Losing Weight
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss 1 Comment »I know, I’ve said many times before about the way I’ve been planning to lose some weight, and all that shit. And it’s always been “I intend to”, rather than “I am”.
Recently that’s changed though, and I am working on it. I’ve started going back to the gym, although I’m not back in the habit of it yet – I still need to think about it, and force myself to go. Hopefully that’ll improve though.
But I am already losing weight, because of the other thing. Over the last month, I’ve been going to a local Slimming World group, and it seems to be doing the trick.
Basically, it’s about “reprogramming” our food and diet a bit, getting rid of some of the convenience stuff we were making use of – by which I mean things like jars of curry or sweet’n’sour (or whatever) sauces, rather than doing our own. Other than that, I don’t think we’ve really changed a lot about what we eat or drink. We just think about it a bit more now.
One of the things I do like about Slimming World in comparison to Weightwatchers et al. is that you can set your own target for where you want to be – it’s not based on idiot BMI charts etc, unlike our experience with WeightWatchers a few years back which put me off going back. They also never announce your actual weight (nor the weight you started off at) which means no-one else knows/cares what you actually are, it’s about what you’ve lost. And that’s an attitude I quite like.
I’m not shy about it, though. I don’t have a problem with admitting that when I started, I was weighed at exactly 22st 1lb. I’m not happy (or proud) about it, but that’s what it was. And my current goal is to get back to where I was back in April 2005 , to be under 20 stone again. From there, I’ll see what happens – but that’s my current plan.
And I won’t write about it here every week – D4D™ isn’t going to turn into Dummies for Dieting anytime soon. I’ll write about it every so often, I’m sure, but not every week. That’s just dull.
What I will say now though is that in the time I’ve been going, I’ve already lost 8 and a half pounds. Not an awesome loss (just over half a stone) but equally, not bad either.
Self Perception
Posted: Wed 22 July, 2009 Filed under: Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Weight Loss 1 Comment »One of the big issues for me when it comes to my weight is my own perception of it – or the lack thereof, I’m not sure which.
Firstly, there’s the simple fact that I’m pretty big anyway, although I’m not going to use (and never have used) the excuse of being “big-boned” for being the weight I am. However, one can’t escape the simple fact that (as I’ve said before) I’m still 6’3″(ish) tall, and have a chest measurement that’s at least 50″ on it’s own. And that’s a chest measurement, not a belly one – so we’re talking structure, not flab. All told, my body can take a fair bit of weight without looking like I’m fat.
Second, my mum (in particular) is by no means slim – that’s not meant nastily, simply a statement of fact – which has done something to my perceptions of size, in that “normal” in my head most definitely isn’t Size Ten, or whatever.
The third thing is that on the rare occasions I see a TV programme like “Biggest Loser” or whatever, I try to compare my own weight with that of the competitors. And that’s a problem – because I simply don’t have the rolls of fat that appear on them, even when those people are spposedly lighter than the just-over-300pounds that I am currently. (And yes, I know that I’m probably taller than they are too, etc. etc.)
I know I’m overweight, I know I need to lose some – and I’m working on it, of which more later in the week – but somewhere along the line I need to believe it as well as know it, if that makes any sense…
Light Bed
Posted: Fri 8 May, 2009 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Health, Technology 1 Comment »Recently, we’ve been trying out a weird alarm clock that also replicates the rising of the sun, so it’s “full daylight” when the alarm sounds. It doesn’t do much (if anything) for me, but Herself is finding it pretty useful for the way her body works.
And in related items, today I came across the LOMME bed which is pretty much the same concept writ large. The LOMME (Light Over Matter Mind Evolution) is a pod-bed, and has a built in light-box alarm as well as making use of other light colours etc.
It’s pretty cool – in a “What the fuck?” kind of way – but I’m pretty sure it would be massive overkill for us…
Swine ‘Flu – Guff
Posted: Wed 29 April, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Seeing all the media guff currently about the swine flu outbreak- and seeing some of the ridiculous “Have Your Say” comments about it- just leaves me cold.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing we can do about these outbreaks. They’ll either happen or they won’t. Sure, we might be able to take some preventive measures – but it’s undetermined whether they’ll work or not.
So what’s the point of worrying about something we have no control over?
Children’s behaviour ‘linked to sleep’
Posted: Tue 28 April, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, News Leave a comment »Who’d have thought – children’s behaviour can be linked to sleep, or lack thereof.
Shocker.
Diet Coke
Posted: Tue 3 March, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »At roughly this time last year, I went through the joys of completely cutting my daily intake of Diet Coke. It was semi-successful, in that I did stop drinking it completely for about six months, but since then it’s crept back in again.
Primarily the return of it has been down to the simple fact that it’s still the only drink I actually like drinking. I don’t drink tea or coffee at all (maybe one cup of each per year) and don’t drink enough water – mainly because, even with the use of squashes, cordials etc., it just gets fucking boring. I swapped over to drinking things like Diet Sprite and/or Diet 7Up – I don’t mind them in small doses, so *shrug* – but they give me acid indigestion on a regular basis, and that’s no fun whatsoever. Sure, I could drink milk, or something similar – but then the calorie count and fat count would belt up as well, even on semi-skimmed. There’s something like 250calories in a pint of milk, and 9.9g of fat.
As a result, the intake of Diet Coke has crept back up again. Not to the levels of old – but still more than I supposedly “should” be drinking. Even now, I know it could easily go back to what it was a year or two ago, but I don’t actually want that to happen. I don’t deny – and never have – that it’s my one addiction, and I suspect it’ll never be cut out completely.
So I’m cutting down on it again. I doubt I’ll drop to zero again – I might do, but I doubt it – but it’ll get cut down, and I’ll replace about half to three-quarters of my intake with water. See what happens.
Maybe I should try getting to like tea again. I could more easily get back to drinking coffee, but even then my intake levels of it end up bordering on the ridiculous. And then I still like it black with sugar, so I’d also be adding to my sugar intake. (The same is true with tea, but I drink that less sweet, on the rare occasions I have it at all)
Anyway, I’m working to formulate a sane level of intake on all these things, and we’ll just see how it goes.
Under 15? Not a Drop
Posted: Fri 30 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »I find it hard to understand the new government health guidelines that say under-15s shouldn’t be allowed to drink any alcohol that were released yesterday. Even if you gloss over the fact that by that age most teenagers have had at least one alcoholic drink anyway, the advice seems somewhat flawed.
Personally, I think it’s a better policy to be introduced to alcohol as part of the process of growing up. I don’t mean to the point of abuse, or a drink with every meal, but I do believe that introducing it early, not making a big deal of it, and letting it just be part of life is a better way of dealing with it.
To me, it seems that a lot of the ritual around teenage drinking etc. is because alcohol is seen as “forbidden” and “naughty” – drinking it before you’re legally supposed to is just one of those rebellion things that people go through as they grow up. But if it’s something that’s got no shock value, something that’s part of normal life, it loses the power (unless one goes to extremes, of course) to be seen as a tool of rebellion.
I could be wrong on this of course – it’s not like I’m a parent myself – but I know that growing up (all those years ago) I was allowed to try beer, wine, lager, and even vodka and whisky. I learned the taste and smell of them, as well as what I liked and didn’t like. Once I was able to go to a pub, I knew what I could order, and whether I’d like it or not.
It meant I didn’t make the really stupid mistakes when I was old enough – such as trying to drink that first illicit bottle of vodka in one go before anyone found me and made me stop – although I was still able to make plenty of other non-drink-related stupid mistakes instead…