Set backs

Situations beyond my control have derailed my diet yet again.
I got sick with a little cold bug which meant I couldn't train and so I sat around eating comfort food. Nothing too bad in retrospect, just a bit of chocolate and pastry as a pie etc.
still not 100% over the bug but hope to do some light training tomorrow and back on the diet again.

Food wise I've been ok today. Oat pancakes this morning with some yogurt and honey. Salmon en croute with salad for lunch (pastry not great but it was yummy!).

Starting over!

I failed again.
I fell out of the rhythm and felt a little under the weather over the weekend so binged a bit with some cookies and other nasties!
So I restart.....again.
First test is to finish the week. Then the weekend,  then the month etc etc.
it's 40 days till my first target race in majorca and its a big mountain epic (well out of my comfort zone of track racing in the velodrome). I hope to be under 80 kilos for this event and then see if I can stabilise that weight long term.
So here we go again with my targets and goals.  
No alcohol, no chocolate, no deep fried foods, no bread if possible and limited dairy.
So far so good today (although I have had a few pieces of my all natural homemade flapjack)
Take each day as it comes!

Phase 2

After a bad weekend (planned on a cheat meal on Thursday night but it turned in to 4 days of eating out and drinking due to unforeseen circumstances such as old friends come back into town for the weekend etc) I've been back on the diet since monday. The bad weekend put about 2.5 kilos back on (back up to 85 ish which was what I was when I started) but a few good days and lots of hard training has brought me down to low 83s.
Had a craving for chocolate again yesterday but managed to resist popping to the shops. To aid my dieting further I brought a whole lot of fresh fish (cod, tuna, swordfish) to add a bit of variety into my meals.
I think I've realised that the original diet was a little too optimistic and cutting out all non-natural foods is very very difficult and probably leads to a big crash. I'm being a little more realistic and considering things like a little cheese on a jacket potato a nice treat to have every couple of days.

Days 10,11 and 12 - 10th - 12th feb

Failure!!!!!!

It all got too much. I caved and the chocolate that's been in the fridge for the last few days proved too tempting. It was dairy milk and I had about 12 squares. 

Not the end of the world but I feel the wheels have fallen off a bit and I'm now out of the rhythm of dieting. 

So what to do? 

Get back on it, more determined than ever. 

I got through today without any real issues and I want to make tomorrow and thursday morning 100% pure. The. I can let my hair down and treat myself as planned on Thursday night before finishing off the month without hiccup!

Day 9 - sat 9th feb

A long day so started with a decent breakfast - soaked oats, Greek yogurt and a little honey.
Work time snack was fruit and then I had some sushi when I got home.

My wife has filled the fridge with bad foods. We have wine and beer and some nachos to go with our chili (nachos and chili is my absolute fave!)
I'm going to have to use all my willpower and just have chili with brown rice whilst she polishes off a bottle of wine and and bag of nachos!
Gutted! But after yesterday's fish and chips I'm to prepared to cheat again!

Day 8 - Friday feb 8th

My cravings are getting harder to ignore and I'm close to breaking.
So.......I made flapjacks. Using oats and museli, a little butter, some honey and some wholefood peanut butter. Delicious. Trouble is I they are so good I can't resist eating them all in one go I've put them in the freezer for now.

Training on the bike was hard, my legs felt dead so I backed off a bit from what I was supposed to do and I just did an endurance ride.

For dinner I decided I needed a treat. Chip shop fish and chips! Not exactly dieting for but basically it's potatoes, and fish with batter. Nothing too dreadful.
Should keep me on the straight and norrow for now.

Day 7 - Thursday 7th feb

One week in and still doing well I think - well done me!
Petty straight forward today, my usual breakfast (soaked oats, yogurt etc etc), lots of fruit as a snack.
Had an energy drink whilst training (glucose solution tablet) and rice, pork chop and salad for lunch.
Made a huge chili with minced beef and mixed beans for dinner (had it without rice to lower carb intake again). Used a tinned tomato purée (which contains citric acid-not dreadful) and used chopped tomatoes and kidney beans from a cardboard carton as opposed to a can ( I've read a lot about dodgy stuff in tune lining of tin cans etc but also a lot about using fresh or dried beans being bad due to various toxins)
I'm going to do a proper weigh in tomorrow morning so we shall see how things are going.

Day 6 - Wednesday 6th feb

Energy levels feel quite low today but I am up earlier than normal as I have an early morning training session. Im also getting very tempted to cheat as I am craving chocolate or cake (something sweet that isn't fruit!)
It's also come to my attention that next week is valentines day and I've been informed that I must book a table at a restaurant. I've decided that I will use this meal out as a mid term reward for sticking to my plan. Still to sure if ill go the whole hog and drink alcohol (I probably will but not too much) this should give me something close to aim for and stop cheating and guilt me into keeping up the plan till the end of the month.
Got through the day without any major cheats although when I got home I found that my mother in law had cooked a sausage casserole that I couldn't resist. It was all ok in the main part with potatoes and vegetables (cabbage, mixed beans etc). Sausages obviously can contain some dodgy stuff but I think ill let it go. There was also gravy which I am assuming was from some sort of packet so contains god knows what. Technically a cheat but considering what could have been (chocolate, ice cream, beer etc) I'm happy.

Day 5 - Tuesday 5th feb

Got through yesterday without a hitch but very nearly succumbed to temptation.
I looked in the cupboard at lunch time and saw my wife's weight watchers  chocolate bars and was so tempted, then I read the ingredients the first of which being "bulking agent"?????? WTF!!!!! I left well alone.
A supper time I nearly had a pork and vegetable wrap until I read the wrap ingredients and saw things like "emulsifiers" and " whiting agent" so I just had pork chop and vegetables.

I have a hard training session on the bike today so my usual morning fuel of soaked oats etc etc and large espresso for breakfast. To help fuel the bike ride I may have to use a glucose tab instead of just water.
I may treat myself to some pasta for dinner (whole meal of course)
Weighed myself again this morning and I've gone down a touch more but it's hardly worth noting as its probably just daly fluctuation anyway (83.1 ish)

I can't believe I'm only 5 days into this diet/challenge! It feels a lot longer and I feel pretty good already. 23 days to go I suppose. Writing this blog has made things much easier for me too, writing down my daily plan really helps keep me focused.

In the end the days dinner consisted of a mixed paella which meant a minor cheat of some stock (2stock cubes and 1 gel stock)
It was so good I had 2 portions but I didn't start this diet with restrictions on portions did I ;)

Day 4 - Monday feb 4th

Today's weight 83.3kgs
Lost over a kilo and a half no doubt partly due to yesterday's calorific deficit. The task is now not to put it back on.

Breakfast was my usual, soaked oats, Greek yogurt and berries. Washed down with espresso.

Long day of teaching today and a little light training so big lunch (chicken stirfry and veg again - but ill try and leave out the soy sauce)
Fruit salad as a meal whilst working and hopefully a low carb meal when I get in tonight (trying to cut out late night carbs and won't be home till gone 10)

Day 3 - Sunday 3rd feb

Breakfast - soaked porridge oats, Greek yogurt and mixed berries, espresso (actually triple espresso!)

As I had a bike race ( reliability ride, basically a long and hard organised group training ride ) I knew there would have to be some minor cheats today. I took out one bottle of water with a electrolyte/carbohydrate tablet added to it (750ml), a banana and 2 nakd fruit bar thingys I brought in tesco last night (all natural ingredients) also took 2 sis energy gels as back up, just in case. 

Drank all the drink, the banana, both bars and 1 gel on the ride. When I got back to the HQ there was soup (I think it was some powdered soup stuff and bread rolls with fake butter spread. A had a small cup of soup and 2 bread rolls as there was no other alternative foods around and I had to ride home still. 

Lunch was stir fry of chicken, egg fried rice and mixed veg and I added a dash of soy sauce and rice vinegar. 

Supper will be salmon fillet and salad probably. 

A few little cheats today (powdered soup, fake butter and cheap bread are no doubt full of preservatives etc and the glucose drink and gels were a necessity) but 90 miles on the bike and probably 4000 calories plus makes me less guilty especially after hearing a lot of other riders talk about their plans for a few beers and a take away tonight. 

Day 2 - Saturday feb 2nd

Yesterday was successful. Went to the pub after karate training and drank mineral water!

Weekends are always hard to diet over so I'm glad this one comes toward the beginning of my motivation!

Today's breakfast was apple juice soaked oats again with Greek yogurt and a banana. 

Lunch will be a fruit salad of melon, pineapple, mango and orange.
Snacked on carrot sticks and hummus and dinner was peppers stuffed with brown rice, corn on the cob (with a little butter) and chicken breast glazed with honey and pesto.
No cheats today so all good!
Tomorrow I have a bike race so will need to break the diet a bit with carb drinks etc. 

Feb 1st 2013 - day 1

Day one of my new diet challenge.
Obviously started with breakfast which was a mix of porridge oats and museli (3/4 oats to 1/4 museli) soaked over night in some un concentrated, unsweetened apple juice. Topped off with some natural Greek yoghurt and some mixed berries. Washed down with an espresso coffee.
Today is a busy day for training. I have a core workout to do followed by about 90 mins interval training on the bike. I also have a karate training session tonight.
Post ride recovery meal is likely to be a fruit salad (melon, pineapple, mango and banana) and dinner will be a stirfry of brown rice (maybe egg fried) with king prawns and veg (broccoli, mange tout,baby corn etc).
As its day 1 of the diet I am going to try the bike ride on just water (no carb drink) and leave the soy sauce out of the stir fry (just a dash of oil)
Weight this morning was bang on 85 kilos

Cheats
Hummus - I had carrot sticks and hummus as a snack but it was good hummus without any other crap in it (just garlic purée and lime juice)
Soy sauce - some reduced salt soy sauce which contains a colouring and some preservatives, only had a tiny splash but will try to cut it out next time.

Beginnings

Welcome to my new blog.
To be brutally honest, I don't care if no one reads this. It's not really for you, it's for me!
I've come to realise I am greedy! When it comes to food I just can't stop eating. I love food, I love chocolate, beer, wine, ice cream, fish and chips and all other foods both healthy and less healthy.
To counter act this I train - pretty hard. I teach karate every day, train in karate as often as possible. I also race bikes at the velodrome. If I didn't do this training I would be HUGE! Even with this training my eating has created a little bit too much of a spare tyre for my liking so I've decided it's time to do something about it.
About 8 months ago for some reason I started reading up on the foods I ate. I was quite shocked to discover something that is pretty obvious, foods are pumped full of crap that shouldn't be there and it's not really good for you. I decided to try and cut out these additives and preservatives and see what happened. The results was that I lost about 5 kilos and it has pretty much stayed off.
Fast forward to x mas and new year 2012/2013 and a couple of weeks of excess meant I put a lot of the weight back on. My New Years resolution was to go back on my all natural diet and shift even more weight than before.
This worked fine for a bit but a few temptations and meals out meant it didn't quite go as planned. I found it too easy to give in to a pizza or slice of cake and although I have cut out a lot of the bad foods, I am still not happy with my progress.
This is where the blog comes in. As of February 1st 2013 (tomorrow) I am going to blog my progress with my diet and training here. The idea being that if I have to face the reality of sitting down and writing about any blips in my diet it will make me less likely to cheat.
Basically my diet will involve only eating food that is natural, fresh and real!
Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and meat/fish are all in.
All processed foods are gone. As are sweets and chocolate. All alcohol is gone too.
Other foods to avoid are - bread or bread products, cheese, pasta is ok in moderation and tinned foods should be avoided where possible.
If it grew or lived its all good, otherwise leave it be!