Two melons balancing on an egg, wedged between two chicken drumsticks..

I think the thread of drool just hit the floor lol! Moonlight you are an angel! Sent from above to keep me on the right path lol x I like the idea of an extra crunchy topping Kat1e, sometimes I find hazelnuts a little strong though, so I might try it without first :) I hope Tesco's has rhubarb in stock!

Had another go at pancakes today, I didn't post about it last week - but Saturday morning I made the mistake of using the Vermont Farms pancake mix previously bought from an ungodly shop at LCM. Horrendous. At the time I thought, surely these companies who have had years to develop their recipes would make a better effort at a pancake/muffin mix than I would? Wrong, wrong, wrong..

Anyho! ;) Today's recipe was from Low Carb Gourmet and part of the reason I bought the book (on Amazon you can read it in the book preview)..it actually smelt appetising (Vermont smelt gross) and taste wasn't bad at all. Honestly, not quite as good as the real thing but then I think I overcooked them so they were a little dry. The recipe calls for a large pan, but I found in my smallish frying pan that 60ml of the batter was quite thin, which then broke up when I tried to roll the pancakes..the medium thickness pancake was better, but still broke a little. I then tried a thick pancake, but definitely over toasted it and ran out of batter then - so the jury remains out. Next time I'm adding more splenda to the batter, maybe a little oil and I'm thinking some flavouring. It was a good breakfast though as I am absolutely stuffed.

Yesterday's meals:-
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Brunch: Two sausages, two rashers of bacon (naughty blob of ketchup)
Snacks: Nuts, a babybel and a cheese string
Dinner: OH made a 'surprise' meal of sausages, salami, mushrooms & onions in fajita mix wrapped in low carb tortillas..bless him. Luckily the pack is nearly gone, as these contain evil wheat (see I am learning :)).

Oh I nearly forgot to mention, tape measure seems to show I've lost an inch and a half around my bum...woop woop! Weight has stayed the same over the last couple of days, but after a 3lb loss this week I'm really pleased.

I was thinking, if we lose a pound a week now, by the time Christmas comes around we'll have lost almost a stone. If we lose two pounds a week, that'll be almost two stone :D And so on..

Batty x
 
Thanks for the tip Diem :) I've never heard of pancake rings before. Yep I agree, the Low Carb Gourmet is brilliant. I love that we can still get excited about cooking new recipes on this diet!

I've been to Tesco's tonight and the trolley was looking a bit like the foraging of some woodland creature..a lot of nuts buried under some roots and leaves lol. I was quite excited about all the non-milk replacements on offer in the fridge aisle, & came away with unsweetened soya milk, almond milk and coconut milk (the latter I have just tasted, and it's a bit like watery milk, no off taints and not bad at all! Doesnt really taste of coconut though :-S )

After the almond pancakes yesterday-
Lunch: One remaining sausage fajita, covered in melted cheese astride an equally cheese smothered garlic and sour cream portella mushroom.
Dinner: Meal Out with OH family, I had half a deep fried chicken on salad and about five glasses of wine. The batter was naughty, but a small consolation prize for missing out on the amazing desserts everyone was eating around me :-(

I paid my penance however with a hangover today and not great sleep last night..

Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: Leftover Cabbage & Turnip Soup
Dinner: Salmon fille & veggiest, with low carb cheese sauce made with xanthum gum, double cream and grated cheese (a little too much xanthum made this a bit custardy. With a little vanilla that *could* be a low carb custard :D if a little white!)
Snacks: 50g Mixed nuts, 2 babybels and 3 sausages with a blob of ketchup (really must buy one carb ketchup soon..)

No rhubarb in Tesco's tonight..so I have bought frozen summer fruit to use for a crumble instead.

Batty x
 
I've been pretty tired again today.. but have had the best evening making Moonlight's fairy cakes and cocoa bark. If you're seeing this and you haven't made them, go out and buy the ingredients now!

image-3417404209.jpg

image-3460445592.jpg

Errm, but don't make the low carb buttercream that appears on google made with whipping cream, maybe I did something wrong but it had the texture of scrambled egg. Looked pretty though!

Food today-
The usual whey chocolate shake with a little almond essence (I've been a little obsessed with that today, it also went in the bark, cupcakes and a warm mug of soya milk later on)
Lunch: Salad with an avocado, spinach, radishes, cucumber, half a pepper and three cherry tomatoes.
Snacks: 50g nuts, 2 cheese strings, coconut bark and 2 fairy cakes. 1 mug of warm soya milk (definitely different warm and not bad, but I think I prefer the coconut)

B x
 
Hmm, cream cheese, whipping cream and sweetener...that sounds a bit like the start of a cheesecake. I bet that's nice Diem, I'll try that thanks! I saw the recipe on Linda's where she had boiled the butter etc, but I didn't have the time to leave it for hours which is how I ended up with the one from Sparkrecipes.

Dinner on Tuesday - Patak's Chicken Korma, made with one quart a jar of the curry paste, one tin of coconut milk, cougettes and pepper (made four portions, & two portions of cauli rice)
Yesterday:
Breakfast: Choc Whey Protein Shake
Lunch: Avocado salad (see above)
Snacks: Mixed nuts (working late, so quite a few of these :-\ ) Cheesestring, almond fairy cake. Small amount of milk used for a cup of tea. 2 pickled baby beetroot.
Dinner: Chicken Korma and Cauli rice. Summer fruit crumble, made with ground almonds, butter, and chopped mixed nuts (couldn't resist Kat1e), splenda and Tesco frozen summer fruits. Delicious!
 
Thursday:
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: Salami and Cheese salad with mayonnaise
Snacks: Tesco Mixed Nuts, cheese string, an almond fairy cake, & mug of unsweetened soya milk.
Dinner: Rump steak with creamy peppercorn sauce, and roasted swede 'chips'. Milk coconut bark made with chopped mixed nuts.
 
Hey everyone, well it's been almost two weeks and I'm proud I'm still posting on Mims, and proud I have stuck to this diet for a whole month (bar a couple of nights off). I've lost 12lbs so far and I couldn't be more pleased!

I really think that the flexibility of this diet, and being able to come to Mims to meet like minded people and hear your ideas, has been the reason for my success this time (I've never lasted beyond 10 days dieting before!)

So this is just a big shout out to everyone to say, thanks for posting your blogs and welcoming me in, and thanks to Mims, for setting the whole thing up.

To health, super-sexiness and increased mortality.. ;-)

Batty x
 
Well done on losing 12 lbs and changing your eating plan for the better for the last month. :)
 
Thank you Miss..I just hope the weight loss will continue! I don't know how well I'd cope if I stayed the same for two or three weeks..

Thought I'd post today's food before I forget..
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: (more snacks really!) two peparami's, a bell pepper & some mixed nut coconut bark.
Snacks: Mixed nuts, and a cheese string
Dinner: Another protein shake. Two rashers of bacon, two eggs and some cooked mushrooms, as we just couldn't be bothered to cook!

Have a great weekend all!

B x
 
Sorry I haven't checked in over here for a bit - been ever so tired. 12lbs is utterly fantastic, you must be thrilled. On Atkins the loss tends to slow to about 1-2lb per week after the first couple of weeks though it varies from person to person. Bear in mind that everybody on every diet stalls sometimes - even people on complete meal replacement diets eating 600 calories a day. For me, low carb is a way of not feeling deprived (99 percent of the time) yet still losing. That helps me stick to it at the times when loss is slow or frustrating. There are definitely pros and cons to low carbing but for me I find the pros more plentiful.

Well done again. Nearly a stone!!
 
Hi Moonlights :) thank you for your thoughtful reply. You don't have to worry about checking in here, you must have dozens of blogs to follow - mine is usually just repetitive sounding meal diaries lol, I enjoy reading everyone else's more.

I know what you're saying, I shouldn't set myself up for disappointment. Quietly I've been hoping to lose 3lb a week continuously, and I was getting excited by the idea of reaching goal at roughly March time next year. However, you are right, if people practically starving can experience stalls in weight loss then I need to accept that I will have them, angelic or not and that this is all part of the process..still it will be very hard not be be kind of miffed!

Beautiful weather today, so we have been digging fence trenches up at our allotment..my arms and legs are knakkered!

We came home around 2pm and I found another diet pitfall, being quite hungry and having nothing available to eat quickly! This time I dodged well by nibbling baby beetroot and nuts, which filled me enough to crack out the Low Carb Gourmet once again..

This time I made 'Just the Flax' muffins, and although they looked really unappetising...once cooled, cut in half and spread with cream cheese, the taste was a bit like the cinnamon and raisin bagels from The New York Bakery! (without the raisins) OH said he would have preferred more cinnamon, but I thought they were scrummy, and very filling!

Also choc whey shake was very filling and yummy this morning with a generous tablespoon of smooth (no added sugar) peanut butter. Mmmm.

Tonight OH is making his lovely burgers, and we're going to attempt to caramelise some onions with Splenda lol.

B x
 
Hi LB - well done so far:). Agree with ML it's important to set expectations to 1-2 pounds a week and not in a straight line either - likely to be stalls and wooshes. Over the last year and half i've seen people who want it faster, go to another scheme and then come back no better off or unfirtunately worse once the carbs are back. Slow and steady works...and is delicious!

Keep going
X
 
Ps recommend home made burgers with chopped chorizo mixed in with the mince - Amazing!
 
Good morning everyone..

Today I am being a baby *pouts* Despite all my well rounded comments on STS yesterday..I am genuinely gutted that the scales have not shifted since Tuesday morning. There was a small spark when I thought 'ah must be the whole muscle weighs more than fat' malarky (a vain idea, as I had only exercised Fri and Sat this week)...but no, measurements have stayed the same too. After back breaking digging yesterday too, I bet slim OH lost more weight than I did!

So whiny brat out of the way :p just reflecting on the week in hand, I know that I:

1) Wasn't getting enough sleep.
2) Due to above, did not go to my exercise classes/gym (have only been on Friday).
3) Have slacked off a couple of days with water intake.
4) Friday didn't have a proper lunch and Saturday pretty much did the same, since flax muffins weren't ready till 4pm!

All these things can slow you down, so it might just be a result of those combined - or as Moonlight said, it could just be part of the normal highs and lows of dieting.

So as well as correcting the above, possible thoughts have been: Entering food onto a database, to ensure I'm getting enough fat/calories, or trying an induction week (which I don't really fancy, but seems to be quite popular).

Had another delicious peanut butter chocolate whey shake this morning..but uugh - I'm too full - so tomorrow going to try it with a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon.

Kat1e I've just seen your comment, thanks for that..don't worry I am firmly settled in low carb, I'm just not interesting in dieting any other way. Writing the feelings down and reading the sensible comments from you and Moonlight are beginning to make me think more rationally about it, it technically hasn't even been a whole week yet for goodness sake lol. And we will definitely try chorizo-beef burgers! Yum.

Onward and upward as they say :)

B x
 
Thanks Diem...your post did make me laugh :giggle:I think I've confused everyone because I didn't make it clear in my first post that I'd been low carbing for two weeks already. At the time I thought it would show more of a progression and anyway, what is two weeks? But I see now I ought to edit that. I did have a stall in week two though, and it's good to know that's a common phenomenon. Technically I am hitting a week 5 wall as I did started on a Thursday (but that's much of a muchness) I really appreciate your positive comments though and I know what you're saying. I have actually become a little obsessed with the scales, I feel like they're a good review on what I've eaten the day before, but I can now see how that has led to my disappointment. I'm quite happy with the diet the way I'm following it at the moment, so I'll take your advice and give it a little more time before changing anything. In any case, I still have cinnamon flax muffins to eat, so there's no way those are going to waste!

Nice to see the sun is still shining despite the weather reports.. :D

B x
 
Stalls do happen, and for no specific reason, at any time. Though I'm with you - I've seen a few sts and they're so frustrating but you just have to power through.

Scales absolutely do not reflect what you've eaten the day before and trying to modify your behavior daily will make you crazy. I know people who have lost weight the day after 'cheating' and decided on that basis that a weekly cheat would be good for them - only to be confused about why the scale creeps up a few days later when they've been good. And personally I've lost after massive eating days, gained after barely eating anything... It's too maddening to rely on the scales more than once a week - and once a week is maddening enough!

I do absolutely recommend tracking your food - an app like mfp is great for that. I have quite a wide calorie range I'm happy to eat within (about 1200-1700) and I don't freak out if I go higher or lower on one day - just try to make sure it balances out over the week. If you're eating at a higher carb level - say 40g plus - then often you do need to keep an eye on calories. The lower carb the less calories matter.

I also just really enjoy making up menus in there - helps me plan!

Do you really enjoy your protein shakes? I know neris and India recommend them but personally I see them more as an occasional use convenience food. Just curious.
 
Hey Moonlights I found your post really interesting...I did think the scales were a true reflection of the day before. Now I know better - I'm moving to weekly weigh in's.. *deep breath* I haven't actually counted carbs properly, so I wouldn't know if they were above 40g. I think I'll try entering on My Fitness Pal then, so I can see if the balance needs re-adjusting. Thanks for the advice :)

Calories wouldn't have been particularly low yesterday, as I chomped down an entire bag of KP Salt and Vinegar Peanuts! *shameful glutton* and related or not, I did gain 2lb overnight..so tomorrow, no weigh in, and no salted peanuts!

I've been dipping into the Gary Taubes book (Why we Get Fat) but he does bang on a bit in the first chapter, with example after example..the section I'm reading at the moment is now saying that reduced calorie intake and exercise have no effect on our weight, but this is obviously not true. Lots of people have lost weight this way. It just doesn't work for one reason or another for everyone. Low carbing offers us an alternative, but it's not the only way to do it.

I've also had a look at the Atkins book to see how difficult the induction would be (just in case), and I was quite surprised to see sesame seeds in the example induction menu given. It's funny that they need to sneak in a non-induction friendly food to prove the induction is up to nutritional scratch. Atkins does admit begrudging that he has been forced to recommend certain supplements with his diet. Why not just throw your hands up and say, you'll look fantastic - but you need some extra vitamins? We're dieting, we're not daft.

Anyway, Zumba tonight! Looking forward to dancing away those 2lbs..

B x
 
Just realised I hadn't answered your question ML..Yes I love the shakes with peanut butter :D, without I don't really mind them. In the mornings I'm a bit pushed for time, so they're ideal for me to make up quickly before I go to work. I like cooked breakfasts as an occaisional treat and became sick of them very quickly when I first started this diet.

I've also realised I'm missing some diary entries:

Sunday
Breakfast - Choc Whey Shake with 35g (generous tablespoon) peanut butter
Lunch - (x2) All the Flax Muffins, cut in half spread with cream cheese
Dinner - Salmon fillet with vegetables
Snacks - One entire 180g bag of Jumbo Salt and Vinegar Peanuts

Monday
Breakfast - Choc Whey Shake with teaspoon of peanut butter
Lunch - Cheese and salami salad
Dinner - (x2) Black Farmer sausages (very low carb :D)
Snacks - (x1) All the Flax Muffin, (x2) Babybells. 4 thick slices of salami, 3 baby beetroot.

B x
 
Yeuuup peanuts are something to be very careful of - I like those salt and vinegar ones but when I used to have them I'd sort them into max 50g servings and only have them every few days. For some people - I know Katie on here is one - peanuts are a trigger food and have to be totally avoided. Youre definitely not the only one to have accidentally eaten a whole pack. As the whole pack is around 1000 calories and 20g carbs it would definitely have pushed your daily totals up - and they're very salty so that might have lead to you retaining water.

For me, I'm not on induction so I eat nuts and very occasionally berries, but I weigh them out very carefully - I never have more than 5g carbs from any source other than vegetables.

Is an all the flax muffin like a mim?
 
All the Flax Muffins are from the Low Carb Gourmet cookbook, I wouldn't say they were a mim because the recipe quantities are for a batch of 6 (though mine made 8) and I baked mine in the oven. But I couldn't say for sure because I've not looked into mims much..

..This might be a horrendous oversight, but I thought when counting carbs that you had to subtract the fibre value to get the total carbs? So I didn't think they were as bad as they first appeared. It was the calories that were making me a bit ill, that and it was a bit of a binge, because I wasn't even hungry.

I wonder if salt can cause you to retain 2lbs of water... **hopeful**

B x
 
Ah - no, don't subtract the fibre. It's a really really common mistake but it's only in America than you count 'net carbs' - on uk labels fibre is listed separately and we just use the total carb count with nothing deducted.*

Salt can absolutely cause you to retain a couple of lbs.

*some things from health food shops - sometimes including flax - are the only exception to this rule. Otherwise anything with a British label you just go by the carb count.
 
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