Actions Speak Louder Than Words....

Julesie

... so like the title says, I have done enough talking, enough thinking, enough half assed attempts that start out too ambitiously and end all too quickly. I have bought all the equipment, read all the theories, perfected exercise and diet plans in my head. But if i'm being honest that all gets pushed to one side when I've had a crappy day at work and I find myself almost mindless walking to the vending machine to get a kitkat and a can of coke at 3pm and then making up excuses in my head as to why I couldn't possibly go to the gym on the way home.

This time WILL be different, like a smoker that knows they've smoked their last cigarette. This time i feel determined to see my plan through to execution.

First the facts:

• I am female
• I am 5' 3''
• I weigh 9st 8lbs
• I am a terrible vegetable eater
• I adore carbs (I could live on bread alone)
• I don't drink tea or coffee but am addicted to coke
• I do not drink enough water
• I have a sweet tooth
• I can run for 10mins " 9.5km/hr before i fall off the treadmill suffering from a cardiac arrest
• I can bench press 8kg dumbbells
• I can leg press 60kg

So if that's where I am coming from, what are my goals:

• I 'd imagine I could afford to lose 14lbs of fat but I am also anticipating muscle gain, so I think i would be happy enough to rest around 9st long term. I'm honestly not too pushed with the number on the scales if i can feel/see the differences myself.
• Completely stop drinking any fizzy drinks. I have done it before and I will do it again. I find cold turkey is the only way that works for me. This started from today.
• Again similar to the fizzy drinks I vow to completely cut out junk food. I have been known to be partial to more than my fair share of crap. Chocolate at work, crisps in the evening, pizzas when out for dinner, etc. All of it unnecessary, all of it due to impulsiveness or due to poor planning (i.e. bringing in healthy snacks to work). This will also start from today.
• Try to introduce more vegetables into my diet. I know its is ridiculous for someone of my age to still be a picky eater but I have yet to find a format i enjoy vegetables (mainly greens). I do eat tomatoes, peppers, onions etc. but i would struggle to eat a mouthful of broccoli, cauliflower even lettuce. I figure i will begin by consuming more of what i do eat and try to gradually introduce those that i currently don't. I have heard steaming the vegetables may be more palatable.
• My track record at going to the gym has been patchy at best. I can go for a couple of weeks quite regularly and then again 2 or 3 weeks could pass without a single visit. If I am being honest I do have a busy schedule which does not make it easy to fit in the gym but that is not a good enough excuse not to go. I am aiming to go to the gym proper three days a week (40 min session mixing cardio and resistance) and in addition to this play one 40min squash session and one aerobic class. I think this is doable and I will aim for it to be my absolute minimum exercise per week.

I think that is about all for now but I will be updating this thread regularly with updates (including pics if possible). This log is mainly for my own benefit but any suggestions or criticism will be gratefully accepted.

SUNGOD

hi julesie now thats what i call a self asessment !
only advice i can offer is consistency, just keep at it even if you have a day of no gym and crap eating so what! , its not ideal but theres always tomorrow forget about it and move on .this advice is really for myself as well as im injured at the moment and have made a pig of myself on easter eggs they really are the work of satan !!.but tommorrow im starting over again !!!!!
so anyway julesie best of luck with it hope it goes just keep posting and take it a day at a time

Julesie

Well what a start...

I wake up Easter Sunday morning with what feels like the worst head cold ever (and nope i hadn't even had a night out before hand to explain it). Fever, pounding headache, chills, sore throat, joint ache, you name it i've got it.

Unfortunately we are at a particularly busy time on our project so I had to drag myself into work for 7.30am. As the morning wears on I feel worse and worse but suffer through it as I have tickets to the Liverpool/Utd game that i am determined not to miss.

Feel miserable throughout the match but at least the scoreline went in our favour. I got back to the apartment for about 5pm and ended up sleeping through until 9am this morning.

Woke up this morning feeling just as bad but now with the added bonus of swollen cheeks... so as I type this I am waiting for my doctors appointment to see if my cold is in fact the mumps. Joy!!

On the plus side I had no junk food yesterday whatsoever, in fact i didn't have much of any food. Just some weetabix in the morning and the same again yesterday evening before I went to sleep. Loss of appetite is apparently a common symptom of both the flu and mumps.

All in all mixed start to the "New Me Campaign". On the one hand managed an Easter Sunday with no chocolate but on the other hand given the state I'm in a visit to the gym in the next day or two seems highly unlikely.

Well I guess I'm in this for the long haul and this particular setback is something I can do nothing about. I can however maintain the whole clean eating side of things (that's if i can stomach anything at all).

g'em

So sorry to hear you're not doing so well Julesie

When you feel crappy like that it really, really sucks, and if you're anything like me when you get your appetite back you may be tempted to treat yourself to help make yourself feel better. But think of it this way; in getting ill you're giving yourself a clean slate. Right now your body is focusing 110% of its energy on making you feel better, so when your appetite begins to return give it a helping hand by getting plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables into your system to rebuild your immune systema nd have you fighting fit in no time.

Orange, kiwi fruit, blackcurrant, grapefruit and mangos are all jam-packed with vitamin C, and zinc (lean meats & shellfish), garlic, selenium (fish, eggs, shellfish, vegetables, brazil nuts and garlic) and Omega-3 oils (oily fish, flax oil or seeds and walnuts) are all fantastic for a healthy immune system too.

Julesie

Thanks G'em...You are so right about the temptation to treat yourself syndrome...definitely something I would have done in the past. But I will follow your second much better course of action this time round.

Roll on the vitamin C!!!

Julesie

So thank god, I do not have the mumps. Just a strong reaction to whatever virus is inhabitating my body at the moment which is making my cheeks look I've just won 1st prize at the National Theething Baby Championships.

Anyhoo, yesterday was another zero-apetite, mucho sleeping day. All in all i managed to digest 2 weetabix and 2 slices of wholemeal bread over the course of the day. This seriously is in no way indicative of my normal eating habits.

Again it was early to bed last night and this morning I woke up feeling not too bad, just back to "bad head cold" territory. So because I'm a bit of workaholic idiot I have made my way into work. I may have benefited from the extra day at home but we have a lot of work on at the mo and i felt up to the task.

I'll post again tonight with my full food intake for the day. I still do not feel well enough to attempt any strenuous exercise but may do some flexibility and stretching work at home this evening.

But still it has now been 3 days of no coke and no junk food! Yay!!

Julesie

Another day still no exercise due to this flu. I'm still completely bunged up so I wont be going to a gym today either. My aim is get there before Friday but I know there is little point in going if I still can't breathe.

So yesterday I got back to eating a fairly reasonable amount of food.

Breakfast
2 Weetabix with low fat milk
200ml glass of freshly squeezed OJ

Mid Morning
A Clementine

Lunch
300ml Tomato and Basil Soup
2 slices mixed wheat bread

Mid Afternoon
An Apple

Dinner
Home cooked Chicken Fajitas (plenty of peppers, onions, tomatoes and salsa)
1&1/3 Tortillas (Seeded kind. 175kcal each)
200ml Freshly squeezed orange juice


Also drank plenty of water thorughout the day.

Julesie

Day 5 provided a real test of resolve as it was the first of my dreaded extra long days... Full day in the office + CIMA Night Class (6pm - 9pm). However I stayed strong and can still claim a blemish free record on junk food and in particular any fizzy drinks (including my beloved Coke).

Also managed to track down an appropriate tape measure (turns out body measurements aren't easy to take with a B&Q special :rolleyes:). So the Week 1 measurements are as follows:

• Neck - 12.25''
• Chest - 35''
• Biceps - (R) 11" (L) 11"
• Waist - 28.125"
• Hips - 35.5"
• Top of Legs - 38.5"
• Knee - (R) 16.625" (L) 17.125"
• Calf - (R) 14.625" (L) 15.125"
• Thigh - (R) 22" (L) 21.5"

I'm an ex-student of Statistics so expect mass analysis once i have a few weeks of measurement data to work with.

So onwards to yesterday's food intake.

Breakfast
2 Weetabix with low fat milk
200ml glass of freshly squeezed OJ

Mid Morning
A Clementine

Lunch
300ml Tomato and Basil Soup
4 Cream Crackers

Mid Afternoon
A Clementine

Pre Night-Class
Tuna Sandwich on Seeded Bread
250ml Freshly squeezed orange juice

Post Night-Class
Picked at a dinner that had been left for me. (Lamb Chops/Mash/Beans)
Had in total the meat of one of the lamb chop/cutlets and a couple of mouthfuls of beans and mash. All in all about a 1/4 of what was on the plate. Just not hungry.

BossArky

Julesie wrote: »

it was the first of my dreaded extra long days... Full day in the office + CIMA Night Class (6pm - 9pm).

I hear ya. I dropped the CIMA classes and now just self study which equals more time to get to the gym :pac:

Julesie

I feel like a broken record on this one but I didn't make it to the gym on Thursday or Friday due to this lingering flu. I am however heading this morning (Saturday) so I will write up this evening with my exploits.

Food wise yesterday was fine again, still no junk or any crap. People in work actually seem impressed at my resolve, I'm staying strong even when everyone around me is eating rubbish.

I was out in Liverpool last night though at a Josh Ritter concert. We went straight from work into Liverpool city centre to get some food before the gig. We ended up in Jamie Carragher's sports bar which actually prides itself on serving healthy(ish) food.

I had a chicken burger which to be fair was quite a lean grilled piece of breast. I did accompany it with a side of fries and a little light mayo but for a cheat meal I don't think it was too bad. Certainly better than the pizza I had the last time I was there.

I did also some drinks last night, I'm not a big drinker by any means and can go weeks without having any at all but last night I did have a few. I have calculated it as 6 units

• 1 Glass of White Wine - (2 Units)
• 2 Vodka & Orange Juices - (2 Units)
• 2 Shots Black Sambuca - (2 Units)

So a bit of a mixed day, certainly not my cleanest overall but considering that was probably my biggest night out for a couple of weeks (damn studying!!) I don't think the diet has gone too badly.

I'll post again tonight with the results of the gym session and today's food intake.

Julesie

Woohoo...Day 7 and we finally saw some Gym action!

Today's Workout

Dumbbell Bench Press
Set 1: 6 x 9kg and 5 x 8kg
Set 2: 5 x 9kg and 6 x 8kg
Set 3: 10 x 8kg

Dumbbell Squat
3 Sets: 10 x 10kg

Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 10 x 20kg
Set 2: 10 x 25kg
Set 3: 10 x 20kg

Adductors
3 Sets: 10 x 30kg

Abductors
3 Sets: 10 x 25kg

Leg Press
3 Sets: 10 x 60kg


Today's Food

Breakfast
2 x Wholemeal Toast
1 x Weetabix and low fat milk

Lunch
M&S - Cajun Chicken Pizzatilla Wrap (460kcal)
M&S - Natural Probiotic Yoghurt with Granola (didn't eat much of this, didn't like the yoghurt)

Dinner
Pitta Bread with Grilled Chicken, Cheese and Peppers with handful of chips

I had quite a nice lie in this morning which kinda shifted all my meals on a few hours and meant I probably ate less that I normally would. I haven't been strictly watching the calories yet but I would imagine today was on the low side. I have to go in to the office tomorrow (on a sunday! boo hiss boo :mad: but hopefully it won't turn into a full day so I can have a nice long session at the gym tomorrow evening. Might even get in a bit of a swim and sauna.

Ooh also took my 'before' photos this morning. They are suitably repulsive for me not to want to upload them now. Perhaps they will see the light of day when I have nice 'after' photos to put them beside. It is motivation if nothing else.

siochain

setting our stall out like about is a great start, best of luck an I look forward reading about the results.

Good luck and most of all enjoy.

Julesie

Blah had to work Sunday :mad:

But anyhoo I made the most of the day and went to the gym after work.

I started with a 30min solo squash session which to be honest is far more punishing than my usual knockabout with my squash buddy. I was pretty shattered at the end of it which probably wasnt the best start for my weights session.

I kept the weights short and sweet as this was really my Cardio day.

Dumbbell Incline Flys
3 Sets: 10 x 7kg

Dumbbell Shrugs
3 Sets: 10 x 8kg

Dumbbell Squats
Set 1: 7 x 10kg
Set 2: 10 x 6kg
Set 3: 10 x 6kg

Food wise I was at the mercy of the local M&S for lunch as I completely slept out for work with the ol' hour goes forward trick.

Still I remained sensible and avoided my favourite Cheese Taster snacks.

The day's intake was as follows:

Breakfast
Bowl of Special K with Low Fat Milk

Lunch
Count on Us: Nacho Chicken Wrap (260kcal) - Which I really like
Small Pesto Pasta Salad with Spinach (280kcal)
250ml Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Dinner
Homemade Chicken Curry with Long Grain Rice (for the first time ever I didn't automatically put all of the rice portion on my plate and suprisingly I didn't even miss it at the end)

Julesie

Monday was a "no gym" day. Not necessarily by choice but rather the fact I had a crappy 14 hour day at work. We are going through a particularly busy time at the moment testing and application so my Work/Life balance, well isn't exactly balanced.

Also I was riddled with DOMS, my quads felt like they were dying, presumably from the squats of the last two gym sessions. So I may not have made it to the gym anyway.

Food wise, the day's intake was as follows:

Breakfast
2 Weetabix with Low Fat Milk

Mid Morning
Youghurt & Blueberry Bite

Lunch
Homemade Tuna Sandwich with Extra Light Mayo on Wholemeal Bread

Mid Afternoon
Apple
Youghurt & Blueberry Bite

Dinner
Chicken Stir Fry (Thank god for my flatmate who left me a portion to reheat when I got in from work at the ungodly hour of 10pm)

Julesie

I have to admit I'm damn proud of myself today. Where in the past I would have made the excuse that I had no time for a full gym session and therfore would not have gone at all, today...

• I got my ass out of bed at 6.20am,
• into the gym for 6.40,
• exercised until 7.15,
• showered and was at my desk for 7.40
• and was still the first member of my team into work

So what did I actually do when I was there you may ask, it goes a little something like this...

Dumbbell Incline Flys
3 Sets @ 10 x 9kgs

Dumbbell Side Bends
3 Sets (each side) @ 10 x 10kg

Dumbbell Squats
3 Sets @ 10 x 6kg (reduced the weight on this as still feeling the doms)

100 x Various Crunch positions

Stretching

So not a particularly long session but again I believe its definitely better than nothing and it was missing these kind of sessions that was my downfall in the past.

The gym session did come at a slight cost though as I didnt have time to prepare todays food between getting in at 10pm last night and getting up at 6am this morning. So it was M&S again for me but still the healthy choices were picked. I have some chicken out defrosting as I type that I will cook in the morning to make some Jules' Fajita Specials for lunch.....mmmmm... looking forward to them already.

Oh before I forget I probably should post up the week two measurements as taken yesterday morning.

• Neck - 12.25'' (no change)
• Chest - 35'' - 1.00"
• Biceps - (R) 11.2" +.20" (L) 10.5" -.50"
• Waist - 28" -.125"
• Hips - 35" -.50"
• Top of Legs - 38" -.50"
• Knee - (R) 16.625" (no change) (L) 16.75" -.375"
• Calf - (R) 14.625" (no change)(L) 14.375" - .75"
• Thigh - (R) 21.25" -.75" (L) 21.25" -.25"

The digital weighing scales in my bathroom says I now weigh 9st 6.5lbs down from 9st 8lbs.

The mechanical scale in the gym says I'm 9st even. Not sure which one to believe but either way the relative change has been -1.5lbs for the first week.

So all in all a good first week I think....let's see what next weeks checkpoint brings.

siochain

Julesie wrote: »

I have to admit I'm damn proud of myself today. Where in the past I would have made the excuse that I had no time for a full gym session and therfore would not have gone at all, today...

• I got my ass out of bed at 6.20am,
• into the gym for 6.40,
• exercised until 7.15,
• showered and was at my desk for 7.40
• and was still the first member of my team into work

Thats class, your catching the workout bug, I find a day is much more productive when I work out in the morning.

Julesie

Another decent enough day. There was no gym today as I used my hour before work to cook myself up enough food to get through the day (It's another of my Work + CIMA evening class days). So I was up at 6.40am cooking chicken fajitas, which felt a little weird to be honest. But damn was I glad of it when I got to tuck into some delicious tomato tortillas packed with spicy chicken, salsa, peppers and onions a lunch......mmmmmm.....so tasty.

I had enough chicken to also make a Pitta bread to have before my class which stopped me heading for the vending machine to see me through the boredom of 'The Importance of Working Capital Management'....God how I would have preferred to be in the gym.

I have also happened upon a new snack alternative for me, Tescos Apple and Grape snack pack. Granted its just an apple sliced up and put in a nice plastic bag but for some strange reason just the fact its in a bag is acting as a sort of 'Crisp Placebo' for me. Lets not question the madness as long as it keeps me eating clean. And at 49kcal for a sizeable bag it ain't to bad on the food log either.

Julesie

A dozen days of cleaning eating and I'm definitely feeling the benefits. I stared down the barrel of temptation today (an open share size bag of minstrels cruely left on my desk)..... and Won!

I am genuinely surprised how little I am craving rubbish. I'll be honest when I was in the middle of my vicious junk food eating cycle I thought the healthy living folk were just a different breed and that somehow I wasn't designed the same way. I was sure everyone needed a pick me up about 3pm and the Coke and a KitKat was the obvious answer. Thankfully ridding my diet of all that excess sugar has almost eliminated my mid afternoon energy slumps.

Anyhoo back to today...All ok on the food front i think:

Breakfast
2 Weetabix and Low Fat Milk

Mid Morning
Yoghurt with added protein

Lunch
Tuna Sandwich on seeded bread
Apple snack pack

Mid Afternoon
Apple snack pack

Dinner
Chicken fajitas (used the last of the chicken from yesterday)

No other snacks or crap was ingested.

I got out of work at about 19:30 after a lovely 12 hour day but decided I would be good and headed to the gym on the way home.....And now I remember why I hate the gym in the evenings...It was packed, certainly not like that at 6.30am (I think I may stick with the mornings from now on).

I had to mess about on some of the resistance machines until a bench came free, so the workout goes as follows:

Warm Up
5 min run @ 9km/h

Adductors
3 Sets @ 10 x 30kg

Abductors
3 Sets @ 10 x 25kg

Dumbbell Bench Press
3 Sets @ 10 x 8kgs

Dumbbell Bent Over Row
3 Sets (each side) @ 10 x 10kg

Squats with Weighted Bar
3 Sets @ 10 reps

Stretching and Ab Work

I definitely wasn't at my strongest tonight which I would put down to the time of day and the fact I hadn't eaten in quite a while before getting to the gym. However I still I got some benefit out of the session so all is not lost.

I will be taking my next set of pictures tomorrow morning so I wonder if I'll notice any difference. Given its only been a week I won't be too disheartened if nothing is quite visible yet.

Julesie

There was no gym today as I was working in the morning and then travelling back to Ireland in the afternoon for the long weekend (managed to nab a day off work to make up for working Paddys and Easter Sunday :rolleyes:).

So today's entry will just be a food log.

Breakfast
2 Weetabix with Low Fat Milk

Lunch
Fish and Chips (with beans) - This was my only trip to the staff canteen in the last fortnight. In some ways this was a cheat meal but I got rid of most of the batter and the chips portion was small so I actually don't feel bad about it at all. Even got my fish portion for the day!

Late Afternoon
Bowl of Shreddies with Low Fat Milk (Was starving when I got in from the airport and knew I wouldnt be eating until later)

Dinner
Portion of Lasagne (Had dinner at my friends house so had no choice in the meal option but made sensible decisions where possible and had no garlic bread or any other accompaniments - Also stayed clean for the movie night that followed and believe that butter popcorn was tempting)

Julesie

Worst...day...ever! (well maybe not quite )

Just typical, one of my rare weekends back in Dublin so I decided I would head to Blanchardstown shopping centre to treat myself to some new clothes for my newly trimmer figure . Unfortunately about a mile from the centre my car decides to go all Delorean like with weird noises and steam/smoke eminating from the engine. Cue €220 towing charge before I even find out how much it will cost to fix the damn thing. Anyhoo that nicely ruined my days plans and scuppered my shopping trip.

Still thats all an aside to the main point of the blog...food and exercise. So on with the show.

Breakfast
Bowl of Shreddies

Lunch
1/2 - O'Briens Chicken Pesto Hot Wrappo
1/4 - O'Briens Tuna Sandwich on Brown

Dinner
Fillet Steak with Peppercorn Sauce and Chips (reasonable small portion)

Drink
1 Glass of White Wine

Other Info
Another day and no fizzy drinks or junk food. That makes 14 clean living days!

---

Exercise
4km walk with the two mutts

Julesie

Compared to yesterday's shennanigans today was a dream. I'm still car-less but I didn't let that hamper the exercise efforts, in fact I probably got in my best session yet.

Dumbbell Bench Press
3 Sets: 10 x 8kgs

Dumbbell Shoulder Press
3 Sets: 10 x 5kgs

Dumbbell Lateral Raise
3 Sets: 10 x 3kgs

Dumbbell Side Bend
3 Sets (each side): 10 x 10kg

Dumbbell Bent Over Row
3 Sets (each side): 10 x 10kg

Olympic Bar Squat
3 Sets: 10 x Bar Only

Abductor
3 Sets: 10 x 27.5kg

Adductor
3 Sets: 10 x 27.5kg

Leg Press
3 Sets: 10 x 30kg

Calf Press
3 Sets: 10 x 30kg

+ a 3km walk taking me to and from the gym.

---

Then on the food side of things...

Breakfast
Bowl of Shreddies with Low Fat Milk
2 Slices of Granary Toast

Lunch
Red Salmon sandwich on granary bread

Mid Afternoon
Bag of Manhattan Popcorn

Dinner
Homemade chicken curry with onion and a little coconut milk

Late Evening
A strawberry Danone Activia

So another good day. I will be taking pictures and measurements in the morning.

Julesie

...and the results are in.

Neck - 12'' -0.25"
Chest - 32.5'' - 1.5" (typo in last weeks measurements should have read 34")
Biceps - (R) 10.5" -0.7" (L) 10.25" -0.25"
Waist - 27" -1.0"
Hips - 34" -1.0"
Top of Legs - 37" -1.0"
Knee - (R) 16.25" -0.4" (L) 16" -0.75"
Calf - (R) 14.5" -0.25" (L) 14.75" + 0.4"
Thigh - (R) 20.75" -0.5" (L) 20.5" -0.75"

Weight 9st 5lbs -1.5lbs

So a very good week measurements wise. I'm always a little dubious about the accuracy of measurements like biceps and calves as I'm never sure on the exact spot I took it the previous weeks but my intention is to be true to myself so hopefully the measurements will even out over time. More importantly though i can definitely feel that my shape is changing using the tried and tested Mirror, Clothes & Pinch tests

The next three weeks are going to be interesting though as I fly out on Friday morning to the Philippines with work for just over a fortnight. On the one hand having been there before I know there are good gym facilities in the hotel. However I will be matching UK hours so I will be working from 3pm - 2am every day which coupled with no means of food preparation may cause my diet may slip somewhat.

Julesie

Ok..so Monday was a good day and a bad day.

Exercise = Good

Food = Not so good

Being back in Dublin and having time to actually devote to training meant my two sessions this weekend were definitely of a higher quality than usual.

Dumbbell Side Bend
3 Sets: 10 x 14kg

Barbell Deadlift
3 Sets: 10 x 10kg + Bar (low weight trying to get technique right)

Dumbbell Incline Flys
3 Sets: 10 x 7kgs

Leg Press
3 Sets: 10 x 29.5kg

Tricep Pulldown
2 Sets: 10 x 20kg
1 Sets: 10 x 27.5kg

Leg Curl
2 Sets: 10 x 10kg

+ 6km walk (to/from gym)

Then on the food side of things..

Breakfast
Bowl of Shreddies with Low Fat Milk

Mid Morning
Activia Yoghurt

Lunch
Ham and Cheese Sandwich on Granary Bread

** Cheat Meal Alert **
Burger with Bacon, Cheese and half the bun with half portion of chips

Slice of Apple Pie (no cream)

(The excuse for this lapse...my friends brought me out for my birthday meal before I went back to the UK)

Not sure if it is just a coincidence or not but I have felt terrible since this meal. Two days later I still feel bloated, I guess it may not be related to the meal as it wasnt really that bad and my diet has been clean apart from this.

Julesie

Its tuesday morning....5am...and I'm up getting into my taxi to head back to the airport and I suddenly remember why I always get the late night flights back instead. To say i'm not good with early starts would be an understatment and this is just the first one of the week (i still have a 4am to look forward to on Friday when I head to Manila....joy! )

This is a particularly cruel day as I also have a CIMA night class until 9pm. So all in all i spent the day craving comfort food like never before. Up until this point (bar the first couple of days) I havent been really troubled by cravings. To make matters worse one of my co-workers even bought me a can of coke as a treat (they weren't aware I was off it). It took literally all the willpower I had to give that can away. Amazingly I made it through the day unscathed, no junk food past my lips!

However the food intake still wasnt great because as I mentioned in the previous post I felt like crap yesterday with an upset and bloated stomach. I probably didnt help matters ingesting entirely too many carbs but I just couldn't face anything more adventurous. I even cooked up my Chicken Fajita mix last night for my lunch today and couldn't bring myself to eat any last night.

5.00am
Bowl of Shreddies with Low Fat Milk

9.45am
Weetabix with Low Fat Milk

1.35pm
Tuna and Cheese whoelgrain roll

8.20pm
Activia Yoghurt

9.00pm
Bowl of Shreddies with Low Fat Milk

Don't worry I know that is a horrendously carb skewed day's nutrition lacking in any fruit or veg and is definitely not what i would normally aim for. Hopefully today will be better.

Julesie

So it may appear that i just fell off the face of the earth for the past week and in some ways i did... well at least if the earth was flat i might have.

I left for Manila in the wee hours of last Thursday morning and have been sans internet ever since. And considering im out here as the lead for User Acceptance Testing of an application delivered via the internet that hasn't been a good thing!!!

This is my log, for my benefit so there deesnt seem to be much point in lying or sugar coating the truth (unfortunately apt choice of words :rolleyes:)

Everything has fallen apart since i boarded that first flight from Manchester last week. As i knew from my last time here the food is shocking. I'll be honest im not an adventurous eater but i defy anyone to find the choice between Neck of Chicken, Chicken Feet and Pork Cheek and Ear appetising. That is literally (and i mean literally the choices available in the staff restaurant here). To "compensate" im just eating rubbish from the 7-11 (buns, potato chips etc.) occasionally during the day.

What i hadnt factored in was the effect working UK hours while out here would have on my eating pattern.

Im waking at 10/11am most mornings and getting into the office for 12/12:30. I'm then working until 1am and probably up until 3am most days. My body clock is so out of whack that i just dont feel hungry at all for most of the day. So not only am I completely undereating, im only eating crap when i do eat.

Unfortunatley im not near a supermarket and the 7-11 has nothing nutritious i recognise but thankfully the weekend is almost upon us so im going to try and stock up in advance of next week.

Gym has also completely suffered... I havent even seen the pool area of the hotel yet given the hours im working. Although it's my birthday tomorrow (Friday) so i have arranged to go in a little later into the office. I have a nice morning planned out... Gym, Back Massage, Haircut, Lunch...work.

All in all its pretty miserable out here. I'm dying to get back to my nice routine at home and make up for this crappy week. I've already decided ill be extending my 8 week plan for an extra two to make up for this.

God knows when i'll get a chance to update this again but hopefully i will have better progress to report when i do.