What happened to all the Zoe Harcombe followers?

[youpirate]

Where did they all go? I became a non-fatty , now thanks to christmas feel rubbish! So........ have started Zoe Harcombe again today. Anyone else doing it?

Hi

It is easy to follow have just been reading up on it?

How much did you lose over what period?

Thanks

What is this zoe harcombe thing, is it a bit like atkins?

Hi
I fell off the Harcombe wagon very badly over the past 3 weeks and am very ready to get back on it. I have about 2 stone to lose - it was one and a half before I lost control

I am up for a motivational support thread - we can do it!

mrswill - not really like atkins, healthier and more balanced - but a little like atkins in that it is very helpful for people who are putting or keeping weight on because of carb addictions. The good news is that you can lose weight without being hungry. The bad news is that you really need to get the book to understand it properly (I think). But in a nutshell: most of the weight is lost on phase 2, in which you don't eat any refined foods and don't mix carbs and animal fats in the same meal.

Join ussssssssss...

I am very sorry to report that after a promising start , and losing about 12 pounds in about 6 weeks I rebounded more spectacularly than with any other diet .

Sadly for me it was just too restrictive.
I think the book is very disingenuous in making out it is easy to follow and not restrictive. It's incredibly restrictive and the one thing I was really hoping for was getting over my cravings.
I did get over my cravings for a few weeks until suddenly without warning they came back ten times stronger than ever.

I regained all the weight in about three weeks and then some

original thread

Hi all, I am starting tomorrow.

Have got the book, had a good look through, and it's more or less what i eat now, just in the wrong combinations. I can already think of some lovely recipes for phase 2.

Yep, Im up for a motivational thread. Il be telling you all just how shit im feeling over the next few days!

Hambler, sorry to hear that. I hope I dont find it the same way, im willing to try it and find out.

When you starting vezzie?

best of luck mrswill. Others on the original thread seemed better able than me to persevere!

Well, Im of the mindset, Il give it a go and see how I find it, if it all goes tits up, il go back to slimming world

Hi Hambler

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you - I have put weight on since I "fell off" but I am hoping to get back on it and carry on with the weight loss.

Yes it is restrictive in the sense that there are some very normal things you can't have - ham sandwich, meat curry and rice, etc. But you can have vegetable curry and rice, etc - I am trying to think positive about this because I need to lose the weight and it was working for me before! I need a diet where I won't be hungry because I am breastfeeding and also going back to work in a couple of weeks so I need to have energy.

My biggest pitfalls: booze (which leads to all kinds of badness); and "needing" to eat in the post lunch dip, eating when tired, getting into a carb spiral.

Mrs will - I am starting today, have had breakfast of yoghurt and berries and rooibos tea. (Phase 1 doesn't allow berries but I defrosted them last night so ate them anyway - will be phase 1 till breakfast on the 6th day to make up for it... sure that doesn't really work but I am not going to use this as an excuse to put it off longer)

My weight this morning: 11st 8lb (OUCH)
(but this is still lower then when I started the first time in November)

Is everyone else going to weigh in so I don't feel so alone and exposed?
What are everyone else's pitfalls?

Good luck!

ooh tell me details... How long did you manage to stay on it for vezzie and how much did you lose? Did you do phase 1 and 2? Did you find it ok? Any nice recipes? etc etc.

Like I said its more or less what I eat now, just the different combinations. Cant believe you can eat tomato and mozzarella salad on phase 2 which is mainly what i live on in the summer. I usually eat healthy but my fall down is -

I eat LOADS of chocolate, bread with butter and olive oil all over it with every meal, icecream, cake, you get the picture! A cup of tea with a big lump of cake is my saviour when DD has her sleep on lunchtime, to wind me down.

Not too bothered about drink anymore apart from in sauces, I only really have it when I go out now and again, but usually get completely slaughtered, and get up to allsorts, so am put off until the next time

I had scrambled eggs made with butter this morning and turkey stirfry, i cant believe you can cook with oil!

Weighed last monday and was 10stone 8lb, but on a short small frame it does not look good. I saw a picture of myself during a drunken wii session and that was it, I looked like a christmas pudding with make up on. Phase 1 will be over by wednesday, so Il weigh next Thursday and will post my hopeful weightloss then!

I havent felt rough yet like the book says I may feel. Did you feel ill during phase 1 hambler and vezzie?

Hi Mrswill!

I lost almost a stone and then put about 7 lb back on in the last month.
Phase 1 the first time was very hard for me as I was completely addicted to caffeine and carbs and had been using stuffing my face to cope with being on maternity leave with my first baby and not getting much sleep (and not really adjusting well emotionally to what looking after a little baby is like). I was headachey and exhausted on days 2 and 3, 4 was just knackered and wobbly, from 5 onwards felt fantastic.

I hope this time might be easier as I have only been in my bad old ways a month.

Feel stupid now for putting that weight back on but that isn't going to help... onwards and upwards I suppose.

Mrswill, how much weight do you need to lose?

I have ordered the recipe book so that this time I have more variety with meals - and when I am back at work can ask DP to cook some nights instead of being all, "well you can make such and such if you leave the potatoes out... or thingy without the eggs... oh I'll do it myself". When it comes I will let you know what it is like.

I agree, olive oil in this diet is a saviour. Low fat diets destroy me, I cannot make it through the afternoons, my knees wobble and my head thumps.

Is it just us 2? Surely there must be more... Come on everyone de-lurk!

Hi ladies, I just posted on another thread and then saw this. I'm going to give Zoe a go starting on Monday (like others, I've got some christmas choccy that just has to be finished ...).

I read the original thread and ordered both books before xmas so on the face of it I'm all set. All I have to do now is actually get on with it .....

Good luck to you all.

Quick question vezzie - so i definately can cook with butter or oil? just done a curry with a little knob of butter and splash of olive oil in. Its going to get eaten anyway but the book isnt clear.

Hi shandyleer, welcome - sounds like you are well organised!

Hi Mrswill, are you in phase 1? I think you can cook with oil and butter - that is how I understood it. In phase 2, you can only use butter if that meal doesn't include carbs.

I have just put a chicken in the oven - can this really be a diet? Really looking forward to it...

Vezzie - I'm very good at sounding organised, actually being organised is another story ... Hope you enjoy your chicken.

mrswill - if you're on phase one the book says you can use olive oil and butter.

Welcome shandy, and enjoy your chocolate !

Well ive just made the most lovely curry. I cant believe it was supposed to be diet curry, it wasnt like the one slimming world advised me to make, which tasted like curry flavoured water. You may not like curries but try this if you do!
Makes one portion-
Half onion
2 cloves of garlic
tablespoon of fresh ginger
Fry them up with bit of butter.
Add
2 tsp turmeric
1tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 cardamom pod
Tiny little bit of cinnaman(sp)
Wait til onions softened
Add third of a bag of carrot batons chopped up fine
Add some water or chicken stock - about 4oz should do.
Wait til carrots get soft, then puree it so it still has bits in. Add meat of choice, cook until done or use left over meat.
Add 3 tablespoons of live yogurt and chilli powser to however spicy you like it. Done!

I cant believe this is a diet, and not entirely convinced i will lose weight eating this sort of stuff, but everyone says you will.

I have 26 lb to lose vezzie to get down to 8st 10lb, although il be happy with 9st. How much are the pair of you looking to lose?

Ive already bought a a size 10 silk playsuit number (looks better than it sounds) for my 31st in August, so its either waste a fair bit of dosh or take the bull by the horns.

What was your favourite meal when you was on it last time vezzie?

That sounds lovely mrswill, will give that a go at some point next week, thanks for posting. I'm too scared to get on the scales till Monday but I think I must be at least 11 stone, if not a bit more. I'd like to get to 9 and a half stone, and see how that looks. When you get to my advanced years its a tricky balancing act between having a telly tubby tummy or an Albert Steptoe haggard type face.

Are you having a big do for your 31st? Playsuit sounds lovely, what colour is it?

Forgot to say, I'm just about to have a takeaway, and have just hoovered up a left over Terry's chocolate orange. I am bad.

Oh I bet it was lovely, polished off quite a few of them Terry's chocolate oranges off over christmas.

I get the haggard face thing too, when I had hyperemesis pregnant I was the thinnest id ever been, but my face looked like Id had a tough paper round in my earlier days.

I gave some of that curry to my 17 month old too, but without the chilli powder, and she seemed to like it. Good thing with this diet, is you can cook with fat, so can serve up the same sort of thing to the kids but with potatoes etc. Playsuit is floral, if i ever get into it, Il post a pic up! No big do, just a night out to get drunk and dance.

Ive just ordered the recipe book too, so hope its good.

Are you going to do exercise too, I may get the wii fit game to go with my wii, but its hard finding the time with a clingy toddler!

mrswill - thanks for the curry recipe, will try that one this week maybe wish fish (DP doesn't eat meat).
I have about 2 stone to lose.

Exercise - I will have a fast half hour walk twice a day when I am back at work, also will try to do some yoga classes although that is not really for weight loss. Other than that I don't think it is a priority really, not at the moment, I'll see how I go being back at work etc.

So far, so good - one day of phase 1 down, 4 to go.

Enjoy your chocolate this weekend, shandyleer

Hello everyone

I have just started phase 1, 2 days ago, can I join in.

I am veggie and bf and feeling a bit headachy.

vezzie, I weighed this morning and m also 11 stone 8
which is far too heavy for my 5'4" frame.

When I started Harcombe about 3 months ago I was 10.13. Have looked out my old notes and I lost 9 pounds before going spectacularly off the rails and gaining it all back and more.

Mrswill and monkeyfeet I felt really ill for about the first three weeks , and not great threreafter.

I wish you all the best of success. I will start a new thread for chronic yo yo dieters sometime soon

Hi monkeyfeet -sounds like we are in sync, I am on day 2 of phase 1 today. Feeling very emotional and feeble, I remember this from before now - I have few physical symptoms so I think it is more noticeable this time tbat I am feeling overwhelmed emotionally. It is as if I have to feel everything that I put away in the first place with eating and drinking. Horrible.

hi hambler. sorry this didn't work for you. I thought harcombe sells itself as the magic bullet for repeated dieters, this must be very dispappointing. Are you going to give it another go or move on?

Welcome monkeyfeet.

How do you manage with being veggie and doing it, are you just sticking to tofu and eggs with everything.

Thanks hambler, I hope you find one that suits you. Ive gone off the rails on every diet ive been on . Hence why im here.

Hope you feel better soon vezzie . On day 2 of phase 1 also. I dont feel that bad actually, and as long as i eat meat with every main meal im not feeling hungry, my frozen leftover turkey is getting used up fast! Couldnt face eggs this morning so had porridge with water [hmmm, not}, which she says you can do if you dont want yogurt or eggs. The only thing im missing is tea, my mouth was watering for one earlier, and something sweet. Roll on Thursday, and Berries with cream.

Hey everyone, just checking in prior to starting tomorrow. Am feeling strangely excited!

Vezzie - hope you're feeling a bit brighter this evening? I always find this time of year really depressing so maybe that's playing a part in your feeling so emotional?

Hello monkeyfeet, how old is your baby?

mrswill - you sound as if you're doing really well, I think tea will be hard for me too.

As far as exercise goes, I walk for the school run (but its bnot that far) and I'm going to try and just walk more generally. I'll slowly work my way up to doing some more - we have a treadmill so no excuses really. And I want tio start yoga.

Good luck for tomorrow everyone.