One Year on GL and it rocks!!

irish molly

Maintaing LT loss on GL
I can hardly believe that it is a year since I began on a GL plan. Starting in Sept 2009 I did six months on lipotrim and lost 87 lbs in total. Towards the end of that time I found my losses slowing. I then decided to face the real world of food and also tackle the remainder of my target loss. After a lot of thought and research I decided to follow a Glycaemic Load (GL) plan and also keep an eye to total calorie content but not obsessively.
One year on and I have maintained my 87 lbs loss and, by last August, added another 29lbs bringing me to an overall loss of 116lbs. Since then I have been maintaining pretty well. Some weeks I lose a pound or two and others I stay the same and some others I will gain a couple of pounds. I have a gain if I decide to pig out a bit that week or for a couple of weeks!! It's all down to me to decide what goes in my mouth!! I can regain control through GL.
For me, maintaining is a matter of being aware of food but not being obsessive. Unless you are a stick insect (and I never have been), you just have to make sure that calories in are less than calories out, otherwise you record a gain. Food is no longer the centre of my life. I eat to live not live to eat.
The mix of foods is important as well. GL gives me a proper balance and keeps me feeling full, mostly!! The principle of GL is to maintain blood sugars at a constant level throughout the day thus avoiding sugar spikes and consequent hunger pangs.
I follow a few simple rules:
1)Almost no bread/potato/pasta or rice. I do not miss them and if I have them I have very little. So for starchy carbs I have lentils/beans/quinoa/oatcakes/rye crackers.
2)Follow the 80/20 rule. I try to be good 80% of the time and allow for being a bit piggy the other 20% of the time. When I overeat I gain, simple fact, so I have to plan for that from time to time.
3) Eating regularly. This is vital to keep blood sugars level throughout the day. I used to skip meals and then find myself ravenous later. Now I have, breakfast, lunch and dinner and allow for two small snacks as well.
4) Portion sizes. I find it a constant challenge to watch the portion sizes. A 120g of chicken or fish is TINY but it is enough. I weighed everything until I was comfortable visualizing the correct portion size.
5)Watch the snacks. I weaken some days and have too many snacks, especially late in the evening. This can be a slippery slope so I need to be very careful.
6) Keep up the water intake. I find drinking at least two litres of water every day really helps. 80% of the time we feel hungry it is,in fact, water our bodies crave.
7) Regular weighing. I feel it is important to weigh regularly and record it once a week. It is important to not obsess about this but it does serve as a reminder as to what direction I am going in and it is my choice as to what to do if I don't like what I see on the dial!
So, I will be very happy if I can maintain my weight between 170 and 180. For me, it is not realistic to go any lower. I look and feel great at a size 14 and I want to try and keep it at that.
All I can do is give it my best shot. It's all any of us can do!​
 
Believe me, I have days that I struggle a bit. In the past ten years I have tried loads of diets( WW SW Atkins calorie counting etc). None of them proved fully successful.
As long as I am careful without being obsessive about it I am doing fine.
I want this to be a plan for life not another diet!! Other than buying a book or two at the start, there has been no buying into a range of diet products etc. Just plain old good food choices and moderation for the weekends away, outings etc.
Good luck with it. Just be very very careful about portion sizes in your weightloss phase.
 
Hi Irish Molly
I've been following your blog and you've done fab! :)

I'm heading towards the low GI way of eating as have tried many other plans and was successful this last time around as I got to target after losing 2 stone about 6 mos ago but I have about 7-10lbs that have crept back on and like you would like to keep my weight between 170 and 180. I couldn't agree more with what you say about not being obsessive and this being a way of life not just another diet. That is key!

I've got Rick Gallop's books and am very familiar with low GI and do try to eat most things along those guidelines but for me it comes down to my snacking and portion control. So that is where I need to start making serious changes as I do not want to go back to the weight I started at, ever!

I'm quite new to posting here but hope you don't mind if I join in x
 
Well done to you for doing so well. I agree totally that the snacking and portion control are the main areas that we can come a cropper on. I also find if I eat much wheat or high carb foods this also triggers a but too much snacking. So definitely, it is true about the blood sugar levels.
Start a thread on here to keep you focussed too. No matter whether you post a little or a lot it will help if you are checking in now and again.
Good luck for getting refocussed. I found anytime I need to do that, cutting back drastically on all wheat is the easiest route for me.
 
Cheers!
I find that eating processed carbs does the same thing to me and just triggers more eating. It's a slippery slope!! Recording everything does help so here's to some new changes.
 
Hi I'M, uv done great. I'm currently on CD and want to lose about 1.5- 2 stone in total, have so far lost 13lb in wk 1. I have also just recently been on ww and lost 37lb but put bout a stone on so that prob what I lost on cd last week!! So another 1.5 st Off wld make me bout 11 st. And give me bmi of 25. I plan to do GI when I finish, have book and his recipe book too. Some hints n tips wld be good, my main problems r sweet tooth, mostly sugary jelly type sweets so I plan to not buy anything sweet, chocolatey, crisp etc. I also have large portions n don't particularly want to starve myself so can I have largish portions if it is mostly veg n protein wi a little carb i.e. brown rice or bit of pasta? All tips n advice welcome. Uv dove great and inspired me to believe I can maintain post cd. X
 
Well done IM, you've totally cracked the whole eating healthy for life and maintaining a health weight!!!!
 
puddinpie said:
Hi I'M, uv done great. I'm currently on CD and want to lose about 1.5- 2 stone in total, have so far lost 13lb in wk 1. I have also just recently been on ww and lost 37lb but put bout a stone on so that prob what I lost on cd last week!! So another 1.5 st Off wld make me bout 11 st. And give me bmi of 25. I plan to do GI when I finish, have book and his recipe book too. Some hints n tips wld be good, my main problems r sweet tooth, mostly sugary jelly type sweets so I plan to not buy anything sweet, chocolatey, crisp etc. I also have large portions n don't particularly want to starve myself so can I have largish portions if it is mostly veg n protein wi a little carb i.e. brown rice or bit of pasta? All tips n advice welcome. Uv dove great and inspired me to believe I can maintain post cd. X

Well done you on making great progress so far. GL will be as good a plan as any to maintain your great losses.
To maintain, you will have to watch portion sizes no matter what plan you follow. Though, with careful choices, you can get decent platefuls of food on GL. Since following GL I now eat a lot of lentils and pulses. You can buy tinned chick peas, mixed beans, haricot, cannelini etc. As both the protein and starchy carb you can have 3/4 of a tin. If having them as a side dish then just have about a third if a tin. This would be more filling than a half a baked potato which is all that would be allowed. Similarly, you can have 65g of quinoa or lentils instead of 35g brown rice.
So by swapping more GL friendly foods you can eat well. Also use leafy veg or veg that grows above the ground more than root veg such as carrots and parsnips etc.
If you are following GL you tend to lose your sweet tooth, well almost!!
For pudding, I tend to stick with berries which are the best GL choice. Fresh or frozen are fine and you can have about 150g and top it with a dessert spoon if yoghurt and a teaspoon of mixed seeds. Chop an apple or pear or a couple of plums and have with yoghurt too.
Sweet treats can be the nature valley bars or Nakd bars or the occasional treat size bar of chocolate. Be careful, I find these can lead to a monster munch attack and then I have to be strict for a few days to make up.
Maintaining has to be about balance. Have a little if what you fancy but only now and again. We can't go back to old habits or the weight will pile on again. Neither does life have to be miserable and a constant "diet".
I hope I've made some sense lol!
 
shrinkingannie said:
Well done IM, you've totally cracked the whole eating healthy for life and maintaining a health weight!!!!

Thks though I doubt I'll ever crack it. It will always require being careful. But hopefully I won't have to be obsessive about it. It's obsession that makes us feel we are forever dieting.
 
"irish molly" thanks for this post, I've only started my LT diet, but I'm trying to look at this as a life-changing event. Yes, I want to lose weight, but once I'm there I want to stay there.

This has given me a lot of ideas and re-enforced a few of my own, so Thank You.
 
Congratulations for your achievements Irishmolly ;)

And thank you for sharing your simple rules; they actually sound great for any healthy lifestyle/diet. They're good tips for anyone :)

xx
 
NoMorePie said:
"irish molly" thanks for this post, I've only started my LT diet, but I'm trying to look at this as a life-changing event. Yes, I want to lose weight, but once I'm there I want to stay there.

This has given me a lot of ideas and re-enforced a few of my own, so Thank You.

Thanks for your kind words. I see you have just started on your own journey. You will be so pleased when you get to goal. Use your time on TFR to focus on your relationship with food. A stint on TFR will be of no value if we go back to old habits. research loads and decide on a plan that will suit your lifestyle post TFR.
Good luck and stay strong.
 
Aline said:
Congratulations for your achievements Irishmolly ;)

And thank you for sharing your simple rules; they actually sound great for any healthy lifestyle/diet. They're good tips for anyone :)

xx

Yep, I like to keep maintenance simple. If it us over complex then it is too difficult to achieve. I also believe we have to have balance in our lives. I love food and all things culinary so have to be able to find a way of enjoying life and maintaining my weight. So far GL does it for me.
 
Very cool Molly! Thank you for the tips! I think you've got GI/GL down pat! I hope to be like you oneday. Even after I reach my goal weight, I will still like to continue eating GI/GL majority of the time. It feels great, and the plates are always so full of beautiful colors and textures.

I realized how much fruit I wasn't eating before. I thought I was eating ok amounts of fruits. But now I realize how much junkfoods and sugary candies/chocolates I was consuming.
 
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