The day of rest

The day after the night before is something we all know about. The hangover from excessive revelry hurts the head, makes us sensitive to anything more than darkness and reduces our Sunday to nothing more than a day of rest, praying for it to end. I'm sure this is not what God had in mind when he wanted people to rest on the seventh day and praise him.

The hangover from cheat day is not entirely different. I ended up with a headache for most of the day, a stomach whose acidity was off the scale and intestines that felt like they'd eaten several hot curries. I wasn't quite praying for it to be over, but I knew what I needed to do.

After training my client in the morning I managed a breakfast of sausage and egg. I have to admit I finished off the last of the fresh bread and I had a cup of tea! This isn't as bad as having a chocolate bar, but it wasn't quite the 4HB.

Through the day I ate a lot less than normal. My stomach was protesting some what and so I gave it a small chance to recover before a minor slip of two lattes and a pint of Guinness. I can't remember when I last had a Guinness, but it tasted good!

So when I returned home we got to sorting ourselves out and cooked up a delicious meal of stir fried beef, peppers, courgette and leek with lentils and cauliflower. I rounded this off with a few teaspoons of ground peanut butter (just ground nuts no added salt or sugar) to tie me up for the night.

After a day of feeling below par I was actually looking forward to Monday! Everything in moderation, even cheat day!

T :-)




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The marvellous cheat day

The time has arrived, the moment is now, yes my friends it is cheat day!

Today has been built up in my mind all week. It has felt like the longing for a weekend break or the excitement the night before going on holiday. Now it is here and I can eat what I like!

I started the day early as England played Romania in the Rugby World Cup. It was a 7am kick off, so I got up at 630 to get the grill on and get cooking! Breakfast of a sausage and egg sandwich was washed down with a steaming cup of tea whilst watching England take apart the Romanians. Fantastic! The bread was fresh from our bakery and a great way to start cheat day.

Today was a day of chores and relaxing. The two don't usually go together, but when you have OCD getting the chores done helps you relax. Catherine and I had a small road trip in our Streetcar to drop my brother's HUGE television back to his flat in south London. To accompany us on this journey Catherine bought three almond croissants from the bakery, a chai latte for her and a latte for me. Now I have managed a week without my lovely lattes and pastries and it hasn't bothered me. I've always felt content with my meals and not needing to snack. However when that pastry and almond filling hit my taste buds it was like a firework had been lit in my mouth. Adding to that the "petrol" that is a latte and I felt on top of the world. Needless to say that the confined space of a car is not the place to suddenly have an energy boost.

Chores were rounded off with a trip to Morrisons to purchase the week's food supply. If you had seen the amount of food we bought, you'd mistakenly think we were feeding a family. However most of it was vegetables, fish and beans to restock the supplies. Sunday was to be cook off time when we prepared for the week's meals.

On returning home we had made plans to eat cakes from the bakery, drink coffees and eat ice cream. Instead we sat down to relax and ended up staying in for the rest of the day. Tea was drunk by the bucket load and biscuits were eaten like grapes. Everything from Jammie Dodgers to Snickers ice creams was present for our feast. If it contained sugar then I ate it. In fact we ate so much rubbish (I feel slightly sick from it) that come dinner time we didn't feel like eating anything, but we did! It was cheat day after all, we had to make the most of being able to eat whatever we liked. So pizza and garlic bread was delivered and we sat down to eat a HUGE pizza with additional garlic, tomato pizza. All washed down with a healthy supply of gin and tonic!

To sum up cheat day I can honestly say that it made me a little sick. Not only physically from the amount of rubbish we ate, but also from the gluttony and greediness that I displayed. It was a idiotic mindset of "it's cheat day, so I must eat rubbish as I won't be able to eat it all week". However on a positive note it has made me want to get back to the 4HB straight away and look forward to having veggies and no rubbish tomorrow. I think next week I will be a little more reserved and thoughtful on cheat day. Much like how I have acted in the week really. It's an important but sickening lesson to learn.

Roll on next week!

T :-)

That Friday Feeling

Today is Friday (thank goodness) and I have that Friday feeling because tomorrow is a special day. A day when all my week's dreams can come true and I am a free man, free to roam the land. Yes that's right, tomorrow is "Cheat Day". Tomorrow I will be able to eat all the cakes I can stuff into my Sloth face. I'll be able to drink Lattes like my life depended on it. I shall swim in a sea of dairy, whilst experiencing a sugar high of epic proportions. But that's tomorrow. Today is NOT cheat day.

Today kicked off with an early start at 445am. I had a client to cycle to for 530am, so I hit the chocolate protein shake to start the day off.

After my first client of the day I headed to Sheila's in Lancaster Gate, a great taxi driver's cafe. There I had two fried eggs with bacon and two coffees. Yes it isn't cheat day, but fat is good!

A little more cycling and one client later I had finished for the day (part timer!) I arrived back at home to shower and pack a lunch for meetings in canary wharf. Lunch was thai red cod with lentils and vegetables. Simple yet effective.

I was lazy again today and didn't cook a dinner. But I keep finding I'm not hungry at the end of the day, so my motivation to eat is reduced. This is probably why I am suffering sometimes on the energy front. Despite not having dinner I managed some hummus and carrots instead, with a little Natural peanut butter (just ground peanuts). I have to admit that Catherine and I celebrated the end of our week with a gin and tonic. Otherwise this week went without hitch.

I am looking forward to tomorrow and the chance to indulge, but I have the feeling that it won't be as amazing as I think. I've got used to the diet and not having any white carbs, dairy or fruit. Let's see what happens....

T :-)





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Tom's cake of the week

As part of the Four Hour Body experiment on myself I have been looking forward to the finer things in life. "Cheat Day" is the one day a week when I can eat as many "white carbs" as possible. However I don't want to have any old rubbish! I've been thinking of cakes and pastries of the most spectacular taste and texture, worthy of Royalty.

Sorry I got lost there for a moment. So as part of the weekly ritual of "Cheat Day" I shall be posting "Tom's cake of the week" every Friday. When I say cake I mean it in a loose sense, so that it may include pastries, pancakes, bread items and generally anything sweet that has been made to the highest specification.

So in future I welcome your suggestions, but please be upstanding for Tom's cake of the week...

Mrs. Clafoutis

An oven baked pancake, which is soft and topped with fruit. This photo doesn't do it justice, so feel free to check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clafoutis and Google away.

My personal recommendation is to have it with a cup of English Breakfast Tea, perhaps Twinings Everyday...

Thursday Smursday

Righty right!

Feeling good today, despite not sleeping that well last night. I am getting up a lot for the bathroom in the middle of the night. However I am going to try out the sleep chapter from the Four Hour Body book. That will require a little nap and then hopefully a steady routine of 6-6.5 hours sleep. Job done.

I started at 6am with a protein shake before cycling off to Arsenal stadium to lead a client through her intervals around the stadium. After a good little session I zipped back home to a nice plate of scrambled eggs and smoked hoki (fish) to set me up for the day.

I hit the office (read bakery) to work on my latest project and resumed my daily routine of a large black coffee. Despite hating coffee a few years ago I now love it. Normally I'm a latte man, but that's out because of the milk. So it's black coffee all the way. It take a little getting used to, but certainly clears the head and gets the metabolism going...

So off back home I returned to get some lunch together as the coffee had made me hungry. I threw together some smoked haddock (that I had cooked this morning), red lentils and stir fried veg and stuck it into a box to take to Canary Wharf.

One coffee later I was heading home after a meeting to get my second lunch. A lovely piece of salmon, red lentils and veg was the treat that I made for myself. Oh not to forget the two fried eggs I dropped in there for additional protein and fat!

Well filled I headed off to client training along the Thames.

For a later snack/dinner I got some smoked mackerel on my way home and some baby spinach leaves. An easy way of getting some food without having to cook it! Off I went to bed for a 430am start on Friday...

T :-)

4HB Day 3

Today was a continuation of feeling good and having plenty of energy to train clients.

I started the day with a protein shake. As much as I enjoy eggs and leftovers I am trying to keep breakfast varied so I don't go mad! On the days that I have time to sit down I eat eggs with fish and beans or have dinner leftovers from the fridge.

For lunch I had coley (a meaty white fish) with stir fried veg and beans. Keeping to the four hour schedule is sometimes difficult. If I know I can't do it I'll eat at 2/3 hours after a meal to keep the energy on board.

I had a second lunch today of 2 salmon fillets with stir fried veg and lentils. Despite it being a full plate I felt nicely filled afterwards, no bloating here!

After training clients I was out for dinner for a friends birthday. They had chosen Italian, which I thought would be troublesome. However there was a wide selection of salads to choose from, so I had tuna nicoise and felt nicely filled after.

Overall today I am realising how my perception of food is changing. I am using it to fuel myself, but finding a contentment and satisfaction from my food that I didn't experience before. By not having any white carbs I am tasting and savouring foods more and of course looking forward to cheat day on Saturday!

T :-)


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Location:Belsize Park, London

Diet or Eating Lifestyle

If you are looking after your health or trying to lose weight then you are probably searching for a diet. The trouble with searching for a “diet” is what we read (even this) may not be suitable for us as individuals.

Do you ever see a new diet and ask “why was that created?” If you do then I commend you. But if you are like most people then you will read about the latest diet craze and start to believe that it is perfect for you. If the media (bless ‘em) have done their job properly, then you will hear about this new diet on radio, tv and in a numerous selection of magazines and newspaper pullouts. Suddenly your own opinion (you wish) of this diet is reinforced, it must work! In all honesty it will work, for a week or two. You’ll lose weight and think “this is great!” Then the honeymoon period will wear off and some event will knock you off the tracks. You’ll start to think that now that you’ve lost the weight you can go back to what you used to do and it’ll stay off, it’ll be fine. But it doesn’t and it isn’t fine, as you put on the weight you lost, plus a few pounds for good measure. Psychologically you’ve gone through the mill and your body has too. You are now heavier than when you started and demoralised by your diet experience. You’ll be put off diets and possibly fitness too.

Now what could you have done differently?

Well my starting point would be “why has this diet been created?” “Who created it and what is their motivation for doing so?” Finally I would ask myself “will I be able to make this diet a permanent part of my life or will it only last a couple of months?”

There are numerous other questions you could ask yourself. If you do then that is great! Do not just accept what is printed in front of you, question, question and question some more! By “interrogating” the article/diet you will be able to work out whether the diet was created for financial gain (likely) or for health improvement. You’ll see whether it was created by a reputable coach, scientist, nutritionist or a celebrity backed by a multinational. Finally you’ll discover if you have any doubts as to its success over the long term. If you have doubts about it then you won’t succeed, move onto something else.

So what diet should I choose?

I don’t believe there is one diet for everyone, it is a matter of searching and self experimentation to find what works in the long run, not as a short term fix for your weight issues.

Don’t worry though I am not about to sell you the next big thing. Rather I want to give you a chance to view eating in a different, unconventional light. Maybe, just maybe you will be ready to give your all to one of these approaches to eating and sustain it for the long run. If you are not prepared to give it your all, don’t bother trying these diets. You have to be certain of what you want and how much you are prepared to sacrifice to get the body you desire. When you are at that point you’ll be ready for one of these:

1.  The Four Hour Body

This is the diet, or as I prefer to call it “eating lifestyle” that I am currently self experimenting. It requires a certain amount of organisation, but proffers results within the first couple of weeks. It is not for those who are dipping their toes into a diet. This is unconventional and will provide results if you stick to the diet. It’s as difficult as you make it, so be organised and buy in the food and think about what you eat, you won’t regret it.

2.  The Warrior Diet

A personal favourite that I tried a couple of years ago. It helped me to get off bread for awhile and as a result I now rarely eat pasta, have reduced my bread intake and think about the amount of wheat and processed products I consume. If you don’t like fruit or vegetables it can be tricky, but it depends how badly you want to achieve your goals...

3.  The Oz Diet

I haven’t tried the Oz Diet, but in a way it is what I would do if I wasn’t self experimenting. It’s a balanced approach to a diet, gets you to cut down or remove processed foods and for me is a common sense diet. It’s a healthy eating lifestyle, which could help you to lose weight and reduce your chances of coronary hear disease.

4.  The Metabolic Typing Diet

Again another favourite diet of mine. I first read the book 7 years ago, but it wasn’t until I tried it again this year that I realised how ideal this way of eating is. Firstly you answer over 60 questions on the way you eat, how food affects your mood and sleep and many other unusual areas. From these questions the book will highlight what metabolic type you lean towards. You could be a “fast oxidiser”, “mixed type” or “slow oxidiser”. How the questionnaire defines you will affect what foods you should eat for improved health, energy and weight control. It’s been used with thousands of the author’s patients, which is why I like it. It has been used to improve health firstly and aided in weight control as a result. Check it out.

I’ve tried most of the above diets and recommend you do the same to see what works. As a word of advice make sure you do exactly what it says in the book and stick to it for at least two weeks, ideally four. Take a notebook with you everywhere and note down any reactions; headaches, increased thirst, increased use of the toilet, bloating, gas. These are all indicators of what your body is doing. Don’t be surprised if you do get headaches and some gut issues as your body adjusts to a new way of eating.

Keep an eye on the blog this week as I keep up my experimentation with the Four Hour Body.

Happy eating!

Tom J

Moving on up

Today is Tuesday, day two of my 4HB experiment and I hope that the good feelings continue.

This morning I was a little out of sync on breakfast. I woke at 545am and cycled to train my client down the road at Chalk Farm. There wasn't time for a protein shake and I wasn't hungry at all despite not really having a dinner the night before. Thank goodness for almond butter!

In fact I completely forgot that I missed breakfast when I got home from training. I went to have a little ziz and woke up 2 hours later! So breakfast was well off schedule. However I filled up nicely with 2 fried eggs, beans, spring greens, cauliflower and peppers. The only slip was to have tea with milk. But dammit I'm English, it's hard not to!

Back on track with a full belly, this sloth went to a meeting. The other party didn't show, but I managed to have just a black coffee, no froth here!

On returning home I got caught up with work and subsequently didn't eat until 1500. I hadn't felt hungry in the time after breakfast though...result! I had a cajun chicken breast with cauliflower, peppers, spring greens and beans.

Slightly back on track I went to the bakery to do some work. It's a bakery/coffee shop, ultimately the biggest test of will power for a sloth like me on a diet like this. I did have a tea with milk, but spilt most of the milk on the floor so it was pretty dark. Good for the diet. I had a good productive hour before heading out to do my hill repeats on Parliament Hill.

Training went well, though trying to run fast up hill did make me want to hurl. Sloths just aren't designed to move at sub 6 minute mile pace! I had plenty of energy and brought it to a stop after 6 intervals as my times were getting worse. Always good to keep the quality and finish energised, not injured.

A sneaky chicken breast was consumed at 1830 as I had to head out to run with a client at 2000. Training went well and I still felt energised. I wasn't hungry until we finished, which was fine as I had packed some coley with pesto and stir fried veggies for dinner.

Day two was complete and again no complaints or urges for anything sweet. The veggies and protein are really helping to keep me filled and energised.

T :-)


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Location:Belsize Park, London

The 4HB - back on it

This week I will treat you to a number of blog posts about my experience of the Four Hour Body. There will also be my usual weekly blog tomorrow on diet.

The Four Hour Body (4HB) is an eating lifestyle that makes you feel great, helps you to lose fat and progresses you toward your fitness goals.

Monday 19th September

Today I returned to the 4HB with determination to succeed where I failed previously. The first time I tried the 4HB I managed a week before falling off the wagon. Rather than the diet being the problem it was my poor preparation and low consumption that made me stray.

As per the book I started my eating schedule shortly after waking with a protein shake. I would've had eggs, but I'd managed to sleep in and needed to get something to go.

Today wasn't a terribly active one until the evening, so I had to make a concerted effort to eat every for hours. I managed this by taking a lunchbox of fajita turkey, stir fried peppers and courgette, steamed broccoli, spring greens and cabbage as well as lentils. The box wasn't actually that big, it just contained a lot of different veggies!

When I got home in the afternoon at 3pm I reheated Cajun chicken, beans and vegetables for my second lunch. (Catherine had been super organised and cooked lots of food on Sunday night, the key to this diet working.)I added to this a handful of cashews and a couple teaspoons of almond butter as I was worried I'd get hungry in the evening.

It turned out that my evening was more active than I expected, running with clients. However I felt energised and didn't get any hunger pains at all. I got home at 830pm and still didn't feel hungry. To be honest I didn't feel like eating, so I ate some home grown cherry tomatoes with almond butter.

Overall I am amazed at the first day. I didn't have any bad hunger pains or feel lethargic. I need to eat more to ensure I have adequate energy for work. I did notice that through the day and night I went to the bathroom a number of times, despite not drinking a great deal of water. I put this down to not having White carbs and thus not retaining a lot of water. Overall my spirits and hopes are high for this week.

Catch you tomorrow!

T :-)








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Location:Belsize Park, London, England

When I write my blog I am always searching for ideas and asking people what they would like to read about. Sadly I don't write crime novels or wizard fiction, which is what people helpfully retort with. However from time to time somebody gives me a good idea.

This week this blog is dedicated to those people looking for exercises to change their workouts and spice things up a little. This blog is for the "gym rats" out there.

My first offering to you is a simple way to mix up your back exercises. The back is often neglected (especially with men) for chest and arm domination. However with a strong back we can work longer, play harder and become fitter.

You'll need access to a Smith machine in your gym or bar at an outdoor gym. The bar should be approximately at waist height. Position yourself under the bar as seen in the photograph above. Beginners start with legs bent as shown, advanced should have legs straight. With the arms straight, pull your body up as far as possible, aiming to reach your chest to the bar. Lower slowly back to the start and repeat for 8-10 reps, 60-90s recovery, for 3 sets.

The second exercise is a split squat hold and twist. Lunge forwards, perform a split squat and hold with the knee just above the ground. Now slowly rotate side to side, keeping upright with the abs drawn in for 10 reps total. Push back up to a standing position and repeat on the other leg. Watch the video below for assistance.

If you would like a personal program including videos and photos just contact me through www.tomalfry.co.uk 


Happy training :)

Run down sloth

If I was a half pint empty kind of man then I'd say the last week has been pants. The use of "pants" in this instance to signify utterly rubbish, not a pair of undergarments.

HOWEVER, I am not that man. I am merely a sloth with no cognitive recognition of personality or language. So instead this week has been slower than normal.

I've been struck down with a bug, or as the man in me likes to call it, "a gastric bug". Which despite sounding really awful, actually just defines the location and is a less "mumsified" name.

So this is the reason for no post last week. I sat on my perch with many hours on my claws; watching films, sleeping, resting (not unusual for a sloth) and not eating. I could've written a blog, I could've worked "online", but I'm not the person to tap out negative drivel, which would've been the product of being ill.

Now, I'm back! A slightly lighter, hairy, tree loving animal and I'm ready. Sloth ready. There's 5 weeks to my marathon (with little Adamson) and now the training reaches it's peak (perhaps for her more than me), the diet begins and the planning really kicks up a gear.

My great moment of light has arrived from being ill and unable to work, when I was miserable and negative last week. Back then I couldn't operate like my usual self, I was a spent man. Once I accepted I was ill it took over me, but boy did my body need it. It was telling me that enough was enough, now it is time for change. From darkness comes light. This "light" is a refreshed motivation to succeed and an inspiration to do more positive work that is positive for me.

So it is with this refreshed approach that I opened up my finances and started to do all the nasty jobs I've put off for so long. Things that have niggled away at the back of my mind and stressed me. With every energy we must help ourselves (in a positive way) first if we are to give to others our time, energy and good spirit.

So please take a moment, think about what YOU want and go after that dream. Live for the now, don't waste the time you have, who know's how long you'll last.

Tom the sloth :-)


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