Off to a fast start

When taking the decision to lose weight, a lot of people want a quick fix. I'm not necessarily one of those people as I've been battling the bulge over a number of years so know that a long term commitment is required rather than instant gratification. That said, I was delighted by the outcomes of 5 days of sensible eating. For those who missed it, my first Wednesday Weigh-In of 2015 showed a 10lb loss in less than a week.

On any other week of the year, that sort of drop would cause all manner of alarm bells to go off, but immediately following Christmas and New Year it is acceptable. All those extra calories consumed from eating junk and excess drinking had to be eliminated, and a little bit of a detox to start 2015 has paid off. Where others may fall off the dieting wagon is when the next week is not quite so successful. And it won't be. If you lose 10lbs a week, every week, you probably need to see a doctor rather than count your calories.

I achieved my loss through keeping things simple. Porridge for breakfast. Soup for lunch. Whatever I fancied for dinner in a good sized portion. No snacks. No alcohol. Bread off the menu. Throw in a 5k run and that was my recipe for success.

Imagine 10 of these. Gone. From your weight. Happy days

Last night I found myself eating a little more for dinner than I have on previous nights, and helped myself to pudding too. The scales this morning remained friendly. All things in moderation, then back to my porridge/soup combination so far today. I know this works for me, and I have the willpower (when motivated) to stick to the plan. Until I can raise my fitness levels and bring more exercise to my routine, food control is my chief method for weight loss.

I won't have lost another 10lbs by my next weigh in. But if I keep good habits and don't steer too from the path that I have found successful, I won't be gaining. I've made a terrific start to wrestling back control of my waistline. The challenge starts here to back that up in subsequent weeks and months.

Fitter. Happier. More Productive

Last night I caught the tail end of a programme on Channel 4 called My Baggy Body. I'll have to watch 4oD at some point to take in the full show, but in essence it is about people who have lost an awful lot of weight, but subsequently found themselves with excess skin. It is something that I know about only too well. Having ditched 10 stones since the beginning of 2007, I'm very well acquainted with this unwanted side effect of getting healthy.

The bloke on the programme last night was a guy called Gregg. As I only saw the last few minutes I don't know his full background but it was clear that he had undergone cosmetic surgery to alleviate himself of his saggy mid-drift. He seemed happier in himself, though was left with surgical scars around his waist.

It got me thinking about my physique, and whether I'm happy with my appearance post weightloss. I've got bits that aren't particularly flattering, particularly around my chest and tummy. I'm not somebody who goes to the gym to pose in front of mirrors for hours rather than work up a sweat, so vanity isn't really an issue, but I would certainly prefer to look a little different. Whether I'd ever consider surgery is very doubtful. I'm not depressed about my shape and to be honest the scarring would only serve as a reminder of what I was before.

My wife pointed out to me last night that when I've got a shirt on, nobody can tell what is going on underneath. And she is right. My excess skin is not an eyesore. I wear slim fit shirts in the office which shows an air of confidence. When I'm stood upright, I look pretty lean nowadays. Minus the shirt, when I lean over, my chest and stomach fall out of place and it looks like somebody has pinned Tesco carrier bags to my torso.

It is a small price to pay for long term health. Would I rather be 14st with a mildly embarrassing physique, or a 24st man with a 48 inch waist again? No contest really, so the baggyness remains. My modelling career doesn't look like taking off any time soon anyway!

I sympathise with anybody who feels uncomfortable with their body. I didn't undergo weightloss purely for health reasons - I hated how I looked and eventually did something about it. Losing weight will help you physically but it doesn't necessarily follow that you will learn to love your body as a result. For me, I'm in a much better place now than I was in years gone by. The meaning of the song doesn't really tie in, but some of the less bleak lyrics hold true. I am Fitter, Happier, More Productive. If that means carrying around some flappy parts, I can live with that.

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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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2nd January - Let's Do This

A year ago today I started this blog. The premise was pretty simple; I was going to lose weight in 2013 and chronicle my progress for any interested parties to follow. I stole the premise of a public weigh-in from the likes of Weight Watchers and Slimmers World to provide the focal point, namely the Wednesday Weigh-In, which gave me no place to hide whether things were going well or not.

Today isn't a Wednesday, but I'll break with my own convention and publish what the scales say today. I had to admit there was a fair bit of trepidation in doing so as this was the first time I've been near them since clocking in with my final weigh-in of 2013. I knew that I'd be heavier today than I was then, thanks to the Christmas effect (which I attribute no blame to my mother-in-law and her fine hospitality), but I really wasn't sure exactly how much. I still fitted comfortably into my 34 inch jeans a few days after Christmas so knew it couldn't have been a crash of apocalyptic quantity.

So here we go, today I'm looking at this.

Not what the Doctor ordered

It could have been worse. Despite being away from home for most of Christmas week I still managed to squeeze in my Saturday morning 5k, swapping my usual Black Park ParkRun for a bit of tourism in Bradford. Clocking a respectable sub-25 minute time following plenty of turkey was well worth the effort, though I have to admit the icy rain before the start of the race had me questioning my sanity.

Equally it could have been better. I did eat to excess when with a little restraint I could have come through Christmas week relatively unscathed. Polishing off bowls of nuts and quality street for breakfast is a bit overkill, but for one week a year having abstained from most bad things for the previous 51 weeks, a little overindulgence was probably justified.

So what does 2014 hold in store for me? Well, for starters I've ditched booze for January and reverted to the tried and tested diet formula. Transferring from eat when I want to three meals a day should see me claw back some of that extra weight in no time at all. The half-marathon is a mere 80 days away so I have to find time to step up my running beyond what I do on a Saturday morning or otherwise I'm going to get quite a shock on March 22nd when I'm expected to run more than 4 times what I'm used to.

Due to popular demand this blog will continue through 2014, hopefully with me maintaining a healthy weight. If you are looking to start a health kick this year, stick this site into your favourites, have a read through the 2013 archive and hopefully you'll feel inspired. If I could do this, you can too.

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Time for a Dryathlon

Happy New Year one and all. I wish you and your loved ones all the best for a prosperous 2014.

To get your year started in a good way, why not join Dryathlon? If you're like me and a bit boozed out after Christmas, consider going alcohol free during January to give your body a bit of a detox and possibly lose a few pounds to boot. You obviously don't have to do this in the name of charity.... to be honest I'd rather you spent your beer budget sponsoring me for my little event in March, but I'd highly recommend starting your year with a bit of abstinence.

Sexy headbands

I stumbled upon this formula some years ago and have regularly been dry in January ever since. It wasn't because of any great desire to lose weight. It was more the fact I drank far too much at a late December party as a teenager and the consequences of that night led me away from alcohol for some time! In every year I've started out with the intention to lose weight, a January booze ban has been a staple part of the diet.

Give it a go, and see how you get on. Don't forget to let me know your results.

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Sunday Sorrow

There has been a bit of a recurring theme in my posts in recent weeks and months. I've been losing weight, running well and pretty much every article has been drenched in positivity. This one is going to be a little different.

I've eaten to excess all weekend. I drank quite a few cans last night, to the point when questioned how many I'd had, I couldn't work it out. I'm sat here on a Sunday evening feeling bloated, nauseous and downright disappointed in myself. My trousers aren't sitting as comfortably around my waist as they would have done a couple of days ago. Not a great way to start the last month of this project.

The silly thing is I had in mind to write a post this evening encouraging my loyal readers to Diet in December with me. Having been asked by a couple of people in recent days what my secret has been, I was going to lay out my typical food intake along with a few photos of the meals. After one of my mates suggested the other day that there is no point in dieting ahead of Christmas, I was planning to prove otherwise. Three good weeks in the lead up to a Christmas binge would make for a better end to the year than a month-long feast.

But instead of doing that, I'm feeling sorry for myself. And big. I dread to think what the scales would make of it all right now Fortunately I've got a couple of days to minimise the weekly damage, but 48 hours of extreme discipline doesn't sound particularly appealing right now. I've done well over the past 11 months through consistency; switching to a 5:2 diet to try to counter a bad week to date isn't really a direction I want to take.

Looking at the positives, I know that I can hit that metaphorical switch and revert to form whenever I want to, so long as conditions allow. A decent enough sleep tonight and getting out of the right side of the bed in the morning will get things settled. If I wake in the mood for food, things will be pretty messy on Wednesday morning for the weigh-in.

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I want to be so skinny that I rot from view

On Friday I took a trip to Brighton for a meeting with a professional body that I am a Trustee of. It was the first time I had met with my industry colleagues since our annual conference in May. I turned up to the meeting three stone lighter than when they last saw me and it was nice to receive the compliments that were forthcoming. I've not been dieting to gain public approval, but it never hurts to hear people saying nice things about the way you look.

That said, I've started to notice a slight undercurrent of tension towards my weightloss, though not I should add from my PlaceNet colleagues. Nobody has been outright negative but whereas previously I may have been told that I'm doing amazingly well, more recently comments have been more along the lines of 'you don't have to lose any more.' They are right of course, I don't. It has been 2 months since I passed the target I set for myself at the start of the year, and I have subsequently gone on to lose quite a bit more. But if anybody has concern that I may be taking things a little too far, I'd like to quell those fears.

I do understand that dieting and weightloss can become an obsession. I'd go as far as saying that without a little bit of that, sustained effort would be difficult in the extreme, but I can assure anybody who requires reassurance that I'm very much in control of what I am doing. It was only very recently that I indicated I would not actively diet beyond the end of the year and instead attempt to maintain my weight. Not exactly the forward planning you may expect from somebody developing problems.

Over the past week, I've reacquainted myself with the acclaimed 'The Holy Bible' from Manic Street Preachers. In amongst the very dark lyrics that characterise the entire album, is a harrowing tale of anorexia in the song 4st 7lbs. Here is a taster

Karen says I've reached my target weight

Kate and Emma and Kristin know it's fake

Problem is diets not a big enough word

I wanna be so skinny that I rot from view

I want to walk in the snow

And not leave a footprint

I want to walk in the snow and not soil it's purity 

I choose, my choice, I starve to frenzy
Hunger soon passes and sickness soon tires
Legs bend, stockinged I am twiggy
And I don't mind the horror that surrounds me
Self-worth scatters, self-esteems a bore
I long since moved to a higher plateau
This disciplines so rare so please applaud
Just look at the fat scum who pamper me so

Pretty vivid stuff, but not me. Dieting has been a means to an end. I want to be healthy, happy and fit. If I was putting my body under undue strain, I wouldn't be surviving the sleep deprived nights that my teething, ear infected, snotty but delightful 9 month old has subjected me to over the last fortnight. I wouldn't be getting up on a cold Saturday morning and shaving another second off my personal best for a 5k ParkRun. 

Need further proof? Well, in the last 36 hours, I've had a couple of pints over lunch. Lunch was a hearty lamb hotpot rather than my usual skimpy salad. Last night was take out pizza. Lunch today was bacon sandwiches on crusty bread. Throw in a carvery plus one and half desserts tonight, and the can of beer I've been enjoying while typing away, and I think it is safe to say that I'm not obsessively counting calories! 

If you do know somebody who undergoes a dramatic weight change in a short space of time, by all means ask the question to ensure that they are okay and taking good care of themselves. If that person has been blogging on average every three days, documenting the detail behind their success and in the best shape of their life, you can probably give them the benefit of the doubt. 

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Weigh-In 20 November

Junior has left me feeling rather weary after a series of night times that have been very patchy on sleep. With that in mind I'll keep this entry short, but sweet. Two pounds lost since last Wednesday, meaning I'm now the lightest I've ever been as an adult, and can probably go back several years into my childhood too.

Like this!

Back in the days before I started blogging, I used to track my weight on a spreadsheet. On 18 November 2009 and for one week only, I got down to 14st 4lbs. Well, fast forward virtually 4 years to the day and I've gone one better. If you can forgive a break from the convention of the Wednesday article, I'm also including a snap of the scales when set to display pounds. For the first time, this starts with a 1, rather than a 2 or even a 3 as I've been accustomed to in the past. Very much like this.

Like this more!

Wild celebrations followed the weigh-in this morning, in the form of a trip to CostCutter where I treated myself to a Nature Valley Crunch oat thing and a bottle of Ribena Light. I certainly know how to rock the diet boat these days.

Hopefully I'll be rewarded with a bit more sleep tonight from Junior. If not, he may find himself being subjected to The Ashes.

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70

When I started out on the diet back in January, one of the key motivators was to lose weight so as to enable me to be a fitter and healthier man for my son and his then unborn brother. Ten and a half months later and that remains very much a driving force that keeps me on a successful path. I don't just want to be a good daddy in the short term; I want to be around to see them grow up into fine men and hopefully have families of their own.

If he were alive today, my father would be celebrating his 70th birthday. Sadly he passed a little under 24 years ago, denying him the opportunity to see his children mature into adults and produce five wonderful grandchildren. His illness was not preventable, but disease related to obesity is. I've got a responsibility to take care of myself, so that my boys have a dad to be there for the long term.

I've only very recently achieved a healthy weight according to the Body Mass Index. My task is now to maintain it, for my own health and for the good of my family. Motivation indeed.

Happy birthday dad. Wish you could be here.

Wednesday Weigh-In 13 November

After a couple of weeks without scales movement, today’s weigh-in produces a couple of landmarks. Since I weighed myself last Wednesday morning, I have shed 4lbs, taking me down today to 14st 5lbs. In doing so, I’ve gone past 4st in total weightloss in 2013, having tipped the scales at 18st 6lbs on 2nd January. That target of 41lbs loss I set myself seems somewhat modest, now that I’m 57lbs lighter.

14:9 to 14:5 - big week for the diet

The other milestone reached today is that medically at least I am normal. No doubt family, friends and loved ones will scoff at the suggestion that I am in any way normal, but according to the Body Mass Index, that is exactly what I am. I’m not going to be doing cartwheels about this as I don’t hold the BMI with much credence, but it is good to know that if I had to see my GP today, they couldn’t tell me that I’m overweight.

Me normal? Healthy Weight? Surely not!

I’m now on the cusp of being the lightest I’ve been as an adult. In November 2009 I very briefly got down to 14st 4lbs, before the wheels started to come off that dieting effort. With Christmas coming up on the horizon I’ll be honest and admit that I expect to gain a few lbs over the festive season, but I’ve no intention of allowing myself to regress over a sustained period. Before I get to turkey, stuffing and bottomless tubs of Quality Street, I’ve got a good month in which to keep doing what has worked so well over the last year. I’m not going to put pressure on myself to reach further targets, but it would be nice if I can do the following.

Reach 14st 3lbs and not only am I the lightest I’ve been since some long lost forgotten moment in my childhood, but I’ll also weigh under 200lbs. Bearing in mind at my biggest, I was 336lbs, that is some achievement.

Reach 14st dead and I’ll have lost 10st from my heaviest point. That is like a whole person removed from my body.

Dip under 14st and I’m hitting new territory altogether. If I see the scales starting 13st, I don’t think it is realistic to chase anything less, and it would all be about maintaining from that point on rather than actively seeking further weightloss.

I’m getting close to the end of this journey, but there are still a few more miles to go. Whatever the outcome from here, I can look back on the past 317 days with a great sense of satisfaction.