Photo log

Sunday:

Jasmine's big dance concert was last night. It's a pretty big deal for the dance school, with sold out shows in Canberra Theatre. This year they did two shows instead of one, a matinee with the big kids plus the tiny ones, and the evening show was the big kids again plus the medium-sized ones like my daughter. I was kind of sad that I didn't get to see the tiny tots, they are so cute in their little bee costumes or whatever, always out of time and facing the wrong way. By contrast, the older teenagers are full time dance students and could be candidates for So You Think You Can Dance.

There was kind of a storyline that strung all the performances together, but not really. Jasmine, as you can see, was a cowgirl (hat and make-up not pictured) and had nothing to do with anything as far as I could tell. The bit where she came on, I thought the scene was in an Arabian marketplace. With cowboys. Oh well, whatever. I enjoyed the show.

I took some "before" photos of myself this afternoon (at least, my husband took them). I don't like them much, but they accurately portray what I look like, I guess. Just not in my own head. The side view is something I don't see on a regular basis and was an unpleasant surprise. I made sure I didn't suck my stomach in, these are supposed to show what I look like "before". I have also taken some body measurements.

Front view:



And side view:

And here is my food for the day, a low carb day. Breakfast, two poached eggs on one slice of toast with butter, a Lebanese cucumber and a really delicious flavourful small tomato. Cup of tea. Sugar is not an approved part of my diet. I have cut down to half a teaspoon and I'll work on it. I do poach a good egg, if I say so myself.

Morning tea. Tasty cheddar cheese - I didn't eat all of it. Another Lebanese cucumber and small tomato. I hadn't been shopping yet and the vegetable choices were very limited! It was that or an onion.

Lunch after shopping trip. What I call Rainbow Stir Fry, one of my "on a diet" favourites. Strips of chicken breast with julienned snow peas, carrot, capsicum, shallot and baby corn. With garlic, soy and oyster sauce.

My lunchtime cup of tea, showing how much sugar.

Afternoon snack, Mexican chilli/lime flavour mixed nuts (they have 1.4 grams of sugar for the packet, which I decided was ok) and two baby carrots.

Then I lightened my hair colour. I've never done this myself before, and I've only had it done at the hairdresser a few times. All my life I've been blonde, but since having children my hair has gone darker. I recently had it lightened at the hairdresser but couldn't see any difference! Waste of money. So I decided to spend $14 at the chemist and do it at home. I like the result, it's a nice golden blonde and quite noticeably different (to me, anyway). The circles under my eyes aren't really quite that bad, it's the indoor lighting. They are there though.

Dinnertime! It was odd not having any roast potatoes but I told myself I could have them on my high carb days. I had roast beef (nowhere near all of this, I ate about one and 3/4 slices not three), onion, broccoli, asparagus and a vegetable medley consisting of onion, carrot, zucchini and celery (I also didn't eat all of that, it's put away for tomorrow). I love my roast vegetable medley; cut up so small it gets caramelised all over in the oven. Drizzle of homemade gravy with a pinch of flour in it. The glisten on the vegetables is olive oil.

Day one completed. The two times I didn't finish my food, I obviously served myself too much and I need to be more careful with my portion sizes. I didn't weigh or measure anything. At the end of the day I got curious. The plan is based on portions (using your hand as a guide) not weight, but wanted to know if I was within my target range of various nutrients. I used another carb cycling site to get some guidelines - I wrote them down days ago and I can't remember where I got them from.

Target calories: 1200 (for a low carb day). Actual approximate calories: 1250. Excellent!

Target carbs: 36-90 grams. Actual carbs: 63 grams. Perfect!

Target fat: 18-36 grams. Actual fat: 62 grams. A bit high, due to full fat cheese and the nuts probably.  But I don't think it's high for Chris Powell's plan. And it's exactly right according to my Calorie King app.

Target protein: 180 grams. Actual protein 90 grams. I think 180 grams must be for bodybuilders! I had a palm-sized portion with every meal and snack.

Target fibre (national guidelines): 25 grams. Actual fibre: 23 grams. Pretty close - especially considering so little starchy carbohydrate. One slice of toast and a hell of a lot of vegetables.

Water: I had six glasses. Still need to work on that.

Exercise. Nil. Yesterday I went for a walk with the family and couldn't keep up at all and felt horrible afterwards, still getting over being sick I guess. Today I was very tired after doing the grocery shopping on a Sunday which meant having to park a long way from the doors and pushing around a wobbly trolley. Does that count? Surely it counts as the 5 mins minimum requirement. I'll do more tomorrow!

And how do I feel? Full! Very full all day. Do you see how much vegetable I ate? Ten servings! Two with every meal and snack! And protein every time too. I didn't miss carbs at all. The not-eating bit wasn't a problem, just fitting in all that vegetable matter was. Feel a little bit bloated, might take my tummy a few days to get used to it. Overall very happy with day one. Just wish I was up to exercising.