Blood Sugar Diet - 1.5 weeks down, 6.5 weeks to go!

I know, I should be reviewing a week at a time, but I am time strapped so I need to do my blogging as time permits.  Currently I am between University semesters and madly trying to spring-clean the house (which is far dustier than I hoped), trying to do some bookings for my European trip next year and of course the ever present WORK!  If only I could cut out work, I would have everything else done easily.  :)

So, since I last wrote, I have now completed another week.  I am now on day 12 (I think).  So here's a quick overview of what's happened in the last week.

• Day 5 - Sunday - a day for sleeping in?  a day for family activities?  No.  For me, today was a day of cooking.  Cooking heaps of my favourite healthy meals for freezing and eating during the next week or so.  Once I start Uni Semester 3 I will need these meals and won't have nearly as much prep time on the weekends.  Surprisingly I was able to hold off eating until 11am.  And that was with me cooking up a storm.  I decided to try and do the 16:8 eating today.  That is, 16 hours fasting between meals with eating during an 8 hour window.  I made it to 15 hours and then decided that I needed to eat.  Again, no weight loss.  So disappointing, but I know that the body fluctuates with fluid so I will just have to persevere.  Had a good day eating.  Wasn't too hungry and ended the day on less than 1000 calories.
• Day 6 - another 1kg gone - total of 3.4 kilos in 6 days....I have NEVER lost so much weight, so fast....First working week day.  Prepared with all my foods before work I managed to stick to the plan.  Ran 3.1km after work and felt good.  I haven't been doing much running lately so had heaps of energy, just the legs were struggling a bit.  Gave myself a little extra to eat as I can generally eat the everything in sight after running and ended the day on 887 calories. 
• Day 7 - another 400gms lost.  Amazing!  Feeling good.  Ended the day on 771 calories and did a 5km walk with a friend.  Feeling great!
• Day 8 - Exactly 1 week done and 4kg lost - no weight loss today, but happy with 4kg.  My body is stressing though.  I have started a strange "that time of the month" 2 weeks early.  Very light, but with cramping and not feeling well.  Also migraine today.  Not sure if it's from diet, or stress of the roadworks they're doing outside my house.  Lost access to my driveway on monday night and returning after dark last night I couldn't find the entrance.  This is a rural area with no Street lighting and a busy highway.  Was very stressful.  Ate a lot more today.  Probably closer to the 1200 calories as with a migraine I felt I needed some more carbs.  This diet isn't just about weight loss it's about reducing sugar so sugar and carbs have been minimal.
• Days 9-10 - No more weight loss, but still experiencing that strange TOTM (time of the month), headache has slowly receeded and starting to feel better.  Haven't done any more exercise, but sticking to the calories.
• Day 11 - Saturday - feeling a lot better.  Pain and discomfort in stomach gone and have more energy again.  I think my digestion has been stressing too.  Hopefully my body will get used to this new way of eating  Managed to more or less stick to calories until I broke out the block of dark chocolate I thought would be a treat, but thought would last awhile.  I was WRONG.  Once I started eating that bad-boy I had to keep on eating until it was finished!  Wow, I have some bad will-power.  Better not to buy the stuff in the first place.  Lesson learned.  Only buy small bars if I intend to eat any type of chocolate.  Luckily was only a 100gm bar of Lindt and not the 250gm bar of Cadbury's.
• Day 12 - today - finally another weight loss.  Another 400gms gone despite the chocolate.  Probably that won't hit the hips until tomorrow.  Trying to not eat too much today.  It's only 10:40am and I've had about 250 calories so far and craving all types of bad stuff.  May be a difficult day today.  I wonder if that sudden intake of sugar last night has awoken those naughty cravings again.  Goes to show how easy it is to fall off that wagon and not jump back on. 

Overall I am finding this diet fairly easy.  I am really not feeling terribly hungry so it shows how much my eating is driven by habit.  I am taking things easier on the weekends, but I am trying not to overdo things.  During the week is reasonably easy.  I did go over a few times this week, but I think it's important to listen to my body and I know that my migraine would just get worse if I didn't eat something solid.  Maybe I didn't make the right choices, but I tried to keep those "bad" choices less bad by not indulging in junk or sugar.  I just indulged a little in some oven fries and a wrap at lunch.  Calorie-wise I was not too bad.  I am also eating a little rice with some meals during the week.  It's Doongara, or "clever" rice, which is low GI and so I think is not so bad.  I am not fanatical as some and if it effects my weight loss well so be it.  As long as I keep close to the 800 calories I know that my weight has to go down.

It's 2 weeks exactly until I go over to Heron Island for 5 nights.  I am so excited!  This is my favourite place on the planet and I feel I'm going to my "happy place".  I am planning to take some snack foods with me.  Some berries, and healthyish sorts of snacks including some bagged lettuce, tomatoes and tinned tuna.  I know that this will be a difficult week as I am limited to what is available in the restaurant there and as it's a vacation (my first this year) I intend to enjoy myself including eating nice things and having the odd drink & cocktail.  I will be trying to do 2 meals a day instead of 3 so we'll see how I go.  I just hope that the extra exercise of swimming and walking, maybe even running, around the Island helps to burn off the extra calories.

 

Rapid weight gain....rapid weight loss???

Such a long time between writings...I did warn you in my profile. :(  2016 has been an incredibly busy year.  Once again, some madness took hold and I started studying Bachelor Accounting as well as working full-time, trying to be fit by running or doing gym most days and still driving over an hour each way to and from work!  The result of this is that I am now exhausted...and I've not kept up with fitness the last 3 or so months and I've put a heap of weight back on.  I almost cried when I jumped on the scales after a long break and realised how bad it'd gotten again.  I am not a quitter, but at that point I came close to giving up this losing battle of trying to control my weight.  It seems that I am destined to be forever overweight.  But maybe not...hopefully not.... 

I've got hold of a new diet.  Now, I'm not one for fad diets.  They do not work, or if they do work it's very short-lived in my experience.  So I've always opted for the eat healthy, watch calories and do as much exercise as possible way of life.  But weight-loss has always been slow and doesn't stay lost...it's so frustrating.  A week ago I came across Michael Mosely's Blood Sugar Diet.  800 calories per day which guarantees fast weight loss.  800 calories does not sound much and I wondered if I could do it, but thought it worth a try.  I'm now on day 4.  Being a weekend I know I will struggle with 800 calories so am already prepared that I will go over, but will try and keep it under 1000 each day.  That way I should still lose, but maybe not as much.  I thought I'd share my journey on this diet:

• Day 1 - was pretty easy.  I planned out my calories exactly and kept to them.  Other than a little hunger I didn't have any real problems.  By about 4pm I had a bit of a headache.  It felt like I had something sitting and pressing down on the top of my head.  Was annoying, but not unbearable.
• Day 2 - 1.2kg gone!  I know, you're going to say it's all fluid and yes, I drank a lot of water yesterday and I was up and down all night to the loo, but feeling good despite lack of sleep.  Today was another good day.  Stuck to calories and ended on 760 calories for the day.  Had a bit of diarrhea tonight.  Think my digestive track is trying to adjust to lack of processed carbs.
• Day 3 - woke up at 1am, wide awake and ready to bounce out of bed, but HUNGRY!  I was so, so hungry!  After an hour of tossing and turning I got up and had a piece of cheese.  Needed to do something as I need my sleep if I'm to function at work.  Went over calories, but not too badly.  Got up at 6am and another 1.2kg gone!  Woo-hoo...imagine if I keep losing at 1.2kg per day?  I'll be skinny before I know it!  :)  Ha, ha...not possible to maintain.  Another bout of darrhea and some discomfort in lower intestinal reagion for most of the morning.  Day 3 was very difficult.  I think my digestive track is now empty and I was so hungry.  Still managed to stick to my calories (or maybe a litte over), but it was a long day.  The hunger passed after dinner and I felt good going to bed and no hunger issues during the night.
• Day 4 - Sadly, no weight loss today, but I think I must be retaining fluid now.  Drank heaps yesterday and last night, but output doesn't seem to be keeping up.  My body is still adjusting.  Saturday today so already planning a little extra today, but want to stick as close to 800 as I can.  Going to do some cooking and freezing of soups and other meals. 

I think this diet is definitely do-able, but requires a lot of planning and will-power.  I want to get a big weight loss before the Christmas eating season and my trip to Europe in April.  I am already finding after about day 2 that I had heaps of energy despite the hunger on day 3 and I feel fine today.  I will keep you posted.

For more info on Michael Mosely's Blood Sugar Diet, visit his website https://thebloodsugardiet.com/