HI Lovely peeps! Really sorry but I have posted this somewhere else today but cant find it. Ive now remebered how to do it I think so bare with me!
Not sure how many here remember me from last year? I see Sunshine and Gwen and other veterans still going strong! You guys are awesome! 🙂 Anyway just want to say hello to everyone. I’m finding my own way with low cal/low carb again.

I have spent the last year researching everything and went insane. I fell down the rabbit hole and sailed away in a tea cup with ( my therapist, Gary Taubes, Mosley, Noakes, Jason Fung, Nina Telcholz and every Netflix/You tube nutrition documentay avaialble, until an eminant doctor climbed aboard and told me to eat poatoes and carrots every day or I’d mess my thyroid up for EVER….and the whole cup tipped over into a river of my tears. I am better now.:) I have stopped crazy researching …as much as is possible when you are food/nutriton/weight obsessed. However, I did find out that for me THE answer is definitly NOT in the internet. There is NO golden holy grail filled with a magic potion to fix it all and in fact searching for it caused me a lot of confusion and depression.

The answer is inside not outside. You have to find your own path.

However…. out of desperation last month I forayed into meal replacements to get that kick start but felt really ill all the time so have decided to do it with real food. I’ve been going for around 1,000 cals, no eating between 8pm to noon the following day and as low carb as is possible but it has taken me this long and to realise that it has to be my own unique way for my own unique life and it will continually evolve.
I also realise that my weight fluxtuates wildly over a week so I should only weigh ONCE per week. I have lost 7.5 lbs over the last 4 weeks and Im really happy with that. It was 11.5lbs down at one point but I put on. One of the reasons I put on was becasue my really fast weighloss during the week when Im working and busy makes me take my foot off the gas and lo and it goes right back on at the weekend. I also get that feeling of having ‘failed’ then as ‘Ive put on’ which makes me eat more!!

Taking my results over the whole week (which includes all elements of my NOT very consistant life – rapid weightloss, some weight gain, pain levels, weekends, kids, parties, fasting etc etc) is the sensible thing to do. My ultimate goal is to look at things over the month. Im in it for the long game now and if thats 4 lbs a month thats ok because this time next year Id be 48lbs down instead of being the same year in year out. Craving BIG losses quickly or because I have a particular event is a losers game for me and getting away from that psychology is still a work in progress but Im getting there.

So thats me and where Im at and my question today is can someone give me a difinitive count of carbs and cals for raw oats ( I make my own oatcakes)? My fitness pal is driving me crazy with its inconsitant answers and the internet is giving me so many different amounts. Each oatcake is around 15g. I dont have any blood or diabetes issues (for now) so Im still including oatcakes etc when wanted.
KOKO everyone – Ive limited my time on the internet these days so I wont be on everyday but hope to help others when I can and get help myself when needed. Be kind to yourself and BYOBF (Be your own best friend)! xxxxxxx

‘The answer is inside not outside ‘….. Well just how true is that!!!!
Welcome back Tululah. One of the best things about these forums is that you can go and come back as you please and always find a friendly welcome/welcome back. Your post made me smile and yes let’s be our own best friends….. sometimes we are so hard on ourselves…. best of luck with your return from the ‘wilderness’…. know that place so well!!!!!

Hi Tululah, Welcome back.
I do hope my habit of researching and posting links was not part of the reason you ended up down the rabbit hole. – As an Aspie my brain is wired so that I enjoy jumping head first into a maze of research and working out how to overlay all the different pieces of information to form a pattern on any topic I am interested in. I am sorry if its my fault that you felt you also had to tackle this issue in the same way.
One conclusion I have come to is no matter how much I would like to end up at a given target weight, I don’t have any control over that. As I loose weight and become more active I will be increasing muscles and causing my body to improve bone density. -I would live to be as light as possible because for me it links in to keeping my horse as comfortable as possible when carrying my weight, but I am my fathers daughter with the size of frame I inherited from that side of the family. It would be stupid of me to prefer to be a given weight on the scales and have fragile bones with the risk of fractures as I get older. So I just have to focus on measuring progress by inch loss rather than the readings on the scales and accept I will be the weight I will be once I get down to the healthiest body composition I can achieve.

Sorry to invade your post but didn’t know where to ask my question!
I am still lurking, still losing and gaining the same 5/6 pounds, and after two and a half years, I still have five stones to lose.
I did initially lose nearly three stone but gradually gained again. I take steroids for PMR though the dose is down to three mgs at present.
I have digestive issues and diverticula disease and have often thought I have an issue with wheat. The doc has finally agreed to a Coeliac screening which means eating gluten for four weeks prior to the blood test.
My question to the wise is – can anyone advice a form of diet to help me lose some weight ( or at least not gain) whilst eating some gluten? I read that a slice of bread a day should be sufficient, and I will avoid sourdough as I find it so addictive!
Thank you for listening
B X

HI JGwen! Good to speak to you. LOL!! My crazy researching was in no way influenced by you or anyone else on this site (well only in a good way really with signposting to Taubes and Fung who I love). No, my own brain functions by HAVING to find ALL alternative opinions for everything then research them thoroughly. The only problem with that approach is that there is an infinite amount of completley opposing opinions from eminant experts and their Grannies on the internet! Ive done it with everything in my life. I sound very much like you in needing to see the overall picture and then work back from there but for me it becomes overwhelming especially with a hectic family life. I just dont have the time or to be honest the inclination anymore because its like a non solvable puzzle! “Tomatoes are cancer busting miracles” to “ARGHHHHH RUN! dont eat tomatoes inflammatory!! Inflammatory!!” “Potatoes are the devils work” to “potatoes are one of the most complete sources of nutrition available” and so on and so on. It never ends. I had to get to the bottom of my own personal barrel however in order to realise that the answer is in me and with my intuition about my unique self and circumstances. That AND at some point you just have to make some choices, stick with them and do it. I also have a pain condition and have been looking for the answer to that for the last 10 years. I have also stopped doing that now as I was missing enjoying what time I did have free of pain. I think for some of us there is just too much information and/or conflicting advice out there and that can completely immobilise people like me. They feel stuck and unable to move forward because they dont know what is ‘right or wrong’. The best advice I got was about not listening to anyone who told you exactly what to eat, especially if they promised that thier way was the correct way. How could that be when they nothing about my physiology, life style, life circumstances, genetics and so on? My way has to be my way and no one elses. I’ll stop ranting now as I feel a Frank Sinatra song coming on! I’d forgotten how cathartic (and addictive!) it is to get all this stuff out of your head! Thanks for listening JGwen…if you still are:):):) ! KOKO Txxx

HI Busy Bee, Welcome! Im not sure about divercolitis so Ill leave that question to someone who has knowledge in that area.

With regards to weight loss – The only thing I can say is that if you have a deficit in calories you should lose weight. It shouldn’t matter whether you eat a slice of bread a day. This last 4 weeks I have eaten a small amount of either potatoes, bread or oatcakes daily and still lost weight. In fact if you research it (dont), an 800 calorie high carb diet will still get weight loss. Just wouldn’t ever be my personal, preferred choice as I would be starving wothout protein, fats and nice veggies and the weight loss may not be as fast.
Regardless, if you keep to 800-1000 calories you should be fine. Eat protein and some fat with the bread if it makes you feel better and just enjoy it. Incorporateiinto a fab lunch? Slice of toast buttered, home made guacamole spread over, soft poached egg, chilli flakes and toasted pumkin seeds. Yum. I think I may need to have that for my dinner!!!
You say you lost 3 stone before? How dod you do that? I also had 5 stone to loose BYW down to 4 now.
Maybe have a go at just watching the calories for a week or 2 then look at bringing the carbs/gluten down if you choose or need to? Do you use my fitness pal to track what you ar eating?
Anyway most of all, be good to yourself and give yourself a break! 🙂
Take care BB TXXXXXX

Thank you for replying Tululah.
Lightbulb moment!
Of course, all I need to do is stick to the 800calorie diet and just include the slice of bread! I always oversee things and make things seem worse than they are.
I lost the weight over a year or so eating low carb and 16/8 though with many ups and downs. Fortunately I don’t have blood sugar issues though do have metabolic syndrome. I am an all or nothing girl (72) so either very good or very bad.
I will gather my thoughts together yet again and get back on the WOE waggon and as soon as the blood test is done, I will reduce the carbs again. Eating low carb suits my body and digestive system as well as being the best way for me to lose weight albeit slowly.
Thank you again for showing me the way forward.
B X

Hi Busy bee, Sorry I dont come on here much as so busy and tend to loose hours when I do!!:) How are you getting on? Txxx

Hi Tululah
I am trying to juggle having some gluten each day (prior to gluten screening) and otherwise eating low carb. Some days that’s fine but yesterday for example, the taste of the bread set me off eating too much!
I am not expecting to lose weight over the next few weeks but hope not to gain.
I can’t wait for the test to be over as I just don’t feel good when eating the white stuff!
Thank you for keeping in touch and I hope you have a good week.
X B

Hi Tululah and Busybee – Tululah – really good to see you back and never a truer word spoken! I’ve fallen way back from the internet, posting and researching as I was feeling overwhelmed to a certain extent. Plus with my office job, I’m typing all day long pretty much so just don’t want to pick up any kind of device when I get home!
Busybee – I too have diverticular disease – this was discovered as a result of a camera prior to a surgical procedure to check nothing else was going on “inside”. My symptoms started 3 years ago of severe transit issues every time I ate, to the point I couldn’t eat before going out for the day in case I was taken short. IBS I thought. This led me to look into potential causes for this and then led me here to change my diet and go low carb. Meanwhile I also had a coeliac test but it came back negative. BUT, when I have bread, all the symptoms of “trots”, wind, stomach growling like an angry bear on the left hand side and internal parping, which is pretty embarrassing in a quiet office or on a train when your left side reverberates against the person sitting beside you…. I kid you not… my doc came to the conclusion that I am non-coeliac gluten sensitive! All I know is, I don’t have ANY symptoms when I stay away from any type of bread or wheat flour products. Good luck to you both on your respective journey! I am also 3 stone down and 5 stone to go and been up and down the same 5 lbs for a year now but am also determined to get to the end point this year!
XX

KazzUK
You described my symptoms exactly!
I have three more weeks before the blood test which, like you, I expect to be normal!
I know that my body works much better and I feel much better when I don’t eat wheat though I also have issues with an excess of some vegetables and dried fruit. (Why then do I suddenly decide to eat the wrong things and then suffer?!!)
Whatever the outcome, once the test is done I will again omit all the ‘bad’ carbs in an effort to treat my body more carefully and to lose this weight!
Thanks for the information and encouragement.
X B