Week 8 - flu

I can't believe I'm doing as well as I am - although weeks 7 and 8 have been plagued with flu and 'dire-rear' as a result of the antibiotics I'm taking for a chest infection.

To date I have lost 6 kilograms, which is more that I am supposed to lose over the 12 weeks of the trial. I have thrown out my size 20s and I'm now wearing M&S "Eva" body-shape jeans in a 16. And it seems I have been wearing the wrong bra size for about 20 years! I'm not a 40C, I'm a 36EE. No wonder I've been uncomfortable!

I have been scrupulous about keeping my food diary (except for these two weeks when I lost my appetite and was in no danger of going over 1,400 calories) and it has taught me a lot about what I eat.

Round-up of Week 1 of the diet part of the trial

I consumed an average of 1,344 calories per day, walked at least 10,000 steps daily, and lost 1.2kg (or 3lbs in old money) by the end of the week! My fat intake has reduced from 31% before the trial started, down to 13% - no wonder Maurice was calling me 'fat bitch'!

Week 3, but Week 1 in terms of the new regime!

This morning I took the dressing off the first muscle tissue biopsy and I have the neatest little scar which looks less that a slight brush with one of Albie's tiny claws - very neat, and the massive bruises (one is 13 x 5 cm!) on my tummy are starting to fade, at last.

The diet regime is going well, but I need to check if my fat/proteins/carbohydrates proportions are correct. It's a struggle to eat 7 portions of bread/potato/beans a day :-(

Christmas Day was difficult as drink was involved, but I managed to limit myself to one glass of Prosecco and one very small glass of dessert wine with the delicious pudding made by Maurice's sister!

My starting weight on Monday was 77kg.

Good news!

The good news is that I am in the intervention group, not the control group, so I will be required to lose 3.98kg over the next 12 weeks.

I have been given 12 pages of dietary instructions and I am in the process of building a database of nutritional values of the foods I eat regularly. It's quite a slog, but once I've entered the data it should be easier - and by the end of the 12 weeks I should be able to guess weights and values!

I lost 6lbs during last week - let's hope I don't put it all on again :-)

Thursday and Friday

The heater in my room was making things a bit more comfortable, and over the two days I drank two big glasses of vanilla-tasting carbs/proteins/fats mix, cycled for 30 minutes, had the inside of my cheek scraped, and had a lot of blood taken and two more adipose fat and muscle tissue biopsies, and by the end I was so blasé about having them done I read my book during the last procedure!

I have massive bruises on my abdomen from the adipose fat biopsies - one of them is 13 x 5 cm but they are healing well and I can remove the dressings on Monday. The muscle tissue biopsy sites are still a bit tender but no longer bleeding and those dressings can come off next Friday.

Unfortunately I picked up a bad cold.

My veins conked out :-(

By the 4th lot of blood-taking the vein in my left arm declared itself useless, so a fresh canula was put in my right, which conked out during the 6th session. A needle was used for the 7th.

I got the shakes and went all weepy so my temperature was taken and my throat inspected but it turned out that I simply freezing cold so they got me a radiator.

The day brightened up with a visit from Santa - one of the nurses cleverly disguised in a Santa hat!

If this is how it is for human volunteers I hate even more how it must be for animals who don't know why.

Week 2, Day 2

Just blood-letting today. I have a canula on the inside of the my left elbow and have to type with my arm straight so it feels a bit odd.

I've had a glucose drink, and 3 of the day's 7 lots of bloods done so I'm feeling a bit light-headed so must drink more water.

The dressing on my thigh has been changed - the wound is a bit lumpy and swollen, and sore, but will get better!