Starting again

Good Morning Lovely Readers


Well.....

Staring again .... sort of .... I am still 11lbs down but I did lose the plot last week. Mr Thrifty pointed out that I do better on a more limited choice of foods and so we are doing phase 1 (3rd time) but with some additions.....

I am including low-sugar fruits and dairy. I am hoping that this means I will stick it for longer and my plan is - at this moment in time - to carry on beyond 5 days.

How are you doing? Hanging on in there .... or fallen off the wagon?

It would be great if we could help each other through this - thank you Sue for your offers of support!

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Help

Hello ....is there anyone there?


I need help!

You guessed it ..... I have fallen off the wagon and I NEED to get back on .....

Advice?

Please?

Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Half a Stone in 5 days

Hello Lovely Readers


Well ... I weighed in this morning and ...

...I kind of expected it - I did eat that baguette after all - you guessed it; I didn't lose weight yesterday. I don't mind too much after all I have lost 7lbs in 5 days which I am really happy about. As Sue says, http://thehowlowcanyougofooddiary.blogspot.co.uk/ and of course Zoe Harcombe agrees with her, it's Fat meals that shift the weight, not the carb ones. So, as I go on to phase 2 I am going to try and eat more of the fat meals and restrict the carb ones. It will be interesting to see if this does make a difference.

So, have a great weekend

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

This is my menu planner for this week:

Harcombe Diet – phase 2 – week 1 F = fat meal C = carb meal
Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Saturday	F Poached eggs + tomatoes	F Goats cheese salad Strawberries + cream	C Quorn chilli + natural yoghurt + tomato salsa
Sunday	C Fresh fruit + natural yoghurt	F Salmon fillet + steamed vegetables	F Poached eggs on spinach
Monday	C Porridge + natural yoghurt + blueberries	F Salad Nicoise	F Aubergine gratin
Tuesday	C Porridge + natural yoghurt + blueberries	F Mackerel salad	F Creole fish casserole + green salad
Wednesday	C Porridge + natural yoghurt + grated apple	F Feta + olive salad	C Butternut squash curry + brown rice + natural yoghurt
Thursday	F Herb omelette + tomato	F Prawn stir fry	C Quorn bolognaise + buckwheat pasta
Friday	F Bacon + egg/scrambled egg	C Baked potato + low fat cottage cheese + salad	F Baked fish + steamed vegetables

Day 5 - phase 1

Good Evening Lovely Readers


I lost another pound yesterday which I am really happy about. Weight loss so far = 7lbs in 4 days (plus 4lbs not gained from the original 12lbs I lost).  It is the last day of phase 1 and to tell you the truth I couldn't be happier - I am ready for the next phase and proved this by "cheating" tonight.

I did okay all day but then Mr Thrifty and I spent all afternoon in the garden and I was tired. So when I went in to make our dinner, I couldn't be bothered to go to the effort of making a salad and instead I warmed up some mini baguettes and we had those with butter and sardines. Oh well.... it could have been worse (I think).  I will wait until the morning to weigh and see if the demon white bread made a difference! I'll let you know.

Interestingly, it filled a hole but I really haven't missed bread at all. Back on track tomorrow..

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Day 5

Porridge + natural yoghurt

Egg + salad

Grilled sardines + green salad

Day 4 - phase 1

Good Morning  Lovely Readers


I have awoken to a beautiful sunny morning here is Suffolk and that always makes the world seem brighter - don't you agree? I have lost another pound, so that takes my total in 3 days on phase 1 of this diet to 6lbs. I am only 1lb off my original SMART target and so I have added another ticker to my side bar ready for tomorrow (hopefully)... have you got yours yet? I do like to see a visual display of what I have lost. 

St Jacob's Menonite Market, Ontario - see my other blog for my recent trip.

I have tried so many diets over time - in fact, there possibly isn't a diet I haven't tried..... but this is working for me and I don't feel cheated or hungry. How are you finding it? Today's menu is at the bottom of the page.

Have a great day

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Day 4

Tomato omelette made with 2-3 eggs, knob of butter, ½tsp herbs, ground black pepper

Chef's salad: a large mix of salad leaves, beetroot, tomato, cucumber, radish + spring onions, with hardboiled eggs and/or feta cheese + olives. Olive oil and black pepper for dressing

Stuffed peppers: boil 50g dry weight brown rice, stir-fry chopped mixed vegetables (not potatoes or mushrooms) in olive oil, then mix the rice and vegetables together and fill a deseeded pepper shell. Bake in a medium oven for 20-30 minutes until the pepper is soft to the touch

5lbs - 2 days

Good Morning Lovely Readers

I have now lost 5lbs in 2 days - actually I have also lost 0.2 of a pound (my scales are digital) but I will save that towards tomorrows lost to keep in round pounds. So again I say, if you follow the rules, this diet works. How are you doing? I would love to hear, so do leave me a little comment to let me know your progress.

New to the Harcombe Diet? Here are the rules for Phase 1

Rules for Phase 1
● Unless specified, eat as much as you like so that you don't start to feel hungry.
● You're allowed to eat unlimited unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, salads and vegetables, apart from potatoes and mushrooms. Mushrooms feed Candida albicans, while potatoes are very high in carbohydrate so they encourage Candida albicans and hypoglycaemia. Olives and tomatoes are also allowed, as is olive oil for cooking and dressings.
● You can have 50g brown rice or rice pasta per day or 75g porridge oats.
● No caffeine is allowed. But you should drink about 1.5 litres of water, herbal tea, decaffeinated tea or coffee (without milk) a day.
● And no sweeteners or sugar-free drinks - they can stimulate the insulin mechanism in a similar way to sugar and just perpetuate your desire for sweet things.
● Unless specified, all foods can be cooked in any way - roasted, fried, grilled, baked, poached etc.
● You can snack between meals on vegetable crudités or natural live yoghurt, but try and get used to eating just three big main meals a day so your body has time to digest them properly. Make meals as regular as possible so your body feels no need to store food.
● If you're following the fixed plan, you can switch around any of the meals - as long as you're only having one meal a day with rice, rice pasta or porridge oats.

Have a wonderful day - I am off to Norwich to find out about laser eye surgery ...ooohhh scary!

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Day 3

75g porridge oats with water + natural yoghurt

Egg salad (packed to go) natural live yoghurt

Grilled sardines + a large salad

Lose 4lbs in 1 day!

Good Morning Lovely Readers


Just a quick post to let you know that when I jumped stepped on the scales this morning I had lost 4lbs! I am thrilled to bits. 

This means I have another 3lbs to go to get down to my pre-Canada weight. I have to admit that I was very naughty out there, and when I came back too... I am talking butter tarts (yum), cookies, maple syrup and pancakes, cookies, cup cakes, ice cream (oh my, that was good!), cookies, and Tim Hortons at every stop! Did I mention cookies? Oh yes, chocolate too! There, that's my confession and it cost me 5lbs in Canada and 2lbs since arriving home. I need this diet and IT WORKS!! I must admit that I am surprised that I lost 4lbs in just one day, but there you go, what more proof do you need that this diet works.


Today, when the tidying jobs are done, I am going to do some sewing to keep my mind off food. Do remember though that you don't have to be hungry on this diet - in Phase 1 you can snack on veggies, natural yoghurt, and even slices of meat if you are not vegetarian. Today's menu is at the bottom of the page.

Have a great day

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Day 2

Eggs+ tomato

Salad Niçoise: a tin of tuna or a tuna steak on a bed of salad. Hard-boiled eggs, olives and anchovies are optional. Olive oil and black pepper for dressing

Brown rice (50g dry weight) and veg (not potatoes or mushrooms) stir-fried in olive oil

Phase 1 - round 2

Good morning Lovely Readers


Well, I am back and raring to go... this is it! Phase 1 - 2nd time around. Are you in? If I need to snack it will be on natural yoghurt, cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks. Drinks: water and herbal teas.


My first goal is simply to get off the weight I gained in Canada. My weigh-in today revealed that I am 8lbs heavier than when I went so that's the goal - a SMART target. I use SMART targets on school and for anyone who hasn't come across them they are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant or Realistic 
Time-bound
The theory is that a goal must be realisable within a short, specific time frame to be achievable. In other words, if you have 5 stone to lose then do it in small steps. If you are paying off a mortgage then £500 is a good goal, not £200,000 straight away. De-cluttering a room or an area of a room is a manageable target; a whole house in one go probably isn't. The goal should be good for you. So, some people might feel able to clean a whole house in one go; others might need to tackle one drawer or shelf. A SMART target means that we are more likely to achieve because we see success. 


On my internet wandering I found the weight loss bar you can see at the side of the page. The great thing about this is that you don't have to display your weight if you don't want to. You can add BMI and waist measurements if you choose and there a lots of great designs to choose from.


If you want one, you can access it here:
http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticker/ticker_designer.php?type=3


Good Luck if you are starting or continuing with the diet .... see you later

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Menu today:

Day 1

75g Oats with water (not milk) + natural yoghurt

Tomato + herb omelette with a large side salad; natural live yoghurt

Grilled trout with any amount of vegetables (not potatoes or mushrooms).

Starting again

Good Morning Lovely Readers


Well needless to say I DID put on weight in Canada! However, I am thrilled that it was only 5lbs and not the whole 12lbs that I had lost. I am back on the diet on Monday.... are you in? Or have you been good and are still on it? I'd love to hear how you are doing...

Canadian Butter Tart 

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

12lbs in 9 days!

Good Morning Lovely Readers.... and my apologies for not blogging yesterday

We went out for lunch with the family so that I could see them all before my trip to Canada, and we did go a bit off track....

Meals - Day 4 (phase 2)
Breakfast - natural yoghurt + strawberries, blueberries + raspberries, boiled egg
Lunch - vegetarian breakfast (restaurant meal ..... not strictly diet because we had toast AND butter with protein)
Dinner - falafel sandwich (wholemeal pitta bread, felafel, shredded iceberg lettuce + yoghurt dessing) - if you haven't tried these they are to die for.......

This morning we are off to Hearing Dogs in Bucks to drop Zena for some booster training and then heading for Gatwick tomorrow where Mr Thrifty will drop me to start my journey to Canada. My diet is now on hold until I return, although I am hoping to be careful while I am away.

Weight loss to date: 12 lbs!

Take care and keep going if you are on the diet - see you when I get back in 2 weeks

Love Mrs Thrifty 

xxx

Day 3

Good Morning Lovely Readers

Just a very quick post to let you know today's menus - I have a hundred and one things to get done today...

Meals - Day 3 (phase 2)
Breakfast - yoghurt + fruit
Lunch - cheese salad
Dinner - ratatouille + brown rice
Snacks - if needed - natural yogurt/fruit/veggie sticks

Are you on the diet yet?

How are you doing?

'Til later

Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Phase 2

Good Evening Lovely Readers

Day 2 of phase 2 and all going well here at diet-city! I will only post my weight loss once a week from now on as I expect it to slow down now that we are in the 2nd phase of the plan.

Meals  Day 2  (phase 2)
Breakfast: boiled eggs
Lunch: cheese salad salad, natural yoghurt
Dinner: butternut squash curry + brown rice (left-overs)
small portion of 85% dark chocolate and some strawberries
Snacks: if needed - natural yoghurt + raspberries/blueberries

If you want more information on this diet, do go and have a look at Sue's blog - she has written fabulous explanations over there...
http://thehowlowcanyougofooddiary.blogspot.co.uk/

Bye for now

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

11lbs in 5 days

Good Morning Lovely Readers

We are there at last - it's phase 2 time. Hurrah!

Weight loss today: 2lbs

Total weight loss for phase 1: 11lbs

It wasn't so bad you know and we both definitely feel healthier.  I am really thrilled with this weight loss.  I am glad we managed phase 1. It was encouraging watching Sue's progress and thinking that she and LH had done it, so we could too. I really enjoy that on-line support. Yesterday was the first day that we had both felt quite hungry but we really didn't fancy yet one more pot of natural yoghurt. I went to bed around 10pm because I thought if I didn't I was going to eat and I know MrThrifty might well. Since he really doesn't need to lose any weight and was doing this diet for health, I did tell him to eat of he was hungry. I found it quite hard to get to sleep, very unlike me, in fact I was almost a bit hyper.  Seems to have passes this morning though. Anyway, here are today's menus:

Meals  Day 1  (phase 2)
Breakfast: oat bran porridge + natural yogurt + blueberries (yum)
Lunch: feta + olive salad
Dinner: Aubergine boats + side salad
small portion of 85% dark chocolate
Snacks: if needed - natural yoghurt + raspberries/apple

I bought the 85% cocoa bar yesterday!

I know a few of you are watching this blog with interest. I would encourage you to give this diet a try. It isn't that hard and that is coming from a self-confessed food addict.; a serial grazer. I am far too embarrassed to share my weight with you at this time, but I will as it becomes more respectable. I will tell you, however, that I had just gone into size 22 clothing (ouch) and now my size 20s are feeling loose on me .... wonderful. I am delighted with that. More importantly, my BMI has gone down by 1.6 points. As an aside, #3 told me yesterday that he was thrilled because he had put on a whole stone last term at uni taking his BMI just into the normal range. He has been trying to gain weight for a long time and maybe he has stopped going up in height now, so can expand a little. He does look better for it - the kids all seem to have their father's metabolism!

Anyway, it's off to school for me. Two more days!

Let me know how you are doing.

Enjoy your day

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Nearly there

Good Morning Lovely Readers


This is our last day on phase 1 of the Harcombe Diet and I confess I am looking forward to having a wider range of foods to choose from. Sue has given a wonderful explanation of the diet on her blog, so I won't repeat it here. 


Weight loss today: 1lb
Weight loss to date: 9lbs


Menu Day 4 (phase 1)
Breakfast - poached eggs on spinach (eggs Florentine)
Snack - natural yoghurt with cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks
Lunch - salad nicoise 
Dinner - Mediterranean roasted vegetables and fish Provençal 


The strange thing is I haven't really missed other foods. Mr Thrifty and I love a piece of cake with a cup of tea in the afternoon and I think we have missed the social aspects of food more than the actual food itself. The trouble is we got into the habit of having it every day, with maybe a biscuit or two. I also over-eat on chocolate. I think I self-medicate with it - it is my drug of choice. What I do notice, is that when I don't consume chocolate, I am calmer.


Let me know how you are doing if you have joined us...

Have a wonderful day

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Day 4

Diet Diary Day 4

Good Morning Lovely Readers

Weight loss today: 1lb

Weight loss to date (3 days): 8lbs 

So far so good. The only difficulty for me has been the feeling of not being full which I am not used to - how unhealthy is that? I felt a bit grumpy on day 2 and think I was hungry - I say think because it is so long since I have felt real hunger that I don't recognise it. Yesterday I felt fine. Achieved quite a lot in the house. Mr Thrifty felt tired in the morning but got better as the day progressed. I feel a bit more alert, definitely, and this can only be good. We are definitely not starving. The diet allows you to eat plenty of food - there is no counting of calories or portions. The only exception to this during phase 1 is the 50 gram brown rice allowance daily (can be swapped for oats or quinoa).

Menu Day 4 (phase 1)
Breakfast - scrambled eggs and  natural yoghurt
Snack - natural yoghurt with cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks
Lunch - sardine salad
Dinner - butternut squash curry with lettuce and yogurt

Are you joining in yet?

How are you doing?

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

7lbs in 2 days

Diet Diary Day 3

Good Morning Lovely Readers

All good so far. No headaches or suchlike, but I rarely drink coffee and I guess that would be a major withdrawal for a lot of people.

I jumped on the scales this morning (well, I didn't really jump because if I had I would probably have broken them.... I stepped) and discovered that I had lost another 2 lbs, so that is

7lbs in 2 days!

I am thrilled.

I feel empty a lot of the time but then I would because I am a grazer, but the food is good and I feel healthy and somewhat more alert. I feel that the mental fog is lifting and I don't seem to be as forgetful.

Meals Day 3 (phase 1)
Breakfast - unsmoked haddock and tomatoes
Snack - not needed
Lunch - poached egg salad
Snack - not needed
Dinner - salad Nicoise

Have you joined in yet?

Le me know how you are doing?

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

Diet Dairy - Day 2

Good Afternoon Lovely Readers 


Well it's only day 2 and I have had 47 hits and 3 followers - hurrah... I am not talking to myself. So far so good. Sue from Our New Life in the Country is blogging her Harcombe Diet Diary here http://thehowlowcanyougofooddiary.blogspot.co.uk/ -  she couldn't leave a comment and I am hoping that I have fixed this. If you are trying to comment and can't, please leave me a comment over at my other blog and I'll try to sort it.

I got on the scales this morning and was DELIGHTED to discover that I had lost 5lbs in one day. The diet's author talks a lot about the effects of processed foods and particularly refined carbohydrates (which can force the body to store excess water) and has observed amazing weight loss in phase 1 of the diet, which lasts just 5 days. I know I store a lot of water because I suffer from bloating and when I went on one of these 'fat camps' I lost a huge amount of weight in a week (which I managed to put back on reasonably quickly). 


Mr Thrifty is suffering; he feels tired and achy. He doesn't feel hungry though - but then again he never does. They do say that thin people don't really think about food. I am fine physically but I want to eat ... this is 100% habit. I should have been a cow because I happily graze all day long. As a child we didn't snack in my family. We ate 3 meals a day. When I went off to uni that all changed! There is no sugar of any kind on the diet for the first 5 days (phase 1) and that includes all fruits. This encourages flushing of the system, but it is hard.


Meals Day 2 (phase 1) 
Breakfast - poached eggs on spinach
Snack - natural yoghurt
Lunch - sardine salad
snack - cherry tomatoes and natural yoghurt
Dinner - Butternut squash curry and brown rice

We are eating fish on this diet which we don't normally do because otherwise the choice is so limited. Sue is managing brilliantly without eating fish though, so you don't have to. If you are a meat eater there is an even wider choice available to you. 


If you need to lose weight, why not join in? As I said yesterday... all you (or I) have to lose is weight!

Back later

Love Mrs Thrifty

xxx

The Harcombe Diet

I am linking with Sue from Our New Life  in the Country and her new blog on the Harcombe Diet. This seems as good a time as any to give this a go and if you want to find out more, just pop over to Sue's blog at
http://thehowlowcanyougofooddiary.blogspot.co.uk/

I bought my copy on kindle at Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Harcombe-Diet-Counting-ebook/dp/B00584MST4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338054985&sr=1-1

DAY 1

Mr Thifty does not need to lose weight. Like all of our children, he is long and lean. However, he suffers from many of the 'niggles' talked about in this book and so thought he'd give it a go with me. I, on the other hand, have a substantial amount of weight to lose, am classified medically as obese and need to lose weight for my health as well as for my self-esteem.  I will attempt to chart my trials and tribulations here.

I was a low birth weight baby, born 3 weeks early and breach. My mother was told to feed me (formula) 2 hourly and so I guess that was when the rot set in and my natural ability to gauge appetite was well and truly sabotaged. I remained a slim child until about the age of 8 and then developed 'puppy fat'.... mmm... so am guessing it's now dog fat and it hasn't shifted!

My "dieting"  started with my meals being restricted - I am talking late 1960s, when we ate 3 meals a day, no convenience or processed food, no snacks - we had cake and biscuits at Christmas and pocket money sweets on Saturdays.  My mother was very health conscious and 4 out of my 5 siblings are of normal weight. I think I learned to use food as an emotional crutch and have tried almost every diet going over the last 40 years, including...

Weight Watchers
Slimming World
The Cambridge Diet
Slim Fast
The  Atkins Diet
The Cabbage Soup Diet
Rosemary Conley
Fasting
Counting Calories
The You Are What You Eat system
The Food Doctor Diet
A week at a "Fat Camp" (cost £1000)
Food counselling
NLP (cost £300 for 6 sessions)
Chinese traditional medicine
Appetite suppressants
Natural remedies
Xenical

My book shelves are cluttered by every imaginable diet book and none of them has worked for me! My weight has continued to steadily climb over the years and I am not going to blame pregnancy since I only put 14lbs on with each baby which disappeared the minute they were born (their weights were 8lbs 5oz, 9lbs 1oz, 9lbs 7oz and 9lbs 15oz). All the children have good BMIs although the younger 2 (17 and 19) are somewhat low, which I put down to their heights. They were all breastfed, on demand, and allowed to wean when they chose. They were breastfed exclusively for 6 months and then weaned gently using vegetables and fruit. They had no dairy, wheat or sugar until well after the first year of life. I add this because I believe that this has impacted on their health as young adults. Apart from chicken pox, none of them has ever been ill, needed an operation, or has allergies or food sensitivities.

Right now, I feel like I always do at the beginning of a new regime .... 'This is the one' and 'This time I am going to do it'.  Well, lovely readers, join me and see........

Meals Day 1 (phase 1)
Breakfast - scrambled egg + natural yogurt
Snack - tub of natural yogurt and a handful of cherry tomatoes
Lunch - hard boiled eggs with tomatoes, cucumber, mixed lettuce leaves and olives.
Dinner - rainbow trout, brown rice and asparagus with home-made mayonnaise and cherry tomatoes.

Drinks - water and herbal teas

Wish me luck xx