I had a long post in the making, but it’s disappeared . . .
To cut a long story short, I have suffered from extreme levels of fatigue for years, but my psych just didn’t ‘get’ how tired I was. . . I’ll leave that at that . . .
Until about a year ago I rarely had enough energy to do any cooking, even when son was willing to help. I practically lived on cheese and biscuits and oranges. When I realised, thanks to US recommendations, and a dx of ADHD, that I should be eating a lot more protein than I had been, I trawled the supermarket shelves for all the highest protein foods that didn’t need cooking, and could be eaten with zero prep. I couldn’t eat more cheese tbh, but home cooking clearly hadn’t provided enough, and ready meals were even worse. So, after a few days of lots of eggs, nuts, smoked mackerel, tins of tuna and pilchards, as well as actually feeling better, I noticed I was putting on weight. . . Clearly I had to cut down on the calories, but no way could I cut out fruit and veg, I needed the roughage, as well as the vitamins, so I completely dropped cakes, biscuits, bread and breakfast cereals, and anything with pastry, as the foods with the least nutritional value for the amount of calories, due to the grain content. That stabilised my weight, but when I totted up the calories, I was astonished to see that I was only eating 2/3 of what I’d been eating before, only just over half of the classic recommendation in fact . . . and I still wasn’t losing weight.
Surely it wasn’t normal to eat only 1200 cals a day and not lose weight? And how come increasing my protein intake reduced my total caloric need? That’s When I found the BSD 800. Phew, I’m not going crazy, or about to drop dead from eating too little! And then finding these forums, I realised that I am far from alone in needing to eat less that 1k cals to lose weight. I haven’t found the answer to the second question yet, but it might account for why lots of people ‘who have lost a lot of weight’, ‘have to’ eat fewer calories to maintain the loss. Maybe it’s just that the WOE that they have settled on and that they should have been on all along just happens to mean they need fewer calories.
So yeah this post has turned into a lot of waffle too. I could actually write a lot more. Last year was an incredible year of discovery, learning and surprisingly easy weight loss. I’ll try and be more succinct from here on!
I’m pretty sure I’m not gluten intolerant, but by keeping away from all grain based foods, I have actually effectively gone gluten free. I’m pretty sure I’m not lactose intolerant, but recent changes have highlighted that I do have issues with cows’ milk casein. (Another long story there: I kind of knew I didn’t digest it well from an incident around 30 years ago, but ignored it, as I thought it was normal, and back then, no-one even knew about the problems that are now associated with it. )
Argh waffling again.
List of recommended food for anyone too tired to cook.
Tinned fish
Ham,
Corned beef
Smoked mackerel
Eggs, not hard to fry or boil, but actually I have them raw in whey shake ( I have my own hens though) They actually make the shake creamier! Whey, or other protein shake is not a substitute for proper food, as it doesn’t have much else at all than the protein, but whey is good protein, and only very rarely indeed does it cause any issues. I find it is a brilliant pick me up as it is so easy to use.
Nuts: Brazils, walnuts, cashews and almonds are the best for various reasons. High in calories though, so don’t over do them.
Fruit, in normal quantities. I actually ate loads (3 full sized portions every day) while I was away for three weeks with no calorie counting possible, and still lost 3lbs sticking to BSD otherwise.
I also ate cheese, but I’m now reconsidering the wisdom of that, and would not recommend it to anyone with any kind of autoimmune problems.
Also, yogurt with frozen berries was a favourite, but again . . . ^
I’m sure I’ve forgotten something . . .
Dark chocolate! Again don’t over do it, savour small pieces. (I still think I’ve forgotten something . . .)
When you have enough energy to do a bit of cooking, dried precooked onion from Home Bargains, is a great time and energy saver, and also saves you from finding that you have no edible onions because it was so long since you last used any that they’ve all gone soggy or grown.
Whenever possible add turmeric and black pepper, and/or lots of herbs and spinach. e.g. Mince and lentils; add T and BP to the mince. Ratatouille, add loads of herbs and spinach, as well as T and BP.
T and BP is good on fried eggs too, and don’t forget salt. Salt is incredibly important, and if you can get the stuff that has trace minerals, that’s even better. (If you have high BP, get your GP to check your salt level first.)
For years, I hadn’t cooked/ate a proper meal more than once a day, (and not always that often either!) but as my energy levels improved, I started having three proper meals a day, but I have such a massive back log of housework that I resented the amount of time I was spending cooking and washing up, so I have gone back to one of my more successful dieting strategies, and now only cook once a day again.
Now I usually just cook a vegetable dish, enough for two days, and have it with tinned or smoked fish, ham or corned beef one night and have the rest with eggs or burgers or something similar the next. Sometimes when I feel really energetic though, I’ll actually do bacon in the microwave, and fry eggs AND mushrooms, while son does the veg and baked beans. That’s ME doing THREE separate lots of cooking for one meal! :O
Dessert is either a portion of fruit, berries with yogurt (see above) or half a tin of fruit in juice, maybe with cream if I’m still hungry after eating most of the whole day’s worth of food in one sitting! Most cooked deserts aren’t BSD friendly AFAICT, but that reminds me I have some cooking apples that need finishing off!