Anyone 16st+ and low-carbing?

[Macloveswill]

Hi, I started on 1st Jan at 18st 10lbs and I have so much to lose, it would be lovely to share my journey with others who have over 6 stones to lose.

I know it's going to be a really long slog and I'll need help staying on the straight and narrow. I have to do it this year, no excuses!

So far I have lost 8.4lbs in first 11 days, but that seems tiny when I've got nearly nine stones to lose altogether. My goal is 10st.

Anyone out there? All buddies welcome

Thanks Letme, i hope its vom free soon, too! I fear the two other students will succumb shortly. My mum seems to be the only one who has escaped so far.

I havent tumble turned in about 20 yrs either hence the difficulty. I do find swimming a total PITA but it does my back the world of good and i only use my arms when doing breast stroke (cant do the legs) and i find it very toning. I am at my widest across the tops of my arms and i hate them.

I try and go after a gym session as i dont find it enough exercise on its own but then 25 lengths is hardly miles - i get bored. Our creche only does 2 hr slots and i couldnt manage 2 hrs in a class or gym session so a gentle swim fills the time nicely. Feels like a treat in the outdoor pool.

I dont blame you for the baguette, nothing like some carbs to sort out poorly head and belly from too many vinos! Thats what started me on the slippery slope after my birthday last week. I have been better today but its been a struggle - more mental than anything. I am taking my mum out in a bit as a thank you and she has just moved house so i want to get her a nice mothers day/ house warming present, then a nice lunch.

Have a fab day soon and hope the carbs sort you out.

Oh my God

So far I've been using a beginner's kettlebell DVD but I've just done my first 'ordinary' kettlebell workout with a new DVD. Fuck me, now I know why the other one was marketed at beginners! I'm not sure when I'll regain the use of my arms ......

Yay, managed the body balance class and another 30 lengths of the pool! I got to the back of the class today so not as much mirror horror, but goodness my abs were killing me by the end. Not back until next Tues, so my abs and thighs can have a nice rest for a bit. Walking tonight.

That is one nasty bug you've had Mrs! It must be super infectious. Sounds like noro? I love the sound of your outdoor heated pool! I don't do the tumble turns, but I think you're meant to breathe sharply out of your nose as you tumble, that keeps the water out, but I imagine it's tricky to coordinate getting the timing right. I only do breaststroke too, I don't like not being able to see all around me when I do crawl. Also hate my upper arms, they definitely contribute to my heft those and my thunder thighs and my muffin top!

I don't blame you having a little comfort food Letme. Hope the head feels a bit better by now. One night off the shred won't hurt, I hear it's pretty heavy going, but never tried it myself. I might join you when I'm a bit fitter!

It would be lovely to be really fit and toned by the time we're slim, wouldn't it. It must help with skin sag too when losing a lot of weight. I keep seeing these stories in the paper where women literally have folds of dangling skin after losing a similar amount of weight to me. When I lost over 8 stone last time, that didn't happen to me apart from a slightly jelly baby belly, so praying it won't happen this time either. The exercise has got to help, but I know skin loses elasticity the older you get.

Slim and fit by Christmas!

Well done Prof....you're now a fully fledged member of the aching all over club

Those kettlebells sound lethal!

They certainly are!

I love swimming too but find it a pita to go. It's not just all the leg shaving palava but our local pool is awful, cold and grubby, so I drive to the next nearest one about 20 mins away. Trouble is that makes a swim take up a significant chunk of the day.

Gah, I am still waiting for my bloody baguette. Bloody other half (we work together) said he was "going down in a minute" as he was listening to the budget, I say no worries, give me the cash, I'll go (having spent all my cash on bones this morning, as you do). He says, I'll just be a minute. Fine.

30 mins later he's still fannying around. I say again I'll go. Another 5 minutes of him deciding what he wants, and I finally manage to get there and get the order in. Just waiting for it now and practically salivating!

I sometimes worry about the saggy skin. I had a bit on my belly when I lost weight last time, nothing major, but of course I hated it at the time. I was early/mid twenties when I lost it before despite loads of exercise and body butter, but I lost the weight very quickly which I think makes the sag worse. Still, I'd rather have a saggy belly than a huge one!

Well done on the class Mac, for the kettlebells Prof and for the swim last night Mrs - I'm letting the side down a bit today, but there's always tomorrow.

Hope you have a lovely afternoon with your mum Mrs.

Well i got my mum a lovely house warming present but lunch was a disaster, first two places had nothing suitable for me to eat then in desperation we went to tescos as it was close and the kids were starving, i thought i could have something breakfasty - but no, not after 11.30am. So we ordered and the food was cold and shrivelled up, i got my money back and we just had coffee! Luckily the kids meal was freshly deep fat fried junk so fine - kids meals always seem to revolve around nuggets, fish fingers or stodgy pasta - sigh.

Well done everyone on the exercise, it makes my paltry 25 lengths look pathetic.

Mac i also have the muffin top, round tummy, thunder thighs, rugby player arms and massive norks - attractive hey? Although my mum did say she could see i had lost weight yay.

I worry about saggy skin - there does seem to be articles and programmes everywhere about it. When i last lost 3 st (1st less than now) i was fine but i was 5 yrs younger and hadnt had 2 massive babies then. My belly is already wrinkly and when i push the skin it gets even worse - hubby promised me a boob lift and a tummy tuck ( not sure how we would pay for it however!).
My boobs are going to be awful but thats what good underwear is for - WHEN i get to my target weight i will splash out on some expensive / sexy 1950s undies and hope that it works.

Paleo people swear by bone broth as the collagen is supposed to be very good for skin so i have been making my own stock for soup. No idea if its true but it does give me nice nails.

I think exercise and weight training is supposed to help aswell. I look at this way -i currently hate 80% of my body atleast if i am thin i will only hate a bit of it?
If i get thin enough i will prob get bingo wings but i always wear a cardi as it is so nothing much will have changed except i will look better in clothes. But crossing my fingers and toes that i get away with it! and you all do to!

Haha...sounds like the food gods were against you both Mrs and Letme! I can get quite stroppy when I'm hungry, your DH is lucky he's lived to tell the tale Letme!

I know what you mean Prof, anything that's a PITA is impossible to keep up, so you'd better make the kettlebells your friends!

Yes I think we should be able to stave off most of the saggy skin if we lose at 1-2lbs a week. But you're right about us looking better in our clothes. The right bras will keep the spaniels ears at bay nice, huh?!

Just gearing up for my walk. It's the last thing I feel like doing when I'm aching all over. My tummy muscles feel a bit like when I was recovering from the c-section! body balance is a bar steward!

I'm not too worried about saggy skin. I'm sure I'll end up with some on my tummy, my c-section scars give me a horrible shape anyway. But I've always carried my weight on my tummy, even when I was young and thin, so I'm used to dressing for it. I'm fairly sure some control pants will solve the problem, I can live with that in exchange for all the other health benefits.

OMG i am the luckiest chick ever, after my week of naughtiness i weighed and wasnt expecting any good news but i am exacting the same weight i was on my birthday. So it looks like 2 days of vomiting cancels out 1 weeks worth of carbs - not to be recommended however!

Walk done (didn't do the one with steep steps tonight as I can hardly lift my thighs without them properly aching). I reckon it's going to take me a week to recover from the bloody body balance...it just shows how unfit I must be!

You're so right Prof the health benefits (and the fact that we'll look super amazing!) will far outweigh any saggy tum or bingo wing problems. It will be so nice not thinking that diabetes is just waiting to strike! And our joints will be breathing huge sighs of relief. My pancreas must already have forgotten what it's job is!

Well done Mrs....at least we've learned that to get away with eating carbs for a week, we just have to spend a couple of days with our heads down the loo

Wow Mac that body balance class sounds evil, you must have went for it, well done you, next week will be easier - hopefully???

Hubby back tom and mum here so def going to the gym, need to get scales moving down again. I am inspired by everyones exercise, i am not hurting so def not doing it right!! :)

Feeling bleurgh today, beloved gran has an MRI tom to see if she has cancer, i was in denial but now i think it is sinking in. Could really eat some rubbish now but i keep telling myself it wont change anything except make me feel worse. Off to bed i need my strength for tom.

Sorry to hear about your Gran Mrs...hope it's good news with the MRI

Did anyone watch that Giles Coran healthy eating programme last night? I missed the beginning but they featured 'paleo' diets. Unfortunately they picked some weirdly evangelical American diet guru to follow who made the whole thing look like a religious cult and then they mixed it up with low carb/ketogenic diets. They got a 'Doctor' (not sure what kind of Dr, they may have explained and I missed it) to give a verdict. She said how dangerous this sort of diet was and even if people think they're fit and healthy, they are NOT, they're just fat on the inside and don't realise it

So far so ignorable, but dh saw it. He hasn't said anything but I can tell it worried him and he now think I'm going to drop down dead from heart disease.

I'm so annoyed about the whole thing. I'm considering going to a Lloyds pharmacy to get a cholesterol test to (hopefully) debunk the whole thing.

Hi Prof yes i saw it. I really fancy Giles so HAD to watch it. Yes totally agree, he didnt seem to explore it properly before eating only fruit? The only food i saw him eat was fast food bun less burgers - hardly the typical example of unprocessed cave man food!

It was also a bit sensationalist with the lawn lamb butchering and blood drinking.

I know HFLC can make your chloesterol levels rise in the short term and the important aspect is the ratio of good to bad and levels of triglycerides in your blood - i think, the diet doctor website has loads of good info on this.

The dietician did say we eat far too many processed carbs in the UK but stopped short of exploring that - typical NHS diet guidance.
There was the programme a few months ago where they got a set of twins to do either a low carb or a high carb diet and explored the results, they concluded in a month that low carb was dangerous and the twin was facing diabetes!!! I think it was horizon or something.

Having had GD and all the kit i can categorically say when i started LCHF my blood sugar levels dropped in a few days to normal and now barely budge and are smack bang in the middle of normal.

I would love to see an unbiased proper review of HFLC and paleo with some scientific rigour as i still cant shake the feeling it will give myself heart disease all the low fat nonsense is so ingrained!

All the stuff about longevity i have seen, all have calorie restriction at its heart so i figure by doing this and losing weight i am reducing my cals so that can only be a good thing as i am not taking in massive amounts of cals that i dont need and we all know being over weight leads to nothing good - but then i could be talking out of my arse!!

If i had enough cash i would love to go and have a private set of blood tests and health check to test EVERYTHING. My dad did this at 40 and it showed he had a prob with his heart - luckily nothing serious but something that needed to be kept an eye on.

I smoked for YEARS and didnt exercise enough and ate rubbish but i hope i have mended my ways soon enough!

Ah damn I missed that programme Prof! It's annoying when they don't present a balanced view though isn't it. Great idea to get your cholesterol checked, I'd be really interested in your results. Maybe we should all do it now and then again towards the end of the year. How much is it Prof?

I know what you mean Mrs about being almost sure this WOE is good for us, but still that niggle at the back of my mind worrying I'm doing something really destructive. Nothing can be quite as bad as all that sugar I was eating though!!

I've lost a tiny bit more weight (0.3lbs), so 16st 9.7lbs now. 28.9lbs off so far. Also it's exactly a month since I measured for the first time and I've lost an inch or two off all over...really wish I'd measured at the beginning now!

Bust = 46" 1 inch off
Waist = 38.5" 1.5 inches off
Hips = 46.5" 1.5 inches off

Thighs and arms say 2 inches off each too, but not sure I'm managing to measure in the same place every time with those.

Onwards and downwards! SBC!!!

I use other LCHF boards like MFP and Atkins and they are positively littered with success stories from people who have good cholesterol levels, have put type 2 diabetes into remission etc Personally I'm quite confident about what I'm doing. Even Giles said he felt really well and had loads of energy. It annoyed me that the 'Dr' dismissed the experience of a group of about 100 paleo people based purely on her opinion. She was 'sure' those people were fat inside based on nothing but her gut feeling, she hadn't even seen them!

I didn't see the programme with the twins but from what I read I think one went zero carb/high protein rather than LCHF.

The cholesterol test is £15, I've not looked into it properly yet though.

That's reassuring that others have reported improved health Prof. The fact that we'll be stones lighter has got to make us healthier hasn't it? And we're exercising!

The way I see it is that it's the only WOE that seems to work for me whilst living a normal life...holidays, nights out included. It gets me away from bingeing on sugar and stodge and will help me lose nearly 9 stones in a year. So, although I have niggles, deep down I know that I'm doing the right thing. I would eventually like to go more Paleo though and reduce my dairy, but for now it's working and I'm happy.

For £15 I think I'll do the cholesterol thing.

Hope this links OK but here's one thread from the Atkins site: uk.atkins.com/community/forums/thread/133368/amazing-results#dis-post-206634

There's also a mfp group called the Low Carber Daily Forum, there's a thread on there called Diabetic DittoDan's blood work and he's posted very detailed results about all kinds of stuff relating to his liver, diabetes etc which have shown huge improvements since he started on LCHF.

It's all very reassuring.

This is fab! Thanks Prof

Hoping for good news on the scan today Mrs.

I didn't bother weighing this morning after not a great day eating wise yesterday. But I'll be good today and weigh tomorrow and hope for good things.

I was on my own for the dog walk this morning, and I can definitely tell the difference from the weight lost so far. Picked up the pace and walked an extra 1.5 miles in the same time I would usually do the 3 miles with the others, putting me a a fairly respectable walking speed of 4mph.

I might do the shred this evening, but in all honesty, I probably won't. I need to go food shopping straight after work, so won't get in til 7-7.30pm, so need to get on with cooking dinner straight away. I could get something from M&S which just needs to be shoved in the oven for 30 mins, but that really defeats my WOE 'motto' of wholesome/healthy. Hmmm.

The crux is, I need to be more organised. If I were to meal plan and make sure we had everything we needed in for the week and left work at the same time as DP, I would have a clear 45 mins to shred, shower and make a start on dinner while DP is walking the dog.

I think it will actually be easier when I start at the gym, it'll be more time consuming, but as I'll be out the house, I can leave DP to get dinner and not be distracted with things like taking the rubbish out or putting a wash on.

Christ knows how you all cope with children, I can barely keep on top of things with just a dog!!!

I don't meal plan as such. We tend to buy our meat in bulk so I have a chest freezer full of it. I have to plan the next day's meal the night before so that I can take something out of the freezer. I keep the fridge stocked with low carb veg, plus a few staples I rely on like chorizo, cheese and sour cream. Plus we buy eggs a tray at a time from a local farm so we always have eggs. Between all those things there's usually something that can be grabbed reasonably quickly.

Letme - wow thats fast you must have had flames coming off of your trainers!

My gran gets the results tomorrow, she has to see the dr then. She sounded awful on the phone, its made me realise she is old - she built a house a couple of years ago and is totally unstoppable usually so its all a bit of a shock.

I went for a walk with DD and i pushed her up the MASSIVE hill, last time i did it i had to stop 3 times, this time i powered the whole way up it.

Hubby is back from work trip and has said that in the five days he has been away he can see i have lost more weight - love him.

HM burgers and coleslaw and salad for dinner - not enough water and a whole packet of nuts opps.

When i dont have students i dont really meal plan i just have lots of fatty meat in the freezer and then stock up on dairy and green veg. I do lots of roast meat with a tiny splash of gravy,or salads or creamy sauces. I try not to have unsuitable food in the house. When i have students i tend to meal plan more as i need to feed them and have it adaptable so i dont have to cook separate meals. Usually the students just eat what we eat with extra carbs on the side. I have loads of choc and crisps in the house for lunch boxes but its not calling me like it did last year, upping my fat has really helped me knock the cravings on the head.

Est agent is coming to take pics tom and still so much to do to make the house look like a show home - sigh.

Another of the minor physical changes I've noticed - my joints crack like anything. It's like an explosion in a firecracker factory every time I stand up!

Fingers crossed for your Gran's results MrsS.