Week 2

How Has My First Week Been?

Its been a great week. I have found my fast days relatively easy – I did struggle with last Wednesdays but having made it through and looking back I realised that the hunger only lasted a short period and it was more a mental challenge than anything else. Both Monday and Friday went well so I am pleased with the week.

So the food and exercise…

Monday – 1 hour Body attack class (about 800 kcal burned) and  fajitas in the evening. I allowed myself some lean steak with the mix and we had them in lettuce leaves instead of wraps – easily under 600 kcal.

Tuesday – 45 mins Body Combat class (about 600 kcal burned) and normal eating.

Wednesday – 45 mins Body Attack class (about 600 kcal burned) and a kebab (just chicken – no pita) for dinner – again easily under 600 kcal.

Thursday – round of golf (so a 5 mile walk or so) with normal eating.

Friday – no exercise but just had an evening meal of lean steak, corn on the cob, asparagus tips and tomatoes – love that I can have a meal like this on my fast day and still be doing the diet right!!! Looks great…

Saturday and Sunday I purposefully ate whatever I wanted along with drinking beer and wine and no exercise – I wanted to see if concentrating for the 5 weekdays and being ‘naughty’ on the weekends would have an effect – this isn’t my plan every weekend but it will be nice to know for the future.

Monday (week 2) – 1 hour body attack class – worked in the afternoon and just ate Brendas’ (my wife) home-made meatballs, in a tomato sauce with courgetty-spaghetti  (1 x courgette sliced into thin strips resembling spaghetti and steamed) – only about 450kcal.

Tuesday morning WEIGH IN……

Weigh In Explained

I believe that the time you weigh in, along with where and on what scales are very important to seeing the correct results.

My scales at home aren’t particularly great – having them set up in one bathroom (with a lino floor) can give me a weight as much as 7 lbs less than if they were in the other bathroom (with a tiled floor). For the most accurate results I have decided to take the higher reading and even go as far as ensuring the scales are in the exact same spot every time.

What day to weigh in? I initially thought that I would be weighing in on a Monday morning – however I put some thought into this and decided that this will not give me a constant reading – let me explain. Sunday will always be a normal eating day, however depending on what I am doing I may eat at completely differing times or even amounts. If I am at home we may have a full blown Sunday Roast at about 2pm with a light evening meal. If I am working I will have a normal sized lunch followed by dinner sometime between 7 and 8pm. We may have guests over for dinner or go to the pub…. all variances which could skew my weigh in on a Monday morning. Mondays, however, will ALWAYS be a fast day so I can guarantee that on a Tuesday morning I would have eaten a low calorie meal the day before. Therefore always a constant and I should see no peaks or troughs in my numbers for unknown reasons – the scales will not lie and I will have my true weekly weight.

When to weigh in? I was told by the course facilitator when I first did weight watchers that there is an optimum time to weigh in – again keeping everything equal and its some advice I will stick to…..

After a wee but before a cup of tea!!!

This wilL also work well with my shift work so if I am up and out of the house before 5am, and stick to the above, the reading shouldnt be too different to a normal 7am weigh in.

Any other weigh ins? Well yes…..

There is a proper weigh in machine which gives weight, weight, BMI and body fat percentage at my gym. I used this last week immediately after my Body Combat class on Tuesday. Again, in the interests of consistency, I plan to use this after each Tuesday morning combat class. I appreciate it will have some variances (amount of sweat during the class, water intake also etc) but the body fat % will be an interesting figure to follow. I can’t always make Body Combat due to work so some weekS (maybe two in a row) I will miss this weigh in, but when im in the class I will weigh in after and post my results.

Talking of results!!!!!

THIS MORNING I WEIGHED IN AT 16ST 8LBS

THAT’S A SIX POUND LOSS IN JUST OVER A WEEK.

I HAVE LOST ABOUT 1/2 INCH AROUND MY 4 MEASUREMENTS

And the gym scales say my body fat % has dropped from 27.4% to 25.5% (it also states I have grown by 3/4 inch so treating these with a pinch of salt.

GREAT FIGURES especially as I wasn’t on my game fully over the weekend. A long way to go but a cracking start…. now – how close to my ‘shirt’ target am I???

Thanks for Reading

Richard

Week one continued

Week one – Tue-Thu

Tuesday and Thursday were normal eating days but on both days I exercised – On Tuesday I managed a Body Combat class. Similar to the previously mentioned Body Attack in that it is exercise to music, but Combat utilises moves from boxing and martial arts – trust me – shadow boxing is HARD work. Today I played 18 holes of golf – basically a 5 mile (or so) walk! But have eaten liberally and well.

Wednesday was tough – I woke up hungry – a horrible start to a fast day. I then did a Body Attack class and came home even hungrier – I was determined to prove to myself that the coping mechanisms provided in the book would see me through to dinner – I knew I had to go out in the afternoon for a few hours to collect some furniture and just spent the rest of the day doing things to keep my mind off food – drinking water when the stomach grumbles came certainly helped, but I found the best thing was getting my mind fixated on something else – I did the ironing and watched some TV (joys of a day off work), and got through to my furniture excursion, by the time I got home I knew dinner was just a few hours away and successfully saw those hours through.

I now know that even on the hardest days I can work to the plan I have set myself…. good stuff.

For dinner we had a kebab…. WHAT I hear you shout…. well let me explain. I basically had chicken and salad. My usual order would be a large chicken kebab, in a pitta bread, a side portion of chips, garlic mayonnaise and some Burger sauce. On Wednesday I had just just the chicken and associated salad – it was almost as tasty and as usual, I knew the next day I could eat more luxurious food. Total calories we worked out at about 500.

The Science of Weight Loss (In my words)

I have read many books over the years on how to lose weight, Atkins books, Dukan books and now the 5:2 books. I know each diet works as I have had success on each (albeit initial success on the 5:2). However, my belief is, even though they are differing diets, they all use the same science behind their weight loss and that is that they get your body to use body fat as its source of energy, a process known as KETOSIS.

Please don’t take what I am about to say as complete scientific fact – this is purely my interpretation of the texts as I have read them in the past.

Our bodies burn energy in everything we do – even simple states such as breathing, heart beating and eyelids blinking use energy (I think the amount of energy our bodies use to provide these basic functions is known as our Basic Metabolic Rate BMR). Then as our bodies move more and do more strenuous activity – more energy is required – eventually getting you to a point where there is a certain amount of energy our body requires to do all of the things we ask of it. This is known as Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). So where does this energy required come from.

When we eat carbohydrates (sugars) our body turns these into glycogen… these are stored in the liver and are used as our primary fuel for everything we do. If we starve our bodies of these sugars then our body will continue to use the stored glycogen until it has run out – at this point our bodies will convert to a state of ketosis – a state where, as mentioned, it uses its fat stores for energy. The Dukan diet achieves this quickly by not allowing you ANY sugars – just a pure protein diet. The Atkins diet does this slower – typically 3-4 days or so – by allowing us to eat 20g of carbs per day. We are then asked to continue starving our bodies of said sugars for a prolonged period of time to continue to burn body fat for fuel – the longer we stay in this state – = more fat lost. The rate at which we are in Ketosis can be easily checked. You can purchase Ketostix from most pharmacies or through Amazon. These are little sticks that you urinate on which detect the amount of Ketones (a by-product of Ketosis) you are passing through – the darker the colour change the more fat you are burning for fuel.

Sounds simple…. and it is in writing – however they are very difficult diets to stick to. They are not socially conforming for a start, so if we ever go out for a meal they are incredibly hard to cater for – especially Dukan. More so, they deny us things that our bodies (well certainly mine) have become addicted to – Carbs…. be it bread, pasta, potatoes, sweets, chocolate, crisps, alcohol – the list is endless, and eventually we will crack.

When I lost all the weight in 2007 it was done quite quickly courtesy of the Atkins diet and lots (and I mean lots) of exercise. I was cycling 20 miles a day, swimming 1 mile and walking for 2 hours. My body was burning fat at an astonishing rate – but it was not achievable long-term as I wanted the things I craved, and the maintenance portion of the diet still didn’t really allow me these things as and when I wanted them.

So why is all this important

Well I found out recently that the 5:2 intermittent fast diet ALSO puts me into Ketosis.

Saturday and Sunday were normal eating days – I was working both days and ate porridge, sandwiches, chocolate and had wine with my main dinners. All non-diet foods – foods very likely to fill my glycogen stores to their max!!! On Monday I fasted, but exercised for 1 hour in the morning – I did not eat straight after, in fact I left all my calories until dinner where we had a meal without any carbs. That evening I used the toilet – and on the shelf in my eye line was my Ketostix, stored away after my last failed Atkins attempt, and decided to use one to check my urine…. LOW AND BEHOLD I WAS IN KETOSIS. After one day fasting, with some exercise thrown in, I had visual confirmation that my body was burning fat as its fuel source. Great news…. the diet is working – whats more, on Tuesday, I didn’t deny myself anything (but managed to stay within my TDEE). I was out of Ketosis by Tuesday evening – I followed the same pattern yesterday (Wednesday) of fast diet with exercise in the morning and was in ketosis again by lunch time.

I seem to have finally found a diet that allows me to eat what I want (just not all the time) and allow me to burn fat for fuel (just not all the time). I fully appreciate that this will mean my body will not shrink at the rate it did in 2007 – but fore-warned is fore-armed and I am prepared for a long drawn out battle – AND WILL COME OUT VICTORIOUS!!!!!

No weight checks today – leaving that for Monday

Thanks for reading

Richard

5:2 Week 1

Welcome back – Thanks for reading

I am calling this week 1 of my Blog. Last week shall be my Week zero – a testing week to see whether or not the 5:2 diet will be achievable for me… and you know what – I reckon it is…

I fasted on Wednesday and Friday last week. Both days were work days, Wednesday was a morning shift (0700 – 1400) and Friday an afternoon (1400 – 2200). Fasting both days was easy – I had very few problems which is amazing considering the temptations there are at work (more about that some time soon). I then ate liberally but healthily on Saturday and Sunday. I weighed myself this morning and weighed 17st 0.25lbs. Great going – almost 4 pounds lost in 5 days BUT THIS IS WEEK 1 SO THIS SHALL BE MY STARTING WEIGHT thus so far… ZERO POUNDS LOST.

So this is it – the start of my diet. And that means weighing myself, taking measurements and the wonderful ‘before’ picture. All of which are below. Now, I wouldn’t subject any of you to a picture of me in my boxers but have something else in mind which links in nicely to the following.

What will I consider Success?

I have been thinking a lot about this over the weekend. Would success be reaching the top end of the healthy BMI range….25. This would require a loss of 29 kg or just over 4 1/2 stone. Possibly achievable but a target too far off to currently comprehend. Would success be an arbitrary number somewhere in between such as 1 or 2 stone, or a milestone, say sub 100kg. All successes I’m sure you will agree but as I discussed in my last post I need intrinsic goals to work towards. And I have an idea…..

When I lost lots of weight in 2007 the lightest I got to was 14st 10lbs. I was running 4 times a week and felt great. Prior to losing the weight, as previously stated, I was very big – therefore so were my clothes. I clearly remember one Friday night my friends came to pick me up for a night out and they ridiculed me (as only friends can) for still wearing the clothes I possessed and wore pre-weight loss…. I looked like I was wearing a tent. After some banter about my obvious lack of style, my mate Will took off his own shirt for me to wear that night (what he wore after that I can’t remember??). I have known Will for many years, in fact we played rugby together at numerous clubs, me mostly as prop forward and him as either scrum half or fly half… that should tell you all you need to know about our differing body types. To not only attempt to borrow, but to actually fit into and subsequently wear out, one of his shirts made me quickly realise I needed a shopping trip.

The majority of clothes I purchased in the following months no longer fit so now reside in a big plastic box in the loft, and I have chosen 1 of these shirts as my ‘goal’ shirt. It is a nice black dress shirt, Pierre Cardin… so branded but nothing special. I wore this shirt out once and I remember exactly where and what happened that night so it has some history. I wore it to dinner with 2 of my friends (Will and Brad) and their girlfriends…now wives, and this is the night in late 2007 that they talked me into running the London Marathon with them 4 months later. I somehow managed to actually put on weight whilst training for the marathon so never wore this shirt again.

To have it as my ‘goal’ shirt will ensure a goal that I know is achievable, one that if I reach (sorry… when I reach) I will know that not only the diet is working, but also I have committed myself to eating properly as well as exercising well. I do not just want to do up the buttons. I want to be able to wear this shirt to work – an environment that doesn’t play too kindly on someone dressed like an idiot. As you can see below there is plenty of work to do – but I aim to take progress pictures as well as update my numbers as we go on.

Today

Today is a Fasting day, but I’m doing something new – something I didn’t do on my fasting days last week. I have been to the gym. I’m not particularly good at having proper workouts in the actual gym, I find I work hard – but get lazy and quit when I feel like I have had enough. Therefore I partake in exercise classes. My gym is Spelthorne Leisure Centre and they run various classes. Most are based on the Les Mills exercise regime. Les Mills are a company which provide choreographed exercise to music group fitness classes… todays’ was Body Attack run by the brilliant Michelle Laurie. The 1 hour class consists of mostly cardio tracks with some strength resistance and core work thrown in for good measure. I was a regular last year but this morning was my first class for about 6 weeks and I surprised myself by not only completing the class, but finding the strength and power to still be achieving sets of burpees followed by a tuck jump in the 50th minute. Lots of sweet, lots of hard work, and I’m guessing a 700-800 calorie burn. All without eating!!!!

Reading the fast diet book and seeing the forums at http://www.thefastdiet.co.uk, exercising on your fast days should improve your results considerably. I fully understand that this will be a long process and should only expect a 1-2 lb loss per week, but whilst I’m feeling active and fully committed I don’t see any issue with working hard and pushing the boundaries right now.

Dinner will be vegetable fajitas. Lots of veg, fajita spice all wrapped in a lettuce leaf – easily keeping within my 600kcal allowance so can allow myself a snack if the need arises – if it doesn’t then I can have two fajita lettuce leaf wraps!!!

Fortunately writing this has helped with the hunger pangs over the last hour or so which is exactly one of the things I want from this blog – a nice distraction to food. A non-fast day tomorrow (not sure I like the term ‘feast’ day as the literature suggests) and back fasting Wednesday.

On a final note I had over 60 views of my initial blog, and that was without putting it on Facebook, so if you are back many thanks for reading and if you are new then welcome. Knowing I am putting it all out there in words, thoughts and now pictures is really giving me the drive to continue and succeed … Long may that drive continue.

DATE	19 Jan 2015
WEIGHT (KG)	108
WEIGHT (STONE)	17st 0.25 lbs
NECK (inches)	16.25
CHEST (inches)	44
STERNUM (inches)	41
HIPS (inches)	44
WAIST (inches)	40

So it turns out I don’t yet know how to add tables to this blog…. something I will work on when the hunger pangs strike in the future – but this will do for now!!!

And now the photo…..

So there we have it – that’s as close as I can get the buttons together – check back to watch that gap close!

Thanks for reading.

Richard

My First Diet Blog

Hi. I’m Richard and I’m fat!!! Well they do say the first course of action to addressing a problem is to admitting a problem.

I’m going to lose weight (honest) and have decided to write about my journey. Having never written a blog before I have no idea about the correct terms or etiquette so if I make any errors along the way I apologise here and now.

So why a blog?

I’m viewing this as a glorified diary… One that will not only chart my progress but also keep me honest and true about my journey. More than that, if I actually get anybody read this I hope to gain a sense of responsibility to my readers to ensure I stick to the plan and continue to succeed…. Put simply I hope to use it as a tool to help myself and you never know, maybe eventually inspire others.

Who am I?

Well as I said at the beginning I am Richard. I’m a 35 year old male from Staines just outside of London. I am married to my fabulous wife and we have a 3 year old daughter… oh and another on the way. I’m an Air Traffic Control Officer based in Swanwick (Hampshire) dealing with flights into Heathrow, London City, Biggin Hill as well as all the helicopters over central London. I enjoy playing golf, 5-a-side football and exercise classes as well as watching a multitude of sports. I like to BBQ, although, as my wife is South African, I had better refer to it as a Braii. I do an excellent slow roasted pulled pork as well as, what some friends refer to, as the best steak ever.

So am I really fat?

I know I’m overweight. The day before I started this process I weighed in at 17st 4lbs. I’m 6ft tall in the morning and this equates to a BMI of about 33… According the BBC webpage (linked into their recent Horizon diet program) this classes me as VERY OVERWEIGHT!!!  My waist is 40 inches and the most concerning number is my belly – the circumference over and around my belly button (my hips though I can’t remember seeing them) is 44 inches. But they are just the baseline figures, as with most things there’s more to it than that.

I have always been a big guy, taller than most at school I was first choice 2nd row in the rugby team. Over a period of 5 years I eventually ended up as a prop forward most likely courtesy of my weight gain in my late teens. Simply put I’ve never been the small guy. With this I generally carry the weight well… People are often surprised (or they feign surprise) when they find out my actual weight, in fact my wife thinks I believe I am fatter than I actually am!! Even so, I am still the guy “affectionately” known as big rich…. Or by one friend as “phat phucker”, terms of semi endearment which any overweight person will tell you just eventually become part of the norm… Disliked but accepted!!!

I rarely search for clothes below XL,and like others I’m sure, generally shop a size up to ensure the clothes aren’t too tight fitting… Thus fat revealing. I can just about buy clothes off the peg but need to shop in store as they need to be tried on  so Internet shopping is a no no.

I get tired. Whilst this is annoying when walking up a few flights of stairs… It’s incredibly depressing when I decide not to do things with my daughter. Whilst I do active things with her, in the interest of “warts and all” honesty, have I ever gotten her to play with a puzzle rather than take her to the park….. I’m afraid to say yes. Something I don’t like about myself at the moment…. But something I’m determined will not be an issue as she grows older.

Finally, and the most horrible to talk about…. I sweat…. A lot!!!! Last summer we were at a friend’s house for a BBQ. It was very hot and we were all having a fun day…. After a few beers Cloughy (the host) and myself decided to play headers with a football…. Within 10 minutes I was completely drenched in sweat. Annoyingly I’m not completely unfit, what I do possess however, is my own personal-under-skin-thermal-insulation-blanket…. Lose weight, thus lose that blanket and sweat less.

Lets just say that in answer to my initial question… Yes I am.

Dieting History

I am known as an habitual Fad dieter. When I told colleagues I was embarking on a new diet the general response was “which one now?”.

I have also had success with diets but have never seen them through to true completion… Generally referred to in most diets as maintenance.

The two main success I have had have been through the Atkins diet which I will talk about shortly. But I have also had varying degrees of success following WeightWatchers, Slimming World, Dukan Diet and the 8 hour diet. All totalled I have probably lost 20 stones over the course of 13 years only to find myself back where I started.

I know how to lose weight, I know how hard it is, and I know the REAL ABSOLUTE 100% secret….

EAT LESS AND MOVE MORE

Unfortunately that is so much easier said than done.

I can’t just lose weight by having that as my only goal. I’m not wired that way…. I need an intrinsic goal, something material to work toward.

Back in 2002 (age 23) I was applying to become an Air Traffic Control Officer. I had passed all the rigorous stages of application and only had a medical standing between me and starting my training. I went for the medical and was told my weight was a health problem and I was going fail. According to the company website in excess of 10000 people apply for 120 placements each year, and I believe the Doctor knowing this and understanding how far in the process I had come, did me a favour and gave me 3 months to shed some weight. I immediately started on the ATKINS diet and 3 months later had shed 3 stone. An intrinsic goal led me to lose the weight – I got the job. Once the goal was achieved I came off the diet and guess what…. eventually the weight returned.

In 2007 I was at my heaviest – I topped the scales at 20 stone … big big numbers. I was also very unhappy. I was single and bored with who I was, I wasnt exercising at all and was privately very concerned about my health. On top of this all my close friends were getting married and having children – I was being left behind. Something had to be done. I knew that losing the weight would give me renewed confidence, potentially meet someone and generally feel better about myself. Again I did the ATKINS diet and this time lost over 5 stone. It was a massive turning point in my life which culminated in 2 amazing events. Firstly  meeting the woman who would become my wife… would I have been in the position to meet her if I hadn’t lost the weight – I doubt it. Secondly I got fit – so fit that in 2008 I ran the London marathon. 9 months previous I couldn’t run the length of my (relatively short) street. However – again the weight has crept back on… not all of it – but enough.

So why can I lose it only to see it go back on – simple – the ratio between calories in and calories out changed from a positive effect to a negative one.

Nowadays I’m very happy, with a wonderful wife, beautiful baby girl and another child on the way, fully qualified at work in a profession I love, excellent work life balance with great friends to boot…. all in all life is fantastic…. except for the figure on the scales.

AND WHILE LIFE IS SO GOOD WHERE IS MY MUCH REQUIRED INCENTIVE TO LOSE WEIGHT???

Health, family, longevity, clothes, fat jibes etc havent stopped me reaching for the chocolate bars up till now – maybe this blog will be the difference??!?!?

So which diet this time?

I plan on intermittent fasting. I had previously seen the Horizon documentary by Michael Mosley but wasnt in the right frame of mind to start a diet. Also, I never start anything on January 1st – My only New Years resolution is not to make any resolutions except for no new resolutions the following year…. So I decided to start mid Jan. Having purchased the fast diet book On Monday I quickly realised that there is no time like the present to start so had my first fast day on Wednesday and am now on my second today (Friday). Currently it is going well and I am motivated albeit hungry – another reason to write this blog is for something to do when the hunger pangs strike. I’m doing a slightly modified version that I feel will work for me…. I will be fasting 3 days a week so essentially a 4:3 diet – this will allow for 1 failure per week (sometimes life will get in the way) so at the very least I will be achieving the 5:2 standard. I will come back to discuss how my fast/feast days are going as well as activity levels and thoughts throughout.

Richard

17st 4