Louise Parker Method

[ElvenDreamer]

Hi, anyone following the Louise Parker Lean for Life method? I'm just starting (using her books) and could do with a group to swap thoughts with!

Hey guys,

exams went well and i passed all of them which makes me very happy. Unfortunately I'm living in that area in germany which is destroyed by the flood - me and my parents are good. i helped a lot this week and didnt have any time for anything, my room is full with stuff, but everythign okay here. a lot to do... i hope i can start over next week.

I've seen lots of reports on the flooding in the news here, it looks absolutely devastating, my heart goes out to everyone who has been caught up in it. I'm glad you and your family are ok. We've been having some fairly odd weather here, heatwave (and I don't do well in heat believe me) and then a random hailstorm yesterday.

My eating had gone a bit mad, I need to have a bit of a reset again. We go on holiday (in UK) next week just for a week which will help as no access to cupboards at home! Then I need to go on a bit of a mission to get myself back on it all again.

Hi again, I hope you are doing good :) I'm easing in at the moment, totally not getting steps and exercise in but i'm improving my eating habits again. I am not sure how strict i am doing it this time - but this week will be prep week.
Maybe we can start toghether at some point?

Yes please! Monday 2nd?

hey, Monday 2 nd would be perfect for me :)
Atm it seem to me like every time i really try to eat healthier, the worse it gets. i dont know. i'm loosing apetite too, maybe because of the stress i had the last few weeks. i dont like foods which i loved for years, i cant decide what to eat, i feel sick after eating and so on.
luckily i decided not to work too much in august which gives me a break to breathe and focus on myself.
i walked much more the lst few days and i will plan 3 times of exercise in!
Tomorrow will start with overnight joghurt oats for me.
How are your plans?

Well I have a menu plan for the week, some things I'll have to just modify my portion a little (eg leave out the rice etc) but other then that, all good! I had a shopping delivery today and have made a point of ordering lots of things I enjoy that are healthy, so lots of berries and cherries and things like that to snack on. Now it's school holidays I have a bit less work on so am planning to do 3 exercise classes in the week that my friend organises. I shall continue to run once a week too, maybe twice.

So, tomorrow starts for me with egg and avocado on toast, then after a few jobs I have a stretch and tone class. Red ratatouille risotto (modified for me!) for main meal and a beetroot, onion and sweet potato salad.

Stress is terrible on diet I find so I totally understand why you may have been struggling recently, I have too. Still, it sounds like we are both in a better place to get on top of the good eating again now so let's see if we can create our habits so they are actual habit before life gets crazy again. Good luck, we've got this!

Its so nice to hear from you, a real pleasure pop for me and i promise to be more active in the coming weeks.

Sounds great, especially the snacking plans because if i remember rightly, you struggled with that, didnt you?
A big obstacle for me is that i mostly felt hungry during transform which ended in bingeing. i still dont know how to tackle that..

We've got this

How was your first day again?I hope you had a nice one.

Mine went much better than expected, did over 10k steps, exercise and eating went not only well, but delicious.
Tomorrow i will breakfast with a friend which will be a tease...we will see.

Has gone pretty well here too, steps slightly low, but I did an exercise class, I've enjoyed my food and am now having a final snack. I know I always get hungry and want something in the evening so I had my breakfast quite late meaning that I didn't really need a morning snack so that I could have it in the evening instead! Good luck for your breakfast with your friend tomorrow, I reckon the trick is to think of it in terms of looking at what you can have that's delicious rather than what you can't 🙂

I'm glad to hear your day was nice, too.
My breakfast was also nice, i had porridge and we shared 3 little pancakes with fruit which was totally okay for me. Feeling very satisfied and i didnt even had lunch until now.
Steps are good today, too because we were shopping ;) This week will be very rainy so I dont know if i can get them all.

A friend of mine and me signed up for badminton once a week which i like. Getting more active again :)

Well, I'm struggling a bit today, eating etc has gone fine but I am so tired today. I often struggle if I've had a really motivated, get lots done type of day, the next day I just feel so ridiculously fatigued. I actually am supposed to be talking to the Dr next week so hopefully will get some thoughts on it as its driving me crazy, supposed to have an exercise class this evening but think I'll have to have a coffee first!

I'm sorry for that and i really hope it's not some kind of medical condition. Do you rest enough and allow yourself to relax and do nothing from time to time? I tend not to do so and but when i remind myself it feels so good.

I got my steps in and we had the butter bean brokkoli soup in the evening :)
My skin is already getting more clear i noticed today :)

I'm sending you lots of energy

Well, I did slightly better yesterday, I did manage to do the exercise class on the Tuesday evening in the end which was good too. Slightly stepped out of the circle yesterday evening with a chocolate and gin related snaxcident 😬 but trying not to slip into bad thinking and getting right back on it today. Just so tired still, this is partly why Lean for Life appealed to me in the first place as LP says that you can expect to feel more energy etc. You are right, I do need to remember to take time to rest, it's not always practical sadly. I've always slumped mid afternoon, even as a child, I'd always dread afternoon lectures as I'd doze off, I used to have to record them just in case! If it weren't for the heat factor Id probably fit in well in a country that traditionally has a siesta.

So, onwards and upwards. I made a lovely sweet potato, beetroot, onion and avocado salad the other day from a vegan cookbook I randomly bought and I have another portion of that ready to go in the fridge, fresh fruit and veg is being delivered today which is always good. Stuffed peppers this evening. Technically there is rice in them but I'm doing it with brown rice rather than basmati and choosing not to worry too much if it's tricky to find a way to eliminate the rice from mine. Actually, here's a question, why do we not have rice at all in transform phase, even brown rice, but whole grain bread is ok?
Hope you have another good day 🙂

I had a step outside the circle as well, a friend of mine had birthday and i brought cake and ate a piece as well. We did 1,5 hours of badminton, too, which was really nice und challenging. so its totally okay for me :) i will try to make it really work long time this time.

Regarding your question about the rice: i dont know :D first of all i have the feeling that she suggests carbohydrates for morning meals and snacks.
There is on recipe with quinoa and chicken altough in one of her books. on another page she says that quinoa is pracitcally same as brown rice, so i guess you can swap it.
I guess its harder to get filled by this little portions of rice and thats why she doesnt have too many recipes around it.
I personally try too cut back carbs from bread, potatoes and so on but i dont leave them out like in my last transform which led to bingeing only.

1400 kcal + 10k steps + daily sport is really hard to maintain, no matter what she says... i'm going for a walk now. this evening we will eat meatballs with chesse and tomatesauce out of the oven with brokkoli and rice for my boyfriend :)

I hope you can take some you-time this weekend, i get the feeling you really need it

so there may have been a few brownie-steps outside the circle...but the rest of the day went well.
Today i will exercise and walk more steps in :) Wishing you a nice weekend!

Brownie steps outside the circle 😂 love it! Well yesterday I didn't so much step outside the circle as smash though it on an express train to self destruction, it was a disaster day! I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, HOWEVER, my steps have been good, my house is now tidy which always helps me feel a bit calmer, and this weekend I'm rearranging part of one of my rooms to create myself a sort of arts and crafts corner. I have concluded that this will help as I can just go to it when I need down time/me time. At the moment I just think about doing the things I love but it's too much hassle to get everything out and put it all away again so I end up just eating something instead 🤦‍♀️ Hoping this will make a difference. We have friends coming round later which will be nice, can switch my brain off for a while. Hope you have a lovely week end too 🙂

That sounds like a lovely plan to me, it's sort of hard to get time and place for the things we love...i know that. Sometimes i even struggle to remember what i like, especially after exams :D
I'm more and more finding what feels good for me at the moment.

Eating as something to do is a point for me, too.

What i wanted to share with you: I used to cook meals from her books all the time, but i discovered that it's much more simple to assemble a bowl. I cut up some veggies, maybe fry an egg or tofu, some herbs and lentils or chickpeas or something like that, top it with hummus and ready is a nice lunch. It's great for leftovers, too. Maybe that helps you, too, because you dont need to plan a lot ahead.

Welcome to week 2 of the LPM transform!

My weight didnt change at all which wonders me - yes, there have been a few steps outside, but there have also been 61k steps all week, 3 times of exercise and meals on the method.
But my pms symptoms and stomach pain (stress induced over the last weeks) really improved, so that's a change for good. I also look more defined i think.

I'm looking forward to hear from you :)

By the way: I want to look super on the wedding of my mum in the middle of september which is about 6 weeks from now...

Hello, week 2 here we go, I can't do worse than week one 🤣 That's nice you have your Mum's wedding, gives a really good goal, plus a nice event to step outside the circle with at the end of transform! I think my goal I'm visualising will be treating myself to some nice new work cloths ready for my new work I'm taking on in September. I've not weighed myself yet, decided to do it fortnightly only.

I started today with a stretch and tone class which was good, I've done my sort of my space to do painting and craft in etc so hopefully will default to that rather than the fridge when the going gets tough. Spoke to Dr and my blood results show I'm deficient in vit B12 and vit D so I shall start taking a supplement for those and hopefully that will really help the tiredness.onwards and upwards 💪

• work clothes not work cloths, that would be really boring!

"deficient in vit B12 and vit D" - thats what I thought too, glad you noticed it because it can really harm the body in the longterm. Vit D and movement are connected btw.
I supplement both from time to time because most europeans lack especially vitamin d and since i do it, i'm no longer sick in winter.

work clothes not work cloths - :D i had to look up the difference, but now i'm getting your point. Sounds good, new clothes feel so nice.

I am sorting my place again, too. I do a little something every time and tackle different areas each day. Nice that you now have a place for your hobby! Me-time is so important.
I have the whole week off and no apointments, i dont know when i had so much time in the last years and its great!

..........and yesterday night while binge watching series on netflix, i had a pancake-step out the circle... ups.

How are you doing?

I finished cleaning my apartment incl. the whole kitchen this morning. It feels so nice, I rearranged some things, stacked up on things like nuts etc.
Yesterday I was at Ikea and bought some salmon and cod balls which I had for lunch today with some cauliflower puree - great combi.

Have you ever made the salmon or chicken patties from her books? I always wanted to but i struggle with touching raw meat...it would be much easier if someone else makes them for me :D

Sports are doing well. I do Jilian Michaels Body Revolution which includes 4 HIIT with leight weights and 1 cardio trainign per week. Every 2 weeks the workouts change and get a bit more difficult. I really like her training and the nice thing is you train different body parts per day so you're never totally exhausted.

I'm going for a few steps now and wish you a nice day!

I developed a nice recipe for the oatcakes in her books because I can't buy them here in Germany.
I guess that's also nice because know I can bake them flavoured as I want them.

I will write it down for you, if you want to :)

Ooh, an oatcake recipe does sound good, yes please! Seem to buy so many now and there is so much packaging which I hate from an environmental point of view. I do not think I've tried her patties yet, can't honestly remember, but I've made similar stuff from other books, handling raw meat doesn't bother me but I think I may have a veggie recipe somewhere too if you want it.

Well I'm struggling on, still the fatigue is my main sticking block, now started taking my supplements so hopefully in a few weeks time that should make a difference and the knock on effect of improving my motivation etc will be much appreciated.
I did my exercise class on Tue evening and I'd managed a sneaky midday doze so I actually had the energy to throw myself into it properly which was good. Did less movement yesterday but have a recorded class planned for tonight.
Food wise I'm a bit hit and miss, during day I'm doing great, not extra snacking etc and everything on method. I have lots of lovely seasonal berries and cherries in the fridge at the moment which is perfect for snacks that are healthy and I really enjoy. Then the evening hits and in that hour before bed it's like I lose all will power and sense of reason. Often I'll have had something to eat without even realising it. I'm just so tired by then I'm not concentrating I think, yet because there's still some chores to be done I end up eating (too much) to give myself energy which doesn't usually work anyway. Sigh, onwards and upwards!