Getting rolling again

*peers around* Coo, dusty in here, isn’t it? It’s been a while. Brush off the cobwebs and have yourself a seat while I write an update in this old ledger here.

So what happened? Well, to switch metaphors and cut a long story short, I fell off the wagon. For a little while I managed to keep running alongside, but then I fell down a hole.

What’s that Skip? She’s fallen down a MINE SHAFT?!

A big, deep, dark hole called depression, dug by a combination of money worries and work stress. And I stayed there for a good long while.

Fortunately now with a pharmaceutical leg-up and the help of my friends I’ve managed to haul myself back out again, and now I’m ready to hop back on the diet and fitness cart again. It’s been a set-back, I won’t deny that, but it isn’t the end of the world.

So what am I doing?

I have joined a gym again, though I’m still having trouble finding the motivation to actually go regularly. I’ve also started dance classes again, and I’m working on cutting high-fat and high-carb foods out of my diet again, and getting more fresh fruit and veg. I’m going to start keeping a food log again to record everything that I eat so I can understand where my pitfalls are and avoid them. I already know I need to cut back on alcohol which I have a tendency to use as a crutch in difficult times.

I also signed up to Fitocracy but I’m not really sure I see the point yet. Maybe I don’t have the requisite competitive streak.

It hasn’t been all bad during my hiatus, though. The doctors have finally found a combination of meds that works for my blood pressure, which has dropped to a normal level for the first time in years. This means I should be able to get fitter and do more exercise without worrying about the strain on my system.

That was the diet that was

Those of you who’ve been reading since the start of the blog will recall that my diet and fitness regime was supposed to last six months, and that my target was to drop two dress sizes, i.e. to go from an unfit size 18 to a lithe and lovely size 14. Six months was up at the start of November.

Well, I have to say it wasn’t an unqualified success. I managed to be very strict with myself for about three months – no unhealthy foods, cutting right down on starchy carbs and refined sugars, getting my five-a-day and getting exercise 2-3 times per week. And the results were noticeable – I felt stronger, I had more energy and I lost a significant amount of weight.

But then I found myself out of work, and suddenly very broke. I had to make major economies in my expenditure to make ends meet (and even so needed a little help from my friends to keep a roof over my head), and the main things that had to go were my exercise classes, and the quantities of delicious but expensive lean protein and fresh fruit and veg I’d been cheerfully motoring through. Cheap, calorific starches became the order of the day to keep body and soul together while I looked for work. It’s been nearly three and a half months now since I’ve had any work and I’m basically cooking a cheap one-pot meal (cheap stewing meat plus pulses, pasta or potatoes) once a week and then subsisting the rest of the time on pasta-and-pesto, strong sweet tea and the odd bit of fresh fruit. Life, in short, got in the way of my good intentions. 

Miraculously, though, I still seem to be losing weight. I know I said I wasn’t going to do too many facts and figures in this blog, but last time I weighed myself I was just a smidge over 12 stone, which represents a total loss of 18lb. My BMI has dropped from 36 to 33 and my waist is about 3-4 inches smaller. I’m now wearing a size 16 in jeans which are already feeling slightly loose, and my size 18 work trousers are hanging off my hips (though weirdly size 16 is still a bit tight on the thighs).The other day I tried on one of my favourite corsets that had been languishing in a drawer for a couple of years as it was too small, and it fitted like a dream. I may have spent some time posing in front of the mirror checking out my sexy new silhouette!

So I didn’t reach my targets, but halfway there is no slouch either. Most importantly I proved to myself that I can do it – that I can live without pastries and chocolate and bread, and that I can face the gym and make myself stronger and fitter. Once I’m working again I will be getting back to my dance classes and finding a cheap gym deal, and loading up my shopping basket with lovely vibrant vegetables again. Onwards!

You jerk!

I was browsing the BBC Good Food website (which I can’t recommend enough, by the way) for some easy, healthy one-pot suppers for weekday suppers, when I came across this recipe for Braised Chicken and Beans. It looked OK if a little uninspiring, but I do like chicken, and I adore beans, so I wondered if there might be the germ of an idea in it.

Then I was in my local supermarket (I love living in South London, where even the mainstream supermarkets stock all kinds of exotic ingredients) and discovered cans of rose borlotti beans and tubs of jerk seasoning both on special offer, and a notion came into my head. And a notion became an idea, and an idea became a recipe, and so this is what I made for supper:

So tropical it should be eaten in a hammock

Jerk chicken and borlotti bean casserole

Serves 2 hungry people

1 onion, finely chopped

2 peppers, chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 Scotch bonnet pepper, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)

2 skinless chicken breasts

2 tbsp jerk spice mix

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can borlotti beans, drained

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp tomato puree

t tbsp jerk sauce or BBQ sauce

1 tsp oil (or a few sprays of Frylight)

Cut deep slashes into the chicken breasts and rub them all over with the jerk spice mix. If you can, let them sit for a couple of hours to take up the flavours. In a little oil, fry the chicken breasts until well-browned, remove from the pan and set aside. Fry the onions until lightly browned, then add the peppers and chilli (if using). Once the peppers have started to soften, stir in the chicken, beans, tomato puree and jerk/BBQ sauce, and return the chicken to the pan, spooning the sauce over so the meat is coated. If the sauce is too thick add some water.

Cover and cook for about 20-25 mins until the chicken is tender. Taste for seasoning (if you didn’t use chillies you may want to pep it up a bit) and serve either on its own or with rice.

 

Midweek mince madness!

Time for another healthy, easy recipe, I think! Autumn’s drawing in here in Greedygirl City, and I’d been craving something cheap, nourishing, spicy and meaty to stave off the October blues  – as well as a killer dose of PMT. This quick and dirty supper was just right. I used a shop-bought spice mix for convenience but if you wanted to make your own you’d probably want to chuck in paprika, cumin, coriander, chilli, oregano, black pepper and salt, and maybe some crushed fennel seeds if you like them (I do). And if you fancied a vegetarian version you could of course substitute quorn mince or just another couple of cans of different beans – black eyed beans would be nice.

Lettuce-wrapped spicy mince ‘tacos’

Hot stuff!

Serves 3-4 fairly hungry people (or makes 2-3 meals for one greedy girl)

500g lean beef mince or turkey mince

1 packet chilli con carne or taco spice mix (I used Discovery)

1 can sweetcorn, drained

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 tbsp tomato puree

dash of your favourite hot sauce (I used Cholula)*

2-3 fresh tomatoes, chopped

enough lettuce leaves for 2-3 each

In a non-stick frying pan, dry-fry the mince with the spice mix. When the mince is well browned, add the beans and sweetcorn, stir in the tomato puree and hot sauce, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. The goal is to end up with an almost dry mince mixture. To serve, put a dollop of lovely spicy mince into the middle of a lettuce leaf , top with a few pieces of the fresh tomato and (this is the fun messy part!) roll it up and eat it in a couple of greedy bites!

*I’m a bit of a connoisseur of hot sauces. Currently in my kitchen I have Maggi Chilli & Tomato Ketchup, Reggae Reggae Jerk Sauce, Encona West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce, Encona Creole Pepper Sauce, a huge bottle of some weird Thai sweet chilli and garlic dipping sauce, Cholula and Tabasco (including a dinky little bottle I got as a free sample which I’ve dubbed ‘Travel Tabasco’), while over at the Boyfriend’s there’s Frank’s Red Hot, for when I want a little more bite to my food. And to be honest I’ve been running down my collection a bit lately!

Greedy girl ratatouille

I thought I’d post one of my favourite recipes!
Traditional ratatouille can often be oily and sloppy, so I invented this lovely little recipe which is great alongside grilled meat, or just on its own. It’s a really adaptable base recipe as you can vary the seasoning to go with what you fancy – if you were having lamb chops you might use a bit of balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice, and add some rosemary; if you’re having fish, skip the herbs and add parsley or dill at the end. And it’s three of your five-a-day! I had this with a bit of rump steak tonight and I’m ashamed to say that even though I had good intentions to save half of it for tomorrow’s lunch, I scoffed the whole lot.

Healthy ratatouille
Serves 2 as a side dish

1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 courgette
5-6 mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp paprika
juice of 1 lemon
salt & pepper

Chop all the vegetables into roughly 1 inch cubes (no need to be very exact). Finely chop the garlic.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions and peppers. Cook over a high heat until they’re just starting to colour, then add the courgette, garlic and the herbs and spices. Reduce the heat and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the mushrooms. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes then add the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally (if it sticks you can add a little bit of water), until the vegetables have softened. Serve with… well, whatever takes your fancy.

and one pill makes you small

As I mentioned in my last blog post, when I visited the doctor last week I was given a prescription for Orlistat. Here’s what happened next. Please note that this gets quite detailed and scatological in places, so don’t read if you’re easily squicked!

The skinny on the skinny pill

Orlistat, as most of you probably already know, is the generic name for Xenical, which is also sold under the brand name Alli in the UK. It’s the only medicine prescribed by the NHS specifically for weight loss. (I’d like at this point to mention that the NHS is incredibly awesome, and that even if I paid for my prescriptions, I would only have had to pay £7.40 for medicine which would have cost over £40 to buy over the counter. That’s pretty amazing.) Used properly, it can increase the rate of weight loss by 50% – i.e. if you’re losing 2lb a week through diet and exercise, adding in Orlistat will mean you lose 3lb.

Unlike earlier diet pills which were a combination of a stimulant and an appetite suppressant (generally amphetamine-based – basically medical speed), Orlistat works by preventing your body from absorbing some of the fat from the food you eat. You take it after every meal containing fat, up to three times a day. You have to be careful not to take other medications at the same time, as it can prevent them being absorbed properly, and you’re advised to take a vitamin supplement so you don’t miss out on important fat-soluble nutrients.

And here’s where it gets a bit gross. Because all that fat that your gut can no longer absorb has to go somewhere. And there’s only one place it can go – out. Before I started taking Orlistat I’d read plenty of horror stories about people suffering stomach cramps, diarrhoea and even (eww) oily anal leakage as their bodies struggled to eject the excess fat. I was pretty confident though – if I eat a low fat diet, there won’t be much to get rid of, so I shouldn’t get any of those symptoms. My doctor was similarly reassuring, and said that if I knew I was going to eat a more fatty meal than usual (e.g. going out for dinner) and didn’t want to risk side-effects, I should simply not take the pills that day. It seemed to make sense.

You’ve been Tangoed

I started taking the pills on the Tuesday lunchtime. I was eating pretty healthily – carrot sticks, hummus and fruit for lunches, and I’d made a big pan of Bolognese sauce to be had with baked potatoes in the evenings. I hadn’t worried too much about the fat content – it seemed fine though, and I skimmed off most of the visible fat. And sure enough, everything seemed fine – no side effects to speak of. I actually worried whether it was working or not!

Then… day four. I began to feel slightly uncomfortable, and when I went to the toilet I passed an oily orange substance. This, I knew, was the dreaded Orange Oil, which is talked about a lot on Xenical/Alli forums. Looked like my body had been saving it all up and I was now paying the price. And when I say orange, by the way, I really do mean orange – it looked like the stuff you get on the top of a dodgy vindaloo. Not offensive smelling or anything though, just bright!

OK, I thought, I clearly need to keep a tighter handle on what I’m eating. I will make sure I don’t eat much fat at all today, and it’ll settle down. The next day was Saturday and I was going up to Derbyshire to visit some friends who were throwing a party, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep the usual control over what I ate when I was travelling or grazing a buffet table. But, as my doctor had explained, I could simply not take the pills that day and there would be no problem. Right?

Wrong. Even though I hadn’t taken any Orlistat in 24 hours, it was obviously still in my system, and I spent most of the party nipping hurriedly to the loo and feeling quite anxious about the Orange Oil. It did rather dampen my spirits and I may not have been the life and soul of the party as I’d intended to be!

Keep taking the tablets?

I didn’t take Orlistat again for the rest of the weekend, and started taking it again on Monday of the following week. The pattern’s been very similar – no side-effects at all for the first few days, and then the oily stuff again. As side-effects go it’s not the end of the world – I’m not getting cramps or ‘the runs’, but it is embarrassing and not a little unpleasant. And feeling anxious about it is putting me off doing too much exercise in case of accidents, which might be rather self-defeating when it comes to maintaining weight loss. And let’s not talk about the crimp it might put in my sex life.

I’m still in two minds whether to carry on with it. Most reports seem to say that the side effects will get less severe after a few weeks, though how much of that is the patients simply getting too paranoid to eat any fat at all, I’m not sure. I’ll probably stick with it for another week or so, and if I feel that it doesn’t suit my lifestyle, I’ll stop taking it and let my GP know.

Medical marvels?

I’ve never much trusted doctors. Maybe it’s because of the family GP, Dr Yellowley, a patronising old goat who stank of tobacco and brandy, and in the space of two years, misdiagnosed a failing thyroid and viral pneumonia, both of which were only barely caught in time – but we kept seeing him, because he was the only game in town, and because my mother claimed he was an excellent gynaecologist.

This woman saved my life

I had a marvellous paediatrician at the Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary, Dr Camille san Lazaro. She was a beautiful, softly spoken Sri Lankan woman who wore jewel-toned saris and went the extra mile for her patients. When I got my A-Level results and I was going to Cambridge, I wrote to her to thank her for saving my life. Ten years later she ended up embroiled in a dispute over child abuse cases (she’d been the paediatrician who had testified as an expert witness, and had exaggerated some of the medical evidence) which led to a GMC investigation. She wasn’t struck off but her name was blackened in the press. I believe that she thought she was acting in the best interests of the children, but my faith in her was shaken.

I’ve had a string of lazy, inconsiderate GPs over the years. I’ve had legitimate health concerns dismissed and tests not followed up on. I’ve had to learn to do my own research, and to be pushy to the point of rudeness to get good treatment. So I’ve been absolutely thrilled to find that my current GP, Dr Kirkman, is a good listener, doesn’t patronise me, is supportive of my goals and tenacious enough to get to the bottom of my problems, and most importantly always seems genuinely pleased to see me. She’s been an absolute star since I went in to discuss my weight loss and exercise plan with her, and I’m seeing her on a monthly basis now for checkups.

I went in yesterday. I’d had some blood tests done (all fine except they couldn’t do the glucose as the nurse hadn’t been able to draw enough blood, and my TSH is slightly up so my thyroxine may need to come down a little, but they’re going to re-test in 3 months), and to get my blood pressure and weight checked. I’ve been on medication for my blood pressure so was hoping it had come down; it hadn’t, and was showing 160/104, though I did have a nasty head cold at the time which can’t have been helping. The weight, however, was much better news. I know I said I wasn’t going to do weights and measures here, but I just have to share. It’s been a slightly lazy month for me as I’ve not been to the gym as much as I should, and I’ve been away so not able to stick to healthy homemade meals. I was expecting it not to have come down at all – but in fact I’d dropped 4 kilos (nearly 9lb). Dr K was so pleased I thought she was going to hug me!

We’d agreed that if I lost over a kilo, I would be able to try Orlistat (Xenical/Alli), a weightloss drug which works by preventing fat being absorbed in the gut. I took the first capsule this afternoon. Fingers crossed…

 

It’s my own time I’m wasting

“You’ve let me down, you’ve let the school down, but most of all… you’ve let yourself down!”

"It's not big and it's not clever!"

A phrase that most of us will remember hearing uttered by an authority figure in our school days, though for me it will always be delivered in the no-nonsense Yorkshire bark of Mr Nixon, our firebrand Deputy Head with his trademark toothbrush moustache and shiny, red, perfectly spherical head. He also sometimes taught PE, so he would be doubly ashamed of me now.

You see, I have a confession to make. I’m afraid I have been rather slacking off these past few weeks. I’ve let you down, but most of all, I’ve let myself down.

It’s all the predictable tedious excuses, I’m afraid. I’ve been too busy or too tired to make it to the gym, and have had too many social activities going on to worry too much about sticking to the diet exactly.  Add in a heatwave, minor illness and injury, and a visiting friend from overseas, and there were just too many reasons not to push myself.

The results have been predictable too. My energy levels have dropped, the weight loss has slowed down (though gratifyingly not stopped completely) and, most distressingly, the heartburn pain came back with a vengeance a few times after I had foolishly eaten refined starch. And despite the medication my BP remains high at 140/90.

They got knocked down - but they got up again

So it’s time to haul myself back on the wagon. I’m going to have to run to catch up – the wagon’s trundling off into the sunset after two weeks of indolence. Sure, I’ve still gone to dance class and still been doing my cobweb-clearing walk along Embankment most mornings, and spent most of a day walking around Stonehenge and Avebury in 30C heat (and getting the sunburn to prove it!) but there’s no two ways about it. I’ve got some serious ground to make up.

The heartburn pain made me keen to sort the food issues in short order, so I’m back on low starch and low fat as of Monday, and not having any problems sticking to it.  This was probably helped by having to fast for 12 hours for blood tests – no fun.

Exercise-wise, I’ll be getting myself back on track next week. I’ve managed to scam another voucher for cheap gym visits (LA Fitness at the Waldorf Hotel this time, thank you very much!), and planning to dance my little sockses off at DV8Fest and the next Jump Session too.  I’m also going to be doing some upper body exercises at home with small hand weights.

I can’t afford to slack off. I still have a very long way to go.

No more excuses.

Weird science

I’m now almost two months into my health plan, so it seems like a good time to have a bit of a review of my progress so far.

Improving my diet and activity levels is of course having an effect on my weight and fitness, but it’s also having a few other side effects that I hadn’t anticipated. So here’s a rundown of the good, the bad, the ugly – and the just plain bizarre.

Burn, baby, burn: I’d suffered a lot with indigestion and heartburn, but it stopped almost as soon as I cut out starchy carbs.  But it does now mean that if I cheat and have a piece of cake or white bread, the heartburn pain returns almost immediately. That’s a lesson I won’t forget in a hurry. In a way it’s working as a form of aversion therapy – the uncomfortable burning feeling is linked to the tasty cake/bread product, and more often than not I decide to forego the treat because it’s just not worth the suffering for a few bites of sweet sweet starch.

The cat makes a very good point

 

Can’t get no sleep: Insomnia has ruled my life for years, creeping up without warning and leaving me groggy, miserable and clumsy for days after a bout. I haven’t had it badly in well over a month now, and I’m also finding that I generally need slightly less sleep than my habitual eight hours, and that I feel more alert in the mornings. And I’ve never been a morning person! It probably doesn’t hurt that it’s the height of summer right now and the sun starts streaming in through the windows at about 5am, so the old circadian rhythms are probably getting a kick-start.

It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it: I’ve never been backwards about putting myself forward, but since I started losing weight my confidence has soared. My clothes fit better, I feel more comfortable, I’m walking taller, smiling more and talking sassier. And let me tell you, it is paying dividends for my love life!

Bend me, shape me: The other day, I dropped something on the floor and bent down to pick it up. To my surprise, I was able to bend smoothly and pick it up without any twinges. It seems I’m getting more flexible and my joints are much happier on a diet containing more vitamins and protein, and less fat and starch.

I got you under my skin: On the downside, my skin is pretty bad at the moment.  Apparently this is because lots of toxins are fat-soluble, so they get locked up in your adipose tissue, and when you start burning fat, out they come.  So now I have dozens of tiny blind pimples on my arms and shoulders. Niiiice. Hopefully it will be a temporary problem though as my body processes the nasties.

Gene's holistic therapist must be thrilled

 

It’s in his her kiss: This is definitely the weirdest thing I’ve noticed so far. My tongue has changed shape. Now, TCM practitioners, and some ayurvedic practitioners, use the size, shape and colour of the tongue as an overall measure of health. I’d always taken that with a healthy doze of scepticism – how much could a tongue change anyway? But my tongue haschanged – it is now longer, more pointed and a bright red-pink colour. No idea what the mechanism for that is, or what it really means, but it’s interesting, no?

 

So there you go. It’s not just about the weight loss – it’s about making my body better, faster, stronger. Every day a little bit more.

Let’s play doctor!

Magazine articles and books touting the latest celebrity fad diet (cider vinegar and maple syrup! nothing but grapefruit! only have protein on a Monday!)  all come with a little disclaimer. It’s usually in tiny print and tucked away at the bottom of the article or at the back of the book.

Rebel without a GP Appointment

It says, “Always consult your doctor before beginning a new diet”.

Well, I started mine a month and a half ago, and I hadn’t consulted my doctor yet. I’m such a rebel. But I figured that it was probably a good idea to let them know what I was up to, get something on my records and see if there was any support or help they could offer.

My GP surgery is a group practice, so it’s generally pot luck which doctor I get to see unless I want to wait months for an appointment. But I lucked out this time and got Dr K, a lovely Australian woman. Bit touchy-feely for my tastes but she does really listen  and genuinely care about longterm health outcomes, not just the quick fix.

Dr K was thrilled with what I’d done so far  and definitely made me feel I was doing all the right things. I asked if there was anything else I should be doing, and she suggested Orlisat (Xenical), which is the only drug licensed for the treatment of obesity in the UK. It works by inhibiting the uptake of fat in the gut, so that you excrete more of it. She was happy to consider me for it, but the NHS guidelines for Orlisat say that you have to already be losing weight through lifestyle changes before it can be prescribed. I have a target of a kilo to lose in the next month and then we can look at that and make a decision. I’m not yet sure if I want to go down the medical intervention route but it pays to keep my options open – and even if I get the drug I don’t have to carry on using it if I don’t think it suits me.

It's a rainbow of happiness

Dr K weighed and measured me. Depressingly, the numbers on the scale hadn’t moved much since the last time I was weighed at the doctor’s about a year ago, but I did point out that I had put on and lost some again since then. She also took my blood pressure, which though still quite high had come down significantly since a month ago (down to 150/95 from 160/120), and she agreed that since my blood pressure had been consistently above normal for the past few years and I was already making lifestyle changes, it was time to try some medication as well. I was prescribed bendroflumethiazide, which is a diuretic used to lower blood pressure.

I’m not sure I really understand how that works – surely the problem with high blood pressure is that your blood is too thick, not too watery? – but I will see how I get on with it. If it stops my ankles swelling up it will be a bonus.

I also picked up a repeat of my normal prescriptions so I ended up leaving with a sheaf of green slips. The local pharmacy is going to love me.