My low carb/IF Diet - BG and progress

Debmcgee said:

Well so much for a nice day out. Both have been misbehaving to the extreme and I actually don't want to take them to London to see the show. What's the point if they don't appreciate it? What a waste of £80

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Hi debmcgee,sorry to hear your days been ruined,advice i took on board and works is be firm fair and let your yes mean yes and your no mean no

So when you say you've had 4 days of consecutive fasting, does this mean no meals at all? Or like 1 meal a day? I haven't gone beyone 18:6 fast yet.. eating 1600 calories a day. I'd like to try 23:1 at 1000 calories or so.. maybe 800. Or perhaps even go 7 days without food altogether. I don't take any bloood pressure meds and wouldn't be taking any meds that raise insulin levels. I'd eat plenty of salt, stay hydrated, have chicken broth 3 or 4 times a day on those 7 days. Going to ask my doc if its okay if I do this.

Yeah I don't subscribe to calories in / calories out model. But I still do count my calories, carbs, proteins, fats. It's all done automatically by my app in the phone. If I start overeating protein, it adds to my blood glucose. So I track everything. I eat about 20-30 net grams of carbs per day and 80 to 110g of protein.

I haven't eaten any grains, refined carbs, sugars etc.. in a couple months. I find abstaining from them really makes me desire them less. If I start eating more carbs then I start craving more and the viscous cycle starts. If you can just refrain for a few days even, it should be easier to resist them.. and it progressively gets better resisting them. The most carbs I've consumed in past 2 months is about 2 to 4 oz of beans (rarely.. maybe once a week at most), berries & nuts. But I almost always consume those in moderation. I just don't crave breads, sweets pasta anymore.. always eating leafy greens and fried/steamed veggies with every meal it seems these days.

I know you can get back into your MOJO. I just have. I slipped a bit the other day (ate like 80 blueberries and tablespoons full of peanut butter) but am now back on my fast full throttle and don't feel hungry at all. I don't take one bite of food during the 18 hour fast period. I only eat in a 6 hour window. But I do eat homemade chicken broth (2-4 cups) a day during fasting hours. It's okay because I need the salt and a little extra protein from the cup of broth will help a little to maintain muscle. I guess there are some minerals that come from the bones as well?

Keep it up.. just finishing day 4 of a total fast and finding it more difficult than I thought.. bit of a headache... curry tomorrow night tho so something to look forward to.

Just thought might be low salt.. time for some consommé

Debmcgee said:

Come on - you can do it!!! I was listening to a podcast from an athlete who does a weekly fast at least once a year. He said first 48 hours were the worst part of it and by day 7 his brain felt completely rebuilt from all the healing and regrowth it was able to do during the process.

I'm very impressed you've made it four days. Have you tried green tea? I find it helps me when I'm waning.

Keep us posted as to how you go. AND STOP FANTASISING ABOUT THE CURRY!!!!

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Think it was low salt feel better now after the consommé and now only 21 1/2 hours left until CURRY TIME.... and its from my favourite restaurant as well Lahore Kebab House in Streatham.

Debmcgee said:

You're very good to make your broth! Keep with it!
I fasted today and was totally fine. Had lots of green tea which kept me going and I've just had dinner. I'm going to abstain from the temptation as I know it's a dangerous path for me and I don't want to lose out for the sake of something I rarely enjoy these days. I too don't care for bread any more. I really enjoy my lettuce wraps instead!

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Thank you, love homemade broth.. I just laugh at even the most expensive boxed broths at the store after reading the ingredients and seeing "yeast extract" "natural flavors" and other chemicals in them My ingredients: chicken, salt, veggies LOL.

Green tea is great! I make it from time to time (both Chinese and Japanese). I also love PG Tips black tea. A nice guy from England told me how to brew a good cuppa perfectly -- and it comes out right every time (no bitterness at all). I really do like PG Tips over Twinings.. it's cheaper too but to me tastes better.

I also love me some coffee w/ Silk Brand Unsweetened Cashew Milk -- 1/4 cup of the cashew milk is only 7 calories, 6 of which are fat -- so it's not gonna raise insulin level much during fasting period.

Love me some lettuce and spinach Ever lay bunch of spinach leaves on a cold cut (ham, roast beef etc) and then lay a slice of cheese on that and roll it up? Yum. Also cream cheese with dill pickle spear wrapped in ham is nice as well.

Debmcgee said:

Think the restaurant may have added a rub of something to their meats. I shan't have anything like cream and melted choc tonight. In fact, I think it's time to start cutting down on dairy - mainly cream too from now on. I think it may be the culprit for keeping me in the 6s when I am good. I do find however, if I have the whipped cream choc drizzle, that my cravings for treats is curbed....

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Yeah, gotta be careful with the restaurants. I rarely eat out.. maybe once every other month. We went to a Chinese buffet last time and surprisingly I did very well. Only ate 1 1/2 plates of food before I was stuffed.. I used to eat like 3 or 4. And I used to eat plenty of carbs.. but really mainly just stuck to the meat and veggies this time, and ones without too sweet of a tasting sauce. e.g. Bourban Chicken, Beef & Broccoli, Hot & Sour soup, etc.. The only time I use whipped cream, is just a tbsp of heavy cream over my blueberries.. adds like 45 calories to the total and no carbs.. I usually eat about 2 oz of blueberries along with the 1 tbsp of whipped cream.. It tastes like ice cream to me, since that's just about the sweetest thing I eat these days.. and in moderation.

Debmcgee said:

I want to be healthy and really slim down. I can see it on my body how well I've done so far and still have a way to go, but really want to get there - more than I want cake!! I must remember this in times of temptation!!

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I'm really impressed with your tremendous progress. You should at all times, forever, be proud of what you've accomplished with the weight loss and maintenance of blood sugars. Even if you can maintain what you've accomplished, is enough celebrating about forever, but I know you'll continue to improve your situation.. no rush at all.. I am in no hurry myself.. I've been at a plateau for a couple weeks now but it isn't bothering me.. because I'm at least not dying from high deadly blood sugars. Just having somewhat normalized blood sugars all the time, has to make you feel so much better.

Debmcgee said:

My books are on the way too from Amazon so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them and getting my kids to eat better too.

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What books are you getting? I just ordered Jimmy Moore's (with Dr. Eric Westman) Keto Clarity and Cholesterol Clarity. Also got a used copy of FastDiet for 1 cent plus few quid for shipping. I have about 12 to 14 diabetes / low carb / intermittent fasting books now I am reading them all.. learning new things every day.

My books:
Blood Sugar 101 (Ruhl)
Good Calories, Bad Calories (Taubes)
Why We Get Fat (Taubes)
The Obesity Code (Fung)
The Art & Science of Low Carboyhydrate Living (Phinney / Volek)
The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance (Phinney / Volek)
The New Atkins for a New You (Westman/Phinney/Volek)
Diabetes Solution (Dr. Richard Bernstein)
FastDiet, FastExercise, The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet (Mosley)
The First Year Type 2 Diabetes (Becker)
The 7 Step Diabetes Fitness Plan (Colberg)

Debmcgee said:

Wouldn't be able to do it without this place though.

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This place is awesome! I love the community! So positive! We moderated as well.

Debmcgee said:

I'm waiting for my food to go down and then I'm going to do a light workout.

X

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I really look forward to working out more.. but I have a few disabling problems that's currently prohibiting me from doing the kind of workout I'd liek to do. Going to see specialist about pain on bottom of foot (near toes, where they join), and my chronic non-insertional achilles tendonosis.

Debmcgee said:

5.7 this morning!

very pleased with that. I guess the chair yoga and not having a low carb dessert really paid off!

I'm going to experiment now with having a dessert at lunch (when I have lunch as often can't if I've had breakfast these days) to see if I can 'get away' with it!!! If I can't, it's going to have to be cut from the diet and saved for a couple times a week.

I wonder what doing alternate 24hr fasts followed immediately with 18:6 the eating day after would do? I'm going to try it today and see. I don't really want breakfast today anyway...I wonder if that would help with the weightloss or cause me to stall...

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Great job on the blood sugar! Very good.

What are you going to eat as a desert? Some blueberries & heavy cream? Mmm.. Seriously I'd stay away from all carbs if you can for a week or two. Sometimes a good solid break from them is very beneficial, and they become less desirable and you don't even think about them. (I know you already know this, but figured I'd just toss it in.. hugs.)