LJ's Journey to be Slim by Sixty

[upndown]

Upndown how are you feeling about your gain? I am a little confused where to go with the coming week.. What I did wrong? What she means by eating more free? Lol argh.

Hi and thx for asking how I'm feeling even though you've had a small gain and are confused. I'm not sure what ur leader means either - but see u've e-mailed her now - so pls let us know what she comes back with.

Also don't understand ur tiny gain it could be ur Sunday treat - but didn't you stay within ur syns? If I recall correctly u seem to be eating well but have fairly small amounts and low syns.

I find that when I do that (with the emphasis on the 'when') I find I've set the standard high and give myself less leeway for the days I need more food eg: for meals out, hungry days etc. So maybe that's why you gained half a pound yet whilst you stayed on plan?

If feel the 4 Ds = disappointed (with myself) daft (for messing up) and deserved (the gain) and determined (for next week)

Hope your leader comes back to you soon and you have a good week.

 

[fat2go]

Not planning to stay to the image therapy. I don't really like the group leader and there are far too many people in the group since the new year. It is worth it to me to pay the weekly fee just for the weigh ins and the access to the website. I should make a decision about what to eat....

Hi LJ et al

Yes, it is worth paying the money just to get weighed because there will be times when the thought of having to get weighed will stop you from falling from the wagon. Also there will be times when it keeps you focussed when you've had a good Thurs - Mon and feel like wavering on the Tues for example. I appreciate you don't like the leader and there are too many people @ group but this is YOUR journey and you are doing this for YOU...and not your leader, not for others in the group, not for SW itself and not even not for us on here...for YOU!

I'm sat here writing at 4:30 am as I crashed and burned at 7pm last night...too little sleep over the past four days lol but I woke up at 2:20 this morning and have been up since...Catch up TV (not that I watch much of it) and now Catch up Mini Mins

Lots of interesting posts, none more so than the subject of eating when not hungry. As I'm about to say on my own thread, I've decided that I need to stop doing that myself and I will stop. In addition, I am going to stop eating so much food, albeit free.

That said, this is LJs thread so I need to talk about her and to say how well she's done with her week 11 loss of 1.5 lbs - Fantastic! Just think, 1.5 loss every week will take you just 41 more weeks to get to goal and seeing it's still 46 weeks to Christmas, you'll be where you want to be by New Year's I know you have no goal date as such LJ but I just thought I'd put it into perspective as to what you can (and will) achieve!

 

[LJ22]

Good afternoon friends. How are you all doing? Upndown, how are you feeling about things? I hope the gain has not knocked you off plan. Gawd knows how a disappointing weigh in affects me...

I have heard from CJ this morning and she is super organised with her food today. Go CJ! She has so much staying power. It's admirable!

Fat2go thank you for your encouragement and kind words. You know, you are such a kind caring person. I hope you learn to direct a good portion of that onto yourself. You really do deserve it. I am so happy to hear you are feeling determined this week. Keep posting, keep telling us how you are doing. Making changes is hard but they say if you can keep it up then it becomes a habit and the effort to create that habit will have been worth it.

Today I am following the eat-only-when-hungry rule again. So far I have had two cups of tea and strangely, I almost couldn't finish the second one because I feel full. I am listening to my body and almost shocked at how little food it is demanding. What is going on!

I have ordered a Lakeland yoghurt maker this morning. I love plain yogurt and to be able to make my own additive free is appealing to me. Time will not be an issue after I move so I went ahead and got it. Iw as thinking about the things I eat and realising that almost everything now is unprocessed, make from scratch food, except for the yogurts. The other thing is that those Muller Lights are far too convenient in their little ready packaged portions with flavouring. I am always tempted to eat more of them than I need and they are gone in a flash and I realise that was 99 calories I have added to my intake for nothing.

Once the machine is here I won't buy the mullers anymore. I will make plain fat free yogurt to which I will add fruit. I doubt I will want any sort of sweetener because I like the tart taste of the plain yogurt anyway. It's going to make me more aware of what I am eating and I will feel the satisfaction of it being completely additive free.

Don't go thinking I am against processed foods. They certainly have their place for convenience when required. I just feel that i am preparing my future and that not only will I benefit but my mother will too and that is a good thing. It's something that is important to me now. And I will have the time to make it happen.

I already make my own bread and it's so good that I never want to return to buying shop bought loaves. My mother enjoys wholemeal bread rolls for her lunch. I will be able to make those for her and freeze them. I will stick with my spelt flour bread. Actually.... She might like that too. She also has a wheat sensitivity.

I have rabbited on enough for now. My dog is nagging for her lunch! Look forward to hearing from everyone.

 

[LJ22]

2.30pm I feel slightly hungry. Heating up some soup. I could easily not eat but I don't know if I will do harm if I only ate once a day?

 

[upndown]

2.30pm I feel slightly hungry. Heating up some soup. I could easily not eat but I don't know if I will do harm if I only ate once a day?

Not sure - what do others think? Here's my initial thoughts - but please read with the health warning that they're just my best guesses!!!

I wonder if you'd have digestive problems if you only ate once a day? I've heard that shift workers sometimes develop diverticulitis cos of their irregular eating patterns.

Wonder too whether it'd be better to smallish meals say 3 times a day? As I assume our gastric juice are acidic and wonder if they'd damage your stomach lining if there was too little food for them to break down?

I've just googled 'why do we need eat 3 meals a day' and an interesting article came up on livestrong.com - must dash but will post again if I think of anything else!

 

[LJ22]

For many years I worked with a woman who said she only ate one meal a day. She looked fit and healthy to me.

I followed a self-imposed diet once where I ate only fruit during the day and a low fat, low calorie evening meal. Lost lots of weight and felt good on that.

I will continue with this for the week until WI. Experiment....

 

[LJ22]

Was I just mindlessly eating by the clock before? Was it just habit? I feel like this is a breakthrough. Thank you upndown for the idea. Now I realise I should be taking notice of what my body says, not my mind. I cannot trust my mind to say when I need food. My mind uses guesswork, false criteria and emotions, none of which is based on the facts.

It's 5.30pm and I definitely feel hungry. Hungry to the edge of hunger pains so I am about to make some dinner. I will heat up some of that blow-your-head-off-with-chilli Moroccan Veg Tagine and make some SW chips. REALLY looking forward to it.

 

[LJ22]

Phewee, that's hot!

The hunger pains have not subsided though. They came on suddenly and I think next time I will eat some fruit or yogurt to quell the pain while I cook. It's so unpleasant.... This is what I want to avoid. I suppose this is the negative association I have with hunger, and for a good reason. The speed it comes on means if food is not available quickly then I suffer.

 

[LJ22]

I am recording my day so that I can look back on it later on. The hunger pains took an hour to stop. The pain was in my stomach and upper abdomen. They make me feel too ill to eat but I know that eating will make them go away. It's a catch 22 situation. It's not surprising that I have been a grazer, attempting to not let the pain happen and not surprising that i feel panic when I have no access to food for any length of time. I need to learn to manage it. Maybe just make sure I have a small snack with me just in case and to give me peace of mind.

I just got out of the shower and the little voice in my head was telling me to have pudding, muller light, banana, anything sweet because that's what is right. Pudding after dinner. The reward for eating dinner.

But things are going to be different now. That little voice is no longer going to be in charge. This week I will only eat when truly hungry. The investigation continues....

 

[upndown]

Phewee, that's hot!

The hunger pains have not subsided though. They came on suddenly and I think next time I will eat some fruit or yogurt to quell the pain while I cook. It's so unpleasant.... This is what I want to avoid. I suppose this is the negative association I have with hunger, and for a good reason. The speed it comes on means if food is not available quickly then I suffer.

Hi Everyone - I'm wondering if LJ's pains are caused by the gastric acids?? Does anyone have these pains or have any ideas?

I feel a real fraud passing on the idea of eating only when hungry as I mentioned it when I had no appetite cos I was ill - then when appetite returned I had a 2lb gain!

And here's LJ undertaking a full blown experiment and suffering for the cause!

LJ - you've sparked something else in me with your interesting posts - I was partic interested in your relationship with food in your childhood years and that got me thinking about mine - to be honest it's a bit fuzzy (it was a long time ago) but more has come to the surface over the last couple of days!

I was born in 1953 and as far as I know my mother cooked the food of the time - from scratch and good old plain cooking - no chicken tikka in her repertoire (but don't think that was unusual at that time?)

Both my parents were slim all their lives and I recall the portions were small compared to my portions these days and indeed their dinner plates were smaller than mine! We usually had set meal times - evening meal was 2 courses - main and dessert. Roast dinner was a Sunday lunch affair!

I don't remember any unpleasantness around food or feeling hungry. Sweets and things like shop bought cream cakes were a treat - but my mother regularly baked cakes etc.

This bit interested me when I recalled it - I've not given it any thought before though - when I got married a month before my 20th birthday in the early 70s - I wanted to be a trendy housewife and bought cookery books - and the in-vogue chocolate brown plates of the day!!

Must have thought I was 'cool' cooking spag bol, curries etc - I've also just remembered when we went to Italy at the time - we stuffed our rucksacks with different kinds of pasta - I think you could only buy spaghetti here then!

I also think I must have dished up bigger portions than Mum too - cos I do recall WI at 9 stone about 12 months after our wedding and I was appalled and hastily started my first diet - which makes me smile now - just check my stats. I quickly went back down under 8 stone where I felt comfortable then!!

So will try to serve smaller portions in future - that's got to help hasn't it - as fat2go and LJ say - even if it's free or superspeed - that food still contain calories!

Had a good day today - b'fast - yog & banana, lunch - potato & leek soup - HEB, tea - gammon, egg and mushrooms and did an exercise video for 30 mins.

Hope you've all had a good day and will look out for your posts!

Just read over this rambling post - I'd be amazed if anyone gets to the end!

 

[LJ22]

Ooh get you! Exercise for 30 minutes. Well done! I wish I had your motivation for exercise. What dvd was it?

 

[LJ22]

Regarding the stomach acid theory, I take prescription antacids to protect my stomach from the effects of the painkillers I take for my back so I don't think acid is the cause of the pain. Will do a bit of Googling. Stomach is uncomfortable again. I ate a banana. Will try having a glass of squash.

 

[upndown]

It's called Get Fit Quick - it's an old one but 3 timed sessions and I like to do the 30 min program

 

[LJ22]

Found this on wisegeek.org.

The most common origin of hunger pains is the fact that the individual has not consumed food or drink for an extended period of time. Muscle contractions begin to occur when the stomach has been empty for several hours. As the contractions take place, the sensation may be somewhat unpleasant and interpreted as painful. When this is the reason behind the hunger pains, a quick snack is usually sufficient to eliminate the discomfort.


People who tend to suffer with low blood sugar may experience hunger pains when glucose levels begin to drop. The lack of a proper amount of glucose in the blood causes the stomach contractions to commence. Usually, the contractions are mild at first, but become increasingly stronger until the individual consumes something that provides the right type of carbohydrates to restore a safe glucose level.

 

[upndown]

Found this on wisegeek.org.

The most common origin of hunger pains is the fact that the individual has not consumed food or drink for an extended period of time. Muscle contractions begin to occur when the stomach has been empty for several hours. As the contractions take place, the sensation may be somewhat unpleasant and interpreted as painful. When this is the reason behind the hunger pains, a quick snack is usually sufficient to eliminate the discomfort.


People who tend to suffer with low blood sugar may experience hunger pains when glucose levels begin to drop. The lack of a proper amount of glucose in the blood causes the stomach contractions to commence. Usually, the contractions are mild at first, but become increasingly stronger until the individual consumes something that provides the right type of carbohydrates to restore a safe glucose level.

well there we go then maybe it's smaller meals rather missing meals??

just had a thought - wonder how many calories we burn off whilst posting LOL!

 

[CJ32]

well there we go then maybe it's smaller meals rather missing meals??

just had a thought - wonder how many calories we burn off whilst posting LOL!

LOL! That did make me laugh Upndown!

 

[CJ32]

Well good evening all!

Another interesting day of posts to catch up on, learning something new everyday!

LJ well done with your experiment and actually letting yourself get hungry! I know that if I don't eat for a long time and get hungry, then when I do eat I get all bloated and get tummy ache. So I try not to go to long not eating.

I have tried to do more exercise today, walking a bit faster and had a wander round the shopping center tonight for an hour, that would of burnt off a few calories. So far my foot feels ok, I think it's on the mend! Yay!

So I had a reply from my leader regarding free and super free...

Hi Carly I haven't looked at your record yet so not sure what the gain was but hopefully I can still help! If you already know you had extra syns this may have been the difference. One difference there has been recently is that you've not been staying to group and believe it or not that too can have an impact on the week ahead. Leaving feeling upset/ annoyed/ mystified means that you may well unintentionally sabotage yourself: and often in group there are "lightbulb" moments when you hear other people talk about their results. I know it can be hard sometimes to stay but your happiness is worth one hour a week!!
We encourage you to eat one third of your plate at every meal superfree for a couple of reasons: superfree is healthy nutritious and low calorie foods that will fill you up and boost your weight loss. Free foods are slightly higher in calories but still good for you and will fill you up to keep you from feeling hungry. The plan is based on increasing these low calorie foods: the more you eat the better your metabolism will function, which in turn burns the fat and slims you down. If you don't eat a lot your body stores it to keep you functioning so increasing what you eat from the free and superfree will make a difference. To maximise the loss try eating as many foods with the S or SS symbols- or indeed the C or CC symbols as these are proven to boost weight loss.
So today is a new day: deep breath, look at your book and plan a fab week- but shout if you need me!! Xxxx


I think I haven't Been eating enough... So I'll have to increase that.. Shame... Hehehe

Today's food diary..

Breakfast 2 bananas and a muller light yogurt (they were small so I thought 2 should do the trick)

snack grapes

lunch jacket potato, beans and my hexa cheese

snack blueberries I got from Aldi on my lunch.... Until I saw a mouldy one :s snack time was over lol

tea I made a yummy pasta sauce, chucked a load of stuff in. Garlic, spring onion, mushrooms, tinned carrot,tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, mixed herbs, sweetcorn. I had that was pasta and some cheese! (5 syns)

2 marshmallows (2syns)

so far then 7 syns today. I like LJ feel a bit lost without pudding. I might have a Lindt bunny for 3syns

 

[CJ32]

LJ I think that you should have regular meals and make sure you eat enough calories so your body doesn't panic and stop loosing weight!

 

[fat2go]

Have been reading posts but off to watch new series on tv .. "My 600 lb life"

 

[LJ22]

LJ I think that you should have regular meals and make sure you eat enough calories so your body doesn't panic and stop loosing weight!

But what about my experiment? Perhaps the proper hunger is kicking in now. I will see what happens in the morning. See if I feel hungry then. For now I still have some discomfort in my stomach. Perhaps a chilli dish was not the best choice tonight.