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.