Another Loss!

Down another kilo! So that's 15 lost now, or 33 pounds. Very happy with myself. My measurements haven't changed at all though in the last while - maybe I'm losing it from my toes or something...

Had a lovely weekend - we spent it all in the garden, with the dogs, in the sun. We didn't go out which was a relief. Didn't want to waste calories on drink.

I had Weetabix for breakfast yesterday, with fat-free milk - 237 calories.

For lunch I had wholegrain noodles, with 15g of pesto and 30g of grated low-fat cheddar.

Then we went to Kinsale to the Arts Festival, to watch "Raj in the Rain" - a film about the Anglo-Irish. It was a bit odd but good. Such a pity, all these old houses falling to ruin because the families can't afford to keep them up. Those days are gone - for good or for bad, but the houses really suffer. Our family house is one of these - a big Georgian house that back in the day had land and a farm making money for it. Now it's in the middle of dozens of housing estates and it's dilapidated to say the least - roof leaking, floorboards breaking, no heating... It's lovely in the summer, but in the winter... You can see your breath in the morning when you wake up, and the window panes freeze on the inside. My dad always moaned about the length of my showers when I was living there, but it was the only way of getting warm! Having said that, John moans about the length of my showers now and we live in a modern house so...

When we got back from Kinsale we had an early dinner - fish in breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes and peas. I also had 50g of crisps and a slice of fruit flan for dessert. So that was 910 calories, and about 1883 calories for the day.

I went to my dad's for lunch - had mushroom soup, four multigrain crackers with white stilton with apricots cheese and four strawberries. With milk in coffee my day's at 503 calories.

I normally eat in the evening on fast days, to not be hungry going to bed, so we'll see how this pans out now, having eaten earlier.

Off to France tomorrow - think I may treat myself to breakfast on the plane. And I've decided to say screw the skinny French cousins - it's hot - I'm going to go swimming.

Super Squats

I think I might have been wrong about the avocados. Because I haven't eaten one in a few days and my eczema flared up again badly on Thursday night after having abated a bit. I wonder is it my yeast intolerance playing out as eczema now? It used to only be cramps but like I said before, if I'm eating less of it, I might become more intolerant to it. I haven't eaten bread since Thursday and my eczema has mostly died down again. I was in the bookshop yesterday though, and I happened to see a tube of hydrocortisone cream lying about, which is good for eczema. I smeared on about half the tube - so maybe it's that. I don't know. I'm going to self-experiment. I'll eat neither bread nor avocados for the next couple of weeks. Then I'll eat bread and see if I get itchy again. If not, I'll try avocados. Blasted eczema whatever's causing it. Especially these days when it's warm and I'm wearing short sleeves...

So had a lovely feast day yesterday. I was good until dinner - had one soft-boiled egg and an orange for breakfast, and soup for lunch. My dad came for dinner so I made a white wine, tomato and cream sauce with salmon fillets, smoked salmon, and pasta. My dad brought nibbles so we had those before dinner -  587 calories alone!!!!!! I'd made a fruit flan for dessert and I had two slices of that. Though to be fair, it was more fruit than flan. So the day came to 1900 calories roughly. Fasting or eating lightly before a big meal is really helpful - means you can let loose and still not end up with a ridiculous amount of calories at the end.

Today was a fast day. I had a bit too much coffee - three cups which is a waste of calories with all the milk I take. But anyway. We had steak for dinner - John had his with roast baby potatoes but I just had some lettuce with a bit of balsamic vinegar. I had a square of dark chocolate for dessert too. That all came to 506 calories for the day.

I was worried about my iron intake - according to "My Fitness Pal", I only ever get about 10% of my recommended iron intake, at most, every day. But I was all confident about it today, after my steak, and it said the steak's iron content was N/A!! Which is obviously ridiculous. I had 200g of steak, which should be about 40% of my RDA. So I've decided to stop worrying about my iron. It's probably higher than I think.

I'm still doing my squats and crunches. John watched me and he said I'm doing them fine. I can already get lower than before - I don't need the bed behind me, or even a chair. My legs are shaky after doing them and it makes my heart pound and I get all sweaty but I still don't have any pain after. I've never done exercises and not had muscle pain the day after - I actually quite like the feeling - makes me feel like I've done well. So I don't know what's going on. Maybe my legs are much more muscled up than I thought... Mmm... Maybe not.

NOOO....

Doom has come upon me. I think I'm allergic to avocados. My eczema is flaring up again, and having thought about it, avocado is the only foodstuff that I've significantly added to my diet in the last two months.

I am really, really, really disappointed. It's so delicious and creamy. So, no more avocados for a while. I'll see if my rash goes down, and if so, I'll guess that's it.

Funnily enough, I googled to see if anyone else had a similar reaction to avocado and a lot of people actually use it to HELP their eczema!

Got up this morning and did my five minutes of exercises. 55 squats and 25 crunches. The squats weren't too bad actually, I did them with the bed behind me and touched it with my bottom every time I squatted. A couple of times I lost my balance and actually sat but I wasn't too bad. I am going to get John to check my form though, because I have a feeling I'm not doing it quite right. It was tiring but I've no pain in my muscles after, and considering that I haven't used those muscles in about a year, there should be something!

Fast day today and I must say; I'm starving! I've had about four pints of water and a cup of coffee to help quench the hunger. I could have had a bowl of soup for lunch but I prefer to keep the fast going until dinnertime. I'll have some more butternut squash soup and bread I think. And maybe a square of dark chocolate. To console me over the loss of the avocado.

My dad's coming for dinner tomorrow - I'm going to make pasta with a smoked salmon and white wine sauce. With cream. Can't wait...

Oh, I finally took some "before" pictures last night. I downloaded an app on my phone which means they're password protected so no one can come across them by accident! So, we'll see. In a couple of months, I may decide to put them up with some "after" photos. Depends on how I look then!

Still Jiggling...!

Well. It's been a few days. I had another cheat day this weekend.
Friday was a feast day, which included, amongst other things, chocolate cake, an avocado, two eggs and a white bread roll. Not all at the same time, I hasten to add. That came to 1964 calories altogether.

I had arranged to meet my dad on Saturday at his workplace for lunch - I brought a picnic with me and it looked so good that I decided to have another cheat day, which I didn't even count but guesstimated to be 2000 calories. I had made smoked salmon pate, cheese and ham pastries, tuna salad, devilled eggs and wraps. So lots of carbohydrates and deliciousness. We had leftovers for dinner on Saturday night and I fasted on Sunday, with a tuna salad for dinner, which was 417 calories. I woke up yesterday to find that I'd lost more weight! I have now lost 14 kilos, or 30 pounds! Very happy with myself. I'm also pleased to notice that my belt is about half an inch away from tightening another notch. I actually managed it this morning but found that it was too uncomfortable when sitting down! So maybe tomorrow. My arms have gone down another inch each (although they still jiggle - a lot) and I've lost another inch from each thigh and one from my hips.

I felt a bit guilty yesterday - I was on a feast day and couldn't resist some more of the leftovers from the picnic. I finished off the pate, with a big hunk of bread, and had half a cheese and ham pastry. And this was after dinner - when I wasn't even hungry! As a result, my day came to about 2200 calories which I wasn't too happy about.

So severe fasting today. One coffee for breakfast, and only water for the rest of the day. I'm going to have a protein-filled salad for dinner which should come to 430 calories or so.

Going back to France in a week for the burial of my grandad's ashes. Whilst we're there, we'll be going to see some cousins who have a pool. With the weather being as amazing as it is, it would be silly to pass up the chance for a swim. Even if those cousins are all tanned and skinny. I'm just going to have to be brave.

My dad's coming over for dinner on Friday, (I'm trying to feed him a bit while my mum's away) which is a feast day, luckily. However, we have plans to go out with friends on Saturday night. So Saturday might have to be a cheat day. Although I don't want this becoming a habit. I might fast on Friday until dinnertime, in an effort to limit my calories a bit. And then fast on Saturday, again till dinnertime when I'll have to eat for soakage. The annoying thing is that I don't really like drinking. But I know if I sip on a juice while everyone else is drinking, I'll get bored. And I do want to go out to see them. Hmm...

Will of Steel

I spoiled myself on my feast day yesterday and it felt great!

I had two soft-boiled eggs with soldiers for breakfast. 575 calories.
Lunch was an avocado with some little crusty bruschetta bits, brushed with olive oil and tomato. Divine. And 283 calories which wasn't bad at all.

Then, around five o'clock, I.... wait for it... went for a walk! I walked the dogs for 4.5km. It took about 50 minutes and I wouldn't say it was the most enjoyable part of my day but it wasn't too bad. I have the "Runtastic" app which ties in with "My Fitness Pal". So apparently I added 700 calories to my day by doing that. I think I had said I was jogging though, instead of walking which might explain it. Really doubt that 50 minutes of a fairly leisurely pace burnt half a day's worth of calories...

For dinner, we had roast chicken with roast potatoes and vegetables - 529 calories.
I also had a square of my dark chocolate for dessert with a cup of coffee. So the day came to 1475 calories in total.

Today is a fast and I've had a cup of coffee so far. Having a chicken breast tonight with vegetables and a bit of pesto.
I had the most horrendous baking experience ever. My uncle's coming for coffee tomorrow so I decided to bake a chocolate cake. I bought a new silicone cake tin yesterday, in the shape of a giant cupcake and I couldn't wait to use it. So - made my cake - poured it into the lid part of the mould - it bent and toppled over - all my cake all over the floor. I was RAGING. Once I had calmed down, I made up another batch and figured that if I poured it into the base part first, it might strengthen the whole mould. However, once I poured into the lid part again, same thing happened. So I gave up and decided I'd just have a really big cake. Cooked it - fine - took it out - let it cool - no problems. The recipe said to make the icing and pour it on whilst the cake is still warm and in the mould. So I did - however when I tried to remove the cake from the mould it wouldn't come out and I had to break it into bits. So I had chunks of icing covered chocolate cake piled on a plate and it was a mess.
Finally decided to spoon and smush the cake into little glass ramekins which I did. It looks neat and presentable now. I am disappointed though - I was looking forward to a huge cake.

Anyway, all that to say that apart from the obligatory tasting of bits and pieces, and licking of spoons to make sure it was nice, I didn't have any cake. I will tomorrow obviously but I managed to resist that warm, melty chocolate smell...

 

Ta Dah!

Success

It worked! I lost another kilo yesterday morning and it's still gone today. So that seems to be proof that the odd cheat day works.

Such a relief to see some movement on the scales and also might relax me a bit about feast days.

Yesterday was a feast day. I had a bowl of melon for breakfast - 300g was 106 calories.

For lunch I had a toastie - ham, cheese, bit of mayonnaise and mustard, and tomatoes. With a dessert of mandarin pieces and a quarter of a banana that all came to 340 calories.

In the afternoon, John bought a roast chicken as part of his "bulk up" regime and I picked at that a bit. I counted 100g worth which is 190 calories.

For dinner I had made a Bolognese sauce - I had it with wholegrain noodles instead of pasta but I allowed myself 50g of grated cheese. It came to 650 calories.

With milk for coffee added in, the whole day was 1481 calories. Pretty reasonable. We had planned to go to the cinema and I was looking forward to having some popcorn but in the end we couldn't be bothered. So we're going on Friday night instead. Which luckily, happens to be another feast day so I'll definitely have some then!

Fast today - it's half three and I'm getting hungry. I've had two cups of coffee which is 80 calories of milk. Bit of a waste really - I was allowing myself one cup a day but it smelled so good... Making a proper roast chicken dinner tonight - I'll have some of the meat and the vegetables but no roast potatoes. I'll save that for tomorrow.

I must say, we're saving a fortune on our weekly shopping. I did a shop this morning and it was the first time in a month! I was away for a week in between but still.

I also have noticed that for the first time in my life, I'm being tempted by fruit. I normally avoid fruit - love vegetables but fruit bores me. However, today in the supermarket, I bought strawberries, a melon and apricots and I'm looking forward to them. I've read blogs where people on ADF find that they appreciate the taste of fruit and enjoy them more than before and I always scoffed at them a bit, thinking, "that'll never happen to me". But it kind of is. I think I'm enjoying having a bit of sweetness whilst knowing that it's actually good for me, and not a waste of calories. Having said that, I did buy some 70% dark chocolate today. Going to have one piece on my feast days with a cup of coffee after dinner. Mmmm.....

Looking at the "My FitnessPal" app - my nutrient intake is slowly getting better. My vitamin C intake is high, and my vitamin A and calcium intake is getting better. My iron is consistently low though, I really need to work on that. I was full of confidence last night eating my minced beef Bolognese, thinking, "At last, I'll be stuffed with iron" but no... it's not that high at all. Only 8%.

I may have to start taking supplements. Not ideal but I'm not going to eat red meat or shellfish every day and I am eating a good variety of vegetables already.

Sigh.

Self-Experimentation

Yesterday was supposed to be a fast day. However, since John was going to be working last night too, my dad invited me over for dinner. As a result, I decided to have another feast day. I was hoping really that if I ate freely, and didn't restrict at all, my next fast day might have bigger weight consequences.

So, for breakfast, I had a bowl of soup, and as a big treat, I had a small white roll with some butter and honey. 361 calories.

For lunch I had... wait for it... some more soup, with wensydale and cranberry cheese and multigrain crackers. That's the last of that cheese though so I'll have to come up with a new snack! That came to 229 calories.

For dinner, my dad had bought crisps as nibbles. The pack was 150g so I assumed that I had half that - which came to 379 calories. Crazy! For dinner we had two small chicken and mushroom pies each, 840 calories (I was on a roll) and for dessert we had strawberries. He had his with cream but I had mine with milk and no sugar. The strawberries were 81 calories and the milk was about 300. So that meal came to 1600 calories, and 2190 for the day in total. Which, considering I didn't restrict myself wasn't too bad really, but to be honest, if I didn't have dieting in the back of my mind, lunch would probably have been a toastie which would have driven things way up!

I didn't weigh myself this morning and I fasted all day. Apart from milk in coffee (123 calories) I just had a small dinner there of a tin of tuna, two tomatoes, some lettuce and some light mayonnaise. 336 calories and 456 for the day in total.

That's it now for today so tomorrow morning will be the test. It'll be interesting to see if the odd cheat day like that will kick my body into losing weight again. It had better.

Surely restricting calories should be enough. I mean, even if it's slow, I can't survive on 2100 calories every two days and not lose weight... Surely!!!

Fingers crossed for the morning anyway...!

Stuck

So... Weighed myself yesterday - had gone up one kilo. But since I suspect the two I had lost on Sunday were water retention, I was quite happy. Until I weighed myself this morning - up another kilo. So haven't moved in over a week now. Bit fed up.

I decided to carefully calculate how much that quiche I made was and was horrified to discover that it was 4000! Since I had a quarter on Sunday, a fast day, I had 1000 calories instead of my usual 500. Just shows how off food estimations can be. No more guessing.

Yesterday,  I had a lot of coffee, which means a lot of milk. Fat-free but still. Uses up a lot of precious calories. I had focaccia and guacamole like I'd been promising myself for days for breakfast, which came to 215 calories. I'd had a big pint of water before which helped to fill me up faster.

For lunch I had some mushroom soup, three multigrain crackers and 30g of wenslydale and cranberry cheese. 375 calories.

For dinner, John and I finished the quiche with some salad. So that was another 1000 calories.
I also had half a shortbread biscuit and a piece of chocolate through out the day - 108 calories.

So that came to 1787 calories for the whole day. Which is fine and still under 2000. But since my weight hasn't moved, I feel like I've been overindulging and I can see myself getting hung up on my feast days. Which you're really not supposed to do. I bought the book, "The Alternate-Day Diet: The Original Fasting Diet" by James B. Johnson M.D. and he specifically says not to be too careful on feast days, or it just becomes another diet and you'll get bored of it too.

I don't know. He also says that three weeks seems to be the sticky part. Weight tends to not move and people become lazier about food choices, with calories creeping back up. It's important to be really, really strict about tracking everything that passes your lips, even if it's a quarter of a biscuit. I think on fast days I'm ok, I still am very careful but I can see how on feast days, my total might be 100 or so calories more than I calculate, if I take an (albeit tiny) taste of John's dessert, or forget to count one cup of milky coffee.

So as of today I'm going to make sure EVERYTHING is noted. Today is a fast day, and I made vegetable soup for myself. I'm not going to eat anything until dinnertime, and then I'll have a big bowl of that, which is 114 calories. Maybe I'll have some crackers and cheese - 187 calories, or maybe not. No harm in stopping at 114 calories either.

Just wish I could see some more results - it's exciting and pleasurable to do when things are moving but otherwise... not so much.

Hurray?

Went out last night - had quite a bit to drink but stuck to the vodka and orange juice. Also resisted Salt and Vinegar Pringles that someone brought to the house - big hurdle! So I definitely didn't go over 2000 calories.
Got to bed at ten o'clock this morning... Got up about three, and weighed myself. Two kilos lighter! However, as John pointed out, considering I drank quite a bit and didn't have much water, I'm probably dehydrated and it was water retention. Might have gone back up a bit tomorrow.

Made a quiche for our dinner today - I had about a quarter with some lettuce leaves too - since it's homemade it's hard to guage so I'm just counting it as 500 calories.

I've found today to be tough - really want some chocolate. I came very close to having a chocolate which would only take me 33 calories over the 500 but I didn't. Figured it's silly to eat it when I can just wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm finally going to have some of that guacamole!

Uh oh...

Oh no... Today was a fast day and I just lost it. Had only water and soup all day but then we had to go to a friend's house for dinner. I had three (very small) glasses of wine, a slice of quiche, salad and a couple of bits of cheese with a slice of bread. Nothing too bad but way over 500 calories.

We came back to my grandparents' house and since I'm going tomorrow morning, I started tasting bits of food that I hadn't let myself eat all week. So I ended up having 3 heaped teaspoons of Nutella and a big chunk of Caprice des Dieux. Now I am riddled with guilt and tomorrow will have to be a fast day. Thank goodness I'm going home where there's way less temptation around the house.

That Nutella was delicious though...

What have I done???? That's two days now in a row now... Not feeling too good about myself.

The Perils of Pigging

My diet has been a bit all over the place recently.
Some friends of the family came to dinner on Tuesday night - we had sushi, a lot of wine, and salad. It came to 1641 calories. Not too bad really. But I may have miscalculated the wine as I wasn't exactly measuring my glasses.

Yesterday was the funeral. Although it was supposed to be a fast day, I felt sick and weak before going to the church so I had a bit of bread with some camembert cheese.
We then had people back to the house for the lunch and I didn't eat much but I did have about 5 mini slices of quiche. However, once we were on our own again last night, we all threw ourselves on the leftovers and devoured everything. I ate a LOT of bread and cheese, pate, and I even had Nutella! So much for the fast.

Today is a fast day so, but we've to go for dinner at a friend's house tonight. I'm going to not drink though and whatever she serves, I'll try to avoid the carbohydrates.

Tomorrow I return to Ireland. As I said before, I'll be travelling alone which always leads to me eating but I'm going much earlier than I thought so I'll resist and eat normally once I get home.

It's funny but I've noticed now that every day where I've eaten a lot in the last week - Sunday and yesterday - has been followed by a day of feeling sick and hungry the next day.

I mean, as I type now, my stomach is rumbling and I feel like I'm starving. Even though I've had lots of water. When I do a fast day, I normally extend it to lunchtime of the next day, so I am able to go quite a while without food now and feel fine. However, I wonder if eating heavily is the reason I feel so hungry now. My insides working overtime to get rid of the food. If there's any truth in that, it just shows how over-eating every day becomes a vicious cycle. I'd devour some bread now if I could - whereas normally I really don't feel a need for anything.
It's also slightly worrying me how I slipped so easily back into eating rubbish yesterday. For the last three weeks I've been careful on feast days but yesterday... I had about four slices of bread with pate alone. That's not counting the other three slices with cheese or the roll I had with Nutella...

I'm not going to beat myself up over it though. It was exceptional circumstances and I'll get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Going out for a friend's 30th on Saturday - I'll have to consume any alcohol before midnight. Or do I count a day as ending when I go to bed? Because that could easily be halfway through Sunday...

I Should Live in a Hot Climate

Catch-up of the last couple of days.

On Sunday, I fasted till half six or so, when the Americans arrived, and then ate, like I had planned. It was nice, I had nibbles, dinner and a bit of dessert but no cheese. I enjoyed it but I must say, I felt SO sick and full driving home. Actually felt unwell. So, pigging out has lost a bit of its appeal.

I got up at 4 yesterday  morning to go to the airport. I felt strangely hungover, as if I had been drinking all night. It was a fasting day and I think it was my hardest one to date. I really wanted to eat at the airport and I ALWAYS want to eat on the plane. But, I resisted and didn't eat until dinner time, when I just had lettuce, tuna, cucumber and a bit of béarnaise sauce. I also had a fifth of a chicken breast with some spinach in an attempt to up my iron a bit. Including semi-skimmed milk in various cups of coffee, I had about 530 calories. It's tougher to measure in France because the My Fitness Pal app won't pick up most of the French barcodes when I scan them and a lot of the measurements are given in cup sizes, which we don't do here.

Today is a feast day but it's so warm and heavy that I'm still eating lightly. It's 27 degrees Celcius and very thundery and heavy. We had a massive thunderstorm yesterday but it hasn't cleared the air and more are forecast for today and tomorrow. So I had a cup of coffee for my breakfast, more tuna, lettuce and cucumber for my lunch, and a bit of spinach with a mushroom and fromage frais salad. But then as a treat I had a small chunk of brie. For dinner I'm going to have MORE tuna and lettuce with cucumber and green beans but I'm also going to have something nice. Maybe some chocolate or some more cheese. I'll see how I feel.

The funeral is tomorrow, which is supposed to be a fast day. I'll try my best but there will be a lunch back at the house for close friends which might be hard to resist. However, it being France, and summer, a lunch is consisting of a buffet of salads and fruit. The hardest thing to resist will be the mandatory cheese plate but I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to do without. I can always tell myself that I just have to wait till Thursday.

Must say that I'm looking forward to all this being over. My grandfather died leaving no life insurance or savings so the funeral costs are becoming a huge strain on my mother who is having to spend money she doesn't have and that she owes elsewhere. I don't have any spare money either, what with paying rent and having to buy the ticket to get here so I can't help, which is frustrating.

So if anyone reads this and is feeling religious - a little prayer wouldn't go astray.

Time to Eat

Ugh, what a horrible couple of days.
An American branch of the Georgian Society is coming to see our house tonight. It's an old family house, built in the 1700s so it's of interest to them. However, there are ten of them coming, and we're supposed to give them dinner. My mum was in charge of all that but now she's gone to France to be with my grandmother so I'm doing it.
So I spent all yesterday cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, peeling 40 potatoes, chopping about 20 red peppers and doing the shopping. In addition to that, my dad realised that his passport is out of date, and he's booked to fly to Paris for the funeral on Wednesday. So there was huge panic and worry there, because my mum would be so upset if he didn't come. I think we got it sorted, but being the weekend, we won't know for sure until Monday morning. I really hope it works out - he HAS to come.

As a result of all that, even though it was supposed to be a feast day, I didn't eat, apart from two Weetabix with fat-free milk for breakfast, and John made me a salad with 3 slices of ham, 50 grms of smoked salmon, one hard-boiled egg, a green pepper, lettuce, a tomato and about 20 grms of low-fat mayonnaise. So my total calorie consumption for the day was 592. Essentially another fast day.

So, I'm taking today as a feast day instead. I will also be at the dinner for the Americans so I'm going to eat to my heart's content. In an effort to keep control of myself, I'm going to fast until dinner - instead of treating today as a pigging out day. But I will help myself to whatever I like tonight.
To start with, we're having nibbles - my sister and I will make guacamole, hummus and smoked mackerel pate. We also have some crisps, focaccia bread that we'll tear into strips, carrot and cucumber sticks, and... I think that's it.  Needless to say, I love every single one of those things, and there is nothing I love more than nibbles. So, for the first time in two and a half weeks, I'm not going to even count calories and I'll have a thoroughly enjoyable feast day.

Dinner will be mashed potatoes, with ratatouille and baked salmon, served with a mustard and cream sauce. Not too bad really. Dessert will be courtesy of my sister - a chocolate tart and a baked lemon cheesecake. Neither of which are at the top of my dessert preference so considering I'll probably be full anyway, I won't have any of them.

Right - it's half ten and they're coming at half six tonight. I'd better get ready and drive down. Busy day ahead!

Upheaval

So yesterday was a feast day again. To try to up my calories a bit on feast days, and to feel like I was treating myself, I had some breakfast - two Weetabix and 200mls of fat-free milk. 216 calories only!

Since breakfast was so low, and since John was at work, I decided to go all out and have one of my favourite meals. Pasta, pesto and cheese. As a nod to eating healthily, I had 150 grms of wholegrain noodles instead of pasta - similar taste and lower in calories. I had 24 grms of pesto and TWO servings of low-fat cheddar - 60 grms. It came to - 629 calories only!

So for dinner I made my fish-pie - smoked Coley, prawns, white sauce made with cornflour, butter and vegetable stock, TONS of vegetables, and mashed potato made with fat-free milk and butter. I weighed everything, thinking that it would be nice to know the calories, even though I figured it would be high and I didn't care - it came to 347 calories. It's unbelievable. 1192 calories for the whole day. Way under what I should be at on a normal day - dieting aside. It just shows - some careful substitutions and portion control is a huge part of losing weight.
However, I am still going to carry on with the ADF as I actually enjoy fasting and I want the option to pig out to be there.

I woke up this morning to hear that my grandfather had died in the night. He was 88 and lovely. I got on really well with him - he had a great sense of humour. So that was upsetting.
Since my grandparents are French, we spent the day running around booking flights to Paris and getting things sorted. Which was good - kept me busy and mind off my stomach amongst other things. I just had a bowl of soup with some soda bread for lunch. With milk in coffee, my day came to 505 calories.

The next week will be a bit iffy I'd say. I'm flying out on Monday and returning on Friday. I would imagine that there'll be a lot of sitting around and eating with various relations. On Monday, I fly out with my sister but on Friday I'm returning to Ireland alone. Travelling alone is one of my worst times for pigging out. However, it will be a feast day so maybe I'll let loose. I'll see.  (To the consternation of John who just read that over my shoulder… :) )

Anyway, to make things a little better, I had lost another kilo this morning. At last. I was a bit discouraged yesterday, because I hadn't lost any weight in a good few days. However, thinking about it, I only started dieting at all two weeks ago yesterday. So I've lost nine kilos in 15 days.
Pretty happy overall!

I must say though, I'm dreading going to France. Apart from the obvious upset of the situation at hand, all my cousins will be there - and they're all so tanned and slim and petite. And then there's me - towering over everyone, pasty white, and waddly. Life is so unfair!

Subliminal

I feel so good these last couple of weeks. It makes such a lovely change from feeling guilty, fat and full. Now I feel fat but thinner and my self-confidence has sky-rocketed. Even though I'm still about six stone overweight, the knowledge that I have lost weight and am on a good, sturdy path has made me feel so much better about myself.

Today was another fast day and I survived it easily. About four o'clock I was feeling a little weak and shaky so I had a coffee with a bit of fat-free milk and I was fine. Again, keeping busy is really the best - if I'm sitting at home my mind does tend to think about my empty stomach a lot. But I worked in the morning, did a few messages, and had to go to the doctor for a prescription, so I was kept going.

For my dinner, I was feeling tired, so I bought John and I two soups in a carton. Not the best, I know, in terms of nutrients, but I just didn't feel like cooking and I really had a taste for some soup with a fresh roll. I've stopped putting butter on my roll too - I find that since I dunk it in the soup anyway it doesn't really need it.
Anyway, that came to about 350 calories for the day, including the milk in my coffee. I might have an orange or something to bring it up a bit more and to have something nutritious!

I know I keep going on about "My Fitness Pal" app but it really is great. I can keep an eye on the main nutrients and see how my intake is. My iron and Vitamin A are always low - I need to see about upping them.

Feast day again tomorrow - I don't know myself I'm so spoilt with feast days. Every single other diet I've ever done has made me feel limited and restricted. With this one, every other day is nearly exciting, as I plan what I want to eat. And yet it's so free that the lure of the forbidden is gone and I actually eat quite well. Mental games!

I haven't lost any weight in a couple of days - I know I should only be checking once a week but it's too tempting to see if I've gone down anymore. Hope I see a change again soon.
My jeans are so much looser though that I can now take them off without opening the button. Now that's progress!

Fasting Feasting

Second feast day today. I can't seem to get into them, funnily enough. I had no breakfast - just wandered around the kitchen, looking in cupboards and in the fridge and choosing nothing. I didn't feel that hungry and none of the usual temptations jumped out at me. I think I'm still a bit worried about gaining weight. I thought about having a bowl of cereal but considering 30 grams is a serving size and I would want a lot more than that, the number of calories it would use up scared me off.

I ended up having two slices of toast with some smoked salmon for my lunch, which was 600 calories, (bread is a demon!) and we went for dinner at my parents. My mum said she was making tagliatelle carbonara, which I love and fully intended to wolf down. In the end though, to suit my fussy sister, she just made tagliatelle with a cream and rasher sauce, and ratatouille on the side with a bit of cheese grated on top. It was lovely, but only came to about 700 calories. And that included 3 little chocolate eggs as dessert!

The My Fitness Pal app is getting worried about me! I'm consistently under my daily calorie allowance. I know I should probably up my calories a bit, just to keep my metabolism going, but I hardly think I'm going into starvation mode. I mean, I am full after each meal.

I must say though, that this diet is so lovely to follow. This morning I couldn't believe that I was on another feast day already - I was quite prepared to fast for another couple of days.

Still haven't done any exercise. The short Irish summer we were enjoying has disappeared - it's been raining non-stop for the last two days. Also, the dog has hurt her elbow and the vet said not to walk her for the next week. News I was secretly delighted to hear...

Loose Jeans

Feast day one is over. I was a bit worried that eating what I want would be hard to stop the next day but it's fine.

I ended up only having about 1400 calories yesterday. We didn't go to the barbeque in the end as John was too tired, so as well as my chicken wings, I had soup and a roll, and then a roll toasted with peanut butter and a fruit salad. Way too high in sugar, fat and carbohydrates and lacking in everything else but so nice to eat!

I think for my fast meal tonight I'll have a salmon fillet with broccoli and asparagus. And maybe a bit of pesto for a kick. Nice and healthy. Maybe an orange for dessert.

I'm supervising exams at the moment which is a pain - means I can't fill up in water throughout the day as I can't leave to go to the bathroom.

Hope my stomach doesn't start rumbling loudly!!

Do I look thinner yet?

And here we are, day one!
I finished my Forever Living nine-day detox last night and today woke up to my first day of fasting. So far it's not very different to what I've been doing for the last nine days. I still have some things left over from the detox so I took two supplements and some aloe vera gel, mixed in a pint of water and orange juice.

I feel fine so far, not even hungry yet. I work part-time in a bookshop and today's my day there which is probably good. If I'm distracted I won't think about food. The sun is blazing down too which helps. I get all lean-feeling when it's sunny. I have images of bronzed bikini babes in my head that I aspire to.

I'll be home at half six tonight, and John is going to see his dad, so I'll be on my own for dinner. I think I'll have some leftover bolegnese that I made last night, with a boiled potato. That should get me to 500 calories quite easily. I should probably also walk the dog... Bane of my life!

I woke up yesterday with FOUR cold sores around my mouth and nose. It's awfully disfiguring and embarrassing - I've always been prone to them but never four at once! So now I'm a bit reluctant to go to the barbecue tomorrow. There'll be a lot of people there that I don't know and I look awful.
But I really do need a cheat day I think. I haven't lost weight in about four days, since losing the amazing six kilos at the start of the detox. I find often that a day of normal eating (and a little bit more) can kickstart another weight loss. So if I don't go to the barbecue, but sit and hide at home, I'm going to have a nice feast day. Maybe pasta for lunch with cheese and pesto. And some chocolate.
I'm a bit scared about eating though I must say. I've been so restricted for the last nine days that I've nearly forgotten how to eat without caring. Terrified I'll put some weight back on.