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!