I haven't been recording my meals but I've basically been cooking a load of meat or fish along with a heap of veggies, making some sort of stir fry out of them and portioning it into two or three meals so I have some for dinner then some for lunch at work the next day and there's normally some left over either for breakfast or as part of dinner later on.

Eg. 400g minced beef, 3 broccoli stalks, half a red onion, 1 clove of garlic, half a courgette, 3 or 4 mushrooms makes enough food for 2 to 2 and a half meals for me. I add avocado and lettuce to bulk it out if I need to.

I'm only using olive oil and coconut oil to cook with as I've cut out dairy so I'm not using butter at all. I think this is what was holding me back before... I was stuck between 188 and 192lbs for weeks despite eating VLC, but I think I was using way too much butter to cook my food!

I've been eating berries too. Today I ate a punnet of blackberries over the course of the day. about 200g of them. I ate some for breakfast (I've suddenely started getting a bit hungry in the mornings now) and finished the rest off for lunch.

A typical day looks like this:

B: Handful of raspberries, blueberries or blackberries
2 cups coffee, black.
L: Lamb, beef, pork, chicken or fish mixed with stir-fried veggies, salad and avocado. Maybe some berries.
D: Similar meal to lunch OR a 2-3 egg omelette with mixed veggies and salad

It's also helping that I haven't had any alcohol in almost 2 weeks and I am not partaking in the consumption of ANY chocolate, wheat or sugar based products. At all. (There has been a lot of this in the office this week!).

WOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS HEAR IT FOR OUR PALEOGIRL!!!
You're just a modern day Cavewoman!

Oblong, thanks for writing all that out. I think I'll cut out dairy and see. Is there a book you read? Are you curbing calories at all?

Hiyo GUYS and GIRLS! I am in desperate need of an active thread that can help support me. Background:
April 2009-218
April 2010-128 *saw 123 in June 2010*
April 2011-132
July 2011-134!!!!

I know it may not seem THAT bad, but I've fallen off and need some help. I've gained about 10lbs in 1 year and need to realize that I never hit my real goal...115. Even just getting under 120 would mean the world to me. I know I can do it, can you help?

Hi Bella_meow

DUH hit enter too soon! Gimme a minute!

Welcome to the thread!

I see you took your weight off really fast!! I did that, too the first time around, in 2004. Lost 60 lbs. Now, I'm older (58) and have to really cut my calories to lose. Not nearly as much fun lol

What exactly are you having trouble with? Restarting, or what-you-did-before is not working? (What *did* you do before?)

Welcome, Bella! This is a pretty active thread, and several of us also have journals, so we visit one another there too. Looking forward to getting to know you!

Hi Bella, you are so right to get it before it get's out of control. I'm kind of in the same boat. My stats are all over the place but basically I was almost 200 got down to 143 and now I'm back to 158. I had told myself that after all the work I would never go over 150 again.....well here I am over 150 but not for long.

This is a great place for support. What are you doing for a program??

I just decided to do it on a whim after reading about the Whole 30 Challenge on this thread in the Paleo forum.

The rules are what I've been trying (and often failing!) to follow since I discovered the Paleo diet in 2008, but I could never bring myself to give up dairy until now. The Whole9 website pretty much explains the basic rules. The difficult thing is sticking to them indefinitely but with just a 30 day challenge, there is an end in sight and that glass of wine is waving at me from the finish line. Whether or not I'll want to drink that glass of wine at the end, I don't know. But it's comforting knowing it's there if I want it!

There is no calorie counting or measuring, although I think that my calories have gone down as a result of cutting out dairy. I'm eating less meat (only slightly less) and much more carbohydrate. I think I'm eating probably between 30 and 60g carbs per day now.

OMG.....I'm home alone with the dogs in my lap.....LAUGHING at the top of my LUNGS!!!!!! That is hysterical......you guys should get together with that turkey and have a bbq!!!!

SO since we're talking about challenges...I have set a challenge for myself ..I went to the Doctor on the 6th and had my A1c,TSH,and urine tested...My A1c was high so my Doc increased my Glimeperide from 2-4mg,my TSH was 10 and she's going to speak to a endocrinologist about what to do,since I'm taking the highest dose of 300mcg of Levothyroxin ..Finally she's concerned about the diabetes affecting my kidneys since my albumin levels were high..She is scheduling a appointment with a Kidney Specialist for me...So this leads me to my challenge...
I'm pretty positive that drinking Diet Rite is causing problems..I have been drinking an average of 2-liters every three days along with a gallon of iced tea every two days...
I have decided to stop the Diet Rite completely for the next 30 days(and hopefully forever)....I will also cut back on the tea,and mainly drink Lemon water instead of the two...This will be very difficult for me ,I am addicted to diet soda as many others are ..However I also know many on this forum have gotten the monkey off their back and I believe I can too ..I also know that I have been eating too much protein again and not enough veggies and fats ...This is a hard struggle for me as I have texture issues with veggies that makes me gag,but I went to the store today,and got the few ones that I actually enjoy(mushrooms,green beans,napa cabbage,lettuce,water chestnuts)and I am going to reduce my protein servings in half,and try to fill this vacuum with those veggies,eggs and fats...

Hm. Thomas, I'm diabetic too. So is my mother. AFAIK the only thing that will push your A1C up is glucose (from either carbs or protein). So first off, I'd think about scaling back the amount of protein (since it digests into glucose), as I think you are already low on carbs...or? Maybe not?

I read recently that high blood sugar damages the capillaries in the kidneys to the point that protein can leak through, and that a Ketogenic Diet (80-90% fat) resulted in a reversal of the leaky problem. But I say this just to point you in a direction to research. I'm not 100% sure.

My mother had acute kidney failure that was reversed by severely restricting her diet to low calories (not only did the hospital offer her a low cal diet, she disliked it enough that she didn't eat much of it)...then she ended up losing her appetite even more after her injuries. She eats such small amounts now, her sugar is rarely high and her kidney tests are good.
Just thinking that lowering your calories - at least of carbs and protein - will probably help.

I don't think the diet soda is causing the kidney issues, but it wouldn't hurt to cut it out.

What did your doctor recommend?

Wish you a good result, whatever you choose to do.

You know I believe in LC but I do wonder what stress it puts on our kidneys and liver. I notice when I do high protein I have a lot of pain in the liver/ gallbladder area. The doctor ran tests and everything looks ok but said high protein and fat can tax the liver especially after gallbladder removal. My kidneys tested high potasium. Not really sure what that meant??

Wishing you the best, Thomas. I know that I feel better when I drink ridiculous amounts of water to keep things flushed out, but I don't know if that's just me or a common thing.

I'm working this afternoon at one of the main libraries in town. This works out well - Hubby's birthday is Tuesday and he got a coupon for a free meal from Captain D's. He and Kitten are going to go have that (share) while I'm at work, then when we get home I can just grab something that's here (I have chicken leftover from last night). So I don't have to worry about supper tonight - woo!

My garden is starting to take off, and looking better. I caged some late tomatoes this morning and did a bit of watering. We let the hens out last night and this morning, there was one that stayed out all night. Thank goodness she wasn't eaten by something!

gonwtwindo, thanks for your posting in this thread . This is super helpful! I'm just now starting to look at my calories as I'm getting closer to goal and moving up the ladder.

Hang in there Thomas! Slow and steady and you'll get there!

Cat - your garden sounds fabulous! I only have some herbs, strawberries, and rhubarb. We tried garlic this year, but sadly it didn't work out. I made a triple batch of rhubarb sauce and it turned out great, but I found that I was eating too much of it.