Better day and planning for a new dieting regime

Mum's rapid onset dementia is certainly getting worse quickly.  Sis had a phone call from the hospital a couple of days ago to say that Mum was being 'difficult' (the hospital's word), apparently she'd refused to take any medication or to get out of bed.  She's seen by a physiotherapist every day, who gets her up to check her mobility - well, Mum flatly refused, and wouldn't take any tablets either.  Yet when sis got up to the ward and spoke to Mum, Mum looked blank and claimed she hadn't done anything of the sort and had in fact cooperated, both with the physio and in having her meds.  She hadn't, she just had no memory of refusing.  And Mum's brother is going up to visit her today, they haven't seen each other for probably 10 years or so (so he'll have a bit of a shock when he sees how much weight she's lost and how she's deteriorated).  Sis has had to tell Mum every single day for the past week or so that he's coming to see her, she forgets literally every day.  It's very upsetting.  I hope she recognises her brother.

I had a visit from my best friend yesterday, it was lovely (if brief), cheered me up no end.  Spending time with mates is the best thing ever.

My sergeant major diabetes nurse appointment on Wednesday went very well, she was surprisingly nice, helpful and very encouraging.  She's very pleased with my diabetes control, which she says is excellent.  As for the weight thing, between us we've come up with a plan, starting 1 January.  Rose agrees that December is not really the best time to start a new eating regime!  She did suggest, however, that it would be prudent to be sensible if possible - eg do we really want (we certainly don't NEED) a 6th mince pie?!  Or so many handfuls of Quality Street that we actually feel sick?!

Rose is a huge advocate of Dr Michael Mosley's low carb Fast 800 diet, and/or Time Restricted Eating (TRE), a kind of Intermittent Fasting, she has several diabetes patients who have lost between them something like 77kgs following his plan.  Rose even tried it (the Fast 800) herself -not that she's diabetic or needed to lose a lot of weight herself, she was keen to try it before inflicting it on her patients and fancied losing half a stone or so.  She tried it for a fortnight initially and lost the half stone easily, so carried on for another fortnight and lost another half stone!  The idea is that you eat 1 large meal, or 2 medium or 3 small ones totalling 800 calories, but all to be eaten within a window of 8 or 10 hours (8 is preferable), giving a fasting period of 16 or 14 hours each day.  So say don't eat anything at all, and drink only clear fluids, until 10 am, eg, then have your last meal before 6pm and only drink clear fluids after that, until 10 am the following morning.  During the fasting period, our bodies start 'eating' our own fat reserves for energy.....as soon as we eat something, this process stops and the body uses the food instead for fuel, as it's a more instant process.  So the longer the fasting period, the better it is in terms of our bodies using our own fat stores as fuel.

I'm certainly willing to give the TRE a go and to cut down on carbs.  Rose suggested I do it for 2 weeks initially, but I'm not keen on that - I think I'd be setting myself up for failure.  I have no problem starting diets, it's sticking to them I have trouble with.  So what I've suggested is that I do it 3 days a week - say Monday, Wednesday and Friday - to start with....that way I know I only have to stick to it for one day at a time.  Rose agrees that's a good idea for me, it'll be far better to do something that I know I can and will cope with.

So starting on 1 January (conveniently, a Wednesday), I'm (well, we're - husband is on board with it too) going to have a low carb, medium fat and protein breakfast at around 10 am, skip lunch and then have a normal meat or fish and veg type dinner, avoiding carbs like potatoes, rice or pasta, at about 5 or 5.30 pm.  Before 10 and after 6 we'll just drink water, fruit tea, or black coffee/tea.  The thing I will find the hardest is missing my first cappucino of the day at around 6 am, but it's not long to wait for it really.  I'm not going to be too hung up on counting calories, the mere fact of eating only 2 meals during our dieting days and cutting carbs and portion sizes, not eating a ton of cheese (some cheese is fine, half a pound is not!) and only having 1 frothy coffee a day will reduce the calories enough without bothering to count them.  Rose is going to see me once a month to weigh me and see how I'm getting on.  She's also thinking about setting up a diabetes weight loss clinic group - I said I'd definitely be interested.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll work out some meal plans for the diet days.  I'm actually really looking forward to it.

The boob squashing was ok, although I did find it bloody painful this time.  Worth a bit of pain for peace of mind, though, and it is only every 3 years.