The last week has been very interesting. As I’ve stated before, my energy levels have been very even all week, and I’ve not napped once, I’ve not needed to. I had a headache yesterday, but I can’t definitely attribute that to the diet as due to work constraints I had 6hrs sleep, as opposed to my usual 8 or so hrs. I will come back to you with another post soon about my sleep levels, as I’m collecting some interesting data. Today I woke up a little shaky, although I felt totally fine and this stopped immediately with breakfast (leftover steak from yesterday, eggs, Tabasco, spinach, lentils and beans). Portion sizes are something Tim emphasises in the book, as carbs are so dense with calories that you need to have a larger portion of food when it’s meat and veg (far less calories). This is still something I’m working on and I view the beans and lentils as the most important part of each meal to get the calories in.

Before I started this diet, I had already arranged to catch up with a friend tonight after work and go for a meal. Once I started the diet, I thought this would work in as a nice little experiment on how easy it is to eat Slow Carb when eating out and what impact it has. I found out that you are actually allowed 450ml of Diet drinks per day on the diet, so this made getting a drink in easier, especially if you’re not a wine person or are driving. So I opted for Diet Coke. Immediately I realised that 95% of the menu was a no-go, either the food had carbs, sauce or sugary things that I couldn’t touch. I figured I would go for Oysters to start, Fish for main and ask to have the sauces and salsa’s they came with to be on the side. Also the main’s had a choice of different types of potatoes, which again I couldn’t have so I swapped it for BBQ Beans and gave them to my friend.

This is where I think the staff started to get annoyed with me. Firstly, they came over and stated the Oysters were pre-made with the sauce so I couldn’t have it on the side, so I cancelled that completely and didn’t have a starter. When I got the main, it still was covered in the Salsa I had asked to have taken off. I began to see how people would quit their diets when it is very tricky in situations like this. I should state that I love the place we went to and will still continue to go there in the future, I felt bad for being difficult and for fear of causing some kind of scene or hassle that I, nor the staff will have wanted (they were very busy) I opted to scrape off as much of the salsa as possible and still eat it. I then didn’t join in on dessert. The fish was very nice.

This experience kind of backs up one mantra I have had for many years – it’s good to be fit and healthy, but it’s also important to live life and enjoy it too. It’s important to find that balance. Tonight was a great experience, as it showed me how this could be a ‘Domino Food’ situation, whereby you have to deviate from your diet plan, then decide ‘oh well I’ve had that, I may as well continue and go on a full blown binge’. I realised it was very important not to do this, I’ve been strict with my diet all week and this one little deviation isn’t going to cause me long term setbacks so staying focussed on the goal means you limit the damage caused. Tomorrow is also cheat day when I can have as much of this stuff as I like 🙂

Obviously, if you wanted to go out with your friends and still be good you could be more selective in where you go to eat. It just so happens that this evening was arranged prior to me starting the diet. It feels very awkward to not join in with food if there is no Slow-Carb option on the menu, it’s quite antisocial. My friend is a fellow Fitness Professional and also finds this interesting, so he totally understood, but I can understand how it would be awkward for others if they were in the same situation. The main piece of advice I would give is that if you can’t get a meal that is 100% Slow Carb (or whatever diet you may do), don’t beat yourself up about it – just get the least ‘bad’ option and make do. It’s not worth having an awkward evening with your friends, it’ll be awkward for them just as much as you and if you still keep your goals in mind you won’t go completely off the rails and devour everything in sight. Or even worse – avoiding going out all together because of your diet. Be lenient and have fun. Live life. Remember, cheat day is right around the corner….. 😉

P.S. if any of the staff from tonight just so happen to read this blog post, I apologise!