Eva's Reality Check

[green team]

Originally Posted by Lileve

Today my BF said he could see a difference in me and that I looked thinner in my face. It must REALLY be noticeable for him to mention it.

Yesterday my friend said she also noticed a difference (in my face and my waist)

I just keep on losing steadily and am so happy about it! I looked on ****** and if I keep losing at this rate I may weigh about 175 lbs by Christmas! I don't think I'll keep losing at this rate, but we'll see. Any progress is fine by me.

I also noticed on ****** (looked at reports section) that I am happier when I eat slightly less calories (about 1000 instead of 1100) and that I lose better when I eat slightly more carbs than I have been doing: 20 net carbs (instead of 15). So more veggies for me.

You must be like me and lose it in the face first. I do feel sorry for people who are the other way round and are thin but have chubby faces--like Tom Chaplin, the lead singer of Keane, and Charles Kennedy the politician.

It's always a bit conflicting for a man when his partner is losing weight. On the one hand it's exciting, on the other you think "Don't get too hot or you might be off".

[Lileve]

Originally Posted by green team

You must be like me and lose it in the face first. I do feel sorry for people who are the other way round and are thin but have chubby faces--like Tom Chaplin, the lead singer of Keane, and Charles Kennedy the politician.

It's always a bit conflicting for a man when his partner is losing weight. On the one hand it's exciting, on the other you think "Don't get too hot or you might be off".

Yes I'd rather lose it in the face first too. My friend's face stays chubby even though she's weighs very little. I do think she takes it too far though - she wants to keep losing just to look thin even though she'll be below a normal bmi.

So it's really true then that men can find it a bit difficult? My bf is not a great talker and I don't think even he knows what he's feeling most of the time. But he hasn't been entirely supportive and doesn't seem to be sure of how to deal with my new WOE and losing weight.

I really like your responses on my journal and besides that it's great to get a man's perspective on some of these things! Thank you.

[Lileve]

So, I have to start planning how I'm going to handle next week! My brother-in-law is getting married on friday and as a surprise some of my in-laws are coming to stay with us. They're coming here from Scotland and 3 adults will stay with my mother-in-law and 1 adult with 2 babies are staying with us.
We're on a pretty tight budget so it's kinda hard for me to keep up this diet. I have no idea now how I'm going to stay on it in the whole week that they'll be here! I also don't know where I'm going to find the time to make the meals. Apparently the guy that's staying with us doesn't like any veggies AT ALL and the babies (1 yr olds) are onto real foods, but I have no idea what they like.
When my family comes over there is the unspoken agreement that we help out financially (grocery shopping or leaving some money at the end of the week). But with my BF's family I have no idea and I've never seen this cousin that's staying with us so I have no idea whether I should/how to approach the subject.

I was thinking that maybe I'll cook like crazy the next few days and freeze a lot of stuff in for myself. That way they can all eat whatever they feel like and be impulsive about going to fastfood places etc, but I'll still be able to eat on plan. I don't want to give up my diet for a whole week.

And then there's the wedding. It'll be my first major event since starting this WOE. I'll probably do fine, but any tips are welcome of course

[Lileve]

I'm doing an October challenge. I like setting a goal and don't really mind whether I make it or not. But it is nice to see my progress like this:

Daily weigh in:
oct 1 = 204.6
oct 2 = 202.4
oct 3 = 202.8
oct 4 = 202.4 TOM
oct 5 = 202
oct 6 = 202.8
oct 7 = 202.9
oct 8 = 202.4
oct 9 = 201.8
oct 10= 201
oct 11= 200.4
oct 12= 199.5!!!!!!!!!!
oct 13= 199.3
oct 14= 199
oct 15= 198.6
oct 16= 198.0

[Psmileyf]

Wow. You are having a fantastic month!

[Lileve]

thanks Paula!!

[Psmileyf]

I went to a wedding recently and it was pretty easy. I just avoided the potato they served. They started out with soup and salad, so I had the soup broth and the salad. Then I ate the meat and green beans.

As for having people with you, that is tough. Can you do chicken legs and thighs? They are usually cheap...

[green team]

Originally Posted by Lileve

So it's really true then that men can find it a bit difficult? My bf is not a great talker and I don't think even he knows what he's feeling most of the time. But he hasn't been entirely supportive and doesn't seem to be sure of how to deal with my new WOE and losing weight.

To be fair, men have to play their cards very close to their chest in these thing. It's the "does my bum look big in this" syndrome: Catch 22. We cannot afford to get too enthusiastic about a partner's weight loss, because if she puts the weight on again she will bring the matter up had we once said we preferred her lighter. We are better taking a cautious approach, with the emphasis on liking the partner whatever weight she is. It's safer but, after all, wiser too.

Originally Posted by Lileve

I really like your responses on my journal and besides that it's great to get a man's perspective on some of these things! Thank you.

I noticed you because we joined the forum at almost the same time. Your joy at the results of the diet is very infectious. I'm away for a week on Wednesday--will come and see how things are going after that.

Originally Posted by Lileve

Apparently the guy that's staying with us doesn't like any veggies AT ALL

He sounds Scottish, all right. As long as you give him haggis, he will be fine.

Originally Posted by Lileve

And then there's the wedding. It'll be my first major event since starting this WOE. I'll probably do fine, but any tips are welcome of course

Go easy on the sherry, is my main tip. Nothing to do with the diet, just speaking from experience (once passed out at a wedding--I blame those innocent-looking trays of sherry).

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

Good morning! Just popping in to say hi and to wish you a good day.

[Lileve]

Originally Posted by green team

That makes a lot of sense! I just asked him about it - he says it's true! At least now I get it. I can live with this. Thank you

I noticed you because we joined the forum at almost the same time. Your joy at the results of the diet is very infectious. I'm away for a week on Wednesday--will come and see how things are going after that.

Yes that's how I noticed you too. It's a shame (for me) that you don't keep a journal on here, I'd like to support you in your journey too. But maybe you don't need that as much? I think I read somewhere that you do journal on paper? I love journaling. I've kept journals for 12 years and am currently writing in journal 30-something

He sounds Scottish, all right. As long as you give him haggis, he will be fine.

Hahaha, we're actually having Haggis sometime this week Hmm not sure I'm "allowed" but I'm gonna anyway

Go easy on the sherry, is my main tip. Nothing to do with the diet, just speaking from experience (once passed out at a wedding--I blame those innocent-looking trays of sherry).

Hmm unfortunately no alcohol at this wedding - I think it's a bit weird, but hey, whatcha gonna do?!

I hope you have a really good time on your week away and I look forward to your check-in.

[Lileve]

Originally Posted by nikkiluvslowcarb

Good morning! Just popping in to say hi and to wish you a good day.

Thank you Having a great day! Hope you have a good day too!

[Lileve]

Okay WOW!!
I was making a snack for my BF for tonight (poached apple in cinnamon sauce) when I noticed we'd run out of sugar. I used my sucralose instead for the sauce and so it became something I could try too.
IT IS DELICIOUS!!!! Especially when you pour it over a flax muffin!! OMG!! I only had about a tbsp because there are spices in that sauce but WOW just WOW!!!

Recipe:
700 ml water
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground star anise
3 whole black pepper 'balls'
3 whole cloves
sucralose to taste (though it should be 50 grams of table sugar - to get a siropy consistency)

1 apple, no skin, with stem

Put everything except the apple in a small sauce pan and let it boil for 10 minutes. Then add the apple. Let is boil for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Take out the apple and place it on a plate to cool.
Then let the rest boil down till left with a thick sauce. It didn't get very thick (due to sucralose instead of sugar) but it was DELICIOUS!

[Lileve]

hmmm my scales have been very consistent but this morning it showed quite a large drop!
oct 18= 198.4
oct 19= 196.7
------------
tot: 1.7 lb lost since yesterday!!

I'm not gonna change my stats till it also shows that it's off tomorrow! It seems like a bit of a fluke, but I hope not! It'd be so cool if I lost that much.

Reason it COULD BE: I've been drinking a lot of water the last 2 days whereas before I was hardly drinking any. So maybe I've just lost a lot of water weight and only a bit of fat! (Not that I'd mind this though!)

My mum drove me to the supermarkets today so I got in everything I might need for the next week! Hopefully I now have enough options to help me out.

[Psmileyf]

Wow! Great loss! Let me know what happens tomorrow morning! I bet it is still off.

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

Thats great! I hope it sticks.

[motivate33]

Wow!! That is a big loss. The water may be catching up. Or you are just staying on plan to the Tee. Sometimes we have "whooshes". Celebrate it girl you deserve it!!! You are so just like me i wouldnt have put the weight til "it stuck" hahahahaha Keep up the great work!!!! Actually i am 105.2 and i wont put it cause i am floating all over the dang board LOL!!!

[Lileve]

It stuck!!!

196.5 this morning!!!!

too busy to post much this week ... sorry ....

[Psmileyf]

Yay for you!

[motivate33]

YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! You are doing awesome!

[motivate33]

Just checking in on ya cutie pahtootie hope you are well!!!

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

Hey girl, where ya at? Hows things going?

[Lileve]

Hiya all!! Just a super quick update: I've lost a few more lbs but am dead busy! My family is over from Scotland for a week (we now have 3 kids under the age of 2 running about. But I am enjoying myself ... will be back in about 2 days xxx

[Psmileyf]

Have fun!

[Lileve]

Okidoki, I'm back now. They left yesterday morning at 7 am and I haven't had any time since then.

A lot has happened in the last few days:
I lost just over 2 lbs despite all the cheating (chips at burger king and at home and some other stuff as well), I got a pretty good work-out all day every day because we had kids staying with us. My daughter (almost 2 yrs) and the twins (just turned 1 yr) so I was running after them all the time or pushing buggy's, getting shopping, trailing around town and going out for walks.
Most nights I stayed up till way too late talking with my bf's cousin (the twins' dad) and listening to music. All the kids got up early in the morning though so the nights were very short.

On Monday my bf phoned me from work to give me some crappy news: they gave him notice till the end of the week due to their financial situation (last in, first out) and then on Thursday and today they sent him home cause they didn't have any work for them so that's us without an income now
We'll get some money in after 6 weeks probably (welfare? is that the right term) but in the meantime we're up s*** creek.
Apart from being really worried about the bills and stuff I'm also worried about my WOE. It's pretty expensive, but I'm doing so well on it, I'd hate to have to go back to my previous WOE - it so isn't worth it.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now .....

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

I'm glad you had a good visit! I'm so sorry to hear your BF lost his job! I'll be praying that he finds another job soon.

[green team]

Originally Posted by Lileve

Okidoki, I'm back now. They left yesterday morning at 7 am and I haven't had any time since then.

A lot has happened in the last few days:
I lost just over 2 lbs despite all the cheating (chips at burger king and at home and some other stuff as well), I got a pretty good work-out all day every day because we had kids staying with us. My daughter (almost 2 yrs) and the twins (just turned 1 yr) so I was running after them all the time or pushing buggy's, getting shopping, trailing around town and going out for walks.
Most nights I stayed up till way too late talking with my bf's cousin (the twins' dad) and listening to music. All the kids got up early in the morning though so the nights were very short.

On Monday my bf phoned me from work to give me some crappy news: they gave him notice till the end of the week due to their financial situation (last in, first out) and then on Thursday and today they sent him home cause they didn't have any work for them so that's us without an income now
We'll get some money in after 6 weeks probably (welfare? is that the right term) but in the meantime we're up s*** creek.
Apart from being really worried about the bills and stuff I'm also worried about my WOE. It's pretty expensive, but I'm doing so well on it, I'd hate to have to go back to my previous WOE - it so isn't worth it.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now .....

Atrocious news about your boyfriend's job. What's the economic situation in Holland as far as the job market's concerned now?

As far as affording the WOE is concerned I can only mention liver again. I'm very happy that one of my favourite meats is also pretty much the cheapest.

I have a theory that low-carbing isn't as expensive as "normal" eating. I never snack randomly these days--and it's surprising how much one saves by cutting out those cheap snack foods such as biscuits, cakes, crisps, sweets, etc. I think it's feeding the family that will be your big challenge rather than feeding yourself on low-carb. I hope you can work it out.

[Lileve]

Thank you Nikki!

Green Team! Glad you're back too. Hope you had a nice week away with your family!?!

The economic situation in Holland is getting worse by the week. It's been going on for a couple of years now (we can mostly tell by the way John is being treated by his managers and how often he has to change jobs - he left his last one because they were going broke and found this one from which they now let him go for that very same reason). It's getting much worse though - it's now up to 5.6 % of the population that is out of a job - it's been increasing steadily for the last 3 months A lot of companies are going under - which also has a lot to do with our export of course.
The fact that the euro seems to slowly be crashing isn't helping any of course.

At least this time I didn't go into a blind panic though. The last time John lost his job was when he had just bought our house one month earlier and I was 6 months pregnant This time I am feeling much stronger and more energetic, something I largely contribute to a lack of raging hormones and this wonderful WOE!

I haven't yet done a budget (doing one this weekend), but now that you mention all that snacking - you're probably right that it's cheaper this way. I guess I used to spend an awful lot trying to keep up with my 'addiction'. Chicken and turkey are pretty cheap here - especially at Lidl. We have one quite close by and my mum said she doesn't mind driving me there more often so I can do my shopping. The bacon (no sugar) we get there is also dirt cheap and absolutely delicious. I've been keeping an eye out for liver, but the only place you can buy it is at a proper butchers and they still ask for quite a lot I'll just have to forgo my nuts and my flax/almond meal muffins for a while (€11,- for a kilo of almond meal and €5,- for a kilo of golden flax seeds). I can work around that though. And maybe my mum is willing to help out with that since she's also on this diet and I'm the only one with the muffin recipes
I'm curious to see how my shopping budget pans out now on LC. I'll let you know.

I've also decided to look for a job in child daycare for the period in which John is at home. We can't afford daycare for Caitlin (even with 2 full time incomes we wouldn't be able to), but it might be easier for me to quickly get a job there to top up his welfare with. Hopefully he'll get a job before the end of the year though.


Thanks for all your caring messages and any tips from anybody will be welcome!
Sorry for being such a downer at the moment. I'll probably cheer up quickly ...

[Lileve]

My cousin sent me his recipe for a fantastic curry that is so filling extra carbs aren't needed - just the veggies that are in it! He made it for us last week and I loved it. I've been making that this evening so that I don't need to cook tomorrow.T
oday we had Haggis and mashed turnip Don't know if I'm supposed to, I'll bet they stick sugar in haggis too (plus all the barley), but I really ENJOYED EVERY SINGLE BITE!!

My bf decided that we could use a little 'pick-us-up' what with all this stress, so tomorrow we are having a (frugal) romantic evening for Halloween with a scary movie and some hot chocolate with cream. I don't know what else, cause it's gonna be a surprise!!

Right, my little pick-me-up to myself was that I took my measurements again and that I have compared it to what I was 2 months ago:
These are all the centimeters I lost!
Neck -------3.4 cm
Bicep -------2.2 cm
Forearm ----2.6 cm
Chest ------ 2.5 cm
Waist -------8.4 cm
Thigh -------8.7 cm
Calf ---------2.1 cm
Wrist --------1.0 cm
Ringvinger----0.3 cm
____________________
total lost: 31.2 cm - thats 12.3 INCHES!!!

I've also already lost a total of 28.2 lbs in 66 days!!!!!!!

This feels absolutely incredible! I'm almost afraid to look for more ways to put this in so that it really hits home, because being this high on life is almost scary :P (hahaha not really, I love it )

[Psmileyf]

Sorry to hear about your BF's job. I know how stressful it is! I just had to cut down our grocery bill because DH took a paycut. I found it easier than expected because I used to only eat boneless, skinless chicken, lean meat, etc...now I can buy chicken thighs..fattier, cheaper cuts of beef, etc. I also started baking my kids snacks instead of buying them. And I had to cut out most of our organic food...but for now, I am saving about $50/week on groceries, and I have to do what I have to do.

Babysitting sounds like a great idea. I wish I had a reliable babysitter for my kids...they go to a group daycare now.

Congrats on your loss!

[Lileve]

Hi there

thank you. I've become quite adept over the years in doing my shopping on a tight budget. However, we used to just eat less meat and more potatoes when money was tight, now I have to do that the other way around. We'll manage though.
I agree that having a babysitter is much better than daycare groups, but there's not always any choice in the matter. For now my bf will be home while I work and the welfare insurance will keep on paying the same amount to him even if I work. So hopefully that will keep us out of dept (especially with our mortgage).

Thank you! I'm so pleased with my losses