Throwing the towel in!

Just thought I'd write an update on this blog as I gave up the diet on day 6. Basically I was just feeling rougher and rougher as the days went by and by the Saturday I had only lost 1lb and felt I had done better on more traditional diets by that point so my summation was it wasn't worth all the hassle after all. Shame as I tend to give most diets a two week period to see results, but then most diets don't make you feel like you've got a case of flu for the first week so it's worth bearing in mind if you ever attempt this particular one. I do suffer from headaches in general and am on medication to combat them, however this diet even caused that to stop working and I felt really bad for the tail end of it. I'm happy that I gave it a shot and I would recommend it to anyone who feels that they've reached the end of the line with other diets they've tried. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money to go on it. Sure the book wibbles on a bit about buying organic meat etc but I only did this when it was on offer or on the rare occasion it was the same price as non-organic. We all know it's good for us but it doesn't suit everyone's budget, certainly not mine! To sum up, this diet did not work for me but give it a go as we are all different and I do know others who have succeeded, good luck!

Day Five, aarrrggghh!

Ok, so the headache returned with a vengeance today and brought with it a new bout of irritability! Had eggs and bacon for breakfast and have tried to drink tons of water but found it really didn't go down well today. Have also been drinking fruit tea, was going to have a coffee but I hate tea and coffee without sugar and as the book seems to disapprove of sweeteners at this stage I'll keep going without for now. Besides, even if it is decaf, I still can't bear the taste of coffee when I have a headache. Lunch was smoked salmon, cream cheese and salad. Don't think I really ate enough and was starving mid afternoon so snacked on some nuts and a bit of cheese early evening. Really wasn't in the mood for cooking so hubby went to our local Indian takeaway. Got really confused by what we could and couldn't eat. In the end we went for a chicken balti, lamb kebabs and onion bhaji's. Am hoping we haven't completely blown the diet by doing so! Headache still here but not as bad as it was. Really hoping it goes away tomorrow...

Day Four, is this ever going to end?

Woke up with a headache again. I should point out at this stage that I do actually suffer from headaches anyway, but recently (thanks to some miracle medication) they had subsided. Unfortunately this new diet regime seems to have re-awakened them and I'm none to pleased :-( Bit of a crazy busy day running the kids around to and from pre-school to toddler gym so only managed to have an avocado for lunch and then had to avoid the massive chocolate cake on offer at my friends house. Lots of gasps as I refused the first piece, let alone the second. Like I was committing a criminal offence by doing so! It's at this point I was convinced I'd made the right choice to not tell people I am on a diet. I'm sure they guessed, especially as I also refused the tea and opted for a glass of water but at least they don't know what diet I'm on. Think I foxed them by mentioning I'd had eggs and bacon for breakfast one morning this week. They definitely looked at me then with their "fat goggles" fully on! Snacked on a bit of celery and cream cheese late afternoon, and a bit of cheddar while making dinner, which was baked cod with rocket and parmesan salad. Again, missed the carbs on the side and really fancied something like a yogurt afterwards. Roll on Phase Two when I can have strawberries! Headache finally passed early evening, phew.

Day Three, here we go again...

So I was expecting a headache of sorts, but this one is going on and on. I haven't been updating the blog for this reason so here goes, 3 entries coming up...

I thought I wasn't supposed to feel this bad until day five? Have felt really tired all day long and struggled to have much motivation to do anything. So much so that I had to email my diet buddy and get some inspiration. She emailed me her comments from her first week, and although she didn't feel quite as bad as I have this early on she did get a headache and feel run down. Anyway, breakfast was kippers with butter and a poached egg, lunch was avocado salad wiht green leaves and dressing. Then, after nearly throwing in the the towel because I felt that bad I got the hubby involved in dinner (even though he also had a bad head!) and we had chicken tarragon with fried cabbage and kale. I still felt a bit hungry after so think we could have made the cauliflower mash as suggested in the book to bulk it out a bit but we survived. Was feeling really tired and drawn and failed to have my planned early night, not good.

Day two, headache from hell!

Woke up with a bit of a headache, took a couple of Asprin but it didn't shift. Had eggs, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast again but I feel like I need a meat break already! Survived a busy toddlers session with tons of cake and snacks around for the end of term party. Narrowly avoided helping myself to some mini cheddars, felt like I had to repeatedly smack myself around the face and say "no, no, no!" Managed to drink some water and strangely didn't feel tempted by the cups of tea on offer. Lunch was pleasant, went for an avocado and chicken salad with some of the leftover blue cheese dressing from last night. Felt terrible as the afternoon progressed though and by the time my hubby arrived home I was ready to drop. Shelved plans to cook something a bit more elaborate for dinner as a result and went for an omelette, didn't feel hungry for anything much else but I did find myself fancying a yogurt or some fruit afterwards. Had a small snack of some peanut butter and a bit of celery while the kids were having tea just as my energy levels had bottomed out, hoping that's allowed! Headache has only just now started to shift but not completely. It's funny as I don't drink that much caffeine as a rule, but I think the old Diet Coke might be responsible for that particular withdrawal. Think I might try some fish for brekkie tomorrow and have promised to make some butternut squash soup as my eldest son has been eyeing up the squash and demanding it!

Day One, off to a cracking start...

So that's day one over with, how do I feel? Well it was a lot easier than I thought it would be in some ways and harder in others. For starters breakfast was lovely, I had bacon, eggs and mushrooms, and I even managed to sit down at the kitchen table to eat it! Lunch was tuna nicoise salad and after it I did feel really tired and whacked out but I drank lots of water and that seemed to help. Dinner was rump steak with avocado salad and blue cheese dressing. If I'm honest I think I over did the dressing a bit, well actually quite a lot, and the recipe in the book seemed to make tons or maybe I just made enough to feed a small army as usual! I've saved the rest, hoping it will keep until tomorrow. I completely failed to do my walk so will have to do twice as much on day two. I also did feel a bit hungry in the evening, mainly due I think to having dinner early with the boys as hubby was home with us. So I had a small snack of some cheese and a handful of nuts. It really doesn't feel much like a diet at all, in fact I felt quite shocked at the amount of calories I must have consumed just by lunchtime and I have never eaten so many eggs in one day! It was made worse by catching a reflection of myself in the window of Next today, something that I avoid normally. Was having a fat day as it was, really didn't need that! Coming home and tucking into a big fat steak with creamy peppercorn sauce didn't help really. Hubby is moaning about the lack of fruit and is missing his Activia yogurts (apparently) I have told him several times he can't have fruit but he keeps asking for it. I too missed it a bit today, I was actually quite glad I didn't get asked to cut up the fruit at pre-school this morning as I think I would have found myself salivating over the children's apple and banana and may well have wrestled one of them for it! I am keeping the faith though, bring on day two...

Welcome to the blog!

Welcome to my new blog for my new diet! Before I get started, let me explain what this blog is for. It's for anyone doing or thinking about embarking on a low carb diet, but most specifically Neris & India's Idiot-Proof Diet. So, why this particular diet? Well like most of the diets I've done it's because of a recommendation from a friend. I've done lots of diets in the past; Rosemary Conley, WeightWatchers, Slimming World, Carol Vorderman's Detox Diet, even tried Slim Fast for a bit, but I've never ever tried a low carb one. Why? Because I am a Carbs Queen, love my carbs, and I do mean LOVE! While some people may be happy with a small bowl of pasta for their dinner, I prefer a large one, sorry did I say "prefer" I meant I HAVE to have a LARGE one. Again with potatoes, I love them, every meal has either chips or potatoes of some kind and if it's not potatoes then it's rice. Carbs, carbs, carbs. Yum. So I digress, I love my carbs but I have chosen to give them up. If you'd asked me to do this several months ago I would have laughed, not a chuckle you understand but a more sinister, horror-type "mwaaaahhh" laugh. Not possible, me and carbs we're just meant to be. Even the strictest diets I've done I've always managed to include them in some way. Be that with low-fat homemade chips, or butter-less mash, or the lowest calorie bread I could find (although that really does taste so bland it's hardly worth bothering with in my experience) but no more. Nope.

A couple of months ago a friend of mine and I were having an email conversation about diets. It's the usual story "how are you? I'm feeling fat, what diet are you on at the moment?" etc and she mentioned a new book she'd found called the Idiot-Proof Diet, not to be confused with the money-making web site by the same title. But the book by India Knight and Neris Thomas. I have to admit that although she was having some great success with it I thought it sounded hideous, I mean, no carbs, NO CARBS! Insane. So I looked it up, read a few reviews and then shelved it. At the time I was on WeightWatchers (again, for about the 4th time) still struggling to shift the last half-stone of post-baby weight (my baby, now heading for his 2nd birthday, ahem). I had been lucky enough to lose most of my baby weight really quickly after my 2nd pregnancy (the first took me nearly 15 months and hours of walking with the pram) and only really had half a stone of stubborn fat to shift, but sleepless nights and a demanding 2nd child left me not only knackered but reaching for snacks I could probably (well, if I'm honest, definitely) have lived without. So, more weight to shift and another 5lbs or so after Crimbo. So WW was my first choice, as I've said I'd done it before and it had worked to a point (excuse the pun). Like all diets you reach a plateau and then inevitably you fall off it in my experience. But to make matters worse since I'd done the diet last they had revamped it again, and the whole Points system had changed. It didn't sound that complicated but after my 3-month deal had expired (I tend to do it online) I was only a couple of pounds lighter and getting more frustrated with my failure to progress. So I cancelled my subscription and just accepted I was a bit fatter than I'd like to be, in fact I went to the opposite extreme and ate whatever I wanted and put on a few more pounds. The horror came when I got on the scales one morning and my weight had crept up another 4lbs.

So I started looking around at other diets. My first thought was to do Carol Vorderman's Detox Diet again. I had done this for nearly 3 months a few years back and lost over a stone. I hadn't found the diet too challenging but that was before two children came into my life. A vegan diet and kids don't mix in my opinion, not unless they are going to be vegan too! Mine happen to be full-on carnivores, the youngest in particular. So I needed a diet that would work for them too. At the same time my husband was also feeling a bit overweight and said he'd be up for losing a few pounds. A friend of his had recommended the Paleo Diet, aka the Caveman Diet. I looked it up on Amazon, read all about it and ordered that and the Idiot-Proof Diet books. Once I compared both I felt the latter was more me. The Paleo Diet is great if you haven't got kids or are on your own, it's pretty hardcore though and I felt some of the restrictions were just too much. So Idiot-Proof Diet it is.

I have to stress that before embarking on this diet I have read the book cover to cover and have spent an entire week thinking about what we're going to eat and what the kids can have while my husband and I are going carb-less. I think it's really important to be prepared so before you start the diet so do read the book and make a plan and do a proper shopping list.

Anyway, tomorrow is Day 1 and each day, in-keeping with the book itself, I intend to tell you what I've eaten, how I'm feeling and after each week what I weigh or have lost (or not, be that the case). It's intended as a review of this diet but also to keep myself on track and by making it public hopefully keep me going. Feel free to comment and if you're following the diet and fancy a new buddy let me know.

So, goodbye carbs, hello new me? Here goes...

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with the diet or indeed the books, I'm just a busy mum who wants to lose some weight and after careful consideration has chosen this diet to do so. While I'm going to comment on the diet in this blog, give tips or offer advice to anyone thinking of or already doing it, I'm not going to give details of the diet in it's entirety as I feel that would be unfair on the authors and quite obviously I don't want to get sued!