Splodge's Diary

Thanks. I'd guessed they wouldn't be that smart, but I can't resist a good gadget. As you say the trend is a better signal. I'd guess it will probably track the weight for all the other indicators though.

I'm supposed to be at the gym now, but I can't get in because of the weather. "Why?", I hear you ask. "Six feet of snow? Flooding? Hurricane?". No. It's a bit cold and the local council don't have enough money, due to budget restrictions in these recessionary times, to grit the roads properly, so the roads and sidewalks are like skating rinks.


Day 66 - 6 Jan
--------------

Exercise
---------
0.

So far this week ...
1 hour sweaty, 3 to go by Sunday night
1 hour non sweaty, 2 to go by Sunday night

Feed
-----

Breakfast: Bran Flakes
Morning Snack: None
Lunch : Oysters, Roast John Dory w\side salad (tasty, healthy, restaurant meal!)
Afternoon Snack: None
Dinner: Fish soup w/ham sandwich
Evening Snack: Something small - not there yet.
Rules Broken : None, but down on exercise by 1 hour
Alcohol: None
 
I will get at least 7 hours exercise a week, health permitting, at least 4 hours of which will cause sweat. - No, 4 hours short
I will abstain from all alcoholic beverages for the next six months. - Yes
I will not eat salted nuts\crisps\snack food for the next six months. - No, Peanuts/popcorn at the weekend
I will not eat sweets for the next 6 months. -No, comfort chocie with coffee.
I will not add sugar for the next six months. -Yes
I will not add butter for the next six months. - Yes
I will not eat anything deep fried for the next six months. - Yes
I will eat a good breakfast every day. Never skip. Never eat crap. -Yes
I will eat 2 bowls of soup when at work for lunch. Otherwise will make my own, buy good quality refrigerated or, at a pinch, get a healthy veggie meal. -Yes.
I will use a smaller dinner plate when at home. -No.

Weather crap and couldn't get to the gym, plus felt sick from Friday so couldn't get out at all. Still feel crap. Managed to lose a couple of pounds, probably aided and abetted by puking my guts out on Friday and not eating a whole heap thereafter. Bad week all round

Day 71 - 11 Jan
-----------------
Weigh in : 267lbs
Loss on Week: 2lbs
Total Loss 17lbs
 
Last edited:
Day 74 - Jan 13
-----------------

Over my illness and the roads are back to normal, so I've run out of excuses.

I need to get back to the gym with a vengeance over the next few weeks. I'm sort of feeling like this is my last chance to get it right. I've all the incentives in the world to do this, am lucky to be able to join a good gym and have plenty of time to use it. I'll never get in a better position than I am now and yet I'm still screwing up. Not quite blowing up, but just too many blips.

I weighed in at 264 this morning so still making progress, albeit due to the illness than any real effort on my part. I have a medical checkup on Friday next week, so I'd like to have lost 10KG since my last one 12 weeks ago. By my reckoning I need to lose my weight in shoes and clothes to do that whatever that is, 3 or 4lbs? It should be doable.

If I can lose 10KG in three months, which included many a blip and an all out 2 week binge, surely I can manage that and more every 3 months for the next three. That would be over 80lbs in a year. Not quite my perfect weight but a damn sight nearer than maybe I realistically expect.
 
Back at the gym last night.

Started with a 15 min stint on the exercise bike. Moved on to a 15 min stint on the row machine. After 13 minutes I was getting the beginnings of cramp pains on my left shin. Thought it a bit odd but had only 2 mins left so I kept going. 20 secs later I was getting cramp tremors on both calf muscles. Still thought I could last it out to the end. With about 20 secs to go I felt I was going to get a full blown screaming cramp, so tried to get my feet out of the stirrup thing and that did it, all three places went into spasm at once. I stood up which gave my a temporary release but could feel it building back again. If I lifted my foot over the bar, I was gauranteed full blown cramp straight away. If I didn't, it was going to eventually come and I might not be able to get my foot over the bar to get away, and the fat bloke at the row machine was going to make an idiot of himself crying for help. I brought the leg over and indeed got my reward of all 3 places going into spasm again. I had to hobble around to a wall trying to hide my agony. It took a good half minute to shake it off initially, and a few minutes before it stopped coming back. I grabbed my towel and strode out like John Wayne after a dose of scour.

While I do tend to suffer from cramp, this is the first bout I've had during any of my 40 or so gym sessions since I started (I don't tend to get them till a couple of hours later). I'd say it was primarily that I started back too soon after being sick. I drank loads of water yesterday, including before and during training, but, I had been mysteriously losing weight without effort while sick so I reckon I was probably a bit dehydrated, combined with the fact that I'd been going to the gym very little over the last 3 weeks.

Surprisingly I seem fine today. I'd expected to be sore after being in cramp so long. I'll make sure I drink loads today and give it another go tonight, just low resistance training and maybe a bit of a swim, as much just to get back into the habit of turning up as to do anything to increase fitness.
 
That sounds PAINFUL! I really don't ever get these cramps anymore since I started drinking so much damn water, but on the crosstrainer the balls of my feet go numb sometimes... Very odd. Was actually a little worried bout it till I read in a magazine it was pretty common :rolleyes: ahh well. What can I do bout it, lol!
Keep up the great work, glad ya made it back to the gym :D
 
I think a lot of my problems with weight loss stem from the fact that it is so easy to get back on track again, I don't take going off track seriously enough.

I've been a disaster since my last post. Not to worry, I'm starting again today.

I hit the porridge again this morning, two bowls of fresh soup for lunch and a 35 minute walk afterwards. Homemade pizza to come for tea, which is a bit on the bad side, followed by a nice long light session in the gym/pool.

I've booked an 8 day trip to New York at the start of April. I'm determined I'm going to be be 20lbs lighter and fit enough to enjoy the 4 or 5 hours per day walking around that will involve. It will be my first time in the US and I'm really looking forward to it. I don't want to spend my time looking for suitable hostelries to stop and have a rest, and waking up with aches and pains the next day.

So the New Target is to lose 20lbs by March 29.

Weigh in this morning : 266
Target for next Monday :261
 
Last edited:
That sounds like a great vacation to look forward to. You can totally get 20 lbs in that time, just stay diligent!
 
Thanks for the encouragement. It's only 9 weeks so surely I can keep a concerted effort up for that long. I took things a lot easier at the gym last night than I was doing pre Christmas. I trudged out for 30 mins at level 10 on the cross trainer and 6km at level 10 on the exercise bike, rather than shorter spurts at higher levels. it was far more comfortable, probably not as beneficial from a fitness point of view, but long run anything that gets me turning up beats dreading it so much that I use any excuse not to turn up. As many mentioned in other diaries, and it's the same with me, the thought of doing it is much worse than the reality of doing it. By the time you've got home you've got a rush and sense of achievement that you did good rather than just sitting like a turnip watching crap on tele.

I did the same old weight training. I was supposed to get reassessed and get a more balanced regime, as per Trusylver's advice, but I feel like a phoney, wasting people's time, if I can't get back into a routine. There's no point in setting up a session based on appearances 5 days a week if I only turn up twice, or less.

To be honest, the gym is so busy at the moment. I'd probably be better off grabbing whatever machine is free at any given time rather than waiting for one of my seven exercises (easy enough until you get to the last couple). It would add that bit of variety, albeit not very scientific.
 
Last edited:
I lost no weight this week because I ate and drink like a pig. Oink. I did however manage 5 gym sessions. To be honest, I'm happier to get to the gym the requisite number of times and fail on food rather than the other way round. If I can get my fitness levels up, it makes the possibility of ever getting to, and staying at, a normal weight much higher, whereas just by reducing the food intake I'm more likely to yoyo.

That said, I need to eat and drink a lot less.


Weigh In at start : 266
Weigh In After week 1: 266
Target for week 2: 261
Target for week 3: 258
Target for week 4: 255
Target for week 5: 252
Target for week 6: 250
Target for week 7: 248
Target for week 8: 246
 
Last edited:
I lost no weight this week because I ate and drink like a pig. Oink. I did however manage 5 gym sessions. To be honest, I'm happier to get to the gym the requisite number of times and fail on food rather than the other way round. If I can get my fitness levels up, it makes the possibility of ever getting to, and staying at, a normal weight much higher, whereas just by reducing the food intake I'm more likely to yoyo.

ME TOO! Somedays are not good days, and I'll pig out like no other, but if I skip the gym AND eat like crap, then I feel like I'm just giving up... so yeah, at least when I go to the gym, I know that I'm trying* to right a wrong!

Good job on the five sessions, and let THIS week be the week you put the kibosh on the junk ;)
 
The Friday morning sneaky weigh-in showed I'd already made my target of 261lbs for the week. Despite playing a round of golf on Saturday and a tough gym session on Sunday I ended up at 263 on my official Monday weigh-in due to pigging out for prettty much the whole weekend.

Weigh In at start : 266
Weigh In After week 1: 266
Target for week 2: 261 - actual 263
Target for week 3: 258
Target for week 4: 255
Target for week 5: 252
Target for week 6: 250
Target for week 7: 248
Target for week 8: 246

A 5lb week is required to get me back on track. I need to get into the 250s and start believing I can really stick at this. I've been waivering since Christmas and from a health point of view I really can't afford to do that.
 
The weekend's are so infamous for damaging our diets, haha.

Still a 3 pound loss is awesome!

Good luck for your next target of 5 pound :)
 
Weigh In at start : 266
Weigh In After week 1: 266
Target for week 2: 261 - actual 263
Target for week 3: 258 - actual 263
Target for week 4: 255 - actual 266
Target for week 5: 252
Target for week 6: 250
Target for week 7: 248
Target for week 8: 246

I need to lose a stone this week to get back on track. Failure.

I had 1 gym session last week and that was weak enough. I went again last night and was on the verge of stopping early but slowed down and kept going more out of shame than anything else - then had half a pizza when I got home. I really want to get into the 250s soon - I haven't lost anything in the last couple of months.

I've less than 5 weeks to my New York holiday. Much of the preparation for the trip involves sussing out the decent restaurants that need to be prebooked. Not a good sign that I'll be slim coming home.

I'm going to make one final push to lose at least a stone before I go. I know I'm starting to lose the war, beyond starting in truth, but this one little battle I want to win and maybe it can turn things around.
 
I didn't turn thing's round, as could have been guessed. I won't bother commenting on what went wrong. Suffice to say laziness, greed, lack of willpower were all contributors in equal measure.

Have 8 weeks of gym membership left so I might as well use them.

Target for 8 weeks...

>30 Gym session - 4 gym sessions per week
>1200 minutes walking - ~30+ minute walk 5 days per week
>72 holes of golf - 9 holes golf per week on average
<2 litres wine - 1 x 250 ml glass per week
<120,000 cals - ~2000 per day
< 8 high calorie snack food - 1 per week

Weigh in Monday 30th August: 130.2kg.

Target for Monday 25th October : 119 kg.


I've switched from lbs to kilos so as to distract from comparisons with how I was doing previously.


If I can succeed in this I'll take out the gym membership for another year. Having failed so miserably before, it seems a shocking waste to pretend I'm going to get value out of annual membership, if I can't even put 8 good weeks in. I did a couple of sessions last week to get me started out again - nothing too strenuous as I've done nothing in months. But I think I'm up and running a bit quicker this time round.

Story so far ...

Monday
1 Gym session, 40 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1600 cals, 0 snacks

Tuesday
0 Gym session, 40 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1900 cals, 0 snacks
 
Last edited:
Wednesday
1 Gym session, 40 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1800 cals, 0 snacks

My beloved joined weight watchers, and while she doesn't need to lose nearly as much weight as myself, it should help that we are both trying to do the same thing. If the other half is guzzling down a bottle of wine with a big bag of nuts or crisps, I find it very hard to keep my nose out of the trough.

Gym sessions are going well so far. I'm just doing short stints of cardio on the exercise bike, rowing machine and cross-trainer, with a decent rest in between. About half an hour between the three. I'm pushing myself quite hard on each section and exhausted at the finish of each one, but unlike before when I was doing longer stints and intervals, the effects seem to wear off by the time I get home. With the resistance training I'm doing 3 intervals of 10 repeats of 7 exercises, one interval more than I used to do, but with the weights set a little more comfortable, though still a bit of a strain. The whole session still takes about the same time as before, approx 1 hour, and I still get my bob in the pool to relax afterwards (although last night the pool was busy with robots whizzing up and down the pool, and the supervisor had me swimming a few lengths to keep out of their way - mind you at the pace i went you would barely call it exercise).

The main problem is I got home from work at 5 pm, finished my dinner at 6pm, cleared up after, got my gear ready and left for the gym at 6.45pm, got home again at 9pm, sorted out dirty gear and a few other bits and bobs, made cup of tea etc sat down at 9.30pm, went to bed knackered at 10pm. Gym sessions during the week don't leave much time for anything else. That said, the "anything else" would usually consist of slobbing out on the sofa watching crap on television and snacking through boredom.

Anyhow day 3 of 56 over without any blips. The weekend looms, which is , historically, where I have been useless. I do have a round of golf organised so that's a few safe hours of exercise.
 
Thursday
0 Gym session, 40 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1900 cals, 0 snacks

Have decided to switch from the two bowls of soup at work every lunch to a fish salad. Smoked Mackerel is always on the menu and there is always one hot fish on. When the hot fish is a fattening meal I'll switch to the Mackerel. When the have plain salmon, seatrout or cod etc I'll have that. Means a smaller meal at night but I like fish.

Ground-breaking, riveting stuff.
 
Friday
0 Gym session, 40 mins walking, 0 Golf, 2 Wine, 3000 cals, 1 snacks

Same old story. Meant to get some nice healthy sushi and off to the gym afterwards. Ended up getting a big whopping sit-in indian meal with all the trimmings, and worked my way through a packet of brazil nuts afterwards.

Anyhow, if I can keep today and tomorrow on track, I'll only be a tiny bit off the weekly target. Bad sign when it's the first week though.
 
Saturday
1 Gym session, 0 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1000 cals, 0 snacks

Probably not the right way to do it, but a a make-up-for-yesterday day successfully completed.
 
Sunday
1 Gym session, 0 mins walking, 0 Golf, 0 Wine, 1700 cals, 0 snacks

Week 1 results

Target 4 Gym sessions
Actual 4 Gym Sessions
Target 150 mins walking
Actual 200 mins walking
Target 9 holes golf
Actual 0 holes golf (rained off :-()
Target 250ml wine
Actual 500ml wine
Target 1 high calorie snack
Actual 1 high calorie snack
Target 14,000 cals
Actual 12,900

Start weight :130.2 kg
End of Week weight : 125.2 kg
 
Overall I'm happyish with that. I need to play 18 holes of golf and have no alcohol to get back on target. Not great falling behind on the first week, but i'm ahead on walking and calories, and have done good gym sessions, probably a bit better than I'd expected. I've kept the calories low, but have eaten well, stuffed myself with salads, salmon,mackerel, lean steak, very little butter or oil, loads of soup, homemade smoothies. I haven't felt hungry all week to be honest.

I'm not going to get too excited about a 5 kg weight loss. I always lose a load in the first week of a diet, mostly through upping my water intake and lowering salty food intake. Still, it's a half sack of potatoes less to carry about on my walk each day, regardless of whether the lost weight is in fat, fluid, or whatever, which is a relief. My back and hip really were getting quite sore on the first few outings, not perfect yet, but gradually releasing. Anyhow, I only need to lose a kilo a week now for the next 7 weeks to make my first target, which seems easy-peasy, well, guaranteed if I can stick to the regime. Somehow, knowing I'm only concentrating on 8 weeks makes it easier. Setting out to lose 50 or so kilos seems such a distant dream it's hard to focus on it. I don't know what I'll do at the end of the 8 weeks whether I succeed or not. I'll think about that when I get there.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top