I have calmed down a bit now, my early morning walks are excellent for getting my head straight. So good in fact that I have extended my route which I estimate now to be over 2 miles. I have some beautiful views from my house and as I follow around the summit of the hill around it changes but is never the same, sometimes it is breath taking. There is a female roe deer (the males have short antlers this time of year) that has taken up residence very close to my house, I already erected a large fence around the vege's, I see the deer every morning and it is a highlight. THis morning I finally found where the infernal wood pecker that is driving me mad with his pecking is living, I suspect that it is a lesser spotted by the size of the hole. He has been doing some hard work on an Oak tree.

Sorry to any overt greenies out there, I am a conservationalist myself and love the natural environment but last night I shot a rook which has been aggressive with the song birds in my garden. They steal eggs from nests and in my opinion are over populated now in this country (850k breeding pairs), this is because there is so much carrion on the roads. People wonder why song birds and tits are in such decline when the pressure from cats and magpies, rooks, crows, is so great. It was a hell of a shot from miles away and it was dead before it hit the ground. Only another 20 and I will have enough to donate to a local lady who makes a rook pie once a year in the next village.

Anyway, like I said I am now calm about the situation and will be travelling up to say good bye on Wednesday but not staying the night and I hope that it all goes well. It'll be an emotional time and I don't want to stay at his neighbours during it. The reasons why I am so upset about this situation are:

1.) Mainly: My children and myself will not be able to have regular input in their lives from their only maternal father/grandfather and this will be an eternal regret - my brother and sister will however recieve this
2.) and: He did not make any real attempt to explain his reasons for leaving to his first born son until directly asked and has not expressed any remorse or regret for making the move and point 1, instead just saying "Your mother will do it" and that we can "talk on Skype". Instead he has waxed lyrical about the things that he is going to do - drive a landrover around Oz which has rubbed my face in it, etc. This is thoughtless and also is a little confusing as up until now he has not had anything good to say about the country.
3.) My father is not being even handed with his children - he is taking steps to insure their future whilst not bothering with my twin and I because we are self sufficient (of course we are, we are 31 years old!)
4.) My father is being very cold towards his mother and brother because of a lack of even handedness from his mother towards his blind brother from when he was young, and probably to this current day - (sound familiar!)
5.) He did not make the effort to spend time with my twin sister and myself before leaving for Singapour to have a short holiday with my younger sister. This was probably his last opportunity to have us both in the same place, with the pressure off and house packed up, ever. He said that he did not have the time as he needed to go house hunting in Oz and that I was too far from the airport. He has the rest of his life to be close to my sister, he does not with us.
6.) Lastly, I will lose regular contact with my brother (15) and he is very special to me even though I don't necessarily fit into that part of the family even more. My ambition was to play a game of rugby with him and I will probably not get to do that now.

Sunday was pretty difficult on the food front. It sounds wierd but I have been craving something to eat, I don't care what, just something. Its not hunger, it is just something to eat. Your mind plays tricks on you trying to fulfil the need. I tried making "ice cream" with a banana flavour shake and soda water but I just didn't fit the bill, it was pretty horrid. Also, I am quite grumpy and short tempered but then again there is a lot going on so this is not surprising.

Today is easier and I am not really craving food as such. This time next week it will pretty much be over, just have to drop my twin off at the airport.

One other discover I made is that you should always follow the instructions on the packet when it comes to laxatives. Luckily I bought 6 new pair of crackers on Friday!

My titles are getting worse!

Officially lost 8lb last week according to LL calcs my BMI is 33 point somthing. My scales make it more though.

Pretty happy with that and the new regime is obviously working.

Nibs wife said that he was going to ask to go on the maangement early but last night he decided to do a couple more weeks on the diet (albeit with his own rules about having the odd meal).

Family wise things are very difficult. I was pretty honest with my Dad about him and the rest of the family emegrating to Oz, he has made a rational decision and has chosen that he will not be a regular part of my life and the life of my children (currently trying for these). I don't really like that, it is completely gutting for me and he has spent the last 6 months telling me how marvellous its all going to be out there. Never once stopping to explain his reasons for going, any regrets over leaving us and his future Grandchildren. He is also leaving me with a legacy of a 92 year old and 65 year mother and brother who are both blind. I will be the only remaining relative to provide support to these, he just says that it is not my responsbility and that they will use me in any way they can and are being selfish about not wanting him to go. It is very cold. He spent my childhood in Hong Kong and Saudi, now he is off to Oz for the rest of his life and will be too decrepid to return for visits within 5 or so years. You have to face facts that some people are not the people that you want them to be, no matter how much you look up to them. I will not be leaving myself open to feel like this again and I do not think that he realises it, if anyone else treated me like this then there would already be no relationship between us. I will be concentrating on the two step grandfathers avaialble to us who have provided much more support in our lives than he ever did. THe one on my side has always been there fore me and treated all us children equally. Dad needs a distinct paradym shift to see it from my point of view and he is not capable of this. In a lot of ways I just want to sever all contact, but I won't because I don't want to upset anyone else who I care about. Three years ago he told me that I was written out of the will and I said that I didn't mind as long as I could spend time with him. Now I can't even do that. My step mum repeated and rather flippantly says, "we can talk on Skype", but that is very different than seeing someone, especially men who do not like the phone.

The process of this griving in the context of the diet is probably a good thing. I think that a lot of the reasons that I used to over eat is that I went through some very dark times alone as a little boy when the folks split up and he moved to the other side of the world originally. I lost all my friends and quite frankly became the frightening kid at school with obvious issues. One time when I was three years from the top year at primary. I took every ball in the playground by force, it must have been about 10 or 15, faced off the entire school and said anyone who wanted one back would have to come and take it, imagine that, a little mental kid. The children pushed one boy much older than me out and I beat the living crap out of him and ended up in the head mistresses office unable to explain myself. Counselling didn't exist back then and I have always had a lot of self doubt from this period, I must have been mental and it really is very painful to look back. THe only time I was happy whas when I was at my grans house eating double roast dinners with 4 desserts all in one bowl, feeling really full, having a sherry at 11am, watching the wrestling and A-Team with my Grandad. Obviously I turned things around over the course of probably 10 years and have a full and happy life now full of friends but I am very scarred by the very accromoneous divorce that happened. Dad leaving again brought up a hell of a lot of stuff from the past that I suppose got surpressed, and far from being a bleeding heart liberal, I have spent a lot of time crying over the last week. Not for the loss now but because of what that little boy went through 25 or so years ago. He probably thinks that I am being selfish, I couldn't give a flying fuck what he thinks.

The other positive thing is that I am not drinking because of the diet, if I was then I would probably have been pissed for the last month.

They go on the 1st and I asked if they wanted to come and stay for a day or two to see me before leaving, they said that they didn't want to come that far, I am only 2 hours Heathrow for fucks sake. Sis on the 3rd so from then on its a fresh start for me, it is very very sad and difficult and my poor wife is really stuck int he middle, I must work out a treat for her to say thanks.

One a lighter note I got my bum pinched two days ago, first time in a while!

Angry man signing out, probably will not post for a while but MartineAngel, you keep going, you are doing very well.

I wish!

Got on the scales this morning and it hovered between 16s 1lb and 16s 2lb which is good as I was 16s 11lb last week, hopefully I will get a good result at Thursdays weigh in. Apart from that there is little to report. The new timings appear to ensure that I have enough energy during the day, although little is left by the time I get to bed. I am having all my water and food packs.

I am getting very worried about the amount of people who have lost a lot of weight and then put it all back on again. I have a nagging doubt in me that this is what is going to happen. Of the two men I know personally who have done this both stayed slim, but chat on the Internet is less hopeful.

Its worrying as this is taking a lot of effort. One new sympton is that I have started craving cigars, I haven't smoked for 7 years! Maybe it is my body being confused and hungry.

Anyway, over and out from here.

One other thing, drank 11 litres of water on saturday, its a new personal best. Nearly exploded. Gonna nail the loss this week.

I am making some breakthroughs whilst my contemporaries appear to be failing.

Friday night was spent in our bar testing the cocktails (me making them and my wife and sister drinking them). They got sozzled whilst I watched. In the end we picked 11 for the party, each one having a different primary ingredient and a couple made up ourselves (1 part pistachio syrup, 4 parts vanilla vodka and 8 parts lemonade being the most popular - we named it the "Green Devil").

Saturday was spent preparing the bar and producing a million canape's. Making the canapes was hard as I invented a few of them myself and I couldn't taste them to make sure that they were right. In the end I got the mother in law around to do it (wife is a vege so couldn't check the meat ones) and all was well. The evening itself went very well, we invited a lot of sisters friend that she didn't know was coming and had a big TV like "Surprise!" with party poppers. I spent nearly all night as bar man making cocktails to everyones requests, they all went down very well apart from something called a Soaco which simply consisted of bacardi and coconut milk and was too rich, I suppose you need to use fresh milk not tinned!

I had a really good time and not drinking was a revelation, I didn't think that you could have a good time without it. I suppose being so occupied with the drinks helped a lot though. The party went on until 3am but I crashed out about 1am after driving people home and pouring them out of the car. Someone lent us a Nintendo Wii and we had a lot of fun doing bowling, shooting and even golf.

The highlight for most people was when my mother turned to my step dad and said rather too loudly (during one of those inexplicable quiet moments), "let go home and find my pussy", referring to her new cat that ran off just before they came out. To break the tension I said quite loudly, "You'll be needing another drink then bob". The bar was quite boisterous after that.

Nibs was at the party and not only worked his way through the entire selection of canapes but also a champagne cocktail called a Marilyn Monroe and 6 more glasses of champagne. He came with the intention of straying and told me when he arrived. I found this a little hard so I tried not to stand near him in case he led me astray.

Sunday morning was a late one for me getting up at 8.30 to pick nibs up to go and play football. As a rule I really don't get on with football but since I am trying to up the excercise level I thought that I would have a stroll out. I must say that it was difficult to play, I had absolutely no energy what so ever and coupled with my rugby boots and lack of natural style I was quickly identified as the weak link on the left of defence. We won 11 - 7 and Nibs and I forewent the pub although the guys said I was man of the match I think that this reflected on my effort rather than ability!

By the time I got home at 12.30 wife and guests had completed the clean up. Therefore we went for a nice walk and spent a sunny afternoon planting out veg in the vegepatch. Mainly peas and lettuce, broadbeans carrots and beetroot went in a little while ago, onion sets and runner beans need to go in this week I think. The hot news from the vege patch is that my asparagus has at last started showing. It'll be another 18 months until the plants are mature enough to harvest but I must say I rather sadly go very excited.

The new food strategy is working well with two shakes for breaky, bar lunch and soup dinner. Woke up at 5.30 for my morning walk today but only managed to get out at 6, I am very stiff from the football match.

Dad and gran both phoned this weekend and said (amongst many other things) that they didn't think that this diet was a good idea. I emphasised that the diet is not the important bit, the mangement is and that my medical had me in perfect health so not to worry.

One other thing is that I am significantly down a waist size, infact my trousers got so baggy I dug out a couple of pairs of 38" waist chinos that I have had in the wardrobe and never worn and they fit perfectly, if not a little loose. I have abandoned my suits as they are too big and am wearing chinos to work today.

I am going to head out and buy a pair of 36" jeans and suit trousers today so I have something in the wardrobe to put on in a few weeks. Also mum keeps telling me that when I finish the diet we are going to go out and have a slap up meal at fish works. A fruit de mer (or however you spell it). The logic of going out for a massive dinner to celebrate being off a diet is similar to the royle family when Nanna asked when told that someone was a vegetarian "can she have wafer thin ham".

Anyway, over and out - sorry about the spelling and grammar, if it is as bad as some of my other posts then you probably think that I am a bit lacking.

Went to weigh in last night and I am a little disappointed I have to say after the efforts of the last weekend I was 3.7lbs down, compared to my contemporaries who both lost 6lb one of which ate cheese and one ate a sausage!

My Ketosis appears to be on the wain as well am I am struggling to understand what is going on. I have been excercising each morning, drinking the water minimum and have eaten nothing that I shouldn't. I have been skipping the odd foodpack when I finish work late and this appears to be the root of the problem. The trouble is that if I work late then there is a big gap between the breakfast and lunch and two for dinner at about 9.30pm doen't appeal therefore I tend to have one.

I am annoyed that I learnt this lesson last week and didn't make changes to amend the situation. Therefore things will have to change and from this morning I have started to have a double pack of shakes for breakfast (strawberry and banana today), bar for lunch and chicken soup for dinner as early as possible. THis will give me time to burn the calaries instead of going to bed with it sitting in my belly and hopefully I am not in the position to skip foodpacks. Hopefully I will have a better result next week but things are moving in the right direction and the diet is not actually that hard.

The councilling sessions are still a bit lacking however I'd rather have that than preaching at me for hours on end.

I have now tasted everything that the diet has to offer food pack wise and these are the ones that I can stomach:

All shakes
Chicken soup
Nut crunch
Raspsberry and cranberry bars

My typical breakdown is 2 shakes, 1 bar and 1 soup.

I have also bought some water flavouring for our cocktail party.

As far as the toilet anarchy goes the uprising appears to have been ruthlessly put down by some sort of constipationalist dicator and the crowds have been very quiet for the last few days. I am trying to incite some fresh disturbances with senokot!

Right ho, not a lot going on really. 3 food packs today not 4 (again), I don't feel like I need the 4th. Not enough water again today as very busy but had lots of progress in a number of different avenues.

Hosting a cocktail party at the weekend so I have finally got around to sorting out my bar. Its pretty big, about 8m by 4.5m. Got some party lights in there, glass fronted fridge, sporting memorabilia and oodles of exotic booze. Gonna watch everyone drink it whilst drinking water this weekend - doh!

Anyway, to spite people I have filled my beer fridge with 40 litres of sparkling water.

Another misleading title I'm afraid.

Forgot food pack today and had a really busy day out and about so I am seriously down on the fluids and energy. Have been feeling dizzy all day which was difficult as I had a lot of decisions to make. has two foodpacks when I got home which perked me up.

I have now settled into a routine which I think will last for 6 weeks therefore all is going well. I am comfortable with this process. One side effect is that it is taking me longer to find my words, and articulate what I want to say. Looking forward to the weigh in this week as I want to see how my BMI has changed.

Nibs is now back on track with the diet.

Just tried a Nut Crunch bar. It tasted and looked like someone had eaten it before. Steer clear of these.

It was a pretty torrid weekend to be honest on the food front. Family interactions with sister emigrating to the US in two weeks and Dad and family to Oz a few weeks later this weekend was a final pow wow to get everyone together including Gran for a final time.

As suspected Dad hadn’t really grasped the diet and my step mum wasn’t therefore aware. She had prepared some beautiful food including a lamb tangine and couscous, roast chicken dinner with the works, homemade rice pudding with scarlet strawberry jam, egg and bacon muffin for breaky, as well as bacon, brie and fresh cranberry sauce for lunch. Dad and sis were leading the drinking with an exceptional 1997 Rioja by the sounds of it together with some vintage home made 2001 sloe gin and bamble vodka as well a good bottle of Ozzy Para port which is not available in this country but was spectacular (or so I was told!). My eyes were bleeding…..

To be honest I couldn’t stomach sitting their eating my soup whilst they tucked in and I am so depressed about all of this that I found it easier just to not eat it. I concentrated on nailing the water, 7.5 litres minimum every day.

By not eating at such an important time I have given myself a reason not to give up. If I cheat (and I was sorely tempted) then foregoing this family occasion would have been worthless. Mind you its all really a bit worthless anyway.

Unfortunately I am still to experience the energy surge I have been assured will come and by about 8pm I was out of energy and very grumpy but doing my best to put a brave face on it. Obviously the rest of them were very happy and excited.

The wife found it all very difficult with so many emotions conflicting, excitement of new lives starting against sadness and loss of people going. I know my Gran is upset but there is little anyone can do so it is best to keep quiet. Mum and step dad came around to watch the golf last night and all three used the opportunity to enjoy 3 bottles of the cellars finest as well as a bottle of pink Cava. I had to make them all prawn sandwiches at 11pm (on a Sunday night!) just to line their stomachs as they were all rolling! That was really hard as I got some mayonnaise on my finger and just as it was about to go into my mouth I realised and washed it in the sink. I then drove them home about midnight.

However I did assume the moral high ground this morning as I witnessed their hangovers…..!

I broke my rule about drinking water after 7pm and did another 4 litres of fizzy water during the evening. Was peeing until 1am and didn’t manage to get out of bed to walk the dog first thing.

Nibs phoned me on Sunday to say that he had eaten a sausage and wanted to give up saying that he was constantly hungry. I told him to pull himself together and that I was getting second thoughts but you just have to realise that it is your body playing tricks on you. If you give up now then at what point are you going to address the problem? When you are bigger and when it will be harder?

Tried a lemon bar on Friday, the first bite was OK but as I went on it began to taste more and more like yogurt coated crushed maggots. I threw it out of the car window in the end.

So, over and out from me.

Very long day yesterday starting with a 3 hour drive with multiple pee stops. Had a lunch in a pub and had two pints of soda water, everyone else felt a little embarrassed and said that they didn’t want to go if it was cruel to me. I just told them it was my choice and I chose not to eat. Everyone was very interested in the diet but a little shocked with how extreme it was.

So, a 5 hour meeting in effect was undertaken followed by dinner and a night out. I skipped the night out and zoomed back just in time for my weigh in. Because of the busy day I only managed 2 foodpacks before 9.30pm, so I had a shake before bed and decided to be one short on the day. The councillor says that you have to eat them all or it will slow weight loss as the body will go into starvation mode – I thought it already was!

One other big piece of news is that I had my first “bar”, a peanut crunch, and it was very nice. I had been looking forward to it for a good 3 days. I have got mostly sweet shakes this week. I had to throw away a Thai Chilli on Wednesday night as I was dry wetching just looking at it. From loving to hating in a week, the smell of them reminds me of carp ground bait.

The official news is that I “lost” 12lb and I am in full ketosis. So both good. Whatever I lose from here should be body fat. The councillor appeared a little shocked that I was drinking 7.5l of water a day, she was the one that said the more that you drink the more you lose. The counselling session is relatively useful but I am sure that I am not the target market for this diet, the jury is out. I think that bread and beer will turn out to be my trigger foods – bugger, I love both!

The early morning dog walks are great, its still no easier to get out of bed to do them but my hamstrings feel much better stretched.

This weekend will be hard as I am off to Dad’s and I don’t think that he has grasped this and wants to have a big celebration weekend. I will have a bowl of soup for dinners.

Benefits of drinking a lot of water:

1.) learning the difference between hunger and thirst
2.) detoxing will improve my health
3.) my toilet aim ahs improved!

Right ho, beginning to settle into a routine now and things are OK. Yesterday I suppose that I got a bit low during the day and a bit dispondent about things. I recognised that this was probably probably just a slight wobble and ignored it, I really fancied some bread but ignored it.

Today I am feeling fine, I haven't had any caffine at all which I think may have been partially responsible for stressed feelings, hullucinations and dizziness. Having a stressful day today but food doesn't figure in a comfort sense, I suppose that I don't use food when stressed therefore I probably use it for boredom.

I have a much bigger taste for the sweeter shakes than for the savory packs. This is a complete surprise as I don't normally look for sweets, I never have a desert unless it is cheese and biscuits. MMMmmmm, cheese and biscuits, my mouth is watering. Tomorrow I am working in Hampshire so I have bought a bar to have, Peanut Crunch, this will be the first time that I have chewed something for a week.

I have invested in some breat spray to ensure that I am not offending people. I notice bad breath on people regually and it can be uncomfortable.

Toilet reading wise absolute anarchy has broken out. No one warned me about that!

One of the problems that I have recognised is that I want to eat like I am in a restaurant the whole time, I think that the amount of TV cookery shows I what influences this. They certainly make me hungry when I watch them and I often end up eating a sandwich by the end of the show. Last night I was watching "The Great British Menu" and by half way through I was in agony with hunger. I left the room and my wife watching it and went to bed. I will be avoiding cookery shows in future, the exception may be the hairy bikers cookbook, watching that is like being down the pub.

I am enjoying the 6am dog walks a lot. Also we walked this new dog last night and he is lovely, needs a lot of TLC but will be a great addition to the family. He will be coming to stay for a trial weekend soon.

First weigh in tomorrow, down one belt notch already.

One other thing,

I can spell, honest, but I don't bother checking these posts before I save them, I'm not afterall writing a book or contract. Please read between the lines if something isn't spelt right, if you can not decipher a word as the spelling is so bad then exchange it for "brussel sprout" and I am sure that it will make much more sense, or at least raise a smile.

Went to drop in last night, "lost" 5lbs, 8lbs since I originally weighed for them. So that some water and turd gone, fat loss starts here. 7.5 litres of water consumed yesterday.

Some side effects:

Increased ear wax
Decreased toilet reading time (significant)
Hulluciations when walking dog at 6am - panthers kept jumping out of the hedge! Was a nervous wreck by the time I got home!
Lack of energy
Constantly pissing
Extremities cold, particually hands, normally I have hot hands and can walk around all year in shorts. I don't even have central heating so I am burning logs on my fire at a fearful rate. So much so that I am bringing wood home from each walk to top up stocks.

One of staff is 40 today and has just arranged cakes in the office near my desk. Couldn't really give a toss to be honest. Normally I'd have two!

Post me a comment if you have time, it would be good to hear from anyone doing this thing even if they are not blogging etc.

Cheers

Went to see some friends after I posted yesterday. Both are on LL and started the same time as me. I swapped some sachets with them to get a few more sweet ones. A funny thing happened after I had a coffee, I felt very faint and thought that I was going to pass out (about 8ish). A hastily whipped up LL choc milkshake sorted me out together with a Vanilla one.

Lesson learned - eat all 4 packets a day, the previous 2 days I only had 3 and to 8pm on day 3 I only had 2! With only 220 caleries per packet there is not enough energy for your body if you do not have them.

Then I had a terrible nights sleep.

Long walk this morning at 6am. Typical rural westcountry (bear in mind there are only 40 houses in my hamlet!) I stopped for a chat 3 times before 7am. My mate stopped his van in the middle of the road, engine off, and chatted for 10 minutes without anything else coming along. I love this life! So I had 30 minutes walking, 30 minutes chatting. Probably need to cut down on the chatting and do more walking.

It looks like we are about to get another dog, a 3YO German Shorthaired Pointer called Flint who hasn't had the easiest life so far passing through a number of sets of hands and failing as a gun dog. I think that he is very handsome, I don't think that Duke will as he is bigger and will no doubt want to rule the roost. Two unneutered males in one house, uh-ho.

Anyway, headache largely gone this morning, mixed breakfast shake at my desk (I was running late due to chatting) and just had Thai Chilli for lunch. Plan to exchange a bunch of packets tonight at the drop in for sweeter ones, maybe get a bar for lunch on Thursday as I will be in Southahmpton on business - had to turn down the dinner and free bar evening entertainments, Doh! Starting to feel the cold a lot and a recent injury (two months ago, slipped with a knife and went through rist (no, no a suicide bid, a plumbing accident) has really begun to hurt. Don't know if they are related.

One thing that leaves me slightly confused is that people keep going on about losing a stone in the first week. To my mind they are not losing a stone, as in a stone of fat, merely about half a stone of turd and probably some retained water. I don't believe that you will lose a significant amount of fat immediately. Anyway, this is my hypothesis and if people find it motivating to "Lose a stone" then so be it.

So all going well so far but can't wait to complete the first week as it will feel like I am getting there.

Cheers

Today is definitely the worst yet. Blinding headache, washed out, bit grumpy. Feel like I have concussion. Friends popped in to see how I was doing and that was nice. Had a long walk this morning in the snow and has aa coffee, Chicken Soup for lunch which was OK.

You can tel that I am hungry because weh I was dishing out the "Chappie" this morning for the dog I thought, "mmmm, whats that delicious smell", it was the dog food. Normally I feel sick when I dish it out.

Plenty of work this morning and afternoon clearing out the new master bedroom, fitting a heated towel rail and doing some handles. Taking it easy now as I was starting to make mistakes because I have no energy which is not a good idea with power tools.

Anyway, hopefully this is the worst of it, no one said that it was going to be easy.

What a misleading title, I spent the day hanging doors and planting herbs, so in fact nothing to do with sex, teapots or spanners.

Day two!

Its been a funny old day. Long walk and coffee for breakfast and had a Thai Chilli soup of lunch. It was actually very nice, like a thai green curry but without the chicken. I made a major mistake at about 3pm when I set off to "liberate" two large clumps of chives that are growing in a hedgerow (there are 6 clumps in all) near my place and a woman out walking asked me what I was doing. I told her and she stayed to watch. When I got them up I found that they were wild onions and so we both ate one (very small and sweet), 5 minutes later I realised what I had done. From that point on I have been very hungry. Then my mate nibs phoned up at about 3.30pm to tell me he was really struggling, that made me worse so I tried a banana milkshake and that was quite nice. A long walk this evening and then vege soup which needed an awful lot of tobasco to make it palettable.

Everyone has been telling me that the "First three days are the worst". I have been bracing myself for the bubonic plague and so I am relatively happy to say that apart from feeling a little groggy I am OK. The wife is just having a jacket spud and salad and it smells great! She keeps apologising when she eats which is a little silly but I sort of understand.

17.5 weeks to go from today and it seems like a very long time. Got a text asking me to play rugby as a ringer on Wednesday night, slightly wishful thinking from the sender I think but I may well do it if I feel like I have enough energy. If I feel like I do now then I probably won't.

The other thing is that I am pissing every 5 mintues, my pants are wet from the dribbles.......

If I am reading this in a week or so then, "Madmonkoffunk pull yourself together and get your head down."

Evenin', well its about seven thirty on the first day and it went pretty well really. i worked from home as I thought that I would give my staff a hard time if I didn't. The count is 11 pints of water, 2 soups and a shake, as well as a "Savory drink".

Day went like this:

Long walk
Strong black proper coffee (not instant) for breakfast
Chicken soup at about 10am with salt, pepper and chilli powder
6 pints of water before lunch
A strawberry shake for lunch, tasted pretty crap but OK with some pepper in it at about 1.30
Loads of water through the day
Finsih work about 4
Long walk with dog
Mixed some concrete and did some brick laying
Quadruple expresso - ran around the walls of the house for a bit probably should tone those does
Did some fly tying - olive buzzer for those that fish, size 6 so really a bit big but looked great, then tried a golden blob but it ended up being a transvestive diawl bach.....
Stacked logs
Just had a mushroom soup, it wasn't fowl (get it - oh dear) and tasted very much like the old wet logs that I was stacking smelt. Put a lot of tobasco in it but it didn't help, you can't polish a turd.....

Now I am mooching about a bit lost, there is a jar of raisins in the kitchen and I swear it keeps winking at me. To be honest I am getting a bit fixated with it. Normally I would be getting ready for some decent boozing at this time on a friday night!

Mind you I am sooooooo (does tying it like that make me sound like a teenage girl, I don't thiink that I will do that again?) glad I did an unintentional detox before I started this thing.

Anyway, I don't feel that hungry but I know that my belly is empty. I feel a little like you do when you are out sailing and you get sea sick and you neck a pint of water. Sort of like its liquid sitting high in your belly but you know that its coming back up again so your body doesn't bother consuming it.

I can have one more packet of stuff today but I may well not bother as I know that it is not going to satisfy anything. New day tomorrow and I have some doors to hang, after that I'm going for final sign off of the house but I very much doubt that i will get it.

Over and out, next two days will be hard but I am a third of a way through the hard bit and it has been relatively easy. I expect that I'll have to eat those words over the rest of the week, but then again I may not as I am only allowed soup.

Righty ho, wife is asleep on the sofa and I was wondering about seeing if that urban legend is true about putting a finger of a sleeping person in some warm water and they wet themselves. New sofa is coming next month so it shouldn't be too much of a problem if it is correct, the wife might not see it like that though.

I've just come back from the first meeting which was OK. There are only 4 of us and one guy has been doing it for a month. The big news is that I have lost 3lb somehow, I think that it is probably the 5 litres of water I have been drinking every day. I had a business lunch today (massive!) and the wife burn't me dinner tonight (Lamb Shanks and a bean stew). I have noticed my belt easing since I have been drinking the water. Looking back I have also had the detox, flu like symptons and a bad temper, I didn't realise at the time. I bought mainly soups as the sweeter shakes do not appeal, I'll see how I get on tomorrow and get back. Just had a cheese and biscuits!

Went to the docs this morning, £38 to have my form signed. Other than that I am in perfect health, normal blood pressure and heart rate. He warned me that everyone he knows on lighterlife lost a lot of weight and then put it all back on again. That is food for thought however I will not be going back to my old lifestyle as the most of the house is built now so I will hopefully be able to spend some time doing sports instead.

Went over to my mates last night and him and the wife were having their last drinks before the big fast, she lost a lot of weight using LL before but putting half of it back on. She starts tomorrow, nib and I start on Thursday.

Queue the posts about being starving........