Dopamine diet foods and a happy lifestyle
a journey that started with a cookbook by Chef Tom Kerridge
…and now I Also know how important it is to count net carbs!
I was lucky enough to only pay 1 euro for this book (see how below). But it is does still have a hefty discount here on Amazon at the moment
First off, I didn’t actually go looking for this book, it literally fell in front of my feet when browsing in the local charity shop. So I took it as a strong sign I needed it for some reason!
Paul and I have used this to kickstart a well-needed change of lifestyle… to lose weight, whilst staying so frickin happy doing it. We’re doing it primarily for health benefits, but it would be nice to be able to feel good in any clothes we choose too.
In the contents section below, you can jump down to our initial results!
We’re doing it really differently, so now this is a living document and I will update it with more science, observations, recipe links… and the RESULTS as we go! Enjoy.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them and make a qualifying purchase I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
This is essentially a high protein/low carb diet book. But I wanted to know what Dopamine had to do with it, so the science part piqued my interest. I knew I’d find some goodies in this book to share with you. Every chef has an angle and it’s nice to read and get in their head a bit, and find the gems.
If you click the picture above, I take you to a general search page on Amazon, I found it so interesting to see the other books Amazon decided were ‘related’ to this type of cookbook! You’ll find the best lifestyle, happy brain, diabetes type 2, immune boosting, best for mental health, blood sugar balancing, macro counting, intermittent fasting, sensible fitness style… and easy reading cook books. (Just be aware in the UK that you have to get to page 2 and beyond to get past all of Tom’s listed books too!)
Having read around the subject now for weeks, I realise how these are all directly related to the dopamine diet here. I also now understand the connections between blood sugar control, fasting, and big bellys! So I’m going to do my own intermittent fasting diet with some low carbs thrown in for good measure and see how I do.
For our newsletter followers you know I’m often sending you a link to get a great cookbooks for 99cents– but those are digital books. This one isn’t – it’s a hardback!!! But you can’t get it, so I’ll share what I find and love about it as we go.
Charity shop finds !
I’m always popping into the local charity shop for animals on my way to the supermarket. It helps me keep the clutter down in our new simple life. But I often find something I could use too seeing as we left most things behind. I try to resist but sometimes it’s hard – and little did I know that this was a going to be a game changer for us both!
(They also have a new rail of free stuff for the homeless here, which is a brilliant idea. There are many homeless here particularly after losing jobs due to the covid pandemic.
It’s a sign!
This time I heard something fall off a shelf and the shopkeeper picked it back up. As I passed that shelf it fell again. So I had to look. It was this book! (I do love an excuse to find ‘messages from the universe;)’
I had to have it.
Was it a sign that we needed this in our life? Was it a sign that Paul needed this? It was Valentines day the next day so I thought this would make a great wee gift.
Since it was Valentine’s Day the next day I bought it as a present for MrKins. And guess what! I’d just been to the English shop and bought Mr.Kins pork scratchings as a wee present too. So now I know it made a perfect combined present as Tom Kerridge is a massive fan of these too. 💝
I had to give it to him straight away seeing as every day is Valentine’s Day in our life, and I like to live now and not be dictate to by a silly calendar entry
❤️
You can do this too.
Next time you’re passing a charity shop, pop in and browse the book section… or just wander around and see what falls at your feet 😉
The NEW regime
So the diet begins. I don’t like the idea of diets, Paul does. ‘Regime’ is the french word for ‘diet’ and from the moment I learned that as a teenager, I preferred to use it. Regime, as in a way of life, that’s what a diet should be. The actual word ‘diet’ just conjures up negative thoughts of food restrictions and failed ‘diets’!
Paul does things seriously, and loves to calorie count, whereas I love both the science of food, and a journey through it! So whilst he does this dopamine diet, I’m going back on my intermittent fasting because it really does make me feel so much better when I do it. I lose weight, my digestion is so much better and I feel great. I’m also hoping I will eat less, and that the usual foods I love will become a treat!
So lets see where the carb numbers vs. the intermittent fasting takes us. (We’re still competitive then! )
What is Dopamine anyway?
It’s what has kept Chef Tom up, happy & moving forward with his weight loss.
It’s a chemical!
It’s THE chemical that gets produced naturally in your brain when you experience pleasure… from anything… be it laughing, joy, sex, food, fun, alcohol, winning etc.
If dopamine is low, you can feel lethargic or depressed, and unmotivated. So Dopamine keeps us happy and that’s a good place to be when you’re on a diet!
Tyrosine
“Our bodies create it by breaking down an amino acid called tyrosine, which can be contained from lots of different – and, fortunately, delicious – foods.”
The happy diet!
So this book is essentially a selection of recipes using as many foods as possible to help us create the dopamine. Foods that are low in carbohydrates but high in tyrosene (or its cousin phenylalanine) in order to help boost the dopamine levels in the brain. These just happen to be full of protein, so as well as enjoying eating them because of the dopamine, you will feel full for longer.
It’s worth noting that chef Tom also cut out alcohol and did exercise, but I guess he was really happy to! Win… win… win. For me, I don’t think I could do this diet as I don’t believe in eating so much meat off the planet, I love veggies too much and my digestion may not be able to take all this heavy food. I’m happy to have some meals with it though and also happy for Paul to do it for a while. It suits him more, and am grateful that we can both cut out the starchy veg and bread and pasta!
Ok there are so many fish and vegetable recipes but I feel I have focussed here on mince because it’s one of those things we all have a go-to recipe for from chili to bolognese. There are so many amazing mince recipes in this book. The Cuban picadillo, on cauliflower couscous for one!
So these two dishes look similar but the first is a healthier moussaka and the second is shepherds pie with a creamy cauliflower topping.
But before we have these, we have resurrected our old favourite chili from our honeymoon. Walt Disneys Epcot centre recipe. There were 2 recipes, and we loved the luxury one. We bought the recipe book way back then and there but i can’t even remember if we kept it or even a tear sheet from it. So we made it from memory, using this one we found online, replacing the paprika with Spanish smoked paprika, and adding a teaspoon each of cumin and mustard. I remember the original recipe using breadcrumbs to thicken it but we’ll leave that out on this diet!
The Legendary Walt Disney Chili recipe
If you have the original spiral-bound book, please let us know!
The diet food ingredients
Chef Tom Kerridge lists his dopamine heros as the foods he’s been eating over the past few years when losing weight. So it’s obvious this isn’t a keto diet and it looks like some are higher in carbs than you would expect.
After reading these foods below, head on to the next section and read the more scientific net low carb version. Paul thinks that chef Tom has strayed too high on the carbs so Paul is really doing closer to a keto diet. That comes with benefits, maybe he will lose weight faster, but will he have a higher price to pay if he strays off his version!
It’s not just all about the meat.
I really want to make this hazelnut pesto, and we can both learn about the best low carb veggies we should both be eating too.
Tom's ingredients are personal!
The following are his ingredients, his preferred healthy foods for him. And that’s why I can feel I can eat a meal from this book once a day and be able to join Paul, and combine our diet journeys.
He also loves pork scratchings and so does Paul. I’m loving learning about the net carbs here for my own good as well, especially as far as vegetables go, but I won’t be going as far as sprinkling pork scratchings on my dinner tho! Sometimes I will have exactly the same meal, sometimes just the meat, or the fish, or the vegetables… so I don’t feel we are eating completely different meals.
Dairy
Eggs – good ones! organic or free-range eggs full of flavour.
Cheese – full fat
Milk – whole fat
Double cream
Whole milk yoghurt
Fish & Seafood
Oily fish
Salmon, sea bass, trout, tuna, sardines, mackerel – all high in Omega-3 fatty acids, and also a good source of Vit. D .
Seafood
Especially oysters.
Fruit!
But they’re higher in carbs!!! So I really didn’t think you could have fruit on a low carb diet. See what Dr. Ekberg says below about that.
But Tom just sees these as a healthy alternative when he wants to reach for a bad junky treat like a chocolate bar!
Apples
bananas
blueberries
grapes
oranges
papaya
strawberries
watermelons
One note though: Apples, berries and bananas contain quercetin which is believed to help the brain from losing its dopamine – so they can have a dopamine role!
Meat
Loads of it I guess!
It should be well sourced of course. Grass-fed is best for the larger animals (beef and lamb) and free-range pork, chicken, turkey.
Nuts
Again, like fruit, I think these are also higher carbs but we don’t eat many and Tom says these are his favourites.
Almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts.
Vegetables
I’m writing these food categories in the order they are discussed. Interesting how far down the list vegetables are in the book, but there are loads of great recipes ( usually with meat beside it) for me here too. Looking forward to that 🙂
Vegetables can be really high in carbs so you need to know the facts and be careful with the carb count here. So check my list on net carbs on the next table, for the numbers.
Tom’s recipes include:
artichoke
avocado
beetroot
broccoli
cabbage
cauliflower
seaweed – dulse, wakame, arame, kombu
Spinach
Sprout tops
Kale
Note on the dark greens:
Tom says to combine the strong greens with grated garlic, salted anchovies & a bit of lemon zest. It’s the iron in them that increases dopamine levels.
Spices and Chillies
These don’t make dopamine but they do help make endorphins which are the bosy’d natural painkiller. So Tom thinks these are worth having to keep you going on the diet ( and he loves hot food too:)
Miscellaneous
These foods help create both dopamine and endorphins
Chocolate
green tea
vanilla
lavender
sesame seeds
spirulina algae
A final word or warning. Junk foods can contain additives that can give you a dopamine buzz so all is not fair in good and bad foods. Our brains don’t know the difference between good food and these appealing manufactured (junk) foods What an industry !
The Proteins, Carbs, and Fats balance.
Not all meals are meat and fish, there’s soups, salads and desserts too. These are some easy ones I’m going to try for lunches.
TIP
Read on to get all the detail on the best ingredients, but here’s a tip. Apparently if you just go for veggies grown above ground then you’re 90% there!
Tomato, chorizo, and almond salad.
Well a little meat, but I’m looking forward to trying this with some nice Spanish chorizo!
Padron peppers, anchovy dip, onion crunch
Again, a little Spanish number, but the onion crunch! Interesting 🤔
Marinated artichokes, feta and mint.
Now this is more my style, so I’m saving this for artichoke season in Mallorca.
Dr Sten Ekberg, on Net carbs
Calculating your net carbs is so important, but one thing Paul noticed is that all the websites give different numbers for everything, so either go with a pinch of salt (yup that’s important – to have more salt and water on this diet! ), or make sure you can trust your source. I trust Dr Ekberg!
One of my favourite podcasters at the moment, and I’ve been listening to him about intermittent fasting. I mean now that we’re both on a regime, I need to take this seriously. So I need to make sure I’m doing it right. And I came across this podcast on low carbs. I thought I’d research it and learn more so that both Paul and I could be on the same page here. Also, I wanted to be able to convince Paul to widen out the choices of veggies we’re going to share in our one meal a day together – so I needed the facts!
What are net carbs?
No carbs, no sugar, or low carbs low sugar? What we really need to do apparently is to work out the numbers. I listened to his podcast and made notes below for you. Sometimes he says grams and sometimes %. They’re interchangeable as the grams are recorded as grammes per 100g weight of the food.
The Four CarboHydrate food categories
True foods that have zero sugar zero carbs, those that have trace amounts, those that have low carbs, and finally those that have high carbs but are usually only eaten in really small quantities anyway.
Net carb calculation
Net carb grams = total carbs in grams – the fibre.
That gives you the number of carb grams that is the digestible portion.
How many carbs the body can absorb can affect blood sugar and as my blood sugar is always too high I’m also really interested in foods that help with this.
1. Zero carbs, zero sugar - i.e. no calories
These are unlimited, no matter what diet you are on.( also ok if fasting for insulin purposes, like I am).
In ascending order from lowest to highest almost zero carbs.
Water
Apple cider vinegar
Herb tea ( most – not fruit ones probably)
Green tea
black tea
coffee – depends on the person – someone could trigger an insulin reaction
stevia or monkfruit extract – depends on the person – someone could trigger an insulin reaction
2. Zero carbs only
You’d have to consume a lot to get even 1 g of sugar. So for insulin or fastig purposes it’s negligable.
1. Lemon water – 1 teaspoon 0.4g in a litre or more of water
2. Infused water – cucumber, oranges, lemon. Just leave it to sit in the water and you get fractions of a gram. Don’t squeeze eat the fruit.
3. Big proteins – meat, fish, chicken are roughly the same- 20% protein and 0% carbs. Proteins can still trigger a significant amount of insulin though. Note : keto means very low carbs, moderate protein, high fats.
4. Fats – you can eat a lot of calories without any carbs – EV Olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, cooking fats – tallow, lard, butter, ghee(clarified butter – no water or protein).
5. Mayo – good if the oil quality in it is good. -e.g. avocado oil, walnut oil
If fasting, majority of intake should be zero calorie
If Keto, majority of calories in zero carb 90-95% of your calories.
3. Low carbs only
These will give you most of your calories, but you will still get a lot of bulk which will keep you feeling full. So they do play an important part. So make sure you have these.
Proteins like cheese & eggs ( these are sort of zero carbs -eggs have 1% carbs, so 3 eggs is only a couple grams carbs)
Avocado – a ‘one-of-a-kind’ natures miracle’ plant. It’s extremely high in fat. In fact it’s 15% fat & 2% carbs. so you can eat a lot! Great for vegan, keto & omnivore diets.
Olives ( like avocado) is high in fat. It’s 3g per 100g.
3 favourite nuts lowest in carbs. are… from highest to lowest fats- macademia(5g), pecan(4g), walnuts(3g).
The best nuts are eaten raw so that you get the most nutrients and fats. They also have good fibre and protein in them.
*Note: Nuts don’t have a great ratio between omega 3 and omega 6.
Omega 3 vs. Omega 6
The fat in grass-fed meat is about 1-1 ratio om3-om6.
Most vegetable fats are more Om6 than Om3.
Fish is high Om3.
So with saturated fats, especially animal fats (tallow, lard, butter)… if the animal is healthy you get a 1-1 ratio which is beneficial, as we have too much omega 6 in our diets compared to omega 3 ( because we tend to consume lots of oils based on nuts and seeds).
Seeds
Flax(2g carbs), chia(4g), hemp 3g, pumpkin 5g.
These have the highest fat to carbs ratio. Pumpkin for snacking and the others for smoothies and on top of salads etc.
Note: Also there is Phytoestrogens in these seeds, especially the flaxseed. So don’t eat a cup a day – a few tablespoons is ok.
I guess that’s why I love my sprinkled 321 LSA ( linseed, sunflower, almond) ground mix that I make. I tend to sprinkle that amount on a meal a day (but if only I could be consistent in making it!)
Leafy greens
Swiss chard 2g, lettuces & spinach about 2g. eg 450g bag of lettuce is 9g total in the bag ( ie over 5 or 6 salads), kale 5g.
Non-starchy veggies are very watery ( 90% water)
Spaghetti squash 5g – so that’s why people use it like pasta!!!
Broccoli 4g, brussell sprouts 5g, bell pepper 3g – green 4g – yellow and red pepper
Cabbage 3g, even better eaten as a sauerkraut (as it also gives a probiotic) Apparently it’s the easiest thing to ferment. I must get round to doing it as i LOVE it. What happens is the bacteria consumes some of the carbs in the food, and they proliferate so you end up with more bacteria and less carbs ). It’s the same process for yoghurt.
Cauliflower 3, cucumber 3, celery 2, aubergine 3 so all of these are only 2-3g
Mushroom 2, okra 4, courgette 2, tomato 3- all v low carbs
Summary:
Red Meat – eat to get calories
Low carb veggies – eat to get some bulk and fibre and phytonutrients and minerals
4. Quantity dependent carbs
This section is all about the foods that have varying amounts of carbs. As he says, the quantity / dose makes the poison! Remember here that most people on keto or low carb diet are trying to stay below 50g or lower per day. Tom’s diet says 100-150g a day. Paul is doing 30g as his research shows that’s what most people are doing.
Coffee
Now, Tom Kerridge discovered that he shouldn’t have coffee on his diet which was. a bummer – but I think he had some.
If fasting, what can you add to your coffee is coconut cream(2.7), heavy cream(2.8), half n hal 4.5, milk 5.3. They all have sugar but the more fat they have the less sugar. Sugar is water soluble so as you remove the water and conc. the fat you are also reducing the sugar content.
Condiments (Yes or No=
Y – Mustard 2% sugar – a couple of tablespoons isn’t even 1g so all good.
N- Ketchup 25% sugar – so 1 tablespoon is 2-3g sugar, ouch!
N- Relish is way too high
Y- Dill pickle (unsweetened) – good
N-Peanut (did you know it’s a legume, a pea!) is 14g carb – so only eat a little handful (50g is about 7g carbs)
N – Cashews – love them but it’s 25% carbs – very sugary
Commercial drinking milks.
Coconut, rice, macadamia etc – made with nuts, but also with water sugar salt and thickener ( so SILK coconut milk is 3g but has little fats. It adds up very quickly if you’re drinking it).
High fats foods are better to satisfy you and keep the carbs down.
Worcester sauce – 1 teaspoon ok because it’s 20g pure sugar! So a cup of it is anchovy paste and spices.)
Stevia ( even if it’s processed it’s not considered harmful. Be aware though that packet portions are mixed up with other stuff, so the filler product could be inulin or maltodextrin or sugar or glucose dextrose which is usually .5 to 1g per bag, so don’t use them a lot. They don’t affect your insulin but. the sugar carbs add up. Its not a true zero! Also beware of sugar alcohol mixes like ethrytol, zyltol, maltytol because whilst they have technically no sugar and fewer carbs, you could be upsetting your digestive flora. Sugar and alcohol are not good for the wrong bacteria in digestion system. He also mentioned that the ‘Zorb’ product has both stevia and ethrytol so can give gas to the weaker digestive systems.
Y – Berries.
Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries are all 5% sugar so 50g berries is 2.5g carbs.
N- Watermelon
It might be very watery but it’s 7g sugar and 0-4g fibre. We eat a bigger quantity of it so that’s not good. 50g watermelon is only about a cube so we eat about 1 pound of it per portion. Big ones are about 20lb.
Y-Nutritional Yeast
This is actually the best form of real natural Vitamin B in foods ( great for vegans), naturally 6g carbs but very light & flakey so a few tablespoons is not even 1g carb!
Cheesey in flavour and can spread it on anything. v light and flakey. The B vitamins from this are far superior than a vitamin pill. Use it daily.
N – Garlic
One of the starchier foods we have, more than potatoes. A few cloves is a few grams of carbs. One bulb is about 50g. Paul found this surprisingly useful yay!
Y – Fresh herbs
All very low like the leafy greens ( about 1g ). Use freely.
Y – Fried herbs
Numbers go up dramatically depending on the herbs. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme go up from 1 to 5 to the 21,22,27g carbs. but you only need a few grams. in a meal – even a few tablespoons is 5g total and 1 g carbs.
Y -mustard seed, peppercorns,cinnamon, cardamon
40% but still ok cos you don’t use much.
Glucomanins – specifically chondroitin
This is a highly absorbent gelatinous fibre, sold often as a weight loss ingredient. Makes a good thickener when cooking. Zero carbs and all fibre, and so it helps make you feel fuller too. People can take it as a supplement. as it’s a bit of a weight loss trick making you feel fuller and hopefully eat less!
The good, the bad, and the vitally important.
My notes and observations in the first days and weeks.
The first bad news
So, has the 1euro money-saving trick has backfired 😂 as MrKins is buying so much meat now for this diet!
Also, I’m trying to do intermittent fasting as that really works for my digestion, but it’s not easy with his bacon and eggs breakfast smells! He’s now joking about steak & kidney pie ( easy on the pie!)
the First good news
I really thought that his breath was going to be horrible on this diet. I do seem to remember that happening with the Dukan diet he did years ago. But no! All good so far.
We both love sourdough and baguette, and pizza. Paul loves pasta. So he misses all that, but I secretly like not having it on offer. I know it’s doing me lots of good 😌 . And, I’ll still have pasta and potatoes because I like to cook it, cool it and then reheat my pasta to lower the carb absorption anyway (by increasing the resistant starches in it). Usually, when Paul makes pasta I try to have some already cooled ready to use. So I’m now going to investigate the actual net carbs are and maybe I might finally convert Paul to doing the same.
I’m also finding the book offers loads of really different and interesting ways to cook meats, with low carb accompanied veggies, hearty soups and salads so I’ll pick my way through it and photograph some recipes to take with us as we can’t carry this hardback with us when we move on.
Oh and one last good news point… Paul is drinking loads of water ! Who would have thought. I like to down a few litres each day and am fussy about my water – prefer still water, from a glass bottle, has to be room temperature. Paul only used to drink a little water… had to be fizzy and cold. I found out why he has to do this, along with having lots more salt.
IMPORTANT NOTE
On a low carb, high fat diet the body needs more salt and water . The sodium in the blood gets depleted and that’s dangerous to let go low so you have to add more salt than normal. Water is also needed to help break down the fats, so your kidney needs more support.
Interesting observations
I’ll update these as we go. I’m listening to Paul as he goes through the diet, and I’m picking up key info on high carbs for myself. I like to be able to have a varied and healthy diet with the odd treat – still do exercise and fast to give my digestive system a break. We’re both missing the beans and lentils so far… but
Red lentils vs.green ones – it’s so hard to get correct info and one is meant to be much more carbs than the other – so we’re checking to see which of 2 different favourite recipes to make… Green lentil and rocket salad with roasted cumin carrot slivers, or Turkish kebob with bulgar wheat!
Chorizo and cheese seem to have the same fat and protein values and zero carbs.
Veggies grown above the ground are generally lower in carbs than those below the ground.
Alcohol
For low carbs, clean spirits are the best to have but be careful of the mixer – check the carbs in it! I love a classic dry martini cocktail so I’m sorted. Paul’s mojito is out for the duration of the diet.
Dry (brut) cava or sparkling wine is best of the bunch when it comes to wine based alcohols. I still like to have a little red wine though, especially with red meat – it’s healthy in moderation isn’t it! Zero beer is still high carbs so Paul can’t have it, but I might!
Numbers
Counting the macro-nutrient numbers is very important for Paul. He’s meant to keep carbs to about 30g a day, fats need to be the highest and proteins need to be kept down too but not as much as carbs. And within all that, he needs to also keep his calorie intake to a normal 2000kcals a day. So it’s not just about eating as much of any fats and proteins you like. One big sausage is about 700kcal, an avocado is 350. Nuts are a good option for him.
Breakfasts
Dope and no dope! So far Paul has been having cooked breakfasts. I thought the smell would drive me mad but actually no – I love taking a big fat sniff of that bacon and feel that’s satisfying enough. The only time I caved in was today, it’s Sunday and I decided I could be lax on the weekends if I choose to, so I went and broke the fast early with a bite of sausage. Don’t know if the sausage was more addictive in smell or that fact that I knew I was allowed to have it today?
The cook book has loads of ideas for breakfasts though. Here’s Tom’s list below.
This omelette below is the first that made me jealous though. I shouldn’t have too much cheese and a four cheese anything would be out for me, but this twice cooked omelette looks so divine I can’t look at it without licking my lips!
On the plus side though I get to eat all the oranges left in the house when Paul started the diet. Normally I don’t get a look in as he loves them so much, so I have a lot to use and have been juicing and reminiscing on the old Moroccan favourite of sliced oranges with cinnamon. It’s usually a dessert in Morocco but i also love it for breakfast. He adores oranges and hates cinnamon. I adore cinnamon and there’s usually no oranges left by the time I reach for them.
So today I had it and whilst the sight of the oranges made Paul so jealous that he had to have a slice, the super strong floral aroma of my own freshly ground cinnamon was my treat! And that’s another post I must write up for you – are you eating the right amount of cinnamon, in the right way, and do you know why it’s so good for you?
Four cheese twice-cooked omelette
Me using up all the oranges !
Lunch
Coming soon… so far we had a bbq of meat & veg with homemade easy Roquefort. I tried to combine our diet ideas by going light on the cream and heavy on the physlium husk as a compromise for both of us!
Dinner
Just flicking through and find a few ways to get the old classics in without the high carb pie crusts or roast potatoes. I’m liking this so far!
The results
Two weeks ago weeks in and we both had a weigh in. Miraculously, it feels, we have both lost 3kg. Neck and neck so far. Let’s see how it works out. As my ‘diet’ is partly made-up and his is pretty precise I’m running a little scared now that his will get better results. It’s not advised to do the low carb diet more than 6 months so he’s going to try it for 3-6 months.
The weigh-in
I’ll try to record our progress here for you as we go. Wish us luck! Paul has been weighing on a Saturday, I weigh the following Wednesday as I record my weight with a Wednesday wobblers group online.
The results, 2 weeks in!
Aoibheann -3kg loss, Paul –3kg loss
Two weeks ago weeks in and we both had a weigh in. Miraculously, it feels, we have both lost 3kg. Neck and neck so far. Let’s see how it works out. As my ‘diet’ is partly made-up and his is pretty precise I’m running a little scared now that his will get better results. It’s not advised to do the low carb diet more than 6 months so he’s going to try it for 3-6 months.
3 weeks in
Aoibheann -1.8kg loss, Paul +0.3kg gain
Watch this space to see our 2 wk results again next week. Today is Wed 2 March so week 3 for me, and I’ve lost another 1.8kg miraculously already, and I really didn’t feel like I had. I’ve been on antibiotics for the last week and not sleeping so I’m flabergasted !
4 weeks iN
Aoibheann -0.6kg loss, Paul stayed still 0kg
Not a great week, Paul is dedicated, I wobbled with pizza, cava and more! Paul visited his parents for four days but stuck to the diet there, so is bemused as to why he hasn’t lost weight. I went a bit mad just before he left as if it would be the last time together 😉
5 weeks iN
Aoibheann…+0.5kg gain 16th March, Paul… -0.5kg loss 18th March
Paul is still dedicated but I went a bit more mad just before he returned and after he arrived back, in excited celebrations …..I feel like I’ve dieted only one day! Still, I wanted it to be a lifestyle regime and so I have to expect it to to wobble up and down a bit… just like life. I spied a great pair of white shorts in a charity shop – they wouldn’t go over my tummy so I bought them anyway just to keep me motivated!
6 weeks iN
Aoibheann…-0.1kg loss 23rd March
A whole 100g loss lol. Paul is away visiting his parents so no weigh in.
7 weeks iN
Aoibheann…+0.4kg gain 30th March, Paul… -0.9kg loss
A whole kilo off for Paul finally. Oops… less said about me! Too much celebrating at having hubbie home.
7 weeks iN
Aoibheann – no weigh in. Paul -0.3kg loss 7th April
New scales for Paul in Mallorca, no scales for me! I’m in Ireland with the oldies and there are no scales here so I will start again next week on the same scales as Paul 😉
8 weeks iN
Aoibheann +0.4kg gain Paul -0.4kg loss 13th April
New scales for Aoibheann in Mallorca. Up 0.4kg booo 🙁 must have been all the booze I drank most evenings in Ireland.)
9 weeks iN
Aoibheann –0.4kg loss Paul -0.8kg loss 13th April
Back to where I was before I went to Ireland, am swimming again but still drinking too much late evenings when I stop work. Well done Paul with his massive cooked breakfasts and fuet of an evening!!!
10 weeks iN
Aoibheann -1.6kg loss Paul +0.3kg gain 13th April
Finally I get my day! I really felt like I had lost weight. very comfortable in clothes and felt I was looking a little lighter yet more saggy agggh! ,Swimming again just 4 times a week if I’m honest but doing 10min aerobic workout if I’m not swimming and trying to walk a bit more. The idea is to build up to doing 1-3 types of exercise a day. Finally I got back to the 4 days off alcohol. I’ve started taking a juice shot each day, getting back onto the sauerkraut and apple cider vinegar lemonade and making a latte masala. So I’m trying to build up a portfolio of drinks to help keep me healthy and keep me away from the alcohol and the munchies that go with it – for at least 4 days a week. trouble is I drank it all up on Sunday just to be ready for Monday with nothing in the house. Not the plan but we’ll buy less this weekend.
I actually lost 1.8 kg on the first weigh in but didn’t believe it so went back and weighed in again and it said 1.6Kg so I’ve taken the difference between the two. Paul doesn’t seem to think I deserve it – but the scales don’t lie!
Disappointing for Paul, and just when I’m thinking I can do this lifestyle he is beginning to be done with the Keto diet. It’s a short term project for him and I don’t think he has actually done it like Tom Kerridge – which is more dopamine based and with a long term view. I’ve missed not being able to celebrate food all the time with Paul because we are being so careful or doing our own thing. I hope when he gets back to ‘normal’ I don’t get put off my track. I think he will go back to calorie counting though- he’s always like that style of diet.
11 weeks iN
Aoibheann -0.1kg gain Paul +0.5kg loss 4th May
Well I actually stayed at the same weight as the second weigh in last week so I have to now count the 100g gain in this week ! Paul went off the keto diet at the weekend and is enjoying having fruit, bread and such again. Still he managed to lose weight, but he’s getting more hungry whilst I’m able to fast for longer and still remain feeling full end of the evening this week. So I thought i would lose some weight but noooo – probably too much booze at the weekend to blame for that.
Watch this space to see how it goes, as we weigh in every week or two.
10 week overall loss: Aoibheann -4.5kg; Paul -5.3kg
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