Chia Bircher Muesli.

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: Mix 1/4 cup steel cut oats with 1/2 cup cold water. Add 1 tsp chia seeds, 2 chopped pecans, zest and juice from 1/2 a very small lemon, cinnamon, 1/4 cup fresh organic blueberries, 2 strawberries and 1 small tub 2% Fage. Cover and let soak in fridge overnight. Serve cold.

I know I'm only supposed to weigh myself once a week per the Golden Rules, but after eating 1200 calories yesterday I had to see the results. And guess what?! I've broken through my glass floor. 130 lb. Woo-hoo!

But it's not official until I keep it that way for a week. Let's see what other sorts of results i can get this week with increased weight lifting, less cardio and less calories. Kat Eden may be onto something here.

3 slices of Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey ....

.... and 2 Organic Vegan Choc Coconut Cookies.

I'm feeling horrible today. My head hurts, my jaw is stiff, I feel confused, light-headed and heavy-limbed. I don't feel well at all. I think I'll be giving the gym a miss.

Organic Balsamic Avocado Salad with half a Ruby Red Grapefruit ....

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: 2 cups fresh vegetables chopped and tossed with 1/4 of an avocado, cilantro, fresh grated ginger, cayenne pepper, coconut aminos and 1 Tbs organic balsamic vinegar.

.... and 6 slices of Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey for protein.

I discovered a horrifying fact today. My boss bought a water alkalizer/ionizer or some other useless contraption. Last Friday and today I was drinking gallons of the stuff, and for some reason I developed a headache, dizziness and a general unwell feeling. It turns out these are the side effects of the stupid machine. Half the office is dealing with headaches, mental confusion and diarrhea.

Who would've thought? Apparently you're supposed to start off really slowly on this magic water as the detox effects can be quite nasty. As soon as I heard the goss I tipped my ionized water straight down the sink and returned to good old fashioned tapwater.

I also headed off the to gym. If my problem is dodgy water, that's no excuse not to exercise. I did a huge 30 minute arm weights session and now I can't even lift my arm to hold a cell phone to my ear. This is going to hurt tomorrow!

I got back to the office at 2:45pm and slammed down a small can of Blueback Salmon for a post-workout protein boost ....

.... and 4 Strawberries ....

.... and a steaming cup of Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Tea.

I had a feeling this might happen. After reading Kat Eden's advice on protein-no-carb post-workout snacks, I tried the can of salmon today without balancing my protein with carbs.

All protein might work for some, but not me. I need the balance. So despite the 200 calories in that tiny salmon can, I was hungry again by 4:30pm.

I grabbed 2 String Cheese Sticks (I've got to stop eating these. They have way too much fat in them) ....

.... 4 Strawberries ....

.... and half a cup (plus) of Blueberries.

Today won't be a 1200 calorie day now. And I'm going to have to walk home in the rain to reach my 625 deficit.

Bummer. The price we pay to eat.

Oh, but how I love to eat!

It turned out to be a gorgeous night. The rain held off so my 40 minute walk through Central Park was great.

I got home and dipped a carrot into 2 Tbs All Natural Baba Ganoush ....

.... and here's the Carrot (Organic and just 1 from the bunch).

I then cooked up some some Ugly Organic Scrambled Eggs.

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: Fry 2 cups veggies with 1 clove garlic, 1/2 Tbs olive tapenade, 2 whole organic eggs and 2 egg whites. Add 1 Tbs coconut aminos, cayenne pepper and tabasco. 

Spicy, filling, good.

2 x Coconut Water Icypops.

Coconut Jelly with Blueberries and Coconut Butter.

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: 1/3 cup Organic Blueberries, 1/2 Tbs Organic Coconut Butter, 2 cubes of homemade Coconut Water Jelly.

Puffed Millet with Fresh Organic Blueberries and Strained Greek Yoghurt .... and an Organic Green Tea.

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: 1/2 cup gluten-free puffed millet, 1/2 cup fresh organic blueberries, 1/2 cup 2% milk, 1 Tbs unsweetened shredded coconut, 1 tsp chia seeds, cinnamon, ground ginger, 1 small tub 2% Fage yoghurt.

At 11am I ate 6 Raw Organic Brazil Nuts.

I then tracked the calories and realized that equalled 200. Woah! They should fill me up for a few hours.

Dave and I power-walked Downtown for lunch and ended up getting a Whole Foods Salad Bar Salad.

Mine had a layer of Slow-Cooked Lamb underneath all the Veggies. It was cooked in a lot of oil, so I grabbed the drier bits on the top of the dish. I added 1/8 cup Black Beans, a few Garbanzo Beans and some Hummus for extra carbs. My dressing was Aminos.

I had been beyond hungry as we got to Whole Foods. To the point where I couldn't talk anymore. Once I had a couple of bites of my salad I lost my appetite. This is a very strange occurrence for someone with an insatiable appetite like mine. I powered through as I knew I was feeling a little hyperglycemic and needed fuel, but I couldn't shake the feeling that my body just didn't want to be consuming animal meat right now.

I was completely energy zapped after this. I couldn't bear to walk a single step more, so we caught the train to 57th street and Dave proceeded to drag me at a snail's pace through Central Park and home. 

I crashed immediately and slept for 2 hours. I'm assuming my issue is one very late night, not enough sleep, and this morning's walk was powered by one very strong green tea. Once it wore off I had no hope.

Sheep's Yoghurt Cottage Cheese Fruit Salad.

Skinny Bride Mission Recipe: Mix 1/2 small tub plain sheep's milk yoghurt with 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese. Add zest from 1 lemon, and 1 tsp grated fresh ginger. Top with half a grapefruit, 4 strawberries, 1/4 cup blueberries and 4 raw organic pecans, chopped.

According to just about every successful trainer out there, when eating clean it's imperative that you indulge in a Treat Meal once a week. Not only does this give you mental and emotional stimulation, but more importantly it functions to boost your metabolism to massive proportions for 48 hours following the Treat Meal. It kick-starts your fat-loss efforts and results in more fat-burning than you could ever achieve by eating clean 100% of the time.

Kat Eden has written an article entitled: 'Lose Weight Faster By Cheating On Your Diet'. Here are her rules for the Treat Meal:

• A cheat meal is a meal, not an evening. Or a day.
• This means that you need to decide in advance what you’re going to eat, put it on the table, and enjoy. But once that booty leaves the chair, it’s over. No heading to the cupboard for sneaky treats (which probably shouldn’t be stored there anyway!) once the food has settled.
• You can’t eat your cheat meal until you’ve consumed 100grams of animal protein. No ifs, no buts.
• If you go too crazy, it’s entirely possible to undo a week of good eating in one night. Be smart about your cheats. Don’t stuff yourself till you can’t move, and always include some form of fats to slow down digestion. Cheese or cream-based pastas are better than tomato-based. Chocolate almonds are better than sugar candies. Ice-cream is better than sorbet.
• Once the meal is over, it’s over! And that’s it for at least 6 more days.

Interestingly, late last year I invested (read: 'wasted') about $50 on a net-based diet called 'Cheat Your Way Thin'. It may work for some people, so I'm not discounting the program at all, but for me it was no good.

'Cheat Your Way Thin' advocates an entire Cheat Day. Apparently you need to load your body with complex carbs and sugar for 8-12 hours straight 1 day a week in order for your metabolism to skyrocket. (The diet developer says a single cheat meal will not give you the same benefits). The theory is that it takes 1 day to shoot your metabolism sky high, but 5 days for it to slowly return to it's previous level. Through manipulating carbs during the days following your Cheat Day, you are able to burn through the plateaus of more consistent diet and exercise.

Cheat Day rules invole no calorie counting, and eating whatever you want until you're moderately full, then waiting until you're moderately hungry before eating again. The diet developer warms you not to weigh yourself for a few days after your Cheat Day as you'll be bloated and heavy until the food is metabolised and your weight stabilizes.

I found cutting out carbs for a week of 'priming' for this diet had me lose 7 lbs (in one week!). But my Cheat Day destroyed everything. I put it all back on and more, only to just get back to my original weight by the next Cheat Day. I kept at it for another week and ended up so bloated and depressed. I'd previously eradicated sugar from my diet, and now this Cheat Day had me addicted to the White Death all over again. It takes 2 weeks to detox from sugar, so the 6 days between Cheat Days were forcing me to live in a constant state of sugar detox symptoms, (intense hunger, irritability, mood swings, depression, foggy headedness, deep cravings). It was horrible!

'Cheat Your Way Thin' may work for a less sugar-sensitive person, but it was defintiely not for me. It took a few months to undo the damage done by this program and I won't be going back for more.

A conscious, carefully planned Treat Meal once a week, however, is an entirely different story.

I've lost another pound and about 1/4 " off all my body measurements. Except my arm. That increased in size by 1/4". Weird. It must be either muscle or my inability to properly measure myself.

Slow and steady improvements, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

Midweek I hit 131 lbs for 2 days, but bounced back up again to 131.5 lb. This is my crux weight. For some reason I can never get below 131 lbs. I am determined to beat the system this time and crack the 120's!

Looking back on the week, I ate far too many calories each day, went over 1700 numerous times and didn't vary my intake. This week's mission is to eat lower calories, reduce cardio to avoid appetite spikes and to vary my intake each day.