Hello all,
I guess I don't have to tell you things haven't quite gone to plan recently. The first 4 months or so of the journey was pretty smooth really. 20 or so kilos gone and it was all looking pretty simple. Well the next four have been very tough. It started with a plateau in the weight loss and has slowly become a trip in the wrong direction. At one point I managed to get within a whisker of a 30 kg loss but at the moment I've headed back closer to 110kg.
So what does this all mean? Am I giving it all away?
In short no!!
I always knew this would be hard. I'd hoped this type of collapse wouldn't have occurred but alas it has and now I just have to start again.
The good news is I'm starting again from a much better position than December 31, 2010. So here we have it. From tonight I will blog every day for the next week. With any luck that may help me maintain my focus and the responsibility I set myself eight months ago.
I'll weigh in tomorrow to give everyone the new starting point and with some luck, focus and lots of hard work I can begin heading in the right direction again.
I think the major reason behind my recent fall from grace is stress.
It's not a cop out, it's simply a reality of my current state of mind. This is a big year for me. I'm now entering the final stage of my degree. Essentially I have 14 weeks to go, after which time I will be on the open market, qualified but unemployed. That is of course unless I manage to secure myself a job before that 14 weeks is up. Until about April this year I hadn't really thought that far ahead but the realisation that the moment of truth is fast approaching has added a fair bit of stress to my life.
Journalism at the moment is a very tough field to break into. Most news organisations are downsizing rather than hiring so the competition for jobs is very tough. Those close to me know what I've committed to this goal in the last two years (particularly this year). I've spent almost 1 week in three this year working at news organisations this year (as an intern). The idea is you just keep working for free until a job comes up. The difficulty is sooner or later everyone needs to be paid for their work.
So after all this work for more or less two years, I often feel no closer to a job. Now I know this can't be the case. I've built a reasonable network of contacts now and I know I've impressed a few people but the reality is that until a concrete job opportunity comes up the stress will remain.
But enough of the whining and petty excuses. Life is full of challenges and they can't be excuses for not looking after yourself. So from tomorrow it's back on the horse and back on the road to better health.
So tune in for the next seven days and hopefully by next weekend there's some better news to report.
Until then,
P
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Human frailty
Human frailty sux. Or at the very least, my frailties suck.
You would think that after 6 months and having lost more than 25 kilograms, I'd be in a routine and it would be smooth sailing from here. But alas I'm here to tell you nothing could be further from the truth. To be frank, I'm seriously struggling for the motivation to even write the blog and I guess it's not too hard to understand when you consider I haven't lost any weight for well over two months.
The last couple of months really just hits home for me the close knit relationship between my lifestyle (IE: diet and exercise regime) and my emotional state. When I look back over the last 20 years its clear to me that my struggles with my weight, parallel my emotional struggles. Relationship dramas, job concerns and the like have often led to me turning to comfort food and in turn weight gain.
Now I don't know if I can blame that at the moment although I will admit the impending end to my studies and the lack of strong leads for a permanent job has been weighing on my mind. I've been committing an exorbitant amount of time to a variety of media organisations in the last 6 months in particular and despite my dedication (and obvious talent LOL) I often feel like I'm no closer to a job than I was a year ago. The fact that I'm an impatient bastard doesn't really help either, so if patience is a virtue then I should become virtuous ASAP.
As for the weigh in. Well I can't really face the scales at the moment. I'm just doing the best I can to not fall completely off the path while I get through this difficult period.
So I ask you to bear with me while I attempt to get myself back on track.
To use a motoring analogy I'm hoping this is just a gearbox issue and not a completely blown engine. I think that if I can find the necessary replacement clutch cable I can get this thing out of neutral, back into gear, and back on the road again.
At least it's not stuck in reverse.
Till next time
P
You would think that after 6 months and having lost more than 25 kilograms, I'd be in a routine and it would be smooth sailing from here. But alas I'm here to tell you nothing could be further from the truth. To be frank, I'm seriously struggling for the motivation to even write the blog and I guess it's not too hard to understand when you consider I haven't lost any weight for well over two months.
The last couple of months really just hits home for me the close knit relationship between my lifestyle (IE: diet and exercise regime) and my emotional state. When I look back over the last 20 years its clear to me that my struggles with my weight, parallel my emotional struggles. Relationship dramas, job concerns and the like have often led to me turning to comfort food and in turn weight gain.
Now I don't know if I can blame that at the moment although I will admit the impending end to my studies and the lack of strong leads for a permanent job has been weighing on my mind. I've been committing an exorbitant amount of time to a variety of media organisations in the last 6 months in particular and despite my dedication (and obvious talent LOL) I often feel like I'm no closer to a job than I was a year ago. The fact that I'm an impatient bastard doesn't really help either, so if patience is a virtue then I should become virtuous ASAP.
As for the weigh in. Well I can't really face the scales at the moment. I'm just doing the best I can to not fall completely off the path while I get through this difficult period.
So I ask you to bear with me while I attempt to get myself back on track.
To use a motoring analogy I'm hoping this is just a gearbox issue and not a completely blown engine. I think that if I can find the necessary replacement clutch cable I can get this thing out of neutral, back into gear, and back on the road again.
At least it's not stuck in reverse.
Till next time
P
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Yey Yey it's Weigh Day
After a brief interstate interlude, weigh day is back. Yes it's that special 2011 Saturday ritual I know you've all come to know and love. The day we all find whether Santa would class me as naughty or nice for the past week. Well the votes (or kilos) have been counted, the official tape measure has made a return to the love handle region so it's time to reveal the numbers at the conclusion of week 27.
So the numbers are.
Actually before I get to that I need to remind everyone that is was only about 4 days ago I posted the last set of official numbers due to my recent travel schedule. Due to the disappointing figures that greeted me upon my return from the nether regions, I decided to give the fat bastard diet an old fashioned jump start. I'm very keen to have a really good July so I consulted some literature, spoke to some professionals and non-professionals (cheers Mutty) and came to the conclusion I needed to shock the old system back into line. The result was, that I committed to dropping both carbs and added sugar from the diet for the week in the hope I could kick start the old metabolism once again. In addition I also committed to a minimum of an hours' exercise each day, although I admit I failed yesterday. Together I hoped this approach would remind the somewhat stagnant body how hard I've been trying to reshape it. I plan to return to a more balanced approach next week but I'll now reveal the result of the more or less "Atkins" approach.
Previous weight: 109kg Current Weight: 105kg A loss of 4kg
Previous Gut: 110cm Current Gut: 107cm A loss of 3cm
Great result all round but I have to say I'd struggle to keep it up even if it was the best way to go. Fortunately, it's not a healthy long term option but has achieved it's aim so I'm happy with that. Having said that I will be cutting down significantly on both sugar and refined wheat/grain products going forward. I'll freely admit I'm going to have a Vegemite toasted sanga on Monday and I can't wait.
As for the rest of my life, well insanity reins next week. Naomi returns from her school holidays jaunt to sunny Vietnam and it's straight back to school. In my uniquely stupid way I've managed to coincide her return and 1st school week with my own 7-day intern work schedule. So I'll going to have to find a way to be a parent while working Monday-Friday at Nine News, Friday night at the Broncos and Saturday and Sunday at Ten News. I'm praying this insane commitment to intern work leads to a job soon because it's beginning to do my head in.
I'll be back at Uni at the end of July to complete the final 3 units of my degree. It's going to be another tough semester though because of all the other commitments in the schedule. I'm really looking forward to a week at the ABC in a few weeks though as that's where I'd really like to work at some stage.
For the sports fans out there I'm doing four days work over the next couple of months with the QLD Bulls. They're playing Twenty20 practice matches at Allan Border Field each Thursday for the next two months and as part of the program, new coach Darren Lehmann is trying to get his young squad more media savvy at the same time. During the matches, myself and a few other journo students work with a camera man to mimic the conditions players will find during the Fox Sports coverage of the KFC Big Bash. We interview players as they leave the field after being dismissed and bail up players on the bench for interviews while the match is in progress. It's good practice for both the players and the prospective broadcasters and at yesterdays game I did a pre-match interview with BOOF (Lehmann) which was a lot of fun.
So as you can see it's a pretty full on existence at the moment in the the Fat Bastard world. Busy but enjoyable I reckon. Anyway, time to push on, I haven't done my exercise for the day so if I want to go to the pub tonight to watch Richmond I better hit the exercise bike for a bit.
So until next we meet.
P
So the numbers are.
Actually before I get to that I need to remind everyone that is was only about 4 days ago I posted the last set of official numbers due to my recent travel schedule. Due to the disappointing figures that greeted me upon my return from the nether regions, I decided to give the fat bastard diet an old fashioned jump start. I'm very keen to have a really good July so I consulted some literature, spoke to some professionals and non-professionals (cheers Mutty) and came to the conclusion I needed to shock the old system back into line. The result was, that I committed to dropping both carbs and added sugar from the diet for the week in the hope I could kick start the old metabolism once again. In addition I also committed to a minimum of an hours' exercise each day, although I admit I failed yesterday. Together I hoped this approach would remind the somewhat stagnant body how hard I've been trying to reshape it. I plan to return to a more balanced approach next week but I'll now reveal the result of the more or less "Atkins" approach.
Previous weight: 109kg Current Weight: 105kg A loss of 4kg
Previous Gut: 110cm Current Gut: 107cm A loss of 3cm
Great result all round but I have to say I'd struggle to keep it up even if it was the best way to go. Fortunately, it's not a healthy long term option but has achieved it's aim so I'm happy with that. Having said that I will be cutting down significantly on both sugar and refined wheat/grain products going forward. I'll freely admit I'm going to have a Vegemite toasted sanga on Monday and I can't wait.
As for the rest of my life, well insanity reins next week. Naomi returns from her school holidays jaunt to sunny Vietnam and it's straight back to school. In my uniquely stupid way I've managed to coincide her return and 1st school week with my own 7-day intern work schedule. So I'll going to have to find a way to be a parent while working Monday-Friday at Nine News, Friday night at the Broncos and Saturday and Sunday at Ten News. I'm praying this insane commitment to intern work leads to a job soon because it's beginning to do my head in.
I'll be back at Uni at the end of July to complete the final 3 units of my degree. It's going to be another tough semester though because of all the other commitments in the schedule. I'm really looking forward to a week at the ABC in a few weeks though as that's where I'd really like to work at some stage.
For the sports fans out there I'm doing four days work over the next couple of months with the QLD Bulls. They're playing Twenty20 practice matches at Allan Border Field each Thursday for the next two months and as part of the program, new coach Darren Lehmann is trying to get his young squad more media savvy at the same time. During the matches, myself and a few other journo students work with a camera man to mimic the conditions players will find during the Fox Sports coverage of the KFC Big Bash. We interview players as they leave the field after being dismissed and bail up players on the bench for interviews while the match is in progress. It's good practice for both the players and the prospective broadcasters and at yesterdays game I did a pre-match interview with BOOF (Lehmann) which was a lot of fun.
So as you can see it's a pretty full on existence at the moment in the the Fat Bastard world. Busy but enjoyable I reckon. Anyway, time to push on, I haven't done my exercise for the day so if I want to go to the pub tonight to watch Richmond I better hit the exercise bike for a bit.
So until next we meet.
P
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
What the hell is going on
I think the title of this post says it all. I've had a fair bit on my plate recently and if you copy and paste my blogging effort into my dieting effort you come up with the same result. Pathetic! But despite the dismal failure that has been the last few months I think I can turn it all around.
I'm back in Brisbane after a few weeks away in Canberra and a weekend of silliness in Melbourne (Richmond were the SILLIEST of all), and I'm ready to step it up and rediscover my early season weight-loss form. Because of the scale issues I experienced while away, I have jumped on the home ground scales today and updated the running (or rising as the case may be) tally. As you will see it doesn't make pretty reading.
I have a vague memory of deciding I would be under 100kg by June 30. Well it seems I didn't quite get there. In fact I achieved the opposite result. It seems the four odd kilos I needed to lose I actually managed to find, now leaving me with a fairly major hurdle to jump. The most disappointing thing is that I have now fallen behind my one kilo a week aim for the year. As things stand today, I've now lost 24kg in 26 weeks which on the surface sounds good but considering I'd lost that weight over 2 months ago it's a real shame to have let it slip away.
But onward and upward as they say and there is no point like the present to make a positive change. I have no more trips away and no heavy uni commitments for the next four weeks so I'm resetting the target of 100kg for the end of July. I know it can be done and I've deliberately set a challenging target to help me find the discipline I've been lacking in recent months.
It begins today with a 40km ride on the bike and a firm commitment to healthy eating. I've become pretty slack of recent months and certainly have been drinking too much grog. So at the very least, for the month of July, there'll be no grog during the week and a serious love affair with fruit and veg and with any luck I can convince the body again that I'm back on the straight and narrow. I'm even going to chuck in a low carb week (and I do love my carbs) to try to restart the metabolism and get things moving in the right direction.
I've enjoyed my only two commitment free days for my entire Uni break and tomorrow its back to the grind of free work and networking in the grand plan to get a real job. I'm doing a short term 1 day a fortnight gig with the Queensland Bulls teaching media skills to emerging players. Myself and 4 other journo students will simulate the media conditions (Fox Sports coverage) during the KFC Big Bash. We will do TV interviews with players on the field and the bench during a Twenty20 game and ask difficult questions to them after they've been dismissed. It's designed to get them used to the invasion of privacy and personal space that top level sportsmen deal with on a day to day basis. Next week I'm working in news at channel Nine. After doing a week with Ten recently and heading to the ABC at the end of the month, the opportunity at Nine will help me become more widely known in Brisbane TV News circles. With any luck one of these things will lead to part time work opportunities and more.
In the next day or two I'll do a Mid-year review of the Fat Bastard Diary and will set the agenda for the remaining six months. I'm as determined today as I was on January 1 to achieve my goal of 81kg so I better get my act into gear because there's 28kg to go.
Until then,
P
I'm back in Brisbane after a few weeks away in Canberra and a weekend of silliness in Melbourne (Richmond were the SILLIEST of all), and I'm ready to step it up and rediscover my early season weight-loss form. Because of the scale issues I experienced while away, I have jumped on the home ground scales today and updated the running (or rising as the case may be) tally. As you will see it doesn't make pretty reading.
I have a vague memory of deciding I would be under 100kg by June 30. Well it seems I didn't quite get there. In fact I achieved the opposite result. It seems the four odd kilos I needed to lose I actually managed to find, now leaving me with a fairly major hurdle to jump. The most disappointing thing is that I have now fallen behind my one kilo a week aim for the year. As things stand today, I've now lost 24kg in 26 weeks which on the surface sounds good but considering I'd lost that weight over 2 months ago it's a real shame to have let it slip away.
But onward and upward as they say and there is no point like the present to make a positive change. I have no more trips away and no heavy uni commitments for the next four weeks so I'm resetting the target of 100kg for the end of July. I know it can be done and I've deliberately set a challenging target to help me find the discipline I've been lacking in recent months.
It begins today with a 40km ride on the bike and a firm commitment to healthy eating. I've become pretty slack of recent months and certainly have been drinking too much grog. So at the very least, for the month of July, there'll be no grog during the week and a serious love affair with fruit and veg and with any luck I can convince the body again that I'm back on the straight and narrow. I'm even going to chuck in a low carb week (and I do love my carbs) to try to restart the metabolism and get things moving in the right direction.
I've enjoyed my only two commitment free days for my entire Uni break and tomorrow its back to the grind of free work and networking in the grand plan to get a real job. I'm doing a short term 1 day a fortnight gig with the Queensland Bulls teaching media skills to emerging players. Myself and 4 other journo students will simulate the media conditions (Fox Sports coverage) during the KFC Big Bash. We will do TV interviews with players on the field and the bench during a Twenty20 game and ask difficult questions to them after they've been dismissed. It's designed to get them used to the invasion of privacy and personal space that top level sportsmen deal with on a day to day basis. Next week I'm working in news at channel Nine. After doing a week with Ten recently and heading to the ABC at the end of the month, the opportunity at Nine will help me become more widely known in Brisbane TV News circles. With any luck one of these things will lead to part time work opportunities and more.
In the next day or two I'll do a Mid-year review of the Fat Bastard Diary and will set the agenda for the remaining six months. I'm as determined today as I was on January 1 to achieve my goal of 81kg so I better get my act into gear because there's 28kg to go.
Until then,
P
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