Well.... here we go....
I'm a 33yr old dad to 3 young kids and in the new year I stood on a Wii Fit for the first time to be presented with a Wii Fit age of 42!!! I had a BMI that was on the verge of obese and I was devastated. I've known I am overweight for a while, but sometimes you just need to see it in writing for it to really hit home.
I have a "thin" view of myself. As a child and teenager I was always called "stick-boy" because I was so skinny that my ribs and elbows stuck out as bony lumps. I had tiny wrists and no fat to speak of. Then I went to college and started to cook for myself and I went HUGE - I mean from about 11 stone to 16 stone over a few years. My peak has been 16 stone, and at the beginning of 2009 I was settled at 15st 7lb. I really started to worry when my "thin" view of myself was challenged as I would see myself in photos or the mirror - I look awful! I have this enormous pot-belly and a spare tyre suitable for a Grand Cherokee! My diet and sedentary lifestyle have also left their mark on my general appearance - my skin is poor, black rings around the eyes, saggy fat nect etc.etc.etc.
The Old Me
So, what were my vices? Sweets, dairy and Pastries! I've always eaten massive amounts of chocolate, sweets, cakes, biscuits, yogurts and desserts. A typical day at the end of 2008 would go something like this:
The New Me
So January 5th 2009 started a new me. I had been fortunate in that most of December 2008 was spent with a tooth abcess and so I was forced (by physical pain!) to avoid almost all food (except puree) for most of December. This tempered significantly my overconsumption at Christmas and, although I didn't weigh myself at the time, I'm sure resulted in a weight drop from 16 stone to 15st 7lbs. Anyway, the reason this is fortunate is because I'm convinced it helped break a few addictions by imposed-cold-turkey... e.g. I wasn't eating much chocolate in December; I wasn't drinking Coke in December; and I wasn't gorging out of sweets, cakes and puddings.
When I got my tooth sorted out at the end of December I was already part-way towards a new eating regime. Come January 5th with my Wii Fit experience and my terrible shock at seeing my oversized gut in photographs I was committed to change.
To change I decided to continue to abstain from over-consumption of the sweet stuff. Added to this, I introduced breakfast to kickstart my metabolism. I reduced my meals to 1 main meal and 1 packed lunch. I now take a packed lunch to work instead of buying food in the canteen. I still eat a full dinner with my family.
As you will have gathered, I enjoy the sweet things in life and no diet would be sustainable if I were to abstain completely - that would just lead to misery and probably failure. So, I adjusted accordingly...
First, I like yogurt so I did away with 2 muller fruit corners and huge bottles of full fat yogurt drink for 1 muller light with breakfast, and possibly 1 for dessert with my evening meal.
I used to love Coke and I like refreshing fizzy drinks, so I introduced a replacement - ultra-low-calorie cloudy lemonade from Asda. I don't drink it much, but I may have 1 can a day. Otherwise I have a low-calorie blueberry and cranberry drink (11cals per 100ml) with breakfast and dinner, and water with lunch.
I love chocolate and sweets and have retrained myself a bit to enjoy them in moderation. If I have any at all it is in very small quantities (yesterday I had 1 M&M!).
My basic principles are these:
Currently
So, currently I'm down to 14st 13lbs and seem to have stayed at this weight for a week. I weigh weekly if I can using the Wii Fit for accuracy.
I've started to become quite fond of a few aspects of this new lifestyle:
Diary for 5th Feb
Yesterday was a good day - did the fat burn session of the Ministry of Sound DVD "Pump it Up" twice! (each one is 18mins EXCLUDING warm-up!) so got at least 36mins of full aerobic exercise in there. Left my wife to enjoy the relaxing yoga-cooldown while I got the kids dressed and made breakfast.
My eating went completely to plan yesterday except for 2 things that I'm not proud of... when I got home my wife had made a gorgeous vegetarian shepperds pie (with Quorn mince - its lower-fat and she is a vegetarian so we eat it a lot). It was gorgeous, but she gave me a huge portion. Thing is, I'd only had breakfast and packed lunch all day so I ate it all up! Then she had some chocolate cake left over from a birthday cake she's making someone so I ate some of that too! She is such a good cook its irresistable, and I think to myself - I'll only be miserable if I never eat chocolate cake again! So I had a piece. Not a huge amount mind you...
So after a really good day a couple of less-good parts. Having said that, I didn't eat anything else after that and I was asleep by about 9:30pm so I think, on balance, I didn't overeat.
Stupdly weighed myself today (don't know why - perhaps to see if the cake has been absorbed into my spare tyre!) - still at 14st 7lbs... had some irrational fear that I had plateaue'd already! I certainly hope not.:sigh:
I'm a 33yr old dad to 3 young kids and in the new year I stood on a Wii Fit for the first time to be presented with a Wii Fit age of 42!!! I had a BMI that was on the verge of obese and I was devastated. I've known I am overweight for a while, but sometimes you just need to see it in writing for it to really hit home.
I have a "thin" view of myself. As a child and teenager I was always called "stick-boy" because I was so skinny that my ribs and elbows stuck out as bony lumps. I had tiny wrists and no fat to speak of. Then I went to college and started to cook for myself and I went HUGE - I mean from about 11 stone to 16 stone over a few years. My peak has been 16 stone, and at the beginning of 2009 I was settled at 15st 7lb. I really started to worry when my "thin" view of myself was challenged as I would see myself in photos or the mirror - I look awful! I have this enormous pot-belly and a spare tyre suitable for a Grand Cherokee! My diet and sedentary lifestyle have also left their mark on my general appearance - my skin is poor, black rings around the eyes, saggy fat nect etc.etc.etc.
The Old Me
So, what were my vices? Sweets, dairy and Pastries! I've always eaten massive amounts of chocolate, sweets, cakes, biscuits, yogurts and desserts. A typical day at the end of 2008 would go something like this:
- Get up at around 7:30... skip breakfast, shower dress and drive straight to work, grabbing a 1ltr full-fat yogurt drink for the journey and usually a family-pack of Maltesers or a LARGE bar of galaxy
- Sit at my desk working all morning, absolutely no exertion, no exercise
- At 11:45 be roused for lunch by my colleagues... make a 2 minute walk to the staff canteen where I would have a stodgy meal with chips, a 500ml bottle of full-fat coke, a pudding (e.g. apple crumble, syrup pudding, chocolate pud) and custard or chocolate sauce.
- At 15:00 visit the tuck-shop for 2 bars of chocolate (e.g. Snickers) and possible a bag of crisps.
- Drive home at 17:00
- Dinner with my family at 18:00 consisting of a full meal with dessert and a can of full-fat coke
- Put the kids to bed at around 19:00
- At 20:00 get the munchies -make jam sandwiches with butter and 4 doorstep-slices of bread. Sometimes eat a whole family-pack of M&Ms, usually eat at least 2 Muller Fruit Corner yogurts, sometimes also have a bag of butterkist popcorn
- Go to bet at 22:00
The New Me
So January 5th 2009 started a new me. I had been fortunate in that most of December 2008 was spent with a tooth abcess and so I was forced (by physical pain!) to avoid almost all food (except puree) for most of December. This tempered significantly my overconsumption at Christmas and, although I didn't weigh myself at the time, I'm sure resulted in a weight drop from 16 stone to 15st 7lbs. Anyway, the reason this is fortunate is because I'm convinced it helped break a few addictions by imposed-cold-turkey... e.g. I wasn't eating much chocolate in December; I wasn't drinking Coke in December; and I wasn't gorging out of sweets, cakes and puddings.
When I got my tooth sorted out at the end of December I was already part-way towards a new eating regime. Come January 5th with my Wii Fit experience and my terrible shock at seeing my oversized gut in photographs I was committed to change.
To change I decided to continue to abstain from over-consumption of the sweet stuff. Added to this, I introduced breakfast to kickstart my metabolism. I reduced my meals to 1 main meal and 1 packed lunch. I now take a packed lunch to work instead of buying food in the canteen. I still eat a full dinner with my family.
As you will have gathered, I enjoy the sweet things in life and no diet would be sustainable if I were to abstain completely - that would just lead to misery and probably failure. So, I adjusted accordingly...
First, I like yogurt so I did away with 2 muller fruit corners and huge bottles of full fat yogurt drink for 1 muller light with breakfast, and possibly 1 for dessert with my evening meal.
I used to love Coke and I like refreshing fizzy drinks, so I introduced a replacement - ultra-low-calorie cloudy lemonade from Asda. I don't drink it much, but I may have 1 can a day. Otherwise I have a low-calorie blueberry and cranberry drink (11cals per 100ml) with breakfast and dinner, and water with lunch.
I love chocolate and sweets and have retrained myself a bit to enjoy them in moderation. If I have any at all it is in very small quantities (yesterday I had 1 M&M!).
My basic principles are these:
- a more appropriate attitude to food. Going mad with a family pack of Maltesers is crazy - just don't do it!
- substituting low-cal alternatives for the things I really like (yogurts and drinks)
- eating one full meal every day instead of two! (taking a packed lunch for the other)
- Don't snack
Currently
So, currently I'm down to 14st 13lbs and seem to have stayed at this weight for a week. I weigh weekly if I can using the Wii Fit for accuracy.
I've started to become quite fond of a few aspects of this new lifestyle:
- I enjoy the time I spend with my wife exercising... its like "couple time" strangely!
- I have learned to really appreciate those few days when I don't exercise and I can lay in bed resting!
- I used to struggle between lunch and dinner, desperate for a snack, but now I actually crave than slightly hungry feeling because it really helps me enjoy my dinner... its strange, but if I feel a bit hungry I think to myself "it's going to be a good dinner tonight".. weird I know.
- Breakfast is really good - I get up earlier to exercise so no rushing around in the mornings and I enjoy a gread bowl of porridge or ready brek (with a smidgen of maple syrup for sweetness!), a glass of low-cal juice drink and a muller light yogurt... low-cal, high-GI - keeps me going 'til noon!
Diary for 5th Feb
Yesterday was a good day - did the fat burn session of the Ministry of Sound DVD "Pump it Up" twice! (each one is 18mins EXCLUDING warm-up!) so got at least 36mins of full aerobic exercise in there. Left my wife to enjoy the relaxing yoga-cooldown while I got the kids dressed and made breakfast.
My eating went completely to plan yesterday except for 2 things that I'm not proud of... when I got home my wife had made a gorgeous vegetarian shepperds pie (with Quorn mince - its lower-fat and she is a vegetarian so we eat it a lot). It was gorgeous, but she gave me a huge portion. Thing is, I'd only had breakfast and packed lunch all day so I ate it all up! Then she had some chocolate cake left over from a birthday cake she's making someone so I ate some of that too! She is such a good cook its irresistable, and I think to myself - I'll only be miserable if I never eat chocolate cake again! So I had a piece. Not a huge amount mind you...
So after a really good day a couple of less-good parts. Having said that, I didn't eat anything else after that and I was asleep by about 9:30pm so I think, on balance, I didn't overeat.
Stupdly weighed myself today (don't know why - perhaps to see if the cake has been absorbed into my spare tyre!) - still at 14st 7lbs... had some irrational fear that I had plateaue'd already! I certainly hope not.:sigh: