Sugar Begone! low-carb eating for the incredible shrinking women!

[Ormirian]

Let's start afresh!

SA and Marian - I find esp if doing exercise I need a few carbs - not much - say half a slice of bread or half a banana - but it makes all the difference - I have a killer circuit/aerobic session on Monday mornings and this morning had half a piece of toast with my eggs and spinach and was raring to go, loads of energy; whereas last week was weak and lackluster.

Marian - holford allows more carbsnifnsoijg more exercise - the GL count is based on doing 20 mins of moderate exercise a day and it sounds like you're doing more than that?

Belle well done on the slim clothes! Was thinking about your binge and thinking maybe tue snack thing would help that too - I find if I leave too long between meals I go a bit mad when I finally do eat. It's often eight hours between lunch and dinner for me if I eat with dh; mid-afternoon snack makes all the difference to my control.

Lovely picnic salad yesterday while the kids scoffed sandwiches - tuna, cherry tomatoes, olives, lettuce and borlotti beans.

And just had v nice mid-afternoon snack of egg and asparagus.

That was meant to be holford allows more carbs if doing more exercise...

Oh and forgot to say LOVE Bread Resistance! Viva indeed!

Saladsaladsaladsalad

Also loving the Bread Resistance. Although bread hasn't been my downfall. Fizzy cola bottles however...

man, those Krispy Kremes are hard to resist. Have just had another piece of cheese to keep me going. I am going to try to escape fairly soon but Big Boss is resolutely stuck to his desk so that means I am too!

I am blummin amazed that the Krispy Kremes are still there at the end of the working day. They wouldn't last two minutes in my office! I remember a tin of quality street that was left on the table at 8.20am, and by 10.40am (break) just had a couple of naff ones left in the bottom. There is no mercy.

Food in the office is a killer, isn't it? My desk is right next to the cupboard where the office biscuit tin and charity sweet box reside, but I'm pleased to report I haven't weakened once in the last twelve months.

But sometimes people bring in yummy things if they come back from holiday or have a birthday, so I have to confess to the odd lapse. This morning it was dark chocolate-covered coffee beans - yum. I only had a few hundred - honest!

I wasn't too bad at the weekend, and the weight is staying nicely down (dipped below 9 stone this morning - hurrah!). I ate:

Sat breakfast - Two boiled eggs with asparagus to dip
Sat lunch - OK, OK, I had a Burger King Chicken Caesar Wrap
Sat dinner - Smoked Haddock Gratin with broccoli - OMG it was delish!

Sun breakfast - Blueberries, greek yogurt and almonds
Sun lunch - Chicken caesar salad
Sun dinner - Bolognaise with sauteed courgettes.

That reminds me, DDs will be home from Brownies shortly, so I'd best look in the fridge.

I'm going to need a rather large box for today's snacking. Those teatime pangs again. It's not hunger, it's like a compulsion. Also, I usually have my last meal about 5.30ish, but I waited until eight tonight because DH was working late.

Quorn sausage salad.
Apple
Banana
LOADS of melon
Around a big mac meal's calorie worth of almonds and cashews. Why the hell did I buy them? Why?
Pork leg steak with salad

I didn't have one of the raspberry donuts from Morrissons, though... Doesn't look too bad written down... Shall behave and eat at proper times tomorrow. Don't feel like punching myself in the head for slipping up, which is progress for me :)

Belle - almonds aren't bad for carbs - honestly!! 5.8g carbs per 100g, and 20-30g of almonds is a good snack handful. I keep them in my desk drawer for peckish moments. I think cashews might be higher-carb, though. Anyway, ignore the calories if you are low-carbing.

But focus on the positive - you resisted the doughnuts!!

Thanks Cointreau- I am doing low carb and low fat [hardcore emoticon] but I had said to myself that some nuts and seeds are allowed because they're full of Really Good Things that I don't know the name of. I know I overdid it, because I've got a tiny bit of a bad stomach (The only tiny thing about my stomach! :o ) so I need to take it easy today.

I am going to try and work out my own visualisations to try and conquer the overeating- Visualisations are brilliant for me, they work wonders. I have just read Derren Brown's (phwooooooooar) book, and it has a few ways of dealing with phobias that I'm going to try with my storm one... I am now going to try and twak it so that if I have five minutes every afternoon before I usually binge, I can learn to control myself.

That paragraph makes me sound like the strangest woman who ever lived.

Well, despite having a small bowl of vanilla icecream last night, I am down by 2.75 lbs today, so 10 4.75. Yay! I think it was a combination of constipation and dehydration. Lovely.

Provided I STS for the rest of the week, I will be pleased. I need to consolidate back down in the low 10s, I think as I have been bouncing around way too much this month. Still procrastinating on the exercise thing apart from pilates once a week. Someone inspire me to go running. Sal?

Plan for today is

B: plain nat yoghurt
L: dunno, probably a big salad of some sort
D: Chicken thigh, chorizo and red pepper traybake thing (recipe from my head; will involve red wine vinegar and a tiny bit of honey) and salad or veg
Snacks: M&S piri piri chicken/cheese, maybe a couple of sqaures of dark choc.

Work is pissing me off; GO AWAY ANNOYING PEOPLE!

Belle I need a late afternoon snack as well - then I still nibble peanuts and drink coffee with cream while making tea - but if I don't have a (protein and veg) snack at the end of the working day, I just can't stop with the peanuts.

Does low carb and low fat together work, then? The India and Neris book argues that eating fat when you're low carbing 'primes' your liver to burn fat more effectively, so they encourage you to eat more fat (with protein) when you're stalling. But I am no expert on the science of low carbing.

Slightly scary moment last night when I started to get lesions in my mouth - it looked as if I was digesting my own tongue ... No idea if they were dietary-related or not but I think this happened last time I tried full-on low carb after a few weeks, and was one of the things that threw me off in a bit of a panic. It would fit anyway with me feeling a bit bleurgh. Anyway this time I am not going to over-react and dive into the hobnobs again, instead I ate a small amount of dark chocolate and it settled down again very quickly.

FBB most of the foods you listed are ones I am 'allowed' to reintroduce in phase 2 of this diet so I am going to start doing that, but only gradually and only once a day at most. I really don't want to stop losing weight at this point.

systemsaddict I have read on here that you can't really do low fat and low carb at the same time. But it does work for me, so I can only go by that. I have to admit to feeling a thousand times better since giving up the fat and carbs, and, to be honest, it's saturated fat I'm not having- Still on nuts, fruit and am having milk in tea and coffee. Also, am eating meat so that comes with a fair bit of fat.

The mouth lesions sound a bit scary... Are you getting enough vitamins? I have considered taking a supplement... Does anyone else do this?

System I hope your mouth is still okay, that sounds scary. I wonder what causes it, possibly, like Belle said, lack of vitamins?

Sarra I totally missed your advice about exercise carbs yesterday. I hope you don't think I was being rude and totally ignoring what you'd put! I did try yesterday to have a few carbs with lunch (had a couple of oatcakes with my salad) and feel much less tired today. However I have cleaned hard for 2.5hrs this morning, so I think I might give my 40mins cardio a rest today and just do shred. Thanks .

Belle I was feeling pretty fed up before I started this diet and I decided to take a B vitamin complex in order to see if it would help me (we've had a crappy time as a family recently). So far, I feel more settled in myself and I don't know if it is the lower carb or the vitamins, but my cravings have been much, much better since I've been doing this.

I still eat fat but TBH it's actually pretty hard to eat a lot when you have no lovely carbs to soak it up! So no bread to lather in butter - I probably eat less butter now that previously. No pasta or couscous to douse in olive oil. Salad can only handle so much oil, I find, before it's unpalatable. I am fairly generous with oil when roasting meats but then generally drain it off before serving. I do eat fattier cuts of meat.

I don't know whether low-carb-low-fat works as well, but I do know that I wouldn't be able to stick to such a diet for one moment, so I keep fat in my diet (without going mad). I love cream, cheese, bacon etc. so being able to eat those normally makes all the difference for me.

Belle - just to finish "bigging up" almonds, they are also 20% protein, so do fill you up (but no, they aren't low fat).

Systems - definitely check you are getting enough vitamins/minerals - when you give up a food group (e.g. grains) and change your diet you might well find you are deficient in something.

FBB - Enough of the excuses - get out there and start running!! Have you checked into the Couch to 5k threads? Major inspiration; kept me going last year.

Anyway, just polished off my lunch, which was tzatziki dip and veggie sticks (and one rice cake, because I ran short on veggies and didn't think I would look good sitting at my desk eating tzatziki off my finger). Back to work now - boo.

Yes I did think about a vitamin deficiency but I am taking shedloads - the Idiot-Free diet recommends the following, all of which I'm taking: multivitamins; b-complex; q10; psyllium husks; Omega 3 fish oil; chromium. And I'm on iron supplements and antihistamines from the dr.s for an unrelated skin condition.

I rattle.

Of course there is one possible conclusion ... side-effects from one or a combination of that lot!

For the love of all that is good and holy, please take the Krispy Kremes away. There are more of them today.

I have just about managed to resist.

Lunch was steak burrito. Filled me right up but I am hankering after something sweet. Will eat small piece of cheese in order to stave off the hunger.

CV thanks for the push. I might run tonight but it's forecast to rain (wimp).

FBB - can I suggest running first thing in the morning (get up 20 mins earlier if necessary)? I find it works well for me, because my brain hasn't woken up sufficiently to tell my body that it's a bad idea. I just stumble round in a sort of half-asleep coma.

Jeepers, systems, no danger of vitamin deficiency there then!

Am agog at your Krispy Kreme resistance. I have never even seen a Krispy Kreme, but doubt I could resist.

Saying that, I have been far better today, thanks to some visualisations and an early dinner. I have figured that I graze between 4.00 and dinner, so the earlier dinner is, the best chance I have of not snacking.

lots of coffee
A quorn sausage salad
An orange
Sausage salad

Not a nut in sight :)
Did actually drool at the dinner I made for my DH and the boys... Toad in the hole with peas and gravy. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez it looked nice.

Will consider morning run. Hmm. I just need to start doing it.

Back home now and have just had 4 sq of dark choc. I really needed something sweet. It has hit the spot. Will have dinner later when dh gets back from swimming.

10 3.75 this morning - excellent! If I can keep under 10 4 for the rest of the week, that would be great. Not holding my breath though.

I am so tired. Got into bed at 10pm last night, which is unusual for me and didn't get up until 8 (no kids!). Still shattered today. Hoping period is on its way as I am at 43 days and counting which sucks. Acupuncture tonight, I am hoping that helps regulate matters. I always sleep really well after that too.

Haevn't managed breakfast yet but just about to have yog and blueberries.

Hello all .

I have dieting fatigue and it's only 3 weeks and 3 days in. This isn't good. Could just eat a big plate of pasta and pesto and a cake. Or, come to think of it, a donut... hmmm... I'm not even that fussed for them, but all this talk has made me want one. I'm not craving particularly, I'm just boring myself with my meals. I have got variety, but it just isn't pizza . Anyway, onwards. I had tuna salad for lunch. I will exercise later. Fitting back into old wardrobe would be much better than pizza and I need to keep telling myself that.

Lunch was indian slaw and chicken salad, which was nice. Also had a small piece of cheese and 3 lindt mini chocolates.

Dinner will be freezer surprise - I think meatballs - plus salad and hummus and other oddments. Perahps with smoked salmon and hollandaise to start (have some to use up from the weekend).

Marian - if you could eat one carb meal and not go off the rails, then I would consider it. I tend to have one or two meals a week which are not strictly low carb - eg Friday nigth dinner and then Sunday lunch. So will have eg pizza but no garlic bread and lots of salad, easy on the fatty stuff. Or Sunday lunch with one or two roasties (rather than my standard 12!) and a small pud after. Depends on how strict you are.

I find now that going for pure carbs like a massive bowl of pasta makes me feel ill. Funny how quickly things can change! I was a pasta 3 nights a week before this WoE.

I am the same as you Marian. Can't be arsed today, though I am being good, so that's something. I watched Supersize vs. Superskinny last night and I was slobbering with envy at the supersizers' diet I am going to blame these feelings on the full moon... :)

Marian - you can have a bit more carb occasionally on holford (20% of the time so that's at least one cheat meal a week) - as the aim isn't to go into ketosis, it doesn't matter if you have a blip (which is why it suits me...ahem...blipblipblip)

Systems/cv - the lc/lf thing does work, as the extra protein means you're eating less calories overall, but as you're not going into ketosis (too many carbs to) then you're not burning fat in the same way which is why you need to watch the fat more.

Belle - I'm with CV - almonds are great (and the lowest fat of the nuts, apart from chestnuts) but a lf portion is only five almonds at a time...!

I need a big box to shoehorn my various treats/supersize portions this week. Haven't quite got back into it after DH birthday excesses last week. But I did killer aerobics on Monday and British military fitness circuits in park last night so hoping for a stall rather than weightgain.

And even better, the fit but twatty BMF instructor actually checked me out last night ha! (was about two stone heavier last time I did his class) "You look like you've been on holiday love."

Marian sorry just read back and realised wasn't v clear - by extra carbs I don't mean the half a banana thing I was talking about for exercise - I meant the odd pizza/pasta here and there is Ok (I do what fbb does) - weight loss is a little slower that way, but if you're suffering from diet fatigue it does help make the whole thing more sustainable so you can stick with it.

Btw FBB cannot believe you've managed to resist Krispy Kremes so long - you have willpower of iron!