Illegal photos

This is a complete no no on the 4HB. Rice crackers slathered in butter and Marmite XO. Yeah that's how I roll. I'm 30 and I'm fly ;)

The days since cheat day

I have been pretty busy since cheat day, so I've got a few days to cover with this post.

Sunday
I felt lethargic after the carb overload on cheat day! Catherine and I had a 3 hour training walk at 7am with our friend Majella. We are getting ready to walk the 50km event at Coastrek, an event that starts at Balmoral on the Northshore and follows the coastline until Coogee in the Eastern Suburbs. Our training sessions are meant to familiarise ourselves with the route and prepare our bodies for the varying terrain that we will cover. On Sunday we walked from Rose Bay along the coastline to finish at The Gap, enjoying a challenging walk.

From The Gap we went to Bondi Junction for an hour of yoga. To say I was tired after that would be an understatement! After grabbing a coffee (illegal cappucino!) we went home to chill out before our friend Esther's birthday party. An intense episode of tidying followed before I managed to sit in front of the TV and fall asleep for half an hour. I highlight this because despite "doing" stuff, I skipped my long training run (until Monday night) and overall felt lethargic and pretty crap. The day after cheat day is pretty horrendous.

Monday
Naturally Monday could not come soon enough, if only to take my mind off food. However I was reminded at my lunch break how hard this diet can be if you are not organised. I hadn't cooked anything on Sunday for Monday lunch and I was too tired/lazy after socialising and skyping. As a result Monday's lunch consisted of 3 sausages, 3 carrots and a generous handful of salted (not healthy) cashew nuts. This wouldn't be a problem if it was just the once, however my long run put paid to any cooking on Monday night too.

Monday Training 
So the long run of 11 miles (17km) was a good training run, if a little sluggish at times. I decided to run from home down to Tamarama where I picked up the coastal path and ran to Bondi beach. Fortunately for me the weather was atrocious; heavy drizzle with a cool wind, temerature 19 degrees, so I was loving the start of my run. From Bondi beach I ran the reverse of the City to Surf course. I needed to run slower than previous runs and clock 8:55 per mile, so the hills at North Bondi, Rose Bay to Double Bay and Double Bay to Edgecliff certainly helped tame my speed! Aside from a couple of moments I felt strong and distracted myself on the big hills with tax calculations and other inane mind chatter. From Edgecliff I ran up the hill to Bondi Junction and finished strong running the last mile home up Bronte road.

Tuesday
As a result of my long run on Monday evening, Tuesday's lunch was sausages and carrots again! I have been doing a fair bit of carpentry these last few days and the client we have been working for is extremely hospitable. I couldn't turn down the cappucino she had prepared, I know, I am weak. But coffee is my go to drug of choice. Closely followed by chocolate. Sadly she also provided a brownie and millionaire's shortbread slice. I couldn't refuse it, that would be plain rude.

Tuesday Training
I joined Catherine at Power Living in BJ for yoga. We smashed a 90 minute hot yoga class, in which I left more water on the mat and floor than I'd drunk all day. Thank goodness for Elete....

Wednesday
Let's see, today is Thursday so yesterday must have been the day I went off the rails slightly. I bought a delicious flat white and ate a sausage roll. Oh god, I am going to burst into flames. Boy was that pastry delicious, freshly baked and supplied with another drug, tomato ketchup. I finished that day with a healthy meal, before tucking into Lindt 80% chocolate. Although not on the 4HB it is the healthier choice compared with Dairy Milk, Cadburys etc. Who am I kidding?! It's chocolate! This diet business sucks...

Wednesday Training
I met Catherine at the gym for my interval training. Catherine was doing her tempo run (which I am doing on Friday), so we got to have a small chat (novelty) before I needed to save my oxygen for running. I ran 3x1 mile intervals at 6:48min/mile (14-14.5kph, 4 min/km), with the last one ramping all the way up to 22kph for a fast finish. Felt strong, BOOM!

Thursday
Today I failed again (let's face it, I've given up on the 4HB again!) after a good start of protein shake within 30 minutes of waking. I trained a client (personal training that is) and then swung by my local caff to say hi to our friend Rosie, who has just returned from Blighty and good ole London Town. Naturally I had to have one of her flat whites as they are like the Columbian Cocaine of the coffee world. Plus I was a LITTLE hungy, so I may have eaten an "Australiana": bacon, egg, cheese and barbecue sauce in a tasty ciabatta. Lordy was that good. So good in fact that I didn't eat until getting home 10 hours later. HOWEVER, an interesting thing presented itself. Despite not eating and having not had chickpeas, lentils or any other legume known to man for a good twelve hours, I had a visibly flattter stomach. No bloating at all and my waist was down to 32 inches from 34!

Thursday Training
Decided to take a rest tonight as I have to shift concrete tomorrow, do a 7 mile run and then help guide Majella on a three hour walk. I love making things difficult ;)

I don't know quite what all this means yet, but I am loosely holding onto this conclusion.

1. Legumes don't agree with me and may from here on be considered the devil's/god's food, depending on your religious persuasion. Unless smelling like a skunk is considered a sign of good health.
2. I function well without any food when I am fuelled by two things, 1) good coffee, 2) stress. 
3. Excessive amounts of sugar, shit quality bread, many forms of dairy (read cheese, milk, shit chocolate, yoghurt, ice cream) don't agree with me, even if I've avoided them for a whole week before a massive splurge. 
4. I can function on reduced amounts of obvious carbs (rice, quinoa, bread), provided I eat vegetables like a Panda eats bamboo.
5. Reduced carbs make me cranky. Excessive carbs make me lethargic (who would've guessed!) Next test diet is to find the perfect balance, so that I can do a physical job, train myself, train other people, have a social life and sleep well.

So until next time I am ending this test of the 4 Hour Body. I have dropped 1.5 kilos in 2 weeks, 2 inches of my waist and I'm still running my training times on pace if not quicker. However I consider living life to be slightly more important right now ;)

Happy training,

Tom :)

The CHEAT DAY summary (Achilles version)

I'm sure that all my Achilles friends have enjoyed reading of my attempt to pack in the sugars, dairy and other 4 Hour Body naughties today. But I wanted to reel off a list of the foods I ate as photos aren't exactly Achilles friendly.

Breakfast

I started the day with:
Tea and 2.5 slices of raisin toast. On reflection I should've had eggs on toast just to start the day with a little protein. But I may have overdosed on eggs in the week, so the thought of a few more was too much to bear.

Snack 1

There will be lots of sub-headings named "snack" as most of what I ate today doesn't constitute a proper meal. Its cheating after all.

1 large flat white with free mini chocolate from the happy people at Sabbaba, Bondi Junction.
1 Aussie Bodies mint choc protein bar. I almost ate this whilst in the supermarket whilst doing our weekly shop. I had to physically restrain myself at the last minute as I was pulling Aussie Bodies protein bars of the shelves and didn't want to get into a shoplifting dilemma.
1 almond croissant. I was looking forward to this, but in the end it was just a croissant with almonds on the outside. Don't they know it needs loads of sweet almond filling inside! Disappointing.

Snack 2

I would say lunch as it was midday, but that comes after this at the beach bbq.

2 pieces of cheese on toast, liberally doused with Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. Try saying Worcestershire sauce if you are American. Preferably in front of strangers.
1 piece of toast with Marmite. Sadly not XO marmite, just normal. Should've had seconds.
Possibly 1 cup of tea.
A small Lindt snowman chocolate
3 Walkers shortbread fingers. Definitely had tea with these. Awesome!

Barbeque lunch at Coogee beach

We hit Coogee for our friend Caitlin's birthday celebrations. We were quite active playing frisbee, doing handstands and performing some acro. Possibly unnecessarily active.

1.5 stuffed mushrooms (basically a burger on top of a mushroom)
Lots of crisps
1 mushroom burger in a tasty seeded roll
More crisps
3 salami sandwiches with pesto using Pei's world famous bread (light on salami, heavy on bread)
More crisps
3 year matured cheddar seeded roll
1 Maxibon ice cream (the king of shop bought ice creams. Don't argue that a Golden GayTime is better, it's a terrible name for anything)
1 large flat white

Snack 3/possibly dinner

Amazingly cheesy nachos (homemade by Dane "the magician" Heimann)
1 glass of ridiculously sweet, yet delicious wine (possibly a dessert wine, thus explaining said sweetness)

Dessert/much more likely dinner (CHEAT DAY style)

At least half a tub of Ben & Jerrys Phish Food ice cream
2 small glasses of red wine

Snack 4
Several Smarties (chocolates not a street word for drugs)

That concludes my feast of CHEAT DAY. I can tell you that I drank a huge amount of water as recommended by the 4HB.

Tomorrow Catherine a.k.a Cate, Dave, David, Curly, the flying Fox and myself have a 2 hour training walk for coastrek, 1 hour of yoga and at least 1 hour 40 minutes of running to do. I'll update you on how we get on tomorrow night.

Til then chaps, goodnight!

Tom ;)

I feel sick!

It has happened, I've reached critical mass. After the last post I've consumed cheese nachos and at least half a tub of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream.

I wouldn't say this is the fullest I've ever felt, but I don't think I'll be eating anymore food tonight!

Tomorrow we have a 2 hour training walk for Coastrek, then yoga and finally an 11 mile (17.6km) training run. So I think I will feel better by Monday.

My final post tonight will be for my friends from Achilles. I'll update you on tomorrow's activities in the evening.

Tom : )

Making Pei proud

Our friend Pei has recently had Wolverine type surgery after an Acro accident. I'm not sure if she has Adamantium in her shoulder, but I'm sure she'll come back stronger.

As she has been keeping up with my eating exploits via this blog, I am eating the next round of CHEAT DAY food in her honour. So when I'm feeling sick later Pei it's all thanks to you!

Thanks to Pei for the AMAZING homemade bread she brought to the beach earlier. That went down a treat with the spicy salami and pesto featured in the previous post.

Tom :)

P.S I ate a Maxibon ice cream after the flat white and before the sugary cherry coke and that is dessert wine before dessert! Get in my son!

Cheating continued

My friend Pei has reminded me that I've not really been cheating. So let me ramp things up!

Cheating has begun!

I may have missed some photo ops since breakfast (raisin toast, tea, flat white and an almond croissant), but now the good times begin!

We are off to our friend Caitlin's birthday celebration at the beach soon. So I'll be stuffing my greedy face and updating you with photos. For now though sit back, relax and enjoy my cheat day!

Note the healthy fruit included, which is not allowed during the week.

Tom : )

Another food photo

I'm out of quirky post titles, but here's the previous two ingredients, heated up and slammed together like a car crash of deliciousness.

Ok it's still just aubergine and lentils, but honestly it's tasty. Trust me.

Photos of food!

I am aware that good doesn't last long enough to take a photo of. So here's a photo of one of the aubergine lunches I made.

It ain't rocket science. Cut an aubergine in half, then slice the outside of each half. That way the aubergine (eggplant for my Aussie/American friends) sits flat in the oven pan.
Score a criss cross on top with a knife, drizzle olive oil and rub into cuts with hands.
Pour passata sauce into oven dish, lay aubergine on top. Add garlic or seasoning as desired.
Stick in a preheated oven at 180C for 60 mins. Prep time 5-10 mins max and you don't need to worry about watching it cook. Just put a timer on so that you don't forget!

Red lentils are easy too. Boil water, sling appropriate amount of lentils in, cook for 20 mins on a simmer, by which time they will look like lentil mash and be more yellow in colour. I add a veg stock cube and stir it in to give flavour. Any extra can be put in box in fridge and eaten hot or cold.

Boom!

Bye bye beans!

It has been a couple of days since my last confession father, but I have not sinned, much....

Since Monday's post I have cut out the old beans and I'm still performing rather well in the running department. My social scores have increased as well and I have felt safe to attend a hot yoga session without gassing 40 unsuspecting people. My sins have included a small amount of rice with a sushi lunch and a couple of cappucinos, please forgive me!

I went to hot yoga on Tuesday night for 90 minutes and sweated out at least a towel and a half worth of water. This particular class (Power Vinyasa) has a heated room temperature of 30 degrees and is focused on the "flow" (read continuous movement), resulting in a challenge for the cardio respiratory system and muscular strength. I find it perfect for reaching a deeper stretch for my tight running muscles than the "cooler" classes of Power Align and Basics. Having said that I will be going to a Yin class on Sunday, as the whole class is much slower and cooler, but the poses are held for 5 minutes each. Think pretzel shape yoga and you won't be far off. Well, not me, maybe Catherine ;)

Yesterday morning was run training and a lovely little speed work session. This consisted of 5 x 1000m intervals run at 4:08 (14.5km/hr or 9mph), with 400m recoveries. I have to admit that I was pretty lethargic yesterday morning and was feeling the after effects of a tough yoga practice. My first interval almost didn't happen, but with the beauty of peer pressure (Catherine watching from the bike) I got through the first one. After that it was plain sailing. For the recoveries I brought the speed down to a walk for 250-300m, then into a comfortable run for the last 100m. This gave me a chance to focus on good running technique for each interval, with the last one increased to 16kph for the last 100-150m, just to finish strong.

All this chat about training is boring no? So let's talk food, yum! I'll keep this short as most of the meals are the same. Lunches and dinners have consisted of baked aubergine with chickpeas in a passata sauce. Yesterday I cooked a load of lentils, some organic beef mince and peas and sweetcorn. Technically the sweetcorn isn't allowed on the 4HB during the week, but it is a fave of Catherine's, so I knew it would put a smile on her face. As I have probably mentioned before the meals tend to be the same, perhaps boring, but ultimately easy to make in large quantities and freeze if needed. After all the whole week builds up to the best day of all - CHEAT DAY!! It's on Saturday, so keep afoot of the action (I will post photos of the decadence) by checking back on Saturday through the day. 

Before cheat day I have to hit the gym for a strength training and bike session tonight, followed by a 7 mile tempo run tomorrow at 5am and an 11 mile long run on Saturday (forthwith known as CHEAT DAY). Happy days!

What have you all been up to lately? Let me know by posting abuse and comments. I'm mainly interested in your training and nutrition and exciting past times. So don't bore me like I do to you ;)

Happy training all,

Tom :)

Wind power

My testing of the 4 Hour Body continues with each of my marathon training sessions. Last night I ran 10 miles approximately 13 seconds a mile quicker than target pace. Now there are a few reasons this run went so well. It could have been because I had eaten regularly and sufficiently to ensure my energy and mood levels were high. There is the possibility (though unlikely) that having done cheat day on Sunday I may have had a mini carb loading of my muscles, thus packing them with glycogen ready for an exertion such as this. Or the more likely scenario is that the copious amounts of beans I have had to eat on this diet have given me a significant (and possibly illegal) boost of wind power, thus enabling me to knock significant time off my mileage.

Wind power is probably a one trick pony. Aside from the obvious benefits of improving running times, I can't see any other benefit. Unless you value your alone time and see the ability to clear rooms, perhaps even floors as a benefit. There is also the bloating experienced from eating beans, which although useful in certain life threatening aquatic scenarios isn't the best look.

'Why haven't you soaked them?' I hear you cry. Well the tinned beans we use have been soaking for quite a while, which should help break down the indigestible starches. Also I have been using organic beans (as recommended) wherever possible. It could be the variety of beans we have been consuming; cannellini, kidney beans, green baby lima beans and northern beans that have caused the issues.

Catherine and I have come to the conclusion that life is too short to find out which bean is the culprit. So we are just going to knock them all on the head instead. We will still have chickpeas, green beans and the odd kidney bean in a chili, just every other day. The only trouble is that this means eating more veggies/protein to replace the lost calories and ensure that I can still get close to my record wind powered run times.

Somehow I think I will survive and maybe my friends might want to speak to me again....

Tom :)

The day after cheat day

Yesterday was Sunday and the day after "cheat day". It was a joy to get back to a healthy way of eating  after consuming pies, pastries, coffees and pizza. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy all of those things, but I think Christmas exceeded my limit (is that even possible?) of crap food stuffs.

Sunday consisted of a scrambled egg breakfast with a black coffee. I can't say I love black coffee, but as I'm not allowed milk it is the only option (aside from black tea) that I can drink. As my friend Dane said to me today "you could just not drink coffee". An excellent suggestion sir, I'd not thought of that ;)

Cate ran 10 miles yesterday morning, so after she recovered (slightly) from that we both went to yoga. A nice basics session at PLAY in Bondi Junction loosened up some tired limbs. Once back home Cate was out like a light for awhile, so I cooked up a storm in the kitchen.

I made three separate dishes of about 8 meals for the week ahead. All of them contained protein, legumes and veggies as required by the 4 hour body. I think C ate the spiced chickpea, broccoli, carrot and red pepper stir fry for lunch, whilst I had veggie teriyaki. Most of these meals are very similar, perhaps only differing in the spice or sauce that accompanies them, so it makes them easy to produce quickly and in large quantities. The key to sticking to any regime is to prepare in advance, FACT!

After an afternoon visit to the beach we settled down to dinner at home. I shovelled in a tasty plate of beef sausages with two mushroom burgers. As a side I had a couple of raw carrots with hummus. The hummus covers the legumes part, so this was a simple meal to make and still cover the 4HB requirements. Cate ate a veggie burger and salad leaves, with carrot and hummus as a side.

My evaluation of the day is that when it's a sunny afternoon I want ice cream. Fortunately eating on the 4HB does mean that cravings are reduced, as you feel full and blood sugar appears to much steadier. I haven't had any hunger pangs or light headed moments. As per normal my ultimate test comes in training and noting my energy levels and performance with times. So I shall update you tomorrow on how I get on with my ten mile run this evening.

Tom :)

Cheating in style

After saying I would post photos of cheat day food I got lost in two meat pies, a coconut slice and my delicious coffee and forgot!

But fear not I remembered (just) to get a photo of dinner.

Am actually looking forward to getting back on the 4HB and a ten mile run tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend,

Tom :)

Day 3 - CHEAT DAY!

Ok so I really am cheating because I've only done two days of the 4 hour body and already I am cheating. There is one reason behind this, coffee! I've not drunk a flat white in two days (yes they are that good in Sydney), so I'm doing a partial cheat day today. This means I won't be making myself sick (like full cheat days), but enjoying a flat white and a sandwich. Otherwise all will be normal.

In fact this post will be quite disappointing because I won't have lots of photos of sweet things through the day. I will be updating you with some later, but for now I can happily tell you that I enjoyed a flat white and a bagel this morning. Naturally I got my 30g of protein in at brekkie first with a protein shake.

So until later guys, enjoy your weekend!

Tom :)

4HB day 2

Yesterday was day two of the 4 hour body so I'll start there with my update.

I began the day with two fried eggs and dry fried (and mashed) kidney beans. This was a simple and tasty brekkie, which I cooked with a little coconut oil and lightly seasoned with pepper. As per the instructions,of the 4HB I ate within 30 minutes of waking to stabilise blood sugar levels. I have found this to be the key for adhering to the plan as it seems to reduce cravings and hunger later in the day. When I did the 4HB previously it was also a key factor in eating enough daily calories. Where as before I may have only eaten 150kcals at breakfast I am now eating 2-300. Not a huge amount, but it will help to ensure less muscle wastage.

After running 6 miles in training I realised I hadn't prepped any lunch beforehand. Fortunately I'd bought veggie burgers for this situation, so after a quick double carrot hummus snack I tucked into two veggie burgers, with two fried eggs. Job done.

We had friends round for dinner last night, so I knocked up a veggie bake. This consisted of pre-cooked red lentils (seasoned with herb & garlic mix), a layer of passata, pre-steamed broccoli, carrot and roasted peppers, topped with pre-grilled aubergine (eggplant for all the aussies and yanks). It's pretty much ready to serve once it's pre-cooked, but the passata needs a warm through, so it went in the oven for 20 minutes. Simple!

I'm not specifically avoiding meat, but after eating a fair amount over Xmas it helps to cleanse the system. Catherine however is doing the 4HB "veggie style", which is a much trickier task (at least it would be for me!)

Catherine and I both find we have plenty of energy for training and are less lethargic. I ran my 5 mile tempo session 9 seconds per mile quicker than target pace (7:43/7:52).

There are two other key points to remember. Firstly to make sure you eat every four hours to maintain steady blood sugar levels. Secondly that you drink water regularly throughout the day to help your body metabolise fat for energy and to help your digestive system and gut to properly process your food.

There are other key points I'll highlight over the course of these posts, but to find out more just check out: http://fourhourbody.com

4 Hour Body - Day 1

Day one is almost over and it has been a breeze. Being prepared is the key to the 4 Hour Body working. Yesterday I cooked a simple veggie stir fry so there was enough for lunch for Catherine and me. (See photo)

For dinner I've cooked aubergine parmigiana (all be it without the cheese) with some quorn sausages (see second photo).

I'm still eating meat, but am cutting back after Xmas in order to help my digestive system recover! The leftovers will be lunch tomorrow. Normally we would cook a huge amount, box it up and have it through the week. That will come at the weekend when I can commit a couple of hours to cooking.

Today's training was cross training. I chose to do vinyasa yoga at lunchtime as I've been away from it for so long. I find it challenging as it is in a heated room, but it certainly develops my flexibility and balances out the running sessions nicely.

Catherine hit the gym to spin on the bike and do some 'bodyrock' training this morning.

Tomorrow we both have a seven mile tempo run to do, so I'll fill you in on how that works out.

Tom :)

Back on the wagon

Thanks to a few close friends our Christmas passed with laughter, fun and a great deal of eating. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending how you look at it) I will be back at work, soon. I am completely non-specific about when because my boss wrote off his van and has been getting back on his feet the last two weeks. Despite my position of uncertainty and near bankruptcy I am filled with a fantastic sense of motivation and urgency.

This new motivation is not because it is January (as a former fitness instructor I don't believe in New Year's resolutions), but is due to the enjoyment of explaining the 4-hour body to our friend Jim. Jim has been staying with us over the last couple of weeks and we have enjoyed many a flat white, Asahi, pastry and delicious dinners with him. On his last night (yesterday) we got onto talking about the 4-hour body (4HB), which Catherine and I had been fans of back in London. By telling Jim the fundamentals of this way of eating (w.o.e) (note: not a diet) I began to remember how effective it was. Yes it had its drawbacks, I remember feeling like I had turned into a lentil with the amount I was eating. But this w.o.e works and as I am determined (no really I am) to break my PB I thought the 4HB would help my drop some kg's and get me there. After all its our diet that lets us down most of the time, not our inability to train.

So tomorrow Catherine and I will be back on the 4HB and what better way to document this small journey than to blog about it! I thought I'd keep it simple and write a small post every day on how I was feeling in the first couple of weeks. This is the time when headaches, nausea, lethargy and any other numerous feelings will surface as we remove the "white" carbs and focus on the 4HB. It will be interesting to see how the weight changes. I just got back from the gym and my measurements stack up as follows:

1. Weight: 89.1kg (probably the heaviest I've been for a year)
2. Waist: 33in (84cm)
3. Chest: 40in (101.5cm)
4. Glutes (mid backside): 40in
5. Thighs (10in up from patella): 23in (58cm)

I don't have my body fat measurement, but I intend to get a DEXA scan done in the next couple of weeks to see how I progress. I will retest the above every 4 weeks and the body fat post marathon in April. 

Aside from writing about our progress I will post photos of the meals and our cheat days (every Saturday as per the 4HB), just so you can see how easy it is to adopt. Check out the 4HB by Timothy Ferriss for the whole story. I will also update you on our marathon training (check out the FIRST program through runners world for more info) as we progress through the weeks. This weeks is only week two, so there's a lot still to come! My target for April is 3:30-3:40 and Catherine is aiming for a sub-3:45 marathon. 

Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments section or let me know of your own goals this year.

Wishing you all a very happy new year,

Tom :)