Cerulean's Maintenance Diary - 20 wks of SSing - Maintaining since 25/07/11

[Cerulean]

So, turns out I can walk in my size 10 M&S pencil skirt, So I am wearing it with a French boater top and ballet pumps. Totally channelling Audrey au jourd'hui

My size 8 jeans go on over my legs - but they's leave me with the mother of all muffin tops...so I'll try them in a stone's time!

 

[Surfhunny]

Amazon.com: The Metabolic Typing Diet: Customize Your Diet to Your Own Unique Body Chemistry (9780767905640): William Linz Wolcott, Trish Fahey: Books

I have to admit that if you come out as mixed it really doesn't explain that very well (I've read it since someone came out as mixed and went 'oooh - that's not very well explained!') so best to do an online test first (one of the ones with more than 30 questions is best) - if you come out as a protein type, get the book as it's pretty much dead easy. I think carb types are rarer in northern Europe as protein types are generally Celts and Scandiwegians (cos we mainly lived off fish and plants 10,000 years ago)

Anyway - enough about you - ME ME ME time...

In exercise NEWS, I smashed my 2 mile record...yeah! And I had my top average pace for any run EVER!

Thanks, did on line test and as expected came out as definite protein type so I've ordered the book.

 

[Cerulean]

I have consolidated all of my calories consumed versus energy expended and lbs lost and it tallies!!!! My BMR (ie just sitting around) looks like its around 1800 which is around spot on for my BMI and age and sedentary job. So I have not screwed up my metabolism!!

I'm going to keep tracking like this as once my glycogen is totally back, it'll be good to keep motivated. The exercise I've done in the last 3 weeks has added about another 2lbs of weightloss to my total! (I've also worked out that if I'd kept strictly 810 with no exercise I'd gave lost tge same weight!!!) Okay so some people might say 'why bother?' but I'm further up the plans, eating more food and losing fat and building muscle...that's why I bother!!!

 

[Cerulean]

I have noticed a strange pattern. I eat more on my rest days! If I have a scheduled rest day I eat wayyyy more! To cap that off, rehearsal was 8 hours today so no gym for me at all...the last gym in my chain closes in 10 mins and there was no way I could have got to rehearsal in time from my gym before rehearsal.

I have also injured my foot slightly due to a blister gone badly wrong...I ran on it weirdly during my speed session on Thursday so I have a strange twinge for compensating for my blister...will take it out for a nice, measured 30 min light jog tomorrow and see what occurs.

Scales still in the 163s...all good - stabilising nicely - had a handful more of nuts than I probably should have yesterday - didn't let the terrifying amount of calories scare me as - hey - it's nuts - (they're not on the list at this stage of the diet, its just I really am trying to get myself off those bloody bars as soon as possible to try and work out if my skin problems really are down to a soy allergy...may be a little stricter with myself next week as it is the week before my CDC comes back from hols...but - meh - if it ain't broke and I aint face down in a tub of Haagen Dazs - don't try to fix it...I'm happy just cruising along eating all the low GI fruit and veg and a few bits of protein (with extra nuts to compensate for my reluctance to add potatoes, bread or rice this early on - LL introduces nuts way before processed carbs...funny that)

 

[Cerulean]

It's so so nice to have a Sunday and nothing to do in it - no pressure, nowhere to be, no appointments, no have-to-dos. The only have-to-do is a sesh at the gym...just to keep my hand in with the running - not sure how my horrible instep blister feels about that, but I must find out!

And this will be the first weekend gym session in ages where I haven't had to run off afterwards or cut it slightly shorter than I wanted it to be - I am going to WALLOW in that sauna, baby!

The eating's all good - weight is coming off...which is gratifying - I am a little scared about the next level - the carbs thing...I did some thinking about that last night - I have bought a bag of whole grain couscous which looks much more toothier and wholesome (ie less like starchy ballast) than normal couscous. But also more like trout pellets. I have always preferred wholegrain everything - the only time white bread is the only option is (GRATUITOUS FOOD REFERENCE COMING UP) fish-finger sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and chip butties.

(YOU CAN LOOK BACK NOW)

I'm just 1lb away from the magic 11 1/2 stone...and after that just 12 lbs away from the holy grail of A HEALTHY BMI.

My bodyfat is now 34% - I just want to see that safely in the 20s for now.

 

[Cerulean]

I've been taking it well easy this morning! So much so that I've been a bit jittery about my lack of doing-ness. Let it go, Saz, let it go...

As long as I keep referring to my running and swimming gear as my 'PE kit', I'll know I'm not quite a growned up yet - I have been trying to get it dry all morning - now I have done my veg shop. I have switched from Total 0% (Or my accidental tub of Total - er total) to Onken fat free - it's cheaper...and I've bought a bag of almonds which I seem to be better at rationing than any other type of nut.

I had a breakfast experiment with a bit of peanut butter and an apple (I only have about 1 week's supply of bars left) and that went well...

I have also bought a head of garlic and a lemon. I am adding old favourites one at a time. I seem to be okay with tomatoes which I've had on about 3 days out of the last 7, but without bread or pasta there's little point in cooking with them for the moment so I'll do that much further down the line - I'm just going to try adding more flavouring to my food - as I think the tastier food gets the less control I used to have...so I'm starting off gently!

Anyway - hopefully my PE kit is dry now - I shall sling it over my shoulder and wander up to my favourite cafe for a pre long run coffee (I like a shot of good caffeine before I run) and then have an afternoon of running, cross trainer and swimming and saunaing - I am going to sit in that sauna for about an hour, I think! I DESERVE IT!

Have lovely afternoons.

Oh - planned dinner is chicken and chickpeas with curly kale, fennel and yellow courgettes. Maybe some marrow...Not sure what to do with that...might save it for a lean lamb experiment tomorrow night as I can afford to go for the more calorie dense proteins the day after my long run.

 

[Cerulean]

Soooo - I did - er - 5k without really thinking about it in record time (seriously - I ran it at my old race pace) and I enjoyed it took it easy and did 10 mins on the cross trainer (my lazy arsed way of getting cardio in is to set myself up on the cross trainer for 45 minutes 4 times a week - it means I can listen to podcasts and multitask and in the real world before I totally borked my body 8 years ago it was how I used to bank the calories for hotdogs and beer!) - I think food is making a huge difference to my abilities! I swam a mile, walked to and from the gym and could probably do the whole lot all over again. It is amazing how much less angsty and grumpy I am on a big exercise day. I was just thinking as I was running how much this is now a non-negotiable. It is as much a thing I do regularly as wearing clothes when I leave the house and brushing my teeth.

I had a good old look at the full length me in the gym mirrors (I know, I'm a brave woman) I really am a good stone or so off being properly 'slim' I have a lot of toning and burning to do. Not in a bad way - just - you know when the house needs a proper spring clean - it's all there - it's just looking a bit tatty round the edges!

 

[Cerulean]

Look at my weight! Less than 2 stone til Ultimate Goal! Whoop Whoop! (Ultimate goal is a big ask...but I do intend to get there - not with Cambridge as I found being less than 10st on food packs a living hell...no - that bit - the last stone will be done with exercise)

I must say that Low GI eating is odd. I don't really feel entirely satisfied and I know in part that's due to the lack of carbs but also fats - I seeme dto do better on the full fat yoghurt than I am on all these 0 fat ones. I'm not brave enough to switch over to the red meat and cream and cheese and butter that my metabolic type likes - but hey - I've lost more weight this week than in the previous 2 weeks in my return to food and it's a week of the month wher I would usually expect to STS...so you know...hmmm!

 

[Cerulean]

I am mixing up my exercise...today I did 30 mins of Cross Trainer on varying levels. Kept to about 95 spm as its supposed to be a rest day! Scary woman next to me was on about 140...sheesh, scary lady, slow down!

Left half my salad today...suspect after the initial 3 week excitement of FOOD!!! we're calming down now - all still well...I'm still in my teriffically excited about apples stage. Once I've started to calm down on the Low GI non citrus fruit front I'll start introducing something else.

 

[Cerulean]

Regular readers of this diary would be aware that I trust my scales implicitly apart from when they go funny for a few days. This is one of those patches - usually lasts 5 days - this morning my scales had noooo idea what weight I was - so if we're going to be like that it may be better to just stop doing the every day weigh - but - people always ask me 'what did you do/not do differently/the same' and whilst I am tracking all my food and exercise and stuff so diligently I would like to keep weighing just to see if there is any rhyme or reason to weight coming off or going on - but then if my scales are being floopy - then that's not helpful either.

I thought the sudden 2lb loss at the weekend was a bit much at this stage in the proceedings - I've been good at the exercise, but way less good at the fruit and nuts (nothing major, not going to panic, just takin' it a step at a time, dealing with each issue as it comes up, like the recovering addict I am) So the scales went the other way today but I still weigh less than I did on Friday and a week ago, so no sweat, eh?

I ran my 3 miler yesterday - I did 2k at my fast pace and the rest over my medium pace...my slow pace is now too slow for me and I keep outrunning it! Going to try 45 mins on the cross-trainer at lunchtime.

I was much stricter with myself yesterday, less 'grazing' I'm not that worried about it - at the moment I'm rather pleased that I've cut outmy litre a day Coke Zero habit so much that the extra few pieces of fruit here and there feel like no bad thing - I had a pack and a salad for supper rather than a full dinner (got home from rehearsal at 11 so it made sense)

Rehearsals have been super stressy for me. I have not been on top form - so I have decided not to run tomorrow (a scheduled 2 mile speed run) as I wonder if doing the run might be burning off too much of my 'performance' energy. It's our dress rehearsal on Thursday you see. I'm just not quite myself at the moment and I'm not sure why. I've been eating food for nearly a month

Looking at the nifty spreadsheet, today is the day I expected to be done with SSing as it is the first day after a second set of 12 weeks (you can only SS for 12 weeks max in a row). I also expected to be 8lbs lighter at this stage, but then I also expected to be a size 10-12 (which I am, so weight be damned!)

Er - nowt else to report other than trying to rein in the calorie consumption a tad...sort of eating a 350 cal breakfast, a 350 cal lunch and a 350 cal dinner with about 200 cals of snacks or 250 cals of extra protein if I feel like it/do lots of running etc). This is without adding any refined carbs at all...so I am going to try swapping them in very shortly, I promise, mainly because I can't afford all this fruit! Not sure what to have for dinner tonight. Oh - cool - have worked it out! A mushroom omelette with lots of exciting vegetables! Quick 'n' easy.'n' tasty. My favourite!

Oh - my day by day plot of my basic metabolic rate (calculated at 1800 before exercise) appears to be pretty accurate. Since I started tracking my calories consumed versus ones expended and my daily weight, the spreadsheet says that I should have lost 5.88lbs. I have lost 5.8lbs since I started tracking. (BAD SCIENCE WORKS!) It's probably a better way of telling me if my scales are right as when I lost that sudden 2lbs the other day, the amount on the spreadsheet really didn't tally with it...Nice to know that my BMR for a normal day of just sitting at my desk is pretty much 1800 though as the calculation for me just sitting about at my age and BMI is exactly that - so I feel pretty good!

 

[Cerulean]

Er - yes - nothing to report - stayed the same...not doing exercise as still conserving energy for the last rehearsal and the performances this weekend - totally have to confess to comfort eating last night but now I think about it that just means I had a bar instead of a hot chocolate pack and an apple and peanut butter (which I am supposed to have INSTEAD of bars rather than AS WELL AS) - just totted it all up and it's much the same as a normal day has been recently - and I was doing a lot of pacing last night with the lines (I have hundreds to memorise and it's proving far more challenging than I expected). And yes, I had a hot bath AND I phoned a friend. (Hilariously the CD book also has that page in it - same as the LL RTM book) ahahahahaha....at least this time I am comfort eating within my planned foods cos I have the money to buy plenty of fruit.

I remember when I had a total meltdown on LL I went to Morrisons at closing time with my last quid (had massive financial problems back then) and looked at the options - bag of cheap apples = £1 Cut price reduced to sell pack of bitesized pork pies, bag of jam donuts and cream cake = £1. No competition when you're stressed to the nines. Maddening isn't it? One type of cheap fruit cost the same as over 4000 calories of comfort food. But that's okay - cos last night is as stressed as I get these days and I have the money for posh greek yoghurt and nice fruit to snack on during times of disaster. And I have totally busted my diet drink habit...I'd rather have a cup of Earl Grey! But yeah - I sat there panicking that I was bingeing and then went 'er - I am nibbling on apple slices with a bit of peanut butter and having a cup of tea...this binge is 200 calories, I haven't even thought about the Haagen Dazs Hat o' Shame' (Went you end up in a ghrelin induced blood sugar binge frenzy after a VLCD, I often joke that despite all the CBT talking yourself down from a binge the books suggest, often the first thing you know about it happening is when you're sitting in the corner in a sugar coma with an upsidedown tub of Haagen Dazs on your head going 'but I don't even like Battenberg Cake') - so whatever I'm doing this time round appears to be working and working well. As it's been nearly 4 weeks and although I've probably eaten more than I should, it has all been more of the Right Type of Food. So getting organised and stocking up on the staples is probably my biggest tip - better to have some celery sticks and a bowlful of 50cal home made 0% cucumber and mint dip than eating slice after slice of toast!

I'm also finding that it's always best to introduce a new food before you have to do something where you can't eat/access more delicious new food for a few hours - at home or desk is a little dangerous as you can get distracted and keep going back for more. I bought a small pack of 180cals worth of Proscuitto to have as my afternoon protein nibble ( a safe new food as it comes in the perfect portion size for one meal and it's quite expensive and the shop that sells the stuff I like is 15 mins walk away). I also tried greengages (wooooowww! Taste sensation!) and pears as fruit today. Pears are way too sweet for me - so I ate them with the proscuitto - which takes the edge off. Today - this afternoon I am craving nuts - I just want a handful of almonds or something - which would kind of make sense as it's been a much lower fat day than usual.

My play is in the Camden Fringe this weekend so if I get a second I'll pop into Whole Foods by Regents Park to investigate bread (get me!) I have been advised that sourdough or sprouted grain bread is the best for my one slice a day...so I want to see what my options are...Blimey - bread!

Tomorrow I shall do a nice long run in the afternoon. It's been really odd having to choose not to exercise, but I do feel less knackered for tonight's dress rehearsal! So wish me luck for that!! Just found out that we get reviewed this weekend so I have to be brilliant. Arggghhhh....

 

[bettiesrevenge]

Heerrrloo stranger!

I just almost spat hot coffee on myself laughing at "But I dont even like battenburg cake!?" That is soooo the old me....

The new me however is of course not at risk of that type of thing...well errrm, if you dont count the wild off roading I have been nibbling the last few days (thank you Mrs Spangle - two bite rule saved me more than once this week)

Currently frustrated to the max though. Waiting for british gas to send a service engineer to my new house to fix the hot water...why oh why do these things happen to me, I have only been waiting...HMmmm, ALL day!

I am so glad things are really pushing along for you, and WOW 160lbs. Bejesuz luv, you are really getting there this time.

Enjoy the marrow in a slow cooked lamb tagine with chickpeas, peppers and some kale, bang in a load of garlic cumin, lemon and chilli and you will be away!

Gotta dash

Nat.

 

[Cerulean]

The dress rehearsal went as brilliantly as I could expect...just need to polish my lines a bit tonight.

The comfort eating was at full tilt after I got home from 5 hours of solid (and I mean solid - I'm playing a lead in two plays so I had no resting or chatting time, I was running from room to room and sometimes rehearsing scenes dressed as a character from a totally different play - I drank plenty of water in my few breathing spaces) it was only some apples and some peanut butter again...it was clearly because I hadn't had a proper dinner and time for it to go down and I had been running on high nerves and adrenaline and I wanted a sleepy-time snack (you know - a slightly carby snack to put you to sleep?)...so that's cool. I guess I could have just kept to a foodpack...and that in a way I saw the peanut butter as a treat. But that's two nights in a row. I now have two days of performances...but I think I'll be cool with those.

But as always, on days when I don't exercise, I eat way more. Hmmmm. Maybe my body assumes because it's on a rest day it's either repairing the previous day's damage or...er getting ready for more punishment tomorrow!

New discoveries = low fat rhubarb yoghurt. And seriously! Greengages! Yeah!

Weight gone up by 0.5lb - it's no way fat - the maths says that would be impossible - it's the week before I'm due on and cos I'm not SSing I guess I'm not cancelling out my usual 3lbs fluctuation with my constant weightloss. On LL, this is the weight where my periods stopped for 5 months until I returned to the same weight again so I'll be interested to see if I have managed to stay regular, also interesting to note that I am nibblier - which I would expect at this time of the month. Anyway - I need to get out for a run I should do a good three miler as I've had a two day rest and may not get one in tomorrow...yeah...come on Saz. You can do it!

 

[Cerulean]

Oh - yeah - there's plan related stuff to think about in addition to the whole food thing. I've done 4 weeks of food - and when my counsellor weighs me on Monday if I eat lunch and breakfast and snack like I usually do, I'd weigh 3lbs more than the last time I weighed just from daily fluctuation...which means with my actual loss I'd be STS or maybe show a loss of 2lbs depending on what happens with all the weekend exercise (my losses are usually big on Monday or Tues mornings). Which as I'm eating about 1400 cals a day of food on average across the week in a 1200 sort of style with no carbs and it would naturally be my second 1200 week I think is pretty reasonable (and don't forget that my counsutant asked me if I wanted to step up when I was about a stone heavier than I am now) - so I dunno - I'm gonna have to start having a Monday weigh in plan again...I guess am pack, lunchtime salad will do it for the next few weeks until I no longer need to see my counsultant any more (which will be in about 4 weeks unless I decide to switch back to 810 for October to shift the last stone.)

I've been limiting the types of food I can eat and because I'm not rigidly limiting how much I can have, I think this is the first time I've stuck to a food diet for this long in years - but - I need to start doing this the Cambridge Way (ie smaller more varied meals rather than my grazing on lots of fruit and veg and having 2 large protein portions a day)

I'm really not a tiny shapers salad type of eater and I have always hated ersatz food with low calories but tones of sweetners - would rather stick to my Low GI/Cambridgey sort of diet than that...so I have to find a happy medium. What I want is to be able to eat smaller portions of food, to be able to make something that lasts a few days and to not eat it all by the second day! And I know that's what Cambridge teaches you, but I have never in my life been able to eat like that - not ever - as a child I was either totally unbothered about food and would forget to eat or totally obsessed by it. Can you see how that pattern applies to my repeated successes and failures?!!

Its just those recipes in the book are so depressing. 40g of ham. 40g of pasta. 3 tablespoons of veg. That's how prissy people eat. I like my way - it's very me...controlled but rambling - like my posts!

Anyway - time for that run - am doing it at the end of the working day to make sure I have time to make it a nice long one!

 

[Cerulean]

Ran another record breaking 5k (I even added in two short hill sections) did half an hour on the cross trainer...was just going to do 15 mins cooldown in the pool but I started running lines and before I knew it I'd done 30 mins. So - 1000 cals burned! (pretty much my nut and greengage consumption covered)

And cos I multitasked with running my lines I can relax this evening. Good work, Saz.

 

[Cerulean]

First show went brilliantly - for my post show lunch/dinner had grilled sardines on an apple and fennel and lettuce salad. Was too tired to make couscous so I'm off to have a nap. I forgot to buy eggs. Definitely need eggs.

Have probably sweated off a good 2-3lbs under the lights with all the costume changes etc!

Have decided to eat lightly tomorrow maybe just some chicken salad before we go up, and then when I come home at 6ish, just have a soup and then just to get a good weigh-in for my first CWPC visit in 3 weeks (she's been on hols) I'll have my usual breakfast and a bar and then a green salad for lunch like a textbook 1000 day. Then as I don't have to do so much running around or work for the next two weeks I'll stick strictly to 1000, go up to proper 1200 (as opposed to my current carb free more calories version that I've been doing to test the metabolic theory stuff and I'll compare the two eating plans!) for the week the show is running again then the week after that 1200, then up to 1500 for the week leading up to lunch at Raymond Blanc's (pudding's going to be interesting!!)

Oh - I have made a rhubarb compote for stirring into my yoghurt - I have a very sour tooth so it may not be to everyone's taste. In fact I can't really give a recipe. But I chopped up 5 stalks of rhubarb, cooked it down with 100 mls of water, takes about 5 mins to go to mush - take off heat, stir with a few tsps of cinnamon, some vanilla extract (I added 3 tiny cubes of stem ginger for taste) I also added about 6 greengages for sweetness and a squeeze of lemon. I'll be swirling that into my breakfast yoghurt. It makes tons of portions so I'll freeze some.

 

[Cerulean]

Oooh - Nat - I haven't forgotten that yoy posted! That recipe sounds lovely. I am going have some pork cubes with caraway, I think and have that with the marrow. I've eaten all my kale! I wonder if it's time to try out my favourite Sichuan restaurant's famous cumin lamb skewers again...because of all the chilli oil in their food it's about the only thing on the menu I can have at the moment - apart from the pickled cucumber!

 

[Cerulean]

Hiya - so the previews for my play are all done now. Very sleepy - we have all week off (until next Saturday) - nice.

Today I had a yoghurty fruity breakfast, then I walked to and from the gym and back and did a much lighter Sunday session than usual as running takes up too much of my energy on a performance day so I ran walked 3 miles in 40 mins then I swan very gently for just over 15 mins. The walk to and from the gym is almost 3 miles anyway and since I started doing 5ks on Sunday I have been catching the bus to the gym - today I noticed the difference for walking and being knackered from yesterday! I just didn't have the same oomph as I had on Friday night after work where I pretty much bounced through 5k at race pace.

Eating was lighter today than usual - I had a bit of chicken and a light green salad followed by a bar as I dashed around - we were due at the theatre for 12.30 - but on teh way there I thought 'I'm not convinced I switched the George Foreman off from making my chicken' and when I got there I found out we weren't called until 1.15 so I dashed all the way back home to check the grill. I had totally switched it off. But I was terrified of losing my concentration during the performance or worried that my first line would come out as 'FIRE ENGINE!' or something. I was genuinely hungry when I got back from the pub so I had a yoghurt and some of my almost sugar free rhubarb compote and a handful of almonds.

It's such a lovely evening that I should get outside...but I am beyond shattered.

 

[Cerulean]

Today is my first weigh-in day after 3 weeks of unsupervised stabilising...I reckon my official loss is aroundabout 2lbs in clothes with food and fluids (compared to 3 weeks ago where I was still kind of in ketosis)...so I am being careful today. No nibbling before weigh-in - and I'm not noticing any massive cravings or desires to go crazy (I really got these badly my first time in management...am very confused as to how I have kept those feelings at bay for over 4 weeks now! But somehow I have - I dunno if it's because I prepared myself for it mentally, or because I allow myself not to beat myself up if I have 400g of fruit rather than 150g fruit (400g of low GI fruit is usually between 100 and 150 cals - it's really not going to make you fat - beating yourself up for not being perfect and eating a Snickers Bar and thinking 'ah blow it', well - that will, eventually).

So - I have ascertained that avoiding carbs = control. Introducing one or two new things at a time = a bit messy, but eventually I calm down.

I do need some starchy carbs though - I'm sure that's why my exercise was so half-hearted yesterday morning - I had no beans...I'm not sure what to try - potatoes seemed okay if I ate them as a garnish in a protein rich meal...I still have my wholegrain couscous measured out ready for me to try! How funny...I'm sure I won't find it that exciting or worth this impossibly long buildup when I get there. Oh - there's a thought, I haven't had any pulses/beans for a few days (well - I had some unsalted edamame beans on Saturday before we got into the theatre) because I've been out of the house so much...must remember to soak some tonight.

I have noticed a huge huge difference. I am much calmer about food. Much much. I wouldn't say I'm not prone to over-nibbling in times of anxiety, but at least I now derive as much comfort from 50cals of raspberries and 70 cals of yoghurt or a 50 cal apple schmeared with 70 cal of organic peanut butter as I once did from a couple of bars of chocolate, a packet of crisps and fizzy pop. Have I mentioned that low fat yoghurt and raspberries plus Earl Grey gives me exactly the same 'comfort' hit as a cream tea used to? I'm assuming it's the combination of cool creaminess, tart but sweet fruit and faint citrus...I'm not saying it's as good as, I'm just saying that it's now as comforting to me as that particular eating occasion used to be - without the inevitable energy slump from the sugar crash I used to get!

I feel good on it. Zing! Lets see what the scales show up in 3 hours' time???!

 

[Cerulean]

Oh...and I got a fantastic review