Having mild panic crew – just weighed on random Italian scales and I am up a kg! I now have twelve days to lose 4 kg – any emergency suggestions?

Ontowatch – ignore the random Italian scales, an awful lot of scales are not at all accurate. Go weigh on the ones you usually use and trust. As for the 4 kilos/12 days problem I am unable to advise but there are many experts on here. I know we are all wishing you well/crossing fingers/praying/sending vibes etc. You can do it.

Meanwhile I am having bad day -fell off the 800cal wagon. B&Q had offer on floor tiles, checked in stock in local store, drove 18 miles – had only 2sq m when I need 37. Drove home in a bad temper getting hungrier by the minute. Ate 100ml of double cream with a teaspoon (yes, it was delicious but also 467 cals). A modest frittata has now brought my total to 1204 – although only 3 carbs. On the good side a friend observed that I looked thinner – either too kind or the Drs scales are like the Italian ones. So a quick order from Amazon for new scales – no idea where in the packing the old ones are. Amazed how many reviews slated the inaccuracy of what was on offer. One set showed a discrepancy of 1 stone when person hopped off and tried again. Chose set with best review for accuracy.

Onetowatch – wibbly speaks the truth! Scales often lie! Too soon for me to have any wise words about rapid loss but I bet you can do it. Are you measuring food? I started this evening and that’s a bit of a shock. I’ve definitely been a bit generous on the old (low carb) portion sizes.

Wibbly, it’s hard isn’t it, but you kept the carbs down and that’s the good thing. I’m currently quite sad about how many carbs there are in white onions. And how many calories there are in cream. I was thinking today that I may have given up ice-cream/custard and other lovely things but at least there’s still cream. With a bit of grated 85% chocolate on it. I’ve been letting the kids have thatvwith strawberries to try and wean them off other, more sugary, stuff. I drank some straight from the fridge yesterday (bad day with kids) and unsurprisingly did not lose any weight.

DutchJamie – Mona – hope you had a fabulous day and all the scores on the doors are just as good if not better tomorrow.

J x

Jackie M – I share your sorrow over the white onions. I cannot find any substitute which is lower.

Scallions and spring onions. I use scallions the most, chopping the white section when I need a sharper onion flavor, the green for an herbier taste and the two together for general use. Two whole scallions (total weight 30 grams) are 10 calories and 1 gram net carbs. I put a couple in practically every salad I make, plus in fried cauliflower rice, all Chinese-adjacent dressings and marinades, omelettes, roasted mushrooms, tuna/chicken/egg salad, spicy tuna sushi, shrimp salad and a long list of other things that I used to make with regular onions.

The closest to the full white onion experience is the bulb of the spring onion. Spring onions are even lower in calories than scallions (7 per 30 grams) and even though the amount of sugar is practically non-existent (very much unlike white onions), they roast up absolutely beautifully. They caramelize almost to an onion jam flavor. I could eat a plate of them just by themselves. The only downside is you can’t always find them at the store. As the name suggests, they are seasonal.

Thank you wobbly wibbly and jackie – can’t change the scales because not home till ten days time – but we are going to try again at another pharmacy. My husband peter sends me off like a prize fighter for my weigh in but today we went to two places and found them closed or the scale broken so we made do with number three which didn’t look very professional.

I have been super strict today and had six litres of water as it is super hot here. Today I had 4 walnuts and a peach then a tuna carpaccio salad with grilled veg and for dinner a two egg omelette with spinach type greens and mushrooms and a side salad. I had a single lick of Pete’s magnificently large cone. Lol

Esnecca: In the UK scallions and spring onions are synonymous. You can get them all the year round. And they do have their place – snuggled up next to crispy duck in pancakes; dipped in sauces as part of crudites; rather boringly in salad BUT they do not, to my pallette, replace “real” onions. Once onto maintenance I shall be glad to see them glistening beside steak; giving chicken casserole a much needed kick up the parsons nose; accompanying cheese…Meanwhile the steak will have to be content with mustard sauce; the chicken to become Indian; and the cheese drawer to languish empty.

Ah well, never mind. At least on this diet I am getting a load of turmeric which is supposed to be a wonderful counter to arthritis and dementia. Soon I may be able to kneel down whilst thinking about food!

Scallions are long and thin and have no bulb at the root, just a white cylinder that is the same width as the light green part of the stalk before it splits off into the dark green bits. Spring onions have a bulb at the base, round, full, not as big as a mature white onion but shaped like one.

The nomenclature issue is confusing, but they really don’t look at all the same and the don’t taste the same either. Scallions are much milder. Maybe you can find what we in the US call a spring onion and give them a try for cooking.

Hey

everyone is doing so well!!

I have been up and down, the big issue for me is friends and picnics – so many younger friends, and friends with kids and grandkids want to meet over the summer weeks and so there have been restaurants and picnics. Have kept to the right ingredients but portion size…NO.

After many ups and downs I have weighed in at nearly 3 weeks as having lost 7 kilos. Body fat % down appx 2.5% overall. My target is to lose 25 kilos. So I don’t think I’ll do it in the 8 weeks, but I’ll have made a good start if I keep it up.

On the scales issue I like ours which seem to match our GPs ones fairly well. Also they calculate fat % based on water resistance. Although water content goes up and down during 24 hours, and so your % fat does too, if you weigh at the same time each day (eg after having been to the loo in the morning) it gets quite consistent. They are TANITA scales.

Am so impressed by everyones progress and dedication and attention to detail. I need to pay far more attention to the detail and the portion sizes and your posts are inspiring me to do this.

Thank you!

Fianna

PS wibbly been enjoying grating fresh turmeric into fresh miso paste soup with bits dried seaweed, dried mushrooms and finely sliced green beans and spring onions. garlic puree and paprika. Squeeze of lemon juice at the end. Really tasty and nourishing. I don’t know the calorie count, apart from 40 for the miso paste, but assume it is low

Hi Onetowatch,

Just popped in and saw your post, mid-week the scales told me that I had put on 3lbs despite sticking to the diet and going to the gym, it stuck for a couple of days and disappeared this morning leaving me a pound and a half lighter than my starting point on Monday……obviously all fluid. We both just need to hang in there and keep low call, low carb and lots of exercise and it will work, or so I keep telling myself 🙂

Best,
L

Esnecca: Wanting to avert hunger pangs did a bit of research – all sources identify scallions and spring onions as synonymous (although the latter is used more in UK and the former in the USA). Had a look at Royal Horticultural Society – all spring onions are immature ordinary onions but the Japanese onion (Ishikura and Shimonita) seem to grow a straight stem without the bulging bottom but with a thicker stem. They are supposedly less strong and sweeter. So I suspect your “scallions” are Japanese baby onions whilst mine are baby White Lisbon etc. Well it staved off the pangs for a few minutes! Don’t know why I am so peckish this morning – think a couple of hard boiled eggs may be called for…

I know what you mean about portion control. My dinner looked so lonely on a dinner plate that I went on Amazon and bought some smaller ones…not sure it is making much difference to satiety but at least it looks less depressing.

Hi Wibbly, yes plate sizes and shapes help – we got some of the ‘bowls’ with very wide rims (like the ones in Italian restaurants for pasta which look so huge yet the inner bowl itself is still full-looking) and they help with portion control, also somehow because they ‘frame’ the food nicely, it looks that much more special, you look at it more, and you’ve got to be more ‘present’ to the fact you are eating because of that, which impacts satiety.

Jackie M thanks for that article you sent about what happens when you eliminate insulin – hugely helpful

I have Tanita scales which give pretty consistent fat/weight readings. I also weigh in once a month with the body composition scales at work (hospital) and the readings are pretty consistent with t hose at home. I use the work ones as I am doing a long build up training plan to a half marathon and I wanted to check my bones and muscles were OK with this approach to the plan and low carbing – they are.

I have also used the calculator below for fat calculation which just needs your height, weight, sex and neck, waist, hip measurements. Only my experience to go on but it has been pretty consistent with my other scales use – only a 1/2 %age difference which could be down to the different times of day each reading was done.

http://m.free-online-calculator-use.com/military-body-fat-calculator.html

One to Watch if it is still really hot in Italy don’t worry about the scales too much as we do tend to hold on to more fluids when the heat gets excessive. I hope you are enjoying your holiday,remember stress can also add to your weight.

Well, I just started properly weighing my food and using MyFitness Pal to count carbs and calories. Bit of s revelation! Who knew 100g of yoghurt was so small!

Went out to Alfriston in West Sussex today, totally lovely place. Ordered Sunday Roast with out the carbs. Ended up with lamb and broccoli, whilst all around me tucked into Roast potatoes, carrots, peas and onions, whilst over the road I watched people tuck into their massive cakes. I didn’t MIND, exactly, but I did feel a bit … deflated.

Got home and reckon I ate enough calories to not have dinner. Neither am I hungry, really, so the portion control is do-able. I guess I’ve always eaten to taste not hunger, and so MORE has always been default, but now even more brocolli leads to more carbs than I meant to eat. Which is a massive mind reset for me.

Ho hum, another day in the rest of my life.

Hope everyone else had a good Sunday. Hopefully the scales will be kind tomorrow xx

Esnecca I was intrigued with the spring onion /scallion post. In the UK we have your US scallions which we call spring onions but to my knowledge we don’t have an equivalent to your ‘spring onions’. In Spain you can buy cebollitas, small onions, which are just as you describe your ‘spring onions’ . I didn’t realise they have so many fewer carbs than a full blown onion because they certainly have the same flavour. Thanks for that information.

You sometimes get the little onions with a bulb at Waitrose, sometimes just called salad onions.

The spring onions I know aren’t little, exactly. The bulbs are smaller early in the season, maybe a 1.5 inches in diameter, but by the end of the season are closer to 3 inches. This picture shows US scallions compared with late-season spring onions:

http://www.restaurantgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/onions.jpg

The red skin of the spring onions is not common to all of them. There are pure white ones as well. Different onion varietals have different features even when they’re babies. The ones at my market this season were red just like in the picture. Inside they were white.

Verano, the amount of sugar in onions was one of my first major shocks when I started measuring, weighing and logging everything. I was so happy to find that spring onions had numbers equivalent to scallions. I’m seriously considering trying to grow them in containers indoors so I can have a steady supply through the fall and winter.

Thanks Mnm I’ll look out for those next time I’m in Waitrose.

Esnecca I have to also admit that one of the things that shocked me most at first, were the carbs in fruit. I know, when I think about it, that they contain sugar but I’d never realised how much. If I’m away in a hotel I still get surprised at the number of people who have a ‘healthy’ breakfast of plate loads of fruit! Mind you it’s got to be better than the plates loaded with doughnuts, croissants and Danish pastries! This WOE has certainly opened my eyes.

I’m reading all these posts about onions with interest, as I had bought a small packet of pre-diced onions to scatter in food for flavour.

Would pickled onions be okay?

I’m really struggling this week. I looked like I’d lost another 4 lbs last Friday, and by yesterday, it looked like I’d put on 6 lbs. Feeling very deflated 🙁 no discernible weight loss 🙁

Felt so miserable about myself last night that I had a couple of small water tumblers-full of red wine. Feel even worse about myself this morning because I did that.

Will be visiting my Endo/Gynae again in October and when I go back to her, it looks like I’ll be the same plump lump that I’ve been for years, she’ll think I didn’t make any kind of an effort. Sigh.

Morning everyone,

Well that’s week 1 done.
Weight loss: 6 lbs
FBG 6.6
1 inch gone from my waist

I haven’t been able to have 800 calories yet but have averaged 950. It’s clearly working.
Here’s to the next 7!

Mona x

I doubt pickled onions would be a good idea – when pickling you add either sugar or honey – at least you do in the UK.

Getting a bit bore with onions but here they are the same species – although some cultivars bulb out readily and others, known to horticulturalists as bunching onions – the Japanese varieties are like that. If you leave a standard spring onion in the ground it will stop being slim to the bottom and develop a bulb. What is interesting and makes sense is that the carbs increase with scalel of bulb – after all it is laying down food for next year.

Off to work with a couple of eggs.

Hi, we’re well into August but I’ve finally got my act together and started today (again!)
I’m not diabetic as far as I lnow but the meditarean diet works for me, when I follow it of course !
Starting off at 10′ 2.5″ but only 5″1′ so need to be lighter as I’m 55. Posting on here by way of incentive and support for myself and others if I can. I don’t eat meat and not that much fish so find some challenges there so I’m looking for tasty veggie based recipies as I hate quorn and tofu. I’m also happy to share recipies I’ve picked up along the way!
Good luck to us all – those well on their way and those starting today !😊

Hi folks

It’s # springoniongate! I know what you mean about the red bibles ones esnecca I get those in my veg box.

I am trying out a 36 hour fast after reading Jason fungus obesity code back to back in one day yesterday. I have to get down to 72.5 for weigh day at the nhs on the 30th August with no negotiable. Plus it is so hot here in Italy I though I would use that to my advantage so started fast last night after BBQ pork and salad at 7pm and won’t eat again until tomorrow at 7am at least – later if I can stand it.

Any tips from previous tasters?

Very impressed with losses so far from Finanna and Dutch! Ritaryvita honestly hang in there between week 2 day 5 and week 4 day 1 I lost nuffink just went up and down. Try to think of it as ‘ I am recalibration my internal insulin mechanisms- I am helping my body heal – and the weight loss is a great side effect/bonus…. ‘ I know it is tough! Love from mount Serrano on the Adriatic. E

I’ve quite enjoyed my extended fasts, although I wasn’t in Italy surrounded by the best food in the world at the time. Mostly I drank plain water with fizzy water as a treat during what would have been meal times. I accompanied it with a pinch of Maldon salt flakes. They crunch when you bite down on them and then melt on the tongue in the most beautiful way. I am so salt-craving these days that even one tiny pinch of a wonderful gourmet salt is the greatest pleasure.

Good luck, Onetowatch. You can do it!

Weighed in again – down to just under 99 from 101 – if the Drs scales are accurate.Bloods good, warfarin needs to be increased.

25 hours in and apart from peeing for England I am ok! Watched the husband scoff a pizza and an ice cream without any signs of hysteria on my part! I am determined to make it to tomorrow morning at least. Bad news is I weighed again and am only down 300g so on a major ten day plateau and slightly panicking now. How can I get nowhere when I have eaten nothing at all?

When I fasted from Wednesday at 5:00 until Saturday around 2:00, The big losses showed up on the scales Friday and Saturday morning. Try not to stress out too much Onetowatch. It’ll just jack up your cortisol level and we don’t want that. Forza e coraggio!

Seconded on the stress causing plateaus, so try to relax and just go with it, and don’t expect instant results. The ‘transient’ weight increases of fluid and everything in your stomach weighs a lot more than the fat you lose in the short term, so watching the scales in the short term can be very frustrating. After your fast try including plenty of fat and a little salt in whatever meal you choose to break your fast.

Two days properly measuring cals and carbs and another kilo bites the dust! After fannying around at the same weight for about a week – which on other diets would be normal! Funny how the weights that dismayed on the way up bring such joy on the way down! I’ve lost 4 kilos since I started now 😀👍. 12.5kg to go and then I won’t be overweight (just!) Heady days!

Hope everyone has a good day xx

Great result Jackie! Really good – keep on trucking

@esnecca and @mix I hear you- am downs. Kilo after 36 hour fast which I quite enjoyed and broke fast with nice mushroom fried on olive oil action!

@lucinda and @annie thanks for the tips.

Decided to try to get to 48 hours starting tonight – wish me luck. Am trying not to stress but the pressure has me close to tears – if it wasn’t for this nhs requirement I would be thrilled by my losses and be in no hurry but this deadline is really eating away at me!

We are in mount sibillini a spectacularly gorgeous national park with a sky filled with amazing stars – swimming in gorges and lakes and walking in lord of the rings style scenery so I feel very blessed

Thanks for all the support gang!

Keep going Onetowatch, you can do that fast.
It’s seriously disturbing the way weight fluctuates from one day to another, but I’ve convinced myself that the important thing is the trend line. As long as it is descending and you are largely sticking to calorie restriction with no sugar/alcohol, you should be ok. I’m sticking with a goal of 800 calories a day. Weight dropped dramatically in first couple of weeks but has slowed down now. I’m at the end of third week.

Italy sounds divine.

Morning everyone! Lovely wild swim in the lake this morning! 🏊🏼

Trying out a 48 hour water fast from last night – wish me luck!

Jj- it is weird isn’t it – and the stalls too- I have found these fasts seem to jolt my body into action after two 12 day plateaus.

Really enjoying readin everyone’s posts.
I’m now on day 10, have lost 7 and a half pounds and FBG was 4.8 this morning.

Averaging probably about 900 calories daily; 800 still seems hard to reach…

I’ve not lasted this long on ANY plan before so feeling positive.

Made some chia pudding last night with coconut milk. Yum.

Mona x

Forgot to say: did a 24 hour fast from lunch Monday to lunch Tuesday. It was sort of unexpected, as had used all my calories at lunch but wasn’t hungry Tuesday morning so just pushed on til lunch time. 👍🏼

Mona – wow wow wow! Such good news esp re blood sugar.

Onetowatch – surely you must be losing weight by the bucket load. Fingers crossed for you. To think I was worried about going to the gym having only had Greek yoghurt and almonds and there’s you swimming on a fast.

I’m another 1/2 kilo down today and so uninterested in food I’ve only been around 600 calls the last two days. I think it is the metformin I took for three days, which I stopped yesterday because I felt so sick and I figured I’d rather be hungry than feel ill. I’m not diabetic so it’s not compulsory, and I was keeping to the BSD well before so I don’t think I need it. ho hum, onwArds and downwards as people say on the boards! Feel a lot better, face a lot thinner, as are boobs, and waistline beginning to come back. No-one else has noticed yet though. Thought of first comment keeping me going, together with feeling way sharper and brighter than I have for a while.

Oh and Wibbly just saw your post too. Well done! That’s good isn’t it? If anything dr scales surely make you heavier as, certainly in my case, I am more clothed at Drs! Hope it’s getting a bit easier?

Hi there everyone
I finally get a little time alone and wanted to give thanks to your posts which I can read on my mobile. I really have the feeling of not doing this alone.
I am still going strong but today I ate 3 forks of pasta for the first time in my 22 days. I am on holiday with 2 Italian friends who talk about food and make delicious pasta every day, it’s really challenging at some moments. Until now I was OK…but then…. Now I just have to shake it off and go on.
I don’t have a good scale so I don’t weight but I feel my body slowly changing. Since we go to the sea everyday and I spend the days in dresses, i put on sunblock and cream a lot which makes me very aware of my body. Surely I would love to look like a model but over the last years I had turned a blind eye over the fat that clings to my body. It gives me peace of mind that I am following this WOE now. At least I know I’m doing what is good for my body now.

One to watch…keep going. I have lots of admiration for your determination and how you’re going for it.
To all the others…let’s keep going. Every day we get closer

Hi everyone

Perfectly horrible day today. Fasted all day till the evening then gave in because it was just rotten. First I watched in horror as a kitten got run over and killed and died in front of me. Then my tenants in Ayr are just not paying their rent and it really stressing me out. Then we went to Assisi and I just found all the religious stuff really oppressive and started crying.

My husband said ‘ you are not in purgatory you know’ – he doesn’t want me to feel like I am punishing myself. So I broke fast at 24 hours and had some grilled fish and spinach with olive oil
And now I feel half human again but also very very sad and tired. So going to bed.

Aww that’s so sad ☹️

What a perfectly respectable way of breaking a fast too; well done. It sort of feels good you ate in your situation.

Hope you have a much better day tomorrow xxx

It is weird how stress or sorrow (in Onetowatch’s case) can so alter hunger or perception of hunger that one simply has to eat. I am amazed that she had the strength to resist large portions given the horrible day and her approaching deadline (which I am sure she will beat even if she has to sandpaper the weight off). Keep going Onetowatch – we believe you can do it.

Under a much lower level of stress I returned from Monday’s con, sat down at the PC to write notes for Tuesday’s con and thought “I’ll just have a few nuts”. Worry, worry, munch, munch, munch…completely blew the 800 limit. Fortunately my handyman is an elderly hippy with a huge appetite (skin and grief – not an ounce on him) who gladly accepted a donation of the remaining unopened packets this morning. MM’s suggestion of putting the wine in a far cupboard just doesn’t work with stress – the nearest supermarket with nuts is 18 miles away – if I have another stressful day resulting in vicious hunger onset I shall be reduced to raiding my polytunnel for salad veg which should be less harmful.

I would have to be locked in a padded room if I saw a kitten killed before my eyes. You dealt with the horror with emotional honesty while still making healthy choices, Onetowatch. Life threw you a terrible curveball and you knocked it out of the park, at no small cost to yourself. Very well done.

Wibbly, have you tried roasted seaweed snacks? They’re sheets of nori that have been seasoned, oven roasted and cut into rectangles. They are so healthy and so low in calories and carbs that you can easily eat a whole package without destroying your daily totals. SeaSnax is my preferred brand, with TraderJoe’s a close second.

Be careful to read the ingredients. There are so-called seaweed snacks out there that are layered with carby stuff like rice flour. You want the the ones that are only made of nori and savory seasonings. Avoid the teriyaki flavors (they usually have added sugar) and stick with the sea salt, sesame and wasabi flavors. Wasabi is by far my favorite, with a great little spicy kick that sticks to your fingers so you get to enjoy the pleasure of licking the seasoning off your fingers when the package is done. When you’re in danger of mindless eating, these guys will be your best friend.

Hey there all, slightly lower 200g loss today, but I did have less stringent day yesterday and slightly over 800csls, but I’m taking it as it takes me down to 71.9 kg v 72.1kg!

OnetoWatch. Sorry to hear about your horrid day, I wonder if it was all magnified by fasting? I am glad you broke your fast, which you did so sensibly, so doesn’t seems like a failure at all to me. 48hrs seems awfully long not to eat and we need a certain amount of fat to be happy (there is some science behind that statement but I can’t remember what exactly!) I think fasting on retreat is a bit different to being on holiday and in the midst of it all. You’ve definitely not blown your chances of reaching 72kg anyway.

Wibbly, last time I lost weight was by hypnosis and one of the new rules I introduced was only eating at the table, without reading. Eating whilst reading has been my favourite hobby since I was 9. I wondered if imposing that habit on yourself would prevent nutgate (or similar). I found that if the choice was stopping what was doing to go eat quite often I wouldn’t be bothered. Or I’d be sitting at the table really wanting to go do the other thing so I’d leave the food. This was a bit of a revelation to me at the time and meant I didn’t feel deprived, which is my trigger for a binge.

Esnecca. I am obliged to you for your suggestion. However I eat no pre-made snacks of any kind and never have. If not created in my own kitchen from real ingredients nothing passes my or the families lips. I do eat nuts and they are supported by MMs book but are too tasty too retain within the house during a period of calorie restriction given my stress triggers.

Jackie M – I also read at table…Most meals are eaten at the pc desk so I can read news etc whilst eating. It doesn’t seem to have any effect on appetite. It does seem however that the stress caused by “can I understand this/finish this/meet my deadline” has a nasty impact on my nut capacity. Years ago, before I reformed, it caused automatic incessant smoking. So, just as I emptied the house of cigarettes, I have now emptied the house of nuts. I had already disposed of all flours, fruits dried and fresh, pasta and other temptations. I defy even me to “snack” on cold prawns….or to overeat on cucumber, oriental leaves, lettuce, rocket, or courgettes.

Many bleak months await until I can restock my pantry, knock up some dough, and feed the workforce home made pizza or a vast chicken, leak, mushroom & cream pie, or a few fresh scones with strawberry jam and whipped cream. Once I have reached target weight I have promised them the oven will be hot – but only once a week. So they had best go on bringing sandwiches.

Hey ho – onwards and downwards.

That’s cool. You can easily make your own seaweed snacks from Nori sheets, which nowadays are very easily found because people are so into sushi. Here’s a recipe for the wasabi version: http://www.thekitchn.com/afternoon-snack-wasabitoasted-126073

Nuts are great and full of good fats, but that means they’re very high in calories and a lot of them aren’t great on the carbs either. The lowest are pecans and Brazil nuts with walnuts right behind them. I stick with Brazil nuts, that I season myself and dehydrate for extra crunch, and the occasional peanut. Anything higher than almonds on the carb chart is off the list for me.

Seaweed, on the other hand, is chock full of trace vitamins and minerals and probiotics, is dead low in calories and practically carbless. Western diets don’t eat anywhere near enough of it.

Forgive me but I should find it very easy indeed to avoid snacking on your suggestion.