The first thing I did was look at the foods I absolutely loved and my pattern of eating and drinking.

I always skipped breakfast and if I was busy I found I wasn’t even hungry until mid afternoon.

I’m not proud of this next admission BUT I drank every evening from around 7pm.  I would then have dinner between 9 and 10pm and go to bed shortly afterwards.

The fact that I ate so late was probably the reason I was never hungry until mid day the following afternoon.  The fact that I’d had a few drinks and went to bed on a full tummy meant I could sleep easily and soundly.

If I was to succeed long term, I had to work within that pattern.

I have to say that I am a real foodie … one of my favorite foods after a drink being kebabs (not the donner ones though … yuk).

I will explain why I made some very specific food choices on our “Understanding Food Groups” page.

A health grill was the best investment I ever made.

MY DIET

From waking until I was hungry, usually around 3pm I would drink sparkling water with PLJ (Pure Lemon Juice}

3pm I would have two small slices of Rye, Spelt and Wheat bread topped with peanut butter.  This was an excellent source of protein and fibre and very slow energy release.

I would usually have a piece of fruit, preferably a banana some time later in the afternoon.

7pm I would start to wind down from work with whiskey in a large glass, topped up with sparkling spring water.  In a week I would get through an average of one and a half litres of whiskey (yes I am aware that is way over the recommended average).  I never claimed to be an angel!

9pm I would start to cook dinner which was always:

Any type of well seasoned fresh meat cooked on the grill but with fat intact (Mmmm crispy meat fat) in a small pitta bread, stuffed with either tons of salad or vegetables also cooked on the grill.

Now I know sugar is bad for us but I needed the added spice and so would always add relish to the kebab.  It really was like having a treat every single night as it was food I loved and it was lovely and tasty.

Occasionally instead of the meat I would have cream cheese and occasionally I would also substitute the relish for a dollop of cream cheese.

Now get this … I always finished off with a rounded teaspoonful of Nutella, which I let dissolve slowly in my mouth so I could fully appreciate its awesomeness.

There were some slight variations but essentially that was it and here I am the following summer (18 months after I reached my goal and having not even gained weight over Christmas and New Year! (aged 50 and riding a BMX :D)

Actually the bike has a tendency to do stunts all by itself, usually resulting in me on the floor with various cuts and bruises!