omelette for breakfast, ham and coleslaw for lunch and will be having cole roast pork with buttered green beans. On MFP it calculates 5% carbs again

Feeling ok so far and I feel less bloated already and have a flatter stomach.