Like a lot of people out there I have tried various dieting ideas and then reverted to some bad habits (in my particular case I’ve got a sweet tooth & a particular weakness for sweet things such as biscuits, cakes, desserts with a nice cup of tea. Even writing that down makes me feel happy).

The Silver Bullet: to find a diet that works *and* is not a huge pain in the a$$ – i.e. in other words is sustainable.

I’ve Tried…

So the Slow Carb diet was quite a good one for me because I could go to town on the weekly cheat day which allows you to eat anything. In fact I loaded up on things for the weekend (my cheat day was a Saturday) and managed to hold off the cravings looking forward to that day when I could go crazy and eat all the crap I liked. In fact I believe I actually bought a lot more sweet stuff – even sought out the best sweet stuff I could find for the sacred cheat day when I could really enjoy it and reward it for my prior 6 days of slow carb good behaviour.

… because it was within the rules.

I also tried the Paleo diet – that was much harder for me (headaches for the first few weeks) – I agreed to review a book for a friend (The Modern No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo) about this diet and thought in order to do so properly I’d better actually do (the 30-day challenge version of) the diet itself. Many people call this one the caveman diet, and doing this I did end up feeling like a caveman. My analysis of that is that as whole foods are much more immediate sources of energy, you get hungry, get a very primal urge for food, eat and are immediately satisfied. It just felt like a lot more direct relationship with food than a typical modern diet which tends to have a lot of carbs and processed foods.

I have also researched which foods I think are the healthiest (Spinach & Salmon come out top for me) and wrote an article about a simple thought I had which has helped me to be more healthy.

I have invented my own systems and diets and jumped around a lot. It’s no secret that I like experimenting with different things. I love simple thoughts, hacks and short-cuts that make things easier to understand or simply easier.

I wouldn’t say I am particularly unhealthy or have a noticeable weight problem (though I would consider myself overweight) but I would like to get stronger, fitter and healthier not least because that is my best defence against injury and illness as I get older.

So I am on another health kick – and it’s another self-invented, experimental kind of thing.

Background To My New Idea

I quite liked the Slow Carb diet as it educated me somewhat about food and in particular my taste in food, why slow carb is better than low carb, legumes (I already liked chick peas but this diet took my relationship with chick peas to a whole new level) and put me more in tune with my bodies reaction to a changing diet. Mainly because I had never tried dieting before trying this one. Had no interest whatsoever in health or dieting, thought the subject was boring etc. etc. So this particular experiment trying slow carb was a starter for me which got me interested and I learned a lot through doing it. I didn’t even find it very extreme (no measuring, no calorie counting & a cheat day that I really liked). In hindsight, it is quite extreme.

The Paleo diet was just nuts (haha, that’s quite a pun, OK, only me then). I do completely get the point of it, but this diet, when compared to a typical modern diet *is* quite extreme. I got headaches because I followed it strictly and could no longer drink my beloved cups of tea. I also learned a lot on this diet and am now a huge fan of whole foods, natural, organic produce. The best foods are those with only one ingredient. The more processed it is, generally speaking the worse it is for you. These last two sentences are good little mantras to keep with you and remind yourself of every now and then.

So I learned a lot.

Am I repeating myself? Perhaps a little bit.

I learned a lot but both of these diets are a little extreme. I had also never tried counting calories. So in the interest of trying new things, I had the idea that I would loosely take what I learned from these two diets, come up with a healthy diet plan and an exercise regime and try and create something vaguely sustainable whilst learning some more things along the way.

My Main Goal

My goal is actually quite a big one. It is to get really fit. As in, as fit as I possibly can. I actually want to get so fit that I become addicted to being fit and staying fit. By this I don’t mean ‘chiselled’ or ‘ripped’ – I really don’t care about having big muscles at all but I do want to be stronger, leaner and know that my body and mind are in really good shape. Whether or not I achieve my ultimate goal, I know for sure that I only stand to gain from trying to get there. Even if I get half-way I will be in a lot better place than I am right now and I will have learned more along the way.

Getting Older

We’re all getting older. The sad truth is that as you get older, your muscles atrophy and your bones get weaker. Your metabolism also slows and generally we all start moving a little less. No wonder we put on more weight and find it harder to keep it off. Unfortunately this makes us more susceptible to injury and disease. I want to do something about this, hence the goal stated above.

Moderation

A quick word on moderation.

In order to make my latest idea as sustainable as possible I have moderated a lot of the stuff I have tried and learned so far. For example I will use a moderated version of the slow carb diet. It may not be as effective but going for the 80/20 rule, that aspect will be good enough for me and probably a lot more sustainable in the long term. The main change from the slow-carb diet is that I am don a moderated slow-carb 5 days a week and having 2 instead of one moderated cheat days. More on this later. I have a focus on incremental improvement and learning – which is moderate in itself, rather than killing myself every day to achieve certain unrealistic and uncomfortable goals. If these things are too hard to do it becomes de-motivating and makes the whole thing a lot more difficult.

I’m not going to go through my whole system as I have in the past. In any case, it is quite personal to me and even if I tried to describe it to you I’d be missing out certain bits of my particular lifestyle which I don’t bother recording and are in effect a bonus over and above the system I am putting in place which I don’t record anything about but know are only helping toward my goal. Instead, as the main point of this particular experiment is to throw together a lot of ideas, here are 10 of them which I think are useful tips:

1. 90 Days

I’m following this ‘regime’ for 90 days. I could have gone for a month, but 90 days does 2 things. There is obviously a far better chance to get some decent results when doing something for 90 days vs a shorter period and also if I can follow something for 90 days it has a much better chance of sticking and being sustainable.

2. Calorie Counting

I am trying calorie counting. In actual fact, before my ‘official’ 90 days started, I had a kind of practice run (that could even be another useful tip I guess) for just over a week to start tracking what I wanted to track, have a go at calorie counting as this was gong to be a fundamental part of my system, start weighing myself etc. Guess what? Calorie counting isn’t that difficult at all. I quite like it – again it is an education. Crazy by the way how many calories there are in a jam doughnut. I’m a week in now and the calorie counting aspect of my diet is going very well.

I have no idea whether at the end of it I will continue calorie counting, that is not the point. The point is to get some results by eating less calories than I burn (in a moderate way, with all of the arguments about slowing metabolism and body reacting to calorie changes taken on board) but at the end of 90 days I will have a much better understanding of how many calories I am eating and that’s actually really great 0 whether I’m counting them or not, I will have a much better understanding of whether I am over-eating or not and by how much.

So what exactly am I doing?

The ‘rule’ with respect to Calorie Counting is that I can eat no more than 2000 calories per day. I’m about 180 pounds/82Kg/13 Stone so my ‘stay the same’ calorie intake per day is around 2340. I have also read that it is unhealthy for a male to eat less than 1500 Calories per day for weight loss. 2000 is a good number – so I am looking to eat betwen 1500 to 2000 calories per day. If I’m closer to 1500 that’s great and if I’m not hungry I am going to try not to eat (easier said than done, I’m terrible for just wanting to ‘taste’ something or having cravings to have a snack or something nice with a cup of tea – it’s not genuine hunger that is driving these cravings).

Whenever I eat something I add it to a spreadsheet I’m maintaining and count how many calories I have eaten. It is really easy to find the calorie value f just about anything these days online and even if I approximate (conservatively) I know that with a daily goal of 2000 I have some margin for error and should probably still be losing a little weight every day with the right amount of exercise.

3. Weighing

I get the argument that you shouldn’t weigh yourself because it can be demoralising when you see that your weight hasn’t decreased – or even worse has gone up from one day to the next. I think with the right mindset (i.e. lowering your expectations) and bearing in mind that if building some muscle at the same time (muscle is heavier than fat), then this is just information. So yes, I am weighing myself. I do so first thing when I get up in the morning (before I put any clothes on) so that it is at the same time every day and not a fluctuating value influenced by whether I have just eaten or just exercised. I don’t mind if I miss a day I just catch up the next day (and can extrapolate the value for the day I missed between the two I have).

4. Daily Water Intake

I find water really boring and tasteless. I really don’t enjoy drinking lots of water. I’d like to say I’m getting used to it, but I’m not sure that I am. I am however convinced by the merits of drinking plenty of water. There are several arguments for this. It also suppresses appetite when you drink lots of water (as you will feel full from all the water you’re drinking). There is a very strong argument that often when you feel hungry that is actually your body just craving water.

The recommended daily water intake for the average person is a crazy amount. I know for a fact that I have historically not been drinking anything like enough water. There are plenty of well-documented benefits to drinking plenty of water and no reasons not to so it’s a no-brainer that for me drinking more water had to be part of my system.

How much?

I have a daily goal of drinking at least 3 litres of measured water which includes water I drink plus an approximation from any cups of tea or coffee (so tea then) I drink. Beyond that any water content from foods I have consumed during the day is not measured and a hidden bonus.

I carry around a 1 litre bottle which I fill with water and drink periodically to make sure I drink enough – this makes it much easier to actually drink enough water and to measure how I’m doing.

5. Exercise

I actually already do more exercise than most people of my age. I play golf and table tennis quite regularly, get a certain amount of exercise from daily activities and take the dog for a walk, so exercise wasn’t really a huge concern for me but the current amount I do, though probably better than average isn’t super-impressive, just needs topping up.

So to boost my existing exercise regime, I have added the following:

• Daily Qi-Gong routine
• Daily Exercise routine
• Counting steps – 7000 steps every day

6. Healthy Eating (Moderated Slow Carb)

During weekdays I am eating a moderated version of the slow-carb diet. So no carbs or sugar, eating vegetables, legumes, eggs, fish and meat. I am allowing myself cups of tea with milk and also if I slip and eat a relatively healthy snack such as a rice cake or a couple of poppy seed crackers or even a single biscuit or a bag of crisps, then I am not going to beat myself up about it as long as the calorie intake for this snack is less than 5% of the overall intake for the day.

At weekends I am allowed to eat anything at all – so cheat days, 2 instead of 1 – but rather than going crazy and binging I still have to keep my daily intake to under 2000 calories so obviously I can’t go crazy. It just means that if I want to enjoy some unhealthy carbs, some fish & chips, a dessert or a slice of cake with my cup of tea, then I will allow myself that and enjoy it. I then revert to the healthier eating during the weekdays.

7. Qi-Gong

I discovered Qi-Gong whilst on a Table Tennis training camp in Denmark a few years ago. I actually found it quite difficult even though the movements are very simple, slow and graceful. I basically tried it out.

The great thing about Qi-Gong is that you can practice it anywhere and it is a gentle way of exercising that I do also believe gently improves health.

What I am doing is practicing the Shibashi 18 moves – every day. It doesn’t take that long and is a way to check in on the body, have some movement and stretching everyday and also practice and learn these 18 moves. I started with 6 moves and am adding two moves per week so that I can learn and perform the complete set consistently. I watch online videos of different people doing the same exercise to compare my own form and learn the next moves I will need to incorporate.

8. Daily Exercises

I know I would seize up if I committed to doing x press-ups or x sit-ups every day. Therefore I have a gradual plan to build up the number of minutes or repetitions I do every day of exercises I can do anywhere without weights or equipment and I work on a different part of the body every day as follows:

• Monday: Cardio
• Tuesday: Arms
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Chest & Back
• Friday: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
• Saturday: Hamstring & Glutes
• Sunday: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

9. Early Start & Sleep

In order to fit this all in without missing bits and affecting my plans for the day I am getting up a little earlier (e.g. most days I take the dog for a decent walk first thing in the morning as soon as I wake up, I find a nice spot in the trees or by the river and do my Qi-Gong there) and starting the day well. This way I have already achieved most of the step count I need for the day and probably also done the daily exercise and the Qi-Gong.

Though I get up early I also make sure I get at least 7.5 hours sleep. Getting a decent nights sleep is also very important for good health, especially if doing lots of exercise and having a new regime such as this one I am following which means that the body will be getting a bit of a shock and therefore needs an appropriate amount of rest and recovery.

10. Step Counting

As a final top-up I count in a *very* approximate way how many steps I take every day. This has been great for Jess, our dog as she gets lots more walks!

There is plenty of talk of 10,000 steps per day to lose weight. This is a bit time consuming and for me not that realistic to achieve every single day. Like the water though, if I can get to 7000 measured steps, then the remaining exercise and activity probably takes me quite close to a decent amount every day.

So I approximate how many steps I am taking every day and have to be able to say with confidence that I have taken more than 7000 steps to be happy. I track this with a simple app on my iphone which counts the steps from my pocket. Obviously there are moments when my iphone may not be in my pocket which is where the approximation comes in but usually I like to see the number on the iphone and it needs to be greater than 7000. If I don’t achieve that I just go out for a quick walk.

The Importance of Feedback

So this particular ‘plan’ is quite a personal thing. Through doing this I pulled out a number of decisions I am making which are the point of this article (as opposed to the plan itself and my progression through it) – i.e. the 10 Health Tips I thought worth sharing.

That being said, an important part of all such experiments is feedback. We get better when we learn from what we’re doing – often through things that aren’t quite right, from failure or mistakes. Or perhaps from fine-tuning.

Feedback is always important.

So on that basis, mainly for myself, but also for anyone else who may be interested, I am adding to this article some notes of how this diet has gone for me, feelings and thoughts and what I’ve learned along the way.

…

Progress & Thoughts 1 Week In

So my latest idea is a bit of experimentation as per usual, it’s a challenge and I’m just hoping that it works as I think it should.

I’m sharing the main points of my ‘system’ in case any of these are useful or spark some ideas or questions for any readers.

I’m actually writing this one week in so I can also comment on how it’s been so far…

Definitely a challenge. I am getting cravings which are hard to fight (normal) and glad that my system if fairly moderate so that I have a way of coping with these – the calorie count is a useful check in this case to stop me going over the top – the ‘just one more…’ urge when it comes to biscuits etc is easier to combat when you know just how much that ‘just one more’ costs and when you effectively have a calorie budget. I like that my system has a few different checks and balances.

I’m finding the daily exercises really hard – particularly the HIIT exercises. For the moment I am getting nowhere fast with these. I am not going to beat myself up about this and hopefully will improve over time. That’s the plan anyway.

Results-wise so far after one week I’m feeling healthy and have lost 3Kg of weight. As I said above, I am not setting any expectations with regard to daily or even interim weight loss targets but simply measuring it for info – as long as I’m broadly on the right trend (and I should be as long as I follow the system correctly) then I’m happy.

Progress & Thoughts 2 Weeks In

After a good start in week 1, losing 3 Kg in one week, in week 2 I have lost precisely…

0 Kg.

My weight has stayed the same all the way through the week. It did actually dip 1 Kg (from 80Kg to 79Kg) mid week but settled back at 80Kg for the remainder of the week.

I keep on telling myself it’s not about the weight loss but I do want to get my weight down (lose fat).

It could be that my metabolism has slowed which wouldn’t be surprising doing all this all of a sudden. There could also be a bit of the old muscle being heavier than fat coming into play.

They do say (they – people who talk about diets) not to focus too much on weighing in a lot of popular diets.

In week 2 I am finding it a little harder to stick to less than 2000 calories per day and of all the things I’m doing – walking, water, exercises, Qi-Gong & calorie counting, the latter seems to be the biggest challenge.

So that’s week 2.

I’m also finding the exercises a bit of a challenge, particularly the HIIT exercises but I completely expected that, the trick is to keep on doing as much as I can & hopefully get better as time goes on.

One other thing – I’m learning lots – good.

Week 3

Week 3 has actually been really good.

Good because I have learned lots about my diet, the challenges I’ve set myself and how my body reacts to these challenges.

Good because I have had a few problems which have challenged the diet plan itself but that this in turn has tested the viability of what I’m doing and taught me further what is achievable and what isn’t. I have some minor strains in my inner thigh muscles (from squats – I think the muscle I have just learned is called the Gracilis and also in my pectoral muscles (from push-ups). Luckily these are only minor strains and have stopped me making much progress with other exercises that use these muscle groups this week but not pulled muscles which would have set me back for weeks. So a warning.

Rotating the muscle groups exercised each day is definitely a good idea but I still need to be careful not to overdo any of the exercises on any given day.

The balance between pushing yourself ala ‘no pain no gain’ and not overdoing it such that you set yourself back is clearly a delicate one.

It’s also been a good week for the following reason: Even though I knew that my body would effectively fight back, that I’d experience a plateau (or plateaus) in terms of weight-loss (which is why lots of diets actually encourage you not to look at your weight each day), I still found it frustrating that whilst eating so little every day and improving on all of the daily exercises, I *still* didn’t lose any weight… but this week the plateau continued, I managed to tell myself that it couldn’t continue for 90 days, that it was something I had expected anyway (even though still a little demoralising given all the hard work) and this week, eventually I have started losing weight again – if only a little bit (1 Kg).

From here on in, if I lose and sustain a weight loss of 1 Kg every two weeks then I will have achieved a weight (75Kg) which I can be very happy with. I expect at that weight, given my height and hopefully having built a little more muscle, I should be pretty slim. We’ll see.

If I designed this plan again I think I would allow myself a proper cheat day where I don’t have to stick to under 2000 calories (because that may have stopped the metabolism change and my body fighting back so hard as it clearly did in week 2 and I think is still doing) and I would also have had a rest day from the majority of the exercises (not from things I’m not recording such as Table Tennis or Golf, not from the Qi-Gong or the steps, but from the exercise routines I have set myself, probably taking out one of the HIIT sessions – I have 2 of those, one on Fri & one on Sun. Brutal they are). The reason I’m not adjusting the actual design of the plan and doing either of these things is that it would be a slippery slope, I may then sub-conciously ‘let myself off’ with other things, it doesn’t properly test the plan I have created so compromises any lessons I’m learning etc. What I can do is do the whole thing again in kind of a v2 but if I do, I don’t think that will be for some time because after this I am hoping to have naturally developed some habits I can just continue with little effort in any case.

Still a long way to go but I’m feeling optimistic.

Week 4

Week 4 has felt… normal.

That’s a really good thing. Nothing special about week 4 particularly. It has passed by quite uneventfully. So it maybe means that some of this is starting to form into habits. Maybe.

That would be good.

Drinking plenty of water still needs conscious effort & the exercising is still difficult, particularly the HIIT exercises which I don’t seem to be getting any better at, but in general, it is all starting to feel pretty automatic.

The warnings from last week in terms of minor muscle strains are less of a problem this week.

I also lost 1 more Kg in weight this week which I am very happy with. My plan is to lose around 1Kg every two weeks and I think that is very achievable. I want to lose weight but not too quickly as I don’t see that as sustainable or as a particularly healthy way to do things.

Feeling good.

Week 5

A bit of a plateau week.

Exercise-wise I am starting to ‘manage’ my energy levels and the amount I am increasing the exercises – i.e. very marginally because I am worried about over-doing it or giving myself too much to do the next time.

So I am increasing things very gradually and that is OK.

I feel generally fitter and perhaps a little stronger, maybe this is largely psychological because there are no visible changes forming in my body in terms of any muscle tone (not that I’d expect too much after 4 weeks of such a moderate regime) but I do think I feel a bit fitter and stronger. In terms of weight loss there has clearly been some according to the scales and maybe this is visible but not significantly so as yet.

In terms of weight loss this week I’ve been quite stable fluctuating around 78Kg.

Given all of the work I’m doing and the limits I am imposing upon myself diet-wise it’s hard not to be a little demotivated at the very marginal results – it really is hard work losing weight and getting stronger, neither is happening in any noticeable fashion yet I have put in a solid month of effort already.

I just keep reminding myself that it is hard work but that proves that it is something worth doing.

Nothing really worth doing was ever easy.

Also if I stop now then it will be all the more harder to do something like tjis again the next time, so now is the time to double-down and try even harder.

Roll on next week.

Week 6

I hardly even noticed week 6 pass by.

Nothing much to say about it so this is going to be the shortest update ever, which is good news.

Small improvements – steady progress (& very nearly half way through my challenge).

Week 7

Ditto really.

Week 7 has been pretty good.

Difficult not to just become obsessed with weight (which was never my intention here) as that’s a key thing I measure every day and it is nice to see it dropping – on that front I remain slightly ahead of target.

Strength-wise I am definitely getting stronger but still nothing to write home about. At the end of this whole exercise I think I will just be ready to get started with ‘proper’ exercise really – perhaps no longer a complete embarrassment when it comes to things like press-ups which at the start I was pretty terrible at. I can still only comfortably do around 10-15 ‘good’ press-ups with good form depending upon energy levels.

More than half way through now so all good.

Week 10 Update (Weeks 8, 9 and 10)

I got to my target weight (75 Kg) in week 7 for a couple of days and then in a more sustainable way in week 8.

In weeks 8, 9 and 10 I have popped back up to 76 Kg a couple of times.

I think this is partly because I’m just finding it hard to lose any more, despite all of the exercising, walking and dieting but I think I am also finding it hard now to stick to the 2000 calories per day target. I am managing it but for parts of week 9 I was absolutely starving.

Combine this with not always drinking enough water or not at the right times (which does suppress appetite) and that’s probably part of it too.

Perhaps also psychologically I feel like I’ve ‘made it’ weight-wise, I keep telling myself now it’s not so much about losing weight but about improving the exercising and toning what I’ve got left.

I still don’t feel quite as trim as I’d like to be though I am happy to have made it this far and with my progress. This challenge has been tough, there’s no two ways about it but then anything where you want to get good results is usually going to be tough – any challenge worth doing is going to be tough.

So now I basically have 3 weeks left (well, 20 days) to have completed my 90 days and I’m going to push on and try and make these last 3 weeks really effective and see where I can get to!!

Week 11 Update

Still at 75Kg.

This week has been a real disappointment. I am psychologically struggling this week for a number of reasons.

The excitement of the whole challenge has completely gone by now and rather than waking up each day excited to see where my efforts have gotten me and where my efforts of the day might take me, every aspect of the diet is now so much more of a chore.

Being nearly at the end of the diet, rather than having a sprint finish which I wanted to go for (and still can in the last two weeks if after this one I give myself a good kick up the backside – which I’m about to do), I have taken my foot off the gas, probably because I am really looking forward to that finish and the next experiment/question which is to see 2 things: 1) if I can stay at the same kind of level of weight/health/fitness with little to no effort and 2) if some of the functional habits I have formed through the 90 days stick (drinking more water, eating less, eating better, walking more, doing more exercise, doing daily/regular qi-gong).

I also developed a bit of a muscle strain in my stomach meaning I could do less of my non-tracked exercises (table tennis mainly) and also on Monday this week switched the sit-ups for push-ups but was very careful around any exercises involving the stomach. In addition to this I just missed a number of things – some Qi-Gong, doing enough steps on one of the days and both days of HIIT exercises – almost as if missing one thing meant it wasn’t worth doing any. I also feel I have gotten a little more lazy on the calorie tracking this week and probably cheated a little bit.

Anyways, despite all of that I am still at 75Kg so no real harm done for the moment.

Let’s hope the next 2 weeks – which are the last 2 weeks of this challenge – are better.

Week 12 Update

OK so I have to admit I am struggling with the big finish.

I have actually decided though that that is not such a bad thing. After next week I don’t want to have to think anymore about being healthier, fitter and stronger. I don’t want to think about drinking more water, walking more or doing the odd bit of exercise to keep in shape.

I just want to do these things because habits have formed and it feels like the right thing to do.

So, no, I haven’t increased the intensity this week. I am even struggling to maintain the same intensity if I’m being honest about it, but even that is OK. It’s more like a warm-down.

The good news is that a lot of things are feeling like habits. Despite being quite lazy this week and not giving myself the big kick up the backside I intended to at the end of last week, I have continued to drink more water, I have easily done enough steps each day – the calories and the exercises have been the areas that have been a little lacking.

In the final week (next week) I intend to complete this self-set challenge without going big and without taking shortcuts – just complete it so then I know I have.

My weight is still at a steady 75Kg, and I fully expect that is also where I finish up at the end of next week too. If it looks like going up I will work harder, if not, I am not going to go all out for anything better because as I reach the end of this journey, what I am looking for and the best and most logical goal is surely to have some sustainability.

Week 13 Update

I’m nearing the end of Day 90, the end of my challenge so this is the end of the final week and the final update.

I’m pleased to say it’s been a pretty solid final week which is what I wanted as I wrote last week, not my original idea of a big finish but completing this challenge as I designed it, completing all the bits with no cheating or excuses and also not going all-out in the last week because that is not realistic in terms of the on-going sustainable change I want to adopt.

What is probably worth doing is looking at how far I have come over the 90 day challenge.

In terms of my 3 goals, to be fitter/stronger, healthier and to lose weight, here is how I feel:

Strength/Fitness: I do feel fitter and stronger but one thing I have realised doing this challenge is that building strength is really really tough. Despite putting a *lot* of effort in and seeing improvements (I’ll share the data next), I’m not exactly toned and visibly more muscly (though I am visibly slimmer). To get properly strong I think I’d need to do something a lot more intense, probably gym-work which doesn’t really appeal but I think that would be the next step strength-wise and I’m going to give it some thought because at least this challenge has got me to a place where I probably could start some serious strength-work (not a chance before I did this).

Health: I feel healthier and generally have a healthier diet. If I’m honest I could have gone further on this one but instead tended to focus on eating anything that stayed within the calorie limit – which often happened to be healthier foods – rather than choosing to eat healthy foods first and then counting the calories later. As the days went on if I had room left in my calorie budget, I would treat myself to small amounts of unhealthy foods such as biscuits and crisps. The caveat here is that I already knew from previous diets how to eat a more healthy diet and what to eat, I just had not realised how many calories various things have. For example an Avocado is healthy but I might choose not to eat it because whilst it is healthy, it also has quite a lot of calories (around 250).

Weight: I have lost quite a lot of weight and maintained that weight loss through the last few weeks which I am very happy with. My hope is that I stay at this weight without too much effort without needing to count calories but by maintaining habits of drinking more water, moving more (mainly walking more) and otherwise by being more conscious of what I am eating and how costly things are in terms of their calorie content.

Here are some stats comparisons (start of the challenge vs finish of the challenge):

Weight: Day 1: 83Kgs, Day 90: 74Kgs
Qi-Gong Moves Mastered: Day 1: 4, Day 90: 18
Sit-Ups (Mondays): Week 1: 100, Week 13: 300
Press-Ups (Tuesdays): Week 1: 6, Week 13: 20
Squats (Wednesdays): Week 1: 10, Week 13: 100
Plank (Thursdays): Week 1: 20 seconds, Week 13: 2 minutes
HIIT (Fridays): Week 1: 7 mins, Week 13: 7 mins

The HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) I found difficult all the way through. I guess it is meant to be, so no real improvement in terms of how much I did but some improvement in the ease with which I did it.

Conclusion: I’m very happy with my progress and have made much more progress with this challenge than any other similar health/diet challenge I have done (though perhaps also thanks to what I’ve learned from previous diets). I’m pleased I did this, it was tough but got good results and I don’t fancy doing another 90 days like this again but hopefully now will be able to ‘top-up’ (and intend to) with an even more refined version that I can do over 30 days if I find myself slipping and feel I need to.