Fat Man on a Diet

I may as well fess up now as later to have *totally* screwed this diet. So much so in fact that I’ve dropped out of the Biggest Loser comp this time.

Not only haven’t I *lost* weight I’ve put on kilo after kilo to the extent I’m heavier now than when I started. Ok this is probably due to my not having exervised… and because my back has been hurting because I’ve not moved around much… and well I can name any number of excuses , but the truth is I’m back addicted to those high-carb foods again.

Yes it’s my own fault, but it *does* creep up on you insidiously until you end up sucked in worse than ever. I suppose it’s the nature of addiction but whatever the cause the effect is the same… in this case, excess weight piling on.

Question is how to deal with it.

The obvious answer is stop eating, but of course as with any addiction it is easy to say it but to put it into practice isn’t as simple as it appears.

For starters I’ll need to get out of the house. I mean *right* out of the house for the larger part of the day. While I’m around food and easy access to it the temptations is always there and as I’ve said ad nauseum I can resist anything except temptation.

This isn’t going to happen for a few days at least. I’ve got to tie up loose ends first and that will take a few days at least… maybe another week. But I think I ought to tell myself that I can *only* have that one more week and then that’s it. Anything not finished has to be done at night when the rest of the family is there to haul me out of the kitchen.

Other than that… well get back on the diet, and just play it by ear I think.

Back? Well I’m here which is a start. Here we are, have passed and I’m finally posting again. My back has been killing me for weeks, possibly literally who knows. It still hurts but the exercises I’ve been doing seem to have eased the problems a little. How long for is anyone’s guess but I am at least mobile again!

Either way I’ve not been anywhere and I’ve done even less. I missed the second weigh-in for the competition but it makes no difference really, the weight piled on in the interim and I’m now 131.0 kilos.

However, today for the first time in weeks I forced myself out for a walk with the dogs. It might have only been a short one, maybe a half hour or so, but it was the principle that counts. I wouldn’t say “I’m back” by any means but it was a good first step… first *few* steps!

Results have come in from the first two weeks of the Comp. – I think the fact I’m coming in 11th clearly indicates how much I’ve lost focus and how much I need to pull myself back together. I lost 2.77% whilst the person leading has lost 4.04%. In real terms for *me* to have lost 4.04% I should have dropped 5.2 kilos already.

Of course the maddening thing about that is that I *had* lost that much last week but seem to have put some back on!

However, what I’ve not mentioned yet is that when I weighed (on Monday) I’d eaten breakfast, had a few glasses of water *and* was wearing my trainers which alone weight 0.5 kilos) so it wasn’t exactly ‘typical’. Nevertheless if I’m going to make any serious attempt to win this thing I need to focus. First I need to stop snacking on rubbish, and secondly… do more exercise so that even if I *do* find myself snacking I will at least burn it off again!

To be fair Sally is doing her bit. She got me in the pool for a half hour session of water based activity… swimming, walking, and ‘mobility’ exercise. Tomorrow after I see Stephen Parsons I’ll be going to the gym for an hour on the treadmill. After all, if I let this person (whoever it is) get too far ahead of me I’ll not catch up.

On the other hand… if s/he gets lulled into a false sense of security by this initial loss and I creep up from behind and overtake… it might just blow them out of the water! I know that when I thought someone had done that to me in the last comp. I all bar gave up!!

Whaddya mean ‘gamesmanship’? I just want to lose weight… winning would just be an extra… honest!!

Because I’m now (finally) using my ‘free’ time won as part of the last competition I don’t have a proper ‘trainer’ as such. I’m sure Sally would help out if asked but she’s earning a living so doing free sessions wouldn’t be fair on her. Nevertheless I need measurements taken for the competition so I’ve booked into a session with her tomorrow to get them all taken down and recorded.

Once *that* is done we’ll have a chat about whether I actually *need* any sessions immediately or wait a few weeks until I’m back in the groove properly. I can see the value of seeing her once a week to get motivated… but since all I want to do right now is ‘walk the weight off’, it might be pointless… not to mention expensive… if the target is to make me ‘fitter’ rather than help me ‘win’. I seem to be focused whilst the competition is running!

Once this competition is over I should be down to a weight that will make it easier for me to use Sally’s expertise and actually get *fit* rather than just ‘thinner’.

Ok. Off to the gym this morning at 11:00 a.m. for the opening of the latest incarnation of the Hills Biggest Loser Competition run by Focus Fit Gyms.

First up was yours truly who rambled on a bit forgetting most of what I’d intended to say and getting hopelessly lost a few times. Still… I did it. Next up were a few motivational speakers… who some of us have seen before… and then the ’standard’ weigh-in and photo.

My starting weight was registered as 129.8 kilos… far more than I want to be (or I’d not be on the competition would I?) but far less than I *was*.

Next step is to get to the gym, but I’m going to leave that til Monday morning and concentrate on not eating much for today and tomorrow. The diet and loss of caffeine will give me headaches for the next few days as it always does, so I’m not too concerned.

Next ‘weigh in’ is in two weeks. I’ll be *very* interested to see if there is as marked a reduction as the last time!

… wait for it…

One day left and it’s getting to me already! The competition is starting at 11:00 and I’m actually looking forward to it! Just why I should look forward to torturing my body and depriving myself of the food I like is a mystery but that’s the way it is.

As the winner of the previous competition I’ve been asked to give a little talk to the next bunch of ‘entrants’ to motivate them! This puts me in a bit of a difficult position as *I* want to win as much as *they* do! Still… at the end of the day, as I’ve said repeatedly, all of us ‘win’ if we ‘lose’ so I just need to tell them how it was for me and what got me ‘going’.

For starters what got to me was the advice of Robyn, a winner of a previous competition. She said you just have to take these three months of your life and be totally selfish with your time. Tell friends and family this time is for *you* and, after its over, you’ll be a whole new person with lots of positive energy and time for them… but right now… you *need* to do it for yourself! They also need to tell as many people as possible they’ve entered the competition to (a) make it essential they lose *some* weight to ’save face’ and (b) to help create a support group! There are good reasons why clubs like ‘Weight Watchers’ do so well… and one of them is mutual support… being there for each other thru the good and bad times! Lastly (c) a good trainer helps… not perhaps essential but it *does* help to have someone monitoring your efforts and making sure they’re directed properly.

For the first I started this place… and have kept it up even in the face of a 10 kilo gain since December… for the second I was very lucky in having a wife who went way beyond the call of duty to all bar take over the family cooking to help keep me away from the kitchen and the surrounding temptation. Her support was probably the main reason I got through. My trainer is/was Sally who bullied me unmercifully into working regularly even when I’d all bar given up. I’d have found it much harder if she’d not been there to keep me going.

Anyway… that’s something like what I’ll say. I’m not really planning a ’speech’… and I’ve no clear idea what I’ll say when I *do* get up, all I know is that I’ll say *something* no matter how bizarre!

And from then on… it’ll be head down… hard work… and take no prisoners!! If in… then I’m in to win!!

Yes I’m still here. The competition starts in just 5 days so I’ve been ‘conserving my weight’ ready to make a big start in the first week! It certainly helped me the last time… it might not be such an advantage this time since each kilo will be far harder to lose this time than last… but we’re building up to it. Of course, there needs to a balance between the initial weight and the actual weight loss such that the perceived *percentage* weight loss in ‘enhanced’ by the first week… too much either way won’t help one bit. I think I have it more or less right. My body is ‘fully hydrated’ so I’m already carrying a fair old water load that was missing for a large part of the previous competition.

This time I need to make sure I keep the water intake up all the way through. It’s only in the last week, and especially the last day, that I need to dehydrate myself to register the extra loss that might make all the difference!

Either way, I’m in it to win it… but as I said last time… *any* loss means I win! First target is to regain the weight I was at the end of the last comp… after that? It’s one step at a time.

First step? During the week I have to go buy more supplies of the meal replacements and then… we just wait.

Still not sure this was a wise move… but I signed up to the ‘biggest loser’ competition again today. Cost $99 which (I think) includes the cost of the meal at the end of the 13 weeks… so could be worse.

It’ll take a lot more dedication this time than last… but feeling the way I do lately maybe the additional ’stress’ will provide the motivation, we can but hope.

Whether I’ll see the end of the competition is a moot point. Right now… I’m ok. But who can tell when the bell will toll… or whatever the quote is (ask not for whom the bell tolls… it tolls for thee! Maybe??).

Start date is 11:00 a.m. 29th March 2008 – wish me luck??

The FocusFit Gym site has *finally* been updated… though I’m somewhat loath to send you there.

Why – you ask? Because they also updated the Hills Biggest Loser Competition pages, and there is I in all my glory… and bulk… smiling like a Cheshire cat with a belly full of cream! Sad I call it!

Ok, since you insist, here is the url for the HBLC Series IV.

As you can see… there was a *very* good reason why the leaflets handed out for the new competition used Liarne’s photos instead of mine. If anything, I look even *bigger* after the competition than I did before!! In retrospect it might have been better had I bought new clothes to the dinner instead of wearing old stuff that was clearly too big for me!

Oh phooey. Tell ya what… I’ll copy *my* photos onto the ‘Pics page here as well. It’s all motivation after all… isn’t it?!?!

Anyway… no worries. If I’m allowed to enter, I’ll be back in the HBLC Series V starting on March 29th 2008. Of course by then I hope (expect even?) to have already lost 10 kilos which would get me back to my weight when I won last time. Also of course it might have been a really useful amount in terms of ‘total weight loss’ which is what the competition is based around.

I’m not concerned though, it may be that there won’t be anyone else quite as insanely motivate to get their excess fat off as I am. Here’s hoping!!

Seems another ‘Biggest Loser’ is on it’s way – starting on 24th March. I asked if I could enter… will find out on Monday.

I was a bit miffed when I saw the advertising leaflet tho. They’d left me off and used photos of the ‘female winner’ of the last comp to advertise the  new one. Can’t really blame them of course, her appearance had changed far more dramatically than mine had… despite my loss being the greatest, the physical changes weren’t as obvious. Having a big fat guy as the model of weight loss probably wouldn’t be the ideal marketing tool… perhaps?:)

Don’t care much either way. I’m confident now I can lose the weight and will be down to the target weight by August… barring more accidents and injuries… and I’ve had enough of them for a while thanks!