Rocket Science

A friend posted that she has lost over 2 stones since June.  I said "Well done. I'm trying to do the same - what's your secret?".

"Eat less and move more" was her reply.

The Men Who Made Us Fat

Here is a fascinating documentary.  More evidence that the low-fat, high-carb diet actually makes you fatter.  And before you ask, it was the Americans, with a little help from Japanese scientists. . .

The Men Who Made Us Fat

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Three White Poisons

Try removing the following 'foods' from your diet.

Salt

Sugar

White flour

You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Ditch refined carbs and lose weight

After watching the quirky, and sometime annoying FAT HEAD video on YouTube, I decided to keep white bread, rice, pasta, potateos and other refined carbohydrates like donughts etc. to a minimum.  Despite having a few cheeky beers, I still managed to shed over 2lbs.  That is a little more than I really want to lose each week, but I'm not complaining too much :D

Is this moving towards Atkins?

America is lying to the world

It's hardly surprising that Americans are being led down the low saturated fat and high carbohydrate diet path, as sales of grain, cereals and other crap food helps keep Monsanto at the top of the seed crop sales league table.  The odd thing is that since the "healthy" low fat high carb lifestyle has been promoted, heart disease and obesity are at higher levels than ever before.

Sweden has ditched this idea, instead recommending higher fat and lower carbs in diet.  Guess what?  They are healthier as a result.

But enough of my yakking - read more about it HERE

Unwanted slippage

My weight has gone back up to 15st 2lb as of last Friday - not the direction in which I wanted to go.  I have been hitting the gym 5 times per week, so why should my weight go up?  I decided to do some more research over the weekend (for 'research' substitute 'watch YouTube videos').  I discovered some interesting stuff.

Cholesterol does not cause heart disease.

Eating saturated fat does not raise cholesterol.

Eating fat does not make you fat

Eating protein does not make you fat

Eating carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates, makes you fat.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, or not eating in this case.  I've decided to cut out pasta, white bread, white rice and potatoes from my diet.  I'm also reducing the gym visits from 5 to 3 times per week.  The next couple of progress posts should confirm if I'm on track or lost somewhere down the wrong lane altogether.

Supersize Me?

Do you remember that Supersize Me 'documentary' by Morgan Spurlock?  Did you believe everything that you saw and heard whilst watching it?  I did, until recently.  Here is a debunking of the low-cholesterol, low-fat, high-carbohydrate lifestyle.  It also shows that Morgan Spurlock earned an awful lot of money by telling lies.  Watch and learn kids.  FAT HEAD

Slippage

Back up a couple of lbs this week.   Been a bit slack and not kept an eye on the intake.

Blearghhhh

Too much food and drink was consumed this weekend.  Way too much.  The weekend is over now, so it's back to the gym tonight for some serious calorie burning.

Here's what I do 4 times per week:-

5 minutes warm-up.

Static bike.  2 minutes resistance level 14 followed by 2 minutes resistance level 8.  Repeat X 10 and maintain 85+ RPM.

5 minutes warm-down.

More research. . .

. . . into Chinese cuisine was done! On Wednesday, me and my good lady wife went for 'lunch' and consumed what can only be described as a calorific time bomb.  There were beers, and each of us had a starter for two so it wasn't going to be pretty.  By the time we left we were pretty satiated (no dinner that evening, let's say).  There were lots of beers last Friday and Saturday too (by me, not my wife) - a bit of a celebration.  I still managed to drop almost another 1lb this week and as this is the progress I had planned, I'm more than happy, especially given the week's excesses.

First milestone has been reached

Yesterday's weigh-in saw me drop to under 15 stones, and I have no intention of putting that weight back on.  Of course, that's not to say I never will.  Sometimes life throws a curveball or finds a way of pulling the rug from beneath us, usually in times of crisis or when we are feeling low.  Right now, I am feeling pretty motivated, and looking to drop another couple of stones.  All in good time though.  Slowly slowly catchy monkey...

Couldn't resist. . .

. . .a cheeky step on the scales first thing Saturday morning.  15st and 6oz.  So close!  If I'm below that come this Friday I will be very pleased indeed, as we went out Saturday night and ate loads of food with plenty of beer and had the same again on Sunday.  I enjoyed every bit of it though.

Don't forget to enjoy life

I was pleased to see my weight drop by another lb since last week.  No mean feat considering I ate a large Domino pepperoni pizza and six hot wings last night, all washed down with five cans of the fizzy stuff as it was the wife's birthday.  We shall be out again tomorrow night for a Chinese meal.  Birthdays only come once a year, so make sure you celebrate them.

The Greatest Scam in the History of Medicine?

aka 'The Great Cholesterol Myth'

The statins market is worth over £20 billion per annum, a highly lucrative business. Why would the companies that manufacture statins not wish to perpetuate Lies* about cholesterol?  Read and decide for yourselves.

* I'm not pointing the finger at any particular statins manufacturer.  I'm pointing it at all of them!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. . .

. . .and a little of what you like does you good.

"One last session on the beer" - "No more pig outs after this weekend" - "This cheesecake is too good to miss. I'll be good starting Monday".  Sound familiar?  So do you mean it or will you be saying exactly the same thing next weekend?

My advice is don't make rash promises.  Set realistic goals.  Everyone should allow themselves a 'cheat' day at least once a fortnight.  Top athletes and bodybuilders do it.  Make something taboo, be it food or drink, and you are setting yourself up to fail.  If you want a burger/pizza/ice cream or whatever, then have it.  Just don't have it all the time.

Get up off your backside

Here are some cheery little factoids to end the working week.  Enjoy!

I urge you to. . .

. . .use MyFitnessPal.  I've been using it, logging my food and exercise in a diary for just a few days and can already see I am a bit too fond of bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast, and snack too often on peanut butter, cashews, digestive biscuits and chocolate in it's various forms and disguises (Snickers etc. are mostly salt, sugar and vegetable fat whereas Green and Blacks 85% is real chocolate).  Consuming these high calorie products mean my daily recommended calorie limit is being reached before my body's nutrient needs have been satisfied.  This increases the likelihood of late night snacking before bed.  Additionally, any weight loss from exercise is being cancelled out.  Now I'm not saying you should never eat these things - just have them occasionally as a treat and not every day as part of your staple diet.

Another spoon of peanut butter before bed anyone?

Every little helps

A couple of colleagues have been using MyFitnessPal since June 2013 with astonishing success, having shed almost 4 stones between them in 3 months (it's no magic bullet - they are exercising too), so if you need/prefer a helping hand, you could do worse than investigate.  Create a free account, logon, set your current and target weights, enter your daily food intake and exercise, and your calorific intake VS expenditure is logged to to give you a running total.  There's a forum where you can post to like-minded masochists.  There's even a MyFitnessPal app for Android and Apple devices which include a barcode scanner which will do all the work for you with certain food items.  I entered the stuff I could remember over just two days, and was surprised by the high numbers of calories my "healthy" snacks contained.  I'll be using it over the next couple of weeks and will report back my findings.  Suffice to say, what I have seen so far is very encouraging.

Beer is not your weight-loss friend. . .

. . .nothing like stating the bleeding obvious is there?  Someone asked "But surely, beer is just water, barley, malt and hops so there can't be any fat in it, can there?"  Well, no.  Beer does not generally contain fat (apparently 0.3gm of fat in a pint of draught Guinness), but it does contain 'empty' calories.  As you know, when you consume excess calories the body converts these to fat.  So when you consume excess calories as beer, why should this be any different?  Drinking lots of beer makes you eat more than usual too.  I have no idea why this is.

Anyway, since I stopped drinking beer on a school night the weight has started dropping off nicely with no real effort - 3lb shed this past week. 

A strange phenomena

Travelling to distant lands and eating exotic spicy foods can play havoc with one's constitution.  On my return from the summer holiday, I took another week off to go fishing.  During this time I continued with the holiday lifestyle at home, but was pleasantly surprised to see that my weight had dropped by almost 5lb this morning.  As I have not been exercising or fasting during this time, I can only think I must have carried home some stowaways from Tunisia which have now been released back into the wild!

Holidays should be enjoyed to the full.

I've been enjoying fine food and drink at a 5 star all inclusive hotel.  No fasting, no exercise (apart from walking to and from the pool bar).  I loved every minute of it.  Yes, my weight went up by 3lb.  No big deal.  Someone once said to me "I eat sensibly all the time, I don't drink alcohol, I don't snack, and I hit the gym 5 times per week".  I could only think "...you're missing out on the good things in life. At least you will look good when they put you in your coffin."

Remember to keep some perspective.

Blip? nah

As mentioned by Fast-5 creator, Dr. Bert Herring, my weight has gone up by a pound and a half this week.  No big deal but thought I'd mention it anyways.  Probably increased leg muscle mass from spinning (joke).  However, I'm sticking with the program, as many people have reported great results from following it.

Derrrrp

Pound and a half down this week.  Was tempted to get a bacon buttie from the canteen this morning, but resisted.  Oh, and I found the setting on our posh new BMI calculating scales which shows ounces. 

Flying

I went spinning on Tuesday and after 25 minutes had to ease off, it was that hard.  For any of you who thinks spinning is for wimps, give it a go.  Obviously, you can make it as hard or as easy as you like.  Looking at how fresh a couple of participants were at the end, I'd say they may have (conveniently) forgotten to turn up the resistance.  Do it properly, and I guarantee your legs and lungs will know you have been working.

Did a session of light weights in the gym last night, plus an easy 20 minutes on the stationary bike to try to loosen my legs in readiness for tonights spinning class.  Yes, it is addictive.

Monday's child

Did Fast-5 up until 19:30 last night.  Prior to eating, I had a 20 minute session on the static bike to loosen the legs up for this evening's spinning class.  The instructor takes two classes back-to-back.  I've opted for the late one, hoping that he will be too tired to make us work hard!

Pig Out Weekend

Went to a wedding reception Saturday night and a family barbeque Sunday afternoon.  Much food and drink was had by all on both days.  'Normal' service has been resumed, but I wonder what Friday's weigh-in will hold?

Fast-5 Update

I've been (loosely) doing Fast-5  for a week now.  On Saturday there was a family trip to the seaside and fat boy ate a bacon roll and sausage and egg muffin for breakfast.  On Wednesday evening, there were some beers.  I went to the gym last Monday and last night I went to spinning, following that up with a big dinner of steak, buttered mash, broccoli, fried tomatoes, salad and a few more beers.  These were consumed around 9:30 PM.  As promised, here are my results.

Last week - 15st 9lb

This week - 15st 6lb

All excuses aside, my progress has been better than I predicted, and I shall certainly be continuing with this regime.

Fast-5

I'm on my 4th day of doing THIS.  It's really not that difficult to follow, but does it work?.  Well, I shall weigh myself Friday morning and put the results up here for you to judge for yourself.  If my pants fall down by themselves in the meantime, I'll let you know about it.  Apparently, you even stop thinking about food after a while..... not that I ever used to!

Good morning

I've been neglecting intermittent fasting of late in favour of burgers, pizza and beer (it's barbeque weather, right?), hence no updates to this blog for a while.   I had not looked at my progress page for a long time, and got quite a surprise when adding in this morning's weight entry.   I've added a couple of new entries to my Links page.    The document really explains all you need to know in simple terms.   Hopefully I still have time to get a little less flabby before the holidays.

Oh, and I've tarted up the links page making it more obvious what needs to be clicked.

Hello again

How time flies.   Back to it!

Links update

BBC have made YouTube removed the Horizon program, so the links page has been updated accordingly.   You can probably find it in popular torrent sites, but make sure you don't download a Trojan.

I hate the BBC.   It's filled with parasitic, self-serving arseholes....and we pay all of them with our licence fees.

Return to the routine

It was bad enough having time off after the shoulder operation.   Since then, I've had another operation and another three weeks doing NOTHING but laying in bed.   This might seem like the perfect place to be, but during those 4 months, I gained almost 11lbs.   Can I also blame the new whizzy bathroom scales my wife bought?...
Life has many setbacks.   Do you let these decide your results for you, or do you put them aside and crack on?   I'm going back to the gym tomorrow and back to I.F.

Join Me?

I'm OFF alcohol until St. Valentines Day.   Why not weigh yourself today and join me for the next five or so weeks?   You might be surprised by the results.