This diet is hard.  I never used to drink, I don’t smoke or take any drugs – fast food was my only vice. So right now I am as virtuous as it’s possible to be. I’m even starting to bore myself now, by constantly dropping my challenge in to any possible conversation opener.

I am learning a lot. Like, did you know that fast food you enjoyed this week (you can’t lie to yourself) is actually  ruining any gains you might be making in the gym? Every time you eat junk, your body cannot absorb the raw composition and you end up breaking down muscle to release amino acids, which enable your body to digest the whole thing – AKA burgers are eating your guns!

I turned up late for one of my sessions this week. Matt thought I clearly wasn’t taking this seriously so punished me through the workout.  It’s high intensity every day, with no more than 60 seconds rest between sets, and everything is a ‘Superset’, where you work directly from one body part to another. So today, for my lateness, I got the choice of drinking from my bottle to rehydrate or that same time to breathe, (he gives me 20 seconds rest between). What a choice! I opt for the latter on nearly all sets and really regret the slower walk to the gym this morning.

Diet-wise, I haven’t strayed once. Why have one bit of anything bad at this point? It won’t satisfy a craving and it’s just not worth the guilt! I did however sniff a brownie this week in the office, and will count down the days till we meet more intimately.

Lean muscle

We met Lucas again for another round of measurements. I have lost over a stone of fat, not body composition, just fat! I lost 13lbs of fat and retained my muscle mass, Matt points out that I have also defined the lean muscle running through my body. I am thrilled, this is, after all, the holy grail of all gym goers:  fat loss with muscle gains.  They both explain that my diet and training is set up for me to get here, but that the reason behind the success is motivation and hard work.

If you would have asked anyone three weeks ago whether I could hack this I reckon 92 per cent would have disagreed. I was a work turtle, they’d say,  hiding into my shell to comfort eat from work stress and there is no way I would motivate myself to change.

Well, I am doing it and I am loving it! I’m no longer craving pizzas or chips, getting scarily excited at my new trials of the herb isle in my local Sainsbury’s to jazz up my white meats. I genuinely feel like a new me and I can see the fat falling off from my man boobs and hips.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I am genuinely looking forward to the next four weeks to see how I can transform myself. It’s clear that 70 per cent of success is down to your diet. You cannot out-train a poor diet, so crack on with those greens.