Happy New Year to all. December was a barren wasteland in terms of diet and fitness. I gave up. I managed to put my back out moving some brewing equipment and although the injury wasn't the end of the world, it took me out of normal activities for over a week. I carried a walking stick just in case for a couple of days which you will see in the featured image.

I won't be going back to the gym straight away, at least until I've fully recovered. But starting tomorrow, I'm back on the Slow-Carb Diet. I had success back in 2012 when I did the diet for 100 days and dropped 10 kilos. I more or less maintained the diet into 2013 and ended up with a 34" waist, for the first time since I was 18.

The weight has crept back on and I'm back to a 36" waist. The girth doesn't bother me but the lack of general health and well-being does. So this is what I'm doing:

1. Tim Ferriss's Slow-Carb Diet which is in a nutshell:

    • No white goods - sugars, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc;
    • No liquid calories - no juices - the only drinks allowed are black coffee, black tea, herbal teas, water and dry wine (<=250ml/day). Drink at least 2 litres of water a day;
    • No fruit (i.e. no fructose) and no dairy (i.e. no lactose) except for a bit of cheese and butter;
    • Eat 3-4 meals a day consisting of meat/fish, vegetables/salad and legumes;
    • On Saturdays go absolutely nuts and break all the rules above.

2. Although 2 small glasses of (preferably red) wine are allowed on this diet, I’m going to cut consumption radically in January. Diets do not work well with alcohol consumption. In my opinion, it is best to cut out alcohol at the beginning of a diet. My problems are domino foods like nuts and red wine, so I will avoid them. But I will allow myself a drink on Saturday.

3. I will attempt to prepare food for the week to cut costs down. My go-to back up options for lunch when I don’t bring something are:

    • Pret protein boxes;
    • Chipotle or Tortilla riceless burritos, both restaurants are sufficiently far from the office that they add to my step count.

4. Attempt to do 10000 steps a day and later get back going into the gym.

This year I have plenty of work to do and plenty of things to finish outside of work too, so my diet needs to be straightforward.

Anyone else in? :-)

Tim's diet features in his book, The 4-Hour Body.