Cost

Some of you may be wondering "what does it cost to do this diet?"

How much is your health worth?

I have to use 4 shakes per day or 3 shakes and a chewee bar. The shakes come in packet form and are made up with water. Each shake packet costs £1.55 and bars cost £1.75 (the shakes come in various flavours including some hot soup type drinks)
Ladies under 5'8" only need 3 shakes or 2 shakes and a bar.

If I base the cost on 3 shakes and 1 bar each day this equates to £6.40 per day or £44.80 per week

This may sound like a lot of money compared to visiting weight watchers for £3.00 per week or something similar but... don't forget this diet does not have any additional food to buy. The grocery shopping will be drastically reduced only shopping for the kids (my wife is also doing the diet)
On top of that I would spend about £20 per week on buying lunch from the sandwich van at work plus the occasional takeaway. These little add ons coupled with the grocery shop savings probably make it cheaper to be on the diet than conventional eating

Day 3

Another good day, not helped though by huge amounts of food, cake and chocolates put out under my nose at work. Today seemed to be the day people brought in their liquor chocolates from Christmas, you know the ones that even uncle Bob wont eat at Christmas. Why do we buy these? The left over food from the Christmas party and all these chocolates were all placed on a desk 6 foot from mine, to top it all an all staff email was sent saying that they were on the desk next to me. All day long people have come over collected some food then stopped for a quick chat whilst nibbling!! I never touched any of it, instead I drank my shakes and drunk my water. Prior to this week I would have been at the front of the queue and gone back for seconds, thirds and probably more. (see photo below posted couple of days ago, that is the result!)

Day 2

Not feeling too bad today, the kids dinner does have a very attractive smell to it though.

I have been peeing plenty, is it any surprise when you drink 8 pints of water per day

I am starting to notice just how much time I normally devote to food, whether it be buying it, preparing and cooking it or eating.... what will I do with all this extra time, well one thing is for sure I need to keep busy or I will go crazy for food.

I have had my water and milkshakes today and surprisingly do not feel ravenous. maybe I am starting to go into ketosis

KETOSIS: this is a process that occurs when your body has finished burning off your remaining food and glycogen. Once in this state I should no longer feel hungry as my body switches to burning fat for its fuel. Glycogen will return once I start eating normally and the weight associated with the water it holds, therefore I need to lose at least 1/2 stone more than my target. Each week when I see my counsellor I will have to pee onto a test strip which can detect how many ketones I am producing. This is really a test to see if you have cheated in the past week i.e. eaten something, it also will identify if I do not drink enough water.

Talking of target weights I have been studying a graph that shows if you are the correct weight. At the moment I fall off the end of this ideal weight chart, yes I am beyond the VERY OBESE category. For someone of my height (5'11") I should be somewhere between 9 & 12.5 stone to fall within the OK range 12.5 - 15 stone would class me as overweight. Anything over 15 stone makes me obese. Quite a challenge ahead of me.

Ok I am off now for another shake and a pint of water. At least with these shakes I know I am receiving all the necessary nutrients and vitamins that my body requires although not eating at all sounds beyond belief.

Day One

So today marks the start of this venture and so far its off to a good start. Its 6.15pm and I have had 2 chocolate milkshakes and 6 pints of water and do not feel hungry at the moment.

I have started to notice just how many adverts there are on the TV advertising food, I never noticed this before last night when suddenly they seem to appear in bold on the screen.

With this diet I will be visiting my counsellor on a weekly basis to collect my supplies of milkshakes and get weighed I will also be checked for ketosis (I will go into more detail on a later post where I will describe how this diet works and what ketosis is)
In the meantime I will need to start thinking about why am I so big? what do I eat that is wrong? when do I eat? what triggers me to feel hungry. I think its too much wine and chocolate with no exercise!

Exercise

I currently do not do any exercise, I walk to the shop occasionally. I walk from the office car park to my desk, but that's about it.
I intend to change this and slowly do some cardio vascular exercise to try and improve general fitness at the same time as losing my weight
Keep checking for updates and I will let you know how I am getting on.

Do I really look that bad!

This is why I need to diet!!

Why do this diet?

I have decided to embark on this diet for a variety of reasons:

Carrying more than 10 stone excess is starting to take its toll, I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure and as a result I am on medication. Having ruled out all other possibilities the doctor says its the excess weight that is causing it.

I get aches and pains that I have never had before

Sitting on the saddle of a bicycle causes excruciating pain (can you imagine riding a bike whilst having a child on your shoulders, that's what it is like for me!)

Clothes... what a nightmare. There are no shops locally that sell clothes that fit me, 5xl for casual shirts, 21.5" collar formal shirts, 58" chest for suit jackets and 56" waist trousers. Socks, shoes and ties are all I can buy locally, the remainder comes from online retailers and catalogues... and how expensive are they. Does it really cost so much more for a bigger T shirt to be produced??

Love Life... well things are not as easy when you cant even see over your belly!! the bed certainly take a strain.

I really want to fit into the rides at theme parks, it is so embarrassing when the bar will not come down far enough and you have to get off a ride, holding your head in shame

The Last Supper

Well this is it, the last day before embarking on the diet of a lifetime.
All the food left in the cupboards and fridge are so tempting. what shall I eat for my final supper?? I have decided on an Indian takeaway