Louise Parker method anyone? I know it's a bit old fashioned now ..

[HardRockOwl]

But I've decided to give it a go

The food is the sort of stuff I like to eat although I'll have to make some substitutes as I'm a vegetarian. But I love Bircher, porridge, all her snacks and salads etc

I'm starting tomorrow and wondered if anyone had some advice regarding the method or stories

Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome! You all sound as if you're living amazingly fresh, successful and positive lifestyles! I need to get the main book so I can do the initial week of prep and properly get into the mindset. Will get it on kindle today.

I'm exclusively breastfeeding and plan to continue for a good while yet so I think that'll offset a small amount of pasta, as it's all homemade and unprocessed, and I won't be eating any bread. And slim Italian women exist so it must be possible... as long as it's with a salad, at the table with napkins, delicately and with ceremony!

@HardRockOwl I haven’t seen it in any of the recipes but it’s not very different from a smoothie, surely? Assuming you buy a GOOD one. I just checked the ingredients of mine and it has milk, cultures, mango puree and apple juice in it - I guess I need to watch the tropical fruits and shouldn’t really have large quantities of fruit juice (but some of the recipes have juice in so 🤷‍♀️)

@GoodNutButters yes yes that's me! I'm extremely fresh, successful and live an enviable lifestyle

Yes. I'm Kate Middleton, the royal client Louise hints to but doesn't confirm she's working with 😜

Good morning everyone. I do love this thread, so supportive and inspiring. You are all the tribe that LP talks about and to whom I must be accountable!
I got back on track yesterday. I realised that although I wasn’t eating too much forbidden food, my veg intake had dropped, so it is back to the recipes I go. I think that I still have some work to do on learning what a delicate portion is.
Anyway, today:
B Bircher with fruit, almonds
L Left over salmon and roast veg from last night
D Garlic chicken casserole
S oat cakes and nut butter, apple and mozzarella slices

Welcome to the newbies, it’s nice to see the thread so busy!

@GoodNutButters In my head I’m Kate Middleton but in reality far from it! I have an Italian DH too so feel your pain! I would just eat a small portion of pasta with a salad on the side. Go easy on yourself with a small baby!

@MrsBartlet With batter I often measure out the wet and dry ingredients separately and whisk them together in the morning.

@Moanranger there is a lot of research to the effect that such chronic pain is caused by inflammation which is made worse by sugar and processed food. With this diet you’re cutting all of that out and probably eating foods which are anti-inflammatory. If you’re interested there are quite a few doctors who post on social media about this kind of thing - Dr Chatterjee, Mark Hyman, Doctor’s Kitchen.

Thanks @chloechloe - that's a good tip!

Thanks @chloechloe for the Italian solidarity! If I'm being honest my actual problem is with too-big portions, supplemented by cakes and bars of chocolate, that saw me through pregnancy.

But I love the look of these recipes so feeling very can-do. Going to do some postnatal exercises today and walk 10k steps to the shops to get some new nut butters and justify my username!

Thanks chloechloe for the comment. Yes, I think probably an inflammatory response but not sure what was causing it as my diet generally is low in processed food & sugars.
Found the LP 6 week plan book on eBay for £6.
Food today - high protein apple cinnamon muffin (giant supply in freezer)
Lunch cannellini beans &spring greens
snacks, nuts, smoothie
dinner will be trying LP’s Salvation Stew
DP went for fasting blood test today, hoping result shows he does NOT have diabetes!

I hope the test results come back ok @Moanranger - I think the important thing is catching it early enough as a lot can be managed with diet. The muffins sound nice - is it a recipe from one of the books?

I really need to carve out the time to meal prep as it makes life so much easier if I have something ready prepared. I have masses of lovely veg that I bought on Monday which needs turning into meals!

I won’t have time to exercise today as I have to run the kids to various clubs/ appointments this afternoon. I could put on my sports gear and do some exercise whilst DD2 is at tennis but I’m too embarrassed!

Don't be embarrassed @chloechloe! I once read that 99.9% of peoples thoughts are about themselves so they won't be judging you! Another helpful cliche is - those who matter don't care what you look like, and those who care don't matter. 💪

How's everyone's exercise pillar going? I'm doing the 10k steps most days and a 10 min yoga session most mornings but I haven't even looked at the exercises in the book not sure I can face them tbh

On a happier note my brand new but cheap smoothie maker made a beautiful smoothie - and it stayed lovely from 9pm last night when I made it to 4pm in the office today! Result!

I have my evening out tonight which was postponed last week. There will be cocktails and food... I'll try to make good choices but I will also enjoy myself!

Food today has been minimal to try to mitigate greed tonight.

B Greek yoghurt and few strawberries
L melon and feta salad

I do feel better though. Def more energetic and in the zone - I could sustain this quite happily for a while. It helps that it's the good weather time of year! Not doing great with exercise - I do a lot of yoga but not managed much lately. Have been walking quite a lot and also played badminton with Dh on Sunday. He's much better than me so I run around a great deal in that hour! This thread helps too - v motivational.

@chloechloe when we were playing badminton the other day there was one other court set up. As I start (lamely) playing a young girl and her dad arrive and they were brilliant - she was county standard at least. Shaming. But I kept going! You should too - everyone is crap when they start/start back.

Food times for today ..

Chocolate + raspberry bircher

Apple slices + peanut butter

Seeded roll with avocado, hummus + salad

2 x babybels with chopped strawberries and banana

Quinoa with salad leaves, balsamic glaze, plant kitchen bbq pieces, pomegranate seeds + peppers

@keiratwiceknightly enjoy yourself tonight and just endeavour to step back into the circle tomorrow morning

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy I'm being a bit lax with exercise. I'm doing my 10,000 steps (sometimes quite fast, but not running) and that's it.

Last time I lost weight (this is my second time around) I used diet changes to get the first 10kg off, and then diet + exercise for the second 10kg and kept it off for several years before lockdown. I'm aiming for the same here.

Food for the day:

B: Brown pitta with feta, low fat Greek yogurt, black olives, avocado, and chopped tomato.

L: fish burger and green salad.

S: granola (not on plan, but low sugar, home made and needed eating) and Greek yogurt.

D: chicken casserole.

I have no idea how many calories I'm consuming, which is slightly weird as I usually keep half an eye on calories and certainly do when I'm trying to lose weight.

Hello everyone, I’ve been reading through this thread throughout the day while eating custard creams 🫢 and I’m very impressed with everyone’s progress. I’ve ordered the books but they aren’t arriving until the 3/4th May and after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror of M and S while standing nexr to the summer clothes I think I need to start before then. Does anyone have any advice for starting or link to a quick description to get me through the first few day?

@GoodNutButters Back to pasta, I think the way Italians eat it is much healthier. Whenever at DH’s parents or GPs, they would have their main meal at lunch with a small portion of pasta or risotto as a “primo”, followed by lots of salad, vegetables and a piece of fish or meat. Whereas everywhere else in the world people eat a huge plate of pasta and nothing else.

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy For the exercise I’m going the workout 1 from the 6 week plan. I really like it as I just stick some music on and can do it while keeping an eye on the kids. I’m not a fan of the workouts in the LfL book as you have to pick four exercises each time, which requires too much effort to decide which to do and then follow the instructions. I recall from last time that the progression to workout 2 was hard so I’m not looking forward to that. Something else I’ve done in the past with great results is Jillian Michael 30 Day Shred.

So I got on the scales today and looked at my maternity notes and I weigh about the same as I did when 9 months pregnant with all 3 kids! Admittedly I had a super small bump with each of them, but I just don’t get how it’s come to this! I think COVID and WFH has a role to play (hopefully) as when I was commuting I was walking to and from the station most days. I’m now starting to think that all that walking kept the weight off. I manage to do 10,000 steps just running about on a normal day, but it was probably double that before.

For a snack today I had a piece of whole grain spelt bread with crunchy PB and banana slices. OMG, this has been missing in my life! I saw afterwards that monkey toast actually has yoghurt on it as well which might take it up to a whole new level!

I was quite pleased with dinner tonight - on Sunday I made a shakshuka and had the bright idea to double the sauce recipe and stick it in the fridge. Genius. So today I just warmed it up in the pan, cracked the eggs on top and stuck it in the oven. I’m definitely going to be doing this in the future and just freezing it in portions for a quick lunch.

Enough smugness though as I have nothing prepared for tomorrow so will actually have to cook!

Hello @Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas and welcome!

In short: no sugar, processed foods, potatoes, rice, pasta or white bread.

Eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks and make sure each has protein and veg/fruit with it. So fish / meat / cheese with veg. For snacks Greek yoghurt (higher in protein), nuts etc with fruit.

You’ve reminded me that I wanted to do an M&S online shop as they seem to have so many nice summer dresses!

Hope that helps!

Thanks @chloechloe @Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas I am waiting for the books too.

No idea if I am doing it right but today I had

porridge with nuts
wholemeal toast with avocado
beetroot mixed salad with salmon and broccoli

And I had my morning latte because there is no conceivable way I can live without it.

I confess I had one Lindt chocolate (OK OK it was two) due to sugar cravings.

I’ll probably have yoghurt with strawberries this evening because I tend to get hungry at about 9:30

I’ve done my 10k steps, but no other exercise. Might squeeze in 10 minutes of weights.

20kg to lose 😯

The tofu peanut thing was a bit bland, probably because I used plain tofu rather than smoked, so I drizzled a bit of sriracha on top and then realised it has sugar in it. I’m presuming a tiny drizzle of sauce with a tiny bit of sugar in won’t hurt.

I felt like I could taste the sweetness, but given I was hoovering up creme eggs three days ago, I’m sure that’s psychological rather than a genuine change in my taste buds.

@Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas (that user name is dark! Step away from the custard creams and jooooooin us. I’m sure you’ll handle the food and be baffled by the talk of circles and GOOD vanilla paste.

Evening all,

All your meals sound lovely. I've been gearing myself up for what is probably my
biggest challenge- giving up Diet Coke. I usually drink litres of it a day, which I'm sure hasn't helped my weight. I've switched to buying cans, and today have only had two - aiming to keep at two for the rest of the week, drop to one the following and then give up completely. Have drunk nearly 3 litres of water to try and combat the crashing headache that has resulted though.

Food for me today was:
Breakfast - strawberry and mango bircher
Lunch - 10-min Thai beef salad. Was delicious but buggered up the quantities (had to divide everything by 4 to get one portion and forgot to do that for the chilli), and nearly blew the top of my head off. Still lovely but way too spicy!
Dinner - chicken mustard burgers and red cabbage slaw - yum

I must confess that I still drink 3 small cappuccinos a day @PrincessRamone Life without proper coffee is not worth living. I can give up carbs, sugar, alcohol but not coffee!

We still have masses of Lindt chocolate from Easter - 4 bunnies plus 2 eggs (with more bunnies inside them). I have banished them all to the basement, I hope that stops them getting eaten!

Thanks @chloechloe. I have more to loss @PrincessRamone. @Hobbes8 I’ve made my breakfast and written a shopping list for the first couple of days and I’ve even pack my swim bag for the morning.. I have to figure out how the food is going work around the rest of the family.

@chloechloe Yes! And this is exactly what I'm hoping for - eating in a more consciously Italian way, rather than my bad habit of just having a massive bowl of pasta in front of the TV. I think the traditional Italian approach is actually quite in keeping with Louise Parker's edicts. That's how I'm going to sell it to DH, anyway!

I got three new nut butters at the health food shop today on my walk. There's so much Meridian branding in my cupboards that I might accidentally reset Greenwich mean time.

Welcome @Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas .. basically the plan is ...

3 meals a day

2 snacks a day

Delicate portions (whatever they means! Probably not overspilling and heaving plates of food - sadly)

No sugar at all really. So the odd half a banana is fine and on plan plus an array of fruit - you don't see much in the way of tropical fruits really though. No honey. No dried fruits.

No bread, pasta, white rice, baked beans - although the odd GOOD slide of spelt or wholemeal is fine as is a wholemeal wrap or roll

Louise is fond of using the best ingredients you can find and afford. However you can do this plan relatively cheaply as the food really is pretty much every day food

Lots of Birchers, porridges, smoothies, veggies, chicken, fish , beef, salads, cheese , tofu, fruit etc features. Meals easy to assemble ... quinoa with veg and halloumi, a roast chicken with veg, roasted veg with feta, salmon with green veg, all sorts really

I'm vegetarian so I basically just stick to the principles and seem to be getting on ok