My Choice

An important aspect for successful weightloss is decision making. It is not just enough to take that initial step and begin a diet. That is the starting point, but from everyday onwards success or failure will be determined on the choices that we make.

Today for example, I have been given several opportunities to break from my eating regime. One of the reasons I will be successful moving forward is the ability to say no. Resist temptation. Stick to what works. It isn’t an easy thing to do, but if the motivation and will power is really there, the right choices will be made.

Exhibit A. When I arrived at my desk this morning, I found a box of chocolates on my desk. One of my colleagues, bless her, bought them for me to say thank you for something that happened earlier in the week. She knows that I’m dieting but said I could keep them for a bad day. Now, in the early stages of dieting, I try to avoid shops for the very reason that I know I’m susceptible to chocolate. Being faced with a gift first thing in the morning, after a week of being very good was tough. However, I’m determined not to crack. The Heroes will stay in my cupboard for a while and I’ll blog again when the day comes that I tuck in.

My lunchtime choice. Soup vs Heroes. Soup won

Exhibit B. We have a communal lunch room in my office. Having spent the week avoiding the Peanut Butter Oreos and Biscuits, today a message came around about leftover buffet being available following an event. Sandwiches, bhajis, some sort of meat on a stick, mini-quiche. The sort of crap that even though you don’t really want to eat it, you find yourself compelled to eat platefuls of the stuff. I didn't. My choice.

Mmmm, leftovers. Must. Eat.

Exhibit C. No supportive photos on this occasion but trust me. A group of fundraisers came around with trays full of cakes and cookies. They put them in my face, saying it was for whatever good cause they are supporting. I stuck a pound coin in their collection bucket and but did not take anything from them. Well done me. Sticking to my diet and giving to charity.

There are various choices we have to make. Do I open that bottle of wine when I get home from work? Shall I pass on cooking and order takeout? Why don’t I have that second helping? Unless you are a child or infirm, the responsibility for what you consume on a daily basis lies squarely with you. I’ve never hidden away from the fact that I made myself a 24st man. The reason I’m dieting again this January is because of poor choices in recent months.

Graduation Day. Barely 21. Enormous. And I got much bigger than this

So thank you for the chocolates. Thank you for the leftover buffet. Thank you for the cakes. But no, my choice today is to politely decline. 

Soup Glorious Soup

Finding something to eat at lunchtime is always a bit tricky when dieting. When you're hard at work but skimping on the calories, you want to have a meal that satisfies your hunger, will get you through until dinner and not do too much damage to your waistline. A pretty difficult combo.

During the summertime I opt for a light salad but while the weather is cold, grey and miserable, such as today, my preferred option is soup. Firstly, when served hot it takes a while to eat which is always a bonus. Second, you get that warm comforting feeling in your tummy from a hot meal, without the bloating of a big dinner. And finally, it is fairly cheap and easy to do, whether you make your own or buy ready made.

Today I was lazy and went for the latter. My reward was a tin of Newgate Vegetable Soup, bought for not very much from Lidl. It claims on the packaging to be wholesome and tasty. I'm not completely convinced by either of those, but given it has been the best part of 4 hours since I ate and I've not felt hungry since, I can at least say it was effective.

Does not come supplied with Blue-Roll ears in supermarkets

If you are thinking that soup for lunch sounds like a good idea, here are a few pointers to help you along the way.

1. Soup only. Don't be tempted to have a bread roll with it. Yes it would be nice, but lets be honest, if you're dieting bread is not your friend.
2. Check the packaging before you buy. You'll be surprised at how many calories can be packed into a little tin of soup. Avoid the ones that have the word Cream in the title, and also be wary of some of the chunky varieties. My vegetable soup came in at a grand total of 164 calories, which translates as less than two slices of bread for a sandwich. More calorific options may prove counter productive.
3. Never think that a cup a soup will do the job. Water and granules is not lunch. You wouldn't consider instant coffee a meal would you? From a tin or carton will do, unless you've blitzed up your own.

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Wednesday Weigh-In - 9 April

Last week's scales leap didn't really come as a surprise. Eat more than your body needs and take away your regular source of exercise and that sort of thing will happen. Last Wednesday I was feeling seriously run down. Later that day little man was sent home poorly from nursery and prescribed antibiotics, meaning more interrupted nights and a day off work on Thursday while he was embargoed. Not exactly what I needed. By Friday morning I was feeling pretty rough myself and struggled through a meeting in London and tied up some loose ends at work before abandoning ship in search of a bed where I wanted to curl up and cry.

As it turned out, with a rare opportunity to go to the pub as a couple, my wife and I still made it out for a couple of hours rather than waste the use of a babysitter. I managed half a J2O before I started falling asleep at the table in mid conversation. Last of the hardcore drinkers is not a title I can associate with myself these days!

The last time I checked the scales was on Saturday and they read 14st 3lbs, a reflection that I'd been well off my food in the previous 24 hours rather than dieting like a boss since the last official weigh-in. My appetite hasn't really picked up much since then as I've continued to be under the weather. The little man has been a bit more co-operative over the last two nights, though on both occasions I've still ended up leaving my bed midway through the night and settled down with him.

Thoughts are already shifting towards my next fundraising challenge. I'm signed up for a half marathon in London in October, which hopefully gives me enough time to rehab my knee and get it ready for some serious mileage again. I'd been looking forward to participating without the pressure of doing so for a charity, but having spent the last couple of days at Brainwave Centre so my little man could be assessed, I get the feeling October's run will end up as a means to generate funds for his continuing involvement in the programme. In a nutshell, they help kids who have had a difficult start to life to achieve their potential. Over 2 days we sat through a number of physio sessions, joined in with hydrotherapy and came away with a tailored workout that will hopefully help with his physical and emotional development.

Back to me and the diet, I'm not overly worried about the waistline. I didn't want to get unwell but it was rather inevitable having been around a snotty toddler with very little escape. The one good thing about feeling so rough is it has put an end to the constant hand to mouth activity that had become habit in the past fortnight. Post Easter I'll assess the damage and take things from there. In the meantime, hopefully the germs clear up and the appetite will return. Just not too much!

Going The Distance

Tonight I've had a bit of a psychological breakthrough in regards to my half marathon training. I'm not afraid to admit that up until this point I've been feeling a little nervous about how far I'll have to go. I've become comfortable doing 5km but the thought of doing that four times back to back with a sprint finish on top has filled me with dread.

Last September I competed in a 10k run, coming home in a respectable 56.38 but a fair chunk of that race was covered at walking pace, most notably that blimming great hill in the middle of the golf course. I wasn't fit enough to run the entire race and in the four months since I've not gone beyond my comfort of a Saturday morning 5k. With the half marathon just over two months away, I had to get out there and get some distance into my legs.

The problem is as a working dad, time is a precious commodity. It is unrealistic for me to run first thing in the morning as I need to get my youngest up and ready for nursery before getting his big brother ready for school. My lunch breaks are now restricted by the fact that I'm making up time that I lose first thing, due to not being able to leave the school gates until 8.40 at the earliest. After work I get home, get the boys fed, bathed and ready for bed. After that, I cook for my wife, who has a much more stressful day than I do, and then my choice is to eat at the same time or pull on the running gear.

So many reasons exist not to go out in the evenings. Fatigue. Hunger. The weather hasn't been entirely helpful for my motivation of late, though I have made it out a couple of times for half hearted efforts. Last night I hoped to run but the rain arrived and drowned my good intentions. Tonight, with clear skies above me I left my excuses at home.

To mix things up, I made a change from my usual route. Going past all those take away outlets was getting a little old, plus a new direction meant I would be unaware of how far I had run. My mind tends to play tricks on me when I see distance markers, even at the parkrun, meaning I suddenly feel weary or notice an ache or pain that wasn't there before. Running blind tonight meant that didn't happen. And when I got back to my driveway I stopped my app to be informed I had managed this.

Boo-ya!

Just under 10k in 52:30. Had I known I was at that sort of distance I'm sure I would have found an extra 100 metres on my way home just to take it up to a nice round figure! Still, I'm feeling pretty darn satisfied this evening. If I can do this on a cold Tuesday night after the little one kindly provided me with a broken night's sleep, then maybe this half marathon business isn't quite as scary as I had been thinking.

13 miles. 21 kilometres. This guy is starting to believe he is going the distance.

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Survival Sunday

When I'm in dieting mode, I really dislike Sundays. The Bible bills it as a day of rest but for me Sunday is a 24 hour test of will and resistance.

Today provided a perfect case on point. I was up half the night with the little one so was fatigued. I had a few aches and pains from Saturday's run to contend with. My boys were both vying for my attention throughout the day and with energy levels dipping into the red, the desire to eat junk was overwhelming.

Day 4 of the 2014 version of my diet and my least disciplined to date. I added a banana to my breakfast, couldn't stay away from the cheese in the fridge throughout the day and happily accepted a couple of chocolate orange segments when offered. That probably doesn't sound like stupid amounts, but it feels like it.

I don't like how my mid drift looks rounder than it did just a few weeks ago. As a  Christmas paunch goes, it is nothing to write home about, but the fact I'm noticing my belly reflects on the fact that my clothes are a little tighter.

A full week of work ahead should make life easier. If I find myself thinking about food it is more difficult to do something about it than when at home on the weekend. I'll also look to get some running time in the evening this week to aid my 1/2 marathon preparations. I'll be disappointed in myself if I don't make it out at least twice.

Me vs Statistics

Not surprisingly the start of the year brings about lots of talk about diets. I'm not the only voice evangelising about losing weight as part of a new year health kick. Newspapers have been talking about them, the bloggosphere is full of new year resolutions vowing that this will be the year that weight will be shed. Channel 5 dedicated two hours to a programme the other night in which they tried to debunk myths about dieting which made for very depressing viewing. Everything in that show was so negative that by the end of it I felt like saying 'sod it' and reaching for the Pringles.

Following a suggestion from my old school friend GourmetMum I recently signed up as a member of BritMums. I know, I know, what is a guy doing joining an online community of mums? Well, they take dads as well for a start, plus with no obviously comparable collective of male bloggers, it made sense to join this pre-existing network. In the forum section I posted a link to this site and suggested that if any other members were looking to slim down in 2014, they may want to have a look. My only reply to date read as follows

Not for me. Allegedly only 10% of diets work and most people end up fatter than they started

Hey, thanks for the encouragement! I don't expect everyone to want to sing from my hymnsheet, but really? Even if those statistics are true, that is no reason to buckle under unfavourable odds. Hell, if I made my choices purely on high percentages, I wouldn't have enjoyed the company of my gorgeous little boy this afternoon. (9 out of 10 diagnosed spina bifida pregnancies are aborted in the UK)

I'm not daft enough to think that dieting works for everybody, but then I know not everybody will work hard to make a diet work. It requires motivation, dedication and the ability to resist temptation, traits that served me well last year and I hope will continue to do so in 2014. I've written several times in the course of this blog about my motivation so won't go over old ground in this article. Resisting temptation is probably the most difficult to achieve. I've had my struggles with this at times, but being able to say no is fundamental for achieving weight loss. Just today, my eyes lit up at the mince pies and Christmas cake that was on display at my mother's house. They say the first taste is with they eye; in this instance that was the only taste I had.

As for dedication, this can take many forms. Sticking to your diet plan, abstaining from alcohol, settling for something nutritious on a Friday night rather than opting for take away. I demonstrated my dedication today by ignoring the weather, donning a ridiculous jacket and got my arse running. It would have been so easy to stay put in my warm lounge hearing the rain pounding the outside world, but instead I kept to my plan, ran my 5k and felt all the better for it.

Tango Man sighted near woods - Photo by John Tipping

I didn't lose more than 4 stone in 2013 because of luck. I made my diet work and having done so I'll be damned if I'm going to become just another statistic of someone that allowed themselves to become fatter than before. If the numbers aren't on your side, don't be afraid to the exception, rather than the rule. Somebody has to break the mould, and that somebody might as well be you.

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