Peony's Little Corner (There will be talk of food - you have been warned!)

To be honest I am still not certain whether starting a diary thread is for me but I figured hell, why not try it and see if it is for me. No-one will hold a gun to my head if I don't want to write every day!

So today I decided to put an end to almost 9 months of abstinence on first Lighter Life then Exante. After much soul searching I decided that I was happy that the reason I wanted to stop was because my body is crying out for food, not just because abstinence is difficult.

It was a hard decision as I am not at my weight target rather 5 lbs short of it. However I had just stuck at this weight for a couple of weeks, am having a few issues with my TOTM and bowels and really really believe that it is time to eat, and manage any further weight loss using real food, not packs.

I am following my own RTM - fashioned in part on the LL one and also the CD one. Today was day one and I can safely say that I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed every morsel that has passed my lips. I have made a resolution that I ALWAYS want to savour and enjoy food as much as I have today. When it passes your lips unnoticed and unconsidered then I think you are on a slippery slope!

I think the deconstructive nature of VLCSd's are simply beautiful. Never before have I savoured the taste of a piece of lettuce, and I am grateful that doing this diet has made me view food in a whole new light.

So alongside my necessary packs I have today eaten half a bag of seasonal baby leaf salad, a tablespoon of Sainsbury BGTY pepper dressing and a piece of Tesco chilli roasted salmon. Blummin delicious. I also had one of the smaller muller light yoghurt pots during the afternoon.

I expected to feel stuffed, surprisingly I don't but I do feel satisfied.

Darling daughter is beckoning - have to run. More another time.

Nice to hear you are enjoying your food Peony, sounds like you have your head around this stage, you go girl!!!!!
Bren xx

Yay peony. I have stalked you here!!

Keep up the fantastic work, you have this thing nailed xx

Aw thanks for the encouragement Bren & Mel, you two are ace. I know this is all online but you both come across as such genuine & lovely people. Feel all mushy now!

I am doing well. The scales have turned into groundhog day - I actually laugh when I get on them now and shout '10 stone 8' out to my husband. I am taking comfort from the fact that although they have not gone down in a couple of weeks, I am now enjoying real food and they are also not going up. I know water counts for so, so much, but seriously, to have consumed so few calories and been as active as normal over the past few weeks you would have thought the scale would have gone down a bit! Oh well never mind. I look slim and that has to be enough for the time being!

Yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed a plate of lambs lettuce with a tablespoon of cardini's low fat caesar dressing, topped with warmed through salt and pepper chicken from waitrose. I have elected to eat prepared chicken and fish this week as it has taken some of the stress away knowing I haven't to cook stuff. I also enjoyed a fatless 1 egg/ ham & spring onion omelette yesterday. It is funny, by bedtime I felt like I had been eating all day! I ate a total including packs of 809 calories and 51g carbs. This week and next I have set my calorie limit at 810 and don't want to go over 60g carbs a day to try for now to stay in ketosis.

So far today I have enjoyed my fave breakfast - Maple porridge from Avid, just 119 calories and 6g carbs - I may well buy these ongoing as I really like them and don't want to 'carb out' at breakfast time.

On today's menu is 150g of 0% fat greek yoghurt, turkey rashers with scrambled egg and chikken tikka on salad. Mmmmm!

Come Easter Sunday I am treating myself to a Green & Blacks 15g choc bar. I found their direct website where you can buy 15g bars in their different flavours. I really like the idea of being able to unwrap & eat a whole bar, even if it is tiny - over eating a small bit of a bigger bar and feeling deprived! Mad but there you go, it's just how my mind works. I bought a stash and gave half to my sister for her birthday who whilst not really overweight has just had her gall bladder out and is keeping her fat intake to a minimum. A 15g bar of their 70% dark chocolate has 82 calories, 5.4g of carbs, 6g of fat - a nutritional billy bargain! the milk chocolate bar is 78 calories, 8g carbs and 4.5g of fat. Easter Sunday here I come.

I have also been giving some thought and reading about alcohol - how I have missed my wine!!!

It seems that whilst wine doesn't really make you put on fat, what actually happens is that when you drink wine, the acetate in it is far preferable to the body to burn for fuel than your fat or glucose from food. It can then slow down weight loss as you won't be burning the fat when you have had a drink.

So I won't be cracking open a bottle of Fleurie just yet, however in 17 days my wonderful husband will be 35, and I have decided to take my first steps out into the world of eating out! He loves Loch Fyne and that really suits me given that I don't want to run out and eat a pile of carbs. I have looked at the menu and will probably order the grilled fish and salad - and we will toast his birthday and my achievement with a glass of champagne. (and then I will probably fall over lol!)

So happy times ahead. Righto best scarper, the bathroom won't clean itself (sadly!).
xxxx

Hi Peony

Glad to hear that you are doing so well with food. You have great discipline.

Could you possibly tell me where you get your Maple Porridge from at all?

Sounds just the thing I need.

Thanks
Kaz

Thanks Kazz - let's just hope the discipline remains long into maintenence lol - I do think I have cracked it in that when I weighed over 20 stone another chocolate/a pizza/etc didn't seem to matter as it was a drop in the ocean, I have worked so hard and am so happy with the new me that I think I have the discipline to resist in order to protect that. And at least the knowledge to know how to balance it out if I do eat something 'naughty' which I will do as I am human!

I get the maple syrup porridge here:
Avidlite low carb cereal and breakfast bars

I don't make it up as per their instructions as it tasted like wallpaper paste, instead I pour on about 115ml boiled water, heat in microwave for 5-10 seconds and then whizz withstick blender - that way it is a bit runny and there doesn't look much there, but it tastes yummy.

Good luck if you try it. They are not food replacements though, be aware of that, you still need to get all your nutrients from somewhere.
xx

OMG I am in love with Total 100% fat free greek yoghurt, it is fab. I can also seriously recommend having a few leaves of Cos lettuce spread with a total of 10g of Baxters Caramelised onion and cranberry chutney and 1/4 pot of quorn pate for a 52 cal snack.

As a treat for losing 10 stones I have gone mad and bought a selection of Circulon Infinite pans, they are amazing and all the better fir having a finish that means you need little or no fat to cook in them - my scrambled egg at lunch time was yum with a little ham and spring onion running through it, and not a drop of fat needed thanks to my new pans. Have also ordered a couple more global knives - I have just the one at the moment and they are the dogs doodahs. So what with the pans and knives setting me back hundreds and the new clothes, it is a good job my business profits are up a little this year!

x

Oh Peony, I love the Total 0% greek yog too, when I do the add a meal week it is my treat of the day and I usually put some grapes in and crumble part of a bar in it too to make a real fantastic pudding. I do like it on its own too, the texture is a bit odd to start but I really enjoy it now and am unlikely to go back to "runny" type yogs again.
The quorn pate idea sounds really good, and I am already addicted to the lettuce (cos and romaine are the same I think?) - keep up with the good ideas
Bren xx

ps - thanks for the lovely compliment too, you don't seem half bad yourself

Wow - i am completely in awe of your dedication to numbers!! there is no way I would have the time or dedication to do that.....do you want to come and live at my house lol

ha ha Mel, that is why I am poring over choices withmy calculator planning for tomorrow at almost 11pm on a Tuesday night! I do admit though, I like to feel in control, as I said a few weeks ago, it is like a sad hobby hee hee.

On the menu tomorrow are scrambled egg and turkey rashers again, good old 0% greek yog, prawns, salad & low fat 1000 island dressing and am going to give the curly kale 'seaweed' a go! Happy days.

Oh Quak, I think it is the texture of the greek yog I like the most that and the cheesy sharpness (although I did sprinkle a little splenda on to take the edge off). I think I will use it a lot to add creaminess to dishes as I start cooking more. I have also had one of the new mullerlight vanilla and choc sprinkles yogs - quite possiblt the sweetest thing I have ever tasted! My husband reckons that one day Muller will be found out for adding cocaine to their yoghurts - he finds them so moreish!!! he hasn't been able to have them in the house - I have had to ban him from touching mine!!!

xxx

love reading your diary peony, I am on week 6 of rtm and finding it good overall and reading your posts made me remember the importance of planning.. that's what I have stopped doing.. time to write my food plans for tomorrow... thanks x

Thanks Gemma
Yes I think there is some room for planning ongoing - although not as meticulous as I am doing now! It was those days pre LL that you had been so busy and got nothing planned to eat that you would get to 7pm, kid/s in bed and go right, what's for dinner - oh, nothing defosted, nothing in fridge. I know, we'll have Pizza*/Curry*/chip shop* *delete as applicable etc.

Good luck getting back to your planning. xxx

And today's newsflash - ten stone 8 - just by way of a change eh!

Scale has stuck for almost 2 weeks and only about a pound down over the 2 weeks prior to - need some encouraging words about water or something I think!

Have you tried upping your excercise?
Has your TOTM settled down yet? It could be related to that
Are you drinking enough water?
Maybe your body is just holding onto everything as it doesnt know where the next lot of food is coming from. It might start coming off again once it knows its regular.
My FAVOURITE idea is this.......you are losing fat, but your glycogen stores are topping up again and replacing the fat. So once these are fully topped up, the weight loss will show again.
You still may be losing inches
You may be building up muscle whilst becoming lovely and toned
you may need another colonic?? lol

Thanks for your input Mel, it is always helpful to get another viewpoint. I don't think my glyogen is filling up yet as I am still only on 800 cals and around 50g carbs a day (carbs were higher on Exante). So I must still be in ketosis and am not hungry.

I think I am hanging on to water due to different things - maybe seasoning my food too much - I have felt thirstier and have sped through my 4 litres and been drinking more water than usual. And yes, also my TOTM is now 5 days overdue - tbh I don't normally hold water before TOTM, for some obscure reason it happens after usually. Perhaps this time is different.

I have had a good read about ketogenic diets and it is common to plateau when the body gets used to a certain exercise and calorie level. They recommend increasing cals and exercise, the cal bit I have done with the increase to 800 so hopefully it will show on the scales. The exercise thing - well hmmm, that could be a point as I have been so busy with work I couldn't get away during the day (it is the busiest 2 months for me workwise) and then school Easter hols that the gym has taken a back seat for a couple of weeks. I Will get back on it once dd is back at school - have been walking about a lot at parks etc. though cos of the holidays.

To be honest I think I am still losing fat because I am sure the slightly wrinkly skin has got wrinklier on my thighs which suggests I have lost fat from there.

Thinking of you lovely girl, I really understand how you feel sticking to the plan, it is sooooo hard as it has been such a long time. It is why I started RTM early - something went inside me and I knew that mentally I just couldn't do abstinence any more. It's why I think you should consider LLL as you will be able to have a meal each day. Good luck honey x

Hoo bloo*y ray finally a move downwards on the scale. 10 stone 7 really pleased - hoping it will mark a break in the plateau and will continue down till I get to my 10 stone 3 goal.

Fab- it always goes in the endJust those few last pounds to go.
You must feel great.

Cheers SB - yes I do. I had an invite to a fancy dress party today - something that would have struck horror in my heart a year ago, now the sky is the limit costume wise - things like that really illustrate the comparison of life before and after.

Also, today I was ironing my clothes and it really struck home how far I have come - these clothes said syuff like size 10 and size 1 in them, it is finally sinking in that they fit me, I am soo happy, and soooo enjoying rediscovering food. It is lovely to be able to start afresh and form new opinions on food no longer tainted by childhood likes and dislikes.

Today I had a fab chilli con carne on leaves made with 5% aberdeen angus minced beef and discovery chilli con carne sauce - all in at only just over 200 cals including a spoon of 0% greek yog on top - mmmmm!

xxxx

You are re-educating yourself all over again. Where r u getting your ideas from?