20th January 2014 - Two weeks in

Why oh why does January take so long to sort itself out and bugger off?

I mean seriously, this month is bloody long.

It feels longer because I'm dieting too. Every day, watching my calories and (especially at work) watching other people eat what they want when they want is getting annoying.

However, it's not all bad. I'm no longer so tired on the walk to and from the office every morning. It's an inconvenience I'd rather not have, but it's largely a positive one because it's forcing me to walk a couple of miles every day. The inconvenience I still can't stomach is the distance from my desk to the tea room at the office I'm working from now, but I'm sure I'll learn to live with it (or crack up and melt down in a caffeine deficient moment).

The diet itself is going alright. I've cheated a couple of times but I'm still making more sensible choices. For instance, where if I was really being lazy and wanted a takeaway, I'd order a whacking great big pizza, now I'm ordering chicken kebabs, which are better for you. They're still not great for you, but it's better than all that bread and cheese. On the one occasion in the last fortnight where I did get a pizza, it made me so ill (from the grease, I'm assuming), that I have no desire to have another one any time soon.

The food I'm making on a nighttime is getting better too. A particular favourite that I'm enjoying is Gammon steaks, sweetcorn, new potatoes, pineapple and dry fried eggs. It's so very simple, but so delicious and filling. The main one I'm enjoying is my home made bhuna curry. Adapted from the recipe I used to make a fish curry for a party before new years, I've made it a couple of times now and with chicken it's just amazing. Very filling, very tasty and great for these cold nights.

This morning, I weighed myself for the second time. I didn't weigh myself on the first week of the diet for reasons that I can't quite remember, so last week was the starting weight for this bout of dieting.

This week has me dropping 5lbs which I'm over the moon at as I wasn't confident I'd lost any weight at all this week. More impressively as well, my wife, who has always struggled with diets, has lost too. So we're in it together and losing together. This has made me very happy indeed.

For this coming week, I'm going to be starting my exercise regime up again, starting with a run tonight. It's been about 6 weeks since i was running properly so if I'm honest, I'll be amazed if I can manage more than a mile and a half, but we all have to start somewhere. Hopefully I can be back up to 3 mile runs in a few weeks.

6th of January 2014

So last week's start to the healthy living didn't start. I'm weak, so sue me.

However, today is the proper start in my eyes.

Food wise, I've been good and low calorie. A recommended portion of cereal for breakfast and a sensible lunch.

That said, 45 grams of breakfast cereal is absolutely nothing in the bowl.

I've managed to avoid temptation at work too. Mostly because the canteen in the new office is bloody expensive, but I've also been strong. A weekly event in the new office is croissants delivered for breakfast. I must have walked past them 5 or 6 times but I didn't crack and I resisted. I love croissants so this is a big deal for me.

Further to this, the new office is encouraging me to exercise more.  For a start, as I'm working as a contractor I'm not allowed to park on site. The closest secure car park is nearly a mile away from the office, so there's just under 2 miles of walking a day. The tea room is about 100 paces away from my desk which means I'm managing more milage for my large daily intake of caffeine. Hopefully this will have a nice effect on not only my fitness but my waistline.

It's only day 1 but I'm trying my best to be strong.  Hopefully I can keep the positive mental attitude up.

June 11th 2013

Today was a day spent in pain.

Mostly because I overdid it at the gym last night. For the first time in a long time I used that machine which simulates climbing stairs. Boy was that a mistake. It had my legs, backside and back in agony all day.

But, I'm not going to complain as I'm still on a high because of my weightloss so far.

Today at work I managed about 4 miles worth of walks without the pain that came last time I did such a lot of walking. I would have managed more, but I was very conscious about how far I'm walking at work, I don't want to be away from the office for too long, lest I get in trouble.

Food wise, I haven't really deviated from my normal chicken, pepperoni, ham, egg and spinach lunch box. It's still nice, I still love it, it's still all protein and hardly any carbs which suits me down to the ground. For dinner tonight, it was chilli con carne, with broccoli and slim green beans on the side. Again, high in protein but still very low in carbs. And bloody delicious to boot. Yum.

I'm actually going to write up the recipe for my chilli con carne at some point this week, I think you guys will really enjoy it. It's cheap, simple to make, makes about 4 portions and is easily freezable for months after cooking. It's fantastic.

Tonight I was planning on going to the gym, however, after nearly 2 hours pissing about trying to update my phone, failing and then having roll it back, it now seems a bit late to be going to the gym. I reckon I might try P90X for the first time tonight and see if it works for me.

If you don't hear from me in 24 hours, assume it's killed me.

June 5th 2013

Man, I'm tired.

This diet really takes it out of you, energy wise. With me trying to shock my body into using up its stores of fat and carbs, it's leaving me very tired. Apparently it'll get better by Friday. I sincerely hope it does.

I'm still utterly hungry but I'm getting used to the hunger pans and I'm trying not to clock watch up until 1230 when I can eat today. It's only an hour and a half from this point, but it does feel like a million miles away.

I've tried going for a walk this morning but the blisters on my feet are making it difficult. I definitely don't think I'll be hitting 5 miles today. Lets call today a kind of rest day, still doing exercise but massively reducing the intensity.

In news unrelated to the diet (but related to health), I've now made it a month without smoking. I don't feel the need to smoke any more and it's not bothering me to be around smokers. Also, I've saved a fair chunk of cash, as demonstrated by the NHS Quit Smoking app right here:

If I can do that, I can lose weight again. After all, that only took a month, so this idea of taking things a month at a time should hopefully work for weight loss too.

June 4th 2013

Fasting sucks.

It really does.

Despite my grumbling, I made it to lunch time without caving, giving myself a good 16 hour fast with just water and coffee to keep me going.

Lunch consisted of this:

Chicken, ham, boiled eggs, pepperoni and spinach leaves. All protein and iron. Spectacular. Complemented with some cashew nuts its got me full and feeling satisfied.

I've managed to walk about 3 and a half miles so far today and depending on if my feet stop hurting, I should be able to make it out for another one before home time.

Right now though I'm going to dive into a pint of water because I'm red hot.

Michael