The End

Just before the credits roll, here are the all important final shots. There are rather a lot, but it's my blog and this is the ultimate pat on the back, so here we go!!!

Let's start with the Day 0 v Day 90 pics.

Shot 1 - Full Frontal!

Shot 2 - Side On

 Shot 3 - Belly

Shot 4 - Back

Shot 5 - The ill fitting shirt!

And finally... here a few others from the final photo shoot!

The final weigh-in, a remarkable 11 st 11 lbs!!!

An instagrammed leg shot!

And last but not least, one very happy customer!

Having had the best part of a week to reflect on the 90 days my overwhelming emotion is that i need to say a few BIG thank you's.

To Debbie, for dealing with my weird eating habbits, taking all the photos and just generally putting up with me!

To Nicky, for being stuck in the same boat. At the start it was pretty difficult to work out if you were "doing it right" and having someone else to talk to about that and everything else you're missing out on helps a great deal.

To Kevin, cheers pal. The pictures above have far exceeded my expectations and the sacrifices made to have set up and maintained FIYL along with everything else you've got going on must have been great. Wingfest 2012 beckons in October, there better not be an egg white in sight!

I'm looking forward to the next steps, i now know i've got all the tools to maintain the healthy lifestyle i've learned about, the trick will be striking a balance that fits in. Once i've done my run at the end of the month i'm away on holiday for a week, after that i'm going to refocus and set myself some new goals. That photo of my target physique posted on day dot will require a considerable amount more effort but I think I might just give it a go!!!

If you're reading this and cosidering FIYL as an option, my only advice is to stop thinking about if it's right for you, stop making excuses about why you can't do it, bite the bullet and please, please do it. 90 days really isn't that long!

Lots of love,

Swee.



Day 90, but not quite the end!

The house move (and a cheeky round of golf!) left my day ridiculously busy on Sunday so I didn't fit in the mammoth day 89 workout (although I didn't mention that when I blogged yesterday as I was still kidding myself I'd get round to it!). This was a big mistake, especially when I saw that the day 90 set was just a hark back to a bygone era, so I completed it to glorious failure today and will run my diet (with zero salt) into tomorrow (day 91), complete my official day 90 workout after work (on day 91), then head home for a final photo shoot!

It's a bit arse about face but I just couldn't let this thing finish without a bang so really glad I completed the beast that was day 89! When I fell to the mat after that last plank I was hit with a most unexpected wave of emotion and had to take a moment to compose myself. After such a huge effort I thought I'd feel relieved that I didn't have to do it again, and I suppose I was to a point, but it was tinged with a bit of self-congratulatory euphoria and, just like when anything notable ends, a touch of sadness.

Anyway, will finish up for good after the photos are taken tomorrow and post my final entry at the weekend.

Nearly there!!!

Day 89

Busy few days!
The house move is nearly done though and loving the new place.
It's been a manic weekend and coupled with being away with work Thursday/Friday it's not been particularly easy from an FIYL point of view. I've exercised and eaten well, although not as well as I'd like to have in these last few killer days. Sometimes real life gets in the way though and recent emails from Kev have backed this up, so I'm not going to get too downhearted!
Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow, going to destroy the workout, get my photos taken and blog my heart out one last time!

Elevenses

New weight captured this morning for posterity!

20:49 for 5k last night.

Might have celebrated a famous night for my Chelsea a little too hard afterwards though. Woops.

On the 06:40 to London tomorrow morning, back Friday night.

Getting keys to the new flat tonight too. Moving day on Saturday.

Challenges abound on the home straight!

Egg Thumb

This debilitating ailment, manifesting itself as dry and sore thumb ends, has been bothering me for quite some time now and I've finally plucked up the courage to blog about it.

I first noticed the discomfort around week 5, just when the egg white portion of my FIYL consumption started to rise. At first I thought I had just gnawed my nail a bit close or scraped the thumb somehow. I then noticed a similar discomfort in the other thumb and so decided to monitor it over the course of a few days while generously applying my daily regime of Neutrogena hand & nail cream to the affected areas.
Worryingly, no improvement was noted.
What could this ailment be?
A chapped thumb?
I'd never heard of such a condition and I always wore gloves when it was cold anyway.
Then one morning, as I peeled the scalding shell from the 4th egg of 5 that was to be packed away in tupperware for the day ahead, it struck me - the root cause of my incapacitating condition was the eggs themselves! The act of peeling off scalding shells was actually burning my thumb ends and the resulting dry skin and soreness was just part of the healing process. A healing process that was abruptly halted each and every morning as I hurriedly reached into my pot and plucked out another searing ovum to get to work on.
Having determined probable cause i'm glad to report a near full recovery, enabled by adopting a revolutionary new tactic of taking my boiled eggs to work still in their shells. Unfortunately even peeling cold shells presents problems for soft thumbs as the sharp edges can take their toll, but the resulting injury is considerably more manageable without heat thrown into the equation.

I'm battling through this last week. Really surprised how hard it is to stay focussed and particularly stay on-diet in the home stretch. I've put a couple of feet wrong but I'm damned if my day 90 picture is going to end up less impressive than my day 78 so trying hard to keep on the straight and narrow. That's the biggest motivation I can come up with right now. It was easier when I was fat! Maintaining is the next challenge ahead though and it’s a very different one that I haven't quite figured out how to approach yet.

That's all folks.

Look after those thumbs.

Chest Dip Quickie

Had a bit of a chest dip revelation last night. I've been struggling with them since they were introduced and never managed the full allocation. I was always disappointed with the range of my action, it never felt like I was dipping low enough yet I still tired quickly.

Something clicked last night though and there was a big difference, I could feel that squeeze right across my chest and managed to get lower and complete more full reps than ever before.

One theory I have is that I wasn't really strong enough to execute them properly until now, but without those struggles and the perseverance I wouldn't have made it to that rewarding point I hit last night. Clap clap.

Still hate them though ;-)

Didier Drogba v Rick Stein

Another 2 lbs lost since last weeks photo, tipping the scales at 12st 1lb now, yet still the visceral remains - surely there can't be many more hidden fat deposits to burn off before that belly gets busted! With only 12 days effort to go I'd put my money on the belly winning this particular battle. I'm winning the war though!

The steady weight loss progression is really quite amazing and makes me wonder how long it would take, doing what I'm doing, to level off? Maybe I'll find out in the next 12 days.

I've started thinking about things I'm looking forward to eating again when I'm back to normal, and things I wont eat. There are obvious ones, takeaway pizza's for example are definitely out the window (Dominos, Pizza Hut etc.). There is a place in Leith called La Favorita which makes beautiful italian pizzas in a wood fired oven though. Can't wait!

Having not eaten pork for the duration I expect that'll stick to a point. Debs has had the occasional bacon roll of a weekend and I've never been too jealous. Poached eggs on potato scones was my favourite weekend breakfast prior to FIYL anyway, so looking forward to that again. I'll toast my scones rather than fry them though!

A real pork pie - I nearly had one of these at indulgence one but held off. That particular British delicacy's time will come though!
Looking forward to a rare steak.
Looking forward to a lamb tikka vindaloo with a peshwari naan, massively unhealthy but worth it once in a while. Chinese food is broadly awful in Edinburgh so that wont be coming back on the menu. Butter, cheese and oil are interesting ones. Butter I expect I'll live without, something I never thought I'd say. Cheese will be welcomed back with open arms although much more sparingly, quality not quantity, likewise oil.

That's all once in a blue moon bad stuff though and now I'm wondering if I should actually blog about it as surely I should've been programmed to eschew these foul foodstuffs for ever! Well, guess what, I used to like burgers and I still do, but I now know what I liked about burgers and that a burger made by my own fair hand will be a treat worth having while one made under the golden arches is not, in fact, a treat. The food facts i've learned and the general approach to food I've taken onboard are far more important to me than the greedy items above but I wont be so virtuous as to blog about brown rice and egg whites as that'd ruin the surprise for the future FIYLers who may one day read this!

Onward.

PS. 20 mins 58 secs for 5k last night. That, dear reader, is what's known as another Swee-B.

PPS. Last night, in the eternal battle for my adulation between Didier Drogba and Rick Stein, Didier struck another crushing blow.

Damn The Plank

I repeat, damn The Plank.

That's all.

The last 2 weeks, let's talk yoghurt.

Exercise wise, not the greatest weekend. Did a 9 miler on Saturday morning which left me pretty sore and I also ended up having a few drinks at the wedding on Saturday so didn't feel too splendid on Sunday. Went to the driving range in the a.m. so was semi active but not ideal. Will do the missed exercises tomorrow night.
Back with a bang tonight, good session after work.
Food still going well.
Not sure if i've mentioned Total 0% greek yoghurt yet. Why not?! It's a wonder ingredient!!! Great with fruit and a smidge of maple of syrup, great put in a sandwich as a mayo type substitute (add some mustard), phenomenal with a teaspoon of horseradish through it and mixed with chunks of smoked mackerel before being stuffed in a sweet potato. A new one was a little curried chicken dish i made at the weekend; onions, garlic, courgette cooked in a smidgen of olive oil, add a teaspoon of mild curry powder and some cayenne for heat, add chicken breast, some water to deglaze the pan when things are getting a bit sticky in there - then bring it off the heat, let it cool for a minute or two and stir in a couple of tablespoons of the wonder yoghurt. Robert's your father's brother, curry! The only non-compliant ingredient being a bit of oil (I checked the curry powder, no salt, just spices). Serve with brown rice and a vinegary side salad. YUSS!
Nota bene - do take it off the heat before adding the yoghurt, it splits at the slightest glance from a naked flame as there's no fat in it. Give it a good stir before adding too.

Anyway - here's a video of me. Skipping.

T-19

Shit.
Including today, there are only 19 workout's left in FIYL.
I know how crucial each one is so I think getting motivation up to the right levels isn't going to be a problem when there are so few left. I just need to keep myself at the level I've reached for the last couple of nights because when I wake up on Tuesday 1st May there will be no exercise card for me to follow or email waiting for me telling me what to eat. This brings the next steps sharply into focus and I'm looking forward to working out what elements we take forward into a more sustainable regime when real life begins again.

Lots going on toward the end of April as I'm moving house on the 28th. Annoyingly I've also got a work trip to London pencilled in on 26th and 27th, not ideal timing for my last few days of the diet side of things or getting packed up to move!

As inferred, great workout last night, started with 3k in 11:51, 20 secs shaved off my previous timed 3k. I honestly have no idea how that helps me run the half marathon in 6 weeks time but I DO like beating PB's!!! Rode the wave of exhaustion after that to fire through my sets. I think the card for last night tried to get us to do 3 sets of 27 pistol squats per leg. It's safe to say I'm nowhere near there but I've devised my own little leg superset incorporating as many pistols as poss (about 8 per leg) and then 25 normal squats and 20 lunges per leg. Seems to do the job, managed it 3 times over last night. I've been using the cable pulley apparatus at the gym for a lot of my band exercises recently. I find it gives me more flexibility to complete sets to failure when I can alter the resisatance so specifically. I'll talk to Kev about it at some point.

Day 71 Picture is up, I don't think there's much difference from 2 weeks prior.
Below is a snap from the 9th tee of the new course at St Andrews on Saturday.

DO YOUR 8MA's, JAMES!!!!!

Day 71

Weighed in this morning at 12 stone 3lbs. A new low, or high, depending on which way you look at it. My first thought was "No harm done after a non-compliant Easter weekend then"… but then I took off my rose tinted glasses and thought maybe I'd burned off a solid pound of muscle having not worked out properly! Who knows. My pull ups were less effective last night than pre-easter though, only managed 3 and a half sets of 7 before I started struggling. It was a good workout though, nice to be back amongst it.

Must get my 8MAs fired up again.

Will get week 10 pic uploaded later on.

The less said...

... the better about the last week.

I've covered plenty of cardio via runs and golf, but things have slipped badly elsewhere. I'm regretting it a bit but those shots have been played, there's nothing I can about them. Time to refocus on the remaining few weeks.

Here goes!

9 weeks in!

In London again and it's an overnighter this time. Meeting a couple of friends tonight, the rule book may be open to levels of interpretation! On the plus side these trips always seem to fall on Tuesday's so I should be able to squeeze in my skips.
I went very hard in the gym last night in preparation for the busy Easter period, sets were squeezed to the max. I'm up to 5 sets of 7 pull ups now - unthinkable 9 weeks ago! I chucked in an extra bicep set that I missed on the weekend too. I know we're not supposed to sub sets in and out but there was more gas in the tank so I ploughed on. 5k on the treadmill in 21:47, a full minute off my last recorded attempt and probably a PB.
I did 12k on the road with Debs on Sat morning, half marathon prep is definitely picking up steam! She's been training for about 5 weeks now and is doing incredibly well. Just like my pull up progress, I think if you told her she'd be running 12k on a Saturday morning 6 weeks ago there may have been a look of disbelief so massive credit is due.
Played golf on Sunday with Nicky and the gang. Great day and I played as well as I ever have. Fact. I'm curious how much of this is down to my more athletic condition, core strength and flexibility or whether it's just because I've played a few times recently and didn't have a hangover!? We may never know...

Day 58

Was conscious of the ankle last night so after 3 very gentle sets of jump rope I subbed the 4th set out for 4 mins of steady 20 metre shuttle runs. I then did day 58 exercises as there were no legs in it, so will do day 57 tonight instead.

Lunch below. I'm becoming accustomed to pre-cooked cold veg, most of which I would probably have turned my nose up at pre-FIYL. Reheating them in a microwave invariably ends in disaster. Quite the nasal mustard burn I got from this monstrosity!

P.S. I had two!

Day 56

Messed up a bit on Saturday night. Was out for a birthday dinner with a group of Debs' friends, most of whom I hadn't met before so didn't want to come across as the awkward guy who ate nothing and didn't drink. I did explain the program to a few interested sets of ears during the night though. People (not just those on Saturday night) are generally pretty intrigued by all elements of what we're doing but often their verdict is, "sounds really good, but I couldn't do the diet" or "I couldn't do it for that long". It's amazing how little faith people have in their own resolve!
Relatively guilt free about Saturday anyway. Everything else went to plan at the weekend, got some good road k's in too, and when a dinner like that has been in the diary for a while it’s about fitting it in. All part of the learning curve.

Upcoming events that may lead me to stray from the path are :-
1) Good Friday (Day 66) - golf followed by a night out in St Andrews
2) A friends wedding (Day 74) - I only cracked the nod for the evening reception so it should just be a glass of wine or three.
Maybe I'll be able to dovetail Indulgence #3 with one of them, if there is such a thing on the horizon!

Played 5-a-side last night, great fun in the unseasonal early evening sun. Took a knock on the ankle that I iced before bed but have woken up pretty sore this morning. It's hopefully nothing more than a strain but I need to watch it.

And finally…
On Friday evening I was skipping in an empty studio at the gym. In the adjoining studio there was a spin class going on and as the door was open I was happy to skip along to the music and listen to the relatively inane ramblings of the instructor. As the session came to a close next door, the instructor screamed out for his class to give him one last ounce of effort - "Come on, keep working, you're building your calorie deficit, you can have another glass of wine and more to eat tonight".
Did I miss something, are we supposed to exercise just so we can instantly gratify our urge to gorge on crap?
Probably not a line Kevin uses to motivate his spin class.

Cheerio.

A back shot? Why not.

I thought i'd bash up a day 0 v day 50 back shot. Just cause.

Forgot to mention i did another 5k on Monday, 22 mins 15 seconds was a considerable improvement. Back to the rope on Tuesday and Wednesday then another run tonight, just the 3k as I was short on time but 12 mins 18 seconds left me suitably knackered. I remember when we were learning about why we skipped it was explained that it got us to just the right level of puffed out-ness required to burn fat and that doing runs that exhaust you causes us to burn fat and emergency muscle too. I hope i'm not burning too much hard-fought-for muscle but needs must, this half marathon wont run itself! (Wish i was running the full thing but i think it would be a bit irresponsible on a whim - know your limits, James!)

Just watching the John Bishop Sport Relief program about his cycle/row/triple marathon from Paris to London in 5 days. Quite remarkable.

Raise the bat (albeit sheepishly!)

That's the 50 up with a firm push down the ground for a comfy 2. Placed just wide of mid-off's outstretched arm i'm happy to acknowledge the milestone. It's a steadying stroke after a streaky boundary that dissected the slip cordon got me through the mid 40s but that's in the back of my mind now and the innings is getting rebuilt with aplomb. Only 40 left to win it, think I'm just going to grind it out, no more big shots!

Rose nice and early to prepare the days food. Well stocked fridge following a steam session last evening. I've got a new egg white to squeeze in after my workout from today too. Proteinalicious.

Day 49

Well, Friday night was great fun.
Saturday, naturally, was a write-off. Did my cardio via a very long walk, no exercises though.
Sunday was compliant until I attacked the peanut jar with my pinkie at about 9pm after I had a couple of bits of biltong what were brought back from South Africa as a present. WTF? I'm not even that mad about peanut butter.

Feel like I'm finally over it all today. It hasn't been a 4day hangover, the hangover was normal-ish. It's been getting back to somewhere that feels like I did when I was smashing out my exercises after work on Friday night that's taken 4 days.
Ah well, could blog on about it but like I said, Friday was great fun and what did I expect?
Haven't done my yoga assignment yet. Hmmmm.

Swee you later.

Went to buy jumpers today...

Size = small.
WHAT?

Sky rockets in flight, 5k delight.

Left the rope in cold storage last night and hit the treadmill for the first time since day 0 (first time in a lot longer than that actually!). I wasn't sure what to expect performance wise as I didn't know how effective skipping is as a preparation method. Turns out it's pretty good. I cruised through the first 4k before cranking up the speed for the last one and finishing with a 22:47. Really pleasing and fills me full of confidence for the impending Edinburgh half marathon at the end of May. Left me energised for the rest of my workout too so all in it was a really successful session and allowed me to put the previous evening's poor performance to bed.

On a less good note I dropped my iPhone on the tiled gym floor and smashed the face. Stang.

Day 44

New picture up. 12st 8lbs! Was aiming for 12 and a half by the end of the program so mixed thoughts about nearly being there already, don't want to be too skinny, hoping I can start rebuilding some muscle weight before too long. Once the sticky stuff's off anyway.
Was in London on Tuesday, difficult to comply when you rise at 05:00 and get home at 22:00, I did pretty well though as brought plenty of fruit with me. Turned away my aeroplane breakfast even, first time for everything, I'd normally have three of them given half a chance!
Struggled in the gym last night, didn't feel very strong. Maybe just tired.
Well done to my Chelsea though, great win, great entertainment.
Carefree!

Knees

Knees are still struggling with the pistol squats, frog hops and hockey steps. I'm going to revert to full sets of normal squats and lunges for the next few days.
Left knee is worse, think I jarred it when skipping, trying to do a triple or something stupid!
Golf tomorrow so going to skip the skipping. Looking forward to a day off the rope to be honest, will freshen me up for Monday and give a bit more rest to the knees.
Bicycle followed by the plank smarts a bit, doesn't it! :-)

He who bloggeth last, bloggeth the longest.

Been a bit slack on the blogging of late. This week it's felt a bridge too far to unfurl the laptop when the days activities have come to a close.

Last Friday (a week ago already!) I had a morale boosting moment at work. A colleague asked if the program had helped me lose any weight yet, so I showed him my back shots from day 0 and day 29 and the response was mild amazement. I don't actually have the back shots up anywhere, maybe later. To be honest they say more about the awful nick I was in on day 0 than anything else.

I went out for a steak at lunchtime on Saturday. I'd teed this up during the week and cleared it with my conscience in advance - i'd heard good things about the place too (The Sheep's Heid, Duddingston), so was thoroughly looking forward to it. It was to be only my second bit of cow since we started! Anyway, I'll excuse the reader from a wordy review and just say it was shit. Disappointment abound.

The rest of last weekend was very pleasant. On Sunday I went to Debbie's gym rather than my usual haunt and really enjoyed the change of scenery. These little changes to routine are going to be crucial as we delve further into our resolves over the coming weeks.

Food is going well, Steak aside. Breakfast vegetable intake is still a challenge, we're probably all experiencing that to an extent though and a bit bored of hearing about it now. One of the recent emails challenged us to try breakfast whole grains, this is a goal for next week, toast is too easy. For the first time since the glory days of the half portions in week 1 I've found myself actually feeling hungry in the evenings. This has been noticeable since we switched to the evening egg white diet. Part of that's psychological I think as I know I'm only going to get my egg whites and fruit, which actually always suffice, but it's been noticeable so I thought worth mentioning.

Other confessions apart from the steak. Debbie made sweet potato soup at the weekend - I had two espresso cups of it, eaten with a teaspoon! It has salt and butter in it (probably quite a lot of both), other than that it's just veg but it's ever so good so I caved.
I had a tremendously enjoyable glass of red wine on Saturday night as went out to see some of Debs family.
I don't think there were any more. Oh, what probably amounted to a handful of salty popcorn at the cinema last Friday (Safe House with Denzel, 6 out of 10).

Exercises are good.
Managed 4 sets of 5 pull ups this week, although not with straight arms.
Skipping has been mixed - I'm waiting to take delivery of a replacement rope I ordered so still hating on my current weapon. Skipping outside in the wind really gets my goat too!
I've had some back pain which I need to manage carefully in light of previous injuries. Also had some knee pain which has affected frog hops, have subbed in lunges/squats where necessary. Can feel the knees when skipping too but not as noticeable.
V-sits are still a battle although have had a mini breakthrough. They're as much about balance as anything for me, core strength is improving though so I managed one full set for the first time last night.
Chest dips are difficult.
I'm noticing more tenderness in the arms/chest/shoulder area in general, a sure sign we're working muscles harder than before which is good.

Right team, let's take a turn to negative town.
All told, I feel i'm in a bit of a lull at the moment. Photos from this week didn't change much from the previous week and I'm kind of waiting for action to start happening on the sticky visceral around the middle. This may or may not come around day 40, it certainly wont happen by itself though, so the only course of action is to keep working but an analogy keeps coming back to me from the days when I was training for a "beach body" pre-Barbados trip in early 2011.

I used to run a lot of 5ks then, which if I remember rightly would take about 23-25mins. The first kilometre would always fly by, i'd bounce along thinking how easy this was, I did it every other day and it was making me fitter. Ace. As I approached 1.5ks, I'd get out of puff a bit though, my eyes would train on the timer on the treadmill as I tried to work out how my pace was and whether I was going to be in with a shout of beating my PB. I'd nudge up the speed in a panic that I was leaving myself too much to do even though I was still only 1.3 ks into the whole ordeal. Then I'd hit 1.5 ks and realise that I was blowing hard and still way short of halfway. This kilometre up to the halfway mark was inevitably the hardest section of any run as the mental boredom would also set in and mix with the building exhaustion, manifesting itself as this evil desire to hit the big red emergency stop button on the treadmill and go sit in the steam room!
Then I'd hit halfway and hallelujah, simple maths would tell me I had less running left to do than I'd already done and I'd find some new legs. As if by magic, it all became easier and enjoyable again. PB smashed, happy Swee, let's all go to Barbados.

In case you haven't realised by now, I feel like we're in that nasty kilometre right now and I'm battling to get to day 45 so I can kick on again. But until then - concentration and discipline. Discipline and concentration.

Here's to the freaking weekend.
x

PS. I LOVE 8 MINUTE ABS.

Mild gym rage

Last night I counted 4 personal training sessions going on simultaneously at 6pm. In a gym where floor space is already at a premium, why would these sessions be scheduled at a peak time?
I have asked the question of them, maybe there's a good reason.

Weighed in sub 13st this morning. I know it's not necessarily about weight loss and it was a morning weigh in so a bit of a cheat, but - BOOM. Loved seeing that 12 in the left hand column.

SHOW. ME. THE EGGS!

Day 28

Where to start!

Currently sat on the train enjoying my 'indulgence' en route back from a couple of days in Birmingham with work. See pic below. It's after sunset, but it's been a tough couple of days.

First point of note- I lost my band and rope last Thursday. 'Lost' means left them in the gym and they were pilfered. Searched high and low on Friday and Sat but to no avail so I used my back up rope and the bands they have at the gym in the meantime. I got a replacement band on Sunday but hating my sturdy back up rope, it's so HEAVY! I have mastered my crossovers though so not all bad news on the rope front.

Then on Sunday evening I took FIYL on the road for the first time!!! It's been difficult, difficult, lemon difficult as they say, but I've come through relatively unscathed I think. Exercises done at hotel gym before dinner yesterday, then debuted with morning exercises today - it was only skipping admittedly! The diet was more challenging. Breakfast was fine as I could order a poached egg and toast and choose the least buttery grilled tomatoes from the buffet, not ideal but do-able. Lunches were vile, prepared sandwiches lathered in mayo brought to the work event. I had a couple of quarters to keep me going with some crudités then delved heavily into the fruit bag I brought with me. Dinner last night was difficult too, I picked chicken out of a salty curry concoction with some salad while I watched colleagues eat mounds of rice, garlic bread and cheesecake while getting pissed up. Nicky called during this ordeal actually so it was nice to refocus with a like mind.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm on the train back to normality and have just picked through a microwaved salty beef offering in the first class carriage that I would usually have wolfed down in a heartbeat. How times change. I remember watching a Rick Stein episode which saw him on a train in south east Asia eating freshly prepared fish cooked by the onboard chef. He waxed lyrical and paid tuppence of course. If only.

Loved today's new diet plan. It sounds like a game changer, I'm pleased with progress so far but want to start getting rid of my gut so pleased we're shifting up a gear. Nicky mentioned in his blog a day or two ago that we're running out of time and weirdly it was exactly what I'd been thinking. It sounds stupid given we're not even a third of the way through but I just feel there's so much ground to cover and these first 4 weeks have FLOWN by.

What else?!?! Lots of thoughts but I'm typing this on my phone so going to sign off, turn up my iPod (techno fan by the wombats, bite me) and enjoy the wine.

Rattle them winches.

x

The Big Reveal

The time has come - see below for the goal physique!!!!!
I figure I can try my very, very best with the body and beard, but the McConaughey tan and hair will likely be a bridge too far! :-)

New photo up. New weight 13st 3lbs/ 83.8 kilos. Not a huge change from day 15 but I can see changes to my shape. The removal of all evening carbs in the week 4 diet may hasten this along!

Massive props to Nicky for his latest photo, remarkable progress.

Breakfast veg

As promised in the week 3 thread last night, I tried a frittata/omelette style concoction this morning. Grated courgette and carrot still very moist after a night in tupperware in the fridge, will probably go longer on the tomatoes tomorrow though, the natural saltiness they bring to the party is crucial. Otherwise, great success! Maybe some parsley tomorrow too.
Pleasing.

Weekend exercising

During the working week I'm finding the routine of going to the gym after work a really good fit. Great.

At the weekend, when I'm exercising at home, I'm battling a bit. Yesterday and today I've ended up doing them in the early evening as I've been busy during the day. It's felt like a bit of a bind having them hanging over me all day though and I've
a) had to really convince myself to get up and just do them
b) not really enjoyed doing them

It's just something I need to think about. The ball's in my court though, I just need to get up a bit earlier and plan my day.

Chicken hates me

Going strong.

A few messages ago, Kev suggested we should identify our inspiration person.

Having scoured the darkest recesses of my mind (and google) I have now done this and in the spirit of openness have decided to go one step further and publish my goal for the world (all 3 or 4 of you) to see. However, before I go through the somewhat homoerotic process of posting the naked torso of a man on my blog I thought I'd run it past my girlfriend :-)

I can feel the tension building… check back soon for the BIG REVEAL!

Who said romance is dead?

'I love you, let's get fat together.'
*sigh*

Day 15

New photo posted to flickr this evening.

Re: weight. As I suspected on day 1, the scales at the gym are too kind. Official weigh in tonight using brand spankers new scales bought at the weekend gave me the following result - 13st 4lbs/ 84.4 kilos.
Much more realistic.

Sick of chicken by the way, lunch was less than enjoyable.

Went to view a flat tonight and found myself looking around for suitable doors to anchor my band, hehe.

70gs of brown rice below. Weeeeeow!

Day 14

Enjoying my night off the excerises - managed a pb on the skipping this evening too by getting through the first 372 before I tripped.

Confession - I've not been weighing all of my meal components. I started but when I realised that in order to meet my target grammage I generally had to eat more than was comfortable, I decided to just go with a satisfactory plateful but ensure it was in proportion to my allotment for that meal.
Having read the emails leading up to week three I don't think that approach was a disaster and I absolutely kept the types of food in check. Going forward though, now the portions have come down a touch, I'll weigh carefully and also try to be more diligent with my breakfast veg as I slipped a few times on that front.

To the food. Tonight I'm coming off fish and chicken for the first time this week as I have large valentines rib eye on its way very shortly! I've enjoyed the salmon, oven baking it with the classic ginger, coriander, chilli, garlic, lime, spring onion combo a couple of times - adding mushrooms and milk once (which left a pretty tasty broth) and adding mango another time. My adventures with chicken have been more standard. Had a big steam session on Sunday night, great success with asparagus and courgette. Broccoli was a bit overdone and didn't last well in the fridge. Ah well.

Recipe of the week.
I took this to work today. Brown rice, steamed asparagus, smoked mackerel. That's it. Unbelievably simple but so tasty! Just rev the rice and veg in the microwave then stir big chunks of the mackerel in to warm through. Place a poached egg on top of all that and this blogger's extremely happy but I'll wait for the weekend to try that!! I suspect smoked mackerel may be slightly too salty if Kev was being strict, but people have been smoking fish for hundreds of years and I'm pretty sure my grans gran would have fed me it ;-)

The exercises are going well, still having a few issues with apparatus but working them out. My door anchor finally arrived today which will help on days when I work out at home.

Motivation still good, particularly during the week. Last weekend was tough as there was so much sport on tv so the pub was calling. I held firm though. There'll be plenty more good weekends of sport when this is done.

10 weeks to go! But I'm definitely not counting down yet.

Picture is of my new wee friend, the spray olive oil! On the very rare occasion a touch of oil has been needed so far I've found this to be the best way of making very little go a long way.

Day 9

Was sitting in the steam room after my workout and had heaps I wanted to report back on... knackered now though so this is going to be shorter than I intended!

Cooked a great salmon dinner tonight, will get the recipe and photos up at the weekend.

Weighed in yesterday, the same as last week, a shade over 83 kilos.

Delighted to read honey and maple syrup are allowed to a certain extent. My dad keeps bees and I have a jar of his honey in the cupboard that screams at me every morning! I shall indulge (in moderation) at the weekend.

Hope everyone's keeping on keeping on.

Swee

Day 7

Week one DONE!

Pleased with my application to the half diet approach and even more pleased to read that it's not the way forward from now on!

Was filled with excitement and emotion when i read todays email as it seems like we're getting started for real now. The exercises have been really ramped up and the diet is fascinating. I have no idea how i'll eat so much for breakfast but it'll definitely get me out of bed tomorrow. Boiled eggs on toast? Yes please!

Got a new rope at the weekend and still getting used to it but got through my 500 tonight with just a few trips.

Right, i'm off to read "Unhappy Meals" as instructed.

Later.

The First Weekend - Days 3 to 6

Well well well... so a monumental slip up on the drinking front on Saturday night as I celebrated England's victory in the rugby amongst the Edinburgh locals! Ah well, onward and upward.

More positively, all exercises have been done, even with yesterday's hangover when I didn't get round to it until around 20:00. It's no good having your exercises hanging over you all day on the weekend so I won't be procrastinating in the future.

The half portions have been adhered to without too much drama. The day 7 email today filled me with a whole new level of nervousness/anticipation about the diet going forward. I definitely feel like we're starting for real now. I may have half a pork pie to sign off week 1 tomorrow, terribly exciting!!!

See the picture below for my latest FIYL purchase - steam deluxe!

Day 2

Another day done but bits of me are hurting. Lunges were particularly sore and I didn't see that coming. They're only lunges - or so I thought! I think my ice pack is going to be a close ally on this journey.

Enjoyed the day 3 email... some good words of wisdom. I'll carry on supping my filter coffees safe in the knowledge they're not on the banned list (yet!).

Attached is a picture i took on my walk to work today - it was a particularly crisp and sunny morning so thought I'd share!

JC

Day 1

So far so good.

Felt odd paying full price for my half empty tub of porridge this morning but hey ho!

Exercises done in the gym tonight although did my skipping outside in the cold as there was a bit of a shortage of space. Sit-ups hurt already! Bad news.

Starting weight - 83 kilos.
Posted photo last night.

Keep on FIYLing!

Tick tock...

The anticipation builds!

Monday morning (day -2)

09.30

I woke up tired.
I'm still tired.

It was quite a busy weekend, which at the moment means I caught up with lots of friends and ate and drank more than I should. It was certainly a fun weekend though.

As we approach day 1, I wonder what a busy weekend will look like in 4 or 5 weeks time?

I certainly wouldn't miss this mornings lethargy!