New Year's Eve and I'm back.

The operation on my shoulder went well, I was told.   Three and a half hours in surgery, two days in hospital and four weeks with my right arm strapped to my side.   Since then, I have been doing recovery exercises diligently, and the physio has given me the all-clear to go back to the gym, so I'll be doing that from Tuesday.   A New Year and time to re-focus.

Possible hiccup

I'm in hospital for a shoulder operation, after which I'm not going to be able to move very much.   Come to think of it, I'm not going to be able to use a computer either (my left hand and computer mice are not familiar).   Next updates may be delayed.

31st October and 31 weeks on. . .

. . .had I remained focussed, I would have lost around 30lb by now - over half way towards my goal.   I sent this blog to another friend yesterday, and I know she will be keeping an eye on me.   Still, there's no point worrying about it.   Another 1 lb down this week, and heading in the right direction.

Setting the goal. . .

. . .well, re-stating the goal.   I've been having a chat over email with John, my Jockanese (that's Scottish if you are an American) friend, who is also doing Intermittent Fasting.   I told him this, and thought I might as well add it to the blog, as it seems pertinent.

Ideally, I would like to get back down to around 12 stone 8lb.   That's another 36lb of flab that I have to shift.   In theory, at the rate it is presently coming off, I should achieve this and be at my fighting weight come mid-July 2013.   I have decided that's when I will populate The Hall of Shame with the before and after pictures.   You have been warned.

Still not convinced?

I am down another 1 lb.   Losing weight this way is easily the most sustainable (therefore, successful) regime I have ever followed.   The health benefits from giving your digestive system a regular break are enormous, and I shall be posting up something about that when I can.   So, until next week - stay focused.

Ps - I've added an interesting new statistic to the factoids page.

Beers, pizza and more beers

Last week was a bit of a mess with lots of beer and pizza being 'processed' over the weekend.   Not expecting much this week.   Tomorrow will tell.

Keep going

Another 1lb down as of last Wednesday.   Pleased that I am still heading in the desired direction.

This week's progress

As I anticipated, progress was slow this week.   I lost a 1/2lb, but given what I consumed during last week's birthday celebrations, I'm not complaining.

You are what you eat

Most people are familiar with the phrase 'you are what you eat'.   If this is true, then you are reading the blog of someone constructed from beer, kebabs, pizza, and peanut butter sandwiches.   You should feel very honoured ;0)

Temptations

Started work at 06:00 today.   At 07:00 my Team Lead came in "who wants a bacon roll?".   At 08:00 the project manager came in "anybody want some cakes, doughnuts or croissants?".   I declined - today is one of my fasting days.   Still, the rewards will be mine tomorrow with any luck, or maybe not after last week.   We shall see.

Celebrations

Birthdays should be enjoyed, whether they be your own or someone else's.   We celebrated my wife's birthday last week and had two fantastic meals with drinks.   I am fully expecting to have not made any progress since last week, but I won't beat myself up over it.

Why should you control your drinking?...

First off, alcohol is bloody expensive.   In the UK, about 35% of the price of a pint goes straight to the government.  Secondly, alcohol consumption is linked to a whole raft of conditions such as various cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, liver cirrhosis etc.  Thirdly, alcohol loads the body with excess 'empty' calories.  Lastly, it gives you the "munchies", making you fill your face with junk food and snacks that you don't need.  It makes sense to get a handle on your drinking for the sake of your health and your pocket, doesn't it?

Alcohol.   The legal drug that robs you until it kills you.

The fox is guarding the chickens...

Following on from my previous post.   THE BIG PHARMA PAY-OFF

Your body has wonderful built-in mechanisms which allow it to heal itself.   All it requires is for you to give it a little space.

Heal yourself

It has been said that an inscription was found on an Egyptian pyramid dating back thousands of years BC.   It reads:

"A man lives on one quarter of what he eats. On the other three quarters, lives his physician."

The rise in obesity and obesity related conditions such as adult-onset diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and various cancers to name but a few, should really come as no surprise.   The western world is fighting a losing battle with food.   Why is this?   Well, there are plenty of organisations (charities, junk food and pharmaceutical companies, and the governments who receive donations from them) with a vested interest in keeping people unhealthy.   Think about it.   If folk actually made the effort to fast on a regular basis, they would drastically improve their health and many would no longer need to take medication.   If you are the head of a cancer charity, junk-food chain or large pharmaceutical organisation receiving vast sums in donations and/or making billions per annum, this would not be good news.

Time to wise up people.

Out with the old, in with the new. . .

My gym membership has been put on hold whilst I wait for an operation on my shoulder.   Consequently, I have kicked out the original plan and replaced it with something better.   Please familiarise yourselves with Intermittent Fasting *

*It's not a diet, it's a way of life.   Literally.

Professor Mark Mattson

Professor Mark Mattson is of the specialists Michael Mosley visited whilst in the U.S making the Horizon fasting program.   He's annoyingly fit, healthy, and very enthusiastic about Intermittent Fasting which he practices all the while.   Here's a little bit about him culled from Wikipedia

"Mark Mattson, laboratory chief of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging has done research on IF and says "Our genes, our genetics, are geared to us having food intermittently. ... I’m comfortable with saying that it’s healthy, it’s fine, to skip meals. The animal studies are very clear. ... I think it’s better to eat one meal a day than six small meals. You need to challenge your system. ... It’s OK not to eat three meals a day. It’s OK a couple days a week to eat just one meal. It’s actually not only OK, it’s healthy." Mattson practices IF himself, skipping breakfast and lunch during the week, and rarely exceeding 2000 kcals/day. He's 130 pounds at five foot nine inches. He says he gets most of his calories from whole grains, nuts, fish, and yogurt."

Rubbish

As you can see by the lack of activity, I have been ignoring my blog somewhat, and yes, I have fallen off the wagon too.   I'm not making excuses - I'm a bloke who is rubbish when it comes to following a regime.   However, I shall not use that as an excuse to totally give up - that would be silly.   I watched the Horizon program again last night and was spurred to get back on track.

Eat, Fast and Live Longer

If anyone reading my blog is thinking "why would you want to skip meals two days per week?...this bloke must be a nutter".   Well, please reserve your judgement until you've seen the following BBC Horizon program (I'm not saying anything - hopefully, you'll be curious and just watch.).  I couldn't find it on BBC iPlayer, so here are some links culled from YouTube.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I sincerely hope that the medical establishment (and government) get to see this program, as implementing the ideas contained therein could save many lives and a whole heap of money.   Unfortunately, in my experience, human beings are too feeble-minded or weak-willed to embrace changes of lifestyle, instead, preferring to stay fat and "fix" their medical problems with an array of drugs and medicines.   Shame...

Been away for a bit. . .

Watching the olympics has renewed my enthusiasm

Moderation - yes or no?

How many of us have been out for a celebration meal where a large banquet has been ordered and completely finished, or gone to one of those help yourself Chinese buffets, piled the plate up four or five times (or more - I have noticed professional eating machines at work in "Eat The World £9.99" joints), and ended up feeling sick because you'd over-indulged?   I know I have.   I was thinking about this the other evening having put away a large take-away on Father's Day.   My excuse of "I'm going to eat all of this because it's been paid for" is nothing short of bloody stupid.   OK, so yes, money has been spent, but what about the cost to one's health through over-eating?   Thankfully, most of us no longer have to worry about times of famine, and so glutony cannot be justified.   I believe it is better all round if we can eat sensibly, stop when satisfied, then simply walk away feeling comfortable.   If there is food left over, so what?

Slacker (again)

Been very busy of late, celebrating a big birthday and going on a family holiday (with all that extra food and drink).   Happy to say I only put on 2lb since the last entry and now back on track.

I did it. . .

I did a '50th Birthday' morning weigh-in, and made 14 stone 13lb.  A happy man.

I've not been to the gym for a couple of weeks, but still been fasting two days per week.   This has allowed me to maintain the original 1lb per week weight loss.   However, this week is my big birthday bash, so I fully expect to slip next week on the progress chart ;0)

One week left

This day next week I will be 50 years old.   By then I expect to be 14 stone something.   For me, this will be a big achievement, as it will be the first time I have been 14 stone something in almost 14 years.   Fingers crossed.

I have no idea

No idea as to progress this week.   Scales read 'Batt Low' and I have nothing to replace it.   Too busy preparing for other things, son's birthday, fishing match, more crap with cars, and so this week's update will be left same as last week's with a disclaimer (cop-out) comment.

No progress. . .

Made no progress over the past week.   Things went wrong with the car, I had crap to deal with at work so I didn't get home until late, missed one of my gym sessions and on a couple of evenings opted for the easy option of take-away meals and beer.   In all, not a great week for a fat bastard trying to ditch the excess blubber.   Not to worry though, I have this week to get back into gear.

Why oh why. . .

I watched Real Madrid lose to Bayern Munich last night in the European Championship semi-final.   It was worth it just to see if Ronaldo might cry again, or the look on Jose Mourinho's face (not that it changes much).   Anyway, I got through 4 pints of stella and a large bag of chilli peanuts.   I reckon that was over 1000 calories that I really didn't need.   Thankfully, I don't do that very often - not like in the old days!

Go See Your Quack

The NHS is running a scheme to monitor people between the ages of 40 and 70 (I call it the old farts scheme).   The idea is that various aspects of your health, lifestyle (exercise, alcohol intake etc.) and family history are assessed.   This yields a percentage rating of the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes in later life.   Score 20% or higher, and you are referred to your G.P. for further advice.   I did the test last week and results were encouraging.

Blood glucose: Normal
Cholesterol level 4.0
Blood pressure 125/80.

I scored 10%   The nurse thought this was a little high.   We both agreed this was probably because my weight is a 'little' high.   I just need to lose another 20kg!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I've been investigating what causes high blood pressure, heart disease, increased levels of 'bad' cholesterol, adult onset diabetes etc. and was surprised to learn that the above conditions may be brought on simply by being overweight.   Being overweight may be linked to increased stress, which triggers surges of cortisol in the blood which could be behind "comfort eating" - how many of you reach for food when stressed?   I plan to read up a lot more on this, but it seems obvious that reducing stress can have significant benefits to one's health.   I damaged my right shoulder some months ago, and have not been able to exercise properly since.   It is annoying how losing the partial use of one arm can impact almost every kind of sport or exercise regime.   That said, there must be something else I can do, so I shall be genning up on exercise and relaxation techniques.   More to follow in due course.

Blood Pressure

I've been told on more than one occasion that my diastolic BP is too high.   Well, since embarking on this fat loss malarky, it has dropped a bit.   I shall do some reading on the subject, and perhaps I can help it to drop some more. . . we shall see.

Slacker

To be fair, I have been slacking of late.   If I stay focussed, everyone around me should benefit, not just me.   Need to keep the holistic view in mind.

Oh the shame

I'm in the process of redacting a stash of photos, and will publish them HERE very soon.

Mmmm

The previous week I had chips and stuff, some drinks, a Chinese meal out with the family with a few drinks, and a few drinks more.   Now what am I supposed to be doing again?

Whoops

Three bottles of Magners and a few gin and tonics, then came the late night feast of cheese on toast.   Never mind.   As the old saying goes "the man who never made a mistake never made anything".  

Slowly slowly catchy monkey

It's taken me nearly 50 years to get this fat. I don't really want to end up with enough excess skin to go into the handbag business, so I'm aiming to lose 1lb or 2lb per week max.

Welcome

Hello. I am a chubby fat git getting back into shape.

I'm also on Twitter @chubbyfatgit