Brown sauce tops bacon butty poll

Brown sauce tops bacon butty poll.

24 Hour Non-Stop Eatathon. Hey! This Is For Charity!

I’m willing to be a partner to somebody who wants to sponsor a fish eating contest.

I just had mackerel for breakfast, tuna salad for lunch and poached cod and veg for tea.

Who said this diet was hard work? And the bonus is that it is good for depression too!

 

Diary of a Recovering Fataholic. August 2014. Feeling Great.

Hello world. I had a real boost to my morale today. I was complimented in the most sincere and warm and friendly way possible. Let me tell you why;

When I began my journey shortly after the “witch doctor” forced me to “eat better or die” I had moments when I wasn’t altogether sure it was worth it. Okay the fitness was lower and the self-esteem was being pummeled by the mirror on a daily basis but over the whole of the next two years since 2012 I have had lots of highs and lots of lows. But today I was stopped in my tracks by a lovely lady I know as a client of mine. I was visiting the open plan office where she works and she sits with a colleague I also know well. Anyway, I was visiting somebody else onsite and the job required me to wear their polo shirt so I was wearing their brand. Thing was they gave me an XL shirt, not the normal XXXL I used to wear or the XXL I am down to now. I needed to visit the toilet to change and thought nothing of it. Having returned to the client and showing amazement that I actually fitted into the shirt they offered me.

Anyway after receiving the job brief I headed out of the door and was stopped in my tracks by this lady who was stunned by the change in my appearance. Her genuine warmth and curiosity about how I had physically changed so dramatically, to her mind, was incredibly touching and lifted my emotions enormously. I explained that it was mostly down to switching to fish. She thought this idea was brilliant as she liked fish and would give it a go. I hope she does and mentioned how I buy in bulk to get discounts and shop when there are offers on as well, all of which she took note of. Only the rich can afford to eat fish at RRP!

I was really happy when I walked away from her.

Thanks lovely lady for making me feel brilliant, and you don’t even know you’ve done it.

 

 

Diary of The Recovering Fataholic. July 2014

Today I am 104.3kg which is 229.94lbs (down from 232.3lbs)

I got fat slowly, if my memory serves me right. An extra piece of pizza here, a pause in the chair too long there and pound by pound the fat cells ballooned and multiplied. You have to eat more than you burn to gain weight, unless of course we’re talking weight lifting, and we’re not; it’s all fatty this and fatty that. I failed to fix it and that’s my fault. But whilst I was getting fat I was also busy working both ends of that candle and building my life so if I look back it’s got to be with a mixture of emotions. The journey up (in weight) was slow and inevitable considering my path.

As I slowly approach 50 I want to ensure the journey down is just as slow. I have been taking photos along the way…. like this one showing a recent low carb breakfast of bacon and courgettes (zucchini). The yellow courgettes/zucchini were grown in our garden by my wife and tasted very sweet and fresh. I cooked this breakfast using my new atomiser where you fill this plastic bottle with olive oil and pump the cap a few times. Then as you release the oil it atomises under pressure. Simple, ingenious and a fifth of the oil I was using previously. Believe it or not the glisten on the courgettes (zucchini) is a mixture of oil and water from my new “steam frying” cooking method.

Low Carb Breakfast – Bacon and Courgettes

My weight loss has slowed right down again this month but with food like this for breakfast it isn’t hard to cope. In fact this diet is unbelievably easy.

Eating low carb is just about cutting out the bad stuff anyway. Processed foods like cheese may be the reason why your version of low carb is different to mine. I see a lot of low carb recipes that contain cheese in one form or another. But I know from having punched in the data that consistent high fat food with low carbs is the wrong path for me.

 

 

I have to use low carb AND low fat combined. And this is where I start making sense to myself. The reverse is exactly how I got fat in the first place so the epiphany has to be that putting the combination that made me fat (sugar and fat together) in reverse is inevitably going to reverse the process.

So I am now recording carbs and fat in my FatSecret app and also recording my exercise. As long as I record a net imbalance of at least an average of -600 calories down per day across a 7-day period then I am satisfied.

Well let’s see how I am doing – with a before/after shot (from the back, I don’t want to scare anybody 🙂 )

This shows 2012 (127kg) vs 2014 (104kg). My own personal target is 88kg or “creaseless”, whichever comes first really, I don’t actually mind:

Recovering Fataholic – Back 2011

Recovering Fataholic – Back 2014

I think you can see that there is a definite difference. I still have creases that must be removed but the jogging, sit-ups and press-ups and climbing up and down my stairs lots of times is helping me keep my stamina up.

 

 

 

 

Slowly – is how I got to that one on the left. So slowly is how I plan to get to a normal weight. Also look at the way my legs are more underneath me on the right. This weight loss has helped with better posture too. That’s gotta be good for my overall health.

Sorry about the underwear. I needed to keep them the same for the record.

I use Facebook to find old friends and one such person is also a champion of health and fitness. The bloke is mad for running and whilst on the one hand makes me wildly jealous of his fantastic physical shape, he has also inspired me to get fitter and faster. I was just walking on the treadmill to begin with but since finding him and seeing his antics I began to think even an old git like me could regain some sense of normality – if only I got a bit faster. So I did.

Thank you Tony Williams.

Here is his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=789898473

 

Low Carb Diet Diary 29/06/14

Yet again eating a low carb diet has caused me more weight loss last week — I weighed 105.4kg and this week I am 104.8kg now that isn’t much to some people but it is plenty for me. See below for my personal “tale of the tape”, (it’s a pdf and virus checked)

We it’s only 6:30pm but I can’t see me eating much more today. I am stuffed. I might add some brazil nuts later but I doubt it.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or lose fat or just eat low carb food in order to get a healthier liver, like I do, whatever your reason I honestly believe you can do worse than find your inspiration on WordPress. Hope you lose some too. Or if you can’t be bothered with all of that – just like and follow my blog already! Good luck to you.

Food Diary 290614

Low Carb Breakfast – Spanish Sprats (Fish) 15/06/14

Today is Fathers Day in England and I am blessed with two children who’s Mummy is very caring. They were got up nice and early to make me a lovely cup of tea in bed and then I got two lovely hand made cards and a small gift to show they care. Ahem! Thanks Mummy.

Anyway, low carb stuff is why I’m here. Now fish is in my humble opinion probably the worst farmed food we have in our eco-system but it is easily the most capable of getting you healthy again. It’s low in fat and carbs and the oil it contains is the right kind of oil. Its just a matter of being confident with it. I honestly believe nothing in the fishy world is easier or more confidence-giving than Sprats cooked Spanish style.

Here’s what they look like “before” with all the eyes and stuff attached.

Counter Sprats from Tesco

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now all you do is buy however many you fancy for breakfast. I recommend you start with 200g and you can decide from there if that’s too much or too little for you.

Now you have to think low carb and from my point of view normal flour is out so here’s what I do: Get yourself some egg, some soya flour, some vegetable oil for frying, a large pan and some plates and utensils. The most commonly used utensil in Spanish cooking is a fork and it will be invaluable here.

First prepare the fish – Pull off the whisker-fins just by the head. No need to be brutal they come away very easily. Next with a very sharp knife cut the head off just behind the gills. You are going through the spine bone so be firm. If you are practiced at this you may be able to slide the knife and pull out the guts but if not the guts should be removed next. One way is to insert the point of the knife into the hole halfway along the bottom of the fish. This is where the fish excretes waste and leads directly to the gut. Slide your very sharp knife toward the head end and the fish should splay open. Getting the gut out is no more difficult now than running your finger into the gut area.

Rinse the fish. Line up the prep dishes thus: 1st one is a flat bowl – whizz up an egg into this flat bowl with your trusty fork.  small bowl. 2nd one is a plate – dusting flour seasoned with salt an pepper. Add your oil to the large pan and whack it up to 3/5 heat. While the oil is heating up grabbing the fish by the tail dip it repeatedly into the egg then lay it into the flour on both sides. You need the flour to be well spread, not clumpy, on the fish so don’t skimp this stage. Lie them down ready to fry. So with the frying pan as No3 you will need a plate to put the cooked fish on, put some absorbent kitchen paper on it first.

Batch fry until very very very dark golden brown. They might appear almost burned but this is normal. Fry all the fish and when cooked lie them on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. They should crisp up nicely during this stage.

Pile them up then eat! Yummy! Here’s a picture of them “after cooking”.

Fish – Sprats Cooked Spanish Style

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best way to eat these is with friends but you can dress them up with lemon or dip them in mayo or just eat them like this, which is what I do. All you do is pick up a tail and chomp down. Eat the lot except the tail. You will not notice the bones if you cook them very well. My kids are 10 and 8 and some fussy too. They ate a few each, claiming them to be “Yummy!” So if it’s good enough for my Spanish kids I know you will love this too. Here are the FatSecret type details for all you hard core calorie counters out there.

Tesco Sprats 300g — Fat 33g — Carbs 0g — Sugar 0g — NetC 0g — Prot 54.90g — Cals 525

Soya Flour 25g — Fat 5g — Carbs 4g — Sugar 3g — Net C 1g — Prot  9.75g — Cals 106

Egg 2 large — Fat 14.9g — Carbs 2.68g — Sugar 2.11g — Net C 2.68g — Prot 13.53g — Cals 203

Happy weight loss people.