I am sorry for late posting folks , lots going on and I end up feeling guilty again for not posting

I am here and setting up this last week of May .It has been a pretty good month with a few celebrations ( birthday on Sunday included a substantial portion of pavlova as a treat!) 14th wedding anniversary coming up but nothing planned as yet .

So let’s have one last push for this week before we move into June, eeek !

Thanks Wendy.

May has been a bit of a write off for me. I started with really good intentions and lost 2kgs in 2 weeks then we had some meals out and it all went wrong. I am trying to concentrate on getting my BG back down after being fed rubbish in hospital and that is 4 months ago and still a slow process. Worrying about weight as well is just another added pressure. I am diabetic and cant eat what most people can enjoy so sometimes get depressed and think it is not fair. I am pumping insulin in which adds weight so I am fighting a constant battle plus I have been doing this diet for 7 years (for the diabetes) and sometimes just want to rebel. A couple of lunches which included bread and a few glasses of wine and a dinner and I am back to square one.

I have also had the problem that since my problem with my carotid artery was discovered back in October I have not been allowed to do any exercise and it is only in the last month it has been allowed. However, I just cant get myself motivated. At this time of year I would expect to be in the pool but we have had constant rain and it hasn’t had the chance to warm up yet and I don’t feel like doing my winter in front of the telly routine. Hopefully, the weather is about to change and I will be swimming every day from this weekend.

Family are arriving on Saturday and, although I will stick with it until then, we are going to have some days out and some treats and I am not going to worry and June will be a new month for me.

If anyone is starting this or early on please don’t think it doesn’t work. It does but as already said, after 7 years for diabetic control, I just get fed up sometimes. I am still 21lbs lighter than when I started and my health is better than could be expected. Don’t give up. I will be back on it soon enough.

Hi all, thinking my weight is going up I got on the scales this morning and it showed 3 different weights every time I jumped on and off. So not so sure about it now. I have just ordered a new set which does BMI, bone density, water, etc etc. Just hope it also weighs me:)

Hubby was just cutting a hole in our new water butt and slipped, cutting the top off one thumb and gouging a hole in the other. No sense, blood all over the bathroom and me playing nursey. Hopefully it will be okay with steri-strips and not need stitching. So looks like no more work will get done. I am sympathetic really……

A bit like our mobile phones, used for everything except making calls (almost) 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I am determined to stick to it this week without the usual minor slipups which make the scales not move. So am 2 lbs down 👇 atm

Thank you Wendy & I’m plodding on & resisted cake at this evenings WI meeting but was served a calorific lunch at a friends house yesterday that hasn’t really helped my endeavours.
Sorry to hear about your difficulties sunshine-girl & hope things will soon improve for you 👍
Well done losing two pounds Elle-Mae!
Margaret

Hi everyone,
I haven’t posted in a while, but popping in to read when I get a minute. It’s a busy time of year and then my dad fell off my deck when he was helping me put plywood down. He has a concussion and some damage to a cranial nerve that is making him see double, so work on that project has stopped for now. Also have been manning the pump to try to stop my property from flooding. The river seems to have peaked today, so hopefully things will get better from here on out.
S-g – I hear you about being fed up at times. Although I now understand that I likely have a genetic condition that is making it very difficult for me to lose weight, I still feel sorry for myself about not being able to eat what normal people eat. I’m starting to come to the realization though that I suffer quite immediate consequences if I do. If I eat too high carb, I struggle to walk without pain, and sometimes I am even in a lot of pain just sitting. You would think that would be motivating enough, but still I wallow in self-pity at times. I was just watching an interview with Michael J. Fox about his new documentary, and it reminded me of a couple of things. One is that I had a coach who said that if you wait for motivation to exercise and eat right to come to you, you will wait a long time and it won’t come consistently. Instead you just have to think of it as discipline. So you schedule in your workouts ahead of time and don’t let yourself skip them. I need to get back to that mindset. Also, when I was very fit and going to the gym lots people around me had all kinds of weird reactions. Like saying “I don’t know how you can work out so hard” or “You’re so hard on your body” or “why do you need to do so much?”, and I finally got to the point of saying “Being able to work out so hard and be so fit is a privilege, not a hardship”. Watching Michael J. Fox struggle with his Parkinson’s really reminded me of that. So now in my life, I have to think that working as hard as I do on the farm while trying to eat right is a privilege and one that I may not always be able to do, so I’d better get on and appreciate it and enjoy it as much as I can while I can.
There, pep talk over!

Hi everyone.Got a bit of time. Friend arrived from the UK on Tuesday evening and even though the weather has been a bit unpredictable she is happy pottering about and doesn’t need a lot of taking out ! She is even joining me at aquagym this evening .
I am just continuing my usual routine, an extended fast from Monday evening until Wednesday lunch as I have 2 activities on Tuesday and cannot do them on a full or even half empty stomach . The acid reflux problem has subsided and I put it down to certain carbs so I am very wary .

Enjoy your family time SG and don’t put too much pressure on yourself .You have a different outlook now after your scary experience and life is definitely for living . You will soon manage to get rid of a kilo or two and you are incredible in your determiation and perseverance despite having to use insulin.Just remember how far you have come !
Sorry about hubby’s accident .Thank goodness you were able to sort him out !

Elle-Mae you are doing great and we have total faith in you .

Don’t worry Margaret .We have to manage social occasions which would not be our usual choices but think long term.I have decided guilt is a really fruitless waste of time emotion .I try to focus on positives.It doesn’t work every time but we really are hard on ourselves sometimes.

Youa re incredible too arcticfox .You never give up despite setbacks and your health issues . I love the positive attitude and we are indeed privileged to be here and able to enjoy life .

I have been focused on our trip to Australia which will begin with a few days in Paris at the end of September so we are in place for our flight on the 2nd October and can dodge any French strikes ! We are starting off with a week in Melbourne then a couple of weeks in Tasmania before moving up to Cairns when the baby is born ( well a couple of weeks after ) Hubby is flying back to France around the 10th November but I haven’t booked my return yet 😉 I only have a 3 month tourist visa so I will have to come home sometime !!!!
I’m excited, like a dizzy puppy !!!!! 😉

So take care everyone, do your best and be kind to yourselves !!

Hi all, well done Elle-mae. My weight gain was just a blip, now back down to what I was a week ago and 2kgs lighter than when I started about 4 weeks ago, so not too bad. I didnt set myself a goal and just did my best. I knew I was doing everything right besides a couple of meals out with drinks and couldnt understand the gain. All back to normal.

Thanks for the pep talk Arctic, I know how hard you work. I have been forced to stop exercising since around November. I swam on November 25th and the water was 16 degrees but when it is part of your daily routine I find it hard to NOT exercise. I used to get up and think, do I really want to do this (aerobics or yoga on YouTube during winter and swimming in summer), then I would jump up, get ready and off I went. It was more like a compulsion so not being able to exercise was very hard and I always told myself it was only half to one hour out of my whole day so not really a chore. However, I hope to be getting in the pool any day now and once that starts there will be no stopping me. Like you (Arctic) I do appreciate what I am able to do and don’t usually moan and, honestly, I am just glad to be alive.

Family arrive on Saturday night and I have just done the shopping. Not a packet of crisps or biscuits or snacky nibbles in sight. My daughter is in training for a 50km walk and my youngest grandson has gone from a chubby 10/12 year old to a taller, slimmer 15 year old and he is very fussy about eating good food. Cooks for himself a lot and doesnt want snacks. So it should be a diet friendly holiday for all of us. We are out for a couple of meals but normally French restaurants don’t do piles or mash or roasties or chips, you just have to swerve the bread.

Keep on keeping on…

Hi Arcticfox and S-G,

I completely understand how you feel. – Whenever I am in the supermarket I can not help but look in others trolleys and have a little bit of envy, even though I feel so much better on fasting than eating days I still feel that I am missing out a bit in not being able to indulge in all the pre-prepared meals. – I think I need to spend a little time getting different cookery books and getting into the habit of batch cooking the sorts of meals that you would normally look forward to getting from a takeaway,, so I have something that I can just pull out of the freezer and enjoy on eating days.

I get you on the why me feeling Arcticfox. I do get the reminder wit having the holiday let next to my house that I am living the life that others envy, but wouldn’t if they realised just how hard it is. I am using ambitions to be able to enjoy riding holidays in other countries to inspire me to stick with my fasting protocol even though it seems to stretch into the distance when I calculate the average weight loss per 24 hour fast and my target weight.

Hi All,

Good to hear everyone’s news and inspirational tips!
The good news is that I finally have my healthy eating mojo back, so I have been going well for a couple of weeks, bar one day out when had a small amount of not-so-good carbs, because that was what was there. I’ve not got calories very low yet, but have cut out all white caŕbs and certainly no naughty sugary treats. I definitely feel better for it…….

the not so good news is that the motivation was the obvious ongoing fact that I am overweight (not healthy) and also have developed some very annoying leg pains and some weakness (previous hip injury flare and I think a post-viral fatigue flare after Covid in Feb)…..so have had to stop running, 7 weeks into the C25K, grrrr, and can’t step up a step with the one leg, or manage hills!….I have set myself a starter strengthening programme, but also if I eat well it will reduce inflammation in the body as well…..I will also book in with my GP for a check to see nothing else going on, and certainly before I inflict myself on any of my physio colleagues if I can’t get the hip issue sorted myself.
And now, I have an extra motivator in that I am going on hol with daughter 2 mid-July, after her GCSE exams finish……any of you well-travelled peeps, would love some advice……we have a choice of Kos, Kefalonia, Cyprus or Rhodes…..I can give more details of where in each of those my lovely travel agent friend has found (as we also set a budget, which isn’t huge) if anyone wants to give an opinion. We won’t have a car so wherever we go needs to have lovely things nearby. She desperately wanted to go ‘somewhere that wasn’t a rainy British holiday doing hill-walking’…….to be fair that has covered most of our more recent hols 😅
Love to all, and sorry to hear everyone’s struggles.
Tulip xxxxx

Hello.
I guess I have been in the doldrums too for quite a while so I can sympathise with you all. I seem to have spent most of my waking moments over the last, nearly, 7 years thinking about weight, food, what I can eat and how much and what I can’t eat. So sad really when I think about it.
I’ve not been terribly good with my carbs this year and as a result my last HbA1c was 41, which is just under the pre-diabetic lower level. So I need to take a fresh look at my way of life.
Anyway, I think I’ve found a way to help me get a grip of myself. I’ve identified the foods, like crisps and biscuits, which I’m eating but know are not good for me. I have a note book in which I’ve made a list of foods that I know aren’t helping and each day when I succeed in not eating them I put a tick next to the item. I also list foods that do me good like walnuts and olives and tick them when I do eat them. It’s encouraging to see all the ticks! It just makes me feel so much more positive.
I’ve set myself a moderate weight loss target and I still weigh daily but instead of keeping a note of that I just note down how many pounds I have to lose to get to my target. All seems doable at the moment.
Chin-up everyone, everything passes in time and you will feel more positive again.
Talking about which…. Wendy… what a wonderful trip to look forward to and the extra added ‘bonus’ will make a trip one to always be remembered. Nothing quite like grandchildren if you’re lucky enough to have them.
Only one word really ENJOY!
I’m not really posting much at the moment but will pop in again.
As s-g says … just keep on keeping on……..

Hello everyone & I’ve just weighed & rather disappointingly stayed the same weight as last week but am definitely losing inches & am pleased that I’m now comfortably wearing size 14 summer trousers & size 10/12 tops. I’m also still wading through a pile of ironing linen & cotton trousers from last year that I’ve taken up or taken in which is actually quite enjoyable & feeling productive. I’ve obviously still got two more stone to lose & like you all am finding balancing social events & eating out with the lack of “suitable” food choices difficult to manage & this evening will be eating at an Italian restaurant before going to the cinema because our son has come to stay for the long weekend 😀
The weather looks fine so I’m looking forward to spending some time sitting in the garden & tomorrow we will walk around our local nature reserve.
I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend & let us all try to stay positive & keep battling on👍
Margaret

Hi, first week on the 800 cal diet and enjoying it so far. I’m discovering so many new healthy foods to eat. My latest one is Flaxseed. I want to ask who might be considered as a silly question, but here goes. I am trying to run and go to the gym a few times a week. I’ve measured my calorie burn which is usually between 500-700 each time. If I do this, can I off set it against my j800 calorie intake?
ie. I burn 500cals so can eat 1100 cals?
Or is that not how it works. Forgive my ignorance, it just seems like plain arithmetic to me, but I’m sure there are more factors involved.
Thank’s K

Hi Tulip1,

don’t give up, it’s a mind set. Instead of running, try just walking, you will lose nearly as much weight. A tip for swelling and hip pain etc is Pineapple. It reduces swelling. It contains Bromelain which helps joints etc and is a natural pain killer. Worth a try.
If you choose Rhodes, go to Lindos, by far the best place in the island and has fantastic rooftop restaurants and bars.

Good luck. K

Hello K & well done on completing your first 800 calorie week 👏👏 My understanding is that you always eat 8-900 daily calories that cannot be offset by exercise. Any calorie burn through exercise is a bonus loss & unfortunately not to be replaced by eating more. Sorry to give you this negative news but stay pleased with yourself that you are doing this exercise which will help your fitness!! By the way you are putting me to shame since I have spent the afternoon just sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine😀
Good luck with your second week & your inner biome will love you eating flaxseed!
Margaret

Hi Kev,
In theory, providing you keep your carb intake low enough so you are in ketosis, your body has access to unlimited number of calories in the form of body fat. – A lb of body fat = 3500 calories, so each work out will only increase the rate of weight loss slightly but it all helps.

Just think of it as finishing digesting meals you have previously eaten.

Hi Kev,
I’m going to offer a different opinion, based on my own personal experience — I started this way of eating eight years ago and have continued with success since then. I think it is really important to discover (through trial and error) what works for YOU and your specific body/metabolism. What works for one will likely be different for another! All that we can offer is some advice we learned from our experience, but you must figure out your own path for yourself.

With regard to exercise, I have two important points (I am “sporty” like you and I truly enjoy several hard workouts each week. Probably like you I burn off 500-700 calories per workout).

The first is, when you start this way of eating, you might find that you need to cut BACK on hard workouts for a couple of weeks as you adjust to it all. I could not even do the harder workouts for the first few months, and I found a lower level workout was still quite effective. I was surprised by this, as I have used vigorous exercise my whole life to control my weight (not very successfully). What I discovered was, that it is more important to eat properly than to exercise vigorously. So cut back if you are feeling hungry/ overwhelmed/exhausted and realise you will be able to go back to harder exercise soon (your body will tell you when it is ready).

Secondly, yes, absolutely, for ME, I HAD to add in extra calories because I simply could not function on the 800 calories and also do a workout. That has always been true for me. I don’t need to supplement all the calories I burn off, but at least a couple hundred calories in the form of extra protein (chicken, tuna, egg, nuts — only ketogenic friendly foods). This kept me sane, calm and reasonably fed while not sacrificing any progress.

Your goal is to keep your insulin levels down while still fueling your muscles — as a sports person I would strongly recommend Dr Benjamin Bikman’s podcasts about insulin and exercise. They helped me so much! Just Google Dr. Bikman.

So keep going! This way of life is incredible, sustainable, fun, tasty, healthy, life affirming and your brain will thank you when you are 80 years old.
Julia

Hi Kev, thank you 🙂

We went for Kefalonia this time…..near some beautiful beaches…
v exciting!

Today is the 1st day of actively trying to think ahead and reduce calories…..I have already lost 5-6lb in the 2 weeks on the plan but not too careful with calories…..my body is getting used to this and I feel much better in myself, although I think wt loss will slow without calorie counting
…so! Now for the real work, eek….

Extra motivators besides health are now Greek hol in 6 weeks, i.e. looking a bit less round in a bikini, and then a month later we are going as a family unit to West Wales, where it’s a real plus to wear a wetsuit in the sea…..last time I wore my wetsuit I was a stone lighter, and it was already a tight squeeze then…..would be ideal if I don’t have to buy a new one or alternatively freeze!

Love to all xxx

Hi all,
I think a lot of us are feeling similarly and it is nice to be able to have a little moan about things in a safe space like this once in a while.
I was listening to an interview with Ted Naiman yesterday. I hadn’t listened to him in a while. He was talking about protein to energy ratio in the diet. I added up my food yesterday, which was actually a pretty representative of the good food days I’ve been having lately and realized that I’ve been falling short of even my minimum requirement. I developed a menu for today in mfp to try to address that. I will try to eat higher protein for the next couple of weeks and see how that helps. Maybe it will even help reduce some of my oedema? We’ll see.
Also, just for fun, I entered the 4 hours of gardening that I did this morning into mfp. It says I burned an additional 1400 calories. I think that is a huge overestimate, but gives a bit of an idea of how much over normal my calorie burn is, especially as I have at least another 4 hours left to do today. I’m not bothering to count food calories. If I go too low, I just end up getting too hungry and binging on carbs to make up for it. I had a 3 egg omlete with mushrooms and spinach for my brunch today and I’m so full!

Hi everyone
It’s new thread time again, a bit late again !