Elegance

This is what I have decided to aim for. At nearly 60 I am never going to have the figure I could have had in my teens if I had not got derailed by sugar and insulin. But I have decided that I can aim for elegance. Something that was in short supply when I staggered around at over 200lbs.

I felt I was getting there yesterday. We were invited to an engagement party for a couple of people who I taught 10 years ago. I wore a white and black long skirt. White heeled shoes, black top and black and sliver overblouse and a white large hat. You could not see any lumps and bumps and I did feel I looked good!

The meal was lamb and pig on a spit with salads so I had a good plateful and then put together my puddings. Pavlova and black forest gateau. I did not eat those and asked for a cup of coffee instead.

Only going to weigh on Sunday as if I get on the scale now I might find a gain because of the extra food and alcohol I have been consuming over Christmas.

Today I get back on the 3 meals a day with no snacks plan.

made 170.8lbs

Well I did not make the 170 but I am only 0.8lbs above that so as far as I am concerned that is success.

I will make sure I take my irvingia tomorrow. Maybe even a double dose! and will enjoy my food at meal times and try and stay away from the snacks.

I have been going back and working out how long it has been taking me to lose 10lbs. Took me 50 days to lose the last ten. It may be much slower than other diets I have been on but it is much steadier and I feel so much better.

I know I can be a normal size next year. Happy Christmas to those of you who celebrate it.

Not going to make 170lb by Christmas

Just had 2 days away from home Christmas shopping and picking up the first new dining room chairs we have bought in 35 years!

Amazing to feel in such good control over my appetite. I did eggs before I left and then had lunch at 12 grilled chicken and salad. Despite buying chocolate and nuts and cheese, all my downfall foods, I did not eat anything till supper which was more chicken and a greek salad.

Next morning I opened one of the cold meat packets and ate that as it was difficult to organise a cooked breakfast. Lunch same as day before. Had tuna, tomato, salad dressing and blue cheese when I got home. Another 0.6lbs down this morning. Some maybe fluid but I will be happy to maintain this weight over Christmas.

Got in lots of interesting cheeses and olives and nuts. Plus different fish. So will be plenty for me to snack on if I feel the need. Going to try and stick to the 3 meals a day and stop eating between meals.

One pound a week

This is the steadiest diet I have ever been on. I dont get wild mood swings and feel generally happy and I dont get eating binges where I eat everything in sight. I have lost 25lbs since I started on the irvingia and the Richards Leptin diet in September. So that is just over 3 months to lose 25lbs. I am now losing at the rate of 1lb a week but it is not a steady loss. I see no movement on the scale for 4 days and then over 2 days I lose a lb and then it holds again for the next 4 days.

I am used to previous diets where I lose one and a half to 2lbs a week but on those I am much more restricted in my food and I battle with cravings and will power to stay on the diet. This is much better for my brain as well as my body.

I am looking forward to getting under the 170lbs and then under 168lbs within the next month. Even if the weight loss drops to 2lbs a month I know I will still make my goal over the next year and will have cured my obesity.

Looking for answers to obesity

I worked out I have nearly 200 books I have bought on obesity and dieting. If I can discover why I have the ability to put on weight so easily I stand a chance of keeping it off once I lose it again. I never want to be over 200lbs again.

From what I have read it is my : insulin, leptin, BGL that have been the problem. Wild swings in BGL caused by eating too many carbs ( which are low calorie so have been the base of my diet for years) means that the glucose level in the blood is either far to high or drops to quickly and gets too low. The brain then screams for more sugar and as short while after a meal your will power goes awol and you are eating again.

When you eat low carb you dont get these wild swings and the BGL stays within a satisfactory range and it is much easier to resist food outside mealtimes in the afternoon and evenings. Your body also starts to manufacture the enzymes to burn up the stored fat and you have an endless supply of energy on tap from the fat on your hips and thighs and belly.

I have been having bigger breakfasts recently, had tinned kipper with my eggs yesterday. Today will be left over braised rump steak and 3 days ago was bream in cream sauce.

Keeping up with the 45 mins on the stationary bike in the evenings. I think it is helping me sleep for longer as before I started this I would be waking at 3.30 not able to get back to sleep. Now I wake at 5am which is much better.

Stationary Bike

Four days ago I set the stationary exercise bike that has been gathering dust in the lounge up in the computer room in front of the screen. Since then I have been putting an episode of All creatures great and small on the computer and watching each episode while pedalling. I try and do a bit of interval where I speed up for 30 pedals and then slow down again.

I have lost another 0.4lbs in those days and getting down to a weight I have not seen for over a year and my legs feel thinner and yesterday I got into a blouse I have not worn for a long time.

Will keep up the pedalling. I cant say I enjoy it but I can endure if for 45 mins if I have something interesting to watch!

Sure it is going to help my insulin resistance and my leptin problem.

Fete

Went to the fete yesterday and made some mince pies to sell on the cake stall. Normally I love pastry and mince pies and would have eaten 3 or 4 of them. This year I can leave them alone as I know what they do to my body.

Had to pay for an extra portion of lunch at the fete as the 2 kebabs and salad did not fill me up! I skipped the pudding table altogether.

Managed to do another 45mins on the bike while watching a DVD I had not seen before. Tried to do interval training where I speeded up for about 30 pedals and then slowed down again, Will try and keep that habit going.

Had hoped to be 170lbs by Christmas, could still make it if I am careful.

Michelle

Forgot Irvingia again

Yesterday I did really well up to the evening. In the morning I was busy moving the computer desk out of the dining room ( I am not tied to the phone line any more so moved the whole caboodle into the office). Realised it was lunch time and had not taken my irvingia an hour before. So decided to skip it. Big mistake. Afternoon was fine but after my tea I got the munchies. I kept going back to the fridge for blue cheese, cold meat and then had cream cheese with sweetener, cinnamon and vanilla. Ended up finishing the bowl.

I have put it behind me now and am learning from the experience. I have not eaten like that for about 3 months ( before that I always used to eat like that!). It would seem that because I did not take the irvingia my brain did not register that I had eaten my tea and then a couple of hours afterwards I started eating again.

I need to get back into being in control around food. Last night I was verging on the out of control again.

New day today and I will take the tablet and keep in control. I was hoping I was 'fixed' but yesterday showed me the cravings are just there round the corner waiting to come back and make me obese again.

Month Loss

I was hoping for another drop in the scale this weekend but it has not happened. Maybe it is the cream?

I worked out in the last month I have lost 4.8lbs. So I am happy if I can continue to lose weight at that rate.

I had to turn up my jeans by about an inch yesterday as the bottoms were getting caught under my heels. They are much looser than they were but as they are stretchy they are not ready for throwing yet.

Going to write Low carb booklet

I decided yesterday that I will start today putting together a low carb dieting booklet to sell.

I saw a personal booklet binder in our local computer shop so can get that plus some plastic covers and cardboard for the front and back. Will make it A5 size so will also buy a guillotine to cut the A4 pages down.

Looking up booklet printing and they say 2007 has a template option to print a booklet automatically. I have not upgraded to 2007 so it might be worth it to get that function.

Was going to start the text today. Will plan out chapters and see how far I get.

Obesity is a leptin problem

It is wonderful to have the confidence to know that I am not going to find myself overeating and binging and putting the weight back on again.

I am trying to think about to when my hormones first went out of sync and I would find myself continually hungry. I would say it was at primary school. I would always go back for seconds of main course and pudding if I could get it.

I very rarely have a problem in the morning as long as I have a cooked breakfast with plenty of protein and oil. Yesterday was poached eggs and fried mushrooms at 7 and I only started feeling hungry at 11. Now I dont continually worry about food in the afternoons. I know I can wait for 5 hours and then have a tasty supper and then I dont eat again before bed.

It takes 3 hours in the morning after I wake up to feel hungry again, so my leptin is working well and persuading my brain that there is plenty of food and still plenty of fat stores so there is no need to be panicky about food.

I am still 35lbs overweight but feel so much better and starting to feel bones emerging again from the fat.

Forgot Irvingia

Amazingly was so busy on errands yesterday forgot to take my irvingia before the restaurant meal.

Made a good choice fish fillet and salad and had no cravings all afternoon despite shopping.

First hunger pang kicked in 4 hours after the meal and got home to have tuna and cheese salad at 7.30 and was in bed by 8.30. Did not leave the 3 hours between food and bed but was too tired to stay up.

Great leptin worked and I felt satiety after the meal without taking the product. So maybe I will not have to take it for the rest of my life. Just if the cravings come back.

Blood type diet

Have just finished the above named book. Found it a very different approach to dieting and losing weight. I was a bit of a sceptic but in my case he is spot on.

As a type O I should be eating more of a cavewoman diet. Meat and veg. I should not be having grains and milk.

I have found my dieting progress much steadier and more controllable now that I dont have milk at all. I also used to take wheat bran every day but he says that wheat bran is also not recommended for Type O.

My DH is type A so he should be eating less meat and more veg and grains. Mealtimes are not going to be easy!

Neanderthin

That book arrived in the post yesterday. I had ordered it from Amazon. His hypothesis is that obesity is an autoimmune disease like arthritis etc. Only just read the first few pages so will see where he is going to take this.

He had arthritis and then diabetes and cured both with going back to a caveman diet.

I definitely had an intolerance to milk and feel so much better now I have given it up and various little health niggles are cured. I also had a problem with wheat but as I gave up all wheat products 3 years ago that has not been so much of a problem.

Surprised to find I have lost 2lbs in 3 days this week. Weight loss has been slow around 0.8lb for the past few weeks and I was not expecting it to speed up again. The blurb on Irvinigia says it can take 8 to 10 weeks to start increasing weight loss. If this is the effect of the irvingia then I am very happy.

Still no cravings in the afternoons and I am learning about hunger something I never really experienced when my weight was so out of control and I was binging all the time.

Primal Blueprint

Just got the above book yesterday and it is making a lot of sense.

For so many years I have been dieting using artificial sweeteners in desserts and low fat/low calorie meal plans. I have been hungry almost every day and as soon as the weight has gone I start putting it back on again and it takes me months before I can summon the strength to get my eating under control again.

This way of eating with nothing sweet and no starch seems to give me a slower weight loss but it is steady and I dont have to worry about the rebound hunger. This gives me confidence that this is going to be my last ever diet. As long as I stick to the main principles I will be able to stay at my new normal slim weight.

On the move again

Please to see a small weight loss again today. Only 0.2lbs so not a vast amount but the scale is going in the right direction.

Had 3 nice meals yesterday. Poached eggs and bacon for breakfast, roast chicken and veg for lunch and salmon salad for supper.

Reading Eating less and she recommends we change our focus to controlling our eating habits rather than controlling our weight. If we can get our eating habits under control the weight loss will happen automatically.

Only another 0.6lbs to go and I will have lost 20lbs while on irvingia. Noticed my jeans are much looser in the legs and are longer so may have to turn them up. They are not being stretched by the fat that used to be there!

Being able to not have cravings in the afternoon is such a big thing for me. Since starting on irvingia I have not been visiting the fridge once in the afternoon to look for a little something. I have my lunch and then am satisfied until it is time for supper.

I feel now I can eat this way for the rest of my life and finally I have a handle on this obesity. I will never be obese again.

Paleo Diet

The book came yesterday so I read it in an afternoon. I was interested to read it but felt he has unnecessarily down on the low carb diets. Also I dont know any woman who can eat 2200 cals per day. That maybe the recommended calorie intake but on that I would be putting on at least a lb a week. I am not sure if his recommendations were aimed at the obese who want to lose weight or people looking for a healthy diet.

Also I would imagine that early man started taming animals long before he started growing grain crops. So cheese and yogurt may have been on the menu before the grains.

Also the fruit that we can buy now is very different from the fruit that would have been obtainable in the paleo era. Todays fruit is much sweeter and is now available all year instead of only at certain seasons.

Am waiting for Neanderthin to turn up and see if that says anything different. Lost 1.6lbs this week. Not staggering weight loss but at least is steady and consistent. I weigh less every Sunday than I did the Sunday before.

Not eating between Meals

With the assistance of Irvingia I am still managing to go between lunch and supper without having any calories at all.

I noticed yesterday I could walk up the hill from the pigs without stopping to take a breather and without getting breathless. Something I could not do a couple of weeks ago.

Weight has not dropped for a few days but I am not going to cut my calories. Already on 1200 so am going to stay on that level and wait for my body to start dropping the weight again.

Best diet is one you dont know you are on

Came across the above quote in a book called Mindless Eating. Thought it a very good idea. That is what I want to do, to get to the point where this is just the way I eat and I no longer feel that "I am on a diet".

I am enjoying this way of eating and know I will never go back to the way I used to snack and overeat as I did before.

Had chicken and greek salad for supper last night as we had guests in for the meal. Ate a bit more than usual but was still in control and served the ice cream for dessert without wanting to have any.

Living Low Carb

Got a really good book the other day. Living Low carb by Jonny Bowden. Wish I had ordered it years ago as it gives the lowdown on 35 low carb diets and is extremely informative.

Have decided I am probably going to be on Irvingia for the rest of my life to keep those cravings at bay. I never want to go back to eating in a trance the way I used to do. It is better to keep taking that rather than being obese and having to take diabetes medication.