I made an interesting observation after reducing my sugar intake this last week. While I’m not about to discuss weight loss after a week, I have noticed I don’t feel as bloated and my trousers and belt don’t feel as uncomfortable. There’s also less farting and my stools aren’t as loose.
Lifestyle change
I’m not suggesting for a moment that I’m advocating for any particular lifestyle change. I know with my concerns about irritable bowel syndrome, my weight gain and a desire to take better care of myself it would be easy to start looking at various popular lifestyle trends like low FODMAP, Paleo and Atkins.
I’ve previously gone full Atkins and had a pretty stunning result with a weight loss from 100 kg to 77 kg in less than a year. I kept it off for about 5 years but last week when I weighed myself I saw that I was close to 90 kg and if I kept on eating the way I was not only would I proceed to >90 kg but I’d feel crap with it.
Abdominal bloating
The abdominal discomfort was getting to be too much. My belt was feeling too tight. My trousers were feeling very uncomfortable in all the wrong places. My shirts were getting tight in the wrong places too.
The last thing I wanted to do was buy a new wardrobe. Business trousers and shirts are very expensive and buying a size up would mean a minimum of two pairs of trousers and five shirts. At least it’s spring, so buying a new suit could potentially be delayed. No, the better option is to make an effort to lose weight. This is what I will do.
Diet changes
This week I changed to black coffee. I ate no bread. I ate no rice. I ate no porridge and I didn’t have anything with sugar added to it. I’ve been tempted by soft drink but I’ve resisted by chewing sugar-free chewing gum. I’ve increased the amount of fruit in my diet and it’s been a pleasant sweet treat. My meat intake has increased especially chicken. I’ve also increased the amount of cheese in my diet but I’ve tried to be careful not to overdo it.
What I have significantly increased is the volume of vegetables like lettuce and cabbage and especially Savoy cabbage. Savoy cabbage is particularly good because I can shred it finely and then cross cut it. The cabbage remains crisp and crunchy.
Cabbage is also really good boiled. When boiled with some stock, it takes up the flavours nicely.
Eggs have also become a feature of my daily ‘bread’. Boiled, fried, scrambled and cooked as an omelette.
No added sugar is how I must persist.
Charting change
One of the things I like to do when focusing on my health is to chart or record data. To this end, I’ve started a daily spreadsheet recording weight, blood pressure, heart rate and steps.
While most authorities recommend against daily weight measurement, I like to do it.
Tupperware® FusionMaster Mincer Review
To help vary my meat intake I’ve purchased a Tupperware® FusionMaster System Mincer. I wrote a review for it today after making some beef and blue cheese mince burgers. No sugar in these burgers.
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So what have I eaten this week?
Here is a gallery. You can click on one photograph and a gallery will pop up. You can then scroll through the photographs and let me know which ones looked the most appetising. There’s not much sugar in these dishes.
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Good on you Gary. Great results so far with how you are feeling. You food looks so much healthier too. I have been doing sort of the same with watching what I eat during the week and increased my exercise two fold. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Sue. There is certainly a lot more green in my food. Hopefully, we’ll both lose weight and feel more healthful.
You have a lot of folk wishing you well. I was really jealous of all the cream vanilla slices you seem to go through so a break from seeing you eat them all the time will be good.
Thanks, Katie, I’m paying for that trip now 😂
No cakes in my immediate future.
What happens on tour stays on tour I suppose 😃
It sounds like the change in diet is going well so far – keep up the good work!
Thanks, Sarah, my trousers are feeling better 😃
Good for you Gary! I too have made so e i cremental changes due to my 5 months of recovery after knee surgery. My very active lifestle needed a lot of energy so carbs and fat intake kept me fueled along with natural sugars. But the more sugar the higher cost in trumpet butt syndrome. When life slowed way down my eating habits didn’t so a quick 10 kilos later, I had to adjust. I found adjusting carb, fat, protien ratios for my activity levels made a lot better sense than trying to manage soecific food items. I also was eating better quality food and portion control is no challenge for me. I feel better, and recovered quicker. Now I’m back to exercising and planning those long hikes for the winter. Hang in there my friend. Eating isn’t a fad, it’s part of life and we have the rest of our lives to learn how to do it right and still enjoy it.
It must be exciting being at a stage now when you can plan for those enjoyable winter excursions.
Thanks for the support. I will get there.
Yes, you will get there because U-DA-MAN Gary! You got this and those meal choices look awesome.
Thank you very much Daniel 😃👍
You are most welcome, my friend. Summer is coming for you soon. We gotta get that beach body rockin’ for the Dragon Sisters out there. 😉
Haha, yes, that’s so true. I have to think hard about when I last had a beach body 🤔🤔🤔😂😂😂
I knew it was over for me when all the little kids would point and scream, “Mommy, Look! That turtle lost it’s shell.” I stayed covered up after that.
When I was 100 kg (220 lbs) my brothers made beached whale noises. That was enough for me.
Yep! When the kids are telling their moms about the big blowhole on the whale 🐳 it’s time to tighten things up a bit…
Haha, yes.
I thought all of what you ate this week looks appetising. Nothing less from you in terms of food, even healthy options. Eating healthy and less sugar is good, and good luck with it. Bread, pasta, rice…all of that is my weakness. So is chocolate. But lately I’ve been trying smaller portions and it has made me less bloated 😀
Thanks Mabel. I wish I had the will power for the smaller portions. So long as we have cheese we’ll always be happy 😃😃😃😋😋😋
Smaller portions take getting used to. Resisting cheese is hard enough. I could eat cheese with every meal, and have to resist that every day 😃
At least cheese being a dense protein is a good appetite suppressant. I don’t need too much to feel full.
You are spot on about that. Sometimes at work, I’ll have a cheese sandwich (real cheese, not processed cheese slices) at noon, and then when I go down for lunch at 2, I can survive on one sushi roll until home time 😂
There will be cheese tomorrow 😃👍
Well done on your changes! If you like cabbage, check the Diet Doctor’s website for some amazing beef mince and cabbage recipes (including one with blue cheese which is IMMENSE).
Cool. Thank you very much Emma 😋👍😃