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

Another day of terrible nausea due to lack of sleep, throat is sore and voice raspy..overall feeling poorly and not like me at all! Almost took myself home after nearly retching in the toilet. Suffice to say I declined the overtime tonight!

Hoping to get an early night this evening, which I'm sure is all I need..

Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: Salad with slightly adjusted quantities to reduce the carbs, 21g reduced fat cheese, 15g feta.
Snacks: 2 babybels. 180ml soya milk (in tea)
Dinner: Rump steak with swede chips made by OH, who bless him used 250g swede just for me..I've eaten half of the chips and am saving the rest for tomorrow! Have still not seen celeriac in Tesco's :(

MFP: 21 carbs, 976kcal

Ooh there definitely was some positive from the morning though, as all the peeing I did overnight was apparently my body dropping the weekend's gained water weight. I lost 3lb of it overnight and am now back to my previous snakes and ladders position of 14st, 3.8lbs..

B x
 
I just wanted to tell you guys I've lost 2.5lbs overnight, yaaay! And this means I've hit my first target - getting to my pre-current job weight (and a little bit less actually!). It seems induction really works, many thanks to Moonlight for suggesting it and crystallising the idea for me.

Feeling much better today, though sore throat has turned into a windpipe infection - very weird! I'm going to miss my fitness class tonight (and possibly tomorrow) to rest and get better - and I have two lovely sleeps to look forward to at the weekend because work doesn't need us in on the Saturday. Good times!

Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake and fistful of supplements (as usual)
Lunch: Half tin of tuna with one tbsp full fat mayonnaise and salad (with spinach, rocket and watercress, 50g cucumber, small amount of red pepper, 2 cherry tom's, 30g pak choi and 3 radishes).
Snacks: 2 babybels

So far I'm on 11 carbs for the day!

B xx
 
FANTASTIC!!! That's 5lbs wooshed off in a couple of days, eh? Brilliant. So glad you're managing induction (and figured out the supermarket technique of searching for veg - I usually go with Tesco but if it looks dubious I double check it a bit.

Congrats on your first target achieved and here's to loads more of them to come! Hope you're feeling a bit less sickly by now, too.
 
Thanks Moonlight :) it's just the pick me up I needed after a grubby couple of days, I'm so pleased I feel like I'm making progress again :)

Not feeling sick anymore thank goodness, that was horrible - just quite tired atm. Can't imagine being unhealthy for long with all the vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients I must be eating lol.

OH made his homemade burgers today under the watchful eyes of the induction police (nope..just a quarter of that pepper..have you weighed that onion? How much Worcester sauce is that?? Lol!)

So we had 2 small burgers each, a good amount of curly kale and some fried mushrooms.

Then for pudding I went slightly over my induction carbs to stew 75g rhubarb in a ramekin with cinnamon and 2 tsp granulated splenda - was nice, but would have been better with a blob of cream :)

MFP: Carbs 21g, 811kcal.

B x
 
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Made this postie up for my kitchen today for inspiration...it's based on losing 2lbs every week, and gives me a nice measurable goal each month to aim for...

I know I may be setting myself up a bit, but it's just so exciting to see to see the end goal on paper and I think it will keep me focused (since I'll be seeing it every morning and every tea-time)

And if I actually did reach goal by May, it would be just in time for the summer! I've decided that a gorgeous sunny holiday would be my pat on the back, since tropical beaches are kind of my thinspiration..hence the doodle! (Although holiday wouldn't be till much later, despite optimistic arrow lol).

Friday
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: Tuna salad, with tbsp mayonnaise
Snacks: 2 babybels
Dinner: 2 black farmer sausages (surely this name is not very pc lol) kale, mushrooms, 75g swede chips and two tbsp mayonnaise.

MFP: 19g carbs. 1035kcal

Felt sick again all this morning until after lunchtime...I was getting quite worried as I've never had that feeling for more than a day in my life, & it's always been a clear case of food poisoning before (despite having blob, was thinking, what if this is morning sickness?! I've definitely heard of pregnant women who have had periods...:eek:)

Anyway lol, I wasn't too nauseous to appreciate the gorgeous smell of fish and chips wafting over my desk at lunchtime. And as if enjoying these in an open office with a dieter wasn't bad enough, my happy colleagues spent a good couple of minutes describing the chips out loud as they began eating them, a veritable food orgy 'oooooh so salty!' etc etc lol.

My tuna salad tasted crap then. Even though yesterday I was thinking how the same thing was so delicious! Curse them.

B xx
 
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Oh I see chips. I just know I can't have them but I can have my own yummy alternatives ;) sorry, not very helpful. There certainly are a lot of foods I used to enjoy which I really didn't last time I took a planned break - taste buds really do change - but even knowing that, many of them are still nice in my head. It's just a matter of knowing they're not for me right now and there are things I want more.

Plus, as I say, yummy alternatives.

Looks like you're a bit of an artist, lady b. love the palm tree. I must say I deliberately do the exact opposite - I refuse to set myself date targets because when I've done it before I've never ever hit them, become discouraged, and discouragement is deadly to me.

At most I allow myself to consider the possibility of a 1lb weekly loss, but even then I refuse to set proper targets. It's easier for me to be pleased to see the weight going down than to worry its not going fast enough (which I do anyway but not to the degree I have in the past). Trying to speed up my loss almost always ends up being what knocks me off track.

For some people targets are essential though, and really helpful.

The only thing I'd say about yours is, you're starting at a fairly low BMI (compared to others) - some people seem to find they lose either slower or in a more scattered pattern from about BMI 28 downward, and from BMI 25 downward 2lb per week would be a very big ask. In general (not always!) you do lose a bit slower the slimmer you are. But the upshot is, it's because you're slimmer!

I absolutely dont want to be discouraging, though. If it motivates you and you're not going to end up fighting yourself to hit targets, it seems like it could be a great little inspirational idea.
 
diembroadhurst said:
see I don't see chips - I see bags of carbs - even worse carbs and fat a deadly combo. I see my insulin rising and I see my stomach expanding and i'm grateful for the clean, satisfying food that I put in my body. I'm grateful that my taste buds are alive and in tune with the natural sweetness of the food I eat, i'm grateful that I can east satisfying food that keeps me sustained for longer - no doubt your colleagues were hungry within the hour of eating those chips - and the only people its safe to eat such salty fare - are low carbers - salt in a high fat, high carb diet really is not a great thing. Mmmmm heart attack!
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Diem you are such a saint :) those are the kind of things I think when I'm not hungry and no-one is eating naughty foods around me..hopefully when I have been doing this for longer I will be able to think more like you do, and the temptation won't even enter my mind :)

On the other hand....I'm now finding myself gloating rather wickedly when they eat their junk food, waiting for the inevitable complaints of how sick it has made them feel. In that way low carbing has made me rather evil lol. But it's definitely a comfort ;) x
 
moonlights said:
Looks like you're a bit of an artist, lady b. love the palm tree. I must say I deliberately do the exact opposite - I refuse to set myself date targets because when I've done it before I've never ever hit them, become discouraged, and discouragement is deadly to me.

At most I allow myself to consider the possibility of a 1lb weekly loss, but even then I refuse to set proper targets. It's easier for me to be pleased to see the weight going down than to worry its not going fast enough (which I do anyway but not to the degree I have in the past). Trying to speed up my loss almost always ends up being what knocks me off track.

For some people targets are essential though, and really helpful.

The only thing I'd say about yours is, you're starting at a fairly low BMI (compared to others) - some people seem to find they lose either slower or in a more scattered pattern from about BMI 28 downward, and from BMI 25 downward 2lb per week would be a very big ask. In general (not always!) you do lose a bit slower the slimmer you are. But the upshot is, it's because you're slimmer!

I absolutely dont want to be discouraging, though. If it motivates you and you're not going to end up fighting yourself to hit targets, it seems like it could be a great little inspirational idea.
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3am Moonlight? Awww xx

I woke up at 5 this morning myself. Read Atkins on my phone for an hour before nodding off again. Slightly miffed at the irony of reading how much better we would sleep, how much more energy and well being we would have - after waking in the wee hours, stuffed up with cold following a week of illness and exhaustion lol. But results have been great this week, so who am I to complain :)

Anyway, I'm divulging! I agree, stuff eaten off plan really doesn't taste as good as you remember it being. I used to ravage a big bag of pick n mix, now the smell of the sugar turns me off from 6 feet away. I started noticing this just a couple of weeks after beginning the diet, which I feel it is even more evidence that what we're doing is on the right track, despite what people may say about Atkins.

I know what you're saying about the date specific goals, I'm trying to manage my expectations about it and I have written the postie on the provisio that if anything substantially changes, the whole thing will be rewritten. I'm still learning about this whole process, and have not even thought about goals through varying stages of Atkins..so it is likely this will happen anyway! I'm definitely not changing my minimims target date of a year to match this.

Thanks for that tip about the relationship between weight loss and BMI. Actually having never followed a diet through successfully before I really hadn't considered that at all. What a newb lol. I had thought 2lbs a week was reasonably low.

I'm not even sure that it would be possible for me to get below 11 stone tbh, as this was my lightest ever full height weight. The sad thing is that at the time I still felt like a big gross heffalump..where now I would kill to be that size lol. I think if I couldn't get past 11 stone I wouldn't be too upset. I'd like to think that now I'm older I'll appreciate how much better I'll look even at 12 stone. I just wanted to get myself something to reach for that I'd never dreamed I'd have.

There is definitely one flaw to the postie.. in that it assumes I'm stay on track through Christmas. I'm still remaining optimistic about that though!

B x
 
It's funny how we see ourselves isn't it. I was thinking last night that I'm sure you must carry your weight well at your height, and 10 stone (bmi 20) would have you looking model skinny - but it's all about how we see ourselves, what we're comfortable with, and we don't always see ourselves as others see us.

2lbs per week is, after the first week of induction, about average for people who are still at least a stone or two above bmi 25. Its definitely not low. You cant really physically lose more than 2lbs fat per week on any diet but a starvation diet, so 2lbs is the average for basic calorie counting etc as well. Atkins is really non linear in its loss - you can stall for two weeks then lose 4lb, or lose 1lb one week, 3lb the next. But on average, about half a stone a month seems to be most people's pattern. It does seem to slow gradually once you're under BMI 30 though. Obviously I'm going by other people, not myself. I have that to look forward to, I guess!

I'm kind of writing December off for any loss at all, plus the first two weeks of January. I won't be off plan all that time but I'll be off plan for a couple of days late nov/early dec and will then likely spend the rest of both those weeks getting the water weight back off.

Then totally off plan for two weeks over Xmas, during which I expect to gain 10lbs to a stone of mainly water weight, going by past experiences. Two more weeks to lose that. Basically if I can come out of January the same weight as I go into December I'll be pleased.

Who knows it might be easier than that - last xmas i didnt put on much weight at all - but I am a 'plan for the worst and you can only be pleased if its better' type of person!

I think I might actually gradually increase my carb intake to about 50-60g a day during the first 3 weeks of dec, then maybe I'll avoid the out of ketosis water hit. Hmmm.
 
Hey Moonlight, I would say this height has hidden a multitude of sins, but that didn't stop me hitting the obese category with a wobbly bump in August..lol

I do see that 10 stone might be a little extreme..the idea was to give myself a little buffer, as I expected to put a little weight back on after reaching goal. Although even at 11 stone I still had the chicken drumsticks and melons lol, and I would love to be one of those slim, sexy bikini people even just for one summer *sighs* Thinking about the hope of that is what keeps me on track. However saying that I don't want to be one of those body dismorphic/eating disorder people either, so it if stops at 11 I'll still feel great and be proud of what I've achieved :) I'll take note of the irregular weight loss patterns you're mentioning though, so hopefully I won't lose heart later when this happens...I'd like to say I'll weigh in just once a month, to even it out - but there's no way I'd be able to manage for that long lol.

Regarding what you're saying above, I'm no expert by any means - but wouldn't it be better to continue losing weight on the lower grams of carbs and take the water hit - than to increase carbs and sts?

Saturday
Breakfast: 3/4's of a cheese omelette, made with 3 eggs, 70g cheese and one tsp of lea and perrins.
Lunch: 2 Black farmer sausages, 2 cherry tomatoes and two tbsps of mayonnaise.
Dinner: Salmon Fillet, with sprouts and broccoli.
180ml soya milk with tea (at a guess!)

MFP: 11 carbs, 1184kcal.

Realised this evening that I have not exactly added my soya milk to MFP every day that I've had it..so carbs would have been 2g or so higher on certain days. Damn lol.

B xx
 
If I was going to be continuing losing weight then maybe yes, but say I have 2 days off plan, 1 per week in the first two weeks of December - that most likely writes off any weight loss jn those two weeks.

I know there are a few events late November/early December it will make my life a lot easier to be off plan for and tbh I've turned down so many things this year I want to relax a little for that period - I suppose my thinking is that by increasing my carbs gradually the water weight gain over Xmas itself might not be as big as previously - and then I'd have less to re-lose.

No idea though, I've never tried increasing carbs, I'm not sure if it would work or even what I'd eat as I wouldn't want to reintroduce wheat.
 
I have a feeling you'll probably find yourself not eating as many carbs as you imagine..like you said before, palettes do change so you may not fancy the sweet things or the carbs. I've found that my stomach/appetite has shrunk as well - so there's be no way I could eat masses of stodgy carb stuff anyway :)

Still I am dreading Christmas...

B xx
 
I've been off plan before - for a month in July/August over my birthday (was meant to be 2 weeks but I was very unwell for the first two weeks - ie over my actual birthday - and had to reschedule plans I'd made, really got me down. Then before that for about 8 days over the jubilee. Both times I gained nearly a stone, which was clearly water as it came off in a week and a bit both times. But it's crazy how much water we can store! I think my stomach might be a camel hump.

From those experiences - I barely ate sweet things at all, palate has definitely changed there, but my taste for savoury is still there. I've never liked pappy white bread etc but there are definitely some treats I'll be making the time for ;)

Planned breaks have, so far, worked for me. I haven't 'cheated' and eaten carby food a single day when I've been on plan because I know every few months I'll give myself a week or two to have whatever I'd like.

They're a disaster for some people though if it's hard to get back on plan. I've been lucky and managed it easily each time.
 
Yeah I'm terrified of lapsing..mostly to my past history with these things. I don't mind the odd meal out off, but the idea of several days.. I'd be distraught at gaining a stone. I can't believe it can be that much! OMG, I would have a hump on each leg :eek:

B xx
 
Sunday
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake.
Lunch: Cheese (50g), Onion (20g) and Mushroom (38g) Omelette, made with 3 large eggs.
Dinner: Courgette Carbonara, made with 2 tbsp double cream, 192g courgette, 65 mushrooms and 2 rashers bacon.
Snacks: 140ml soya milk. 75 Cooked King Prawns with 1 tbsp mayonnaise and 1 tbsp lemon juice.

MFP: 17g carbs, 1067kcal.

Quite pleased, I seem to be losing a few oz every day on induction for the time being. Not sure how long this will last, or whether its the combination of low carb/low calories, or just one of these.

Made OH help me scour the shelves of Tesco's looking for fruity carbonated or still water made with no citric acid -- only to snack at 10pm on prawns dipped in mayonnaise and lemon juice! I don't know what the general Atkins forum feeling is on this, but I remember on Exante that citric acid had to be avoided as it was meant to pull you out of ketosis...(have seen in the Atkins book that we're allowed a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, but what is the general consensus on this? I don't want to do anything that will set me back. But I would soo love some sparkling fruity mineral water...)

B xx
 
Is there a reason you're keeping your cals so low? 1000 is very very low for your height - Atkins recommends at least 1500 and calorie counting says 1200 is the lowest anyone should go without being on a vlcd (which has optimized nutrition). I know you can lose weight on very low cal - well, obviously, but you do rather leave yourself with no where to go if you stall. I don't like eating under 1200 a day myself. What do your fat/protein ratios look like?
 
Hey Moonlights, no it hasn't been deliberate - since starting induction I've found myself running out of carbs and there's not being anything purely protein that I've fancied eating. I've kind of gone off salami temporarily and I'm not adding hunks of chedder to my salads now and then anymore. MFP keeps warning me that I'll stop losing weight because my body will be in starvation mode, but in the Atkins book it says although fewer calories aren't necessary when low carbing, you will lose weight faster if you reduce them. Because I had lost quite a bit so far on induction the way I'm doing it I feel a little stuck where I am lol. Had a few more calories yesterday though..

Monday
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake (really going off these now - taste is far too sweet! :()
Lunch: Salad with half a tin of mackerel with tomato sauce
Dinner: Delicious fillet steak, with creamy peppercorn sauce and 100g swede
Snacks: Soya milk 140ml, 2 babybels, 100g large king prawns with 3tbsp mayonnaise

MFP: 19 carbs, 1190kcal

I weighed myself on the scales again today, crazy obsessive loon that I've become..I'm the same as yesterday, but that is a glorious 13st,13.8 :) funny how that 8oz really makes all the difference.

Oh, nearly forgot: Ive had 60F, 35P,6C's for the past week ML :) x
Lady B xx
 
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Appetite does fluctuate on Atkins - ive had a few weeks of no appetite. Just don't freak out if you find you do want to eat more. Keeping those ratios looking good should mean you can lose as well while eating more. But as long as you're happy and not hungry - hooray! And hurray for having broken that barrier, however much it's by.
 
Thank you ML :) I always appreciate your comments, I feel like such a newbie to all of this and I wasn't sure if low cal was ok or not..Anyway, I had plenty of calories today:

Tuesday
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake
Lunch: Salad with half tin of mackerel in tomato sauce.
Dinner: Huge chicken breast wrapped in bacon, stuffed with cream cheese, garlic and herbs. 80g cauli, 110g asparagus (as you can tell one of our favs)
Snacks: (x2) Babybel, one portion of cocoa bark

MFP: 18carbs, 1554kcal - finally enough carbs left that I could make the bark, yummy! :D

B xx
 
I definitely feel my face is looking slimmer than a few weeks ago and I could swear my skirt is a touch looser too :) really pleased.

I've been a very good girl the last couple of days. At work my desk is in the middle of the room, with a little extra piece at the end - so its basically the food cart for the communal pickings, which has been a huge amount of mint chocolate and other chocolates recently. I loove mint chocolate, I've been eyeballing it since it got there, but I've not touched a piece. There was so much of it, even a room full of people constantly grazing hasn't finished it off. I can smell the sweet mint from my computer *sigh*

Did a 12 hour day today at work too, pretty tired to say the least. OH brought homemade burgers over at 6pm to keep me going, bless him.

When I came home, Mary Berry was making real vanilla ice cream on TV and it looked gorgeous. There is a recipe in low carb gourmet which I'd really love to try, not strictly induction friendly as its a heck of a lot of cream, but I think it might have to be a treat for the weekend ;)

Had another low calorie day:

Wednesday
Breakfast: Choc Whey Shake.
Lunch: Tuna salad, with tbsp mayonnaise.
Dinner: 2 homemade burgers, with tiny amount of sweet pepper and onion. 2 tablespoons of naughty ketchup.
Snacks: 2 babybels, 55g stewed rhubarb with 1 tsp Splenda & tbsp double cream.

MFP: 20 carbs, 891kcal.

I'm thinking about possibly moving my blog over to the Atkins section...as ML and the others there are the real experts on this way of eating and this little niche doesn't seem to have many active threads in it anymore..

For now though, definitely time to sleep!

B xx
 
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