Zoe 2024 - a clean slate

[thinkofablinkingnamewoman]

Hi all - new year, new thread 😁 Will try to link to this from the previous one but not sure if I can do it from the app.

In keeping with good beginnings I am off to have berries, nuts and yoghurt. Could murder a load of toast though!

This week, I have eaten loads less than normal. I’ve ticked a lot of Zoe boxes, averaged 34 plants, 65g protein, eating window is 10 hours (which is a big change for me). I’ve kept an eye on my calories, they’ve been between 800 and 1400. This is a big reduction for me, the previous week, my range was 1200-1800. I have done 3 intense exercise classes and a long walk.

I’ve lost one pound. I thought I would have lost more! One pound is nothing.

I hate the way I look. My stomach is massive. I am disgusted when I look at myself. I need to lose this weight. I am tempted to do slim fast or something like that for a few weeks to lose some weight, then come back to Zoe.

Well done @Greenthread . A pound isn't nothing, look at a pound of butter.

I think I'm losing a bit of weight slower than that, but the point is that it feels to me like a change in eating which feels healthy and which will be sustainable.

I went out for dinner with friends last night. I had a starter (calamari and seaweed) and a main (buttermilk chicken and chips). Are about ten chips, most of the chicken, and all the accompanying coleslaw which I would have liked to be twice the size. Friends had pudding, I didn't. It surprised me, I just couldn't ram it all in and had no desire for pudding at all. First time I am wondering if Zoe might be making a long term difference to the way I eat after all.

@Greenstar it is difficult reading all these threads where people are losing a fair bit each week but as Errol says look at a pound of butter. Now imagine you lose a pound a week for a year, that’s 52lb. Not only have you lost a pound a week but you have done so whilst eating in a way that will help your health.

My results are in which was a good surprise and great as I wasn’t lingering in limbo. 37 blood sugar control , 74 blood fat control and 83 microbiome. Very pleasantly surprised. I have loads of weight to lose and an autoimmune illness so hoping to lose weight and reduce inflammation. I have changed my way of eating since November and did see a reduction in inflammatory markers and hoping that will continue. Will be still logging it all in Nutracheck as works well for me.

The other thing when considering how much weight you're losing is whether with what you were previously eating as 'normal' was keeping your weight stable or if it was liable to creep up. Any of us who are at all overweight didn't have the right 'normal' for us before I suppose!

Also weight loss is not linear. Going back a bit I lost loads of weight. Week 1 I lost a pound but 51 weeks after that the total was 87lbs.

What happens after you have lost the weight is important and hopefully Zoe will give us the means not to regain. I had medication that caused me to regain most of it but hopefully won’t need that again and once I have lost it all (and I will) then it will stay off.

Also weight loss is not linear.

I had a temporary weight gain when I'd upped my fibre but hadn't quite increased fluids enough.

I have just heard something really helpful on the latest episode, about trying five different alternatives to something you’d like to change. This is instead of quitting it. And if none of the alternatives work, go back to it. Also, the alternatives don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be better.

Looking at this week my nemesis has been packets of biscuits, so I’m going to try five alternatives this week, starting with apple sliced and eaten with whole nut butter.

I didn't log last week, I figure I more or less know what to eat. Yesterday I ran out of my "life changing bread" and ate normal wholemeal bread (made at home in a bread machine with seeds etc) and then had a dinner that I know didn't score too highly. Today I woke up really hungry.

So that's an incentive to get back to the good Zoe habits!

I wasn't looking to lose weight but I did weigh myself the other day and I'd lost a kilo. My BMI is 21.7.

Just tried to get a blood sample with the Tasso device, but only got a drop of blood collected. Anybody else been told their sample was insufficient?
( Zoe chat was no help)

I lanced myself twice. One finger gave nothing. The second finger was a flood. I bled all over the card!

from memory there are three lances? Can you prick another finger?

You need to warm them in a bowl of warm water, even run hands under a hot tap for a few mins.

Drink plenty of water an hour beforehand.

Then I stood on a kitchen chair and dangled my arm downwards. Anything to try and force the blood out without squeezing my finger. I think I did squeeze a bit in the end.

anyway, i had too much blood. Thought I'd void the test there was so much.

Hope you can get a bit more out. Good luck.

DH used the Tasso on me, it took 3 presses of the button and waiting 5 mins between each for anything to happen and a large heated wheat bag on arm for a while before.

Jaffacake - unfortunately I wasn't given a lancet for fingerprick collection. It's a Tasso device that you stick into your upper arm . Seems an odd way to collect blood to me, I'd have preferred to do it by fingerprick really.
I told Zoe I'd had trouble and they asked for a photo , which I sent. They said the sample looked OK and to send it in. I posted it and then got a message asking me to send another photo of the collection tube , upright on a table. But I'd already posted it, so too late. I'm sure it will be insufficient and wondered if they'll send another device to get a better blood sample .

Seaitoverthere - glad you had some success with the Tasso device eventually .
I tried three times but didn't get much sample.
Just rather disappointed in the Zoe helpline really. They take ages to answer and even then they don't seem to be very helpful.
Oh well , onwards and upwards 😊

I messed up my blood sample (didn't put it in the plastic bag) and so they estimated my fat response as poor. I'm pretty sure my fat response isn't poor, I'm slightly overweight and have high cholesterol so I think that's what they based it on but this is due to other reasons. I'll be keen to have a retest (if it isn't really expensive).

@79andnotout How long did it take to get your results back?

About two weeks, it coincided with the end of my glucose monitoring.

I’m having a shocking week in terms of Zoe. Today I’ve had a cream egg, half a big bar of chocolate, a bagel with cheese for lunch, a hot chocolate and god knows what else. I’ve stopped tracking! I’ve slightly offset everything with fruit and almonds.

I was going to have lentil dahl for my dinner but I’m really not hungry just now. I can’t decide if I’m better eating it to improve my score for the day or leaving it to reduce my calories for the day. Perhaps I should a couple of tablespoons with some houmous.

Thanks.

I had a bad day 3 in Zoe terms after having some sausages left over from yesterday for first meal of of the day at lunch along with a couple of baby bel then was a bit shocked to see it scored 0. My first 3 days were pretty decent. I hadn’t been expecting my results so quickly and wasn’t really prepared.

Ended Up deleting it all , putting it into Nutracheck instead and sausage lesson firmly learned. Shopping coming Friday so hopefully will be a bit more organised from then on.

I need to do a reset. I am considering doing a 24 hour fast to try to get myself back on track. I have loads of Zoe-friendly meals in that I’ve made myself but then I walk past a shop and find myself buying chocolate. I need to break those habits!

I've been buying those small dark chocolate KitKats. Enough to get a chocolate hit but don't score too badly for me and not very calorific. I see it's coming into mini egg season though and I could eat them by the bucket load so I need to work out how to deal with that.

I find I start really well and tail off in the evening. I am enjoying the different food I'm trying, but struggling if I go out. That's definitely work in progress.

Going out is a definite challenge. I travel a fair bit for work and struggle - catered meetings usually provide low scoring sandwiches and little or no fibre, and even my trusted fall back of Pret soups don’t seem to score very well.

@Vanquishedagain I've just been at a 2 day conference and thought I was doing really well but the Zoe app didn't agree! Fibre and bad fats are my real problem areas and the conference food apparently didn't help (even though it was all vegetarian!)

There are some Pret options though, the Roasted Chickpea salad bowl, Falafel & Avo wrap and Tuna Nicoise salad all score between 77 and 82 for me.

Good to know @Xiaoxiong !