Harcombe Diet - Started 15/1/13

I read an article in the Daily Mail on this diet. Everything I read sounded like the way I felt about and acted with food...the binge eating especially!

I lost 3 stone on slimming world up until May last year, then I went on a couple of holidays, had various weddings, the miserable winter, and then Christmas came....I'm now a stone heavier than May 2012.

I ordered the book from Amazon as soon as I'd finished the article and it arrived on Monday.

So here's my diary so far.

Tuesday:
B 2 boiled eggs
L 50g (dry weight) brown rice and homemade ratatouille (tinned toms, toms, peppers, celery and courgette)
D Chicken breast and salad (celery, cucumber, carrot and lettuce)
I snacked on carrots and celery and drank decaf coffee and herbal teas

Wednesday
B 2 boiled eggs and 2 rashers of bacon
L chicken. bacon and egg salad (celery, cucumber, carrot and lettuce)
D 50g (dry weight) brown rice, beef and homemade ratatouille (tinned toms, toms, peppers, celery and courgette). Read that I can use stock cubes, which I was excited about (lol)

Im feeling tired, but I feel straight asleep last night, I normally takes ages to drop off. I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow and see how its going. I was 9 stone 12.5 on Saturday morning when I weighed at my slimming world group.

I think once I've finished phase 1, i will use phase 2 rules, but maybe slimming world foods. I dont know if I will ever be able to use actual oil, or even LARD!! That might be pushing it too much!

I think having followed slimming world for so long, Ive defo picked up a food intolerance. I was basically eating the same stuff, not necessarily every day, but certainly eating the same stuff on rotation each week.

I'm interested to know how others are getting on.

xxxx

Hi Charlotte! it was also the dailymail article that spurred me on to do this it was so interesting I felt like I was reading about myself, especially with the bingeing! I'm only 20 and I feel like i am wasting my life worrying about my weight and food and i just want to enjoy uni and be healthy! i have 4 stone to lose though so it will be a long road but i'll get there
You seem to be doing great so far.. i'm def gonna make that ratatouille as i wasn't sure if you could have chopped tomatoes! i ordered my book last Thursday but it still hasn't come unfortunately! however I started myself today and it is going well so far. I struggled a lot with cravings all morning but i'm feeling great now
Best of luck with your journey I will be following x x

Hi lucie!

Its quite a quiet forum, I'd never heard of the diet till last week, but some posts are a few years old!

Ive had bacon and egg again this morning...it's getting a bit boring now, but hopefully it's working. I was 2.5lbs lighter today!!

The book says tinned toms are fine. If u have any more questions I can look them up for you until your book arrives.

We can work through it together if you like?

I strangely don't feel like I'm craving any food, I'm sure it's too early to have beaten my 'addiction' though, so I'm going to follow the book, and stick to all the rules.

You'll feel amazing by summer if you just stick to it.

I haven't exercised because I do feel tired, but that's just the lack of caffeine and carbs I guess.

Xxxx

Today I'm going to have:

B bacon and egg
L 50g rice, salad (as previous days)
D chicken breast and ratatouille.

You are doing really well only 2 more days and you'll be on phase 2 i'm finding today much easier than yesterday and haven't had any cravings but as you said i think it takes longer than a couple of days to beat this addiction... i've done other diets before and felt so motivated for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden the cravings would return. But i'm so optimistic about this one! I used chopped tomatoes with rice and veg today for lunch and it was soo nice, i would have presumed they were a processed food if i hadn't seen your post thank you
Thank you so much that would be cool to work through it together! it's really good to start around the same time as someone so we help each other
And 2.5lbs in 2 days is sooo amazing well done!! i am going to try my hardest to wait the 5 days until I weigh myself... but knowing me i'll prob have a sneaky check before that!
Hope today is going well for you x

So today, I've eaten as planned, but I used 1 tbsp of olive oil to cook the chicken in and then added the ratatouille to the pan (can't believe I actually used olive oil)!

I've got one tub of ratatouille left (literally made tons the other day and tubbed it all up). I'll have that tomorrow, maybe with beef again, because that was really nice the other day.

I've also bought some live yoghurt, which isn't too terrible, a bit sour/bitter, but quite creamy.

I'm sure I can swap brown rice for porridge, I'm going to check the book and if so, have porridge and yoghurt for breakfast instead of bloody eggs again!

I'm still nervous about using stuff like oil!

I also think I'll try and stay off coffee and bread and potatoes. I am looking forward to having brown pasta again!

xx

Don't be nervous of oil and things. I know it's difficult to let go of the fat is bad mentality though. You're doing really well, I didn't have massive cravings a bit for chocolate but think that was because I was bingeing before starting and still crave pop, especially Pepsi max. But it's ok. I'm loving the foods and feel quite liberated by the plan. Hopefully we will see some more people around here soon. It is a quiet section but the diet is not well known as rhe food people won't push it as they wouldn't have a business if they did x

Hi, how are you? You're on phase 2 aren't you? How much did u loose in phase 1? How's phase 2 going?

Im looking forward to p2. Actually just flicking through the section in the book now! Xx

charlotte1985 said:

Hi, how are you? You're on phase 2 aren't you? How much did u loose in phase 1? How's phase 2 going?

Im looking forward to p2. Actually just flicking through the section in the book now! Xx

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Yeah am in phase 2 but not always adding anything above the phase 1 foods. Just sometimes. I don't weigh as I get so obsessive and stressed but have definitely lost my bloating and some size. Am still enjoying it though which is most important x

Hi all, new to site....I have been doing phase 1 of the harcombe diet for 7 days, you can do it longer than 5 days....I am craving bread, pasta and junk more than ever......but I have lost 8lb and that's all that's keeping me on the straight and narrow!

i will start phase two when I have a chance to go shopping.....

i have about two and a half stone to go, and this has really helped kick start me!

Clellybelly said:

Hi all, new to site....I have been doing phase 1 of the harcombe diet for 7 days, you can do it longer than 5 days....I am craving bread, pasta and junk more than ever......but I have lost 8lb and that's all that's keeping me on the straight and narrow!

i will start phase two when I have a chance to go shopping.....

i have about two and a half stone to go, and this has really helped kick start me!

Click to expand...

Awh well done that is so great in just a week I am currently on day 3 but haven't weighed myself yet.. i might have a sneaky look in the morning i have 4 stone to lose so i've a lot of work to do! i was craving so bad on the first day but i've been quite ok yesterday and today, although if someone put a slice of cake in front of me i don't know what i'd do Best of luck and keep us updated x

lucielou said:

Awh well done that is so great in just a week I am currently on day 3 but haven't weighed myself yet.. i might have a sneaky look in the morning i have 4 stone to lose so i've a lot of work to do! i was craving so bad on the first day but i've been quite ok yesterday and today, although if someone put a slice of cake in front of me i don't know what i'd do Best of luck and keep us updated x

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My stats are very similar to,yours, I am the same height and started at 14.1 stones. Your goal weight is ver low!! I look great when I reach 11.7 so that's my goal

Clellybelly said:

My stats are very similar to,yours, I am the same height and started at 14.1 stones. Your goal weight is ver low!! I look great when I reach 11.7 so that's my goal 

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I mean I was 15.1 not 14.1......I wish!!

Today has been a bit of a toughie, I've stuck to it, but I've craved biscuits!

i had 50g porridge with live yoghurt for breakfast, tomato and onion omelette (fried in 1tbsp olive oil - being brave) with green salad for lunch and beef and ratatouille for dinner.

Ive realised that I've only got porridge and brown rice in - well obvs I've got other food, but not phase 1 food! I can at least have porridge and water for breakfast and then venture out to the shops for more flaming eggs and meat (snore)!

I'm going to plan my Sunday menu of 'glorious' phase 2, although I'm still going to ditch bread, milk and potatoes, and possibly fruit because I reckon those are my binge trigger foods.

Im excited to eat cheese and brown pasta (not together tho) xxx

Due to having a grumpy, poorly toddler, I'm housebound till hubby gets back today (snow joke he he).

i therefore have no meat in! I've eaten two boiled eggs and just had 50g porridge made with water.

I'm making lentil soup ready for tomorrow.

I did half think about starting phase 2 today due to the lack of food, but I'm going to stick to it. I've lost 4.5lbs in total, which I think is pretty amazing!! Woop woop, excitedly updating my stats now! Xxx

You'll be delighted tomorrow knowing that you stuck it out for the 5 days and you'll enjoy that pasta and cheese even more then wow that is an amazing loss especially cos you aren't even overweight at all congrats that is brilliant! I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 6 pounds in 3 days but I have a lot more weight on me that you so it obviously will come off easier.. but take a lot longer haha x x

Anyway, I wasn't able to get to the shops until quite late today, so I've started Phase 2. I know this is a bit naughty, but I was kind of stuck.

I've been a bit emotional today too - quite wound up actually, not sure if its due to the diet, or just general fed upness!

I made a batch of lentil soup that I had for a late lunch out of desperation literally (carb meal) and then I've just put a chicken breast and roasted veg in the oven.

So my day has been

2 boiled eggs breakfast (fat)
50g porridge made with water (carb) - although at this point I was still hoping to complete day 5
Then I had the lentil soup (carb)
Now I'm about to have chicken, roasted onion, toms and peppers and side salad with grana pedano (30g).
Then mix of three cheeses (total 45g) and a dollop of low fat cottage cheese.

I'll check my weight again Monday just in case this has caused any bad effects - I doubt missing the last day will cause too much damage.

I've also been looking at sugars in foods and carbs that turn into sugars in foods. I'm hoping to avoid these foods as much as possible. I just want to know how many grams of carb sugar is classes as ok. -------just found out 5g of Carbohydrates (of which sugars) per 100g is classes as low!

xxx

Clellybelly said:

Hi all, new to site....I have been doing phase 1 of the harcombe diet for 7 days, you can do it longer than 5 days....I am craving bread, pasta and junk more than ever......but I have lost 8lb and that's all that's keeping me on the straight and narrow!

i will start phase two when I have a chance to go shopping.....

i have about two and a half stone to go, and this has really helped kick start me!

Click to expand...

Keep going you're doing great. Make sure that bread and pasta are never on your phase 2 list as sounds like you have an intolerance to them. Are you enjoying it? X

charlotte1985 said:

Due to having a grumpy, poorly toddler, I'm housebound till hubby gets back today (snow joke he he).

i therefore have no meat in! I've eaten two boiled eggs and just had 50g porridge made with water.

I'm making lentil soup ready for tomorrow.

I did half think about starting phase 2 today due to the lack of food, but I'm going to stick to it. I've lost 4.5lbs in total, which I think is pretty amazing!! Woop woop, excitedly updating my stats now! Xxx

Click to expand...

Great loss well done x

So now officially onto Phase 2!! I weighed myself this morning just to check starting early wont cause any gain and I was down another pound, so I'm pretty buzzin!

It feels so relaxing to not have to think about having third of my plate superfree, and measuring bread and milk - instead I'm just choosing not to have it!

I feel like I've really got my head round this, and I'm excited to be eating and not counting and measuring and thinking about food all day long!