I’ve suffered from a complete failure to follow the diet this week. I could show you the statistics, but it would be easier to upload a red image.

It started well. I landed in Zurich and went to McDonalds at the airport. I ordered three double cheeseburgers without sauce and buns. You might say that this is the wrong thing to do. Actually the burgers do not have filler and are usually 100% beef. The burgers were a substitute for finding a restaurant on Monday evening.

The next day I was in ketosis. I managed a chicken salad for lunch and a steak in the evening with one of my staff. This is where it started to go wrong. We ordered a second bottle of wine. I could have passed with a minor misdemeanour with only half a bottle of red, but we went further.

This was not so bad and in fact I was still under mild ketosis the following morning. On Wednesday I gave myself a pass. In the evening we said “Goodbye” to a staff member. And this involved a few drinks and snacks. I prepared with a Burger King, then stuck with Gin and Tonic all evening.

The problem occurred the next day. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Zug where I have a routine. I know where to go to get good food without carbs. In Zurich I’d done very little planning and don’t know the city as well as Zug.

On Thursday we ended up having a Vietnamese lunch. Actually it wasn’t too bad but I ate rice. In the evening, I could have found somewhere but I was on a time constraint. So instead of going to the meeting and having one glass of red, I had a Big Mac and then a couple of pints. Oh dear. Then I went on to meet another friend together with Gin and Tonic again. By the way, the addition of pepper to the cucumber in a Hendricks is a must try.

By Friday, I’d given up. For lunch the team went for a burger (pictured). I upgraded my flight home as doing so will take me to the next reward tier. In the evening, I ate the food in the airport lounge and on the aeroplane. Oh dear.

Yesterday I still continued as normal and had a cheat day. Today I will go for a walk somewhere and get back on track.

The key element here is a lack of planning. It’s difficult to socialise and stick to a diet. But I could have continued in Zurich with a bit of forethought.