St Andrew's Day

Thanks to my work giving us St Andrew's Day as a public holiday I've spent a relaxing time at home with my feet up, eating good food and watching anime.  Currently watching 4 ongoing anime, that is ones that are still being broadcast and are made available to watch once a week and a whole bunch of others that have completed their runs.  My favourite at the moment is Amagami SS, which Bob the Axeman tells me is based on a Playstation game.


Changed my wallpaper to suit, using my favourite of the characters so far, Morishima Haruka.

The evening may end with a final blast at Bakemonogatari, which is excellently directed and has a really good style to it.  Only got a few episodes to go before I have finished it though so may limit myself, it's so good that I want to stretch out my enjoyment as much as possible.

ILUG

Back from three days at the ILUG (Irish Lotus User Group) in Belfast and what a great three days it was. I'm always amazed at the amount I take away from events like these, not only in material I have learned but  in ideas that form in my head on things we should be doing differently.


Paul Mooney and his "green-shirts" did an absolutely outstanding job of organising all of this, giving both their time and their efforts for free. Everything (well most things) ran smoothly and the only sore point I had was my bottom from sitting too much. The team had managed to get a fantastic selection of speakers and software suppliers to participate in the event and I was amazed at how approachable everyone was. The only complaint I had was there wasn't as many coffee breaks as I needed :)


Had to stay in a city centre hotel (Jury's Inn) and taxi it back and forth to the event hotel but that just added to it all. If you ever go to Belfast the traffic is OK every day except Thursday, late night shopping kicks in and everyone seems to go mad. The weather wasn't brilliant but it was November after all. I'd thoroughly recommend Belfast to anyone thinking of going there, a lovely city full of friendly people.


Happy to be back sleeping in my own bed again though, not that the bed in the hotel was uncomfortable, it was just unfamiliar. Back to work on Monday though and looking forward to submitting some change requests for improvements to the system.

Week 15 update

It's been a bit of struggle the last few weeks but mainly down to not going out and walking regularly.  Back on track this last week and the weight loss shows.

Finished the period with a 1.09Kg (2.4lbs) loss so hopefully I'm over the stagnation of the last 3 weeks and will start losing regularly again. Getting out for a walk in the morning is more laborious now with the darker mornings and the bitter cold and rain but I'm determined to walk as much as I can, even managed a few walks at lunchtime in Glasgow. With the surrounding woods in Dalkeith my lunchtime walks there have been good only slightly marred by the carpeting of leaves on the old Innocent Railway footpath around the top of Ironmills Park. May take some photos next time if the weather is good and post them up here.

Week 10 update

Well after a small blip with a 0.5Kg (1.1 lbs) gain last week for no apparent reason I'm back to good gain loss this week with 1.81Kg (4 lbs), again for no apparent reason.  Didn't eat any differently and exercised about the same so I am a bit puzzled.


I'm going to post a graphic every 5 weeks showing my weight loss as a kind of incentive to myself to keep things going. This Primal lifestyle certainly seems to be agreeing with me, well my feet still complain from time to time - but I've always had problems with them. I think the health of my feet has improved, throwing away shoes that were constraining my feet in any way certainly helped and my new work shoes almost feel like I don't have them on.

10.43Kg (23 lbs) total loss

Just back from shopping and a walk down to the Titan crane and back afterwards and found another supply of brambles (blackberries) ready to be picked, so tomorrow morning looks like a foraging morning (unless the weather is particularly bad).

Foraging

Today we went foraging for brambles (blackberries). The banks of the Union Canal at Ratho have some brambles, mostly just out of reach, so only collected enough for a dessert. Just had an apple and bramble "crumble" the other day so these are being frozen for use later in the week as a treat. I say "crumble" because it was made without any wheat products, ground almonds, dried fruit and coconut oil taking the place of all the bad ingredients (that's bad by Primal Blueprint standards).


Probably venture out again on Saturday as the weather looks like it's going to be good over the weekend although thinking of heading somewhere else for our fruit supplies. Where have all the brambles gone? I remember there being tons of them when I was a kid but they seem to be thin on the ground these days.


Also had a wee walk around part of the Almondell and Calderwood Country Park in the vain hope that there would be some brambles there too. Good views but no fruit.

Walking campaign

Started my new walking campaign today. Kept up a reasonably good pace for 58 minutes and feeling quite pleased with myself. Feet feel a bit sore but not as much as they used to. I think all this walking that I have been doing lately is toughening them up and making them healthier too.

Let's see how well I can progress over the coming months.

The evils of food

Just shows you how bad what we eat is for you. Last weeks loss was only 0.5Kg (1.1lbs) due to eating those damn chocolate brazils. No more! Determined that this week's weight loss will be more than 1Kg (2.2lbs).

Fit the fat way

I'm still losing weight but can't quite believe how. Yesterday, for instance, I ate 4 boiled eggs for breakfast then ate 3/4 of a whole chicken for lunch (had the rest for breakfast this morning) with a pack/wedge of President Brie later in the day. Doesn't sound healthy? Well I feel better than I have in years and am about to voluntarily walk into Clydebank.

Travelling light

Decided that carrying my Canon EOS 20D around with me while on these country walks is not ideal. It's quite heavy and not ideal for taking "snaps" with. I've brought my first digital camera out of retirement, a Fujifilm Finepix S304 as it is lighter, smaller and more suited to journal type photos. Might event start taking it with me everywhere to capture everyday events.

It's not the greatest camera on the planet but I always say that it doesn't matter what you take pictures with it's the moment that counts. One of my favourite pictures (not taken by me by the way) was taken on a throw away camera. Any budding photographers out there take note: you don't need to bust your budget to get good results.


Camera phones (although I don't agree with the concept) give good results too and are very unobtrusive.

Keeping track

Another satisfying weigh-in this morning with another 1.72Kg (3.8lbs) lost. Feeling good about myself at the moment.

5 weeks worth

This all during a week where we thought we had strayed off the path when we bought some chocolate covered Brazil nuts. It took me a few days to finish them all as I only ate two at time and there were about 17 in the box (OK I ate six on the last day over a period of 4 hours).

At this rate I'll need to start looking at getting some new clothes as everything will begin to look baggy on me.  Whoopee!

Sutton Hoo

We spent a few hours yesterday in Sutton Hoo. They have an excellent visitor centre and some fine examples of what was found, shame the really good stuff is at the British Museum in London though. The visit started off with an eight minute video outlining the history of the site and it's fortuitous excavation. After that we toured the exhibits and read the story behind the burial mounds and how they had been investigated.

Belt buckle

Some of the jewellery was truly astounding. Something as simple as a belt buckle was a masterpiece. This may look like just some fancy design work engraved onto the surface but there is a hidden mechanism to unlock and open the buckle. Considering when this was made I was gobsmacked. I'm not sure if we can reproduce this quality today.

An easier walk

Ha! Today's chosen walk was through Roslin Glen Country Park. While longer than last week's it was down as easier in our minds. Three hours walking along the banks of a river, how cool is that?

Wrong!! 4 hours of hard slog over twisting muddy tracks, scrambling over rocky ledges and squirming under fallen trees. We loved every minute of it. Took a lot out of me half way round so had to keep stopping as I was feeling light-headed. I think this regime (including the exercise) is having a positive effect on my high blood pressure so the light-headedness could be my overall BP dropping. Whoo hoo if it is!

Before we began we had a few home made biscuits made from crushed nuts, lard and sultanas washed down with some good coffee. This would help give us some needed energy for the walk. The walk started off well until the trail we were on ended up right on the water's edge. Then it got a bit tricky scrambling over the rocks. Loved every second of this, probably my favourite part of the whole walk.

The ledge begins

In some parts the rocky ledge was only just wide enough and we had to jump from a high part to a low ledge on a couple of occasions. Not something you'd want to do if it had been raining, thankfully today was dry.

The picture here shows the ledge near the beginning. What is hard to see is the near vertical wall of rock and vegetation on the left.

The scenery was fantastic though and I was snapping away with my camera a lot in the first half of the walk. My camera went into my rucksack for the second part as I was getting tired and it is quite a heavy beast.

Lush surroundings

The wealth of plant-life was amazing. Everything was a lush green and filled your vision wherever you looked. We followed the river for the first half of the walk, always keeping it to our right and within hearing distance.

The trail weaved inland quite often and up and over quite steep hills. In places, where small streams fed their way down the river, it was quite muddy and navigation was a bit tricky, but always fun. We seemed to relish these small obstacles and found inventive ways of circumnavigating them.

At the point where the trail started to head back it disappeared in an open space under some trees and we struggled a bit to find it again. Off we marched confident that we had done so. We noticed some old camp fires which had presumably been used by some local anglers and a blue tent amongst the trees. On we went keeping close to the river as we knew Polton, the next town, was ahead. Up over an ancient sand dune (which was huge) and on through the trees we struggled. The trail was becoming impassable so now we knew we hadn't picked it up correctly earlier so we headed back a bit and headed in-land and up another ancient sand dune.

After asking the chap living in the blue tent for directions we eventually found ourselves on the right path and were rewarded with a superb view across towards Edinburgh. By this time my camera was packed away and I was too tired to want to get it out. The path back to Roslin was an old railway line (I think). There are a number of them in the area, the most famous of which is the Innocent Railway, and they are all quite narrow for railway lines as they hauled mostly coal and were pulled by ponies.

Back at the car we tucked into lunch, although the fact that lunch time was long gone did not stop us enjoying it. Home made ham in a nice salad, followed by blackberries and raspberries. Washed down with the remainder of the biscuits and the coffee and we were ready to head off back home.

Dinner for me was a whole chicken and a nice salad. What a way to lose weight! Another 1.5Kg (3.3lbs) lost in the last week and without really trying. That's 6.14Kg (13.4lbs) since we started!

Old favourite

Home for dinner tonight and what was awaiting me? My old favourite, lambs liver. With a mixed leaf salad, sliced radish, watercress, raw broccoli and avocado slices in a balsamic vinegar and avocado oil dressing who could ask for more? To make it even sweeter lambs liver is probably one of the cheapest meats available at the moment. Our pack, which fed two of us, cost less than £1.00 and was truly delicious.

I'm looking forward to another liver dish next week. I'm glad this Palaeolithic regime has such great tasting food, I don't miss the things I used to love to eat, like apples and chocolate, apples most of all.

Breakfast was a slice of home made Quiche Lorraine (with the base made with nuts instead of wheat) and lunch was a salmon slice with mixed salad leaves, sliced radish, pomodorinos, a boiled egg and green olives. When I felt peckish during the morning ate a boiled egg and nibbled on some nuts and seeds. Feeling very satisfied.

It works!

Not that I doubted it for a minute but this Palaeolithic way of living does make you lose weight. Up until now I've not been doing much in the way of exercise and I lost 1.82Kg (4lbs) this week. I don't think that I'll be keeping up the same rate for long but even a kilogram a week would be good.

Looking forward to the next weigh-in.

Breaking me in gently

We decided that Saturday would be the day when we introduced short country walks into my regime.  We studied some available on the Visit Scotland website and choose the Limekilns moderate walk as a good starting point.  Wasn't too difficult to find the wee bridge that marked the starting point and we were soon ready to go.

Off we went for about 10 minutes along a wide track that you could easily drive a tractor up when we decided to check the route instructions. Doh! We'd missed the first instruction that said to take the first right after crossing the bridge. OK so we backtracked until we found the route and off we went - uphill and on a trail that was one person wide for most of the route.

Uphill and uphill we continued eventually making it onto the edge of the crags. Further and further with my energy draining fast. We checked the route again and decided that we had somehow gotten onto the hardest trail. No wonder I was knackered.

Not being one for turning back we continued on up the trail when eventually we reached a broad forest track. After a bit of consulting the route again we decided to head uphill again on this track.  About 200 metres later we started going downhill again. Oh joy! Gravity was my friend again.

2 and a half hours from start to finish we relished the home made apple and blackberry pies that we brought with us.

Finished the day off with a beautifully cooked and rare sirloin steak with salad leaves. Mmm mmm.

Lotus Yellow Day approaching

With Lotus Yellow Day only five days away (11th August 2010 as I write) I think I should have a personal motto to commemorate the day (slightly toungue in cheek though).  I'll let you work out what it says (bear in mind that my Latin is not good and it is approximate).

Superstes in moral altus humus tribuo meus finxi ut Microsoft

Salve Loti!

Snack attack

I'm allowed some snacks as part of this regime but they aren't what you might expect. I have a couple of sticks of celery cut into three pieces, some mixed nuts (brazil, almonds, hazlenut & walnut/pecan) and some seeds (sunflower and pumpkin), although in moderation. The surprising thing is home made jerky. It's absolutely delicious and easy to make. This first attempt was with some good lean beef but look out tum 'cause venison, water buffalo and kangaroo are on the list for future versions!

Making the jerky is fairly easy too, slice the meat fairly thin (best if you stick it in the freezer for a bit to firm it up) and then it is marinated for at least 4 hours in our own recipe (secret of course). The meat is then patted dry with paper towels and placed on baking foil and placed in an oven on a very low heat with the oven door ever so slightly ajar (to let the water vapour escape) for 12 hours or so until the meat is dehydrated and not quite brittle. I thought it tasted very similar to a brand I had bought before out of the supermarket but without any nasty additives.

Check out the best way to do it though before you try/die.

Salivating at the thought of it all.

Keeping a level head

Turns out that the floor in the bathroom (where the scales are) isn't ideal for weighing yourself due to the cork flooring we have installed, so my sneaky weigh-ins haven't been as accurate as I first thought.  The more solid kitchen floor gave a truer result, if less lost and will be the place to manage the weigh-ins in future.  Lost a total of 2.82Kg (6.2lbs), still not bad for 2 weeks but I feel a bit deflated as I thought I had lost more.

That's what I get for sneakily checking my weight.

Weight for it!

We've decided that Saturdays will be the weigh-in day to see how effective this new eating regime is.  I'm actually looking forward to it as I know I have lost weight (sneaky step onto the scales) and I'm positive that I can keep it up in the months ahead.

Starting weight was 125.1Kg (275.2lbs) and I have already lost 3.3Kg (7.3lbs).  Seems a lot for such a short period of time, especially as I don't feel like I am trying.  I've tried losing weight before with other diets and always felt like I was missing something but this Palaeolithic hunter/gatherer diet (we'll refer to it as Palaeo from now on) doesn't seem to be having that effect.  I don't miss a thing and have even been turning down offers of cakes and sweets at work (much to the astonishment of my colleagues as I was known for my sweet tooth).

I'm sure my doctor will be happy to see me losing weight although maybe not as quickly as I am at the moment.  I think they'd be happy with 500g - 1Kg loss a week.

Less to come...

Captain Caveman reporting

Grok

Well we're a week in with this new eating regime and I must say I'm not missing all the things I used to like. No more sugary foods, wheat based products, cereals and the like.

"Doesn't leave much" you might think, but there you would be wrong.

Beef chili with sweet potato (two nights in a row, with the second being better than the first - well it's always better the second day), pork belly with mixed salad leaves (watercress is so peppery), chunky lamb chomps with green beans. Mmm mmm all so tasty you don't miss the "bad" things.

We're eating a bread/cake thingy made with mixed seeds, nuts, fresh fruit and lard (but no wheat!) for breakfast, which is remarkably filling and tasty to boot. Eaten with five or six blackberries and a couple of fresh cherries it keeps you going until lunchtime.

Lunch for me is mackerel with salad leaves and a few pomodorino (or any smallish tomato) in a nice balsamic vinegar and avocado oil dressing. Bit boring you might think, but I love mackerel so always love tucking into it.

To cap it all I've lost 2.36 Kg in a week (that's 5.2lbs in old money - come on, keep up) without trying at all. Not going to weigh myself that regularly though, once a month will do and I can give myself a bigger surprise that way. Only weighed myself because I felt I had lost something and was checking.

Time will tell but I think I'm going to enjoy this way of eating.

The Hunter/Gatherer

Started on a new eating regime this weekend, the hunter/gatherer method. I'm straying away from the word diet as most people don't use it in it's broader sense and this is a completely new way of eating. I already feel more vigorous and don't seem to be having the hunger pangs that I did, thanks to all the good food I am eating and which slowly gives me energy and keeps me feeling full.

Now you may scoff at this but it does make sense, eat the way your body is designed to and not the way your taste buds dictate. No more sugar, grains, cereals, chocolate, etc and more of the foodstuffs that we should be eating. Meat, seeds, salads, fruit, vegetables, etc are tasty in themselves and there are plenty of interesting things you can do with them.

Tonight was day 2 of a beef chili (the second day is always better!!) served with sweet potato. Delicious!!

To cap it all off I did lose 2lbs in weight without even trying and am looking forward to slowly losing more.

Having to catch up on though, apparently Mark's Daily Apple is a good place to start, so I will be checking his site out over the next week or two.