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