The Fitness Diary

So the basics of eating are going to be a bit of a problem in the first place I think. Three years ago I was going to gym and exercising hard about four days a week, and consequently I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about calories. Cut to now, and I’m still eating like I’m exercising hard four days a week, and I’m doing fuck-all. No surprise where the extra padding come from around my guts. At work it’s a bit of a culture of snacking whenever you feel hungry because the company provides all manner of chips, chocolate, and soft drinks to gorge yourself on. The idea being happy tech people are productive tech people. To some extent that’s true, and so the folks I work with have been ignoring the fruit and healthy snacks, in favour of crisps and Coca Cola. I’ve become so used to this afternoon ritual that I don’t even consider it a bad thing that I eat a half a big bag of Lays Natural flavour, and wash it down with a half a bottle of Coca Cola.

The first order of business is going to be to cut the crap out of my diet, and stop evil snack habits that I have become part of my typical eating day. Right now I don’t actually know how to deal with the snack time blues that hit at 4pm, so I’m going to have to do some reading and experimentation and see what works by trial and error.

So today I said goodbye to the chips and cola in a formal way by walking straight past the cupboard without a second glance. And although I did have a peice of cake for a collegues birthday celebration (okay, two peices), it’s the end of the days of junk food snacking. Might be time to start using a calorie counter site to help out with this.

Andy.

After a long european winter, I went out with some friends on a boat during the first sunny weekend of the new summer, and was pretty shocked to find out that my stomach has taken on the proportions associated with early stage pregnancy.

This is a bit of a serious problem for me for a couple of reasons; firstly, I’m not one of these guys whose comfortable with having a big round belly on them. I really admire those guys that are, because it means they’re secure enough in themselves for their body shape not to matter at all. Now, I’m not someone obsessed with his looks and having a Fabio body to show off, but at the same time, this getting out of shape isn’t helping my general state of wellbeing or social confidence. Secondly, my father and grandfather both developed type 2 diabetes, heart problems, and had knee replacements all as a consequence of being chronically overweight. So a weight problem for me, if not brought to heel, is going to go much the same way as it did the men in my family before me.

Which brings me to the point of this blog; I’m about to embark on an experiment with myself to turn my weight around and acheive a state of health and good fitness. I’ve not seen my abs now in nearly 10 years, and they haven’t seen me either. Chances are they’ve forgotten what I look like, and who they belong to. I’d like to think that it’s not too late for us to get reaquanted. The challenge is going to be seeing this through; I’m 39 years old, with a busy-as-fuck tech job in a web technology startup that I have to travel to out of town from where I live. My diet is pretty shit, and will need a complete overhaul, and I’ve forgotten most of the nutrition information that I once knew like the back of my hand. Most of all, it’s been at least a year and half since I was doing any form of regular exercise, so I have to completely rebuild the routines of my life to include exercise again. So this site, as much as anything, is to help me get motivated and keep my motivation up. God knows this fashion shot above sure gives me plenty of that!

Let the games begin!

Andy.