Day Seven – Evaluation

So after a week on this diet, blogging every day, I’ve done a little re-evaluation today. I’ve lost 1.4kg (3.6lbs for those on the old imperial system!), which is good all in all for a diet. I still have another 7kg to go. Realistically I’d like to get to 62kg, but as a runner I was told I should aim for 55kg. That sounds harsh to me, but what I’ve realised over the last week and what my bf keeps telling me is that I eat the wrong foods. Well that and the fact that I eat indiscriminately and constantly! I used to hate crisps, now I eat a few packs a day, then there’s the chocolate and lets not forget the biscuits… This week I swapped all those snacks for fruits, yoghurt and cups of tea! And what I’ve realised is that I can survive!

The whole reason behind this diet is my lack of training at the moment. I hate the fact that I can’t run right now, that I can’t even get on a bike, or my new bike! Missing out on training is like loosing part of my life, I’ve only spoke to team members via text and I’m missing the face to face contact with other athletes. The upcoming London Marathon is all I can think about and everyday I’m testing out my ankle to see how it feel and what I might be able to do on it today. Most my days start off good then I’ll get a twinge or two and realise that all is still not well. I sacked my the physio this week. I wasn’t confident with him and called the physio I’ve been using over the last few years. Zoe’s great; she fixed up my back after a car accident and my calf when I first started having problems with it just before Christmas so I called her on Monday and told her what was happening. She disagreed with the other physio and agreed with what the Doc had said at the hospital; ligament damage. Now this means a longer recovery then tendonitis, but I prefer the honesty and be able to really relate to and trust my physio then I do the team thing and have someone try to get me out there prematurely. Zoe only works one day a week, which is why I went with the team physio in the first place, but I rather wait for an appointment then not be confident in my treatment. So I’ve been told to completely rest for the week and I have an appointment with Zoe on Wednesday. Looking forward to seeing her and having a good old girly catch up!

I must admit I’ve bored myself with these daily blogs and finding the time to write them! So the plan going forward is a weekly update on the diet and the rest of my blog shall return to all things running, fundraising and life! Thanks for reading folks!

Stats

Calories Consumed: 861

Weight: 67.2kg 10st 7.8lbs

Weight Lost: 0kg 0lbs

Cumulative: 1.4kg 3.6lbs

Day Six – Back On Track

The one good thing that I can say about this diet is that I am having my five a day. All of my indulgent snacks have been replaced with fruit. Lots of fruits! Today I had a banana in the morning, an apple at lunch, a mandarin and Clementine for an afternoon snack and don’t forget the raisins – a grazers friend! Lunch was a sweet salad; lettuce, red cabbage and carrot. Dinner had cabbage, onion and avocado – that’s way more than five right? Making me super healthy! Oh, I did have poached eggs with lunch and steamed fish with dinner too – I’m not that vegetarian!

Keeping it short and sweet today. Had a good day, ate lots – three meals and lots of fruit lol. My ankle was playing up today; I had to take ibuprofen for the firs time in days. Guess its just adjusting to being released from all the strapping and having to work, even if it is only walking! Work was stressful so wasn’t it the mood for core work when I got home, but should be back on it tomorrow – it’s all I’ve got right now!

Oh and most importantly before I disappear today I gained 1.4lbs. No doubt punishment for yesterdays carb overdose! But never mind I’m back on track now…

Stats

Calories Consumed: 1048

Weight: 67.2kg 10st 7.8lbs

Weight Loss: -0.6kg -1.4lbs

Cumulative: 1.4kg 3.6lbs

Day Five – Carb Cravings…

I spent ages thinking about what to call this post, and what to say. When I weighed myself this morning I hadn’t lost anything, no worries this happens. It is the reason why you shouldn’t weigh yourself every day. I just do it as it adds to the experiment. Usually this means your body has grown accustomed to the calorie reduction of whatever it is your doing. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon!

The one thing that I have missed over the last few days is my bread. I’m a carb addict, a self confessed carb addict. I love bread; I could live on bread alone. My lunch is quite often just a baguette and butter; what more do you need? SO the hardest part of all this has been binning the bread. I guess you could argue that the two slices of bread I had last night could have stopped my weight loss… It’s a good theory.

So today I fell off the wagon I started out really well, but got to a stage where I was so stressed at work and knowing that I wouldn’t get out of the office before 19:00, well it just made me hungry! The other bad thing I did was to start munching early; well early for me. I’m not a morning eater, I need to get into my day first before I start eating, as once I start I really, really can’t stop. I was invigilating an assessment centre this morning and took my lunch box in for company before lunch had hit I’d already eaten most of my afternoon snacks I stopped short of eating the Clementine and mandarin (yes I have two types of orange in my lunch box!) as I thought the smell would put the candidates off! By the time the afternoon arrived I’d found a packet of crisps in my drawer and was scoffing someone’s biscuits… A sad, sad day. But in reality these days happen and what I really should be doing is going carb free as much as possible, but giving myself one sin-free day where I can quit the diet and eat what I like! This week that day will be (excluding today of course); Sunday, Easter Sunday. The day I’m spending with my Mum, my brothers, and my sister and her brood. Happy days!

Stats are below I’ve actually lost a nice few inches and pounds over the last few days! Good work Sheryne, keep it up!

Stats

Calories Consumed: 1705

Weight: 66.6kg 10st 6.4lbs

Weight Loss: 1.2kg 2.8lbs

Cumulative: 2.2kg 5lbs

Chest 76cm 30"

Bust 95cm 37.5"

Waist 70cm 27.5"

Hips 96.5cm 38"

Thighs L 57cm 22.5" R 58cm 22.8"

Arms L 28.5cm 11.2" R 28cm 11"

Day Four – Not So Good

The clocks went forward this morning and I have a mad hectic few weeks at work so I took my last opportunity to have a serious lie in and stayed in bed till after noon. So I surfed the net a bit, sent email and spoke to friends, but all from the comfort of my duvet; ahhh! I also had a short conversation with my Mum and told her about my diet, she’s just started a diet as well, but hasn’t lost any weight as yet. She know when I diet I go to extremes, but most importantly that the diets are short lived and I always return to healthy eating afterwards.

When I did finally drag myself out of bed it was straight into a long hot shower. Now this could be completely unrelated, but I have to admit, as I promised to be completely candid in this blog, that I very nearly passed out under the hot spray. I managed to drag myself out the shower and laid down for a while after which I was fine. I then went out shopping just grabbing and apple for before leaving. Any sensible person would have eaten a full breakfast, but it’s Sunday and Sunday trading mean the shops close early so I was out the as soon as poss! At Asda I stocked up on salad, fruit, Quorn bits, and other essentials including a bumper pack of KitKat ;-).I passed Next bought myself a dress in a size 8, this is not my size I’m a 10-12 or even 14 in dresses, but it was the last one they had so I thought I’d give it a try; I’ll tell you tomorrow if it fits!

By the time I got back I was famished! Lunch was a big salad and three egg omelette with shallots and cheese. I made it in the microwave (my first time) to negate the need for oil. It actually wasn’t too bad, I’m a big fan of fat so cutting it out makes a real difference to me. What shocked me is that I really struggled to eat it all. I got through the first half easy, but then I nibbled on the rest over the course of a half hour. After that though I was off and spent the rest of the evening eating! I even went as far as to eat two slices of toast on my carb free diet! There were the last two slices and well I was in a tidy up kind of mood!

Really started to see a difference in weight today; it’s only day four and I’ve lost 5lbs so far! Calorie count is still, but then everything I’ve been eating is low cal, even all the cheese and chocolate doesn’t add up my cals! But then I’m not complaining, not really. Tomorrow I’ll do a full body measure and see if I’m loosing any inches, which is what really matters.

Stats

Calories Consumed: 809

Weight: 66.6kg 10st 6.4lbs

Weight Loss: 1.2kg 2.8lbs

Cumulative: 2.2kg 5lbs

Day Three – Hanging Strong

Today was my first day dieting from home i.e. with easy access to a kitchen all day! The one saving grace was that my Dad was around today. He’d come over to fix my electric shower as it hasn’t been working for a while, much to my annoyance! (the shower that is!). Anyway I ended up skipping breakfast completely as I went to collect Dada from the station. I grabbed an apple when we got back, but it was into the house for a quick survey then out to the shops to buy parts. We spend a few hours out getting the bits for the shower and parts for my lovely new bike that has a flat tyre from sitting in the shed, duh? That is really another story…

Dad announced whilst we were out that he was hungry so I offered to make lunch when we got back to mine. Dad had a jacket potato, with cheese and beans – both of the low fat variety and I had a plate full of sweet salad with spring onion, topped with a bit of cheese and a low fat French dressing. I added a Quorn burger for some protein too, but they don’t really give all that much. Usually I would have this meal with sliced turkey and fresh toasted bread, but going vege negates the turkey and no carbs means no bread. A cup of tea and I was full and ready to get on with the day!

Worked with Dad (sort of) to get the shower done then spent some time on the bike learning how to fix a puncture and adding all my little accessories! I’d brought lights and a bike computer, a new bell, mini pump and a lock that all needed to be fitted. Dad did some, I did some and we had fun working together. Dad wanted us to go swimming after, but I’ve been told to a) avoid the pool and b) not have long baths whilst my ankle is all taped up. The tape isn’t really waterproof; after my first shower it started lifting… Dad went home to hit his own gym and pool and I went home in search of food.

On my other days I have been substituting one meal with a CD shake or soup. Today I had two meals; dinner was another large salad, with cheese, dressing and two poached eggs. I chilled in the evening with another mini Toffee Crisp and two helpings of raisins. I’ve slacked on the water today; 1.5l plus two cups of tea. Not nearly enough, neither is my calorie intake at 823, but it wasn’t intentional. Might just have some chocolate now to compensate…

At this rate I have a week to go before reaching my goal, hopefully by then I’ll be back on my feet running again and won’t need to diet anymore!

Stats

Calories Consumed: 823

Weight: 67.8kg 10st 9.2lbs

Weight Loss: 0.4kg 0.8lbs

Cumulative: 1kg 2.2lbs

Day Two – The Follow Through

So yesterday I had a measly 905 calories and did it make a huge difference to my weight or well being overnight? No. I lost just over a lb, but that was probably just water anyway. I do however have a terrific headache this morning but then I had one of those yesterday as well...

This morning a friend commented that 900 calories is not enough and she is right, it’s not. But when I first did this diet two years ago I was only having 554 calories a day and although I haven’t really given myself a calorie limit I am expecting to consume around 1000 calories a day give or take a couple hundred.

So how did today go? Good, I guess I had a bit of a mishap at lunch but otherwise enjoyed my day. Driving into the office today I had no idea how I was gonna make it through. I was half asleep and I hadn’t even got to my desk yet! Had to do a shopping trip on the way in (office ran out of milk, tea, coffee and sugar!), this should have woken me up a bit, I say should have… I got in and went to make my morning cuppa and found there was no tea – I missed that on the shopping trip. So I went for coffee instead – I hate coffee but I did need the caffeine. I snacked on fruit most of the morning, but lunch was a laugh. I went to make a vegetable CD soup, I boiled the kettle, got my mug out, measured the water (hot water) and started pouring my ‘soup’ into it. I knew something was wrong when the water started turning pink, now I love pink, but not for vegetable soup. I’d picked up my strawberry shake instead of the soup! Doh! I managed to rescue the rest of sachet and start again with cold water, but a nice hot soup after all my fruit. Never mind.

The rest of the day passed without incident. I’m getting better with my 3l water target yesterday I drank 1.5l plus tea and today I’ve had 2.25l plus tea! I decided to do a core workout following @kharamills advice and did a disappointing 20 mins using two workout vids. I need to find a way to extend this workout without having to repeat the vid(s). I have a new vid from a friend that I haven’t tried might give that a go tomorrow depending on how my days goes…

Dinner was smoked haddock again, but with a baked /grilled aubergine instead of cabbage. I had an aubergine in my fridge for a few days as I had been planning to make moussaka, but I didn’t want it to go off so I decided it was tonight’s dinner! As I took it out of the fridge I notice the sticker that said a) don’t refrigerate and b) eat within two days of purchase… I guess that fact that I refrigerated extends it’s life; right? Anyway I cross cut the two halves and rubbed them with garlic paste, seasoned with sea salt and ground pepper and baked in the oven for 25mins. If I wasn’t on a diet I would drizzle with olive oil, but hey best I can do! One half I ate as is the other half I grated cheese on and grilled till the cheese melted – it’s better with cheese, but at least now I know!

Not to neglect myself I rounded the night off with a mini Toffee Crisp and some Easter egg! Who said dieting isn’t fun!

Stats
Calories Consumed: 940

Weight: 68.2kg 10st 10lbs

Weight Loss: 0.6kg 1.4lbs

My Diet: Day One

Here we go again. Yes, we have been here before and we have blogged this before, but maybe not here lol! Today I reminded myself both of the benefits of this method and of the downside. So yeah you get to loose weight yada, yada, yada. Downsides are tiredness, nausea, depression, mood swings, constipation, oh yeah and wind, lots and lots of wind, if all the rest weren't enough! lol. I was quite lucky the first time round, although my friends may disagree with the mood swing part!


My starting point is two CDs a day (300 calories) plus a carb free sensible meal in the evening and fruit as snacks during the day. Well that was what I intended anyway! The day went something like this:


I got into work and told my team about my diet; to many stares and whys?, but hey ho. I had a breakfast shake (strawberry) lined up along with a banana as I mid morning snack. As it turned out the first thing I did was make a cup of tea (calorie free) add sweetners and skimmed milk and well that turned out to be breakfast! I did have my banana simply because I needed to eat something in order to take my ibuprofen. Other than that I was done for the morning and set to start downing all this water. Now the water is really important; drink enough and you can loose a few lbs in the first day simply from water retention. 


I had to nip out mid morning to go to the physio and I didn't get back till lunch time when it was all kicking off at work. So I didn't get to have lunch straight away and I was famished by the time I did. Lunch was mushroom soup followed by an apple and yet more water... What I hate about eating is that it makes me want to eat more and more, especially when I working. I find that I when sat in front of a laptop I eat without thinking. When I was studying a couple of week ago I stayed up quite late and tidied up the day after. I cleared away a pack of Pringles (the whole tube), Jelly Babies (the share bag), Sweet Thai Chilli crisps (large size) and well that's bad enough isn't it? Needless to say I still had three square meals that day and snacks too. I'd estimate my daily calorie intake at about 3000 per day. Ouch! So this was the bit where it got hard; lunch was just the signal for a continuous stream of food as far as my stomach was concern, and yet I was good. I ate two Clementines and some raisins to get me through the afternoon.


Dinner was smoked haddock, which I baked with half a tomato, half a shallot, lemon juice and some herb I can picture, but can't name right now! I added some sweetcorn and steamed some cabbage with onion for flavour. A nice meal, but I was still hungry! No kidding your saying thinking of the junk I normally knock back! Well I need to top up with out having any carbs and trying to get additional protein, so my natural choice was eggs! I poached two in the microwave and they almost filled me up, almost... The night was rounded off with a 99 calorie Toffee Crisp and well that was day one.


Stats for today:
Calories Consumed: 905

Weight: 68.8kg 10st 11.4lbs
Chest: 79cm 31"
Bust: 100cm 39.3"
Waist: 71cm 28"
Hips: 98.6cm 38.75"
Thighs: L 58.5cm 23" R 58.5cm 23"
Arms: L 29cm 11.5" R 28cm 11"

My Challenge

I was at the Dr’s a couple of weeks ago and they did the usual check up thingies; recorded my blood pressure (constantly low), checked my last smear dates and the dreaded weigh in. Actually I wasn’t dreading the weigh in, not even after I stepped on the scales. The nurse had asked me if I wanted to remove any of my clothing before I hopped on and I said no, I mean it’s just numbers right? You and I both know that clothes only account for maybe a kg or two so what’s the point? I didn’t register my weight as she noted it, but I did hear her say you’ve put on 7kg since we last saw you! SHOCK, HORROR! Well no not really there was not shock and horror; I knew this already. But I’ll be damned hearing someone tell you just exactly how fat you’ve become since they last saw you really hits the spot; I’ve been thinking of it ever since.

And so a plan was hatched… I’m actually quite good at dieting. I don’t do it as I take great pleasure in my food. I love eating! Dieting is not a good idea whilst training, I guess you should just try to eat healthily and maybe eat a little less! The plan was to start dieting in April; my last race before the London Marathon (VLM) was on 28^th March and my tapering would begin shortly after. My recent injury has given me the opportunity (yes I meant to use that word!) to get started early and try to shed some extra pounds before VLM. I can’t train, but I can either sit on my bottom & get fat or try to loose some weight so I can run faster even without training!

My plan is to try a mixture of the Cambridge Diet and sensible eating. I did CD a couple of years ago and lost a stone and kept it off for long enough to make it worthwhile. My starting weight then was about the same as it is now; 69.3 and I got down to 61.4 over 3 months. The diet is based on drinking a number of soups and shakes at less than 150 calories each over the day and drinking 2-3 litres of water. Sole Source is where you start if you have more than a stone to loose and means drinking three CDs a day, 3l of water and nothing else – you DO NOT exercise when starting on SS! I did SS for about 4 weeks and dropped around 2kgs a week. Seeing the changes every week kept me motivated and I was even weighing myself daily to see the lbs shed! I loved it! But it is not the kind of diet that can be sustained for long and come June I’d a) grown bored of it and b) started training again so didn’t need to cut calories.

I’m putting this plan into action tomorrow, so wish me luck. I will be trying as much as I can to blog everyday and update you all on my progress. 

Reading Half

The excitement started with a free shuttle service from Reading Station to Madejski Stadium and as I left my car a people carrier parked beside me and off loaded its passengers in my direction. Being the person that I am (never got the “don’t talk to strangers” lesson) we started up conversation, waited in line together and got on the bus and sat together. As we exchanged training stories and estimated finish times I confessed that I would just be glad to finish under 2:30. I was secretly hoping for better, but I’d struggled on Thursday’s 5k run (35mins) and my ankle wasn’t feeling quite right, so I wanted to take it easy.

So, I went into this race knowing I wasn't at my best; at the start line however, I felt great; I guess it was the usual pre-race adrenalin rush. As I went to go in the right pace group I walked past 2:10 and dropped into the 2:05 group I felt so good! I found the 2:05 pace maker (thank you Runners World!) and kept up with him for the first mile, I had to try to get upwind from him, but I’ll say no more on that subject! After the first mile I knew two things 1) It was hotter than I thought and I was roasting in my long sleeved top & singlet! 2) I was getting ahead of myself with 2:05, but at least I’d got off to a good start! I stopped to take my long sleeved top off; I’m so glad I reset my Garmin so it auto pauses when I stop running! Now my Scope singlet was over my l/s top, which meant one thing; I had to take both off, then put my singlet back on… Good thing I’m not that modest! Actually the thought going through my head as I stood in front of someone front garden and undress in front of hundreds of people was “it said this sports bra could be worn on its own on the label…”. Anyway, shame aside I tied my top around my waist and kept on running. At some point I found myself a running partner; she ran past me smiled I smiled back then we kept pace with each other, she got ahead I fought to keep up, I got ahead and she was soon back on my heels. I always race well when I find someone to keep up with! All was going well till mile 8 when I felt something go in my ankle area. I didn’t want to stop so pushed on for a bit. My better judgement won over though and I realised I would need to hold off if I wanted to make it to the London Marathon. I was on track to still hit 2:10, but I figured limping the rest would take me a little longer ;-). As it was I limped, jogged and dragged myself to the finish. Well to the outside of the stadium anyway; when I realised the finish was in the stadium (with cameras) I picked up the pace at run through the pain. Sorry, but I am vain enough to not want photos of myself limping at a race! Yeah I said it! (sorry Chris Rock!)

The race itself was great; amazing support from the crowd, nice city route; great scenery and a fantastic medal! I can’t wait until next year to do it all again! And I will run it all the way next time!

Adidas Silverstone Half

What a bore! Yes that's right I said it! What a bore!

Okay, so I've had a really bad week where I've just wanted to stay in bed and have my duvet swallow me up whole. But I came out; I got up at 08:00 on a Sunday, had a shower, got dressed, drove over to Towcester and ran around a dull as ditch water racecourse. Ok, ok I know I complain and I moan about all those hilly courses that I've been doing recently, but a hill or two would have been a godsend on this course and in fact there where two 'hills' or bridges, whatever! Even the crowd was dull! Ok, there was one person who called out my name (it's on the front of my shirt), but when I turned back to smile my thanks he looked bored and disinterested and had turned away to pay little interest in the next runner *sigh*. 


Then there was the wind! It's was a beautiful sunny day, I was tempted to run in just my singlet until I got out of the car! As it happens I had only put on my singlet and then a tee that morning so the walk from the car park to the start line was a long and cold one. In fact I found a loo and added a long sleeve top under my singlet to run in. Around the course the sun was really shining (making apologies for the winter no doubt) and it was hot enough to go sleeveless, but the wind was enough to pick me off my feet and caused me to run off course a few times. So sleeveless would not have worked.


To add insult to injury that course was not 13.1 miles. I noticed the discrepancy from mile 1, it's was about 100m out, and it went on. This happens on some courses when you're a road runner (gosh can I really call myself that?), they pick the nearest lamppost to put the mile markers on and they are not always accurate, but they usually even out in the end. This course however, did not. I hit the lap button at 13.1 and clocked 2:09. The course however went on another 0.2 miles to 13.3 and I didn't even remember to hit the stop button at the end, oops! It's now 21:03 and the race results still haven't been published, which is just bad form! I did talk to everyone who I saw with a GPS watch at the end of the race and we all clocked 13.3miles so it wasn't just me. I estimate my final chip time to be around 2:11, but I think I'm gonna stick to my Garmin's 13.1 mile time.


Oh, and the medal; it's pretty cool. Only there's no where on it that I can engrave with my name, so yet another #fail for the Silverstone course. Just in case you didn't click; this time neat year I will be doing something far better with my time!


Next week Reading Half!

Nike MK Half

Today started as a good day. I had my kit all out and prepared, I got my breakfast in nice and early, I even had a bit of a lie in (if you call 07:30 on a Sunday a lie in)! I also had a little helper with me, which may have caused me to be a bit distracted this morning... Two things went wrong; firstly I turned my Garmin on inside the Xscape building; it couldn't find satellites and when it asked if I was indoors, I pressed yes because, well, I was.... Then at the start line, my bags were kindly taken from me and doh! so was my sports drink! #fail & #fail again! It did occur to me as I waited at the start to restart my watch to check it had found satellites, but I was so worried about not having my sports drink that I, well, I just didn't! I had already read through the race instructions so I knew there was plenty of water on the course, I also had a energy gel in my pocket so I calmed myself down by rationally telling myself that that was enough to get me through; the first water station was at 3 miles & I regularly run 5km races without any nutrition or water. So, I set my watch off at the start outside Xscape and as we rounded the corner towards Child's Way, I check my time, don't know why but I did. I'd done 2:46 mins and it wasn't recording my distance OH NO!! Quick thinking (I still don't know how to operate the watch properly) I switched it off and on again, but to no avail. PANIC! Do I go without or keep trying? Well I keep trying of course! Restarted it again and it was gearing up ready to go, I'd passed the 1 mile point by this time so decided not to start it until the 2 mile marker, if you're a runner you'll understand why!


The rest of the race was pretty uneventful my time being 2 miles out kept messing with my head; maths and running is not a good combo! Coming up to 6 miles I could feel myself starting to lag, as I passed the 6 mile marker I decided it was time to try the energy gel. I really wasn't looking forward to it as the one I tried last week was disgusting. Surprisingly it was quite good, for an energy gel that is, and I finished every last gooey drop! At 7 miles I knew I couldn't get below 2hrs so I was just determined to get as close to it as I could. I was told by friends who test ran the course that there was a killer hill on the last mile, so I knew I had to save some energy for that, but where was it? I didn't see any killer hill! I mean the race itself was promoted as flat, but MK by nature isn't really flat if your running, walking or cycling the redways around town. They go under all the main roads so by nature there's a little up and down every so often; I would call the course mixed rather than flat. The only 'hill' I noticed towards the end was when we took a bridge over a road rather than under it; granted it was steep but it wasn't long and it wasn't hugely challenging. After two races straight uphill it was a blessing.


Today was a new PB, at 2:08:38, I came in exactly 2 mins quicker than last weeks half, but I wasn't happy with my time. I do think that had I had my sport drink with me that would have kept my energy levels up and kept me going longer and faster. As it was I got to the end of the race and didn't collapse in a heap and I do think I could have gone further if need be. Races that end like that, well you just were not working hard enough!


Next week Silverstone Half Marathon!

My Medals!

Medals achieved thus far in 2010

Medals from 2007-09