Thread: BlueCow's moos

Up to 14 and a half stone, something needs to be done.

Basically I joined this website near the beginning of the year, following Slimming World, which worked reasonably well for me. However, a couple of things happened which made it impossible for me to follow the diet when I'd been doing it for just under a month and I never managed to get back into the swing of things when I could follow SW again. So, I've decided to start again doing a low carb diet, as I feel this will be better for me as there will be less temptation than with SW where you're allowed chocolate bars etc for syns. For this to really work I think I need to cut those things out completely.

I'm feeling a lot more confident starting this new diet as I feel I will be able to stick to it more easily. I've set myself some base rules for what I can and can't eat/drink.

1) NO biscuits, chocolate or sweets. I've never eaten these three things in excess and I know people say it is best not to stop yourself from having anything, but I really think cutting these three out of my diet completely will be beneficial to me.

2) Avoid starchy carbs.

3) Cut out a lot of dairy. I want the whole diet to be healthy, so I'm not going to be using any butter etc in cooking. I will still consume a small amount of semi skimmed milk in tea as I feel I shouldn't cut out dairy products completely

4) Snack on fruit or veg

5) Drink mostly water. I will allow myself the occasional can of Diet Coke/Pepsi Max (I'm addicted to the stuff) but I'm going to stop having a can a day as I'm convinced it's the cause of a lot of headaches I've been getting recently.c Also I wont drink any store brought ornage juice as it is full of sugar. If I want fruit juice I will squeeze some at home


So far today I have eaten

Nothing for breakfast - naughty but I didn't wake up until midday!

Lunch - Ham omelette with some salad leaves and cherry tomatoes

and for dinner I will be eating a large salad with leaves, tomatoes etc and some chargrilled chicken. I'm thinking of eating quite a large portion as although I'm not calorie counting I fear that I will have eaten an unhealthily low number of calories if I have a small dinner.

Anyone think there's something wrong with what I'm planning on eating? Most days will probably be relatively similar to this but I may well post what I'm eating anyway.

Oh and weigh in day will be Monday

hello

just want to wish you good luck. Your plan looks and sounds very sensible to me. I have stopped eating sweets, chocolate, crisps etc..and have gone for a healthy eating approach and a little exercise too.

Remember to always have some sort of breakfast, it kick starts your metabolism for the day ahead! I also have veg with my dinner almost every night.

Keep focused and keep posting, i look forward to chatting with you

Hi RainbowRoad

I keep on meaning to eat breakfast I just wake up too darn late!

I was good today but I really am starting to crave toast and haven't drank enough. With lots of butter Already I have noticed I am eating a lot more fruit and veg, I guess you have to when you're doing low carb as there's not that much else you can eat!

I look forward to chatting to you too, it is always nice to have someone to talk with when you feel like giving up!

Good luck with everything

I defo find eating breakfast an enormous help, plus it means I don't get so hungry late at night and undo all the good work

I woke late today too, so had my breakfast when I woke, it doesn't have to be 8 am to count

All the best

Hi Blossums
I know I should eat breakfast I keep meaning to but until I'm back in college (next week) I just wake up too late (1:30pm today). I'm not even sure why I'm waking up so late

Eaten an ham omelette with some salad so far today. M has told me I'd be okay having a piece of pizza and some salad for tea, not sure I feel very comfortable about this though! Plus I have chicken that needs cooking so will probably stick to chicken and salad.

Hiya

I can understand, maybe in time hey I don't know who M is (mum?) but I can understand you not being sure about pizza, though it is very yummy - it's amazing to me how many cals you can pack into such a small thing!

All the best, hope you have a great week

Hi BlueCow,
sounds like a very healthy plan, good luck with it hun, it took me a while to get into eating breki, im just not hungry in the mornings, keep posting

yeah, M is my Mum

Thanks MsPiggy So far so good - I'm no longer getting the headaches I was getting right after starting the diet. Have been good all week and looks like I'll have hopefully lost a few pounds come Monday.

Hi BlueCow,

I was very interested to read your post as I faced similar problems of what to eat. My diet was due to recently being diagnosed with diabetes (July) and so I had to face up to getting healthy, losing ( a lot ) of weight and start regular exercise.

I can tell you that your rules for eating and drinking are very much on the same lines as for diabetic dieting rules, especially cutting out sweets, biscuits, cakes etc, in fact any sugar that you know about is out. Sweetness for me now comes from fruit ( i still have to check the Glycemic Index of fruits ) and artificial sweetener mainly.

I think you should also look at adding fibre in the form of whole grains/oats, lentils/beans etc.. Be careful of some breakfast cereals claiming to be healthy fibre, read the labels and you will usually see that sugar and salt can still be quite high.

Minimize your simple carbs and try to eat more complex carbs which release the sugar much more slowly into your system ( this is crucial for diabetics to stop the blood sugar level from rising too much and too quickly ). I once read that sticking to BROWN foods ( brown rice, brown bread is better than WHITE foods, white rice & white bread ). And of course, portion control goes along with everything you eat.

I am now losing about 2lbs per week on average. Good luck with your efforts!

Lozzo.

Hi Lozzo, thanks for the advice I will take it all on board

I must admit I have been slightly less disciplined over the weekend - I've still been eating healthily though.

Saturday I had some Weetabix in the suggested amount of semi skimmed milk for breakfast, which may be a bit carby but I couldn't find anything else I thought I should eat!

I think maybe being a bit lac at the weekend will be OK for me - I am a bit of a serial weigh inner and this morning and my weight had still gone down between Saturday and Sunday (I did more than eat some weetabix but I'm not going to reveal the full horror of my naughtiness!).

Not all weekends are going to be as lax as this one though - it was a bit of an exception as Saturday I had a chocolate making course to attend(!) and Sunday I was at a family gathering. I think perhaps I am exaggerating how bad I've been though - nothing's been eaten in moderation.

Anyway hopefully tomorrow will be a good first weigh in!!

Yes, I know what you mean about the being naughty. For instance, at the beginning of last week i recorded my lowest weight so far. Very happy. But by the end of the week, i was having one of those nasty craving episodes. Sometimes it is cold fizzy drinks, sometimes cake. This time it was meat. Specifically a nice juicy burger. I couldn't get it out of my head. Finally i gave in but decided to make my own instead of popping out to the MacDonalds which is out 2 minutes away from our place ( sounds bad but luckily i can manage to avoid that place like the plague these days). So i made some burger patties with minced beef & chopped onion, on burger buns with lettuce, no sauce. Truth be told it was a bit bland but it solved the cravings. However immediately afterwards, i was convinced i had put back probably 5lbs or something and my blood sugar would be through the roof! In fact, neither were affected in the slightest. I thought i'd witnessed an honest to goodness miracle that day.
The morale, i think its not gonna destroy us to 'cheat' now and again. I think i'd go mental with cravings if i couldn't cheat occasionally. But i think we should try to eat as little of the naughty stuff as we can get away with.

Hope this helps you feel less guilty. I bet everyone who is dieting has to go through the same dilemmas ( read torture ) as well. Don't feel bad

Best wishes..

Lozzo

I just wanted to wish you luck on your weight loss journey I agree with RainbowRose that your diet looks very sensible. You can do this, good luck x

Your burger sounds quite healthy to me lozzo!

Thank you jader, I wish you luck as well. One of the great things about this forum is how nice and supportive everyone is.

My real craving is toast... With lots of butter! Have managed to stay away from it so far. I'm glad people think my diet looks sensible, I always get very worried about whether i'm doing things correctly

Had lost 5lb this morning so very happy!

So far I've had a good week, have been quite good food wise and all the inital concerns I had about the diet have gone. Still not managing to cut out the fizzy drinks though

Hopefully I can be good this weekend as if I am I think I'll shed a couple of lbs come Monday

Well done on losing 5lbs! that must feel good

I miss bread and toast with butter a lot so can empathise with that one - Am limiting my bread intake to when I go out for lunch with my Dad so far, really do enjoy it when I have some

All the best
x