It hurts so good

Wow, two weeks left. Much like when I was gaining my 'higher education' I think I may have left it too late to get a 100% pass mark. For the next two weeks I'm going to be cramming for my final exam!

The two categories I entered were Best Change in Abdominals and Best Increase in Strength. While I know I have improved (dramatically) in both these areas, I'm not sure I have done enough to warrant 'best change' or 'best increase' yet.

Strength: I have gone from zero chin-ups to 13, that's cool, and from 7 push-ups to 23, also cool. I know I have improved in other exercises too, but unsure of the numbers as I'm usually crying by the end of a session anyway. Unsure if my legs are stronger, but I can do more crunchies and sit-ups than I used to, so defiantly an increase. But best increase?? I'm not too sure... I'll have to really add some extra session in over the next 2 weeks.

Abdominals: Now here there has been a change. My gut has dropped drastically. I look back at my day zero photo and I know I see a different belly in the mirror now. The measuring tape will see me right there, but there's more to lose in that department still. Likewise, I need to really focus on crunchies and sit-ups, get my core strength up more. Maybe some more of those awful prone holds I hate so much. 

It's just two weeks, suck it up! Once I'm weighed and measured I can chill out for a bit, have a glass of wine and a custard square. Until then, pain and sweat and tears are in my future... Thank gawd I'm not on a low calorie or low fat diet! In fact, my average calorie intake this week has been 1,599 calories a day. With an average of 40g of carbs each day, this is good fat and protein power!

	5th June	6th June	7th June	8th June	9th June	10th June	Average
Calories:	1,614	2,207	1,192	1,571	1,560	1,448	1,599
Fat:	115	174	72	98	104	92	109
Carbohydrates:	25	35	29	60	46	45	40
Protein:	117	122	106	113	110	130	116
Fiber, total dietary:	3	6	7	10	8	8	7
Effective Carbs	21	29	22	51	39	37	33

Next week I go onto a less meat-focussed diet plan, hopefully meaning I can have poached eggs on a slice of grainy toast (yum) or yoghurt or a flat white. The last 4 weeks has changed the way I look at carbs, that's for sure. There are essential fats, essential proteins, but no essential carbohydrates. And, as a diabetic, carbs does not equal energy. But damn they taste so good!

Can you have too much of a good thing?

Nope.

Depending on what that good this is of course.

I only have two and a half weeks left of my 20 week challenge, and also my 6 week gut-buster diet plan. It seems like I've been doing this for ages... Well, that's not quite right. It feels like this is a habit that I have always had. It's not like I have been dragged kicking and screaming out of bed each day to climb on my bike and ride to work, or brave the cold/wet/wind/hail/sleet for my PT sessions in the park, or climb a hill on a frosty weekend morning. These things are just in my daily schedule and occur. My current diet has restrictions but it's not making me crave poor food choices, or go hungry, so is easily achieved if a small amount of planning is performed. It also occurred to me today that I haven't had a single beer or wine for over 3.5 weeks now, which is saying something as I was a regular 'bottle of wine in an evening' consumer.

When the 20 weeks is up, do I go back to custard squares, pinot noir, mashed potatoes and sloth? Probably not. I'll maintain my current activities as I enjoy them (yes, even in the hail! At least it hasn't snowed yet) and my diet will remain forever altered. You see, having discovered what I can achieve in 20 weeks, I'm wondering what I can achieve by my birthday. This year will be my last 30th birthday and after that it's all middle-age! When I turn 40 in 15ish months time, I want to be fitter and healthier than I am now. That's going to take some consistent effort.

When summer kicks in, I'm going to spend a month doing studies on food, exercise and blood sugars. That may sound boring as hell to you, but a month of rigorous testing and monitoring may mean many, many years of benefit to follow. I'll be testing various combinations of pre-exercise food, pre-exercise insulin, exercise intensity and post-exercise food. Like some kind of lab rat, I hope to find what is the best conditions for me to be able to have short intensive activities, and long, endurance ones. Sometimes being a diabetic means just not being able to do stuff, or in my case, trying stuff and failing my own expectations. I'm hoping this month-long test will help me decide what activities I am better suited for, and how best to prepare for them, and what to do during and afterwards. I'll write it up for anyone who's interested, but it sure ain't gonna be published in any medical journal. Sadly there is almost no information on type I diabetics and exercise out there, and what info there is tends to contradict other information. I shall ignore it all and just see what works by trial and error. If others find it useful, that's cool, but it's really all about me.

The sun is shining, I pong a wee bit after my lunchtime session and I am feeling full after my sausages and eggs for lunch. I may just have a cup of coffee and watch the last 20% of my download happen. Sigh, such is life.

Delicious, nutritious and it damn well works!

The week has been filled with many goings on, most of them have been good too!

Meat week #1 has passed pretty much without incident. We have consumed a truck-load of eggs, knocking off over 70 in a few days between the 3 of us. Lots of sausages, lamb chops, chicken every-which-way, bacon, mince, seafood and more. I likes me meats, so for me it has been a tasty and fun week. Thankfully the markets sell free range eggs by the tray for economical prices. I even stuck close to it when I spent a day in a training session and lunch was delivered. Typically it was sammies, mini-bagels, sausage rolls, pies, koftas, cakes and slices. My lunch that day consisted of koftas and the inside of a sausage roll. Would rather have eaten more, but I didn't need to in the end. Eating nothing but meat & eggs & veg not only keeps me full, but is satisfying too. As my carb input is below 50 grams per day, my insulin use has dropped dramatically too.

The better news is that I can drink coffee again! Not the same amount I was drinking a few weeks ago, just 2 (or sometimes 3) a day. As we're avoiding dairy during the 'meat weeks' it's regular plunger coffee, not flat whites, still wonderful though. I have missed my daytime coffees so it is very pleasing to have them back again.

My energy has been way up this week as well. It was instantly noticeable on Monday when riding to work has has been high all week, despite having a head cold. My normal solution for this sort of thing is regular doses of Nurofen cold & flu. However, I have to abstain from drugs, so couldn't do that. Some research pointed to using large doses of vitamin D instead. We grabbed a couple of bottles and I consumed 100,000 IU over 48 hours and the effects were dramatic. Yes, it was somewhat over the recommended dose but well short of a lethal one. And it worked! It's going to be my winter cure of choice now! I was sick as hell on Thursday, and by Friday lunchtime I was well enough to endure a DropAndGiveMe20 session in the park. On reflection I shouldn't have done it as it was a massive session and my thighs and butt still hurt today.

Yes, Friday's session in the park was a gruelling one. We arrived to see Tracey with her whiteboard looking contemplative. We had been set a challenge (and a half!) and as a team (of 4) for the next 20ish minutes, we did 50 bear crawl up/crab crawl down the hill, 100 burpees, 150 push ups, 200 squats, 150 step ups, over 100 lunges and 50 tricep dips. My heart was still pounding 10 minutes later and it took over an hour to cool down, despite the climate! I'm glad every session isn't like that!

And to further spit in the eye of every dietician I have spoken to, I have been using a bean-counter to monitor my carb, fat and protein inputs and seeing that 60-80% of my calorie intake each day (between 1,600 and 2,400) has come from fats. Here's yesterdays breakdown:

Orange: Fats 64.5% Green: Carbohydrates 6.2% Purple: Proteins 29.3%

Which brings me to my last point. I finally broke the 100KG barrier some days ago. I was dehydrated at the time so took it with a grain of salt. However, I have been under 100 for several days in a row now, and weighed in at 98.1KG this morning! Reduced fat? Nope, I have increased it actually. Low GI grains and cereals? Well, none except those from my veggies. Massive increase in protein? Well, an increase for sure, but not massive. And did I mention I'm feeling stronger and fitter than I have for years, even though I have the dregs of a head cold? This diet works for me. I have another meat week coming up, then I get my dairy back again. My weight has been of little consequence, but I can tell it's body fat I'm losing and it's not making me crazy with food cravings, weak with hunger, or creating funky blood sugars either. My BMI is 25 which is still overweight, however an even larger grain of salt is taken here as I'm not a fatty. Lets look at someone like Richie McCaw for example. He's 1.87m tall and 106KG so his BMI is 30.3 which makes him obese! Hence, BMI is bullshit for healthy/fit people because it's math, not mass. To be fair, I would only need to lose another 400g to drop from overweight to 'normal' weight, but if Tony Woodcock can get away with bordering on morbid obesity, then I can suffer on the fringes of overweightedness.

Roll on the next few weeks! Muscle tone is increasing, fitness increasing, tummy reducing, weight dropping, and all of it is bacon flavoured :)