End of week 1.

I weighed myself on Sunday and have lost 5lb – fantastic! Now I know a lot of this is just water and glycogen loss and not fat but it still feels wonderful.

I did the Hydro Women’s 5km run on Sunday and really struggled. I managed to run about two thirds of it which shows how much my fitness has dropped by as I used to be able to do 5km without stopping. I’ve also caught a cold since and am really blocked up. I found last year that every time I exercised my immune system couldn’t cope with it. I will stick to Tai Chi for now and add some weights into my programme in two weeks time (once the very busy two weeks at work are at an end).

We had lunch at ‘Giraffe’ on Kensington High Street. I ordered the ‘very healthy chicken salad’ and surprisingly welcomed it rather than feeling deprived. The mind-set of this diet is really good. First of all you view food as something that can enhance your hormonal state if you eat the correct things so you feel like you are doing yourself good. Second, you telll yourself at every meal ‘I can’t each much now, because I’ll be eating again in less than four hours’.  This is really working for me. My portion size has definitely shrunk.

I enjoyed my first carb load meal on Sunday evening. I made lentil soup and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Low-carb week nearly at an end

I am coming to the end of the first low-carb week.  I have to say it has been much easier than I thought it would be.  It helped that I was off work so was able to eat when I needed to rather than having to prepare in advance.   Next week I need to pack up some suitable snacks to take to work such as fruit, peanuts, cottage cheese and cooked meats that I can keep in the fridge.

I haven’t missed carbs at all and I’ve only felt hungry when I left it too long between meals.  Apart from the second day, my carb cravings have disappeared.  I haven’t even felt jealous watching people tuck into prawn crackers, rice and noodles.

Yesterday I was able to even low-carb at the chinese!  I had crispy duck for starters and avoided the plum sauce (shame as that is what makes it!).  For my main I skipped the rice and had steamed crab and fried beansprouts.  My technique with the nut crackers needs to be improved!

I’m really looking forward to finding out what progress I have made this week.  I don’t feel as bloated as before which is a good sign.

New Weight Loss Programme – Hormonally Intelligent

Background

At the start of this year I was 10st 5 which was a little too heavy for 5″3 but otherwise ok and a respectable size 12 -14.  Then I got put on steriods for my eczema and I ballooned.

I went up to 12st3 in under 10 weeks was finding size 16 clothes too tight and I was thoroughly miserable.  On the drugs I had so little energy I was practially a zombie, had a period every 20 days (!) and felt like crap.

After coming off the steriods in April my weight went down on its own to 11st 9 and stabalised there (and to cap it all the excema came back worse than before!) I finally I feel that the drugs are out of my system – I have a lot more energy than before and feeling so much better that I think it is time to tackle this remaining weight.

So which programme to choose?

I have never done very well with any structured diet.  I follow them faithfully and barely lose anything.  Weight Watchers, Rosemary Connely etc did nothing for me!  I even tried Rejuva Slim a few years back and despite living on nothing but vegetables couldn’t shift the weight even though my friend who did the programme with me and cheated regularly lost 2 st!  I used to do loads of exercise and didn’t shift a bean.

Anyway I see an alternative therapist regularly and she recommended a book from the US that talks about changing your hormonal system so that you become a ‘fat-burner’ rather than a ’sugar-burner’.  It is very expensive at $29.99 and I bought the whole programme including the exercise information for $63.  However having read it, it is well worth the money as it is the most intellegent, well researched book on the subject that I have ever read.  The author shows how common assumptions and advice about weightloss are just nonsense and lead you to gain weight and ill-health!  The book describes how to manipulate your insulin and glucagon release by managing the carbohydrates that you eat, so that when you carb load, there is space in your glycogen stoes to put it so that is doesn’t turn to fat.  Insulin is released for its anabolic (muscle building effects) and doesn’t store the carbs as body fat as there is no overspill.  On the days when you minimise carbs glucagon is realised due to eating protein and fat regularly.  The glucagon breaks down the protein in what you have eaten, rather than your muscle stores and insulin is low so it isn’t converting everything to body fat.  The first part of the programme is the hardest becuase you are shifting from sugar-burning to fat-burning.

So this is the programme I am going to be following. www.hormonalfitness.com.

Here is a brief update so far:  I started on Sunday 27th August which went very well.  I found the low carb bit easy to keep too, however getting food whilst at a festival that evening wasn’t easy.  I ended up having a tray of roast pork for dinner which wasn’t very nice.  I felt quesy after eating that as I ate too much.  This diet stipulates ‘little and often’ and that is why!

Monday 28th August I felt dreadful.  This is the worst I have felt in ages.  I woke up tired with a headache and lay on the sofa all day as I felt so weak.  This is as a result of 2 things a) being a sugar-burner deprived of sugar and b) I have found out that my excema is caused by a fungal infection and the dreadful feeling is the die-off of the fungus (nice!).  However despite craving carbs I made it through the day ok.

Tuesday 29th August.  Felt much better, able to stick to the diet much more easily.  I went to see my healer Lynne in the afternoon and she checked my liver, and one of the enzymes was off because MSG had blocked a receptor in the pancreas.  She did a CKT balance and I am not allowed any MSG for a month!  This will make Friday’s evening meal a chinese interesting! – I need a low carb, MSG-free meal and no alcohol!  (On the programme you are allowed small amounts of alchohol but I can’t have any as it feeds the fungus).  So noodles and a gloopy curry are out!

Wednesday 30th August.  Really enjoyed the diet today – how can you not enjoy roast duck breast, with roasted veg for tea!  My H likes it as I am cooking lots of meat which he likes and as he is not doing the diet he gets the same as me with a few new potatoes or similar.  My carb cravings have reduced and my energy is much better.  I think at the moment might be undereating a little, so I will have to increase my food when I start to exercise.  I also need to plan my meals for when I got back to work next week otherwise I am going to struggle.  It has really made me realise how bad most convenience food is.

I am not going to weigh myself for a week – I started at 11st 9 and 44% bodyfat according to my scales.  My jeans are a US size 12 which is a UK 16.  I really do feel that this is going to work for me so I shall start saving for some new clothes!