Nat's diary

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NathalieAndrews

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Current state:
Down 5 or so kg in 2 months (aka not very good).

Knee injury prohibits exercise of any valuable sort. Thus mostly the dietary that I am controlling. No sugar, no flour, mostly protein, fibre and vegetables. Lots of water and only a wee bit "fake sugar" in the coffee. Otherwise, if I get desperate for sugar, I have a small piece of dark chocolate. Been going like this for 2 months, and despite the lacking weight loss results, my skin have cleared up and I do feel generally a bit better.

Going to get back to my core exercise program come this week, as my knee now hurts less and I think I am able.
 
Hi, Nat & welcome to the forum :)
NathalieAndrews said:
Down 5 or so kg in 2 months (aka not very good).
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Wrong. Congratulations on losing 5 kgs already. I don't know how much you have to lose, but if you keep losing at that rate it should be very sustainable in the long term, which is really important. Diet is the most important thing to lose weight. Having a piece of fruit is good for sugar cravings. I couldn't go a day without at least one piece of fresh fruit.
 
I've got about 20 more kg to lose before I'm totally happy with things. If I went down 15 kg that wouldn't be bad either. But yeah, it's stubborn. Thank you though, I didn't mean to be as negative as it sounded, I was just frustrated with being on a stand-still.

I'm trying to lower my carb intake further, to 20 grams a day approx. It's tricky, because I have a hard time finding the protein to make up for it, without eating too little overall. Trying to add a little bit of healthy fat (though not much at all) just to get somewhat more balance into this. I'm snacking on nuts, but I try to keep that very limited as well, handful a day and not more.

I don't check my weight too often, because that'll just make me more frustrated, lol, but will check it again on Friday.

Today I've eaten:

- Handful of nuts for breakfast (I had a limited time before rushing off to school)
- An apple for lunch (I was at school)
- A piece of red meat + crunched pea's and some greens for dinner
- Low fat + low carbs, high protein yogurt for evening food

It was a bit little, I see that and figure I ought to have gotten in a more solid lunch. But it occurs to me I have so few ideas for how to put together a make-shift healthy lunch that I can bring to uni and eat there. I am going to have to do some research! If I was slightly more of a natural cook, I guess this would be easier, lol.
 
Tried some new things today, but have discovered I might actually have some sort of oral allergies. I already suspected I had some sort of pollen allergies, and with all the fresh veggies I've been eating, I keep getting an itchy as heck mouth. It's the roof of my mouth itching like nuts, no pun intended. Thus far I've noted up what I eat, and then I figure I'll get it checked.

Today I had a slice of meat w/cheese on and fresh veggies for breakfast. A salad for lunch. Tuna mixed with crushed pea's and a bit of mayo w/ some slices of ham for dinner and a few nuts for evening food.

Feels fairly good, don't really feel all that negative effects of further cutting carbs, I guess I had the biggest cut when I stopped eating bread, potatoes and rice earlier this summer. Now I'm just cutting it down a little further. But yeah, gotta figure out this allergy crapstickles, because the itchy mouth is irritating.
 
Allergies are horrible to deal with, I am allergic to wheat (severe rash), avocado, cherries and have an intolerance for for citrus (I get hives)
 
That sounds awful, must make things tricky. I've basically only had tomatoes and pea's (of obvious allergens that could cause oral allergies) and my mouth reacted a bit at that, but yesterday paranuts seemed to trigger it, so I am a bit confused. Guess we'll see. Staying away from nuts and fruit today and tomorrow, just continuing with the tomatoes, squash and pea's to check if it's really one of those.

Breakfast: 2 filled squash w/ a tuna + crushed pea's mix w/ a little bit of garlic mayo just for flavor
Lunch: 1 leftover filled squash as above + a small salad on the side
Dinner: A medium sized steak and avocado mash w/ a bit of cream and spices as a side
Evening food: Guess I am just putting together a salad with spinach, tomatoes, greens and a few small pieces of feta cheese

Not feeling any excessive hunger or cravings yet, outside of getting cranky if I go "past my food time", I try to eat every fourth hour.
 
Also, I gotta note that hunger decreased quite a bit when I amped up the amount of water I was drinking. I've always been bad at making sure I don't get dehydrated, and now I try to be good and get enough liquids in me. Which is tricky, but sometimes I think I'm hungry, and then drinking a glass of water fixes it, showing it's somehow my body mistaking thirst for hunger. I feel less "dry", and my skin is looking even better, so I guess it's good.
 
Water makes such a difference to me. I never used to drink enough, but now have 2-3 litres a day, including herbal tea & feel so much better for it.
Do you like almonds Nat? I find unsalted, raw almonds are a good source of protein & 'good' fat. They are about 7 calories per almond. They are very filling & so convenient. Count out 20(or 30) almonds into a zip lock bag & have them with you all the time, along with water & a piece of fruit & you will always have sustenance to help you get through the day.
 
I think I was going "this ain't a problem" too soon though, because since last night I've gotten this sudden onset nausea. Not like I feel like throwing up or anything, more like my stomach turns into a hard, blubby lump that pulsates a bit spreading queasiness all over my body ... I'm still able to eat, but not all much, just small meals and it feels risky right before I eat and right after. Guess I've dipped even lower on the carb intake scale! Should be around 20 grams now, but still between 20 and 30. I might have gotten more carbs in me than I thought though before I started this. Not a whole lot of other weird symptoms, other than perhaps some head ache and fatigue. But the fatigue isn't all that noteworthy and is also probably because I am trying to adjust to a new sleep rhythm while going back to school.

Had 2 scrambled eggs w/veggies mixed in & a few strips of low-fat bacon for breakfast. The bacon was fine, the eggs rolled a little uncomfortably in my stomach. Mixed a bit of salt into my water, as I read that could help.
 
Nat, are you having any supervision or have you seen a doctor before embarking what looks to be a very low-carb diet? Do you mind me asking me how old you are? I worry about extreme diets unless they are strictly supervised.
Googling how many carbs should a teenager have-
"Teens who consume 45 to 65 percent of their calories from carbs will meet their needs. For example, a teen girl who eats 2,000 calories per day requires 225 to 325grams of carbs (carbs provide 4 calories per gram), and a teen boy consuming2,600 calories a day needs about 293 to 423 grams of carbohydrates daily."
Carbs are an important source of energy. Teens who drastically cut carbs might not be getting all the essential nutrients their bodies require to function, grow and develop properly. Although cutting carb intake below 130 grams of carbs daily generally isn’t a good idea for teens, getting rid of unhealthy carbs by replacing them with nutrient-rich carbohydrates is a good option for teens trying to maintain healthy body weights. For example, replace sugary drinks, sweets, lollies(candy), baked goods and white bread with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and low-fat dairy foods such as milk and yoghurt.
I don't want to sound like an old granny, but now is the time to make sure your eating habits are healthy & sustainable. I wish I had more of an idea about what is & isn't healthy when I was younger & had never gone on any silly diets in my life.
 
I'm 30, so I am not all that young anymore :)
My body has caught up on that too, lol, I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted; burgers for every meal even, without ever gaining as much as a kg. Body started changing at around 26 or so, and suddenly I don't have near the metabolism I used to. Guess that's something to get used to :p

I appreciate your concern, it's kind of you. I'm not having any supervision, no, no doctor's been involved so far. I am not planning to keep this diet up forever, just until I'm down at an acceptable level, and then I am going to upgrade things slowly until I'm at a level that maintains the weight, without gaining again or dropping further down. I will also get back into exercise when my knee has healed, and then I'll make sure I eat more than I do now, perhaps even raising the carb amount some. I try to ensure that I keep myself educated, by not only taking the advice here, but reading up a lot on it outside this forum so I don't fudge things up.
 
You didn't seem really young, but I just wanted to make sure. You sound like you're on top of it all. Glad I didn't offend you :blush5:
I don't think I could do really low carb. I love my fruit & veg too much to even think about it.
 
No worries, I am not easily offended and I think it's great when people show care towards each other.
So it's all good! And I am actually eating far more veggies than I ever have before. On one hand I am going pretty low carb, but on the other at least the carb I am eating are now healthy carbs instead of just sugar, like I used to eat. Granted, not being able to eat that much fruit kinda sucks, but I can get more of that later :)

Did my weekly measuring today; and I have lost another kg and a half. I am finally below the 80 kg mark that I've been stuck in for so long, measuring at 79.2 kg as opposed to 80.8 that it showed last week. I still got some way to go, but I am still pretty happy because this is something. A kg and a half in a week is amazing to me, considering how stuck I've been. If this continues then it should only take me 15 weeks or so, or approx 4 months to hit my mark, which is somewhere around 66. I am expecting it to slow down a lot later though, so it might take longer. Which is fine too, anything closer to 70 kg will already make me feel pretty lighter (I already feel a difference compared to my near 90 from earlier.
 
Hi Nat :seeya: and congratulations on a massive loss! I do agree with Cate that you seem to be going very low-calorie (headache + fatigue sounds like hunger to me); it's very hard to go low-carb and low-fat simultaneously without getting into starvation territory (which endangers your chances of keeping off the weight you lose). On the other hand you sound like you're doing your due diligence and it is your body :)
Best of luck with the allergies. I know how those suck.
 
I am trying to do this as healthily as possible, and adjust as I go. I've been having a bit of healthy butter in my food the last couple of meals, to see if that helps a bit with the symptoms I'm experiencing. I was though advised to not go high-fat + high protein during this low carb thing, which does complicate stuff somewhat. But I'll try to add at least some more healthy fat to my meals, see if that can't help a bit. I generally don't feel hungry, except yesterday, but then due to school I ended up being later home than I had planned. If there's one thing I've discovered, when you eat little per meal, but more meals in total, then skipping an in-between meal or taking longer between the meals seem to have a lot bigger affect than they used to!

Also, I kinda felt sick after dinner yesterday. It's like my body just went; "Ok, that's it; NO MORE PROTEIN" because I was having two pieces of steak instead of one. The first one was yummy, but when I started on the second one I just got really nauseous. So I ate some veggies with garlic butter and drank some water with salt, and then it eventually passed.

Today I had bacon w/ fried veggies for breakfast :) It was yummy, and didn't make me nauseous. I've packed a lunch including a salad w/feta cheese and some tomatoes. Today I should be home early from uni, so I shouldn't get the same problem today with delayed time before I can eat lunch.
 
Entrecote w/ avocado-mash (avocado, spices and a little bit of mayo) and some green leaves (mostly spinach) for dinner.
Felt a little too full afterwards, so ended up skipping evening food.

Practicing this eating advice I heard from somewhere; that eating your food with mindfulness, slowly and enjoying each bite helps you see when you're full and ultimately makes you eat less in total, and avoid over-eating. That and I only use the smaller plates now, because they also naturally limit things and make me less prone to putting too darn much on that plate.
 
great effort, one possible cause of headache/fatigue while low carb is not enough electrolytes, salt ,magnesium, potassium, occasionally selenium.

brazil nuts are good for selenium, if low in magnesium the you may also have the occasional muscle cramp, usually the biggest culprit is simply not enough salt. Low carb usually has the effect of eating less processed food so dramatically less salt. Magnesium is in spinach, pumpkin seeds, fish, figs etc.potassium is in your avocado, spinach, squash, and if carb allowance is ok dried apricots.
 
I treated myself a little today. About 100 grams or so of fresh wild raspberries :)

I know they're on the carb heavy side, but they're better than blueberries or strawberries, and I needed an emotional pick me up. And it's not like I cheated with an ice cream or something, just a small pile of berries. They tasted so good, I don't even know how. I am not a fan of raspberries, but now they tasted like the best thing ever! I was sitting and eating them very mindfully; making weird porn-like noises, lol.

I overate for dinner though. Or, theoretically the amount of food was sound; but I felt way too full afterwards, even though I did stop before finishing everything on my plate, due to feeling full. Guess I wasn't mindful enough and should have stopped earlier. I am trying to avoid that overly full feeling (that I used to love) and stop when I'm not hungry anymore. Which is hard sometimes. I had exercised today though, which made me pretty hungry when I got home.

Not that I can do much, but I did a bunch of strength exercises and trained some upper body, plus some gentler exercises for legs and butt, just to keep up movability.
 
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