I have just started the Harcombe Diet - anyone else doing/done it?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Today was day one of Phase one, and it's been OK. Even giving up coffee, which I was very concerned about, as I know how I've suffered from withdrawal symptoms in the past!

But the time had to come for me to take myself in hand.

I'm a long-term (on and off) low-carber, so I know the rules/ropes about low-carbing, but the thing that appealed to me about THD is that you're allowed rice and pasta in phase 2. Not being able to have these things is what has led to me being an on and off low carber.

However, the weight has gradually piled on and I'm heavier than I've ever been. I have very few clothes I can fit into - even my 'fat' clothes are getting too tight.

And my IBS has flared up again, which is a sure sign that something has to change.

Today I have eaten:

2 boiled eggs for breakfast
chicken and mixed veg stir fry for lunch
a hard-boiled egg as an early evening snack
bolognese sauce (minus the red wine and mushrooms!) on a bed of thinly shredded cabbage - without Parmesan - for dinner.

Instead of drinking coffee, I've been drinking peppermint tea (good for my IBS too) and sparkling water.

I am going to weigh myself on Saturday, which will (theoretically) be the beginning of Phase 2. I may continue on Phase 1, depending on how it does/how I feel/what the scales tell me.

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

[Shaxx]

Oh the day trip was cancelled because of the weather so have been baking instead.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Stop all this baking talk!

Have been fine today:

Breakfast - usual 2 boiled eggs
Lundh - duck breast and swede, left over from yesterday, plus cabbage, and some yoghurt for pudding

Dinner tonight is some kind of salad stuff. Haven't quite worked out what yet.

More peppermint tea and lots of sparkling water.

Not quite so headachey today which is good.

[Shaxx]

What about smelling it??!
The aromas of chocolate cake while I sip in green tree.
Chocolate cake will make me fat. Its absolutely no good for me.
Sugar - bad
wheat - bad
butter - bad

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Morning all!

I had a very hard day yesterday and was hugely tempted to break open the white wine, but managed to resist. Thankfully DH is being saintly at the moment and also not drinking, which did make it much easier. (Although I was secretly hoping he would open a bottle!).

Dinner wasn't what I had planned, as it turned out that the chicken I was going to use had passed its sell-by date and smelt very odd - so we ended up having sausages (low carb ones) roasted with peppers, cauliflower, tomatoes, onion and garlic.

I tried to weigh this morning, but the battery in my scales has run out. This sort of indicates that my scales are knackered, because it's not long since I replaced the battery. So I will be on the hunt for some new scales this afternoon. Whilst I don't really relish what they are going to tell me, I do need to weigh myself to keep me focused.

[Shaxx]

I definitely need scales! I need to see how I'm doing.

Well done on resisting the wine.

Yesterday was good. I was hungry at around 10 so had a snack of leftover chicken

I've run out of porridge
Have to rethink breakfast. I hate eggs.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

I decided that I needed some coffee, so bought myself some ground decaff and some Alpro Light - in order to comply with the rules of Phase 1.

All I can say is bleurrrrgggghh

Will stick to the peppermint tea from now on!

[Shaxx]

Argh! Fell of the wagon big time this afternoon
I had friends round who all bought cakes and snacks and we all just ended up munching away.

I feel v.v.angry at my lack of willpower

I've got nothing on over the long weekend so no more excuses from me!

I'm going for a run tomorrow and doing my shred so hoping to burn off some of those carbs asap and carry on with the diet.

[tiggyhop]

hello, please may I join the thread?

I have done ZH before and lost quite a bit. Started again this morning and then saw the thread - which is great as I really need some hand holding as I have been pretty useless recently and the weight is creeping up. ZH does really really work (DH has been low carbing for a month and has lost 12 lbs, I have found a few in the meantime)....

Good luck everyone!

[BecauseImWorthIt]

I'm drinking white wine tonight, which is a ZH fail, clearly. But I just didn't fancy red, and it's Friday ...

We had our usual Indian takeaway, but I was very good and didn't have rice/naan. Had lamb madras and spinach bhaji.

I still haven't got my head round phase 2, so I think I will do phase 1 from Monday again - it's not too bad/restrictive (or at least I can plan meals around it quite happily).

Welcome, tiggyhop!

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Today:

No breakfast - didn't fancy any
Lunch - homemade soup (onion, leek, celery and carrot, with homemade chicken stock)

Dinner tonight is going to be steak and chips. No chips for me, obviously. I have some celeriac so may try and make some celeric chips.

I have had two cups of coffee with milk this morning, but didn't especially enjoy them, which was interesting.

[Shaxx]

Did you weigh yourself today?
I weighed yesterday and was 2lbs down. Not as much as it could be thanks to a couple of cheats but it does feel like something I can do in the long term.

I had blueberries and total yoghurt for breakfast
2 seekh kebabs with cucumber raita for lunch
and am doing a roast for dinner so will have the chicken and veg

I also shredded and did a 45min walk/run around the park

I don't feel any lighter thanks to my stupidity yesterday

[BecauseImWorthIt]

No I haven't - scales are knackered and I haven't been able to buy any more yet. I was going to get them yesterday, but my windscreen wipers are knackered and I can't drive when it's raining! Yesterday afternoon was such a washout that I couldn't go anywhere.

I'm trying to dodge the rain at the moment and go to Halfords to get some more, then have to do the shopping and will go over to Boots to buy some more for a weigh-in tomorrow.

[ppeatfruit]

because I've looked at Z.H's lecture and was interested 'cos she says some interesting and true things (about the shit everyone eats nowadays) i don't agree with dissing fruit though, and a lot of people can't cope with high protein diets (if i ate 2 or 3 eggs every day my digestion would stop dead!! ) .

I suggest you take a look at Paul Mckenna; I have lost 2 stone on it and am maintaining, I do it with the blood type diet for health. It completely re educates yr. attitude to food so you ONLY eat when yr. hungry and stop when full and eat consciously it really works believe me!! see you on our thread?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

I've read Paul McKenna/have his books. I think there's something in it, but I don't have the discipline to do it.

And I know low carb works for me. And as for 'dissing' fruit - it's because of the amount of sugar it contains and thus the effect that it has on your blood sugar levels.

The ZH diet isn't just about eating protein, either. It's about eating fresh/unprocessed meat and fish, along with fresh vegetables and salad stuff.

[ppeatfruit]

It doesn't take a lot of discipline you get used to listening to your body which is hard for some people at first i agree, you could combine the 2 eating plans IMO

i disagree with the 'eat what you want rule' of mckenna's because as i said i follow my blood type; Dr. Peter D'adamo is the author which IMO makes the most sense as we 're all different. I do low carb and i eat some fish with loads of salad and veg. (no wheat) as well and always eat organic fruit on an empty stomach which IMO brings yr blood sugar level up slowly (as opposed to sweets,cakes normal sugar). gorillas are not hyper!

[foreverondiet]

I?ve read the harcombe book, plus several others, including south beach, dukan, Prozac not potatoes, pig to twig, Jillian Michaels, Lean and Clean, Paul Mckenna.

I?d say any of it works. My problem (and I suspect this is normal) is that when I eat refined carbs I crave more sweet refined carbs. If I stick to low carb (although do eat fruit and fat free dairy in moderation) then I find it easy to stick to my diet. If I eat processed carbs like white bread I then crave sweet things and find it very hard to stop eating when full. All the diets above say avoid processed foods especially refined, eat natural etc.

Other than Paul Mckenna all these diets emphasis that its important to avoid processed carbs, and this is what works for me ? Paul McKenna?s eat what you want rule doesn?t work for me as I find it too hard to follow the other rules if I am eating processed carbs.

Harcombe is the only one that doesn?t acknowledge that number of calories makes a difference ? TBH I don?t really believe her, I think number of calories does make a difference. I think her diet works as its hard to overeat on carbs when you can?t have fat with it etc, and your digestion etc works better when not bogging it down with processed foods.

[ppeatfruit]

Forever IKWYM but IMO it's the high salt in most refined carbs that make us crave sugary foods.

Of course you can cook from scratch with a lot of salt and still crave sugary puddings etc. I love garlic and find it also doesn't help with the sugar cravings either (I just have a couple of pieces of good over 70% choc).

i think we discussed the Hay diet on another thread and i always follow that; i suppose Harcombe is like that as well.

[Chestnutx3]

I'm going to do the 5 day phase one starting next Thursday, as I am working on cutting out caffeine this week. I am seeing it as a crash diet but I would be happy if I lose half a stone only just to fit into some old clothes.

I do think it is completely unrealistic to very rarely eat any sugar in cakes/biscuits - I do only homemade but have small children and I don't think saying mummy can't even eat one is a good lesson for them.

I also think there is very little evidence for this fat/carb thing - to never eat a lasagne or a spag bol or stew + mash, madness and unsustainable. The fact she has had serious anorexia (although so had I as a child) means she is probably better at self control than most and this diet is sustainable for her but not for most of us.

I also think portion control is key. Eat as much as you want I am not convinced is a good psychology or trying to eat big meals to fill up to not eat any snacks - I think it is important to eat until you are just full.

I am going to do the crash 5 days and then cut out refined carbs and cut down on sugar (although I eat very little) but I eat too much fruit.

I crave cucumbers, lettuce and carrots. I have never craved sugary things or carbs or chocolate. Everybody is different Ms Harcombe doesn't seem to understand that.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Have you read the book, Chestnutx3?

Surely phase 3 is all about eating what you want. I thought it was only phase 2 where you had either fat or carb meals?

[Chestnutx3]

Have you read the book? I have twice now - phase 3 is not about eating what you want, you can cheat from eating separate fat and carb meals but not all the time and every day. If in phase 3 you eat what you want the weight will probably pile on (as many reviewers have said about the diet) as you haven't learnt about portion control and exercise IMO.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

I would think that, regardless of THD, if you eat what you want you will put on weight!

BTW - Zoe Harcombe is an obesity researcher. And her anorexia was one of the things that motivated her into exploring and learning about food and nutrition. So I think she probably knows a little about what she is talking about.

You don't agree with her? Fair enough. I would think, actually, that you are extremely unusual if you crave lettuce, cucumber and carrots. And that also makes me wonder why you feel the need to do a 'crash' diet in the first place.

[ppeatfruit]

The best thing about Paul Mckenna is that the 'eat slowly and consciously" rule and only when you're hungry actually educates yr body because you literally can't overeat once you're really doing it.

So things like calorie counting and portion control are totally unnecessary. BTW i have never counted calories and have lost the 2 stone i needed to (weight had crept on over many years esp. living in France for 6 months in the year!!) and for the first time I am maintaining; that is entirely due to paul mckenna.

[foreverondiet]

I don't agree about the salt being the reason for the carb cravings, well not for me. I don't eat processed food, but eating lots of (savoury) carbs even without salt results in me craving the sweet ones. I don't ever add salt in cooking, and there isn't salt in pasta and rice.

I agree with Chestnutz - whilst I 100% agree with ZH's crusade against processed food I don't think that keeping carbs and fat separate is sustainable for me. eg after the gym I need a mix of protein and carbs and this sort of meal (unless veggie protein) would break her rule.

I also don't agree with ZH's policy on snacks, I'd have to overeat at lunchtime to be full enough to get through to dinner. I prefer not to overeat and then have an apple and some nuts or similar mid afternoon.

re: the home baking, I try not to eat them all week, but will have a few biscuits at the weekend. I tell the kids I'm eating healthily so am having an apple instead, I am happy for them to know that apples are healthier than biscuits!

[BecauseImWorthIt]

This is supposed to be a thread about The Harcombe Diet!

Anyhoo. I did Phase 1 with few problems, actually, and although I couldn't weigh because my scales broke, definitely lost weight as my clothes fit me much better. I can do my jeans up again, without the zipper slowly sliding down!

However, it was my birthday this weekend, so I've taken a momentary pause. I've got new scales and as soon as I can work out how to work them I will be starting again. Being realistic, this means next Monday. Hopefully my paper copy of the book will have arrived then too.

[Chestnutx3]

We are just discussing whether ZH provides much evidence for some of her recommendations and whether it works in the long term. Sorry I didn't realise this was a thread about your personal weight loss.