RAPID – Diary Blog II

Fortnight II

Bodyweight: 92 kg

Day 8

Todays meals:

• 11:30 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 15:00 – 1 bowl buttered green beans and carrots
• 17:00 – OptiSlim shake (strawberry)
• 18:00 – tuna (50g) + salad (lettuce, tomato, red onion, capers, lemon juice, black pepper, salt)
• 21:00 – poached chicken (50g) + soy dipping sauce
• 23:30 – 1 bowl minestrone soup (without pasta or cheese)
• 02:30 – OptiSlim shake (chocolate) + instant coffee

I’m researching beers and food today, and once or twice I thought I would love a beer or slice of pizza, but it lasted less than a minute. Otherwise I’m doing fine on this diet. 

I’m actually more awake most of the time, and even sleeping better, probably because I haven’t had any alcohol for over a week. No ill effects or cravings on that front either. 

Total calories: 900

Day 9

It’s 03:43, someone just said cracker on the TV and I’m suddenly craving a Jackob’s cream cracker with butter and jam on it. I haven’t had that since I was a child. What’s going on?

Just one. I only need one!

Jam? I don’t have a sweet tooth! 

Todays meals:

• 11:30 – OptiSlim shake (strawberry)
• 16:00 – 100g poached chicken + soy dipping sauce + salad
• 17:00 – minestrone soup (without cheese or pasta)
• 20:80 – lite beer
• 21:30 – tuna (50g) salad
• 23:30 – chicken (75g)
• 00:00 – buttered carrots & green beans

I had a light beer today, which was less than 100 calories, 4.5% ABV, and low carb. The experience was nice. Low carb beer doesn’t taste great, but, hey, I am on a diet. A glass of wine is allowed on this diet because the residual carbs are lower, so I think this counts as allowable. 

Total calories: 750

Day 10

I was waiting to see if the beer made me more hungry, but it hasn’t. So, no ill effects there. Then again, I don’t seem to have hit that ketosis yet, and should have by now. 

Todays meals:

• 11:30 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 18:30 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 21:30 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 23:30 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 02:30 – soup
• 04:00 – 0.5 VLCD chocolate bar

Total calories: 850

So, I had a beer yesterday. What else can I do? I want to go to a taproom and have a tasting paddle of 5 beers I like the look of and haven’t tasted yet, and eat from the food truck outside. I’ve got my eye on an American diner food truck that does Philly cheesesteak, shrimp po’boys, cheeseburgers, and skinny fries. 

Can I go? Let’s see! How can I successfully navigate this obstacle, and not fall flat on my face? 

I suppose the priorities on this diet are as follows, in order of importance:

1. Low calorie (< 1,000 cal/day for rapid weight loss)
2. High protein (to avoid muscle loss)
3. Low sugar (to avoid hunger)
4. Low carb (to promote fat burning)

Everything else is just a means to achieve the above. 

With this in mind, one beer tasting palate is 500 calories. Ok, it will be high carb and high sugar, but they are lower in this list. 

Nutritional information for MacDonalds in Sydney for January 2023 is available here: https://mcdonalds.com.au/sites/mcdonalds.com.au/files/Core%20Food%20Menu_January%202023%20V2.pdf

1 Big Mac = 564 cal

1 small fries = 209 cal

1 medium fries = 297 cal

So, if I had the equivalent serving size as a Big Mac and small fries it would come to roughly 773 cal. 

This is a little over my daily allowance, but it still makes my total daily calories < 1,300, which is still well within normal dieting parameters. Ok, I might store some of those calories as glycogen and come out of ketosis, but not for long. Less than 12 hours, in fact. As long as I can resist the munchies all day prior to the event, and for 12 hours afterwards, I think I’ll be fine. 

Assuming I am fine, it will also take me 12 hours longer to reach my ideal weight. But I can live with that. So, the Philly cheesesteak and skinny fries (or at least half of them) might be possible as a one off per month. 

I know, when you do things like this, it’s a slippery slope. Once you make an exception here, you open the floodgates, and are more likely to make other exceptions. 

Hummmmm!

Damn. If I didn’t break the rules and have a beer yesterday, I might not be contemplating this at all!

I was thinking of buying the shrimp po’boys, which is a hot dog roll with shrimp and mayonnaise, and eating it (or half of it) the following day. 

Day 11

• 13:00 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 17:00 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 19:30 – soup
• 23:30 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 02:00 – boiled broccoli

Surprisingly,  the broccoli, with nothing other than the salt I used in the water (plenty), tasted pretty good. It was almost 2  medium sized bowls. I ate it all, though I needed a rest for an hour before I could finish the second half of the second bowl. 

Total calories: 600

Day 12

• 14:45 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 19:00 – soup
• 19:45 – roast pork (100g)
• 21:00 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 23:30 – roast pork (100g)
• 02:45 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream

Total calories: 850

This chocolate shake + coffee is becoming my favourite, after the fried breakfast, of course. 

I roasted a pork leg joint today. All I added was salt. No oil. I cut the skin off, made pork scratchings with it, and put them in an air tight bag for after my diet in a few months time. I saved the resting juices, and deglazed the non-stick roasting pan with them, reduced it, and had it as a dipping sauce. No thickener. 

The dietician sent us her VLCD recipe book today. I noticed a recipe for roasted vegetables which looks good. If I had seen the recipe beforehand I would have roasted some veg in the oven with the pork. That would be a nice meal. 100g of pork, some of the jus, and a portion of roasted mediteranean vegetables. I would be allowed two of those, plus 3 shakes a day! Tasty!

Her recipe book also mentioned roasted carrots with sugar free maple syrup. I never knew that existed. Sure enough, Woolworths and Coles stock it. That’s going on the shopping list!

Day 13

• 13:15 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 15:00 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 18:00 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 22:00 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 01:45 – chocolate shake + coffee

Total calories: 1,000 cal

Wow! Just tried the Mediterranean roasted vegetables recipe. I’ve done this before, but not a diet version. This works just as well. I also tried the cauliflower mash. That works great as well. They both paired well with 100g of my roast pork, which I warmed in the microwave in the jus. This is going to be a favourite!!!

I am drinking about 1.25 litres of diet cola per day, and the occasional cup of black tea or coffee. 

[INSERT PHOTO OF ROAST DINNER HERE]

Day 14

My weight this morning: 89kg

• 07:10 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 19:45 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 22:00 – strawberry shake
• 00:00 – 100g lean roast pork

Total calories: 700

Day 15

• 18:30 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 02:20 – roast pork (100g)
• 03:30 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 04:00 – FatBlaster chocolate bar 
• 05:00 – soup

I was awake all night, then slept all day, so I started late. My first meal was too much for me. This is the largest and highest calorie meal I eat now,. I felt too full half way in, so I stopped ant ate the other half later.  

Total calories: 700

Day 16

• 08:00 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 11:00 – tuna (75g) + salad
• 17:30 – tuna (125g) + salad
• 21:45 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 02:00 – strawberry shake
• 04:45 – pork (100g)

Total calories: 900

Day 17

• 10:30 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 14:30 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 19:30 – hard boiled egg + salad + salad cream
• 23:30 – FatBlaster bar
• 02:40 – cauliflower mash + hard boiled egg

Total calories: 600

I had to start my bakery course today at 07:30, so I brought and egg salad and bottle of diet cola. I kept them in the fridge all morning. I’ve been low on funds for a while and haven’t been able to afford lunch. This felt like luxury for me. Beautifully chilled, and it filled me up nicely. So much so, I wanted it again as soon as I got home. Twice!

Those FatBlaster bars are pretty tasteless, and not very satisfying. I don’t recommend them. 

Day 18

• 17:30 – 75g ham + salad + salad cream
• 20:00 – chocolate shake + coffee
• 23:30 – 25g ham + pickled onion
• 23:45 – soup
• 01:30 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter

Total calories: 500

It’s been boring the last few days because I don’t have any money to do shopping until tomorrow. 

Just made homemade diet tomato ketchup. 

For some reason I want all my salads with Heinz salad cream at the moment. And the salad itself is getting lots of salt and vinegar on it. It’s like I’m pregnant (but I can’t be because I’m male). I seem to be craving strong flavours. 

If I’ve not got much food available, I want to make sure I can taste whatever I can eat. I have seen dieticians’ advice before, where they recommend adding herbs and spices to things to substitute for low fat or low salt meals. I had always dismissed it as a poor substitute, but maybe there is something in it. 

Even when making the diet tomato ketchup, I found I wanted to make sure it had a punch of flavour, more so than the real thing. I just instinctively knew that would give me more satisfaction. 

Day 19

• 11:30 – 100g ham + salad + salad cream
• 16:00 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 20:00 – 100g pork
• 23:00 – strawberry shake
• 04:00 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter

Total calories: 1,000

Day 20

• 11:00 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 17:00 – strawberry shake
• 23:00 – Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
• 03:00 – ham (50g) + salad + salad cream

Total calories: 950

My xantham gum came today. I had to buy it on eBay. My local branch of Woolworths doesn’t sell it. I made homemade sweet chilli sauce. Apart from being a bit too vinegary and garlicky, it turned out well. I will tone down those too ingredients next time. It will make the perfect sauce for stir-fried chicken breast, onion, carrot, and mixed capsicums just as it is. All I need to add is soy sauce. 

Day 21 

• 08:00 – fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
• 11:30 – pork (100g) + Asian slaw
• 15:00 – Asian slaw
• 18:00 – strawberry shake
• 03:00 – ham (50g) + salad + salad cream
• 05:30 – pork (50g) + Asian slaw

Total calories: 850

I made an Asian slaw using the sweet chilli sauce, based on a recipe from the dietician’s cookbook. The recipe is in that post. It was quite nice. I made plenty, so I could graze on it over about an hour and a half. 

Consider sweet and sour chicken with cauliflower rice

I’m going to make fat and sugar free peppermint sorbet and chocolate sorbet with it too. 

Bodyweight: 88kg

I know I am only 4kg lighter than 2 weeks ago, but that’s 2kg a week. On a VLCD a male should lose 2kg/wk and a female 1kg/week. Halve that amount for an ordinary weight loss diet. I’m happy with this. The first 2 weeks always results in a high weight loss because most of that is is fluid in your bowel.   

The summary chart tells me two things. Firstly, My calorie chart is trending upwards. That needs to be flat, otherwise the diet isn’t going to work.

Secondly, I have a trendline for my weight in the future. I can use this to predict what my weight will be in the future, assuming I keep to roughly the same calorie intake. The formula is currently:

y = -0.38(x) + 95.7

I have charted the values my weight should be on each day of my diet for the next 3 months. It tells me I should hit my target weight of 70kg around about day 70 of my diet. Only 50 days to go!

Favourite meals so far:

1. fried tomato, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spring onions and butter
2. Mediterranean roasted vegetables, cauliflower mash, roast pork (100g), jus
3. salad + pork/chicken/egg/tuna
4. strawberry shake
5. chocolate shake + coffee
6. Asian slaw
7. soup
8. FatBlaster chocolate bar