Post 20 - End of Week 4

The last couple of days have been a little pay back for the Chinese treat on Saturday night.

On Sunday I went for a fast paced walk/run with the dog for around 2 hours and yesterday (Monday) i hit the gym for a pure cardio session comprising of rowing machine, static bike, cross trainer and treadmill (15 mins each).

I have stuck rigidly to the program with MonaVie shakes for breakfast and lunch, snacks of fruit (usually grapes and apples) and healthy evening meals comprising of meat and vegetables with little or no carbs.

I expected the worst after the last week where my eating wasn't as good as it could have been but really pleased to say another 3 lbs lost.

So we are now at the end of the 4th week or 1st calender month and that is 22lbs lost.

My weight is now 16st 8lbs (232 lbs or 105 kg)

Post 19

I had a bit of a treat last night at the Chinese restaurant and as it was an 'all you can eat' affair I probably over did it a little so this morning was time to get out in the cold and burn it off.

I went out for a run/power walk with the dog and covered about 5-6 miles at quite a good pace. I certainly got the blood flowing and burned the food from the day before off!

I was curious to see what impact the diet and exercise regime along with the MonaVie trial has had on the size of my body in physical terms. I knew that my clothes were feeling looser and more comfortable but when you see yourself every day in the mirror it is hard to judge what change has taken place.

I therefore got my wife to take some pictures this morning in a similar position to the start photos and I even wore a pair of pyjama bottoms and stood in the same pot in the kitchen so that I could draw comparisons as closely as possible.

Here are the start and week 4 photos side by side to see the difference;

I am pleased with the results so far - as you can see, some of the bulk from my middle has gone and I am looking a lot 'flatter'. In addition I have lost some size from my face and neck and although you cant see it here, my legs have trimmed down and got a lot stronger.

Here's looking forward to the next 4 weeks to see the next comparison!

Post 18

This week has been another difficult one on the program for me.

All started well on Tuesday with an early gym session followed by the normal routine throughout the day however Wednesday and Thursday were spent away from home on a residential training course which made it far more difficult to stick to.

The morning shake was pretty straight forward as it could be done in my room and I could miss breakfast with the other course attendees. The daily routine from then was not so simple because it was centred around the classroom and central dining area so I just had to pick the more healthy option available which meant salad at lunch time and fish and vegetables in the evening.

Not too bad but at the same time not easy to abstain from the constant flow of coffee and biscuits or cakes being bought in for each break during the day.

I made an attempt to get some exercise but the gym (if you can call it that) was about the size of a normal car garage and most of the equipment was broken so I resorted to running up and down some steps to get my heart rate up along with a few sit ups and push ups.

Friday was back to normal with a decent 50 min cardio session in the gym on the cross trainer and treadmill, 2 MonaVie shakes for breakfast and lunch and a nice chunky chicken and vegetable stew for dinner along with a blueberry and skimmed milk smoothie for desert and a treat of cheese and biscuits.

Today has been far better with a 2 hour walk this morning with the dog and the rest of the day spent in the workshop preparing my motorcycle for a show next weekend.

Tonight we are out with friends for a Chinese meal so it will be interesting to see what healthy options I can find on the menu.

I may have to work extra hard on my morning walk/run tomorrow.

Post 17 - End of week 3

And the results from our judges are in..........another 5 lbs this week!!!!

That's 19lbs in 3 weeks.

I am now 16st 11lbs (235lbs or 106.5kg)

Post 16

I have had a good day today!

I started with my shake at about 08.00am then had an appointment with a knee specialist mid morning.

Some years ago I had an ACL reconstruction in my knee following a sporting injury. recently I slipped and twisted the knee quite badly. We have been concerned that the reconstruction had been damaged along with the MCL and after some weeks in the gym and walking I am almost pain free with exception of the odd twinge here and there.

It seems that I still need a MRI scan to check that the screws and the ACL are sill attached correctly but the MCL tear looks like it will be OK and some work will the physio should sort it out.

Touch wood, the worst case scanario might be the need for a bit of key hole surgery to clean up the cartlidge as there is clearly some loose bits in there.

The main thing is that losing weight and getting more strength in my legs is going to ease the stress on the knee significantly.

This afternoon I went for a light jog/power walk in celebration and managed to do a fair bit more jogging than I have been able to do in months.

lunchtime snack was followed tonight by a chicken stir fry with noodles.

On sunday we had a photo taken at the dinner table and I think you can see the weight loss is showing in my face already!

The picture in Dinner suit was taken mid December at an awards night and the other one was taken on sunday. It is nice to start seeing results!

I am looking forward to tomorrow morning (week 3 weigh in) as my clothes are telling me that its been a pretty good week - Hope I'm not too disappointed!

Post 15

It has been quite a difficult few days, starting on Friday with a work trip to London that meant having my shakes out of order because of being away from anywhere to prepare it at lunch time.

Not too difficult getting lunch, in fact I had a nice Thai noodle soup for lunch followed by a Natural yoghurt with granola, banana and honey - very tasty if you are ever in Euston Station! The issue was that it was about 3.30pm before I had chance to eat after my first shake at 7.00am and just an apple in between. By the time I got home it was about 7.30pm and I really didn't want to eat so late so I must admit I missed the shake out completely.

Saturday was spent outside marking out a motorcycle event in the morning and back in time for my lunchtime shake. I was feeling a bit guilty as I had missed the gym on both Wed and Fri during the previous week so I decided to go for a fast power walk which turned into a walk/jog for 3 miles in the afternoon.

We then had friends staying and whilst I was really proud of sticking to water all weekend it was not easy eating with everyone when my wife had prepared some great Mexican food for everyone. I stuck to some Fajita mix again and kept off the cheese so although it was hard, I felt strong for not coming off the wagon!

Sunday started with a shake and a good 3-4 mile walk with the dog followed by lunch at a nice restaurant in Worcester. I had Minestrone soup followed by Salmon Risotto and a small cheese board - not too bad but felt that I could have done better if we had eaten at home - still, nearly 3 weeks in now and hardly any 'sins' so i think you have to take the odd treat to help keep on track!

Post 14

The last couple of days have been really good.

I feel like I have loads of energy and a few people have commented that they are noticing a difference and that I appear to be more awake (dont know what that says about what I normally look like though).

I got past a difficult day yesterday with relative ease. Every few weeks I have to go to London with work for industry meetings and the normal day consists of a coffee at the station, full english breakfast on the train, coffee during meetings with a working lunch of sandwiches and cake then more snacks and a beer or wine on the train on the way home followed by evening meal when I get home.

Yesterday I had my MonaVie shake in the morning with a large glass of water, on the train I then felt full enough to pass on the breakfast and took a bottle of mineral water instead of coffee. At lunch time I took the mushroom soup option with a small chicken salad sandwich and more water then on the way home I had an apple with another bottle of water. As I had eaten at lunch time I had my second shale in the evening after walking the dog for an hour.

I went to bed satisfied and proud of myself and for the first time did not return home tired and feeling bloated after the London trip.

Today I did my early morning gym session and had my 2 shakes for breakfast and lunch, supplemented with an apple and some nuts as snacks. Tonight I had Chicken Fajitas without the tortilla wraps so basically chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes with spicy seasoning.

Tomorrow is another London trip so I am going with confidence that I can function without changing the current routine. The other thing that is worth noting is that the walking up and down stairs for the tube and the 1/2 mile walk to the office was a breeze as I had so much more energy that normal.

It really feels like it's going well and I am motivated as I am seeing and feeling the results!