Sunday, December 18, 2011
Final stretch
Final step on the way to cheat day turned into a hurdle when we got invited out for pizza. In the new regime, I'm not knocking any opportunity like this, and happily took part, but it's not going to help any weight loss. Like a trooper, I still went through a normal cheat day though! I didn't lose any weight this week, nor did I put any on though. I actually was feeling a little slim late last week, but saw no actual loss. Saturday was a decent cheat day, but even cheat days I'm enjoying meat and veggie dishes now. I had 3 solid meals, plus the usual suspects of cheat food and beer. Sunday was going well, but we went out to carols, and I had some chocolate and beer. So far today looks like a better day, but will also have someone over for dinner, so I don't like my chances of having a sober Monday. But I really need to pull it back, as I had too much alcohol again on the weekend, and really need a quiet week in that area. Have decent meals planned this week, and some leftover roast meat, so should have a good chance at dieting well this week, then Christmas!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Hard week back
I'd hardly call this week a success. It must be the worst time of year to try anything around a diet, but especially now our kids are getting older, Christmas is a constant mess of party's and celebrations of some sort. Every night this last 2 weeks has been flat out either at home or out somewhere, and that won't change until around the 2nd week of January from what I can tell.
Breakfasts have been solid. I think this is a constant for me now, the morning routine is a solid one that I could continue for a long time I think. Lunch has also been pretty decent, except for one bought Chinese lunch, where I still threw out half the rice. Dinner has been mostly good, but the 2 nights out I had sausage rolls, and a couple of snacky thihngs, and home made burritos (not that nice either) and ham. Probably the worst I've had some snacks almost every day. Not heaps, mainly crackers, with some peanut butter, once cheese. Plus the snack food on Tuesday night when out, not 100% good this week. Still I'm happy to be doing the breakfast, and so far today looks like it will be quite solid. I guess tomorrow is a cheat day. I'll probably treat it like that, but I have to closely monitor the results of when I have a medium week like this and do the cheat day, because it may mean I start putting on weight. Either way I want to get back proper routine as soon as the silly season passes. Next week also might be a solid week, as we aren't going out as far as I can tell all week, and Christmas isn't until after cheat day next week. I'll aim for a solid week anyway.
Drinking is the biggest fail. Even after going out at night, not drinking out, I still managed 4 drinks (inc 2 generous bourbons) both those nights, and last night had 1.5 wines with dinner, 3 beers and 2 bourbons, which is way too much for a school night. Chrismtas and late Jan holidays will be tough for me to control too much, so I really want a solid week next week to give me a good start to Christmas. I'm aiming to be drink free early in the week, and 2 reds until Thursday night, the main point being not having the 3rd drink as that is always the turning point from controlled to out of control.
Breakfasts have been solid. I think this is a constant for me now, the morning routine is a solid one that I could continue for a long time I think. Lunch has also been pretty decent, except for one bought Chinese lunch, where I still threw out half the rice. Dinner has been mostly good, but the 2 nights out I had sausage rolls, and a couple of snacky thihngs, and home made burritos (not that nice either) and ham. Probably the worst I've had some snacks almost every day. Not heaps, mainly crackers, with some peanut butter, once cheese. Plus the snack food on Tuesday night when out, not 100% good this week. Still I'm happy to be doing the breakfast, and so far today looks like it will be quite solid. I guess tomorrow is a cheat day. I'll probably treat it like that, but I have to closely monitor the results of when I have a medium week like this and do the cheat day, because it may mean I start putting on weight. Either way I want to get back proper routine as soon as the silly season passes. Next week also might be a solid week, as we aren't going out as far as I can tell all week, and Christmas isn't until after cheat day next week. I'll aim for a solid week anyway.
Drinking is the biggest fail. Even after going out at night, not drinking out, I still managed 4 drinks (inc 2 generous bourbons) both those nights, and last night had 1.5 wines with dinner, 3 beers and 2 bourbons, which is way too much for a school night. Chrismtas and late Jan holidays will be tough for me to control too much, so I really want a solid week next week to give me a good start to Christmas. I'm aiming to be drink free early in the week, and 2 reds until Thursday night, the main point being not having the 3rd drink as that is always the turning point from controlled to out of control.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Cheat week.
It's obviously not part of any diet to cheat for a whole week, but I did that, plus a couple of days. The idea was really cheat long weekend, it's just the weekend never ended for the diet. Friend arrived from Perth, and we went out a few times over the weekend, so I wasn't looking to keep to my diet. By Monday I was supposed to have recovered though, but felt a little under the weather. Even a bad Monday wouldn't write off the rest of the week, only I didn't spend any time preparing anything Monday, and had the busiest week I've had in a long time, so all the sudden I'm eating toast and cereal for breakfast, rices and pastas for dinner, and snacked out a few times too. Probably as bad a week as it gets for me when you add in what we had over the weekend.
But my body is hurting. I'm not doubled over in pain, it's more subtle than that. More like my body is saying "why are you doing this to me?" Yep, I'm craving going back on the diet!!! And that is why this is so effective. Once the wife breaks her diet, it's goodbye for 3 months until she feels so guilty she has to start another diet. And it's always a new diet, that is usually taking the wrong approach. Her previous one she tried was pretty close to mine, but the promise of any sort of sweet food was many months away. That's a warrior that can last that long without a little cheat food, especially to people addicted to eating junk food. She, like probably 99% of people that try that, failed to keep going.
But in my case, I'm cheating again on Saturday, and probably won't have a perfect week before then either. My new start won't be the strictest, because I don't really have to lose much weight. The reason for the diet then, is because I trully believe things like bread, cereal, pasta and rice aren't quality foods to be filling up on, and in fact I think they promote snacks. But you need to ensure you get enough good food into you, and after losing those other foods I just mentioned, I may as well add in some 4 hour body foods and stick to the diet.
I heard another fanatical person talk about diet tips the other day, and again I agreed with some of what she said. She said just do the breakfast she advises, and already you will be way better off. That's how I started this diet, just breakfasts, because I wanted to shed cereal and toast as my breakfasts. It took 1.5 days until I was fully on the diet, because I loved how the good breakfast made me feel in the morning. so the breakfast is a strict diet meal for me still. I think after a big healthy breakfast, the rest of the day will usually be 4 hour diet, but if a meal comes up that isn't strict, I won't go way out of my way to avoid.
So I start again. I weighed myself right after my first diet breakfast Monday at about 101.5 kgs. I kind of expected 103 or something even more drastic after a long week of crap, but it doesn't suprise me heaps that I only went up that much. I guess I'm hoping to get that down to 100 kgs again by year end, but I'm not massively worried about that. What I really want is to keep to my diet through the holiday period, which is the toughest, with things booked nightly almost right through to Christmas (that's insanity for me), including our family hosting a decent sized Christmas. My first day back on was fine, normal breakfast, leftover roast and veggies lunch, and bolognese on cabbage (awesome replacement for pasta in a bolognese dish) with veggies. Had 2 reds, which is OK. Today will be tougher as I'm having a cheat meal at lunch with work, but will try to maximise the good foods for that anyway. The week is up and down from there with kids Christmas nights for the next 3 nights, but I'm hoping to sneak in some good meals before going out to those.
Wish me luck.
But my body is hurting. I'm not doubled over in pain, it's more subtle than that. More like my body is saying "why are you doing this to me?" Yep, I'm craving going back on the diet!!! And that is why this is so effective. Once the wife breaks her diet, it's goodbye for 3 months until she feels so guilty she has to start another diet. And it's always a new diet, that is usually taking the wrong approach. Her previous one she tried was pretty close to mine, but the promise of any sort of sweet food was many months away. That's a warrior that can last that long without a little cheat food, especially to people addicted to eating junk food. She, like probably 99% of people that try that, failed to keep going.
But in my case, I'm cheating again on Saturday, and probably won't have a perfect week before then either. My new start won't be the strictest, because I don't really have to lose much weight. The reason for the diet then, is because I trully believe things like bread, cereal, pasta and rice aren't quality foods to be filling up on, and in fact I think they promote snacks. But you need to ensure you get enough good food into you, and after losing those other foods I just mentioned, I may as well add in some 4 hour body foods and stick to the diet.
I heard another fanatical person talk about diet tips the other day, and again I agreed with some of what she said. She said just do the breakfast she advises, and already you will be way better off. That's how I started this diet, just breakfasts, because I wanted to shed cereal and toast as my breakfasts. It took 1.5 days until I was fully on the diet, because I loved how the good breakfast made me feel in the morning. so the breakfast is a strict diet meal for me still. I think after a big healthy breakfast, the rest of the day will usually be 4 hour diet, but if a meal comes up that isn't strict, I won't go way out of my way to avoid.
So I start again. I weighed myself right after my first diet breakfast Monday at about 101.5 kgs. I kind of expected 103 or something even more drastic after a long week of crap, but it doesn't suprise me heaps that I only went up that much. I guess I'm hoping to get that down to 100 kgs again by year end, but I'm not massively worried about that. What I really want is to keep to my diet through the holiday period, which is the toughest, with things booked nightly almost right through to Christmas (that's insanity for me), including our family hosting a decent sized Christmas. My first day back on was fine, normal breakfast, leftover roast and veggies lunch, and bolognese on cabbage (awesome replacement for pasta in a bolognese dish) with veggies. Had 2 reds, which is OK. Today will be tougher as I'm having a cheat meal at lunch with work, but will try to maximise the good foods for that anyway. The week is up and down from there with kids Christmas nights for the next 3 nights, but I'm hoping to sneak in some good meals before going out to those.
Wish me luck.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Now and next
Been very busy, but need to do a quick update. Saturday weigh in, right on 100kgs again. I wouldn't have been surprised either way, going up or down, so I guess my split thoughts got met with the expected result. My week had a little less eating while sick, and a few snacks, no excersize, so it was a tough call. I'm mostly happy with 100 kgs for that weigh in. Saturday was another mammoth eating day. It's amazing how much you can eat that day and not put on weight. I won't go into details, but it was a really fun packed day, and I ate a heap as usual. Sunday was a little less painful than usual. Usually there is a little "hangover" after eating and drinking so much, but not a real issue this time. Had a smooth day, no cheats, ending with drinks though at night.
So my drinking. I put last night into my final little binge of last weeks overall bad week, so want to go 2 nights completely dry, then no more than 2 drinks the following nights. This is not a big ask, but as mentioned a couple of times, having drinks with dinner kills me. Friday onwards, is another world. A friend is over from interstate, and I imagine plenty of drinking and bad eating over the following few days. It will almost certainly be a lot more than just a cheat day this week. I obviously don't expect this to work well, so I have to aim at harm minimisation, and repair work over the next few weeks. Given that it will be December later this week, I'll pretty much spend most of the rest of the time before Chrismtas in repair mode. January is also a tough month. Plenty of Christmas cheer still about, plenty of days off work, and I have 2 weeks off later that month. I anticipate a few more drinks and possibly food between Christmas and February, so I really want to end the last few weeks before Christmas with good solid drinking and eating habits, and not loose control too early. That's a pretty good short term goal.
So my drinking. I put last night into my final little binge of last weeks overall bad week, so want to go 2 nights completely dry, then no more than 2 drinks the following nights. This is not a big ask, but as mentioned a couple of times, having drinks with dinner kills me. Friday onwards, is another world. A friend is over from interstate, and I imagine plenty of drinking and bad eating over the following few days. It will almost certainly be a lot more than just a cheat day this week. I obviously don't expect this to work well, so I have to aim at harm minimisation, and repair work over the next few weeks. Given that it will be December later this week, I'll pretty much spend most of the rest of the time before Chrismtas in repair mode. January is also a tough month. Plenty of Christmas cheer still about, plenty of days off work, and I have 2 weeks off later that month. I anticipate a few more drinks and possibly food between Christmas and February, so I really want to end the last few weeks before Christmas with good solid drinking and eating habits, and not loose control too early. That's a pretty good short term goal.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sick week
It's been a tough week in more ways than one. Things went very much down the gutter after my high peaks of cheat day morning. Sure I had a decent enough cheat day, but there was an overwhelming feeling that my eye wasn't right. To top that, my son seemed to be getting sick. Sunday morning proved no better with the eye, and I saw a doctor who put me on drops. My son also got sicker, so it was obvious we were both going to be off work and school for a day or two. I got worse again Tuesday, and my son was throwing up and not eating, so another visit to a different doctor changed my prescription, and put my son on drugs too. He has recovered pretty well, and will be at school today. I'm at work, but my eye is still blown up.
After all my blabbing off course, of how I have full control of my diet, there is only one thing possible. A bad diet week of course. There is one thing I hadn't counted for in my full control rant, and that is being sick. Being sick brings a whole new challenge to eating well. It's always the time where you add a couple of nice tasting foods in, just because you feel shitty in other ways. Despite that, I've been pretty damn good, but have cheated. I'll give a run down.
Sunday night, even though my eye was not great, I had a few drinks, 3 beers and 2 wines. I was cooking a BBQ, and figured if I felt well enough to do that, I'm probably OK to have a couple of Sunday beers, and did so. Had one more, then 2 wines. Wife had made my life near impossible buying chips, so I had a small handful of those, but then also had 4 crackers a little later. Kids were showing signs of not wanting sausages again, so I've use them every day this week for breakfasts. Not a massive cheat, but definitely fattier than the bacon I've been using. Two of the lunches I was good, since I was home, having veggies, beans and meat. The other lunch my wife got chicken and chips from the shop, so I had chicken, the cooked veggies and beans, but some hot chips too. I'll add I had cous cous, which is pretty much a no-no too, but only in small doses with plenty of meat and veggies with that meal. Finally, had 2 ice creams (great pick me up when feeling sick), and one lollie too. That's not 100% control, nor is it not having cravings, from what I can tell.
Finally, drinking. I felt 100% better last night, and had my first drink for the week. Too much, but it was a little stress relief, given I'd had a tough day of looking after myself, sick kid, other kid, meals, then my wife rang up to say she wouldn't be home until after their bed, so bath, bed time too was in order. I broke out a bottle of white, had 2 glasses with dinner, and the kids and I played a couple of games, so it helped me relax and we had fun. I hate fun ending, so had 2 reds and a bourbon too. I don't know how to label this, so probably won't bother.
I have to write this week off too, due to a lousy week so far, but still I wonder whether it's danger time for me. I've allowed a few bad foods to creep in here and there, and that could easily balloon if I don't watch out. Funnily enough, I'm still not worried about that. Drinking is a real concern though. The 2 of the 4 nights I did drink recently, I can't just leave it at 2 drinks ever, rather ending up at 5. Far from ideal.
Well, I'm still trying here at least, will push through to the weekend, trying to minimise harm before cheat day. As I said, it could have been a whole lot worse, the wife has been junking right out recently, and eats all sort of tempting food in front of me. I will recount on Saturday morning, but don't expect any drop in weight this week, even though I was sick.
After all my blabbing off course, of how I have full control of my diet, there is only one thing possible. A bad diet week of course. There is one thing I hadn't counted for in my full control rant, and that is being sick. Being sick brings a whole new challenge to eating well. It's always the time where you add a couple of nice tasting foods in, just because you feel shitty in other ways. Despite that, I've been pretty damn good, but have cheated. I'll give a run down.
Sunday night, even though my eye was not great, I had a few drinks, 3 beers and 2 wines. I was cooking a BBQ, and figured if I felt well enough to do that, I'm probably OK to have a couple of Sunday beers, and did so. Had one more, then 2 wines. Wife had made my life near impossible buying chips, so I had a small handful of those, but then also had 4 crackers a little later. Kids were showing signs of not wanting sausages again, so I've use them every day this week for breakfasts. Not a massive cheat, but definitely fattier than the bacon I've been using. Two of the lunches I was good, since I was home, having veggies, beans and meat. The other lunch my wife got chicken and chips from the shop, so I had chicken, the cooked veggies and beans, but some hot chips too. I'll add I had cous cous, which is pretty much a no-no too, but only in small doses with plenty of meat and veggies with that meal. Finally, had 2 ice creams (great pick me up when feeling sick), and one lollie too. That's not 100% control, nor is it not having cravings, from what I can tell.
Finally, drinking. I felt 100% better last night, and had my first drink for the week. Too much, but it was a little stress relief, given I'd had a tough day of looking after myself, sick kid, other kid, meals, then my wife rang up to say she wouldn't be home until after their bed, so bath, bed time too was in order. I broke out a bottle of white, had 2 glasses with dinner, and the kids and I played a couple of games, so it helped me relax and we had fun. I hate fun ending, so had 2 reds and a bourbon too. I don't know how to label this, so probably won't bother.
I have to write this week off too, due to a lousy week so far, but still I wonder whether it's danger time for me. I've allowed a few bad foods to creep in here and there, and that could easily balloon if I don't watch out. Funnily enough, I'm still not worried about that. Drinking is a real concern though. The 2 of the 4 nights I did drink recently, I can't just leave it at 2 drinks ever, rather ending up at 5. Far from ideal.
Well, I'm still trying here at least, will push through to the weekend, trying to minimise harm before cheat day. As I said, it could have been a whole lot worse, the wife has been junking right out recently, and eats all sort of tempting food in front of me. I will recount on Saturday morning, but don't expect any drop in weight this week, even though I was sick.
Friday, November 18, 2011
100 kgs!!!!
Well, that's one goal down. 100kgs! Feels great, looks great. By great I mean there is still a few kgs to lose if I want to see a 6 pack, but anything under 100kgs is a very healthy weight for me. I went out to play a little golf today, and I hit some amazing shots. I think I definitely benefited from having 10 kgs lost.
First, I'll wrap up my week, which saw an as promised 3 glasses of wine plus a bourbon Thursday, then 2 wines and 3 bourbons last night. Given the higher than expected drinking, I've burned through most of my bottle of bourbon, and thought that should last at least a month, but it's only been 20 days and will be gone by 22 days. Not good. Food wise, no snacking at all, so on target there.
Now for the overall milestone, 110 kgs to 100 kgs. I think this is the end of the 7th week, so that's 10 kgs in 7 weeks, or 22 pounds. My lightest adult weight is 92 kgs, and I looked like a stick figure at that point, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty close to where I want to be. I don't want to look like a stick, so really anything around 96-97 with a little more muscle than my 92 would be absolutely perfect. I still have a little more weight around my thighs and very bottom part of the stomach (hardest to lose), and could use more muscle, but in any case I'm in the ball park now. 7 weeks. Not really that hard, actually fun a lot of the time. I really like the ideas with this diet. Don't starve yourself, just cut out the sugary crap, and have anything you want on cheat diet. Easy. And as hard as it can be on a Sunday, or when you don't have a meal planned for a Monday or something, the cheat day really does brighten up the last couple of days of the week, as well as the fact your body is almost always at a new low weight by then.
My other goal i set was to get to Christmas, and that looks like a given now. Beyond that I don't even need to set goals, I think I've already made the changes I need to not look back at eating as poorly as I was before. My biggest challenge is alcohol, and after tomorrow, I want a super lean week with that, so that is definitely my number one challenge this next week. I take that challenge much more seriously now, as I feel well in control of food right now. Perhaps it will work well to be able to not worry as much about the food, and focus right in on alcohol. Again, I could go dry for a week, but my big challenge is good long term balance, so one week off, or even a month off doesn't really mean anything for 10 years from now.
Anyway, really pleased with everything right now. I hoped something good would happen from this diet, but actually seeing it happen, and seeing my habits get so much better is obviously something to be proud of.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Well, best laid plans...
This is a very split post. A weird diet week one would say. Winding back to last week, I said it was time to open up the diet a little. Have occasional work lunches, have the occasional thing not on the strict diet. In the end I had 2 lunches out, snacked on nuts quite a few times, and drank too much, and didn't feel happy with all of that. So this week was going to be one of getting back on track. So far it's split between my eating and drinking. On the food side I've done really well, with one handful of nuts (the last of them thankfully) through to Thursday, so that is shaping up very well. But, I've been drinking every night so far this week, so that's still going poorly.
I guess I have to recap. Monday I was too busy at work for my last green tea I usually have, and was starving by the time I got home. Once home, the immediate thought of what would make the hunger go away, was any of the multitude of snacks in our house. The kids said they wanted chocolates left over from the party, I got it for them, but decided against myself. I don't know why, but I love I could do this. I opted instead for a stick of carrot, and that actually worked great. But somewhere in my mind, I made a mental excuse for now being able to have a couple of drinks that night. I had 2 reds later on. Tuesday is a tough day. This last year, my wife works Monday and Wednesday, so Tuesday she's at home, and it often leads to wine with dinner. The problem is I keep drinking, and then don't want to go dry Wednesday. Basically, it makes my drinking week far worse. The last few weeks we've been a little better on Tuesdays, but I was armed with a YES for when my wife asked if we should have a wine with dinner. I ended up drinking on, but slowly. 1.5 glasses of white, 2 reds, 1 bourbon. Not chaos, but this is only Tuesday. Last night was a good guitar night, where I get out in the garage and play music, usually accompanied by drinks. This case it was 3 reds and a bourbon.
So, why? Why did I say cut down on drinks 3 days ago, and here I am blogging about too many drinks? How come I'd easily cut down on drinks a few weeks ago, but now everything has to end with a couple more or drinking nights I don't want to? I've been asking these questions the last couple of days, and my mind was been wandering around trying to understand. So far I'm thinking Oracle from Matrix movies, her sign over the door, Know Thyself. Insanely powerful words. The fact is, you can beat down cravings in the short term, mainly because it's almost like a game, a bit of fun. But once you've proven you can do something, the fun dwindles quickly, and you are left at your normal point. You are left with thyself. You can trick thyself for a little while, and maybe even lose the cravings, but you won't change who you are. You've already been dealt that hand. It's not a case of giving up on trying either. Life should be about constantly trying things. So what if sometimes you fail, it doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying. And really, REALLY, who is thyself? How can you really know that unless you try things. If you just keep doing the very basic things, and never try anything, how do you know your boundaries? How do you know who you really are? I honestly don't know who I am still at 36 years old. Am I a guy who has to drink way too much? I don't know. I've slowed right down, will that be temporary, or am I going to be full speed ahead by Christmas, Christmas 2012 or 2030? I honestly don't know, but I'm going to try to be good.
So since I've almost ruined this week already, and we have friends coming over Sunday, this week is officially a write off. I'm not going crazy the next couple of days, I'm just not going to try anything big tonight. I'm going to tell my wife on the weekend, I can't have wine with her during dinner, except Friday and Saturday nights. If I actually tell her, rather than just telling me, she'll help me do that, and that will almost certainly work. I really don't mind having 2 reds any night of the week, but if I start with dinner wine, I have to stop after dinner, which I'm struggling to do. Hopefully she'll also stop Tuesday and Thursday night drinks too then, but that's up to her. But in saying I don't mind having 2 reds any night, I still want to start a lot of my weeks with 0 alcohol the first two days of the week. It's not actually that hard for me, and it just starts my week off in the right direction. Closer to the weekend, I don't mind always having 2 glasses of red, but I still have to learn to control that, especially Thursday. Sunday will be the hardest though. I'm home, and love having a late afternoon beer. But one thing I know about thyself, is I don't like to stop after those beers. It goes against my very fabric to just stop at 2 friendly beers. I know this as much as I know anything in my life, and I honestly don't expect that to change as I get older. But in any case, next week, I just have to try to be better.
So, to end on some good news. I'm feeling good. Drinks aside, my body is looking very good and feeling great. I'm starting to really see a nice shape forming, and every week I see a little more definition. Food cravings are all but gone. On a normal day after work 2 months ago, I'd be buying a packet of chips for the trip home, having crackers and peanut butter when I get home, having a huge rice/pasta dinner, eating a biscuit or two, having some ice cream, then more crackers later on often. Granted stress was involved, but I really have stopped wanting most of those things. I couldn't care less about breads, pastas, rice. I still like crackers, but don't sit there thinking about them non-stop while at home, not in the slightest. I also love my chips, but I would buy them any opportunity I could before. Filling petrol, buying alcohol, buying groceries, I'd always sneak in a packet. I would even take a trip to the supermarket near work just to buy chips, and I'm talking a big bag at a time. I still love chips, but will walk out of work, out of petrol stations, out of supermarkets with no chips, and not even feel the urge. If anything, I just think about whether there is a special I can buy for upcoming cheat day, but haven't pre-bought cheat day foods yet either. Thyself, as I understand it so far, isn't really that junk food obsessed. This is obviously great news, and I will keeping trying to discover what my real food urges are in the long run, but so far they are minimal.
So this weekend. I'll probably have drinks tonight, yes I'm bad. I plan to have 1.5 whites with dinner, 2 reds after, and there will probably be a bourbon. Friday, pretty much the same. Food wise, it will be quiet until cheat day. I expect to weigh in at about 100 kgs on Saturday, although I thought that last week too and the scales went up if anything. I will have the kids to myself Saturday, so might take them out for a meal, yet to be determined, but we'll do something nice. Sunday people are coming over, so I'm planning a cheat meal on that day. Nothing too bad though, perhaps just a couple of beers and whatever desert is there that night. From there, it's a whole new week to work at.
I guess I have to recap. Monday I was too busy at work for my last green tea I usually have, and was starving by the time I got home. Once home, the immediate thought of what would make the hunger go away, was any of the multitude of snacks in our house. The kids said they wanted chocolates left over from the party, I got it for them, but decided against myself. I don't know why, but I love I could do this. I opted instead for a stick of carrot, and that actually worked great. But somewhere in my mind, I made a mental excuse for now being able to have a couple of drinks that night. I had 2 reds later on. Tuesday is a tough day. This last year, my wife works Monday and Wednesday, so Tuesday she's at home, and it often leads to wine with dinner. The problem is I keep drinking, and then don't want to go dry Wednesday. Basically, it makes my drinking week far worse. The last few weeks we've been a little better on Tuesdays, but I was armed with a YES for when my wife asked if we should have a wine with dinner. I ended up drinking on, but slowly. 1.5 glasses of white, 2 reds, 1 bourbon. Not chaos, but this is only Tuesday. Last night was a good guitar night, where I get out in the garage and play music, usually accompanied by drinks. This case it was 3 reds and a bourbon.
So, why? Why did I say cut down on drinks 3 days ago, and here I am blogging about too many drinks? How come I'd easily cut down on drinks a few weeks ago, but now everything has to end with a couple more or drinking nights I don't want to? I've been asking these questions the last couple of days, and my mind was been wandering around trying to understand. So far I'm thinking Oracle from Matrix movies, her sign over the door, Know Thyself. Insanely powerful words. The fact is, you can beat down cravings in the short term, mainly because it's almost like a game, a bit of fun. But once you've proven you can do something, the fun dwindles quickly, and you are left at your normal point. You are left with thyself. You can trick thyself for a little while, and maybe even lose the cravings, but you won't change who you are. You've already been dealt that hand. It's not a case of giving up on trying either. Life should be about constantly trying things. So what if sometimes you fail, it doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying. And really, REALLY, who is thyself? How can you really know that unless you try things. If you just keep doing the very basic things, and never try anything, how do you know your boundaries? How do you know who you really are? I honestly don't know who I am still at 36 years old. Am I a guy who has to drink way too much? I don't know. I've slowed right down, will that be temporary, or am I going to be full speed ahead by Christmas, Christmas 2012 or 2030? I honestly don't know, but I'm going to try to be good.
So since I've almost ruined this week already, and we have friends coming over Sunday, this week is officially a write off. I'm not going crazy the next couple of days, I'm just not going to try anything big tonight. I'm going to tell my wife on the weekend, I can't have wine with her during dinner, except Friday and Saturday nights. If I actually tell her, rather than just telling me, she'll help me do that, and that will almost certainly work. I really don't mind having 2 reds any night of the week, but if I start with dinner wine, I have to stop after dinner, which I'm struggling to do. Hopefully she'll also stop Tuesday and Thursday night drinks too then, but that's up to her. But in saying I don't mind having 2 reds any night, I still want to start a lot of my weeks with 0 alcohol the first two days of the week. It's not actually that hard for me, and it just starts my week off in the right direction. Closer to the weekend, I don't mind always having 2 glasses of red, but I still have to learn to control that, especially Thursday. Sunday will be the hardest though. I'm home, and love having a late afternoon beer. But one thing I know about thyself, is I don't like to stop after those beers. It goes against my very fabric to just stop at 2 friendly beers. I know this as much as I know anything in my life, and I honestly don't expect that to change as I get older. But in any case, next week, I just have to try to be better.
So, to end on some good news. I'm feeling good. Drinks aside, my body is looking very good and feeling great. I'm starting to really see a nice shape forming, and every week I see a little more definition. Food cravings are all but gone. On a normal day after work 2 months ago, I'd be buying a packet of chips for the trip home, having crackers and peanut butter when I get home, having a huge rice/pasta dinner, eating a biscuit or two, having some ice cream, then more crackers later on often. Granted stress was involved, but I really have stopped wanting most of those things. I couldn't care less about breads, pastas, rice. I still like crackers, but don't sit there thinking about them non-stop while at home, not in the slightest. I also love my chips, but I would buy them any opportunity I could before. Filling petrol, buying alcohol, buying groceries, I'd always sneak in a packet. I would even take a trip to the supermarket near work just to buy chips, and I'm talking a big bag at a time. I still love chips, but will walk out of work, out of petrol stations, out of supermarkets with no chips, and not even feel the urge. If anything, I just think about whether there is a special I can buy for upcoming cheat day, but haven't pre-bought cheat day foods yet either. Thyself, as I understand it so far, isn't really that junk food obsessed. This is obviously great news, and I will keeping trying to discover what my real food urges are in the long run, but so far they are minimal.
So this weekend. I'll probably have drinks tonight, yes I'm bad. I plan to have 1.5 whites with dinner, 2 reds after, and there will probably be a bourbon. Friday, pretty much the same. Food wise, it will be quiet until cheat day. I expect to weigh in at about 100 kgs on Saturday, although I thought that last week too and the scales went up if anything. I will have the kids to myself Saturday, so might take them out for a meal, yet to be determined, but we'll do something nice. Sunday people are coming over, so I'm planning a cheat meal on that day. Nothing too bad though, perhaps just a couple of beers and whatever desert is there that night. From there, it's a whole new week to work at.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Need some work
OK, feeling a little lack of control again now. The human condition is a weird one. A few weeks ago I was blogging how happy I was to have beaten off the things that made me guilty, and felt great about that. A couple of weeks ago, I feel like my occasional cheat didn't actually cause any guilt. It's like guilt gets forced to the background by other feelings, and here I am feeling guilty only when things spiral a bit. In my defence, I've still been very good overall, and avoiding a tonne of temptation, but there are gaping holes starting to show in this boat, and those holes need attention, or sinking is a possibility.
OK, to start with the facts. Had good food Friday, finished off with a couple of drinks. 3 white wines (wife wasn't drinking much), 2 bourbons that night, might have had a handful of nuts too (those things are killers). Nothing too bad there. Weigh in (after half a bad breakfast, but I doubt it makes a difference), still 101.5 kgs. Disappointed? Surprised to be honest. I may have eaten a little bad that week, but I felt thin on Friday, thought I'd dropped a little weight. I was a little guilty for eating the lunches and a couple of nut handfuls during the week. Saturday was typical cheat day. Breakfast was pancakes, lunch was ham, cheese and pineapple grill (and 2 beers), then had a party at night. Finished up probably having 6 more beers, and 2 bourbons. Food was chips, dip and crackers, steak, sausage, salad, desert and a couple of chocolates. Also had a packet of chips after everyone left, and signed off with a small ice cream before bed. Pretty huge cheat night. Sunday is possibly the hardest day of the week. Cravings don't easily go away, plus the rest of the family seems to still pig out on this day, so I have to watch as my wife has chocolates, chips, nuts, bad breakfast etc, etc, kids have lollies, biscuits, ice creams etc, etc. I did OK up until late afternoon. I planned my usual 2 beers, but also wanted some wine with dinner, but wife had leftover champagne for herself only. So had a 3rd beer, then wife accidentally opened a beer thinking it was a diet coke can. I ended up having 4 beers and 3 bourbons, which is way too much for a Sunday. On the eating side, I had a good sized dinner already of leftover steak and salad, but wife dished over a sausage, so I should be 100% full right? Still had 2 handful of nuts (told you, they are killing me), but given I had too many drinks, went back for a 3rd handful, then a very small chocolate.
Spelt out, this doesn't sound rediculously bad, it's just things are starting to come undone little by little, and I'm worried this is the first time in weeks I've had any guilt. I should have felt more guilty after the first extra beer, or the first handful of nuts. The nuts are really quite wrong, no need to be snacking while eating big meals like I tend to do. So they have to go. Work lunches are a difficult decision. I'd like to do it every 2 weeks I think, so really have to skip this week unless something out of the usual happens. Other snacks really have to wait until Saturday, but to be honest I've dealt with a lot of tempation in that area and have triumphed really. So alcohol is the last foe.
My alcohol week by day was nothing, nothing, 2 reds, 1.5 whites + 2 reds + 1 bourbon, 3 whites + 2 bourbons, 8 beers + 2 bourbons, 4 beers + 3 bourbons. Even though I consumed a heap on Saturday, Thursday and Sunday are the killers here. I really need to control these back to being purely wine nights, no beers or bourbons. The Sunday afternoon beer sounds good in theory, but if I have those early beers, I just want to drink until bed. Thursday is similar as I have wines with dinner and don't want to stop. The 2 reds nights work, because I do all my eating, excersize, chores, then sit down to 2 reds, and don't really have time to drink crazily, and feel more in control. So unfornately (as it's hard to top a late afternoon summer beer, or wine with dinner outside) I need to stop having afternoon/dinner drinks on non-weekend nights, or if I choose to do that sometimes, have to dry up afterwards, rather than continuing on. I have to be strict with that, it's just part of who/where I want to be.
So after saying last week I want to loosen up into a long term routine, this week is now looking super tight diet week again :) Perhaps this is just a case of trying tweaks here and there to find the perfect routine, but really it looks as though I want to keep it to tight diet, with the occasional extra cheat meal here or there. No snacks/extra drinks permitted, unless it's cheat day? Very healthy, not sure that's long term productive.
OK, to start with the facts. Had good food Friday, finished off with a couple of drinks. 3 white wines (wife wasn't drinking much), 2 bourbons that night, might have had a handful of nuts too (those things are killers). Nothing too bad there. Weigh in (after half a bad breakfast, but I doubt it makes a difference), still 101.5 kgs. Disappointed? Surprised to be honest. I may have eaten a little bad that week, but I felt thin on Friday, thought I'd dropped a little weight. I was a little guilty for eating the lunches and a couple of nut handfuls during the week. Saturday was typical cheat day. Breakfast was pancakes, lunch was ham, cheese and pineapple grill (and 2 beers), then had a party at night. Finished up probably having 6 more beers, and 2 bourbons. Food was chips, dip and crackers, steak, sausage, salad, desert and a couple of chocolates. Also had a packet of chips after everyone left, and signed off with a small ice cream before bed. Pretty huge cheat night. Sunday is possibly the hardest day of the week. Cravings don't easily go away, plus the rest of the family seems to still pig out on this day, so I have to watch as my wife has chocolates, chips, nuts, bad breakfast etc, etc, kids have lollies, biscuits, ice creams etc, etc. I did OK up until late afternoon. I planned my usual 2 beers, but also wanted some wine with dinner, but wife had leftover champagne for herself only. So had a 3rd beer, then wife accidentally opened a beer thinking it was a diet coke can. I ended up having 4 beers and 3 bourbons, which is way too much for a Sunday. On the eating side, I had a good sized dinner already of leftover steak and salad, but wife dished over a sausage, so I should be 100% full right? Still had 2 handful of nuts (told you, they are killing me), but given I had too many drinks, went back for a 3rd handful, then a very small chocolate.
Spelt out, this doesn't sound rediculously bad, it's just things are starting to come undone little by little, and I'm worried this is the first time in weeks I've had any guilt. I should have felt more guilty after the first extra beer, or the first handful of nuts. The nuts are really quite wrong, no need to be snacking while eating big meals like I tend to do. So they have to go. Work lunches are a difficult decision. I'd like to do it every 2 weeks I think, so really have to skip this week unless something out of the usual happens. Other snacks really have to wait until Saturday, but to be honest I've dealt with a lot of tempation in that area and have triumphed really. So alcohol is the last foe.
My alcohol week by day was nothing, nothing, 2 reds, 1.5 whites + 2 reds + 1 bourbon, 3 whites + 2 bourbons, 8 beers + 2 bourbons, 4 beers + 3 bourbons. Even though I consumed a heap on Saturday, Thursday and Sunday are the killers here. I really need to control these back to being purely wine nights, no beers or bourbons. The Sunday afternoon beer sounds good in theory, but if I have those early beers, I just want to drink until bed. Thursday is similar as I have wines with dinner and don't want to stop. The 2 reds nights work, because I do all my eating, excersize, chores, then sit down to 2 reds, and don't really have time to drink crazily, and feel more in control. So unfornately (as it's hard to top a late afternoon summer beer, or wine with dinner outside) I need to stop having afternoon/dinner drinks on non-weekend nights, or if I choose to do that sometimes, have to dry up afterwards, rather than continuing on. I have to be strict with that, it's just part of who/where I want to be.
So after saying last week I want to loosen up into a long term routine, this week is now looking super tight diet week again :) Perhaps this is just a case of trying tweaks here and there to find the perfect routine, but really it looks as though I want to keep it to tight diet, with the occasional extra cheat meal here or there. No snacks/extra drinks permitted, unless it's cheat day? Very healthy, not sure that's long term productive.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Another week finishes
It's Friday again, again feeling a little lighter, or if not lighter, good. Like I mentioned a couple of days ago, even as late as Thursday you still feel a little bigger, then Friday/Saturday mornings you feel like a lightweight. If you had a hot date, I'd definitely not plan it 1 or 2 days after a cheat day.
My week has been a little disappointing from a diet point of view, but if I still lose any weight this week, it'll probably get close to my normal diet attitude. What did I do wrong? What did I do right first. I didn't drink Monday or Tuesday, had 2 reds Wednesday, so that's all good. Thursday was 3.5 wines (had win with wife at dinner), and 1 bourbon. Not really bad, was happy to stop at 1 bourbon, as I was up another hour almost, and usually just keep going until I sleep. Overall, I'd give this week a pass so far for drinking, I'd be pretty happy for that to be a normal week.
Diet was thrown out a little by choosing takeout for lunch, then getting told the next day was to be a catchup with an old work mate at a pub lunch. Chinese takeout wasn't healthy, but I did ditch 2/3rds of the rice, as it is just useless filler compared with the meat and veggies. Sauce is obviously excessive, but overall the meal, when the rice was thrown out, is still not drastically bad. That night, I had crumbed chicken and otherwise good veggies. Not terrible, but crumbed food is off Ferriss's list. I also had a handful of nuts after dinner, mainly because they were there. Not the best day. The pub lunch was also crumbed chicken (excellent), with salad and chips and a beer. Chips were magnificent, but I aimed to only eat 1/3rd of them. Only after sitting there talking for an extra 30 minutes, I'd just occasionally grab another, until they were all gone. Woops. Still had all the salad, and plenty of chicken, no sauces, so could have been worse. Last night was a good meal, but had 2 handfuls of nuts for no good reason. Today will be quite solid diet from what I can tell, I will endevour to not eat bad, given I'm only one day from a cheat day.
As I said, I'm feeling great, and wouldn't be surprised to see another 0.5-1kg drop tomorrow, so this will be the new normal for me if that's the case. Not 100% diet, but just nothing excessive, like buying bags of chips on non-cheat day, or eating crackers/ice cream at home. The reduction of beer must also be helping. I'm also still doing everything else as per diet too, so I still expect to be able to lose weight some weeks when I have a couple of bad things during my diet week. The biggest problem I can see with blurring the line is the temptation factor. I want to try this new idea of diet until Christmas now, and still expect to be under 98-99 kgs by then if I don't stop doing it.
Cheat day this week will be hard working morning (mowing, cleaning house), then party tomorrow, with snacks, nice food, beers flowing. Looking forward to it of course. Hopefully the hangover isn't too bad.
My week has been a little disappointing from a diet point of view, but if I still lose any weight this week, it'll probably get close to my normal diet attitude. What did I do wrong? What did I do right first. I didn't drink Monday or Tuesday, had 2 reds Wednesday, so that's all good. Thursday was 3.5 wines (had win with wife at dinner), and 1 bourbon. Not really bad, was happy to stop at 1 bourbon, as I was up another hour almost, and usually just keep going until I sleep. Overall, I'd give this week a pass so far for drinking, I'd be pretty happy for that to be a normal week.
Diet was thrown out a little by choosing takeout for lunch, then getting told the next day was to be a catchup with an old work mate at a pub lunch. Chinese takeout wasn't healthy, but I did ditch 2/3rds of the rice, as it is just useless filler compared with the meat and veggies. Sauce is obviously excessive, but overall the meal, when the rice was thrown out, is still not drastically bad. That night, I had crumbed chicken and otherwise good veggies. Not terrible, but crumbed food is off Ferriss's list. I also had a handful of nuts after dinner, mainly because they were there. Not the best day. The pub lunch was also crumbed chicken (excellent), with salad and chips and a beer. Chips were magnificent, but I aimed to only eat 1/3rd of them. Only after sitting there talking for an extra 30 minutes, I'd just occasionally grab another, until they were all gone. Woops. Still had all the salad, and plenty of chicken, no sauces, so could have been worse. Last night was a good meal, but had 2 handfuls of nuts for no good reason. Today will be quite solid diet from what I can tell, I will endevour to not eat bad, given I'm only one day from a cheat day.
As I said, I'm feeling great, and wouldn't be surprised to see another 0.5-1kg drop tomorrow, so this will be the new normal for me if that's the case. Not 100% diet, but just nothing excessive, like buying bags of chips on non-cheat day, or eating crackers/ice cream at home. The reduction of beer must also be helping. I'm also still doing everything else as per diet too, so I still expect to be able to lose weight some weeks when I have a couple of bad things during my diet week. The biggest problem I can see with blurring the line is the temptation factor. I want to try this new idea of diet until Christmas now, and still expect to be under 98-99 kgs by then if I don't stop doing it.
Cheat day this week will be hard working morning (mowing, cleaning house), then party tomorrow, with snacks, nice food, beers flowing. Looking forward to it of course. Hopefully the hangover isn't too bad.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Another winner
No updates last few days, and not for negative reasons. Hit the scales another 2 kg lighter last week, 101 kgs now. This was another shock to me, after losing 2 kgs the week before, I honestly expected very little. But I'll admit by Thursday/Friday last week, I was definitely feeling the lost weight. Cheat day was normal bad stuff, good day overall. Went to 3 different venues for my bad food, and ate reasonably bad only. My only real regrets for that week was too much alcohol. This week has already been solid though with no drinks in the first two nights.
It's worth pointing out the standard diet week. After cheat day, you usually feel a bit average, body feels bigger again, cravings are around a little more. By about Tuesday, you start to wonder whether weight will come off this week at all, as the body feels the same as after cheat day. Then the last couple of days are weight freefall. You wake up feeling light and good. The cheat day is also looming now, as is the weekend, so your spirits are nice and high. Come Saturday morning, you weigh in lighter (hopefully), and have a full cheat day ahead, so that's about the peak feeling.
The diet is going very well, but I'm going to throw some curve balls in here. It's now time to adventure slightly outside the parameters. You see I want to keep doing this long term, but want something a little more realistic. I can't keep avoiding pastas, rice, sauces forever. But I also don't want to go back to bad food or snacking out all the time. I'm trying some things out, but it will be like this now. If any of the negative foods outweigh the positives, and are needed to fill up, I'm doing something wrong. A point would be a pasta dish or rice dish. If I need a huge serving of rice or pasta, I'm not getting enough good food. In fact I'll probably not have these meals much anyway, and rice may be subtituted fully for beans. The point is in the long term I want myself, and my family to move away from using rice/pasta/bread/cereals as fillers for meals. It means you aren't getting enough meat and vegetables if you need it. Slight addition for flavouring is fine. I don't expect this to stick for the kids 100%, but hopefully for myself and wife it should be a good combination.
For this week, I've been good so far, with exception of having sausage meat (little too fatty) and taco shells. Even then, had heaps of salad and vegetables, so these are acceptable meals to me. Next couple of days have cheat lunches at work, but nothing too bad. Rest of the diet week should be as normal by normal standards. Saturday is a party at our house, so perfect for a cheat day, Sunday is quiet at this point.
My new goal with life long diets in general is to stay below 100kgs in the future. I know I'm still 1-1.5 kgs off that now, which is good because it still gives me something to achieve. And even though I'm loosening the diet rules a little, I think some common sense will keep my weight below that point.
I will try this out anyway, and see how it goes.
It's worth pointing out the standard diet week. After cheat day, you usually feel a bit average, body feels bigger again, cravings are around a little more. By about Tuesday, you start to wonder whether weight will come off this week at all, as the body feels the same as after cheat day. Then the last couple of days are weight freefall. You wake up feeling light and good. The cheat day is also looming now, as is the weekend, so your spirits are nice and high. Come Saturday morning, you weigh in lighter (hopefully), and have a full cheat day ahead, so that's about the peak feeling.
The diet is going very well, but I'm going to throw some curve balls in here. It's now time to adventure slightly outside the parameters. You see I want to keep doing this long term, but want something a little more realistic. I can't keep avoiding pastas, rice, sauces forever. But I also don't want to go back to bad food or snacking out all the time. I'm trying some things out, but it will be like this now. If any of the negative foods outweigh the positives, and are needed to fill up, I'm doing something wrong. A point would be a pasta dish or rice dish. If I need a huge serving of rice or pasta, I'm not getting enough good food. In fact I'll probably not have these meals much anyway, and rice may be subtituted fully for beans. The point is in the long term I want myself, and my family to move away from using rice/pasta/bread/cereals as fillers for meals. It means you aren't getting enough meat and vegetables if you need it. Slight addition for flavouring is fine. I don't expect this to stick for the kids 100%, but hopefully for myself and wife it should be a good combination.
For this week, I've been good so far, with exception of having sausage meat (little too fatty) and taco shells. Even then, had heaps of salad and vegetables, so these are acceptable meals to me. Next couple of days have cheat lunches at work, but nothing too bad. Rest of the diet week should be as normal by normal standards. Saturday is a party at our house, so perfect for a cheat day, Sunday is quiet at this point.
My new goal with life long diets in general is to stay below 100kgs in the future. I know I'm still 1-1.5 kgs off that now, which is good because it still gives me something to achieve. And even though I'm loosening the diet rules a little, I think some common sense will keep my weight below that point.
I will try this out anyway, and see how it goes.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Drinky drinky
It's one day until cheat day, it's mostly been a good week, perhaps too many drinks, I'll explain.
Monday was a kind of hard day. Work and kids got me a bit wound up, so it didn't seem a big deal to start the week off with a couple of reds. I'll back this too. I don't mind if I drink 2x red wines every night, I don't think it hurts anything, and does give a nice feeling. But it was still a drinking start to the week. Tuesday, I had a day off to take my daughter to hospital. This hospital is a diet issue, because there is a lot of waiting, and plenty of cafe's and snack food around. I resisted (as did my wife), and even had a green tea out, for the first time ever (although they serve the cheap crap). But in the afternoon, it was just beautiful weather, we were making a nice roast dinner, I just cracked open the last 2 beers in the fridge, very nice. Had my 1.3 glasses of white wine with dinner, then 2 reds later on. Loved the setting, can't say I'm upset at all by this. Wednesday could have probably been a day off given Tuesday, but had the 2 reds. Thursday is probably where my guilt lies at. I was never going to take a break on Thursday, but had just the 2 reds by 9:30pm, and was feeling good. But the 2nd glass had gone down so easy, and I was having fun playing some PS3, I just went on to 4 glasses. I felt guilty, still feel guilty. I woke up a little hungover (my brain doesn't cope well with 4 reds), a reminder that this is not on. Where's that self control now?
I'm not going to beat myself up over this at all. All week I ate very well, no snacks, especially good given I had a few extra drinks during the week, and drinks can easily lead to a little cheating. I excersized a little most days, and my body is feeling great overall. Cravings have been up and down a bit all week, but I must say it usually leaves pretty quick. Like you'll crave something, then have a lingering feeling for 15 minutes or so about that craving, making you feel a little down, then it is rock solid gone, never to be thought about all night again. Drinks are the same. When you say no to a third, there is a 15 minute craving, then it's gone, all happy. I just didn't give myself a few minutes on the decision of the 3rd last night, and that cost me 2 more reds.
Tomorrows cheat day is looking like being a bit too rushed around for my liking, and it probably won't be as fun as I'd like for a cheat day. But I'll make the most of it, and make sure to snack out where I can.
Monday was a kind of hard day. Work and kids got me a bit wound up, so it didn't seem a big deal to start the week off with a couple of reds. I'll back this too. I don't mind if I drink 2x red wines every night, I don't think it hurts anything, and does give a nice feeling. But it was still a drinking start to the week. Tuesday, I had a day off to take my daughter to hospital. This hospital is a diet issue, because there is a lot of waiting, and plenty of cafe's and snack food around. I resisted (as did my wife), and even had a green tea out, for the first time ever (although they serve the cheap crap). But in the afternoon, it was just beautiful weather, we were making a nice roast dinner, I just cracked open the last 2 beers in the fridge, very nice. Had my 1.3 glasses of white wine with dinner, then 2 reds later on. Loved the setting, can't say I'm upset at all by this. Wednesday could have probably been a day off given Tuesday, but had the 2 reds. Thursday is probably where my guilt lies at. I was never going to take a break on Thursday, but had just the 2 reds by 9:30pm, and was feeling good. But the 2nd glass had gone down so easy, and I was having fun playing some PS3, I just went on to 4 glasses. I felt guilty, still feel guilty. I woke up a little hungover (my brain doesn't cope well with 4 reds), a reminder that this is not on. Where's that self control now?
I'm not going to beat myself up over this at all. All week I ate very well, no snacks, especially good given I had a few extra drinks during the week, and drinks can easily lead to a little cheating. I excersized a little most days, and my body is feeling great overall. Cravings have been up and down a bit all week, but I must say it usually leaves pretty quick. Like you'll crave something, then have a lingering feeling for 15 minutes or so about that craving, making you feel a little down, then it is rock solid gone, never to be thought about all night again. Drinks are the same. When you say no to a third, there is a 15 minute craving, then it's gone, all happy. I just didn't give myself a few minutes on the decision of the 3rd last night, and that cost me 2 more reds.
Tomorrows cheat day is looking like being a bit too rushed around for my liking, and it probably won't be as fun as I'd like for a cheat day. But I'll make the most of it, and make sure to snack out where I can.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Weigh in
Well, it's cheat day again. I got through Friday fairly unharmed. Actually, it was a very solid week, Im sticking to my diet well.
Yesterday was fairly tough, but it could have been tougher. A going away lunch for a work mate ended up being chicken ordered in, with salad (so much chicken this last week), only the guys meant to order chips and someone mentioned cake, but neither happened, so nothing too bad to avoid, just the big bread rolls. Night time saw a pre-school party, but again they had very little food there, so I had one sausage from a sausage sizzle (no bun, no sauce), then had ham and salad and beans when I got home a bit later. Easy. So it was clearly not a cheat day, which makes today my cheat day.
First thing this morning, hit the scales, 103 kgs. Wow!!! I lost 2 kgs in a week where I had 1.5 cheat days, plus extra beers last weekend. This diet is genuine. It's really right on 1 month since I started, plus 2 days or something, but I'll count that as 7 kgs in month, or 15.5 pounds. What was Ferris saying, 30 pounds? Perhaps if you had more to lose overall, and if you did absolutely every part of the book, including supplements, and more excercize, but I'm more than happy with half of that. In fact 103 kgs puts me at a very healthy size overall. It's not definition in the abs, but it's not looking messy, that's for sure.
The overwhelming message here isn't that this weight will stay off forever etc, it's that I have a way I can lose 7 kgs in a month now if I need to. That's just a brilliant tool to have, and makes me feel very secure about putting on weight in the future. Still got 2 hard months until Christmas, and I still want to keep going until then. I mean why not. My only fear is the weigh ins are going to be harder from here. I can't see going lower than 100 in the next few weeks, so that would mean slower improvement, but I have to learn to put it in perspective and understand not everything is about weight. But it's hard when the weight is obviously dropping off right now.
Today, cheating will include a trip to Maccas with the kids and home made pizza tonight. Cravings suggest these things, I'm happy to follow.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
1 month on
The last few days have been solid diet days. Not the easiest time ever though. Monday I was craving some bad stuff. This is probably due to having 1.5 cheat days, plus too many drinks over the weekend. I felt tired Monday night, and it really would have been easy to snack out a bit, but I laboured through it. Tuesday is normally a non-drinking zone, but I convinced the wife into a bottle of white wine (I had 1.3 glasses), then continued to have 2 red wines. This was mostly due to a work promotion for me, so a little celebration, still no snacking. Felt a cold coming on then, and 2 days later that is in full effect. Yesterday was prettty solid, but meals this week have been poorly thought out, so I'm missing ingredients, had no planned dinner, no planned lunch today, nor a planned dinner tonight. A bit of extra work saw a steak dinner, and I also marinated chicken for todays lunch and tonights dinner, which should be fine.
Positives are easy to find here. My wife cheated herself last night with a big sized packet of chips, one of my favourites, but I declined. I also like that I didn't just join in the kids pasta dish when I had no easy options, nor did I break when I had no clear signs of lunch or dinner today. I'm very happy with all of this.
It's technically 1 month on today, I guess I should do the one month weigh in, probably do that tomorrow. I feel like I've made huge progress body wise, and I expect the scales won't be harsh even though I had 1.5 cheat days in the last week. I'm still undecided about cheat day this week, as Friday is a lunch at work, and probably cake, and at night is a preschool halloween party. I would like to minimise harm at both these things though, and still make Saturday the bad day. Perhaps I'll just have the barest of bad foods at these things, no cake/sweets etc and still make Saturday the bad day. I have to make that decision very soon.
Positives are easy to find here. My wife cheated herself last night with a big sized packet of chips, one of my favourites, but I declined. I also like that I didn't just join in the kids pasta dish when I had no easy options, nor did I break when I had no clear signs of lunch or dinner today. I'm very happy with all of this.
It's technically 1 month on today, I guess I should do the one month weigh in, probably do that tomorrow. I feel like I've made huge progress body wise, and I expect the scales won't be harsh even though I had 1.5 cheat days in the last week. I'm still undecided about cheat day this week, as Friday is a lunch at work, and probably cake, and at night is a preschool halloween party. I would like to minimise harm at both these things though, and still make Saturday the bad day. Perhaps I'll just have the barest of bad foods at these things, no cake/sweets etc and still make Saturday the bad day. I have to make that decision very soon.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Double cheat weekend
OK, weekend over, damage about as expected really. I'm probably not too far off my guilty weekend a couple of weeks ago, but the guilt isn't really there this time, kind of expected it this time around. I suppose in all fairness, guilt is the wrong feeling to have. Like I said previously, it took me a whole week to shake off that feeling, at any time I could have bottomed out and stopped the diet. Now I'm still on the diet, just had a bad couple of things, should be able just to move on from that.
OK, so Friday was my birthday, and early cheat day. Sausage, eggs, toast brekky, apple in the morning, massively sweet cake mid morning, chicken and chips for lunch, chinese meal out with wine, snacked on some crackers later that night with a couple of beers and bourbons. Nothing outrageous, but solid bad eating day.
Onto my non-cheat Saturday. It was a warm day, and we were having our first sort of "party" on Sunday, so heaps of house work, especially outside in warm weather. About half way through I signed a contract with myself to drink the last 2 beers still in the fridge from the night before. I had a green tea at this point, and enjoyed late afternoon watching kids running under sprinklers with the tea, not a bad thing. But as we came up to dinner, I did have the beer anyway, well deserved I thought. I had a glass of wine with dinner, and so far had only cheated on the single beer and was full from dinner. My wife had been baking a fancy cake, and there was bad stuff everywhere, but I was unmoved...until... I was washing up while she was putting kids to bed, and there was a excess chocolate icing in a bowl and I had a taste. It was so damn nice and was getting thrown out otherwise, so I had several more tastes. I call this cheating, because that was literally a chocolate bar by the time I said no more :) I stopped at that and had 2 more smaller red wines while watching a movie with the wife. I don't know, a beer and some chocolate. Not an outstanding failure, but not a perfect diet day for a week where I'm having 2 cheat days of sorts.
Sunday was already planned to be a bad lunch for diets, and it didn't disappoint. Good breakfast, tea mid morning, then 2 beers, chicken and salad (not really bad, but chicken is crumbed), cake and then I stopped... for a while. Had a really nice relaxing afternoon, perfect Sydney weather. I was having a great afternoon and decided to finish off the two premium beers left in the fridge after the lunch, and did so. Had the chicken and salad again for dinner, which again isn't really a cheat, it's just not 100% aligned with the diet. My cheat Sunday was drinking too much. I followed dinner with a couple of red wines, and 2.5 bourbons with water (poured 3, threw out half of one). This drinking is over a period of probably 7 hours mind you, so while I was "drunk", I was still in control and don't have a hangover today. I don't know, perfect Sydney weather, good atmosphere, just felt like a day to relax and enjoy.
So certainly not 100% to plan, but minimal damage overall I think. Today is back on the diet, and later in the week I have to make up my mind as to whether Friday is a cheat day or not, as there are two potentially diet unfriendly events on Friday, and nothing planned for Saturday as yet.
OK, so Friday was my birthday, and early cheat day. Sausage, eggs, toast brekky, apple in the morning, massively sweet cake mid morning, chicken and chips for lunch, chinese meal out with wine, snacked on some crackers later that night with a couple of beers and bourbons. Nothing outrageous, but solid bad eating day.
Onto my non-cheat Saturday. It was a warm day, and we were having our first sort of "party" on Sunday, so heaps of house work, especially outside in warm weather. About half way through I signed a contract with myself to drink the last 2 beers still in the fridge from the night before. I had a green tea at this point, and enjoyed late afternoon watching kids running under sprinklers with the tea, not a bad thing. But as we came up to dinner, I did have the beer anyway, well deserved I thought. I had a glass of wine with dinner, and so far had only cheated on the single beer and was full from dinner. My wife had been baking a fancy cake, and there was bad stuff everywhere, but I was unmoved...until... I was washing up while she was putting kids to bed, and there was a excess chocolate icing in a bowl and I had a taste. It was so damn nice and was getting thrown out otherwise, so I had several more tastes. I call this cheating, because that was literally a chocolate bar by the time I said no more :) I stopped at that and had 2 more smaller red wines while watching a movie with the wife. I don't know, a beer and some chocolate. Not an outstanding failure, but not a perfect diet day for a week where I'm having 2 cheat days of sorts.
Sunday was already planned to be a bad lunch for diets, and it didn't disappoint. Good breakfast, tea mid morning, then 2 beers, chicken and salad (not really bad, but chicken is crumbed), cake and then I stopped... for a while. Had a really nice relaxing afternoon, perfect Sydney weather. I was having a great afternoon and decided to finish off the two premium beers left in the fridge after the lunch, and did so. Had the chicken and salad again for dinner, which again isn't really a cheat, it's just not 100% aligned with the diet. My cheat Sunday was drinking too much. I followed dinner with a couple of red wines, and 2.5 bourbons with water (poured 3, threw out half of one). This drinking is over a period of probably 7 hours mind you, so while I was "drunk", I was still in control and don't have a hangover today. I don't know, perfect Sydney weather, good atmosphere, just felt like a day to relax and enjoy.
So certainly not 100% to plan, but minimal damage overall I think. Today is back on the diet, and later in the week I have to make up my mind as to whether Friday is a cheat day or not, as there are two potentially diet unfriendly events on Friday, and nothing planned for Saturday as yet.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Weigh in before cheat day 4.
Weigh in this morning was I guess you'd say disappointing, still at 105. It might have been half a kg drop, as the scales aren't very accurate, and that needle is almost at 104 and I definitely feel a little lighter overall. Perhaps it means the weight stabilised but I still lost some size? It's a slightly early cheat day which will probably explain it too. I guess my fear would be seeing 106 next weekend, as I'll be cheating today, then having a cheat meal/afternoon on Sunday, which really messes up a good diet week. It will be an interesting experience I guess, as seeing 104 on that day would be a surprise. I'll aim to be as good as I can outside those cheat days, the weight will look after itself.
I want to get to two different drinks. One is green tea. Tim says to get plenty of this in your system, so I swapped out coffee for green tea, and I like it. Firstly, it has enough taste that you don't need milk and sugar to make it "right" (I'm talking cheap tea vs cheap coffee BTW). But I did a little more reading yesterday and it is successfully used as a weight loss tool on it's own. There are claims out there that people have finally lost weight after trying different things, just by swapping green tea into their diet. Studies also showed dangerous side effects at higher doses, but nothing under 10 cups a day would be considered dangerous (not that I could stomach that much, nor would the caffeine be good). I'm having 3-4 cups a day anyway, and I see it as an important part of the overall diet idea.
Other drinks are alcohol. It's cheat day (and birthday) today, so it was obvious to get out a few of my once a week beers. I bought these beers quite a while ago now, but admittedly I bought 2 cartons (30 can cartons) at the time. I was drinking pretty heavy before this last month, and found myself going through about 2/3rd of these things a week, so 20 cans. 4 on Thursday/Friday each, 5 or 6 on Saturday/Sunday each, with the occasional other day like Tuesday/Wednesday in the mix too. Making that far far worse, was I'd usually have 1/3 a bottle of wine those nights, and also a bourbon or two chaser after the beers dried up. I guess the news is I made the decision to folow the diet 25 days ago, and that included one day a week beers, and I remember the carton was already half empty, so around 13-15 beers left. So in 25 days I might have gone through 70 beers, but instead I'm on around 10 (will be 13/14 by tonight). Bourbon is similar, going through probably averaging 1.5 bottles every two weeks. A bourbon bottle I opened before the diet is still almost 1/2 full. So that's like 2.5 bottles of bourbon down to 0.6 on this diet. Wine hasn't changed much, and has probably actually gone up given I have one night where I allow 4 glasses, and have 2 glasses 4 nights a week. But I'm still extremely happy with my progress here, especially on our budget. To add this up, 25 days of alcohol used to cost me $93 worth of beer, $70 worth of bourbon plus wine, has now cost me $17 worth of beer and $16 worth of bourbon. Not to mention, I'm buying cheaper red wines for myself, than white wines for the wife and me, so even wine budget has gone down a lot. That's $130 saving in less than a month, and no doubt even more important for my body and mind.
Well, it's a weird weekend ahead, with no cheat day, non cheat day Saturday and then cheat meal Sunday. I feel this will be challenging for some reason, so I'm going to work hard and make sure my next blog says I didn't cheat any more than planned, and that I'm on the way to having a solid diet week.
I want to get to two different drinks. One is green tea. Tim says to get plenty of this in your system, so I swapped out coffee for green tea, and I like it. Firstly, it has enough taste that you don't need milk and sugar to make it "right" (I'm talking cheap tea vs cheap coffee BTW). But I did a little more reading yesterday and it is successfully used as a weight loss tool on it's own. There are claims out there that people have finally lost weight after trying different things, just by swapping green tea into their diet. Studies also showed dangerous side effects at higher doses, but nothing under 10 cups a day would be considered dangerous (not that I could stomach that much, nor would the caffeine be good). I'm having 3-4 cups a day anyway, and I see it as an important part of the overall diet idea.
Other drinks are alcohol. It's cheat day (and birthday) today, so it was obvious to get out a few of my once a week beers. I bought these beers quite a while ago now, but admittedly I bought 2 cartons (30 can cartons) at the time. I was drinking pretty heavy before this last month, and found myself going through about 2/3rd of these things a week, so 20 cans. 4 on Thursday/Friday each, 5 or 6 on Saturday/Sunday each, with the occasional other day like Tuesday/Wednesday in the mix too. Making that far far worse, was I'd usually have 1/3 a bottle of wine those nights, and also a bourbon or two chaser after the beers dried up. I guess the news is I made the decision to folow the diet 25 days ago, and that included one day a week beers, and I remember the carton was already half empty, so around 13-15 beers left. So in 25 days I might have gone through 70 beers, but instead I'm on around 10 (will be 13/14 by tonight). Bourbon is similar, going through probably averaging 1.5 bottles every two weeks. A bourbon bottle I opened before the diet is still almost 1/2 full. So that's like 2.5 bottles of bourbon down to 0.6 on this diet. Wine hasn't changed much, and has probably actually gone up given I have one night where I allow 4 glasses, and have 2 glasses 4 nights a week. But I'm still extremely happy with my progress here, especially on our budget. To add this up, 25 days of alcohol used to cost me $93 worth of beer, $70 worth of bourbon plus wine, has now cost me $17 worth of beer and $16 worth of bourbon. Not to mention, I'm buying cheaper red wines for myself, than white wines for the wife and me, so even wine budget has gone down a lot. That's $130 saving in less than a month, and no doubt even more important for my body and mind.
Well, it's a weird weekend ahead, with no cheat day, non cheat day Saturday and then cheat meal Sunday. I feel this will be challenging for some reason, so I'm going to work hard and make sure my next blog says I didn't cheat any more than planned, and that I'm on the way to having a solid diet week.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Birthday to interupt
Dieting so far this week has been very solid. I'd question last nights meal. I was baking my wife crumbed fish, and decided to throw 3 chicken nuggets in there, and had them with a little BBQ sauce. Nothing too bad I don't think, but I know Ferriss doesn't like crumbed food, and definitely not a little sauce. Still, I've been working hard to keep straight, it definitely gets easier when you aren't cheating yourself. It's like momentum building, and once you cheat, that momentum slows down a bit, cheat again it stops, and then it's really hard to get going again. After having a couple of extra drinks, and a couple of snacks two weekends ago, it got really hard for at least a week. But the momentum is back now and it feels easy.
Definitely getting down to new lows again this week. I definitely bounced up in weight again on cheat day, and could feel it. But then by about Wednesday it seems like it's gone again, and the last few days of the week get you feeling better and better. Actually see a little definition higher up on the stomach now, with still plenty of fat covering the lower part of the stomach. I assume that will be the last to go.
This weekend is turning out to be a nightmare. Friday is my birthday, and I'm possibly do something with work friends at lunch, then definitely having a dinner out with wife and kids that night. So that's fine, that is my cheat day obviously. However, I'm also having a birthdy lunch on Sunday that will involve nice food, drinks and probably some sweets/cake. So it goes cheat day, normal cheat day which now has to be diet day, then normal diet day with cheat in the middle? I guess I have to do that. I can probably avoid Sunday being too bad, and just have to use some discipline to make sure I don't do anything bad that afternoon and night.
I guess that's the plan then. So I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning, then it's off for a good old cheat day.
Definitely getting down to new lows again this week. I definitely bounced up in weight again on cheat day, and could feel it. But then by about Wednesday it seems like it's gone again, and the last few days of the week get you feeling better and better. Actually see a little definition higher up on the stomach now, with still plenty of fat covering the lower part of the stomach. I assume that will be the last to go.
This weekend is turning out to be a nightmare. Friday is my birthday, and I'm possibly do something with work friends at lunch, then definitely having a dinner out with wife and kids that night. So that's fine, that is my cheat day obviously. However, I'm also having a birthdy lunch on Sunday that will involve nice food, drinks and probably some sweets/cake. So it goes cheat day, normal cheat day which now has to be diet day, then normal diet day with cheat in the middle? I guess I have to do that. I can probably avoid Sunday being too bad, and just have to use some discipline to make sure I don't do anything bad that afternoon and night.
I guess that's the plan then. So I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning, then it's off for a good old cheat day.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Week 3 done
And so ends a pretty great diet week. Held on for the last two days, exactly as planned. Then onto cheat day. It really does turn things upside down, even if it doesn't seem that crazy bad. Feel any bit hungry, have a snack. Want some beers, it's OK today. Had some chicken and chips for lunch, which was amazingly good, and some Thai take away for dinner, which was solid as usual, and a couple of slices of left over home made pizza that the kids didn't eat the night before, just to cap it all off. I will say this about diet day though. I spent a decent chunk of it at home (was out all morning, home all afternoon), and snacked/ate when I wanted. Similarily, I spent a large chunk at home Sunday, and also felt like snacking. It only takes one daying of doing like you please to convince your body it's OK to do what you please. I kept going with well timed green teas, which did the job of distracting me, but it was much harder the day after cheat day funnily enough, when you think you'd be over anything bad. But I kept my head and had a good diet day, even restricted myself to the two red wines Sunday night, so very pleased with that.
I have more stuff to fill in here. A bit about guilt, a bit about snacks, a bit about diet slips, but I just can't compose myself right now. I could just blabber some stuff out there, but without at least some clues about the answers, or even all the questions, I won't bother putting it out there. I'll think a little more about it and get out of there.
Onto normal diet news. Got through the weekend fine as mentioned, and did my weekly weigh in before cheat day, and did manage to just weigh myself that one time over the last week. 105kgs, which is lower than previous weeks. While it's not a record low by any means, I feel that's about my stupid eating weight aleready dropped off. I guess I'm saying at some point I'm expecting slow gains, and I always drop weight quickly at start and then hit a wall. That wall (on most diets) is probably pretty close right now, which is why it's really important to not focus on the scales too much. I can handle not losing weight 1 week, but checking 7-9 times a week will just make that all the more depressing.
As for this week, I feel I did really well last week, so don't know any other goals to set for this week other than keep it up. No guilt is the obvious side of any decisions I make. Perhaps I have to work something out around the weekend, as I have a birthday Friday, which almost certainly means a couple of nice things, perhaps not on normal cheat day. I'll work that out soon.
I have more stuff to fill in here. A bit about guilt, a bit about snacks, a bit about diet slips, but I just can't compose myself right now. I could just blabber some stuff out there, but without at least some clues about the answers, or even all the questions, I won't bother putting it out there. I'll think a little more about it and get out of there.
Onto normal diet news. Got through the weekend fine as mentioned, and did my weekly weigh in before cheat day, and did manage to just weigh myself that one time over the last week. 105kgs, which is lower than previous weeks. While it's not a record low by any means, I feel that's about my stupid eating weight aleready dropped off. I guess I'm saying at some point I'm expecting slow gains, and I always drop weight quickly at start and then hit a wall. That wall (on most diets) is probably pretty close right now, which is why it's really important to not focus on the scales too much. I can handle not losing weight 1 week, but checking 7-9 times a week will just make that all the more depressing.
As for this week, I feel I did really well last week, so don't know any other goals to set for this week other than keep it up. No guilt is the obvious side of any decisions I make. Perhaps I have to work something out around the weekend, as I have a birthday Friday, which almost certainly means a couple of nice things, perhaps not on normal cheat day. I'll work that out soon.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Guilty, not guilty
Blogging again with pretty much the same story to tell as yesterday. I'm consciously aware of the guilt factor now, and that is a driver in itself. I'm not sure how long that might last, but when I'm thinking of further drinks or food at night time, I think about the guilt I'll wear the rest of the night, plus the next day when I have to report failure.
It's actually not the first guilt killer I've done this last year. I've had more than one little guilt vice. First and foremost is probably my relationship with my wife. Don't get me wrong, it's a strong, communicative relationship, but it's not always as committing as it could be. For example, just to go to bed at the same time, when I am doing nothing at all interesting, is avoided for no good reason. But I'm slowly overcoming that. I felt like I had a need to have a few minutes of alone time, but you soon realise once you've built that into your life, it squashes out other things, like relationships with people. And not just wife, but family and friends too. Lifes far less interesting in your own cave. I mean at my worst, in my own cave, drinking vritually by myself after the wife is down. No great reason for this, it seems rediculous.
Drinking is certainly another guilt factor. I would be happy with 4 drinks at home, then it became 6, then 8. Even after 2 you are feeling a little tipsy, anything beyond that is really just drinking for drinking sake. Not that I won't enjoy doing that still on the weekend, maybe 4 drinks Friday, 6 on a Saturday. It's still fun to get to that next level of drunk, just not all the time.
Work was definitely one. When I'm not interested in what I'm doing, I avoid the work (which I can do really well :)), then feel guilty at work for not doing what I should be, then guilty at home for not working hard for the prior 8 hours. I find if I get home having worked a solid 8 hours, regardless of what I'm doing, I feel 100% better about myself. I've been doing that a lot more this last 6-12 months. Work loves me, I love me more importantly.
One unresolved guilt is my lack of keeping up with friends. Since I've built a lot of me time into my life, and family and work take up the rest, I find myself keeping my schedules vague to friends looking to catch up. This has drive some away, and made catchups with others far less frequent. Again this is not healthy and causes guilt.
The point is I'm feeling so much better in the morning the last two days. Not because I didn't overdrink last night, but because I had a couple of drinks, then said no more. It's pride in trying to turn a corner towards a healthier outlook. And with that pride comes a great removal of guilt.
So basically I want to set this as a life stance. When decisions are to be made, which ones cause more guilt? This is most likely the wrong decision, go with the other. I just want to see if this is alwyas possible, and what sense comes of that. I'll obviously not do anything stupid, but I do want to see if this guilt thing is a good measure of how to live your life.
It's actually not the first guilt killer I've done this last year. I've had more than one little guilt vice. First and foremost is probably my relationship with my wife. Don't get me wrong, it's a strong, communicative relationship, but it's not always as committing as it could be. For example, just to go to bed at the same time, when I am doing nothing at all interesting, is avoided for no good reason. But I'm slowly overcoming that. I felt like I had a need to have a few minutes of alone time, but you soon realise once you've built that into your life, it squashes out other things, like relationships with people. And not just wife, but family and friends too. Lifes far less interesting in your own cave. I mean at my worst, in my own cave, drinking vritually by myself after the wife is down. No great reason for this, it seems rediculous.
Drinking is certainly another guilt factor. I would be happy with 4 drinks at home, then it became 6, then 8. Even after 2 you are feeling a little tipsy, anything beyond that is really just drinking for drinking sake. Not that I won't enjoy doing that still on the weekend, maybe 4 drinks Friday, 6 on a Saturday. It's still fun to get to that next level of drunk, just not all the time.
Work was definitely one. When I'm not interested in what I'm doing, I avoid the work (which I can do really well :)), then feel guilty at work for not doing what I should be, then guilty at home for not working hard for the prior 8 hours. I find if I get home having worked a solid 8 hours, regardless of what I'm doing, I feel 100% better about myself. I've been doing that a lot more this last 6-12 months. Work loves me, I love me more importantly.
One unresolved guilt is my lack of keeping up with friends. Since I've built a lot of me time into my life, and family and work take up the rest, I find myself keeping my schedules vague to friends looking to catch up. This has drive some away, and made catchups with others far less frequent. Again this is not healthy and causes guilt.
The point is I'm feeling so much better in the morning the last two days. Not because I didn't overdrink last night, but because I had a couple of drinks, then said no more. It's pride in trying to turn a corner towards a healthier outlook. And with that pride comes a great removal of guilt.
So basically I want to set this as a life stance. When decisions are to be made, which ones cause more guilt? This is most likely the wrong decision, go with the other. I just want to see if this is alwyas possible, and what sense comes of that. I'll obviously not do anything stupid, but I do want to see if this guilt thing is a good measure of how to live your life.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A day in the diet
I'll admit the human brain is not a clever beast, or perhaps too clever, but certainly not easy to train either way. I always laughed at people who struggle to lose weight, but I understand very clearly now. Take last night for example. I've had 3 meals for the day, big enough to keep a hungry family going for a week. I want to diet properly and not fall into bad habits, yet I have a hunger to have something bad. It's not a hunger based on any real need for food, it's a "fill this void" hunger. For me it can be alcohol, snack food, anything really. Actually you can fill a void by hanging with your family, excercize, reading, internet, games, TV, work, etc. But sometimes you feel a specific hole filling need. No work or excercize is fitting this hole, just some cheese and crackers, or another drink.
Last night I allowed myself 2 red wines, and I'm flowing through them quite nicely. Even before the 2nd has finished, that specific hole is looming "I'd like a 3rd drink." One of the problems is I'm not even that worried about how a 3rd or 4th drink will affect my health, and possibly not even my diet. So there seems little reason not to when I'm enjoying the end of that 2nd drink. The only reason really standing in the way is I want control over this. To feel better about myself tomorrow, I need control over these little things. In fact, by the time I've poured that 3rd drink, my guilt has already soured the drink, and guilt lingers all night long as I get tipsier. Tomorrow morning I feel bad about not having the control. It's safe to say the negatives outweigh the positives. And it's even very questionable what positives exist anyway, in the cold light of day.
I had a good diet day yesterday, and had my 2 drinks after the kids were down. I was working on my computer, and had a little frustration in something I was trying to do. That 2nd drink is near finished, my work is shitting me anyway, wouldn't it be nice to kick back to some music/TV/game with a couple more glasses. I don't know exactly what happened, but I didn't do that. Instead I drank a decent swig of water, and went back to work. I'll admit to mixed feelings after doing this for at least 30 minutes, then I had a good run of work, I managed to put those feelings aside and get through to bed time without issues. I made it! Perfect diet day again, exactly as planned. I felt great going to bed. No guilt. I feel great waking up this morning, looking back and saying I did good. It will be interesting to be looking back a week from now and see if I can be guilt free about an entire week, or if the rails fall off again around weekend. Saturday is cheat day anyway, so that helps a lot, but Friday night and Sunday night especially are difficult days for me around alcohol.
To top off that good feeling today, I hit notch 2 on my old belt today. To go back, I tried using this belt a few weeks ago and couldn't easily reach notch 1. After a week of the diet, I needed a belt more than ever for my now slightly loose jeans, and found I could now reach notch 1. Today I was feeling a little slimmer, and what do you know, notch 2 is comfortable. But the more I do this, the more I see real goals. I want to see a bit more definition around the gut. I'm technically not far off being considered slim, but now I want to see some sugar for all this. That nice bulge at the bottom of the gut has to go. I have no problem taking my shirt off at beaches, but it would be nice to take it off and actually look good too. Have some self pride. I don't think this will come too soon, so it's a longer goal, but would be an amazing one to hit.
Last night I allowed myself 2 red wines, and I'm flowing through them quite nicely. Even before the 2nd has finished, that specific hole is looming "I'd like a 3rd drink." One of the problems is I'm not even that worried about how a 3rd or 4th drink will affect my health, and possibly not even my diet. So there seems little reason not to when I'm enjoying the end of that 2nd drink. The only reason really standing in the way is I want control over this. To feel better about myself tomorrow, I need control over these little things. In fact, by the time I've poured that 3rd drink, my guilt has already soured the drink, and guilt lingers all night long as I get tipsier. Tomorrow morning I feel bad about not having the control. It's safe to say the negatives outweigh the positives. And it's even very questionable what positives exist anyway, in the cold light of day.
I had a good diet day yesterday, and had my 2 drinks after the kids were down. I was working on my computer, and had a little frustration in something I was trying to do. That 2nd drink is near finished, my work is shitting me anyway, wouldn't it be nice to kick back to some music/TV/game with a couple more glasses. I don't know exactly what happened, but I didn't do that. Instead I drank a decent swig of water, and went back to work. I'll admit to mixed feelings after doing this for at least 30 minutes, then I had a good run of work, I managed to put those feelings aside and get through to bed time without issues. I made it! Perfect diet day again, exactly as planned. I felt great going to bed. No guilt. I feel great waking up this morning, looking back and saying I did good. It will be interesting to be looking back a week from now and see if I can be guilt free about an entire week, or if the rails fall off again around weekend. Saturday is cheat day anyway, so that helps a lot, but Friday night and Sunday night especially are difficult days for me around alcohol.
To top off that good feeling today, I hit notch 2 on my old belt today. To go back, I tried using this belt a few weeks ago and couldn't easily reach notch 1. After a week of the diet, I needed a belt more than ever for my now slightly loose jeans, and found I could now reach notch 1. Today I was feeling a little slimmer, and what do you know, notch 2 is comfortable. But the more I do this, the more I see real goals. I want to see a bit more definition around the gut. I'm technically not far off being considered slim, but now I want to see some sugar for all this. That nice bulge at the bottom of the gut has to go. I have no problem taking my shirt off at beaches, but it would be nice to take it off and actually look good too. Have some self pride. I don't think this will come too soon, so it's a longer goal, but would be an amazing one to hit.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Good start to week 3
First two days of this week and happy to say right back on schedule. No snacks, no drinks the first two days, and very solid eating for that two days. I've also put away the scales for now. Again, no point to it. Whether I lose weight or not, I am on the diet now. I know it's great to see kgs fall off, but I don't want to be tied to that.
But I'm just glad to get through with no cheating so far. Of course, I was saying "don't cheat" to my 6yo son, and he asked what that meant. My wife said "it means do the right thing", but I corrected her and said it means "don't break the rules." Think about it. Boxing is a sport with rules. To do the right thing would probably mean don't punch that guy at all. But to obey the rules, you can punch the guy, but you can't kick him. I think schools have about the easiest example of black and white cheating. You sit an exam, you don't get outside help from anyone during the exam. Very simple. Yet the right thing would always be to seek help if you didn't know the answer, rather than try to do something you don't understand yourself.
But diet cheating is trickiest, especially slow carb diet. It allows some things that might be considered bad on other diets, because of their fat content, yet they are allowed in SCD? ie eggs and meat. Meat has plenty of fat, but can you eat a sausage which has more fat? It's not recommended you have the high fat foods, but not completely locked out either. It becomes sort of self regulated, as in I'll do my SCD different to the next person. So I may be cheating with a couple of my choices by someones regulation, whereas they might be cheating by my regulations.
I think this does make it tougher, becuase when a craving kicks into overdrive, your mind can overrule a normal regulation, which technically is not really cheating if you allowed the overrule. ie, I might say I'll do 6 good days and 1 bad, but even on the good days, I'll occasionally have a little something nice. This could be within the boundaries of your diet, therefore you aren't cheating. And I would say you'd still lose weight being 95% good and 5% bad.
For now however, I want to keep pretty close to a strict SCD. The exceptions I'll allow are a couple of extra Friday night drinks, perhaps even a small snack on those nights. However, with a Sun-Thu of solid diet, Friday solid with a couple of extra drinks, and Saturday complete cheat day, I think I'm in pretty good shape overall. I'm not yet fully looking forward to cheat day, really just trying to keep a low profile for the week, and I'll probably get more excited about it by Friday.
I should think of one thing I'd like cheat day, to get myself working towards that. I guess CCs + salsa would be one nice thing I'd like to allow myself.
But I'm just glad to get through with no cheating so far. Of course, I was saying "don't cheat" to my 6yo son, and he asked what that meant. My wife said "it means do the right thing", but I corrected her and said it means "don't break the rules." Think about it. Boxing is a sport with rules. To do the right thing would probably mean don't punch that guy at all. But to obey the rules, you can punch the guy, but you can't kick him. I think schools have about the easiest example of black and white cheating. You sit an exam, you don't get outside help from anyone during the exam. Very simple. Yet the right thing would always be to seek help if you didn't know the answer, rather than try to do something you don't understand yourself.
But diet cheating is trickiest, especially slow carb diet. It allows some things that might be considered bad on other diets, because of their fat content, yet they are allowed in SCD? ie eggs and meat. Meat has plenty of fat, but can you eat a sausage which has more fat? It's not recommended you have the high fat foods, but not completely locked out either. It becomes sort of self regulated, as in I'll do my SCD different to the next person. So I may be cheating with a couple of my choices by someones regulation, whereas they might be cheating by my regulations.
I think this does make it tougher, becuase when a craving kicks into overdrive, your mind can overrule a normal regulation, which technically is not really cheating if you allowed the overrule. ie, I might say I'll do 6 good days and 1 bad, but even on the good days, I'll occasionally have a little something nice. This could be within the boundaries of your diet, therefore you aren't cheating. And I would say you'd still lose weight being 95% good and 5% bad.
For now however, I want to keep pretty close to a strict SCD. The exceptions I'll allow are a couple of extra Friday night drinks, perhaps even a small snack on those nights. However, with a Sun-Thu of solid diet, Friday solid with a couple of extra drinks, and Saturday complete cheat day, I think I'm in pretty good shape overall. I'm not yet fully looking forward to cheat day, really just trying to keep a low profile for the week, and I'll probably get more excited about it by Friday.
I should think of one thing I'd like cheat day, to get myself working towards that. I guess CCs + salsa would be one nice thing I'd like to allow myself.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Rough weekend
Not the best ever weekend, but not a train wreck either.
Cheat day ended up being Thursday night rather than Saturday, and until 5pm Saturday, this was not a problem. At that point I'd been working all day in the yard, and the wife suggested a BBQ. My thoughts were, I'd love a beer with that, and really, why not? So I had my steak, sausages and salad, which is mostly fine, and I had my beer while cooking, intending on another later. I ended up having 3 wines, 2 beers and a bourbon (over about 6 hours), and a little loose I allowed myself a biscuit, and a few crackers later on. Semi-cheat day?
Sunday actually went mostly the same. Ate good all day, got to night time and had 4 glasses of wine, a biscuit and a few crackers.
It was tough this weekend, because we wroked very hard all weekend, and I even broke a finger on Sunday trying to hammer some things. But I can't say I did really all that badly. So I had a couple too many drinks each night, and so I snuck in a couple of crackers. I'm back to being good now, and won't drink or snack the next few days at all. Later in the week I'll allow myself the 2 glasses of red wine, but I have to stop there unless it's cheat day.
Cheat day ended up being Thursday night rather than Saturday, and until 5pm Saturday, this was not a problem. At that point I'd been working all day in the yard, and the wife suggested a BBQ. My thoughts were, I'd love a beer with that, and really, why not? So I had my steak, sausages and salad, which is mostly fine, and I had my beer while cooking, intending on another later. I ended up having 3 wines, 2 beers and a bourbon (over about 6 hours), and a little loose I allowed myself a biscuit, and a few crackers later on. Semi-cheat day?
Sunday actually went mostly the same. Ate good all day, got to night time and had 4 glasses of wine, a biscuit and a few crackers.
It was tough this weekend, because we wroked very hard all weekend, and I even broke a finger on Sunday trying to hammer some things. But I can't say I did really all that badly. So I had a couple too many drinks each night, and so I snuck in a couple of crackers. I'm back to being good now, and won't drink or snack the next few days at all. Later in the week I'll allow myself the 2 glasses of red wine, but I have to stop there unless it's cheat day.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Cheat day 2?
Well a curve ball was thrown. 2/3rds of my way through a normal work day, the mrs rings up and announces we should go out for dinner. The dinner of choice was going to be very bad for my diet, and even if I had something good for my diet, I'd die thinking I'd missed an opportunity to have some bad stuff. So 2/3rds of the way through a healthy diet day, the day turned into cheat day. I had little time to turn it into a crazy day, but snuck in a medium sized packet of chips on the way home, love this. An hour later we were eating at our favourite Chinese (magnificent food) with a bottle of wine between us. The food was magical as usual, and I felt good about getting my cheat day in early, even though I'd only cheated the last 1/3rd of it. I finished off having a little ice cream, some crackers at night and a couple of beers. This is actually my let loose day for food and drink, so pretty unimpressive returns on the drinking, but the body won't complain about that of course.
The hardest bit now will be dieting for 8 days rather than 6 between cheat days. Also might have a slightly tough day as my work has a family day, where lots of good food and drink can be had around lunch time which I'll have to try to ignore.
Anyway, pretty happy about the cheat day as a whole, and glad we did what we did. Will be a quieter weekend for sure because of this, but there is enough coming up to keep me busy anyhow.
The hardest bit now will be dieting for 8 days rather than 6 between cheat days. Also might have a slightly tough day as my work has a family day, where lots of good food and drink can be had around lunch time which I'll have to try to ignore.
Anyway, pretty happy about the cheat day as a whole, and glad we did what we did. Will be a quieter weekend for sure because of this, but there is enough coming up to keep me busy anyhow.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Back to lowest weight
Happy to report I'm back to last Saturdays weight before cheat day. That is I've lost around 3kgs since starting this diet, just for the 2nd time now. I guess with 2 days left until cheat day this is a sign that things may be moving forward, and I might go down another little bit before bouncing back up after cheat day. So far no real feeling about the upcoming cheat day. It's been hectic around home with visitors, so that's not surprising, but I feel if the diet is to work, I need to be excited about cheat day and plan some bad stuff each time. Perhaps I'll put that as a test, to have a few cheat day foods on this blog before Saturday.
I also have to learn to become less obsessed about the weight itself. It should be perfectly fine to not lose weight for one or two weeks on any diet, but if you are weighing yourself every day, that's a tough two weeks. I'll also test myself to not do weigh ins until Saturday mornings. This will make it easier to get through a poor results week, rather than being upset every day of that week.
On a negative note, I slipped in a couple of extra glasses of wine 2 of the last 3 nights. I thought I'd be quite happy limiting myself to 2 glasses, but apparently not. And once that 3rd is in you, the 4th is almost automatic. This also tests the cravings, as they get stronger once your defences are down. So far so good on holding off bad food though. Need to work hard at avoiding the 3rd drink on anything but cheat night, will report back on this.
I also have to learn to become less obsessed about the weight itself. It should be perfectly fine to not lose weight for one or two weeks on any diet, but if you are weighing yourself every day, that's a tough two weeks. I'll also test myself to not do weigh ins until Saturday mornings. This will make it easier to get through a poor results week, rather than being upset every day of that week.
On a negative note, I slipped in a couple of extra glasses of wine 2 of the last 3 nights. I thought I'd be quite happy limiting myself to 2 glasses, but apparently not. And once that 3rd is in you, the 4th is almost automatic. This also tests the cravings, as they get stronger once your defences are down. So far so good on holding off bad food though. Need to work hard at avoiding the 3rd drink on anything but cheat night, will report back on this.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Week 2 blues and beyond
Half way through week 2 now. I must admit to feeling a little low on the whole experience after cheat day. I got back onto the diet without issues, but after 2 days, I was still around my starting weight, after being 3kgs lighter just 2 days earlier. I did stick with it however, and now a couple of days further on, the weight is falling again. I can only imagine this is going to be a roller coaster diet, weight gradually going down by Saturday each week, then spiking up again after a bad days eating.
The initial thought is why do cheat day then? I'm only going to add weight on those days, why not lose all week, then continue to lose. But for now I'd like to trust in the diet. It may feel bad to see that weight go back on, but it's outweighed by having a diet free day coming up every week, and knowing that it is supposed to help the long term diet.
Anyway, now that I've seen the weight drop again, and noticed an improvement in the mirror, it's enough to inspire me through to Saturday again, and I'm also excersizing well this week.
It's about 12 weeks through to Christmas now, and I'd really like to get through to that date dieting/excersizing/drinking properly. I can only imagine this would have me very close to my goal weight of sub 100kgs, something I'm looking forward to.
The initial thought is why do cheat day then? I'm only going to add weight on those days, why not lose all week, then continue to lose. But for now I'd like to trust in the diet. It may feel bad to see that weight go back on, but it's outweighed by having a diet free day coming up every week, and knowing that it is supposed to help the long term diet.
Anyway, now that I've seen the weight drop again, and noticed an improvement in the mirror, it's enough to inspire me through to Saturday again, and I'm also excersizing well this week.
It's about 12 weeks through to Christmas now, and I'd really like to get through to that date dieting/excersizing/drinking properly. I can only imagine this would have me very close to my goal weight of sub 100kgs, something I'm looking forward to.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Post cheat day 1
Cheat day ended up very nice. I didn't once go out of my way to eat bad, but also never went out of my way not to.
My Cheating
* My normal high protein breakfast had an extra meat + BBQ sauce.
* Had a taste of kids crackers, but decided they weren't that nice.
* An apple
* Lunch was a perfectly diet friendly vegetable soup, with toast (non-friendly)
Here things got worse as I went out with the wife
* Coffee out with 2/3rds of a muffin
* 3 beers at pub
* Veal Parmigiana with plenty of salad/vegetables with 2 glasses of white wine
* 2 bourbon and cokes at pub
Got home and enjoyed a beer watching Die Hard on TV, before snoozing off.
Hangover
Felt OK this morning, but the hangover came in terms of weigh in. I didn't expect to put most of the weight on, but I have. I'm back to 109kgs. I still have definitely lost a little size around my waist though, so I think the weight fluctuation doesn't tell the whole story. I had little problem back on the diet, however I did feel a little light headed this afternoon. Felt better after dinner.
I have also bought some dry beans to cook myself, we'll see how that goes. Also working out a menu for the week to keep the diet going along.
My Cheating
* My normal high protein breakfast had an extra meat + BBQ sauce.
* Had a taste of kids crackers, but decided they weren't that nice.
* An apple
* Lunch was a perfectly diet friendly vegetable soup, with toast (non-friendly)
Here things got worse as I went out with the wife
* Coffee out with 2/3rds of a muffin
* 3 beers at pub
* Veal Parmigiana with plenty of salad/vegetables with 2 glasses of white wine
* 2 bourbon and cokes at pub
Got home and enjoyed a beer watching Die Hard on TV, before snoozing off.
Hangover
Felt OK this morning, but the hangover came in terms of weigh in. I didn't expect to put most of the weight on, but I have. I'm back to 109kgs. I still have definitely lost a little size around my waist though, so I think the weight fluctuation doesn't tell the whole story. I had little problem back on the diet, however I did feel a little light headed this afternoon. Felt better after dinner.
I have also bought some dry beans to cook myself, we'll see how that goes. Also working out a menu for the week to keep the diet going along.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Weigh in Week 1
So got through the first few days with no major issues, perhaps just that the beans are making me very gassy. Breakfast really sets the day as I don't feel hungry again until midday or beyond. It's bland, but satisfying. On my first cheat day I added a couple of things to that same breakfast and dropped the beans. One addition is brilliant and allowed on the diet days too, tomato. Cut up some cherry tomatoes, added them into the veggie mix, and they added so much flavour. They'll be a starter for sure next week in all breakfasts.
Results
Even after only a few days, I feel a difference. My clothes are a little looser, and I can start to feel and see a little more muscle peeking through. It's worth mentioning that I cut out some bad food and minimised drinks a couple of weeks ago, so some of the results may still relate to earlier changes.
But the weigh in? 107 kgs. Yep, dropped 3kg's in less than a week. I don't think this is necessarily normal, and I shouldn't be upset if I'm 105 or 106 in a few weeks (not to mention this was 2 minutes before cheat day brekkie), but very pleased with how I feel and the results so far. Big day ahead as we lose kids for a night, and get to go and have a nice dinner out with some drinks.
Results
Even after only a few days, I feel a difference. My clothes are a little looser, and I can start to feel and see a little more muscle peeking through. It's worth mentioning that I cut out some bad food and minimised drinks a couple of weeks ago, so some of the results may still relate to earlier changes.
But the weigh in? 107 kgs. Yep, dropped 3kg's in less than a week. I don't think this is necessarily normal, and I shouldn't be upset if I'm 105 or 106 in a few weeks (not to mention this was 2 minutes before cheat day brekkie), but very pleased with how I feel and the results so far. Big day ahead as we lose kids for a night, and get to go and have a nice dinner out with some drinks.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
4 hour body for me
I'm starting a diet, and need to bounce my ideas somewhere, so here it will be. The 4 hour body (http://fourhourbody.com) slow carb diet (SCD) is the diet of choice, as well as implementing some other ideas from 4 hour body.
Background
I'm 35yo male, 6'5", weighing 110kg, mostly athletic body, at least 10-12kgs ago. Since I was 18 and had reached my full height, my weight has fluctuated between around 92kg's and 110kg's. 92kg's was when doing 6 days a week very physical sport, and eating/drinking well. I looked way too skinny when at 92 anyway. 110 is the max and I've hit that mark about 3 times including now. I've rarely actually dieted, but have often looked after myself, by playing a lot of sport, getting in the gym, and eating OK. I've always drank too much, mainly around weekends. Since quitting competetive sport 5 years ago though, I've done very little to keep fit, and have also dieted worse. During a recent stressful period, my diet went way south, with no limit on bad snack foods, and also drinking way too much. In the last couple of weeks the factors of stress are thankfully behind me, so I decided it's time to lose these bad habits.
The Harajuku moment
In 4 hour body Tim Farriss talks about a moment where you decide "this is it, I need to change." Interestingly, this came off the back of our stressful period, moving house. With finances tight, having to sell and buy at the same time, 2 kids to look after, the stress was all over us. Now we've moved, we have a few minor renovations to do. I've always been money first, style/quality/features second, but I'm seeing a slightly different light now. We are aiming to stay in this house a very long time, so we really want to make sure we don't buy inferior things that we see deteriorate within a few years. The old house we bought a lot of "this will see us through the next few years" products, but now I want things I'm happy with 20 years from now. This thought process then shone a light on me. I'm going to be in this house in 20 years, but how healthy will I be? I'm dealing OK with eating/drinking too much right now, but if I eat bad and drink a lot for 20 years, I'll have some serious health issues. What about 40 years? I still want to be kicking strong at 75, but what chances will I have if I'm not looking after myself now?
Slow carb diet (SCD)
OK, so I need to change. I'm listening to my favourite show, The Adam Carolla podcast, and Tim Ferriss comes on as a guest. In a short amount of time, he hits the interview with about 5 fascinating tidbits from the 4 hour body, and I'm hooked. I get the book and have now read it.
SCD is all about cutting out grains/white foods, such as bread, pasta, rice, as well as minimising sugar, dairy and fruit, at least 6 days a week. Day 7 is amazingly a day off the diet, so once a week, you can eat or drink as much as you like, with very few rules. This instantly catapults it past most diets, as they don't get reward for hard work. For example, my wife recently started a diet, but she can't eat anything/drink anything until she reaches her goal weight, which may be many months from now. With the 4 hour body diet, your next day off is only ever 6 days away, so you can always keep going that extra few days while adding cravings to a list of things you'll have on the day off.
Apparently this diet works for weight loss, so it's a great plan. Worst case scenario it's too hard or I don't lose weight, but at least I've kick started my next 20 years, and have some fresh ideas about how to eat/drink.
My plan
4 hour body gives lots of other tips too. There are simple (yet effective) excersizes to keep doing. There are some weird ideas about cold water/showers/baths/ice packs which is worth a try. There is also sections on extra supplements (I won't be doing this just yet), sleep help (not a real issue for me), and other advice around alcohol, timing of eating/excersize, and even sex.
So my 6 days will look roughly like this:
6:30am - Wake up, have 500ml of icy water, make sure kids are OK if they are up
6:32am - Shower, first hot water, then 3+ minutes pure cold water (I'm awake now!), get dressed for work.
6:45am - Cook breakfast, usually 2 eggs, 1 cup beans, 100g spinach, veggies, probably with a meat for added flavour/protein. Currently it's one sausage, but I'll need to review this down to a leaner meat I think.
6:55am - eat breakfast. So the big idea here is 30g of protein within 30 minutes of getting out of bed, which is covered if I keep to the plan.
Until 12-12:30pm - 2 coffees no sugar/milk, plenty of water. No snacks needed with the big breakfast.
12:30 - heat up stir fry/some meat with veggies, beans and spinach on side
Until 6pm - 1 or 2 coffees, more water. No snacks needed
6pm - final meal, whatever family is having minus bad stuff, plus some good stuff. Sometimes seperate to family (although wife is on high protein diet too, so might have what she's having)
8pm - do light excersizes from 4 hour body
9pm - 1 or 2 glasses of wine some nights, this is allowed on the diet
10pm - ice bag on neck for 30 minutes
11:30 - Almond butter to reduce blood sugar problems overnight, sleep time
Final thoughts
So that's the plan. I will be blogging updates only about every week or where I see fit. As my current recipes/knowledge of what to shop for are so far non-existant, I hope to add some recipe ideas/purchase ideas here, and progress reports of course. My initial aim is to get through to the first day off without crumbling to cravings.
So my initial starting weight is 110kg. I won't do measurements, but safe to say I'm a little tight in most of my pants, so it'll be pretty easy to feel inches lost there. I'm actually about due for new jeans, so it'd be good reward to cut some weight before buying some at a lower size. No real goals as per weight, but I would expect to be under 100kgs within a couple of months if I stick to this and if the diet works. I'd also expect to be feeling fitter/stronger. I'll weigh myself every Saturday morning, which is cheat day.
All or nothing, lets do it!
PS. Started writing this post on Tuesday, the day I started the diet. I'm posting it Friday, after finding a home for it. This doesn't mean my cheat day is one day after I start dieting, I have been doing the diet 4 full days before.
Background
I'm 35yo male, 6'5", weighing 110kg, mostly athletic body, at least 10-12kgs ago. Since I was 18 and had reached my full height, my weight has fluctuated between around 92kg's and 110kg's. 92kg's was when doing 6 days a week very physical sport, and eating/drinking well. I looked way too skinny when at 92 anyway. 110 is the max and I've hit that mark about 3 times including now. I've rarely actually dieted, but have often looked after myself, by playing a lot of sport, getting in the gym, and eating OK. I've always drank too much, mainly around weekends. Since quitting competetive sport 5 years ago though, I've done very little to keep fit, and have also dieted worse. During a recent stressful period, my diet went way south, with no limit on bad snack foods, and also drinking way too much. In the last couple of weeks the factors of stress are thankfully behind me, so I decided it's time to lose these bad habits.
The Harajuku moment
In 4 hour body Tim Farriss talks about a moment where you decide "this is it, I need to change." Interestingly, this came off the back of our stressful period, moving house. With finances tight, having to sell and buy at the same time, 2 kids to look after, the stress was all over us. Now we've moved, we have a few minor renovations to do. I've always been money first, style/quality/features second, but I'm seeing a slightly different light now. We are aiming to stay in this house a very long time, so we really want to make sure we don't buy inferior things that we see deteriorate within a few years. The old house we bought a lot of "this will see us through the next few years" products, but now I want things I'm happy with 20 years from now. This thought process then shone a light on me. I'm going to be in this house in 20 years, but how healthy will I be? I'm dealing OK with eating/drinking too much right now, but if I eat bad and drink a lot for 20 years, I'll have some serious health issues. What about 40 years? I still want to be kicking strong at 75, but what chances will I have if I'm not looking after myself now?
Slow carb diet (SCD)
OK, so I need to change. I'm listening to my favourite show, The Adam Carolla podcast, and Tim Ferriss comes on as a guest. In a short amount of time, he hits the interview with about 5 fascinating tidbits from the 4 hour body, and I'm hooked. I get the book and have now read it.
SCD is all about cutting out grains/white foods, such as bread, pasta, rice, as well as minimising sugar, dairy and fruit, at least 6 days a week. Day 7 is amazingly a day off the diet, so once a week, you can eat or drink as much as you like, with very few rules. This instantly catapults it past most diets, as they don't get reward for hard work. For example, my wife recently started a diet, but she can't eat anything/drink anything until she reaches her goal weight, which may be many months from now. With the 4 hour body diet, your next day off is only ever 6 days away, so you can always keep going that extra few days while adding cravings to a list of things you'll have on the day off.
Apparently this diet works for weight loss, so it's a great plan. Worst case scenario it's too hard or I don't lose weight, but at least I've kick started my next 20 years, and have some fresh ideas about how to eat/drink.
My plan
4 hour body gives lots of other tips too. There are simple (yet effective) excersizes to keep doing. There are some weird ideas about cold water/showers/baths/ice packs which is worth a try. There is also sections on extra supplements (I won't be doing this just yet), sleep help (not a real issue for me), and other advice around alcohol, timing of eating/excersize, and even sex.
So my 6 days will look roughly like this:
6:30am - Wake up, have 500ml of icy water, make sure kids are OK if they are up
6:32am - Shower, first hot water, then 3+ minutes pure cold water (I'm awake now!), get dressed for work.
6:45am - Cook breakfast, usually 2 eggs, 1 cup beans, 100g spinach, veggies, probably with a meat for added flavour/protein. Currently it's one sausage, but I'll need to review this down to a leaner meat I think.
6:55am - eat breakfast. So the big idea here is 30g of protein within 30 minutes of getting out of bed, which is covered if I keep to the plan.
Until 12-12:30pm - 2 coffees no sugar/milk, plenty of water. No snacks needed with the big breakfast.
12:30 - heat up stir fry/some meat with veggies, beans and spinach on side
Until 6pm - 1 or 2 coffees, more water. No snacks needed
6pm - final meal, whatever family is having minus bad stuff, plus some good stuff. Sometimes seperate to family (although wife is on high protein diet too, so might have what she's having)
8pm - do light excersizes from 4 hour body
9pm - 1 or 2 glasses of wine some nights, this is allowed on the diet
10pm - ice bag on neck for 30 minutes
11:30 - Almond butter to reduce blood sugar problems overnight, sleep time
Final thoughts
So that's the plan. I will be blogging updates only about every week or where I see fit. As my current recipes/knowledge of what to shop for are so far non-existant, I hope to add some recipe ideas/purchase ideas here, and progress reports of course. My initial aim is to get through to the first day off without crumbling to cravings.
So my initial starting weight is 110kg. I won't do measurements, but safe to say I'm a little tight in most of my pants, so it'll be pretty easy to feel inches lost there. I'm actually about due for new jeans, so it'd be good reward to cut some weight before buying some at a lower size. No real goals as per weight, but I would expect to be under 100kgs within a couple of months if I stick to this and if the diet works. I'd also expect to be feeling fitter/stronger. I'll weigh myself every Saturday morning, which is cheat day.
All or nothing, lets do it!
PS. Started writing this post on Tuesday, the day I started the diet. I'm posting it Friday, after finding a home for it. This doesn't mean my cheat day is one day after I start dieting, I have been doing the diet 4 full days before.
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