Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

The DietBet is working out fine for weightloss. It’s easier to keep going when you’re being taunted by losing money.

So the passed week, since tuesday mind you, have been ‘cleaner’ living with less intermittent ‘cheating’. We kept #slowcarbing the whole week with no alcohol, until we had a glass on friday night and then on saturday we had our #cheatmeal with wine and a drink or two afterwards.

Cheatmeal eh? Yeh. Consisted of grilled marinated beef, with whiskeybuttersauce and artichokepuree with some sauteed haricot vertes and mushroom. Dessert was homemade coffee-icecream with chocolate- and liquorice-sauce. The true cheating was bag of cheeze doodles that we shared later. 

Normally my cheatdays make me go from a good weight at start of cheatday to gaining over the weekend. This time not.. I actually lost another 100 grams (I know not much but still) between saturday morning and monday mornings weigh-in.

So status then?

Status: 95,2 kilos (209,4 lb) and -83,5 cm (-32,6 in)

The total score for tuesday -> monday was -1,5 kilos (3,3 lbs) and -1 centimeter.

So, yes I’m satisfied. Will continue our decided regiment apart from that we might be having a glass of wine or two on friday night as well. 

A goal without a plan is just a wish

Here we are. Tuesday, lagging a day due to easter. We spent the weekend of indulgences. So, I was thinking I’d be sad when I got on the scale this morning and doing my weigh-in to start tomorrows DietBet (join us! the more the merrier!).

As I said last week, I was sure that I’d gain during this passed week since we had a dinner at my parents friday where I made mom a bit annoyed with not eating anything but the things I could eat on slowcarb. I know she made an effort making stuff lactose-free but that isn’t ok on slowcarb. I had to call her on saturday to apologize for not eating ‘properly’ - but she understood. Saturday we made slowcarb-dinner by making a texas chili and almondflour nachochips at home, followed by ‘not-slowcarb’-cheese.

Then on sunday we did fasting until 4pm when we left for a cruiseship to take us to Aland islands - between sweden and finland - for 24 hours. Thanks to our friend, who works on board, we had a four course dinner instead of a three course dinner. That was bad on my part. I got… how should I put it … overstuffed which rendered me with heartburn for about 12 hours. I’ve found that losing weight and inches also makes your stomache a bit less stretchable and I can’t gorge as much as I used to - don’t get me wrong - it’s not a bad thing.

Well.. nevertheless it was a nice weekend, apart from the heartburn, and I wasn’t glad to park my ass on the Withings scale this morning - which also had to be sent to DietBet. But low and behold…

Status: 96,7 kilos (212,7 lb) and -83 centimeters (-32,2 in)

That’s not much down, 100 grams, but I was counting on about a kilo or so up… but I lost a whopping 4 centimeters as well. But that’s a bit off, why? My ‘excel-sheet’ is a bit misconfigured. I’ve changed it now. Basically my .5 centimeters got upped to full centimeters and now when  I lost a .5 centimeter here and there they got all moved down a full centimeter instead. For future reference I’ll know report on .5 centimeter as well.. 

So.. my reported weight to DietBet was, and is, 96.7 kilos, which gives me a target weight in four weeks at 92.8 kilos. I’m scared - that’s a lot of weight. But the plan is set in motion… 

Monday - Friday: #slowcarb and no alcohol
Saturday: #slowcarb, apart from dinner and ‘dessert’ + wine
Sunday: fasting until dinner which is #slowcarb and no alcohol

Morning excercise routines of no less than 75 kettlebellswings every other day. (note to self: time to get going on myotatic crunches again)

With this plan 3.9 kilos should be doable - but wish me luck!

Next report on monday, usual reportingday, you can of course follow our progress, or better yet join us, on DietBet - you still have time to join in :)

Wheat Belly

I’ve been reading an interesting book. Wheat Belly. Not done yet but, suffice to say, I’m happy that my current way of eating is avoiding wheat as much as possible after the amount I’ve read (heard since I bought it on Audible).

“A renowned cardiologist explains how eliminating wheat from our diets can prevent fat storage, shrink unsightly bulges, and reverse myriad health problems. After witnessing over 2,000 patients regain their health after giving up wheat, Davis reached the disturbing conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic—and its elimination is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. In Wheat Belly, Davis exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the public as “wheat”—and provides readers with a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new, wheat-free lifestyle.”

So if you don’t think that a full on 4 Hour Body - experience is what you can handle - read this and you’ll probably go a long way to improving your health. 

If it’s gluten or the combination of it all.. but I’ve lost weight, my skin is getting a lot healthier and my gut is working, like it should, for the first time in years.. I’m happy about my decision to avoid wheat and other white stuff :)

There is no failure. Only feedback.

The feedback for me in particular is the passed weekends cheating. We could call it ‘overdoing it’ a bit. I’m guessing that if I hadn’t eaten one or two things of what I ate this passed weekend then the scale would, at least, have been sitting idle instead of adding to it.

Yep. I added 0.8 kilos this passed week. As they say… ‘shit happens’ and shit in this case was homemade pizza, followed by homemade icecream, followed by chips & dip, and some cheese on sunday. So… all in all, to much bad stuff and the result was what I suspected. 

Although, there are good points in this weeks report anyways. I lost another 2 centimeters. So even though I added weight - that should be shedding of rather quickly because of the high sodium intake (stored water) - I still managed to lose on the other end of the ‘scale’.

So, the very bad report is still good in some points….

Status: 98,7 kg (217,1 LBS) and -76 cm (-29,6 IN) heading for #90kilos

So.. lost 20 kilograms so far (44 LBS) - this week, until saturday when we’re having a dinnerparty, will be kind of a ‘puritan’ living. 

No report

As I said last week - this week we’ll have no report on progress on weightloss since it’s a lot more likely that I’ve gained weight. A 48 hour #cheatday will do that to you. So now, and until next monday we’re in #slowcarb-mode with a slowcarb #cheatday-dinner, followed with some cheese on saturday. But otherwise we’ll keep it fully slowcarb this week to get back on the waggon after the passed weekend.

I’m not sad or upset that I’ve done this - since we planned it and knew that it would happen. It was an epic cruise with excellent food and even better wine - just the fact that I voluntarily ate snails says it all :)

Best wine this weekend? El Nido. Too bad it’s 100 euros a bottle in the duty free :-P

So… see you next monday, at latest, for a new report on how the weightloss is going - hopefully it’ll be lower than last monday…

If at first you don’t succeed - try, try again

This is a lousy week. I know why it’s a lousy week but nevertheless I’m annoyed. Not with the diet, it works, but this week I didn’t.

1. I started cheating friday night (ie. too early) and also made my stomache feel bad already then and there.
2. My moms gingerbread cookies are addictive (ie. too many of those on saturday).
3. Pasta with gorgonzola & pancetta for lunch (ie. too much lunch).
4. Chocolate cake. (ie. sweet-tooth anyone?)
5. Pizza for dinner.
6. Visit a winebar and see others eat delicious cheese (ie. we ordered that as well).

Suffice to say, I was not sleeping well after this #cheatday. My stomache was almost killing me. It was a good #cheatday, because it was cheatday.. but it wasn’t good on the scale this morning - I gained a lot over the weekend. I’m guessing/hoping that it will drop quickly, as usual, this week but you never know. 

So, this week will be “clean living week” until saturday when we’ve scheduled a traditional swedish “julbord” (christmas buffét). But that’s the only #cheat during that #cheatday - a very big #cheatmeal to say the least but that’s the only #cheating I’ll do this weekend. That is, unless someone whom I’ve been waiting for, calls me and tell me I have to work. Then the ‘julbord’ is dead in the water. And I wouldn’t mind if they’d call and told me that… :)

Status: Too bad to display.. I’ll let you know when I’m back on track again (ie. next week hopefully).

Rule your mind or it will rule you

And this week I rules both my mind and my body :)

This weeks image has to do with the fact that on my cheatday was also a pokerday. No, not any highroller stuff but, still, a 57 man low buy-in tournament from which I emerged victorious! 

#Cheatday consisted of some beer, some wine, a peppersteak with whiskeysauce and fries, and candy to celebrate the win.

Status: -16,7 kilo (-36,7 LBS) and -57 centimeter (-22,2 IN).

Compared to last week. That’s -1,9 kilos (!) during the week and, of course, when you lose that much weight you have to lose a few centimeters as well. -3 (my biceps have expanded - probably due to a little overdoing it on “damage control” but I don’t mind since my chest has lost the most.

This, coming, week will be busy. A lot of stuff to do both at work and at home. This coming #cheatday will be a bit more #cheaty than usual. We’re having a full house of people on saturday where we make a four course, italian, dinner and ending it all with cheese and, more, wine.. 

Then again, making all that food and preparing for this party will consume a lot of calories as well :)

Better than expected

This week was actually a bit better than expected - in the later part of the week I was feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere and then on top of that we had a hefty cheatday with a dinnerparty at home - three course dinner (non-slow-carb) and then french cheeses and bread - and a lot of wine. 

Sunday we did fasting until dinner but I was still not convinced I’d end up dropping much. So it was with a smile on my face I realized that I had lost more than I expected.

Status: -10,9 kg (-24 LBS) and -38 centimeter (-14,8 IN)

“Only” two centimeters since list week but I’ve been doing two workouts this week, as I did last week as well, so my overarms are ‘expanding’ somewhat. But most of the loss was where I wanted it - the stomach lost 1,5 centimeters..

Image: Our main course during cheatday dinnerparty - Boeuf Bourguignon - tasty!

Here we go again…

I’ve always been a big dude, even when I was younger and did competitive swimming I was still ‘fat’. I’ve tried most of the types of diets out there. Be it weightwatchers, atkins, itrim among others. Some more successful than others.

Now I’ve actually found something that might be possible to use for an extended time and that seems to be working, for other at least. I’m actually looking forward to starting it - which is weird in itself. 

Tim Ferriss book The Four Hour Body is the reason behind me finding it, after tips from my sister and a former workmate that was reading it. After divulging the content on what you should and shouldn’t eat during this diet both me and my wife concluded: “this diet we can live with”. The reason is simple. There’s a scheduled cheatday and it’s ‘mandatory’.

I’m not going to cheat Tim from his money by giving you the diet in it’s glory - just google 4hourbody or 4hbody and you’ll find lots of info on the subject. 

Me and my wife, as well as a colleague at work are starting this coming monday. I’m giving myself 100 SEK per kilo I lose - payable if/when I reach my ‘final’ goal. That being 90 kilos (I might reconsider and go lower when and if I reach it). I will not be posting my starting weight here - I’ll give you, on a weekly basis, the amount of lost kilos as well as the centimeters lost in total (having measured both arms, chest, stomache, behind and thighs and then presenting the total of those measurements). 

Added later for clarity: We will not be doing the diet during my summer vacation of three weeks - but we’ll ‘reset’ and ‘restart’ the moment it’s over and keep running it. Although we might do it - but we’re saying we won’t in case we don’t want to :)

Slow Carb Diet vs The 4-Hour Body: Some have said that it’s a waste of money to buy the book since it’s basically a regular Slow Carb Diet. Yes, I guess it is - but like a aquiantance said ‘a good diet is diet that works’ - and we’re going to see if it does :)

If anyone has any ideas for bets, for motivation, to be made let me know - I’m open for it!

Start: Monday May 28th 2012 - but you’ll get the first measurements the week after :-)