15th November 2020

 I’m disgusted with myself 😡😖

Put on and then some, have done nothing but eat total crap this week

Now feel bloated, sluggish, headaches, Nauseated, had a few Ergh sweaty moments etc 

Carbs, sugar n fat - nothing remotely healthy or in the “diet” zone

Got my lemon hot water to start the day, finally been for a walk (been ages 😕) 

Feel I need to confess and admit 

It’s been too freaking easy to slip into those old habits, but now I see why I felt so shite all the time! 

Two weeks AL, apart from the odd Twillight and decorating (which should keep me busy!) it’s all about me 

Just concentrating on today, like the addict I am

Mon 10th Nov 2020

 Lots of night shifts this week - so basically my meals are going to be boring and the same 😐 lazy on my part, but convieniant.

Breakfast will be my usual toasted pitta with dairylea light cheese spread and marmite, I often have this with raspberries/blackberries and greek 0% yogurt.

Lunch has been and will be a salad combination of mussels or prawns or pickled herrings.  Filling and tasty!

Dinner will be spicy chicken thighs with red cabbage, mushrooms, pak choi and peppers.

At work I have been having a hard boiled egg, 2x Alpen bars and an apple; more than I was having before, but I have been noticing I was getting very snacky at night - I don't think I am eating enough at dinner and will address this on my next run of shifts.

So, until Friday this will be my last blog as my meals are all the same and I wont be in the land of the living for cohesive thought!

Week 26 stats

 

Sun 8th Nov 2020

 Well I kind of failed this week on my blog plan!

Not so much actually DOING the plan! I managed to lose half the weight I put on..... go me!

Tomo' starts another week, so another chance to get back into the swing of daily blogging and taking pix, mostly for MY benefit, as is all of this.

As can be seen by my weekly stats my figures are a little off still, but next weeks meals are already planned.

Onwards and downwards 😀

Fri 6th Nov 2020

 Busy day today, lot of little chores that needed doing.  So managed to "forget" about breakfast - its been a long while since that happened!

Had scrambled eggs on pitta for lunch with an Alpen bar and raspberries

Dinner  was spicy chicken with red cabbage, mushrooms, Pak choy, broccoli and courgette.

I think it will take me a week to get through the courgette my friend gave me out of her garden!

Later I had another pitta with cheese spread and marmite whilst the Hubby had real cheese on toast! 

Thurs 5th Nov 2020

 Nearly forgot my food post today!  better late than not..... 

Breakfast was smoked salmon on pitta with scrambled eggs - comfort food.

Lunch, I did forget to take pix - but it was homemade tomato soup with mixed nuts, berries and greek yogurt with an alpen bar as a snack later.

Dinner was veggie burgers and mixed salad.

Feeling full and very healthy today!

Wed 4th Nov 2020

 Realised today I was not taking pix or blogging! this is not good, as this means I am so far OUT of being aware of what Im eating.

Not going to deny that this week is proving difficult.

Lots of work, life and general stress going on at the moment, and my goto comfort has always been food. 

But each meal, day, week is a new one and chance to pull it back and get back to where I want to be.

So today I have made a conscious effort to take pix and write this! its a small but significant start 😀

Breakfast was only an Alpen bar and coffee - not great but was over tired from staying up all night watching the USA election!

Lunch was very basic; prawns, low cal dressing and lettuce!

Dinner was an old fav of comfort food; prawn & cabbage "melt" with salmon.

I’m so pleased I was able to stick to plan today;  first of many! 

November 2020

So, I seem to have lost my way a little this month. 

Been Yo-Yo-ing on the scales - down 2lbs up 2lbs etc - infuriating and exhausting.

So today is the 1st of the week, 1st of the month and the start of the next 6 months in my journey.

I have basically had a month off; although it was reluctantly, angry at times, sulking at others and frustrated most of it!!

Week 26 starts a new, clean sheet.

I will go back to basics with the every day blog, weekly round up, food prep and meal photos!

I will go back to planning each day/week, each meal and each snack to get a balance and also some order.

I will go back to the intermittent fasting so my tummy knows who is Boss!

I will go back to the 20/20 walking (post and for how long) instead of the random times for the last month.

Gone are the long summer days/evening, easy to walk in - but I have lots of wet weather gear!   and now I have the long dark evenings of hiding in my conservatory dancing my little socks off! 

I have achieved SO much in the last 6months but now I need to finalise my journey, cement my new choices and add a few more good practices into the mix!

onwards and downwards!

Week 24

 

Week 24 Round Up!!

So you can see by my stats that this week has not been good.

Not sure where my mind went but it wasn't a good place, so I just went with it in the end.

Yes my Cals and Fat are waaaaaay off! but I'm pleased that I logged everything and stayed in some sort of control.

Did I put on weight - yes, but thats ok too. I am now mid way to my final planned goal, Im also happy with how I am now, I feel comfy and able to do things. 

Its a little blip! I have taken this week as a little "holiday" and just enjoyed my meals, to a degree, with no guilt.

What did I learn???

That I don't actually like bread, or my body doesn't anymore.

I don't actually want to eat rice, spuds or pasta - even with it in front of me I chose not to eat it!

That I am disappointed with chocolate! it's not how I remember it, so the odd bit here and there is ok but I can't cope with the quantity that I used too.

That I do miss crunchy things - biscuits, toast, chips, crisps, crackers etc (basically empty carbs!) Now I did over indulge in toast and had a few shortcake biscuits and the odd plate of chips, but I avoided crisps and felt bored by the chips after a few of them..... again, like the chocolate they aren't as my head remembers them, so why bother!

I think I got all my cravings out of the way, and realised that I actually DO enjoy my new way of healthy eating. I don't like the bloated, sick feeling of over indulgence but the odd blow out snack or meal is ok.... this bodes well for the future.

So I'm back on track, starting this am..... my meals are planned for the week, I have juggled and changed a few things, I just need to enjoy prepping again! I think I got tired of that too.... but batch cooking/prepping is my next goal.

I also got rid of some work stress in the last week, things that were hanging over me are now settled.

Life is good and getting better......

Weekly Round Up Week 23

So thoughts on the week.....

A very random week, all over the place at work with covering sickness kind of threw my plans for food and exercise out of the window!

A nice weekend with Skippy but it always revolves around eating, so good and bad, I felt much more in control this weekend but we also went out for lunch AND dinner on the same day, followed by a hotel breakfast - but tbh it wasnt all that and I didnt over indulge.....

Hopefully work is less needy of me this week, not that I really feel up to much with the weather changing to dramatically, the plan to walk to work tonight was cancelled when it started to chuck it down as I left the house!

Still at least my food can be on track, tomo' is a day of batch cooking, so looking forward to that.

Onwards and downwards :)

Weekly Round Up Week 23

 

Week 22

 

Weekly Round Up 21

So trying to get back on track with the eating and exercising post our "off plan" week in York.

Not as easy as first thought, it awoke lots of cravings I didnt know I had! and Im still struggling with them, however I have realised that things just dont taste the same anymore and I feel a bit crud if I dont exercise!

Plus the guilt element is enormous!!

So back to plan this week with some tasty meals. A couple of stand out favs have been the chicken/pepper curry which I packed out with kale & BNS instead of the rice.

Another firm fav is the veggie burgers with salad..... Skippy had a Wagu burger but was still eyeing up my dinner!

They are packed full of fibre too so really fill you up!

My love of salad has come back with a vengeance and this week I will be starting to walk to and from work, not just one way! but with the dark nights now closing in I have bought myself a little Hi-Viz backpack cover so I glow in the dark!

My stats this week show my struggle with the bread/carb craving but will be knocking that on the head this week!

Week 21

 

Weekly Round Up 20

So this week we went on a mini holiday to York.

Beautiful city with the opportunity to do lots of walking, but also eat, hopefully I would now feel in control.....

Meh, not so much!

We booked an apartment so that we could plan 90% of our meals, which worked well for the most part, but sadly the hob/cooker was not up to much and I am (apparently) spoilt at home with 5 gas rings and able to cook multiple pans at once.

This only really became a problem on the first night (my expectations were high), we arrived, unpacked and then went for our first outing on a Ghost Tour, on the walk home we decided to stop for a beer in a micro brewery. I under estimated how hungry I had become (mostly having not eaten more than one pitta and some cheese spread all day whilst traveling) and was severely tempted by the bar snacks of wings, chips, etc.

We decided to come back to the apartment (it was nearly 9pm) to eat - that's when the old snappy dragon in me came out.... the hob was only supporting one pan and not getting hot quick enough - Im used to cooking the prawn/cabbage melt in 20mins this took nearly 45!!  

I was not impressed with myself and the lack of control; it left a sour finishing note to an otherwise brilliant day.

Over night we discussed; this was a "holiday", I was to relax a little and have the odd treat.

The next day was planned with bfast, snacks and a yummy at home dinner, we were so busy walking and sight seeing (and falling in love all over again, easy to do with my Skippy) that food was not an issue, although I did feel, a bit, that I was missing out on all the amazing smells as we walked markets and the river banks.

We had an evening/dusk river boat tour and both decided that if we saw a nice place to eat on the way "home" we would go for it.....

We found a Chinese HotPot!  omg what an experience!  Basically a big pot divided into 3 sections with differing flavours/heat of broth, you then choose from various meats, veggies and seafood to dunk (like a fondue!)..... what fun we had! and I calorie guestimated most of it.

Tuesday was supposed to be our day of chilling out, laying in, vegging on sofa with loads of movies and doing not much!  But Skippy was keen to explore, so off we went again!  Uh oh, we found the food market! Lots of little treats later and we did eventually end up on the sofa watching films.

Wednesday was a full on walking day, nearly 20k steps! We decided to go by train which forced us into walking everywhere! It was an exploring day of fishes and castles; once home we were in bed (and asleep) by 10pm!

Thursday was time to leave, but we managed a good roam in town before the drive home and back to normality.

I have found, since being home, that getting back into my change of eating has been a bit difficult. So basically bad habits of a lifetime are still with me. But I enjoyed a "naughty" lunch (shop cooked chicken with bread rolls and mayonnaise!) with Skippy yesterday, even some chocolate on the sofa in the afternoon, which tbh I didnt really enjoy, and today is a fresh start for my next few months of journey on the weight loss, keeping my sugars under control and increasing fitness.

We have another mini break booked for November, we should have been lazing on a beach in Morocco, but with current Covid thats a no go, so we have decided to decorate the lounge and have a few days in London seeing the Museums. 

We have opted for a B&B so good choices on lunches and some treat dinners are going to be in the plans.... thats NINE weeks away, so I am aiming another stone off (plus the 1lb I put on this week) and hopefully be more in control of my choices, not desperate to munch on anything naughty or feel I am missing out.

My Ultimate Aim is for the new way of eating to become a lifestyle not a diet, for my goal weight to be achieved, my Diabetes to continue to be in full remission, my Liver to be fully healed (having no clotting issues or fatty deposits) and for my fitness levels to be in a much more healthy range - The Ultimate Date for this is 4th May 2021 - this would be a year after diagnosis.   Its an aim......

Month 5

 

Week 20

 

Week 19

 

Week 18

 

Weekly Roundup! 6th September 2020

So my first weekly round up of thoughts, new menu bits, plans etc!

Its been a bit of a mental struggle this week. I think mostly as a come down from the amazing achievements being confirmed last week, followed by:

Monday being a first trip to the cinema since all this started which was usually a pig out fest for me. We would always have the large serving of nachos with triple cheese, a bag of chocolate bits and large fizzy drink  (each!) and on the way home we would get a MacD or KFC bucket.  However, this first trip back was a part success, we did have our large nachos but neither of us could finish the portion (previously I would have finished off Hubbys too!) plus we obviously didnt get a fast food takeaway but neither of us wanted dinner (a planned chicken salad) when we got home.... the guilt was still great!

Tuesday was insomnia day and whilst I got lots done and managed to exercise alot I was also very hungry most of the day. Not to mention the guilt from the day before  munchies.

Wednesday just felt meh as I was over thinking the diet macros (carb, fat, sugar etc)

I need to remember that this is NOT a diet but a change of life, part of me is still in diet mode, but I think this is driven by other people to be honest.

Lack of a booked holiday also has mucked my head up with not having a set date goal now. We have had to cancel our trip to Morocco in November due to travel restrictions and as we still dont know where we can go we have decided to just not book anything; this alone, was making us both a little sad; however, we have since decided to decorate the lounge/bedroom and include a short/cheap to London.

The change in weather has also, for the first time ever, triggered a sad response for me. Not sure why, I usually love the autumn and coming of winter, glad to see the back of the incessant heat and sunshine.

In addition, you would think that having the majority of my clothes no longer fit would be a brilliant thing but I have lost some firm favourites, my comfort/hidey zone for so long and my unwillingness to spend money on  new clothes when I'm in transition. Ebay has become my friend.

I worked days at the weekend instead of nights and this was my eating plan for the two days 😁

And finally my stats for the week 

Week 17 comments

So big changes to the blog this week. This is the first weekly update 😃

So other than a fantastic news week I also had a little wobble, but that was soon solved. Worked out what I was craving and worked it into my food plan for the week. Put me over on my salt but not by much! and doing it on a weekly plan rather than sharing daily doesnt show a huge swing on one day. 

Once said craving was sated I felt so much better and felt ready to move on with the next 3 months 💪

No new foods this week; working on a new menu to include more plant based foods and reduce my meat input. The fish I eat tends to be from a sustainable source and rich in Omega 3/6s so Im not ready to limit those yet, with my Liver still healing. 

Started walking to and from work this week too, got a bit hairy with some of the weather! but after a few days of not really doing my walking, even post meals, I felt very lazy/complacent and wanted to kick my own butt!

Im really starting to notice the weight loss in my clothes, not so much my face, though others do! and in strange places like my feet going a smaller size! and obviously my boobs are looking less voluptuous and more "tangerines in socks" at the moment! but the fat is shifting around on my body! no need for skin surgery just yet 😛

Still got a fair way to go, but the novelty of loss has not yet waned and my menu is still very varied. 

So, onwards and downwards for another week.

Week 17

What is Insulin Resistance and HbA1C?

HbA1c

HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last three months. If you have diabetes, an ideal HbA1c level is 48mmol or below.

HbA1c is what’s known as glycated haemoglobin. This is something that’s made when the glucose (sugar) in your body sticks to your red blood cells. Your body can’t use the sugar properly, so more of it sticks to your blood cells and builds up in your blood. Red blood cells are active for around 2-3 months, which is why the reading is taken quarterly.

HbA1c can change for lots of reasons, including:

• being unwell
• medicines, like steroids
• changes in lifestyle
• feeling very stressed or depressed.

Remission is when a person with type 2 diabetes has healthy blood glucose levels for the long-term, without taking any diabetes medications. An HbA1c level of 48mmol (6.5%) or less is used to define remission.

For the majority of healthy individuals without diabetes a normal blood sugar level is less that 45mmol.

Insulin resistance 

The role of insulin is to allow cells of the body to take in glucose to be used as fuel or stored as body fat. 

Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don't respond well to insulin and can't easily take up glucose from your blood. As a result, your pancreas makes more insulin to help glucose enter your cells.

It also means that glucose is more likely to build up in the blood and this can lead to too high blood sugar levels. Causing alsorts of damage to tissues and cells.

Obesity and/or an inactive lifestyle, and a diet high in carbohydrates are the primary causes of insulin resistance.

It is certainly possible to reduce the effects of insulin resistance and there are a number of effective ways to do this.

• Low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets
• Very-low-calorie diets
• Weight loss surgery
• Taking a lot of exercise in combination with a healthy diet

28th August 2020

So with amazing results this week..... Info to follow, I have made a few changes to my Blog.

At the start of the week I spoke with the Dietician who basically gave me a Gold Star!

Im doing everything correctly, setting achievable goals and hitting them. 

Advice: Continue on with the current plan!

Then I had my blood tests done and the results were fantastic!

My overall/joined Lipid levels were 1.9; in the lower range of normal!   My Liver is healing - clotting factor is still a bit squiffy, but that is the Covid+ damage lingering.

My antibody test came back as positive too, which is brilliant - 6 months on and I have a good immune response 😀

Finally my HbA1C (see my post on "What is an HbA1C)  was down to 36; thats not just lower, its not just pre-diabetic its within a NORMAL range!!

I am in FULL remission, so she will monitor me again in 6 months, if it stays that way then I will go to yearly!!

She was highly impressed. 😸

So now the goal is primarily weight loss to keep my insulin resistance at bay, heal my Liver, relax my joints and generally be healthy!

So with these fabulous results I am changing my Blog to weekly. Weekly & Monthly stats - with a weekly update on how I have done during the week, new menu choices, new foods discovered, pitfuls, exercise updates and the odd post on various Thoughts & Opinions!

26th August 2020

Feeling much better today, more in control!  Got up early as had a work meeting, thought I would give walking IN to work a whirl!  Got there ok but meeting was cancelled! so after a quick chat with people I dont tend to see on nights I walked home again!! It was a really positive feeling knowing that I CAN do all that walking and not feel half dead after!! SO starting Friday I will be aiming to walk to and from work! 👍

Breakfast when I finally got home was scrambled eggs on pitta with smoked salmon  💓

Lunch was a mussel salad with cherries and mixed berries in greek yogurt. - sadly I forgot to take a picture. 😕

Dinner was a new trial of Rainbow Bolagnaise!

Basically a bucket of colourful veg with mince (5%) which I hope to wean us all on to Quorn mince soon with a jar of Low Fat Dolmio sauce (surprisingly this is lower in sugar/cals than the low sugar jar!!) 

you will note that cals and fat content were under today - its the week view, not just the day I focus on 😀

Cals 1263

Carbs 90

Protein 142.2

Sugar 45.6

Fat 36.4

Fibre 20.8

25th August 2020

 Went a bit over on the cals and fat today, was feeling very munchy, probably post night shift as I was also not able to sleep much and feeling a bit wiggy.

Breakfast was pitta with cheese spread and marmite before falling into bed.

Lunch was leftover tomato soup, mixed nuts, cherries and a FibreOne cake bar.

Dinner kept changing, in the end we had chicken & pepper curry, I had a bag of chopped kale with mine to try and fill me up..... I went to bed early instead!

Cals 1486

Carbs 109.4

Protein 108.9

Sugar 50.8

Fat 66

Fibre 32.4

24th August 2020

Post night shift home to a pitta with cheese spread and marmite, some seafood sticks, berries & yogurt before falling into bed.

Grilled spicy chicken with warm lettuce (this is now a firm fav)  with tomato soup and Alpen bar.

My normal 4am snack of boiled egg, lettuce and Alpen bar is at the ready!

 Cals 1398

Carbs 131.9

Protein 109.3

Sugar 52

Fat 45.4

Fibre 26.5

Month 4

 

Week 16