Just like starting over

Ah well, let's chalk off last week shall we? Back on the straight and narrow now. Looking to not gain any weight this week then puh on from there.

A nice beef casserole for tea. Made it last night and divided it up into 2 portions. Mind you I just had to sample it as I was cooking it, and as it was cooling down!  Got to get back on the nuts and seeds tomorrow so an early morning visit to Tescos on the way into work will be first on the to do list.

St Davids Day tomorrow and that means 7 weeks to go!  Now that the evenings are getting lighter and the forecast is for a dry week, more mutt walking is planned and my knee will just have to suffer

Rain stop play

Where have you been? I hear you shout. I'be been by 'yuh (as they say around these parts). Haven't weighed today. 2 reasons. One - it has been pouring down with rain today and Two - I wasn't going to go anyway. No point. Whilst I have been a good boy during the working day I've let the volume on the plates pile up a bit this week. I put it down to the depressing weather.

There is nothing more soul destroying than incessant grey, drizzly weather interdispersed with it coming down like stair rods. So it has been comfort eating. So next week I really will have to double or treble the effort. Promise, and I'll be back on form with this blog as well

Whatchu talkin' 'bout Weight lady?

One pound gained?? Ok, switching to metric now. 400g gained. There, that's better (equivalent to the weight of 12 packs of 34g crisps, hardly anything). Don't know how that happened, only the second increase in 7 weeks. Didn't eat anything untoward compared to previous weeks. Must be biorhythms or something. So, onwards and upwards and let's hope for a better result next week. Roll on the weekend

Another week gone

The weeks go by very quickly as one get's older! Weigh day again tomorrow. Not feeling too optimistic but will take a few grammes off last week's weight, even if the pounds result stays the same. Done a fair bit of walking around the works building this week so you never know.

Food wise I've been good in work but if honest could have been a bit better at home. Not that I've eaten "bad" things, it's just that the volume is creeping up again and, horror of horrors, I've eaten half a Wholemeal loaf!  If I have managed to lose a bit of weight I may treat myself to chip shop chips tomorrow lunchtime.

Local media suggests that due to the bad winter, there is a backlog for routine non-emergency operations so I can't see me being done soon, and with my requested embargo on the month of April, seems like it will be in May or after.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Well done colleagues

Well most of you!  As you are aware I'm trying, and so far succeeding, to lose weight naturally without the aid of Fitness classes, Weight loss classes etc. ie just cutting DOWN (not out) most of the very tasty cr@p I used to eat in vast quantities. No-one (including Loopy Lou) will convince me that a perfectly created sausage roll or pasty is just wrong and bad for you. One or more a day, then fair point!

So, since the start of January, most days you will find me in the work kitchenette preparing and eating my boring salad or rice based lunch with cooked meat. We have two tall fridges in the kitchenette and it is with great credit to colleagues that the fridge is filled with lots of healthy goodies which they bring in. So I really don't feel so bad.

However Fridays are a different matter. Imagine the sceanrio. There I am quite "happy" (grrr) with my ham salad sandwich (wholemeal bread, smidgin or super-duper low fat low cholesterol spread) when someone has just been to the chippy and sits opposite me with sausage in batter with chips drenched in curry sauce! And to rub salt into the wounds I'm even offered a chip!

Therefore every Friday I go to town and weigh, and try and avoid the kitchenette!  That said, before we moved office last year, Friday was always my Chips Day, so I really can't pass judgement. Oh alright I will - b@st@rds!!!!

Back to the original topic - well done troops. We may have a dwindling workforce but at least we're a relatively healthy one

Rainy Days and Mondays

Always get me down, What I've got they used to call the blues. Nothing is really wrong, feeling like I don't belong; walking around, some kind of lonely clown, rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

I suppose it's what athletes call hitting the wall. I know I've got to get through this. Ham and pilau rice lunchtime today was so boring. And I'm feeling quite tired in the mornings.Do any other dieters feel this way? Treated myself to a bit of choccie this evening.

Sorry it's a bit muted today. Onwards and upwards from tomorrow folks!

I put my blue jeans on, I put my oh blue jeans on, ch ch

Result!!  This afternoon, whilst watching United v City, I thought I'd rumage through my trousers (no, not that!!) and see if anything whcih didn't fit before was now possible. I had a few pairs of jeans tucked away, so I thought nothing ventured nothing gained. Whoo-hoo, back of the net!  Now for the acid test.

Secreted away, for a "just in case scenario" was a cardboard box labelled "trousers, next size down". This box had survived a couple of house moves over the past 5/6 years. Go for it Smartie Pants!

I slit the masking tape and took out the green recycling bag, untied it and took out the half dozen pairs o trousers. It's bizarre how the same size labelled trousers from different shops can be different sizes when you try them on. Two thirds of a result! 4 out of 6 fit and the other two not far off.

Now what time is the lottery drawn.....?

What a beautiul day-hey-hey!

Whoo-hoo! Another 2 pounds lost. That makes 12 pounds (or six bags of sugar) in 6 weeks. Nearly a stone sounds better though doesn't it!  Weighing on a regular basis can cause major stress though.

Boots is a good mile walk away from my workplace. With my bad knee (yawn) it takes about 15 mins to get to the store. I tend to go along a residential street so apart from the Council digging up the road here and there, I face little obstruction en route. However, Fridays are probably not the best day to speed walk through a shopping centre. After a few body swerves Barry John would be proud of, I reach the glass door of Boots. This is where trepidation comes in. Have I lost anymore weight? Or more importantly is the bloody machine out of order! 

The machine is in sight, and in order, some 20 yards away, and no-one is on it or looking to go on it. With an extra burst of pace I sidestep the roll-ons and position myself directly in line between the expensive sandwiches and "personal" products. Someone ahead of me is moving towards the machine - don't you dare! DON'T YOU.. oh,it's okay, she's just gone into the lift next door to the machine. I knew this all the time really ;-)

The machine is mine, all mine!  Time to strip off. Winter coat and shoes, that's all.  Okay, in goes the 50p (10 shillings!! Remember when it used to be a penny!) "Measuring Weight and height"  "Please stand still".  On a secretly stashed post it note I have last weeks weights in imperial and metric.  If I haven't lost any weight in pounds I will switch to metric and claim any 0.whatever as a win. Multi-tasking on a lateral level.

The red dots ascend on the display "Stand still" the lady of the machine orders once again. Too right I will, this has cost me 10 shillings and I'm getting my money's worth, dear!  I sneak a furtive glance at the display. Whoo-hoo two pounds (0.9kg) lost!  I step of and claim my print, ready to attach to the others I am storing. Shoes and coat on and mile long walk back to work. if I could jump and click my heels to the side a la Tommy Steele or Dick van Dyke I would!

Now for the biggie next week. A stone loss is now in sight. Bring it on!  But not before I've said hello to Mr Boddington - and why not. Cheers!!

Knees-up

Cor, what a day. Running here there and everywhere. Of course running in the metaphorical sense because of my knee. My knee started playing up last March/April time. It sort of just came oin. I put it dowmn to a sprain or strain, but after a while it didn't get better and slowly got worse.

In work, sitting for any length of time cause my knee to effectively seize up, and meant a severe hobble to get going again. I was referred to a physio and after half a dozen sessions, no visible improvement was seen. Off to the doc who arranged an Xray. The good news was that the bone structure of my knee is very good for a man of my age. The bad news was that there was no sign of what was causing me the problem. I began doubting if there was really anything wrong. I finally presuaded my doc to send me for an MRI scan

Huzzah, at last a diagnosis. A tear in the medial cartlidge and excess fluid in the joint. So here I am waiting for keyhole surgery. The waiting list is 3-4 months so won't be long now.

The moral of this story is that if you think you have something wrong, anywhere in your body, don't give up until the professionals find out what it is.

Weigh day tomorrow, weigh-hey!! 

Cream Crackered

Oh how I'm glad I've rediscovered this simple product. Got to be Jacobs of course, with a smidgin of super-duper low-fat, low cholesterol spread, then maybe some peanut butter on top, or a thin clice of ham. mmm. Still not as nice as Walkers Crisps but a decent substitute. However is someone wants to prove that a 34g pack of crisps is better for you than 4 Cream Crackers, I'll share my next pack with you!

Back to more substantial food, last night's pyrex bowl full of Chicken Chasseur including pots, peas and carrots was enough to carry forward to become a soup for tonight. And very little preparation. Just shove it all in the bowl and cook for 90 mins. Simples! Son of Mongoose could do it!

Getting nearer to weigh in day on Friday. I feel as though I've knocked off another 2 pounds at least, but we'll see come Friday. A few people who don't know I'm on this regime have commented how I've lost weight,which is nice and encouraging. Still can't quite get into trousers the next size down yet. Well I can set into them but they won't do up comfortably. A few more weeks I reckon, just in time for the arrival of Spring (ha ha)

Starvin' Marvin'

Sorry I missed yesterday. A toss up between this and Corrie - no contest!

Spent the day yestersay in another workplace, having some "me" time. Well I needed peace and qiuet to do an important piece of work. So, guess where the hot desks are located???  In the bloody canteen. At 730am it wasnt too bad but the kitchen assistant came in about 8am and started the cooking of.... sausages, bacon, toast, eggs (yuck) etc etc. The aroma coming from behind me was stunning. How can one concentrate on work with this wonnderful smogasbord of smells!  Soon staff started to arrrive for their brekkie so I dived into my rucksack and pulled out.... a cereal bar. That's right a puny cereal bar! Life on a diet so isn't fair! 

Lunchtime wasn't much better either, so I fished out of my rucksack.... a banana!!  Mmmph!  Only one way to counter this - steak and chips for tea. Lovely jubbly!

Today not much better food wise.  Tempting as it was passing a Greggs, my will held out and had another cereal bar.  Done quite a bit of walking in the past few days so my weight should drop another few pounds by Friday, fingers crossed.

What no milk????

One of the worst feelings known to mankind - no, not the forces of evil winning today - it's getting up in the morning, with your mouth set for a nice cup of coffee, only to find the milk in the fridge is 3 days out of date! On a positive note this goes to show how my coffee intake has diminished in recent times. Work colleagues may say otherwise!  However I rarely finish these cups.

In the past I would quite easily have 6 or more cups a day. When I got up, one as soon as I got into work, mid morning, lunchtime, mid afternoon, hometime and one in the evening. It was just drinking for drinking sake. So I do have one when I get into work, two or three others in the day and that's it.  So I have cut my caffiene intake by almost half. I haven't looked into the science of imbibing lots of coffee and the effect on one's health, but I can say I hardly miss these extra cups and that must me good for whatever part of my body or metabolism caffeine affects. And also I really savour that first one work to kick-start the day, or on a Sunday morning when I get up, unless I run out of milk that is!

Weekends are no good for dieting

Not that I've gone overboard today, but work is a more regimented arena and less opportunity to pick and buy things you ought not to!  So roll on work on Monday - only kidding!

I'll take this lull in dieting activity to tell you a bit more about reasons for the need to lose weight. Those that know me of old will remember that I wasn't exactly a likely contender for Body of the Year, lacking quite a few stone in substance. Whilst I wasn't happy with my lack of physique I could still play 2 footie games on a weekend, 5-a-sides etc so in that respect I was ok. As mentioned in an earlier blog, giving up playing footie at a relatively early age, plus an office job, meant I was a prime contender to put on weight.

Of course this can bring other problems and issues. High Blood pressure, High Cholesterol, High Body Mass Index and the lads favourite the "beer belly", which can lead to bad back (check), bad knees (check,), awful lack of fitness (check).

Family history isn't too good on the old ticker front and in my area we have a wonderful local doctor surgery and NHS. So since last year, after constant encouragement (nagging)  from my Sis, Loopy Lou, I'm regularly checking my Cholesterol levels through blood tests, and due to a previous condition they test me for everything. Having had a Cholesterol test recently It has come down from a very poor score to a more respectable 5.3 which is still over what it should be but like any good performance indicator, it's heading in the right direction!. I would suggest that anyone around my age (49) gets at least a yearly check up with the quack.  It's quick, free and if in fact they do flag up something you can then sort it out

Apart from the above I am down to have an op soon on a torn cartlidge in my knee. If I can lose some weight before this then when I'm back up and about there will be a lot less weight bearing down on my knees and hopeully this will aide my recuperation.

A bit boring today, sorry folks, but maybe someone out there will think, ooo maybe I should have a check up.  G'night all

5 weeks down, 10 to go

So that's 5 completed weeks in the 15 week programme. I started of with the intention of losing 30 pounds in 15 weeks, and for the mathematicians among you that's 2 pounds a week. By mid April I should then reach a more comfortable weight. Emphasis on the word Comfortable!  Read a dozen, books, guides, leaflets and they will all give a different ideal weight for someone my height; some will hedge their bets and give a range. I don't care. I know my frame, I know how I've looked as I've grown up, and I know what I should look like!  I'm not after a 6 pack. Somewhere between this and a Barrel will do me. If I can get down two waist sizes thaty would be fantastic. One would be nice.

I have weighed today like I now do every Friday in Boots in town, and since Dec 31st I have lost 10 pounds, ie 2 pounds, or the equivalent of a bag of sugar a week (Whoo-hoo!!). I know that my cutting down and out of naughties will only take my weight loss so far, there will have to be a small element of exercise to supplement this (Boo-hoo!!). Let's see how it goes.  I have noticed that my trousers are a bit looser and I've had to make an extra hole in my belt. Good signs I'd say.

I did have a bit of a shock last Friday though when I actually went up one pound from the week before. I would have banged the machine and asked for a second opinion if there wasn't someone behind me! So this week I doubled the effort and had a sneaky weigh in on Wednesday to make sure I was on target again - 50p well spent as it happened

So to celebrate reaching my first main target after a third of the campaign, today I've pigged out on - chips, monkey nuts, a packet of crisps, some choccies, evening meal is pending, and a nice bottle of white wine ready for the rugby. But I did have a 'nana this afternoon! I admit though I do feel a bit bloated so maybe my stomach has shrunk a bit.

The weekend is here, no special occasions to worry my diet. Mind you, a certain footie game on Sunday could help me lose a few pound with the stress, worry and eventual joy! I will have to introduce myself to Mr Smith, Mr Worthington or ironically Mr Brain after 4pm on Sunday and start again properly on Monday. TTFN

Now where was I?

Oh yes, Eat better and Exercise. There are lots of foods out there that are apparently good for you, are sometimes classed as “healthy options”, low fat, high fibre, exotic fruits and veg, Omega 3, nuts, berries, seeds....cor I’m fed up of this already. None, I say none can hold a candle to a perfectly cooked chip, seasoned with salt and vinegar, and usually being held in paper by a man walking in front of you. Yes, of course, body wise, chips are not good for you, but mentally and emotionally they can give you such a lift that you feel better. What I’m trying to say, and cutting out a lot of theoretical mumbo-jumbo, is that it’s not giving up these things that will make you lose weight, it’s a balancing act. Ok, 4 packs of crisps a day is/was naughty, but you have to weigh such naughties  against the sheer, depressing  boredom of salad and rice. So in order to lose weight I’m cutting down, not cutting out. I may have salads in work, but just try and take my weekly take away away from me!

When I gave up playing local football because of a bad back, my sedentary office routine meant that I slowly piled on the pounds. In fact my waist size and age raced neck and neck for many years. Thankfully at 40 years old my waist gave up and has been stuck at this figure ever since. In fact I think it has been a remarkable achievement to have maintained this consistent waistline, and so easy when shopping for trousers – 40 inch waist, 31 inside leg, every time.

Exercise. Great word, it can be whatever you want it to be. In recent  years, in my dictionary it was so far down it may as well have been spelt without the e at the start.  A dodgy knee, operation pending, has meant my only form of enjoyable exercise – power dog-walking – has been put on hold. Therefore my aim to lose 2 stone by mid April looks like resting on diet rather than exercise. 

Winding back the clock, I weighed myself on New Years Eve. Ladies and Gentleman, in the red corner (never Blue, and friends and family will know why I don’t like Blue in sport), from downtown Gorseinon, iiiittttt’ssss Smartie Pants, weighing in at.... don’t be silly, I’m not going to tell you now. However I have got the print out and all will be revealed in April when the new print will show the required weight loss.

Next time I’ll update you on what has happened in the past month with my plan to lose weight sans exercise. Night all

Newby Blogger arrives under protest

So here we are, not only being nagged to lose weight by my kid sister, I have been nagged from elsewhere to start one of these diaries. Starting dairies might be more profitable in the long run, and tastier.

Who am I? Good question. I don’t know the answer myself at times but for the record I’m nearly 50 year’s old, still live in my town/city of birth (it changed over in 1969), not having moved anywhere unlike my globetrotting sister.  I work for as a pen pusher for a  well known local authority in the area and have done since leaving school way back in 1979 when Oliver and his Army were on their way and here to stay. No, not Cromwell’s, I’m not that old, though my Clooney/Ginola/Lineker-esque hair colouring may make me seem older. I would have added Philip Schofield to the list but that would make it a silly comparison. More about me as the diary moves on over the weeks and months if that’s ok folks.

Everyone says it when asked. Or maybe it’s an easy answer as New Year’s Resolutions are meant to be broken by the time daylight comes around each 1^st January. “I’m going to lose weight”. Sounds easy doesn’t it. Eat less and eat better, drink less, exercise more. As Brucie would say “That’s all there is to it”.

Let’s get the excuses out of the way first

Eat less – I’m a bloke. Blokes don’t eat “less”. Big plates are made for a reason. Imagine once my chagrin when, after a lengthy day traipsing through the French countryside and eventually finding a restaurant, my Steak and Pommes Frites turned out to be the equivalent of a Ross Frozen Steaklet with a Pomme Frite in a huge, flat soup bowl. And in the best tradition of Nouvelle Cuisine it was drizzed (drizzled indeed!!) with a wavy line of some concocted juice, probably the dregs of an orange juice carton. Advance warning  - here comes a related joke and you’ll be getting many of these in the future! Garcon to weary, very disappointed, still very famished traveller “’ow deed you find your steak monsieur?” I know I know you’re ahead of me on this one!   Monsieur to Garcon “Well I lifted the pomme frite and there it was hiding” Clap your hands and stamp your foot in a forward fashion, and take half a bow. (would prefer a pint of Bow but that’s another matter); congratulations not only have you enjoyed the joke you have also burned up .0001 of a calorie – it all counts!

Eat better – What can be better than chips, crisps, sausage rolls and pastys? End of argument. Next

Drink less – I don’t drink much anyway. Maybe 4-8 cans and a bottle of wine a week. No pop. I rarely go on evenings out with the boys or work, and even if I did 6 pints would be my limit before I started calling on Huey and Ralph in the toilet.

Exercise – that’s a 2 x 4-letter word!  More on this (and I suppose I’ll have to revisit the Eat Better section above) and more from me next time. Toodle-loo