My Low Carb Journey

[Dawnejoy]

Right...............I need to have a stern word with myself and tell myself to stop self-sabotaging my efforts..........I have no idea why I do this other than the need to eat the food that stalls my weight loss outweighs the logical sensible side of me. Tho on plan fruit of anytype stalls a weight loss for me, so why over the weekend did I eat home made ice-cream with pureed berries and double cream (all allowed) and then follow that the next day with a banana in my porridge? The trouble that this brings is that it then triggers the cravings again, which are very hard to deal with and take willpower not to succumbe to more of the same or even worse go down the road of eating processed nice things. so far I have managed to resist and I kid myself that because the foods that stall my weight loss are allowable and low-carb that that makes them OK instead of listening to my body....................when will I learn? I am almost 50 for heaven's (being polite) sake!!!!!!

 

[Dawnejoy]

I have a problem..............on Saturday I am meeting up with a friend and going out for the day, she said we will get some breakfast on the way what will I eat? Also we are going to a convention and no idea what the food will be and am wondering how I can ensure that I stay on track.........all I can think about doing is taking a MIM with some cheese and ham and keep it in my handbag, but what sort of bag lady am I going to look, keep delving into my handbag and coming out with food?????? don't think its gonna be a) a good look or b) looked upon well!!!! I don't want to fail and know, coz of the type of person I am, that if I go off plan for even a day, I worry that I will take a while to get back on plan again or do you think if I have a beginning and an end then I will be OK..............or am I kidding myself? I did think bout saying that I was gluten intolerant, as that would be a good reason to avoid the "bad foods", but then...................MMMMMMMMMM

 

[tranquility]

OK if breakfast is cooked you could look for bacon/gammon, mushrooms, tomatoes, scrambled egg (you can always push it around you plate for a bit if you don't like it). Yogurts, nuts if it is take away, eat before you go, plead feeling queasy from a heavy night before if you have to lol.

Convention hope for deli meats, cheese, nuts, salady things. Or if you get a sit down meal any protein with salad will do.

 

[Dawnejoy]

OK if breakfast is cooked you could look for bacon/gammon, mushrooms, tomatoes, scrambled egg (you can always push it around you plate for a bit if you don't like it). Yogurts, nuts if it is take away, eat before you go, plead feeling queasy from a heavy night before if you have to lol.

Convention hope for deli meats, cheese, nuts, salady things. Or if you get a sit down meal any protein with salad will do.

Thank you for your reply...............fingers crossed that's what it will be and maybe I could steer my friend to the services anyway as she knows I am following a plan...............all making me feel less nervous about the day now. xx

 

[Phoenyx]

For convention take nuts (mini packs are good if you're like me and eat the whole pack!) cheese (will there be a minibar you can stash babybels etc)? Pepperamis, a low carb shake etc to tide you over. They are processed and may stall but better than a massive gain. Breakfast should be fine (see above), eat lots so you can survive lunch on your snacks if the worst comes to the worst and they don't provide suitable food. There's bound to be something proteiny at dinner.

Dont forget you can eat the middle of sandwiches and leave the bread (ham, egg or tuna mayo etc)

Good luck - it may be tricky but it'll be worth it if you can stick to this - its a life plan and you need to be able to face lots of different circumstances. So doing this successfully will give you confidence for the future!

We have faith in you! X

 

[Dawnejoy]

Thats exactly it, its a life-time plan so need to find ways round things rather than think they are insurmountable Spoken to my friend and she usually takes something with her coz she said lunch wasn't very good, so its sorted........will take a MIM, some cheese and ham and will be quite happy with that............thank you so much for your help.

 

[Phoenyx]

Well done Dawn! We're proud of you

 

[Kat1e]

Well done Dawn, that's the right attitude. I have now "managed" christmas, easter, holidays, parties etc - all possible. Actually the most difficult places are planes and airports - so avoid

 

[Dawnejoy]

Well done Dawn, that's the right attitude. I have now "managed" christmas, easter, holidays, parties etc - all possible. Actually the most difficult places are planes and airports - so avoid

OOHHH think Christmas may be a problem for me, so will have to have things in place for that - can have 85% chocolate, so think a stash of that maybe a good idea lol My 50th is coming up soon and originally I was gonna be naughty and eat "nice things" on that day and worry the day after, however now I'm thinking that what's the point of doing all of this to go off plan on special occasions, so now thinking that maybe I can make "on plan" things like home made choc chip ice cream, all on plan with double cream and grated 85% chocolate as the only ingredients ....................what do you reckon? It will be a family bbq so eating meat and salad not a problem

 

[Phoenyx]

Two schools of thought here - one says you stick to the plan come hell or high water. I have to say that's not really me. I prefer the other option - decide you will have what you want (within reason - no bingeing!), but set a deadline - ie I will eat small amounts of whatever I want until x time, and have a plan for that time - so at 5pm say, or the next morning after an evening do, you will down a pint of water and eat a high protein meal or snack if your hungry, and from that moment on you're back on plan. You eat as previously on Atkins / harcombe no cutting back to make up for your eating etc.
I like the second approach because its realistic and controlled. As long as you're not doing it every week, sometimes we can accept an STS in exchange for a bit of freedom!

 

[Kat1e]

Personally I do a large order on low carb megastore - order myself everything from seashell chocolates to low carb breadsticks ie try to have lots of substitutes in the house. My standards include s-f biscuits, cavalier neapolitans, pudding/shake mixes, s-f maple syrup (which is used to make s-f cheesecake) etc

Then i indulge in some goodies - cant have too much as may impact tummy - but they are all s-f so don't put on weight (may sts). Also means that now when i taste normal desserts they are too sweet and i usually cant manage more than a teaspoon

 

[Dawnejoy]

Been out for most of the weekend, but have been good on my plan................so am really pleased with myself Lost 3lb over this last week too, so am really happy with that especially as I had a 1lb gain the week before that and I have no idea of why that was when I had been good all the time. ..............seems to be the way this plan goes for me...........very up and down, but having said that the general trend is downwards so I can only be happy with that

I want to get to the point of no longer wanting sweet things.................hoping that the longer I go without, the easier it will become...............tho have to admit to planning to have some home made ice-cream tomorrow :8855:

 

[Dawnejoy]

I went shopping but didn't buy the cream or the chocolate, not sure why really other than I didn't want to stall my weight loss as really want to get down into the next stone - currently sitting at 14.2 and so desperately want to say 13.??. Saw my consultant yesterday and he was happy with my wight loss so far and has said he wants another 5kg in 6 months............will see wht I can do

 

[Dawnejoy]

I'm struggling today, ............had my lunch of oatcakes and LF cottage cheese and for the first time for a while I just wanted to carry on eating.......I didn't and told myself that I was thirsty not hungry, but I really wanted to carry on eating............why? I can only describe it as "having the munchies". THD teaches 3 meals a day, no snacks and for the majority of the time I'm OK with that, but today its like I've got the anti-diet angel sitting on my shoulder say "go on" :sigh: Currently waiting for broccoli and stilton soup to cook then think I'm gonna fill up on that........debating on whether to have a MIM to go with it too. :giggle: I know if I can get through this then I will be pleased with myself, but at the moment its proving difficult :sigh:

 

[Kat1e]

Hi DJ, two possibilities for munchies - an insulin spike from something so think back. Or just one of those days! my view is feed the munchies with nice legal food - even if overeat protein shouldn't do much damage

 

[Dawnejoy]

Hi DJ, two possibilities for munchies - an insulin spike from something so think back. Or just one of those days! my view is feed the munchies with nice legal food - even if overeat protein shouldn't do much damage

Thx Kate, I had just eaten a carb meal and I don't usually have many of those, my eating plan allows for carb meals as long as they are not eaten with fats, trouble was I was at work and didn't have anything with me...............think I also need to up my water as feelling very fat today for some reason and bet the scales won't be kind to me tomorrow My weight really is up and down

 

[Dawnejoy]

Whoops!!! think I've c*cked up tonight...........wasn't til I was actually eating it that I wondered if I have made a mistake..............I made the ice-cream that I had planned to do earlier in the week and didn't, today I just couldn't resist any longer...........the problem with that is that it really wasn't as yummy as I was expecting it to be Now the reason I think I may have made a mistake is that I mixed the chocolate, that was only 70% cocoa rather than the 85% it should have been and then made the ice-cream with it with double cream. Now my plan allows for the chocolate and its classed as a "fat" meal, but it does have some sugar in it and I've had that with double cream..............sugar causes an insulin spike and when eaten with fat it causes a weight gain.............how stupid am I????? I've thought about having ice-cream for a week or more and at no time did the fact of putting the 2 together cross my mind that it maybe a no-no................well, suppose there is no point in beating myself up about it...........had a sts this week and have the rest of the week to try and sort out this mistake.

 

[Dawnejoy]

Not feeling very happy at the moment and am sure that I must be doing something wrong as I have cravings for all the wrong things, haven't given in to it yet and am feeling confident at the moment that I won't but I'm not happy with the fact that the cravings have resurfaced and am wondering what it is that I am doing wrong as clearly I am My weight loss is very slow too and am wondering if I need to cut back on the cheese, cream and butter a little ..........................keep thinking of going back on phase 1 for Mon-Fri which would give me the boost that I may need. Will go shopping at the weekend and stock up on phase 1 friendly foods and start again

 

[tranquility]

Hope you are doing better today Dawn it could be that you have eaten a trigger food somewhere. For me dark chocolate always causes me to go off the rails and crave carbs big time. You need to keep on eye on which combinations leave you hungry and which balance you. It isn't always so simple as eating to your plan although that works the majority of the time, some combos balance you and others don't. For me a carb heavy lasagne & jacket potato works when it really shouldn't and steak and salad will leave me hungry and looking around for something else to eat as soon as I've finished eating.

 

[Dawnejoy]

Hope you are doing better today Dawn it could be that you have eaten a trigger food somewhere. For me dark chocolate always causes me to go off the rails and crave carbs big time. You need to keep on eye on which combinations leave you hungry and which balance you. It isn't always so simple as eating to your plan although that works the majority of the time, some combos balance you and others don't. For me a carb heavy lasagne & jacket potato works when it really shouldn't and steak and salad will leave me hungry and looking around for something else to eat as soon as I've finished eating.

Never thought of it that way.......just assumed that if I was eating on plan I wouldn't go hungry and the cravings would go...........not working at the moment However that said, I do think that this is the right way of eating for me and just need to work out what it is that is my trigger and if it is the chocolate, I ate that several days ago, but am still wanting to eat the wrong foods...........wonder how long it stays in the system? On Atkins you can have sweetners and sugar-free drinks.......on THD it advocates no sweetners of sugar-free drinks as they teach that even sweetners give the same result to the body as sugar. I have been drinking sugar-free squash, so maybe I can't do that either! Its all about learning about your own body I know, but I seem to be a stubborn leaner at some things ................had cabbage, swede and lamb for tea, but tho I don't feel hungry I want to eat.............what's that all about????????

I am enjoying the plan and know its the one for me............just wish it worked a bit faster....................think that maybe known as the dieters lament :giggle: