Hi Sanjay, Thanks for that. Its weird about the optifast thing but to be honest im not that fussed as these asda shakes with unsweetend almond milk are great. They are about 15g carb and 145 cals each the way im mixing them. I have one in the morning, 2 tomato weight watchers soups for lunch 154 cals and 24 g carb, and then another shake when i get in so thats 444 cals and 54 g carb. i then have my a combination of steamed or stir fry veg and a portion of avocado (which is also low in carbs and high in cals), size dependant on how many cals i need to make up.
The almond milk is a real revelation. I was having 250ml milk with shakes which is 12g carb from milk, changed to lactofree which is 7g for 250ml but using unsweetened almond milk gets it down to less than 1g so with the 14g carb shake mix = 15g.
Also, avocados. When i started out i was really struggling with the 200 cals of non-starchy veg. Most veg of that nature is 14-40 cals per 100g max so thats a lot of veg. But avocados are between 160-200 cals per 100 grams, taste great uncooked, and are pretty low in carb so i dont have to munch through a mountain of veg every day.
I'm glad you posted about Quorn, i'd been eat a lot of mushrooms grilled and in stir frys and i wonder about quorn. Tried the mince and not keen, but i've had sausges before and they weren't bad at all. I'll defo be picking up some quorn sausages for some much needed variety.
I've also been doing it for 3 weeks and have lost 17 pounds (7.7 kg). My blood sugar is now 4.2 first thing in the morning and hasnt been above 5.4 before food for like a week now or 6.4 after food.
I'd be really interested to hear what your eating and how your finding it.
Raspin
Hey Raspin.
Congratulations on the weight loss that's great.
My diet is Atkins cereal for breakfast (and one 500mg Metformin), Atkins shake for lunch and a 200-300 calorie meal for dinner (all veg and quorn and 1 metformin).
I think because of the Atkins diets being low carb and sugar these work out great for me as they really force your carb intake down).
I found that the Quorn chicken pieces or the Cauldron sausages taste real good).
I know the Atkins shakes have skimmed milk but since I am having only 1 a day I allowed for it.
I find that the Marks & Spencers fuller for longer thai green paste is quite good but instead of using 1/2 a pack as they suggest which is 175g I use 100g weighed out and add Unsweetened Coconut milk (45 cal in 100ml), which is great (can use it as a dash in tea too).
Also nandos sauces to add heat to foods is great as they are minimal on the calorie front (32cals I think in 100ml but if adding maybe 10ml to coat your quorn or to your stir fry is like 3.2cals).
As a promise to myself I have taken up walking too, walk 7-8 miles three days a week and 3-4 miles on the other 2 days and have the weekend off.
On weekends I will still do the cereal and shake but for the evening I allow myself to go out and I have tried the low calorie meals at Prezzo and Pizza express (while on the diet it has been the 500 calorie veggie wholewheat pizzas and not the pastas).
I am now at the end of week 5 (week 6 starts on Monday) and I have gone from 123.3kg to 112.6kg.
I am hoping the working out has made sure that I have got muscle while also losing fat.
My BG is constantly around 4.4 - 5.6 2 hours post food (I admit I have not been able to do it after every meal as the strips cost a bomb and as tablet controlled not allowed any strips on the NHS).
So far so good.
Once the 6 weeks is over I think I will still stick to cereal and shakes during the day and no more than 500 calories in the evening but will be able to introduce meat protein back in (on weekends), but will stick to Quorn during the week.
Lets hope the fat keeps coming off.
I have also found that using phone apps has kept my psychologically in control. I use fatsecret to count my calories and mapmywalk to record my walking while the Diabetes UK app to track BG and BMI tracker to see my progress on bring BMI down. I was in the middle of BMI morbidly obese, now I am on the border between morbidly obese and obese.