I want to come back! also, mixing s&s

[meoww]

so ive been farting around for a short while and not shifting any weight, if anything its just piling on! this time of year is my fattest, every easter my diet has long gone and im feeling full of chocolate and doom at the thought of a fat summer.

so far in my life, ive only lost weight on a VLCD.. so I think its the way to continue!

does anyone mix the sachets in with meals of other food? (perhaps things off plan) in a way that works? what about eating non ketosis safe foods?
I just want something to work around, and to be able to go out for the odd meal or allow slip ups without the whole thing going t*ts up!

I used to have such a small appetite, just a sniff of bread would fill me up! I miss those days!

 

[WelshJojo]

I want to come back! also, mixing s&s

Why don't you do 3 packs and a meal, then it allows you a bit of freedom x

 

[Cherry-Blossom]

If you want to do it in a none ketosis way have a look at the re-feed as that may help you.

 

[Nomsad]

i mix up my food to stay in ketosis, i keep to the low carb rule but my calories are about 800-1000 reason being i love my hair and dont want it too stop growing. having looked at natural ketosis website saw a porridge pack which ingredients where 35% oats 35% almonds 30% skimmed milk, so devised porridge 20g oats 20g ground almonds and almond milk with stevia to sweeten and it kept me in ketosis the slim and save porridges i dislike. i have egg white omelettes made with mushrooms ham spring onion. i have grilled chicken with salad or swede chips. If i eat these i tend to take multi-vit and include slim and save bar and a slim and save hot choc. i need to keep in ketosis as even i have about 800/1000 cals if that was high carb id get the cravings and tummy grumbles and i havent had any so i may not lose much more than 2lb a week because of having extra cals i will keep my hair and my sanity!!! i will be posting my losses 2 weekly but am already down 11lbs so happy, i also have coke zero. hope this helps

 

[weasey]

I'd suggest that you allow yourself some movement in the total amount of calories but not in carbs. With higher carbs you'll be put of ketosis and you'll struggle with hunger. If ou knock yourself out en spend time tinking about why you did it - what you got out of it - and then try to address that need in another way. If you do that then each time you knock yourself put you'll be able to work on it happening less often in the future. This diet isn't about being perfect all the time so much as learning to eat differently at the end. That doesn't mean that you have permission to eat less helpful foods - but if you do then make sure you learn everything from it that you can.

I'd also suggest that you get something like Dr Beck's diet book - which addresses your relationship with food and improving it.

 

[meoww]

thanks, some great tips. Ive got the beck book, am slowly getting through it. I suppose Im trying to make sure I can stick to it and not make it too hard risking coming off altogether (kind of like the book says)
Im intrigued in the porridge recipe! so that is low carb still? I suppose it would be a small portion.
I think youre all right on the low carb side of things. Id quite like to do a reduced time of eating too -I was looking at the 8 hour window diet if anyones heard of it? says theres great advantages of clustering your meals in an 8 hour period rather than over your whole waking day.

 

[Cherry-Blossom]

I think there's advantages to spreading it out and keeping it cut down. If you eat all your food in a small window then it's over an done with, however, it also generally means you tend to over eat on that first meal as you'll be quite hungry. Can also mean your body goes into starvation mode and holds onto calories and fat because it's being deprived of calories for so long (hence why breakfast is so important as it literally means to break fast). Going long periods without eating can also mess up your blood sugars. Then again I don't know anything about this diet so I can't truly comment on how it over comes these hurdles.

 

[noodles1609]

I do have times, and have had times when I "need" more calories. I know it's my head and not my body, and whilst I'm working on that with Beck, I also recognise that a problem that has evolved over my life is not going to go overnight, and to keep my rebellious child in check, I need to let the leash go a little slacker from time to time - but, I never let if off the leash. Where my calories are increased I still stay ketosis friendly - try out some menus in MFP and check out the carb content - I was surprised that Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Puddings for example, are pretty low, and 3 in a Sunday Lunch was doable.
I've really struggled with allowing myself to have extra calories, it feels like giving in, but tempering that with staying in ketosis, I have eaten mindfully and taken note of how I've felt from eating more. I can then make an informed decision going foward what I want to do for my future maintenance. This has allowed me to make the decision to stop at 200 days (15th April) and to spend the summer toning and maintaining, I then plan to return to vlcd in autumn and lose another 2 stone to get my bmi to 25 - if that feels right for me, at the moment that feels too skinny, but after a summer of adjusting to being a "normal" person, I might want to go further. And of course, I've not tested out maintenance so I'm not sure how it'll work for me yet!
I think the most important thing for me from your original post is to work on your head hunger, it's that that's telling you to mix it up, that it's ok to do that - your giving in muscle is gaining strength! It's not an easy path at all, but when was anything really worth having easy to acheive?

 

[meoww]

Its so true about strengthening the giving in muscle (or the resisting muscle!) ive been practicing it somewhat.

the 8 hour window idea is fairly new research questioning the old ideas. saying that we go into starvation mode etc is irrelevant if doing a VLCD I am also thoroughly enjoying skipping breakfast and I never feel hungry in the morning now. I know we're more likely to dive into something fatty and carby if we let blood sugar drop too much, but I also dive into fatty carby things with no good reason at all!

I know what you mean about your head convincing you need calories. I keep thinking to myself, if im in ketosis and on low calories I wont be able to cycle around, but really I dont go on huge journeys and if I really cant get up the steep hills I can just walk, I think im really making excuses. just like when I make the excuse to eat a big sandwich because ive been on a bike ride, but really the bike ride did not even close burn off the sandwich!

anyway must try doing something soon! think im starting tomorrow or Thursday deffo if not tomorrow.
I think I might do a low calorie few days to ease myself in, not tried this before so dont know if its actually required..
Ive also got loads of the M&S 'fuller for longer' meals which are 'balanced carbs' theyre so nice if anyones tried them? so expensive too! I got a few reduced and shoved in freezer.
rambled on a bit here!