The Edcawber Principle

edinburgher

@greent - many thanks. Listened to their podcast on Emotional Eating today, which was well thought out (if a bit sweary). I think they still offer at least the free taster, so will join the FB group, continue researching and think about a paid trial in a little bit. Don't think I'm quite there yet, regardless of the fact I may never be in the mythical "there"

greent

James is the sweary one, which I found quite off-putting at first. Joe is quieter.  James swears less in more recent recordings, I've found - I think he may have been advised to when they had some marketing coaching 😁😁

Busy_Mee

I've done most of the diets over the years, but have got to a place where I just use Myfitnesspal to track what I am eating. I just take the simple move more, eat less approach and find tracking what I am eating helps to limit my calorie intake, whilst  still enjoying food that I like.

I am definitely an emotional eater. Things going well.... let's celebrate with nice food and drink. Things going badly let's hit the biscuit tin....It is a struggle 

edinburgher

@Busy_Mee - I have spells over the last few years where I have used MFP religiously (for solid months in some cases). I've also worn a fitness tracker for the last 3 years or so. The combination (CICO) is dynamite when you're on a good day and when you build up a little momentum, but it hasn't helped me to address the "whys" behind some of my more self-destructive habits around eating far too much. I'd like to unpack that a little bit more through learning and honesty and move back towards your model once I'm a bit more clued up  

Back to work on Tuesday and today marked my last lie in of the holiday. DD and Mrs E brought me a coffee in bed and DD jumped on me for a hug and a game in which I pretended to be a self-destructing robot vet and she was our cat. The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree with that one, she's mad!

Budgets trimmed, holiday now 32% paid for, looking forward to getting a bit more clarity around spare money once the new mortgage goes out on the 6th.

Suffolk_lass

Losing weight permanently
I read the "8-week Low Blood Sugar diet" around four years ago, after my diabetic friend told me about her journey with diabetes (she had been so-called cheating it for about 15 years and everything was coming back to bite her in terms of long-term damage to her eyes, joints, circulatory system). My friend had lost about 3 stone in six months and her diabetes blood sugar appeared to be in remission - four years on she has kept it off and just cooks and eats in that way - very much for long-term health. The book is available second-hand for under £6 on Amazing, including postage. 

I don't like extreme diets (or any, if honest) but liked the underlying thing that it is related to reversing the path towards diabetes and (now reduces your risk if you catch Covid 19) - it really does seem to re-programme your body. I am not diabetic but have always recognised that I meet the criteria (no longer fat, female, fifty something- but just because I hit sixty!) I figured anyone (even me) could do it for 8 weeks and so I did. I lost just under 2 stone in the first eight weeks and a further stone when coming out of it in a managed way, over the next year. My mindset is about my long-term health and ensuring my body as well as my finances is set to support me throughout. I have kept most of the wight off and it really has changed the way we eat. I am still overweight but not obese so I am going to have a complete reset by repeating it for 8 weeks from tomorrow (very much around health and Covid protection for me). 

At its simplest level, you don't need to go extreme but you do need to cut out all sugar (including anything with sugar added) except fruit that grows in the UK (so apples, pears, berries) and the four main carbohydrate starchy groups (potatoes, bread, rice and pasta). All fermented foods so no alcohol - but it is only for eight weeks. He suggests you weigh yourself almost daily and this is part of the motivation. In the first four the weight falls off, spurring you on. The next two are about will-power and powering on and the last two are about telling yourself you would be cheating yourself if you cheat, and planning how you will come out. In my case, I have kept all of the first two stone off but the next one has fluctuated with how much I have treated myself. As well as the book, there are lots of recipes if you like that sort of thing, and there's a website and updated advice based on the Professor Roy Taylor's latest diabetes research out of Newcastle University.

In my view the mindset is away from the traditional weight-fatty-aesthetic-"I should"  mindset to very much "I am doing this for me, and I am worth 8 weeks of a restrictive diet". My regular breakfast was a dessert spoon of jumbo oats with frozen berries, a good spoonful of full-fat greek-style yogurt and some nuts and seeds, mixed first thing and consumed in the office after my 2-hour commute. A simple salad with egg or avocado most days (or homemade soup) and then a portion of protein and veg (excluding potatoes but occasionally sweet potato or squash) and then more greek-style yogurt and berries if a dessert habit exists. I eat celery with cheese instead of crackers, and frozen blueberries if I wanted an evening snack. I probably exceeded the ultra low calorie regime on 3 days a week but that works better for me and stopped my "I don't fancy that" mindset. The web-site is here and I only use the free bits

I can only say it works and I like it. Our mediterranean approach sits well with us, I don't calorie count and we eat really well. Just the Christmas chocolate and regular alcohol to redress and the rest is the stubborn fat, here since our son was born.

Happy new year by the way!

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - 800 calories a day is absolutely brutal - didn't you experience extreme discomfort? I used to do 5:2 with 800 calories and felt miserable.

Suffolk_lass

Not really - as I say, I don't calorie count - I just cut out the food groups and eat light - I'm not doing any physical work so just not burning enough. The oats for breakfast are great for expanding in your stomach and leaving you feeling full for longer. A small handful of nuts or some celery with a couple of light laughing cow cheeses squidged in the channel is a good interim snack if you are hungry. As I say, it is extremely short term and intended to change your body's reaction. DH is 6'4" and he was hungry but at 5'8 and a bit I was not. I took my portion sizes from the British Heart Foundation guide - protein is a pack of playing cards, one portion of vegetables is two tablespoons or two pieces of broccoli or cauliflower. I often cook us stuffed peppers - just a (whole) halved bell pepper each, piling each half with ragu and topping with strong sharp cheddar and then roasted - if you are eating in the evening it's enough or you don't really burn it off, and it is to lose weight. 

We found it changed our expectations from food and it seems to have got rid of the mental thing of coming out of a famine and wanting to keep eating until full. Now we eat until no longer hungry instead. Maybe that is the mindset change you alluded to.

edinburgher

Day 1 and survivng so far. I estimate it's a 75% calorie cut for me, so will be tough work. I weighed myself last night (granted, after a takeaway curry) and was the heaviest I've been in 5 years (perhaps ever) at 16 stones and 13 pounds I'm putting that up there for posterity and accountability, must fix this. I am looking to lose 36lbs initially (phew)!

Breakfast was full fat yoghurt, golden linseeds, a generous tablespoon of oats and a handful of frozen blackberries. I also had a coffee with a tablespoon of double cream. Lunch was a three medium egg omelette made with a smidge of butter and a couple of handfuls of lettuce. Hungry again already Dinner plan will be a steamed chicken breast and some brocolli.

It looks like everything is going a bit wrong in Scotland atm re. Covid-19, I got some groceries in this morning and we're trying only to go out for walks or shopping once a week. Aaaand now it looks like that's mandatory guidance.

Our current mortgage payment went out today, so I'm now a bit worried that we're going to face two payments this month. I have looked at our paperwork in terms of what will be taken by the new lender, but it's unhelpful as it's all based on the fact that the offer was made last autumn (i.e. we'll take a payment in x month of £y) and it doesn't reflect the fact that it would be starting in January of this year. So a bit uncertain, but I'll know by Wednesday.

Budgets trimmed, but no change to holiday %.

beanielou

A legal stay at home order 

Suffolk_lass

I've joined you and yesterday I had a handful of my own mix of nuts and seeds (ready-made breakfast sprinkles but "breakfast" yesterday - broken pieces of cashews (cheaper than whole), a few raw macadamia nuts, pine nut kernels, pumpkin seeds), with a bit of opened bombay-type mix (gram flour, spices, wasabi peas and peanuts) - lunch was soup (hm courgette with onion, carrot, sweet-potato, courgettes, herbs, stock and chilli) with a swirl of cream and supper (too late really at 8pm) was salad with the last foil pickings of the gammon-ham I roasted, an avocado, an egg and a slice of Iberico ham from the last of the tapas pack (DH had the cheese, chorizo, salami and the same as me(!)) - there was a bit of shop-bought creamy coleslaw but other than that, just veg with the salad. We also had a rummaged pot of hummus with yellow pepper and celery sticks as a snack when hungry, with a cup of tea at about 4pm. I'm not brave enough to post my starting weight but it is less than you. 

I would make sure you have some allowable snacks ready if you are hungry - you can "ease in" a bit rather than going complete cold turkey (nuts, seeds and veg sticks are good and protein is especially filling) - I found I could cut out the cheese and things like Hummus after the first few days as my body got used to less. It also meant a second little boost to the weight loss, after the initial water-type drop.