Well there has been no blog for some weeks now, you may have noticed!!

Things have been a bit up in the air. My granddaughter (pictured below at age 5 weeks) came into the world on 28th January and life has been in a bit of a spin since then.

The whole reason for starting the weight loss was to try and increase my chances of still being around when she started school – now she is here the impetus is even greater, my will power however has been put to the test significantly over the intervening period, and I therefore need a bit more focus.

My weight has gone in the wrong direction as too many temptations have been put in my way, but I have been doing the long 6 mile walk into work most days, although I was out the office last Thursday and Friday and again yesterday and drove up from Edinburgh this morning, so walk to work tomorrow will be the 1st time since last Wednesday.

I weighed in at 14st 6lbs last week, down two pounds on the previous week – I haven’t had the opportunity to weigh in yet this week, but I will be surprised if I am less that 14st 8lb, which whilst it is 2 stones less than when I started this journey it is very frustrating when I realise I was at 14st 1.5lbs the weekend before Christmas.

So to get to my 13stone target I still need to shed about 22lbs. At over 3lbs a week that is going to be a stretch, but lets go for it, and if I fail to meet the Easter deadline I will continue with this revised lifestyle – exercise and low calorie input most days and see where we are mid-year. I will keep up the chat until Easter – and probably beyond.

Many thanks to all my supporters over the past few months – last leg coming up!

 

Well that was the week from hell as far as dieting goes – but I did enjoy it!

My son’s birthday on Monday, so we went to Millar & Carter for our dinner. Steaks were fantastic and if you have a few bob to splash out for a big occasion, then I recommend it, but this was Monday and things were slipping and it was on weigh in day – half my weekly bonus points gone already!.

Tuesday I behaved, but then on Wednesday I took clients to Rustico’s for dinner. Bloody fantastic food, all six of us had a great evening, very relaxed and the wine flowed quite freely, although one chap was very good and kept to his Dry January – he has much more self control than me. Thursday we had a working lunch with the same team, and then I was out with my neighbours for a curry in the evening. We tried Wild Ginger on Union Street. This was the first time for the four of us and it was great. I went for Chicken Tikka to avoid sauces, and only had a little rice and a 1/4 a Naan, But washed that down with two pints of Kingfisher so another calorie buster.

On Friday I was out at Westhill for the entire day – so no walk to work or out at lunchtime, just more sandwich eating. When I got home I was knackered – flopped down and had a few beers and glasses of wine. I think it was at that point I decided that the diet was being abandoned for this week, and I can restart on Monday.

The weekend was not too excessive, although I did have almost a full bottle of red on Sunday evening with dinner and watching the TV.

It was a good week exercise wise however. I did the 6  mile walk to work every day except Friday (ref above). Thursday was interesting as it had snowed overnight, my first time taking this walk to work in the snow. It wasn’t too cold however and it only slowed me down a wee bit, which is more than could be said for the queues of cars. Did about 42 miles for the week, 8 off my target – will get that done this coming week hopefully

So to the walk of shame this morning. 14st 5.5lbs. I have gained 1/2lb. Next week looks good however, if I am to do some forecasting. I have a lunch out on Wednesday, but otherwise nothing. I should get the long walk to work in every day, out at least on two lunchtimes and eat sensibly – so fingers crossed for me shedding a couple of pounds this coming week.

First full week back at work after the holidays, but failed to get into my routine.

Monday and Tuesday were fine, long six mile walk to work in the morning and the mile walk home – managed to get three miles in at lunchtime on Tuesday, so 10 miles on the day – well chuffed with that.

Broke down a bit on Wednesday though – still managed the 6 mile walk into work, did a mile and a half, walk to the sandwich shop and back with a colleague, then the 1 mile  walk home, followed by another mile to the station for a trip to Edinburgh in the evening. So Ok on the daily mileage, ten miles in again, but no dinner in the evening – just sandwiches and a bag of crisps on the train. When I got to the flat in Edinburgh I scoffed a couple of tins of Stella and a pair Samosas – disaster really.

Thursday I worked from home in the morning, so no walk to work, I managed a five mile circuit at lunchtime, then caught the 2:30 train back to Aberdeen, where I was served a very nice Chicken Chasseur, and a couple of tins of beer to wash it down – it would have been impolite to turn it down, and I had paid an extra £5 to travel first class, so I had to get that back somehow? At home I had dinner as normal with my wife. Friday I did manage to get the ten miles in again, but drank too much red wine in the evening. Saturday and Sunday were days with too much to do to get out and about, so no serious mileage, but some serious red wine drinking.

Cutting to the chase, the walk of shame to the scales this morning was in trepidation. 15st 5lbs. I have lost 4 ounces – could probably get the same result by a visit to the barbers for a hair cut and shave!

This coming week is also going to be a challenge. I am out with a colleague for lunch on Monday, colleagues for dinner on Wednesday, out with my wife and son for his birthday on Monday and a curry with friends on Thursday. Friday I am working in a clients office out of town all day – so that will need the car and curb my ability to plod out the steps – so with a whole week to go I will be a happy man if I am still this weight next week – hopefully as we get into the second half of January, ‘normality’ sets in, but as my daughter is due to give birth on or about 30th, that will require a trip to and a stay in London making any chance of serious exercise and eating sensibly unlikely and I may have to wait until February before I can make an assault on the pounds gained over Christmas and start on the weight loss again.

Any way onwards and upwards.

I didn’t post anything about the week before Christmas, but suffice to say I soldiered on walking the 6 mile route along the old Deeside railway three of the days, but needed my car in the office the other two. I was meant to be going out for lunch one day, but that was cancelled – that’s a positive, but was out with some colleagues for pre-Christmas drinks and eats on the Wednesday evening – but I did drag my weight down to 15st 1lb, when I weighed myself on the Sunday before Christmas.

Christmas week – I sort of kept track of the points, but ignored the alcohol and stuff I wouldn’t want any snooper to know I had consumed. We did get in some decent walks. On Christmas Eve we did a couple of miles round Richmond Park in the afternoon and visited Kew Gardens in the evening and walked around their Christmas Light display. we had seen the same in Edinburgh last year, and it was fantastic – but Kew, with the significantly greater resources, put on something amazing – recommended for anybody in either Edinburgh or West London next December. On Christmas day we took a walk from my daughters up and around Wimbledon Park. And was blown away by some of the mansions that have been built overlooking the park, not sure you would get much change out of £4-£5m for one of them, perhaps more! Back around from these gaffs, past The All England Tennis club and back to my daughters – 4 miles on Christmas day – not too bad. On Boxing Day we walked to the Tube and took that down to Putney Bridge and walked along the river bank westwards. Got to Craven Cottage and Fulham were playing at home. Noted that Full Time was in ten mins, and thought we had best head back to the tube and beat the rush – got 3 or 4 miles in though.

On the Thursday we headed back up to our place in Yorkshire. My wife and I didn’t get any walks in during the period we were there together (other than round the shops), but I forced myself out on a few days and did a 6 mile circuit, that was to ease my conscience a wee bit, as the mince pies, sausage rolls, beer and wine were flowing as if nobody had any concept of weight loss!!

So we headed back to Aberdeen at the weekend, and managed to get time to visit Mother India’s Café in Infirmary Street in Edinburgh – finest Indian food in town – served tapas style – so you have lots of smaller dishes. In for a penny in for a pound I thought, no abstinence here was going to redeem my waist explosion.

So we come to Monday morning. My first weigh in for over two weeks. The walk of shame. I am well pleased to report 14st 5.5lbs, I had only gained 4lbs after all that gluttony, felt a bit chuffed, and I could have had a naan at Mother India’s after all!

Focus now has to be on shedding the remaining 19.5 lbs to get me down to my target weight – maybe manage that in 9 weeks? If I achieve that I will take a view on the NHS’s suggestion that I will still need to lose another 2 stone after that. Maybe a compromise – I will definitely be carrying on the walk to work and I set myself the goal of reaching the Target by Easter, that’s 15 weeks away, so perhaps keep going until then and take a view on what happens next after that.

I have to say the walking isn’t at all bad (although we have yet to get any snow) and I am not really going too hungry except for about 18:30, (and then there is the desire for nibbles when watching telly), so it isn’t a life style that I want to give up entirely – so time will tell……………………sunny afternoons, chilled Chablis, smoky BBQ………….hmmmmmmm.

 

Got off to a great start on Monday. Took a new walk into work along the old Deeside railway track. Bit of a bummer that it doesn’t have any street lighting and the sun doesn’t rise early enough in Aberdeen to give you daylight to walk to work in during December and January, but it was fine enough – if a bit slippy due to the cold weather. Total distance to work 5.75 miles. I will make this the new standard on days when I can get out of bed early enough. I had a working lunch – which meant sandwiches (which I guess I could have avoided, but didn’t), which gave me a WW score for the day at or about the daily allowance.

Tuesday I needed to take my car to work as I was visiting a football team we sponsor in Alford after work – no steps on the way to work then. Was out for lunch – very nice it was too at Chester’s in Queens Road – bill wasn’t as tasty though! took smoked salmon to start and a cheese soufflé for main course – pretty low WW score for that, but the walk there and back was only a mile and a half – and that was my entire steps for the day.. Finished the day with a bowl of mushroom soup I had made in the morning (using the time I would have spent walking to work) – very tasty. came in under my ww allowance for the day – so a bit of a carry over for later in the week. We were meant to be going for a curry, but friends had a flu type virus, so that has been postponed until next week.

On Wednesday morning everything seemed to take twice as long as normal before I could leave the house, and when I did get to the gate I remembered it was bin day – with bins in the house that needed emptied before I could put them out for the binmen – so that’s my excuse for reverting back to the shorter 4 mile route to work, but I did manage to clock up 3 miles at lunch time and a mile home.

Thursday I decided to add a wee twist to the start of my walk going back to the start of the Deeside railway at Duthie park – perhaps if I did that I could get the Deeside railway route up to 6 mies – failed. I thought I had done just about enough and came off the railway line a ‘stop’ before the exit I took on Monday and came in at 5.7 miles, same as Monday, so on Friday I corrected that by starting at Duthie park and coming off just opposite the International School on North Deeside Road – cracked in 6.05 miles!!

This week is the 2nd last before Christmas, and my dieting is getting sloppy so I did exceed my weekly total (which has been reduced by another point per day, so when I weighed in this morning ,despite clocking up almost 35 miles over the week, I have only lost 1.75 lbs, weighing in at 14st 2.25 lbs – not bad considering I am on the Christmas wind down I guess.

Hopefully when I weigh in on the 7th January, after all these festivities are over, I am still here or here abouts, but what if I was sub-14stone………….dream on!

As predicted Week 11 was a minefield.

Tuesday – Friday I was on site with a client. Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday in a project office adjacent to Manchester Airport, with accommodation at an airport hotel – only 1/2 mile walk away. On Tuesday we worked until about 7:30; Wednesday even later. Dinner on Tuesday was in the hotel and on Wednesday we took a taxi a short distance to an Indian restaurant – so didn’t even get the 1/2 mile walk back to the hotel!

Thursday we travelled to London, and had ‘dinner’ on the train. I had the pasta salad – which had a few sprigs of rocket and some rice in a tomato sauce – definitely no pasta!

Every day – Monday to Thursday I was on or just over the WW allowable points of 26, so no build up of any additional weekly bonus points from non-use of the daily points. Consequently there was little room for manoeuvre at the weekend (when I had another curry and a few glasses of red wine and bottles of beer).

Managed to get a few mile sin walking to and rom the shops in Edinburgh, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, but that was about it for exercise for the week (I did a long walk to work on Monday), but if I managed 20 miles in the week I would be surprised.

What was a pleasant surprise was that when I weighed in on Monday morning I was exactly the same as the previous week. My first week since I started 11 weeks ago when I have not lost any weight at all – but at least I didn’t gain any either – phew, I am not going back wards. this coming week will be a challenge, especially on Tuesday when I am out for lunch and then out for a curry in the evening – Week 12 could be a repeat performance eof week 11??

I took the long walk to work everyday except Monday (overslept and only had time for the 2 mile walk), overall I must have walked about 40 miles over the week.

I kept to the weekly WW points by ignoring the glass of red wine I had on Sunday evening and the bag of crisps – took the view that the weigh in was the next day and recording the points wasn’t going to have any influence on the outcome!

Eating was a challenge this week – as I was out for lunch two days and my wife and I ate out at Prezzo on Thursday after a bit of early Christmas shopping.

For lunch on Monday I assumed that a wrap would be better than a sandwich – when I looked at the points – I think the sandwich option may have been slightly better! Tuesday I had the chicken Caesar, which is getting a tad boring, but it does keep the WW points in check. Out at Prezzo on Thursday I had the Caesar salad again, but as I was starving I decided that a bruschetta wouldn’t hurt me as a starter – after all its just a bit of toast with some tomatoes, garlic and onion on it………………wrong, that was a huge 13 points!

Weigh in was 14st 3.5 lbs, so that’s me lost a total of 32.5 lbs. Not sure how much I will lose between now and Christmas though. next week I am in Manchester looking at some work done by a 3rd party on behalf of a client. this will significantly reduce my chances of getting exercise and increase my chances of eating and drinking, so I am bracing myself for week 11 being the first week where I haven’t lost any weight and worst case actually gained some!

A pretty slow week if I am being honest.

kept to the WW points most days, but used up all the weekly points over the weekend, out for dinner at friends on Friday evening and indulging in the odd alcoholic beverage on Saturday and Sunday wiped out the remaining weekly points, although the scone in John Lewis café on Sunday probably didn’t do much for the weight loss.

I took the 4.5 mile walk into work three mornings in the week, would have been four, but I was visiting Inverness office on Friday, so that was just a wee walk to the station and back, not much scope for further walks that day. At the weekend I experimented with potential longer walks to work, going along the old Deeside railway line. I could perhaps get a five and a half miler in going that way, but it will have to wait until about February time as there are no street lights along the walk way – although there may be enough light from surroundings to keep me on the path.

I did come up with a potential break through diet plan on the way home from work on Wednesday, it was a bit blowy and there was a drizzle on, so generally feeling cold and it occurred to me that drinking cold water and peeing warm water must use up calories. So applying some schoolboy physics to that problem I came up with the following. heating 1 litre of water up from 4 deg C (fridge temp) to 38 deg C (body temperature) would need 34 kcals. You’d therefore have to drink 3 litres of water to use up as many calories as walking a mile……………….I will stick to walking rather than peeing to keep up my calorie burn .

So uneventful week – result is a  shorter than normal blog. Lost 3 lbs on the week to bring down the weight to 14st 7lbs. that’s me lost a pound over two stones and only 1 1/2 stones still to go. With Christmas coming up and a trip to Manchester and London the week after next, I see the way ahead being a tad tortuous and if I start back in January at fourteen and a half stone I think I will be happier (but even happier if less than that)

New week, new toy. My son-in-law has leant me one of his cast-off Apple watches to see if it can assist in getting me fit. It does generate a lot more data than I had before (heart rate for one) and as I wear it all day, I am getting significantly more steps recorded than I do with my phone, which sits on my desk all day – time will tell if the extra data or more steps adds anything to my weight loss and general well-being.

Luckily this was week 8 and not week 1 as being a tad nimbler on my feet  than I was seven weeks ago meant I escaped hospitalisation (or worse) by a speeding Range Rover as I crossed the road on my way to work on Monday. This guy thought that when a traffic light turns red, you put your accelerator to the floor rather than your brake. I was on the opposite side of the junction, saw he had a red light, with a car in front of him turning left, so assumed it safe to cross, but as he hurtled towards me I put a spurt on to get out of his way. Seven weeks ago it would have been smack!

On Tuesday I popped into the Co-op I pass on my way to work to buy a few non-perishable things to add to the donations we are making at work to a local charity that gives out food parcels. This is only half way around the 3.5 mile route to work, so I had to walk the remaining 1.8 miles carrying two fairly heavy carrier bags. That brought up a bit of focus on my weight loss. These bags that were weighing me down, probably weighed in at 5 kilos tops. That’s less than half the weight I have lost – or double the weight I have still to lose – a sobering thought!

Wednesday was half way through week 8 and it was the first morning I set off for work with it raining (there was an earlier incident when I got wet walking to work, but it started after I left home). So I got dressed appropriately with waterproof over trousers, waterproof coat and my ‘Indiana Jones’ hat. Did an extended walk to work at 4.2 miles and arrived quite snug (& smug if I am honest). But as I walked to work I passed several school kids wearing only their blazers and I did feel a tad over-dressed, but I was warm and dry, so didn’t let it bother me too much.

On Thursday I lost an instant 1lb, by giving blood. I was assured that the liquid make up – and therefore the reversal of this instant drop – would be complete by the end of the day – so it was just a temporary loss. The downside was the clinic’s insistence that you should have a biscuit afterwards to get you blood sugar levels up, so a wee Kit-Kat was added to Thursday’s points. I travelled to Edinburgh on Thursday evening, and had my dinner on the train – I could have had a couple of complementary beers off the trolley as well, but was good and stuck with sparkling mineral water. Arriving in Edinburgh I partook of a couple of glasses of wine overdid my daily WW points and went into the weekly points.

I worked from home in Edinburgh on Friday which meant greater temptation. I did get out and about putting a few miles on the clock with RunKeeper, but again over did my daily points as I couldn’t resist the temptation of having a late lunch at Mother India’s Café on Infirmary Street. Food is so good in there, highly recommended to anybody that likes Indian food – using up more of my weekly bonus points.

Saturday was a great day for getting the miles in and did about 11 miles in Edinburgh, including a couple of circuits of the Botanic Gardens. Had a beer on the train home to Aberdeen, and a few glasses of wine when I got home, so not a good day regarding WW points– went to bed with only 5 of my weekly bonus points left intact, and we have friends coming round for Sunday lunch next day.

I stayed off the alcohol all day Sunday, but ate enough at lunch to use up all the daily points and take the weekly points into overdraft by 3 points. However on a positive note, I managed to fit into a pair of 34” waist trousers I bought several years back in the expectation that I would shrink to fit them! that’s a milestone worth recording I think.

The result is that I finished the week at 14st 10lbs. losing 12 ounces only on the week. This was despite putting in 50miles over the week, walking to work, getting out at lunchtime and at the weekend. It’s a bit disappointing, but again underlines the fact that whilst exercise is key to losing a bit of weight, it’s mainly to keep fit, not the main driver for weight loss – that’s down to reducing calorie consumption. I fear that I might be getting as low as I can in the current life-style, and further changes may have to be introduced if I am to get to my target weight of 13 stones. Anyway, fingers crossed, I may be able to report next week that I have gone sub 14st 8lbs. this is my next short-term milestone, 2 stones down on my starting weight – here’s hoping!

 

Not the best week if I am honest. I had a trip to London involving a flight down Tuesday night and back on Thursday’s red eye. This seemed to disrupt the whole week really. My daughter and her husband visited for the weekend so that was a further disrupter. I don’t have any issues with either, but it underlines what an easy ride I had for the first six weeks. This week I came under on daily WW points only on Monday and Tuesday, and exceeded every day thereafter, finishing the week on minus two weekly points – disaster! Further I didn’t get the miles in every day either, although in London on Wednesday I managed to clock up a massive 10 miles (23,343 steps) and over the week I did manage 37.7 miles.

Monday was a pretty standard day with the 3.5 mile walk to work a couple of miles at lunchtime and the short 1 miler home.

Tuesday I tried something a bit different to try and get the morning walk up to 4 miles, but failed and came in at just under at 3.85 miles, did another 3.3 lunchtime and the 1 mile walk downhill home. because I was flying I missed dinner with a view that I’d get something later, and never did – in hind sight, this was probably not my best decision.

Wednesday started with a coffee and croissant for breakfast – not the best , but all that was really available at Costa in Gatwick Airport Premier Inn. I did get some steps in however. I arrived in Victoria an hour before my appointment with a client, whose office is literally across the road from Victoria Station. So I walked down Victoria Street to Parliament Square, up Whitehall, where they were making preparations for the Armistice service at the Cenotaph, to Trafalgar Square, then down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. As I walked down the Mall – two cops on bikes went passed followed by a big Rolls Royce. HMQ was in the back – she didn’t wave! After my client visit I walked to meet my daughter at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, after that we walked back to Sloane Square tube station (but had lunch on the way at The Ivy Chelsea Garden in Kings Road – rather grand. I had a steak sandwich – this should have been an early warning that things are starting to go downhill). We took the tube from Sloane Square to Southfields  where I walked with my daughter to het house and then on to Clapham junction to catch a train to Gatwick. On the day I clocked up 10 miles, but added on more food points by having a ‘quiet’ pint and a bag of crisps in the hotel bar. Quiet – that’s a laugh, I should have thought about it beforehand, but the hotel was full of folks booked in because they had an early flight the following morning to go on their jolly hols and thought a good place to start was the hotel bar!!

Because I got the red eye to Aberdeen on Thursday, then a taxi into work, there was no walk to work that day. Further spoiler was a business lunch which over-ran, so my plan to walk back from the restaurant was ditched and I took a lift. I did behave at lunch, whilst the other two had fish and chips and spicy burger and chips – I had a Caesar salad. When the waitress asked would we like anything with the food (meaning ketchup mayo etc.) I was tempted to point to the battered haddock on the plate opposite me and say one of them, but I resisted. Only exercise I managed was the walk home and a quick run around the shops in the evening!

Things didn’t improve on Friday. Walk to work was it as far as exercise went. pre-lunchtime meeting went on, so no opportunity for a walk as I had to prepare for another meeting in the PM. The afternoon meeting went on until late, so my son (whose car I was using for the client visit) had gone home by the time I got back, so I had to drive it home. Downhill from there. My daughter flew up with her husband for the weekend. As we didn’t know precisely when they were coming (flights are frequently delayed) we had antipasti buffet style dinner – loads of  dips Hummus etc, Parma ham, pitta bed, sun dried tomatoes, olives – you know the stuff – highly calorific and washed down with beer and wine – disaster for anybody on a diet!

Saturday I did get 4 miles in during the morning before going out for lunch and seeking out the best pram’s at a couple of local shops and then we had a family dinner………………… and wine and beer. Disaster!

Sunday, again I managed to get in 4 miles in the morning, followed by pub lunch, then dinner in the evening. I had a couple of bottles of zero- lcohol beer in the pub (hoping alcohol free would equate to Calorie free, but it didn’t) but nothing in the evening other than squash diluted with fizzy water, but still finished the day 2 points over my daily WW allowance.

The walk to the scales this morning was therefore with a bit of trepidation. But the walk of shame revealed that in fact I had shed 1.5lbs to come in at 14st 10¾lbs.

So despite the sorry tale above, I have now passed the half way point in my 50lb weight loss challenge even if only by 4 ounces!!