Again, I have left it a little while to post on here and so it is time to update again. As you can see from the title, I have lost a few more pounds and I have now managed to get under the 14 stone mark, which is fantastic... I just have to keep up the momentum and stay on track. I am very pleased that I have lost more weight now, and it is a sense of achievement to say I'm 13 stone something... even though this is still largely overweight and obese, it is a whole lot better than 15 stone which was my starting figure. So in context, even though I am still obese, I am 15 pounds lighter than I was in August.
It has taken me a while to get to this point and my progress is not as good as I had originally hoped. I had hoped to average 1 pound a week which means I should have lost around 25 pounds by now, so I am a bit behind schedule. But I guess if it had been easy, then I would have done it before.
Diet Experiment
I have been lent a book about Menstrual Cramps and how to manage them which, even though I have not read it cover to cover (its too much like a text book!), I have taken parts of it on board. It explains that a lot of what we eat can contribute to the severity of the monthy cramps and if we take those things out of the diet then many women have found their monthly nightmare to be more manageable. I have been off the Pill for 1 year 3 months now, and I used homeopathy to assist my cycle and cramps and got to a stage where they were quite manageable. However the last 6 months have not been good and I have reverted back to my old ways of having an absolutely horrid time. So it was time for me to look at it again. I have started taking my homeopathic remedies again, but I have also decided to experiment with my diet.
The book explains that caffeine, wheat, cow dairy, sugar and certain red meats can all contribute negatively to the monthly cramps. I have decided to experiment with my diet to see if I can relieve any of my symptoms. For 4 weeks in March I am cutting out all of the above mentioned items. This is a big thing to undertake, but I view it as only temporary and as an experiment. I then intend to introduce one of them each month and record how I am affected each month. Hopefully I will be able to note which foods make me more prone to suffering than others. I do not intend to cut them all out of my diet forever, although that is what is recommended by many people anyway, but I want to see if there is a particular culprit which makes things worse for me and then I can work on keeping that out of my diet.
This experiment is a complete turn around for me as 90% of my normal diet has been cut out. However, I have found ways round them and I will share with you a few of them.
Breakfast
I normally eat cereal (usually wheat) with milk for breakfast. My cereals are reduced (I discovered that even bran is wheat!), but worse still, I can't have any cow's milk. I have tried soya milk and goats milk and both are just plain nasty to me..... so I have opted to eat fruit for breakfast, making a fruit salad most mornings. Other than that, I make porridge with water instead of milk. The problem with porridge is that I traditionally like it very sweet... as I'm not allowed sugar in a refined form I cannot even have jam, syrup, sugar etc.. I am not interested in sweetners as I think they are all poison anyway. I am allowed maple syrup as it is a pure natural, unrefined product, but that is expensive, and I am trying to avoid that (it's nearly 9 euros a bottle). I have found at the local health food shop, a fruit spread (aka jam) which has no sugar, but is sweetened by apple juice. This is a bit tangy, but is sweet enough to make the porridge bearable.
Lunch
I have started to make vegetable soups at home in the evenings and I take these to work with me for lunch. I eat Ryvita with them, and also some bigilla (a maltese paste/dip made of broad beans, garlic, olive oil etc.) Or I eat some rice.
Dinner
No pasta - but I have found a pasta made with rice flour... when eaten by itself it is very bizzare experience as you think you are eating pasta (as it looks like pasta) but it tastes just like rice... but when you eat it with a sauce, its no different! I also found spaghetti made with spelt.
No red meat - we have been off most red meats for a while as Matthew is not supposed to have them for his diet. But we have cut them out altogether at the moment, leaving just chicken and fish.
I have had to make significant sacrifices in the snack area though... no chocolate (as chocolate contains caffeine and sugar), no sweets, no sugar, no tea (even if I had decaf tea, I cant have milk, and hate black tea). I have therefore turned to eating nuts at work as my snacks and have found some organic oat bars which are sweetened with grape juice instead of sugar.
I have been doing this for 2 weeks now, and it must be this that has contributed to the loss of weight now. I intend to carry on for 2 more weeks and then I will introduce one of the items back into my diet etc.. It has been difficult, especially when the girls at work are all making home made easter sweets and keep insisting I try them (I have resisted!).
Stress/Comfort Eating
I have made a particular effort with comfort eating at the moment (the above experiment has the structure and discipline to help with this). When I received a phone call in February from Mum to say that she thinks her cancer has come back, I got off the phone and polished off a whole box of Ferero Roche...and felt sick with it (but a familiar, comforting sick).... that was giving in to my comfort eating and I was so aware of it.. but felt the urge following the very upsetting news.
Following the 2nd phone call which confirmed the cancer and where it was and the future to come, I was in a position where I would normally turn to food. But, I didn't. I had started my diet experiment and wanted to stick with it. I could have given myself an excuse to delay the experiment, but the whole point about my comfort eating is that there is always a valid reason for it. I will never challenge myself or change if I always give in to it, no matter how hard the circumstances leading to the desire to eat. So I made my mind up not to get that pizza and chips, not to buy the entire shop out of chocolate etc.. and I did it. I felt the need, and sadly, I didn't quite find anything that replaced the comfort in the same way that food does. Having said that, I had (and still have) tremendous support from Matthew and my family, so I was comforted and supported. I noticed the gap left which would have been the food ministering to me, but it did not cause me enough problem that I gave in to it.
This, to me, is an incredible achievement. Its probably the first time I have ever stood up to it and denied the desire. It was a very low moment, not just a 'I feel fat today' or 'the dog doesn't love me anymore' kind of problem, but one which could turn anybody to food for comfort, not just someone which a comfort eating problem.
I am not thinking that I have now cracked my problem, and I am sure I will always crave it... and will probably give in from time to time.. but I now know that I can do it.
Apologies for the very long post, but it has been a while!
Signing off.
Signing off.
