Hello from Ireland

[danibdo]

Hi everyone,
My name is Daniela, I'm a Brazilian living in Limerick, Ireland and I've been on strict Keto for one and half year and for the last one year I've been on and off Keto.
After I married I've been having lots of trouble going back to a daily low carb life and after I moved to Ireland I've been finding it even harder...
Look forward contacting more people with the same struggle and passion as I.


Dani

[Ms Arielle]

Hi! Many of us struggle at times to stay on plan. Much easier when whole family eats the same. At least it is for me.

Often on and off eating signals a lack of commitment to the lc rules of engagement. Im guilty of that.

Hanging out here has been a great support!

[tess9132]

Hi Dani, I was struggling with staying on plan, but then I realized that I wasn't really trying to lose weight. I actually was staying on my plan since I was maintaining my significant weight loss and while I was motivated to maintain, I just wasn't all that motivated to lose more weight: i.e. I'm thinner than most everyone in my circle and my husband thinks I look great. I mean, it would be great to be a size 4 again, but it's a lot of trouble, and why should I bother to lose more when overall I feel pretty good about myself?

Having identified that feeling, I (paradoxically) have actually been able to stay completely on plan this month. But I have seized upon another motivation for sticking on plan - carby side effects. Joint pain, getting up at night to use the bathroom, feeling so hungry I'm going to punch someone, higher blood pressure, etc. I feel crummy when I eat a lot of carbs, but being an addict, I can't stop at just a few. Yes, I'm one of those people who needs to stay on plan to stay healthy - weight loss is a happy side effect.

You're down from your high - is there a chance you're content with your current weight too and need another motivator?

[CMCM]

Hi everyone,
My name is Daniela, I'm a Brazilian living in Limerick, Ireland and I've been on strict Keto for one and half year and for the last one year I've been on and off Keto.
After I married I've been having lots of trouble going back to a daily low carb life and after I moved to Ireland I've been finding it even harder...
Look forward contacting more people with the same struggle and passion as I.


Dani

:wave: Hi Dani...and welcome! I lived in Ireland for a year when I was younger (in County Leitrim), and it can be a great place for eating keto if you just concentrate on the great keto-friendy foods there.

Speaking for myself, I've been doing low carb (mostly Atkins) for a long time, and I lost a lot of the weight I wanted to lose, but I seem to have never-ending lapses that take me up an extra 10 to 20 lbs here and there, so I always have to go back to strict Atkins to lose it again.

I've just come out of 9 months of procrastinating with some weight I gained by last June....and it has been on-off-on-off and I just couldn't get completely committed to doing the low carb. I kept breaking down and cheating, and that always opened the door to uncontrolled eating (in my case, eating sweets and pastries). Of course, up up up went my weight. An extra 10 pounds and I've basically grown out of my nice looking clothes.

This is all about what is going on in your head. It's almost like there is a kind of "switch" that has to be turned on mentally and emotionally that allows you to go down the keto/low carb lane. If you don't get there mentally, you can't stick with it. If you DO get there mentally, you just slip right into the program and it's quite easy. If you get a successful week under your belt, you'll adjust and then that will be your new normal and it's much easier to go on with it.

My advice is: re-read all the important information about keto or whatever plan you are doing. Plan your food (remember the old saying "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail). Keep a food journal to make yourself accountable...that ALWAYS keeps me on track much better. If you don't journal your food, you get food amnesia! Come here to read what others do (this always helps me), you could keep a journal or food journal here, just being here regularly keeps what you need to do in the forefront of your mind. All these things help me, and when I stop doing them is when my eating loses focus and my weight starts to creep up. This forum really does help!

[danibdo]

Hi guys, thanks for taking your time and sharing with me your help.
It's been almost 3 years now that I've meet the LCHF lifestyle and it was the first time that I really committed to something and achieved an goal regarding losing weight.. Usually my "diets" lasted one month or so.. Never more.. All my life, I've been so into food and I'm starting to think of my relation with it as one of an addict, like CMCM said.. After I reached my weight go, I started giving myself some breaks, to enjoy again things that I loved, and on that breaks I would eat as much as I could.. Next day I was feeling guilty and sick.. And this has been my reality for the past year.. Doing keto most of the days, having loads of carbs every two weeks or on special dates.. And I gained 10kg in that process...
I was really happy and health when I was committed, and now I can't find the strength that you all talk about and that I know I need..
Thank you for your support and I hope this space helps me find my way back to what I know that works for me and making peace with myself again..

[kathleen24]

Trying to negotiate for the use of my hands for something other than scritching cats here, and not making much headway. Effective technique on their side is walking in front of the screen. Pfffuwf! Pardon the cat hair!
I agree with Carole--food in Ireland can be so wonderful for an LC way of life: the little butcher shops with the meat spread out so lovingly with the farm of origin and date of butcher (and I think sometimes the animal's first name and interests, but I may be misremembering. . .) The lovely veggies and fruits, the fresh, pasture-raised dairy. Yumm!

I'm making my way back down from a recent regain as well--stats not updated, so don't go by that. I had made it down to 130, stayed there awhile--a major victory, because `touchdown' had been my weight-loss style in the past--and then went back up into the 140's this winter, and it just didn't seem to budge. Just this last week got back down into the 130's, and am enjoying the way that feels.
The reason I did not go further up-up-and-awayyy on my regain is that there are some foods I just don't eat--don't eat grains, don't eat sugar, don't eat highly-processed foods. This regain was on on-plan foods, but too much of them, I'm guessing, at the wrong times, and going light on exercise for awhile.
So. What worked for me a few years ago when I restarted was taking the `decision-making' part of it off the table. I work in a very foody environment, where the breakroom is part of the major thoroughfare at work. Without going the long way round, you walk through it to reach co-workers. And people bring food in all the time--pastries, cakes, chips, etc., to share out of generosity. Or they order out together and come around and ask if you're in on the order. And so on.

One day I realized that I make crappy decisions. Full stop.

That was a powerful turning point and tool for me. If I put myself through the decision-making process for each opportunity to eat off plan, sooner or later I'm going to cave; that's a given. (Re-read that--it's the key to the kingdom.) If we make decisions in the moment, they're not always going to align with our goals. So I made a meta-decision, a large overarching decision that I just don't need that, don't want it, no, the answer is no. And for the first long while, it was all in my head. When a co-worker would knock on my door and offer me chocolate, and then ask, "Are you sure? It's dark chocolate?" I wanted it, a little at least. I wanted the hit, the dark chocolate moment--but then I remembered I wanted something larger than that, beyond the moment. I wanted the freedom that came with having my life back as I knew it could be. And I would say, "No thanks. I've already had my share," like a 1950's alcoholic going off the bottle. And now they don't even ask. People put candy on one another's desks for each candy-related holiday. Going around the calendar, there are a lot of them: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas-Christmas-Christmas. It was hard, a bit, at first, but now I don't stop and think about it--I pick it up and take it to a co-worker who will appreciate it. And I'm happy to do it now.
I've worked there for years, and the same people who had a weight problem when I started or when they started still do, with one exception I can think of, and myself. So if I'm tempted, I remind myself of how I feel and look, how my clothes fit, of my mobility and grace in contrast with how I used to move, and feel like it's a small price to pay if price it is.

I don't have off-plan foods in the house. Full stop. If only for health reasons, we don't need the crap around.

Once you get your head around the I-just-don't-eat-that-stuff idea, it gets easier. Stop telling yourself you're going on a diet (temporary) to lose weight (short-term goal) and just start eating this way and the weight loss becomes a lovely by-product.

[danibdo]

Kathleen, thanks so much for the words..
Indeed, food here is amazing, both the LC option and the full carbs options :lol:
My kryptonite here is called "Raspberry Scone" (And I work at a restaurant that simple makes the best in town). I'm experimenting Low Carb Scones recipes to try to get to something that at least resembles the actual thing hahah
I think you all are really right.. The thing is to turn the "switch" back on.. I'm currently trying it, since last week I'm repeating to myself the same trues that convinced me first to go into a Low Carb life: I don't feel comfortable when I'm overweight in general, I don't keep healthy habits at all and I'm always sick when on carbs.
I have to remind myself everyday that I've made a choice, and that eventually it will get easier and easier, I just have to commit myself. I'm really trying and you guys are helping a lot!

Thanks again ♥


Trying to negotiate for the use of my hands for something other than scritching cats here, and not making much headway. Effective technique on their side is walking in front of the screen. Pfffuwf! Pardon the cat hair!
I agree with Carole--food in Ireland can be so wonderful for an LC way of life: the little butcher shops with the meat spread out so lovingly with the farm of origin and date of butcher (and I think sometimes the animal's first name and interests, but I may be misremembering. . .) The lovely veggies and fruits, the fresh, pasture-raised dairy. Yumm!

I'm making my way back down from a recent regain as well--stats not updated, so don't go by that. I had made it down to 130, stayed there awhile--a major victory, because `touchdown' had been my weight-loss style in the past--and then went back up into the 140's this winter, and it just didn't seem to budge. Just this last week got back down into the 130's, and am enjoying the way that feels.
The reason I did not go further up-up-and-awayyy on my regain is that there are some foods I just don't eat--don't eat grains, don't eat sugar, don't eat highly-processed foods. This regain was on on-plan foods, but too much of them, I'm guessing, at the wrong times, and going light on exercise for awhile.
So. What worked for me a few years ago when I restarted was taking the `decision-making' part of it off the table. I work in a very foody environment, where the breakroom is part of the major thoroughfare at work. Without going the long way round, you walk through it to reach co-workers. And people bring food in all the time--pastries, cakes, chips, etc., to share out of generosity. Or they order out together and come around and ask if you're in on the order. And so on.

One day I realized that I make crappy decisions. Full stop.

That was a powerful turning point and tool for me. If I put myself through the decision-making process for each opportunity to eat off plan, sooner or later I'm going to cave; that's a given. (Re-read that--it's the key to the kingdom.) If we make decisions in the moment, they're not always going to align with our goals. So I made a meta-decision, a large overarching decision that I just don't need that, don't want it, no, the answer is no. And for the first long while, it was all in my head. When a co-worker would knock on my door and offer me chocolate, and then ask, "Are you sure? It's dark chocolate?" I wanted it, a little at least. I wanted the hit, the dark chocolate moment--but then I remembered I wanted something larger than that, beyond the moment. I wanted the freedom that came with having my life back as I knew it could be. And I would say, "No thanks. I've already had my share," like a 1950's alcoholic going off the bottle. And now they don't even ask. People put candy on one another's desks for each candy-related holiday. Going around the calendar, there are a lot of them: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas-Christmas-Christmas. It was hard, a bit, at first, but now I don't stop and think about it--I pick it up and take it to a co-worker who will appreciate it. And I'm happy to do it now.
I've worked there for years, and the same people who had a weight problem when I started or when they started still do, with one exception I can think of, and myself. So if I'm tempted, I remind myself of how I feel and look, how my clothes fit, of my mobility and grace in contrast with how I used to move, and feel like it's a small price to pay if price it is.

I don't have off-plan foods in the house. Full stop. If only for health reasons, we don't need the crap around.

Once you get your head around the I-just-don't-eat-that-stuff idea, it gets easier. Stop telling yourself you're going on a diet (temporary) to lose weight (short-term goal) and just start eating this way and the weight loss becomes a lovely by-product.

[JEY100]

Here's a US podcaster known for her "Habit Change" practical tips. https://www.dietdoctor.com/video/presentations/denver-hallberg

And a friend's suggestions on "Know Your Why" https://cookingketowithkristie.com/2018/05/06/keto-living-day-by-day-form-1-know-your-why/ She also has many baked goods recipes made Keto.

[kathleen24]

Kathleen, thanks so much for the words..
Indeed, food here is amazing, both the LC option and the full carbs options :lol:
My kryptonite here is called "Raspberry Scone" (And I work at a restaurant that simple makes the best in town). I'm experimenting Low Carb Scones recipes to try to get to something that at least resembles the actual thing hahah
I think you all are really right.. The thing is to turn the "switch" back on.. I'm currently trying it, since last week I'm repeating to myself the same trues that convinced me first to go into a Low Carb life: I don't feel comfortable when I'm overweight in general, I don't keep healthy habits at all and I'm always sick when on carbs.
I have to remind myself everyday that I've made a choice, and that eventually it will get easier and easier, I just have to commit myself. I'm really trying and you guys are helping a lot!

Thanks again ♥

Hi Dani,
Part of what I needed to do was to set aside the carb imitations, the food-as-reward-or-comfort eaten routinely, the planning for pseudo-foods to give me that non-deprived feeling. It was keeping me on the motorway when I needed to completely find an off-ramp.
That's not to say it doesn't work for some. But for me, it was about retraining that whole eat-to-feel-good response. Accepting that eating was for hunger and nutrition was the 180 spin I needed to stop abusing food (and myself) and finally get to where I wanted to be.
Can you get a workout in before you go to work? I find that if I go for my swim in the morning, it feels soooo good to stretch and flex those muscles, and to pump my body full of those feel-good chemicals that I can minimize my stress responses at work. One simply wants to make good choices, food-wise, after starting the day that way.
The bottom line is you have to find what works for you, and make it your lifestyle. Like a favorite pair of jeans, that's going to be a little different for everyone. But sugar, grains, highly processed is usually not anyone's true friend.

Good luck!