Serialslimmer's journey back to bohemian slenderness

[Queen Bizzle]

Girls, I'm still not back in proper ketosis. I'm adjusting calories and carbs and stealthily adding good fats, day by day. So I get hungry A LOT. Nothing to be done, though, but to persevere. I'm well aware that one can only tinker so far without risking the faster weight loss benefits. Low-carbing alone tends to give much slower losses. Mind you, the amount of food you can eat is quite impressive.

Lately I've become fixated on the lemon bars. Originally it was the toffee and raisin I craved. Then the orange. Lemon has now shot ahead. For dinner tonight I will add tomato paste, veggie oxo and ground linseed to a curry pack. What joy! Ha Ha x

Ketosis is such a pain to get right. I wish there was just a golden rule that was based on your weight or something! I'm still trying to work out if I'm there or not. I feel like in the early days of low carb when I'm all positive I can trick myself to thinking I'm not hungry, and in ketosis, then a day later, my positivity goes and I've got cravings again, and obviously not in ketosis. I think mindset is half the battle, and something that can be totally out of my hands when low carb or low calorie. Well done for sticking today, cheese is a good little thing to get you through x

 

[Lara1986]

I actually forgot about how good ketosis is for reducing the appetite. It is a very useful tool but looks like you're doing what works for you. There's no rush for the weight to come off really is there? I know as fast as possible is great but but the main thing is that it actually comes off and stays off isn't it x

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

How you doing today serial? Any sign of ketosis yet for you?

 

[serialslimmer]

Hi Green darlin'. I think I'm 'there' apart from the odd twinge of 'I could eat something' LOL. I'm prepared for slower losses because I lose slowly on Exante too but then again I don't consider 2-3lb per week as particularly slow. There are people doing SW/WW/Atkins who'd weep for joy with such steady losses!

You're right. That nasty bout of 'flu floored me. Broke my stride on Exante and led me into all sorts of hunger and craving problems. Then just to top it all came the bronchitis. I was barking like a seal. And hungry.

Another reason for hoping to shift a stone before the end of May. My favourite GP is, as I've mentioned before, leaving the Practice. 27 years. He looked after my mother (sadly passed away now), my ex-partner, both of my sons, and me. My younger son understands why the prospect of his leaving upsets me so much. Son said 'he's the perfect GP'. He looks, I'm guessing, about 55. Perhaps he is taking early retirement? I hope to find out at the end of May because - FANFARE - I am going to the surgery to see him. I want to take a card and maybe a wee gift, to thank him for taking such good care of us all for so many years. A stone won't make me look slender (LOL) but it will help my confidence. He's a good man, and a fellow-Scot. I will really miss him. Some good needs to come out of this.

On Wednesday I'll do a WI then begin a four-week challenge. My goal - to lose a stone. If anyone would like to join me on this mini-quest, please do. All for one, and one for all! x

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

Oh fantastic! I'm delighted for you going to go see the gp. Brilliant news ☺. And you are going to absolutely smash that target 1 stone off xx

 

[Lara1986]

I would love to join you and lose a stone. I wouldn't be weighing in until the end though.

 

[serialslimmer]

I'm thinking of weighing fortnightly after Wednesday. This is what I did when I was slim. I weighed once or twice a month and no more. The pressure to see great losses can lead to self-sabotage.

Green, I decided that I simply must see my GP before he leaves, to thank him. My son's girlfriend has offered to drive me there and back, bless her, despite the fact that she lives an hour's drive from me. It's terrible when you have to lose yet another kind and caring person from an already difficult life, but it's something we all have to deal with. I want to lose that stone and to be able to tell him that he helped to inspire me. I would like to say cheerio on a higher note and with the prospect of lots more positive results to come. But oh my, I'm going to miss him. Before I got 'flu and bronchitis I hadn't seen him in person for about two years! Because I was isolating due to weight gain. I'd talked to him on the phone a few times but that was all. I suppose I just assumed he'd be there until regular retirement age. Hadn't really thought about it. Now I have to brace myself and 'let go'. I hate goodbyes xx

 

[Lara1986]

Ahh that'll be nice you get to go and say goodbye to him. Well worth the trip.

The letting go part made me think of this... Sometimes we have to embrace and accept things that aren't ideal in life xxx

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

How was today serial?
Are you going to weigh in or skip a week? I'm hoping to go from obese to overweight tomorrow fingers crossed! (But that scales and I have different ideas sometimes!!!)

 

[serialslimmer]

(Post too full of emotion!).

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

I have no personal experience that could come close to all you've been through. But I completely understand where you're coming from.

Take care Serial. I look forward to catching up when you're ready to come back x

 

[Queen Bizzle]

Sad reading this serial. Food relationships are dangerous at both ends of the spectrum. I hope you are ok and get all the support you need off-forum. Put your happiness first, before anything xx

 

[serialslimmer]

Right, my friends, I'm back - and feeling better. The raw edges have been soothed and I've had three good dieting days. I'm looking forward to next Wednesday's WI because I know I'll have lost weight, perhaps a couple of pounds. I'm in ketosis for sure although some days as we all know the tiniest extra can take us out again.

I've missed you all. Just about to check your latest WI result, Green xx

 

[Queen Bizzle]

Welcome back serial! You sound on top form ) xx

 

[serialslimmer]

I am, QueenB. Like most here I'm sensitive and emotional and I 'feel' things acutely. I always want to heal/nurture/save others and that needs to be kept in check because it can inadvertently become intrusive. People like me try to do for others what nobody ever took the trouble to do for us - it's often said that the road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions!

I alternate Exante TS days with Exante/Low Carb days to shake-up my metabolism. I add coconut oil and ground linseed for healthy fatty acids and Omega 3s which, as a veggie, I can't get any other way. I feel good because I'm making the same positive, healthy choices that helped me to lose (initially) ten stones and then a further stone, and to maintain those losses for years.

We may wander off plan - we may even step into the next room or the house across the street! - but we can always turn around and come back. Eating low-carb makes me feel calm and sane xx

 

[serialslimmer]

Good morning everyone. I just had two boiled eggs for breakfast. Very nice. For lunch I will probably have an Exante bar and for dinner, an Exante porridge. If I get hungry towards bedtime I might have another boiled egg. Want to keep the calories and carbs around 800 today.

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

Doing great serial x I'd a couple off off plan items today low carb, so it could be worse.
I know you are going to get to your 'normal' weight, and for definite your first goal of 1 st off, it will be a doddle to you x

 

[serialslimmer]

I'm definitely back on the wagon. Instead of a boiled egg last night I had a cup of low-carb cocoa. Talk about amazing! Two teaspoonsful of cocoa powder, three tablespoonsful of single cream, artificial sweeteners to taste. I put the lot in a mug and mixed them together until creamy. Then I added boiling water and stirred. It smelled so good and so chocolate-y I could hardly wait for it to cool.

Calories - around 85. Carbs - 2.

I think I've found a very nice way to offset bedtime hunger pangs! xx

 

[serialslimmer]

Just made my bedtime very-low-carb cocoa. It's comforting just to stir it and inhale the familiar aroma! LOL. The simple pleasures of life xx

 

[Queen Bizzle]

Craving one of these cocoas! They sound delish ) xx