Operation Abs: 6 weeks in

I can't believe it's been six weeks since I started Operation Abs - it's whizzed by. I must confess, I've fallen off the wagon a little lately, giving into those nasty little chocolate cravings when I know I should just be riding them out. But other than that, I've stuck to the plan - no rice, pasta, bread, potatoes or coffee.

I learned early on that talking about my diet to people (especially when eating out) only results in one of two reactions:
1) I get the outraged lecture: 'You're NOT on a diet! Do you think you're FAT?!' (N.B. if you do this, stop it. It's annoying. No, I don't think I'm fat. I'm not on any sort of crash diet. I'm healthy. I feel good.)
2) A pitying look followed by a rather horrified 'So... what do you eat?!'

Of the two possible reactions, I prefer the second. It gives me a chance to explain to people that I'm eating just as much as I used to, I've just replaced the yellow and white stuff with green stuff.

For the visual learners among you (remember that?), here's a typical day in the life of my diet:

Breakfast

This is actually my largest meal of the day - grapefruit, cereal and a small smoothie. I only eat oats and fruit at the start of the day, and I need quite a bit of food to stop me wanting to snack before lunchtime. I don't have time for porridge in the mornings, so I switched to Oatibix pretty early on (with the approval of PT), replacing the soya milk on the original list with rice milk. I did discover coconut milk suitable for cereal, but my local supermarket have stopped stocking it, boo!

As I'm no longer on coffee, I make up a Thermos cup of peppermint tea to get me through the tube journey to work, and I try to finish a litre of water before lunch as I find it stops me wanting to snack. Admittedly, this sometimes results in me necking half a litre of water before I eat my lunch - I'm not very good at the whole water thing.

Lunch

Lunch for the last six weeks has been variations on this salad. Rocket and spinach, roasted chicken breast, beetroot, avocado, coriander

Dinner

This is pretty much the same dinner I was eating before Operation Abs started, except I'd have some potato salad and maybe a slice of garlic bread with it. I've cut those out and upped the amount of veg on my plate. I'm eating red meat about once every 10 days-2 weeks, but most days, it's salmon:

Apologies for yet more appalling photography, I must learn

how to use the settings on my camera

My main problem comes after dinner. I get a craving for something sweet after a meal, which would usually be satisfied with a couple of biscuits and a cup of green tea in life before OA. But I'm yet to find a suitable replacement, and as lovely as peppermint tea is, it isn't a biscuit.

But you want to hear about results, yes? Well, let me get this out of the way first - I don't have abs yet (as you'll have seen from the Moonwalk pictures). This is because I've slacked off on the exercise front, there's no other excuse for it. PT is killing me once a week, but in between those sessions, when I'm on my own, I've been bad. There, nothing like a bit of public shaming to make me pull my socks up.

Even without doing as much exercise as I should be, I'm seeing results. So far, I've lost two inches from around my belly, and an inch from my waist.

And on top of that, I feel good. I'm less tired (no need for coffee - take that, Starbucks), I'm less moody, I sleep better, my skin has cleared up and I don't have that horrible mid-afternoon slump that can only be cured by a visit to the Desk of Filth.

I've really surprised myself by sticking at this for so long - but it's been so easy. For me, the key has been to think about all the good (and tasty) things I can eat, rather than the bad (and admittedly, tasty) things I can't. Eating out has been a bit testing at times, but I can usually find something on a menu to suit my diet. Or, in the case of Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago, I can give Al my roast potatoes and take his veg. Everyone's happy.

If you're thinking of following a similar diet, I'd encourage you to give it a try. Take a look at the list PT gave me to start off with, and make as much as you can out of those foods. Now, by no means am I a nutrition expert, but please don't think about it as not being able to eat certain foods, you'll just drive yourself crazy. Remember, you have a choice in what you eat, and you're just choosing to eat food that will make you feel good! Don't forget to let me know how you get on!

Dear diary: The results

Oh, that PT is a crafty one. Just when I'd forgotten about my food diary woe, he pounced. There's nothing like an email about the state of your diet to wake you up first thing on a Monday morning.

As predicted, he wasn't happy:

"Ok so from what i can see the current diet is not looking too good. Its fairly low calorie but not too high in quality nutrients missy!" (that's me told)

So, here's the plan:

"These are some basic food and liquid sources I would like you to follow for now... they are definitely not the most exciting but definitely are the most effective and HEALTHY!" (I took the caps to mean that my current diet is far from healthy)

The basis of my Operation Abs diet:

• Oats (gah!)
• Broccoli 
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Mushroom
• Celery
• Cabbage
• *Confession* I've eliminated cauliflower from this list as it's vile
• Salmon
• Tuna
• Chicken breast
• Water
• Peppermint tea
• Soya milk (only with breakfast - so long coffee, sweet nectar of life)

So far, so good (the coffee habit is getting a little out of hand, it needs to be stopped). But where's the bread? The pasta? The quinoa? The couscous? Where are the god damn carbs?! Obviously they'd be limited and brown, but they need to be there, right? He must have forgotten. How else am I supposed to construct a meal? I mean, when I think up an outfit, I start at the shoes and work my way up. When I think up a meal, the carbs are the shoes.

A gentle reminder about the missing carbs elicited this reply from PT:

"Nope, stay off those lovely carby items totally please."

*Right now, I'd like you to imagine a montage of pretty things while I edit out my bitter, sweary diatribe about how unnecessarily mean he's being*

I've never tried to cut carbs from my diet before, mainly because I didn't think I'd be able to do it. But for the purpose of Operation Abs, I need to look at this differently. It's a new way of eating, a new challenge, a chance to see my body change again. And if I do it all properly, it won't take forever.

I can totally do this, but I need your help to make it enjoyable. Can you think of any yummy things I can make out of the things in that list up there? If so, please let me know! Also, if any of you lovely readers want to do join in with Operation Abs, please do, I'll need the company to keep me going*.

Operation Abs is go!

*Duties may include removing me from the bread and baked goods aisles of supermarkets at 3am. 

Dear diary: Day 3

Rejoice blog readers! The last day of the food diary is upon us! I didn't post this last night because I fell into a meat coma after dinner... oops. But look at it:

Anyway, here's how day 3 went:

07:00 - 2x slices toast with peanut butter
07:30 - 1x white coffee, 2 sweeteners
10:30 - Plum
12:30 - Last night's spaghetti leftovers
         - 1x bunch red grapes (I did NOT eat these all in one sitting)
         - 1.5 litres water
19:30 - Pulled pork sandwich on focaccia bun, mixed salad, potato wedges
         - 1x glass lemonade


My 3-day diary is now in the hands of PT, and I expect something along the following lines:

• Do not, under any circumstances, touch the Desk of Filth
• Eat something else for breakfast (he has, however, been told that I'm not too keen on milk, so porridge is out, and I'm not making it with water)
• Stop drinking coffee (this will be met with tears and violence)
• Snack on something that isn't an entire bunch of grapes
• Drink more water
• Stop eating pulled pork sandwiches (no can do)

I'll keep you posted!

Dear diary: Day 2

Flickr image from Kirstea's photostream

Today was another successful day in the fight against the Desk of Filth! It was also my first morning run since before Paris, and it's safe to say I've lost my morning mojo. I'm kicking myself for not getting out there when the sun was up at 6am in those couple of weeks before the clocks went forward. Dear Timelords and Weather Gods, can you make it light and sunny for my morning runs please?

Day 2's food diary looks like this:

06:30 - 2x toast/peanut butter (post run)
         - 1 glass water
07:00 - Green tea
08:00 - Starbucks grande soy vanilla latte
11:30 - Plum
         - Wasabi peas
12:30 - Wrap with chicken breast, tzatziki, green salad and falafel
15:45 - Another plum (I'm bored of the plums now)
         - 1 litre water
20:00 - Spaghetti bolognese, 1 slice garlic bread
         - 1 glass water

Dear diary

During last night's PT session, conversation turned to eating habits - in particular, people who eat badly and still expect to see the pounds melt off (and then get mad with PT when it doesn't). This makes PT mad.

This got me thinking about my own eating habits, and the next thing I knew, I was admitting that I don't always eat uber-healthy meals, which I know is the reason I don't have abs like Gwen Stefani/Gisele/a Pussycat Doll. Before I'd even finished speaking, I knew PT would utter the one sentence more terrifying to me than 'We'll just strap you into these bungee straps...' - 'Keep a 3-day food diary'.

I hate the whole food diary thing because it forces me to look at what I'm doing wrong, even though I already know. It's like picking a scab or not taking your make-up off properly and all those other things you know you shouldn't do, but do anyway. I don't spend my days munching on Big Macs and deep fried Mars Bars, but my approach to food is 'I'll eat what I want', and I do tend to indulge a bit more when I'm with the boy. So in the spirit of getting back into training properly, I'm keeping a food diary for 3 days, and I'll be sharing it on here.

Before I do that, let me show you what I have to look at every day:

That is the Desk of Filth. Pretty self-explanatory non? I spend quite a large chunk of my working day trying to talk myself out of eating the filth on offer. Most of the time I win, but when I don't, it's a complete snack-fest. Must. Avoid. If anyone has any flat-ab-making snack ideas or recipes to rival the lure of the Desk of Filth, PLEASE let me know!

Here's how Day 1 went down:

07:15 - 1.5 slices toast with peanut butter
07:30 - 1x white coffee (2 sweeteners)
10:50 - 1x Boots raspberry granola yoghurt
12:30 - Boots Shapers sushi, 2 plums
13:30 - Wasabi peas (handful?)
15:30 - Plum
         - 1 litre water
19:30 - 2x salmon fishcakes, green salad, beetroot, potato salad, mayonnaise 
         - 2x glasses water