Day 21: Dinner

Duck stir fry.

Strips of duck breast, pak choi, water chestnut, onion, garlic, ginger.  Very yummy!

Day 21: Lunch

Chicken and bacon salad and a sparkling water.

Eaten out at Caffe Verdi, a local cafe.  It was very nice, think the chicken might have been salted which always makes it more tasty.  Had to eat out as we had nothing in and I was in a rush!

Day 21: Breakfast

Plain and simple scrambled eggs.

Busy start, and after two cheat day, back to this.  Still not particularly enjoyable though!

Day 20: Lunch

Cheating Again!!!

Today was the 75th Birthday of my grandmother-in-law, and we had thrown a surprise party for her.  My plan was to be good yesterday so that I could cheat today, but as you've seen from yesterday's posts, that didn't quite work out.  My plan was then to try to be good today, but that soon went to pot too!  Unfortunately, where I was helping out with organising on the day, I didn't diligently take snaps of everything that passed my lips, in fact hardly anything, but I'll try to give you an honest account!

Above is an example of the sort of thing that was in abundance and I can safely say I will have eaten around 10 of these mini treats.  I also had a glass of champagne and 2 pints of sparkling elderflower cordial, but the rest of the time stuck with cups of tea (it was a very hot day, 28 degrees centigrade, and it was non stop!).

There was also buffet food, which I ended up having for both lunch and tea.  I honestly can't tell you why there's no snaps of this, looking back I can't remember!  Must try harder next time.  They say with food diary logging, like the apps on your phone that track calories etc, that it's not the things you track that do the damage, it's the things you decide not to, as it gives you free reign.  This is the case here too, and there's less excuse as a little photo with your phone is quick and easy.

The buffet I had was mainly coronation chicken, sausages, some quiche and salad.  I did manage to steer clear of the breads and pastas.  I figured if I was going to be naughty, I wouldn't be wasting it on those foods,  I'd save it for the amazing puddings on offer!  Speaking of those, I think I probably had 3 bowls of Eton Mess!  If you haven't heard of it, it's a simple but delicious dish; meringue, strawberries and whipped double cream.

We'll see tomorrow what the damage is in terms of results!

Day 20: Breakfast

Stuffed mushroom and roasted red peppers.

I realised as soon as I'd eaten this that I had gone wrong!  Cheese!  Not the best start to the day, but nevermind.  Didn't eat the sweet potato though, not that appetising first thing in the morning, cold and dry.

Day 19: Late Night Snack

Tea bread, butter and a cup of tea.

To finish off my cheat day in style I had a late night snack of my wife's homemade tea loaf which is made with All Bran breakfast cereal, tea bags and usual cake ingredients.  It is seriously nice, even more so with butter on!  This type of food is my biggest weakness.

Day 19: Dinner

Fish and chips!

Having had my best intentions scuppered at lunch, I decided that today would become a cheat day.  It has been exceedingly hot today, and whilst I love it, my wife and three girls were suffering so we decided to head to the beach!  We had lots of good and active fun running along the beach and swimming in the sea, but my middle daughter Jess has developed an obsession with chips and tomato ketchup at the seaside!  So seeing as she has me wrapped around her little finger, that's what you see us all eating here.  And very nice it was too!

Day 19: Lunch

CHEAT ALERT: Pork belly sandwich, with tortilla chips and a pint of bitter lemon and soda water.

Was out to lunch with my business partner in the training company we run.  He's moved into a new house in a new area so we checked out the local pub!  It has exceedingly nice food, but not a single item that fell in line with my diet aims, not even with some common substitutions like I had done before.  I therefore decided to hell with it and went for something that is one of my all time favourites; pork belly!  The whole thing was very nice indeed, good quality ingredients, even if it was white bread!  The pork had some almost chinese style herb and spice flavouring to it and was to die for!  I did resist the pint of beer that my partner had though!

Day 19: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs.

We were lacking entirely in food today, so I had to make do with plain scrambled eggs.  I've said it already, but I'm steadily getting more adamant; plain eggs like this are not appealing.  Actually that's an understatement, they are getting almost intolerable!  I really had to force down the last few fork-fulls.

Day 18: Dinner

Roast chicken with wholegrain mustard.

Not the most balanced meal I know, but I got home pretty late from London, where I'd been heavily active all day, and I just scrounged what I could that fitted my diet.  This was there and it was easy, so here it is!  Better than the marmite on toast, cheese toasties, cereal or other quick snack that would have been my go to meals just a couple of weeks previous.

Day 18: Lunch

Spinach and basil salad, with tomatoes, green peppers and tuna.

I was super prepared for my trip into London.  Went to the shops with my sister the night before and made my salad fresh that morning.  I also took a small bag of almonds to snack on through the day and a 2ltr bottle of Evian.  Traditionally, this would be my downfall.  Any trip out for the day would automatically trigger some form of eating out and that would normally end up being something tasty over something nutritious.  This didn't take too much effort, tasted great and saved me a fortune!  It definitely pays to be prepared.

Day 18: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs and roast gammon joint.

I'm almost entirely sure I took a photo of this, but cannot now find it uploaded at all.  I made the eggs in my parents microwave, and I realised how much better eggs are from the pan.  If you habitually use the microwave, I urge you to start making things in the pan and see how much better they taste.  This is true of many things, the things that come to mind most are scrambled eggs, porridge, and baked beans!  If you pushed me though there are probably several other things I can think of too.  Yes, it's more of a pain in the arse to wash up, but this has the added bonus of making you decide if you do really want that food!  We actually took the decision to give our microwave away to charity for health reasons.  I'm not 100% sure it's bad for your health, but I have read things either way; not so much from peer-reviewed scientific journals, but anecdotally from health literature.  When you couple the nicer tasting food with the potential risk it just made sense to us and I'm not sure we'll look back.

What was interesting about my visit to my parents was the fact that they have taken an interest in this project and that it is modifying their behaviour, even if it is only slightly.  To paint a picture, my parents are not the healthiest.  Both are sedentary, both used to be heavy smokers (Dad has now given up for a year), both have persistent niggling and serious health issues, and both have a relatively poor diet, due to my Mum's disinterest in cooking and their mutual interest in processed junk food!  I may well keep you posted with any progress on the parents front, they've certainly sat up and taken notice at the results, so we'll see!

Day 17: Dinner

Chilli con carne, with minced beef, kidney beans, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, mixed herbs and spices.

This was made for me by my sister.  I was staying with my family in London as I was on a course the next day.  She happened to have it going spare and let me demolish it!  Knowing my sister, this won't have been absolutely 100% in line with what my diet aims are, but beggars can't be choosers, and I was grateful for the tasty hospitality!  I believe there were baked beans included, and probably a couple of sugar laden sauces.  All in all though, not too bad at all.

Day 17: Lunch

Homemade spicy tomato and kidney bean soup.

My wife made this for me, she makes fantastic soups and they are surprisingly easy to do.  This uses a homemade stock from meat, fresh tomatoes, kidney beans and various herbs and spices.  As you can see from the photo, my bowl was actually full to the top, but I nearly forgot to take a photo at all!  Very nice indeed, and the beans add to the protein intake a little.

Day 17: Snack

Handful of brazil nuts.

Day 17: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, ham and tomatoes.

Was at work and I'm lucky enough to have access to some food, not always the best, but today's ham was good even if the tomatoes were a bit flavourless!  A welcome variation on my egg breakfast.

Day 16: Dinner

White Fish (Coli), cabbage, broccoli, peppers and sweet potato.

After my big breakfast, I didn't feel the need for any lunch, so went straight to dinner.

Day 16: Breakfast

Sausage, bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Coffee with cream.

Don't know why, but I really felt I needed this!  Bought at my favourite local cafe, Garton's.  Good quality ingredients and always tastes good.  Breakfast of the champions!

Day 15: Dinner

Calves liver, bacon and fried onion accompanied by some more of the squash & chickpea stew from the other day.

Words don't describe how much I love calves liver!  This was delicious, that's all I've got to say about it really.

Day 15: Snack

Handful of almonds.

No time for lunch again today.  This got me through without feeling too hungry.  

As I look back at this blog, I can't believe how many lunches I've missed!  This is not at all normal for me.  In fact everyone who knows me, knows me to be a pig when it comes to food.  I'm notorious for being able to polish off a lot, and to do it time and again.  Since I've changed to this more whole food and high protein and fat diet, my appetite is far more under control, which is great!  I'm not battling to eat less.

Day 15: Breakfast

Scrambled egg with tomatoes and pepper.

Bog standard.  I keep saying it, but I need to add just a little more time into my morning routine so that breakfast can be a little more inspirational.

Progress Report!

So,

it has been two weeks.  I've been following as best I can, so it's time for an update and some clarifications.  My body measurements are:

Body fat:

• 17% (down from 19.3)

Weight:

• 79kg/12st6lbs/174lbs (down from 83kg/13st1lb/183lbs)

Waist: 

• 93cms/36 and a bit inches (down from 98cms/38 inches)

Some clarifications:

I said no calories from drink, yet I have been having cream in some coffee and tea, and I have had the occasional glass of red.  I'm trying not to get any other calories from drink, but tea and coffee is a step too far for me.  I just wouldn't be able to manage!  I don't feel like I need the caffeine high, I don't ever feel any effects from caffeine when I have it or when I have extended periods without.  It's just that I like the drinks.  They are also a very social thing, and when I'm meeting people and clients I think as a trainer sitting there with a cup of green tea is a bit of a social disconnect and gives people the impression of being a bit OTT.  Don't get me wrong it's the better thing to have and I do actually like it.  Half of my hot drink intake is very virtuous indeed, I've just chosen to stick with some tea and coffee intake.  I have the cream with them instead of milk as the sugar content is lower and therefore any potential insulin response is lower too, also it tastes nicer in my opinion.  Secondly, red wine.  I'm actually following Tim Ferris advice from the 4 Hour Body fairly blindly here.  He has done a lot of self experimentation and found the red wine didn't detriment his diet.  I'm not going mad with it, but if I find myself in a social situation I'm now choosing that over beers, spirits and white wine.

Final point:

All of this has been done with no exercise.  This has been on purpose to see what would happen and how I would feel.  I often hear the saying "it's 80% diet" being bandied about when it comes to weight loss, and I have to say I probably agree.  Doesn't matter how active you are if you're not controlling your blood sugar and your insulin activity.  That being said, being active is fun and it stops a raft of other problems, so I'm not diminishing its importance.

I am about to restart exercise and will be keeping an exercise journal that will mirror this nutrition blog.  It can be found at garethunderhill.blogspot.co.uk.  I hope to see you over there!

Day 14: Dinner

North African Squash & Chickpea Stew.

This is the start of a new idea for this project of mine.  I'm going to start sharing recipes I'm using and where I've got them from.  I'm a bit of a gadget geek and use technology a lot in my life to help me be productive and stay organised.  I decided I needed a bit of inspiration and we have a lot of cookery books in our house, most of which are under used.  The problem I find with cookery books is it's a lot of effort for general cooking to scour them for recipes that you want, can make with the ingredients you have and that won't take half a day to prepare.  I have started to photograph the recipe pages that work for this diet and that appeal to me.  I'll share them on here with you and they will be tagged recipes.  If it starts to get overwhelming in choice I'll start to add more specific tags.  For myself I'm using Evernote, which is a digital notebook of sorts.  I use it a lot!  I'm setting up a recipe notebook with specific tags for the type of food and ingredients so that I can search it by what I fancy or the ingredient that I want to use.  The other great thing about it is that it can store all sorts of formats; you can write notes, take pictures, record audio, or clip a web page.  I highly recommend doing it if you want to be successful at this (and many other things too!).

Day 14: Lunch

Mixed Grill: 5oz rump steak, 5oz gammon steak, chicken breast, coleslaw, mushroom, tomato, peas.

We ate out at the Anchor in Liphook.  It's a fairly bog standard cheap pub grub offering, but was actually pleasantly surprised at the quality.  The dish actually came with chips and onion rings, and as usual a little ask was all it took to swap them, and this time I opted for coleslaw.  I didn't eat the sausage or the pineapple pictured either, they went to the girls.

Day 14: Breakfast

Handful of pecans.

Was rushing out of the door to a client, and to be honest was perfectly happy not to have eggs!  Pecans are one of my favourite nuts, but are pretty blood expensive.

Day 13: Dinner

Tuna Salad: Tomatoes, Yellow Peppers, Green Beans, Spring Onions, Cracked Black Pepper.

I am always surprised at how nice this sort of meal turns out and it's so quick and easy.  If you like tuna, this needs to be a go to meal when you're short on time and/or desperate for food!  It really is great.

I've not been trying to skip meals either.  Several days I've genuinely been so busy I haven't had the chance, and that's very unusual for me.  Today's problem was more cut and dry, we had an emergency call from a family member in a car crash with my daughters in the car.  All fine, but took lunch of the priority list altogether!

Day 13: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, vine tomatoes, chives and black pepper.

Just trying to add variety and flavour.  This worked really well.  Don't know why, but I find if I mix the ingredients together it's more appealing and tasty!  Psychological?  Maybe.  Works?  Definitely!

Day 12: Dinner

Parsnip and ginger soup.

Didn't feel like I needed much for dinner today, and this was leftover from the batch my wife made in the week.  Tasted great!  Not 100% sure on the recipe, but because it was so nice, we'll definitely be having it again and I'll post the recipe as we have it.

Day 12: Out for coffee

Americano with cream.

If I'm out, this is now my staple wherever I am.  If you haven't yet switched, I urge you to, unless you're already an expresso drinker - I'm not quite that hardcore yet!  If you haven't read it already, search out my original post about coffee by using the "eating out" label in the sidebar.

Day 12: Lunch

Braised oxtail, steamed carrots and broccoli.

Back to the diet....

This oxtail was fantastic.  Just braising/stewing in a pot of stock or even water makes this melt in the mouth tender and absolutely delicious.  It is such a cheap cut of meat, but when cooked right is great.  It's very fatty, so you will end up discarding some, not sure health reasons, but for the fact that a big lump of boiled fat just isn't that palatable.  So good and so cheap that we'll definitely be revisiting this.  It also struck us that this is so tender that, if like us you struggle to get your young children to eat meats because they just can't chew it easily, this might present a real solution.

Day 12: Breakfast

Sausages, fried eggs, beans and grilled tomatoes.

I had decided to let myself have a bit of a cheat breakfast as I hadn't really made much of my cheat day yesterday.  The last of the sausages you'll see in my diet for a while hopefully.  These are made at our local butchers and have 85% meat, so there's some rusk in there.  Beans are the Heinz variety, is there really any others out there that come close!?!

Day 11: Late night snack

Rice pudding!!

As I'd decided it was a cheat day, I had been missing my favourite pudding.  Unfortunately the only place left open was Tesco's and there own brand rice pudding just tasted synthetic, possibly more than usual as my tastes are definitely changing.  Ultimately it left me feeling unfulfilled, disappointed and regretting buying it!

Day 11: Dinner

Roast lamb, new potatoes, broccoli, carrots, Yorkshire puddings, and stock.  Accompanied by a glass of red wine.

Out at my father-in-laws for a big family dinner.  I decided at the start of this project that I wouldn't be precious about it.  Nobody like that person who is a pain in the arse to feed and makes a point of letting everyone else know what's wrong with there diet!  That and the fact that Yorkshire puddings are one of my favourite things ever - my willpower couldn't take it!

Today was another day without lunch.  I'd been helping my father-in-law on a big clear up project and had been doing heavy lifting on a field in the middle of nowhere all day, truly brutal work.  I had drunk 3-4 litres of water and still felt slightly dehydrated as it had been a hot day, and I had taken a couple of handfuls of mixed nuts to try to keep me going, which it did just fine.

With dinner, I toyed with being good, but eventually gave in!  Although the rest of my day hadn't been a cheat at all, I decided I would make this my treat day and go all out, hence potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and fruit salad for pudding.  After that there was also some vanilla ice cream that wasn't pictured.  All in all very enjoyable!

Day 11: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, cucumber, green beans, tomatoes and spring onions.

As much as I like this breakfast, I can see that I'm going to have to start searching for some viable alternatives.  I'm sure at some point soon I'm going to start craving something different!

Day 10: Dinner

O'Hagan's Sausages, sweet potato wedges, roasted peppers and broccoli.

I have an admission to make as well....  I actually had another sausage and a few more sweet potato wedges!  As you can tell from my post, I didn't manage to have any lunch today.  Just got too busy with work.  Pleasantly surprised at the fact that I managed to go through without feeling ravenously hungry.

Something that I've just realised is going to prove useful from this type of food diary being created is that it's quick and easy to review your food choices.  It's just struck me that I've eaten far too many sausages this week.  Will be making a concerted effort to reduce this, even though they are lovely!!

Day 10: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, tomatoes and green beans.

Same as usual!  Still enjoying veg at breakfast which is something I hadn't banked on!

Day 9: Dinner

Swordfish with steamed vegetables.

Firstly sorry for the delay, far too much going on at the moment, secondly; sorry for the lack of a photo!  Not sure what's happened with this one, but it seems that I didn't take one.  This was a great meal as well!

Day 9: Lunch

Chilli with a handful of raw green beans, and coffee.

I'm quite busy at the moment and this is making for lazy meals.  This is leftovers of the chilli that we had the other day, but I didn't even bother heating it up!  Cold with raw beans, was surprisingly nice though.  Also had a big pot of coffee on the go, with a dash of cream.  Ended up having 3 cups though, which isn't so good!

Day 9: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, tomatoes and a cold sausage from last night!

Variation on what's becoming my standard breakfast.  The sausage seemed even more meaty when cold, if you can get hold of them you really should try them, they are great!

Day 8: Dinner

O'Hagan's Cumberland Sausages, asparagus, beetroot, courgettes, tomatoes, carrots and spring onions.

The sausages are my favourite brand, they are made in Chichester, UK and are by far the best I've come across.  These are 97% pork with some herbs and spices.  All of the veg was uncooked.

Day 8: Lunch

Home-made chilli, roasted sweet potato wedges and cabbage.

Chilli was made with beef mince, onions, tomatoes, kidney beans, garlic and chilli powder.  I actually ended up going back for more!  Had another ladle of chilli and another four sweet potato wedges.  All in all a very yummy lunch, but we were talking about ways to thicken up the sauce without traditional corn flour/flour methods.  Any suggestions out there?  We've used butternut squash in stews, but there seems little point in cooking the chilli for long enough that the butternut squash disintegrates.

Day 8: Breakfast

Handful of mixed nuts.

Was running late for work and this was all I could pick up!  Not the best start, but felt surprisingly ok through the morning, no real hunger.

Day 7: Late night snack

Cup of Teapigs liquorice and peppermint tea, and a handful of mixed nuts.

I have to admit to not knowing much about liquorice other than the fact you used to get it as a sweet that came with sherbet and looked like a pencil!  It is apparently the root that is used and the plant is a legume and is related to peas and beans, not fennel or star anise as you might think from the taste.  Anyway, this tea is caffeine free and is absolutely delicious!  It tastes good enough to be a hot chocolate replacement, but is not naughty in the slightest.  My wife has been talking it up for a while, and what a find!

Day 7: Dinner

Fried Salmon with fennel seeds and black pepper on a salad of borlotti beans, fennel and tomato in a white wine and mustard sauce.


My wife made this for us last night and it was fantastic!  Very nice flavours and pretty filling.  There's no lunch entry today as I was out helping my father-in-law on a clear up project.  Some heavy lifting and shifting provided my exercise for 4 1/2 hours!  Felt good for it though, blew away the cobwebs after a late night and drinks, and I'm surprised at how little I've eaten today without any hunger.

Day 7: Out for Coffee

Americano with cream at Costa.


Was taken for a quick coffee in Costa by a client after her session today.  Steered clear of lattes and cappucinos, and asked for a coffee with cream.  Obviously not a popular request as she tried to top my coffee up with squirty cream!  It also always strikes me how big the servings have got now, I had a medium and it came in a soup bowl basically, whilst a large pretty much resembles a bucket!  Is this a symptom of Starbucks coming in and bringing with it American sizing?  It is just too much!  If I had have gone for a medium latte I would have consumed just over 202 kcals and just under 14.8 grams of sugar, as it was I had just over 104 kcals and only 2.3 grams of sugar.  Even more interesting though, and this is for everyone who tries to be virtuous with a skinny version of their favourite drink, is that if I had chosen a skinny latte I would have consumed 114 kcals and 16.4 grams of sugar.  When you think back to what I mentioned about the importance of insulin control to weight loss, then you can see why skinny drink variety not only doesn't help but actually worsens the scenario by increasing the glycaemic index and load of the drink.


Personally, I'm a big fan of visiting independent traders and finding a new experience, with the possibility of finding a real gem with amazing food and/or drink.  The excitement of the new experience is great, but admittedly it's tempered by the risk of finding an absolute dive with appalling food.  Living in a town like mine I also appreciate the fact that it is not just a carbon copy of every other town in the land, with chains dominating the high street.  Don't get me wrong, I don't actually have a bone to pick with many of the chains and I can also see the appeal, but if you value variety and the ability to develop a relationship with someone local who puts their life passion into their business venture, then you have to put your money where your mouth is and support them so they don't die out!  It is a risk, it doesn't offer the comforting consistency of a trusted national chain, but to my mind I think the rewards infinitely outweigh the risks.


That being said, I have to commend Costa on how good their nutritional website is, where I pulled the above data from.  It is very transparent, very easy to use and enables and encourages customers to take more control of their diet.  To my mind, that is a very good thing.

Day 7: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs and tomatoes.


Plain and simple, but pretty nice.  Still liking it and preferring it to cereal.