gonna get me some spinach

Well, my friendly Ferriss followers, I am slightly more "up" about the plan at the moment, even though to be honest my organisational and planning skills have let me down.  

As I reported last night, late night munchies in the office does not lead to low carb success.  What it leads to is late night Chicken Royale with cheese, and onion rings and a full fat coke.  (Really?  Moi?  No.  Or is that Yes?  You decide.. am I a sinner or a saint?)

So, whinging away to a lovely group of slow carb gals (you know who you are, take a bow ladies) I happened to mention that I was missing my favourite foods.  And my wise owl said to me:

' You don't have to say goodbye to the foods you know and love....just say "I'll see you on Cheat Day, my lovelies!"  '

How cool is that?  And it's spot on.  So, I'm gonna get me some organisation, I'm gonna get me some spinach, ham, eggs, tuna, and beans and stock the office fridge. Move over, you delicious little New York Cheesecake slice, I need room for my chilled lentil soup.  But whilst you can run, you little temptress, dont think you can hide, cheat day is never more than 6 days away...

Out now for dinner with MB, I've already looked at the menu and thinking I'm going for mussels to start (or perhaps the crab and avocado stack?) and then a nice steak and green veg with garlic butter.   Yum yum.  This diet is kinda cool...

A Whisker Away

Well hello strangers.  Nice to see you.

I'm back from my "valas vacaciones en el sol" and had thought that meant no more silly diets, no more beans, no more flaming Ferris.

But what happened?  I went on holiday, I ate, I drank, I was merry.  And I felt fat, and bloaty and, if you'll forgive me, a bit farty.  Now that's not terribly ladylike I know, but I hadn't realised that actually my body doesnt really like bread and pasta as much as I do.  Jeepers - even my body is split personality.

So I have decided to jump back on Tim's wagon.  Firstly, just to get back to my pre-holiday weight (oh it did feel nice being "9 stone something" rather than "10 stone *cough, splutter".  Even if that 9 stone something was only a whisker away from the big one-oh.

Surprisingly, given my outrageous behaviour whilst away (oh me, oh my, did we clear some cocktails - and I understand there is photographic evidence to prove it) I have only gained 5lbs.  And that is still 6lbs less than I was when I started.  But the holiday pics I've seen certainly show plenty of room for improvement so I would now like to get back to the 9st +++  and then perhaps stick with Tim for 2 of my 3 meals a day (I just hate the breakfast too much for that be part of my life long term).

So its out with skipping breakfasts, boozy lunches, laying around in the sun and carby dinners and its back to "your body is a temple".   and that's not easy in my job.  For example, I am sitting at work now, its late (very late) and I'm looking round for something to eat.  What is there that Tim would approve of?  Nothing.  So I decide to ask my diet nazi (but still rather gorgeous) MB for his advice.  And it came as follows:

"Tim would do lunges before eating 3 sheets (no more) of A4.  Many are called but few are chosen..."

Thanks for your help MB.  Ever thought of running a motivational course?

Oh, and not only am I all about the beans and lentils again,  my kettlebells have arrived - I am only a crunch and a swing away from a perfectly pert posterior.  Although so far they have only been used as door stops.

Ellesbelles xxxx

Salivating Over The Hot Buttery Bread

Yes yes yes.  I'm a failure:  not a total failure, but a failure nonetheless.

I cheated again, a little bit.  If you can call almost a whole peshwari naan a little bit.  Its quite a big bit really, I suppose.

You see I met the lovely SJ for a quick glass of pre-holiday red, just to limber up in time for our hols at the weekend.  However, after the first glass we had another, then finished the bottle.  As you do.  Now at that point, bearing in mind the huge, delicious and totally Ferriss friendly lunch I'd had only a few hours before, I should have said "nighty night SJ, it's been a blast - see you at the airport on Saturday, mwah mwah!!!".  But I didn't.  Instead, I said "Curry?".

Now things could have been much much worse.  To find said curry we had to walk past Strada (Italian restaurant), a number of pubs (one of which does fabulous fish and chips, doncha know), Yo-Sushi, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and numerous other fine eateries.  However, curry, I thought, is a pretty SCD option and as we can have daals etc, we won't want bread, right?  Wrong.  Apparently, I did.

So it starts with the waiter offering me poppadums.  "Not for me, thank you Sir", I say.  Two minutes later, his colleague arrives.  "Poppadums?" he says?  "No thanks, as I told you colleague, I don't want your poppodums, thank you".  See, I can be strong.  "How about your friend?" he asks.  Now at this stage I should have declined on SJ's behalf (who was away powdering her nose at the time) but I hesitated, just for a split second but that's it all it took and they saw my weakness.  Seconds later he was back, tempting us once more with his delicious, crunchy, crispy fare.  Oh go on then.

By now we're well into our second bottle of wine.  Not good, I know, but hey, it was red, and that is one of the few pleasures in life Tim allows, and indeed encourages.  Although he does say to limit it to two, by which I assume he means glasses, not bottles. 

Next comes the menu.  I skipped starters and avoided bhajis etc.  No saag aloo for me this time, no sirree.  I hovered over a Chicken Chat Puree, and I almost fell face first into a samosa. But I didn't, as inside was screaming:

I AM A STRONG WOMAN!!! I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!

So I studiously pored over the menu and selected butter chicken and a channa masala side.  Perhaps not the very best option, but nothing that horrendous there.    SJ chose chicken tikka and a daal.  Aren't we good girls?  Then along comes the waiter and we confidently place our slow carb order.  "Rice?" asks Satan.  "No thanks, we're good" we reply. 

But then comes the killer blow.  "Naan?" he enquires as innocently as if he was simply passing me one of those scorchingly hot towels that do nothing but remove the make up from around the lower part of my face making me look as if I have a five o'clock shadow in reverse.  I could feel the tension behind my eyes as I tried to refuse.  My hands became clammy, my heart was pounding with desire for the nutty sultana bready goodness.  I knew not to look into his eyes but I couldn't help it - it was too late and he pulled me to his trap.  Before I knew it I was salivating over the hot buttery bread and the diet was over.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Well then, after my pretty poor effort last week I was quite surprised to note that I only put 2lbs back on, which all in all is pretty good, particularly as I am now utterly focussed on giving it my all for the next 5 days before I go off on hols.

To start me off, Saturday was a pretty strict SCD, save that I did imbibe in a glass of rose wine (left over from the night before - well, it would have been rude to waste it) but other than that my day was as follows:

Breakfast:  smoked salmon, two poached eggs, salad.  (Sorry chaps, lentils for breakfast doesnt work for me)

Lunch:  lentils sauteed with onions and garlic, seasoned and splashed with balsamic vinegar and topped with crispy bacon.  Surprising tasty, even if it does look like cat food.

Supper:  Rare cooked fillet steak with red onion, mushroom, mixed green veg and a side of butter beans.  One of the best meals I've eaten in ages - I was totally stuffed!  Oh, and two glasses of red wine.

I took my supplements with every meal (yay me) and drank lots of water and avoided milk in my coffee.   Felt full up yet virtuous at bedtime.

Sunday was cheat day, which was ridiculous really as I hadnt been good enough last week to earn it, but we took MB's little girl for dinner and frankly, when Wagamama comes a'callin' I come a'answerin...

Today I'll be having my protein shake for breakfast (there is simply no other option that I can stomach in the mornings at my desk) and I'll be heading out to good ole M&S to pick up lunches for the week so there can be no more excuses about not having stuff available.   However, I'm going out with my dear friend SJ tonight.  We are a terrible influence on each other (holiday next week is no doubt to be a very messy affair!) and I know if we eat out it will be a trial to resist the call of the carbs.  But, I'll do my best and if I do succumb you can rest assured that I will 'fess up tomorrow...

WALKING TALKING PINTO BEAN

So.

I've not had the best week.  In fact, some may say I have had a shitty week.  I've had stuff going at work, at home, in my personal life - everything - and frankly the last thing a girl wants for comfort food is a bag of lentils.  So, I decided that rather than trying and failing to stick with the plan I'd abandon it for a few days and get my head straight.

And now I'm back.  If I'm honest, I am far less enthused now - falling off the wagon was just so darn easy - but I have set myself the target of sticking to it 100% until I go on hols next weekend.  So no cheat day next weekend, and no sneaky bags of Monster Munch.   Although I do have two meals out next week which may be a little challenging.  But I'm nothing if not a trier...

I had a weigh in on Monday and I was down to 9st 13lbs - total loss of 11lbs!!!!!  Whoop whoop! However, I have not weighed in since then and given that I have eaten nothing but junk this week I am not holding out much hope.  Last night's meal, for example, was a Chinese take away with very, very hungover MB and it was the most delicious plate of stodge imaginable.  Sweet and sticky chilli chicken, pork noodles, egg fried rice, duck pancakes with hoisin sauce, crispy meat dumplings, salt and pepper squid... delish.

So.  I will weigh in again tomorrow or Saturday and see what happens on a one week strict regime.

But if I turn into a flaming walking talking pinto bean you know who to blame.