From Fat To Fit – A Journey Towards Health, Slimness And Parenthood!

As a long-term lurker in the shadows of this esteemed Site and inspired in no small way by Legs’s blog, I thought I would nail my own colours to the mast in my search for better health, fitness and a 36 inch or less waist line and start a blog on the subject!

‘Tomorrow’ as they say, ‘Is the first day of the rest of your life’. I have decided to (or rather circumstance has forced me to!) do something about my chubbiness and lack of fitness gained over several years of semi-inactivity, in particular the last 12 months. This inactivity has been due partly to my L5 disc pressing on a nerve. This gives me pain and numbness in my left buttock and pain/numbness in my left leg and toes, mostly now when I’m upright thanks to epidurals. A bit of arthritis in my left knee doesn’t help either. Combined with the appetite of a prop forward who can eat a large Dominos’ pizza, garlic bread and wedges but still have room for a kebab, who is in reality a couch potato, I am now, what you could say to be, a bit of a fat knacker!

My aim is to get my weight down to around 13 stone with a 34 to 36 inch waist (healthy BMI of course!) and be fit enough to get back into the outdoor activities world of hill walking, climbing, kayaking, skiing and a bit of biking.

My motivation for this, apart from the obvious health benefits and the return to enjoying the stuff I quite miss, is that if all goes well, I will be a first-time Dad in September and I want to be as fit and health as possible to cope with Junior.

How I intend to go about all this isn’t rocket science of course. Tomorrow I start a calorie controlled diet. It’s a commercial programme called ‘Diet Chef’. They supply all you need to eat for 3 meals a day with a snack included, which you can supplement with fresh veg, brown rice and fruit, for a 1200 to 1500 calories a day intake of food. The future mother of my child was on it and lost 21 lbs in 7 weeks with no additional exercise on this system before getting preggers, so I’ve seen it work, and I also get all of the remaining 6 weeks of her grub as she’s off her food with morning sickness – result! The soups/main meals look a bit like boil in the bag rations which you can blitz in the microwave or heat in a pan, but the mummy-to-be has drawn a line on me eating them with a spork out of the bag whilst watching Top Gear on ‘Dave’ (squady habits die hard!).

The calorie controlled diet of course will only deal with the fat on my bones, not the fitness of my heart or stamina in my mind and muscles. So god forbid, I’m joining a gym! Luckily for me there’s a very good council one just down the road with a pool, cv room, weights and classes, so I’ll be down there later today to get signed up, get a bit of personal training advice with the induction and a good cv and muscle programme. They also do circuits and a ‘bad back’ class. Oh happy days, a return to ‘get sweating’. I’ve seen my doctor and I’m clear to go, and I know not to go at this like a bull in a china shop and turn blue and die on a treadmill on day 2!

So, with 7 months and 2 weeks to go til the birth of Junior, let’s see what we can do and what we have to go through to achieve it.

Your support, derision and comments are equally most welcome.

Tomorrow – the Big Fat Weigh-in!



(Would it be so wrong to have one last fry-up before I start, even if the smell of it will make the mummy-to-be gag and feel sick?)

Good for you mate - really hope you succeed. Just a few words of warning though.

Like a lot of people, when I left the army and gave up regular P.T etc, I started to pile on the pounds and finally decided to do something about it when I hit 14 stone a few years ago (I'm 6ft tall). I tried drastically reducing my calorie intake and ramping up the exercise - and every time I ended up cracking, going back to the old ways and adding even more chub than I'd lost. After doing a bit of research, I realised that I'd been trying to do far too much and so took a different approach. There's no point going on a drastic diet if it's not something you'll be able to maintain for long - better to lose weight slowly and steadily, thereby feeling more full and better able to resist temptation. I lost about a pound a week on 1,800 to 2,000 cals with lots of exercise - mostly weight training and walking - and the weight has stayed off. Maybe you have better willpower than me but if I tried to survive on 1,200 calories with training on top, I'd be shovelling a large chinkies down my neck within a fortnight! I'd advise trying to get into the mindset that your not 'going on a diet' but rather making a change for life.

In any case, good luck! If I can lose two stone, any fcuker can...

Cheers Wedge.

Points duly noted mate. I’m approaching it as a charge of eating habits and portion size together with well-being fitness with the aim to get fit to do the hobbies I love and miss, provided I can hack whatever the disc thing throws up.

And of course, be able to indulge in the joys of daddyhood and not look 7 months gone when the mummy-to-be is, er… 7 months gone!

I'm not a drinker, so I don't have a problem going without there, but my lunchtime interview with diet pepsi with the Colonel will be sadly missed.

I expect my local establishment to go bust with the month :D

I know what you mean mate - Big Wok in Brum must still be wondering where the fcuk I am

If it does go pear-shaped for you, take a few days off then knock yourself up a diet plan of 1,600 to 1,900 calories and tell yourself that losing slowly is better than not losing at all, yo-yoing or staying the same. Even if you only lose half a pound a week, in 7 months you could still weigh a stone less.

If your diet plan doesn't work out, feel free to PM me and I'll send you details of the kind of daily menu I was eating.

Good for you mate, go for it and as wedge says do it slowly then gradually build up to doing more strenuous routine's, and ffs wean yourself off the diet pepsi and kfc. and anyway, when the wee button presser comes along you'll get plenty running after him/her then. good luck.

I have to agree with Wedge35 - go for the long slow burn. You'll also be re-educating your brain about eating the right food and regular exercise, it then starts to become a habit again rather than falling off the treadmill in 2 or 3 months!

I have lost 32lb since June; I am not making myself hungry doing it but I am enjoying the gym and the walking again.

Drink loads of water!!

good luck mate what about
buying a pair of 34 / 36 inch jeans that you obviously cant get in to at the moment then theres a really good target to aim for as you will have spent some wonga on someting that does nt fit yet and when they do fit you ll have achieved something worth while and will feel great abouyt it thats what mrs deefa does

Originally Posted by chris951

I have lost 32lb since June; I am not making myself hungry doing it but I am enjoying the gym and the walking again.

That's fcuking good going mate. If you'd followed the kind of crash diet that chick mags are always going on about, you might have lost a stone in 6 weeks but would be back where you started now. Nice one.

Johnny: another top tip is to avoid feeling like you're depriving yourself. There shouldn't be any forbidden foods - if you fancy a doughnut, have one and factor it into your calorie plan. Cutting out your favourite foods completely can easily lead to you gorging on them when you falter or when you reach your target weight.

Good luck boet.