Hi 54 , in the early days I was very strict in checking daily calories and frequently incorporated OMAD one meal a day when I was working which worked for me . Nowadays I think more in terms of staying low carb rather than low calorie because it is the insulin response and the fluctuating blood sugars which muck everything up . Your body cannot use your fat stores for fuel if your insulin levels remain high .

I think you have to find what works for you but trying to move away from sugar is a good plan in the first instance . Bananas would be too high in carbs for me, (17g carbs) for a medium banana . I have a book called “The carb and calorie counter “which has visuals of foods and their carb and calorie counts and it was a revelation.

It’s not that any food is ‘banned ‘ but if you choose the more sugary fruits you are likely to keep your insulin levels high . I used to pile my blender with all sorts of fruits and seeds every morning and thought I was doing the right thing but my weight only started to come off ( after years of serial dieting ) when I moved to low carb, reading Jason Fung’s books and realising how damaging sugar had been to me .

Thank you for the lovely welcome, it’s great to get everyone’s views and opinions. So supportive, thank you 😊
I joined the Facebook group (UK) one yesterday and they kept taking about free veg? I have been counting everything.

Stayed the same for the last 4 days now so clearly going wrong somewhere, but not stressing after all it’s a Woe not a quick fix and will just reevaluate what I’ve been eating and make a few changes.

I kinda save recipes of things that are a bit too high in carbs/calories to try out occasionally when I get to the maintenance stage, things to look forward too. One of them being the chaffle (I keep thinking about it lol). I thought I would try it on my griddle plate 1st before investing in a waffle maker.

I had a bit of a blip yesterday, not hunger but wanted to eat when I got home from work. Too early for dinner at 4pm so sorta binged but on low carb food. Had some garlic n herb cream cheese left over from the pancetta wrapped chicken from the night before, so finished that followed by a handful of cashews and a generous TSP of crunchy peanut butter. I didn’t manage all of my 2 litres of water and hadn’t walked as far as I usually do so didn’t expect good news from the scales this morning. BUT 1/2 lb gone which makes a stone since I started the BSD 😁😁😁. It has been 8 weeks but I am counting it as 6 because of the 1 week in hospital and the 1 week on holiday in Scotland. My blood pressure is now down from stage 2 hypertension to elevated and blood sugar 6.7

Found a new walk today a lane I had previously thought was private but isn’t so it felt like a walk in the woods rather than up a country road avoiding tractors etc. It also increased my walk from 40 mins to an hour.

Well done Elle Mae a stone is a proper milestone🥳 I have been virtuous this week (4) and if I dont mess up the rest of today my stats will be good. MFP says I’ve averaged 26g carbs a day – I am excited for weigh in tomorrow morning! I just received the 800 Easy book which looks very good – I like the format.
Sunshine Girl – I read in your blog that you were doing the exercises.. are you still doing them? Hope you are all coping with the weekend..koko 😉

Hi everyone, and welcome to JoeyBee. I have actually been out somewhere where there might be a crowd. Cinema. Got there and we were the only people in so the place was empty. Then a young woman and a girl came in and sat in front of us. Why? They had the whole cinema to choose from. I think people wear magnetic knickers and are attracted to other people without realising it. Anyway, it was a good film if you like psychological thriller /spooky stories. M Night Shalaman’s film OLD. He always has that little twist at the end but I usually work it out but this one had me nearly there but not quite.

All this talk of cravings and bread. My comment it ‘what is bread’. Get it out of your lives as it is the biggest downfall of this diet. It is so easy to get and easy to eat and is tasty unlike pasta or rice which are just mushy and flavourless or potatoes which you have to peel and cook so not so much a temptation. The last time I had a bread snack it was a baguette (a piece not a whole one) with a chicken salad. Normally the chicken salad would have satisfied me until dinner but because of the bread I was starving within a couple of hours. That is how carbs work. However, can I say that if you are doing the diet to lose weight the odd slip with a carb wont kill you – difference is it might eventually kill me – seriously. If I wasnt diabetic I wouldnt be as strict on this plan. That doesnt mean you can go ahead and go off plan. It is better to try to stick with it strictly for at least the 8 weeks. Gives your palate chance to adjust and completely get rid of the carb cravings.

The question on bananas is that they are a high sugar, high carb fruit (23g carbs). Similar to the reason we dont eat pineapple (15g in a couple of slices), mangos (19g), papyas etc. Too much sugar. As someone already said, even apples are high in carbs – I think 14g of carbs in just one. Although surprisingly there are only about 8g in a peach and 11g in 3 small apricots. The difference between say banana and apple is the apple takes longer to digest so you dont get the sugar rush. Berries are the best bet.

Antigone, you ask if I still do the exercises. Well, I have my own pool so in summer I swim most days – although the weather has been a bit off and lots of rain so not been in for over a week. Hot weather is coming soon. If I dont get to swim I am not in the frame of mind to do other exercise. During the colder months I still do 3 or 4 days of Shaun T and his HipHopAbs or Beverly Callard (I have a couple of hers) and on the other days I do yoga (Adrienne on YouTube). I tend not to do the mindfulness exercises unless I am feeling particularly stressed and my Garmin puts my stress levels at around the very low level so dont bother much. I also dont stick with 800 cals but, like Wendleg (Wendy) I always stick with no starchy carbs like bread, pots etc. This is my way of life and I dont want to put my health back in trouble.

Also wanted to say to Elle-Mae, you know when you are getting the diet right when you start making great choices for hunger and/or cravings.

Well I have a cat sticking her bum in my face so I cant see the screen too well so I had better see what she is after. Have a good weekend everyone.

Feeling very deflated 😔 After my best week ever – everything weighed and logged and perfect stats I have lost…..nothing!

Big hugs Antigone, it will return, probably next week you will have a bigger loss to make up for it. Bodies are strange things 😂.

Hello Antigone
☹️Me too it was my first week back on diet and I have lost nothing😩 either!! Not sure what I am doing wrong but it is so frustrating I will keep going maybe next week will show something

Take care all
Lv Lynda 😘 xx

Thanks Elle Mae and Nokie..really appreciate the support.
Lunch is in the oven and I’ve made the weeks cakes for everyone else ( cakes dont tempt me!) Coffee and the Archers Omnibus now!
SG – glad to hear you got to the cinema.
Nokia and I will smash this next week!
We all will!✋💪✊(hope that doesn’t mean something rude in sign language lol!)

To all those struggling this past week, Sunshine girl and Wendleg offer good advice.

At least for the first 8 weeks, 800 cal and low carb (less than 50g), no bread, pasta, rice at all, no cheat days – you will see results.

I have relaxed my cals for now and am more or less maintaining at the moment, having lost more than 2 stone (hubby has lost nearly 6 stone), but the mantra of low carb is not negotiable and we have not re-gained the weight lost. Beside the weight loss other health markers have improved which is more important.

For the occasional dessert we will have some berries with full fat yoghurt or double cream, fat is not your enemy if carb intake is low. We eat good quality protein in the form of meat, fish and eggs, with lots of above ground veg and enjoy every thing we do eat, rather than fixating on what we can’t or don’t eat. Our treats are part of a meal, something to look forward to, like a really good cheese or expensive coffee beans, or last night’s duck breast.

Good luck, go back to basics and the results will follow.

Oh the cinema Sunshine Girl how fab, haven’t been for so long but doubt I’d go in the near future, any place that maybe busy I stay away from, so fantastic that it was quiet.
Maybe your magnetic knickers stopped them from being scared 😂.

Well my stuck days have cleared that goodness and down another 2lbs, so watched Fat Fiction last night and hubby caught the end of it which was enough to recruit him on this WOE too.

Anyway MARROWS! What can I do with them? Hubby has grown a massive one and is very proud of himself so want to use it, but how???
Anyone got any ideas?

Hi everyone, Onestep, glad you have got passed your stuck days. Fat Fiction, is that on YouTube or was it on TV. Our local cinema only seats about 30 people and as it was an English film in France not many people would want to go. It was a relief as I was quite nervous. What to do with a marrow? All I can think of is to stuff it 🙂

I am getting worried about my family getting out here as there are still obstacles in the way. In France children from 12 years can get the vaccine so any child between 12 and 17 has to have been vaccinated or have had a negative test to come to France. I dont know how they are going to do this as the boys are away with their dad and not due back until the Saturday evening and they are due to fly out on the Monday at 7.30 am. I think they can get rapid testing done at the airport but will there be someone to do it at that time in the morning and does that mean they have to get there even earlier. We were hoping those rules had been dropped as Macron has decided that French children dont have to have covid passports to go to places until the end of September and I stupidly thought this also applied to kids coming here. My daughter and her finace have both been double jabbed so you would have thought it was going to be simple. No such luck. Anyway, I know the rules are changing from tonight but I cant find an updated site to check yet.

Just one more thing to worry about, serves me right for saying I never get stressed. Hey ho.

Thanks SG, maybe stuffing it is the way to go!
Fat Fiction was on Amazon Prime so I guess you won’t get it there unfortunately.

My parents are in France and brother just flew out there this morning with no issues at all but not with children so can’t comment on that I’m sorry but I believe that the bigger airports like Manchester offer the antigen testing with an hour turnaround for 12s and over. So fingers crossed it won’t be too stressful.

whoops just made a recipe from the book and assumed it was for 1 serving, thought that’s high when logging it…. Was for 2 servings and now feel sick as ate too much 😂😂

Onestep

yes, I keep doing the same thing !!

My mistake is to cook something for 4 with the intention of saving three and then forget .

I thought it was a good choice as the plate looked very full of healthy stuff. Just realised before tucking in !!

Thanks for the Carb advice, People at home and friends try to help and suggest things but perhaps the advice given is not always best !!

great advice and tips here though, thanks everyone for the CRAVINGS , CARB, BREAD and BANANAS tips !!

54

Excellent start to the week, but high carbs again this weekend let me down. Lost 1lb this week. 3 good runs.
My plan for this week is 3 fasts, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 4 runs. And low carb all week (which I must do even if I feel at a low ebb which was my downfall this week)
—————
Summary
—————
Weeks 1-3: A bit of a false start – one good week and 2 bad and lost 1lb overall
Weeks 4-6: Started intermittent fasting. Difficult at first with a lot of brain fog. Limited weight loss of just 1lb. Total loss: 2lbs
Weeks 7-9: Added low carb to 2-3 fasts each week. Much better progress and lost a further 5lbs. Total loss: 7lbs
Week 10: 2 fast days, but 2 days of high carb (while ill) caused a weight gain of 2.5lbs. Total loss: 4.5lbs.
Week 11: 2 fast days, but again 2 days of high carb. lost 1lb. Total loss: 5.5lbs

I’m taking my own advice today (and hopefully for the rest of the week) 🙂
I feel like I have eaten too much over the weekend, no carbs but just too much in general.
So this morning I have just had 100g full-fat yoghurt with a tablespoon of mixed seeds, it is Asian-style chicken broth for lunch, and maybe a cauli curry for supper (so way less than 800cals today, but I need a reset).
But more importantly, I have actually weighed food out again and logged it in MFP, so no estimating portion sizes this week.
Here’s hoping for a good week!

I’m keeping a record of my calories on MFP but using the ones stated in the MM recipe books which are way off the figures given using the MFP tool. Sometimes they’re higher, sometimes lower. What method of cal counting do others use?

Some of the recipes in the MM books are not accurate re. calorie counting, there are many reports of that on this forum.
However, MFP can also be wildly inaccurate, but I tend to use MFP and if a number looks odd, or very different to others in a similar category, I will investigate further and try to find a more accurate value.

Congrats Onestop! Glad you are back on a losing streak. Everyone sounds chipper this morning…
Like SG I am hoping my son will be able to get here in a week or two – his kids are under 12 so 🤞. They will come by sea as well which is a bit easier…
Good luck all.

Hi everyone, my stress levels are at an all time high trying to find somewhere to do antigen testing on a Sunday for boys returning to UK but my daughter says they dont need them. They still need them to come here but she has booked at Birmigham airport on the Sunday and then they fly from Stanstead on Monday (very early morning). So hopefully all is sorted. Her blokes kids are so excited and cannot believe we have a pool, they think it is just an oversized paddling pool but it is actually 40 ft x 20 ft. Now I have to look for days out but there is so much to do around here and luckily it is all open. 5 kids and 4 adults but daughter says she is taking over the house, cooking, cleaning, washing machine on every day……. So I just need to make sure there is enough food in the house and plenty of things for them to do or go out to.

Due to all this stress I had a few drinks over the weekend and my weight is up by around 1lb so, like RubyG I will be carefully logging and weighing everything. Breakfast was 100g yoghurt with raspberries and strawberries from my garden and a sprinkle of flaked almonds. Lunch was 3 eggs scrambled with a Ryvita. Dinner is my usual Monday fare of mince something. Probably bolognaise or chilli style and I know exactly how much to make.

Glad to see you all seem to have this under control (maybe more than me) and hope you continue to have a good week.

Thanks Antigone, sounds like everyone is doing well, ready for another new week.

Yes, it’s time to start another week !

Check out the new thread beginning 10th August ….

OH heck ! I just posted the new thread and for once I didn’t copy it, and guess what ….it disappeared ! grrrrrr

Great to see people are doing well by staying on track when they go off track

Great help with the cravings and fruit advice

Some advice above was to avoid bread altogether . Im not good at cutting down so that’s what Ill try

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