Dairy Free: Week Three

Dairy Free Week Three.

I do miss cheese, I didn't eat a lot of it - but now that I can't have it - I want it. Same with chocolate, I eat very little of it to keep processed/excessive sugar from my ongoing diet, but even a square looks tempting to me. Same with Milk, I have been taking my coffee black for three weeks now and I don't see the point.

Not sure I see the point in a Dairy Free diet at all. Still worth trying and sticking to it, obviously I make the commitment and stick to it for the month but not a diet change I'd recommend as it seems to make little difference.

Am still in the 99 Kilo range, lowest point 99.2 ks. I suspect that any loss and maintenance is coming from the 40 minutes of stationary biking 6 days a week - not from the non-dairy elements.

Sadly I'm looking forward to Vegan (which includes non-dairy in it) as it will feel like a proper change and will have more of an impact than 4 weeks of no cheese, butter & milk.

Dairy Free Week Two

Week Two of Dairy Free passes without incident.

This is the dullest and most uninteresting of diets and seems to be having little or no effect really. I can't say I see the point in it unless you are a serious dairy consumer at full-fat levels, or are lactose intolerant.

Then again if you were Lactose intolerant you probably would not consume that much anyway.

Rather than feeling like the diet has an effect - it's more like I'm avoiding things that are just in the way. Butter, cheese and milk.

Annoyingly Feta is still dairy by definition so my favourite salad is off the menu.

It will be a lot more effective when coupled with Vegetarian to make Vegan, and while that should work due to the very restrictive nature of the diet, I struggle to see the point of it.

Good things to note outside of Dairy free. Daily exercise = 40 minutes minimum on a static bike at 75% resistance setting (6/8) and my fruit consumption has increased with fresh cut pineapple as my new favourite snack food.

Weight = 99.6 Kgs this morning - it fluctuates around the 100 mark during the week so have been at this level for a couple of weeks now.

Dairy Free: Week One

No Dairy: Week One

Doesn't really feel like much of a diet based on one week of it. Am at 100 Kilos still, dipped slightly below last week but seem to have stabilised for now on this diet.

Basically the challenge is as much as the Sugar Free diet, as Dairy seems to creep its way into many, many things. But unlike the previous ones this seems to not really make any difference to anything other than I am avoiding it.

As I have not just returned to a full sugar, carb heavy, snack heavy diet anyway the weight is not coming back on in any significant way. But based on one week so far this seems the most pointless of diets I have tried so far.

Combined with vegetarian to make vegan will be interesting and much more effective I think. The transition back to meat seemed irrelevant really, it just came back in quietly and did not go whole hog on it - and felt no need or desire to have it again, I just added it as an option.

Though I seem to be more tolerant of fish now for some reason.

Vegetarian: Week 5 (last day)

Vegetarian: Week Five (Last Day)

100 Kilos? Missed it by THAT much! As of this morning am officially in the double digits with a 99.8 weight.

Vegetarian is the lowest amount of effort required and the least satisfying of the diets so far. I don't miss meat per se, but it's harder to feel satiated with a purely veg diet.

On the last notch of my second belt, so if I lose a couple more kilos I may actually have to buy a new belt. Likely I'll but some new clothes anyway as most of my go to shirts and t-shirts are very loose on me to the point of being annoying.

Next month (i.e. Tomorrow) Dairy Free. 

Vegetarian: Week Four

Vegetarian: Week Four.

This morning I hit 100 kilos, a couple more weeks of this project and I should be consistently in the double figure range.

Vegetarian is not hard at all really as I have mentioned before. But. And the but is significant.

It's very hard to stay full. As time wears on through weeks three and four I seem to be less satisfied that I am full on the Vegetarian diet. Meat is obviously quite heavy and filling, and when it is not included in the diet I find that I tend to want to snack more during the day and on weekends.

I'm still sticking to the lower carbs, lower snacks and lower sugar variations to my on going diet but for the first time the diet is making me actually feel hungrier (with the exception of the very first week of this project).

Still being aware and not caving into the feeling is usually enough. I do have to watch myself in the weekends as access to more food and easy snacking is much higher than when being distracted by work.

I did note that on the days I got up before 5 a.m. (which oddly I did twice this week) any delay to getting food really strains at lunch time and found myself seriously tired and hungry by 11 - which is when I usually eat. Though this week the schedule I had for some urgent work stuff made my timing all go out of whack.

5 more days of vegetarian. Not sure there will be a takeaway from this diet, while I am still losing weight for now, it's more likely drawn from the other good habits not from vegetarian per se.

Oh and the exercise is probably helping. I have started back on the stationary bike - 42 minutes per day. 42 minutes being the average length of a standard hour of television without ads. I watch one episode of a TV show while biking - keeps me distracted enough and from being bored.

Vegetarian: Week Three

Vegetarian Week Three:

Closing in on 100 Kilos, and then double figures. Currently 101.8. The vegetarian diet not hard in the least, 3 weeks in and other than the occasional reminder that I'm not having meat (ordering fish and chips etc..) it does not feel like I am on a diet at all. 15 more days and does not feel restrictive in the slightest.

Lentil burgers are one of my favourite dishes, followed by Felafel rissoles in Pita Pockets. This diet works as meat is a substantial portion of the meal, but coupled with the dietary habits taken from the previous months (no snacking, low to no added sugar, reduced carbs at night) it adds to a continuing weight reduction.

Not really thinking about this diet at all and am thinking more of what to do next. Options are dairy free, gluten free, 3 meals a day and Vegan. Vegan is likely a no (or not right now) as it's Max's birthday within the next diet range and we're planning on going out and I'd like to eat more than a garden salad if we go to a restaurant.

Vegetarian: Week Two

Vegetarian - Week Two. This seems like the easiest and least impactive of the diets I have trialled so far. It's not hard in the slightest and seems to come with no cravings, no losses or issues attached.

Simply removing meat is not hard at all. I was a vegetarian for a year or two when I was in my late teens, and I don't even think about it.

I have kept up with a reduced sugar, carb and snack regimen - but without removing these things entirely. I don't bother snacking after dinner any more and a cup of tea is about it for me generally. I did have a small salted popcorn when at the movies the other night, but only because it was free with La Premiere. They offered me a free drink as well but I just went water.

I was 102.8 Kilos this morning and was finally able to fit the t-shirt you see above.

I bought this on sale for $99 in Sydney over 10 years ago and it has NEVER fitted me. I bought it thinking that one day it might because I loved the shirt design that much (That's John Coltrane if you don't know) and it was half price at $99 - the most I have ever spent on what is basically a t-shirt.

I have been trying it on once a week for the last 6 weeks or so and this morning when I put it on it felt like it fit properly and I did not feel like a sausage in it.

Aspirational clothing, this is the one I wanted more than anything else.