Steak - iron rich but my worst nightmare....
Well, weigh in day is here again. I was pretty nervous for two reason - firstly, it's not week one so I thought my body might be getting used to it and I wouldn't do as well, and secondly because I've resisted so many biscuits this week and I haven't really had a 'bad' day so there would be no reason for me not to lose any weight - make sense?
Results: I've lost four pounds and half an inch.
So that means that today I weigh 11st 9lb, and my waist is 35 and three quarter inches! I'm quite astonished to be honest - I would have been happy with one singular pound. This means that my BMI is 27.1 - for the first time this is closer to healthy than obese. It also means I've lost half a stone over the last two weeks. I should point out that I'm absolutely not expecting this rapid loss of fatness to continue - I'm sure it's going to slow down at some point.
So to quickly tell you about this week... I have to say this week I have felt so tired (someone actually told me I looked pale and 'was I OK?' on Wednesday) almost all of the time. Tired enough to struggle to function really - I've forgotten how to spell, how to do simple tasks - I've even forgotten what day it is. I've been contemplating a few different reasons for this. Perhaps it's because I've cut my calories down to less than 1400 per day and I haven't got used to it yet. After all, I'm taking in less energy than I'm using up so it seems logical that I might not feel particularly energetic. If this is the case then hopefully I will get used to it - I felt terrible yesterday but today I feel a lot better. As well as that I cycled to work and back on Monday, which is about 15 miles (and all into the wind) so I had probably exhausted myself before the week even began.
The My Fitness Pal app also monitors some of the more well known nutrients including iron and I've noticed that I don't really get a lot of it. I don't think I ever have on the basis that I don't really like red meat or nuts, plus I don't eat a lot of dried fruit (apart from in my porridge in the morning). In fact, I've gone back through my food diary and it turns out most days I'm eating less than 10% of my recommended daily intake on iron. So, this week I will be eating an actual stew with beef in that I will be making - for those of you who know my dietary 'quirks' you'll know that this is going to be a pretty substantial challenge for me. I've also read that wholegrain cereals (which I've eaten a lot of), although high in iron, are an iron blocker - I'm not sure of the truth in this because I only seem able to find mention of it on websites like beefnutrition.org (yes really) and the 'Wild Rose College of Natural Healing' - there's not a single mention of it on the NHS page about iron.
On the other hand it could be that I've just had a bit of a virus because it definitely felt like I was ill.
Although I've been tired a lot this week I haven't been particularly hungry, but I've realised that I might have been making it sound like it's been really easy because of this. I've been so tempted by a whole load of things - office biscuits, buffets in the office or in meetings, trips to McDonalds, takeaway on Friday night (where I live smells like a takeaway when you get out of the car on a Friday evening) - even little things like licking the spoon when you're cooking or tasting dinner more than you need to as you eat - it's all extra calories. There have been so many temptations but I'm pleased, proud and slightly smug when I say I have resisted all of them. Admittedly, I was about to have a biscuit on Friday when I realised that there were none left....
