Day 66 – Re-determination day. :)

OK, so I have no more excuses. The house, while still being not-very-unpacked, is now at a state where things are getting more manageable. J and I have finally sorted out our desks in the office (very important for a pair of computer geeks) so I feel like life is a bit more under control.

Also? I found a job! Yay! 🙂 It’s just about the perfect outcome – a nice redundancy payout, I get paid for my notice period but don’t have to work most of it (so get almost a month of pay to potter around the house and get my life in order) AND I walk straight into a new job with better pay and better development opportunities. It doesn’t really get much better than that.

So. I can’t use the excuse that I’m stressed out/looking for work/moving house. None of that washes now. And I really need to kick myself in the butt, because I have eaten mostly crap since I last blogged. We spent the evening erecting (*smarmy sniggering*) Ikea furniture, and had pizza to reward ourselves. Not good. It doesn’t help that the nearest shop is now a bit further away. The nearest shop is also one of Edinburgh’s biggest supermarkets, so nipping in for some chicken breasts is not a quick affair. Again, this is no excuse, it just means that I need to be more organised.

Last night, I had a Derby web committee meeting, and our lovely hostess made the most delish chicken and leek pie. I ate the crust, AND the potato. Bad Charlotte, no cookie. However, the filling was, I think very appropriate for Dukan. She shared the recipe with me, and I’m going to try it out with a few Dukan amendments, and see how we go. She’s also seen this blog and is determined to start Dukan tomorrow – another incentive for me to get back on the wagon. Hi Maul! 🙂

So. Weigh-in tomorrow, post-pizza. It’s not gonna be pretty, I can tell you that. But you’re not judging, right? 😉

Day 49 – Cruise PV

Morning weigh in: 93.7kgs

Daily LOSS: 0.2kgs /0.44lbs
Total loss: 6.2kgs /13.64lbs

Watercheck: 1.7l – low cal cordial, tea, coffee & diet coke

Breakfast

• mug of tea
• flaxseed & oatbran bread with extra light philly and vegemite

Lunch

• Chicken tomatoey thingie made by my mum, with leftover cabbage

Dinner

• Lamb rogan josh – indian takeaway. No rice. No naan. No poppadoms. And therefore, no post-indian carb-coma, yay!

Exercise

• 3 trips of house moving across town, and all the up and down stairs involved in that
• 15 mins cycling to and from the Indian takeaway to pick up our order

Wow, the loss continues, I’m so glad! I suspect that after the indian this evening, that won’t continue tomorrow, but I tell you what, it was very much needed. It’s been another big day!

We are progressing well with the move. We’re almost at the point where we can start dismantling furniture, and the last room to be properly done is the kitchen. The rest of the rooms have been gutted and look like bomb sites – but bomb sites that will be easily cleaned up once we go through each one with a cardboard box for keepsies and a garbage bag for chucksies.

Tuesday we hire a van and a couple of helpers to help out with the big furniture. I think that’s going to be the most stressful part of the move – the van. Vans scare me (or rather, the threat of accidentally scratching a van and someone else’s car scares me) and some of the roads we have to drive down are decidedly narrow. But J will be driving as I’ve not yet sorted out swapping my Aussie driver’s licence for my British one. Heh heh heh… 😉

My folks are heading off tomorrow, which is sad. It’s been fabulous having them here – it’s not been stressful like you might expect having houseguests to stay right in the middle of a house move. I was determined that they weren’t going to lift a finger, that they were our guests, but my mum has ended up cooking for us, my dad has helped pack boxes and cart them downstairs, and both of them have been wonderful for moral support. They’ve moved house 10 times in my lifetime, three times internationally, so they’re pretty old hands at this whole house-moving malarkey. Plus, my mum cooks a mean low-carb feast – and they’re both on board with the low carb thing. In fact, my dad did Atkins a few years ago and basically cured his diabetes. So it’s actually been really easy having them with us. Yay for non-stressful parental visits! 🙂

Day 39 – Cruise PV

Morning weigh in: 95.6kgs

Total loss: 4.3kgs /9.46lbs

Watercheck: 1.5l – low cal cordial. Not including the glass of red with dinner. How very non-Dukan of me…

Breakfast

• Mug of tea
• Oatbran & Flaxseed bread with extra light philly and vegemite

Lunch

• 2 burger patties
• 4 low-carb cumberland sausages

Afternoon snack

• *sigh* 3 Oreo biscuits. Dammit.

Dinner

• Chicken salad

Exercise

• 20 mins cycling to and from work
• 39 squats (all in one go!)

OK, so I didn’t manage my walk today. And I ate some processed sugar, in the form of some oreo cookies. I’m not proud of myself for that. Take heed, friends. The moment you allow processed sugar back into your life, your body tells you it’s just fine to have more, no matter what your brain tells you. Employ Moonday’s Philosophy liberally. Tomorrow I shall be doing the same. 🙂

But I did have a very productive evening. We get the keys to our new house in just 8 sleeps – SO EXCITING! So this evening was spent boxing up random stuff. J managed to procure some boxes on his way home from work yesterday from our local wholefoods store (who seem more willing than other businesses to donate boxes, especially if you use the magic word – “recycle”). So we packed boxes. We also protected boxes from the cat, who has a penchant for gnawing on the edges of the flaps. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that he tends to chew them to the point where they’re corrugated beyond usefulness – they tend to fall apart once he’s done with them.

I’m feeling positive about the future, job-wise. There are a few options on the horizon that are looking really exciting, so keep your fingers crossed for me over the next week or two. 🙂

For those lovely Dukaners who’ve got blogs on the go – I’m sorry I’ve not stopped by to comment recently, but I’ve been reading! You all seem to be doing so well, and I shall follow your excellent examples, and eschew the processed sugar in favour of Ketosis.

Grr…

I’m sorry, no weigh-ins or blogging these past few days. I’ve had the double whammy of being off work sick, and of course the inevitable lady times… This has lead to a bit of naughtiness, I’ll admit. J and I had an indian the other night, and I’ve had the odd cookie and chocolate over the past couple of days. Bad girl.

But that all ends today. I’m back to being determined today. I had an OK day – I ate a good PP day, except for one stray Oreo biscuit. Back on things properly from tomorrow, including a good walk. 🙂

Day 27 – Cruise PP

Morning weigh in: 95.9kgs

Daily GAIN: 0.6kgs /1.32lbs
Total loss: 4.0kgs /8.8lbs

Watercheck: 2.1 – diet coke, tea, and some diet coke with vodka

Breakfast

• Mug of tea
• 3 microwaved eggs
• Oatbran porridge with cinnamon

Morning oops

• a small handful of Doritos from the (open) bag that J had left in the pantry

Lunch

• 5 Sainsburys hot & spicy roast chicken thighs (with the skin removed)

Afternoon snack

• 12 mini chicken satay sticks from Sainsburys

Dinner

• 4 beef olives with a slice of cheese
• Fromage frais with sweetener & a little cocoa

Exercise

• 1hour 5mins hard walking, plus a couple of hours gentle walking around town.
• 27 squats – one set of 13, one set of 14.

I walked everywhere today. I feel well exercised. But I’m feeling a little annoyed that my Perfect PP Day was sullied by the handful of Doritos.  Before you all start saying “you must get rid of all the junk food in the house!” I must point out that it’s not fair for me to ask J to forego junk food when I’m denying it to myself. And to ask him to squirrel it away out of sight just feels childish and wrong. I need to self-regulate better, there’s nothing else for it.

It was a small handful of Doritos, and I did walk for hours today. And I did my squats too. I was a bit lax about them yesterday, but I know they make a HUGE difference to my skating!! But I think I need to be realistic about this “one extra squat per day” thing (ie today’s Day 27 and therefore I must do 27 squats). Once I get to Day 100, I’m going to have to make sure I space them out throughout the day – like 10 squats in the morning before my shower, 10 at morning tea, 10 at lunch time, 10 when I get home from work and 10 on my walk. Otherwise I’m just going to get bored – and SORE! But that can come later, I’m happy doing them all at once for now. And I’m going SUPER low. The next challenge is to do them with my roller skates on!! That’s not so easy… I think it will involve me “switching on” my core a bit more, to remain upright. Which can only be a good thing, because you need insane core strength to be a roller girl. I can’t wait to see how this effects my skating tomorrow at practice!! 😉

Also, just to explain, I’m doing two PP days to make up for the two PV days I did yesterday and the day before.

Day 26 – Cruise PV

Morning weigh in: 95.3kgs

Daily LOSS: 0.2kgs /0.44lbs
Total loss: 4.6kgs /10.12lbs

Watercheck:  3.6l – tea, low cal cordial and water

Breakfast

• Mug of tea
• 3 microwaved eggs
• Oatbran porridge with cinnamon

Morning snack

• Gluten free cumberland sausage
• 2 rashers of lean bacon

Lunch

• 1.5 breasts worth of chicken nuggety bites
• 1.5 low(ish)-carb burger patties
• 1 cumberland sausage

Dinner

• bad bad bad! I had Chinese – but northern chinese style cooking – lower in sugar and cornflour. And I skipped the rice.

Exercise

• 40 min cycle to and from work, and about town

OK – so we’re still heading in the right direction, fortunately.

Not so fortunately (though I don’t regret it!) I caved and got a takeaway Chinese for dinner this evening. Y’know that bad news I was expecting on Monday? Well, it came today instead. As it turns out, it might not be as bad as I was fearing, but I was still a bit shook up. I had after-work drinks with a friend to talk me through the horrible “R” word (ie “Redundancy”) and had a few glasses of wine. Then went home via the best chinese restaurant outside of Northern China, the Wing Sing Inn. It’s not flavourless western/cantonese food – we’re talking spicy, flavourful northern cooking with plenty of chillies. Definitely not Dukan-Approved, however, as it’s rather high in fat, and I’m sure has at least a little sugar added.

I think that if I looked at another chicken breast today, I’d have screamed and thrown up, in equal measure.

Please be patient throughout my little tantrum. I promise I’ll be back on track from tomorrow… 🙂

Day 20 – Cruise PV

Morning weigh in: 96.0kgs

Daily LOSS: 0.3kgs / 0.66lbs
Total loss: 3.9kgs / 8.58lbs

Watercheck:  Too much alcohol, not enough water…

Brunch (a full cooked breakfast, yum!)

• Mug of tea
• 3 gluten free low carb sausages
• scrambled eggs
• a grilled tomato
• crispy bacon with all the fat cut off
• Oatbran & flaxseed toast

Afternoon snack

• Cheese crisp! (nom!)

Dinner

• Chinese meal, with no rice or noodles
• Chicken wings for starters, which I didn’t realise came in batter. Ugh. Not proper Chinese cooking – it was Scottish chinese cooking. Never going back to that place again. I ate it anyway, I was super hungry!

Bad stuff

• Too much vodka & bourbon, but at least with diet mixers.
• A whole lot of sweeties

Exercise

• 5 games of laser tag
• lots and lots of dancing out on the town

OK, so I managed to get down to my lowest weight yet on the reboot, and then ruined it all by going a bit crazy at a night out with my Derby girls. I had chinese with some friends (worst restaurant ever – don’t ever go to Xanadu in Edinburgh!) skipped the rice and noodles, but had to eat the chicken wings I’d ordered which were covered in batter.

By the time we’d arrived at the lazer tag place, I’d had a half bottle of red wine, and was feeling adventurous, so I somehow ended up going on a bit of a sugar fix – there were bags of sweeties at the laser tag centre, and I went a bit crazy, gobbling jelly beans. Within 5 minutes, I’d hit the roof on a sugar high. Then by 15 minutes in, I was feeling a bit sick. I used up all that energy running around shooting people with my laaayyysrrrrs (pew pew, DIE GREEN TEAM!) but it was not a Good Idea.

After that, we went out on the town and danced until 3am at Bannermans (I love that pub!) before stumbling home. I was determined that if we walked fast, we’d get home sooner (despite the fact that I was starting to hurt all over) so I forced J into a power walk. We stopped by a kebab place on the way home, and fortunately they had no chicken doner left or I might have been tempted by that too – I have a real weakness for chicken doner meat… But thanks goodness, there was none, else I’d have been up more on the scales the next day than I already was. But that’s a story for the next post. 😉

Day Four – Attack

Morning weigh in: 98.8kg

Daily LOSS: 0.1kgs / 0.22lbs (ok, no more peanuts for me, as promised.)
Total loss: 1.0kgs / 2.2lbs

Watercheck 1.8l coffee, coke zero & water

Breakfast

• 3 microwaved eggs
• oatbran porridge with sweetener & cinnamon

Morning snack

• Chicken thigh pieces

Lunch

• Chicken breast and thigh peices
• fat free natural yoghurt with sweeteners
• low fat cheese stick

Afternoon snack

• a few bites of leftover chicken, which had gone cold, hard and chewy. Eww. I was nearly crying with frustration at how much I wanted a biscuit from the cookie jar at work. Resisted heroically, however. Yay. 🙂
• a Skinny Cow hot chocolate

Dinner

• 2 beef burghers
• 2 jalapeno sausages (gluten free – lowish-carb)
• TWO servings of stewed rhubarb & yoghurt. OM NOM NOM!

Exercise

• 25 mins cycling to and from work
• 10 mins brisk walking to the veggie shop to buy RHUBARB!

I know that I need to get more exercise than I’m getting right now. The weather has been AWFUL this week, but the forecast is better for today and the weekend. More walking – yay! 🙂

Day Three – Attack

Morning weigh in: 98.9kg

Daily GAIN: 0.3kgs / 0.66lbs (grr)
Total loss: 0.9kgs / 1.98lbs

Watercheck 1.8l coffee, coke zero & water

Breakfast

• 2 microwaved eggs with half a slice of cheese
• oatbran porridge with sweetener & cinnamon

Morning snack

• 5 mini quiches (They froze well, Lauren. I had them thawing in my bag and just dumped them on a plate in the microwave. Had to drain off the liquid after heating, but they were quite tasty! Lots of envious comments from those in my office.)

Lunch

• Taco mince with Total 0% greek yoghurt and a little salsa & low fat cheese
• the other half of the tub of 0% yoghurt with some sweetener

Afternoon snack

• a handful of peanuts (not strictly Dukan, but never hurt me before. If I’m not down on the scales tomorrow, I’ll not have any more.)

Dinner

• chicken breast with a feta and spinach sauce. Not PP, I know, but I was out with relatives visiting Edinburgh briefly for the festival. And it was really tasty!
• glass of wine (oops)

Exercise

• 25 mins cycling to and from work
• 30 mins walking to and from dinner with relatives – in the massive downpour of Edinburgh Summer Rain. Lovely.

Up this morning on the scales. I’m not panicking – I was down way too much the day before, I’m almost wondering whether it was a mistake. (Fingers crossed.)

Had a lovely dinner with my uncle, aunt and cousin, and J and I walked home through the rain. And it was – oh my GOD it was raining. Hard. I was wearing sandals, which I actually prefer in that kind of weather – I’d much rather get my feet wet directly on the skin than have a layer of wet shoe between me and the puddles. J didn’t believe me – he thought I was making it up so as not to let him feel smug when he’d warned me earlier about leaving the house in that weather with sandals (even though I’d deliberately changed shoes so that if my feet got wet, it would be sandals rather than trainers)

So, like I said, J wasn’t believing me, and so eventually I had to prove my point by folding up my umbrella and just letting the rain soak me to the bone. We walked for a little ways like this, with me wading through massive puddles (omg so much fun!) before J finally  grinned, muttered something like “OK, I’ll bite” and took his shirt off (I’m not sure I could have loved him more at this point!) We walked home like that through the park, in the dark rain – him barechested, me bare-footed, and arrived home absolutely sopping wet – to the point where we basically had to strip off just inside the door to keep from dripping all over the carpet.

Such fun.

However, in an effort to spite me, my body is now starting to rebel against my impromptu cold shower. The itchy throat that started out this morning is starting to develop into heavy, sore tonsils. *sigh*

Day Five – Attack

Morning weigh in: 96.8kg

Daily LOSS 0.4kg / 0.88lbs
Total loss 2.1kg / 4.62lbs

Watercheck 2.5l including tea, coffee and sugarfree cordial.

Breakfast

• 2 x microwaved eggs
• Oatbran porridge

Lunch

• 3/4 of a Tesco roast chicken, no skin

Afternoon snack

• Fat free peach Activia with artificial sweeteners
• oh god oh god oh god – THREE chocolate biscuits.  I was thinking how much I’d like a moist vanilla cupcake this afternoon, and then when I went to get a coffee from teh kitchen, all of a sudden my fingers were in the cookie box and before I knew it, I’d devoured 3 of them  BOO!

Dinner

• Chicken breast
• 3 gluten free sausages

Exercise

• 25 min cycle to and from work

Good.  Good good good.  Down another .4kg this morning, lowest since the start of my “reboot”.  I’m steadfastly ignoring the fact that 2 months ago I’d have cried at what I saw on the scales this morning.  It’s ALL RELATIVE! 🙂

Not impressed with my little foray into the biscuit box at work today.  I don’t know what happened there – I think it’s the fact that our office was roasting hot by 4pm.

I didn’t do my walk around the Meadows today – I still have blisters on the balls of my feet from yesterday and Derby… 😦