fatmanslimming.com

Last week I reached a weight loss milestone, I have know lost 20 kilos or 44 pounds. Although the progress has been much slower over our particularly cold winter this year, there is progress none the less and I was pretty damn happy to get to the 20 kilo mark at last. If I get time I will do another BIA on myself this week so I can compare to last time and of course post the results.

One of the downsides of losing this much weight and size is the continual need for new clothes, although I understand many of you may see this as an upside, it really gives me the ….. well you get the picture.  But an incident the other day may have changed my mind on this stubbornness not to buy new clothes every five kilos or so.

I decided to take our son out for some breakfast and to do some shopping while leaving my wife at home for a sleep in a couple of Sundays ago, anyway without thinking I threw on a top and my favourite jeans and braved the madness that is the shopping centre. I did notice when I put my jeans on that they were a little loose, but I didn’t think much of it, that was a mistake. As we walked around the centre picking up odd bits and pieces it wasn’t long until I was loaded down with bags and it was time to head back to the car. At this stage of course our son had started to get tired and I thought I could carry him and the bags all at the same time, it was then as I stood on the travelator with no free hands that I first noticed that my jeans were heading south, it was a very slow decline but it was noticeable, I managed to hike them up a bit with the grocery arm and headed into the car park. I strolled toward our car, with someone stalking me in their car for my spot, my pants started heading south again, panic started to set in as I tried to hold on to them with my grocery arm while trying not to disturb a now dozing 3 1/3 year old, by the time I got to the car one side of my jeans was half down making me look like M.C. fat white bastard and the other half was been held up by a badly fatiguing arm. I had no choice I had to wake the child to save by dignity and to get out of there, he thankfully fell asleep again in the car, which unfortunately gave me the same holding child and grocery’s scenario while opening the front door. This led me to entering the house with my pants around my ankles while praying that the neighbour’s who entered their driveway at the same time as me didn’t think it was too odd to see me trying to open the door with my legs spread as far as possible in the vain attempt to keep my pants from falling down in public, it was unfortunately a fruitless attempt, but it could have been worse, the very old looking couple in the car following me in the car park could have really been in for a treat

I have to apologise for my lack of a post, I will put one up tomorrow (or actually later today), I was going to do it tonight but got carried away watching the Socceroo’s bet Thailand 4:0, although a good result it wasn’t in the bag until the end. It’s hard work being a Socceroo’s fan

So I will definitely do a proper post tomorrow, I will now crawl into bed…

The same tee-shirt, 17 weeks later and 12 kilos lighter!

Last week increasing the exercise helped and I lost 200 grams and by this morning another half a kilo, so it looks like I am back on track. I will post on Friday or Thursday night with this weeks weight in.

Till then…

First up my apologies for the delay in posting, I have spent the last four days fighting of a wave of spam posts that has kept me way too busy!!! Why I was the target is anyone’s guess, then again why any of us are the targets of spam is anyone’s guess!!! The only good thing about it is that I have to approve comments before they are posted so although it was a time consuming process to get rid of them, when there were hundreds of them, at least you weren’t stuck with having to read them first!

Hmm…now for my bad news - I had my first plateau last week, I wasn’t really surprised as I had been cruising for the last month and not really pushing myself, but still I was a little disappointed, actually I was more angry at myself to be honest!!! I also realise that this is a normal cycle of any lifestyle change, so hopefully the changes I started to make last week will kick in this week - I of course will let you know what happens!

On a funny note, singing guy was back last week, this time though in broad daylight. It was about 7.30 am on Sunday morning when my 3 1/2 year old son convinced me to go out side in the freezing cold to see the fog (yep it was cold!!!). We are standing there admiring the frosty weather when we hear what can only be described as a barn yard animal howling in pain. Then to our amusement and my son’s great delight singing guy strolls on past singing as loud as he possibly can. After he had passed my son declared “him silly” then he casually walked inside leaving me chuckling behind him. The most annoying part is that I still have no idea what he is singing

Thanks everyone for your fantastic comments, It is always a buzz to get such positive feedback - so thank you.

One of our new feedback contributors - Marc has his own blog on his weight loss journey, so if you get a chance check it out at http://mgtransform.blogspot.com/. Marc is using a specific type of weight loss system, unlike the more ad hoc one I made up myself Reading Marc’s blog reiterated to me that one of the most important things about changing your life is finding what works for you and sticking to it, whether it is a specific system, a club or organisation or your own formula. Finding what works is as important as sticking to it.

My last 11 days (thanks for the by line sideliner ) have been quite disappointing, I have only lost 1/2 kilo in the last two weeks, I know why this is, but it doesn’t make it any less disappointing. I haven’t been able to keep a steady exercise regime over the last three weeks and it ahas finally caught up with me, so my mission if I choose to accept it (which of course I do)….is to fix this problem.

It shouldn’t be too hard to rectify as it has mainly been due to terrible weather and poor organisational skills on my part, and there are work a rounds for both of these problems. So I will spend this weekend fixing up my scheduling woes, this should mean I hit the second half of this year with a bang and knock of another 18 - 20 kilos / 39 -44 pounds before Christmas, after all I have promised to parade down at the beach in my budgie smugglers in the new year……

Just a quick note…

I had the fantastic pleasure of having to get five more holes put in my belt. My lovely wife reckons I should just buy a new one, but the idea of having a belt I can wrap halfway around myself at the end really appeals to me.

I left my weigh in for the week till today, as it is five months to the day that I decided undertake this monumental task with very little preparation and a fairly simple plan. I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself and my simple plan, and have been constantly surprised and delighted at the support I am getting from you guys out there, the unseen masses - so thank you again for all of your support.

I thought I might make this a simple recap post of were I started and were I am at the moment as the begining of my sixth month is here.
On the 11th of Janurary, ten days after I had started my plan I did the following measurements.

• weight = >150 kg / 330 pounds / 23.6 stone
• chest = 142 cm / 55.9 inches
• waist = 148 cm / 58.2 inches
• hips = 148 cm / 58.2 inches

I knew the weight was incorrect as my scales Only accurately measure at about 155 kg / 341.7 pounds, and I was unfortunately over that, I have since calculated that I was probably greater than 160 kg / 352.7 pounds, but I have left my starting weight at 160 kg for ease of calculations. I have also left my measurements as they stood from the first time I took them, even though they were probably greater in the beginning. It wasn’t until February 24th that I had a weight and it was…154.4 kg / 340.39 pounds, that was one very exciting day

So my progress so far is….

• weight = >160 kg / 352.7 pounds / 25.19 stone - now down to - 141.7 kg / 312.4 pounds / 22.3 stone
• chest = 142 cm / 55.9 inches - now down to - 124 cm / 48.8 inches
• waist = 148 cm / 58.2 inches - now down to - 131 cm / 51.6 inches
• hips = 148 cm / 58.2 inches - now down to - 130 cm / 51.2 inches

I have know lost 18.3 kg / 40.3 pounds off my weight, 18 cm / 7.08 inches of my chest and 17 cm / 6.7 inches of my waist and 18 cm / 7.08 inches of my hips.

I did a BIA (Bio-impedance analysis) on myself yesterday morning. According to my little machine my ideal weight for my frame and height is 86 kilos (190 pounds), currently I am 142.5 kilos (313 pounds). This is were it gets interesting, the excess 56 kilos (123.5 pounds) is made up of 34 kilos (74.8 pounds) of fat, 18 kilos (39.6 pounds) of muscle and 4 kilos (8.8 pounds) of water. This means my target weight is between 104 to 108 kilos (228.8 - 237.6 pounds) depending on fluid, this would give me a 18-20% body fat, which is considered the healthy range for a male of the species.

This new target weight is dependant on me not losing the extra muscle that I carry around on my frame, there is a chance a bit of it will go as I get closer to my goal as some of it will have built over time just to allow my frame to hold an excess 51 kilos of fat around for the last 5-7 years. Some of it will be genetic, and some will be from the physical aspects of my job. Regardless of those caveats it is really good to have another target to aim for and not just my waistline target of 100 cm / 39 inches. That reminds me my waist is know down to 132 cm / 51.96 inches and I lost another 0.5 kilos / 1.1 pounds.

While I had the calculator out yesterday I worked out that last week I achieved 1/3 of my weight loss goal without even realising it!!! At first I was a bit depressed that I was only 1/3 of the way there, but after a good nights sleep I have given myself a good pat on the back, as it is quite an achievement. Which means at this rate of weight lose I will be at my target goal in Dec 07 or Jan 08! So watch out summer……….its budgie smugglers on the beach for me this year………

I hate to make excuses (again) for not posting last week, but it was an incredibly busy week were I didn’t get home till 9pm or after!!! Hopefully I can get a few in this week (posts that is) as I have a few things I want to post about…so fingers crossed!

Over the last couple of weeks I have reached a tipping point of sorts, people are finally starting to notice that I am losing weight. It is a very rewarding, sometimes embarrassing and occasionally very funny thing when people start to notice my weight loss. One of my favorite funny moments occurred a couple of weeks ago, a client who hadn’t been in since late last year came in to see me. She sat down in my room and as she got a good look at me for the first time since arriving suddenly exclaimed “OHHH MY GOD…..you look TERRIFIC” there was a long pause as she looked me up and down examining me….she then exclaimed….”OHHH MY GOD you’ve done your hair!?!”….I then paused as my brain tried to decide whether I should go with this ruse, whether I had actually done my hair, and if I had then what the hell did it look like before!!! but before I could help my self I started laughing uproariously, it took me a minute before I could tell her that in fact I had lost a couple of kilos (I decided understating was the way to go). She was a little embarrassed but also very complimentary and she of course made my day, there is nothing like a good laugh especially at ones self

People are also commenting that I am looking healthier, and although I didn’t realise I wasn’t looking so great before, I would be lying if I said I was feeling great before I decided to embark on this journey. The main reason for doing this in the first place was for better health so these comments are really reinforcing for me the importance of what I am doing.

I have made the brave and fool hardy decision to try and do my exercise in the mornings again, I am doing it for the rather embarrassing (must be the word of the week!) reason that I am starting to get a bit creeped out walking around my block at night. I think it is mainly due to the cold, the lack of street lights and watching way to many programs on the crime investigation network about serial killers!!! Although my habit of starting out at 10pm probably doesn’t help the situation. So it’s mornings again

I lost another 800 grams / 1.76 pounds last week so I am now down 17 kilos or 37.4 pounds or for my mother in law 2 stone 6.5 ounces. Later in the week I am going to do something that I should have done as soon as I was able to get an accurate reading off my scales, I am going to give my self a BIA. BIA or bioimpedence analysis is a technique were a small electrical current is sent through your body and an accurate measurement of fat and muscle is given. It can also determine hydration levels. I am a little apprehensive about this as it will tell me with a 95 - 97% accuracy how much fat is still on my body and how much I still have to lose!

I will post the results of the BIA later this week…..I promise…