Wednesday Weigh-In 17 July

Television programmes about weightloss; discuss. Normally I wouldn't give them my attention. Celebrity 'Fit' Club, Britain's Biggest Loser, not really my thing. I watch tv to be entertained, not to endure other people's misery. It came as a bit of a surprise then on Monday night when I found myself watching Sky Living and was mesmerised by the Fat: The Fight of My Life. The reason why, was because the subject of the show was a guy in his mid 20s, topping the scales at 27 stone.

Rewind the clock 7 years and I could have been that man. OK, I never weighed quite that much, but I wasn't far off. I didn't much care about how big I was. I didn't think I would ever love or be loved. I didn't expect life to improve and all I really did with myself was eat. Excessively. Sometimes food for comfort. Sometimes food just because I had nothing better to do. It rather fills me with dread to think about where I would be right now had I not started to diet.

Anyway, the TV show was much as what you would expect. Fat guy meets a mentor. Mentor makes him work hard and sweat. Fat bloke starts to lose weight at the rate of knots and his life turns around. He lost 10 stone in just under a year. Phenomenal effort and he looked so much better for it. He got a job that he liked, moved into new and improved accommodation and started to pursue his ambitions. Fair play to the guy.

True, there were one or two obligatory make the fat man cry moments on the show, which I didn't feel were really necessary. When I think back to my participation in Making Slough Happy, I've always been particularly grateful that footage of me blubbing during video diary shoots never made the final cut that was broadcast.

Since watching that show, my thoughts have switched to the bigger picture. I can put myself under pressure to get a 'positive' result on a Wednesday morning, but the long term outlook is what really matter. I'm not that 24 stone guy who was eating himself to an early grave a few years back. Yes I'm a bit heavier than I'd ideally like to be right now, but things have been improving steadily on that front this year. As my weigh in picture today shows, I'm 27lbs lighter than I was when I started Year Of The Diet. I now run 5k's for fun, improving my time by 43 seconds at the weekend on my first run.

Third week running - despite weekend booze and BBQs

I'm happier, I'm healthier. I've not gained weight. I know a lot of people who get disheartened when the scales don't budge, but I don't. Obviously I'd prefer to see the numbers going backwards, but as long as they aren't shooting upwards, I am doing my job, managing my weight rather than letting the old demons get the better of me.

I used to be that guy

Now I'm this guy

It would have been great to have lost weight this week. I didn't. I'll move on. The weightloss will come.

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