Today I'm counting as Day One of low carb. Tons of research. Some websites say 20g of carbs per day but most say that is too low. Most also say Atkins is VERY bad but I didn't intend to do that one anyway - very unhealthy! If I were to stick to 20 g per day I'd have no energy to workout. The number recommended is up to 50 per day for a woman, with a higher carb day once or twice a week. Looked at carb cycling but that is far too complicated - it's very low carbs 3 days a week, low carbs 2 days, high carbs 2 days.
So I've settled on 40-50g carbs per day, and one day per week of up to 100. It's okay to have occasional bread so my high carb day will be Fridays - pizza day. I'll also have porridge that day which I miss.
Today is quite low - 21 g but tomorrow I'm planning on 47. Husband said my diet looked like high calorie, so I calculated the calories for today and they are only 1246. Low carb is higher in fat so keeps you full longer so you naturally eat less calories. That's the theory anyway and it works for many. So I'm giving it a shot!
Menu:
Home workout:
Finishing up the low fat stuff today, and having weekly 'bread' with the thin crust pizza. Husband loves to make me pizza so we'll keep the Friday routine.
Tomorrow I will count every carb to judge how I'm doing. Counting carbs in the curry is tough but everything in it is very low carb. No rice. Quinoa is okay but doing small portions as usual.
Menu:
Gym:
Resistance machines: 4 x 10
Progress as of today: 7.2 lbs lost so far, only 10.8 lbs to go!
I still have oatmeal in the morning (not sure if that is the equivalent of porridge) but add walnuts and flaxseed (protein sources) to it. No sugar but spice it up with cinnamon.
Baked potato & corn are OK as those are vegetables. Sweet potatoes are a better choice.
I've added a lot more vegetables to my meals and snacks. If I need a dip or a dressing to help that along -- because sometimes raw vegetables can be so boring -- then that's fine.
I do have 1 day a week where I'm a little more relaxed about my choices, but I don't go wild on portion sizes. That is to say, it's not an "all you can eat" day. But I don't have to binge, because I know I can have more next week on my "relaxed" day. You might want to have a "beer day" to help.
I hope this helps. It's hard at first, until your body gets used to it, especially if you love sugar (like Mr. Donkey) or other similar vices.
Desperate! So I'm going to try something new to me. I know 3 people personally who are/were diabetics and they went on the blood sugar diet (low carb, very low sugar). All of them lost a TON of weight and 2 of them no longer need their diabetes meds. I am not diabetic, not even close and I won't be following that particular diet. I've never tried a low carb diet but I figure it's worth a shot. So I'm starting today although I have some food I need to finish that is a no-no on the diet. No food that says 'diet', no artificial sweeteners except Stevia. And I just bought lots of diet Coke! I've got some low fat cheese to finish (although the packet says no sugar, artificial or otherwise) and some low fat yogurt that has artificial sweetener.
NO BEER (super high in carbs!) 
Tomorrow is pizza night and hubby loves to make us homemade pizza (even the sauce) on our new pizza machine. That means pizza crust, but he says he'll make it extra thin - so that will be my exception every week and it will be small portions. Porridge isn't low carb and I hate to give it up so I'm going to try making a half portion of it tomorrow and also have either yogurt or a boiled egg. Definitely no more raisins.
I've done my research and any of you who have tried low carb I'd welcome any comments. Tomorrow I shop for hummus, chicken breast slices, more eggs, plain soy yogurt to which I will add fresh berries and stevia, smoked salmon, apples, pears, berries, my usual salad and other veggies, and full fat cheddar.
Menu:
A bit sore in upper arms and chest muscles from using the gym machines yesterday.
Home workout: (3 sets instead of 4 - maybe increase back to 4 sets some time next week)
Lower:
Oops! Scale is going the wrong way! Groan..... did not behave in London.
Back to the new gym today! Nice! I didn't do a proper workout but tried out all the resistance machines as they are all new and a wee bit different than the old ones. They also added a leg press which I really enjoy doing.
Gym:
Resistance machines: just tried them out so didn't do proper sets this time
Feeling tired so will stay home tomorrow and do my full sets of muscle work for upper and lower body.
Menu:
Cals: 1375 (starving when I came home from gym and should be at 1200)
Only 7 weeks until we go to the US. Not going to meet my goal. 
Progress as of today: 7.2 lbs lost so far, only 10.8 lbs to go!
it's good for the mind and body to learn new things and stuff so that is good, in my opinion!
nice that you now have a leg press which is a great machine. i don't use now, but may start now that you mention it.
Had a great time in London! Really enjoyed wandering around as I love the architecture. Concert was beautiful. Didn't weigh myself this morning but I know I weigh more than when we went. Beer, big breakfasts, etc.
Donkey asked me to list my upper body workout since I don't give any details.
You can look these up on Youtube just asking for the name and dumbbells:
Biceps curls
Shoulder shrugs
Upright row
Side dips
Front shoulder raise
Lateral shoulder raise
Shoulder press
Triceps bent over row
Rear deltoid raises
Overhead dumbbell tricep extension
There is one more for shoulders and deltoids but can’t find the name of it.
Floor exercise - no dumbbells:
Triceps dips on a chair
Push ups
At the gym I do all of the upper body resistance machines. I don’t do lower as I figure I target those very well already. Although our new gym has the leg press.
There are TONS of how-to videos on Youtube that show you how to target any part of your body.
Planned on going to the gym today but I was just too exhausted. London was tiring and the fact we didn't have a good hotel room meant 3 nights of not getting sufficient rest. I will go tomorrow and am planning on every weekday.
Calories today: 1299.
Progress as of today: 10.6 lbs lost so far, only 11.4 lbs to go!
London sounds like a really nice trip - good views and scenery and architecture i mean! and always nice to see a live music performance. i myself have a special place in my heart for musicians as I used to perform myself.
Good luck as you return to your renovated gym :-D and keep the good work on resting up for it.
My friend has joined the gym and her orientation is tomorrow, so we're going together. She's never really worked out before.
PS London is so cool!
So i hope you meet your weight goals for weighing the same as when you left as when you return to gym! good goal. you are doing GREAT to get there. keep on...do not let any distractions derail your good efforts!
When you have time and if you are inclined to do so, could you post what you do for the upper body? I mean, if you circuit train, no need to go into detail, but rather, just list what you do as you do for lower body.
Here's to a successful April!
Been AWOL. March has not been good. Lazy, indulgent, off and on workouts. Hit 160 but now down to 156. Clothes fit better with each pound I lose.
Been logging calories since last Friday. Fri - 1200, Sat 1122, Sun 1173, Mon - 1203, Tu - 1257, today will be 1186. Going to London for 3 nights this Friday. Told husband to chastise me if I eat any sweets or chips (fries), and need to alternate real beer with diet pop or Bud Light.
9 weeks to US trip and 17 pounds to lose to final goal of 139. But if I hit 145 I'll be happy. Been working out at home but not as much as I should.
Our gym which closed mid Sept will be opening next Monday! It was supposed to open at xmas. They did tours today and it looks good!! Almost all new equipment, but sadly only one spin bike. I'll be there Tuesday after we get back from London. I plan to go every weekday except when we have guest or I'm on a trip (like a week in May).
I'm going to log my meals while we are in London but will only have my phone with me and this site is too hard to use on my phone. But I will be tracking.
Hope you all are doing well. I'll take a look and try to catch up.
Progress as of today: 10.6 lbs lost so far, only 11.4 lbs to go!
I am also a bit off track due to sickness. I'd been doing great, staying off the sick path I believe the entire Winter! But finally got trumped down by a virus. All's good...Just about recovered. So like you were missing workouts due to sickness while you were on vaca / home, I had to so some of that this week. Almost back to resuming my workouts. It's been a good time off though - hadn't taken off since like ... i think October! lol, i think it's been that long since I had a full week off if I remember correctly so I don't mind as much..
Anyways, I'm so glad you are back to your weightloss mode...good for you! Sometimes it gets hard to making a shift to it - this is why I prefer maintenance to going up and down with my own weight - i chose to really learn what kinda calories and food i need in order to maintain for the MOST PART - i still gain and have to drop here & there...
So happy to hear, FINALLY!, of your gym re-opening. I bet it will look GREAT! Around here, gyms don't really close - they stay open as they do renovations...they'd lose so many people if they fully closed! It's good your gym could afford to do that! wow. must have been BIG CHANGES to your gym! You'll have to tell us once you go back!
lol...only ONE spin bike!? WHAT? LOL, Hopefully more bikes to come.
Keep up the good work, Annie <3 xoxo
Back on track again after being in the city. Moderate workout. Shoulder only had a slight twinge.
Workout upper body:
Workout lower:
Workout cardio:
Menu:
Cals: 1268
Progress as of today: 10 lbs lost so far, only 8 lbs to go!
Had a nice time in Glasgow. Got my US size passport photo (different from UK) and should have the passport back in plenty of time for trip the end of May. While we were there we went to see a movie - Hidden Figures. Good movie! I did have a small packet of chocolate during the movie - can't seem to break that habit but I did resist and only had a single serve pack.
I did have a few beers throughout the day and evening but lunch was a ham and cheese panini and less than half of the fries. Dinner I had a baked potato with beans and cheese and a salad. Breakfast this morning was a vegetarian full breakfast - 920 calories, but no lunch. Dinner at home: curry and rice.
Progress as of today: 10 lbs lost so far, only 8 lbs to go!
Scale movement - most is fluid I'm sure. But I'll take it.
Serious housework today, finally getting everything sorted and put away for next trip.
Menu:
Cals: 1209
Going into the city tomorrow to visit husband's uncle and take him out to lunch. We are spending the night in the city - we thought we'd escape for the day and night as the electricity will be out in our area all day tomorrow (don't know why). We will have both lunch and dinner at a chain restaurants/pub we always go to and which lists the calories for everything.
Congrats on the scale movement. Even if it's water weight, it's the start of further weight loss. Good lady!
For me, oatmeal - no matter what's in it - i def get hungry 3 hrs later if it's a nice big bowl with peanut butter and the works (like added protein powder too..)...i don't know...i am used to eating often so nothing works...
So how long are you satisfied from your oatmeal? I see you eat far less protein than me...so i'm trying to see how it works for you?
But also, if you want to feel more satisfied...maybe try for a hair more protein? Do you eat eggs?
Overall, your menu looks healthy to the max so keep it up! My advice is only because i like to give it (not sure if it's the right advice for you...)
Enjoy your night in the city (which city again...? i have the worst memory but i know you go often when you're home!)...i can't believe you are back home again! your vaca, for both you and me, went by at the speed of light. I hope next year the weather is more typical though...in Thai.
Enjoy your exercise this afternoon :-D
We go into Glasgow for our city trips.
Next winter we are not going to Thailand until January but there is almost no chance they'll have another Dec/Jan like last year. That was record breaking going back decades.
Good idea for your Thai plans for next year. :-)
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I lost my original first 25#, which stayed off, with a low-carb diet, Woman Drs Diet for Women--old book (70s). The key for me was the routine/monotony. Sure I had cravings, but I stuck with it.
One thing I allowed was chocolate pudding--just the prepared ones--one/day only.
Hope you get the results you want!
Thanks! I'm just doing the one higher carb/cal day per week.
Just an experiment really, and I've got 5 weeks until I take a 5 night holiday by myself. If I find this is working well I'll try to continue while I'm eating out at restaurants there. I guess I can just ask for more veg and leave off the potatoes and don't bring me bread. A challenge for sure.
I really just want my clothes to not be too tight and uncomfortable. That's the goal for now anyway.
Donkey on 04/08/2017:
Your comments on my entry today was very helpful - thank you!
You're welcome! Good luck.