Well, I'm back from France. Had a lovely time in the roasting heat - 33 degrees! Swam loads, ate loads... I followed ADF mostly, although at the end of the week I had a two feast days followed by a half feast day - fast until dinner which was a burger and chips and chocolate cake!
Still though, I gained nothing.
Got back on Tuesday, and I've been pretty careful since then - my feast days have been reaching 1800 maximum. However, I still haven't lost anything and it's been 10 days now so I might step it up a bit and have a feast day of 2200 calories or so on Sunday. Or I could start going for walks but...
The squats died a death when I got to France and I haven't bothered starting again. I might... but then I might not. I think I need to look at more before and after pictures to get motivated!
Going back to work in a month - I work in a school so have the summer off. So I'd like to have lost a bit more by then - I've lost 15 kilos so far - if I could have lost another 4 kilos by then, that would be 3 stone, or 41 pounds. Considering I started at the end of May, just when the school holidays began, I would hope to get lots of nice, confidence-boosting comments from people who haven't seen me in 3 months. "Oh my goodness, you're so slim!" would be a nice one to hear... Although unrealistic!
I must say, my confidence really has soared. Even though I'm still very overweight and my BMI is ridiculous, just knowing that I've lost a good bit and that I'm still on the right path is very uplifting. My skinny French cousins were there some of the days when I went to swim and whilst I did wrap a towel around me until the last possible moment, I did actually swim. Before I'd have pretended that I didn't want to and I'd have sat on a deckchair in my clothes, dying of the heat.
I also, for the first time in years, wore tops with no sleeves and didn't put on a cardigan over! I really couldn't have, considering the heat, but it was the first time I wasn't crippled with self-consciousness. I also wore shorts - even with my tree-stump legs. The thing is, I have been thinner than I am now in the past and even then was too self-conscious to wear these things or to swim in front of people - so my confidence is nothing to do with my weight and everything to do with my mental state - feeling capable and guilt-free.
My intolerance to bread has become very extreme on this diet though. As I said before, I am allergic to yeast but in small moderations it didn't cause me any problems. However, on Monday I had a burger, and my arm was all sore and itchy for two days after. It's gone again now and today I bought gluten-free bread. It does have yeast in it but I'm going to see if I manage to get away with that. I shouldn't be able to, because pasta causes nothing, so it does seem to be yeast and not gluten that's the problem but I'm quite desperate to find something I can have if I feel like toast or a sandwich. I don't know of anything that is yeast-free bar wraps but they're not really what I'm looking for. I thought that pitta breads were yeast-free as they're flat but apparently not...
Right - at the end of another feast day and I have that slight sense of disappointment I always have when the last meal of the day is done - with the thought of a fast day ahead of me tomorrow. I bought huge mushrooms which I'm going to stuff with garlic and cream cheese tomorrow night for dinner so at least I have something tasty to look forward to!
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Friday, 26 July 2013
Saturday, 13 July 2013
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.
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.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Am I? Aren't I?
So, woke up and weighed myself - down a kilo after all. Kind of. The bar was kind of hovering depending on how my feet were placed. But I'm saying it is a kilo to keep myself happy.
I know you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but it's the most exciting part of my day! (Though John wants me to mention that it comes second to spending time with him... :) ) I've lost another inch from my hips too which is nice but I haven't noticed it in my clothes yet. Everything else has been the same for the last two weeks. Which makes sense as I haven't lost much weight...
Today was a feast day. I was saying yesterday how James B. Johnson, who wrote "The Alternate-Day Diet" warns against counting calories on feast days, in case "diet fatigue" sets in. I was thinking about this, as I've mentioned before that I'm really careful on feast days and count everything, trying not to go above 2000 calories, at most. I've decided not to worry about my way of doing it. If I do really want something, I do feel free to eat it on feast days. The only difference is that I count it and try to take only a bit so that I don't go over my calories. And if that teaches me portion control, it can only be a good thing!
So today I had A LOT of coffee - I'm going to allow myself to do that on feast days and try to abstain or have one cup only on fast days. That was 240 calories.
I didn't feel like breakfast as I got up late. For lunch I finished my vegetable soup and had a bread roll with it. 285 calories.
Dinner was a feast! I had chicken and wholegrain noodles with peanuts, raisins, green peppers and mushrooms, all in a Thai red curry sauce. 597 calories.
I also picked a little throughout the day but counted it. I had half a shortbread biscuit, a TINY bit of chocolate, and as a snack just now I had 33g of wenslydale and cranberry cheese, 4 multigrain crackers and 30g of a fruit tart I made for John. 360 calories in all. So that comes to 1452 calories for the day which I'm very happy about.
I checked my RMR, and it's 1908 calories. I'm going to try to stay below that on feast days if I can. That doesn't allow for any movement at all - even for a sedentary lifestyle - with no exercise and a desk job, it would go up to just over 2000 calories. However, as I'm the laziest person ever, I'm not even going to allow for that much movement. For example, I literally moved from chair to chair today and that was the extent of my exercise.
As I said in a previous post, I had very bad eczema when I was about 12 or 13. My arms, knees and chest were so itchy that I would scratch till they bled, and I ended up with huge scabs everywhere. Sexy. Anyway, at that time my mother took me to get an allergy test done, to see if we could help it. I was allergic to lots of things but the two main ones were sugar and yeast. Sugar is the one that actually caused me to itch everywhere, but I found that, as I got older, it generally didn't cause me any problem as long as I drank a decent amount of water every day. (Perhaps a pity, in terms of weight...) Yeast causes me to get very bloated and have awful stomach cramps, which sometimes double me over. However, as with sugar, as long as I don't eat bread all day long, and drink water, it rarely troubles me. I usually would have about two slices of bread a day, or else a small roll, and that was fine.
All that to say, however, that since starting my diet, nearly four weeks ago, my intake of bread has lessened considerably since it's so calorific. I think that possibly, as a result, I've become more intolerant to it. I had a roll for lunch and I'm really crampy now.
So I'm going to not eat bread for a few days, and then try again in about five or six days maybe. If I get cramps again, I'll know and it'll be bye bye to yeast. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a fluke cramp because I love my bread!!!
I have also found that I've become much more intolerant to rich food. I get heartburn now much more easily on a feast day. Whilst what I'm eating now is SO much healthier than before I started this diet, I'm still having cheese and pate on feast days and I think my body is not appreciating it as it used to. It doesn't really bother me though. Anything that discourages me from eating fatty foods can only be good!
I know you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but it's the most exciting part of my day! (Though John wants me to mention that it comes second to spending time with him... :) ) I've lost another inch from my hips too which is nice but I haven't noticed it in my clothes yet. Everything else has been the same for the last two weeks. Which makes sense as I haven't lost much weight...
Today was a feast day. I was saying yesterday how James B. Johnson, who wrote "The Alternate-Day Diet" warns against counting calories on feast days, in case "diet fatigue" sets in. I was thinking about this, as I've mentioned before that I'm really careful on feast days and count everything, trying not to go above 2000 calories, at most. I've decided not to worry about my way of doing it. If I do really want something, I do feel free to eat it on feast days. The only difference is that I count it and try to take only a bit so that I don't go over my calories. And if that teaches me portion control, it can only be a good thing!
So today I had A LOT of coffee - I'm going to allow myself to do that on feast days and try to abstain or have one cup only on fast days. That was 240 calories.
I didn't feel like breakfast as I got up late. For lunch I finished my vegetable soup and had a bread roll with it. 285 calories.
Dinner was a feast! I had chicken and wholegrain noodles with peanuts, raisins, green peppers and mushrooms, all in a Thai red curry sauce. 597 calories.
I also picked a little throughout the day but counted it. I had half a shortbread biscuit, a TINY bit of chocolate, and as a snack just now I had 33g of wenslydale and cranberry cheese, 4 multigrain crackers and 30g of a fruit tart I made for John. 360 calories in all. So that comes to 1452 calories for the day which I'm very happy about.
I checked my RMR, and it's 1908 calories. I'm going to try to stay below that on feast days if I can. That doesn't allow for any movement at all - even for a sedentary lifestyle - with no exercise and a desk job, it would go up to just over 2000 calories. However, as I'm the laziest person ever, I'm not even going to allow for that much movement. For example, I literally moved from chair to chair today and that was the extent of my exercise.
As I said in a previous post, I had very bad eczema when I was about 12 or 13. My arms, knees and chest were so itchy that I would scratch till they bled, and I ended up with huge scabs everywhere. Sexy. Anyway, at that time my mother took me to get an allergy test done, to see if we could help it. I was allergic to lots of things but the two main ones were sugar and yeast. Sugar is the one that actually caused me to itch everywhere, but I found that, as I got older, it generally didn't cause me any problem as long as I drank a decent amount of water every day. (Perhaps a pity, in terms of weight...) Yeast causes me to get very bloated and have awful stomach cramps, which sometimes double me over. However, as with sugar, as long as I don't eat bread all day long, and drink water, it rarely troubles me. I usually would have about two slices of bread a day, or else a small roll, and that was fine.
All that to say, however, that since starting my diet, nearly four weeks ago, my intake of bread has lessened considerably since it's so calorific. I think that possibly, as a result, I've become more intolerant to it. I had a roll for lunch and I'm really crampy now.
So I'm going to not eat bread for a few days, and then try again in about five or six days maybe. If I get cramps again, I'll know and it'll be bye bye to yeast. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a fluke cramp because I love my bread!!!
I have also found that I've become much more intolerant to rich food. I get heartburn now much more easily on a feast day. Whilst what I'm eating now is SO much healthier than before I started this diet, I'm still having cheese and pate on feast days and I think my body is not appreciating it as it used to. It doesn't really bother me though. Anything that discourages me from eating fatty foods can only be good!
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