Yes, I like the protein as well and I'm not missing the carbs with afternoon snack, dinner and supper like I thought I would.

As you say, though, life is too short to get too hung up on what JB says. I'm still trying to work out where sweet potatoes come in to the grand scheme of things - I love them but they don't seem to appear as a good carb on the website.

The internet hasn't been working all morning so far, we'll see if it works long enough to post this.

Rather than a low carb/protein/fat diet, my diet consists of eating healthily and I'm also trying to avoid foods that come from a long way away. Problem is that I don't have a local greengrocer or farm shop anymore (thanks to Tesco) so I'm having to look for British fruit and veg in the supermarket - and there is surprisingly little. Local farmers are growing broadbeans and french beans, but tescos seems to bring them in from Kenya or Thailand :( My veg choice is therefore very restricted at the moment. Salad stuff is mostly European at the moment, so I'm OK with that, and the aubergines - I love stuffed aubergine....mmmmm :D

Anyway, do you think malt loaf would be ok as a pre-run snack (I've got lots in the house) or should I go and get some cereal bars and bananas?

malt loaf is good as pre-cardio snack. Just try to limit yourself to 1 piece though ;)

Methinks sweet potatoes are ok in JB's book!

Having wierd lunch - didn't have time to cook rice, so have chicken "stir fry" with brown pasta instead of rice!!!! :rofl:

Does he class them as a veg or as a carb? Oh well - I shared a brie and bacon panini and salad with DH for 3rd meal - it was the least fattening thing on the menu at the coffee shop we were at.

Just picked up the new car and the alarm is so delicate that it goes off every time another car goes past (sort of sexy, growly honking noise)!

Pachyderm - I like the idea of eating local produce - and do as much as I can - but its very restrictive, especially as PN expects us to eat 10 portions of fruit and veg each day. I try and balance long distance veg off with the veg I grow in my garden. Have you thought about getting an organic veg box delivered? Where do your bananas come from?

I've got my application form :D

But I've decided I'm not going to fill it in for another 2 months :o . Such restraint (entirely unexpected!). I just want to be able to fill in the box that asks you your best previous marathon time, and as the closing date is only the 20th October (now marked in my diary...) I figure I've got time to wait before sending it off. Plus there's still the remote possibility I'll qualify for GFA in Berlin, and you can't apply through the ballot and for GFA so I'd better wait and see, just in case. I almost certainly won't be quick enough, but you never know (and if I send the form in now it would just be typical that I do run fast enough!) Apparently some people do get in first try, but I'm not overly optimistic I have to say.

I bought shoes at lunchtime, I'm so happy. I've been having to wear flip flops to work for months because I just couldn't find any work shoes that would fit me and looked remotely decent. But I was in Long Tall Sally at lunchtime (for an ego boost to see if I fit in a size 10 there - verdict pretty much, although 12 is more comfortable) and I noticed they do shoes now, and there were some I really liked so I tried them on (they only had one pair) and they fit perfectly. However, it explained why I've been having such trouble elsewhere, they were a size 10 :faint: . I swear I'm a freak, I seem to be the only person in the world who has bigger feet than when they started...

YP1 - I'm a freak too :) started off with size 7 feet and now have 8's ... confused or what?

I've not been to LTS for ages, nearest is in Brum or Leicester, I only tend to buy skirts and the odd pair of jeans from there, the tops and that are a bit blurghhh and far too expensive. Primark, Peacocks and Ebay for tops :D

I'm using the internet at home, I never do that, it is so slooooooowwww. No internet at work all afternoon, how can I cope!

Bananas come from wherever Tescos gets them from ;) , but I don't eat many as I'm not usually a big fan. They always seem to be under or over-ripe :?: I haven't looked into Organic Veg boxes, but an old neighbour had them and got such wierd selections of veg (no choice apparently) that she eventually decided to stop getting them.

It has been so hot today that I'm stressing about my run tomorrow. How can I run for 20 minutes when 1) that sounds impossible at the best of times and 2) today I felt like I was going to die with the heat while sitting still!

Hope everyone is having a good evening

p.s. Sarah, like the sound of your growling car, but perhaps the neighbours won't after a few days!

:wave:

Oh but was I in a mood this morning? Not looking forward to coming to work to sweat it out in the airless air conditioningless office. :mad: I was sweating before I got dressed! I was running late. I'd lost about half the stuff I usually bring with me, like my wallet! I almost forgot my keys, I couldn't find the bungee to fasten my bag on the bike and then I couldn't get out of the car park!!!!! I was screaming at myself and DF got all huffy and "stressed" Why's he stressed - I was the one who couldn't find anything and was running late!!!!! :tantrum:

Never mind, it's not TOO hot today and I have brought ice packs and an ice cube tray for the ice box in the fridge. I was in Waitrose last night and I bought the most expensive frozen veg ever!!! It's some bird's eye stuff in little individual portions that you can microwave :D Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Unfortunately £1.50 for 4 little bags, that are about half a PN serving!!! :rolleyes: Do they think people don't like veg or something??? It's not as if it's expensive - it's all the bloody plastic they put it in that's expensive! BAH! HUMBUG! :mad:

Anyway - oh yes I made turkey burgers last night too :D They were tasty. I've cooked some more for lunch today and put some Worcester sauce in them since they were a tad bland yesterday.

I had a nice carby day yesterday - I ate 2 biscuits!! :lol: I'm not feeling like tracking in fitday, but I suppose I should try. Oh yeah, I made banana and peanut workout bars too. They are like rocks. :chin: And stupidly high in calories, but never mind - during kickboxing I probably deserve them! I ate 2 last night though. Whoops!

Its drizzling slightly here - not too sunny and not too hot right now. We had the weirdest thunderstorm in the night - all flashes and bangs but no rain. It was SO hot (in the night) that we kept the fan on all night and the noise from it gave me the strangest dreams - nightmares, really.

My elderly neighbour who lives opposite (lovely couple) - the husband had a stroke last night. Poor man - he's been fighting cancer for the last year and now this.

I've spent all morning trying to work out some kind of menu plan for this PN - talk about complicated - especially trying to fit in the PN protein/carb requirements in with my personal need to be accountable by counting calories. I'm trying to work out if there will be enough variety in it for me to carry on with it after my week's try out. It certainly takes more kitchen work in the day than I'm used to (and I'm getting a lot tired of spinach salad!)

Pachyderm - I thought I'd give a banana instead of my normal cereal bar a try out as a pre-walk snack this morning and it definitely doesn't have the same ability to keep my tummy from rumbling as the cereal bar does. Maybe if it hadn't been such a ripe banana it might have been a bit more satisfying. I shall try again tomorrow with a 80 to 100 cal slice of DH's malt loaf.

Oh PN IS a lot of cooking and washing up and a royal PITA today! Partially the reason I was annoyed this morning - I'd cooked turkey burgers, whizzed CC, cooked omlettes etc etc etc!!

We had thunder flashes at 4am, but no rain. :doh:

How are you finding PN complicated? I'm just aiming for protein and veg at every meal and no starchy carbs till after workout. I'm not too bothered about the EFAs and fish oil supplements, but I'm eating more nuts and avocados than usual, since the "just protein and veggies" seem to be keeping my calories REALLY low! I mean I had a 1200ish day :faint: I NEVER eat less than 1600, but I was really full and feeling sicky so I couldn't eat more. Although maybe I could've squeezed cake in, but that's not on plan! :lol:

I ran for 20 minutes this morning with no breaks :D . Frus is right, it is possible, but I still felt like dieing - or more accurately, just lying down and giving up. I now have to work out how far I went, because I want to run the whole of the 5k race if I can :dizzy: I can't say if the malt loaf helped really, but we shall see.

Sarah, shame about the storm, thankfully we did get rain and it did cool down a lot in the night, but with an east facing bedroom and the sun blasting in this morning, I was hot before I even got up :o
I hope your neighbour's stroke wasn't a bad one, and that he can recover in time. It is so sad that they have to deal with this on top of cancer.

Frus, those bars sound good ;)

By the way, I don't want to sound thick, but what is PN?

PN = precision nutrition - it's a nutrition plan, which IMHO is a bit like Atkin's but you get to eat carbs, but only after you've worked out. It's quite good, but it's turning out expensive (so much fruit and veg) and a bit time-consuming but I think I just need to be a bit more organised, or get up earlier! :lol:

Helen, maybe your feet have flattened out a bit with all the running. That would surely make them a bit longer and wider??

Early mornings do not sound good to me!

I like the sound of all the fruit and veg, but I thought general wisdom was to eat carbs before exercising and protein afterwards??

You don't have to eat carbs before exercise, but it's a good idea for long bouts of exercise - he also advises a sports drink during exercise, but I think they're ikky.

Studies have found that protein and carbs are good recovery food. I think the thinking behind having carbs after exercise is that they'll be "soaked up" by your muscles and not stored as fat - since you've just depleted your muscles of carbs. Eating carbs before exercise, you probably just burn the carbs up straight away. :dunno:

Woo, I'm having lunch at home today. I had a meeting in Sheffield and when I drive down there I like to pop in home on the way back so I can have something more inventive for my lunch (not that my lunches aren't normally better than everyone else's, but something super nice!). I'm having a lentil, tomato, basil and parmesan concoction with pitta bread, then I suppose I'd better go back to the office. I'm not going to feel guilty if it takes over an hour for my lunch though as I'll be staying late tonight with it being Spanish night.

5 miles this morning, running in the heat never gets any easier, although it does seem a little cooler. Still no rain here though.

I haven't got the full plan - I've just taken all the articles by the person who devised PN on the website and I'm working from that.

From what I can work out we should be eating protein before exercise and protein and carbs after exercise - then go back to just protein meals again. But we should eat fruit & veg at every meal. About 10 portions of fruit & veg a day.

BUT... if I don't eat some carbs before exercising it really affects my performance and enthusiasm. My muscles feel weak and my legs feel wobbly and I just feel like going back to bed.

Its very different to the BfL nutrition plan I was using before and I'm probably getting muddled up.

Okay... on Tuesday I went swimming and didn't have carbs before and I didn't enjoy it at all - no energy. Today I had beans on mixed grain wholemeal toast at 11am and went swimming at 12.30 - and completed the full hour with no breaks or weakness.

The best way for me to juggle around carbs and protein seems to be have a low fat cereal bar at 5.45am then after 2 hour walk/jog/scramble with the dogs, have a carb & protein brekkie at 8.30am. Late morning I need a carb meal before doing gym, swimming or aerobics and then my early afternoon meal needs to be protein & carbs and after that all my meals should be protein based.

I think sports drinks are ikky as well. I don't see the point in drinking calories when I can get more satisfaction from eating them - maybe half a pint of milk would be more enjoyable.

The cooking side of things isn't so bad for me because I work from home but it still really interrupts my day. I might spend an hour in the mornings doing all my meals for the day (except dinner) and get it all done out of the way instead of preparing them one at a time.

DH loves PN - he thinks all these protein snacks are great. He's gone to work with a cooler full of greek salad, cold chicken and fruit. His only problem is not being able to have his beloved pomegranate and blueberry juice. :)

I forgot to say well done on the 20 mins Pachyderm ;)

:yes: I think PN is more body-builder than marathon runner nutrition. I think you do right having carbs before a long workout. Personally my workouts are only really 30 minutes to an hour so I proabably don't need to store up on carbs beforehand. I just do them once twice or 3 times a day! Thursdays are the exception where I used to eat jelly tots between classes because it was easy just to shove a load in my gob and chew for the first few minutes of the next class! :lol: Tonight I'm going to try those silly peanut banana bars between classes and screw 'em if I start the second class late! :p

I think if you need your carbs to work out, then I'd keep the carbs. It's obviously not suiting you if you can't work out like normal

DH could have his juice during working out - I think somewhere it says you can have juice during or after working out ;)

Hmm... the problem with DH and the juice is that he only gets to work out once or twice a week.... if that - but he can drink a litre of that juice every day. Usually he forces himself to do a workout when I make comments about someone at the gym having nice legs or someone on the TV having nice arms. Bless him! (I wouldn't have him any other way.)

I might try doing this slightly differently on the weekend which is when I do most of my UB weight training nowadays. I'll try having carbs during and after and see how that works. Do you think I should eat protein or carbs before a weights workout?

I'd generally do a weights workout on empty, but if you do a lot for a long time then you might want a small portion of carbs, like a banana or ryvita bar

Does anyone know what I can do to get rid of earache? I've never had earache before :( I've taken Ibrufen but it hasn't done anything to it. All suggestions gratefully received. Ouch :( :( :( :(

Hello everyone

Sarah, I think you are probably beyond painkillers I'd say swimming has given
you an ear infection. GP tomorrow for you!!

I can hear the distant rumblings of thunder. As much as I hate storms
something to clear the air would be heavenly.

Today I have munched like mad. I have a period due it always does that to me, oh and I am as cranky as cranky can be.

I was reading one of the other weight loss forums the surgery one in fact.
There are some real scary stories on there. I thank god I have been able
to chip away at my weight. As for my wobbly belly I think I will just
put up with it!!

Enjoy the rest of your evening everyone.

Michele

Originally Posted by Sarah Ann:
Does anyone know what I can do to get rid of earache? I've never had earache before :( I've taken Ibrufen but it hasn't done anything to it. All suggestions gratefully received. Ouch :( :( :( :(

Hi Sarah,

Sounds like you may have 'swimmer's ear" but it could be just old fashioned earache too. If you have any oil, bay, olive, kind of like, pour a little in a cup, enough to douse a coon ball, heat it for about five secs in the mocrowave, douse a cotton ball and place in the ear and leave for about half an hour to an hour. You should feel some relief unless you do have an infection and then I'm afraid it'll mean a dose of antibiotics from the docs.

I used to suffer terrible with earache as a kid, and my dad always did the warm oil and it helped tremendously...he was an AF medic so always had a cure for things.

If you have any swishing going on in there or you feel dizzy at any time, you prob have an infection and need to get it seen to, hope you feel better soon.

:wave:

:hug: Poor Sarah - dunno what to do about earache :dunno:

My legs feel like they've been ripped off at the bum and sewn back on! I'm walking like Bambi ;) So it would be safe to say I had a good kickboxing class last night :lol:

Scales are being funny - up a little bit, but perhaps I'm retaining some water in my sore joints! :doh:

Oh KB instructor Lee noticed my "big arms" last night :D :rofl:

Bournemouth tomorrow - just me, Lee, D the :censored:, his friend and another guy who I don't really know. 3 people have pulled out. :doh: Although 2 of them might still turn up! Who knows :?: Anyway, I'll be having fun whatever D says or does! HA!

Phew! It is a bit cooler today!


Last night my chest was running with sweat and the back of my head too!!


I no longer use a pillow at night cos they get so soggy! I then have to use the opposite end of the bed cos where I lay my head is soaking wet! Not only do I have to get up every 2 hours to go loo I have to keep changing position!!

Typical, just when it is getting cooler I have found all my sleeveless tops! I had been wearing thickish t shirts up to now cos I could not find them!!

I've still got earache but I've got a sore throat, headache and a slight temperature to go with it - and I feel achey all over. Probably a cold... if I was a man I'd probably think I've got lasser fever or bird flu! The earache is the most annoying symptom and I'm going to try that hot oil thing - I seem to remember my Mum doing something similar when I was a kid. Thanks for the suggestions.

I've walked the dogs but I'm taking the rest of the day very easy, thank goodness its cooler. I'd planned to do some gardening but it can wait (not like me!)

We had the most AMAZING rainstorm last night. I've never seen rain like it - couldn't even see the end of the garden. The poor Avon lady was delivering and got stuck in my house for 20 minutes during the worst of it - with her kids outside in her car. It was worth it, though, because the World looks and feels lovely and fresh today.

Did I hear the radio news right - that they are thinking about putting a warning of some sort on foods that contain trans fats?

Frus - have a GREAT time in Bournemouth.

Peacock 2 - I was like that last year. Have you tried increasing your soya intake. That Chinese menopause drink... they haven't got it in stock any more but the little old lady was there and I asked her about it. She was a bit difficult to understand but I am 99.9% certain that she said it was made up only of ground up soy beans. Perhaps you could try making a tofu drink or something.

Oh Chris... that pool looks GREAT. I'd spend all day in it if it were mine.

Just FYI - the new "Precision Nutrition" arms (pictures) are up here ----->

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...27#post1349827

Hope you feel better soon Sarah

Frus - Nice arms!

I'm so bored today. The receptionist is on holiday, so as that leaves only me and the boss, I had to sit on reception all morning. We only had about 5 calls, and I had to speak to two people I normally avoid because they WON'T STOP TALKING - argghh. Normally I'd just go and look busy, but when sitting at an empty desk with the phone not ringing there is no escape! I'm back in my office now, but I'm not exactly motivated to do any work.

I saw superman last night. It was quite fun

Bleh - it's getting hot again! Why won't it stop???

OMG - I've just had a 6 hour nap - some nap - and I still don't feel any better. I think I only woke up because I'm thirsty. I hate to say it but I think tonight is one of those nights when I'm going to eat exactly what I feel like eating - if anything at all.

It is SO hot! Poor dogs, they've been stuck indoors all day - I just let them out and they immediately went and lay down in their paddling pool.

Nice arms, Frus, did you feel a bit strange taking a camera in to the loo with you? :lol:

Bugger had just written a post and I lost it.

Sorry to hear your feeling so lousy Sarah. Hope you feel better have something
nice to eat.

Fantastic arms Frus.

I went out running last night with my youngest son he was on his bike.
He did make me chuckle. He was shouting out in a kind of yank voice
" come on Forest come on" Great run though bumped into a friend
who hadn't seen me in a while who called me tiny. Blimey if they could
see my wodge of fat in my knickers they wouldn't call me tiny. Although
I have to say it has gone down alot. I came home drenched in sweat and
very very curly but I felt great.

I am out with the girls from work tomorrow for something to eat and a drink
so a run is needed .

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Michele

Have fun in Bournemouth Frus, hope you feel better soon Sarah!

I'm just getting something to eat before the weekly Friday night pilgramage to Tesco to stock up on healthy stuff. I've done my plan for the weekend, and almost considered sneaking some pizza in on Sunday (I'll have plenty of scope calorie wise because I'm planning to run 18 miles) until I realised it wouldn't go with the side dishes I already had planned so decided to do something healthier!

I'm in a good mood today though, I managed to get a suit in the Next sale (why is it that now I don't want them the only size they seem to have in loads of stuff is 18?), and it's a 10. I could get to like this :)

Nothing much planned for the weekend other than lots of running and lots of eating. I quite like the marathon training diet, it's basically eat as much as you feel like you need, and the more carbs the better. Obviously I still get a decent amount of protein, but the excess over what I'd eat if I wasn't running ends to be made up of extra carbs. I do like being able to grab those extra slices of toast when I feel like it :)

:rofl: Helen, PIZZA GOES WITH EVERYTHING!!!!! :rofl: ;)

T-45 till I leave to get my lift to Bournemouth. :hyper: It's :rain: raining there today they reckon and a lovely cool 21C, thank :censored: for that! Must leave this city heat!

I'll be taking plenty of pictures for you all to laugh at later!!! heee heee!

I had a bowl of cereal last night and a couple of wholewheat digestives. I'm not feeling particularly well this morning. Damn you carbs!!! :kickbutt: How am I going to manage the chinese and pizza fest that's promised this weekend? I'll just have to cope! :lol:

Ok, I suppose I'd better get some slap on, oh and some clothes :hot:

:hug: Have a great weekend everyone - Sarah, hope you're feeling better soon :hug:

I've got my 8 miler out of the way, only 18 more to go tomorrow. It's still hot and sunny here, or at least it was when I was out running, it will no doubt do it's usual trick and go cooler now I've finished...

Not much planned for the rest of the day, I might get myself down to the running shop to get a new sports bra and possibly a camelbak and some gels, and I suspect there might be a new RW on its way (there are features from it on the website) so that's some reading for me. I really ought to do something with the garden too, but I have no idea where to start really!

But first, I need a shower to get rid of all the dripping that's currently going on...

I love Bournemouth I've had some cracking weekends there with the girls
in the past.

I have a period pain but at least maybe now my weight will move again. Oh to be in the nine's can feel them they are so close!!

I have to go shopping, do some washing. go to the Irish club with my father
to watch a gaelic footie match. Then as I said I am out tonight. Oh and I
have two weeks off work fantastic. We aren't going away but intend taking
the boys out to the seaside and out and about.

I didn't run last night as I didn't feel well. I felt very lightheaded and giddy.
They did my blood pressure earlier at work and it was fine.Today apart from a sore womb I feel much better.

Have a lovely day everyone

Michele

Thanks for all your good wishes. :hug: I've lost my voice - DH thinks its wonderful. :dz: I wish I'd lost my appetite instead. Every time I'm ill I have this little voice inside my head that says you need to EAT LOTS to get better. Obviously something from childhood but I wish it'd go away!

Anyway - after all that sleep yesterday I woke up early (5am) and took the dogs for a long walk in the morning mist - it was lovely and cool - and it was just clearing as we got home. Possibly walking in a mist with some kind of mystery ailment wasn't such a great idea but I felt a bit better for it and I'll be able to rest easier knowing the dogs won't start bickering.

After all that effort with PN I only lost 1lb this week. :( Ah well, at least it wasn't a pound on.

Have a great weekend, Frus, you deserve it after all the agro.

Helen - I hope tomorrow is cooler for your long run.

I'm happy now, I went to the running shop to get my sports bra, and they're opening a new branch in the city centre, which means I can pop in any time I want rather than having to make a special trip out of town on Saturdays :D

I'm not sure my credit card will be quite as happy about it though!!!

It looks like it's getting cooler, thankfully. I'm having yet another quiet Saturday night in, these Sunday morning long runs play havoc with your social life! A bit of tv, maybe a dvd and then bed for me I think.

I've spent the day doing cleaning cardio!! LOL And for strength training I moved the fridge out and cleaned behind it! Oh what fun. Oh and for a bit of cross training, I bathed the cat!!! Is it really mean of me to think the sight of a wet cat is one of the funniest things in the world??? Or is it subjecting the cat to the hairdryer?? Alarmingly, I thought my cat was black, but it appears she is actually dark brown, unless the soap I used has bleached the poor thing.

I'm sick of the whole weight loss thing. It's really hard for me to get back into it, what with post holiday blues and it being so darned hot. I hate heat.

Thankfully it's raining here now. I never thought I'd be so happy to see rain.

Ouch. That didn't go according to plan. I got to 8 miles and was feeling fine, it was hot and sunny (again!) but I wasn't overheating too badly, and then something suddenly went in my hip and I had to stop running. I walked 3 miles back home and it seems to have walked off the pain a bit, but I decided not to finish off the rest of the run, although I'm going to try to have a decent walk this afternoon to loosen it up a bit more, I'll buy the paper and head down to the park to read it I think while it's still sunny. Anyway, while I was walking back I rejigged my training schedule for the next month or so to make sure that I have another attempt at 18 before moving up to 20.