Calories in dried fruits

I managed to clear the house of all the sweets, chocolate and biscuits ready to fill it up with fresh fruit, dried fruit, yoghurts etc . I studied the isle in the Supermarkets and bought what I thought would be a great alternative to my other treats.

Unfortunately I was in for a real shock when I got home with the products. My low fat yoghurts were fine and also my fresh fruit but when I started looking into the calorie and fat content of the dried fruit I was totally shocked.

They are all soooooooooooo high in calories which apparantley is something to do with the sugar contect when they are dried. The other unfortunate thing was that I loved them all and got quick excited by the fact that I had finally found something to replace my love of chocolates and cake.

So, its back to the drawing board again now after I have eaten what I have bought. To avoid dissapointment I have decided to not weigh myself this week until I have eaten all I have in stock as I will only feel worse.

I've since done a little bit of research on sugar free sweets which can be bought from a variety of websites and which I think would be better than the ones in Boots as they are mainly for Diabetics and have something that can send you dashing to the lo.

That is actually all I think I need to help me on my diet as its snack times when I fell apart. I know they say have raw vegetables and the like but to be honest with you I would have to be starving before that would excite me.

If anyone has any other ideas on low calorie nibbles please let me know so that I can get back into my diet again.

Feeling rough with the flu!

I've not been hear for a whort while as I've not been to well with a bad throat and cough and everything aching. I was hoping that my appetite would reduce but unfortunately no such luck !!!!!

Anyway,I've not done very well with the diet over the last few days as we had friends for the weekend and went out for lunches and dinner and although feeling awful yesterday I still managed to clear all the food left over and we are out again tonight for my friends birthday.

I really hope I can get my head round it soon as nothing will fit me soon unless it has an elasticated waist and its not that long to my holidays. I've also had a ton of blood tests done today so am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing comes back wrong due to my weight.

Send me some vibes to help me stop thinking about food and getting some weight off please, I am absolutely desperate.

Not a bad dieting day today so hope for me yet !!!

I felt quite positive after my walk with the dog this morning even though I was going out for lunch. I'd decided last night to start the Slimming World diet with some friends who went back to the club last night, which I will go back to in a couple of weeks.

I had a lunch with the girls today (15 of us) at a College where the students cook for you and its a three course meal for £5.95 which is soooooooooo cheap. I knew a 3 course lunch was a no no for me as I just feel uncomfortable for the rest of the day but with one of my other dieting friends with me we looked at the menu and decided we could do a green day.

I opted for no starter and a macaroni cheese main course meal followed by rice pudding which of course you can do on your green day and I felt sooooooo full after it, I just couldn't wait to get home to take my skirt of. But the good thing was that I didn't feel like dinner so just had a taste of the vegetables I'd cooked for my husband with pork and new potatoes. I did have a bowl of fresh fruit salad which I just adore and can always find room for but all in all not a bad days dieting.

Lets hope tomorrow is as succesfull. As you can see from the post before this I have another friend who has written about her dieting day which I do think will mean we can help each other get through one way or another so do keep in touch if you want to put anything on this blog that might help us.

Don't forget to look at my other blog http://backpain.blog.co.uk

4lbs off - 5lbs back on !!!!!

Don't you find it frustrating when everyone else is always right? Well, that certainly seemed to be the case with my recent three day diet. Soooooooo many of my friends said "they are a waste of time, you will put your weight straight back on again". Well I did plus an extra pound !!!!

I knew it was no quick fix but I was hoping it was the start of my determination to lose some weight. The first thing that I noticed was that I felt very bloated and also that the three day diet had made me constipated even after increasing my fruit intake.

Anyway,a weekend away being as careful as I could be put back all I had lost and another extra pound on for enjoying myself. So, I'm back to square one but still not defeated and will start my Slimming World diet tomorrow. Some friends have rejoined the club tonight but I chickened out ashamed at the weight I have gained and said I will be back in a couple of weeks when my diary is less busy.

Hopefully some of my friends are going to join me with this blog telling us how they are going about losing (or gaining in my case) their weight.

I've lost 4 lbs in 3 days - Brilliant

I've lost 4 lbs in three days on my three day diet and I am chufed to bits as that is what I put on over Christmas.

Today I've had mainly protein food and started with a breakfast of Porridge and for lunch a fresh fruit salad I made with creme fresh (low fat of course) followed by a fat free yoghurt, for dinner I had tenned red salmon mixed with cottage cheese and a green pepper with some fruit salad round it (delicious) followed by an egg custard I had made to use up some milk as we had not used any for three days !!!! My snacks today were some dried mango pieces and 1oz of dark chocolate.

Tomorrow I will have the same for breakfast and make the same lunch for myself but we are out for a meal tomorrow and Saturday so that's when things can get trickly but I will keep a diary of everything I eat then enter it on here when I am back. I wont weigh myself again until Monday which will be a week since I started and should be interesting to see what I have lost after a weekend away.

Final day of my three day diet

Well I'm just about at the end of my three day diet and breakfast was sooooooooo exciting - it was 1oz of Cheddar cheese with 5 tuc biscuits and an apple (I thought I'd gone to heaven and back) Lunch was a hard boiled egg and a piece of toast and Dinner was 1 x cup of Cottage Cheese with 1 x cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli followed by a cup of melon and half a cup of ice cream.

I have found today the easiest of the three days but I'm ready to start another diet tomorrow I don't think I could take this longer than three days, but I must admit I am still going to the loo an awful lot more than normal so after researching which foods are best for fluid retention I popped to the supermarket ready to start tomorrow.

Obviously eating fewer carbohydrates like bread and pasta will help with fluid retention but potassium laden foods like fruits and vegetables such as apples, melons, onions, tomatoes and green vegetables are all effective diuretic foods. Others are asparagus, celery, parsley and watercress.

I'm going to try and stick to mainly protein and eat fish, chicken and some nuts with tons of fruit and vegetables but I am away for a couple of days this weekend so it will be harder to follow but I am determined to not put any weight I have hopefully lost of this three day diet.

I do hope I come back tomorrow with quite a few pounds weight loss as I do feel a lot more comfortable so I actually cant wait to weigh myself................

Day Two of my Three Day Diet Plan

Today I must admit I have found harder than yesterday and certainly harder than last time I did this diet which was last summer so I guess that must be because I've stretched my stomach over Christmas !!!!

I have also been trying to find a fish and fruit diet which someone had blogged me about as I adore fish and fruit but I can't find one anywhere so if anyone knows of this diet do let me have the link.

Todays menus were for Breakfast 1 Egg and 1 Slice of Toast, Lunch was 1 cup of Cottage Cheese (or Tuna) and 5 Tuc Cracker Biscuits and for Dinner it was half a cup of carrots, half a cup of broccoli and 2 Hot Dogs followed by half a cup of ice cream and a banana. As usual clear tea or coffee and water.

Wierd mixture but I guess its the chemical side of this that works - I spent most of yesterday running to the loo so I'm sure I lost a lot in fluid. Anyway, tomorrow is my last day so I will give you my update then on how I feel and how my day as gone.

My first dieting day

Well I've got through what I always think is the hardest day on a diet - the first day.

WIth it being Monday I kept myself busy with housework this morning then we went out to get some of the specific foods for this 3 day diet and before I knew it, it was 2pm and I hadn't even had my lunch.

The longest wait to me was dinner as we always have a cuppa and something with it at around 4.30ish as we do not have our dinner until around 7pm and I'd say that was the only time today that I was really thinking about food.

So you can see the type of food you have on this three day diet I will give you my food list for today which started of with Breakfast which was half a grapefruit or half an orange and one piece of toast spread with peanut butter (yuk!) Lunch was one cup of Cottage Cheese or Tuna with one slice of toast and Dinner was 3 slices of lean meat (ham for me) with one cup of carrots and one cup of broccoli followed by one cup of ice-cream with an apple (the best bit). Your drinks are clear tea or coffee or water and that's it.

I will of course weigh myself after the three days when I will then be following the usual calorie counting diet. What I did find out today which I didn't realise is that
hunger pangs can actually be thirst pangs so pour yourself a drink of water or a diet drink before you head for the biscuit tin.

Until tomorrow...............

http://backpain.blog.co.uk

I know I haven't been here for ages and ages but its because I am busy writing my back pain blog and twitter so if anyone didn't know my blog address its http://backpain.blog.co.uk so do go and take a look and catch up with all my news.

My new blog http://backpain.blog.co.uk

Well, its taken me allllllllll weekend but I have finally done it and set up a "Back Pain" blog so you won't need to read any more about my boring back as I am hoping it will be read by people with a similar problem.

However, I would love to have your opinion on it so don't hesitate to nosy - there is a direct link to the left of this post.

My diet is still going well this weekend and I have quite a few tips to post next week, but I will wait until my week is up to weigh myself again.

Short and sweet but that's all for now, I'm jiggered after sorting out the over blog.

My 2008 fight to fitness and pain relief

I know its already the 12th January but I honestly think that anyone who seriously wants to get rid of some weight cannot start any form of diet or weight loss regime on January 1st as, apart from anything else, most people are suffering from a hang over on New Years Day and all you do is think about what food you can eat.

I also knew that I had my trip to the Hospital for a lumber epidural on the 7th January and at the back of my mind wanted that done before I could focus on anything else. At the beginning of last year I was on a mission to try every conceivable holistic and alternative therapy available to help with my pain relief and had convinced myself that a substantial weight loss would definitely help. Well, unfortunately it didn't help at all and I have now exhausted every type of alternative therapy without success but I am still convinced that another weight loss however small MUST do something to help with the pain relief.

I decided to just get rid of the old and bring in the new for 2008 and start afresh when all the Christmassy things were put away and all the sweets, chocolates and any other goodies were either eaten or given away. So, after putting all my Christmas decorations to bed for another year and reading through all my Christmas Cards again and promising to myself that I would definitely get in touch with some old friends who always put "we must get in touch next year" in there Christmas Card I put the last of the sweets and chocolates into one of my three ( yes, three) roses tins ready to give to my friend for her grandchildren. I then sellotaped it up so I had no way of getting into it. I was already feeling slimmer and ready for the new me..........

After having the hypnosis last year to help me lose weight I find that I definitely do not think about food all the time like I used to. Hypnosis is no miracle cure for excess weight - nor is it a fad diet, it's about changing your attitude to weight control which should ensure a steady and healthy rate of weight loss. Don't get me wrong, if someone put some chocolate in front of me I still struggle to not finish it, but I then feel so full after it that I could quite happily miss the evening meal. However, this is far from a good diet so my only option is to have very little chocolate in and just limited treats that are not high in calories.

Over the years I have collected tons and tons of diet books and magazines and been a member of every club that has ever formed but I made a conscious decision after my hypnotherapy that I would never need them again and got rid of most of them. I'd still kept quite a few of the magazines for inspiration but after looking through them I decided I would also put them on eBay and save the money for treating myself to something new as more weight drops off. It felt really really good after putting the magazines on eBay and I had quite a few emails from other dieters who obviously do not have access to diet clubs or are not confident enough to join one and thought it was great they could get the books from me. I felt I was really helping someone out and hope to keep in touch with them to see how they go on.

I hadn't been on the scales over Christmas as I really didn't see the point but knew I had to weigh myself to find out how much I had gained. What a brilliant surprise I had when I found I had gained absolutely NIL pounds over the Christmas period. It could only be the hypnosis that had helped me as when I told my husband he was not in the least bit surprised and said, "You now only eat half the amount you used to".

I still have another stone to lose and with my long standing back problems I know I can't start a keep fit regime at the gym or even a short run round the block but I had thought that after my epidural this week I might try some slow cycling on my bike at home. Its been moved into my bedroom so that I can see the TV while cycling and I decided the best time would be after my afternoon nap when I always wake up feeling good again rather than first thing as I am too stiff and uncomfortable to even think about it.

I did my first 10 mins this afternoon and felt fine but lets see how my legs feel tomorrow. I only cycled slowly for ten minutes as I'm still a bit nervous about irritating my back. I have read on numerous occasions how you are supposed to lose weight while you sleep so maybe with me cycling straight after a couple of hours sleep the weight will drop off ( dream on !!).

Conventional diets are quick to tell you to avoid this and keep off that but that's not the way forward, that just increases your obsession with food. It's not the way to permanent weight loss. Do you notice I use the words "weight loss" instead of "diet"on this blog? It was something my hypnotherapist told me to remember, she explained that, "I would never need to DIET again, as my subconscious mind would just teach me to eat when I was hungry, if you don't know if you're hungry, then you aren't,"she said.

Well that's the end of week one of my 2008 fight to fitness but watch this space for more on my "weight loss" antics.

They couldn't do the epidural - boo !! hoo !!

Can you believe it -I've been waiting for another epidural in my lumber spine to help with the pain, for quite a while and although they are not nice I was looking forward to it in a strange sort of way as I knew the outcome would be good.



So there I am in my theatre gown and name tag on, in the day case unit waiting room surrounded my men who are also in theatre gowns with name tags on (do you get the picture !!!) when the doctor comes to me with the consent form and starts to explain the procedure. It's only then that I mention that the last lumber epidural I had was done in theatre and I was put to sleep.



The look of shock, horror on her face said it all!! They had nothing on the notes about my four previous spinal operations and nothing about the fact that I have a cage in the bottom of my back!! They decide I need an x.ray to see if it is possible to have the injection and after a great deal of thought about how dangerous it could be if the needle hit the cage and also the risk of an infection it was decided it was toooooo risky to take the chance.

I'm not sure whether I just felt relief that I had mentioned my previous epidural or upset that it could have gone ahead and something awful could have happened. Either way I am just glad I brought it up and although I'm a bit gutted I can't have one in my lumber, I am still pleased with how it has helped with the pain in my arms by previously having the one in my cervical spine.
However, I can't help but think "what if" ............................................................

The dreaded epidural !!

Well that time has come around again and I am off for another epidural in my lumber spine. I think my back knew it was coming as I was just shaking my pillow this morning and something went !!!! I've been in agony ever since so ready for anything this afternoon.

The blue skies are deep blue here this morning with the sun shining bright but there is a definite chill in the air and a feeling of Autumn drawing in. When I let the dogs out this morning they both came back with wet feet from the dew on the grass.

I'm looking after my friend's miniature poodle at the moment (mine is a toy - and yes, smaller than the miniature !!) and she is as mad as a hatter and jumps up to about 4ft to get your attention. She is only one year old and could really do with being sent to boot camp as she really needs to start learning the meaning of "no". We covered our small pond outside with trellis fencing but she has jumped on that and broken it (trying to catch a wasp) so we have to keep our eye on her all day. But they are such fun to have around and we are constantly giggling after she's got up to more trouble.

I know I will have to rest after the epidural this afternoon so I'm hoping she will behave later on !!

My back pain !!

Oh! forgot to tell you all how my back has been since my epidural before I went away. Well it was truly awesome as the first thing that went were my pins and needles in my fingers and then to my amazement which I'm still not sure how it happened, but my heel pain went almost immediately as well. That has made such a big difference in my day to day living in that I can now walk around without this terrible pain which is still there first thing but goes very quick and I honestly do not now know how on earth I managed to cope with it before.

I've not been able to reduce my painkillers yet as the arm pain is still there and I still need cushions to prop up my arms when I read but you know me I just get on with it.

My next epidural is in the lumber spine and is next week when I know it sounds weird but I am actually looking forward to as I am expecting miracles with this one so lets hope I am not disappointed.