Good news and progress!

Some good news today! First of all: The Economist has published an article about how wrong scientists have judged fat, and that insulin (and thereby sugar) is the real bad guy. In a Swedish Facebook group about LCHF someone described our fat of fear by writing that "getting fat by eating fat makes as much sense as if you'd get sweet by eating sugar, or green by eating greens."

Then it was time for Purple Pant Check no 3 today! Last time I checked my purple pants was three weeks ago. Check this out:

Purple pants today

 

Purple pants three weeks ago

This time, the pants got up almost all the way, my bum fits as it should which I think explains the much more flattering shape of it today, and I didn't have to struggle as much to hold the zipper gap :)
At next check, they will go up all the way to the crotch and I will be able to get the zipper up a little bit!!

Now I can't wait to get on the scale tomorrow :)
Challenge today: party and going out tonight without cheating on the diet. I almost managed yesterday with the exception of some BBQ sauce on the pizza topping that I had (without the pizza bottom).

Challenges and beginnings

So I live in Australia now. And here in Australia - people don't do low carb yet. The miracle hasn't really managed to travel to this part of the world yet. But despite this - I have managed to convince my first Australian. Here's the story:

There is a house in Melbourne where three people live. A boy and a girl who are married, and Sofia who's an international student from Sweden. The married couple have looked at Sofia's food with huge doubt without saying anything. All that fat. And seriously, why can't she have a potato every once in a while?! But the thing is, the female part of the couple is very overweight. I don't know how much, but I would guess around 140-150 kg. The boy is doing a lot of anaerobic exercising, have terrible food habits (same as his wife), seems fine and healthy enough, but has gained 12 kg since he met the girl despite the cardio. He believes in low fat diets and anaerobic exercising to loose fat.

The boy and the girl have tried to get a baby for some time, but without success. The doctor says that they might increase the chances if the girl looses some weight. They start dieting every week but give up after a couple of days.

One day, Sofia comes home and sees that something is wrong with the girl. She's not her usual happy self. Apparently, there was a visit to the doctor with more bad news. Sofia start talking about how the low carb high fat diet from Sweden has helped a lot of people loose a lot of weight when everything has failed previously. She also describe health benefits and research for studies about low carb diets and fertility (good info about that in this interview by the DietDoctor).

Anyway, I can't bother writing like that anymore. My housemate and I have now started a challenge for one week to begin with (will most likely be extended). I am cutting the carbs to a maximum of 5 grams per day (aiming towards 0), and she is starting on LCHF. This is so exciting!!! I get to follow someone who has potential to gain huge health benefits in several ways from following the LCHF diet, in Australia where people still frown at fat and believes in processed low fat food. I love that her goal is not primarily to loose weight, but to get pregnant, which also makes it even more interesting to follow. She is more motivated now than I have ever seen her before which really makes me believe that she can do it! And - her husband is completely against the whole thing and refuse to listen to my reasoning. I will love to shove his doubts in his face when she stands there with a healthy and, hopefully, pregnant wife!

What I believe my beautiful, wonderful and fantastic housemate will gain is:

• A child
• A healthy weight
• More energy
• Good sleep
• Stable mood
• Lower blood sugar
• No more headaches
• No cravings

To contrast that, this is what it is like now (a summary):

• PCOS (no trace of a child)
• Heavily overweight
• No energy - naps every afternoon/early evening
• Bad sleep - nightmares and waking up several times
• Mood swings
• Risk of getting diabetes according to doctor
• Migraines and constant headache
• Sugar addiction

I will follow this closely and support her as much as I possibly can. It feels as if I am almost as involved in and motivated by her lifestyle now as I am in my own, and it will be great to see what happens now and if she can stick to it! Second day today :)

Purple pant check and the diet thing

I think a lot about how I eat, what I eat, how and what I should eat and how/what I want to eat. Strict low carb diets are ideal, no doubt about that at all. That sort of diet has made up the basis for my food habits for about 4-5 years now. That's how I lost 20 kg once!

There are a lot of variations between different low carb diets though and I have probably tried most of them. GI diet, paleo, LCHF, primal, strict, liberal, ketogenic, dairies or no dairies, fruits or no fruits. The stricter the better is what I believe in. Unfortunately, it is not very easy to stick to if you have an interest for food and cooking as I have. It is good for my body but not for the mental well being. I feel like I am missing out on life when I am on a strict diet and I can't see myself doing it for the rest of my life.

I think that I am starting to realize what kind of diet works for me, in the long run. While I enjoy trying new diets and see how they affect my body, and probably will continue doing so, I am now focusing on a diet that provides me with a good health, does not disturb miss Sugarmonster, that is enjoyable and that supports my hunger hormones. The last part is probably the most important one. I need a diet that does not trigger binges. A strict low carb diet that consist of only meat, green vegetables, fats and eggs does not work for me. I do believe that it is the best diet you can possibly be on, but it is too strict for me to be able to follow without huge binges every now and then.

When I listen to the hardcore people who are talking about peas and red capsicums as being "forbidden food" I also kinda get annoyed. That is not how I want to live! Some food is forbidden, sure thing. But my diet will consist of natural, unprocessed food. That is the most important criteria! Then there are different degrees of "goodness":

1. Meat and eggs: As good as I can afford - hormone free, free range, organic, locally produced etc.
2. Natural fats (butter, coconut oil, olive oil)
3. Green vegetables
4. Other vegetables, berries
5. Nuts and seeds - shared position with dairies (mainly cheese)
6. Fruits, roots, peas and beans, dark chocolate (>85%)

That's about all the food that I want to include in my regular diet. On an everyday basis it is only the first 3 or 4 categories that are consumed. Plus hard cheese (no lactose there). On the weekends I usually become more liberal and include some products from the other categories as well. Forbidden food has added sugar (I can allow myself natural sweeteners such as ripe bananas or honey sometimes), trans fats, lots stuff in the ingredient lists that I don't know what it is (e-numbers, preservatives etc.), palm oil and gluten. Artificial sweeteners are avoided but preferred to sugar (e.g. I bought sugarfree Strepsils for my throat yesterday).

This kind of diet allows me to experiment and give myself treats. It is considered healthy by most people. It is low carb. My stomach is working properly. I have energy. Miss Sugarmonster is usually absent. It helps keeping me aware of my hunger hormones (I feel hunger and I am capable of having normal sized portions). My blood sugar is stable. I do not binge!

This is the focus I have right now. I've never had that focus on my food habits before. It has always been about following strict rules made up by someone else about what I should eat and when. Now it is about my own functioning and learning how to get a healthy relationship with food. What works for me regardless of what other people say.

And - here's an update of how my beautiful purple pants fit a couple of days ago! :)

Still looks absolutely terrible but, I can get them over my bum anyway. And that's after only three weeks!

Entering into the light

In the beginning there was darkness. But after a certain period of time, filled with mood swings, struggles, mental fist fights with miss Sugarmonster and maybe a slip or ten, after forcing yourself to stay on track - you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. And suddenly you are there. Still far away from your goal, but you have reached the light. The light where it is no longer a constant struggle to keep on trying but rather just goes automatically. The light where you notice that you actually don't really feel like trying the cake at work because miss Sugermonster has given up. The light where you actually long for kicking some ass at the gym because you know how great it will make you feel afterwords. Suddenly you are not trying to convince yourself anymore - you are just doing it and you start feeling that you can actually manage this, for real!

It is worth going through the torturous phase to get to the light. And really - it does not take that long. I have a three day rule. That is how long it takes to get past the worst of the cravings. The diet is easier after about a week. After two weeks you'll probably be in the flow, you've gotten the hang of what you can eat for your different meals, the sugar addiction is on hold, it is not a huge mission to get to the gym anymore and you're probably starting to see your first results.

I read somewhere that it takes three months for a new habit to get established. Might be true. Probably is. But it will not be a constant fight trough all that time. The fight is only in the beginning. I believe that you will find your health salvation within a month. Just give it a try. A real wholehearted try. You can do it!

Mission started!

So the idea is to use this as an inspirational platform for myself to keep on going in my health mission. I have done it before and I KNOW that I can do it again!!

I managed to get into the best shape I've ever been in by losing 20 kg over... two years or so. Then the tough shit began (life happened y'know) and I gained more than 10 of them again. Now I've tried and tried to drop them again and nothing happens. So here I am exposing myself to the world to see if that helps. And I have done it before so if I manage again - then maybe I'll even be able to give some helpful advice to someone else :)

Here's the deal - these pants will fit again! Like a glove!!!