Moonwatcher's Atkins Diary

[Atomic pink]

Steak looks awesome. Yum. And with halloumi too Drool.... Have you tried chips made from swede? Not sure about whether you are allowed swede yet on Atkins but I think it counts as a reasonably low carb root veg usually. I actually prefer swede chips to celeriac now.

Ooopssie pizza sounds like a very good idea. Its not the sort of thing you can imagine being allowed on Atkins but its really interesting to see how you are able to adapt things to fit the plan.

Sounds like it is probably a good plan the trip was cancelled. The weather really was atrocious yesterday. And 100 soggy teenagers sounds worse than 100 disappointed teenagers I think.

 

[moonwatcher]

I love swede but haven't tried it as chips yet. I'm pretty certain it's not on my allowed list yet though. Turnip and mooli are though, so they are on the chip list too!

 

[moonwatcher]

Saturday 25th May

Woo hop - first day of half term and the sun is actually shining! Went to our favourite seaside haunt today. Started the day with a brunch of scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms. Had one bite of OH's sausage this time, instead of a whole one, but still suffered later on, so it looks like ordinary sausages are out for me - low carb plan or not.

Went for a nice long walk along the beach next - about 3 and a half hours, some over rocks and stones, so quite hard going, but really had a lovely time. The sun was still shining! Diet coke at the halfway point.

Did a bit of shopping once back in town - some of it at my favourite little greengrocer - pea shoots, celeriac and more, plus a pack of Thai basil. With a bit of luck I may be able to get get a bit of it to root, so I can have a plant on the kitchen windowsill.

Then sat in the van on the cliffs and boiled a kettle on our baby gas stove for a coffee with cream watching the waves. Two squares of dark chocolate accompanied the coffee!

Back home and have had a lemon/cream cheese custard with a tspn of extra thick double cream, plus half an ounce of cheddar cheese with chilli and lime and a babybel. Plenty of water to drink. Not a perfect day, not really enough veg, but we will see what tomorrow's WI brings.

 

[moonwatcher]

Now....that looks tasty!!!! Your menus are so varied...never know what's coming next x

Thanks Frona. Sometimes (often!) when I start cooking, I don't know what's coming next either!

 

[Atomic pink]

Sounds like an absolutely lovely day yesterday, Moonwatcher. Coffee and dark chocolate overlooking the waves sounds idyllic.

Shame about the sausages. Maybe the best option is making your own skinless sausages out of pork mince? I am sure you could come up with some gorgeous combinations.

 

[moonwatcher]

Yes, I think home-made are the way to go. It would be nice to be able to have one occasionally when out, but I can live with it (or, more accurately, without it)! There is also the shop in Cromer which sometimes has gluten free sausages, which we intend to try. Forgot to WI this morning until already eaten and dressed, so will weigh tomorrow morning instead. Food for today:

Breakfast/brunch - two rashers bacon, two scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes and fried turnip slices



This was quite late, so no lunch as such. Went to visit a local garden in the afternoon, wandered round there for a couple of hours and then had an 'afternoon coffee picnic' - one cup of coffee and cream, stewed rhubarb with sweetener and egg custard, followed by a slice of flourless chocolate cake with a dollop of cream. The recipe for this was from the Atkins recipe section on here, and it was absolutely divine! I did double the amount, so some left for tomorrow.

Popped to the beach next for a couple more hours wandering along the seafront, then came home - the one thing I really fancied was a ham and cheese salad. Rather weird as at the coast it was the first day since starting Atkins that I really did fancy getting some chips, but managed to resist. Then ended up wanting and having a salad! Nothing else tonight except water.

 

[Goldilukes]

Hi moon watcher,

enjoying the diary and glad to be able to finally say hello. Hope you are well?

 

[moonwatcher]

Hi moon watcher,

enjoying the diary and glad to be able to finally say hello. Hope you are well?

Hi there and thanks for subscribing. I will have a look later to see if you have a diary I can follow.

Eeek - day late on WI this morning and I am up to 14st 7.4, which is up 2 lbs on last week. Not good, but looking at the possible reasons for it, rather than sulking (well OK, maybe I am sulking a little ...but not much)

1. I nearly always have a STS or a gain somewhere in weeks 2- 4 of any diet plan. I think this is probably down to a combination of my body adjusting and me perhaps relaxing a bit and not being as strict as at the start.

2. Probably not enough water in the week.

3. Sugar free chocolate - not in my diary for yesterday as we had some after I had updated. Very tasty and technically low carb, but possibly as evil as Atkins bars. Contains isomalt, which I will look up later, but I suspect it is perhaps maltitol by any other name!

4. A few pork scratchings - consumed at the same time as the chocolate. Shortly before the chocolate actually - at exactly the same time would have been pretty revolting! Lots of salt.

5. Probably too much cream this week.

6. More exercise this week - only in the form of walking, but still quite a bit more than previous weeks.

7. More snacky type meals this week.

8. Yesterday's afternoon picnic - quite a high dose of sweeteners, in the rhubarb, egg custard and the chocolate cake, made with cocoa. I commented to the OH later in the day that I really wanted chips that evening, although I didn't give in. That was the first time since starting Atkins that I craved carbs, so if something had set off those cravings, it stands to reason that it could have affected my body chemistry and contributed to a gain.

9. Half a glass of beer last night with the pork scratching and chocolate. Ho-hum.

10. Just the luck of the draw. (Don't think this really applies, but 10 is such a nice round number!)

So'... some or all of those may apply. Half the chocolate cake is left for today. I will probably have a little, as I think the other things are more likely to be the problem, but will see what happens over the next few days, and when I make it again will try it in a week without other naughties creeping in, so I can judge if it affects me or not. The chocolate is all gone - just have some standard dark chocolate in the cupboard which I can resist OK. Will also lay off the pork scratchings. I was thinking of introducing some berries this week, but think I will go for another week without them, and hopefully with a loss, before I do.

Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weather. Plenty of gardening for us today, so lots of water and less time to snack.

 

[Goldilukes]

I have a diary, just started it today though on here. I have kept a notebook diary in the other hand for over a month. I've been lurking on here for months dying to post but minimins took forever to validate my account ??? S frustrating as it seems I've missed the majority of posters, very quiet these days. Glad to see you are still going strong and I shall enjoy your posts even more knowing I can comment

 

[Atomic pink]

Sorry to hear about the gain but positive it is just a temporary blip and you'll get a good loss next week. I think it does often take some time for your body to adjust at the beginning of diet, especially as you've had such big losses so far.

The breakfast looks gorgeous. That certainly is something that Atkins caters for very well The flourless chocolate cake also sounds very nice. What is in it?

 

[moonwatcher]

Sorry to hear about the gain but positive it is just a temporary blip and you'll get a good loss next week. I think it does often take some time for your body to adjust at the beginning of diet, especially as you've had such big losses so far.

The breakfast looks gorgeous. That certainly is something that Atkins caters for very well The flourless chocolate cake also sounds very nice. What is in it?

Yes, I'm pretty relaxed about it. Judging by today I should think a fair amount of it was fluid! Also I feel so well with so much energy at the moment that the weight loss doesn't seem quite so important. It is important of course - but it is good to feel relaxed about a gain!

The cake recipe is here
http://www.minimins.com/atkins-recipes/306199-flourless-3-minute-chocolate-cake.html

I made double the amount (didn't double the sweetener though. In fact I used quite a bit less than the amount in the recipe - about 6 teaspoons - and it was sweet enough for us) and cooked it in a small one pound loaf dish. It rose so much that it crept over the top a little, which was awful because I had to scrape those bits off and eat them immediately! Although the recipe says serves one, we had four portions in total from the double amount. OH thinks it is the best chocolate cake he has ever had! It would make good muffins or cupcakes too - I would probably beat the egg whites until stiff for those. It would also make good brownies. It stayed moist for today too.

 

[moonwatcher]

Very busy day today with loads of washing done and also plenty of gardening. We have so much to do in the garden this year as last year we neglected it a bit. Planning to get some veg plants later in the week for an instant veg plot, as I have left it too late to grow from seed for most things. Two visits to the dump planned tomorrow to get rid of the laurel hedge trimmings that are left after shredding and cutting up for logs and kindling. Too much to compost and apparently laurel contains something which inhibits germination of other seeds, so maybe not a good idea for compost anyway.

Food for today was:

Breakfast - egg custard

Lunch - ate outside for the second day running! Home-made asparagus, spinach and avocado soup with a little sour cream, followed by chilli and herb flax crackers with guacamole

Tonight - cheese and ham with a little salad

Snack - pepperoni, the last of the flourless chocolate cake with a dollop of extra thick double cream

Drinks - one coffee with cream, one earl grey with a dash of soya milk, water

 

[moonwatcher]

Today's guacamole and chilli herb flax crackers. This was for the two of us - three crackers each.



Asparagus, spinach and avocado soup - outside in the sunshine!

Sorry - forgot to take a picture of the chocolate cake. Suppose I will have to make another one sometime!

 

[moonwatcher]

Not sure why my pics have come up like that this time instead of the thumbnails?

 

[Goldilukes]

Lol Moonwatcher my pics came out upside down wonder whats going on? Hope you are well today? What's the weather like where you are?

 

[moonwatcher]

Lol Moonwatcher my pics came out upside down wonder whats going on? Hope you are well today? What's the weather like where you are?

The pics do seem to play up from time to time - I have managed to sort mine out this morning.

It's not as nice here today as yesterday - bit dull and breezy, but still dry at the moment. Just about to go out and load up for the first visit to the dump. I live such an exciting life!

 

[Goldilukes]

Haha sounds like my life except for eating out in the sunshine so often. Thanks for sharing that cake recipe...I love anything chocolately so that should come in well handy.

 

[moonwatcher]

Update for yesterday - Tuesday 28th May

Another very busy day yesterday - one dump visit completed, then back home to start chain sawing up the first wood pile. This is a huge pile of wood that needed sawing into kindling and bits to burn on the fire, and had to be done first to clear a space for us to saw up the laurel and get the twiggy bits out of of the back garden into the van! So, first mission accomplished and my arms and shoulders ache like mad. We still have a load more to do, but (un)fortunately it is raining at the moment and rain and electric chain saws don't mix, so I am indoors with a cup of tea, with eggs boiling for breakfast.

Yesterday's food:

Pre breakfast - half an egg custard and a little cream,

Breakfast/brunch - 3 rashers of bacon, fried turnip slices, fried tomato and two scrambled eggs. The eggs were enormous though - and double yolkers

Dinner - kind of moussaka - was so knackered when we came in from the garden, but fortunately had precooked most of it, so mixed the aubergines, mince, onions, toms etc all together and reheated it while I made the cheese sauce, then just served the cheese sauce on top.

Drinks - one coffee and cream, one lavender earl grey tea with soya milk, water, flavoured fizzy water - which just seemed to make me more thirsty.

Bit low on salad veggies, but had a few more 'other' veggies, so happy enough with that. Will post a few pics in a while.

 

[Goldilukes]

Ooh lavender earl grey, il have to try that is it nice?
im on around 6-7 coffees and need to cut them right down.
I love having a pre breakfast too, need to around here because I'm up early and people don't arise until later hahaha hope you have a good day today? Weather is rank here

 

[moonwatcher]

Yummy breakfast/brunch - the fried turnip slices have turned out to be quite a revelation - they are sweet and very tasty

Instant (well almost) moussaka. Presentation not up to usual standards, but was past caring - it tasted great!