Here we go with Day 1. Just finished my NEPA walk around Coyote Point in Burlingame, CA (4.55 miles) and now I'm drinking my first shake. I've been using ON Whey Protein for years so MD tastes very sweet to me though it's still palatable.

Height 180 cm
Weight 192.8 lbs
Neck 39 cm
Shoulders 48 cm
Chest - Upper 125 cm
Chest - Lower 110 cm
Waist - at Navel 104 cm
Waist - at largest 105 cm
Hips - at largest 110 cm
Upper Arm - L 31 cm
Upper Arm - R 31 cm
Upper Leg - L 63 cm
Upper Leg - R 64 cm
Lower Leg - L 37 cm
Lower Leg - R 37 cm
Ankle - L 25 cm
Ankle - R 24 cm

Good start:)

Workout today:

Front Squat 75x5,75x5,75x5,80x5
Lat Pulldown 150x5,150x5,150x5,150x5
DB Bench press 55x5,55x5,55x4,55x2,55x2,55x2
Ab Rollout 5,5,5,5

Tabata: KB Swing: 35lb x 11reps

Day 2:

NEPA today: 2.93 miles / 45min08sec

Feeling quite fatigued most likely due to lack of sleep.

I have had a hard time getting in enough sleep too. I think it is catching up with me. I was pretty good for the first few days, but I started needing more later in the first week.

Looks like you are on track, Senor Patel.

Did you use centimeters just to confuse me? And why not use kilos then, instead of pounds.... or stones.... or something. :)

Might have to change all of my measurements to cubits, just to keep up.

Good Luck!

Day 3: NEPA today was another stroll around Coyote Point. 4.7 miles, 1h 08mins.

My food cravings aren't as bad as yesterday but my workmates have yet to come back from their trip to In N Out and fill the office with the aroma of their lunch :-/

HOT-ROX: I started the couple of days by taking just one in the morning before my walk and then one in the afternoon. However I didn't feel much of an effect and so today I started with two and am about to take two more; years of drinking sugar-free Red Bull have prepared me for this!

Looking forward to my second day of weights in the gym later tonight.

Just finished my workout and glad to get a hellish day over with.

Reverse Lunge (30x8)x5
Bent Over DB Row 35x8,(45x8)x4
Push Press (30x8)x5
Barbell Curl 60x8,60x8,60x6,60x4,60x4,60x3,60x4,60x3
Reverse Crunch (Bodyweight) 20x2

Tabata Protocol on an Elliptical Trainer, Ramp=12, Resistance=15


My boss decided to take everyone out for margheritas and food at 3pm because he wanted to talk to us about recent upheavals at work. I was dreading being in a place with plates of food right in front of me. Having read about Dan John's experience on the V-Diet in his book, "Never Let Go", I ordered only soda water and lime. I was very surprised how quickly this countered any food lust. I kept my eyes off the table and made sure I was either looking at people I was talking to or my soda water and it worked like a charm. Thank you Dan John!

It also helped when I got to the gym that there were two girls taking turns on the declined bench next to me to do 'exercise'; of course they spent most of their time talking instead of working out. Instead of snarling at them to STFU I directed the energy into moving the weights though I think I overdid it because by the time I got to the curls my biceps were already quite fatigued. Threw in a tabata protocol to finish off the workout and then staggered to my car feeling rather wiped out. Surge is a great recovery drink; minutes after getting it down me I felt fine.

Roll on day 4!

NEPA today was 3.77 miles/56m44sec

Have a strange craving for salt....

Day 5: NEPA was shorter today than I had planned because of time; 3.43 miles in 53min 44sec

The shakes are starting to get to me because I'm finding them to be too sweet. I've never really been a fan of dessert so it feels like I'm eating cake 5 times a day!

Weighed myself this morning and was pleased to see I've lost 8lbs. I'm also starting to feel more mobile which I put down to the weight loss.

Day 5 Workout:

Deadlift: 135x8,135x8,145x8,145x8,145x8
Decline DB Press: 40x8,40x8,40x8,40x8,40x5,40x2,40x1
*Lat Pulldown Wide Neutral Grip: 90x8,105x8,105x8,105x8,105x8
Hand Walkout (knees): 10,10,10,10

*still recovering from a staph infection in my elbow; if it's healed by Monday I can start doing pull ups at last.

Stats from this morning:

Height 180
Weight 184.6
Neck 38
Shoulders 45
Chest - Upper 119
Chest - Lower 109
Waist - at Navel 95
Waist - at largest 100
Hips - at largest 106
Upper Arm - L 34.5
Upper Arm - R 34.5
Upper Leg - L 63
Upper Leg - R 64
Lower Leg - L 37
Lower Leg - R 37
Ankle - L 25
Ankle - R 24

Total of 8.2lbs lost!

First V-Burn Challenge done: 26mins 43secs. Waaay longer and than I expected. I know the program says not to rest but I made the mistake of powering through the first two sets as if they were complexes and was exhausted by the third set. I took the remaining sets a little slower and stopped around 30 seconds between each one. I also slept in late today and so perhaps I wasn't quite warmed up enough. I'll see if I can fix that next week and get closer to finishing in 20 minutes.

I'm looking forward to my first HSM but am also apprehensive in case it weakens my willpower to stay with the shakes for week 2.

The HSM did not seem to influence my willpower, or my tastes. Interestingly, I love dessert, never found MD to be sweet, but I swear it is getting sweeter the longer the diet goes on.

On my first V-burn I kept doing more reps than was required. It helped out a lot when I got someone to do the counting and tell me what to do next. In my case, that person was my wife, who was more than willing to bark orders at me.

Congrats on your first week's progress, week 2 will be gone before you know it.

Losing 8lbs in a week will likely be able to make you resilient enough against the wiles of solid food. After my HSM, I felt a little sad that I wouldn't be eating solid food for quite a while, but by the next day I was back in the habit of drinking shakes without a second thought.

@thevikingscot
The shakes DO get sweeter! Or so it seems. Well, the chocolate ones do. Not so much for the strawberry or banana.

Thanks for the encouraging works Viking and Blake! :-)

Had two shakes so far today and am back in the swing of things. I'm going to replace the NEPA with a session of Bikram yoga. I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and was very surprised as to how loose I felt afterwards. I've got some stiffness in my joints so I'm hoping it'll do the same again and set me up for the week ahead.

great job, I love yoga:) keep up the great work. I love sweet stuff, so I don't mind one bit if the shakes are sweet, I love it. But I accidentally put one scoop in 16 oz of water the other day, and it was not very sweet at all, maybe you could just add more water.

Thanks Paula! I've been following your log too and it's inspiring and encouraging to read about your experience. I think it makes it easier to follow the plan knowing that the ones who went before you went through the same trials and tribulations and that you can make it if you stay dedicated :-)

I added the water as you (and Chris) suggested and it did help but I'm also considering adding a little cayenne pepper to one of my chocolate shakes tonight to see if that will also tone down the sugar. Biotest might want to think about a savoury (spinach!) flavour to add to their current range ;-)

My diet, before I started this, was pretty good but I was definitely adding a lot of unnecessary calories to it over the weekends with beer. Drinking diet tonic water is definitely an effective way of stopping any cravings for alcohol. I'm surprised I haven't missed it as much as I was expecting.

BTW, in case anyone is curious, the reason I went on the diet is the first place is because I entered Tough Mudder (http://toughmudder.com/). During my first couple of running sessions I realised I would have to shed a lot of weight and build up my general fitness levels in order to be able to just finish the event. Carrying around an extra 30-40lbs was definitely going to be detrimental to my success and so here I am ;-)

RE: adding cayenne pepper - not a good idea. Managed to finish the shake but my stomach is definitely not liking it. Best avoided in the future methinks.

For my HSM I ate Indian...... it was extremely delicious. I love spicy foods, and it normally isn't a problem for me..... but on the V-diet, not so much. I don't think anything has ever made the trip through me so quickly. Maybe spicy and v-diet don't mix.

maybe try cinnamon in your shakes I even like it with chocolate. It does change the flavor a bit:)

I'm doing the run for your lives zombie mud run in October, it is my birthday present to myself. its only a 5 k obstacle course with zombies chasing you trying to get your flag! I am not a runner, so this is gonna be a challenge!