After 12 weeks of following a low carb high fat diet I have now lost 10% of my bodyweight. I have also reduced my BMI from 32.4 to 29.2 - this means I have moved down from the Obese category to the Overweight category.
The numbers don't really matter though. What matters is that this week I bought a new pair of jeans and two new tops, and I chose the ones that looked good in the mirror, not the only ones in the shop that fitted. And I feel great in them. I have also received several comments from people this week who have noticed that I have lost weight. Although I am very definitely doing this for myself, it was still rather lovely to realise that other people have noticed and it is always good to get a compliment or two.
Two of my work colleagues have been so impressed with my weight loss so fart that they have also adopted a low carb high fat diet. They asked me for a book recommendation, so I've advised them to buy Gary Taube's book, Why We Get Fat, as that is the one I found the most useful. So far my colleagues have lost more than 6 pounds each, in just 2 weeks, which is brilliant. My next plan is to move the office over to full fat milk for our tea and coffee.
Friday, 17 July 2015
Friday, 5 June 2015
Hunger
On all the many diets I have tried in my life there was always one constant theme - hunger. No matter how many vegetables I ate, and how much I tried to bulk up meals with "zero-point" food, a couple of hours after eating I would be hungry again.
I was also always hungry when I woke up in the morning. This often meant that I was unable to even have a lie-in at the weekend, as I would be woken before 8am by my protesting stomach, insisting that I go downstairs and put some breakfast in it immediately.
Now that I have been eating low carb high fat for nearly 7 weeks I am delighted to say that my hunger has almost totally disappeared and it is a revelation. A couple of weeks ago I had to go to the dentist so didn't have breakfast. I then had a filling and was advised not to eat until the numbness had worn off. As a result I ate nothing at all until 2pm - and nothing bad happened. I was a little bit hungry by about midday, but not grumpy and was still able to concentrate at work perfectly well.
I was away at a conference this week and there was no suitable food at lunch time. Instead of panicking and eating unsuitable food in case I got hungry later, I just didn't eat lunch. I didn't manage to get to any food I could eat until 6pm, and incredibly, I genuinely wasn't hungry during that time. I was aware by about 3pm that I would probably appreciate some food, but it didn't feel like hunger and it certainly wasn't uncomfortable. I also didn't overeat at dinner.
With previous eating plans I just would not have been able to go from breakfast until 6pm without being uncomfortably hungry, and when food did come along I would have eaten much more than I needed.
Also, I have now lost 10 pounds and 12cm from around my waist - without any calorie counting at all.
Long may this continue!
I was also always hungry when I woke up in the morning. This often meant that I was unable to even have a lie-in at the weekend, as I would be woken before 8am by my protesting stomach, insisting that I go downstairs and put some breakfast in it immediately.
Now that I have been eating low carb high fat for nearly 7 weeks I am delighted to say that my hunger has almost totally disappeared and it is a revelation. A couple of weeks ago I had to go to the dentist so didn't have breakfast. I then had a filling and was advised not to eat until the numbness had worn off. As a result I ate nothing at all until 2pm - and nothing bad happened. I was a little bit hungry by about midday, but not grumpy and was still able to concentrate at work perfectly well.
I was away at a conference this week and there was no suitable food at lunch time. Instead of panicking and eating unsuitable food in case I got hungry later, I just didn't eat lunch. I didn't manage to get to any food I could eat until 6pm, and incredibly, I genuinely wasn't hungry during that time. I was aware by about 3pm that I would probably appreciate some food, but it didn't feel like hunger and it certainly wasn't uncomfortable. I also didn't overeat at dinner.
With previous eating plans I just would not have been able to go from breakfast until 6pm without being uncomfortably hungry, and when food did come along I would have eaten much more than I needed.
Also, I have now lost 10 pounds and 12cm from around my waist - without any calorie counting at all.
Long may this continue!
Monday, 11 May 2015
The sun is up
Most mornings now I am woken up by a little person standing by the side of my bed saying "the sun is up mummy".
They are not referring to the actual sun (thankfully, as at this time of year in the UK that would make it 5.15am), but to their Gro-Clock. We bought it 5 years ago when our youngest arrived and her older brother was going through a phase of waking very, very early in the morning. That, combined with a tiny baby waking often in the night to breastfeed made for an extremely tired household for a while.
In the midst of it all we bought the Gro-Clock to try and persuade our oldest to sleep through the night. If you've never seen one, it is a back-lit clock with a night setting and a day setting. You set the time you want the day setting to come on, which is when the 'Sun' comes up, and during the night there is a big star with little stars around the edge. The stars count down until morning, so that when there is only 1 star left the kids now that it is nearly time to get up. It's very clever, particularly in a country like the UK where the sun rises at 4.45am in June and 7.50am in December, so that you really do need to know what time it is to know when to get up in the morning.
I'll be honest, it didn't work straightaway, and we ended up paying a sleep consultant to help us (separately, best money I have ever spent) encourage him to sleep through the night. We persevered with it though, as we liked the simplicity of it, and both kids really liked seeing the Sun come up, even though in the beginning they viewed it more as decoration than instruction. It also comes with a cute bedtime story book which explains to the kids how it works.
In the last couple of years though, it has really come into its own. Our oldest is now 7 and wakes up between 6 and 6.30am most days. However he rarely comes to wake us up before 7am, and sometimes it is as late as 7.30. He wakes up, sees how many stars are left on the 'Sun Clock' and then either tries to go back to sleep or quietly goes downstairs, feeds the cat and then plays with his toys or reads a book. He then comes upstairs every so often to check the Clock, and once the Sun is up he comes in to wake us up.
Our youngest does the same - although clearly on the days they both wake up before the Sun is up they don't always manage to stay quiet enough for us to sleep in for a bit. There was a particularly good weekend a while ago though when the 7yo came into our room at 7.50am and said: "The sun is up, I've fed the cat and given [the 5yo] her breakfast. Could you come and do my breakfast now?" The only reason he felt it necessary to wake us was because he didn't want cereal like his sister and thankfully didn't think he should open the baked bean tin himself.
Both kids can now tell the time, but that's hard to do in the dark, so for now we're sticking with the Gro-Clock. It also got us through jet lag after a recent trip to Australia. I didn't realise it until a couple of days later when the 7yo said: "I woke up loads of times last night Mummy, once there were still 6 stars left on the clock and once there were 3, but I went back to sleep until there was only 1 star and then I went downstairs'. How impressive is that?
Note: I have not been sponsored to write this post, but if you click on one of the links and buy a Gro-clock (or something else) from Amazon then I will receive a tiny commission.
They are not referring to the actual sun (thankfully, as at this time of year in the UK that would make it 5.15am), but to their Gro-Clock. We bought it 5 years ago when our youngest arrived and her older brother was going through a phase of waking very, very early in the morning. That, combined with a tiny baby waking often in the night to breastfeed made for an extremely tired household for a while.
In the midst of it all we bought the Gro-Clock to try and persuade our oldest to sleep through the night. If you've never seen one, it is a back-lit clock with a night setting and a day setting. You set the time you want the day setting to come on, which is when the 'Sun' comes up, and during the night there is a big star with little stars around the edge. The stars count down until morning, so that when there is only 1 star left the kids now that it is nearly time to get up. It's very clever, particularly in a country like the UK where the sun rises at 4.45am in June and 7.50am in December, so that you really do need to know what time it is to know when to get up in the morning.
I'll be honest, it didn't work straightaway, and we ended up paying a sleep consultant to help us (separately, best money I have ever spent) encourage him to sleep through the night. We persevered with it though, as we liked the simplicity of it, and both kids really liked seeing the Sun come up, even though in the beginning they viewed it more as decoration than instruction. It also comes with a cute bedtime story book which explains to the kids how it works.
In the last couple of years though, it has really come into its own. Our oldest is now 7 and wakes up between 6 and 6.30am most days. However he rarely comes to wake us up before 7am, and sometimes it is as late as 7.30. He wakes up, sees how many stars are left on the 'Sun Clock' and then either tries to go back to sleep or quietly goes downstairs, feeds the cat and then plays with his toys or reads a book. He then comes upstairs every so often to check the Clock, and once the Sun is up he comes in to wake us up.
Our youngest does the same - although clearly on the days they both wake up before the Sun is up they don't always manage to stay quiet enough for us to sleep in for a bit. There was a particularly good weekend a while ago though when the 7yo came into our room at 7.50am and said: "The sun is up, I've fed the cat and given [the 5yo] her breakfast. Could you come and do my breakfast now?" The only reason he felt it necessary to wake us was because he didn't want cereal like his sister and thankfully didn't think he should open the baked bean tin himself.
Both kids can now tell the time, but that's hard to do in the dark, so for now we're sticking with the Gro-Clock. It also got us through jet lag after a recent trip to Australia. I didn't realise it until a couple of days later when the 7yo said: "I woke up loads of times last night Mummy, once there were still 6 stars left on the clock and once there were 3, but I went back to sleep until there was only 1 star and then I went downstairs'. How impressive is that?
Note: I have not been sponsored to write this post, but if you click on one of the links and buy a Gro-clock (or something else) from Amazon then I will receive a tiny commission.
Sunday, 10 May 2015
Fairy Tales
A couple of weeks ago I read The Woodcutter by Kate Danley. It is now up there as one of my favourite books. I really enjoyed reading Fairy Tales as a child, so to read a book that unites many of them with a truly adult theme was a joy for me. I particularly liked the way fairy tales from many different sources were brought together - to name but a few, it was lovely to see Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Baba Yaga all appear in the same story.
The book also made me reflect on the fact that, for me, one of the very best things about having children is to be able to read books to them and see them discovering for the first time some of the stories that I knew and loved when I was their age. At the moment both kids are enjoying the Kingfisher book of Fairy Tales retold by Martin Waddell, and they are currently reading Tales from Russia retold by James Mayhew.
I'm so glad I read The Woodcutter, as it has reawakened my love for Fairy Tales, and inspired me to expand the kids' collections of traditional stories.
Monday, 4 May 2015
Low Carb High Fat
As part of my Book a Week challenge I have just read 2 books about food which set off a genuine lightbulb moment, and I have now been on a low carbohydrate high fat diet for 2 weeks.
Looking back I have been moving towards this way of eating since 2013, when I read David Gillespie's book Sweet Poison. After reading it I gave up all refined sugar and fructose (including dried fruits, honey, maple syrup and the like) and I did find that my appetite reduced somewhat and that I stopped craving sweets, biscuits and chocolate after a few weeks without sugar. Although I did lose weight without having to do any calorie counting for the first time in my life it wasn't much (7 lb or so) and I still found it hard to curb my appetite for carbohydrates. I then decided to have a break from the no-sugar regime at Christmas 2014, as I thought I would have enough self-control to not overeat. It turns out I didn't - I ate an enormous amount of chocolate and junk food, and put on 6 lb in 2 weeks.
Then in January 2015 I stopped eating sugar again, but in a desperate attempt to lose weight I also went back to Weightwatchers at the same time. This plan really did not work for me - in 3 months I managed to lose the enormous amount of 2 lb, and then put it back on again.
I have been actively trying to lose weight on and off since the age of 16, normally on some variation of a low-fat diet. Along the way I have followed Rosemary Conley, Weightwatchers, Susan Powter, the Scarsdale Diet and a particularly ineffective book called Eating Less. However none of these have resulted in me losing weight in any time of sustainable fashion, although to be fair I had the most success on Weightwatchers - but never came close to reaching my goal weight.
Thanks to my account on the Weightwatchers website I have my weights tracked (albeit sometimes sporadically) from 2007 onwards, and I can see now that the only times I have managed to get my weight below 12 stone (168 lb) was for a short period when I was breastfeeding (11 stone 1 lb, for about 3 weeks) and when I had a viral infection which caused thyrotoxicosis (11 stone 9 lb, for about 4 weeks).
On the day I started following this current regime I weighed 13 stone 1.4 lb (183.4 lb). Not my highest weight ever, but nevertheless way too much for my height. At 5'3" I should weigh between 8 and 10 stone to have my BMI in the healthy range. So I have at least 3 stone (42 lb) to lose.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
Einstein
If following recommended dietary guidelines had failed to work for me for more than 20 years, then surely now was as good a time as any to try something else. I resolved to try going low carb high fat to see what would happen. It meant cooking different food for my partner and kids, and coping with a house full of carbohydrates, but I was determined to try for 2 weeks and then evaluate it.
The results have astonished me. Over the past 2 weeks I have rarely been hungry, I have eaten what seems to be a lot of food, and I have lost 7 lb in weight and 9cm from my waist. I know this rate of weight loss will most likely not continue, but I am truly hopeful for the first time in 20 years that I may finally have the answer to my weight problem.
I have enjoyed eating avocado, roast duck (with the skin on!), full fat cheese, bacon, nuts, full fat yoghurt and the odd berry. On the down side I have also really missed bread, rice and pasta, and it was very hard not to swipe some of the kids' pizza when I cooked it for them yesterday.
On balance this way of eating has been a lot easier than any others I have tried, principally because I have not had all-consuming hunger to deal with, nor anxiety over whether I had enough points left to be able to eat a satisfying dinner.
As for those 2 books - they were That Sugar Book by Damon Gameau and Why we get fat by Gary Taube. I strongly recommend that you read them both, along with Sweet Poison.
Looking back I have been moving towards this way of eating since 2013, when I read David Gillespie's book Sweet Poison. After reading it I gave up all refined sugar and fructose (including dried fruits, honey, maple syrup and the like) and I did find that my appetite reduced somewhat and that I stopped craving sweets, biscuits and chocolate after a few weeks without sugar. Although I did lose weight without having to do any calorie counting for the first time in my life it wasn't much (7 lb or so) and I still found it hard to curb my appetite for carbohydrates. I then decided to have a break from the no-sugar regime at Christmas 2014, as I thought I would have enough self-control to not overeat. It turns out I didn't - I ate an enormous amount of chocolate and junk food, and put on 6 lb in 2 weeks.
Then in January 2015 I stopped eating sugar again, but in a desperate attempt to lose weight I also went back to Weightwatchers at the same time. This plan really did not work for me - in 3 months I managed to lose the enormous amount of 2 lb, and then put it back on again.
I have been actively trying to lose weight on and off since the age of 16, normally on some variation of a low-fat diet. Along the way I have followed Rosemary Conley, Weightwatchers, Susan Powter, the Scarsdale Diet and a particularly ineffective book called Eating Less. However none of these have resulted in me losing weight in any time of sustainable fashion, although to be fair I had the most success on Weightwatchers - but never came close to reaching my goal weight.
Thanks to my account on the Weightwatchers website I have my weights tracked (albeit sometimes sporadically) from 2007 onwards, and I can see now that the only times I have managed to get my weight below 12 stone (168 lb) was for a short period when I was breastfeeding (11 stone 1 lb, for about 3 weeks) and when I had a viral infection which caused thyrotoxicosis (11 stone 9 lb, for about 4 weeks).
On the day I started following this current regime I weighed 13 stone 1.4 lb (183.4 lb). Not my highest weight ever, but nevertheless way too much for my height. At 5'3" I should weigh between 8 and 10 stone to have my BMI in the healthy range. So I have at least 3 stone (42 lb) to lose.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
Einstein
If following recommended dietary guidelines had failed to work for me for more than 20 years, then surely now was as good a time as any to try something else. I resolved to try going low carb high fat to see what would happen. It meant cooking different food for my partner and kids, and coping with a house full of carbohydrates, but I was determined to try for 2 weeks and then evaluate it.
The results have astonished me. Over the past 2 weeks I have rarely been hungry, I have eaten what seems to be a lot of food, and I have lost 7 lb in weight and 9cm from my waist. I know this rate of weight loss will most likely not continue, but I am truly hopeful for the first time in 20 years that I may finally have the answer to my weight problem.
I have enjoyed eating avocado, roast duck (with the skin on!), full fat cheese, bacon, nuts, full fat yoghurt and the odd berry. On the down side I have also really missed bread, rice and pasta, and it was very hard not to swipe some of the kids' pizza when I cooked it for them yesterday.
On balance this way of eating has been a lot easier than any others I have tried, principally because I have not had all-consuming hunger to deal with, nor anxiety over whether I had enough points left to be able to eat a satisfying dinner.
As for those 2 books - they were That Sugar Book by Damon Gameau and Why we get fat by Gary Taube. I strongly recommend that you read them both, along with Sweet Poison.
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Coffee Machines and Clear Spaces
We have a new coffee machine. It's been in pride of place on our kitchen surface for a week now, and already I feel that it is worth every penny. My partner is happy because she loves real coffee, the 5yo and 7yo are happy because they love hot chocolate, and I'm happy because even though I only drink decaf I still love a decaf latte.
I was so excited by the first latte I made that I took a photo:
Flushed with that success I moved on to making the kids a proper hot chocolate each, complete with mini marshmallows:
The other thing that is great about the coffee machine is that in order to fit it on the breakfast bar I was compelled to clear the space. I have now managed to keep that space clear for a week, with just a few second needed to clear it each time. This is a real triumph in our kitchen, as for the last few years the breakfast bar has been a general dumping ground for children's toys, unopened post, assorted pens and pencils and general detritus. Here it is now - a breakfast bar that can actually be used as such, with room for all four of us to sit and eat together.
My plan is to keep this space clear for another week, and then create another space in another room, and continue decluttering in this slow but steady way until we are finally living in a tidy house.
I was so excited by the first latte I made that I took a photo:
The other thing that is great about the coffee machine is that in order to fit it on the breakfast bar I was compelled to clear the space. I have now managed to keep that space clear for a week, with just a few second needed to clear it each time. This is a real triumph in our kitchen, as for the last few years the breakfast bar has been a general dumping ground for children's toys, unopened post, assorted pens and pencils and general detritus. Here it is now - a breakfast bar that can actually be used as such, with room for all four of us to sit and eat together.
My plan is to keep this space clear for another week, and then create another space in another room, and continue decluttering in this slow but steady way until we are finally living in a tidy house.
Monday, 19 January 2015
Can a book make you happy?
I can't remember now what made me choose to read The Happiness Project but I'm glad I did, as it was indirectly responsible for prompting me to start this reading challenge. I found the writing style a little irritating to start with, and I wasn't sure I would stick with it at all, but once I was used to the way Gretchen writes I really enjoyed the rest of the book.
In particular several of the observations really struck a chord with me. One of them was the idea that people are happier once they stop trying to like things that they think they should like and embrace the activities that they do enjoy. I used to feel guilty about reading 'chick lit' or YA fiction as I felt that I should enjoy reading classical literature and 'worthy' books. I always felt the need to justify my choices of reading material, and felt a nagging sense of unease that I haven't ever managed to finish Lord of the Rings, or Catch 22. However I've read both the Hunger Games trilogy and the Twilight Saga twice, and enjoyed all the books enormously. Reading blogs like this one by Matt Haig went a long way to convincing me that I should feel free to read what I want and not feel ashamed of any of my choices, but the final nudge I needed was to reframe my reading habit as my way of relaxing. I would never criticise anyone else's choice of book, so why was I criticising my own?
Another of the ideas in the book I really liked was that of keeping a journal which was only 1 sentence a day. I'll admit that this mainly appealed because I had already started that very thing. One of my Christmas presents this year was a One Line a Day Diary which I thought was a genius idea. I have never managed to sustain a proper diary for longer than a few months, but I think I really can commit to the idea of writing one line a day. It's only been 18 days so far, but I haven't missed one yet, so I have a good feeling about it this time.
I have also started decluttering, but that process really began when I turned 40 a few months ago. It's going very slowly so far, but I have managed to take several bags of stuff to charity and recycle a whole load of paper. Following the impetus of this book I now also have 3 'clear areas' in the house (they are very small, just my bedside table, a dresser and a small cabinet) and my aim is to keep them clear for at least 2 weeks and then gradually start on the rest of the clutter.
I would like to try and write this blog more regularly, as I have been thinking about it more and more over the last few months, but it is difficult to find the time. In particular, I'm not going to set myself any goals (such as 1 post a week, or 3 posts a month) - I am just going to write my ideas down as I go along and see how it goes.
If you're intrigued and want to read more about the Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin maintains a blog, which is here.
As to whether the book made me happy - actually, so far it has. After starting to read it I stumbled upon Tara Anderson's blog about her challenge to read 52 books in a year and for the last 10 days I have been very happily reading at every available opportunity.
In particular several of the observations really struck a chord with me. One of them was the idea that people are happier once they stop trying to like things that they think they should like and embrace the activities that they do enjoy. I used to feel guilty about reading 'chick lit' or YA fiction as I felt that I should enjoy reading classical literature and 'worthy' books. I always felt the need to justify my choices of reading material, and felt a nagging sense of unease that I haven't ever managed to finish Lord of the Rings, or Catch 22. However I've read both the Hunger Games trilogy and the Twilight Saga twice, and enjoyed all the books enormously. Reading blogs like this one by Matt Haig went a long way to convincing me that I should feel free to read what I want and not feel ashamed of any of my choices, but the final nudge I needed was to reframe my reading habit as my way of relaxing. I would never criticise anyone else's choice of book, so why was I criticising my own?
Another of the ideas in the book I really liked was that of keeping a journal which was only 1 sentence a day. I'll admit that this mainly appealed because I had already started that very thing. One of my Christmas presents this year was a One Line a Day Diary which I thought was a genius idea. I have never managed to sustain a proper diary for longer than a few months, but I think I really can commit to the idea of writing one line a day. It's only been 18 days so far, but I haven't missed one yet, so I have a good feeling about it this time.
I have also started decluttering, but that process really began when I turned 40 a few months ago. It's going very slowly so far, but I have managed to take several bags of stuff to charity and recycle a whole load of paper. Following the impetus of this book I now also have 3 'clear areas' in the house (they are very small, just my bedside table, a dresser and a small cabinet) and my aim is to keep them clear for at least 2 weeks and then gradually start on the rest of the clutter.
I would like to try and write this blog more regularly, as I have been thinking about it more and more over the last few months, but it is difficult to find the time. In particular, I'm not going to set myself any goals (such as 1 post a week, or 3 posts a month) - I am just going to write my ideas down as I go along and see how it goes.
If you're intrigued and want to read more about the Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin maintains a blog, which is here.
As to whether the book made me happy - actually, so far it has. After starting to read it I stumbled upon Tara Anderson's blog about her challenge to read 52 books in a year and for the last 10 days I have been very happily reading at every available opportunity.
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