Day five: into the swing

I must start today by saying a big Hello! In the last 24 hours links to this blog have been posted in various places and I've been blown away by the response. I've had hundreds of visitors! Apart from being slightly unnerved that so many people have now seen my blubber pictures it's really lovely to know that so many people have taken the time to click through. I do hope you've enjoyed what you've read. Thank you so much for dropping by!

I'd love to receive comments and hear how others are getting on. I'd also really love to know if you've tried any of the recipes. If you have suggestions for improvements to any of them, or try variations that really work (or don't), then please comment to let me, and everyone else know, then we can all learn from each other's successes and failures. There will be no other time when so many people are going through the same stages of this plan together so it's a unique opportunity to share our experiences. How has this first week been for you?

Today has most definitely been a better day. I started the day with a 6am workout. It was the last thing I wanted to do when I got out of bed but by the time I'd done it and got the endorphine kick I was definitely glad I did. Rachel is right, it really does set you up for the day! I wouldn't recommend doing it on a carpetted floor in flannelette pyjamas though. I now have slight friction burns on my elbows. I think I'll change into a t-shirt tomorrow.

Today might have been easier for being a Monday, and it was a busy work day for me. Lunch was potentially tough. I was at a business co-working event where the lunches were all variations on sandwiches, with chips. I stayed strong though and tucked into my salad with roast chicken and by the time I'd finished that luscious 'chip smell' had mostly faded from te room we were to work in all afternoon... I followed the co-working event with a free swim, jacuzzi and sauna in the spa facility at the hotel and I did actually do some swimming before relaxing so I managed to fit in TWO lots of excercise today! Although I have to admit that having access to a free spa did help my motivation just a little bit.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself, first things first. Breakfast! This was slightly tricky because my other half had a long run planned for this morning so needed to have a carb day. We'd pre-cooked some brown rice so I did two variations our egg fried vegetables, one with and one without rice and they were yummy! Well, the rice-free one was anyway.

Doesn't that look good?

Here's the recipe for the rice-free version. If you're having a carb day you can add pre-cooked brown rice in the last few minutes of cooking.

Ingredients

3 eggs, beaten
Olive or coconut oil
A large handful of purple sprouting broccoli, chopped
Green beans, chopped
5 mushrooms, chopped
Half a yellow pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped

Heat approx 1 tbs oil in a large non-stick frying pan and add the eggs. Keep stirring them until they're cooked through (and scrambled), then remove them from the pan and set aside.

Add another tbs oil to the pan and thrown in all the veg. Stir fry until they are cooked through, but still a little bit crunchy then tip the scrambled eggs back in and stir them through. Remove from the heat, serve and enjoy!

This is a great breakfast option as it's pretty quick and simple and you can use any veg that you have to hand.

I came home to find tea waiting for me! I'd put liver and onions into the slow cooker in the morning and my lovely partner had steamed a huge pile of cualiflower, broccoli and cabbage to go with it so I was sitting down to a slap up meal within five minutes of walking through the door! I only have one work day like this a fortnight so it's a real treat for me to experience a bit of role reversal and my other half really pulled it off.

I need to say here that the liver dish didn't work so well in the slow cooker. Usually meat is extremely juicy when slow cooked so I hope this would help combat the liver's tendency towards being dry, but it didn't. Clearly, a quick, hot cook is the only way to go with liver, so I won't add this recipe to the blog. It was still tasty, just a little dry.

Tonight I went out to the local pub to meet some friends and once again was very good, drinking just water and herbal tea and staying strong when the popadoms, chutney and curry came out. It made me realise I must be through the withdrawal phase now. I've had a busy, long day with an early start and I haven't felt overly tired, and I've had very little problem avoiding all kinds of temptations. Long may it continue!