Many thanks to sunshine girl for keeping the thread going !
I’ve been a bit ‘ absent ‘ but looking forward to an event free run up to Christmas .
Whatever your strategy we hope to keep you motivated and give guidance according to our own experience .Focusing on good health, always!
It really does help to be part of a like minded community .Let’s keep each other accountable and mindful !
All the very best
Wendy, sunshine girl and SunnyB XXX
Hi Wendy, sorry, I totally forgot that it was now November, don’t know where my head is.
Had a slight increase after my night out but now on the November trial with a sober November. Didn’t bother with sober October as I wasn’t drinking anyway except for the 31st so I guess I nearly completed it. Daughter and I are doing November except I am hoping to go to a very nice restaurant as we have nothing else between now and 20th December. I could always leave our night out to Saturday 1st December, sounds like a plan.
Just had the itinerary for our April cruise and we have 3 gala nights, thats 3 long dresses. I have a few but getting a bit fed up of dragging them out year after year, even though nobody knows they are well worn the photos tell a different tale. One of the gala nights is Red and Gold, so looks like I need a red evening dress. I will be looking in the UK over Christmas, John Lewis and M&S might have something.
I am trying out 2 new recipes this weekend (I forgot to buy something for Sunday). Tonight we are having Mary Berry’s cauliflower cheese wrapped in parma ham with salad, then tomorrow I am doing a recipe from the Slimming World monthly mag, butternut squash with sage and onion wrapped in filo pastry. The pastry part will be so thin it won’t really interfer with my BG.
Enjoy your weekend.
Thank you Wendy.
Well we are starting the month with a Thai meal out tonight. Next Saturday we have a Diwali celebration with neighbours then Sunday lunch out with friends. I know all three will be a bit of a struggle. Thai is not too bad as I have a green vegetable instead of rice. Indian meal, who knows? Sunday lunch is at a very nice French restaurant in Lymm in Cheshire but with quite a ‘fussy’ menu. Looks like I’m going to have to be ultra strict in between times!
S-g lovely to have a nice excuse for new dresses. The cruises we take don’t have formal nights (country club casual !) so no real need for new dresses but I understand exactly where you are coming from. Always good to have some new stuff.
Let’s hope November is a good balance between ‘good healthy eating’ and ‘social life’. I’m sure it’s possible
Hello & thank you Wendy. I certainly need to be kept motivated as this has been a disastrous year weight wise for me.
On y va!!😀
Margaret xx
Thank you Wendy for setting up a November thread. The monthly chats really motivate me to keep going!
S-G hope you can find a lovely new dress. I finally managed to fit into my winter coat…only just, but a fit is a fit!
Several nights away recently with poor choices on the menu have set me back, but I am determined to get the next 7lb off before Christmas. I think I will then have to re assess, so I up calories to maintain that weight but keep carbs low!, so I don’t go back into the diabetic range!
Happy November all
As there seems to be many ‘old hands’ who follow the monthly threads can someone help me please?
I have always ‘done’ a traditional, very rich, Christmas. I make Christmas pudding and brandy butter, we have a roast turkey with all the trimmings…including celery & apricot and chestnut stuffings, cranberry sauce, bread sauce and giblet gravy…all home made. PLUS a rich fruit cake, marzipanned and iced. Obviously this year is going to be different (my first Christmas living the BSD way of life). I have decided that I will still do the ‘savoury’ as normal, just have less of it, (and I will pass on the bread sauce) However, I would normally be making the pudding and cake now, so they can be fed lots of brandy over the. next few weeks… my question is what can i do for a lighter, not so damaging ‘Christmas Cake’, If anything???
Any ideas gratefully received!!
Hi Pootle,
I usually have a ‘rich’ Christmas as well, but may try to moderate it a bit this year.
I did have a go at a low(er) carb Christmas cake a few years ago, but it wasn’t terribly successful, so I haven’t repeated it. I may have another go this year so maybe we could collaborate on a suitable recipe? Lower carb flour such as coconut may be a possibility. Brandy butter may still be possible with granular stevia if you are permitted sweeteners.
The first BSD Christmas is never easy!
Pootle I’m not sure that you can make a ‘lighter’ ‘Christmas Cake’ that would be as satisfying. I am more of a savoury than a sweet person but I absolutely love Christmas Pudding so I have some! I think it’s probably best to plan your day before hand. You are cooking so are in control. As you say you can have smaller savoury portions and no bread sauce and maybe extra green vegetables. When it comes to the ‘sweet’ stuff I would say have a ‘taste’. Just have a small portion of pudding and maybe later in the day a small slice of cake. You could always take off the marzipan and icing which are most sugary elements. You may even surprise yourself and find the cake too sweet.
I’m now in the very fortunate position, when on holiday, of maybe just having a couple of teaspoons of a dessert and leaving the rest. Mind you it’s taken me many years to get to that position.
Personally, I would say choose the sweet element you really enjoy and just have that. Life has to be lived but you don’t have to eat everything in sight just because it’s Christmas! I think the most dangerous thought is ‘oh well! I’ve eaten this and that, I’ve blown the diet so I might as well just go ahead and eat everything in sight’.
Pootle if you didn’t have T2, even in remission, then why not have a ‘day off’ but as you do have T2 just think about the damage an ‘out of control sugar fest’ will do to you body!
Thank you mixnmatch and Verano
I appreciate the advice. Discussing it with my (non diabetic) husband this morning I have come to a decision. I am not going to make a pudding or cake this year. I am sad about this as the recipes are hand me downs from my great grandmother and I am the last in the family to use them! BUT they make large portions and with only the 2 of us to eat them, it isn’t sensible to have the ongoing temptation in the house.
I think the bread in the chestnut stuffing will be my Christmas ‘sin’. I am lucky that hubby is supportive, he has said ‘if it is bad for you, we won’t have it’.
So, no pudding to stir and no cake to feed this year… and we will have roasted butternut squash and celeriac instead of potato and parsnip!
I had a quick look on Wikipedia for Figgy Pudding and there is a 14th century recipe I am going to adapt.
Take blanched almonds, grind them, mix with water and wine, quartered figs, whole raisins. Add in powdered ginger, clarified honey, boil it well and salt it, and serve.
It doesn’t give any quantities, so I can improvise until the consistency looks okay 😀 Honey is easier for me to process than most sugars, so doesn’t wake my carb monster as easily (and I love figs at Christmas). I imagine it will be prepared as a traditional Christmas pudding in a muslin bag and boiled.
Hi all, big cheers to Pootle, you have just made a major decision that will see you on the right track for the rest of your life – no Christmas pud or cake, and a big cheers to your husband for being so supportive. As an alternative treat maybe you could allow yourself a couple of mince pies – you can get a box of 6 and they freeze very well. I am so lucky because I hate Christmas pudding, cake and mince pies – just the smell of candid peel makes me feel sick. However, hubby has requested a cake this year as no one else seems to like it we never have one but I am sure the kids will dive in once it is put on the table.
Just one other thing Pootle, Christmas dinner is one of the healthiest meals you can have, lean chicken or turkey, lots of veg, maybe a bit of chestnut stuffing, not a bad as bread stuffing and just leave off the bread sauce. Its all the other things that go on forever.
My big downfall is pork pie with an egg through the middle. Daughter just asked what she should get in (food) for us and I said lots of salad, as I always do. She said, sorry mum the fridge is full of pork pie – it is a family joke.
Don’t know why but my weight is up again above 72kgs. Never mind, I have faith, although if I am totally honest I had a slice of seeded bread last night. Why, don’t know, just couldn’t resist it. Need to give my head a wobble. That’s the trouble with having carbs, they lead to more carbs, it is addictive.
I have an appointment for a Doppler on Tuesday. It is 2 years since Mr Doppler discovered my forked carotid artery. Hopefully, this will be my final check up for my surgery.
S-G. You are spot on… carbs lead to more carbs!
My husband loves pork pie too! Particularly the egg ones (we know them as Gala pie). Always thought he was very fortunate to get a slice with middle of the egg…🤔..until he, temporarily, worked at the factory that created/made the ‘long egg’ that runs through the middle! 😁
I have never been keen.
I hope all goes well for you on Tuesday. 🤞
Hello BSD friends of old….. I’m back in the room! And Pootle, your posts have inspired and motivated me to get back on track. I was 100% BSD a few years ago, I let it slip, life took over and Ive been watching the waggon pass me by since….with half hearted efforts to get back on. I WANT to do this (typed NEED adn changed that, I WANT to and I WILL!)
Inspired by the Christmas discussion, I remember being so excited to make a BSD friendly christmas back in 2020 and really enjoyed it.
Prawns and salmon to start; turkey and all the veg for mains and I made a sugar free chocolate cheesecake for pud! Calorific but low carb adn clean – base of bashed nuts (almond, pecans) coconut, cinnamon, ginger, held together with coconut oil; and a top of whipped double cream, whipped cream cheese, raw cacao, sweetened with some boiled up and blitzed raisins and dates, raspberry on top.
Anyway, day 1 today, egg muffins made before work for lunch along with greek yogurt. Steak and salad for dinner.
I really want to be excited for this….. I’m nervous of falling flat; but i just need to accept that life dramas will happen and i can take control, plan and enjoy meals and just suck up the challenges…knowing i WILL feel so much better for taking care of my health!
So pleased this week group still runs this thread. Brilliant!
Welcome back WindyJulz !!!!! Yes, we are still here ,but like you I had a moment where I got complacent and ended up on a slippery slope !! The main thing is we can get back on track despite the life events, dramas etc . No excuses … we do feel better for it !
Don’t be nervous, you know what to do and it’s good to be part of this group and stay accountable .I am presently focusing on 8 weeks to Christmas which is manageable as no trips away are planned .
Noone is perfect .We all have our reasons and motivations to be here.My major one is staying healthy and mobile and looking forward to another trip to Australia in the Spring . Whatever has been going on WindyJulz, move on now, plan and be mindful especially when work is a pressure .
About the Christmas cake/pudding Pootle…I would say have some if you really want .In the past I wouldn’t have said that but if it’s ONE special occasion …. Could you make your family recipe and gift it to a friend ??
Greetings everyone and wishing you a great week !!
Just done a big post and, guess what, I wasn;t actually logged in so it is lost. Briefly ;-
8 weeks to Christmas gives me 8lbs at 1lb a week, that will exceed my 3.3lb project goal. Great.
Covered my potagers (veg patches) with black plastic to supress the weeds so I don’t have to do so much digging in Spring. Planted out some garlic to see how it takes. Can always plant more in January if it does well.
Finally, said I need to get back into exercise, I have been so lazy. Deal or no Deal is back on TV so I can use that dead time to do my routines – can you guess I don’t like the programme.
Hubby is making marmalade this afternoon – don’t worry, I don’t eat it, cannot stand the peel (as I said about Xmas cake and pudding).
Have a good week.
Hi WindyJulz,
Great that I have inspired you to get back on track! I love that you had a great first BSD Christmas and the sugar free chocolate cheese cake sounds brilliant…I will give it a try soon!
Wendleg, I have tried to spread the Christmas pudding around our neighbours before…most say they don’t like Christmas Pudding!!! I do think it might put me off track if I have it in the house…so from a diabetic perspective I believe it is a no no! 🥴 BUT I think I might make the Pear and Brazil nut Chocolate Brownies from The BSD Cookbook. I have made them a couple of times and cut the portion in half, freezing most and only getting a couple out at a time! Delicious!!
I might also go for a box of the ‘mini’ mince pies or make my own tiny ones, as a major treat!
Thanks for the idea Sunshine-Girl.
Also Mixnmatch, I think the figgy pudding sounds a major possibility. I would have to use mixed spice or cinnamon instead of ginger, as I am not terribly keen on ginger! I will ask a friend who is a ‘domestic’ historian if she has a recipe for something similar! We can compare notes. My worry is I will have to try it out first…so won’t be just a Christmas treat! 😂🫣
S-G…good luck with your potager, I have grown garlic in the past, very successfully!! I am certain you will make your 1lb/week goal in the run up to Christmas.
Keep on everyone!
xxx
Hi all, just back from the Doppler. He wants to see me again in one year – thought this was the last time. I told him I was still having swelling and some pain but he said that was normal after such a big operation.
Dropped denture into dentists office and have an appt for tomorrow morning, for a clean and pick up denture.
Pootle, you are doing the right thing not buying cake and pudding if you know it is going to be a big temptation. Maybe you could send it to my husband.
Managed 30 mins exercise yesterday, have a break today but will do another 30 tomorrow.
Cherrio for now.
Good afternoon!
Welcome back WindyJulz good to ‘see’ you. I’m sure you’ll be back on track soon.
Well I’ve been home for two weeks now and have gained 0.6lbs. Not too bad but when I think I actually lost 1.6lbs when I was away it started me thinking. I just don’t have my head in the right space. I began thinking about what I was doing differently while I was away. I was eating the odd pasta meal, some desserts, maybe just a ‘taste’ , some crackers to go with the cheese and some sushi occasionally, even an odd chip here and there and yet I lost weight. I realise I was eating three meals a day, drinking more water and ‘moving’ more.
So today I’m going back to three meals. I had yogurt, apple and walnuts for breakfast, boiled eggs and two small pieces of low carb bread for lunch and planning on bolognese with courgetti spaghetti tonight. I might just be eating less in three meals than I do in two because I’ve not been that hungry at each meal today. Anyway, time will tell.
I’ve put my timer back into use so every 30 minutes I drink water and make sure I get up and move around. I’ve also gone back to weighing and recording everything on FatSecret. Hopefully by next Tuesday I’ll have stopped gaining and maybe even started losing. I’ve also gone back to recording my ‘30 a week’ which definitely reminds me to vary my diet more.
Hope this is a successful week for everyone.
Managed 2 days of exercise with Monday, rest Tuesday, exercise Wednesday, rest today. My legs are aching so it shows how out of practice I am. Will continue with Friday and Saturday and rest on Sunday.
Weight is doing okay and already hit my 1lb goal for the week, now the trick is to keep up the momentum over the weekend. Nothing planned for going out and all meals planned are BSD friendly. Pork chops in creme fraiche and mustard sauce and veg tonight, hubby cooking some awful pre-packed fish we bought that I found disgusting so I will have leftover Balti and cauli cheese tomorrow. Strange combination but they are in the fridge.
V, I stopped recording 30 a week because I was hitting that by day 3 so it wasn’t worth me continuing to write everything down. Although it tailed off as the week came to an end as I was having similar over again. It is good as an exercise to see where we are with our plant intake, so many people say they cannot do it but they would be surprised – look at the website Eating 30 Plants a Week on Zoe you can count so much more than the obvious. Like herbs and spices.
Just looking back on MyFitnessPal and asked it to show me my weight since 1st January. Wow, wow, wow. I was 75.3kg the day I weighed in on 3rd Jan – today I am 71.7kgs. Lets not forget where we were and how far we have come and give ourselves a pat on the back.
So I’ve been continuing my new regime and am feeling far more ‘satisfied’ eating when I’m hungry rather by the clock. I think my body appreciates brunch , maybe a snack and then dinner rather than being forced to wait until 12 for its first meal no matter how I feel.
S-g I’m still struggling to make 30 and I think maybe I am missing out some herbs and spices. So far this week I’ve had 24 but then I do tend to eat cauliflower most days and usually have two other vegetables with that but obviously I don’t have enough variety and I don’t eat many pulses. I’ll take another look at the list.
Difficult weekend ahead for me. An Indian meal at a friends home tomorrow so more difficult to control the carbs. Then Sunday lunch out. Sunday lunch should be quite easy really but I would call this restaurant a bit ‘arty farty’ with lots of rich creamy sauces etc. I’m sure I’ll manage to limit the damage but won’t be looking forward to the ‘number’ on Monday!
Have a good weekend.
Learned my lesson and block and copied my post – again I wasn’t logged in and would have lost it all. Anyway, here it is.
Verano, look on the bright side, think how many different veg will be in those meals, especially the indian. I am doing a chicken curry tonight and it will have onions, green pepper, garlic, ginger, butternut squash, cauliflower along with garam masala, chilli powder or flakes (not both as I dont like it too hot), turmeric, cumin. Thats 7 in one meal counting the spices as half.
I was trying to work out this 8lbs by Christmas thing and realised I am going away on the 19th so only 7 weeks for me. Then I looked back on this thread to see when we said we would try and do it, it was 4th November and already I have lost 2lbs so still might manage 8lbs but would be happy with 7 in the 7 weeks I had.
I know I am a bit of a hypochondriac but then again, I do have lots of things wrong with me. Yesterday while exercising I had a really dull ache across the top of my back, then late last night I had an accident and had to have a shower. I didn’t sleep and at around 5am the pain in my back moved round to my chest – not deep or stabbing pain, just a really dull ache, I felt like I was going to be sick. I got out of bed and everything started spinning and flashing lights. I crawled into the hall and must have been moaning and I lay down to sleep on the cold tiled floor. By now hubby had heard me and he gets into a panic trying to get me up off the floor, then he went and got a glucose pouch and dribbled it into my mouth. I started to feel a bit better and he led me back to bed. We tested my bloods and they were fine at 88. So my question is, could I have been having a heart attack. I finally fell asleep around 7am and stayed in bed until midday. What do you do when you really want to say call me an ambulance, you feel stupid, you don’t want to be a bother. I think I will have to go to hospital if it happens again. Symptoms backache, diahrrea (sp?), chest pains all around, breathless, nausea, sweating, dizziness and disorientation with flashing lights. I had this once before and didn’t do anything but when I saw the cardio I told him and asked him if there was any sign I had had a heart attack and he said no, I know from nursing it would be picked up in blood tests and also cause scar tissue.
Sorry to be a drag, just looking for someone who maybe has had experience.
Have a good weekend, btw I still feel sick but with burping.
Good grief S-G that sounds really alarming & wise to at least mention it to your Doctor? Is there the equivalent of 101 in France to be able to chat to a medic?
I weighed this morning & have gained 0.5lbs which irritates me. I am still waiting to have written confirmation of my knee diagnosis to get referred to Musculoskeletal to get my left knee X-rayed etc.which is now painful plus my knee replacement surgery. Oh well I guess I have to be a patient patient 🤔
I hope you soon feel much better 🤞🤞
Margaret xx
I didn’t put all the signs together so when I was in bed I had forgotten about the dull backache. So many symptoms are like a hypo and I don’t want to go to hospital with a hypo unless it is life-threatening as I know what to do and so does hubby. They would pump me full of glucose – just in case – and that would throw my whole system out of wack. I will be seeing my doctor in 3 weeks so I will mention it. He will probably say just call an ambulance. Not sure if we have someone to just talk to but they would be French and my hubby would have to talk for me and he is not very good. We do have a Verisure alarm system with an SOS button and it can be used for any emergency so they might decide what to do. Must remember that next time (hope there isn’t a next time). I saw the cardio about 3 months ago and he signed me off for 2 years. I know things can change.
Anyway, I am taking it easy, studying French and doing some quizzes online.
Also, I wear a fitbit and we checked my heart rate and it was steady – no fibrillation or stopping and starting.
Hope you get your knees sorted soon, it must a really painful and going on forever.
S-g so sorry to hear about your ‘incident’ and hopefully it won’t happen again. A few weeks ago I had some of your symptoms, nausea, dizziness, sweating and spinning and I put it down to some sort of ‘food poisoning’ or gi issue which of course could also cause diarrhoea. The breathlessness may have been a bit of a panic attack because of the other symptoms? Have you been exercising? If so that may account for the back ache?
Given your heart rate etc was fine maybe you are worrying unnecessarily because of you past history. Anyway, hope you are fine now.
Hi V, thank you for your concern. I had been exercising in the afternoon when I got the backache but usually I have lower back problems. This was a dull ache around the top of my back. I think the breathlessness and sweating was due to the pain, I wasn’t panicking. Even when I got out of bed and collapsed in the hall I wasn’t bothered, I was pretty much out of it and hubby struggled to get me to come round. Just talking it through helps. It reminded me we have our SOS button on our house alarm and hopefully you can get someone who speaks English. I would know exactly what to say or ask but hubby is a different story, besides which, he was in such a state. I must teach him ma femme est malade, je pense qu’elle pourrait avoir une crise cardiaque. Then they would ask for my symptoms and he would panic again. It is difficult over the phone, he wont be able to just wave his arms around and point like he does in shops 🙂
S-g maybe you could translate a series of symptoms on separate pieces of paper then just pick out the relevant ones for him to read over the phone!!!
BTW you have made me think about my 30 a week. I do have a curry, or home made tikka at least once a week. I’d never thought to include the spices or even garlic. When I think I add chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander, lemongrass, coconut milk, Thai herbs and a red/green curry paste to my Thai curries I probably have way more than my 30 a week!
V, I have asked him to write down a few phrases but have you ever tried to tell a man to do something 🙂 Maybe he was so shook up he might actually do it.
S-G, what a frightening experience. I hope your doctor can tell what caused it and it doesn’t happen again!
Done it again, posted but not logged in so lost it. Here it is in brief.
Think my incident was a hypo as you don’t get the other symptoms with a heart attack. Disorientation, flashing lights, not knowing where I was or what I was doing – like being very very drunk. Discovered my leg is covered in bruises after what I think was a fall, although I wasn’t aware of it, I was on the floor in the hall.
Will be exercising this afternoon and will watch out for backache. Weight is up but that might be down to a chunk of baguette with my beef stew last night. Hopefully, I will drop by tomorrow.
Have a good week.
Very glad it was not a heart attack SG, but still worrisome it was a hypo.
There was an article in the Telegraph this morning about “super-agers” (people who live to a healthy and functional old age) — the doctor they were talking to specifically referenced INSULIN as an important factor in making it to a healthy old age — insulin is the mediator of a lot of bad stuff, cancer, dementia etc.
But we already KNEW that due to Dr. Bikman’s work (his book “Why We Get Sick”) and his research on the effects of insulin. Which gets us back to the Mosely Blood Sugar Diet! We are controlling and lowering our insulin levels naturally by eating this way — so obviously it is going to have an effect (good) on longevity and staying sharp into old age. It’s a win win!
I know I have said it before, but I follow this WOE more for the brain benefits than for weight loss — once you get into a reasonably healthy weight level, it seems far more important to me to care about my brain as I age (I am 68).
thank you Wendy, SB, Sunny, for keeping us a thread- I know I only dip in sometimes but it’s a huge comfort to know this group is here 🙂
Just re-started the WOE properly, again……yesterday……let’s see if I can get a good bit of weight off and feel more healthy.
Love to all, Tulip xxx
Hi all, weight is back down and I am hoping for a further 0.4kg loss over the next few days taking me down to a new low. I didn’t make my 9lb loss for oct/nov but I am 7lbs down which is great.
Just booked for a Christmas lunch on 13th Dec. They asked for any allergies and I told them I don’t eat carbs. We have been to the place before for a buffet and everything was served in pastry or deep fried in breadcrumbs so I reminded them that they said if I had said they would have been able to cater for me. Lets see.
S-g 7lbs is great! Don’t be disappointed.
I made my 1lb goal this week plus a little more and that was with a very ‘sociable’ weekend. I have a short term goal of 5 weeks and a longer term goal of 22 weeks. I’m staying with my goal of 1lb a week with anymore being a bonus. I’m finding that eating in the morning when I’m hungry rather than adhering to TRE is working much better for me. Some days I have two meals and some three. Some days I have a snack mid afternoon and sometimes not. I’ve been weighing my food because I do feel that my portion control has flown out of the window. No, it definitely has! I realise that I need to cut certain foods down so weighing is the way to go for now.
Start of a new week let’s make it count.
I went up by 1lb yesterday and lost it again today!!! Now I am getting near to my target weight, it is becoming even more difficult. Still weighing and calculating cals and carbs…trying to get the balance of ‘maintenance calories’…(1200 rather than 800??) with 50g total carbs per day, to ensure I remain below the Diabetes threshold and keep the weight steady. I assume it IS possible???
A question;
When you count/calculate the carbs in your food, do you use the total carb or the sugar only?
e.g. package says “Carbohydrate 2.2g
of which sugars 1.5g”
Do you count 2.2g or 1.5g????
Thanks.
Pootle in the UK the carbs quoted are the ‘net carbs’ so you would count 2.2g.
Thanks Verano, that is what I thought, so have been going by the higher carb figure. However, was looking at a couple of recipes on this site, which seemed to have much less carb than I calculate it to be..but which tallied with the ‘sugar’ content. So wondered! I will carry on with the total carb!
Pootle not all recipes, either on this site or in the recipe books, count carbs accurately. Best to do your own calculations. As I said in the UK carbs on packets etc are ‘Net’ but in the US they are ‘Total’ so it is confusing especially when you read recipes from other countries. Australia counts in the same way as we do.
Hi Pootle,
If you are getting near your target weight then it is worth thinking about the transition to maintenance, but several of us found a few years ago that the so called ‘reverse diet’ worked really well. Essentially you increase the calories gradually, I.e. from 800 to 850 for a week, then 900 for a week, then 950 and so on. Keep weighing yourself (you will probably find you still lose weight during this process, sometimes it even accelerates!) and when you reach a value at which you register an increase after the week, stay with that value for another week and weigh again. If it stays the same, another week at the same value, this may be your personal limit, if it rises again, try going back 50 calories, and if it falls then add another 50. This way seems to have the dual effect of helping the metabolism recover from any slow down and get you used to maintenance portions going forwards.
Hi all, I have just received an email from the chateau where we are going for our charity christmas lunch. I wrote telling them about my diet and they replied that it was no problem and they would look after me. I haven’t seen the menu yet but assume because it is for a load of English people it might be very traditional. Very happy now I know I can go and enjoy without having to worry.
Weight is steady and still just above 71kgs. Fingers still crossed. Will go and do some exercise in a while, while Deal or no Deal is on 🙂
Thank you all.
Verano I see that I will have to continue weighing and calculating for most meals!
Mixnmatch. That sounds a supremely sensible approach to maintaining weight, as I am certain we all need different calorie intakes, depending on our metabolism and activity. When I get there 🤞I will certainly try it this way!
S-G brilliant that the Chateau is going to cater for your diet. I suppose many restaurants are now used to having to adapt to other diets and allergies (gluten free, vegetarian, vegan etc) so we shouldn’t be surprised that they can offer a low carb meal!
Hi again, still the same. Made a really silly faux pas that English people often make when they think words that are the same in French and English mean the same thing. Fortunately, I know most of these and this is the most well known. Man touting for business roof cleaning, I told him it had been cleaned just a few months ago. Hubby shouted out in English that they used a preservative to keep it in good condition. So without thinking I said, il a utilise un preservatif – which translates to he used a condom. Honestly, I have never done that before. Still, it made him laugh.
Bought my second Christmas jumper today and had to take it back as I bought a M when I should have got an L. Thought I was slimmer than that but it was quite clingy.
Help, we are going to the cinema tonight – 2h 30 mins of Gladiator. Still there is nothing on TV except football so it is the better choice.
Winter is now upon us and we have turned on the heating. 16 degrees daytime but down to 3 or 4 during the night, needed an extra blanket on my feet.
Hi all, film last night was as expected, very violent and very loud but it did go faster than I expected. When we got home I popped a readymeal in the micro. Not like me but it was after 9pm when we got home. Surprisingly, it was a lasagne with no pasta but made just like I would with aubergine slices, calories were about 400 and I forgot to look at carbs. Slight blip up, just 0.01 kgs. I would probably buy it again but it was supposed to serve 4 and we ate it all, so with better planning I could cut it down to 200 cals with a plate of veg as extra.
Seen a beautiful red dress on the Debs site and been battling with should I buy it now or should I just hope there will be something nearer the time of the cruise in April (sure there will be). Anyway, couldn’t get it out of my head and decided to buy knowing I can send it back. Problem solved, they don’t deliver to France, so I can forget about it for now. Tried on a size 14 (very fitted) dress I have had in the wardrobe for years as a test sizing. No way can I get into it, maybe need to lose a stone – so that is still on my list for the cruise.
Hubby is giving the pool its final clean and we are going to have to get the winter cover on. As previously mentioned it weighs around 200kgs, so we have to drag it and hook it on bit by bit. Lets see how we get on before we have to call the neighbours for help 🙂
Just spent a fun afternoon, trying on clothes that I have stored since 2022 and packing away the clothes that I bought at the end of 2023 and early this year! I am so pleased I didn’t send my smaller sized clothes to a charity shop, but had the forethought to store them….in hope!!
Hope all is well with everyone today.. The sun is shining here and making everything seem more hopeful!
Hi all, Pootle, bet that made you feel fantastic. I want to get down another pound before I sort out my wardrobe, although things fit me last year and I am only about half a stone lighter so not much difference.
Managed to get the pool cover on. The weight (about 200kgs) is not important if we can get it done bit by bit and pegging it down as we go, but it nearly killed us. So proud to have it done.
A bit fed up of dithering around the 71.3 mark for the past 2 weeks although that is still nearly 2lbs lighter on my 1lb a week challenge as I lost most of it in the first week then stuck. Not giving up. Annoyed that I have had no alcohol either and it doesn’t seem to make much difference to weight – again, not giving up. 13 days to go to end of Nov alcohol free.
Winter is definitely here now with temperatures touching on 10 degrees so I am wearing my thermals.
Saying hello to a new week. Keep on keeping on…
Hello. Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
Well done Pootle! Must feel really good to have had the forethought to keep your smaller sizes and even better to fit into them again!
Well done s-g on managing that 200kg pool cover. Sounds like a terrible job but then again a job well done!
Plodding along here. Just about on track for my pound-a-week. But, really could do better. Made my first ‘winter’ casserole on Friday and really enjoyed it and the bonus is that I have several portions in the freezer = cooking free nights!
This coming week has a couple of less easy situations. Thai meal on Thursday but I manage with morning glory or pak choi instead of rice so hopefully not too carby. Then on Sunday we are 8 or 10 for lunch here. My call, so will keep plenty of low carb proteins on the menu. Fortunately I don’t really enjoy desserts so that shouldn’t be a problem especially as we give left-overs to a neighbour = temptation gone!
Hope the new week brings new resolve and in the UK wrap up well it’s going to be very very cold!
Hi all, starting thinging of planning for my 2 country holiday, so learning some Spanish and Italian. Hope I dont get them mixed up. Learnt Spanish before and know the basics like como for food, nino for boy, hombre for man but that isnt going to get me far. Doing it on Dulolingo but still have to keep up with my French – I am on a 65 day streak.
Thinking of telling my cleaner I don’t need her any more. After I knew I didn’t need her anymore, thought it would be just nice to have the house cleaned once a month but she doesn’t do a proper job. I employed her when I was post surgery and wasnt able to do anything. Then I thought she is young and she can get into all the nooks and crannies but she doesn’t. She polishes and cleans the kitchen and bathroom and then she vacuums for about half an hour and washes the floors in about 2 minutes. I was a bit put out this time as I had just bought a new cooker hob and she spent 20 minutes cleaning a perfectly clean, unused hob. Then she smashes the vacuum into all the walls, it is brand new and she would have cracked the front except I left the protective plastic on it. We bought a new lightweight vac as she said our Dyson was too heavy and that is why she took so long to vacuum. Then I had to go into the bedroom and clean behind the bedside tables and behind the radiators. I have told her but unless I mention every little thing she doesn’t do it properly. Am I wrong. My house has all tiled or parquet floors, is on one level and we are a couple who clean up after ourselves as we go so it is never dirty and I feel I can do a better job.
Sorry for the moan but I don’t think I need her anymore. Anyway, I have 4 weeks to think about it.
Have a good week.
Good morning!
Still on track for my goal of 1lb a week with a bonus 1/2lb this week too. Having spent the last couple of weeks ‘experimenting’ with eating times I’m finding that two meals a day, mid morning, which is earlier than I had been eating, and early evening seem optimum at the moment. I’m finding if I have a high protein brunch I’m not hungry until late afternoon when an apple or a few olives or nuts get me through until dinner. I think we each have to find the eating pattern that our own body responds to.
S-g yes a dilema indeed! I know exactly how you feel it’s really irritating when things aren’t done as you like them. I guess you just have to look at the jobs you hate doing or can’t do as easily these days and make a judgement from there. We also live on one level but are both mobility challenged so there are some jobs we just can’t do like climbing ladders to clean windows!
So just five more weeks before Christmas and then one more to the end of the year. I’m on track to be over a stone less than at the beginning of the year. Not a great deal you could argue but given our trips away this year I’m quite happy to have enjoyed life and still dropped weight!
Have a good week,