Let's say: Day 3

69.7kg early in the morning...more than yesterday...

Today's breakfast: home made pancakes (310 cal), grapefruit freshly squeezed juice= 68g, total 378 cal.

No jam on my pancakes...

Later a wee snack of 1 coffee with 1 teaspoon of sugar (20cal), and a square of dark chocolate= 22 cal.

Lunch:

Lunch

2 home made potato scones (150 cal) with 60 ml of Greek full fat yoghurt (74 cal).

At 3pm the total is: 644 calories.

I will update the post as the day proceeds.

Update: One more coffee with sugar =20 cal - after half hour of gardening.

Then for tea: one portion of home made soup = 100 cal, one carrot =40 cal and guacamole from half avocado = 160 cal.

Total so far: 1019 cal.

I have also done 10 minutes of biking, which accounted for burning 110 cal. If I take that off, the totak balance for the day would be about 909 cal. If I manage to have another sugar free tea, and clock in other 10 minutes of biking, I would be, on grand total of in/out at about 800 cal today.

It seems it takes quite a long time to get used with smaller portions, to stop thinking all the time about having a snack (even if I do not feel the hunger), and to become aware of the impact every type of food has. 

Day 2-ish

Lunch

Another day, the second on the diet...I mean I try, but doesn't seem to get there.

The food diary of the day starts with 2 oatcakes in the morning (120 cal) and my fruit salad = 190 cal.

A coffee with one teaspoon of sugar (20cal) and a wee wafer (87 cal) for snack.

Then when hunger hit me after about 2 hours of digging in the garden, I had my lunch. Strangely enough, today I have discovered how much does the oil in the salad account for the calories. I thought it makes no sense to keep track of a wee splash of olive oil. Well, when I checked the label today - one spoon of oil (about 25 g), which is more or less that 'splash' - accounts for a whooping 205 calories...and that killed my day again. I have cut down the cheese to 30 gr today (what they call a 'serving') = 125 cal. Then I finished the half of my yesterday's guacamole = 160 cal, with one oatcake (60 cal). And for dessert, only 50 ml of Greek full fat yogurt (cut down in half from yesterday) = 61 cal, and a square of dark chocolate = 22 cal.

So, with a total for the lunch (picture above) of 699 calories, my total for today (so far) is 1116 calories.

Wow. Simply wow.

And, as yesterday, still half a day to go. By the way, yesterday I was so munching on unsalted pistachios , that I must have been by the end of the day over 1800 calories...

After I clear the food from my fridge, I will try some of Michael's menus, as I am losing control on numbers. But there is also a good side of it: I don't think I would be aware of the calories that go in without even knowing....

P.S. I was checking the labels of the Ryvita - only 34 cal per slice. I think I would use this as replacement of the oatcakes (with the 60 cal per cake) for dips.

P.S.1 I remembered to weigh myself this morning: 69.2 kg...Let's see how it goes...

A few days later

Well, I managed to get ready to start my 8 weeks diet. Meaning: the scales are working, the information for calorie counting are at hand, and psychologically I am ready - I think - to quit on sugar. I want to start gentle, first by cutting it to half, then reducing it progressively. I do not like to hate what I am eating so it is very important for me to get my taste buds on the diet challenge too.

Today I have had a huge unpleasant surprise when I became aware how easy the calories sneak in ... But better not anticipate. Now, when I am writing, its only 3pm...and still a lot of the day to go...

First thing in the morning, as I was hungry, were some Brasil nuts

the nuts...Brasil ones...

 - maybe 10 of them - which amounts to about 136 calories. I had no idea at that time about the numbers.

Then the breakfast of one banana, one orange, one kiwi - just the usual one=190 calories.

After one hour I felt like having a wee snack, so I made a slice of my multi-seed bread with some pate. Very tasty, and about 201 calories. Added a coffee with one teaspoon of sugar: 20 calories (I am counting the sugar only, I don't have info about coffee yet).

Then the lunch - I was so hungry that I felt fainty-ish while preparing it - a big combo of 

salad (lettuce, spring onion and 2 hard boiled eggs) = 169 calories, with guacamole (160 cal)  and cheese (211 cal), carrot sticks (35 cal) and a slice of bread (92 cal). As dessert: 100gr of full fat Greek yoghurt =122 cal, and a square of dark chocolate= 22 cal. which makes a grand total, for my lunch a grand total of 

711 calories.Wow. That was a humbling moment. At least my belly felt full, and wholly satisfied.

By 3pm, my total intake for the day is (already): 1258 calories.

My subjective impression? 'I have had healthy food, should be ok'...now, still half a day ahead.

This calorie counting is really a sobering up moment.

Day one - but not quite

Today was supposed to be day one of the diet...but it wasn't to be.

I was too busy at work, and have totally forgotten to get the batteries I need for the scales...so no weight for myself or for food.

Still, this doesn't mean I do not prepare for the first day... Nope.

I started to record what I eat: breakfast - orange and banana

Lunch: a square of my home made quiche, an orange and maybe 100g of pistachios

Dinner : half of that lunch square of quiche, and 2 rows of a dark chocolate tablet.

I tried to drink more water - and this is a huge challenge, to walk all way to work, shopping and back, I bought a wee bucket of full fat greek yoghurt,

The biggest thing was to try to cut down the sugar I take in tea and coffee. I started early in the morning with a strong coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Next 2 teas - Earl Greys- with one teaspoon of sugar each, and the last tea - sugar free, which tasted like hot water...Well, I guess I just need to get used....

So, even if I have no idea if my total was of 800 calories today, at least I am working towards it...lots of habits to change, but one thing is for sure: I have eaten less than I usually do and I did not feel hungry for one single second...I guess this is encouraging....

Note: amazing full moon tonight..what a delight to watch it....

Counting the calories

Well, this is something difficult...I think....

I need to find out the total amount of calories...and to keep a track of them...

There are some applications - MyFitnessPal  - being the most famous - Google says - and I am amazed to discover I do actually have an account with them. Who knows when I tried it before...
Anyway, after a wee browsing around, I realise that there must have been a decent reason I have abandoned the app before - it is not build up in the way I would use it...so,I leave it after a few minutes of trying to create the recipe for Mia's coffee - with 2 teaspoons of brown sugar in ... I tried...I did not succeed.

After checking other options generated by Google, I decide to go with my calories the old way: pen and paper.

So the plan is: I buy the batteries for the kitchen scale. I weigh everything that doesn't come with a label,  I check it up here
for veg and fruit

eggs

fish

drinks

side orders - as they call them



 and write it down, and add them the old way..why should I complicate my life more than needed?

I guess I will create my own database in the process, anyway...

ready to start

well, all the good intentions are here.
But the devil is in the details...

I wanted to weigh myself, but as I haven't used the scale in a while, the batteries are off, and is not working.
Note to self: buy batteries...AAA ones. Trip to the shop, got them.

Then I wanted to weigh my food for the lunch I was making. Now the kitchen scale - which hasn't been used in a long long time - as well - is out of batteries. But too late to go again at the shop (it's not too late, it's just cold, and raining, and I feel lazy too).
I just make my meal, promising that tomorrow I will get those batteries.

It looks like this: homemade quiche with some leftovers from a bolognese sauce, a salad with some cucumber, lettuce and spring onions, and a slice of bread.
It is the first time when I actually check how many calories in one slice of seeded Hovis: big surprise to see the numbers: 92...92 calories in one single slice of bread. Eye poking...

I think it is not too much, healthy enough...I make a decision to put everything I need in place so I can quantify how much I eat and not get crazy with hunger. As a child brought up with rations and lack of food options, the mere idea of hunger puts me in a frenetic state ..and I end up overeating...or over-stressing...

A boring Saturday evening

What do people do when are bored? Some of them call a friend. Others go to a pub. 

I go shopping.

I am much tempted and less and less inclined to spend my hard earned money on impulse buying.

Somehow I actually do window shopping more than shopping.

But sometimes I really have to part with my cash...when I need bread and eggs and milk....or when I see something that overcomes my attachment to money.

In that boring Saturday evening, while I was at Sainbury's at Meadowbank to get those eggs for the dinner, while lazily walking from one aisle to another, a title grabbed my attention.

Dr. Michael Mosley - the 8 week blood sugar diet

I have a long history of interest in how to manage diabetes without pills...This title proposes something even beyond my obsessions of management: reversing of diabetes; and some weight loss while doing that.

I was sold from the very first moment, no need to browse to see if there is just another blah-blah. Why? Because is written by Mosley. I have seen this guy in many documentaries about health and history of medicine. And even if I am aware the journalists do create more or less a persona for screen, to me Michael Mosley always seemed to be a decent, genuine, no B. S. piece of a guy. And I have this strong feeling he would not say things just to try sell, without believing in their truth. So, as there was an intriguing for me topic, coming from someone who's got my trust, I had to give it a go.

After the few introductory chapters, while still in the romantic part of the book - stories and 'how I got here' type of things - even before the scientific data was put in front of my eyes, I have decided I will go myself through the 2 weeks experience.

I do not have diabetes - or I do not know it , and my main purpose is to lose weight. 

So, here I will document all my experience during this attempt to test the theory.

 P.S. I have the feeling that Barry Marshall story (see page 55) must have inspired me to do this way :-)