Morning all, lovely to see a new weekly thread, thanks very much for setting it up Sunnyb.
Today is Day 6 and I’m proud to say I’m managing to stick to this like glue so far. I know this won’t always be the way, in fact, I know that it’s often the moment I think, “you’ve got this!” that the wheels come off my wagon. But I’m determined that this time I won’t surrender to all-or-nothing thinking and smash the wagon to pieces!
I’ve been, if anything, a bit over-zealous about tracking every calorie and carb—and I mean over-zealous, LoL. I’m measuring the weight of everything, even down to the occasional splash of milk in tea to the amount of no added sugar squash added to water to exactly how much cucumber I’m dipping into my houmous. I’m using a UK app called Nutracheck to do so (it costs £3.99 a month but it’s one of the most up to date and complete food databases I’ve ever seen). In doing so, I’ve actually been rather surprised by how much I can eat if I’m smart about sticking to low carb vegetables and protein. I was doing WW immediately before starting this so was already into the habit of tracking everything. Has it been plain-sailing? Of course not—I’ve self-soothed with food for years and associate stuffing food into my gob with feeling better—but that said, it’s been a lot easier than expected so far, perhaps because I’m currently on leave from work (back next Monday).
I’ve even done a bit of exercise. I’m very unfit but discovered Gina Buber’s “Dance that Walk” sessions. On YouTube, she has a series of videos for the very unfit which build up from 5 minutes of exercise to 50 minutes over the course of a few weeks. I started at 20 minutes and will probably stay there for a couple more days before upping to 25 minutes. Would recommend if you’re looking for something you can easily do in your living room.
Olive_1, I’m so pleased to read that your pain is much improved—I’m hoping to achieve the same over time. I get lower back pain/sciatica and neck pain and end up resorting to painkillers far more often then I’d like. I also have hypothyroidism. 😫 Hope your plans for portion control and TRE work out well this week.
Squidge, I also seem to be managing 16:8, almost accidentally cos I’m not especially hungry first thing (didn’t stop me eating anyway when I was doing WW!) But now I’m mindful of extending my fast as far as I can, so haven’t had any breakfast before 10am since starting.
And ADD6605, I’m definitely up for joining you and Squidge to stick with this like glue through to the end of August. I’d like to go the whole 12 weeks through to the end of October but don’t want to set myself up to fail so sticking with this to the end of August feels like an achievable goal. Let’s do this!
EllieAllegra, glad you got to meet up with some friends. I think it’s great that you were still able to make good choices when you ate out—it gives me hope that I’ll be able to make this way of eating my default setting. But sorry to hear you’re someone else with daily pain—it sucks, doesn’t it? Hopefully eating this way will lower inflammation for both of us.
Hi Butterlover, keep on keeping on! Maybe it’s worth not worrying about TRE for a while until you get your snacking under control? Hope you have a better week!