Trying to lose!

29th Aug 2019 – healthy day then chocolate

Today was a successful work day, as they so often can be.

The chocolate covered flapjacks called loudly to me today. But…

I stayed strong… YAY!

I didn’t have my milk this morning, and until now had forgotten about it. I’ll have a glass shortly.

Usual day stuff, nuts, grapes, cherries in the morning, salad at lunch, hard boiled eggs in afternoon. I did also have two rice cakes, which I didn’t need, and wonder now in hindsight what was going through my mind to scoff them! Probably just feeling stressed and thought ‘sod it all’!

Tonight Paul cooked liver, which was very tasty. And, I’m sorry, currently eating a bit of chocolate. Seems I do comfort eat given this evening’s news.

So, I should still be trying to up my dairy, but I don’t think I’ll do milk and yoghurt tonight, just the milk.

Sad news, don’t lose touch.

Evening all, hope you’re all well.

I will write what little there is of my day on a separate post.

I just want to say if you have any friends or family members you haven’t quite gotten round to chatting to in a while, please do so soon.

This evening I was given some sad news which is very unlikely to have a happy outcome.

My cousin is 7 months my senior (This mattered as children 😊) she is and always has been a beautiful and elegant person, always softly spoken, and a girl I always looked up to and admired.

I always wished I was as beautiful and fashionable (yes, that mattered as kids too) as she seemed.

Even her bedroom was glamourous, and tidy! Mine was always a tip 😂.

Going to see my cousin was something I always so looked forward to. Obviously I loved visiting my aunt and other cousin too, but she was my highlight.

We grew up, had lives, lost touch. I haven’t seen my dear and lovely cousin in about 15 years.

I think of her every few months, wondering how she is, wondering about her family, and never send her a message.

My cousin doesn’t wish to speak to anyone, and I don’t blame her, unless her luck changes she will need to spend as much time as possible with her husband and young children. And no one has the right to take that away from her.

But I do so wish I had just sent a message once in a while. I wish I had told her how visiting with her as children helped me. My childhood had it’s own problems, it was a relief seeing my cousin.

It was even my cousin who introduced me to checking our breasts for lumps. We even got our first bras together courtesy of my fab aunt. It’s horrible to think the least of her problems is breast cancer.

But anyway, please don’t just relish the memories, if you have a chance and a choice, please just send a smiley face or a “hello, how are you?” to those you love.

I wish I had done.

28th Aug 2019 – a healthy food day, and it feels good!

Mum came back from Canada yesterday after a month long visit with my aunt. I visited with her this evening after work. It’s so good to see mum again 🙂. We had such a lovely catch up.

I think I might have a slight intolerance to milk. In an effort to increase my dairy intake I am now starting my day with a glass of milk. I’m not a fan of milk, but I didn’t dislike it.

However, all morning I had quite a grumbly stomach, and there were a few visits to the loo! I will persevere, in the hope that my body will aclimatise, and that I am not intolerant.

My day food was the usual, handful of natural nuts, 2 hard boiled eggs, handful if grapes and handful of cherries. And of course, my salad!

I read, heard or saw somewhere that we should spread our proteins throughout the day, rather than having it all clumped together, so I had my eggs in the afternoon rather than in the morning.

For dinner, Paul cooked gammon, boiled potatoes mixed with lighter than light mayo, a drizzle of olive oil and garlic breadcrumbs. And… wait for it… peas and sweet corn!!! WOOHOO! Paul did veggies! Dinner was tasty.

We’ll be having a Greek yoghurt in a while. I’m surprised I’m not missing my chocolate mousse. We even have a big bar of dark chocolate bought in the shopping a couple of weeks ago, my thought process was a square of choc a night, but it has so far remained unopened.

I’m sorry to say no exercises today. I’m not going to bother promising myself I’ll do them tomorrow, instead I’m gonna promise to try!

Anyway, that’s my life today.

TTFN 👋

100 Trillion – bacteria, viruses and fungi -gut microbes!

Wow, I don’t even understand this figure – that’s a lot of zeros!

I’ve been hearing a lot on healthy gut microbiomes over the last couple of years, so thought I would have a read around (with my unscientific mind) and try to understand a bit more about it.

I’ve read into it, and I still don’t understand it 😀

However, there are some things I’ve been able to pick up and think about, so thought I would share with anyone interested. There are some links at the bottom of this post for further reading.

This branch of research is new, so there appears to be no absolute conclusive information, but it is gaining traction, so more and more research will continue to be done.

What is the microbiome?

This is the collective name given for the 100 trillion bacteria, viruses and fungi making themselves at home in our guts. It’s total mass can also weigh upto 4lb!

Are we born with microbiomes in our guts?

Babies appear to get their microbiomes in a number of ways, one study has found a baby’s microbiome can be similar to bacteria in mum’s mouth, suggestion is that when mums swallow, those microbiomes then find their way to babe via the placenta or amniotic fluid. Born naturally babies pick up gut microbiome on their way out to the bit wide world. Then if breasfed, Mums pass on a carbohydrate which feeds the microbiome babies have. It seems babies’ microbiomes can change dramatically until they are about 3 years old, when the microbiome becomes more stable.

Do we all have the same microbiome?

No, it appears not, even twins can have a different microbiome. And it get’s weirder – even if we did all have identical microbiomes, they would not necessarily have the same effect on any of us – I find that really weird – I mean, we take a paracetamol and my headache will go away, just as yours will!

Are our microbiomes good or bad?

We have good and bad strolling around inside our guts! Although it might be all about balance.

So, what does this microbiome do for us?

A healthy system helps to digest food, helps our immune system, makes vitamins, can improve arthritis and skin conditions. And guess what, it can have an effect on our appetite as well!

How to improve our microbiomes?

It’s all about giving the microbiomes some food – think of them as your pets! And even though we might all react differently to the same microbiomes, the scientific bods out there have come up with some good principles, especially if we want to improve our digestion and/or lose weight:

Eat a varied range of plant-based foods – this creates a diverse community in which different microbes feed on different foods
Eat more fibre – fruit, veggies, pulses, nuts and wholegrains – don’t be alarmed if you get wind and bloating it’s natural – lessen the effects by increasing fibre gradually.
Avoid highly processed food – seems to suppress the good microbes, and increases the baddies
probiotics such as live yoghurt might encourage more microbes to grow
Extra-virgin olive oil has the highest number of microbe friendly chemicals called polyphenols – so use this over other fats when you can
Try to stay away from antibiotics if you can – make sure they are absolutely necessary before you start a course, take the shortest course your doctor will prescribe (although always, ALWAYS finish the course prescribed), follow all above steps with a vengence when taking antibiotics – antibiotics kill loads of bacteria – as is there job, but in so doing, they kill of loads of goodies as well, and guess what – as already mentioned, your microbiome helps the immune system, so that makes your more prone to illness

Probiotics vs Prebiotics

This has always confused me, though I think I’ve finally got it! Here is an explanation:

Prebiotics – food fertilisers – these fertilise our existing gut bacteria and help to encourage diversity of microbes – comes from complex carbs like veggies and wholegrains

Probiotics – Foods or suppliments that contain live bacteria which may be beneficial to us, ie live yoghurts, some cheeses and fermented foods (think blue cheese and sauerkraut – actually I think they might work well together :D)

Conclusion

We will need to wait for those scientific bods to carry on with their testing and reporting, it is a relatively new branch of research, but it is exciting. Who knows, in ten or twenty years down the line they might have a pill which contains just the right bacteria to suppress our appetites 😀

In the meantime, it does seem that we can help our microbiomes, and in turn they will help us to become healthier individuals.

Loads of interesting links I’ve been reading:

https://www.tommys.org/our-organisation/our-research/research-health-and-wellbeing-pregnancy/promoting-healthy-gut-bacteria-babies-born-caesarean-section-promesa-study

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25603-babys-first-gut-bacteria-may-come-from-mums-mouth/

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190212-could-gut-bacteria-microbes-make-you-fat

https://www.livescience.com/65737-how-diet-affects-gut-microbioime.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_should_you_eat_for_a_healthy_gut

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306821/

Stories about your gut bacteria

27th Aug 2019 – almost back on track!

What another glorious day here in the UK, lovely sunshine 😀

For the first time in weeks I hadn’t prepared my lunches, and boy did I know it!

Luckily I haven’t quite run out of my nuts so I had those for breakfast. I went to the van for my lunch, but I didn’t fancy a pasta, and the salads looked utterly unappetising! I plumped for a brown sarnie with cheese and onion (200 less calories than the pastas), but I’d eaten that by 11.30am! I also had a full fat coke… oops! I guess that makes up for the 200 calories 🤔. By the afternoon I needed, no wanted, more food, so had even more nuts, and a rice cake. So…. No, not a brilliant day.

However, Paul cooked a nice piece of smoked haddock and quick cook rice (No veggies, as you probably know by now, Paul doesn’t believe in them 😄)

Paul has been shopping, and I’ve now prepped salads for the rest of the week, boiled my eggs and mixed up the new batch of nuts. I won’t be food bored for the rest if the week now.

I’m also going to be trying to increase my dairy intake this week, a glass of milk every day – I’ll try to enjoy it!

Exercise will begin again tomorrow.

So, that’s me for the day, wishing you all good evening or a good day 👋

26th Aug 2019 – a lovely day, diet starts tomorrow.

Paul is back home YAY!!!

We’ve had a lovely few hours, snuggling then going out and catching up over dinner and Pepsi max. I love it when Paul’s home.

I started okish with food, and ended, well, uh hum, not so food worthy!

Had a fried egg sarnie for breakfast, used 1cal spray, seedy wholewheat bread, scraping of full fat salted butter and ketchup.

Had a pack of oven baked crisps. Then went out for dinner with my beloved, and had good old fashioned fish and chips. There was also a scotch egg, shared with Paul.

No exercise.

I did drink about 3 glasses of water today, my one good thing.

There’s been a bit of a break through with Paul, he’s agreed to my suggestion of mirroring my food for a week (starting week after next). He would like to lose 1.5 stone, so let’s hope his day food will keep him going.

Anyway, good luck to all in your ventures this coming week 😊

25th Aug 2019 – part 2

So at 7.30pm I suddenly realised, with shock, that I had eaten nothing at all today! I didn’t really want anything to eat even when I realised I had not eaten.

This is bad! I am trying to stick to a healthy, balanced diet, not starve my body of nutrients, vitamins, calories it needs.

So in an effort to try and rectify this I have just tried, and failed to eat a huge healthy dinner.

I had my usual salad (last one, need to buy more ingredients) some wholewheat pasta and a tin of tuna. I’m over stuffed!

So, not a good day today for food.

On a plus side, my kitchen floor is cleaner than it’s been since the stone was first lain. I decided that, as Paul’s away, this would be the ideal time to get down to floor level and scrub rather than mop or steam.. And scrub is what I did for a good hour and a bit!

So that, along with the rest of the housework, definitely counts as my exercise today! Shame I didn’t give my body the fuel to do all this!

Anyway, I’ll make sure I eat tomorrow. I’m afraid it will probably be take away, unless I can convince Paul who believes festival time means holiday time, and therefore no dieting! We’ll see.

Good night for now.

25th Aug 2019 – too hot for exercise

I know, I know…. typically English!!!! I’m never happy with the weather!

To be honest, I love the sun, but it’s not a day for me to be outside 😀.

I’m not exactly brimming over with energy, so I’m gonna do the housework nice and slow, top to bottom, that will be my exercise for today.

And as it’s just me, Florence and the machine will be loudly encouraging me.

Anyway, just wanted to have typically British whinge, speak later…

24th Aug 2019 – 2lb loss, great day

What a great day!

My daughter was safe with her fiancee looking after her, my mum is still on her Canadian visit with her sister, my best friend is on holiday, my partner is still at the music festival.

This left me with a day to do with as I pleased, so I started the day with mushrooms on bread and finished with pork, potatoes and sweet corn. Dinner being shared with my daughter and her fiancee.

During the day I went for a walk, it was a walk just for the pleasure of walking, not rushed, just enjoyed. The sun was shining, the gentle breeze was warm. I passed by an elderly couple smiling and holding hands, a young couple enjoying solitude together down by the lake, a group of lads jumping into another part of the lake, a couple of cyclists and a runner.

It is such a lovely area of town and no one seems to know it exists. What better way to spend a few hours than to just feel utter contentment and peace.

In the process I walked over 10000 steps!

10lb lost in total! A review and a Thank You!

I thought I’d take stock of my journey so far for this first five weeks of my journey.

I started out giving myself a goal of losing 2 stone by the end of September. I have five weeks left to go, so I’m not going to reach that goal. However, if I carry on as I am then I might still lose another 10lb.

I am not at all disappointed, there are times I could have done better, and there are times I have been utterly pleased with myself. All in all, I aimed for very far away stars, and I’m at least gonna reach the moon! YES – that for me is definitely SUCCESS!

Now I can’t see any difference in my body shape, however my daughter assures me I look a little less thick, not entirely sure how to take that 🤣

Please excuse the hair, I am not long in from a long and thoroughly enjoyable walk. The really pleasing thing is the trousers fit me much better than when I last wore them in May.

So, I have lost 10lb, my trousers fit better, and I feel much fitter – that is really not bad for 5 weeks work!

And, I am so ready to keep going!

The most surprising thing I have discovered is just how motivated I feel to keep going, not because of my efforts, but because of you.

I started blogging as a means to document my journey, there was a part of me that thought “What if people actually like what I write” and guess what, each and every one of you has hit that like button, and loads more than I would ever have expected or dared to hope, have hit that follow button! I have even had some fabulous and encouraging comments! I mean… WOW, thank you so much

And I love your blogs too, from the amazing travel stories, to weight loss journeys, to recipes, advise on all manner of things, all those funny cartoons, and amazing quotes! Oh wow, for someone who can’t even be bothered with Facebook, you’ve all got me well and truly hooked, and I LOVE it!

So, that’s enough from me for the review bit, I’ll stick my usual daily report on later!

Thank you again 😊