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Days 5 and 6.

- On day 5 I dropped bread and pastry from my diet and on day 6 it was the turn of dairy products again. You will notice that I never drop fruit or vegetables because these foods are not only healthy but a friend to all weight watchers.

- Day 5 is also an exercise day so the exercises seem to be the logical place to start. I always exercise immediately before dinner because it is best to do so with a reasonably empty stomach. Also if you eat immediately after exercising you are likely to eat less making this a double-edged sword.

- Exercises consisted of 2 or 3 minutes stretching until I can get my fingertips to the floor without straining hamstrings. 20 sit-ups (these are done with two breaks until I am fit enough to do all 20 without rest.) 20 push ups done today in two sessions; one of nine and one of 11 - I'm getting better because it was four sets of five two days back. Running on the spot until my pulse rate increases by 50%. The warm down stretching exercises - Total time take was 10-minutes.

- Breakfast consisted of (Day 5) a fruit smoothie, cornflakes with chopped dried fruits and nuts. (Day 6) Fruit juice, two slices of toasted wholegrain bread spread with marmalade followed by a banana and a nectarine.

- Mid morning I had a cup of lemon green tea and on day 5 ate an apple.

- Lunch (Day 5) was a green salad with pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, an apple, a banana smoothie and a large glass of water. (You can drink as much water as you please.) Day 6 lunch consisted of a ham and cheese wholegrain bread sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes beside it. The bread was spread with olive oil rather than butter or margarine. Then I had an apple with a large glass of water.

- Mid afternoon on both days I had a cup of lemon green tea.

- Dinner on day 5 was a hamburger (1/4 pound of meat) without the roll (or bun or whatever your local term is), French beans and broccoli cooked very lightly in vegetable stock. I like crisp vegetables. Day 6 dinner was a chicken and fruit salad with cashew nuts added.

Each Friday evening I will check my progress and here are the results of the first check:

Original weight was 197 pounds. Today's weight is a fraction below 197 pounds but too little to measure.

Good news: I can feel that the pressure on my waistband is less than when I started so something positive has been achieved. You must accept in the early stages of any weight loss program that you start shedding fat and increasing muscle. By volume muscle is much heavier than fat so initial weight loss isn't always noticed. The slackening of my waistband tells me that everything is progressing well. I must admit that I did hope to be able to tell you that I had lost a whole pound. But don't panic, the news will be better next week. You are what you measure not what you weigh.

This article is copyright * David McCarthy 2002. It may be reproduced in its entirety with no added content.