Crazy life of Chilli

I quite liked the handkerchief hem dress in the tshirt challenge @tipperary but yes it wouldn't be much to watch if they all did it 100% right all the time and always did well - I'm sure that sounds terrible haha.

I have tried to make graphs on excel but I always seem to have the bit I want on the x axis showing on the Y and even if I work it out it's hard to add additional lines and it doesn't seem to auto update - I'm sure if I persevered and actually practised it would be simple, but I'm not computer trained at all everything I know I learned myself. I have a macbook and have tried the numbers package too, it works great for spreadsheets but it's just as complicated for graphs.

Well my loss this week is 1.5 so that's cool. I'll add it to the challenges and my ticker in a minute. Makes my 4 week average less that 1lb a week though. I know 1.5/wk is achievable for most people on lower carb but my body just seems to like being on a go slow. I'm sure it would help to be able to manage better on my nightshifts though and on that subject I will keep trying. But in any case 3.5 lbs lighter than I was 4 weeks ago.

So this is the end of my 8 weeks commitment to lower calorie, lower carb and 16/8 windows. What is the crazy woman going to do for the next week?

Well I'm just going to try and get through it best I can as 6/7 of the next nights I'm working. I'll try my best to stick to lower carb foods, snack less and have gaps in eating. But as long as I can sts after a run of shifts to be honest I'm fairly ok with it. I know I could probably lose weight a bit faster and I will keep trying but I'm not going to worry as long as weight comes off the other weeks. I'm not going to worry about eating a bit more provided it's the right kinds of food. so that's week 9.

When it comes to week 10, I'm going to try a 36-40 hour fast. I have been pondering things and I thought about a regular 24 hour fast but actually what people seem to do is they eat their last meal, fast 24 hours then eat again and in my case that would only mean skipping lunch on day 2, which doesn't feel like much, many people already do this by eating once a day on intermittent fasting. The health gains from fasting seem to be greater the longer you fast (up to a point obv and it's only safe to do up to 72 hours from what I've read without medical supervision)

So I decided that 24 hours isn't a particularly huge challenge for me, although I could be surprised off course. Plan would be to pick my days, eat a bit at the edge of my usual eating window so a meal at 8pm. then fast the next day. I would be 'allowed' to eat from 8am if I wanted but try and wait until my usual lunch hours which would make it a 40 hour fast if I got there. If that goes well, I'll increase it next attempt to 48, then 60 and then 72. These extended fasts for me would be once per fortnight when I'm not working, perhaps if I manage a 72 hour fast once per month would do.

I am both mindful and torn over a few details.

I like to eat with my kids regularly and try to teach them a healthy attitude towards food. Despite this my daughter is picky as hell and there are a growing number of things my son won't eat. My son would do fine on everything I eat if I gave him pasta or noodles with everything lol. Daughter barely looks at a vegetable. It concerns me to regularly 'not eat' in their sight. My daughter is 16 and as all teens usually are she is very aware of her body. It's regular she will only eat once a day as it is, but she'll eat rubbish all day if I let her. I'm worried about showing her to 'not eat' as a means of controlling weight, and that she might copy but obviously take it too far and wouldn't be a healthy thing. She isn't overweight at all.

I'm torn because intermittent fasting and longer fasting has good science, but my maternal instinct is that I am scared to show it to them. However is it not worse as a parent to hide things? I'm not a hider I am typically very open with my children and try to encourage an open environment where they are free to express their feelings and ideas.

It is an odd set off thoughts. I know this is a healthy approach and I have it controlled but I'm scared to be too open incase a child learns to use it in an inappropriate way. But then... perhaps being deliberately open and showing how it SHOULD be used is a good thing?

I guess any teenager who is going to have an eating disorder doesn't need to see fasting at home to find it. They have a million web pages to find with one google search.

I can time my fasts in most cases so that my son was away or so that he was away at least once per month and only saw me fast once. It would only be a few meals per fortnight they'd see me skipping anyway. If I didn't mention it, would they even notice? My daughter is often in and out and often having her meal later too.

I'm overthinking things again, aren't I?
 
Well done on the loss!

That's a hard one re eating plans and the kids. I think language is important so avoiding the diet word would be good, and referring to healthy eating instead, when you sit down to a meal with them (sure you already do that).

I like doing IF, but not all the time. Couldn't handle any longer than 16 hours.

Good luck for whatever you decide to do x
 
You'll figure it out. I think it is tricky to do extended fasts with a teenage girl in the house. read somewhere that's not so much benefit to extended fasts for fatter people - I'll look for the reference later. I think it was Jason Fung. So I've decided not to do them - and just to close my eating window next week. So far 've just been eating as and when - but definitely being mindful not to break fast until I was hungry.
 
I hadn't heard that, but there is so much info to root through.

And how do the define just being fat, or being 'fatter'? where is the line. Am I fat or fatter? :roofles:
 
I was clearing stuff out the freezer that needed to be binned and sorting out the contents. I found a portion of peppers stuffed with mince so I had those and soup for lunch.

I need to motivate myself to go food shopping, I didn't get a click and collect this week.
 
I often did 36-72 hour fasts when my kids were teenagers. I did it for 3 years. I don't think they actually noticed. It certainly never stopped them tucking in. I think they just assumed I ate later. My 4 daughters all ate the same meals but were all completely different shapes. One is stick thin despite eating like a horse, (think size 8 two weeks after giving birth), one is normal slim, two are very short ( 4.11) and had a tendency to being slightly overweight. They are both normal weight now tho. My 4 sons ( I acquired a child I've not mentioned before) are all either tall and slim or shortish and very slim.

I always cooked tea every night and as soon as the train they came home from college on had gone past the bottom of our garden I started serving it up into serving dishes. We had a huge table they all sat round to eat and chat about their day. Everyone helped themselves to however much they needed to eat. I sat with them even if I didn't eat. It was a highlight of the day. Ditto Sunday roast. I wouldn't worry too much.
 
that sounds wonderful @ladybird777 I know it doesn't seem like it but I'm sure they will be keeping some memories of that time in their hearts,
 
It really does sound wonderful, everyone round the table - my childhood was like that, we had to be home for tea or there would be hell to pay! :).
 
I had 8 of them in the end but they all knew they were very much loved and cherished. There was only 8 years between the eldest and the two youngest twins so they all went to college, then uni more or less at the same time. I home educated them all before that tho. I always cooked a family dinner every night and we used to have BBQ's in the garden in the summer too. I had a double range cooker and at Christmas I cooked and baked for 4 days solid before it to get everything ready for the holiday lol. As they grew older they'd help.
 
Busy family life you sound like a super parent to me. My sister had 4 daughters all very close together. I know how busy she was so I know how much work is involved in nurturing and educating your " babies" but that was a life time ago all girls are grown up all frontline workers caring for different people from elderly/children and learning difficulties
 
I enjoyed the parenting years not that it ever really ends. Mine are all grown now. Two are biomedical scientists, one a historian, one is bus driver, one is a mother after doing her degree and one has her own media business. I've one in uni doing Public Health and one still at home.
 
I personally do not have children. You must be proud that your children have gone on to have productive lifes all because you gave them a good up bringing and education
 
you gave them all a great chance to build their own futures @ladybird777 that's the biggest thing you can do as a parent.

I do my best. I can't say my home is like yours sounded, but I do what I can with the situation etc and the atmosphere is good most of the time.

I'm dreaming about how much better off we'll be if my loan is accepted... there will be so many things we can do. I can but hope but am almost scared to? But I know I'm lucky, in about a year we'll be a bit better off anyway although not as much as if this goes through. I just feel like I've been doing so much 'waiting' ya know?

This would be seriously life changing. The amount is more than enough to clear all my debts, including 2k I borrowed from my parents to pay solicitor fees. I know once I ask to pay it back they will try to get me to keep it lol but I don't want to. They wanted to help me to secure my house and pension and gave me enough to cover all solicitors fees which was an absolute godsend because I couldn't have found that cash otherwise. I could also put aside some money to buy my daughter a car next year which really would open up her freedoms as our location and public transport is a little limited. I could add to savings, overpay the mortgage AND have more monthly freedom to spend all at once. No more questioning if I can afford to buy better quality food. I've long wanted to buy only free range meat but can't afford it. No more wondering if I can stretch to a bag of almond flour. Everything healthy is more expensive even among the convenience foods - potato hash browns are half the price of cauli ones! I could replace the long overdue flooring, have the cash needed to actually make the garden nice. Not have to worry about things like car repairs, and we could probably even have a holiday soon too. I could tell the kids that we can have a take away once a month, have BBQ's and not worry about the cost of having people over. Not worry about the cost of fuel to do the 130 mile around trip to visit my parents. Sooo many things, this list barely scratches the surface.

Last night at work I forgot to bring my soup. There were none of the usual sandwiches. I ended up eating biscuits and a chocolate bar... and by the time I got home this morning clearly had kicked out any ketosis as I was really hungry, in the way I'd forgotten how it feels to be!

I didn't eat though, just chilled with the dog a while and then went to bed. I don't know if I'm back in ketosis that fast I am not sure how these things really work, but I didn't wake up starving...

I'm still supposed to go shopping but I really don't have the energy. I'm just going to pop to the local shop and buy a few things we need and get a click and collect for Monday. I'll pick son up from school and we can head straight to Tesco.

I've just had a compromise meal due to the old mother hubbard syndrome creeping into my kitchen again lol. I had the last of the bacon, cauli hash browns and half a can of baked beans which I expect has lots of sugar. I also have a coconut flour muffin I took out of the freezer to take to work along with the soup I forgot to take last night!

We're out of eggs and cheese, among other things. :eek:

I still have one keto naan left as well I'll probably take it to work with my soup and muffin.

I think on an ongoing basis I will continue to batch cook when I'm in between my runs of nightshifts, so fortnightly. Keto naans are a firm favourite of mine and work so well with curry, soup and as pizza base, and freeze really well so I think I'll start to make 12 (last time I made 8) it's probably more than I need for 2 weeks but they would last a couple months in freezer so no harm in building a stock. I still have lots of muffins left but they are also lovely. I know pancakes freeze well so I'll probably mix it up, definitely bake naans and a biscuit/muffin or pancake, and at the same time always try something new. So 3 things fortnightly.

Keto dad on FB did a short video showing how to make keto grilled cheese using '90 second bread' has anyone tried 90 second bread? I thought it might be a good thing to try. I don't really have a dish suitable for making it but was wondering if a plastic tub would work as well. I suspect that all the keto 'bread' will never quite taste the same as bread but when you toast it for things like a toasted sandwich might be nice enough. His were made with egg, almond flour, butter and baking powder.

I'll buy eggs today and might try it tomorrow!
 
All fingers and toes crossed that the loan gets approved!

I tried quite a few keto breads when I was doing low carb - can't say any of them won me over, I am a real bread person, but I did regularly make a microwave flaxseed and psylllium husk bread that I then toasted.
 
Last edited:
I've made a 90 second bread in a mug and in cereal bowls!
 
Oh i must look at that website. Fingers crossed for the loan coming through. It really does sound like it will make things a lot easier.
 
ChilliQueen said:
you gave them all a great chance to build their own futures @ladybird777 that's the biggest thing you can do as a parent.

I do my best. I can't say my home is like yours sounded, but I do what I can with the situation etc and the atmosphere is good most of the time.

I'm dreaming about how much better off we'll be if my loan is accepted... there will be so many things we can do. I can but hope but am almost scared to? But I know I'm lucky, in about a year we'll be a bit better off anyway although not as much as if this goes through. I just feel like I've been doing so much 'waiting' ya know?

This would be seriously life changing. The amount is more than enough to clear all my debts, including 2k I borrowed from my parents to pay solicitor fees. I know once I ask to pay it back they will try to get me to keep it lol but I don't want to. They wanted to help me to secure my house and pension and gave me enough to cover all solicitors fees which was an absolute godsend because I couldn't have found that cash otherwise. I could also put aside some money to buy my daughter a car next year which really would open up her freedoms as our location and public transport is a little limited. I could add to savings, overpay the mortgage AND have more monthly freedom to spend all at once. No more questioning if I can afford to buy better quality food. I've long wanted to buy only free range meat but can't afford it. No more wondering if I can stretch to a bag of almond flour. Everything healthy is more expensive even among the convenience foods - potato hash browns are half the price of cauli ones! I could replace the long overdue flooring, have the cash needed to actually make the garden nice. Not have to worry about things like car repairs, and we could probably even have a holiday soon too. I could tell the kids that we can have a take away once a month, have BBQ's and not worry about the cost of having people over. Not worry about the cost of fuel to do the 130 mile around trip to visit my parents. Sooo many things, this list barely scratches the surface.

Last night at work I forgot to bring my soup. There were none of the usual sandwiches. I ended up eating biscuits and a chocolate bar... and by the time I got home this morning clearly had kicked out any ketosis as I was really hungry, in the way I'd forgotten how it feels to be!

I didn't eat though, just chilled with the dog a while and then went to bed. I don't know if I'm back in ketosis that fast I am not sure how these things really work, but I didn't wake up starving...

I'm still supposed to go shopping but I really don't have the energy. I'm just going to pop to the local shop and buy a few things we need and get a click and collect for Monday. I'll pick son up from school and we can head straight to Tesco.

I've just had a compromise meal due to the old mother hubbard syndrome creeping into my kitchen again lol. I had the last of the bacon, cauli hash browns and half a can of baked beans which I expect has lots of sugar. I also have a coconut flour muffin I took out of the freezer to take to work along with the soup I forgot to take last night!

We're out of eggs and cheese, among other things. :eek:

I still have one keto naan left as well I'll probably take it to work with my soup and muffin.

I think on an ongoing basis I will continue to batch cook when I'm in between my runs of nightshifts, so fortnightly. Keto naans are a firm favourite of mine and work so well with curry, soup and as pizza base, and freeze really well so I think I'll start to make 12 (last time I made 8) it's probably more than I need for 2 weeks but they would last a couple months in freezer so no harm in building a stock. I still have lots of muffins left but they are also lovely. I know pancakes freeze well so I'll probably mix it up, definitely bake naans and a biscuit/muffin or pancake, and at the same time always try something new. So 3 things fortnightly.

Keto dad on FB did a short video showing how to make keto grilled cheese using '90 second bread' has anyone tried 90 second bread? I thought it might be a good thing to try. I don't really have a dish suitable for making it but was wondering if a plastic tub would work as well. I suspect that all the keto 'bread' will never quite taste the same as bread but when you toast it for things like a toasted sandwich might be nice enough. His were made with egg, almond flour, butter and baking powder.

I'll buy eggs today and might try it tomorrow!
Click to expand...
I really hope you get granted your loan it will easy finances giving you and your family a better standard of living. Fingers crossed for the loan coming through.
 
well I made keto grilled cheese. In the UK it's cheese on toast or cheesy toast and to my knowledge (certainly in my experience) we make it either under the grill or in a toastie maker/ george forman grill etc. In the USA off course they call it grill cheese and fry it, which never made sense to me lol.

In any case, making the 90 second bread (in a pirex jug I found that was about the right size) worked ok but my microwave is one of the many things in the house on it's last legs and I can't melt butter in the micro, so had to melt the butter first by putting the jug in a pan of hot water. Then I made the bread which went well and it slid out of the jug no probs - I figured it was going to stick.

I went ahead with the American way and fried up the bread a little, added cheese and tomato a bit of salt and pepper, sandwiched it, cooked it a bit more.

It looked amazing. I wanted to love it...

I didn't love it lol.

It was ok, but I'd not make it again. The journey will continue. It really tastes too much egg to be bread, and I think lacks the dry consistency we are used to in bread. I will try other recipes though. I may even try this one again but add more flour? I was surprised to find how much I love the keto Naan's, sure they don't quite function exactly like traditional naan bread but they are extra yummy regardless. Probably the cheese in it...

I had a search at Tesco for low carb bread, nothing came up. I searched 'low carb' more generally and one of the things that popped up was a clear blue pregnancy test :roofles: well I'm sure that would be low in carbs but I don't want to eat one. I had a look at the gluten free breads but they all still seem very high in carbs, pretty much the same as normal bread from what I saw. Certainly too much for a couple of slices for lunch at the moment.

Years ago I met a man when doing my old job who had lost loads of weight since finding out he was diabetic and changing his diet, I don't recall much of the story but one thing I remember is him saying that at that time he allowed himself bread once per week on a weekend, and the rest of the week avoided it. Perhaps that is the answer rather than trying to find an alternative.

My dog had half of my grilled cheese lol, she liked it fine.

I might cheer myself up shortly by having some strawberries and whipped cream with sweetner. I bought some cut price strawbs this morning.

I had lots of sleep, more than I usually get after a nightshift, but I'm not feeling myself. I think it's just being stuck in the inbetween of waiting to know about the loan - a week ago I wasn't even thinking about anything life changing I was just trying to find a way to keep my car. Having had this possibility dangled in front of me again I think just feels a little uncontrollable. Someone else is making decisions about whether or not my life can be easier. Once I know either way I'll probably feel better. Either euphoria of a step forwards if accepted, or a return to determination and grit and knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel it's just further away. Either way I'll be grateful. It's something I need to let go off anyway, I have found a lot of joy in the unknown, but moments like this I feel a return to my younger self with her need to 'know' what was going to happen all the time. It did not help her to be happy!

There is potentially hope at work. One of the dayshift ladies is trialing a shift to nights, and they have a new recruit being trained on days with a view to moving to nights in 2 weeks. She is only 18 and a few people are skeptical but I believe in giving everyone a chance. In addition I'm probably biased - my niece took a job as a care assistant around the same age just because she needed a job, any job. She loved it and has moved up the ranks over the years. I can't imagine a better young woman for the role than she was, age isn't everything. A willingness to learn and compassion are really the most important elements. We still need a further part time colleague to bring our numbers back to fully staffed but at least these two are in the pipeline.

Doing one extra shift per fortnight doesn't sound like much but I do feel it! 6 nights in a row I somehow find a lot harder than 5, and schools back tomorrow as well, so back to juggling all of that again too. I don't need to do the extra but just trying to help out, we're all doing a bit extra to try and help each other. Financially because of the way universal credits work I don't really end up any better off doing extra shifts. I can do a 10 hour night, get paid more but by the time they deduct from my UC and I pay my daughter for babysitting I'm only £20 better off, which I find utterly ridiculous, it's no wonder people abuse the system. I know someone who only works 10 hours per week and her partner doesn't work at all, they get paid ridiculous amounts of benefits, she has 2 holidays booked this year. I don't know how they get away with it.

I've nothing against people who genuinely can't work being given a comfortable standard of living, I'm in complete support of that. But people who are fit and able and could work a reasonable amount surely should I think.

Right I'm gonna stop now. I'm clearly not in my usual space of optimism. On a positive note though I'm also not craving the kids crisps etc. I am looking forward to those strawberries though so I'm off to have those.

Night 3 of 6 and counting later.
 
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