Day Twenty-Seven

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

I'm feeling better today after having a 100% optifast day. Hopefully my mojo is back!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Drinks: green tea, water
Yet to have: final shake

Exercise:

Took my parents' puppy for a walk (20 minutes), managed to sneak a couple of minutes jogging in as well.

Day Twenty-Six

DAY TWENTY-SIX

I think I've lost my mojo a little bit this week! I'm not sure what to do to get it back again... maybe I should read over my first week when I was feeling super motivated. I was visiting my parents' tonight and succumbed to a small piece of apple and rhubarb crumble :(

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Dessert: Apple and rhubarb crumble (bad bad bad!!!)
Drinks: green tea, water, skinny flat white

Exercise:

Nil.

Day Twenty-Five

DAY TWENTY-FIVE

Things were pretty good today after my terrible start to the weekend. I'll admit I had a skinny cappuccino with one sugar today... but in comparison to the carbs I ate on Friday and Saturday, I think this is a much better option!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Drinks: ginger tea, water, skinny cap

Exercise:

Nil.

Days Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four

DAY TWENTY-THREE

I have to admit I haven't posted my updates because I'm embarrassed that I have made some terrible choices. I really wish I could skip over the weekend, it's the time I always seem to fall off the wagon. In the interests of full disclosure, please read my disgusting food intake!

I'm not going to let this stop me though! One bad weekend isn't enough to stop me.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar
Dinner: small bowl of vegetable soup, a small piece of bread and butter, pasta with a creamy / cheese sauce and a side salad
Drinks: green tea, water, 2 glasses of white wine, 1 vodka and cranberry juice

Exercise:

Nil.

DAY TWENTY-FOUR

Again, I didn't manage to make the best choices. I'm determined that tomorrow will be different!

On a side note, I think my scales are broken or running out of battery. Each time I jump on they seem to give me a different number (it can vary by as much as 2kg). I've never had digital scales before, so I don't really know what's going on. Is this normal?

Food:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast, skinny cappuccino
Lunch:Optifast cappuccino bar, skinny flat white
Dinner: tofu and vegetable stir fry with a garlic and sweet chili sauce
Drinks: water, diet coke

Exercise:

Nil.

Day Twenty-Two

DAY TWENTY-TWO

Sorry for the late check-in for day 22. I went to a comedy show which didn't finish until 11:30pm. So by the time I got home, showered and into bed, I couldn't face blogging as well. It was far too late for a school night*!

I went out for dinner with a friend before the comedy show, so my day wasn't 100% optifast, but I chose well in the circumstances and planned for the meal out by not having my third shake.

After reporting my small loss yesterday, I jumped on the scales again this morning (day 23) and am happy to report the loss of an extra 600g (bringing me down to 91.5kg). I'm not officially reporting it just yet, because it's still a week to my weigh in and things could change. But I'm feeling much better about things!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar (first one - sooo yum!)
Dinner: tofu and vegetable stir fry with a ginger / soy sauce
Comedy gig: 1 glass of white wine
Drinks: green tea, water, diet coke

Exercise:

None today, but I was out tonight so didn't have the time.

*FYI - by school night, I mean work night.

A quarter of the way through my challenge

After my last post where I expressed disappointment in my weight loss over the past week, I've had a think about things... and done some maths. There's nothing like some maths to bring out the inner geek in a girl and make you feel better.

I'm currently on day 22 of my challenge. Over the past 21 days (or the first 25% of my challenge) I managed to lose 3.5kg. If I manage to continue losing at that rate (or an average of 3.5kg every 3 weeks) I will lose a total of 14kg for this challenge. That would bring my weight down to 81.6kg. In all honesty that is a figure I would be ecstatic with. I can't remember a time I weighed that little.

Now it's no secret that you can generally lose more weight early on, so even if I only manage to lose 10kg for the duration of this challenge I would be happy.

I think for anyone who is trying to lose weight, it's important to keep your eye on the goal. Unforutnately are bodies are complicated things, we can do everything by the book and not lose weight some weeks. At the end of the day, it's important to keep going. I know I would rather take an extra 84 days to reach my ultimate goal, as opposed to giving up.

Week 3 - Weigh In

Well I have to admit I'm disappointed with my result this week. I'm down to 92.1kg, a measly loss of 200 grams for the week.

If I'm being completely honest I didn't stick to the program 100%. I had quite a few extras over the week such as oopsie rolls, popcorn and some cheese. I think I need to refocus this week and hopefully I'll get a better result this week.

Day Twenty-One

DAY TWENTY-ONE

Day 21 has been good for me, three weeks are officially down and I'll be interested to see how things go for my weigh-in tomorrow. I've done a few things differently this week - for one, I've been trying to drop the soup I was having at lunch time and just doing my 3 shakes and 2 cups of veggies. Secondly, I've done very little exercise. Thirdly, Alice has paid me a visit and finally, I had a couple of slip-ups - mainly in the form of cheese (glorious cheese!).

I think having regard to all the factors above, it's pretty hard to say that one thing will effect my weight loss (or gain). But as they say, the proof is in the pudding.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate bar (my first one, it was nice for a change) and a few veggies.
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and salad (with a little bit of feta cheese)
Drinks: green tea, water
Snacks: I'll admit I've had the munchies today and ate quite a few jelly snakes (made from diet jelly)!

Exercise:

I managed to drag my butt to the gym today, just did 20 minutes on the exercise bike. Not great, but better than nothing!

Day Twenty

DAY TWENTY

Wow, 20 days seems pretty significant! I'm almost a quarter of the way through this challenge.

Things have been good today. I have to admit I had a couple of oopsie rolls on top of my daily intake, so I hope the extra 120 or so calories don't hurt too much. At the end of the day I was hungry and I figure a low carb, low fat, low calorie snack is the way to go!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning snack: 2 oopsie rolls with a scrape of light philly and weight watchers jam
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Third shake
Dinner: stir fry veggies (capsicum, broccoli, carrot, celery, cabbage, snow peas and onion) with garlic and soy sauce
Drinks: green tea, ginger tea, water

Exercise:

None again... this is getting embarrassing.

Inspiration - shorts

I'm sure this is a bit of a weird thing to be inspired by, but I would kill to be able to wear a pair of shorts by this summer and look good! A friend has a boat, so during the warmer months we tend to go out on it quite often. It's so much fun, lazing around, drinking wine and swimming. On these kind of days, shorts would be so perfect (especially with a stripey t-shirt to complete the nautical look!)

Now I'm not asking to look like Kylie, or wear short shorts! Just some loose-fitting, mid-length chambray shorts would be perfect! Or something high-waisted so I can go for that 70's look. I love what this girl has done to achieve a really polished look!

Summer here I come!

Day Nineteen

DAY NINETEEN

Just a quick post today, things were good for me. Although I was a little naughty and had a tiny bit of feta in my salad tonight (shh, don't tell anyone).

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Third shake
Dinner: Salad topped with Paul Newman's light balsamic dressing and cauliflower croquettes
Drinks: green tea, ginger tea, water

Exercise:

I think I'm getting a bit naughty, "resting my shins" has turned into me breaking my good habits! I will go to the gym tomorrow, even if it's just for a light session, no ifs or buts about it!

Day Eighteen

DAY EIGHTEEN

Da da dam, another one bites the dust. Day 18 is over and done with. I wasn't 100%, on my food intake but I wasn't particularly bad either (at least I don't think so).

I started the day with a couple of oopsie rolls spread with a little bit of light cream cheese and fruit chutney for breakfast. I have to admit I felt like a king! Oopsie rolls are a saviour for anyone in the world of low carb!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake, oopsie rolls topped with cream cheese and fruit chutney
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Salad topped with Paul Newman's light balsamic dressing
Evening: final shake
Drinks: skinny cappuccino, Ginger tea, water

Exercise:

Nothing again today, in the interests of resting my shins.

Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN

Another day which was far from perfect. I was out for lunch and couldn't have a shake, so I ordered a salad. Then I went over to a friend's house for pizza and movies. To try and avoid as much temptation as possible, I made my own pizza to take with me and a big salad to share. I used an oopsie roll for the base of the pizza and I have to say, it tasted pretty good.

Where I feel down majorly was the snacks. I ended up having some popcorn (homemade) and lollies (natural confectionery company). To compensate, I didn't have any further shakes during the day.

All up, while I didn't follow the program I think I did pretty well. I know the blow out could have been far worse if I had the actual domino's pizza!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Salad (baby spinach, tomato, beetroot and bocconcini)
Dinner: homemade pizza on oopsie roll base, topped with tomato paste, capsicum, tomato, onion, olives and a tiny bit of low fat cheese.
Snacks: popcorn and lollies
Liquids: water, diet coke, 1 glass of orange juice

Exercise:

None again today. But I'm trying to give my shins a chance to recover.

Day Sixteen

DAY SIXTEEN

Not so perfect for me in the house of 84, what is it with me and Friday's? Obviously I'm in a bad habit of celebrating the end of the work week with food. I don't think the damage was too bad - I had a small bowl of wasabi peas and some little rice crackers at after work drinks. I managed to say no to alcoholic beverages and instead had a couple of glasses of diet tonic water.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: naughty snack - wasabi peas and rice crackers.
Dinner: Planned meal out - vegetable and tofu stir fry with a ginger soy sauce (due to the protein in the meal, I chose not to have my third shake today).
Liquids: green tea, ginger tea, water, tonic water and a diet coke.

Exercise:

Nada. But Friday's are an off day for me.

Inspiration

As I try to type this post, I find myself deleting it and starting over again and again. I guess while I enjoy rambling on this blog, I never get overly personal. But in the interests of full disclosure and helping me to keep my eye on the prize, I want to mention something else that I hope will come as a result of weight loss - a relationship.

While there have been boys here and there, a fling, a drunken pash, a flirtation, an inappropriate text message or two... I am 27 years old and have never had a boyfriend in the true sense of the word. I've never introduced someone to my family, or my friends, never had a valentine.

I have no doubt that my weight has been a big factor for me emotionally. It's my suit of armour which stops me from getting hurt.

Now obviously I shouldn't let my weight get in the way of pursuing love. I guess until now, I have had terrible self-esteem. I have been overweight for so long now it has always been a barrier for me physically and emotionally.

I hope that by undertaking this journey I can learn to love myself enough to let someone else into my life. Just to put it out there to the universe - I'm ready.

Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN

Day 15 and I'm still going strong! No naughty treats to report yet again. I'll admit I was feeling cold this afternoon and succumbed to one cup of normal tea (not green) with a tiny splash of hilo milk. I don't think that's anything to be concerned with.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake

Dinner: Went to my parents' house - BYO'd pre-cut veggies to stiry fry (mix of onion, cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage and broccoli), stole some garlic and soy sauce from them! 1 can of diet coke.
Currently drinking: final shake
Liquids: water, green tea, normal tea (1 cup with a dash of light milk) and a cup of tea at my parents' place (I think it was some sort of ginger / lemon herbal concuction, no milk).

Wow, I drink a lot of tea and liquids.

Exercise:

I had an official off day today because my shins are still causing my some grief. I think I need to take it easy and give myself some time to heal with light exercise only!

Week 2 - Weigh In

Well I'm very happy to report another great loss of 1.5kg this week, which brings me down to 92.3kg! Considering I ate some hot chips and a couple of glasses too many of red wine over the week, I think I've done really well. I'm going to be in the 80's in no time if I can keep this up!

Day Fourteen

DAY FOURTEEN

Day 14, that officially means I've got through two weeks relatively unscathed. Things were all good again for me today. How boring! I think I need to mess up just to I have something to blog about!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake

Dinner: Curried cauliflower croquettes and salad
Yet to have: Final shake, jelly (possibly)
Liquids: water, green tea (4 cups)

Exercise:

I started with 20 minutes on a variety of weights machines and finished up with 20 minutes on the recumbant bike. On the bike I started with a warm up for 5 minutes (level 3) and then alternated minute by minute from level 5 (cycling fast) and level 3 (normal pace).

Hungy hungry hippos

Have you hit a plateau in your weight loss?

Are you craving food more than a hungry, hungry hippo?

Are you feeling tired?

Are you feeling cold?

If you've answered yes to the above questions, then it's possible that you're suffering from the famine reaction. When we go on a diet and lose weight, our bodies can act in unusual ways. Often once we've lost a bit of weight, we may end up suffering from the famine reaction. This has resulted from many years of human evolution - our bodies will try to retain onto every last morsel of food that we eat when they think that food sources are scarce. This effectively makes it that much more difficult to shift those unwanted kilos!

So what can we do to stop the famine reaction from halting our weight loss efforts? The answer may surprise you. Ordinarily when our weight loss stalls, we become even more determined, spend more time at the gym or cut down further on food. However, studies at the Garven institute indicate that this is exactly what we shouldn't be doing.

In an article written by Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis entitled "Why losing weight and keeping it off is so difficult", she suggests that we should be taking the counter-intuitive action and EAT MORE! That's right, if you answered yes to all of the questions above, you should consider eating more food in order to deactivate the famine reaction. Now this doesn't mean pigging out on a whole cheesecake to yourself, but rather choosing a variety of healthy and nutritious foods. You should be eating more calories than your diet would otherwise allow. Exercise can also assist in getting your body out of this mode and put your weight loss back on track.

For further information about the famine reaction, make sure you read the whole of Dr Sainsbury-Sails' article for yourself (refer to the above link).

Happy weight loss!

Day Thirteen

DAY THIRTEEN

Day 13, I guess it must be a lucky number for me because I had another perfect day.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake

Dinner: Vegetable ratatouille with a side of mushrooms and spinach

Yet to have: Final shake, jelly (possibly)
Liquids: water, green tea (3 cups), 1 glass of Pepsi max

Exercise:

I have to say I wasn't feeling very motivated to exercise today. Despite this, I managed to drag myself to the gym and do a quick session. I simply did some stretching and a 20 minute calorie-burning program on the cross trainer (level 5). Not an intense session, but better than sitting on my ample backside watching tv!

Weight Loss for Food Lovers

After reading about the book "Weight Loss for Food Lovers" by Dr George Blair-West on the Tony Ferguson forums, I thought I may as well look into it. A few minutes later, I found myself hitting "buy it now" on eBay and procuring myself a cheap copy!

Now I'm the first to admit that I only started reading it yesterday and am only about 1/4 of the way through the book. But wow, is the only word I can use to accurately describe my reaction to this book.

I find myself nodding along as I read through page after page, the way he describes people's relationship with food is amazing. Especially the cycle of dieting and then breaking your diet in spectacular form as a result of feeling denied of your favourite foods.

From what I've read so far, I'm not sure Dr George would approve of the optifast program, considering how many favourite foods I'm excluding. However, I'm not quite ready to bow out of this challenge just yet. Hopefully by reading this book, I can understand some of the psychology behind what happens when I break the diet and hopefully (try to) stop it in its tracks.

I think one of my favourite things that I've read so far is his description of the "What the hell?" effect.

The what the hell effect refers to circumstances where people break their diet. You often think "what the hell, I've had one glass of wine, I've already ruined everything, I may as well drink the rest of the bottle and eat this whole cheesecake while I'm at it".

I had a similar experience last week - you may have read about my slip-up with some wonderful hot chips (day nine). After eating the chips I was so close to eating one of the chocolate-chip muffins my friend had given to me, but used every ounce of strength I had to step out of the kitchen. If I had eaten the one muffin, I'm sure it would have led to all three!

Now I'm not saying I'll be able to resist falling victim to the what the hell effect each time. But having an awareness of it is at least a starting point!

For anyone else out there who is trying to lose weight, I highly recommend this book.

Day Twelve

DAY TWELVE

Wow, 12 days are done already. I have to say it feels like only yesterday I started this blog. Hopefully the rest of my 84 days goes this quickly. Things were all around good on the food front and I managed to get some exercise in.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Curried cauliflower croquettes and salad
Yet to have: Final shake, jelly (possibly)
Liquids: water, green tea (3 cups)

Exercise:

My shins were a bit sore today, after my long workouts on the weekend. I'm not sure whether to attribute it to the time on the cross trainer, treadmill or both. They aren't too bad, but I took the safe route and did a light workout tonight.

I started with a 20 minute session on various weights (mainly upper body) and then did 20 minutes on the exercise bike on a low resistance (level 3). It was by no means an exhausing routine, but something is better than nothing.

Feeling blue

I have to admit I'm feeling down in the dumps at the moment. One person who I've been friends with for over a decade has suddenly cut me off without so much as a word. I don't know what's going on, but she hasn't responded to any of my messages or emails. At a recent event with mutual friends she refused to acknowledge my existence, making the effort to kiss every other person at the table except for me. I'm at a loss with what to do.

I feel so isolated as I know other friends are catching up with her, presumably I'm excluded from these events due to what's going on.

I went to the biscuit jar at work and stared at the wonderful goodies it contained** for a good minute before putting the lid back on and walking away. I didn't eat a single one.

I don't expect much from posting on here, but I figured this blog is an outlet and one a sorely need at the moment.

**For those interested, it was scotch fingers.

Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN

Another good day all around today. I started the day with a black coffee (pre-exercise) and also managed to do some gardening. Food was perfect!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake, mushrooms and spinach (cooked with olive oil)
Dinner: Curried cauliflower croquettes and salad
Evening: Final shake, jelly
Liquids: water, green tea, black coffee (pre-workout), diet coke (1 can)

Exercise:

Another decent workout at the gym for me today. I started with 30 minutes on the cross-trainer (fat burning program, level 6). Then I finished up with 20 minutes on the treadmill - I alternated between walking 6km/hr at an incline of 3% and 6.3km/hr with an incline of 4.5%. It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but I was exhausted by the end of it.

I did a little bit of gardening in the arternoon (ripping out some more plants), so overall I think that's a heap of exercise for one day!

Day Ten

DAY TEN

Well after my little incident with the hot chips on day nine, I was determined to make up for it today. I started the day with a good session at the gym, followed by a perfect day of eating.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Roast field mushrooms (topped with basil and garlic), ratatouille and salad.
Liquids: water, green tea, black coffee (pre-workout).

Exercise:

I did my exercise first thing in the morning, before breakfast, but I did have a black coffee to start my day.

I started with some stretches, followed by 15/20 minutes on various weights machines. Next I did 30 mins of cardio on the cross trainer (calorie burning program, level 5). I finished up with some work on the floor 3 sets of 20 reps of: push-ups (couldn't make it to 20 reps - was between 12 and 15 reps each set), medicine ball (side to side motion) and medicine ball (lifting above head).

Day Nine

DAY NINE

Not so good here today in the house of 84. I went out to a burger joint with some friends for dinner. I had it all planned out - I ordered a salad with grilled mushrooms (which was lovely and pretty healthy). Then the restaurant stuffed up and brought out some chips that we didn't order. I ate some of them. I feel bad, but this isn't going to stop me. It just goes to prove how hard it is to deal with food in a social setting.

My friend also gave me some chocolate muffins as a present. They look divine! I've promised myself that I'm limiting my damage to the chips I ate and the muffins will promptly be gifted to my family tomorrow!

But for the chips incident, my day was pretty good.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Second shake, cauliflower croquettes
Dinner: Grilled mushroom salad, chips
Liquids: green tea, water and red wine (the red wine was a conscious decision and a treat to end the week).

Exercise:

No planned exercise again today unfortunately. However, I'm personally of the opinion that Friday is a permitted off day!

I put on my shoes and I'm ready for the weekend

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

It's Friday morning here and the weekend is fast approaching. The weekend is, without a doubt, the hardest time for me to cope on this diet.

I just had a bit of a win at work for a client, my automatic reaction was - ooo, I should go out for drinks to celebrate. I have to say, this was a bit of a light bulb moment for me - to recognise that I turn to food as a means of rewarding myself.

Now while everything is good in moderation and I should probably treat myself to one glass of wine to celebrate. I need to ensure that one glass, doesn't lead to a bottle. The last wine-related incident ended up with me declaring that "McFlurries are the best dessert in the world" and half a dozen friends, sitting around my living room eating Maccas and drinking more wine. Don't get me wrong - it was a fun night, but not particularly diet friendly.

Mmm, McFlurry!

While I'm on this challenge, I obviously need to find new ways to reward myself. Both for achieving my weight loss goals and for other achievements in life. I haven't quite decided what I will to celebrate this victory in my work life, but I really need to find a way to re-program my thinking that success = dinner and drinks (a good bottle of New Zealand white wine has been my weapon of choice... ahh SSB, how I miss you).

Any tips or suggestions on what you've done to change your thinking or little things you do to reward yourself?

Day Eight

DAY EIGHT

Another perfect day food wise in the 84 household. I lost 1.8kg as a result of my perfect eating to date, so hopefully if I can continue like this I might be able to pull good number again next week.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Second shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad.
Yet to have: final shake (and maybe some jelly).
Liquids: lots of green tea and water.

Exercise:

I have to unfortunately admit to doing nothing today. I'm in the process of finding a housemate, so I can save on costs. It's painful because I love living on my own... but a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do. In any case, I found someone tonight - but having gone through the interview process I was too tired to hit the gym. Plus I had to clean out my spare room to make room for his stuff.

Ode to a biscuit jar

ODE TO A BISCUIT JAR

Oh biscuit jar.... oh biscuit jar.

I know we were good friends for a long time there. You always provided me with delicious treats, from tim tams, to kingstons and scotch fingers.

But the time has come for us to part ways. I know this will be tough on both of us, but mostly me.

It's not you. It's me. I've moved on, I've changed. Your cream-filled centres no longer move me like they used to.

Please stop trying to tempt me to come back.

The truth is, there's someone else. His name is Mr Optifast milkshake and I think it might be love.

Food intake vs Exercise - the best way to lose weight

There are a lot of arguments both ways when it comes down to the "best" way to lose weight. If you've read my blog, you'll notice I try to incorporate a bit of exercise into my routine every day in addition to healthy eating.

I'm a firm believer that exercise is necessary for maintaining your weight loss long term as well as your overall well-being. It may be hard to get started, but I guarantee if you can get into a routine, after a couple of weeks you'll feel bad if you don't exercise!

Back to the title of this post - where should we be concentrating our efforts when it comes to weight loss? Well from everything I've read, I believe that diet is the number one place to start and should be given the top priority.

Why is this? Well because it takes far more effort to burn off those excess calories by working out than it does to simply not eat them in the first place. I'm sure most of us know that losing weight is a numbers game - you have to eat less calories than you burn in a day in order to lose weight (that is, have a calorie deficient diet).

Here is an extract from an article on free women's fitness entitled How to Lose Weight for Good, Your Ultimate Guide (click on the link to read the article in full):

___________________________________________________

The mathematics of weight loss

The sad part about weight loss is that it is mostly, in the long term, about maths. You see, if you want to lose weight you need to be burning more calories than you take in. If you have excess calories in your diet they are going to be converted into fat stores. And the thing that most women don’t realize is that over a number of years those calories add up.

Take a look:

If you have a can of Coke with lunch everyday of the week you are taking in 155 calories x seven days a week. That is 1085 calories a week. Now, there are 3500 calories per pound of body fat. So, if you take in 1085 calories from one can of Coke per day in three weeks you have added a pound of fat. That is 17 pounds per year. Just from your daily Coke.

Now, don’t panic. Weight loss is more complicated than that. It is not that black and white. The point of the above example is to show you how important your diet is going to be over the course of your life. Every little thing you take in each day will add up to extra pounds.

Eating well vs running

The most important thing you need to realize after seeing that mathematical example is that eating well is so so so much easier than running and burning the calories. All you have to do is leave the can of Coke in the fridge and you have effectively burned 155 calories from your diet. That is a good 20 minutes on the treadmill. Now, when you do go to the treadmill, you are going to be burning other calories and that means you are going to lose weight a lot faster than if you had that Coke with lunch.

Remember this: eating well is so much easier than running.

___________________________________________________

Having regard to this, it seems logical why people have so much success with shake diets, even without exercise. The challenge that ultiamtely faces us is the transition to normal eating at which stage it's vitally important to remember that it's a numbers game!

Week One - Weigh In

I just thought I'd drop by quickly to report the results from my first week.

I'm very happy to say that I've lost a total of 1.8kg. This brings me down to a current weight of 93.8kg. I'm over the moon with this result and can only hope that this will inspire me to continue on the healthy eating path for the next 77 days.

Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

Nothing out of the ordinary to report today boys and girls. Things were once again perfect on the food front. I found out that there is a specialist running store just near my work, so I dropped in during my lunch break and picked up some new shoes.

The process was fantastic - it took almost half an hour in total and involved:

• discussing my current work-out, injuries and aims;
  
• measuring my foot (for size);
• standing on this panel to see where the I place the weight on my feet;
• taking a video of me walking on a treadmill;
• watching the video back in slow motion to identify my walking style and where I need support;
• seeing how my feet are in my current orthotics (which do partially correct my issues);
• testing out two different shoes deemed suitable, based on everything above;
• watching me walk in both pairs of shoes - and the final selection.

I'm really happy with the result, so $200 later I have a fantastic pair of shoes. In all honesty you could probably pick the shoes up cheaper elsewhere, but for the time and effort they put in, it's well worth it. Hopefully this will help with my shin splint issue!

Plus they gave me two $20 off vouchers which I can give to friends. If you're in Perth and would like one of the vouchers, post a comment with your email (I won't publish the comment). If anyone is interested in the store, I'm happy to provide details (I have no affiliation whatsoever and am just providing my honest feedback of a great experience).

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Second shake

Dinner: Vegetable stiry fry with ginger, garlic and chilli.
Later: I made my shake into biscuits.... I wasn't keen on them - for anyone who has done this before, are they meant to be crunchy? Mine were really thick and chewy. I think I'll stick to the plain old shake.
Snacks: green tea, water

Exercise:

I caught up with a friend after work and went for a walk and coffee (well, green tea in my case). It wasn't particularly strenuous, but it's probably good for me to take it easy while I'm recovering.

On a positive note, said friend was very excited at the prospect of doing Zumba with me. We're going to look into classes and might start next week!

General thoughts

It's officially day 7 today, I'm still feeling really happy and motivated to be making this change in my life. I'm sure once a few more weeks have passed I might not be feeling quite so chirpy. In reality I'm yet to face any "real" challenges when it comes to food.

As it was a long weekend last weekend, most of my friends were out of town. Whereas on any ordinary weekend I would have several social outings to deal with. Weight loss is so much easier in a controlled and temptation free environment. No wonder those people on the Biggest Loser manage to shed so much weight.

In any case, I though I'd mention one little saying / mantra that helps me get by. Hopefully if I reflect on it in times of temptation, I can get myself through:

What I choose, is my choice.

For those of you who are music buffs, you might recognise this as a line from the Smashing Pumpkins song, Disarm (obviously I'm taking it out of context here!). At the end of the day, I have arrived at the weight I am, based on my choices, there's no blaming anyone else for making me fat. I am the one who chose to eat each extra mouthful, to have seconds and not to exercise.

It's time to take accountability for my actions. If I want to lose weight, I have to choose to lose weight. This means eating right and exercising. If I choose to give way to temptation, then I need to be aware of the consequences.

For anyone who has been susceptible to binge eating (which includes me), it's easy to have a bit of calorie blindness. It's almost like if you eat it quickly, or in secret, the calories don't count. This is obviously crazy talk! By recognising my choices I can hopefully gain control over my eating habits and learn to eat more consciously.

Day Six

DAY SIX

I'm on a roll - today has been perfect once again on the food front. I was busy at work today, which is a good thing. Less distraction means I'm less likely to want to cheat. I really wish they would stop buying biscuits! I know it's selfish, but each time I make myself a green tea I have to stare at that jar of forbidden treats.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Second shake

Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and a salad of lettuce, tomato, red onion and capsicum (with a teeny bit of Paul Newman's light balsamic dressing).
Later: I'll have my final shake within the next hour and possibly some diet jelly.
Snacks: green tea, water

Exercise:

After a couple of days away from the gym (along with the use of ice and ibuprofen tablets) my shin splints are feeling better. I've also bought some fish oil tablets which are meant to be good in helping inflammation. Unfortunately shin splints are the kind of injury which takes weeks to fully recover, so I'm going to take things easy for a while.

In any case, I still went to the gym tonight for a light workout. I started with a 20 minute weight session (using various machine weights). Then I completed 20 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike. Due to my injury, I kept the bike on a low resistance, so it was by no means a tough workout. But something is better than nothing!

In the past I've found that when I have an injury, I tend to get frustrated and stop exercising. While I recognise that I need to let my body recover, it's important for me to do other forms of exercise. I personally find that exercising is so good for the soul and the endorphins improve my mood exponentially.

In the zone

At the moment I'm finding it quite easy to stay "in the zone". One advantage that I suspect I have over a lot of other people when it comes to dieting, is that I live on my own (for the time being anyway). This means, luckily for me that I can have a temptation free household.

As wasteful as it might sound, before starting on this challenge I gave away or threw out all the bread, rice, pasta and junk food that might lead me astray. Now my fridge is full of fresh vegetables, pre-prepared meals such as soup and diet jelly. My cupboards on the other hand are pretty bare, I have some psyllium husks, a variety of herbs and spices and a few sauces (soy, chilli etc).

This might not be a viable option for most people. But for me, it ensures that home is a safe-haven. Now I just have to resist the temptation of biscuits at work, eating out, shops, visiting friends... aye aye aye!

Another tip which I've found helps is to avoid shopping at supermarkets as much as possible. That way there's no chance that packet of chips can accidentally fall into your trolley. Green grocers and butchers provide much better alternatives. As an added bonus the produce is generally much better (and often cheaper)!

Now I know you can't buy everything at your butcher/grocer and I'm not going to suggest that you never go to the supermarket. I can't imagine the creative alternatives for toilet paper that we might end up with if that were the case! But this is just another tip which might help those of you struggling with your weight loss journey.

Day Five

DAY FIVE

Another good day on my journey to 84 days of healthy living. We had a public holidays here, so I relaxing day. I spent a bit more time in the garden, cleaning up the area and the rest of the day cleaning and cooking for the week ahead.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake and green tea
Lunch: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Afternoon snack: Second shake
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry (onion, garlic, ginger, capsicum, bok choi, mushrooms, carrot and a dash of low salt soy sauce). I'm yet to have my final shake, but will before bedtime.
Snacks: Diet jelly, green tea, lots of water (as always)

Exercise:

Shin splint are still sore, so the extent of my exercise was a little bit of gardening. I've borrowed some light (3kg each) hand weights from my brother, so I think I might do some work on my arms and some push ups.

Planning ahead

I keep on reading over and over the saying, that failing to plan, is planning to fail. The more I think about it, the more it rings true to me.

We all make a million excuses as to why we can't lose weight - not enough time, we're too busy, too stressed, work too much. While I'm not encouraging anyone to make excuses, sometimes these can be legitimate - especially the lack of time.

I know personally, I work long-ish hours in a corporate environment, like to socialise and eat out. But what happens in these circumstances? We rely on convenience and end up making poor food choices.

This is where planning comes into place. Work, friend and family will always be there. Along with the housework and anything else which is taking up your time. If you want to make real changes and lose weight, we have to be selfish! Put all those other factors aside and make you and your health your top priority.

This might mean simple changes - taking a lunch break at work and using that time to go for a walk. Spending half an hour to sit down, plan your meals for the week and do the grocery shopping accordingly.


I have to say, I'm boring when it comes to food. I can eat the same meal for days on end without wanting to shoot myself. So for me, I generally set a couple of hours aside on a Sunday to get myself ready for the weekd ahead. I cook up a big batch of soup, which will be my lunch for the rest of the week. I might also cook another meal, whether it be roast vegetables, or cauliflower croquettes which can act as dinner for me on a night I'm not in the mood for cooking.

If you're not the type of person who's happy eating the same soup for 3 days in a row, I still recommend making up a big batch. That way you can freeze it and have it in a week's time, when you're ready to face that meal again.

Do you guys have any planning tips which help you to get through the week and avoid temptation?

It won't happen over night...

I was just watching tv and heard this line, I'm sure you've all heard it before:

It won't happen over night, but it will happen.

So what on earth does Pantene shampoo and conditioner have to do with weight loss? Well not a lot, but I think this motto is something that really rings true when it comes to anyone who is trying to reach their weight loss and fitness goals (as well as their hair care - thanks Pantene :P).

It's far too easy to give up if we have a bad week, you've tried so hard, only to lose a few hundred grams. Either that or you've been dieting for 2 months and are only half-way there, what's the point?

The point is that weight loss takes time. I don't think anyone who is overweight got there by eating poorly for 2 months, for me it happened over a matter of years. So why is it that I expect that I can lose it all in 2 months? We can blame it on anything, our fast-paced lifestyles, being generation y (I want it all and I want it now). It seems everyone wants instant gratification.

Unfortuantely, when it comes to weight loss there's no miracle cure, no wonder drug, no way to drop 20kg overnight (except maybe with the help of a bit of surgical intervention in the form of liposuction). We have to put in the hard yards - eating well and exercising on a consistent basis.

This isn't meant to be a depressing post, quite the opposite in fact. When we are feeling down in the dumps and stuck on our weight loss journey, it's important to remember that it is that - a journey. As much as we'd love to, there's no jumping to the finish line - so we may as well enjoy the ride.

Day Four

DAY FOUR

Today has been pretty good food wise. I stuck to the the plan all day. I'm a little bit upset because my shin splints have started playing up again. I don't know what's going on! Shin splints normally play up for people when they've been running lots, as a result of a sudden increase in exercise, or from high impact sports. While I have increased my exercise, I've mainly been using the cross-trainer and other low impact machines. I'm going to use ice and other anti-inflammatory measures to see if I get can it under control myself before I go to the physio.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake and green tea
Lunch: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Afternoon snack: Second shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes, salad and final shake
Snacks: 2 cans of diet coke and diet jelly

Exercise:

While I didn't do any "formal" exercise today, my incidental exercise was fantastic! I have a green waste collection coming up in a couple of weeks time. So I spent at least 2 hours (with a break for lunch) in my garden digging up weeds, pulling out old plants and trying to dig out a tree. It may not be the most intense exercise, but I can assure you I was sweating by the end of it!

Temptation:

I visited my parents' place today. I actually only moved out this year, so it still seems very much like home to me. The one issue is that they love to entertain and as a result, their house is always filled with wonderful food. I have to admit I found myself staring blankly in the fridge at one point - amazing cheeses, left-over dessert, lasagna, dips... I could go on. I thought of this blog, grabbed a big glass of water and distracted myself. Phew, crisis averted for one day.

Inspiration

I've decided that 99% of weight loss is a mental challenge. Don't get me wrong, it's most definitely physically draining to get out there and exercise, but for me, once I'm at the gym I have the attitude of "well I'm here, so I may as well do it".

It's a similar thing when we look at the hurdles and temptations that face us - the birthday party or other celebration where its "expected" that we eat, drink and be merry. At the end of the day, is your host really going to look down on your if you say no to dessert or opt for water instead of wine? I don't think so. In fact, when you've dropped that weight and are looking smokin' hot, I'm sure that friend or colleague will be the first one to compliment and congratulate you.

Let's stop the excuses - no you didn't have to eat that piece of cake, you chose to eat that cake. We need to take responsibility for our actions and our food choices. My mantra for my 84 challenge is:

The only thing that lies between me and my weight loss goals, is me!

Every time I am tempted I am going to repeat this mantra over and over again. As I said at the start of this post, it's a mental game. It's hard to say no... wait! That's the understatement of the year! It's beyond hard, beyond difficult... for someone who loves food it's heart-wrenching to turn down temptation after temptation... but aren't the results at the end going to be worth it?

How do we stay in that mental state where we say no to rubbish food, yes to exercise and healthy food? I think this is where our goals and inspiration come into place. So today, I thought I would share one of my goals.

The skinny leg jean!

Now I'm not going to lie to you for one second and pretend that one of the major aims of my weight loss is to look good. Superficial? Yes. But I'm still young and want to feel really gorgeous for once in my life.

So why the skinny leg jean? It's just one of those trend items that I've never been able to pull off. As a typical pear shape, I'm bottom heavy. While I can fit into a size 14 up top, I'm more of a 16/18 down the bottom. As such, jeans are my arch nemesis! Thunder thighs, ghetto booty and a massive stomach are not the ingredients for looking hot in jeans.

For anyone out there reading - what are your goals (totally superficial or otherwise)? Any trend items you want to be wearing? Share your thoughts by posting a comment.

My food addiction

Hello, my name is Kristen and I'm a food addict.

Now I don't meant to make any jokes about people who suffer from addictions such as drugs and alcohol. However, I seriously consider that the number one reason I have got to the weight I am, is that I am addicted to food.

Take this example at work yesterday. It's about 4pm - the time that our office usually partakes in drinks and nibbles, what better way to end the working week? I hear the noise, it's the crumble of plastic as someone opens a packet of chips/rice crackers/or whatever wonderfully fatty and processed food is on offer for today. Instantly I'm very aware that this sumptuous treat is less than 2 metres from me.

It's all I can think about. My stomach churns in anticipation of receiving food, wonderful food. I muster all the willpower I have to walk past the kitchen and fill my water bottle up. I remind myself, it's only day 2, it's too early to fail, it's my choice not to eat it.

And so I survived one temptation. I can only guess how many hundreds or thousands of other temptations will cross my path over the next twelve weeks.

Food, unlike other addictive substances, is something we need to live. There's no going cold turkey on this addiction. Food is readily available, on every street corner, in every petrol station, in your biscuit jar at work, the plate of fresh muffins at a cafe, the wonderful appetisers your friend has baked for a dinner party. It's your social life. It's the way we live. Who doesn't love to catch up with a friend over dinner, eat some cake to celebrate a Birthday?

So how do I beat this addiction? I don't know just yet, but I'm taking it one day at a time.

Hints and tips - green tea

Well if you've taken the time to glance over my food intake since the start of my challenge, you'll probably notice I've been drinking a lot of green tea. I enjoy green tea and go through phases of drinking it, but would love to incorporate it as part of my everyday life.

Each time I get onto a phase of drinking it, is because I have read (yet another) article or report on the amazing health benefits it has to offer. There are stories that it helps in everything from weight loss, to preventing cancer.

I try to take things with a pinch of salt, especially when a product is stated to be the latest cure all, weight loss secret, or super food. But with green tea, I think I'm willing to make an exception. The latest reading I've been doing about green tea is here on free women's fitness. I was absolutely dumb-founded when I read that "a recent study has shown that women who drink four or more cups of Green Tea per day are up to 80% less likely to get cancer".

That is crazy - 80% less?!!? Now I haven't read the study, so maybe it comes down to the fact that women who drink green tea regularly are more inclined to a healthy lifestyle. But in any case, I'm going to do my best to keep drinking it for the rest of my challenge (and going forward).

Cauliflower Croquettes Recipe

CAULIFLOWER CROQUETTES

I was browsing across the recipes at Tony Ferguson and came across their recipe for "notato croquettes". They sounded fantastic, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. So here we have my spin off version.

I should note, I'm not a cook who follows recipes to the letter. I think cooking is quite an intuitive process - if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't. If you decide to attempt this and the mixture is too watery / dry, change things up until it's just right.

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower, cut into florets and steamed
1 zucchini, grated
3 tablespoons of light cottage cheese
Psyllium husks**
Spice/s of your choice (i.e. chili powder, Cajun seasoning, Moroccan seasoning)

Method

Once you have grated the zucchini, do your best to squeeze as much water out as possible. I placed mine in the oven for a few minutes, just to try and get rid of the extra moisture. Similarly with the cauliflower, once it has been steamed you want to mash it up and try to remove any excess liquid. To do this, I placed my steamed cauliflower in a colander initially and used a potato masher to mash it up. At the same time excess moisture drained out of the colander.


Ultimately if the ingredients are too wet, you won't be able to form nice croquettes with the mixture.

Mix the cauliflower and zucchini together in a bowl. At this point you may wish to add some salt / pepper / garlic if you have it on hand. Add the cottage cheese and mix together. If the mixture is too moist you can add some psyllium husk to dry it up. Alternatively, if the mixture is to dry, try a little more cottage cheese. You want to be able to roll the mixture into balls without it falling apart.

In a separate bowl add some psyllium husk and your spice/s of choice (I used Moroccan seasoning). Roll your mixture into balls and coat in the psyllium husk mixture. This is quite a large recipe and produced 18 balls for me.

Once you are done, place the balls on a lined oven tray and bake** for 30-40 mins on 180 degrees. The pshillum husk mixture should form a nice coating which should brown slightly.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!

**Notes and comments:

Psyllium Husks

Psyllium husks are a natural form of dietary fibre and one of the ingredients in Tony Ferguson's Simply Fibre. You can generally find psyllium husks in the health food aisle of your supermarket, or health food stores. Otherwise if you have simply fibre on hand, you could use this as a substitiue.

Cooking method

The Tony Ferguson recipe allows you to fry the croquettes on low heat with a small amount of oil. I have decided to bake mine in order to reduce their fat content further.

Day Three

DAY THREE

Today has been great. After a little bit of a sleep in, I had a black coffee and hit the gym. I spent over an hour there doing a mix of weights and cardio. I haven't been exercising much, before this week, but I feel that my fitness is slowly getting better.

Food:

So far today I have eaten:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake and green tea
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup

Here's a picture of the yummy soup I ate for lunch:

Afternoon snack: Optifast chocolate shake and green tea
Dinner: caluliflower croquettes, salad and a diet tonic water with lime for a treat (only 24kj!), final shake.

Here's a picture of my dinner! Recipe to follow shortly:

Exercise:

As stated above, I spent over an hour at the gym today. I started with stretches, followed by approximately 20 mintues on a variety of weights machine. Next, I did 20 minutes of interval training on the exercise bike. I finsihed up my session with some more stretches, push-ups and other floor work. I felt great after!

Hints and tips - coffee

While on this journey, I'm happy to try anything (well almost) to give me a boost and increase my weight loss. One tip I've read lots about is to have a strong coffee before your morning work-out.

During the week I tend to work out in the evenings - it just slots better into my day. On weekends however, I like to get my exercise out of the way early on.

So today (day 3) I thought I would give it a go. After hitting snooze one to many times, I dragged myself out of bed and made myself a strong coffee. The only bad thing about this theory - sugar and milk are both no-no's.

If you refer to tip 3 on this free women's fitness link, they go into a much better explanation of some of the possible explanations behind this theory. It's way too early for me to say if this will be beneficial, but I'm prepared to continue doing it for the next 12 weeks before my weekend workouts.

Mmm coffee, but don't forget - no milk or sugar!

Stuffed Mushroom Recipe

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

This is a really yummy and hearty recipe which can be customised to your tastes. I basically use any approved vegetables which I have in my fridge and feel like. I think these would be fantastic with fresh basil, unfortunately I didn't have any on hand.

Ingredients:

Field mushrooms (I think two would be appropriate for a serve)
A mixtures of approved vegetables, in this instance I have used: onion, garlic, celery, grated zucchini, capsicum and baby spinach leaves.
Light cottage cheese (1tsp per mushroom)(optional**)

Method

Remove stalk from field mushrooms. In another bowl mixed up the chopped vegetables, add salt and pepper to taste. Top mushrooms with vegetables, finish with cottage cheese and bake at 180 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Serve with a small side salad.

**Please note, cottage cheese is not part of the optifast program.

Zucchini and Leek Soup Recipe

ZUCCHINI AND LEEK SOUP

As you can probably see from my blog to date, this is one of my favourite recipes. I make up a bit pot at the start of the week to enjoy for my work lunch or if I get peckish. It's made from approved low-starch and green vegetables and is yum!

Ingredients:

2tsp olive oil

2 large zucchinis (or 3 small)

2 leeks (or one leek and one onion)

2 carrots

Celery (2 or 3 stalks)

1L vegetable or chicken stock (can be made with stock cubes / powder)

1 clove of garlic (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat oil in pot, chop all vegetables, add to pot, stir until coated with oil. Cook for 5 mins, make sure it doesn't burn. Add stock, cook soup for 20 mins or until all vegetables are tender. Blend to a smooth consistency and enjoy!

Yum! Serve with lots of fresh cracked pepper. If you want to make it a little bit creamy without going crazy with the calories, a tiny amount of light cream cheese will do the trick.

Day Two

DAY TWO

My resolve is still strong at the moment - as you would hope for at this point in time. I've been doing lots of reading lately which keeps me inspired. If you're looking for some health / exercise tips, I can recommend free women's fitness. They have a wonderful website with practical advice. I've signed up for their email updates - anything which keeps me focused is good.

If you're the kind of person who needs some moral support, can I recommend the Tony Ferguson forums. I'm not on the TF program, but enjoy reading the forum and posting from time to time. They have some amazing, inspirational before and after stories. It is also a great resource for healthy meal ideas and supermarket products. Plus the members there are very supportive of everyone, regardless of what weight loss program you're following.

Unfortunately for me, day two is a Friday (4 June 2010), which means there will be many temptations which lie ahead of me.

In my world, Friday night means drinks at work - normally accompanied by chips / crackers / other lovely food. It often means heading out for dinner and/or drinks, it means living! I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but the amount of food I've had to turn down today is ridiculous!

In any event, here are the stats for today. As much as I'd like to say they're perfect, they aren't.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: stuffed mushrooms (with allowed vegetables) and a side salad.
Beverages: 2L water and 4 cups of green tea
Snacks: diet jelly

Temptation

One of my work colleagues works part-time at a fancy pizza joint. She brought in a dessert pizza today - it looked like heaven, but I said no.

While my resolve was good early in the day, it didn't last. I went to my parent's place for dinner - what a nightmare. If you read above, what I ate for dinner was execllent. I took the mushrooms with me and ate salad which was prepared (avoiding all the yummy fetta in it).

I also made dessert (apple and rasberry crumble) without picking on anything. I turned down dessert as well as the wine on offer.

My one downfall was that I ate a handful of grainwaves (chips) and some olives that were put out as nibbles. By no means was this a major blow-out, but I'm disappointed considering how early I am in my journey. I guess I'll live to fight another day.

Exercise:

Whenever I start exercising, I tend to do too much, too soon and end up with injuries. As I have already been to the gym every day since Sunday, I've decided to have a rest tonight. First thing tomorrow, I'm back to it!

Day One

DAY ONE

Starting off, I'm in a good head space. I've been eating well for the past week and exercising reguarly.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon snack: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: vegetable stiry fry (onion, garlic, ginger, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, capsicum and bok choi with a dash of low-salt soy sauce) and Optifast chocolate shake.

Beverages: 2L water and 4 cups of green tea

Snacks: diet jelly

I was offered chocolates by a work colleague, R, but managed to resist temptation. R is lovely and always bakes or brings lovely food into work. R asked me if I was watching my what I'm eating at the moment, I said yes. She'll probably avoid knocking on my door with treats for a while now - I love her for that.

Exercise:

I'm far too inclined to do cardio work-outs so today I make sure I did some weights. I did a circuit on various machines which lasted approximately 20 minutes (including rest periods). I finished the day with an easy 15 minutes on the cross-trainer.

Introduction

It's only 84 days... that's like 3 months, 12 weeks, 22.22% of a year, 0.8% of my life. Nothing in the grand scheme of things, but those 84 days will change my life to now. I'm going to make sure they do.

I'm 27 years old and currently weight 95.6kg. At 175cm tall this gives me a BMI of 31 and puts me into the obese category.

I have decided once and for all to take action about my weight and I'm hoping that using this blog for inspiration, I will achieve my goals. I will be completely honest as to my progress, my triumphs and failures.

I've been overweight and have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. During my years at university my weight ballooned. I don't know what I weighed at my heaviest because I was too scared to face the scales. However, at a guess I would say I was over 110kg, possibly closer to 120kg.

Since then I've obviously managed to drop some weight, how, I'm not quite sure. I know my diet has definitely improved and I've been a member of my gym for a couple of years now. However, I still have another 20kg (at least) which I need to lose to get into the normal weight category. I've been hovering within 5kg of my current weight for two years now. I diet and lose a few kg's, only to put them back on again.

Now I know the BMI isn't the be all and end all, but for the time being it's a starting point and a step in the right direction.

Reading back on this, I feel physically sick. Putting down the fact in writing makes everything seem so much more real. I'm hoping that by starting this blog I can stay accountable to myself.

I've decided to undertake the optifast program. For those of you who aren't aware of it, optifast is an intense program which involves a diet of only shakes (or other products in the range including bars and soups) and vegetables initially. Once you have dropped weight you can start re-introducing low fat meals to replace the shakes you were once having as meals.

If you want to read full details of the program, check out their website. For anyone who currently follows the program, my diet may not be an exact representation of the program, please check with your doctor / chemist if you have concerns about your own diet.

I know this isn't the diet for everyone and many people of strong views against shakes. However, I'm hoping that 84 days on optifast can give me the kick-start I need. I'm not so naive to believe I can drop all my weight in 84 days. However, I'm hoping this period can be enough to drop some weight and set me in the right stead for a healthy life.