Good luck Shaun - well done on all fronts! Looking forward to the report on how the free bar went!

10lb is impressive. Well done. Hope the play goes down well and the alcohol less. A little of what you fancy .... is fine!

Fiona, that was precisely why I posted!

So....
The play went great thanks. The audience laughed in most of the right places... and a few unexpected ones! Still, never turn down a laugh.

Prior to the show I had an orange juice - didn't touch the Champaigne. Afterwards I had my two promised beers, one glass of water and a diet coke. Was quite pleased with myself. A good night on all fronts!

Thanks for your support

Excellent on all fronts Shaun. Very well done. Your halo shineth!! I'm a great fan of the philosophy of "if I write it down, I'll do it"...

SO glad it went well Shaun in all ways. Onwards and downwards...

Great news Shaun - really well done. You DO seem to have changed your attitude to food and drink big time!

Glad to be of service Sounds like you had a successful evening all round - bit of added motivation there!

Well done Shaun, a round of applause perhaps.




I think it's better to give yourself a little treat or you would be champing at the bit all night and then give in. So very well done.
You are so winning!!!!

Carol

If It don't FAT next week, I will THIN.

I am giving up wine midweek aaaaargh until christmas.
(excepting next Friday when I shall be at the Good Food Show in London)

Wish me Luck

Carol

THE FAT BLOKE DIARIES

Episode Five - Little Victories

Finally! After weeks of furious pedalling and scoring null points on the weight-loss-o-meter I’m starting to see some results. Small ones, it’s true, but at this point I’ll take any encouragement I can. Friends have been assuring me that, as I have such a lot of weight to lose, it’ll pour off me to begin with. I should be prepared for the slow-down after the inevitable initial dramatic loss, they say. So I’d like to take the opportunity here and now to say to them all…, you’re total liars, each and every one of you. In the first two months I hadn’t lost a single ounce (for you youngsters out there, that’s a prehistoric unit of measurement that was used to weigh very small dinosaurs). I was going through all that pain for no visible gain. And most of I was getting really sick of hearing well-meaning people tell me not to worry because “muscle weighs more that fat�.

Then something miraculous happened; I lost two whole pounds. I have no idea where they went. Perhaps, like my homework all those years ago, the dog ate them. Or maybe I left them on the bus. Maybe they fell down the back of the sofa. Or was it that my scales were faulty? But no; a few days later another two somehow managed to seep through my skin and clothes, hopefully never to be seen again. I appreciate that in real terms this small drop in mass is nothing, about the equivalent cutting my hair when it gets to Brian May fright-wig proportions, but to me it’s a significant turn of events. Not great, but I’ll take it after going nowhere previously.

Well, I say I’ve been going nowhere, and that might be true if we stick strictly to the facts, as my huge static no-wheeler is still sitting hugely and statically in my dining room, but the readout screen says that the kilometres have been flying by. In the two months that it’s been a part of my life, my cycle and I have travelled a virtual 500km from my home in the North of England. That’s as far as Eindhoven, if we were measuring in straight lines, and if we ignored that rather large inconvenient stretch of cold, rough water in the middle. Actually I was pretty convinced that I’d cycled further than that. My legs certainly feel as though I’ve been to Mongolia and back at least. Perhaps my partner’s turning the clock back while I’m asleep as punishment for my singing (see FBD 4 for the whole sordid story).

The bike has ‘downhill’, ‘flat’ and ‘uphill’ modes, and I’ve been slowly edging it up a steeper hypothetical incline. As an experiment I knocked it back down to its flattest level the other day, just to compare how I feel now with how I did when I first began. To my delight, I sailed along at this lower setting with relative ease, so things must be improving. My legs are certainly leaner and more solid. They sometimes â€" though not very often, I’ll admit - feel as though they can keep going forever. I just wish I could say the same for my breathing though. I’m still getting winded far too easily, wheezing like a set of bagpipes with a slow leak.

But my lung capacity has certainly increased. I can tell that it has because I can now gulp down huge amounts of air when I get to the gasping-but-pushing-myself-anyway section of my training, the point where the trickles of sweat become rivers. I’ll not tell you where they flow to, but let’s just say that it isn’t the Atlantic. However, I still reach that unwanted exhausted stage far too quickly. I suspect it’s due to the huge weight that I’m still carrying around my middle. It’s steadfastly hanging around, like the bad smell in my dining room after a particular long session on the bike.

I’m not too sure if last week’s short break was beneficial or not. We had a long weekend at the eco-warrior’s Butlins, Center Parcs. It was a beautiful location, and my partner and our friends made for excellent company, but being away from the familiar routine of my exercise regimen has been surprisingly difficult. A few gentle walks were all that we managed. Which is why I’m doubly pleased that I lost a few more pounds while I was away. Perhaps it was the running away from the rabid squirrels that were intent on stealing my peanuts that did it?

I ended episode one of the Diaries with the words “As of today, I am an exerciser�. Now I can add to that. I stepped on the scales today and they miraculously said that my weight was down a whole ten pounds from my starting point. I never thought this would happen, but I can proudly claim that, as of today I’m not only an exerciser, I am a loser!


© 2008 Shaun Finnie

Hurrah!

Thanks for another enjoyable episode Shaun.

Hey Shaun,
I only just discovered your FBDs and immensely enjoyed reading the lot! What a great achievement! Especially your perseverance at the start, when the weight didn't shift. Congratulations on your first 10 pounds. Keep it going!

Shaun - another moving episode in the life of the loser! A big well done to you

Well done to a great loser Shaun - way to go!
10 lbs is a really great result and worth all that toil you are putting yourself through.

Well done you loser!!!!

Keep it Up. Or should that be Down?

Carol

Wow - result Shaun!

Every now and again I witter on about my body-morphing theory. You seem to have just done it in reverse! I think you can lose weight but still be the same size, then suddenly your body catches up and you change shape. Maybe your weight has just caught up with your exercise regime

Ooh, I like that theory Fiona. Sounds like it could be a great morning TV show...

"Body Morphers" with Lorraine Kelly and Handy Andy

... good grief - is he still around? You can tell I don't do morning TV!

Me neither - he was the first name I thought of that could sand some of my "love handles" away.

I just re-read that. Oh dear...

Shaun what were you thinking...!

if only it were that easy - we wouldn't all be here!

Who;s he then?

Shaun, I'm new to all this, and I wanted to say your pieces are a great inspiration to me - so good to see that weight loss isn't necessarily instantaneous, and if I stick with it I may eventually get somewhere.

I am very overweight, have worryingly high blood pressure and stress levels, and had just joined up on here and given up alcohol for November when my daughter was taken ill and dietary plans went out of the window for a bit. I've had to settle for just trying to heat more healthily (up with the protein and 5+ a day and down with the fats and carbs) and staying sane. I've managed to stay off the booze, too, which is good. I daren't start any vigorous exercise until I've seen the doctor - that's due to happen Monday.

I'm going to need lots of support, I think, so if anyone doesn't mind watching out for me for a bit I'd be hugely grateful.

Saira

Saira I can empathise with that. I have a seriously ill mother - she's been in hospital for 4 weeks now - so I lurch from work to hospital to grabbing something quick and easy to eat late at night, and never having time to do sensible food shopping!

It's probably better to tackle one thing at a time, so if you can stay off the booze that's a start - you probably need to in case you have to deal with any emergencies.

Let us know how you get on.

Hi Saira, welcome aboard. To echo what Fiona said, take one step at a time... but take that step! And just by being here with us, you've taken the first one. You'll find plenty of encouragement on here. Well done on staying off the alcohol, and the healthy eating part - that's certainly going in the right direction!

Hope all goes well with your daughter, and your doctor.

Saira
I know exactly how you feel as I have had both sons ill for for a year and one for 6 months and felt so unstable and out of control. Well done for not drinking and focussing on your diet plan sounds good to me. I think that is probably all you can do at the moment with what you are dealing with. Take advice from the doctor and start from next week. All the best.
And positive thoughts to you and your daughter. Take each day as it comes and if you do well praise yourself a little.

THE FAT BLOKE DIARIES

Episode Six - Quicksand

[WARNING! Today’s FBD wanders from the normal jocular path and strays towards the dark side. Those of you that are of a nervous disposition, look away now…]

They say that exercise is one of the best ways to help beat depression.

‘They’ say a lot of things, but they aren’t always right.

I’ve always been a big bloke, a portly person, a chunky chap… apart from back in the day, when I was a chunky child. Like many fat folks, I’ve also suffered with depression for much of my adult life, I’m not going to get into the argument about whether depression leads to fatness, or fatness leads to depression, but if ‘their’ theory is correct then …quot; theoretically …quot; I should be killing two birds with one pedal if I get on my bike, smiling as the pounds fall off.

Only it’s not been like that. One of my birds is in the rudest of health, dodging every metaphorical rock I toss at it, and the other still has one good wing. After more than a thousand kilometres the weight has taken an age to begin to drop, only really beginning to leave in the last couple of weeks. And the endorphins that I’ve heard so much about …quot; my own internal happy pills, apparently …quot; have failed to kick in. Perhaps I ate them without noticing.

That font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, says that these are the same endorphins that are produced at a certain, erm… peak moment of adult fun and excitement. I’m sorry to disappoint the Wikipedians, but there’s no way that the time spent pedalling away like a sweat-soaked walrus (to mix my metaphor horribly) can ever compare with those rare occasions when I become “the semi-legendary bouncy castle of love�.

Sorry about that …quot; I know it’s not a picture that any of us really wanted to paint, but it does get my point across. I simply do not feel the much-hyped great rush while exercising. I’ve cycled twenty, thirty, even as many as forty kilometres in an evening and on each occasion I’ve dismounted as miserable as when I began, just a whole lot sweatier.
Once again, inherited wisdom lies.

The mythical ‘they’ also say that if we didn’t lose any weight yesterday, it’s not a problem; we can lose weight today, as each dawn brings a new beginning. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life�, we’re told. So how come I sometimes think that the rest of my life started yesterday, and I missed it?

We’re always instructed to imagine the person that we aim to be when we exercise, to visualise our target slim lined body shape. I’m all for this. Visualisation is an incredibly powerful mental tool, but it works both ways. The vision that I can’t shake is of me going hell for leather on the bike with my imaginary black dog of despair trotting alongside. It just reinforces the fact that I’m going nowhere (figuratively and literally), so perhaps I should get my faithful companion a little black imaginary treadmill?

Could these dark thoughts have some science and twisted logic behind them? As much as I might wish it and strive for it, there’s no way on Earth that I can over a period of time grow from my now-customary five foot ten to a lofty six foot three. Or make my lovely blue eyes become a chestnut brown (for the old folks among you, I’ve got bad news; Crystal Gayle lied). Neither can I fly to the moon on gossamer wings (Frank Sinatra? Another big fat fibber). So why would I imagine that the 40 inch waist that I’ve been cultivating for the last four decades could ever happily fit within 32 inch trousers? Wouldn’t any serious weight change that I might make be temporary at best? It seems to me that this weight loss malarkey is bound to end in tears. Shouldn’t I just accept the fact that I’m a fat bloke, and a fat bloke I shall stay?

Either the theory of exercise beating depression is flawed or my melancholia is worse than I thought. And yes, those of you with the little grey cells working overtime, there is a reason for the new-look, gloomed-down Fat Bloke Diary. I put two pounds back on this week.


© 2008 Shaun Finnie

No No No No No No No No No!

Well written Shaun, and very on the button for a lot of us - our self esteem and happiness/depression is very much tied up to what the scales tell us on any given day - which is really not the way to be living!

You have made great inroads to your levels of fitness, and you should concentrate on your health rather than your weight (easier said than done, I know).

And the endorphins will kick in at some point - but they don't kick in when your body is under too much stress (it just thinks you might keel over instead, so they do't work). As you get fitter and it becomes easier to maintain your cycling, you should find you start to feel better (although I'm not sure they are up to the levels of the "other" activity, so don't get your hopes up to much!)

Chin up!

Shaun another honest brilliantly written piece of writing.

No you must be positive. You will get ups and downs ands but just carry on. As Theresa said I didn't get the endorphins when I started running just a load of pain and anxiety but after a few weeks and when I relaxed my mind and was focussed but not anxious it did start to happen. I have had depression in my life and find the one thing that helps is exercise. So don't let it get to you.

I think the November blues must have got to you at the weekend.

Phew! I wouldn't want an excuse to give that up !!!