Low Carbs

[kerosene]

I am not doing atkins but I am watching my diet again. I use myfitnesspal.com. It's just a website where you can record your food for the day and it calculates your nutrition and calories for you. Pretty much everything I eat I can find in their database so there isn't much manual logging. Just find the item and click on the serving amount. It also tracks your weight and gives you this gratifying graph to show you how much you have lost. I also have an app for it on my android. If anyone wants to be fitnesspal friends, just pm me. (It doesn't show your friends what you weigh, either.)

Last year at this time, I was 15 lbs heavier than I am now, but since I lost some on fitnesspal, I have gained back about 5 lbs of it. Time to get back on the wagon!

[Aliantha]

That's a great resource kerosene! I've already signed up. It doesn't really take atkins style diets into account, but it's good to see how it counts everything up.

Thanks so much for sharing.

[Aliantha]

Tonight I made chicken soup for dinner, and there'll be enough to freeze for those days when I can't be bothered cooking, or for meals tomorrow.

I just made the recipe up as I was going, but it's pretty basic. I'll try and get the quantities right here for anyone that's interested.

2 medium brown onions
12 large button cup mushrooms
1/2 bunch of celery
2tblspn chopped parsley
2tblspn chopped chives
6 cloves of garlic
oil for frying
1 large chicken (I used free range, but whatever's easiest)
about 8 litres of water
1 tblspn sambal
salt and pepper to taste

Heat up the oil in a large pot then add the first six ingredients. When they've softened and the onion has gone translucent, drop the chicken in on top, then fill the pot enough to cover the chicken.

Bring the water to the boil, the lower the heat so the liquid is simmering with the lid on. If you take the lid off, you'll have to keep adding more water, so it's up to you, but I prefer to keep the lid on.

Simmer for around 2 hours or until the flesh falls easily off the bones. When you get to this stage, you need to have a large plate next to the pot and try and pull the carcass out in large pieces, then simply separate the flesh from the bone and put it back in the pot. That's a bit of a tedious process, but it's worth it I think.

Once all the chicken is back in the pot, you should have a fairly solid sort of soup which looks much like the picture below. At this stage I add the sambal (which is really just minced chilli) and salt and pepper. You could also put in a couple of stock cubes if you find the chicken flavour is not very strong.

After that, you're ready to serve.

Tip: If you want your soup low fat, you need to take the skin off the chicken before you put it in the pot. Alternatively, you can cool the soup down overnight or for the day (if you're cooking in the morning) and then simply scrape the fat off the top. I don't like this method though. It kinda makes me not feel like eating the soup after looking at all the fat. lol

[limey]

This ...

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

...I think that's why diets fail, we expect ourselves to be so perfect and if we backslide we think "oh what the hell I screwed it all up" which is a defense mechanism, as well as an excuse to go back to the unhealthy diet. For me, anyway.
...

... and this.

Originally Posted by Aliantha

That's pretty much what I think IM. It's really easy to let your mind go slack and find all sorts of justifications for how it's ok to just give up. I think for me the important thing is to be conscious of these thoughts and control them instead of letting them control me.
...

One chocolate, one slip, isn't failure. How a person reacts to it might be, however.
Keep up the good work, everyone!

[Aliantha]

I got on the scales this morning and it says I've gained 600gms!!!

My honest reaction was, WTF am I even bothering. obviously I'm meant to be fat! Then my logical mind kicked in and reminded me that I've been a little bit stopped up in the outlet over the last couple of days, so that could have something to do with it. My second thought after that was, to stop weighing myself every day and just do a once a week weigh in.

So, Friday is going to be my weigh in day, and I'm going to stick with that which makes my weight loss for last week only 300gms, but that's ok. It's better than a weight gain!

ETA: I'm wondering if my slow down in weight loss is because I'm doing much more exercise and the fat is converting to muscle which means that once my body gets to it's ideal muscle mass, I'll then start losing weight more quickly?

Anyone have any ideas on that?

[infinite monkey]

I think that could absolutely be it. Concentrate less on the numbers and more on how you feel.

I don't weigh myself, and at the doc I tell them I don't want to know the number. They will tell me how much I've lost, though, if I have.

I go by fit of clothes and such. There will always be weight fluctuations anyway, and I would find that discouraging. Maybe weigh yourself less often, if you want the numbers. For me, the "number" is just depressing. I hated the "number" when I was in HS and fit as a fiddle, because I was an athlete, and not a petite little thing...whose numbers were so tiny!

Just some thoughts.

Oh, I don't have a clue what 600 grams equals in pounds.

[Aliantha]

about half a lb.

I've been doing a bit of research this morning. Apparently some people's bodies take longer to create that chemical change on atkins, so if you feel you're not losing weight quickly enough, you should stay on the induction phase for longer, so that's what I'll do i think.

I'm not finding it too bad, so I'm not concerned about that.

[Trilby]

I concentrate on how I feel.

Do I feel better, more energetic, skin looser, clothes fitting better?

then I'm on the right track and I don't sweat the small fluctuations.

A lot of the weight you lose right off on Atkins is water weight. Low carbs is an excellent diuretic.

[Aliantha]

Good to know Bri. Thanks.

How are you feeling today? I feel like I've been running off at the mouth (fingers) ever since you started the thread. lol I'm just a bit excited. Hopefully I'll get over it soon huh?

[monster]

I need to weigh myself everyday to keep me grounded, but realistically -for many women- once a month is ideal. Bodies change so much with the menstrual cycle. Women are probably at their heaviest on the first day of their period (I certainly am), so most likely the day they don't want to see the results when they step on the scales, but that is also the day most likely to provide the most accurate month-to-month comparison. First thing in the morning, after a bathroom visit, before any tea/coffe/water/diet coke/moma's pick-me-up or food.

[Lola Bunny]

Here is the tofu shirataki dish I ate the other day. The noodle tasted different from regular pasta, of course. Still, I had hoped it would taste like regular fettucine, hehe. Actually, it lacked of taste. It was a bit chewy but rather than spending all night chewing it, I practically swallowed them whole. Who chews their food anyways. I think this noodle might fit best in a noodle soup type of dish. In conclusion, the dish was okay because the shrimps were quite flavorful. Perhaps had my sister seasoned the noodles more, it may or may not tasted differently. But I was fine with it. I'm not a picky eater.

[Aliantha]

That looks yummy Lola!

[Lola Bunny]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

How are you feeling today? I feel like I've been running off at the mouth (fingers) ever since you started the thread. lol I'm just a bit excited. Hopefully I'll get over it soon huh?

Ali, I think it's great that you're updating often about your progress. It helps keep your excitment going. I personally like it because I can take this opportunity to share my experience too. I usually have no one to talk to about these things. And don't sweat about the daily or occasionaly weight fluctuations. It's the long run outcome that counts. It will take time. The fat in our body has gotten too comfortable and is just too lazy to move. When you start plateauing, which you will, we will help you overcome that then. In the meantime, keep it up!

[Lola Bunny]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

That looks yummy Lola!

Thanks! If you read carefully, you'll notice that I didn't cook it. Notice the portion size? I used to eat twice as much. Now I am only eating that little, and I intend to keep it that way so I won't gain back my weight.

[Trilby]

Sorry - I ate a baddie.

had peppers yesterday and I think I've been poisoned - I was up all night with very bad symptoms.

I'll write more when I'm better.

Ugh. Last time I felt like this was four years ago.