Positive Results...........Really?

Positive Results

I have decided to update my blog just once a week as it takes up quite a lot of the night thinking of things to say. So I will start with Fridays food diary. For breakfast I had a bowl of Golden Grahams, my favourite cereal by a clear mile! Couldnt believe they even discontinued these a few years ago, Cinamon Grahams dont even come close to how good these are, I mean who puts cinamon on their cereal? Its just not right. For lunch I thought I would make egg and soldiers,  I tried this last week after watching Heston cook the "perfect" boiled egg. The ones I made last week didnt even look remotely like his! Apparently you put the eggs in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Once the water starts to boil, take it off the heat straight away and leave for 6 minutes. I did this to the exact time but they still came out hard. Nice one Heston! My next attempt was however more successful with the aid of device from the £1 Shop! It basically changes colour dependant on how you like your eggs, and it worked a treat! Would definately recommend it to anyone who doesnt seem to get egg boiling quite right. For dinner Jenna cooked Ham, mushroom and onion pancakes, they were delicious! A definate regular on the menu if I have things my way. As Jenna is working now i'm looking after the kids more often on my own so can't really go out, thankfully Liam kept me company whilst bringing round FIFA 12. I've not played this game properly since about 2005 so knew i wasn't going to be all that good. Strangely enough I won the 1st game beating him 2-1, much to his disgust! That was the last time I beat him all night, worst result was getting thrashed by Oldham 6-1 when I was Blackpool.  I had 5 cans of lager a pack of Discos and a Cheese and Jalepeno Relish sandwich before bed and didn't do any training in the gym. Maybe on my days off I shouldnt put too much crap in my body. After a weigh in I have lost weight???How?? I have no idea but i'm 13stone 6lbs.

Saturday for breakfast I had Golden Grahams again. Its the Liverpool, Man Utd match so had 5 friends round to watch it. Good game, made eventful by Liams constant outcries of "racist" every time Suarez got the ball. Thought I would get the old deep fat fryer and the mandolin out and make some home-made crisps to share out during the match. Made 2 big bowls full, they must have been ok cos they all went. Not only that, I had 2 packets of walkers crisps and 6 cans of lager!And what cooincides with lager........you guessed it,cigarettes.  How disappointing. As long as it stays just when i'm drinking i'm not too fussed but I definately want to kick it out my life completely. I'm writing this and i'm starting to see why I got overweight in the first place and why i'm so unhappy with how i look!!! I dont think the "snacks" are helping my cause! A weigh in later will see if i'm right. For Dinner Jenna made a nice home-made spicy chicken,spinach and potato curry, it was lovely. Its been day off number 2 this week and it's weigh in time. Im 13stone 5lbs!!How is this happening? I have filled my body with crap all weekend and have been to the gym yet have lost 2 lbs in 2 days.Should I go on a lager and crisp diet?Haha!

Sunday for breakfast......you guessed it. Golden Grahams! Nothing really in the diary for today, its chill day. Eaten 1/4 of a honeydew melon for lunch today and our weekly Smoked Salmon tagliatelle for Dinner. I keep snacking still and ended up having 2 packets of walkers crisps,  I keep saying to myself it wont be a problem because I keep going to the gym but thats no excuse. What doesnt help is that Lenny, my friend bought me a 48 pack! I will get a grip of the snacking at a weekend thats for sure. No day off today though, need to get rid of all the crap thats been put in my system.  Went to do the old routine of cycle and weights, so ended up doing another 20km and beat my old time of 38:27 by 1minute and 10seconds. My new PB is now 37:17seconds.I was raging though because when i stopped pedalling the screen turned off without saving the result to my USB stick! It got me thinking though, do I start trying to beat my time every time I go...... After finishing on the bike I did a quick session in the resistance suite and worked on my bi's tri's shoulders and chest as per, but had 10 minutes on the boxing bag as well. Still weighing 13stone 5lbs so all is good for now.

Monday I mixed it up a bit and had a slice of cheese on toast for breakfast then went for a little trip to Kings Lynn for a mooch around. Every single time I go to Lynn I end up buying seeds and bulbs for the garden. Jenna is a little worried that we have soo much we could soon open up a shop. I've got flowers growing on every window sill! When did I turn so boring? Want to have a nice garden border for summer because I intend for us to spend more time in the garden this year. Not only that, we have to prepare for "Brooksys BBQ" just need to get a 18ft swimming pool, a patio heater/brazier and we're pretty much ready. Should be a good one this year. 30th June sounds like a good date as it's pay day the day before.  For lunch today I ended up being drawn into Burger King to have the good old Angus.  Fatties will never learn! Although it does feel a lot healthier than Mcdonalds, I still felt sick at the fact I had just eaten a Burger knowing it's burgers that brought me into this hole I feel i'm in. After being at work briefly I decided to go to the gym and work the BK off. Boring old me did 20km on the bike again at level 10 resistance. This time I beat my PB again! I beat it by another 53seconds, a new PB of 36:24. After I got home, we decided we weren't having Dinner tonight so just had a crisp sandwich, I know, I know, what the hell is this guy doing eating soo many crisps!!Too be honest I dont know, Ive never normally eaten this many! Anyway I didn't think I was doing too bad, well that's what I thought until I weighed myself. 13stone 7lbs. I guess the BK and all the crap at the weekend has caught up with me. Really gutted. An eye opener though. Must try harder. Must also stop eating Walkers!! Idiot.

Anyhow, until next time. Farvel!

Start As You Mean To Go On

 Day 2

Today I have eaten 2 apples for breakfast with 1/2 a litre of water, whilst attending a resettlement brief in preparation for leaving the Air Force. A daunting thought as I don't feel like I am ready to leave yet. Although people often moan about how "crap" the Air Force is I cannot think of any other job that could possibly bring me the same benefits that the military does. With really cheap housing,  free health care and endless opportunities to get numerous qualifications (most of them free) I can't think of any reason to complain.  I worked out that to get a job in "civvie street" where I could live the way I do now, I would have to have an income of around 45-50K! I have got 3 opportunities to sign on for further service until I get the boot so hopefully when I apply I will get accepted. I will certainly be taking advantage of the resettlement training as soon as I can as I dont want to be panicking 2 months before I leave. What is it I actually want to do with my life after the military though??? That I still dont know,  so hopefully the career advisor will put me on the straight and narrow.  All I do know is that me and the family want to move back to sunny St. Annes to be close to family again.  Hopefully by that point I will have enough money for a nice deposit on a house,  if I reach my 12 year point I will have at least 10.2K from a bonus which will be a nice boost! Wow all that spiel just from saying i've had 2 apples and some water!

For lunch I had a ham salad, with a spoon full of leftover lasagne from last night. Nom Nom! However,  I think my wife is secretly trying to kill me as she is very well aware that im allergic to raw peppers and cherry tomatoes but always manages to sneak some into the bowl!  

As I write this Jenna is currently at the Gym with her friend, I bought her an mp3 player so she could listen to her drivel that is Beyonce and destinys child whilst she's there. That reminds me, I need to charge my mobile so I can watch my next Gym Film, not sure which one to choose yet

Well I chose to watch a film that I knew Jenna wouldnt want to watch as I know she will get annoyed if I keep watching all the latest releases at the gym without her! I chose Zombieland, it's not a bad film really, glad i picked it because Jenna DEFINATELY wouldn't have wanted to watch this one.

 I thought I would stick to what I know so opted for another cycling session,  I didnt cover the display screen this time which made it harder because I just kept looking at the distance I had done and was getting annoyed with my progress.  I dont know why because I think i completed 20km quicker today than yesterday. I got to about 3.5km and felt my legs aching but the film took my mind off it. I got hot a lot quicker tonight because I was wearing a hoody/vest type thing, not sure of the technical term, its what boxers wear I think but I wasnt bothered because the more I sweat the more weight im getting rid of surely?? Haha! Once I took my mind off the aching the km's soon started to mount up. It took me 38mins 27secs to do 20km's today which I'm pretty sure was faster than yesterday but I have only started to document things properly today as I took a USB stick in to download the results.  After a quick cool down I went into the resistance suite again to work on my arms, definately not ready to do free weights yet because some of the blokes in there are just huge and it would be quite embarrasing to go in there and lift little crappy weights when they're lifting what looks like 2 massive anvils at both ends of a metal pole! I used the chest press again and did 2 sets of 20 with 35kg weights, quickly followed by the shoulder press with 2 sets of 15 with 35kg weights. Finally I used the bicep curl machine and did 2 sets of 15 using 35kg weights. I must be doing something right because my biceps and triceps are really aching now.

Leaving the gym, its snowing AGAIN! Hopefully it doesn't stay! Or maybe it should stay because I've had a week off because of it so far! Get home to a lovely home cooked tea of salmon fillet thai fish cakes with noodles and green beans. Will definately be having that again! It was delicious. Forgot to mention after my lunch I had a muller light vanilla yoghurt (fat free), still not good for you but I'm not on a diet so I didn't mind soo much. Before the gym I had a packet of wotsits as well.

I weighed myself today and was quite happy because the last few days I have stayed at 13stone 10lbs. I was 13stone 8lbs so i'm going in the right direction! I feel a lot better about myself too but still not liking what I see in the mirror. I have been going to the gym for 2 weeks now and have lost a total of 8lbs so I cant complain! Just hope it keeps going down.  I'm dreading the point where it just stays the same for weeks but I'm expecting it this time and I wont let it put me off! Getting quite hungry now so will probably have an apple or something and log off so will update you soon. If anyone is interested here is the link to my fitness session and a picture of my body as it is now which is difficult for me to broadcast to everyone but I guess it gives me more incentive to keep going to the gym. Both links are below.

Ta Ta for now, and thanks for reading!

My Fitness Session 09/02/2012

The Start of my Fitness

A True Reflection?

After 4 years of not liking what I see in the mirror I have finally decided to do something about it.  

Many things in my life need to change for me to accomplish what often in the past seemed like a mammoth task.  Firstly I knew that, at the rate I was going I knew I would end up being Morbidly Obese,  Lazy and Ugly for my gorgeous wife.  Second to that I knew I was going to be an ineffective dad to my 2 beautiful children.

When I joined the Royal Air Force 7 years ago I was a slim 19 year old full of energy who thought nothing of a 5 mile run on a miserable January morning at 6 a.m in the Snow,  when I look back at those times I wonder what happened to my fitness and my energy and why I look and feel the way I do now. The answer to that question I don't know but the solution to the problem is what I intend on finding out.  For the first 3 years of my Air Force career I found that I gained 1 stone every year until I hit 13 stone.  I put this down to the drink culture in my job, however it was at this point I realised that I was heading down a slippery slope but never really did anything about it. My weight has fluctuated around the 13-14 stone region for the last 4 years now but only recently have I exceeded 14 stone. When this happened I knew I couldnt carry on and something had to be done. 

The very few occasions in my life where I attempted to lose weight were pretty much dead before I even started as I didnt have the determination and I've got a habit of always try to find an easy option to get the desired goal.  Losing weight is not something that can be done just with a few pills and the odd run every now and then.  I have tried many easy "quick" fixes that in reality do not work and can be unsafe. Diet pills, starving myself, crazy diets, laxatives and even food poisoning are just some of the things I tried! In hind site some of these are ridiculous and damn right stupid. None of which I will ever be trying again, unless of course I have constipation! One of my crazy diets was just eating carrotts all day every day for a whole week! Not only is this boring it can turn your skin yellow,  however I could see in the dark a whole lot better!

I have been a smoker since the age of 15 but never really found it affected my health until about 3-4 years ago as I started wheezing a lot and becoming out of breath just heading up a flight of stairs! So it was only when our first child (Henry)  was born in 2009 that i decided to quit because I knew I didnt want to be one of those dads who cant go to the park for a kick around with his children.  I found it extremely easy with the aid of Champix. I used Champix for 12 days and stopped smoking, I also stopped using the tablets as I thought I had quit smoking by myself and didn't need them.  This ended up being true as i didnt touch another cigarette for 2 years! "Pat on the back!" NO. I started smoking the horrible things again much to my own disgust!!! I did however manage to hide the fact I was smoking for nearly a year from my family!  Nothing to be proud of I know. I always hated smoking, and hated the fact that people around me smoked whilst it was so easy to quit! This "fact" ended up becoming fiction to me as I tried to fight the smoking battle again on my own 3 times without the use of Champix. I then saw the smoking cessation nurse to get the little blue helpers.  I took them yet again for 12 days and quit! Wahoo! NO. I stopped taking the tablets and the old regime of smoking swiftly followed. What happened? Maybe I just wasnt ready.  Another vist to the nurse to get another batch. Surely this time it will work.  I have stopped smoking and using the tablets so up to now they done their job as I don't class myself as a smoker anymore even though I do have the odd one every now and then when I have a drink but I dont feel like it has a hold of me anymore like it used to.  I have seen the health benefits from it massively as I can now breathe without a single wheeze, i'm never out of breath and I can actually play a whole game of football OUT OF THE NET! Smoking is no longer an issue for me and that I am so glad of, but I definately wont judge people for smoking anymore as I realise how hard it really is to stop.

Dealing with how I feel about myself is a different ball game which is why I decided on the title of my first blog. Im a very outgoing person and always have been a "gobshite" and don't think that will ever change. From my first report in reception class right through to year 11 at high school I was marked as the class clown and I was nicknamed Chippy by my teacher Mrs Bidwell as I always chipped in when it was someone elses turn to talk. I like to think I have mellowed out a bit since then but I'm sure my peers will say otherwise!  I've not been anywhere near as confident as I normally am for the last few years and I think that sometimes reflects on my behaviour as I experience a lot of mood swings which directly affect my loving wife.  I would never dream of ever laying a finger on her as she is my life but I have certainly said hurtful things to her and have punched and headbutted walls and doors, thrown laptops etc etc, none of which I am proud of. Those times have passed now thankfully as that part of my life is over. Still though when I look in the mirror I am not happy with how I look and I'm disgusted with my body. I will go to work and receive the mandatory banter that is expected when someone is overweight, which most of the time is funny and is said in jest, I will laugh it off and reply with another witty comment but sometimes it's to hide the fact that what has actually been said really annoys me and can get me down sometimes if i'm having a bad day. Taking the mickey out of someones personal appearance can be a very touchy subject for the person receiving the comments, I know that just as much as anyone but why do I give it out so much as well???? Maybe i should reflect on how it sometimes makes me feel and perhaps I wouldn't dish it out as often as I do. I have made a lot of good friends this last year and I think that meeting them has definately made me a much happier person in myself as I have started socialising a lot more now which makes me feel good.  I hope it stays that way as I would class them as people I would love to stay in touch with throughout my life.

My original intention for this blog wasnt to blurt out my whole life story but I feel it might make an interesting read for some people who may be a little interested about what goes on in my head.  haha. My main reason for the blog is to document for myself what I have eaten and how much exercise I have done in that day and take a picture of my body to see how much progress I am making, also to add a few witty statements or just general things about what I have done for other peoples benefit.....possibly.  Basically an online diary for all to see I guess but with the fitness being the main focal point for me.

So I will start with today 08/02/2012. My awesome fathers birthday, who unfortunately I couldnt see, but im sure he doesn't mind too much! We will have a drink to make up for it next time i'm home!

Today I went to the gym with a bit of cardio in mind. I knew I wanted to use the exercise bike but didnt know whether I was going to base my session on time, calories burnt or distance so I just put Rise of the Planet Of the Apes on my Galaxy S2 and covered the bike display screen so I couldn't see time or distance on the bike.  As I had started my fitness regime 2 weeks ago I had already started to watch this film before so I only had approximately 40 minutes of the film left, which meant my cycle was going to end up being time based anyway! lol. I set the bike to level 11 and just pedalled away, having a couple of sneaky peeks at my distance along the way which both times left me surprised at how far I had got. By the end of the film I uncovered the display and found i had ridden 19.52km! I was personally quite impressed with the result as when i first started going to the gym I would only do 10km in one session.  I upped this to 15km last week.  Once I finished my cool down I went into the resistance suite to work on my arms. I did 3 sets of 20 on the shoulder press using 45kg weights, I have no idea if this is good or not but its a start I guess! 3 sets of 15 on the chest press using 35kg weights. 3 sets of 15 on the bicep curls using 35kg weights and I used 2 other machines but i cant remember what they were but did similar on those. Will have to write them down for the next blog. All I know is My triceps are killing me! No pain no gain as they say! I will also be publishing pictures of my body as it changes through the weeks for my own documentation but so others can see that eating normally and exercising alot can make a difference.

After todays session i felt really good but am getting a lot of lower back ache,  I can safely say Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a good film though and I reccommend it to anyone!

Until next time. Ciao