Day 91 and beyond - you thought you'd heard the last from me didn't you?

Diet post regime has been fairly strict.  I haven't gone off the rails with my new found freedom.  Still eating the same volumes of food, still eating the same types.  The one thing that's changed is that I am no longer counting grams.  The general rule of thumb is 60:20:20.  60% vegetables, 20% protein, 20% carbs on any plate.

The no-counting rule also extends into the exercises.  The only counting to be done nowadays is the number of sets.  All exercises are done to failure.

Failure.  An interesting concept.  There are two types of failure when working out.  First is where your mind fails as a result of the pain of the workout, second is where your muscles fail and you can no longer carry out the required movement.  This is the one to go for.  You must feel and embrace the burn, accept it and move on.

Onwards and upwards eh?

The final tally.

Starting weight        -        17 st 12 lbs
Finishing weight      -         15 st 4 lbs

Photos from the front:




Photos from the side:

        

Photos from the back:

Photos of me and my inspiration:

 








My new inspiration?:

Day 90 - The end of the beginning.

Well, it's all over.  Celebrated in style by heading out for a meal and many beers for a pal's birthday.  Had a couple of ex-FIYLers along for company as well so there was much discussion on life after FIYL.

The food was fantastic - I'd never had Thai food before - and the tastes and textures were pretty overwhelming after three months of egg whites.  The beer was fantastic too - cold, crisp, delicious - so, needless to say, I drank perhaps more than I should have after three dry months.  The hangover wasn't too bad though and I put that down to my superior fitness and ability to process the booze.  Actually, hang on, this could work really well - I get drunk on one beer but don't get a hangover.  Fantastic, I'm 15 again!

The chat between us FIYL veterans was interesting.  Full of cautionary tales of life after FIYL and I think it was the best conversation I could have had right at that moment.  My absolute unimaginable fear is the slow decline back to where I was three months ago and I think hearing about what can go wrong, as well as what can go right, at the end of the program has hopefully strengthened my resolve to make this stick.

In truth I have never seen FIYL as the end, only a means to an end.  My desire is to be able to take part in all the activities I have always wanted to - some that I have done before and some that are new - and FIYL has given me the kick start that I needed to get to a level of fitness which will allow me to participate and enjoy these activities.  Does that make sense?

So that is, in essence, the meaning behind this blogs title.  This is not the end, it is the beginning.

Some thank you's:

Thank you to Vivienne, firstly, for putting up with my ridiculous eating habits and constant need to exercise.  I know that it has been annoying at times but you've been very supportive and we both know it has been worth it.

Thank you to Swee and to Nicky.  Although we were not doing this together, it was very helpful to have people I could call on for help when I needed it.  And it was great to have people who knew what I was going through.

Thank you to Kevin.  This system is brilliant.  Your daily emails were supportive, encouraging and enlightened and will miss them a great deal (I've already checked for a new one three times today, even though I know nothing's coming...)  It must be a lot of work to fit this in around your everyday life and I appreciate what you've helped me to do a great deal.  I won't let you down!

Lastly, thanks to anyone who's read my blog, liked or commented.  It's nice to know that someone's reading this shit.

So that's it.  Done.  The only thing left to do is to post the final photos and weigh in.  I'm going to do this right now.  Sheesh...

Day 89 - in the beginning there was nothing.

Then there was light. My eyes are open to the truth. Exercise is fantastic. My body now craves it. My legs, if I don't exercise, get twitchy and irritated until I do.

And eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Day 88 - impending sense of doom?

For the last 88 days I have been told exactly what to eat, down to the last gram, and exactly how to exercise, down to the last rep.

As of tomorrow, this support structure will no longer be available to me.

So where do we go from here?

Difficult question to answer.  I am terrified of the slow slide backwards.  How do I avoid this?  How do I ensure that I not only maintain but actually continue to improve myself?  I guess it's down, for the most part, to diet.  We were told at the beginning that 80% of the process was due to our diets so it stands to reason that if I can maintain the diet as closely as I can then I should be alright.

There are things about the diet that I love - the constant eating and the sheer volume of fruit and veg that I've been packing away.  The egg whites are wearing a little thin now but then they're so good for muscle growth you have to forgive them.

I suppose there's a mindset change required here.  Life is no longer about trying to lose weight - I've done that.  Now I need to enjoy life as someone in shape does.  I've always had a hankering to see if I could do a triathalon - now I have the body required, maybe it's time to give it a go.

It'll also be interesting to see if my surfing improves after this - I have more upper body strength and a better power to weight ratio than I've ever had.  Might get back into the climbing as well.

Who knows, perhaps I'm over thinking this.  Maybe it's simple.  Carry on the exercise, throw in different activities and continue to eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Day 87 - good decision, well made.

I finished work a little early this afternoon.  Ordinarily I would have headed straight for the gym to power through my workout.  This time, however, all I wanted to do was go and see my son and hang out with him for an extra hour.

So I did.  We played for a full hour before heading home to see mummy and for that I am very grateful.  See, sometimes it's alright to miss out on a workout - if it's for the right reasons.

Day 86 - a funny story.

I spoke to a former FIYLer yesterday and he commented on my curry-related statement from a previous blog:

I knew that my body had changed thanks to this process but I had no idea how much.  I had no idea that I literally wouldn't be able to stomach this type of food any more but do you know what?  I don't care.  I don't care that I will not be eating this sort of thing again, I don't care that I won't be punishing my body like this again.  I feel so clean thanks to FIYL that I don't want to fill myself up like this again.  I'm happy with the way things are now and I'm happy to make the right choices when it comes to the food that I choose to eat. - 1000 Calories of Fun.

His comment was "I used to think exactly that.  Then I found myself eating a pork pie the other day.  In bed."

Day 85 - My Gym. My Temple.

Following on from our discussions on the merits of different gyms, I thought I'd show a few photos of my gym.

Working left to right: the ladder and the back of the truck combine to create a spot for both the raised leg triceps dip and, if you drop the tailgate, the chest dip.  The jumprope is on the floor, you can't quite make it out.  The push-up bars are to the right of the jumprope and the door anchor is in the black garage door with the resistance band hanging off it.  The window is open on the truck and the radio is blaring.  Best of all there is plenty of space to jump rope and literally tons of fresh sea air to breathe.

And here's a photo of my view when doing all my abs work.

That's a bit better than some air conditioning ducts isn't it?  Not so good when it's full of raindrops but you've got to take the rough with the smooth.

Day 84 - My day out.

Homework this week: visit a gym.

Not with a view to joining, necessarily, more to experience other peoples notions of what constitutes a workout.

I visited Pure Gym in Ocean Terminal.  We have been considering joining a gym (my current "gym" is very sensitive to changes in the weather, being completely outside.  Over the last three months I have worked out in sun, howling wind and pissing rain.) and the Pure Gym ethos - £18 a month for a tonne of machines - kind of appeals to me.

I think it must have been something to do with the fact I was there on a Saturday afternoon but 80% of the people there were quite serious.  Of the ten people I saw, eight of them were working hard on free weights and floor work, one was quite overweight but working hard with a personal trainer and one was just cuddling a sit-up machine - needless to say, he was the lardiest of them all.

I think the general idea about going on a gym tour was to see that the vast majority of people working out in them are essentially doing nothing.  Five minutes on a treadmill then a wander around with a towel draped round the neck.  I think I need to go back again when it's busier to get a true picture of how little people do when they "go to the gym."

I'm also pretty sure now that I'm not going to join a gym any time soon.  There's something really wonderfully liberating about working out in the open air.  It's so easy to fill your lungs.  Maybe my view on this will change as we slide inexorably towards winter but I suspect not.  I've always been a firm believer in the maxim "there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."

I'll try to get a photo of my "GYM" tomorrow.

Day 83 - new jeans.

Just bought new jeans. 34 inch waist. Unreal.

Day 82 - the jokes are coming thick and fast.

The guys at work have been noticing my progress.  This has manifested in all sorts of comparisons with Tom Hanks' character in Philadelphia.  The AIDS jokes are flying but that's okay, they're all still fat and unhealthy and I'm getting better every day.  Like a fine wine.

Day 82 - Pop goes the knee joint.

We all fall down.

Workout more painful than usual, mostly due to my right knee joint pinging internally, for no apparent reason.  I completed the jumprope as usual, no issues there, then went straight into the pistol squats - at which point my knee said "no way Jose, you have a little sit down."  So I did.

Weirdly enough, there's no issue with walking, running, sitting, thinking - anything apart from squats.

There's history there as well - when I was about 15 I was on school camp and, jumping around in a field or something, landed on my knee on a rock.  It swelled to roughly the size of a water melon.  Following this little incident I also had cortisone injections in that knee so this is not without precedent.

Still, I can't see it slowing me down, I'll just work around it.  Dedication see, that's what it takes.

Day 81 - excellent work out and a full nights sleep.

EXCELLENT work out yesterday.  Mr Pain and I were on good terms.  And Vivienne and the boy slept on the floor of the nursery last night as well so I had a full, if slightly guilty, nights sleep.

Happy days!

Day 80 - exhaustion sets in.

Last night was a disaster.

The boy went down at seven, like he always does, and slept quite well all evening - I think he woke up once.  At about eleven, when we went to bed he decided to wake up - fully wake up: sitting up, chatting, laughing, kicking.  It was two o'clock before he went to sleep again.

So, needless to say, I was not too thrilled to hear the alarm go off this morning.  I may have to sneak off for forty winks at some point today if I'm to hit my exercise targets this evening.

1000 calories of fun.

Saturday night was another night off.  This time we were told to really go for it.  1000 calories.  Eat something you used to enjoy.

So we had Indian food from the mighty Lancers.

Lamb bhuna, chicken jalfresi, rice and a garlic naan.

My initial feelings were of foreboding.  What a huge amount of food to eat.  So full of salt and spices.  When it arrived the smell was delicious and my salivary glands went into overdrive.  The first mouthful was lovely - so full of flavour - but before too long I found myself a little overwhelmed by it all.

And the after affects were truly horrendous.  Bloated and gassy, painful stomach, dehydrated to the point of ridiculousness.  And this lasted for the whole of the next day.

I knew that my body had changed thanks to this process but I had no idea how much.  I had no idea that I literally wouldn't be able to stomach this type of food any more but do you know what?  I don't care.  I don't care that I will not be eating this sort of thing again, I don't care that I won't be punishing my body like this again.  I feel so clean thanks to FIYL that I don't want to fill myself up like this again.  I'm happy with the way things are now and I'm happy to make the right choices when it comes to the food that I choose to eat.

The dangers of self-improvement.

If, 75 days ago, you had offered me the body that I now have, I would have bitten your hand off.

I'm in the best shape I've ever been in.  I don't feel self-concious when in public in the slightest.  I feel confident and I feel the joy that that confidence brings.

The trouble is, it's not enough now.  When I look at my aspirational figure (we were asked to choose a few months ago) I see that I'm not far away from this at all.  Well, apart from the pecs.

Yes ladies, it's Eric Bana.  Who else.

The trouble is that now I want more.  I see how far I've come from the day one photo, compared with now, and it's a massive change. But it doesn't feel like a massive change.  It doesn't feel like it's enough yet.

Of course it is possible to take things too far - after 8MA the other night I stumbled across the documentary about the body builder who's "arms exploded."  Clearly this guys was suffering from pretty serious body dis-morphia as he looked like a complete tool right up to the point where said biceps detonation occurred.

There's a nice balance there somewhere, waiting to be achieved, and I'll let you know when I get there.

Some musings on mucus.

I managed to do my jumprope last night for the first time in four days.  Didn't manage any more than that though.

It's the weirdest thing - appendicitis a decade ago?  Painful but not that bad really.  Broken fingers?  Again painful but not that bad - inconvenient more than anything.  Dislocated shoulder?  Damn sore but really nothing too difficult to deal with.  Ripped open finger?  Depressing, obviously, but I can play the guitar again.  Common cold?  OH MY GOD WHY AM I DYING.  I really don't understand how something so seemingly innocuous can cause such bloody misery.

I read an article in The Week a few years ago (digression - The Week is a (weekly, obvs) distillation of all of the weeks printed press.  If you don't know it, get it - it's best thing ever.) which stated that men are more severely affected by colds than women.  It was something to do with our physiological differences - men being short burst high energy types suited to brief spates of hunting and killing and women being more for the long game - gathering berries, that sort of thing.  This is getting a bit dangerous... Hang on,  I'm going to cite a reference...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/09/19/scientists-say-man-flu-is-not-a-myth_n_969749.html 

This is not making quite the same point as I read about in the week, but it's not far off.

So yeah, all in all, pretty gash few days.  Colds just lay me on my ass.  I've rather lost my train of thought with all that reference searching.  That's the hallmark of a good blog.  A nice strong ending.  Excellent.

Wounded by my workout.

You'll need a little background on this one.  Our workouts are extremely lo-fi.  There are no complicated machines, no wires, no pulleys, no weights even.  All you have is your own body, a resistance band and a door anchor.

But I don't have a door anchor.  I have a broomstick and, essentially, a rubber band - the type you wrap a floor mat with.

So, in a world of lo fidelity, I take things to a new low.

My method is as follows: put rubber band on broomstick and hold broomstick up behind garage doors.  Close garage doors.  Run resistance band through rubber band, exercise.

Easy eh?  Not really.  We've recently started a new workout - pulldowns.  Now for pulldowns one really does need a bit of height at the anchor position so I have stepped the levels of sophistication up a bit.  I have drilled a large hook into one of the roof beams in the garage.  Looks good, looks strong: excellent, let's do it.

The hook is strong.  The elastic band, not so much.  On the first pull it snapped resulting in the resistance band smacking me in the gut at full pelt.

It was an interesting sort of pain, not one that I have felt before.  I experienced a moment of Zen clarity and suddenly felt no pain.  I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe, I could only exist at one with the universe.

Eventually the moment passed and feeling returned bringing pain with it.  I stole a glance, genuinely expecting to see my guts all over the ground.  Not so, just a big red welt where my belly button used to be.

My favourite thing about working out.

My favourite thing about working out is the pain the next day.  The ache in a particular muscle group when you've hammered them hard is fantastic.  Worth all the hard work for sure.

Bad night...

No workout yesterday - had a 6 o'clock viewing at the flat (I actually think this is the one...) so couldn't do it on the way home.  Also found baby boy in a state of extreme pain due to more teeth coming in (will it never end?) so there was no scope to escape after the viewing either.

Upshot?  Legs feel like they need to run - like coiled springs.

Treats for eats

Last week we were given another sanctioned treat night.  We thought long and hard about what to do for this but eventually plumped for a really nice, high quality meat, home-made burger - topped with a small amount of stilton.  There was also a splash of wine with that.

My excitement levels before eating were through the roof - the smell of the cooking meat, even the sight of it sizzling on the grill sent my salivary glands into meltdown mode.  The first mouthful was sublime, but that's where the enjoyment ended.  The salt levels (although we added none) were too much to take and that, combined with the wine, were enough to send my body into freakout mode (lots of "modes" occurring here...)

And the after effects?  None too happy I can tell you...  I was thirsty all night, my stomach was aching (presumably too full?) and I genuinely wished I had just eaten my egg whites and left it at that.

So last night, following my egg whites/apple dinner, I did not lament my empty stomach, instead embracing the fantastic light feeling.  I can categorically state that my days of needing a big dinner are over.  What a wonderful side effect to this program.

How I lost my lunch.

For once this is not a euphemism.

I prepared my food for today last  night as  I always do.  Morning fruit, lunch itself and afternoon fruit.  When carrying the boy and his accoutrements out to the car this morning I put my lunch box on the bonnet so I could get him into his seat.

You can see what's coming can't you?

Vivienne called me 15 minutes later to ask why my lunch was spread all over the street in front of the house.

The Plank

Assume the pressup position.  Now, lower yourself down so your forearms are on the ground taking the weight.  Make sure your hands are separated, no clasping, straight back and hold.  For sixty seconds.  Now do that again three more times.

Nightmare.

And my clothes don't fit me no more...

Jeans, shorts, shirts, T's, nothing fits me any more.  In fact it would be quicker to list what does still fit: shoes.  And socks.  This is going to get expensive...

Preparation is key

Vivienne and I were up until about midnight last night getting the flat ready to view.  The upshot of that was that I didn't have the time nor energy to prepare my lunch for today.

So I bought a sandwich from the local supermarket instead.

Disgusting is all I can say.  I can't believe that I used to regularly eat that shit.  The salt was just overwhelming, I couldn't actually taste any of the ingredients.

Never again, preparation is King.

A blog about nothing in particular.

In response to Dear Leaders request that we blog every day, here's a blog about nothing in particular.

Yesterday was an odd one.  Baby boy was not very well - throwups and crying in the morning.  Very strange as he's normally at his best in the AM (just like Daddy...)  Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem for me because he's with his Mummy and she knows what to do.  She, however, has gone back to work this week and BB is being taken care of by his Grandparents.  Now I know that they love him plenty but I still had a slight unsettled feeling all day.  I compensated for this at home in the evening by having two boiled eggs, rather than the customary egg whites.  I'm not sure what difference this makes in the real world but it made me feel better.

Today I had a call from our estate agents to arrange an "urgent" viewing on our flat.  This means that at the end of a busy day I will have to go home and organise the flat so it's ready for Friday after work.  This will involve variously bringing the dining table back from storage, finishing the woodwork painting in the hallway, de-cluttering two kitchen cabinets and dropping more boxes off to storage.  Something's got to give.  I have a sneaky suspicion it's going to be a full workout.  So, in the spirit of a previous email from Dear Leader, tonight the leg work goes, as does the arm work.  All that will remain will be the jump rope, abs and shoulders.  I'll probably get a sweat on carrying boxes anyway.

Hmm, turns out this blog was about something after all...

Cheater cheater real food eater.

I literally couldn't take another night of egg whites so I made the decision this afternoon to cheat for dinner tonight.

So I had an omelete instead.  I had some courgette, aubergine and a small amount grilled chicken in it and that's it.  Not much of a cheat, admittedly, but a cheat nonetheless.

It's made a huge difference in my attitude however.  Kevin sent a very interesting email about visceral fat today and I think reading that and enjoying an actual meal for the first evening in a week has re-energised me and re-focussed me to my goal.  I've realised that it's quite important to step back from the whole thing every so often to remind oneself what the whole point is.  It's too easy to lose sight of the intent, lose focus and just get pissed off.

Tomorrow is day 35 - the end of week five.  I go into week six with renewed energy and an excitement that I haven't felt since day one.

So it's not really cheating at all then is it.

"Come in Mr Bond. I've been eggs-pecting you."

I love eggs!  Aren't they amazing?

They're so versatile.

You can boil them, poach them, fry them, scramble them and you can microwave them (apparently they go off like frigging grenades!)  You can fling them, throw them, fire them out of a cannon and drop them on people from a great height.  You can blow the yolk out and crack the empty shell on your younger brother's head (of course you don't actually need to remove the yolk to do this but you'd better have a mop to hand...) You can sauté them and you can fricassee them (exactly the same as sauté but with a slightly larger egg) and if you've got enough road to get one up to 88 miles per hour you're going to see some serious shit.

I'm hungry.

I was going to say "I'm starving" but that's patently untrue.

Two egg whites, an apple and a banana do not a happy boy make.

I'm very well aware of why I'm eating what I am but I don't have to be thrilled about it do I.

Just keep imagining a big tuna pizza. And I can't wait for my gargantuan breakfast tomorrow morning.

Day 30 update

I am now one third through this process.  My thoughts?

It's been hard.  The strict diet, the constant exercise, the organisation.  It's been hard and it's just getting harder every week.  The diet gets more stringent, the work outs get more hardcore (hockey steps can fuck right off, but that's a different story...)

It's been hard, but it's worth it.  I feel energised every day.  I feel full of life.  I can see the changes in my form.  It's just going to get harder from here on in but I'm fully committed.

Updates:

Diet - Not once have I eaten or drunk anything which I was not allowed to.  I have not eaten one sliver over the allotted amount.

Exercise - I have missed only one night of jump rope (I spent the whole day doing manual labour and sweating to death anyway so I don't count it as a cheat.)  I have missed only two days of full workout (so pushed with the house-sale deadline that I couldn't stop.)

Doing okay so far...

Twenty-six seconds later...

Pretty unsatisfied...

Tonight's dinner

I'm an idiot.

I just made the fatal mistake of looking over next weeks exercises all at once. I feel exhausted already.

I've always printed them all out at the beginning of each week but I've been very strict with myself and not allowed any peeks at what's to come. It's easier that way to get through each day with no knowledge of what's coming tomorrow.

Big hill to climb this week, that's for sure...

A treatise on treats.

I've just been advised by our dear leader that a small treat is now permitted. Be it a couple of glasses of wine, some nuts or some chocolate it's now allowed. Just the once though presumably.

However, and it's a big one, I feel like I'm making real progress in this process and I feel uncomfortable about allowing this. I feel as though to have a treat now would undermine the progress I've made.

I suppose that the best frame of mind is one where nothing is forbidden but one continues to follow the philosophy "eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Wine it is then.

Body of evidence.

Started to notice some real changes in my body and the way it looks.

It started with a few comments as to how slim and youthful my face is looking.  Since then I've noticed some real changes in my physique.  Things pulling in a bit around the waist and just a bit more definition everywhere.  There are new muscles springing up all over my thighs.

Incidentally, but not unconnected, I switched early on to doing pressups with knees on the floor.  I felt I was getting a better result this way - I was able to go wider with the arms and get closer to the ground than with my knees up.  It generally felt like a better burn.  With the news that in week four we're now to go for full pressups I tried one tentatively last night and found that whereas before I would go half way down (for fear of not making it back up) I can now touch the floor with my nose.  Progress indeed.

FIYL Food

I'm sure my wife will blog about this elsewhere but I just wanted to say (to any parents out there aspiring to this system) that the fact that we're cooking natural foods with no salts, sauces, fats etc means that our little boy can eat exactly what we're eating.  Basically we've gone from cooking one meal for ourselves and one for him to just cooking one meal.

Incidentally, isn't it odd that before we would happily eat food ourselves that we wouldn't feed to our child?  Why would we care so much for his diet and not for our own?  Why would we deliberately prevent him from eating food that we are happy to ingest?  I would plead ignorance had we not already had the boy on a healthy diet...

Booze

The week before this program started, my wife and I put away three bottles of wine.  The week before it would have been about the same and the week before.  And the week before.  And the week before.

I honestly thought that I would miss the booze the most.  There was nothing like coming home after a hard day, getting the boy to bed and cracking a nice bottle of vino.  Or a G&T.

But, it turns out, I don't actually miss it at all.  Sure, on a hot sunny day it would be nice to have a crisp cold beer but generally speaking I just don't notice.

What I really miss is a nice bit of peanut butter toast.  Nah, not really.

Another delicious meal

Created again by my wonderful wife.  Grilled chicken, peppers, peas, celery, cucumber and brown rice.  Nice sauce made from balsamic vinegar, garlic and mint.

Lovely.

My workout ethos...

...if your hair's not completely fucked by the time you finish, you're not doing it properly.

That is all.

Fat-Free-Fajitas

Fat free and damn tasty.  Cumin, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and garlic on the chicken and on the veg (cooked separately for weighing purposes) sweetcorn through the brown rice and a single cheeky flour tortilla just for a treat.

Nicely.

A very healthy dinner

Breakfast of Champions

Here's a wee photo of one of my week two breakfasts.  In fact it must have been a weekend as I had time to take a photo!

Yummers.

Why weight?

My post yesterday was all hung up on visual changes (and the fact that I can't really see any yet) so I did a little check on my weight thus far:

Starting weight - 17st 12lbs
Day 15 weight - 17st 4lbs

Good going!

Slow progress...

Just posted my day 14 photo to flickr.  Doesn't appear to be much in the way of change as far as I can see.  Maybe I'm being too demanding, maybe things are supposed to take a bit longer to show but I thought I'd see some improvement for all my effort.

Sorry, pretty tired this morning.  Maybe just in a bad mood!

Problem solved.

While writing last nights diatribe on the unsuitability of vegetables as a morning meal, I constantly came back to one enduring thought: fruit is the perfect breakfast.

So what vegetables most closely resemble fruit?  Orange peppers!  And beetroot.  And red peppers.

Things with a bit of juicy flavour to them.  That's the future for me.

The trouble with vegetables.

The trouble with vegetables is that they're crap for breakfast.

Now I know what you're going to say - grilled tomatoes and mushrooms are two parts of a full breakfast.  Well I don't particularly like mushrooms and I can't eat tomatoes.

Years ago, for fun on a holiday, my mum offered me £50 to eat a tomato.  It was a nice small cherry tomato.  It's not like it was a buffalo bad-boy.  Anyway, the deal was that I had to eat the whole thing, nothing left over.

I gave it my best shot.  I popped that little tomato in my mouth and started chewing frantically.  There must be something about the juice, however, because the moment it hit my tastebuds that was it.  As I recall the game ended with me retching into the bin.

But I digress.

I'm struggling with the morning veg.  I literally don't know what to do.  I've taken advice from previous FIYLers and I've tried courgettes, aubergine, carrot, broccoli, peppers, the list is endless.  The fact remains, it's just a case of forcing them down.  At any other time of day I would love all of these vegetables but at breakfast, no thanks.  Does anyone out there have any ideas?  I just tried to roast some courgette and aubergine to add to a morning omelet tomorrow but they've turned into crisps.  What started out as over 160g ended up as - I kid you not - 27g.  To eat them would make a mockery of this whole system.

Maybe, for me, the veggies at breakfast will just have to be something that I force down.  The only result there, however, will be that I will not carry this on when I no longer have to.  This aspect will not be a lifestyle change for me and that's not really in keeping with my holistic approach to this system

Oh well, maybe I'll figure something out.

Day 10 - dinner

Props to my awesome wife, what a feast she created yesterday.  And the measurements were bang on, even if she did have to sacrifice some of her own chook to ensure I got what I needed.  What a star.

Two for a pound, two for a pound...

Never in my life have I eaten so much fruit and veg.

That is all.

"Energy levels fluctuating Captain. I can't hold her steady..."

Interesting experience this.  Breakfast still seems like a mighty amount of food to me, as does lunch.  And the less said about the morning and afternoon snacks the better.  Biggest issue is dinner time to be honest.  For some reason it's just not enough food for me.  Well, for my mind. Just finding myself a bit pooped out all the time.  That may be to do with the baby who's not been performing properly over the last couple of days.  Pee'd all over me in bed the other (early) morning.

Historically I've been used to eating my biggest meal at dinner time - I know, I know, breakfast like a King, lunch like a Duke, dinner like a pauper.  Still, it's taking some getting used to.

My wonderful wife is being very inventive on the food front, always full of ideas of how to make things a little bit more interesting but I can't really concentrate on interesting, I'm getting so bogged down in the weights and measures aspect.  I just want to make sure that I do everything to the tee so I can't be as creative as I normally am with the cooking.

I imagine it's just a matter of time before it all becomes second nature and I can start to enjoy the cooking but at the moment it's all just a bit hectic.

Oh, and I forgot my f*%*ing egg for lunch today.  Cooked, peeled and sitting on the draining rack next to the sink.

Breakfast of Champions?

I've never eaten so much for breakfast as I did this morning.  Two eggs, large glass of milk, two pita breads toasted and cut into soldiers and two carrots in the car on the way to work.

I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I know that what I've just eaten is very healthy and is setting me up for the day but I must confess to having a bit of a moment towards the end of the second carrot.  Think controlled burping and slight seasickness and you'll get the picture!

Previously my weekday breakfast consisted of a nice bowl of granola or muesli and a coffee.  I never found myself particularly hungry by lunchtime but it will be interesting to see how I feel today.

Week 1 - done.

A very interesting week, all in all.  Just uploaded my week one photos to flickr - embarrassing.  I guess that's what it's all about at the end of the day though.  A call to arms to do something about your body before it's all too late.  My starting weight was a fairly hefty 17 stone and 12 pounds, a weight I've been maintaining pretty religiously for the last ten years.

I can't wait to see how this all ends up.  What a journey this will be.

Week one has piqued my curiosity.  I'm so keen to get started on this all and the information that Kevin has sent through has me totally inspired.  I don't understand how we as a species have so totally lost sight of what is so fundamentally obvious - food is supposed to be natural.  It's simple really when you think about it.  Our prehistoric forbears didn't have meat with every meal.  It was probably a pretty rare occurrence when you actually had to kill the thing yourself.  Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.  So simple, so true and so obvious.

On the exercise front, things are going very well.  My stomach muscles have recovered, my appendectomy scar doesn't hurt any more with the abs exercises and my skipping has reached new levels of brilliance.  I'm looking on youtube for more moves to throw in there just to mess things around a bit.  After the skipping I feel happy, energised and chilled out, all at once.  There's something very zen about it - the gentle repetition of it and the thwack thwack thwack of the rope on the ground.  Brilliant.

So, with a profound sense of excitement, bring on week two.

My legs hurt...

...a lot.

On the plus side, all my muscles feel like they're alive at last.  Everything feels tight and healthy - and we're only four days in!

Day Three Update

LOVING THE SKIPPING.

I've come on leaps and bounds (cough) since my day one skipping.  From jumping a foot in the air, both feet together, I'm now hopping little steps from left to right, then two hops left, two hops right.  I can go forwards, backwards and round in a circle.  Bangin!

I'm really enjoying the rest of the exercises as well, although the constant pounding has my thighs and abs whinging whenever I ask anything of them in normal life.  Do we get a rest day?

One little niggle - I had an appendectomy about ten years ago and, long story short, it was a bit messy and they had to cut me right open on the right hand side of my abdomen.  The repeated situps/leg raises mean that whenever I'm in the pressup position I can feel the area of muscle that was sliced up.  It's not exactly sore, I'm just really aware of it and it feels - hold onto your lunch - like it's weak and might prolapse.

Any ideas?

A little autobiography

The facts:

I'm 34 years old, I'm married to Vivienne (who's coming on this journey too) and I have an 8 month old son.

My working day is mostly spent at my desk, however I do occasionally get to go and do some manual labour which I still enjoy when I don't have to do it every day.

In the past I have been very keen on a fair few outdoor sports: sailing, surfing, windsurfing, climbing as well as rugby in my school days and the occasional kick about with a football.

My sporting activities in the past decade have dropped right off to the point where I basically don't do any.  I go for the odd run and try to walk as much as I can but that's basically it.

As a result I reckon I'm carrying about four stone that I don't need to.  I have a very large frame - broad shoulders etc - so I hide it well but I know for a fact that ten years ago when I was working on the beach for Sunsail, I had a six pack.  That knowledge, combined with the feeling of a slow decent into middle age, makes me so determined to make a change.

I want to get back to where I was before.  I want to feel good on the beach.  I want to have the energy and the vigour to go out surfing and actually enjoy more than the first 20 seconds.  I want my son to look at me as he grows up and be inspired to be as active as his daddy is.

I know that this process will help me with this - I just need to look at my Phase One friends to know that.  And I know that I will change the way I think about everything here.

I'm totally psyched, let's do this!

Day Waaaan

Fairly easy day this one, good stuff, I like an easy run up...

Breakfast, half portion of muesli (how the hell do you spell that word??), two coffees at work.  Lunch, didn't have time - I hit the hunger wall at about 1.30 but broke through it because I couldn't physically stop what I was doing.  It was 3pm when I thought of lunch again and by then it was too late - I was no longer hungry.  Ordinarily I think that would result in me horsing down too much dinner but I was strict with the half portion rule, ate slowly and am now quite full and satisfied.

Exercises done, nice except skipping is damn hard.  Couldn't get my rhythm in the garden - grass too long and couldn't get my rhythm in the stair well as it's too narrow.  So I got creative and pretended to skip.  Still did the allotted number, still got my heart rate up, still moved my arms like I was skipping, just didn't use the rope.  Turns out I'm really really good at fake skipping...

I know, I know, I'm never going to get better at skipping if I keep that sort of thing up but I wanted to do the work out so much but didn't actually want to go out into the street and have people watch me being crap at skipping!

I'm thinking maybe I'll do my skipping before work tomorrow, but then presumably I'd need to do the rest of the work out then as well?

I'll figure it out...

Well, just one more day until it all kicks off - Monday morning, 9am.  Saturday night spent eating pizza and drinking wine.  We've earned it though, been preparing for the big house sale all day so both little frazzled.

Feeling generally very upbeat and excited about beginning this process, the results I've seen on my friends who've already completed are pretty stunning and I'm looking forward very much to my journey.  I know there will be hard times but I'm prepared as the gains will be more than worth it.

Monday cannot come soon enough!