Holiday Blues, I think not ?

  So we went to Paris for a week and we were unsure as to how we would manage our meals. we were really keen not to gain to much weight on holiday but at the same time we wanted to enjoy ourselves.
 Our low-carb lifestyle was almost maintained to the full but we had a few extra additions as the situation dictated.
We had a superb night out at a Sushi restaurant and had rice and some ice cream desert, we were not concerned about the one off addition of these foods and I have to say the food was great.

We also had chips, yes real chips only once though with a steak but they did taste good. For the rest of the trip we managed to eat more or less within our low-carb foods.

One thing which I was taken with was Flan a custard based tart and I love it. I had at least 3 pieces while I was away.

We did succeed with our weight goals and I had only gained about 1.5lbs which I think was awesome.Within a day or so of being home I have lost half of that weight so a good holiday all around.

How did we do it, well you have to be committed to keeping your goal in sight, don't let yourself slip to much.
 As you can see you can eat outside your low-carb plan a little but keep in mind that if you stray to far you will gain weight.

We continued with our exercise while we were away and kept our running  going. We found a nearby local park and finished our couch to 5k running plan in Paris.

So you can go on holiday and have a good time without gaining the average 5/6 lbs that they say the average person gains on holiday. Have a great time.

A low-carb food pyramid guide.

This is a low-carb food pyramid and its one that I have been using as a guide since I started this lifestyle. It makes it very easy to see what types of food you can eat more or less of.

The great thing with a low-carb lifestyle is that you can eat lots of foods, cooking becomes essential as you have to work with these foods and create great healthy meals.

You have to remember that not all food types are equal,if you take a Avocado which is a super food and has many great benefits in a low-carb lifestyle. If you look at its position on the pyramid its near the top which means only eat a little why? Avocado despite all of its great benefits also has a high fat content so you don't want to be eating to many of them. (I do love them though) So you do need to check out each food and that's where the pyramid is really helpful.

So get your cook books out (see below) and forget the packaged and processed rubbish that we now call food and get cooking.

Remember the pyramid is only a guide to help you out.

Holiday time

             I have just started a two week break from work and it is really important to get the most from this break on my low-carb lifestyle.
I think that just because I am on holiday that doesn't mean that my body is going to be allowed the same luxury. Low-carb lifestyle is a habit not a fad and I will not take a break from it to indulge myself in holiday goodies. Think of all the extra effort that you will have to do when your holiday ends.

A ordinary person while on a two week holiday with all the holiday indulgences gains between 3 and 6 lbs in weight. Do I really want to add that weight back on my body when I have worked so hard to lose it ?

I have another theory, I will use that holiday to work harder. Without the distractions from work I can concentrate on my low-carb daily food types and I can increase my exercise. We are going away this time so it will be a challenge to manage our low-carb eating in another country, also we have our running gear with us and expect to maintain our running plan.

Its about not allowing other distractions to push you off your low-carb/exercise path when on holiday. Yes I am going to have a great holiday but that does not include eating for the sake of it or being a lounge lizard and taking it to easy.

Go and have a great holiday but with the knowledge that when you get home you will look and feel fitter and lighter and far more relaxed with yourself.

Keeping it going

Today's weigh was good I am now down to 14st 8lbs and still working hard at the low-carb lifestyle. The fitness training has had to stop for 10 days but I have still been losing weight.
I have had a problem with shin splints since I started training (running) but over a 9 week period my right shin became very painful after and between runs. A quick visit to the doctors seemed to come up with a stress fracture of my shin bone, but an xray could find nothing. The doctor thinks that it could show up better in 3 weeks or so when its healing so maybe another xray then.

Today (10 days later) it feels much better not fully healed but I am hoping to have a light run on it tomorrow. I have on advice bought new trainers that match the type of foot angle that I have.Hopefully things will be a lot better with the rest and new trainers. Watch this space ?

Check out my website at    http://www.comfortably-numb.net/index.html

New website to go with the blog.

I have just uploaded a new website http://www.comfortably-numb.net/index.html to compliment my low-carb blog. It is a more permanent place for the information to be looked at . It is still in the early stages and will be updated twice a week with latest developments on this great new lifestyle.
Please check it out and email me if you have any questions.

Exercise is huge for losing weight.

As I am very keen on getting graphs and statistics regarding my weight loss and fitness training I use a couple of really useful items that do the job nicely.

The Nike+ Sportband is a great item that is used on every run. Once you have the Sportsband and register with Nike you can record all of the data from your runs.You get a sensor that goes on your trainer although you may have to buy a small holder for this extra.

The information recorded is time,distance,calories also when you upload it to the website you get a great visual graph with your run details. You can also add details of how your run was and can link your run to your Facebook account if you want to.

The Nike+ website (which is free) is a great site with the Sportsband has some great extra challenges like goals to set and targets to meet. You can also set up a coach to help with your training, simple but fun.
I use my Nike+ Sportsband on every run and although it is a great workout aid on its own I have matched it up with my Ipod touch and the great app Couch to 5K.




The Couch to 5K app is the best thing I have used for running. I started running in January 2010 at the age of 44 yrs and weighing almost 17st and really struggled to get momentum going. When I found the Couch 2 5K app in April 2010 I was down to 16st but not running on a regular basis.
This app leads you from the very start and has a great way of building you up as you progress with the program.
I challenge any non runner to run for 1 minute non stop now, well warm up a little first.
1 minute sounds very very easy but guess what, as a non runner 1 minute running is very tough.
Well that's where the Couch to 5K comes into its own, it trains you from the very beginning and leads you at a great and progressive pace until you build up your running to a final 9 week level of 30 minutes non stop.
I am just starting week 8 and I can now comfortably run for 25 minutes non stop and it feels awesome.

So with the Nike+ Sportsband, Ipod Touch and Couch to 5K app and also recording your weight on Fridge Graph you have a great set of tools to monitor how well you are doing, and believe me there is nothing better than a clear visual graph showing your progress to get your motivation going.

When you put this together with a low-carb diet you have a great plan to help you lose your weight and get fit at the same time.