h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oops, forgot to post here last week... I'd lost 1.1 pounds. I'm going to stop commenting on my waist unless there's a change, because I'm getting tired of typing the same thing every week

I lost 0.7 pounds this time, which surprises me, because I didn't do well on my down days this week while Tom was out of town.

Well, things have been quiet on the diet front for me, but the last three weeks have surprised me. After the eat-everything-in-sight problem I was having in the last few weeks of my pregnancy (if only he'd've come early instead of late!!) my appetite has settled down to something approaching that of a normal person. While I expect it can't last forever it has been a real pleasure not to be ruled by food. Of course, being kept on the run by a little one probably helps!

I did manage to put on 1st 10lb (ish) over and above baby weight so I have a good amount to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm not going to think about it at the moment as I need to make sure I'm eating well enough and consistantly enough to breastfeed, but it's good to have an idea of where I'm headed. So far I have lost about 6lb, but that is more likely my body sorting itself out after pregnancy/labour rather than anything I have done. Still, onwards and downwards!

Breastfeeding uses LOADS of calories, but you're right to focus on getting good nutrition to pass on.

Belated congratulations!

Since my husband had his heart op on 25 January I haven't really been able to concentrate on eating well, nor have I been able to get to the gym as much as I'd have liked. But this will pass, and I'll be back on track fairly soon. Haven't dared wiegh myself in over a month!

Got weighed yesterday at the docs - 9 st 11. Which for fully clothed at the end of teh day wasn't tooo bad.

I did get a lovely surprise today when I tried on a pair of Not Your Daughter's Jeans (in a sale shop for £10, with the retail price of £150 still on the ticket)

Size 4!!!!!! OK that's USAian, but even so that's an 8 in real numbers!

That's great, Beatrice!! A size 8? I haven't worn the USian version of that size since I was 18...

How's everyone doing? It seems like I've lost and regained the same 5-7 pounds every month for 2 years. I'm getting so frustrated. I've also been having bad allergic reactions again, due to adding in foods I know I shouldn't eat. It's time for desperate measures.

Here's the new program. I'm going to try combining low carb with modified JUDDDD. On work days, I'll have only one meal a day, after work. I can manage this when I work all day, but have a hard time with it when I'm home. This one meal will be anything I want as long as it's low carb. I'm not going to count calories. Then on days that I'm at home, which is usually Fri- Sun, I'll have a nice low carb brunch and low carb for supper.

For the purpose of this diet, low carb means plenty of protein, fat and low-carb vegetables plus a little bit of starchy veg, rice and fruits such as melon and berries. No sugar, no wheat. No snacking. Meals only.

If I can only stick with this, I should see the weight start to shift again.

I did get to my goal of size 10 (US) not-stretchy jeans (though not my weight goal), then *tried* to maintain. Since I was "maintaining" I let my down days creep up. Then I stopped for a bit, realized I'd gained some, and restarted, switching my down days to MWF, so I wouldn't have to juggle days because of the 2nd Th of the month, and so that I wouldn't have to worry about calorie counts on T, because that's turned into date night with Tom (because that's when our friend can sit for us--the default is that she comes, and we don't have the inlaw faffing). I managed to totally forget that Mr. C, the teacher I work with, generally brings in food for the kids on F but I figured I could just have a low Sat if F was high. Then the building the bookstore was in was sold (didn't know it was even for sale until we got the 30 day notice...) so the M night meetings were moved to our house, and a potluck was instituted on that night. Plus, since I don't work during summer vacation, I'm home all day with the girls, and have a hard time throwing out uneaten food (and I'm the only person in this house that will eat leftovers, most times). So I have again quit, and have gained somewhere around 10 pounds, and the jeans are tight again, and I'm muffin-topping over them. So I need to start again, staying with MWF downs--M nights, I can make healthy stuff and just eat small servings, no seconds, and save some dessert items for the next day (this week, 3 people brought cookies, and I had leftover cake from a dessert potluck the night before--yes, there was real food, as well) and can forgo the treats on F once school starts up next month. I'm planning on starting next week. Feel free to remind me on FB so I don't forget and have breakfast on M!

Amy, have you ever tried the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet? I've been sort of doing it but not really sticking to it like I should. It has one "reward" meal a day and two "complimentary" meals a day. It works for me for maintenence, but I haven't followed it closely enough to actually lose on it. The rules are pretty easy. For the reward meal, you can eat anything you want as long as you finish in 1 hour or less. For the two complimentary meals, you need to eat low carb. I think keep it to protein, salad and the very low-carb vegetables. But with it you get one good meal every day.

I'm tempted to do this for the rest of August -- do it the right way -- and see what happens. If not, I can switch to the program outlined above. No matter which I do, I absolutely have to give up all wheat and processed foods.

That sounds interesting. Do the complimentary meals need to be low calorie as well as low carb? Because I could see myself filling up on cheese and whatnot

Nope. Just low carb. And the reward meal can literally be anything you want. You don't count calories or carbs, just watch the clock.

That sounds a lot more do-able, and it would be easy enough to shift the reward meal around if I needed to (probably usually be dinner). I'm guessing beans count as a carb, but most of the soups I've been laying in to prepare for starting JUDDD again should be low carb. Then again, low carb isn't the same as no carb, so maybe I should do some googling--any of the soups that are too high carb can go to the girls or Tom for lunches instead of to me, so no problem there.

Obviously, you don't deliberately overeat. But if you're hungry, you can always have a bit of meat or cheese or bloiled egg or something to take tghe edge off. You don't have to be hungry. After this original polan came out they modified it and made it a bit stricter, added more rules. But the original version was so simple and easy to stay on that loads of people still do it. Google Rachael Heller.

Dang, sorry for all the typos in that one. My fingers are really stiff and painful again.

Sounds like you should do JUDDD again just for that (My rosacea's still fairly calm, despite not doing JUDDD anymore Only flare-up was actually mild sunburn--I wasn't expecting to man the yard sale last weekend for more than an our or so while Tom finished getting the signs up...)

Yeah, I know I should. For some reason I can't stay on it anymore. I'm really upset with myself over it. CAD is much easier to live with. Since some researchers believe that inflammation is caused by carbohydrate, especially sugar, any lower carb diet should help reduce inflammation. I could still try for lower calories every other day on CAD without having to go as low as with JUDDDD.

Great news about the rosacea!

Pink nose is much better than red! And I've found what looks to be good makeup (Gracie got into mine and so I don't know what's contaminated and what's not) that will not only cover up but also help calm. I just need to watch our bank account for a bit, since summertime is lean-finances-time (Tom's back pay from fireworks-selling mostly went to service debt this year).

I think I've talked myself into doing CAD at least until Labor Day. Maybe by then I'll be able to tackle JUDDDD again.

I'm still bfeeding , so no dieting, but since I have started introducing solid food into hus diet I've started slowly losing again. I think it is because ,I am taking the time to cook real meals for him, they are much better for me than the quick scratch meals I was hacking together before. Buying a cookbook was the best thing Ieve did! Pick a series of meals on Sunday, relinquish control. Fab.

Vip, I get into allergy trouble when I get lazy and start using processed convenience foods instead of making all my meals from scratch. I know how easy it is to slip into that habit. Making out menus in advance is smart.