Frazzled Friday

Today has been a little difficult because I have been tired. I should have been on cloud nine because it's Friday, but it doesn't always work like that does it?

I have felt fuzzy and unfocused all day at work and to be honest all I have wanted to do is go to sleep. I had planned to do a little run before dinner but it was the last thing I felt like doing (but probably the thing I needed most).

I couldn't make my mind up if I was going to run or not, but in the end I did. And I'm glad I did. The run worked its magic, as always, and woke me up and gave me a much needed serotonin rush. I'm starting to feel sleepy again now, but that's okay because it's getting late now and after all, it's perfectly acceptable to feel sleepy when it's late.

After dinner (halloumi salad) I have felt the need for something sweet and for the first time in a long time I have scoured the cupboards for something to satisfy me. I am very pleased to report, especially following last night's blog, that I settled on a few almonds and raisins. My calories my be over the 800 limit today, but at least I haven't reached for anything naughty. I can tell you though, it was a hell of a struggle not to stuff one of the boys' doughnuts into my mouth, whole, earlier. Phew!!!

We all have days like this and it's good to acknowledge them. It's incorrect to think that everyday is blast when on a diet like this - it's just not. Sometimes you get hungry, sometimes all you want to do is sleep. Sometimes you will crave sugar, even if you haven't for ages. But I bet that even if you are not restricting your calories you get the same feelings, I know I certainly did. So I could tell myself that I'm not eating enough, or that I need a sugar fix, but I know that both of those things aren't true. The truth is, I'm just not on form today. The difference is that I would usually reach for sugar-filled treats and drinks to perk me up, and today I haven't.





 

Snacking and Me

Today I realised that one of the biggest single changes the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet has enforced on me is that I no longer snack between meals. This is partly because there aren’t enough calories in my daily allowance to spare on a 100-200 calorie snack. It's also partly due to the Blood Sugar Diet teaching me what I should be eating so I'm not as hungry between meals. I try to eat only breakfast, lunch and dinner, and no puddings! Sob!!

Of course, occasionally I’ll need assistance to get me through to the next meal. I will usually have a hot drink but if that doesn’t work I will have a small handle of almonds and several raisins. And I'm pleased to report I have found eating this small, far more nutritious, snack is far more satisfying than eating half a tin of biscuits.

It was today, while I was adding some chocolate digestives to our biscuit tin (for the boys - not me!), when it suddenly dawned on me, that only a few weeks ago I would have eaten two or three biscuits while adding them to the tin, without even thinking about it. Then I might have made a coffee and sit down with another three…
There are 86 calories in a single chocolate digestive. If I’d have eaten three that’s 258 calories. Six chocolate digestives: 516! That’s more calories in a single snack than I have for most dinners! And that’s not even counting the sugar… (29.4g of sugar for six choccy digestives if you wondered – it’s recommended to have around 5g per day!)

Biscuits were my go-to snack, but they weren’t exclusive. I’d snack on anything but rarely anything healthy. Snacking had literally crept up on me and had become a way of life, a habit, without me even noticing. I would begin my snacking at around 10.30 am – with a coffee. Some mornings it seemed to take forever for the clock hands to tick round to 10.30 am while all I could think of was that tin sitting in the cupboard. And I might snack again after lunch and again after the school run and again after dinner… You get the gist.

Snacking and me go way back.

But things have changed lately, and while I’m on the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet I won’t eat a biscuit or snack on anything so horrifyingly innutritious (think of all those empty calories I’ve consumed!). I am slowly reprogramming myself not to reach for something to eat the moment I feel hungry and cutting down on sugar has certainly helped me fight those urges to feed my hunger.

I am most certainly not a robot, so I will never say I’m not eating a biscuit ever again as it just simply wouldn't be true. But I certainly hope that they won’t creep up on me to become my go-to snack ever again.      

Day 29 - Bank Holiday Monday

Today has been one of those family days where you go somewhere a little bit different, a little further away. You pack a lunch and things for your children to snack on. You plan activities and watch with delight as your family eats and enjoys the things you have packed and planned for them.

(I might just add here that I did not snack on anything today! I simply ate my three calorie-counted meals and have felt hungry exactly zero times over the duration of today.)

Bank holiday Monday; August bank holiday. It has been great. But tonight I'm tired and I just want to dry my hair and slump on the sofa for a bit before bed - and before I have to get up for work tomorrow. And before I have to plan another week of weather-corresponding dinners and clean the bathroom and wash the bed sheets...

So, here it is. The weight loss summary for Week Four:


This week I lost: 2 lb
In total I have lost: 9 lb

This week Mum Lost: 2 lb
In total Mum has lost: 9 lb

Combined Weight Loss Overall at the Halfway Mark: 18 lb

Nine pounds each over the last four weeks and many other benefits besides. I can't wait to see what the next four weeks will bring.

Four Weeks In, Four Weeks Out

So here we are. Halfway through the 8-week Blood Sugar Diet.

At the beginning of all this it felt like we would never get to this point. Now we are four weeks in, and there’s four weeks to go.

Today is day twenty-eight and we are halfway to the end.

Time, then, for a brief celebration:

• For four weeks I haven’t eaten a single biscuit.
• For four weeks I haven’t let a single piece of bread pass my lips.
• For twenty-eight whole days I have avoided eating cereal.
• For four weeks I have been reading and researching everything I can about this miracle diet and others like it – and I’m still not bored.   
• In the last four weeks I have had alcohol on only two occasions. 

In the last four weeks (twenty-eight whole days – the duration of February (non-leap year)) I have felt better than I have in a long, loooong time. I have felt happier. I have felt more peaceful. I have felt more content. I have enjoyed my food more than I used to even though there’s less of it and it’s not always the food I would choose to eat. I have made my peace with turkey mince and have eaten it twice without wanting to throw it in the bin (which is what I did with it the last time I cooked with it). I have eaten more eggs than I can count, more frozen berries and full-fat yoghurt than ever before. More almonds than I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. And I’ve had less alcohol than when I was pregnant (just kidding – I didn’t drink at all). And I have never, not once, felt cheated or like I am missing out.

Of course, I have been hungry at times. But I have made my peace with that. We’ve had hot days and I’ve watched the boys eating ice creams with saliva dribbling down my chin, resisting the urge to rugby-tackle my three-year-old and lick the ice cream from his face. I have actually really craved a banana at least once (I usually don’t like bananas unless it involves dairy - banana flavoured ice cream or milk shake), but haven’t eaten one. I have eaten apples and enjoyed them more than I have in my whole life to date.

Of course, I’ve had a few rice cakes here and there but now the packet has gone I won’t be buying any more for a long time. I’ve even snuck in the odd crisp – emphasis on odd. But generally I’ve been good. I think this diet is working well, it’s not too hard to stick to, and most importantly it seems to be doing the job for my type 2 diabetic mother, who seems to have changed a lifetime of bad eating habits in just four weeks and she hasn’t had a single metformin tablet in all that time.

Added to this, both Mum and I have voluntarily become more active. Mum is walking at least five miles a day, when she can. And I have been running. And, I might add, I have been going out running without having first felt that dull feeling of resignation while I put my trainers on because I have eaten half the tin of biscuits and I really need to try and make the effort to burn off at least one of those twenty I have consumed… I have enjoyed running and I have not noticeably struggled at all while only consuming 800 non-biscuit calories. It has, inexplicably, been easier and more enjoyable.

Tomorrow is day twenty-nine. Tomorrow morning I’ll weigh myself ‘officially’ (that’s the weight which gets written down) for the fifth time. Hopefully I’ll have lost another pound. But I must not lose sight of what is important in the hypnotic Cheshire Cat grin of the scale’s digital readout. Losing weight with this diet is, for me, a happy side-effect. What’s most important is that my mum’s blood sugar is being managed with diet alone. What’s important is that both Mum and I are exercising more frequently and of our own free will. What’s important is how happy my insides feel and as a result, me.

And what’s really important to me is that if even one person who reads this blog decides to buy Dr Michael Mosley’s book, read it thoroughly and think ‘I can do it’; take control of their nutrition and in doing so, their life, to me that would probably be the best thing ever.  

Functioning with Fatigue

Today I suffered. With fatigue.

I was fine when I woke up; I made the boys their breakfasts, I cooked and ate my own breakfast. But somewhere around 9am, and my second cup of tea, I started to feel unaccountably weary. I just wanted to go back to bed and sleep. And sleep.

But I couldn’t. The two boys were looking at me to provide some kind of activity for them. It was a beautiful day; sunny, warm and very little wind. How could they miss out on that because I wanted to sleep? So I told them that I’d take them to the beach for a swim before lunch.

Somehow (after a strong coffee) we managed to get out of the house by around 10.30am. We walked to the beach. We found a spot that wasn’t too crowded and I dragged the buggy across the sand, near to the water’s edge. We put our towels out. The boys put their trunks on. And I did all this with my brain functioning like a zombie's (except instead of wanting to eat brains I wanted to get the boys to the beach).

Then we went for a swim – and the water was amazing.

And then, miraculously, I started to wake up. The fog started to leave my head and I was able to think about things other than sleeping or closing my eyes.

Whether it was the walk that did it, the sea or the joy of watching the boys playing in the sand and splashing in the water – I don’t know. But I woke up. And since then, the rest of the day has been fine. I managed to get two loads of washing washed and dried, ironed and put away. I made dinner for the boys (although one of them had a tantrum and went to bed early). I went for a short run, made dinner for Andy and me, washed up and then made Andy’s lunch for tomorrow. And now I’m writing this blog.

There were two notable factors about today’s weariness:

1) I wasn’t hungry, not at all, all day, and

2) Not at one single point ever did the thought of eating biscuits occur to me – a few weeks ago if I woke up feeling tired I would eat biscuits at the earliest opportunity.

So when fatigue strikes, my advice would be to just power on through. Don’t reach for easy way out and eat sugar. Maybe even have a cold shower. It might not seem like it while your brain is foggy, but you might just achieve quite a lot if you fight the urge to get back into bed and eat biscuits.

photo credit: dreaming in milan via photopin (license)