Measuring the Tub

Wow, I came back from Crete 1.5kg lighter and with 3cm gone from my waist! Something critical in my diet has changed. I am still only eating when hungry and apart from my Samarian Gorge trek , a bit of diving, and an occasional bit of yoga, I’m not exercising at all really.

In fact, whilst in Greece, I even started incorporating olive bread dipped in olive oil into my diet, plus some Greek “zero sugar” ice cream, and even some dairy & feta, meaning that on most days on holiday I was/am well over 50g carbs/day. In other words, my carb intake has gone up and both my weight and waist are down! So what’s going on???

For the last 18 months or so I’ve struggled to keep my waist measurement below the critical 94/95cm  level. Despite being strict with the carbs, it’s been a real challenge and some weeks I’ve exceeded it. Only intermittent fasting managed to keep me (just) within limits. On the left is my waist measurement taken yesterday, the first time ever since I was in my teens that it’s back at 92 cm and today, as of writing, it’s down to 91cm, with another 0.5 kg loss in weight!  Naturally, whatever the reason, I am delighted.

Clarified butter (ghee) vs. Olive Oil

The only thing that has really changed over the last 2 weeks or so is that I’ve (by default) dropped all ghee and switched to olive oil. Could it be that ghee is in fact inflammatory for me? Circumstantial evidence would appear to suggest so. Further, it would appear that olive oil has some major anti-inflammatory effects, fully offsetting and even overriding the effects of my increased carb intake.  Hence, with the exception of some baking, I am dropping all ghee with immediate effect and replacing it wherever/whenever possible with copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil! I guess they call it a Mediterranean diet??

Let’s see how we go. I will keep you posted..

Note: If you’ve experienced anything similar, I’d like to hear from you!