Back at target, still thinking...

Didn't record my food here yesterday because it was more or less a carbon copy of the day before, coming in at 1401 calories.


Moving on, following a chat in Tracy's diary, I think I'm changing my strategy a little as of this week.


I don't think for one moment that I can do full-on fasting days, but I'm pretty sure I can reduce my eating "window" to just lunch and dinner, thereby allowing myself a) a more substantial lunch, or b) a snack somewhere in between lunch and dinner, or possibly both!:D


I know dieticians throw up their hands in horror at the idea of skipping breakfast, but mornings are definitely my least hungry time of day, so why waste calories then when I can feel so much more in need of them later?


Anyway, I'll see how it goes.


Today's food:


Lunch: 2 eggs scrambled, half tin of baked beans, 30g of mature cheddar, 498 cals


Dinner: chicken breast with leeks, carrots and potato, 547 cals


Dessert: creme caramel, 110 cals


Biscuit, 81 cals


Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1366 cals


Have to say, I like the look of that: much bigger lunch, a biscuit, and I'll be coming in at about 100 cals less than I'm averaging at the moment. Cool!


Now to see if it works...
looks really good. Keep at it hun x
 
Thanks, ladies!

Been awol since Tuesday, not by design - I just find fasting does some weird things to my head. For some reason I seem to get quite withdrawn when I go long periods without food. :confused:

Anyway, yesterday was a tough one, but mostly my own fault. It was shopping day, so I elected to have my weekly treat of one of those totally wicked salted caramel muffins for lunch...big mistake! I'd been hungry all morning, and that thing didn't even touch the sides! What I needed was a nice, big, bulky, protein-y salad or stir-fry, not a cake :rolleyes:

So I basically paid for it all afternoon, having no choice but to suffer my stomach screaming at me to eat :( I managed to hold out until dinner though, and by the time I'd had a great big helping of chilli with pasta and cabbage and a mousse for dessert, I felt great and continued to feel good all evening and all of this morning as well - I finally ate again at 2 o'clock this afternoon, and even then I wasn't desperate. Really strange how some days are so much easier than others even though I'm having very similar amounts of fuel each day.

So yesterday came in at 1433 calories, and today looks like this:

Lunch: 3 eggs, scrambled with 30g mature cheddar, 416 cals

Dinner: roast chicken with steamed carrots, potatoes, peas and gravy, 542 cals

Dessert: chocolate mousse, 116 cals

Caramel biscuit, 81 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1285 cals

Should be enough to keep me going as I appear to be having a not-very-hungry day...hurrah!:D
 
Hi Scrumbles,

I'm the same as you in terms of morning hunger- I can usually get to 1pm without much hunger/bother and when I'm busy doing things I can forget to eat until 2 or 3pm, although I've been eating breakfast recently as binge-prevention. It's good that you can stop at one biscuit though- if I open a packet I eat at least 3!

Well done for sticking to a nice low number of cals!


Isn't it strange how different we all are - I can't forget to eat after 9 am even if I got up at 8.30 :) When I have eaten Dinner - about 7pm I am not in the least interested in food until breakfast.

When I am at MIL's she has biscuits everywhere and I will go looking for them (and eat them) but at home I do not have any in the house and do not miss them at all.
 
I find when I'm in diet mode I can be very restrained with biscuits - in fact with everything, really! It's what happens when I am no longer trying to lose weight that's the problem. Once I lose focus, I can scarf down 5 or 6 biscuits in a row even though I probably stopped tasting them after the first couple, so they are a very dangerous food for me to have around the house on a regular basis.

One thing that might help me this time round is that I've put up a high storage shelf in the kitchen, and any open packets of biscuits get tucked away up there where they are in reach (only just, on tippy-toes!) but above my eyeline when I'm working in the kitchen so that I don't have to see them all the time. Out of sight, out of mind does seem to work for me to some extent.


The past few days have been a bit of a mixed bag.

Thursday and Friday were fine (1322 and 1363 cals) but yesterday ended up as a maintaining day owing to a bit of a booze-up - 440 cals consumed as single malt whisky, to be specific :eek::eek:

To my credit, I didn't compound the folly by eating anything during or after, so my total for the day came to 1674 cals, which certainly isn't a disaster. Just means it was a treading-water day rather than a hoping-to-lose-fat day.

Of course, today is proving a bigger test because I'm fighting the hangover munchies for all I'm worth, but I'm determined not to give in!

My planned food is:

Lunch: half tin of Heinz Potato and Leek soup, Danish pastry (Sunday treat!), 498 cals

Dinner: chicken and bacon risotto, 667 cals

Dessert: creme caramel, 110 cals

Biscuit, 81 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1486 cals

This is a little more than I was hoping to have today, but given my current condition, I'll take it!:cool:


Back on the wagon tomorrow...in every sense :D
 
Been struggling badly today.

I don't know if it's still the effects of the alcohol from Saturday night but I have been incredibly hungry and out-of-sorts today. I managed to hold on until 1.15pm before eating, but I was counting seconds by that time, let alone hours or minutes!

One thing I have definitely observed with this morning fasting business is that even on the days when I don't feel particularly hungry, I'm not really myself. Most notably, I can't do any brain work in the mornings: I can do physical work, and that seems to help distract me from food, but my powers of concentration are practically nil. Not good.

I may yet have to accept that this way of eating is not for me, but I'll keep going for now. Perhaps when I've lost the weight and am eating for maintenance rather than at a deficit, I'll find it less of a trial?

Anyway, enough whining!

Today's food:

Lunch: soup and cold chicken, 392 cals

Dinner: fish florentine with jacket potato, 581 cals

Dessert: mousse, 116 cals

Biscuit, 81 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1300 cals
 
You are doing so well despite the hunger! sticking to under 1400 cals a day is really good. If you do find yourself feeling ravenous in the mornings then maybe just split your lunch cals into breakfast and lunch for that day and then do a 'Breakfast-free' day when you're feeling better. :)
 
Thanks, Bella! That's a sensible suggestion, and if it gets unbearable that's what I'll have to do, but at the moment my stubborn (read:stupid!:p) streak is telling me to ride it out and see if I can get used to it. I'm wanting to give it at least 2 weeks, but we'll see.


Was doing some number-crunching this morning to see what I may or may not be losing on my present numbers.

Over the past two weeks I've averaged just shy of 1400 calories per day which ought to be a deficit of 400 calories per day if the online calculators for my TDEE are remotely accurate - at my age, height and current weight I should be burning about 1800 calories to maintain, though I rather suspect that's a bit high!

Assuming, however, that it is somewhere close to reality, I should be 5600 cals in deficit for the fortnight, equating to about 1.5 pounds of actual fat loss (there would be some associated water loss, so it might appear more on the scales).

Whether this is actually happening I don't know, but it's important for me to have a ballpark figure for when I next step on the scales in two weeks time so that I have realistic expectations.

We all want to think that our efforts are losing us pounds and pounds of fat at a gallop, but when you start doing the maths you realise that unless you're on a VLCD, that ain't happening! Best case scenario for me given the calories I'm on is that by March 16th I will have dropped about 3lbs of actual fat, so it's as well that I'm aware of it and not hoping for half a stone, lol.


Anyway, food:

Lunch: half tin of Heinz Oxtail soup, porridge with raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg, 382 cals

Dinner: chicken rogan josh with steamed rice and cabbage, 574 cals

Dessert: chocolate mousse, 116 cals

Biscuits (2), 162 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals


Grand Total: 1364 cals
 
I don't know if you have read it but on the net is a poem called something like - I am only a pound of fat - and what is says is very true. I took a copy of it to my exercise class (used to be Rosemary Conley before she went bust but now it is more exercise based than slimming club) and they now have it stuck on the board.
Everybody wants to lose the weight fast but it did not go on fast did it - it more like creeps up on you without you noticing. :)
 
Aye, you're not wrong - a pound a week is great, and is in fact more than I can probably lose. But there isn't a dieter out there who doesn't dream about the fat magically melting away, and because I'm weighing so infrequently I don't want to kid myself that I'm shifting more than is logical/reasonable - I am the Queen of Self-Delusion, so I could easily do it :rolleyes: I was just giving myself a bit of a reality check, I guess.


Still not dealing well with this regime, and it didn't help that yesterday I had to have my main meal at lunchtime and my lighter meal at dinner, meaning I had a lot less food kicking around in my system to sustain me overnight and through this morning. I normally make myself wait until at least 1pm before I cave in and eat, but I was so very desperate I had to have it earlier (12.30pm). Thankfully, half a tin of beans and a couple of eggs scrambled in a knob of butter have made me (almost!) human again. I have a treat of a hot cross bun planned for later, so you can bet I'm counting the minutes until I can get my laughing gear round that :D


Today's food:

Lunch: half tin Branston baked beans with 2 eggs scrambled, 375 cals

Dinner: chicken with leeks, carrots and potato, 534 cals

Dessert: creme caramel, 110 cals

Hot cross bun with 9g butter, 273 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1422 cals

Yesterday ended up as slightly under average at 1362 cals, so I reckon I'm owed a few extra today; I might even add the suggestion of a smear of jam to that hot cross bun if I'm feeling naughty...:cool:;)
 
Well, it's official: no more fasting for me. Not now, not ever.

I don't generally consider myself a quitter, but I have had to finally admit defeat for the sake of my sanity, if nothing else.

Yesterday was a slightly above average day calorie-wise, and my calories were weighted heavily towards the end of the day, but still I woke up this morning SO hungry I just couldn't take it any longer.

Bottom line is that I simply don't function when I haven't eaten for too long. If it were "just" hunger maybe I could put up with it, but the emotional knock-on effect on me is horrendous: I am listless, miserable, tearful, angry, brain-dead and wretched. I can barely live with myself, let alone expect anyone else to put up with me.

The whole experience has been dragging me down so much that I feel I'm constantly on the verge of some kind of epic meltdown, like a huge binge or something, and life is too short to feel like that. I probably shouldn't say this on a weight loss forum but in all honesty I'd rather spend the rest of my days a couple of stone overweight than ever feel like this again. Seriously.

Right, that's got that off my chest! It was a worthwhile experiment, but I think I've established once and for all that fasting is not for me, and whatever strategy I eventually adopt for maintenance, that ain't gonna be part of it. Phew!

Today's food:

Breakfast!: porridge with cinnamon and nutmeg, 245 cals

Lunch: tuna salad, 256 cals

Dinner: ham with jacket potato and chilli/tomato/pepper/onion mix, 482 cals

Hot cross bun with 9g butter, 273 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1386 cals


Bit of an extravagance having a hot cross bun again, but they were on special:rolleyes:, and it's a trade off against my usual dessert and biscuit, so it's fine.


I have to say that this is probably the very worst time of year for me to be on any kind of diet because there are no less than 3 family birthdays to negotiate, not to mention Easter, which is a big deal food-wise in my family.

I'll do my best, but I know that there will be at least 4 off-plan days in the next month and a half, so I'll just have to be very strict with myself around them and ensure that they don't turn into off-plan weeks. Yikes :eek:
 
Oh dear, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, hon. Hope you don't blame me, lol. We do all have to find our own way, and I'm sure you'll find yours. :) xx
 
We are all so very different.. Most mornings I am absolutely starving when I wake and could literally get up and eat anything and everything!!! And quite easily eat all my calories in one go if I don't plan my breakfast!! Then I have to pace myself and spread the rest of my allowance throughout the day to make it last..
Possibly why I go to bed so early!!!
If I eat late or we have been out for a special meal etc I am like you Tracy and will not feel the need to start eating til later the next day so my fast is naturally I the morning.
I guess it's just what fits with our lives and what we get used to. When I used to work nights I literally grazed all night to help stay awake and had the excess weight to show for it : ((



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Oh dear, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, hon. Hope you don't blame me, lol. We do all have to find our own way, and I'm sure you'll find yours. :) xx
Goodness me, no - of course I don't blame you, Tracy! I would never blame anyone for my choices - nobody forced me to do it, lol. I tried it because reading around it seemed to me there are quite a few people on these boards doing well on some form of fasting so I thought it was worth a shot: turns out it doesn't suit me, but that's a good thing to know - means I can move on and find something that does (hopefully!).


Beautiful sunny day here in the SE and I'm determined to get some exercise out in the garden: lots of digging, plant-moving and re-potting to be done, so that ought to burn a few calories :D


Today's eats look like this:

Breakfast: porridge with spices and raisins, 304 cals

Lunch: baked beans with sprinkling of cheese, banana, 362 cals

Dinner: slow cooker beef stew with carrots, broccoli and spuds, 560 cals

Lindor, 73 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1429 cals


Looking forward to that little lot!
 
We are all so very different.. Most mornings I am absolutely starving when I wake and could literally get up and eat anything and everything!!! And quite easily eat all my calories in one go if I don't plan my breakfast!! Then I have to pace myself and spread the rest of my allowance throughout the day to make it last..
Possibly why I go to bed so early!!!
If I eat late or we have been out for a special meal etc I am like you Tracy and will not feel the need to start eating til later the next day so my fast is naturally I the morning.
I guess it's just what fits with our lives and what we get used to. When I used to work nights I literally grazed all night to help stay awake and had the excess weight to show for it : ((

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Hi sue, thanks for stopping by!

I think I've worked out that the only time I'm not hungry first thing is when a) I'm horrendously hungover, or b) I've had way, way, way too many calories the day before, eg. I am pretty much NEVER hungry on Boxing Day morning, lol! Oh, and when I was 17 stone I didn't mind missing meals here and there, but my body was much more tolerant of things like that back then because it had lots of lovely lard to call on, so no need to panic. Different story now, unfortunately!:rolleyes:


Anyway, been a lazy mare today; bit of cleaning, bit of gardening...that's about it:cool: Ah well, if you can't be lazy on a Sunday...

Today's food:

Breakfast: porridge, 245 cals

Lunch: ham salad with tablespoon french dressing, 199 cals

Dinner: leftover beef stew from yesterday with cabbage and spuds, 569 cals

Lindor ball, 73 cals

Hot cross bun and butter, 273 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1489 cals


Overshooting my calories a little again, but thankfully the hot cross buns are now gone so I should be able to claw back a few calories over the next couple of days :)
 
Well, I did something I wasn't going to do - weighed myself a week early, and I rather wish I hadn't.

Because apparently in the past 3 weeks of eating at a deficit I have managed to gain 0.8lbs. Gain, not lose. So unless something pretty miraculous occurs in the next week, I am certainly not going to meet my projected 3lb loss for the month, and will be lucky not to weigh more than I did when I started:eek:

Not sure what to make of it to be honest. I am on the exact same regime that yielded results in 2013 and 2014: can my body really have changed so much in 12 months that it now needs 400 calories less per day than it did?? Seems unlikely somehow, but I guess you never know.

Whatever. I'm not going to change anything. If I hadn't sneaky-peeked :rolleyes: I wouldn't have known what's going on, so I owe myself at least this next week to see if things start to move.

If nothing happens by then I might reconsider, but then again, probably not. I don't think I can function on fewer calories than I'm currently eating - 1400 feels WAY too little some days - so I have no intention of torturing myself by cutting it down to 1200 or even less. Not gonna happen. If 12 stone 9lbs is what I'm "supposed" to be on these calories, then that's what I'm going to be - I can deal with that. It's likely to drop a bit in spring/summer anyway because I tend to move a lot more than I ever do in winter. Sure, I'd still be overweight, but it's a hell of a lot better than the 17 stones that I started at in 2011 - look on the bright side, lol!

Anyway, food for yesterday ended up at 1423 cals, and today looks like this:

Breakfast: porridge, 245 cals

Lunch: chilli eggs with pasta and cheese, 625 cals

Dinner: leftover sausage with baked beans, 310 cals

Lindor ball, 73 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals

Grand Total: 1383 cals

Main meal has to be lunch today so I hope I don't get nibble-ish this evening - could be tricky!
 
Well, I did something I wasn't going to do - weighed myself a week early, and I rather wish I hadn't. Because apparently in the past 3 weeks of eating at a deficit I have managed to gain 0.8lbs. Gain, not lose. So unless something pretty miraculous occurs in the next week, I am certainly not going to meet my projected 3lb loss for the month, and will be lucky not to weigh more than I did when I started:eek: Not sure what to make of it to be honest. I am on the exact same regime that yielded results in 2013 and 2014: can my body really have changed so much in 12 months that it now needs 400 calories less per day than it did?? Seems unlikely somehow, but I guess you never know. Whatever. I'm not going to change anything. If I hadn't sneaky-peeked :rolleyes: I wouldn't have known what's going on, so I owe myself at least this next week to see if things start to move. If nothing happens by then I might reconsider, but then again, probably not. I don't think I can function on fewer calories than I'm currently eating - 1400 feels WAY too little some days - so I have no intention of torturing myself by cutting it down to 1200 or even less. Not gonna happen. If 12 stone 9lbs is what I'm "supposed" to be on these calories, then that's what I'm going to be - I can deal with that. It's likely to drop a bit in spring/summer anyway because I tend to move a lot more than I ever do in winter. Sure, I'd still be overweight, but it's a hell of a lot better than the 17 stones that I started at in 2011 - look on the bright side, lol! Anyway, food for yesterday ended up at 1423 cals, and today looks like this: Breakfast: porridge, 245 cals Lunch: chilli eggs with pasta and cheese, 625 cals Dinner: leftover sausage with baked beans, 310 cals Lindor ball, 73 cals Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals Grand Total: 1383 cals Main meal has to be lunch today so I hope I don't get nibble-ish this evening - could be tricky!
Stupid scales!! Why do they do that??!!!
As impossible as it seems now, you very probably will hit your loss when you weigh in next week... I think you just picked a bad moment to weigh!!
Don't let this push you off course or discourage you. It's easy to throw the towel in and wonder why you have bothered being so disciplined when you don't see what you expect on the scale..
I feel sure you will be fine! Stay strong xxx hugs to you
 
Thanks, sue!

I think what might have happened is that when I weighed myself at the beginning I could have been abnormally low - dehydrated or something. That's the problem with a single weigh-in snapshot like that; you can't know whether it was typical or a statistical outlier. Perhaps if I'd weighed the day before or the day after I might have been a pound or two heavier, and I'd be looking at a loss instead of a gain? It's anyone's guess, really.

So whatever happens next week I won't be taking it to heart. My 2-month weigh-in on the 16th April will tell a more complete story, and that will be the time to re-evaluate, if I choose to.

As to staying strong, I'm going to need to in the next few days! The first of the family birthdays is on Sunday and muggins here is making the cake, which happens to be this one: (WARNING! EXTREME FOOD PORN IN THE FOLLOWING LINK!!) Sticky Toffee Cake Recipe - Great British Chefs

Problem is, I've only made the thing once before and it was a while ago, so I've had to make one for practice :rolleyes:, which means there is a freshly-made sticky toffee cake in my kitchen right now!:eek: To say it's calling my name is an understatement; it's practically shouting the house down, lol! If I disappear from here for a few days you'll know that I fell face down into the thing and never emerged :p


Anyway, today's food will come to round about 1450 calories - unless the cake nabs me, then it'll be about 1456725 calories...:eek::D
 
Thanks, sue! I think what might have happened is that when I weighed myself at the beginning I could have been abnormally low - dehydrated or something. That's the problem with a single weigh-in snapshot like that; you can't know whether it was typical or a statistical outlier. Perhaps if I'd weighed the day before or the day after I might have been a pound or two heavier, and I'd be looking at a loss instead of a gain? It's anyone's guess, really. So whatever happens next week I won't be taking it to heart. My 2-month weigh-in on the 16th April will tell a more complete story, and that will be the time to re-evaluate, if I choose to. As to staying strong, I'm going to need to in the next few days! The first of the family birthdays is on Sunday and muggins here is making the cake, which happens to be this one: (WARNING! EXTREME FOOD PORN IN THE FOLLOWING LINK!!) Sticky Toffee Cake Recipe - Great British Chefs Problem is, I've only made the thing once before and it was a while ago, so I've had to make one for practice :rolleyes:, which means there is a freshly-made sticky toffee cake in my kitchen right now!:eek: To say it's calling my name is an understatement; it's practically shouting the house down, lol! If I disappear from here for a few days you'll know that I fell face down into the thing and never emerged :p Anyway, today's food will come to round about 1450 calories - unless the cake nabs me, then it'll be about 1456725 calories...:eek::D
I'm on my way with some double cream!!! : )
 
I'm on my way with some double cream!!! : )

:D:D:D

...that'll do nicely! (I like the way you think!)

I'm going to have to 'fess up that I have in fact had a slice. I worked out that the total calories in the half-size version that I made comes in at an eye-watering 4,362!:eek: Thus a very modest slice - about a twelfth of the cake - is 363 calories, ie. a meal!

So I called it "breakfast" and ate it, lol!;)

I've realised that if you read from the beginning of this diary it looks like I'm forever eating cr@p and making rubbish choices that leave me short on calories for proper, filling food, but I think the main reason is that I've picked a really bad time to start trying to lose weight. This time of year is always a minefield for me food-wise because of Easter and the family celebrations, and, barring catastrophe, that ain't gonna change. Tbh, I'm resigned to being less than angelic for the next few weeks, and I'll just have to negotiate it the best I can whilst still enjoying myself - life is for living after all :) And I know that come mid-April I will have a clear run at eating healthier pretty much all the way to Xmas, so as long as I can keep some kind of focus I should be okay. Fingers crossed, anyway!

I think I can keep within my calorie limit today in spite of my indulgence:

Breakfast: cake! 363 cals

Lunch: half tin of Heinz lentil and bacon soup, 2 Snack-a-Jack cheesy rice cakes, 193 cals

Dinner: salmon salad with jacket spud, 534 cals

2 Caramels biscuits, 162 cals

Milk in tea and coffee, 130 cals


Grand Total: 1382 cals


Not a lot of food there, and right now I am eat-an-elephant hungry, but that's the price I pay for those calorie-laden, sugary, fatty treats. Ho hum!
 
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