Scrumbles' diary...life after losing a third of me...

[coffeelover]

lol on the carrot cake omelette Srumbles.

I do the fast eat thing occasionally, but would not like to plan it for someone else.

meatloaf sounds lovely on a day like today.

Good luck with WI x

 

[stubbsey]

I have no idea, but I hope so too!

(I must have been gone a looooong time, lol!)

Hi Lady Susie and Scrumbles,
I am fine had a busy couple of days so been on here only as a hit and run! I was having some problems with going... errrr you know... no2 which has now resolved but it occurs every three of four days, very annoying!!! not a nice subject i know! I have flax in my diet (put them in the oosies) so is there anything else i can do other than senna which gives me cramps? appologies again for the subject matter!

had a good walk today and started knitting a scarf, i am hoping this keeps my mind and fingers occupied so i dont need to stuff anything into my face, well thats the plan, we shall see if it works.

I hope you manage to sort out the cake recipe, though i am sticking with induction for some time yet, i have only just started to get into losing again after the wedding etc so need to keep it basic for a bit, plus i do tend to stay in it as its easier for me and i have such a lot i want to lose.

my son (the youngest one) has announced that he wants to follow his 'diet' again. he has been body building now wants to cut in dit wise. He has brown rice n pasta brown bread for lunch time but evenings its protein and fat only. He cuts out the saturates and eats sooo much when he does this, its maddening!! but at least i can cook him the same evening meals as me which should make life a tad easier.

hope ur all doing well
luv
tracy

 

[moonlights]

You know, I haven't actually tried anything made with flax. Ever. (And I call myself an Atkins dieter!) So I've ordered some flaxmeal to give it a go.

What proportion of soy milk to flax gives a nice consistency? For normal porridge I use about 170ml milk to 28g oats - would that be anywhere near?

I suppose I ought to try making a mim or two while I'm at it as well - nearly a year on Atkins and never tried a mim...shocking!

So today's food has been/will be:

Not-quite carrot cake, with cream cheese

Atkins meat loaf with buttered cabbage and carrots

Big, buttery omelette with red peppers and frankfurter

Coffee with cream, tea with Alpro unsweetened soy milk, couple of squares of 85% chocolate

Gallons of water

Should be around 1500 cals and 33g carbs

Weigh in tomorrow - eek! Don't know what my strange hormones and porridge scoffing of this week will have done - probably looking at a STS if I'm lucky...

I'm not a huge fan of the regular mim - it's nicer toasted but a little bitter for me. However made as porridge I really like it.

No idea on milk ratios I'm afraid, I allow for 500ml soya milk daily on the recommendation of my rheumatologist so just take out of that, but I measure 30g flax into a bowl, add a little milk at a time, letting it soak in until it's not too thick, then microwave for 1-2 minutes. When it comes out if the microwave it's all formed into one big clump, a bit like a waterlogged wheatabix, so I add more milk, plenty of sweetener and sometimes cinnamon or vanilla essence, stirring it all together until it's a nice porridge consistency. I'm really liking this lately, feels like proper comfort food.

Stubbsey re: going - my best suggestions are - more green vegetables in your daily meals, rhubarb apparent helps some people, as does drinking lots of water and making sure fats are high. I don't have loo problems on Atkins but that's what I see recommended most.

 

[sammy1]

Morning, I like the sound of that porridge, will try that when I get some in. When I tried dukan, lasted a week, I loved the oat bran pancakes, I could probably make a flax one ...
To stubsey, I find physillium husk is great, you can get in it tablet form from health food stores, it is also recommended in the atkins books.

 

[Scrumbles]

Morning!

So today, in spite of wonky hormones/illegal grain consumption, I have lost 1.5lbs, which takes me to exactly 5 stone lost in total!

Only 4lbs to go until I reach my initial target, then it will be time to reset. I see all sorts of targets on here for women of my height, right down to 8 stone and less, but I think 10st 7 is probably about right for me. It's at the high end of "normal" for my height, but I have a big, broad frame, and at my age (45) I reckon my face is going to suffer big time if I get much thinner than that. But I'll see - I may stop in the high 10's if it feels right.

@ moonlights, thanks! That sounds a good way to do it - what I don't want is to add too much milk to start with and drown it because I have a strong dislike of watery stuff with bits floating in it, lol. Can't wait for my flax to arrive now - hurry up Mr Postie!

@ sammy, if you make a flax version of the oat bran pancakes, and it's nice (unlike my carrot cake!), let us know. I'm going to need lots of ways of using up a bag of flaxmeal before it goes off, lol!

@ stubbsey, sorry to hear of your toilet trouble - I've had that recently as well. I agree with ML that plenty of water and veggies helps, but sometimes even that isn't enough for me, especially around totm. I don't tend to take anything for it, though. The longest I've gone without *going* was 3 days, at which point, things resolved themselves naturally, much to my...erm...relief! So I can't help with actual remedies, I'm afraid.

Ouch at having to cater for a bodybuilding son - does he eat you out of house and home?!

 

[Alpaca]

Hello Scrummie ... You're doing SO well!!! Amazing loss and focus - well done lovely xxx

 

[Dietkitty]

My OH is a bodybuilder too. He has pasta for lunch then protein and often more pasta in the evening. He's currently claiming that he's always tired because he's cut down on carbs!! I've tried pointing out that a) people on Atkins experience a boost in energy and b) cut down on carbs?? No all he's done is cut out bread, cakes and biscuits lol.

 

[stubbsey]

well done on the loss scrummie, i know what you mean about targets they are a bit of a minefield but i think i will just be happy to look good in a size 12 or 14 what ever weight that makes me is where i am aiming lol.

my son is a law unto himself Lisa, he is one of those maddening types that knows everything... and won't ever be told or advised, he lives his life with i told you so's lol but still never ever learns. he bulks up then goes on this weird diet which works because his body builder friends tell him it does. to be fair to him he does lose weight when he does it but i just get fed up with all the fads i have to cater for. plus i think he looks better without all the muscle n bulk, he is a very good looking young man, and his natural frame is lean and slim, so naturally he fights against it.

kids!!!!

 

[Dietkitty]

Lol, kids indeed!!
ps my OH does it because he's a short arse lol.

 

[coffeelover]

Well done on your loss Scrumbles, your focus is awesome. Which I had some of it.

 

[moonlights]

Woooo well done on the loss Scrummie, that's outstanding. You're going to hit your target in no time at this rate. Whatever you're doing, your body is obviously liking it.

My first target is just to be overweight, not obese. Then I'll revise it downward - I think to 10 stone because 140lbs sounds like a good number. I've been obese all my adult life so just getting to overweight, if I can, will be huge for me. Then again I remember when I thought I'd be happy if I could get to 14 stone. I wasn't, obviously. I think (hope) we'll just know when we're at the right weight for us.

 

[Scrumbles]

I have another baking disaster to report!

Tried to do the Iamnotti biscuits but didn't have any almond flavouring, so thought I'd use cocoa powder instead. Wasn't at all sure how much to put in, so used about the same as I would for the chocolate version of almond bread (8g) which turned out to be rather too much! I over beat the egg white too, so together with the dry cocoa powder, the mixture came up very dry, and the resulting biscuits were...um...a bit rock-like! Also, I didn't use enough of my sweetener (damn that horrid stevia!) and they were more than a little bitter.

Oops. Intuitive cook I am not (ti!).

I will try again in a couple of days, but I'm changing my subnic in the meantime to reflect my kitchen calamities...

 

[moonlights]

Haha aww Scrumbles! You just made rock cakes instead I think a drop of liquid flavoring is probably better for the recipe than 8g of cocoa - but you could add a little cocoa powder along with some chocolate flavoring if you wanted. I never use much chocolate powder in baking because it goes bitter without sugar, but mixing a little for the color then using a flavoring doesn't have the same effect - that might be why your sweetener didn't come through. They say to get sweetness with cocoa powder in low carb making you need to use two different types of sweetener. Don't ask me why that just seems to be the received wisdom.

 

[Ange7367]

Crickey scrumbles you have done so well....just looked at your stats .....today I weighed the same as u 12.4lb ....I'm 5ft 6 ....I have been as low as 8.4lb years ago....I looked anorexic for me anything between 10 and 11 stone is good...as I look so gaunt any lower not that I have been for years

xx

 

[Scrumbles]

Haha aww Scrumbles! You just made rock cakes instead

I think a drop of liquid flavoring is probably better for the recipe than 8g of cocoa - but you could add a little cocoa powder along with some chocolate flavoring if you wanted. I never use much chocolate powder in baking because it goes bitter without sugar, but mixing a little for the color then using a flavoring doesn't have the same effect - that might be why your sweetener didn't come through. They say to get sweetness with cocoa powder in low carb making you need to use two different types of sweetener. Don't ask me why that just seems to be the received wisdom.

See, you know all this stuff...I haven't a clue! I just muddle along producing sweet vegetable omelettes and strange brown rock-like objects, lol

The irony of this is, though, that I am (or was!) a pretty good conventional baker. I used to churn out lovely sponges, fruitcakes, cookies and melt-in-the-mouth shortcrust pastry (kinda explains how I got to 17 stone, doesn't it?!). So I'm fine following traditional recipes; I just fall flat on my face when I have to improvise.

Mr Sainsbury is kindly delivering some almond extract tomorrow, so hopefully #2 will be better than #1...

 

[Scrumbles]

Crickey scrumbles you have done so well....just looked at your stats .....today I weighed the same as u 12.4lb ....I'm 5ft 6 ....I have been as low as 8.4lb years ago....I looked anorexic for me anything between 10 and 11 stone is good...as I look so gaunt any lower not that I have been for years

xx

Thanks Ange! It's been a long haul, but it's certainly been worth it. My body was breaking down in all sorts of ways this time last year (painful joints, raised blood pressure, breathing problems) and now I feel so much better.

I don't think I've been as low as 8 stone anything since I was...well, probably when I was 8! I'd be skeletal if I went that far

 

[Alpaca]

Evening Scrummie!! You had me chuckling !! I'm in awe! Xxx

 

[sammy1]

Hi, well done on the lost, you are doing so well. I made the pancakes I really liked them, receipe in my thread.

 

[Scrumbles]

ooooh! - thanks, sammy! Will go and have a look in a minute (not that I can make them yet 'cos flax still hasn't arrived , but good to be prepared!)

Forgot to mention yesterday that my average daily cals for the week were 1490 and carbs were 32g. I'm considering upping the carbs again to average nearer 35g daily (not exceeding 40g a day) since I seem to be losing as well on the amount I'm having now as I was when I was nearer 20g per day! I enjoy the flexibility that more carbs gives me - as long as I can stop myself taking the p and making oat porridge with them!

I took some measurements yesterday on a whim, and wasn't exactly ecstatic. I seem to have been 44" round my bust for months now, and my hip-to-waist ratio ain't great at 0.84. I suppose I have to remember that these last couple of stones are going to make a bigger difference than most of the preceding ones because they will represent a larger percentage of my total weight at this point. Still, I wish I could just hurry up and shrink, lol! I'm really in need of some new bras, but they're so expensive (I think, anyway!) that I don't want to invest until I know what size I'm going to settle at. Ho hum. Perhaps I'll just buy some cheapie transitional ones to be going on with.

No baking today, but my cupboards are now re-stocked so I'll be giving the Iamnotti biscuits another bash....with a hammer if I get them wrong again!

 

[ladyfelsham]

I'll be giving the Iamnotti biscuits another bash....with a hammer if I get them wrong again!

LOL I am loving your kitchen experiments! I made similar mim biscuits once - awful!