Day 72 Friday 31.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
none - had "late supper" instead

Lunch
1 Feasters Burger
1 Penguin Bar

Supper
2 slices jam sponge
Late Supper
2 slices swiss roll
2 handfuls peanuts
1 scoop ice cream

I spent most of the day not that hungry then got munchies when I got back from the Weekend Job.

Day 71 Thursday 30.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc

Lunch
2 hunks buttered crusty bread 
2 handfuls peanuts
1 Penguin Bar

Supper
Garlic Chicken+Dauphinoise Potatoes+peas
1 twinpot toffee sundae

last thing... 1 large mug of cocoa


...Felt comfortable throughout.

Day 70 Wednesday 29.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast

Lunch
1 rack pork ribs + 1 pork chop
1 pint beer
2 choc biscuits

Supper
1 packet crisps
2 handfuls peanuts

With missus at home, a lazy sedentary week continues

Day 69 Tuesday 28.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc

Lunch
3 rashers bacon+beans+2 slices buttered wholemeal bread
1 Cherry Bakewell

Supper
Baked Chicken Gujons+beans+2 slices buttered wholemeal bread
1 Cherry Bakewell
2 choc biscuits

This doesn't seem too bad but as with the rest of this week, I wasn't very physically active

Day 68 Monday 27.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
1 bowl baked beans+1 hunk buttered crusty white bread

Lunch
1 chicken leg
1 choc biscuit

Supper
Steak pie+mash+peas
1 pint beer
2 choc biscuits

A quiet inactive Bank Holiday with the family, so was not ravenous at any point.

Day 67 Sunday 26.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc

Lunch
Chicken +  chips
2 scoops Ice Cream

Supper
1 mouthful roast chicken+1 handful peanuts

This seems restrained but on the other hand I barely moved today. Focus was on mind rather than body.

Day 66 Saturday 25.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
1 Cherry Bakewell

Lunch
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
2 Pengiun Bars

Supper
2 slices Angel Cake+1 handful peanuts

Not very healthy but filling and convenient! Ideal for the Weekend Job shift!

Day 65 Friday 25.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
1 can condensed tomato soup + 3 hunks crusty bread
1 Penguin Bar

Lunch
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
2 Pengiun Bars

Supper
2 slices Angel Cake+1 handful peanuts

Today's menu felt more than it looks - they were all quite filling meals.

Day 64 Thursday 23.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc

Lunch
2 hunks buttered white crusty bread
1 handful peanuts
1 Penguin Bar

Supper
1 Garlic chicken+Dauphinoise potatoes+2 hunks buttered white crusty bread
1 Twinpot Toffee Sundae
1 Penguin Bar

A reasonable day's consumption! Still feeling somewhat full after yesterday's meat feast first thing, breakfast got skipped.

Day 63 Monday 22.5.2013

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
1 Quarter of roast chicken
1 cherry bakewell
1 choc biscuit

Lunch
2 choc biscuits
1 packet crisps

Supper
1 rack pork ribs
1/2 pint of beer
1 Cherry Bakewell
1 choc biscuit

This doesn't seem so bad quantity-wise, though somewhat meat-orientated, accompanied by fat+sugar in biscuit and cake form. This subject came up with a former client I was chatting with this day, who told me of an associate with a real physical gastric band who was managing to "cheat" it, with high-energy low volume food (like biscuits!) that don't hang around in the stomach.

This for me really puts the nail in the coffin of this technique as a standalone method, but the experiment will continue with added modifications.

Day 62 Tuesday 21.5.13

Today's Consumption:

Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
1 bacon sandwich
1 cherry bakewell

Lunch
1 choc biscuit

Supper
Quarterpound burger+egg+beans
1 slice Angel Cake+1 scoop ice cream
1 handful peanuts

Not particularly hungry at lunch, but unsurprising as I've had little exercise. I did get moving a bit more today doing the housework.

Day 61 Monday 20.5.2013

Today's Consumption:
Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast
1 cherry bakewell
Lunch
1 Roast Chicken Sandwich
1 Penguin Bar
Supper
Steak Pie
Mash
Peas

It's good to see some more structure into the plan, and we'll see if it pays off in the coming weeks.

Day 60 Sunday 19.5.2013

Today's Consumption:
Breakfast
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast
1 cherry bakewell
Lunch
Quarterpound burger+chips+egg
2 Fondant Fances
Supper
1 handful peanuts
1 packet crisps
2 squares white choc

From today, rather than just listing consumption, I have introduced rules from my own therapy and divided up consumption into times.

The rules are:
1. Eat consciously
2. No snacking between meals
3. No food after 7pm except socially
4. Visualize that your stomach is the size of a stretchy tennis ball

Day 59 Saturday 18.52013

Today's Consumption
6 squares dark choc
1 Feasters quarterpounder
2 scoops ice cream
2 handfuls peanuts
2 Penguin bars
4 choc biscuits

Rather than one big meal, I was nibbling junk all day in breaktimes at the Weekend Job. Not a nutritionist's ideal agenda but it got me through the day

Day 58 Friday 17.5.2013

Today's Consumption
2 hunks buttered white crusty bread with half a can of beans
1 cherry bakewell
1 handful peanuts
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
4 choc biscuits
1 slice Angel Cake

The first day of applying my own extra rules, which I kept apart from the Angel Cake, which was to be sociable.

I felt surprisingly full after my bean/bread breakfast, and for the other two meals started them already at neutral, but I knew that if I didn't eat them, I would get ravenous and overeat later.

Day 56 Wednesday 15.5.2013 7th Weigh-In

15st 2lbs (212lbs): loss this week = -2lbs, Overall = 4lbs

I was not surprised at this result - you can feel if you've lost weight or not.

I've already concluded that, whilst it has had ongoing and lasting benefits, this technique does not work (for me at least) on its own.

Even if I desperately wanted to lose weight, I don't think it would make any difference.

That said, there are cetainly aspects of it that I will incorporate into my own therapies. Visualising the stomach as being the size of a (stretchy) tennis ball and eating consciously have ingrained themselves into my subconscious and eliminated bloating and heartburn.

From today I will be introducing my own additional rules that I employ in my own therapies:
1: No snacking between three square meals except for social purposes where the minimum will be partaken.
2. No food after 7pm except socially as above.
My therapies contain several other rules too but I do these automatically anyway, such as regular meditation for example.

Another barrier to success is motivation - I'm not personally desperate to lose weight, as my current weight is not "in the way" - it's not inhibiting my success as a therapist, Missus still fancies me as I am and I have no weight-related health issues. That said, to lose weight does wonders for your cred, and to lose weight yourself, which I have done twice before already by the way inspires both clients and potential clients.

In addition, refining a therapy by actually doing it on yourself makes it a highly effective therapy.  In the name of good science and professional credibility I shall continue!



Day 54 Monday 13.5.2013

Today's Consumption
1 Bacon Sandwich
2 Cherry Bakewells
3 choc biscuits
1 can condensed chicken soup + 2 slices buttered bread + extra chicken in the soup
2 scoops ice cream
2 rashers bacon + beans +2 slices buttered bread
1 handful peanuts

Considering I had bugger-all exercise yesterday, I'm surprised at how hungry I got at various parts of the day. I can honestly say that I dont spend all day thinking about food - in fact doing this blog every day is a drag, but it's important data to put out there so I won't give upon it.
My chief motive for eating, I can honestly say, is to make my body "shut up" so I can think about something else.

In terms of losing weight, I am not finding this method an effective tool - I think my own plan I use for my own clients is vastly superior - but having said that, I am no longer binge eating in a single meal, which led to feeling bloated and frequent heartburn at night.

A strong factor against my personal weight loss is in my head - I have almost no incentive. I will discuss this further in the next post.

Day 53 Sunday 12.5.2013

Today's Consumption
1 leg roast chicken
1 cherry bakewell
1 can beer
Quarterpound burger + egg + chips
2 Fondant Fancies
1 choc biscuit
2 buttered crumpets
1 square dark choc

Feels like an "average" kinda consumption - stomach felt comfortable throughout.

Day 52: Saturday 11.5.2013

Today's Consumption
6 squares dark choc
1 Feasters quarterpounder
1 cherry bakewell
1 handful peanuts
3 choc biscuits
1 Feasters chicken sub
2 slices Angel Cake
1 packet crisps

The priority on the Weekend Job is to get through it, and junk food really helps! I was neither ravenous nor bloated at any point.

Day 51 Friday 10.5.2013

Today's Consumption
1 leg roast chicken
2 hunks buttered white crusty bread
2 scoops ice cream
4 choc biscuits
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
1 handful peanuts
3 slices Angel Cake
1 packet crisps

As you can see, a day of, er, "easy to eat" stuff. My priority on Weekend Job days is to avoid being ravenous at all costs. To this end at least I succeeded - I was neither stuffed nor ravenous throughout.

Day 50: Thursday 9.5.2013

Today's Consumption:
6 squares dark choc
2 hunks buttered crusty bread
3 scoops ice cream
Garlic chicken+Dauphinoise potatoes+peas
1 Twinpot Toffee Sundae
1 mouthful peanuts
2 squares white choc

After yesterday's junk food orgy, I was in no need of breakfast, and never felt either ravenous or overfull all day - just comfortable!

The chief cornerstone on which this experiment rests is to eat consciously, reducing the gap between food entering your stomach and your brain feeling it. I have found you can only do this if you are in the right mood, so mood/mind management is equally important. With my focus very much on that aim, we will see how it affects the experiment. 

Day 49: Wednesday 8.5.2013

Today's Consumption:
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast
1 rack pork ribs
1 can beer
4 scoops ice cream
4 choc biscuits
3 handfuls peanuts

Note the "healthy" end to the day! The "fullness kick-in" at the end of this orgy of junk occurred over an hour later and in the following morning I still felt it!

It's another important lesson  - food that is easily and therefore quickly eaten is damn slow to kick in. And I didn't eat consciously for various reasons. The therapist made clear that however hungry I was, food needed to be eaten in a conscious almost ceremonial manner.

I'm becoming persuaded that the holistic approach is the best way to tackle weight loss. I myself have turned potential clents away because weight is the least of that person's problems.

Day 48: Tuesday 7.5.2013

Today's Consumption
Two slices buttered toast
1 can condensed soup + 4 slices buttered bread
4 scoops ice cream
Quarterpound burger + beans + 2 slices buttered bread

If nothing else, I am learning a lot about how different food groups affect me. Carbohydrates are much quicker at satisfying hunger, but the satisfaction wears off quicker and more sharply. Fats and proteins take longer to "kick in" but once they do, the satisfaction lasts much longer.

In an ideal world therefore, the heaviest meal would be breakfast, and the other two meals much lighter. Since however I have to fit my meals with family life, the structure has to be more complicated.

I have learned that if breakfast is mainly carbohydrate, I will need another carbohydrate snack mid-morning. If I don't, I will be ravenous by lunchtime and overeat to compensate, meaning that I won't enjoy supper! The snack will probably be peanuts, as they have got protein and carbohydrate in equal amounts, plus the bonus of fibre.

An additional learning point is that the feeling of fullness doesn't come directly from what's in the stomach at that given moment, but a hormone released from the stomach, and the level of sugar in the blood. This is why carbohydrate, rapidly absorbed into the blood, satisfies hunger quickly.

Unfortunately this also triggers insulin to convert it to glycogen. Lots of sugar means lots of insulin which means the sugar level suddenly drops like a stone, causing the ravenous hunger of a "sugar crash". Protein and fat don't put sugar directly into the blood, so the fullness feeling comes solely from the stomach hormone, which responds only very slowly, around 30 minutes once protein is in the stomach. However, once it's in the blood, it hangs around for ages, making you feel staisfied for longer.

The "trick" therefore is a potein/carbohydrate mixture, so that a sugar surge lasts long enough to allow the fullness hormone to kick in, or a small carbohydrate meal followed by a snack two hours later. Still lots of trial-and-error to be undertaken!

Day 47: Monday 6.5.2013

Today's Consumption:
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast
1 quarter roast chicken
2 slices Angel Cake
Meat pie+mash+peas
2 choc biscuits

I thought I ate reasonably slowly, but I'm picking up on the delay between finishing eating and feeling it, which can take up to 30 minutes for protein-based food. Carbohydrate seems to work much faster.

Day 46: Sunday 5.5.2013

Today's Consumption
6 squares dark choc
2 slices buttered toast
Quarterpounder+chips+egg
2 Fondant Fancies
2 hunks buttered crusty bread
2 squares white choc
1 handful peanuts

A fairly average consumption, but I'm going to introduce a new rule - no eating after 7pm, a rule I have for my "standard" weight-loss program for clients.

Day 45 Saturday 4.5.2013

Today's Consumption
6 squares dark choc
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
2 squares white choc
2 handfuls peanuts
5 choc biscuits
2 packets crisps
1 fruit yogurt
2 slices Angel Cake

lol mainly junk isnt it? Junk is however highly convenient on the Weekend Job, and for late night snacking. Fresh start tomorrow!

Day 44 Friday 3.5.2013

6 squares dark choc
2 rashers bacon+beans+2 slices buttered bread
1 handful peanuts
1 Feasters Quarterpounder
2 choc biscuits
1 fruit yogurt
1 choc bar
1 packet crisps

Time to put hand up and say that I didn't eat in the way instructed, and am not likely to on Saturday either because time at the Weekend Job is limited and I choose not to spend the mental effort on it.

Another problem threatening to sabotage the outcome is lack of incentive - though it would be great for the credibility of my Practice, I'm not for myself that bothered. I'm loved and can do everything I want to do at this weight. Nevertheless I will persevere, but from next week I'm going to introduce my own modifications.

Day 43 Thursday 2.5.2013

Today's consumption:
6 squares dark choc
2 rashers bacon+beans+2 slices buttered bread
1 handful peanuts
Dauphinoise potatoes+Galic Chicken+peas
Twinpot Toffee Sundae
2 hunks buttered crusty bread
2 squares white choc

In the light of the lack of progress, I contacted the therapist who said that I'm probably not eating as consciously as I thought. He has done me a recorded session and given me the instruction to chew mouthfuls 20 times. I now won't have time to listen to the session before Sunday or Monday, but I will certainly be keeping focus on "conscious mouthfuls"

Day 42 Wednesday 2,5.2013 6th Weigh-In

15st 2lbs (212lbs): loss this week = -1lbs, Overall = 5lbs

I think we can conclude at this point that this is NOT WORKING, but there is still not enough elapsed time or enough options tried to eliminate it as a viable technique.

There has been an indisputable benefit aside from weight which is that my portions are more sensible and heartburn, previously frequent, is now rare. In addition, my weight, if not going down, is at least stable. I will be going back to the therapist's notes tomorrow to see if I'm doing anything obviously wrong or missed something. If so, I will make something of a fresh start tomorrow