Help - can someone explain some things to me (I'm new).

Hi guys

I went to see a CDC for the first time last Monday, and although she told me lots of really useful information, I'm needing some more!

So, I'm SS-ing. All that is fine, I've managed to drink the water, and not cheated.

However, Saturday night, we had a long-standing plan to have friend over for a dinner party (having been to their homes, we had to do this). Was hoping for good weather & a BBQ, so that I could just have some chicken, but it didn't quite work out that way.

I knew I was going 'off the wagon', so we did as healthy a meal as possible. Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself tuna fishcakes with spicy salsa (tomato, chilli & avocado), rack of lamb with asparagus, plummy cous cous & potato wedges (I didn't have any though), and then - eek - chocolate mouse nests for desert.

Drank alcohol as well.

So anyway, hangover today, but back on & no cheating. Feel fine.

What damage have I done, what will this mean? And my life is quite social, so probably once each week there will be something.

We're going camping a the weekend, but I'm confident I can get away with chicken & salad.

Sorry it's long - thanks for getting this far!

Lindsay x

6 stones to target weight
 
Hi Lindsay

Honestly I would say if you are going to eat every week as you say then you are going to find the diet very hard and I would even say impossible.

If you are going for the chicken route then why not do 790 instead as this will allow you meals each night.

Alcohol is a total no no when on the diet and can be dangerous and hence I would recommend you really think through the diet and what you need to do .

Mike
 
I really appreciate your advice. My counsellor said how well you'd done, and to look out for you on here!

So I should think about the 790, although I wouldn't have any problem each week night - it's just the weekends. I'm either at friends or their down with us. Could I not just 790 on those days?

The reason I wanted to SS was because if I do have meals, then I can't seems to limit myself, or eat healthy enough.

Could you explain 790 a little more?

And alcohol - it was my New Year's resolution to become tee-total. I don't have a problem, but it goes hand in hand with the social side of seeing our friends. Could you explain why it's dangerous?

Thank you
 
Hiya L

Well 790 is a very tight diet in terms of a small mainly protein based meal that you have, it doesn't massively affect weight loss over SS and does allow you to have things like chicken, tuna, turkey, quorn and some vegetables without jeopardising ketosis. If you check our your Weight Care book I believe it is on page 8 with all the ingredients allowed, I tend to recommend that if people are doing 790 then do it 7 days a week as if you do SS,SS,SS,SS,SS,790,790 then you tend to retain more water (just my own experience says this from seeing clients do it).

M.
 
DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL IF YOU ARE KETOTIC!
Alcohol is a powerful inhibitor of gluconeogenesis. In fact, it forces part of the gluconeogenic metabolic process into reverse. This means that if all the glucose in the blood is being derived from gluconeogenesis then the consumption of alcohol will inevitably cause the blood glucose level to fall. Worse still, the alcohol also stops ketone body production, thus leaving the brain entirely without fuel.
A person who is ketotic is 100% reliant on gluconeogenesis to maintain adequate levels of glucose in the blood. If, under these circumstances alcohol is taken, the person will become disorientated and might lose consciousness, not just from the alcohol, but from low blood sugar. Needless to say, this could be very dangerous, and even fatal.
Alcohol does not have these effects if the glycogen stores in the liver are normal. Under these circumstances the blood glucose level in the blood is maintained by the breakdown of liver glycogen, a process that is not influenced by alcohol. If a person becomes confused under these circumstances it is due simply to the pharmacological effects of the alcohol!
 
icemoose you need an award for your KNOWLEDGE on all things diet related. Very interesting info. Will definitely not be tempted to give in to the gin! Have been thinking on the long hot evenings...one gin and slim wont hurt! How wrong was I!
Thanks for info.
Ceri
 
Oh heck.. Right, didn't realise all that..

I will read up about 790 and see if I could do that long term. I've never been a great one for having a bit of food - I've failed previous diets because I have some food, and then just want more! Will power is non-existant.

Alcohol - I will not drink whilst I'm doing this. I understand that it is not good, and appreciate your explanation.

Oh god, this is so hard isn't it?! Right, must be good now.
 
Oh heck.. Right, didn't realise all that..

I will read up about 790 and see if I could do that long term. I've never been a great one for having a bit of food - I've failed previous diets because I have some food, and then just want more! Will power is non-existant.

Alcohol - I will not drink whilst I'm doing this. I understand that it is not good, and appreciate your explanation.

Oh god, this is so hard isn't it?! Right, must be good now.

Personally I found the SSing total break from food,(portion sizes, trying to work out balanced nutrition & reduced intake at the ssame time etc) was just the best thing ever. Also with advice from my CDC onthe odd occasion we socialise I had an AAM night.(basically as per 790 meal but no milk) & it has worked v well & allowed me to relax straight back into SSing the next day. But this was only once I was well established in ketosis & only infrequently.

Mr Mooses discourse on gluconeogenesis was not only biochemically excellent but qiute scarey too. The first time I tried any alcohol on SS it was 1/2. glass of wine in a person previously wellableto down their 1/2 bottle in an evening. Felt noticeably yuk the next day. It's not worth it.

Also I reckon that the 2+ bottles of wine a week I used to drink pays for 1/3 of my weekly shakes!

Try& work round the socialisisng. You wouldn't believe how easy or fun it is doing a whole evenings chatting & giggling armed only with a glass of water (i have been known to nibble lettuce from a bowl just to keep the eating fingers busy. a coupleof leaves last a long time) to lubricate. I never thought I could do it & was anxious of the teasing from others.Usually skinny others too. Now I do it naturally & I'm not sure my friends take much notice.
 
Hiya L

Well 790 is a very tight diet in terms of a small mainly protein based meal that you have, it doesn't massively affect weight loss over SS and does allow you to have things like chicken, tuna, turkey, quorn and some vegetables without jeopardising ketosis. If you check our your Weight Care book I believe it is on page 8 with all the ingredients allowed, I tend to recommend that if people are doing 790 then do it 7 days a week as if you do SS,SS,SS,SS,SS,790,790 then you tend to retain more water (just my own experience says this from seeing clients do it).

M.

Mike I'minterested in your comments above re intermittant 790 fluid retention.

Can you explain it? Physiologically shuld it make a diff if you do it for an AAM week or on off for W/E's.
avoice in my head is saying maybe these clients are also drinking alcohol at the W/E & not confessing, but that's probably unfair.

Part of my interest in this is personal because my CDC & I have agreed that i'll try & merge into 790 by doing AAM for 2day W/E then 3day untill I'm doing it all week. It was my idea, I have to say not hers,but she thought it would be ok.

i'm also interested as part of my attempt to understand more of the processes in this diet.

your excellent understandig & description of alcohol, gluconeogenesis & SSing made me think. this is stuff I need toknow.
Can you tell me where you learned it.
how much can I learn from Cambridge itself?
you're going to say you're a biochemistry graduate or something aren't you!
 
Hi Jane

Thank you so much for replying. From Icemooses's response, and someone elses on another website, I've been feeling really bad and wondering whether I can do this diet. :sigh:

I want to - really want to, and am enjoying it - it's relatively easy as I don't have to work out what I can and can't eat when I'm SS-ing.

But surely people have slipped up before - I felt soooo ill yesterday (all day, which is unusual) with my hangover, and I understand that it was because of the diet as much as because of the alcohol, and it's taught me not to do that. :eek:

I also understand that I can get around social occasions and drinking, by not caring what people will say/think, and by nibbling lettuce and maybe some chicken.

It's a big learning curve in many ways, but I will do this!! :)
 
Mike I'minterested in your comments above re intermittant 790 fluid retention.

Can you explain it? Physiologically shuld it make a diff if you do it for an AAM week or on off for W/E's.
avoice in my head is saying maybe these clients are also drinking alcohol at the W/E & not confessing, but that's probably unfair.

Part of my interest in this is personal because my CDC & I have agreed that i'll try & merge into 790 by doing AAM for 2day W/E then 3day untill I'm doing it all week. It was my idea, I have to say not hers,but she thought it would be ok.

i'm also interested as part of my attempt to understand more of the processes in this diet.

your excellent understandig & description of alcohol, gluconeogenesis & SSing made me think. this is stuff I need toknow.
Can you tell me where you learned it.
how much can I learn from Cambridge itself?
you're going to say you're a biochemistry graduate or something aren't you!

Hiya

No biochemistyy graduate! I just voraciously read about the diet as I love it to bits and also see 100 or so people a week so tend to chat about it a lot :)

If you want to know a lot more then get Amazon.co.uk: The Cambridge Diet: Books: Alan N. Howard it is 160 pages or so but a real insight into the "technology" behind the diet.

In terms of water retention doing SS and then 790 and then SS then I only have my own experience of customers doing it to say that their weight loss tends to be much more erratic than someone just doing one or the other which is why I recommend it that way, in terms of weight loss I can't see it will be a problem BUT we all know that water retention can knock people off of the diet as they think they aren't losing fat when really they are.

M.
 
Hi Jane

Thank you so much for replying. From Icemooses's response, and someone elses on another website, I've been feeling really bad and wondering whether I can do this diet. :sigh:

I want to - really want to, and am enjoying it - it's relatively easy as I don't have to work out what I can and can't eat when I'm SS-ing.

But surely people have slipped up before - I felt soooo ill yesterday (all day, which is unusual) with my hangover, and I understand that it was because of the diet as much as because of the alcohol, and it's taught me not to do that. :eek:

I also understand that I can get around social occasions and drinking, by not caring what people will say/think, and by nibbling lettuce and maybe some chicken.

It's a big learning curve in many ways, but I will do this!! :)

Oh god don't feel bad because of what I said!! You can do the diet but I was just saying that it is soooo very very tough if you don't do it as it was designed as you never get the duvet of hunger protection that ketosis give you. Anyway if you have learnt from the weekend then put it behind you and move onwards and inwards.

M.
 
Thanks Mike . Off to Amazon directly.Hope I can find a nice cheap 2nd hand copy.
sounds like something I need to get my teeth into.
The better i can undestand it the better i can use the diet myself ( although 6 months down the line I spose I must have got used to it a bit) & help me explain it to others.

thanks for the reassurance re my intermittant 790. Building up slowly just feels right for me. I reckon taking the relearning mor gradually may improvemy chances of success. Would be doing it now but went back to full SSing a couple of weeks ago so I could qualify for this month's training course. I've done it, but only bythe skin of my teeth.
Back to the 790 build up next W/E.

I know what you mean about the water thing discouraging people. I read it on here almost daily. I even succumb to it myself. I mean at nearly 6 stone lost, & knowing I'm both in ketosis & not cheating yuo'd have thought I'd be able to rationalise a 'bad loss' as fluid ...but it's hard. the brain is a silly organ at times.

100 people a week! This is full time & more so isn't it! Or do you manage to split yourself in half.? Ah just thought do you run groups too?
 
Thanks Mike. You didn't make me feel too bad!! Just made me really think about what I'm doing!

I guess this is also helping me to realise that I really want to do the diet. This weekend could have been the chance for me to say I couldn't do it & not bother, but I'm back on, and am going to be better each week!

1st weigh in tonight. Clearly wont be so great as I could have hoped for, but fingers crossed for some weight off!!
 
No groups, we do 1-2-1 but Jo helps me of course!! I tend to see people 4 nights a week and all day Sunday and then Jo does 5 days.

M.
 
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