Personal bests – and sticking to the plan

Yesterday I managed 70 kgs (154 pounds) on bench press. Not bad for an old chick!

I also managed 100 kgs (220 pounds) on the hammer strength decline press machine. Another personal best.

I was really pleased with both.

I’m putting on a lot of muscle at the moment, and the fat is coming off. My stomach is almost flat, and I’m no longer embarrassed to be seen in light summer clothes.

I can thank Overeaters Anonymous for so much of this. They’ve given me support through everything, a sensible approach to food, and a plan to follow that got me away from the binge eating and overly large portions. OA is a part of my life now, because it works. Add in regular exercise and sensible eating, and I’m a completely different person to who I was a couple of years ago.

Success doesn’t come from fad diets, or from eating well for a short time until you reach your goal weight, then you’re “done”. Success comes from genuine change – reaching a point where you don’t want to go back to those old habits and old ways of being.

I don’t want to ever go back. I’m happy where I am now. Sticking to the plan is easy, because I’m happiest when I do.

Can some people just not eat carbs?

Carbs – processed carbs – don’t work for my body.

Foods like rice, potatoes and quinoa are okay – although they’re quite addictive and I really have to be careful with my intake.

Processed carbs are completely different. Pastries, biscuits, bread, pasta – these kinds of foods are hugely addictive for me. I start eating them, and my body has no idea when to stop.

I could quite easily each a couple of loaves of bread and it would only be when my stomach actually hurt because it was so overloaded that I would realise I’d had enough.

Carbs are cheap, plentiful and useful, especially if you’re on a budget with a bunch of kids to feed, but if you’re overweight they can be a huge impediment to losing weight.

These days I see overweight people on the street, and I don’t think “that’s a greedy person”. I think “that’s a carbohydrate addict”.

I’m starting to doubt whether it’s even possible to become overweight without basing your diet on carbs.

I think this is why poor people are fatter in Western society – carbs are cheap, so the poor eat more carbs. Then they get fat. Then they get sicker, fatter and poorer. A vicious cycle.

So these days I avoid carbs and the fat is pouring off me. I’ve upped my protein intake, found cheap veggies I enjoy, and I’m feeling and looking so much healthier.

Avoiding carbs works.

It’s meal prep day today!

I’ve been busy this afternoon, prepping meals for myself and the kids for the next few days.

I made fried rice for the kids, which will do them tonight and tomorrow night.

For me, I’ve cooked two chicken breasts, and made a Greek salad.

Both are easy to do – the chicken is plain but I’ll probably add seasoning when I portion it out. The salad is dead easy – a cucumber, two tomatoes, orange pepper, about half a red pepper I had left, a quarter salad onion, 100g (4 Oz) of feta and about 10 olives. Chop it all up and mix together. So easy!

The chicken and salad will last me 4-5 meals. It’ll be dinner tonight and lunch and dinner for tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday.

I’m learning that portion sizes are important. You’d think I’d know this, but apparently all these years I didn’t. I’d just eyeball it and figure”that looks about right” without ever weighing and measuring.

I’ve now learned from experience that not only were my portions waaay too huge, I was also eating waaay too much altogether.

For me, as a female in her early 50s, I need about 150 grams (3-4 ounces) of protein per meal to keep me satisfied while losing weight. I can pretty much have as much salad or veggies as I want to go with it, but I’m avoiding sauces and dressings (which get out of control really quickly!) and instead opting to shake some seasoning on instead when I need to.

I am using lighter, more intensely flavoured dressing on occasion (I love Japanese sesame dressing and a little goes a long way!) but I’m avoiding anything creamy or mayonnaise-ey.

The good thing about Greek salad is it needs no dressing. The olives and feta give it heaps of flavour for few extra calories and not much added fat, which is way better than having a green salad then dousing it in creamy dressing.

Meal prepping is working very well for me. I’ll talk about how I’m managing it in a coming post, but it’s meaning I’m spending much less time in the kitchen, and wasting much less food.

Hints to lose weight..

I’m losing weight well now. Here is how:

Eating the same lunch every day. It really helps. Find a lunch option that works for you and that you enjoy, and stick with it.
Logging every single thing I eat on My Fitness Pal – before I eat it. Every “taster”, every drink, everything. You need to know what you’re eating – all of it – if you want to fix bad habits.
No more diet soft drinks. None. They’re deadly, because they keep that sweet tooth alive and active. Ditch them. I went cold turkey, and it really has made a difference.
No snacks. Stick to breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Eat only at the dining table, sitting down. This helps structure your eating. It really helps.
Ditch the salt shaker. Salt makes you hungrier. It’s also not great for us to eat too much salt.

I’ll add more to this list as I go, but figured sharing everything might help others 😁

21 April: What am I tracking?

Weight, waist, mood, skin, eyes, blood sugar

I’ll be tracking my weight (and hopefully weight loss) and my waist measurement.

I’ll also be taking notes on my mood, any side effects I notice, and my skin and eyes, as I’m quite an allergic person and have had terrible problems with both.

I’m also about to order a sugar monitor which attaches to my upper arm, so I can track my blood sugar. I have not been diagnosed with diabetes, but my blood sugar was rising last time I went to the doctor for a check up, and I think I’m likely to develop diabetes if I don’t get a handle on my weight and wellbeing now.

21 April: Hello world

Fit, Fed and Fasted is my online log of my adventures with fasting and the keto-carnivore diet, and today is Day 1 of my first fast.

My goal for this fast is to manage 4 days. It’s Tuesday and I want to try for four days, but if I can’t manager that (which is likely), I’ll stop at whatever point I have to.

I want to note how I manage, what the difficulties are, and how I get around them. I’ll document weight loss and inches lost (f any), and how I feel generally, as well as how my body responds.

What will the blog cover?

My health approach has two main prongs of fasting and a low carbohydrate diet. So the title of this blog is a play n words of those two points 🙂

IF you run a blog with similar themes, please comment. I’d love to learn from what you’re doing 🙂