This one step – choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything. — Scott Reed

This passed week was a bit up and down and annoying to say the least. By tuesday I had gained two kilos and felt not just a little bit bummed. But since both me and my wife had decided to do this week a bit more hardcore than usual we continued onwards.. 

By saturday I had almost lost all the gained weight but since we didn’t have a true cheatday only a, more festive, slow carb meal with a bottle of wine after doing intermittent fasting for 16 hours we felt as if it would work out eventually. The festive slow-carb dinner was pulled pork with almondflour tortillas and some sides to that together with a nice bottle of Girard Old Vine Zinfandel (image).

My wife stepped on the scale sunday morning but I refused waiting for today so as not to be discouraged. Sunday, again, was intermittent fasting - which rendered a rough headache for my wife and quite a rumbling stomach on me. 

Monday morning came. Stepped on the scale and, low and behold, 0.6 kilos lost in a week. But in fact from tuesday to monday it’s 2.6 kilos so I can’t be more happy :) I’ve also climbed over the goal of our DietBet but I won’t slow down until the 4 weeks are over and weigh-in has been done - which will be wednesday or perhaps thursday.. it’s a bit weird when they use pacific timezone or something for these bets and you are in Europe.

Status: 92,4 kilos (203,3 lb) and -86,5 cm (-33,7 in) heading to #90kilos

So.. -0.6 kilos and -2 centimeters feeling confident.

Note: we’re ‘celebrating’ the dietbet being over this coming weekend so I wouldn’t be surprised to see me gain a bit to next weeks report. It’s a planned thing so if it happens I won’t be sad about it. 

Closing in on the primary goal of 90 kilos. Then it’s redirect and set a new goal, which will be ‘normal weight’ - in my case 86 kilos or less.

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

Almost forgot to make a report since I’m reporting on multiple fronts. Basically last week I was in limbo. Nothing, and I mean Nothing, happend between monday and saturday. Since I’m DietBetting I’ve been standing on the scale on more or less a daily basis which can be severly detrimental to your psychological health when it goes nowhere or only up. 

Oh well.. come saturday I morning it all of a sudden moved down very much instead. So something happend during the night there, that is for sure. 

So.. saturday, we’d discussed being a bit laid back on the #cheatday and that failed miserably. Liquorice-feast, follwed by a home-made spelt-crusted pizza and wine. The spelt actually made me not get “gluten”-sick - so it’s a lot better than regular wheatflour for me at least and it tasted good. But only for #cheatdays. 

Me and the wife decided to go the last 10 days of the DietBet in ‘hard-mode’ so we kicked out the legumes, artificial sweetener in the coffee and  no diet-coke. This coming #cheatday won’t be cheaty at all, besides a bottle of wine for dinner - a dinner that will consist of pulled pork, veggies and some almond flour tortillas. Sunday will be intermittent fasting on top of that. Why? We want to get comfortably below the 4% lost during the DietBet-line and then, perhaps, come wednesday next week do a mid-week #cheatmeal instead - if we made the 4% - otherwise it’s punishment time :-) 

Status then? Well.. here we go..

Status: 93 kilo (204,6 lb) and -84,5 cm (-33 in)

1,4 kilos down in a week. This dietbetting makes this look easy. Aiming for, at least, .2 kilos this week (need to be 92.8 kilos or below to win the dietbet - but that shouldn’t be a problem).

Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.

This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Saturday was filled with temptations. A #cheatday meal consisting of ovenbaked salmon, with risotto and a feta-tomato-sallad followed by home-made icecream and then some good cheese and crackers.

Suffice to say, I didn’t lose as much as last week. So I’m a bit bummed, although I know why this happend. So we got off the wagon a bit over the weekend so we are going to give ourselves a punishment this coming saturday. The #cheatmeal will still be there - but no dessert and no ‘after hours’ indulgences on cheese, cheeze doodles or potatochips.

The plan for #cheatmeal dinner is a homemade pizza with nice toppings like cheese and salami/ham and such. Since I’m trying to stay glutenfree for the most - we’re trying to make the pizzacrust using almondflour instead of regular flour - could be interesting to see if we can make it work out (I think it will work fine).

We found this recipe for it and it’ll work - basically you could eat a fully slowcarb-compatible pizza - although the almond flours’ caloric density would probably not be quite acceptable and you’d have to skip cheese since it’s not allowed. That’s why it’s a #cheatday dinner! :)

So.. finally.. status? A bit of a bummer as I said.. hopefully we’ll get lower than this by next week. I still have 16 days to lose 1,7 kilos on the DietBet!

Status: 94,4 kilos (207,7 lb) and -84,5 cm (33 in).

0.8 kilos (1,7 lb) and another centimeter gone.

A total of 24,3 kilos lost on the slow carb diet and almost a meter in circumference (multiple points of course).

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. 

In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail

I’ve failed plenty of times. So I’m not afraid of it. Failure makes success taste soooo much sweeter. 

Nope, I haven’t failed this week. Not even close. But I’m setting you up for the next week - which probably will be a failure in some sense - the planned version. 

Easter is coming up. We will be visiting my parents on friday, trying to maintain slowcarb. We will be eating some cheese on saturday and going a 21 hour #cheatday on sunday -> monday. So if I lose weight ‘til next weigh-in I’m going to be amazed - I’ll certainly try, in some ways, to contain myself and do a lot of excercise to minimize the effects but still… It’s a planned venture so I don’t have to feel down if I should stand still or gain over the weekend. 

Oh.. and weigh-in is going to be tuesday since it’s the last day before the dietbet starts. Both me and my wife have decided to be a little worse than usual during the dietbet, since we don’t want to lose our money :) The plan is:

Mon - Fri: #slowcarb + no alcohol
Sat: #slowcarb breakfast + lunch - #cheatmeal dinner and something afterwards + wine
Sun: Fasting until dinner which will be #slowcarb + no alcohol

This should keeps us dropping weight quickly during the four weeks of the dietbet. The above is in part why we’ve planned to be a bit loose in regards to the rules for the weekend.

So what have we done since I last spoke to you? We spent this passed #cheatday visiting a new ‘gastropub’ in Stockholm called The Flying Elk - where we enjoyed a excellent Bordeaux from 1996 together with a elktartar and a clubsteak with trimmings. It was a meat-lovers extravaganza. We then went to Eriks Vinbar and had some more wine of the extravagant versions. (the sommelier named Mattias, nice name, took a challenge to heart which rendered a tab that was a bit more than we usually spend there - but it was a great evening).

So? What happend with the diet?

Status: 96,8 kg (213 lb) and -79 cm (-30,8 in) heading to #90kg

So, down 0.9 kilos (almost 1.9 lb) and 0.5 cm 

Next weeks weigh-in, as stated, with potential gain rather than loss is tuesday. Talk to you then :)

The future is always beginning now

It’s been kind of an odd week. I can’t really say why it’s been an odd week rather than a feeling. I had a feeling of disbelief when I saw myself - photographed without me knowing it - and I realized I didn’t recognize myself in the picture. 

It was me, obviously, a bit blurry due to a bad photographer (thanks Anna) but nevertheless it was me. But I looked a lot thinner than I feel like I am.. but all in all, that has to be a good thing. (I’m the guy on the left btw). I’m being presented with Criscoms Medal of Merit in Silver by our chairman.

In other news: As far as I know I’ve been free of wheatgluten for the past week. This week I’ll be standing on the scales more often just to see if no gluten-inflammation makes you get back to losing weight quicker. I’m betting it does… But that report have to come next week :)

Status: 97,7 kilos (214,9 LBS), -79 cm (-30,6 in) heading to #90kg

That is down 0.6 kilos the passed week and another 2 centimeters lost. So even the kilos melt of rather slowly right now it would seem that my circumference does not. I’ve started a DietBet on DietBet.com that will start April 3rd and it will runt to April 30th - you are free to join us.. the bet is $25 and you have to lose 4% of your starting weight in 4 weeks. If you do - you keep the money if you don’t those of us that do gets your money to share amongst us. So it’s not like it supposed to be ONE winner - there are supposed to be as few failures as possible. So here’s hoping that noone will lose less than 4% :)

Little by little does the trick.

This passed saturday we had one of our get-togethers at home. We get eight of our friends and give them food, wine and they bring their own wines to the cheeses we provide after dinner - then we talk, laugh and drink wine into the wee hours of the night. This time, a 9 hour long ‘dinner’ which was good in all aspects and fun too :)

The best thing, for me and my wife, with these food & wine-sessions with our friends is that its - for lack of a better word - gratifying in some sense to see that when we post a new date for the next dinnerparty, and since we can’t have more than 10 seated, the slots gets filled up over night. We posted the next event (mid-may) last night and this morning we had a full set of people booked and people who where to ‘slow’ was not happy to be placed on the ‘waiting-list’. So we are guessing we do something the right way and the guests we invite seem to get along with eachother in a manner that we find interesting as well.. they all come from very different backgrounds and they are all in different ages but sometimes the ‘chatter’ is breaking the soundbarrier :)

So what was for dinner?

• Starter: Toast Skagen (a mix of shrimp, roe, mayonnaise, dill that was served on rye) accompanied by a austrian riesling.
• Entrée: Whiskymarinated Slow Cooked Elk Steak with Almond potato with parmesan in puff pastry. Whiskysauce and Pickled Chanterelles as sides. Paired with a red wine from Mallorca called AN/2.
• Dessert: Chocolatelined almond baskets filled with homemade coffee-icecream and blackberry compote. A Sauvignon Blanc Late Harvest from South Africa to go with that.

Afterwards we open the guests wines and enjoy them with, in this case, a boatload of swedish cheeses and my wifes special jam (fig and raspberry with licorice).

I was, understandably, afraid that I’d be sad when I got on the scales this morning but no. Well, it could’ve gone better but it was still better than expected. 

Status: 98,3 kilos (216,3 LBS) and -77 cm (-29,8 IN) - heading for #90kilos 

So.. 0.4 kilos down and lost another cm which after saturday is good in my not so humble opinion! :) This coming saturday we’re doing a glutenfree cheatdinner and for latenight snack some cheese doodles only. It will be interesting to see if staying glutenfree over the weekend as well will give some extended results. Hopefully - you can read all about next monday :)

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. — Leo Tolstoy

Last week was a “no-report” week and this week isn’t.

Based on the numbers that I see this week I would’ve preferred it to be a no-report week but I shouldn’t be to bummed by it.

This weeks #cheatday meal was slowcarb. You see pasta to the left? Well.. yes, it is.. but it was made from soybeans and totally wheatfree - not the cheapest pasta I’ve ever bought but it could fool just about anyone with the ‘taste’ of pasta.

Apart from that we didn’t cheat much, except for wine & some cheese. 

I think I made the right decision in not weighing in last week after our epic cheatweekend. Since this week it would seem, weight-wise, that I’ve been standing still.

I’ve had a week off from my supplements as well - it would seem that I get a rash from Alpha Lipoic Acid (a known, uncommon, sideeffect) but it took me about 6 months to develop it so I figured I’d just do without it for a week or so - we ordered a full “PAGG”-stack from the US that should be arriving today. Starting it tomorrow then… 

Status: 99 kg (217,8 LBS) -72 cm (-28,1 IN) - heading to #90kilos

Weight at a standstill but I’ve lost another 2 centimeters in total. All change is good change!

 

Discipline is remembering what you want.

I want to reach my goal so that’s what I will do, eventually.

So.. a full report once again. This is after all the holidays where I’ve been bouncing around like a yo-yo. Up and down, up and down… But nevertheless it’s heading in the right way, down… 

This weeks best indulgence was this bottle of wine. Not cheap but we split it with some twitter-aquaintances and it was good.

Status: -19,4 kilos (-42,7 LBS) and -67 cm (-25,9 IN)

This puts me below one of my goals on a permanent basis and this means that my reports will change somewhat from now on. I’ve promised myself to start reporting what’s left rather than how far I’ve come. So from now on you’ll get this instead:

Status: 99,3 kilos (218,5 LBS) and -67 cm (-25,9 IN) - goal = 90 kilos. 9,3 kilos to go.. 

There will also be a post, this week, that gives you my background - where my start was (my “all time high” and a “before” picture) and so on. 

The cheatday this week actually managed to add just above a kilo back but that’s ok, that’s what cheatdays are for :)

Lost and found..

I wrote a long post and managed to screw it up and lost the whole post.. *grmbl* and since I’m a bit too busy to repeat myself fully here’s the shortversion:

* Gained a few over the holidays which I thought I would, but I also hit “all time” low in the passed 20 years. Heading there again.

* Bought a Kettlebell and have been overdoing it a bit but wth, it’s there, might as well use it.

* Next ‘extended’ cheatday will be in a months time when me and my wife go to Helsinki for my birthday and spend 40 hrs on a bigass cruiseship.. but I’ll try not to overdo it.

* Next full measurement and weigh-in will be on monday when I hope to be over the next milestone. A milestone I have the aim to never go over again.

Status: -17,7 kilos (-38,9 LBS) - post-holidays and post-fatso-cheatday :)