Hi All!

I am in week three, currently at a 13lb Loss (out of a target of 45 lbs to loose) and have been getting on with this 800 cal low carb life easily and happily until LAST NIGHT!

It is my bosses birthday today and as I am the office’s designated cake baker, last night I baked a beauty of a cake (three layer carrot cake with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting PLUS muffins with left over cake batter – in case you were wondering, Ha)

1. In between baking and decorating this masterpiece I didn’t make and dinner, so I snaffled a muffin with about 2 tablespoons of leftover frosting.
2. Today at work when a slice of cake was offered/forced on me I took it, the only redeeming quality of this story is that I only ate 1/2 of it – ridden with food guilt – before quietly dispatching it to bin land.
3. We are a small team in my office (3 people) so to ‘celebrate’ the birthday the Boss got a TAKEAWAY for lunch. Thai to be exact.
4. I have eaten 3 large vegetable spring rolls and 2 Satay Sticks.

As you can imagine if I get on the scales tomorrow morning I’m going to be mortified. So like a true adult I am going to avoid this problem and give myself THREE DAYS (Until Monday) to do some damage control.

NOW, you lovely lot can help me please!

I NEED your best meal ideas/meal combinations to aid my three day quest. What worked best for you? Did you for one week only eat eggs and spinach? Did you reduce your Carb intake from 50g – 30g say? Cut the calories from 800 – 600?

Eternal gratitude in advance from me, who is in panic mode.

Thank you!
Libs x

ps. how annoying is it that when you cheat you REALLY cheat? Why couldn’t I have cheated by eating too many almonds one day or something. Why cake?!

Hi Libbyohno, the last thing you do on this WOL is beat yourself up because of a slip, however small or large. Just get straight back on BSD, being watchful of your carbs. Keep under 50 if you can and you will soon lose the water gained by your ‘naughty but nice’ slip. That is all the scales will show, the water retained by your body because of the high carb and sugar intake. Follow the plan and you will soon be back on track, losing todays gain and more. Believe in it, it works.

Hi Libbyohno – welcome and congratulations on your fantastic loss of 13 lbs leaving you with just over 2 stone to reach your goal.

First of all, get on the scales tomorrow and see what damage you have done. You might be surprised and find it has been minimal, but at least you will know where you stand. I hope you are back on the plan tonight and not waiting until tomorrow, you know what they say about tomorrow. Secondly, a cheat with almonds would probably have had the same calories as cake, okay almonds are better for you and better in the carb measurement. Whats done is done, it is in the past, get weighed at move on.

Dont cut calories to 600, 800 is low enough for anyone. You could cut carbs to 20g or 30g but I found that it took so much thinking about, planning and searching for the ideal ratio that it did my brain in, 50g is a good number. What do you mean living on eggs and spinach, maybe that’s what I mean about not cutting calories or carbs, you are making the diet unpleasant for yourself.

Fortunately, I type and save all my menu plans so have a simple reference to them, assuming you have the book and the recipes to follow (the 8 week BSD book, not the new recipe book).
Okay B=breakfast, L=lunch and D=dinner. Calories per meal plus days total.
B- scrambled egg with cheese – 210, L- Nocarb Ploughmans – 290, Pork Stir Fry – 270 – Total 770 calories
B- spinach raspberry and almond milk smoothie – 90, L- Feta salad – 270, D- Harissa chicken – 420 Total 780 calories
B- Portobello toast with goats cheese and pine nuts – 150, L- tuna dip – 190, D- skinny chilli with cauli rice – 460 – Total 800 calories
My recipe for skinny chilli eliminated half the beans so I just used kidney beans (not black eyed beans as well) but added the cauli rice.

Hope that keeps you on track for the next 3 days whether you weigh yourself or not. Good luck and let us know how you do. Or as I always say, keep on keeping on…

Trelawny, Sunshine Girl – Thank you!

Sunshine Girl – These suggestions are amazing – I finish work in 1/2 an hour so Im currently making a shopping list to comply with these meal plan suggestions! I will Update!

I may also take your advise and weigh tomorrow – Ill let you know the damage!

Thanks,
Libs x

Morning,

I did weigh myself, and have gone down (only by a small 0.7 lbs) but it was not what I expected, especially after feeling so bloated and sluggish yesterday.

Suffering to from what I can only describe as a Carb Hangover! Feeling tired, Belly Aching and Irritable!

Sunshine Girl, I did not have time to make scrambled eggs this morning but decided to opt for 2 x Hard Boiled Eggs instead which I have brought with me to work today :). I have not felt hungry enough to face breakfast yet and in honestly feel so rotten I don’t want anything! But at least they are there if I need them.

I am also giving my body a helping hand with a Diuretic and lots of plain water! That should ease any water retention from over eating!

Now the panic is over I am even more determined. I will be going over the recipe book today and making photocopies of the meals lowest in Carbs/Cals so the best option meals are to hand when ever I need them.

Tomorrow I am batch cooking Mushroom Soup, Hungarian Goulash, Simple Bolognese and meatballs in Tomato sauce.

Have a fabulous weekend!! x

Hi Libbyohno, told you it would be worth it, even a small loss is a loss, especially after a slip up.

Keep on keeping on…

Hi libbyohno, hope you don’t mind me chipping in. Well done on your excellent progress and your speedy return to your new normal eating!

I don’t think I can better the excellent advice given by trelawny or sunshinegirl, but a thought crossed my mind as I read your original post. You describe yourself as the office’s designated cake-baker; if you are seriously planning to follow a low carb high fat lifestyle it might be worth considering finding a diplomatic way of passing that mantle on, or just removing it from your own shoulders. One of the MOST empowering things I have gained from doing BSD is learning to say no, or to politely decline things that don’t fit in with my new normal. It is very out of character for me, but I found my voice about 2-3 months in to following BSD. I’ve realised “No thank you” is a very powerful phrase -doh!

Wishing you every success with continuing on BSD, well done for picking yourself up 🙂

Hiya Daisiesmum,

Thank you for the kind words, my new normal eating habits are so easy and enjoyable so that was why I was surprised when I gave in to temptation!

I see your point about giving up baking and partly agree… It is my passion and something that I truly excel at (blowing own trumpet sorry!) I have been asked to make wedding cakes, birthday cakes and anniversary cakes etc. – all types really. There is nothing better than presenting a cake that has taken hours of your life baking and decorating to someone on their special day and seeing the eyes light up! And then those little “hmm’s ahhh’s and mmmmm’s ” when they eat it, ha ha!

Giving up my Cake Baker title might make me resent the 800cal diet a little too much when really I should be working on resisting the temptations that are simply part of life I guess. Seeing as Baking will always be part of my life all I need to do is learn to say “no Thankyou” to my temptations not my passion.

Well done on becoming a strong person who can say NO when they are not comfortable, it is inspiring 🙂 x

Ooo Libby, I did wonder if your baking was a gift and passion, it wouldn’t be right to give that up, you’d feel robbed. I understand that joy of presenting something beautifully made with love. I guess we each have to discover the strategies that work for our individual situations without ruining our lives 🙂

Do let us know how things go in the future. I’m sure you will find a workable solution. 🙂

Hi All,
I was very good all weekend and tried some of Sunshine-Girls meal plans. I am pleased to say when I weighed myself yesterday I have essentially maintained my weight after the high calorie and carb slip up. Monday 23rd I was 14 st 10.7 and Today Monday 30th I am 14st 10.4lbs so a minimal loss over the course of my week.

I am disappointed because on Wednesday I got down to 14st 7lbs – BUT looking at it overall it could have been worse.

Last night I batch cooked from the book – Bolognese (170 cal/5g carbs) Lamb Tagine (420/16) Hungarian Goulash (350/27) and a Mushroom Soup (190/4) so I am hoping to have a significant loss this week!!

Thank you all for your advise!!

Hi – I’ve just done the same and it wasn’t a celebration of anything at all!
I’ve been having little difficulty keeping to the 800 calories and am in my second week.
I’ve had a very hectic day – met a friend for lunch – we shared a salad and I ate precisely one poached egg one tiny price of trout and a bit of broccoli.
I was really full of praise inwardly that I ate so little.
I just got home and lost the plot big time – I had made those delicious seedy flapjacks for visitors on the weekend – had a smallish but full bowl of leftover “crumbled flapjacks” in the fridge – I just devoured the whole thing. I just worked out that is over 2 days of my calorie allowance in a few minutes. I am also feeling very cross with myself so thought I’d commiserate!!!!
Onward and downward from tonight – it would have been less calories in a Mars bar but not healthy!!!
Good luck everyone