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

[Ormirian]

Let's start afresh!

Ps and sorry for the rather preachy posts esp when I'm hardly a model of virtue myself at the moment - it's just that things you're saying keep reminding me of things that helped/help me keep going with it...

Freezer surprise had turned out to be beef stew! Luckily it's raining today so stew and roasted b/n squash with sage, with a starter size portion of smoked salmon, avocado and hollandaise as the stew is pretty small.

I think the trick to cheating is to do it irregularly, so not every day and if you do cheat, then not every meal.

Sarra You're not being preachy, I'm glad to have the info! Brill about the twatty but hunky instructor checking you out too... It's so nice to feel pretty :)

I had a bit of a red mist moment when I was taking the meat off the chicken... I ODd a bit on protien today, but I refuse to feel bad about it. It's in a box. That's it.

Quorn pieces and salad.
Half a banana
An orange
Chicken salad (with a bit of pork stuffing )
Too many grapes.

Why am I cooking so many things I can't have? Made a lovely oat and honey cake for lunchboxes today, and it looks gorgeous. Also made roast dinner for everyone else.

Belle I think there's some enjoyment of creating lovely things and pushing them on others when you are denying yourself. It adds to my feeling of virtue - I always do it! I'm regularly making homemade biscuits or telling DH to go and get himself a pizza.

Sarra Your advice is helpful and not preachy at all. Thanks . I've managed to have a normal day, but I may well have a more carby meal soon, to try and shake things up a bit. I might see how my loss goes this week.

Thanks guys for making me feel less of a twat than the bmf twat (double ha as when I was fatter he was rude/dismissive routinely so the new flirtiness esp satisfying!)

Fbb - agreed - it's got to be more a "one-off" than regular blip thing, otherwise you just stall (she says, knowingly, having stalled the last couple of weeks but what with holiday and dh birthday frankly delighted to stall) - I tend to save my blips for planned things I know are coming up.

Had lovely fish stew with girlfriend last night - mixed assorted fish, tomatoes, fennel, garlic, saffron stock - all v virtous apart from that I ate double what I should've...but recommend!

Mmmmm, that stew sounds great Sarra, and I have all but the saffron stock in the house...

Lost 2.5lbs this week, which I am made up with because I was expecting a few weeks' stalling. :)

bah, just lost a long post. Can't be bothered to retype.

10 3.5 this moring so holding fairly steady.

B: slice bacon and half a small crusty roll (was at a conference and no other option)
L: dunno - prob a chicken salad of some sort

Just got my period, which will explain the super grumpiness this morning. Not in a good mood. I am hoping it will pass without me inciting murder.

2.5lbs is great Belle, well done!

I'm heading home for a few days which will also encompass 2 days of birthday celebrations. There is talk of a BBQ on saturday which will be easier to navigate as I'll just have quorn stuff and salad, but we are having a lunch out (ASK, I'll be having salad) and a night out. There will be no shred and no cross trainer. It will be a test of my resolve. 5 days...

I have worked so hard these past 25 days (not that I'm counting ), I must not let the smell of pizza or the pop of corks send me into a mad carb frenzy. It would be truly frightening to behold.

Hello all! Hope you had a good day.

Chicken salad (ate three quarters at lunchtime, then kept the rest 'til about 4 when I usually get the munchies)
some melon
A piece of chicken and some peas
Quorn salad with a few (only a few!) almonds, cashews and pumpkin seeds roasted on top. Truly lovely.

Forgive me for this paragraph: I have said before, I am a drama queen when it comes to food, and this will only serve to illustrate that point!
I have been watching back episodes of Supersize vs Superskinny (I have no taste :o ) and was very very interested in the bit where they spoke to the anorexic and bulimic ladies. The thing is, I found that I have a lot in common with their mindset, a lot of the same patterns, except they don't eat/ binge eat, and I, until a few weeks ago, ate all the time. It really got me thinking about women's relationship to food in this day and age: I know a lot of women who have odd or unhealthy relationships with food. I spoke to my Grandmother about it today- She has exactly the same overeating tendencies as I do- And then researched a bit on the internet about compulsive overeating. I have ordered a book about it. I think I need to take this eating thing seriously- The two times during this low carb kick where I have lost control has made me realize how it is a big problem for me, and I need to look into it properly in order to make sure I don't slip back into old habits.
When I was with my grandmother, I listed some of the things that I had in common with the anorexics and bulimics- Secret eating; eating without being aware of it; constant obsession with food; food being on top of the list of things to consider if I'm going for a day out or a holiday; thinking everyone is thinking how fat I am; Not believing compliments to be sincere; hate eating in front of people outside the immediate family; eating far smaller portions if I'm out with others...
The good news, of course, is that I've managed to keep on the straight and narrow for three months now, and am trying to sort myself out. :)

Sorry about that, ladies... Just remember mentioning the emotional aspect of my eating before on this thread, and it seemed to resonate with a few other posters, so I thought I'd share.

Please can I join? I've been low carbing since 4th Jan. I have a 9 month old and 6 weeks after I had her I was 2.5 stone overweight! I am only 5ft tall so the excess really shows. I need to get back to 9 stone and my target is within 1 year so August. I now weigh 9.13 and am struggling after I allowed myself Easter holidays off the diet. I seem to use food to feel nice as it's so hard to have things for yourself when you are a new mummy. Really keen to find new things to eat too. I just want results quick now so DD can begin to eat the same stuff as us and I'm so sick of dieting.

Belle - i think it's really important that you work through your thoughts. I have never had any leanings towards eating disorders so i can't help that way. Looking at yourself what are your triggers that you pick up in retrospect?

Lunch: wagamama beef salad
Snack: gu choc mouse - 16g carbs!
Dinner: cheese and 3 slices parma ham, 6 marshmallows, 4 glasses wine (oops!)

Dh is working now til next tuesday. Boo.

PS welcome peppa!

Good food; lamb rump and rocket and gozts cheese salad, aubergine parmiagiana, salmon and avocado salad, roasred chiecken thigh with lemon and thyme; these are a few of my favourite things!

Belle - first off, well done on the weight loss. 2.5lbs off is excellent.

Secondly, thanks for your post. Anything that makes us think about our relationship with food is good and welcome. It is good to see you examining why you act the way you do with food and why it has the power over you it does. So often we have a passive relationship with food so to ask questions of ourselves in this regard can only prove beneficial to you. Keep on examining and you will find the path to freedom.

Hi Peppa - welcome to the best thread here. Try not to see this as a quick fix. This is really a new way of living the rest of your life.

Believe me when I say I was seriously addicted to carbs ... seriously addicted. I based the major part of my diet on carbs: pasta, rice, potatoes etc and would avoid eating too much protein. I became slower, fatter and sicker. It was only by rethinking the way I eat and dropping the carbs that I saw massive improvements. I am still losing weight (I have a way to go yet) but I have stopped medication for stomach problems, been signed off by the hospital and have not had any flare-ups, my skin is clear and bright, my brain seems to be clearer (less/no brain fog) and I do not have the peaks and troughs that I used to have. I do not look for food all the time. I do not stuff myself 'til I feel sick. I do not look for sweet stuff to keep me going ... and eat so much of the stuff that I get a kind of chocolate brain freeze. I am beginning to live the life I always wanted to live - not defined by food, controlled by food or restricted by food.

Sorry for the long post - but wow, that was cathartic. So hi to everyone, welcome Peppa. Use the resource you have here - it really is the best thread there is.

Blimey, a lot of downloading this evening! I think identifying your triggers is definitely a large step towards resolving food issues.

Like FBB, I haven't had any major problems in relation to food, apart from the fact that I like it too much (bit of a foodie). I always watch Supersize-Superskinny like because I can't imagine how awful it must be to have reached such a desperate stage where food really is the enemy.

Welcome Peppa - sounds like you are doing well; don't worry about the Easter break, we all need time off, you only live once. I'm away to Cornwall at half term and planning to stuff myself silly with Cornish Pasties. This thread is really handy for ideas for meals, so keep reading, and add some of your own.

I've been good (ish) today, but not really enough protein:

Breakfast - berries, greek yogurt and almonds
Lunch - ate my own bodyweight in raw veggies, dipped into a pot of guacamole.
Snack - handful of salted roast almonds
Dinner - a pile of asparagus, with some prosciutto and some leftover hollandaise sauce. Yum-o-licious.

Have followed that with a few glasses of wine, but Thursday evening is the start of my weekend (don't work Fridays) so what the heck. And DH has offered to do the school run tomorrow (result!).

I'm going to the MN meet-up on Saturday (yikes!), hope to see Sal there.

Thanks all. Another half pound off this morning... I have about 4lb to go until I hit 11st, which would be great. 10st8 is my target, but I would like to go a little bit below that as I can then have treats without worrying etc.

10 2.5 this morning. Great week for the weight loss. I am pleased. I must try not to sabotage it over the weekend. Easier said than done! Aim for today is to drink lots of water.

No breakfast yet; I might have a bit of roast chicken in a bit just to get my metabolism going. Not v hungry this morning.

Ate quite a lot today, but all of it good so I won't moan. Had a brilliant day, got a package in the post from DH- He's bought me a Kindle, no occasion, just to say thanks for being a good wife and mother! Am married to the nicest man on earth. :)

Quorn sausage salad- Grilled aubegine and courgette to put in the salad, lightly salted- Very nice!
An orange
Another quorn sausage salad. I do love Quorn.
So many cups of earl grey it's impossible to count!

Ooooooh forgot 3/4 of an apple too. Am now off to read! :o

Ahhhhh, Belle, that's lovely. What a nice H he is.

Well done on the weightloss too.

Have lost another 3lbs so am chuffed. It might be slow but at least it's going in the right direction. Haven't eaten enough today yet - have been on a first aid course so had breakfast and thought I might get lunch out ... hah! Ordered some carrot soup (fresh, organic) and it was blardy horrible. Yuk, so disappointed. Still, there's always dinner ...... mmmmmmmmmm

Had a bit of a bleugh day today. Kidneys are aching a bit so I think I might have another infection on the way... Didn't sleep and was tired. Kept catching my reflection in shop windows in town and thinking how fat I looked... It's just one of those days. Tomorrow will be better.

Quorn salad
3/4 of an orange
A banana
1/3 of a chip shop sausage
Quorn sausage salad
A ew almonds and cashews

Hi people! See above for behaviour this weekend! At least I haven't got a hangover but food did rather step into the breech. 10 6.5 today, which is up from Friday but less than last Sunday so moving in the right direction still. I am always up at the weekend!

Just been to a KILLER pilates class. I am going to be in pain all week, I think. Ouch.

B: 2 scrambled eggs, 3 cherry tomatoes, 2 large slices bacon (grilled), small bowl mixed berries
L: not really hungry so might have a small bowl of salad.
D: moussaka (HM), more berries, I think.

Trying to drink lots of water to counteract the period bloat and overeating yesterday.

Well, I was at the MN Meet-up last night, spreading the word about the joys of low-carbing. Everyone was a bit as they couldn't fail to notice the large glass of wine I was holding, and the number of spring rolls and prawn toasts I consumed . But I met Sal, BIWI, Custy and a few other low-carb heroes - all lovely people.

Have had a bit of a snacky weekend, but only fruit, and lost .5 of a pound this morning, so all is okay.
Quorn sausage salad
a tangarine
tiny apple
half a banana
some grapes
Mmmmmackerel salad

Gosh. That's a long list.

Bloody hell! Ill again! I swaer to God, I have never been as unwell as I have been when I'm trying to be healthy! Cramps at night again, and the runs. Have been up since 4. Saw the doctor- Lots of tests- Will take about a fortnight to get them back. It seems his scales are different to mine- He said I am now 11st! Big milestone for me... Just wish I didn't feel so shit. May have toast with lunch and dinner today.