Going Wild Day - All Mixed Up

I think this weekend goes to show that real life often gets in the way of best made plans and intentions .... and that thinking quick on your feet and be flexible and adapting to change is required.

Plan: GWD today (Sunday) primarily switched due to good friend flying in from Chicago - haven't seen him in ages and planned a big blow out catch up - most likely to include big Sunday Roast lunch, pudding and whatever I felt like drinking ... plus probably a couple of bags of crisps during pre-lunch drinks.

Actual: started Saturday with a high protein b/fast (sausages and eggs rather than usual lentils/eggs/spinach as a treat).  Decided that one cup of coffee (a flat white) couldn't hurt too much, and would see me through the Saturday happy to stick to the straight and narrow all day.

My little cheat  this photo from last week,  but I didn't have the sugar  or the little brownie that goes with it.

Lunch - decided on thai/chinese.  After much much deliberation with the waitress, settled on stir fried king prawns with holly basil and chilli.  Much debate pre-ordering to get something with just meat and veg with minimal sauce ... tried phrases "no sugar", "no sweet", "no sauce" and "dry" with waitress.  I thought she had understood.  She really didn't understand "no noodles/no rice" and had to re-check that multiple (and I mean probably 5 times) that I really didn't want noodles and I really didn't want rice. That should have been a warning.

Result: Prawns and veg arrive in a bowl swimming in a thick soupy sauce.  It was tasty, but really sweet. So I fished out my prawns, drained them as much as possible on the side plate - and stayed positive that I wasn't damaging my day too much.

Mid-afternoon .... message from mate, recently landed at Heathrow and now tucked away in his hotel, that he had made reservations at Constancia near Tower Bridge for Sunday night.  Googled it to find out it's a bloody Argentinian Steak Restaurant - full of meat, and red wine, and simple salads.  The ONLY cheat/going wild thing about it was that I could maybe order fries on the side.  Gutted! It's not a treat day to go out to dinner and have someone else serve me what I've been cooking for myself 5 nights a week!

30 minutes later: toss in the towel - decide to make Saturday Going Wild Day afterall - If I'm eating steak and salad Sunday night instead of a big nosh up roast lunch at the pub, then Sunday may as well be routine day (be it a particularly posh one).

So .... I get stuck in:

Grapefruit Juice and Vodka (cos I'm not about to drink it straight - the grapefruit I mean)

Gin and Juice (cos I had to find something else to try with the juice This is an experiment afterall)

Tequila Shot - with plenty of lemon. I'm hoping the citrus blend of G/fruit and lemon works

My drinking partner suggests that I only had the Gin and Juice in order to listen to my favourite version of the Snoop D-O-double-G song:

He might be right!

....And so we continued:

Jelly beans - to counter the bitterness	fish and chips and chicken with tomato sauce and a large pickle	A glass of sweet fruity rose
same as last week	and again	and finished off with a probiotic (cos I'm being healthylike)

So all in all, it turned out to be a pretty good Going Wild Day.

I did air squats before each meal (even the two when I didn't know I really was on Going Wild Day... I'd decided to start by coincidence, or is it fate?). Yes, I was there in the toilets of the restaurant holding up the queue bobbing up and down.

I drank the grapefruit juice before the blow out.

And in total - my weigh in this morning shows I've put on 600gm.  That's half compared to the last 2 weeks.  Is it down to the squats, the juice or the half day instead of full day? Who knows? I introduced too many variables in one session in order to be scientific about it.  Was fun though.

Changing my Going Wild Day

I think I might opt for a Sunday GWD this week.  I'm a lot more relaxed on a Sunday and think I'd reap more of the psychological benefits of eating as I please on my most chilled day of the week.

I'm into such a routine with this slow carb plan now that it's second nature, and I'm not craving a GWD just now, so don't think it would hurt to postpone this one.  But do I still weigh and measure on the Saturday? What about next week?

It's been 14 days since my last weight increase that wasn't my weekly Going Wild gain.  I can't quite believe it - I thought there'd be at least a couple of water retention days; but I have been sticking to plan completely - I don't think there's even been any mini-cheats.

I've introduced a daily calcium+magnesium capsule.  I need to take 3 for it to completely meet the RDAs, but I figure that I should still be getting something from my food - so just taking one for now to see what happens.  My leg cramps have gone.

Leg Cramps Ouch!

youch - over last couple of days have noticed my calves more and more feeling like I'd clambered up Ben Nevis.  If I flex my toes towards my knees it feels really tight in my calves.  A quick browse through www.4hourpeople.com and www.4hbtalk.com indicates that it might be due to low potassium or magnesium - 2 of the things Tim Ferriss suggests one takes (and I haven't been).

I've thrown on some guacamole to breakfast and packed some for my lunch to hit the potassium, but the magnesium seems to come in a lot of nutty things - and I've banned them from the house cos I'm not a 6-nut kind of girl. (I'd be delving into that bag every half an hour).  So I think it's time to head to the vitamins aisle at the shop near work this morning.

3rd Going Wild Day (with photos)

Phwoar! What a blow out!

coffee/milk/cinnamon refilled several times	2 sausages 2 eggs tomato sauce!!	flat white/sugar/mini chocolate brownie
the prosecco is mine the beer is not (Soho, London)	very fancy chocolate la maison du chocolat	disappointing filet fish fries (I shared them)
Sailor Jerry's Ginger Beer	And another one
An assortment of crisps and Sour Cream Dip	They look pretty on a plate (I shared them too)	A banana smoothie (with a dash of Disaronno for good measure!) plus cinnamon
Sushi for dinner	Oysters were soaked in all sorts of tasty sweet Japanese sauces	plus helped myself to  pizza that the others were eating
And a party pack small size CherryRipe	And a slug of Disaronno without the milk and banana	And another Cherry Ripe - because the party pack ones are so small

And all this added a total of 1.2kg to my frame in the past 24 hours.

Next week I'm introducing some damage control!!!

End Week 3 - Photos and Summary

Well here we are 3 weeks in.  I think you can see the biggest difference with these two photos:

Day 0

Day 20

Actually - side by side like that I think even I can see that I'm shrinking!! YAY!!

Here's the progress since day 0 - Have to be pretty happy with the following data:

	day 0	end wk 3	difference
weight (kg)	64.3	60.8	3.5 loss
weight (lb)	141.5	133.8	7.7 loss
inches	141.25	137	4.25 loss
body fat %	29.9	26.8	3.1 point loss
fat in my body	19.23 kg	16.29 kg	3 kg loss

That's all very good .... but after yesterday's GOING WILD DAY .... I have thrown some more back on.

Goals for this week:

• stick to eating plan (no problem  - this is the easiest bit atm)
• lots of water in
• find out about the non-kettle bell exercises to introduce (squats and wall presses etc).  I wasn't going to introduce these until I had a plateau week - but I feel the need to do something new, the food alone is now such a part of my routine that I don't even really need to think about it
• Next GWD - Introduce Damage Control - cinnamon, grapefruit juice and all that.....

But now for the interesting bit .... about to post all of yesterday's blowout!

End of Week 3 - almost

Wow - this has been a bumper week so far - and still one more day to go to push the scales that little bit further.

Lost some every day this week; I didn't anticipate that and thought there'd be at least a couple of days of 100 or 200g up.  I must remember this week next time the scales start in the other direction - this surely isn't representative!

1.9 kg (4.2 lb) in 6 days ..... 3.5kg (7.7lb) since starting nearly 3 weeks ago.  That seems steady.

On reflection - I've cut down the size of the meals; without feeling hungry.  I was fooled by Tim's cautions along the lines of "biggest mistake is not making portion sizes big enough" {will get exact quotes later} etc etc - and I was determined not to be hungry - as it turned out, I was stuffed! So now just winding it back a bit.  And I'm cutting out late night beans etc if my dinner is close to bedtime.  If I eat early I'll keep them there to see me through to morning; but often my schedule means that I eat, and then am in bed within about 30 mins. So on those days, just protein and veg.

Can't wait for Going Wild Day tomorrow! Must remember to regulate better - don't starve myself whilst seeking the "perfect treat".  And I've been craving "healthy sugars"; Fresh sweet mango and passionfruit is calling me.  Fried Rice and Sweet and Sour Chicken doesn't have the same appeal..... what's happening to me????

On another note for the dirty fecker monitoring my bowel movements (you know who you are) .... Actimel seems to be having no discernible positive  effect ... will be introducing something like flaxseed instead as well.  Any other suggestions?

Relief! and a new All Time Low

Phew! Thank god for friends in high places ... in this case a nurse rushing to my rescue with a pre-surgical strength colon cleanser.  In true Tim Ferris style I documented my experiment, but for the purpose of good taste I won't publish it here - but I do know in a quite intricate degree of detail how my intestine responds to such a workout.  (by the time I started the treatment I was 62.2kg - 2.5 hours later I was 61.0 - but possibly a bit dehydrated to boot)

Go Colon Cleanse.

So I don't know if my body is likely to retaliate now and suck in and retain all the water I drink today ... guess I can only wait and see and in the meantime stick to the meal plans 100%.  I also need to make sure I introduce something that will prevent the same happening again.  My trial this week is to have an actimel drink before bed each night - Let's see if that screws with progress.

Pack size - 100g Ingredients - Yogurt (skimmed milk, skimmed milk concentrate, yogurt cultures), Water, Skimmed milk, Dextrose, Stabiliser (pectin), Sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K), L.casei Danone culture (Lactobacillus casei DN 114001), Vitamin B6, Flavouring, Vitamin D, Contains a source of phenylalanine.  Contains: Milk. Nutritional Value (per 100ml serving size) - Energy: 121kJ/28kcal; Protein 2.8g; Carbs 3.3g(all from sugars); Fat 0.1g; Fibre 0; Sodium 0.04g (equivalent as salt = 0.1g); Vit B6 0.21mg; Vit D 0.75μg

I've picked the low fat, unflavoured one - and I quite like the taste (but not chuffed that there's sweeteners and dextrose)..... now just watching for results.  Now work you little Lactobacilli - work dammit!