James Duigan’s Clean & Lean Kickstart eating plan – Day 4

So, what is my verdict after four days on James Duigan’s Clean & Lean Kickstart eating plan? In dot points:

• Lost 3.5kg (Yes, that’s 3.5kg, 7.7lbs) after 4 full days on the diet.
• No crazy cravings – I usually always give in to my cravings…and I have not had chocolate, chips, buenos, burgers, fries, pizzas, mi goreng since I started.  Nor do I particularly feel like it.
• Headache disappeared after Day 1
• No hunger pangs

I had serious doubts that I’d be able to do this diet.  WHAT? ME? ONLY EAT VEGIES AND MEAT!! Crazy! I read somewhere that the 14 day kickstart is basically around 1000 calories a day – which, I would think would attribute to the 3.5kg weight loss in 4 days.

 

BUT…I was on lite and easy, and I was on 1200 calories plan and I was absolutely STARVING.  To the point where a couple of times, I felt light headed.  I had major urges to binge and the most I ever lost on it was 2.5kg or something after 4 weeks!

 

The only thing that explains it is that James Duigan’s theory that when your body is getting all the nutrients it needs for good, organic food, it has no reason to crave sugar or anything else.  Which explains why,  even though I’m consuming less calories than ever before, I don’t really feel hungry (nor do I feel stuffed – to be fair), or have sugar cravings.

 

I’m going to continue to do the 14 day kick start…and it’s coming up to the weekend, so it may prove to be a bit harder because I have set plans already (Korean BBQ dinner and 2 kids parties, and a brunch)…but I’m going to follow all the theories behind the plan (eat as much fresh, organic food, no processed food, no fizzy drinks, absolutely NO sugar)…and see how I go.

 

I haven’t felt the highs that some other people have felt (that I’ve read)…but I definitely don’t feel lethargic where I need a 3pm coffee or that chocolate bar, or pass out on the bus (which used to happen 4 out of 5 times).  As I mentioned, I had headaches on the first day, and that went way by day 2.  People has also reported great skin, nails and hair but I haven’t noticed any of that at all.

 

It would be definitely interesting to see what weigh-in is after the weekend, and also after the 14 days.

 

James Duigan’s Clean & Lean Kickstart eating plan – Day 1

I haven’t been able to stay on the wagon.  One of my friends say that I go on a diet for 3 days, and then just give up after not getting 5kg weight loss in that time.  Which is true.

I go to Personal training twice a week and gym a few times a week, and then waste it all by just eating crap loads of junk…we’re talking, fried chicken and rice with lashings of kewpie mayo most days for lunch (it’s just so delicious!), 2 bueno bars a day (they were on sale for $1 each at Target!), Frozen coke constantly (cos it is HOT in Brisbane) and 30c Cones, did you know they’re back at McDonald’s for THIRTY CENTS?!

Anyways…totally off track, so I decided to buy James Duigan’s Clean & Lean diet book, read it from cover to cover, and decided to do it.  The whole thing is realistic…as in, you’re not banning a complete food group or anything like that, it is just eating food that are as close to its natural intended form as possible.  Sort of like Paleo I guess. No fats are cut out either (as in, you can eat GOOD fats such as avocado, drizzle your salads with olive oil and cook in rice bran or ground nut oil)…and also encourages you to eat full fat things, rather than low fat things as low fat things usually has more persavertives and sugars added to compensate for the loss in fat (flavour).

Also…cutting out refind sugar, so still able to eat fruit, manaka honey which I think is great! Oh yeah, and also, stevia and xylitol are also allowed on the diet, but not aspartame – so NO diet cokes! Or any fizzy drinks for that matter.

The 14 day kick start is just that, it’s 14 days, it’s a kick start to the diet, and in this 14 days, you are advised not to have any sugar (including those found in fruit), no alcohol and only a cup of coffee a day and a 14 day food plan is included in the book. Basically it’s protein at every meal (not excessive – about 100 grams or so), loads of green vegies and 2 snacks which also have protein (like some nuts, or vegies with hummus).

So, how did I go on the Day 1?

Surprisingly well.  I remember when I was on Lite and Easy and I literally felt STARVED and also felt light headed and faint. Well, I didn’t feel that way on the Clean & Lean.  I was never stuffed (which is my usual after meal ‘state’) but I wasn’t ever really hungry.  I didn’t have massive cravings for sugar either.  I did have a constant headache ALL day – still have a niggling one now which I can only attribute to sugar withdrawals.

I input all my food in My Fitness Pal, and it came up as around 1000 calories…so I guess  in the first 14 days, it’s low calorie as well as clean & lean.

I’m on Day 2 and so far so good.

The diet is EXPENSIVE though because you have to buy organic meat, organic free range eggs – as much as you can. But considering I usually spend $10 on lunch everyday, it’ll probably all even out.

I have read some people losing 6kg in the first two weeks! Not sure how I will go, but I will report how I go after 7 days and after 14 days (if I don’t fall off the wagon).

13 weeks til 2013!

People always say setting mini goals are important…and since my brother’s wedding on the weekend, I’ve reverted to NOT going to the gym, eating blocks and blocks of chocolate, and it made me realise.  I need to have these little mini goals to keep me focused…otherwise I just lose focus!

Well, there’s only 13 weeks til 2013 and I want to try to lose 10kg before then!

How?

• I’m going to use My Fitness Pal and track my calories – 1350 Calories per day
• I’m going to do a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio per day, whether that is walking or cardio on machines at the gym
• Aim for 4 workouts (to include weights) at the gym per week
• Say NO to sugar!!
• Limit consumption of carbohydrates and concentrate on eating more protein and complex carbs
• MORE VEGETABLES!
• Say goodbye to rice, noodles, pasta, bread, wraps, pastry for 13 weeks.

WISH ME LUCK

 

 

Weigh in & Measurements 14 Sept 12

I keep on track with my diet when I’m accountable – so here’s me, being accountable. 

Today’s weight: 88.1kg

Mini goal weight 1: 83kg (reward: blender)

Mini goal weight 2: 78kg (reward: 90 minute full body massage)

Mini goal weight 3: 73kg (reward: 60 minute foot massage)

Mini goal weight 4: 68kg (reward: Facial – haven’t had one in 2 years!)

Mini goal weight 5: 63kg (reward: A show – either musical or a dance performance…have really missed these ever since I left London)

Goal weight: 60kg (reward: SHOPPING SPREE)

Ultimate goal weight: 55kg (reward: spa day)

Measurements

Bust: 101cm / 39.5″

Waist: 88cm / 34.5″

Bellybutton: 110.5cm / 43″ – How depressing! My belly sticks out further than my breasts!

Bum (fullest part): 116cm / 45.5″

Thigh (when my thumb ends): 71.5cm / 28″

Calf: 41.5cm / 16″

Bicep: 36cm / 14″

I will do this again on Monday and then from then on, every Monday. 

How about just healthy eating?

I really hate when people (who are obviously slim – and don’t exercise) decide to impart weight loss words of wisdom.  Perhaps I’m just bitter…and I’m not talking about stuff my Personal Trainer would tell me, I’m talking about stuff like, “Just eat less! It’s not that hard!”…

Seriously, if it wasn’t ‘that hard’ would losing weight and the diet industry be worth billions of dollars all over the world?

Look, I’m obese but I’m not obtuse – I know what’s fattening, what’s not, what I should eat, what I shouldn’t etc etc…and people imparting these really OBVIOUS advice doesn’t help! It just makes me feel like you’re belittling me and I don’t find that helpful at all!

 

Ok…so I shouldn’t be so angry…people are trying to help but I feel like they think I’m fat because I’m lazy and I don’t care and I have no self-respect.  Yes, I have been told that I have no self-respect because I’m fat.

So, how do I go about losing weight.

 

I have identified the following about myself:

• I don’t eat because I’m hungry, I eat when I’m bored
• I am a serious, serious emotional eater
• I don’t necessarily enjoy eating THAT much…sometimes I feel like I’m just trying to eat to feel something else
• I eat out of habit

These are some of the changes I’m hoping to make about myself:

• Cut out sugar, including artificial sweetener except for Stevia
• Lower my refined carbohydrates intake – I will continue to eat complex carbs such as vegetables, oats etc
• Be more prepared so that I’m not left with taking options such as takeaway and chip
• Not expect to lose weight quickly, I want long lasting results this time and I want to do it properly

Can I do it?

My view on Lite n’ Easy

I have tried many, many diets, most successful diet I’ve ever been on was actually when I WASN’T on a diet and through making a move to Japan, my lifestyle changed.  I stopped eating all wheat at that time, I walked a lot more, and my portion sizes shrunk…amazingly, I was able to lose nearly 30kg…

Unfortunately, through recently taking seroquel (an depressive disorder drug, but I was prescribed them for sleep), I managed to gain 12kg in 8 weeks.  Crazy huh…not only that, I haven’t been able to effectively lose that weight permanently in over two years.

I tried the Dukan Diet, with great success, but wasn’t able to keep the weight off as I didn’t follow through to the last phase and now I’m trying Lite n’ Easy. 

Lite n’ Easy is a food delivery service that provides calorie controlled meals to your door.  Depending on the package you buy, they can include all your breakfasts, lunch, dinners and snacks – with only milk that you need to provide yourself.

For someone who is busy, hates cooking, and don’t mind simple food – it’d be great.  There’s absolutely no thinking required – each day’s food is packaged into plastic bags, marked with Day 1 or Day 2, so you know exactly when to eat them.

For me…it didn’t really work.

I tried it for three full weeks and found it EXTREMELY difficult.  First of all, I was too ambitious and thought I would be fine on a 1200 calorie plan.  I have a sedantary job, but I exercise 4 or 5 times a week, and was left feeling faint and hungry.  Changing to the 1500 calorie meal plans did help…but all that did was provide two additional snacks (a day) and maybe an extra slice of bread for breakfast.

A typical day would look something like this:

Breakfast

2 pieces of multigrain toast with vegemite

4-grain cereal

Orange

Snack

Fruit cup

Lunch

BBQ chicken pizza

Fig and oat cookies

Rice cracker trail mix

Dinner

Frozen meal (usually very small amount of protein with green beans, carrots and potatoes)

 

Here’s my problem with it…I have read many things about eating refined and simple carbs and Lite n’ Easy doesn’t seem to have the same line of thinking.  At every meal, there is always some sort of bread, potato, white rice or pasta.  The diets are totally geared towards calorie counting, with no though for providing rye, brown bread, brown rice or whole wheat pasta.  The meals (especially the dinners) are also quite light in protein (with only 4 or 5 50c piece coins) and half the container filled with rice.

I’m often left feeling really hungry and craving sugar…and no amount of their little snacks that they provide helps to alleviate that.  I ended up eating double the meals, I’d eat my lite n’ Easy stuff, and then eat something else.

Tastewise, some of the stuff was really tasty, but I would say the majority wasn’t that great.  All their frozen meals were waterlogged and bland…and I got sick of eating the same tasting green beans and carrots that were in practically every meal.

My sister however, has lost 4kg in 2.5 weeks on Lite and Easy…so it IS working for her…it just didn’t work for me.

Foods I liked on Lite n’ Easy:

• vanilla crunch cereal
• BBQ chicken Pizza
• Chicken tender wraps
• Greek meatball wraps
• Chicken Enchilada

Foods I disliked on Lite n’ Easy:

• Asian lamb shanks (very gamey)
• Crumbed Fish fillet
• Potatoes
• carrots
• Beans
• Corned Beef

Salmon Fritatta

I made this today (I’m on day 4 on the Dukan Diet and I’ve lost 1.4kg) – I had smoked salmon, and eggs, so decided to make this.  This recipe is allowed in all stages in the Dukan Diet.

The good thing about this fritatta is that it’s quite light (made with no fats or butters) and I didn’t add any salt – I like my food well seasoned and this seriously did not need it.  It tasted really great too! You can easily serve this to people who aren’t dieting with a side salad or maybe some potatoes, they wouldn’t even notice.

I tend not to measure anything so all measurements for ingredients are approximate.

Ingredients

5 eggs

2-3 tablespoons of light cottage cheese

2 tablespoons of skim milk powder

1/2 cup of hot water (not boiling)

1 package of Smoked Salmon (I can’t remember the weight…maybe 50g?)

4 or so of spring onion, chopped into 4 cm lengths

pepper

 

Mix the cottage cheese, skim milk powder and water together until there are no pockets of skim milk powder.  Once missed, add all the ingredients together and stir.

Line an oven safe dish or a pan with baking paper so that you don’t need to use oil.  In my case, I used a nonstick saucepan and wrapped foil around the handle so I can shove it in the oven.

Pour mixture in and bake in 180 degree oven until lightly brown on top.

 

 

 

A guinea pig for the HCG drops

Well…there has been alot of hype for the HCG drops – stars such as Demi Moore and Jwoww (of Jersey Shore) swear by it.

HCG Dieters can apparently lose half a kg a day (a pound) a day on the regime. Online, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of sites proporting the benefits of the diet.

I have found some blogs too…most dealing with the HCG homeopathic and non-homeopathic, drops and injections.

Injects are prohibitively expensive for me, and having accidentally purchased the non-homeopatic drops, I’ve decided to use myself as a guinea pig, follow this diet to the book and see if it actually works or not.

The diet, quite simplistically involves gorging yourself for 2 – 3 days (whilst taking the 10 HCG drops, 3 times a day), and then after that, for a maximum of 43 days (I’m doing this course for 40 days), you only consume 500 calories a day (breakfast: coffee/tea, no sugar; lunch: 100g lean protein + one serveof one type of vegetables; Dinner: 100g lean protein (though different from one had at lunch) + one serve of one type of vegetables; snacks: 2 apples, 2 melba toasts per day).  Which is practically starvation.  The reason this diet ‘apparently’ works is because the HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) accesses your fat stores and burns those so that you still have energy – thus allow you to lose weight very quickly. 

I have just returned for a 3 week, luxury holiday (where I ate very well, and as often and whatever I wanted)…I have gained a lot of weight and I’m in fact the largest I’ve been in 10 years.

I’m hopeful that this diet works and will keep you updated.

Today, I started my first phase (gorging days) and I’m feeling a bit ill from eating so much, I’m in fact uncomfortably full. You are encouraged to have as much high calorie, high fat food as possbile (though not just carbs and sugar).

Today, I had: Instant noodles, 2 eggs, fried scones with syrup, beef and blue cheese burger from Borough Markets, almond croissants, milky coffee, a huge bowl of truffle pasta (made with parmasen cheese, egg, cream, truffel oil), 100g praline chocolates, huge bowl of rice with mayonaise, soy sauce, 1 x 500ml of Haagen Dazs (Dulce de Leche), 100gof white chocolate with caramelised biscuits.

No wonder I feel sick. Just look at my fat bloated face.

Restart tomorrow

…again

 

 

Momentum to start…

So…I haven’t posted for a few days – I went to Paris on the weekend and ate and ate and ate.

I also happened to go to Paris with my flatmate who is really really tight, so all we ate were baguettes, we only ate at a cafe ONCE in 4 days (this included breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Now…I’m not going to make some excuse about carb addiction getting hold of me (which it did by the way)…but it’s soooooooooo hard to get into the momentum of being in a diet or strict eating once you haven’t done it (even if it’s only for four days!).

I had every, EVERY intention of Dukaning again once I came back…and I even had meat ready but I just could not do it.  I nearly managed it today…but dinner tonight was noodles.

Help, help! How do you get that momentum back?

Thing is, once I get into it…and I’m in the diet, I find it so easy to stick to it…but once I stop…it’s practically impossible to go back.

I’ve given myself a break this week – though no total blow out or anything…and it will be a fresh start on Monday…but please, please tell me HOW you get straight back into the momentum of eating better and exercising…because my exercising has also suffered…