Thank you Tillybud and JGwen for the courgette advice 🙂
Some interesting reading in that link which should solve the issue.
Thanks again
M x

Hi Allie. Sorry I’ve held out on you. Weigh in day on Tuesday looms and I wanted to wait til then. Size 12 jeans sounds wonderful to me now. 14s slide down now! Still wear tops to cover lower abdomen, that as I said is still ‘teardrop’ shaped!! Waist is getting there. My last weigh in on this challenge is hopefully the one to get to 10st. Would like 3 or 4lbs wiggle room on the next challenge in may. Think your handle for May’s challenge is out in front up to now. Unless ……. .
Enjoy the rest of the weekend all x

Miranda – I just cook my courgetti in the microwave for about a minute. It doesn’t go mushy but it takes the rawness out of it.
I can’t believe it is almost time for the next challenge! Where did that time go? Allie I love your suggested title 🙂

Hello all! Such wonderful support and encouragement on this post. Will there be a new forum starting for a 4 week challenge after this one?

Hi lalala

Yes, the new thread will start on Tuesday when this one ends. I think people are favouring Allie’s title for the new challenge at the moment which will be something like SWING INTO MAY, THE LOW CARB WAY: 4 WEEK CHALLENGE ENDING 15TH MAY. Just keep an eye out for that or something similar.

It’ll be great to have you join in.
Marie x

Hi Tillybud
Brilliant news about the jeans. Woohoo!. Here’s hoping for the 10 stone on Tuesday.
I’m really busy so I’m struggling to keep up with things on here at the moment. But, if I don’t catch up with you beforehand, have a great break. xx

Hi guys
Well I joined this challenge right at the beginning accidentally logged that I wanted to put on 2 1/2 kilos LOL meant to say loose obviously, fell of the wagon a few days later and have been sat looking for it ever since metaphorically speaking. 😩 I’ve been hating how I felt you know the carb sluggishness feeling , what am I like so in the voice of swarzaniger “I’m back”
So I’m planning the week ahead before the archers omnibus, then gardening all day, and I will start your new challenge properly on Tuesday whatever it’s going to be. 💃💃💃
Jan

Good work on the jeans Tillybud! I’ve found that my normal jeans are loose but the new ones I’ve bought are a little too small still, so that’s extra motivation to keep on losing!
I’m glad the next challenge is already being planned too 🙂

Hi Allie, it looks like your suggestion is the go for the next challenge. Will you set it up for us? Thanks.

I’m not looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow. I was hit with a couple of emotional double whammies, which I wrote of earlier and received the best support from other forumites. But I fell into an “oh, so what” attitude for which I will undoubtedly suffer. However, some good news this morning (youngest sister’s post-op pathology results are very good, no further treatment needed, although a long row to hoe until stoma bag can be reversed). today, I’ve pulled out the kitchen scales and have tracked everything eaten – it has been a fairly long time since doing this. As proof that I’ve been overeating, I was hungry for most of the day. Recently I would have fed the hunger, today I didn’t. I’ll use today as a kick in to the next challenge.

Evening, Marcie, if I have the time difference (about 14hrs?) between us worked out! I’m
very happy to set up the new thread, though I haven’t done so before. I’m hoping it is
fairly straightforward, because, as my husband so often says, “my computer skills are
minimal” 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’m relieved that your closest sister won’t need chemo. Last year at this time we were also
awaiting a verdict on o/h’s colon cancer pathology. Stage 2, no chemo recommended…
This has been an emotionally exhausting several weeks for you. I know you will pull the
scales into line as you start to recover, and dusting off the kitchen scales is the best
place to start. Let’s put it up there as the first of our goals in the new challenge! Wish
me luck as I bumble along in setting up “Swing Into May, the Low Carb Way”

Allie xoxo 🙂

Hi everyone…sorry it’s been a while but I’ve been trying to swing back into work mode after being off for a long time off. I’m glad to be back but sooo tired at the end of the day. On the plus side the weight is coming off. Happy to report that I have lost 8.5 kilos since 12 March and gone down 3 belt sizes so something is working 😀 I am now 105.6 kg and sooo excited that my first goal of getting under 100 kilos is now in touching distance.

Hi all
Thanks for the new challenge Marsie and Allie – even though I’ve failed miserably at this challenge I still like to think I’m working towards something by signing up to it.
Marsie – good news about your sister..
Alex – it is tricky getting back into the swing of things when you’ve been off work for a while. I’ve had periods off work over the years (I do a lot of contract work) and it’s surprising how hard it is to get things done when I have all day to do it. Well done on the weight loss – that’s a really good result.
Good to have you back Greenjanet and Tillybud I bet you look great in your skinny jeans.
Good night all – I’m off to get some sun before it disappears for the evening 🙂

Evening lovely ladies!
Before we hop over to our new “home” for the next month, I wondered if I could ask how you are dealing with negative comments from others?
My boss (with whom I share a very small office with) has today begun saying she’s concerned about me and how she’s worried where im “getting my energy from now that I’ve given up all this stuff”. I found it very difficult to hold my tongue given her incredibly awful smoking habit, which has her disappearing from her desk every half an hour. I felt like I was being interrogated. She has no grasp of what starchy, processed carbohydrates do to our systems and frankly I don’t think she’s prepared to listen to anything I try to explain either. I’ve brought my awful mood home with me tonight, I just can’t let it go.
I remember her saying not long after I’d lost our daughter that I’d put on a lot of weight, she said “I know it, you know it,.we all know it”
As you can see, I have my work cut out with her!

Hi Miranda sounds like your boss is hard work. I haven’t really had to face any negativity, there was concern when I started but I was able to explain the research how this woe puts T2 diabetes into remission.
If your boss raised the subject again my approach would be to respectfully but firmly thank her for her concern but as long as work is not affected then it is not necessary. You can make your own choices about what to eat. And leave it at that.
It sounds like there’s no value on explaining your choices to her and if you don’t engage or respond to her comments she’ll soon get bored.
Then off-load on your friends here 😀
Good luck.

Evening all, I’m very behind with multiple threads today, but I hope to be caught up by tomorrow. I’ve
just got the next challenge ready to go…However, Miranda, just wanted a quick word with you about
this stressful situation you have at your place of employment. I see your immediate superior as a
passive agressive personality type, who feels very “entitled” to use her position to deflect from her
own short comings. Don’t let her bully you, my sweet. Is it possible to adopt a Mona Lisa type
smile, and simply tell her that the Newcastle studies support research on weight loss, and that
you’ve joined a community of like minded individuals that have had phenomenal success in achieving
long term weight loss and lifestyle changes, and it’s going to take awhile before the NHS gets up
to speed on the most current research? Try and relax tonight, we’re here for you 🙂

Allie

Hi Miranda,
There are often articles in the press about the benefits of low carb diets, for example there was one in the Sunday Times this week.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/swap-drugs-for-crash-diets-to-stem-12bn-diabetes-epidemic-l2mws0xj6
Sometimes when people will not listen to a contact telling them something, they will listen to the same information if they see it printed in a newspaper, or in a book written by someone with letters behind their name.
So if you are allowed to print off the odd page at work for personal use, maybe you could just happen to leave a copy of an article that you just happen to have printed out for the benefit of someone else, or even a copy of an appropriate book out somewhere on your desk when you go out for a meeting or lunch and you know your boss will be around in the office. 😉 as a way to break through if you feel the need to share the information and your boss isn”t listening to you.
However, the other option is simply just get on with following the diet without talking about it and in time the results will speak for themselves.

Final day of the challenge, I haven’t posted much but I read everything 🙂
I feel very happy, not only because I’m still within the weight band I set for maintenance (just) but I had a great weekend with no gain on the scales. Even though it included a significant birthday party and also Sunday afternoon at the pub for a live gig where the pub served complimentary gourmet pizza- all afternoon, in waves. Not even tempted! *preens self*
Marsie, I’m so glad you’ve had good news about your sister. That’s excellent! Hoping for a rapid recovery for her.
Congratulations to others too, so many since I last posted I know I’ll leave someone out so I’ll just say well done to all, and hang in there to those whose results aren’t what they hoped.
See you on the new thread!

Well, after being so pleased with meself last week at almost target I’ve put a pound on this week! Can’t see me losing it this week either being away for week in Moho. I’ll try not to put much on 😬 but I will be a bit lax I’m sure.

Well done Mariet on the pizza resistance front!
Thank you everyone for your kindness re my size 12 jeans. I am chuffed with that NSV. I will get to 10 stone. When my body is in the same place as my head. So close. But no coconut. To Marie 123, Marsie, JGwen, Allie, kazzee, and all I’ve missed KOKO. See you on the next challenge!

Hi Miranda, I’ve just read the post about your boss. One of my dear friends calls this “concern trolling” and has some great advice for dealing with the different types here: http://happinessconcierge.com/concern-trolling/
My advice is to say something like “thanks, but you really don’t need to worry about me, I’m feeling better than ever”. And if it continues maybe step it up to call things out more directly. Really it is none of her business so something like “I’m actually fine. You seem to have more concerns about this than I do. Why are you worried?”
Shit situation – I hate bringing stuff like that to a head. Really, it is more about her than about you.

Well – my measurements seem to fluctuate at the moment – they’re pretty much the same. I don’t think I’ll set such a wishy-washy goal on the next challenge 😉

Thanks to everyone that replied re my controlling boss. Yesterday was a bad day but you’ve given me some great points to fire right back at her. JGwen, you are spot on with the point about her reading information for herself. She’s very intelligent but one of those people that stops listening to the other party whilst shes thinking up her next point to make!
Today is a new day and I’m not in the mood for arguing. Thank you for the support though. It means a lot.Sometimes I get so caught up in things I can’t see straight!!

On a postive note, today’s weigh in 59.2kg and waist at 26.5 inches!!!!!! Thrilled!!
How’s everyone else doing? X

Close but no coconut for me either Tilly. I’ m 9st 0.5lbs. But anyway near as damn it to 9st so I’m happy. Have a happy holiday

Marsie – Really good news about your sister, I wish her all the very best with the rest of her journey back to health. As Allie says, it’s been a tough few weeks for you too, so take care. Enjoying some time with your grandson is probably the best tonic you can have. Btw, I’m on his side about the 10 thing, quite right!

Miranda – for what it’s worth I agree with lalala’s line “thanks, but you really don’t need to worry about me, I’m feeling better than ever”. Keep it simple, straightforward and light. I’d think about trying to keep your on-going conversation generally focused as much as possible on business (tricky in a small office I know). I found it’s when those lines become blurred that problems can develop.
If she continues to make inappropriate comments I’d address it. Keep a note of things you aren’t happy about, and raise them, be specific. My first step would be to address it with her but if you need support don’t be afraid to get it from the other appropriate people in the organisation (if there are any). But given you do share a small office and will have to continue to do so, it’s best to ‘manage’ the situation as calmly as you can – keep the emotion out. Hope I don’t sound like I’m teaching Granny to suck eggs. Good luck xx

Mariet – still partying I see – good on you for resisting the gourmet pizza. Great that you’re still maintaining.

Alex – 8.5 kilos is a brilliant weight loss – and you’re right that goal of getting under 100 kilos is completely doable – and will be a real achievement. KOKO

greenjanet – hope you enjoyed the Archers – I’ve still got last week’s omnibus to look forward to. We’ve all been where you’ve been. Today is a lovely fresh start; good luck on the new challenge.

Good luck with your report-ins folks. I’ll be back later to cheer everyone on/forward.

Edited: Miranda, Our posts crossed. Glad you’re feeling happier today. I’m not surprised. 26.5 inch waist.Wow, I can only dream!

Tillybud, enjoy your time away in your size 12 jeans, they’ll serve to remind you about portion sizes😊
Mariet, well done on maintaining in your bandwidth, that’s a big deal.👏👏 And thank you.
JGwen, your posts are always worth reading.
Treelady, the same.
MirandaG. Awful spot to be in. I’d go with the gentle smile and surprised tone, something like “but no need to worry, I’m doing exactly what I need to for my health”. Then head down and on with work. Also, I didn’t post earlier but I’m so sorry for your loss and admire the way you’re getting on with your life.
Gattina, thank you.
greenjanet, good to be here anyway. I’ve been hanging around this forum for an awfully long time with comparatively little to show for it but know, without a doubt, that without this place I would have followed my usual pattern and quickly put it back on. So, ODAATKOKO😊

I know I’ve missed others on the previous page, sorry, but didn’t want to lose all I’d written by going off this page – previous experience!

My own weigh-in this morning showed 60.2kg i.e. 200g up on last week, 300g up on the start of this challenge. After my “oh, so what” attitude lately it should be more. It feels like more! So, partway through the last challenge I touched new lows in the 58kgs, aiming now to get back there and stay…….
Thanks for your company everyone, thanks for setting this one up Marie123, see you on the next challenge xx

Marie, our posts crossed .. Thanks for your support. Means a lot xx Marilyn

Although I haven’t posted for some time I pop in nearly every day to see how you are all doing.
As you know, I have been taking a bit of a break which has resulted in a stone gain. I have been struggling with my inner self (the sabotage pig) ! And amtrying to reign it all in before we go on holiday in less than three weeks. I will TRY to keep in control as I don’t want to come home with yet another stone on!
I have been reading Gary Taubes book and Never Binge Again and both have given me much food for thought.
( Its a shame I can’t eat it).
So, the out come of this ramble is that I will regroup when we are home in mid May and will join whichever challenge is going on.
Good luck to you all in the new challenge.
X B
(Marsie, I am so glad your sister is improving and that the prognosis is good. Keep your chin up and
KOKOODAAT)

X B

Hi ladies
I am putting this on this post as it ends as I will be joining the new one and I want this to be some sort of closure for me so I can start afresh.
Allie a big big thank you.
I have only been dipping in and out as life is very busy at the moment parents not well, mother having problems with blood pressure – so low in the mornings that she blacks out and so high at night that it is scary.
Anyway last thursday catching up with everything I read your post where you were asked by a doctor if the reason that you had not sought medical help earlier was because you honestly felt you did not deserved to feel well?

To say this brought me up short is an understatement!
I felt as if someone had punched me in the solar plexus and winded me whilst in my mind all thecogs started churning and like in the films when you see all the bits on the fruit machine align and it empties the jackpot.

Recognition recognition recognition. I am not a very introspective person, I don’t analyse why Ido what I do that much probably because I wont like what I find.
I have had to go away and think about this. From the outside I seem very focussed, strong willed if not to say scary person but that statement absolutely resonated with me.
I don’t think I deserve to be slim and healthy. There it is out in the open. I have finally realised what is behind all the self sabotage
I have spent the days since making myself remember what it felt like when I was fit and slim and how much I enjoyed it.
And I am going to enjoy it again.
I still haven’t worked out why I think this, it but now I know what I am doing I can take steps not to do it and try to reverse it when it starts.
I say I dont have a sweet tooth and am not that bothered by carbs so why when I am ravenously hungry (and I often am!) do I go to bread and butter?
Like others on this forum I remember one of my greatest teatime treats as a child was thick white bread and golden syrup sandwiches (with lots of butter of course!). It makes my teeth itch now but I was a thin as a lath and you could count every rib then despite eating more than many adults!
So this weekend has been much better – normally I do well during the week then it all goes pear shaped at the weekend. Why I dont know as I generally do far more at the weekend and so I should lose weight but we all know it doesn’t seem to work like that. It was only a pound at the week end but thats gone now.

I have generally had much more control of the demon alcohol – I can have two drinks and say no more, more than two and then I have more.So now I watch myself like a hawk

Thank you again Allie, I am feeling like a chrysalis sensing the sunshine, knowing that massive changes are happening within me; I only hope that I emerge as a butterfly and not a dragon fly!

MM

Busybee, I’m so sorry that things haven’t gone to plan for you. I hope you have a wonderful time away and come back to us without pressure to perform. Thank you for your support, I’ve always appreciated it xx

Madmare, such a touching post. I empathize with you in your stress with unwell parents – went through that a couple of years ago, and it is not easy.
Also I, too, am a champion at self-sabotage/fear of success (I think there are several on here would say the same) and that question had me quivering. The trick now is for us to keep it in mind as we walk this road. Best wishes from me.

Miranda your boss sounds like an arse! I think Gattina (and everyone else!) has given great advice, and I hope things get easier as the week goes on. Most likely she’s jealous that you’re taking control and making positive changes.

Good work all the maintainers and losers!

Final weigh in for me shows a 2lb loss over the 4 weeks. The bigger picture involves a week long Easter binge and subsequent gain. I’m looking at these 4 weeks as a lesson that I am addicted to carbs, and I can’t slip back into old ways and expect to slip back to loosing weight seamlessly. But it’s also been proof that I can get back on the wagon after I fall.

Good post , Nicola12. 👍👍

Hi MirandaG,
I think I see what is happening here. Welcome to my world 🙂 🙂
It constantly amazes me how Neuro Typicals talk to each other without having any interest in listening to each other. – Why say “How are you? or How is business?, when you meet someone then not listen to the answer. Or more to the point how rude to ignore the answer from the person you asked the question of because you are too busy thinking through what you want to say about your own health or business success.

Being an Aspie, I just don’t get it. – What I have learned is that they are only asking the question because they really want to talk about their own life/theories/issues and you gain brownie points by asking questions or providing them to talk about what they have a driving need to open up about. – As its your boss, maybe those brownie points would be worth earning? – Maybe she is worrying about your eating patterns because she has some issues about her own eating patterns, or those of family members and can’t talk to her family members about her worries.

Hello MirandaG
Its a shame when some people don’t know when to just be quiet don’t you think! If I strongly felt that someone shouldn’t be doing a particular diet, it’s not my business to interfere – after all who am I, and I don’t know everything – unless its obviously making them ill. My friend is doing Slimming World at the moment and says to me how annoyed she is with her current plateau, she’s stayed the same for a few weeks despite being strict. I don’t need to tell her to low-carb to notice a difference. She knows I am, and how much I’ve lost over a couple of weeks, so actions speak louder than words and each to their own 🙂
Although obviously I am quite tempted to tell her she will never loose properly the way she eats, I know that she will be hurt and simply won’t understand – she’s hooked on “healthy carbs”. The least I can do is make sure she knows how I treat them without trying to run her life for her.

What a beautiful post, Madmare, and courageous, too! Sometimes we never know if someone has
found a particular post helpful, so thank you for the gift of letting me know. My initial reaction to
the doctor’s question was stunned silence 🙂 At the time I found it somewhat intrusive, coming from
a woman I had only met 2 minutes earlier, but I was still thinking about it days later. Could this
possibly be true??? It’s a wonder that I kept the car on the road, and didn’t end up in a ditch on the
way home! Well done on managing your weekend 🙂 I see a handsome butterfly in the making!
Losing 50% of my body weight and maintaining it for a year was just the final step in my journey….
It began officially with the reading of Gary Taubes book, “Why We Get Fat..and What To Do About It”,
but in reality began with changing my thought process altogether. I’ll share that with you on our
new thread. Happy that you will be there 🙂

Allie

Hi Everyone. Some great conversations happening here and lots of lovely positive posts. I’m ending this challenge 1 KG up but determined to continue. Currently, I can stick to the plan for about 2 days before old habits and life in general brings me undone. So I will join the new thread with a plan to stick to 800cals for 3 consecutive days and just eat healthy in between. I’m also going to check my BGL when ever I’m starving and I will only eat if its below 6.0mmol .I’m not diagnosed as diabetic but I was close to it a couple of years ago and this strategy worked. I’m not really sure why after a few weeks of indulgence Ive gained weight and I can’t seem to get my thinking back on track. The conversations around deserving to be well also hit a nerve with me and my self sabotage. As Ive spent my whole life caring for others. I’m a nurse ,4 kids, husband is not so healthy, I guess its going to take great deal more effort to undo the habits of a life time.Ive slowed down to casual work and with more free time I need to develop new routines and activities. I know what needs to happen its just finding motivation to do it.
I wish you all the best on the next challenge . Never give up.

I forgot to report on my final weigh in this morning, so here goes. A miserly 0.4kg loss this week. It would have been more if the weigh in had been yesterday. I had a 0.4 kg gain from yesterday, not from falling off the wagon, but fluid retention and I expect it will be the same again today.

On the positive side, over the 4 weeks that’s a total of 2.1kg (4.5b) lost. Not brilliant, but it could be a lot worse, right now I seem to be loosing inches more than lbs, and finally inches off the spare tyre which I am really pleased about.

Hi Madmare,
I just wanted to say that I am sorry to hear about your parents health but was very inspired by your take on the question of not seeking help because you feel you don’t deserve it.

Its a question that’s still rattling around my head as well. – I find I am holding lots of aspects of my life up to the light and questioning why I put off doing the things I want to do, or put up with things not being the way I would like them to be when its in my power to get off my backside and make changes……

Just wanted to say thanks again for the points and reassurance with my work issue.
Today has been a very interesting day. I’d already decided before I’d even left home there was no arguing or bickering to be done today but it just so happened we had an office birthday to celebrate with the inevitable home made cakes and treats. I could see her (boss lady) watching me like a hawk, scrutinising my selection. After I opted for a couple of (modestly sized) lumps of cheese, she looked away and didn’t utter another word on the subject and im pleased to report my eating habits weren’t discussed at all for the remainder of the day!
Between all of your comments you have summed her up perfectly. She sees herself as some sort of authority on weight loss, given her own loss of 3 stones 7 or 8 years ago. Its EASY she says; “eat less, move more”.
This coming from someone who’s office bin often contains two or three chocolate bar wrappers when I return from my 2.5 mile lunchtime march……
Anyway, I’m putting her negativity to the back of my mind and pushing on.
Love to you all
Miranda x

I’m happy that you had a more positive day today, Miranda. It’s great that you made use of your luncheon
break to get in a walk. “Eat less and move more” is medical advice that is about 20 yrs. out of date. That’s
right up there with the “calories in, calories out” falsehood too! Success rests in the hands of those who
know that it is the TYPE of calories that matter most. Stay strong, my girl!

Allie

Last post in this thread from me. My weigh in this week was the same as last week. This means that over the 4 weeks I have gained 200g overall….so much for losing a few kilos!
I’ve been averaging about 1200 calories per day these last few weeks, so to be honest it’s been more like maintenance than weight loss.
But I’m going to KOKO and move over to the next challenge 🙂