Total days since last transgression: 4

Daily LOSS: 0.6kgs / 1.37lbs
Total loss on Operation Bridezilla 3.7kgs / 8.14lbs

Today’s menu: PV

Watercheck: 2-ishl

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• half a slice of oatbran flaxseed bread
• 2x microwaved eggs

Lunch

• Pouch of tuna
• pack of mustard ham
• 3 thin slices of cheese

Dinner

• roast lamb shank with roasted vegetables – onion, courgette, parsnip and butternut squash
• half a bottle of champagne (real, honest-to-god french champagne, not just bubbly) and a glass of red wine that Josh drank most of.

Exercise

• It was raining this morning. Quite hard. So I didn’t cycle to work…

OMG. Dinner tonight was NOT a huge portion, I don’t think. but I’m feeling UTTERLY STUFFED! And a bit bloated. I’m wondering whether one of those vegetables is an enemy. I’m suspecting the parsnip, but I can’t be sure. At any rate, I had a very very light day, right up until dinner time, and now I just want to curl up and hibernate. But I can’t, because I have to pack for London. Not sure whether I’ll be getting any blogging in while I’m away, and I definitely won’t be doing any weigh-ins, so here’s hoping my next weigh-in on Wednesday morning isn’t too disappointing…

I also didn’t have time to get my hands on any vege or low-carb snacks for a 5 hour train journey tomorrow. Humph. Bad dukan-dieter, no carb-free cookie. Preparation is one of the mainstays of this diet, but I’m totally fail today.

Not to worry. You’ll see me again in the middle of next week, just as motivated as I was yesterday. Ignore me and my bloated parsnip belly for now. We’re going to bed for an early start tomorrow morning.

Total days since last transgression: 3

Daily LOSS: 0.7kgs / 1.54lbs
Total loss on Operation Bridezilla: 3.1kgs / 6.82lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 3.1l – mostly watered down sugar-free cordial.

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Morning snack

• handful of peanuts

Lunch

• 2x John West tuna pouches

Dinner

• Grilled chicken thigh fillets, with the fat meticulously cut away (even the intramuscular stuff) marinated with some Nando’s marinade and carribean curry seasoning

Exercise

• 1 hour 10 mins cycling to and from work

Another 1.5lbs gone – I love Attack.

Well, the pumping up of the bike tyres really helped the commute – though the rain didn’t make things pleasant. But I knew that if I took the bus, there was no way I’d be going out in the rain in the afternoon or at lunchtime to get the exercise, so cycling was the only option.

I think I can afford to cut down on my portion size though – after dinner tonight, I’m feeling quite full. The pint of very watered down sugar-free cordial probably helped with that.

There’s no doubt – changing the way I think about how I count my days (ie, not “day one, day two” etc, but “365 days to go” etc) is DEFINITELY helping me. This is not an infinite challenge – it will end, perhaps not for good at the wedding, but that’s certainly a focal point for me. And tomorrow marks one year to go. Josh and I have been saving a bottle of champagne that someone gave us at our engagement party, for this very occasion – Josh calls it T-minus one year – so for this one special occasion, I’m going to sip a little champers. But aside from that, I’m feeling pretty good about cutting out the carb-creep.

See, it feels like the past few months has been one excuse after another – “oh, I can’t start low-carbing again right now, we’ve got that thing on next weekend and it’ll be horrible to have to think too hard about what I’m eating”. Well, I’m through making excuses. When I first started out, back in 2010, I was strict to the point of embarrassing, but guess what? It got results.

I need to remain strict – on Saturday I’m heading down to London for a conference, and not only is sitting on a train for 4 1/2 hours a huge trigger for me to guzzle junk food, but I’m also staying with my very best friend from highschool, Ubiquitous Jessie. She is Ubiquitous because she seems to be everywhere on my blogs – she visited me when I went to China (and blogged about my year there), and then when I moved to the UK she came up from London, where she was living at the time, to join me for my first ever visit to Edinburgh. Happy days…

Anyway, Ubiquitous Jessie and I have been fast friends since we were about 14 or so, and weekends with her and her lovely man usually end up fairly boozy. Over the past 2 years, I’ve learned that boozy doesn’t have to be detrimental to my diet. So long as I stick to unsweetened spirits (ie vodka, not rum etc) and only mix with diet sodas, it doesn’t affect my loss too much, so long as I don’t do it too much. So that’s my plan. Fruity cocktails, no. Vodka & diet coke in moderation, yes.

Total days since last transgression: 2

Daily LOSS: 1.4kgs / 3.08lbs
Total loss on Operation Bridezilla: 2.4kgs / 5.28lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 3.1l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• 2x microwaved eggs

Lunch

• Half a Tesco roast chicken

Afternoon snack

• Small handful of peanuts

Dinner

• The other half Tesco roast chicken, stirfried with a little Nando’s piri piri marinade

Exercise

• 1 hour 10 mins cycling to and from work

A nice quick start to Attack – yay!

That old familiar feeling of lightheadedness is back whenever I try to get up too quickly. And as predicted, the bike ride into work this morning was just that much harder. However, I have noticed that my tyres are a bit flat… and between me finishing that last phrase and starting this one, I went downstairs and pumped up the tyres. No time like the present!

My workplace was filled with junkfood today – there was a startling array of biscuits of various types, but again, not so tempted. I’m feeling very motivated just now. I also have an internal pep-squad going on in my imagination. I actually feel a bit foolish mentioning it, but it’s worked pretty well for the last few days.

I don’t think I’m ready to go into the specifics of my imaginary pep-squad. I just typed it all out, and read it over again, and it seems REALLY silly, so I deleted it. I’ll put it in a post draft and will maybe share it another time, if it continues to work for me.

Hey, a girl needs a little whimsy, right? I’ll share it another time, perhaps.

Total days since last transgression: 1

Daily LOSS:1 kgs / 2.2lbs
Total Bridezilla Loss: 1.0kgs / 2.2lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 2.9l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• 2xmicrowaved eggs

Lunch

• 2x John West Tuna with a Twist pouches (2.5g of carbs, 7g of fat per pouch)

Afternoon Snack

• A handful of peanuts

Dinner

• lean beef taco mince, with fromage frais and a teaspoon of salsa

Exercise

• 1 hour 10 mins cycling to and from work

I peed like a racehorse today. I forgot how much you need to run to the toilet during Attack… Every 2 hours, like clockwork – it’s official, Attack affects my productivity at work.

As expected, cycling up the Big Hill to get to work today was a bit difficult. I expect it will be even more difficult tomorrow. My left knee is still sore from something that happened weeks and weeks ago at Roller Derby, and cycling up hills kinda hurts a bit. Don’t worry though, I’m not being silly or re-injurying myself – I just need to take it in a nice low gear on the really steep bits.

In Tempation News, I surprisingly didn’t really feel much temptation today. Perhaps a tiny bit at dinner time when Josh reminded me about the coco-pops in the pantry (better throw those out!) but I thought of some of the remarkable stories of some of my fellow bloggers (good god, Sandi - nearly 95lbs? Holy crap, Sonia – OVER 100LBS?! You guys are incredible!) and thought about my goals, and my own personal internal cheer-squad (more about them another day) and resisted the urge to even BE tempted.

So, a good day.

I have been SO bad. I haven’t been following Dukan – in fact, I have been eating absolute crap. I can think of any number of excuses for why I’ve fallen off the wagon so badly, but none of them are in any way valid. My weight has spiked something shocking this week – I’m hoping it’s mainly due to the fact that I’ve been fitted for the coil and my body’s having a hissy fit about it (holy cramps!!) but it gives me a good starting off point – nowhere to go but down from here, right?

I have, however, made a decision. The wedding is almost exactly 1 year away. And it is my goal to drop 20-25kgs by then.

Begin Operation Bridezilla:

Morning weigh in: 106.9kgs

Total days since last transgression: 0

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 2.3l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• 2x microwaved eggs

Lunch

• Pouch of John West Tuna with a Twist (2.4g of carbs per pouch)
• pack of smoked ham slices

Dinner

• Grilled chicken thigh with all the fat cut off
• Tuna pouch

Exercise

• 1 hour 10 mins cycling to and from work (we’ve moved offices so my daily cycle is longer and a bit tougher – a good thing!)
• 25 mins brisk walk at lunchtime

First day back on things. I won’t lie, I felt a bit faint by mid-afternoon. But my body just needs to adjust to not having those ready carbs on hand. I need to resign myself to the fact that cycling will get more and more difficult as I rob my body of all its glycogen stores. I’m not sure how I should be tackling this – Dukan recommends a cup of fruit juice before a marathon, but my daily commute of 35 mins each way is hardly a marathon. Perhaps I need to think about something like a shot of fruit juice before cycling to work each day. I’ll see how it goes.

Total days since last transgression: 1

Daily LOSS: 0.1kgs / 0.22lbs
Total loss since New Year: 5.4kgs / 11.88lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 2.1l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Lunch

• grilled chicken thigh fillets with all the fat trimmed off, marinated in Nando’s sundried tomato & basil marinade with carribean curry seasoning

Afternoon snack

• a few handfuls of peanuts

Dinner

• Half a pack of trim ham pieces, a half dozen slices of salami, some cheese, and a teensy bit of guacamole. A very light dinner

Exercise

• 1 hour cycling to and from work

So, even though I’m down on yesterday, I had to reset my transgression counter. I ate some chocolate. Dammit. Fortunately it wasn’t an all-out binge, and I also didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, so I’m not beating myself up about it.

My life proceeds as usual. Up at 6.40am. Shower, get dressed, cook breakfast and lunch. Cycle into work at 8.25am, to arrive at 9am. Sometimes I’m earlier, sometimes I’m later, depending on my energy levels and the prevailing wind. A headwind (and my word, Edinburgh can deliver one helluva headwind) will often make me 5, sometimes up to 10 minutes longer in my daily cycle. When I’ve had more carbs the day before, the cycle is always easier. I guess that’s why I was so energetic getting to work after our holiday – lots of juicy glycogens delivering instant energy to my cells. It’s an almost constant uphill cycle going into work, with one very steep long hill, so I try to give myself little mini challenges on the way in, like “I won’t shift down a gear until I pass THAT tree.” There’s one particular tree, for example, that I refuse to let myself shift down below a certain gear before I’ve passed it.

Nothing exciting going on at work. I have a great team to work with, we have good banter. I’m in the middle of a medium sized solo developing/coding project to configure a database for a new client. I like a nice chunky project that I can sink my teeth into, rather than lots of little bitty config changes here and there. I’m still very much in the learning stage of this job – not only learning the ropes as anyone does in a new job (I’ve been there 4 months now) but also learning a new coding language. That can be challenging at times, but I’ve never been one to shrink from learning something that’s just outside my present grasp.

The cycle home is always a bit more fun – it’s downhill almost all the way home. I give myself little mini challenges on the way home too, but they’re less about endurance, and more about daring. Things like, “I’m going to take this corner at a faster speed now” or “I’m not going to stop pedalling and just coast until x point in the cycle path”. That last one is a doozy – the path is so steep downhill coming home that if you don’t stop pedalling, you end up going really fast! It’s pretty exhilarating. But don’t worry – it’s a cycle path, no cars, and minimal pedestrians. I always ding my bell to let them know I’m coming though.

When I arrive home (having taken some corners quite fast in my local neighbourhood, but not so fast as to be unsafe and not see oncoming traffic!) I’m often greeted by Link, our cat, as I lock up my bike outside next to our wheelie bins. He jumps up on the wheelie bin and demands my attention, standing on four clawed tiptoes with a smug expression on his face.

I’ve just realised I’ve not posted a picture of him since he was a kitten. Here he is:

Yep, he’s a looker alright.

Total days since last transgression: 2

Daily GAIN: 0.3kgs / 0.66lbs

Total loss since New Year: 5.2kgs / 11.44lbs

Today’s menu: PV

Watercheck: .8l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Lunch

• 1 kebana stick and a slice of pepperoni – I was too busy to eat lunch!

Dinner

• Chicken breast baked with ham and cheese in the oven (an Asda pre-prepared special, but low carb!) with salad

Exercise

• 30 mins walking to the hardware store
• 1.5 hours gentle gardening

So the Scales of Woe this morning couldn’t make up their minds as to what my weigh-in should be. It should be noted here that we have TWO Scales of Woe – mine and J’s. You know that way when you move in with your other half, you suddenly find that you have two of everything? Two Wiis, two George Foreman grills, two full sets of glassware and cutlery. And also two sets of bathroom scales. Mine are generally more dolorous and pessimistic that J’s – J’s are more like the Scales That Poop Rainbows And Fart Glitter. So I decided to try both of them this morning, and between them they reckoned I was everything between 97.7 and 98.6kgs.

I decided that I didn’t deserve anything but the very strictest, most pessimistic weigh-in after my chocolate binge yesterday, so we’re going with 98.6 – which is not as bad as I deserve, really. I’m sure I’ll be paying for it tomorrow morning at my first weekday weigh-in (which is always up a bit, all other things being equal, for the mere fact that I’m weighing in 3 hours earlier than at weekends when I get a nice sleep in.)

But enough about SCALES! Let’s talk about the fact that SPRING IS HERE!! I’m so freaking excited, I can hardly contain myself. I went to the hardware/garden store today and bought LOTS of fun stuff to make our garden grow well – seeds, propagators, fertiliser etc, and some sweet pea seedlings to try and hide the ugly fence we have in our front yard…

I planted some herb seeds this weekend, which hopefully will do ok in the greenhouse. We have one day left this week of zero degrees overnight and potentially a frost, but after that the weather forecast is hinting that spring is just around the corner. The snowdrops have all flowered, and there are a whole stack of other bulbs coming up which were planted by the previous owner – I have no idea what they are until they actually flower! It’s so exciting!

I also fed the roses, and put fertiliser on all the rhododendrums and azaleas – it wasn’t until I did this that I realised how MANY of them we have in our garden! I love em though, so that’s alright.

My mum always says you should always wait a year before doing an

Total days since last transgression: 0

Daily LOSS: 1.0kgs / 2.2lbs
Total loss since New Year: 5.5kgs / 12.1lbs

Today’s menu: PP + evil chocolate

Watercheck: Not enough

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Lunch

• A pack of Sainsburys chicken satay sticks
• Two slices of cheese

Afternoon disaster

• Some leftover M&Ms from our holiday.

Dinner

• Chicken thigh pieces

Exercise

• 20 squats

I can’t believe it. I’m looking back at this afternoon with horror. I ate a whole pack of M&Ms. I’m ashamed, so ashamed of myself. Why did I not think of Moonday’s philosophy? I’m suffering from the same self-sabotage problem that Moonday herself faces – I see a good result on the scales (5lbs in 2 days!!) and suddenly it gives me leave to pig out on a pack of M&Ms? What was I THINKING!?

It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if I’d managed to get some exercise, but alas I did not. And now I’m suffering from a post-sugar low. My stomach is all growly hungry even though I pretty much had the same kind of menu as previous days, with far less calories expended on exercise.

*sigh*

Well, time to reset that bloody Transgression Counter. And tomorrow is a new day, a day in which I will get out of the house on a Sunday and go for a nice long walk.

How’s everyone else doing?

Total days since last transgression: 3

Daily LOSS: 1.0kgs / 2.2lbs
Total loss since New Year: 4.5kgs / 9.9lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 2.3l (not including the vodka and diet coke…

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Lunch

• 6 slices of pastrami
• 6 slices of pepperoni
• 3 slices of cheddar cheese
• couple of handfuls of peanuts

Dinner

• 2 sticks of cheese wrapped in Pastrami
• 4 grilled chicken thighs
• 2 vodka & diet cokes

Exercise

• 1 hour cycling to and from work
• 20 squats

Oops. I slipped up and some vodka accidentally made it into my drink tonight. Aside from that I stuck to (a high fat) version of Dukan really well! There were Easter eggs  and cupcakes at work, but with the help of some cheese and peanuts, I managed to avoid it, yay!

Also, didja see that WHOOSH? I love attack. Give me another week and I’ll have undone the damage of the holiday in Egypt…

Total days since last transgression: 2

Daily GAIN: 0.3kgs / 0.66lbs
Total loss since New Year: 3.5kgs / 7.7lbs

Today’s menu: PP

Watercheck: 2.5l

Breakfast

• mug of coffee
• oatbran porridge with sweetener
• microwaved eggs

Morning snack

• Mug of tea

Lunch

• Pack of pastrami
• 2 slices of cheese

Dinner

• 2 chicken kebab sticks & 6 chicken wing pieces from Sainsbury’s hot counter
• a slice of salami wrapped around some cheese

Exercise

• 1 hour cycling to and from work
• 10 squats

BOING! An upwards bounce on the Scales of Woe this morning. I’m ignoring it and continuing as scheduled. I’m asking myself what could have caused it – was it the seasoning for the bake-in-bag chicken last night? Or was it just a natural lull/bounce?

Not to worry, I had another good day today. I’d brought back some Toblerone for my workmates from the airport Duty Free, and I wasn’t actually tempted by it at all. And I went out to the pub with a friend after work today, but managed to only drink diet coke, no alcohol.  This is MUCH easier than I was expecting, after a week of gorging on booze, bread, fruit juice and desserts.

Go Team Dukan! I’m reading some great stuff out there in the Blogosphere. Special shout outs today to Sandi, one of the best Dukaneers I’ve had the honour of calling a friend, and also to Moonday, who’s down to her lowest weight on Dukan today. So proud of you guys!!