Jingo's 10 Week Lifestyle Adventure!

Jingo Wobbly

New member
So, dont know if any of you guys caught my intro in the newcomers folder but I'm a 43 year old guy from South Wales in the UK. I'm here as I need to lose some weight, regain some fitness and hopefully start feeling a tad better about myself.

Today is the 1st day of my 10 week lifestlye overhaul and I'm facing it with a mixture of excitiement and trepidation....I also have to admit to fear, the fear of totally cutting out the foods that I have relied upon for a variety of reasons and that have kindly landed me in this position.

I'm shortly off down to my local chemist to jump on the scales and to get an accurate weight measurement...I'm guessing it is going to be about 16st 4lbs which is 228lbs, ho hum!

I just wanted to talk about breakfast this morning whilst it was fresh in my mind. All the books tell you not to skip breakfast and that it is the most important meal of the day but I'm guessing they wouldn't approve of my usual breakfast routine which involves a car, Greggs the bakers and 2 sausage rolls! Today I made the 'effort' of throwing some fresh raspberries in a bowl with some probiotic greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of oatbran. Whilst this was as simple as anything it just felt a bit of an ordeal...when I thought about the ordeal was actually all about me thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it, I approached the basic 1 minute construction of this simple breakfast with such a sense of foreboding that it would have been sooooo easy to down those berries and head to McD's for a sausage and egg muffin. Today I perservered, today I quite enjoyed breakfast!

I did do a bit of shopping last night to prepare myself for todays mega shift in my lifestyle and one thing I've noticed is that this is going to cost and cost quite big. In the UK we have the Government and a fat tongued chef called Jamie Oliver who are constantly banging on about eating healthy. Well, thats all well and good but a punnet of raspberries cost me £3 in Tesco and if I had gone organic I would have had to remortgage the house! Real world alert.

I am going to have to eat and prepare my own meals and my wife follows WW and I just don't want to follow that plan. Up to now we tend to eat quite spicy food as well and this is something that I want to address...I want to have a prolonged period of returning to plainer foods in the hope that I can retrain my tastebuds that have been battered by curries and heavily salted and seasoned processed foods.

Just a quick word on exercise...CRAP! No, seriously one of the cornerstays of my plan is to start walking to the train station and getting the train the rest of the way to work. I live about 5 miles from work and drive in most days. If I walk to the station in the morning and evenings that is a 3 mile walk daily...I'm also planning on lunchtime walks in the local park and longer walks in the evening and weekends. I have downloaded an app called Walkmeter for my iPhone and also registered with Dailymile to help with this. I honestly had every intention of walking today but bad rain is forecast here for later today so didn't want to risk a later soaking, will try and sneak in a lunchtime walk though in the park.

Right, there you go...my 1st entry. I will post back shortly with a few more details and stats and outline my targets and goals for those who are interested. Going up to the canteen to grab a cup of tea now, tis on the 3rd floor but I have decided the lift is out of bounds. Brave new world, hey!
 
Oops....forgot to say so just to add, please feel free to comment on my diary/journal. If you think what I'm doing is bonkers or plain wrong tell me, if you have hints and tips please tell me those as well.

The main reason I wanted to do this diary aslongside the change is for accountability and to get feedback and maybe even encouragement of people doing the same as me. I'm pretty thick skinned and won't take offense unless you decide to troll me for no good reason.

Cheers guys:cheers2:
 
One thing to start with- have you thought about the frozen raspberries (and other berries)? They're not organic so far as I know (but I'm not convinced of the benefits of that), but they're a fair sight cheaper than the fresh ones (and you can defrost them- as far as I know they're then the same). These are the ones I get (although I'm more partial to the blueberries in the same section): There's also a "summer fruits mix" which is bigger and so cheaper (at normal prices), but it's not as nice as the raspberries or strawberries.

Also, seasoning isn't the enemy. It's quite low calorie for the kick it provides- I use a lot of spices in my cooking. It's the salt, oil/ fat etc that's a problem. I think seasoning is a great way to keep your food interesting, rather than making dieting an ordeal, if that makes sense.

Given your wife's on WW, would this recipe website (with points and calories) be of any use to you? I haven't made anything from it myself, but it gets good reviews from my friends who have used it:
 
One thing to start with- have you thought about the frozen raspberries (and other berries)? They're not organic so far as I know (but I'm not convinced of the benefits of that), but they're a fair sight cheaper than the fresh ones (and you can defrost them- as far as I know they're then the same). These are the ones I get (although I'm more partial to the blueberries in the same section): There's also a "summer fruits mix" which is bigger and so cheaper (at normal prices), but it's not as nice as the raspberries or strawberries.

Also, seasoning isn't the enemy. It's quite low calorie for the kick it provides- I use a lot of spices in my cooking. It's the salt, oil/ fat etc that's a problem. I think seasoning is a great way to keep your food interesting, rather than making dieting an ordeal, if that makes sense.

Given your wife's on WW, would this recipe website (with points and calories) be of any use to you? I haven't made anything from it myself, but it gets good reviews from my friends who have used it:


Fantastic shout on the frozen berries....I never even considered that, cheaper and far easier to just dip into as and when needed as well. Thanks.

Yep, I'm not adverse to seasoning as such but I do want to avoid the heavy seasoning and MSG type stuff that is chucked into so much food now. Funny thing, I was talking to somebody the other day and was moaning about fruit and veg noit tasting like it did back in the day and whilst it's true modern farming and selection methods are some way to blame for this, there is also the fact that our taste buds have become so dulled by over flavoured synthetic stuff that we just cannot taste natural flavours that well any more.

As an aside to this I remember about 3 years ago I gave up crisps (my main vice) for about 6 months...I recall I lapsed at a wedding buffet and that first crisp was like eating a lump of fat and the mouth feel was awful...of course 20 minutes and 3 bags later and they tasted amazing once again...back in the trap! lol.

Thanks for taking the time to reply is much appreciated...will be posting more info soon.
 
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