Week 6

www.realmealrevolution.com

Part of me would like to entitle this edition as  "Baffling Bits about Banting" because this past month has yet again proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Banting is NOT a one-size fits all kinda lifestyle! What may work for one person is no indication or vague guarantee that it would work for another!

Let's start at the bible for Banting: Tim Noakes' REAL MEAL REVOLUTION - a big red book that contains lots of mouth-watering, scrumptious and healthy meals made with real food! Eagerly pounced on by people wanting to have a healthier body and lose weight in the process - and most of them (including me!) charge in where angels fear to tread ..... without reading the fine print!!!

The "fine print" in this case are the vast number of pastel colored pages containing the little bits of nitty, gritty information vital to ensuring your success in making this lifestyle work for you. But .... here some honesty is called for, how many of us actually READ and absorb that information beyond printing a copy of the Green, Orange and Red lists to paste on the fridge door with magnets?? Hmmmmm??? and we wonder why we are so confused about what is acceptable and what is not ......

Before I go any further, I need to stipulate that I am NOT the boffin on Banting and this is only my observations over the past six weeks. Probably more tongue-in-cheek than most people would be comfortable with, but nevertheless looking at the lighter side of Banting - and to remind everyone not to take life so seriously to the exclusion of everything else! Some of this is based on my own actual experience - the rest is learning from other people's journey.

So my version of BANTING FOR DUMMIES would read something like this:

• You have to unlearn everything you thought you knew about "dieting" - yes, cooking with butter and adding dollops of cream to meals is going to freak you out for quite a while
• You cannot choose only selected bits from the lifestyle and expect excellent results - having bacon and eggs for breakfast is yummy, the two slices of white bread and store-bought, banting-unfriendly marmalade will cancel each other out
• Having a BIG Breakfast (with all the right ingredients) should last you through to late afternoon .... mission accomplished
• Stop trying to negotiate with products - no matter how you try and wiggle your way around it -  Coke lite, Coke Zero, Sugar-Free etc etc are not on the Green List. They are so far right of the red list they are positively purple.
• A few days into this new eating habit, you are going to feel like death warmed up - this is fondly referred to as "Carb Flu" - you will survive it if you carry on regardless.... it does get better!
• Drink lots of water! And suck it up darling - too bad if water is boring, yuck or whatever else you want to call it - it is the only liquid you can have in unlimited quantities..... but only when you are thirsty, don't force feed yourself with volumes every hour!
• You will in all likelihood suffer a period of constipation while your body adjusts to the new ingredients. Or, you will in all likelihood suffer a period of diarrhea while your body adjusts to the new ingredients. If you are very lucky, your tummy will not go on a go-slow or toyi-toyi.
• Not every suggestion or advice offered to you will work for YOU - you are often told that you are unique and this lifestyle will prove it to you. Different things work for different people and you need some patience while you go through the trial and error to find your happy medium.
• Join a group that offers support and sympathy when required and a butt-kicking when you are being unreasonable. Make sure that the Admins lead by example and can offer you valid, logical and worthwhile guidance .... Banting for Weightloss is such a group.  The sad part about anything that proves popular and trending is that every Tom, Dick and Harry is now a Banting Boffin after 3 weeks and climbing on this bandwagon - which could lead to wrong information being provided and destroy someone's hopes and dreams of a healthier body.
• There will come a time (reports indicate that it could be anything from 2 - 4 weeks when your highly anticipated and to date effortless weightloss will come to a grinding halt - the dreaded plateau!! Lots of helpful hints will be forthcoming from well-meaning souls on how to break this, anything from cutting out dairy for a while to  my personal favourite - a planned binge day!! Not only do you get to eat all the foods you have been craving for a while, but it seems to effectively kick-start your metabolism again.
• And the trick to all the above is simply this - don't give up. If you fall off the wagon, start again!

Which happily brings me to where I am now. Loss of 15.5cm around my belly-button means I have shrunk to a smaller jean size which is reason for much celebration. I sleep like a baby and have more energy than I thought possible. My ongoing war with a runny tummy has finally been resolved with drastic measures which included Probiotics and Kem-o-Dene, together with toast and black tea. (remember that remedy?) Managed to reduce my fat percentage by one whole % *lol* but seem to be picking up 1.1% of water - which is really odd???

The other side of the coin is that I am about to embark on a two week road trip and to remove added stress and drama, I am going to try and stay within the Banting guidelines, if I fail - ce la vie! 

Will start again when I get back... simple!

Banting stats: Week 6:
Weight: 131.1kg (-0.6kg) Waist : 120.0  (-1.0) Belly Button: 135.0 (-0.0cm)
Fat % : 51.7 (-0.2%)       Water % : 26.0 (+0.2%)  Muscle % : 20.0 (0.0%)
Total to Date: 
Weight: (-10.6kg)   Waist          (-5.0cm)  Belly Button       (-15.5cm)
Fat % :  (-1.0%)     Water % :  (+1.1%)   Muscle % :  (0.0%)