Year of the Diet: February 2013

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Exercise - taking baby steps

It is a Wednesday morning and I'm supposed to have revved up for my weekly weigh in. However, just as with last week I'm not really in a position to do so.

My second son was born last Monday. As expected he underwent surgery within hours to sort out his lesion and repair his spinal column, having been diagnosed with spina bifida. The operation went well and the plastic surgeons appear to have done brilliantly to leave him with a nice little scar on his lower back.

The diet has inevitably taken a bit of a back seat during the last 10 days during which time I've only spent 2 nights in my own bed. On only one day did I eat like a pig, and the rest of the time it has been a question of making sure to eat. I had no qualms about eating a celebratory Subway on the day my boy was born. Given I'd not eaten anything all day and was operating from very little sleep and nervous energy following his delivery, a footlong was certainly in order.

I did take advantage of the layout of the hospital to ensure I got a little exercise during the stay. With my son on the 4th floor and the lifts often busy, two or three times a day I'd climb the stairs to see my son. All 96 of them. Repeat that several times over the course of a week and I had a tidy little workout. Unless going downstairs with my wife, who following a c-section had limited mobility, I always went down the stairs rather than wait for a lift.

Being in London meant being without a car, so I found that my feet were my primary mode of transport. Walking to shops, to and from the station, between lodgings and the hospital. A fair amount of mileage clocked.

Going into this period, I was concerned about how I'd fare with dieting though adversity. I guess the proof will be in the pudding when I get to mount those bathroom scales. If I'm up or down, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter much. What is important is my son is here, a beautiful baby boy and well worth climbing 96 steps to see.

Saturday 9 February 2013

Crunch Time

This blog will become pretty quiet in the next week or so. It won't be because I've lost interest or because I've given up on the diet, though the latter may be true in the short term. Quite simply, there will be more important things at hand than typing away about the daily challenges of long term weightloss.

In approximately 36 hours, my family will expand with the arrival of a new baby boy. 9 months in the making and here we are on the verge of meeting our new addition. I'd like to say I'm feeling the same as I was ahead of the birth of my elder son, which was a mixture of excitement, anticipation, bewilderment and nerves. However, things are a bit different second time around, which is explained in a bit more detail over here courtesy of my brother-in-law's Just Giving page.

I'm approaching the coming days partly with a sense of trepidation but mostly feeling relief that my son is finally going to enter this world. While I've heard from many people that this has come around so quickly, in truth it has felt like a lifetime since the 20 week scan revealed all was not as expected. The next week will present some extremely testing moments, but it will be worth it all when I'm given the all clear to give my son a long overdue cuddle and share that father and baby bonding that every new dad cherishes.

On the diet front, I'll do my best to avoid the sweet machines in the hospital. I find it somewhat ridiculous that in a place meant to help people get better, there are mars bars waiting to vend in exchange for coinage. I'll eat as healthily as possible though won't beat myself up when the Subway and Nandos down the road provide greater practicality. When the time is right, I'll break my alcohol abstinence and enjoy a beer or two to wet the baby's head. I've got a few bottles chilling in the fridge and I think I'll deserve one.

Wish me and my family good luck - things are about to get a little crazy.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Happy Day! - Guest Blog

I'm pleased to publish this guest article from an old friend of mine who has reached their weightloss target. A stay at home mum with two little boys to occupy her time, and has shifted a whopping 36lbs. Prepare to be inspired...

Today is a happy day. It has been 15 months since I started my slimming journey, and I have finally reached my original target weight. Overall, I've lost 2st 8lb and dropped 3 dress sizes.

It was my birthday that kickstarted things. I was thinking about what I’d really like for a present. I realised I desperately wanted to shake off the frumpy baggy clothes and get my sparkle back. Also, I'm a stay at home Mum with two young boys (4 and 2) and wanted to be able to keep up! I knew that my eldest would be starting school this September and I genuinely feared the idea of Sports Day and the Mummies Race. I've never cared about whether I'm the fastest on the field, but I didn't want it to be completely impossible just because I was fat. Something just clicked, and the motivation was there at last.

A friend of mine runs a local Slimming World franchise, so I called my Mum and asked her if she’d possibly add a bit to my present by paying for the first few weeks. It wasn't really about saving money - I just knew that if she’d paid for it, I’d feel obliged to go!

The next step was setting a target. It was hard to know what to aim for. I looked at BMI charts but just felt terribly ashamed to have got so big in the first place. Aiming to be ‘Healthy’ just seemed so far away. So I set my sights a little lower, and aimed to lose 2st 8lb just to get to a nice round number. It would take me firmly out of the Obese category, and at least that was something.

For the first few months I found keeping a food diary really handy. I couldn't imagine saying no to all treats so I allowed myself a small something every day, but wrote it down so I’d remember. I keep a small Dairy Milk in the fridge and will break off 1 square if I really fancy it, rather than reaching for the biscuits. I’m better at planning our menu and weekly shop now, and instead of cooking separate meals for the boys and us, I cook proper meals for the whole family. The fridge has so much more colour and variety in it now, I love it. I'm also more active, usually running around the common after the boys, but I also like to switch on the Wii Fit once the boys are in bed.

I guess because I have allowed myself treats and takeaways along the way, it has been a long road, but finally I've arrived at this point. I feel like there’s still more weight I’d like to lose actually, and that’s okay. I'm going to go for another half a stone and see how that looks and feels. In the meantime, I've got a huge reward coming my way. For my last birthday and Christmas, I asked my family for clothes vouchers, so in 2 weeks I'm hitting the shops for a new wardrobe. Time to shine!

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In - 6 February

It has been a pretty hectic week, hence the lack of articles over the last 7 days. Apologies to those of you who have been following this blog religiously and have been eagerly awaiting your daily fix. However, life sometimes gets in the way and in the last week my opportunities to sit down at a laptop and type away have been somewhat restricted.

So, rambling aside he is the result of my weigh-in this morning

I have a feeling of deja vu

Yes, I've remained exactly the same. Having lost 16lbs in the previous 4 weeks you may expect this to come as something of a disappointment. If truth be told I'd argue it has been my best result of the diet to date. That requires an explanation so here we go.

The diet has been on something of a backburner this week. I've not been consciously stuffing my face at every given opportunity, but things have happened which has meant I've not been eating as healthily as in previous weeks, and to that end seeing I have not gained any weight as a result is particularly pleasing.

This weekend was my wife's birthday, and while there was no getting drunk (not an advisable thing to do with a 37 week pregnant woman) some of the lighter meals that I've been enjoying to help me shed the lbs have been replaced by the sort of food I was eating on an all too regular basis, helping my waistline to expand. So there has been takeaway. One night there was pizza. The next night there was left over pizza. Monday night was Chinese. There was a small bit of chocolate birthday cake eaten, which I thought was pretty good going given there was a huge cake sat in the kitchen all weekend and only one little bit went my way. Last night pie and veg became pie and chips owing to a veg shortage. Sunday lunchtime I found myself having McDonalds with my son and a few of his friends after a trip to the cinema. My efforts to be healthier by ordering a side salad instead of fries was thwarted by a lack of available salad. I even had a couple of slices of toast last night before dinner.

So with all of the above, I was ecstatic to see the scales not tipping the wrong way. To counteract the effects of the consumption laid out above, there has been some semblance of activity. Thursday and Friday night I spent my time exporting my lounge into the kitchen so that a new carpet could be fitted on Saturday. Carving up the old carpet and pulling up the grippers must have burned a handful of calories at least. I temporarily became furniture removal man in disposing of my old couch. There was trip to the park Sunday afternoon with three 4 year olds after cinema and Mcdonalds, and being a big kid myself I was anything but passive.

I'm not beating myself up because I can see why I've not lost any weight and know that reverting to the plan that worked in previous weeks should see things back on track. Whether that proves to be the case or not remains to be seen as life is going to be getting in the way again this week. My new son will enter this world on Monday and what happens from there only time will tell.