So I’m going to be very honest here. I started this a week ish ago and an totally hooked, think its just a fabulous WOE and it worked so well for me.
Then the kids broke up from school, hubby gets his first non weekend days off since xmas and bank holiday happens.
I think I’m all clever and will be able to do 800kcals a day and allow myself one glass of gin per night . That used to work on wrought watchers, right??

What a hard lesson to learn. I have came off the wagon so spectacularly it hurts. I had 1 gin and all my inhibitions went. It started off with a few squares of dark chocolate and some cheese. The next day 2 gin and nuts and crisps… And chocolate. And more cheese… Then today a family bbq and i ate like a carb monster. All rules were off. Like i daren’t even list it.

I can’t undue what’s happened but i refused to drink alcohol tonight as clearly right now i can’t manage that and weight loss and will power. So tomorrow there is no alcohol and I’m goibg to my mum’s for a family do.

I rang up and requested dry chicken tikka and salad. I will fast until then as my stomach HURTS its so bloated.

I have tomorrow and Monday off with hubby. Tomorrow’s food is sorted. Monday I’m going to plan a picnic.

So that leaves a week left with the kids off to get through. I have to plan plan and plan. Pre make it so its in the fridge ready to go. My weakness is time with the kids. I’m so busy and out of schedule i need to do this the night before so it doesn’t matter if i have no time.

Now I’m a coward. Should i get weighed tommorow out wait until i have done this a few days again so I’m not upset by what i see?
Any hints??

Thanks for reading. And your support

Xx

Oh happyhel, self examination is good, but self excoriation is not. Unfortunately as fellow human beings we can be
perverse, and we often have to learn the hard lessons by making mistakes ourselves, rather than learning from the
experiences of others. Wouldn’t it be lovely if it were otherwise? 🙂 I refer you to your own post from 4 days ago,
when you shared that you planned to have a few gins over the weekend. What happened next could have been
predicted. Is it possible that you may have subconsciously chosen to reward yourself for all of the junk you
passed up in your first week? Ice cream, etc.? We’ve all made decisions like this at one time or another! I say
weigh yourself straight away. Absorb the reality on the scales, then move on with renewed commitment. Lesson
learned…It took us all a lifetime to learn our self destructive coping mechanisms, and we don’t relearn healthy
habits in a matter of a week or a few days. This journey we are on is a marathon, not a sprint, and all we ask is
progress, not perfection 🙂 Focus on planning, planning, planning, and you WILL move past this. You can do it!!!

Allie

Morning Happyhel
I agree with Allie. Just pick yourself up and move on. You have learned from that experience and it won’t happen again. Something was insiduously going on in your mind to cause you to sabotage your efforts but you can take back control and make healthier choices. You really can.

The worst thing you can do now is to consider yourself a failure and slope off and eat more cr*p, convincing yourself you will never succeed.But you will.

The numbers on the scales might be disappointing but you are moving forward so no point in dwelling on them.

It is about planning and especially so as you have to consider the children too. Ask yourself what you want more ….a healthy body or a bag of crisps ? You can do it Happyhel and well done for coming back . Join us on the weekly thread and there will be ongoing support . Happy Easter but have a square of dark choc rather than an Easter egg 😉

Hi Happyhel,
Don’t beat yourself up too much, I did just the same thing at the start. I had a good week and then I had guests staying in the holiday let who left a carb fest of food behind, and one thing lead to another so I spent a whole week off the waggon before dusting myself off and climbing back on.
So, now you know one of the triggers, so you know what to avoid.
Now you have experienced that carbs are addictive, I would suggest getting back on the scales today. Its experiences like this which make it easier to get your head around this being a Way of Eating for Life, not a diet and normal eating will resume once weight has been lost.
———————
Our gut bacteria have the ability to send signals straight into the brain. Different species of bacteria digest different food stuffs. When you start to change your diet that means that all the bacteria in your gut which digest carbs and processed food are being starved, they are going to fight back and send signals to your brain to eat the foods they live off. It does get easier to keep away from the carbs once you have been doing it for a while.

Happyhel I have had a bit of a bad weekend too. I am the same as you with my OH off of work on Friday. We went to the pub and I was fine I had one gin and soda and watched him eat a packet of crisps, I didn’t have one and thought how good am I! But crisps are my favourite thing in the bad carb world! I did however eat three of his dry roasted nuts! I then had another gin and soda. I didn’t feel too bad as I had about 3 pints of plain soda that night too! I wanted to start a fast but coming off of nights and having my OH off it didn’t happen. I did go 16 hrs without eating yesterday and I only had two mini frittatas for lunch. We then went shopping I bought him and my son an Easter egg each and he bought me some lovely vintage cheddar instead, so I could allow myself a treat now and again. We planned a little bbq for two and I had halloumi and steak with the red slaw out of the book. I had a corner of cheddar to before hand and 100mls of white wine,
I then had another 100mls of white wine. We sat in the garden and ate I went back to soda water with mint and fresh lime, but I felt tipsy 🥴 not good as that made my body say I want some carbs! At first I thought oh it is ok I will have one his bliss cheesecake yogurts! I didn’t I decided to melt some of 100% chocolate added a raspberry to it before freezing it. But while that was melting in the oven I ate 3 rich tea biscuits with butter spread on them😫😫😫😫😫. I don’t even like rich tea biscuits!, hence the butter on them because they are so dreadfully dry! So although I didn’t go all out I did mess up! Like Allie said this is a marathon and it is not easy and life gets in the way. You know what to do now and that is prepare so you have all that you need to stay on track. We are human and we do stray from diets. But if we had been on SW or WW then we would have only lost a few pounds and we would be already eating too many carbs!! We have hardly eaten any carbs on this amazing WOE and we have Discarded a decent amount of weight. We know what we are doing and we can feel a little smug in what we are doing to prolong our lives. Yes we slipped up but we know what to do, we can identify our triggers and then put things into place to stop them in their tracks. Please don’t beat yourself up or give yourself a hard time honey, we have this, and we all have each other. Even Essie had wobbles and bad days and she and Allie are longtime maintenance ladies who prove it will work. We will be them in a year, two years or even three, but we WILL be there, steady wins the race hun. Happy Easter and please just enjoy yourself you have made the biggest step by getting on this WOE. Hugs Birdy💞🦜

Happyhel, as you say you can’t undo what’s done. However you can learn from it and avoid making the same mistake again – and it sounds as though you are doing that.

I was never very strict with thie diet, but one thing I did stick to was cutting out all alcohol at the start. I can go without a drink, but I can’t seem to have just one withought then having another and something extra to eat with it, and then maybe another. It was actually much easier to have none at all than I’d thought – and others seem to find it easier to accept that you’re not drinking, than that you’re only going to have one.

I do drink now, but only dry wine – many other drinks are quite high in carbs.

Hi Happyhel, Birdy
if you are feeling bloated this morning, I imagine you want to avoid any carbs this morning.
What is the plan for today? Do you have family meals to prepare?
You will soon feel good, get back to that low carb state.
Like JGwen said, remember what is your trigger. That puts you back in control.

Birdy, you’re right that we all have wobbles. It’s what we do long term which counts.

Soda with lime and mint sounds nice. I’m going to try one of those later. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thank you squidge and Patricia. Squidge you need lots of ice and I would squeeze the lime and rip the mint, you will also need something to stir it as you drink to make the flavour stronger and reuse it with fresh sparkling water. It tastes like a non alcoholic mojito yum yum 😋

Patricia I am cooking the roast chicken from the book today and I have green leafy cabbage, broccoli and tuner beans to go with it. They are having roast pots but I am not bothered about those. Not feeling too bloated but I know I have had wine🙄🤣 💞🦜

I love sparkling water these days, with squeeze of lemon. I’ll try mint which I also use with the avocado smoothie.

You have a great constitution, birdy glad you feel well today. Have a great Easter.

I am cooking an old favourite, pork casserole. Funny how many of my favourite meals are low carb when I dropped the potatoes! Pork chops, roasted in oven with peppers, onions and mushrooms.

Happy Easter Patricia and your pork sounds lovely. Yes most of mine are low carbs without the devil 😈 potatoes 🤣🤣💞🦜

Sorry to hear about your weekend spiral, Happyhel. Like JGwen says, now you know that for you alcohol is a clear trigger for risk-taking behavior when it comes to food. The drink itself doesn’t have to be high in carbs in order to send you reeling. So off the list it goes and you move forward. I agree with Allie that you should weigh yourself to know for a fact the price you paid. It will help you down the line when nasty thoughts sneak back in that a little gin or two can’t hurt.

This is why I always advocate that people do the 8 weeks straight, no liquor, no carby foods, no intentional deviations, no breaks, exceptions or timeouts. The cost is so, so much higher than people tend to think it will be when they’re wearing rosy glasses beforehand and the worst part is that the cost is far higher in recriminations and self-loathing than in number on the scale. Damaging the way you feel about yourself, mentally flogging yourself over and over, only sets you up for the next spiral. Your mindset will get you to your goals. Your body is just along for the ride. As your liver cleans the toxic ethanol out of your body, you must do the same with the poison in your mind. Draw a line under the past and look forward with renewed determination.