How Do You Take Your Coffee?

Yesterday, in the early evening I felt myself hit a bit of a slump. With an exam a couple of days away and a mountain of study notes to get through, I hopped off to the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. I scooped my spoon of Nescafe into my mug, poured in some hot milk (for some reason I've been obsessed with warming up my milk lately) and while waiting for the kettle to boil I stirred in a heaped teaspoon of gelatine. Yip, gelatine.

As you know, for the last six months I have been Banting and I have lost a fair amount of weight. One of the downsides to a big weight loss is saggy skin. Delicious, I know. Fortunately for me, this isn't a concern. Although I have lost a large portion of my body fat percentage, my skin isn't stretched or sagging. I think the fact that I didn't have MASSES of weight to lose and the fact that I'm young contribute to my lack of saggy skin flaps. I am, however, prone to stretch marks and I'm terrified that my skin might sag. My skin is naturally very dry and isn't as resilient as I would like it to be. Apparently, according to the experts - whoever they may be - gelatine helps with the elasticity of the skin. It's meant to help your skin bounce back after a big weightloss and shrinks what needs to be shrunk. The best way to get your daily dose of gelatine? Put it in your coffee apparently. 

The first time I heard about this I almost wanted to vomit. The whole idea of it all didn't seem too appealing to me. But then again, neither does saggy skin. So, I tried it. And I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't notice any difference to my coffee. I'm very sensitive to odd tastes or changes in the way my food is prepared, but I was so relieved to realize that it really made no difference.

As I carried my coffee back to my desk, I had to laugh at myself. What was I doing? Never in all my life did I think I would be stirring gelatine into my coffee. This got me thinking, what else do I do differently since I started Banting? Here are just a few changes made to my lifestyle since Banting.

1. I don't have any sugar, processed food and just general junk. I eat as naturally as possible. My diet consists of meat, loads of veggies, nuts and seeds, eggs, cheese, milk, cream and a whooole lot of coconut oil. 
2. I look in the mirror and love my reflection.
3. I only drink herbal teas, coffee, milk and water. I add lemon and mint to my water to change things up a bit, but no more cool drinks etc.
4. I don't drink anymore. Well, that's not completely true. But for the most part I have given up drinking. This wasn't only because of Banting, it's more of a personal choice. At the most I'll have a couple of glasses of good white wine.
5. I battle to find my size when clothes shopping. Before Banting, I could always find my sizes because there wasn't such a big demand for the larger sizes. Now that I'm a more average size (I now slip into size 32 jeans, whoop whoop!) many of the things I like are out of stock because of the big demand. This is a bit of a horrible one, but I can deal with having to search numerous clothing racks ;)
6. I no longer snack. In the past, I was probably munching more often than not. With Banting, the healthy fats keep you fuller for longer and so there's absolutely no need to snack.
7. I'm no longer self-conscious. I feel so much happier in my own skin. When I sit down, the last thing I think about is whether my tummy rolls are hanging over the top of my jeans or not. I remember always being so aware of my body and so uncomfortable with it. Now I'm just me and I just do what I have to do. It's so good to feel free from negativity directed at your body.
8. I exercise. I mean, not really. But Emma and I do the odd fitness challenge every now and again and when I'm home I love to go for runs along our farm. I have so much more energy and I'm so much more aware of how important my health is and so I'm taking baby steps to become more toned. 

Another thing I've noticed that I've started doing since Banting is that I talk about it a fair amount. It's just so interesting and exciting to me that I can't help but speak about it, and as a result, blog about it. Now I know some people aren't interested in weight loss stories, let alone Banting. The last thing I want is to become that obsessive and annoying girl that just goes on and on about it all. If that's the case, do let me know. I promise I won't be offended. I might tone it down a bit. But then again, I might not just because ITS ALL SO EXCITING! 

I apologize for the shouty caps. Alright, I must go. My coffee is getting cold and my gelatine is setting. No one wants coffee flavoured jelly. (It really does happen. Are you convinced to try it all out yet? Didn't think so).