Weight Watchers

[Diane65]

Hope you had a lovely time at Windermere Diane. A walk anywhere is still exercise so it counts.

With all that cycling Preston I am surprised you put on any weight but I am sure you'll lose it again and more with all your exercise.

I am not having a good week food wise as I know I have had more to eat this week so not expecting any miracle on Friday when I weigh myself.

BUT today I got great news. Last week I went to the doctor to ask him to test my blood sugar levels to see if the weight lose (total 10lbs) and cutting down on carbs has helped. He phoned me with the results this afternoon and my HBac1 has gone down from 8.1 to 7.0!!!!
Still a bit to go but I am delighted as it proves that what I have been doing by cutting down on carbs has not only helped me lose weight but has made a tremendous difference to my diabetes since my last blood test in April.

So Diane you can tell your patients that you don't have to starve yourself or exhaust yourself with hours of exercise to make a difference.

Well done Biggins on your HBac1 results and the 10lb weight loss. That is amazing you must be so proud of yourself

I too am surprised that after your mammoth cycle ride that you haven't lost any weight but 1lb is not a lot to lose so don't be disheartened. Where are you off to on holiday next week?

Windermere was lovely thanks. We walked to the lake from the station where we had a picnic lunch, we didn't end up doing the tour of Beatrix Potter as it was virtually all under 5's going in. I was so full after my picnic lunch that I couldn't manage an afternoon tea so we got the train to Kendal and had coffee and cakes there, I had a black coffee and a large slice of Victoria sandwich which was lovely. Didn't have any dinner as not hungry but did have a breakaway on the train. Apart from the torrential rain in Kendal it was a lovely day

[Preston1990]

....BUT today I got great news. Last week I went to the doctor to ask him to test my blood sugar levels to see if the weight lose (total 10lbs) and cutting down on carbs has helped. He phoned me with the results this afternoon and my HBac1 has gone down from 8.1 to 7.0!!!!
Still a bit to go but I am delighted as it proves that what I have been doing by cutting down on carbs has not only helped me lose weight but has made a tremendous difference to my diabetes since my last blood test in April.

Wow, now that is some great news Biggins .......And...What a fabulous incentive to keep on going with your reduced carb intake regime!!

I've just been doing a bit of Googling to try and understand a little more about Diabetes.

Doesn't an HbA1c of 7 mean that your diabetes is really well controlled?

And....Am I right in thinking an HbA1c of less than 6.0 means that you are no longer considered to be diabetic? Is it possible that your HbA1c may fall to less than this if you carry on making the progress you have by continuing to limit your carb intake?

[biggins]

If my HBa1c had been 7.0 when my GP first thought I had type2 diabetes then I would have been "borderline" and they would have kept an eye on my blood sugar levels to see that I didn't go higher.
If I can get it to under 6.0 then I will have it under control. Unfortunately you can never "cure" diabetes as it doesn't go away you can only watch your diet and hope that by keeping it under control you will not suffer other very serious and potential fatal illness from it - blindness, heart attacks etc. Many people have diabetes without knowing it and - like me - never realised just how serious a condition it is.

However, medical research improves and hopefully they will find a cure for it one day.

It does give me the incentive to keep on with my new lifestlye and when I go to the diabetic clinic in October hopefully it will be lower than 6.

You could maybe try lowering your carbs for one week Preston and see how much weight you lose - that would be a great test for weightwatchers!

[Diane65]

You could maybe try lowering your carbs for one week Preston and see how much weight you lose - that would be a great test for weightwatchers!

That would be really interesting to try - I haven't a clue how to count carbs and as you say one small slice of bread is 16 carbs whereas I have 2 large slices of bread for a sandwich which is 220 calories before the filling and I always have cereal for breakfast except at weekends which once again I have no idea re carbs and if you say you need to keep it under 100 a day. I will weigh myself on Monday and then I will try the carbs regime for a week instead of my calories (this will really take me out of my comfort zone as I will have ran out of carbs by lunch time unless I change my eating habits. I will still add up the calories like I do but also try to work out the carbs)

Menu of the day:
Smoothie with bananas and strawberries (250 calories)
2 Poached eggs on 2 slices of toast followed by 2 manadarins (450 calories) I'm off work hence I can poach an egg
Weight watchers cheese and onion quiche with a salad and balsamic vinegar followed by a weight watchers chocolate mousse and raspberries (400 calories)

Exercise of the day:
Another brisk 4 mile walk I can't do my DVD as I have a man in to hang my wallpaper for my feature wall - Its too expensive a wallpaper in case I make a mess of it and as he is doing it for the bargain price of £40 (the price of one roll) I've figured that as I'm on leave all this week but ended up working Tuesday I can give him part of what I earned then so its all good and now I'm free for the day

What is everyone else up to today? Biggins I will really need your guidance re counting carbs - I am going out for coffee on cakes on Monday as its treat day then so I will have to somehow incorporate that in my daily count as cancelling is not an option - I never go back on my word and I love cake plus my friend is good company.

Biggins I know I'm being really thick here but when you say carbs do you mean grammes of carbohydrate per portion? Just calculated if it is I have about 80 for breakfast and lunch so it will be so hard but I'm up for a challenge.

[biggins]

People on the diabetic forum have cut their carbs down to 100 grams or less per day but I don't achieve that but I have cut down on the amount of bread and potatoes, rice, pasta I eat and that is what has helped me.

My son-in-law cut his carbs down to less than 100 a day for three weeks and lost 6lbs the first week and 3lbs each week after that and hasn't put it back on. He did it as a trail to lose some weight but has gone back to his usual eating now - he isn't diabetic. I just wanted to try it for myself and have proved it has worked for me and my diabetes. I don't count everything (too much bother) but just by reading the amount of carbs say in a banana -I changed to strawberries or blueberries with my cereal as berries are lower.

As you know I have mostly soup for lunch when I used to have a sandwich which was two slices of bread plus the slice of toast in the morning which I now don't have. That is the main culprit for me I was eating too many carbs in bread and rolls. Have a look on here and see what you make of it.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/carbohyd ... nting.html

I have not been good with carbs this week as I have had a stressful week and I eat when I am stressed!! Will not go into it all but I am just home from my cousin's funeral. She had been fighting pancreatic cancer for the last eighteen months and she and I were very close. Her six grandchildren were there and little Jack who is ten started to howl and that set me off. But she is at peace now.

There was a buffet lunch after the service so I have had sandwiches!!! Didn't touch the cakes and scones and cream. Some of the family are up from England until Saturday so we are meeting tomorrow for lunch so bang goes the weightwatching tomorrow as well. But I am not bothering now until after next week's holiday to Wales as there is more to life than always counting calories or carbs.

[Diane65]

So sorry to hear about your cousin and the distressing funeral. Please accept my condolences as your heart must be breaking, counting carbs is not on the agenda at times like this.

Thank you so much for the link I will have a good read of it and you just have a lovely time in Wales as you will certainly need the rest to clear your head and give you time to yourself.

[Diane65]

Good luck Biggins if you do decide to have a weigh in day today

Hope that everyone is being healthy today including our regular two who are both going away at the same time (not one to gossip but I know that Biggins is going to a fabulous castle in Wales but Preston has not mentioned where he is going - maybe a nice castle in Wales? )until you actually start your holidays. Has Havingascreen actually stayed in Spain? Rawr_xoxo not heard from you since your night out ClareBarr hope that you are feeling OK and did enjoy your chocolates - a treat does make life easier. Valda hope you are still enjoying your classes but still missing hearing your menus. MsThrifty I know that you are not weight watching but how is your foot? Jojojoanne hope that you are keeping good - still amazed how you kept a whole stone weight loss a secret and of course our very own yummy Mummy Anakin I hope that you are keeping well.

Menu of the day:
Cornflakes with a black coffee (300 calories)
Cereal bar (150 calories) approx 12noonish to keep me going until Pizza Express
Pizza Express for a Leggera with a Diet Coke (500 calories) early dinner possibly followed by a Semi Freddo Reale (184 calories) but then I would only have 50 calories for later as its not treat day so depends on how late I go I may have the dessert

Exercise of the day:
A brisk 5 mile walk - I'm going to walk to this http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... YdmyfMr7Ig I just loved War Horse and would love to see the true story behind the film and then walking over the bridge to Pizza Express at the Lowry

The decorator is coming later to check on his work - its perfect but he insists on double checking it. So I will have to do my DVD tomorrow as I would be so embarrassed if I was half way through it.

[biggins]

Been brave and weighed myself this morning - 1lb gain this week! Not surprised - but will start my new regime again after I come home from Wales.

Weather is awful again here - more rain!!! So no long walk this afternoon to burn off some of my lunch - whatever I have to eat out with family today.

Enjoy Pizza Express Diane!

[Diane65]

Been brave and weighed myself this morning - 1lb gain this week! Not surprised - but will start my new regime again after I come home from Wales.

Weather is awful again here - more rain!!! So no long walk this afternoon to burn off some of my lunch - whatever I have to eat out with family today.

Enjoy Pizza Express Diane!

1lbs is not a lot and you have had a really stressful/ emotional week. You just have a wonderful time in Wales and the healthy regime can restart on your return.

Where is Preston1990? I take it he's busy ironing his Budgie oops Eagle smugglers for his holiday

[Preston1990]

Morning everyone!

Don't you just love kids!

A couple of days ago, one of my darling teenage daughters in a midnight raid on the freezer (yes you read right, freezer - not fridge) forgot to shut the door completely. Result, the freezer completely frosted up inside where the outside air had got in and condensed, and all the food contents were soft and dripping water.

I felt like strangling someone when I found it yesterday, and my wife and I have spent ages batch cooking bolognese sauce from some of the defrosted packs of mince beef, and cooking a big batch of beef casserole. But there is only so much you can do in a situation like this.

We saved/used what we could and tempting though it was to refreeze the whole lot of defrosted food (which I know would have been stupid) common sense prevailed and I resisted.

Even though I knew there was no real alternative, it was still very hard transferring well over £200 of perfectly good but defrosted food into the bin, not wishing salmonella or other assorted varieties of food poisoning on anyone. I've had to switch the freezer off and let it defrost for the best part of the day, then mop up all of the water. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrghhhh!

Ho hum......

Looking forward to going to Italy more than ever next week - and yes Diane, I will be swimming.

I'm going to try a new eating regime when I get back home. It's going to be based largely on what that guy did on the Horizon programme that Cellini posted the link to last week (the prog is no longer available on the iplayer - if you haven't watched it, or downloaded it, allready).

Basically, it involves eating normally for 5 days then having a much reduced calorie intake for 2 days. It is not specifically designed for weight-loss per se, although that can be a potential benefit. It's main claimed benefits are that it can help in the reduction of IGF1, LDL cholesterol, glucose levels and other blood lipids, which as a coronary heart disease sufferer, would be good news (if true ). A low IGF1 level is key apparently in allowing the body's repair mechanisms to assist in replacing damaged cells and DNA - if the programme is to be believed. The "fasting" (low calorie days) element of the regime is key to achieving this.

I am going to incorporate low calorie shakes (that my wife had b*ght, tried for a while and then stopped using some time ago) into my reduced calorie days

Anyhow, if nothing else it will rid the cupboards of the shake stuff. At best it could have a positive effect on my cholesterol levels, and maybe overall weight which is getting harder to shift. Sometimes its good to try a different tack - nothing ventured nothing gained.


Today's Meals:

1) Diet shake made with skimmed milk (200 cals)

2) Three large pieces of fillet steak with 50 gms broad beans.

3) Still to be decided.

4) Still to be decided.


I was really sorry to hear the sad news about your cousin Biggins. Life can sometimes seem so hard and unfair. Take good care!