Bad medicine

I really need to start over.

For the last month, my weight has basically stabilized at the same crappy number. I've been exercising as before, but must admit that I'm a bit tired of diet food. At least it has not crept up too much.

Last weekend my wife and I had a weekend to ourselves, as the children went with their aunt and gran to the Kruger National Park. Suddenly we had some free time, which all parents will tell you is a bit disconcerting when it sneaks up to you all of a sudden.  We decided to stroll through our local mall, as it's normally a bit like herding a clowder of cats through a field of near extinct ground-nesting birds. Don't worry, I also had to look up the collective noun for housecats. Google also suggests a "nuisance" of cats, but that would more aptly describe two teenage boys, a tween and a toddler. Wait...

The local Woolies had a sale on summer clothes, up to 65% discount. Usually this would be an exercise in despair for me. I'd dive in there, just to find oodles of 28-34 sized denims, but nothing in more me-like sizes. It always ended with me leaving the store under a cloud of self deprecation. Lo and behold, there were a few 36's and a 38 or two. I took a 38 and a 36 to the fitting room. The 36 just for checking how far I'm off. As it turned out, it fits! This was such a positive experience for me. When I showed my wife how it fits, she said that I look really well in it, with a twinkle in her eye. So now I am a proud owner of a size 36 jean.

I remember the last 36 denim I had. My mom bought it for me at Markham in Landros Marais street, just down the road from the Astra movie theater in Pietersburg, in 1987. I had a look on Google Earth. That store is still there! It was a stonewash denim. My dad's comment was, "Why didn't you buy a new one?" Shortly thereafter I hit the 40's, 42's and at the middle last year I was knocking on 44's door. Embarrassing.

What's really interesting about the belt photo, and I'm using "interesting" in the rudest possible way, is the angle of the buckle marks on the leather. It shows how my stomach was putting stress on the belt... Right is six months ago. Left is 15cm away.

I've resolved to reboot my diet. As if today is Day 1. Wish me luck.

Most of the people I meet that haven't seen me for a while, have the same question: "What are you taking?" That is such a sad question. I know it's really a bad example but it reminds me a bit of the Nike ad by Lance Armstrong where he says: "Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike, bustin' my ass six hours a day. What are you on?" It's embarrassing today, but honestly that's the type of answer I would like to give. I made me fat, I am making me healthy again.

All those miracle shortcuts? Bad medicine in my opinion.

Another one bites the dust!

Two important things happened this week. On Saturday, My daughter asked me if I can make a cart-wheel. Being the alpha- male in our house, a simple "Yes dear, I'm able" was not enough. My answer was more like: "Stand aside, I will show you!"

So I did it. On my first attempt, she said it looked ok-ish, but I did not point my toes. Of course this was a border-line insult as far as I was concerned. So I went for broke, I needed height and grace to pull off the perfect cart-wheel. The result was outstanding. I'm still proud. Unfortunately, I pulled my hamstring tendon as well, so much so, that my wife sitting a few meters away could hear it pop.

Went to the doctor and got proper meds and treatment. Thankfully, I think this will be a short problem. In gym, I continued exercising, but eliminated all hamstring related exercises. I actually replaced them by sit-ups. Sitting in that doctor's reception, I was terrified that I would have to lay off for a month or so. Luckily it did not happen. After x-rays, the doctor mentioned that the joint space of my hips are quite narrow, although nicely uniform. I should not consider doing marathons. So relieved! Maybe that is also a remnant of carrying excess weight around.

I started this journey on July 4, 2016 (Hey, the new me was born on the fourth of July!) Yesterday, weighing myself on the same scale, in the same Gym, 228 days later, I weighed exactly 30 kg less! This is the second significant event of this week. Some stats: Pant size: 44 to 38, Shirt size, 4XL to XXL, Belt, on 4th new hole. Because of my shoulders, I think XXL will be my shirt size in future as well.



I still carry significant weight around my lower belly. It seems those guys are the most difficult to shed. I still have 13kg to go. There is light in the tunnel!

I try to cut carbs out of my diet. So I am quite a connoisseur of broccoli and cauliflower by now. Both are good replacements for pasta, potato etc. Breakfast is a problem though, bread and breakfast go together like copy and paste. At the moment I eat low-GI bread with peanut butter. This will have to change I think. Lunch is Biogen Diet Fuel, I am well and truly hooked. After gym I'm as hungry as a hostage and it goes down like a smoothie.

It is extremely hard work to lose weight at the moment. It takes a lot of effort. I suspect the fitter me, deals with exercise a bit easier, so the level of effort need to increase to make a significant impact.

Speaking of fitter. Yesterday morning, before I got up from bed, my pulse was 38. That's pretty low!

Eye of the tiger

We had a very eventful state of the nation address last night, as it has sadly become customary now. It seems one needs some hand-to-hand combat training now to go to parliament. Which, if you think carefully, is maybe not such a bad idea. Let them, the people that instigate hate and division to push their own agendas, fight it out among themselves. That leaves us, the common citizenry, to continue leading our relatively peaceful lives, in harmony.
Another tradition that seems to have become entrenched now, is that the sign-language interpreter steals the show.

Nelson Mandela's Funeral (Itsy bitsy spider...)

2016 State of the Nation (Zupta must fall!)

2017 State of the Nation (F@#k you Steenhuysen!)

Speaking of fighters, one of this countries' most loved sons passed away this week. Joost I salute you for your inspiration to us all. He was actually my neighbour! When I was a student, I shared a flat in Sunnyside with a friend. My friend's family was a little moneyed, so it was quite up-market. He was just starting out and the Blue Bulls rented him a flat one or two doors down the passage. I recall his piercing blue-green eyes and the way he always seemed like a wound up spring. Even standing in the lift with him, you were kind of waiting for the energy to release. And it did. Once the doors opened, he was out of there like a bullet from a gun.
I missed my 30kg milestone by a few grams this week. Still down 1.4 kg for the week though!
My gym routine is constantly expanding. I am slowly pushing up the weight and number of repetitions. I am up to 25 repetitions on some machines. After the circuit, I also add extra exercises; sit-ups, leg-ups and Russian twists.
As an experiment, I weigh myself before and after gym. I leave about 0.6 kg in the gym. I think that is quite good.
Honestly, last year this time I would never have thought this possible.


Enjoy the weekend friends!

Today is that day

On this day, in 1959 Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Mr. JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) died in a corn field near Clear Lake, Iowa. Later Don Mclean made a beautiful song about the events and this date is now known as "The day the music died". Buddy Holly was 22 years old at the time and I'm sure he would have gone on to be one of the biggest stars in the music world.

To me this date is also significant, as today is my 47th birthday. 47! Where have the time gone? To be honest, I still feel like a teenager inside.

I am lucky, as I have a great view of my life right now. I can look back at all the experiences, people, moments that fill my memories. I can reflect on the past and learn what needs to be learned. I miss my dad the most, I wonder what he would say today, if he would have been proud of me. At some level, I still want his appreciation. I can also see the future, imagine being what I aspire too for myself... you know, see it believe in it, work it, become it, as the self-help books would like us to believe. There is still a fair bit of future to work with! Something to be thankful for.

But as Winnie the Poo so eloquently put it, what makes this day my favourite, is that it is "Today". Today is a gift given to me where I learn from the past and faithfully build the future, as hopefully tomorrow and the day after that will be. In have made to-do and stop-doing lists to internalize throughout this year. Hopefully it will become part of who I am.

Enough mushy stuff!

Yesterday, on a whim, I tried on the suit I got married in 20 years ago. I am quite disappointed. It does not fit at all. The pants are way too big, by about 15 cm and the jacket is way to small. The sleeves leave about 5 cm of wrist exposed. When I bought it, my mindset was, as always, to disappear in the room. Of course this is a bit silly, seeing as it is your wedding day after all, but you can't argue with the sub-conscious... This is apparently a common phenomenon, as this guy so aptly explains. He has a great blog, by the way, although I don't agree with everything he says. If it was today, that suit may look a bit different, but the wife would be the same.

Embarrassingly, I kind of get the shopping addiction people have. I always dreaded going to clothes shops, even joked that they do not even make handkerchiefs in my size. But now things are different. Suddenly I have choices. Yeah! If only no 12 shoes were common...

I did an interesting experiment last night. I picked up my wife. No, not in a bar, I physically picked her up. She weighs a bit less than the weights I normally train with, so I wanted to feel if it felt more or less the same. She's actually light, I could carry her all day.

My body is definitely changing. This is an unintended by-product of all the gym sessions. My aim was always just to lose the flab and get fit, but I can see things going a different direction. My shoulders and pectorals are definitely widening and changing shape, although my belly is still very flabby. It seems the change works its way down slowly. I kind of like it! Weight-wise I lost 1.2 kg for the week. I worked hard for that.

Enjoy the weekend!

The Wall

Last Friday night, we had a little get-together at our house. My wife makes these beautiful "boere" Mediterranean pizzas. It has a wafer thin crunchy crust, covered with either olive or basil pesto, topped with powdered biltong, feta and parmesan cheese, baby tomatoes and fresh parsley. It goes terrific with a nice robust red wine, like a Shiraz... or whatever the cheapest one in the store was, which off-course was what I had.


Needless to say, I packed the stuff like there was no tomorrow. Both the wine and the pizza. It was so great I just could not help myself. In the process a cheat-meal turned into a cheat weekend, with overindulgence the next day on rump steak, boerewors and buffalo wings.


By Monday, I was up 3kg, and really depressed about it. Luckily gym is good therapy and I really hit it hard this week. I am still up 1.4 kg, but at least things are on the straight and narrow again. Furthermore, I need to learn to stop snacking on cookies which are readily available all over at my work-place. It's in every boardroom and I attend a lot of meetings.

It seems I've hit a bit of a wall now. It takes a little cheating to instantly gain a lot and a fair bit of work to actually lose the weight again. Challenge accepted.

I try to exercise twice daily now, although it doesn't always work out that way. Lunch-time gym and back to suspension training at home as well. I do about 80 sit-ups and 700 stairs every day, although not in the same session. Combined with the lifting in the circuit and on my suspension rings, I think that's not too bad for a middle-aged obese man. In fact, I'm quite proud.

I reconnected with an old friend this week. We worked closely together for a long time and made a great team. We still work for the same company, but not directly together any more, so we drifted apart a bit. To be honest he was always so disciplined about every aspect of his life, which I was a bit envious about. A few years ago he got into Cross-fit, or Functional Training. His transformation was remarkable. It was only now after taking a bit of control over my own life that I can engage with him without feeling insecure... I am strange that way, I'm sure he does not see it that way at all.

My friends asked me to update some "during" pictures. This morning I put on some new "thinner" clothes so it might be a good opportunity. Here's a picture from  May 2016 (as punishment they are also in the picture):

And this was this morning:

The original before photo is too gross for this post, you can see it at the beginning

In any case who would have thought Roger Waters can be brought into context with Sandie Shaw on a blog, the internet is a strange place.

Like a puppet on a string

Happy new year to you all!


So December holidays came and went... With all the indulgence that goes with that. We had a great time, even though we were at home.


Proud to say, everything that does not require special tools or equipment is now fixed. Bike service - check, tumble drier belt replaced - check, oven heating elements replaced - check, pool blue again - check, fence painted - check, half a cow, a pig and battery of chickens eaten - check, back-up fridge still needs gas though...


As my gym partner and I parted ways for the holidays, I was extremely worried about the inactivity. I attempted to join the three local gyms, closest to home, but the prices at two was very high, and the last one was trying his best to scam my credit card, so I left abruptly. The gym business really should clean up its act. It is really off-putting to have some pushy hyper muscled guy trying his best to part you with your hard earned money. That's my children's job you idiot!

To solve this, I did what every metro man would, I Googled for options. I've been following this program called Fit2Fat2Fit on TV, and I saw some nifty exercise equipment there. Specifically these things called TRX suspension trainers:

I went shopping for these things. Got them at Sportsman's Warehouse for... ahem... R2500. There was no way I was going to pay that, essentially for... rope? So I Googled again, and DIY'ed it big time. Made one for me and the children. There I was, on my holiday hanging on for dear life trying to emulate this:

And it sort of caught on. My wife is joining me, the boys are, albeit under duress. (Amazing what a wonderful tool Wi-Fi is for motivating teenagers!) So now, my patio is starting more and more to look like an outside gym, with four (yes four!) of these bands hanging there, multiple skipping ropes, a mini stair-master and a broken tread-mill.

I made one for a friend's young boy, kind of as a new-year's gift. The boy has a beautiful soul and his life has its own difficulties, like us all. He has sort of latched on to exercise as a way to express himself and he is doing a great job. To be honest, I have never seen a twelve year boy ripped like he is! He owns those bands. Does pull-ups like there's no effort to it at all. Here's to you Rein!

I finally went to see my doctor as well. He was very impressed with my lifestyle changes. Did an EKG, not sure why. In any case, all normal. He compared my vitals from my previous check-up: 27 kg lost, blood pressure down from 165/95 to 125/82, heart rate down from 95 to... 45!

So I've talked about everything except my weight. Cannot delay the inevitable I guess. Due to my over-indulgence, I picked up 4 kg over Christmas and New year. Very sad, felt like blubber-man. I almost lost hope, but decided I must just get back on the wagon. Since Monday it was back to eating healthy again, with suspension training sessions every day. To be honest, I never stopped eating healthy, it was just the extra cakes, second helpings and snacks that hit me.

This is truly the fastest weight loss I have ever experienced. I lost 3.5 kg from Tuesday morning to this Friday morning. Insane. Hopefully next week Monday I will hit the actual gym again as well.

So for now, we look like a giant puppet show at home and I love it. I think even the teenagers are loving it, although they hide it behind snide comments and bored expressions. I do see those involuntary almost-smiles sometimes though...

I got You Babe!

Yesterday was me and the wife's 20th anniversary. I was hoping to do this blog yesterday, but got a bit busy.

She's a special person, I know that, because I know myself, and she gets along with me. And handles four children, of which the youngest is really emotionally draining on her. Here's to you my love!

We went to Kream restaurant and boy was it a great experience. Kream is easily one of the best five restaurants in Pretoria, if not the best. In any case, we had everything, from champagne, made in the cap classique style, to starters, mains and dessert. Everything was top notch. Hopefully the after-effects will be financial only...

For reference purposes, this was me before the I started to loose weight:

I am so embarrassed. How did I let it happen?

Today I tried to hit the undo button on all that anniversary food in the gym. Lost one kilogram in perspiration only! Since the start of this week, I'm adding kettle-bell weight swings to my routine, as I understand it helps your abs a bit. I also do 40 sit-ups and 40 leg pull-ups after my circuit. It helps I hope, as I have a lot to lose in my abs, which I consider to be my worst aspect at the moment. I've got the stretch-marks to prove it!

As always, thanks for reading! You guys help me to keep going.

The world is changing

Today of all days we are reminded how the world is changing. This is true also for me.

My weight loss process has become decidedly more difficult. I think for two reasons: Because the new leaner me needs less food to get by with and the new fitter me needs more exercise to actually burn fat, more than my lunch-time routine seems to allow time-wise. But what the heck, it is starting to become fun. People are noticing and that is really great.

Because of all the salads we now eat, I started a vegetable garden in the spring. This is now beginning to bear... well... vegetables. Last night we had chicken salad, with home grown tomatoes, parsley, peas, lettuce and basil. Farmer brown is eating healthy baby!

My weight loss up to now is just over 26 kg. To put that into perspective, this is just a bit more than one of these containers, filled with filthy, unadulterated, disgusting, wobbly, FAT:

One has difficulty grappling with this. Have you ever carried one of these around? It's hard work. I did it daily without noticing. Now I cannot imagine having to climb steps, getting up from chairs, carrying that around. My world is changing.

Weekends are setting me back big-time. I eat when I'm inactive. Bad, bad, bad. I need to find something to keep me busy weekends. What made this past weekend worse was that my daughter had a swim gala. You basically sit around, eating peanuts, biltong, pretzels, cookies, for six hours, to essentially watch 10 minutes of swimming. It took me almost three days to get back to where I was on Friday.

To all my American friends, I hope Trump really makes America great again. At least political correctness is dead and buried now. Honesty is always a good idea, especially when you are honest with yourself.

Just a little bit of respect

Why am I doing this? Health issues? Maybe so, but lots of people get by by taking medication to offset their unhealthy lifestyle. I believed so in The Beginning and sure, I was developing some serious health issues!

But I must admit, if that was 100% true, I would have stopped by now. My heart-rate and blood pressure is down, I tie my shoelaces without developing a brain aneurysm, I walk up stairs without the steam-train effect, no more re-flux while I'm sleeping... In short, health-wise I feel great! But somehow I don't feel validated at all. In my mind, I am very far from done, in fact I'm not sure I will ever be done.

You see, although I have lost 24 kg (Yeah!) up to now, I need another 16-20 kg before I will be satisfied, but will I? Yes, by then my BMI will be within normal range, but what will I be? A lanky guy? Is that me? Even worse, does what you look like define who you are?

Of all people I should understand that. I mean, for 37 of my 46 years, I've been overweight and very aware of that fact, virtually every moment of my life it's there, like a defining attribute of what is "me". I constantly remember the day the school nurse poked her finger into my navel as a "test for the amount of body fat you have", looked at me and declared me grossly overweight, or the day the boy next door looked at me and declared that I look "pathetic". It stung like hell and I believed it, because I saw the same thing in the mirror.

I did not allow that to get me down, however. To some degree, I drew strength from that. It helped me to knuckle down where I had real talent, like academics. My motivation was that if I did not make that work for me, I really was nothing. And I made a success, today I have a good job, with degrees in Engineering and Law behind my name and I feel proud of that. Granted, my school friends that didn't care for studies and went into selling cars are doing financially much, much better, but that's another story for another day. To some degree I've grown to be a bit of an intellectual snob I think, but I am shaking that as fast as possible. I began to define people by their education and academic ability, mainly because it helped me look good when measured by those same means. Since then, I've met people who are extremely wise, without flashy degrees, and it made me do some introspection.

So am I secretly vain? Is that why I am doing it? A friend mine has this pearl of wisdom: "Beware of a guy with a six-pack ladies, as he did not go through the trouble of building that to charm just one girl." No, I'm not doing it for female attention either. I love my wife just fine. On a side note, she's lost 10 kg herself and looks amazing!

The answer is that I'm doing it for self-respect. I'm doing it for that little 10 year old boy who was so hurt by that nurse and what that friend said. It is as if there's this gap in my being where I believe I am inferior to every other person out there in this regard. I want to fix that gap. I want some self-respect. However it goes  further than just how you look, it seems that the world believes that if you are overweight, you have no impulse control, emotionally not that stable and not to be taken too seriously. You need to prove your own worth in all situations. What a sign to have to carry around. Unfortunately the world is a superficial place.

The locker-room talk at the gym is strangely tot about losing weight, it's about gaining weight! Guys that look like the fellow above complain bitterly because they are not building muscle fast enough. To me that's as alien as can be... Would I mind looking like that? Not at all! Is it possible for a 46 year old with stretch marks and flabby skin? I guess not. But I am trying to get close and once I'm close, to stay close.

Up... and Down!

Isn't that an insane video! I think my eldest would love it. His sense of humour is way out there. Rusty spoons, Happiness and Cyanide type of stuff.

First the bad news; I gained 3 kg this week. Now the good news; I lost 3.3 kg this week, bringing it to 20 kg in total! Yeah! How did this happen?

Remember how I complained about dizziness before? My suspicion was that my fitness was improving and therefore my blood pressure medication was becoming too strong. So on Friday, I decided to go without and to check my blood pressure that evening. It was actually normal: 121/79. A also did not take it on Saturday and Sunday, it stayed normal the whole week-end. But I could feel myself bulging in the process. By Monday, I was up by 3 kg.

So I checked my medication. The tablet I take is Co-Pritor, which actually contains a diuretic as well. By Monday my blood pressure had crawled back up to 140/90... It is clear that I'm not a very good cardiologist after all. On Tuesday I started taking my medication again, like a good boy. Weight dropped the next day by 2 kg and day after by another 1 kg. Mostly in the first 30 seconds after getting up...

Diet-wise, it was a difficult week. I will need to up my game. On Tuesday we had a working lunch at Irene Country Lodge. I went the whole nine yards. Moroccan lamb soup starter, grilled chicken breast with baked basmati rice, french beans and coconut-curry sauce main and fruit salad desert. At least I skipped the ice-cream with the desert... They have some idea how to cook, I can confirm that. What I should have skipped, was the popcorn lollipop.

Today, I need to attend a business lunch at AAD, which has all the potential to turn out sinful again. I need to learn to control myself, I guess old habits are hard to break.

Tomorrow morning the Springboks are playing the Spiritual Guardians of the holy game of Rugby. Good luck boys, you are going to need it. Very, very, very much. If only my weight could drop as quickly as my estimation of the Boks.

May all of you have a blessed week-end. 

Nineteen and counting

This morning I am down by 19.7kg. I was hoping for 20, but missed it by 300 grams. That's ok, still down 1.5 kg for the week. Not to be sniffed at.

Last week I was on my way to the Bulls Lions game, watching it from the company's box at Loftus. I was quite fearful of the snacks and the readily available (free) drinks. Alcohol is loaded with kilo-joules! I also did not give the Bulls much of a chance.

In the end, the Bulls ate the Lions for dinner and I kept my dinner well within control. Bravo to them and me!

This week was a terrible gym week. Work was really hectic and I had to work through lunch on many occasions, missing my regular appointment. All in all just two sessions, plus a few guilt-laden, limp push-ups, sit-ups and stairs last night at home. At least I broke a bit of a sweat, for what that's worth. I may have broken the 20kg barrier if it was not for that lack of exercise this week.

I went through a bit of a depression patch this week. At gym, there is this huge mirror in the change room and I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself in it. As an obese person, you teach yourself to avert your eyes when mirrors are around.

Surprise, I still look really really fat! Even though I've lost almost 20 kg, I am still about 20 kg overweight. And a person 20 kg overweight is still a sad sight to behold, especially without a shirt. As an adult, I've only once weighed less than now, but that was 15 years ago. Basically I feel great inside but still look crap outside. To top it off there were some really well built guys in there at the same time. I stood out like a fat, fat thumb.

My use of MyFitnessPal is tapering off. Using it, I have learned what is bad and what not, so I only use it when I try something new and to track my weight. The novelty has worn off a bit as well. They have a forum where you can discuss your experiences and I actually got a "You have been warned" from the moderators, for inviting people to read this blog. Go figure. Their loss.

To conclude, isn't that song a blast from the past? The last moments are really moving. That little dog's name is Dennis, you can read all about him. He dropped all that weight by cutting fast-food.

The show must go on

It's been a while... 

Since my last blog entry, I've lost another 3.2 kg, for a total of a little over 18 kg. This implies that since starting, my average rate of weight loss is 294 gram per day. I think that is good going.

I am now well entrenched in doing circuit training. I remember that first day in the gym well, thinking it must be extremely painful to spend time on those machines. Now it is my favourite area! What I like about the circuit is that you get to do a lot, without getting over-tired. Just as your arms get tired, you move on to abs, then legs etc. I am slowly adding more routines as well, which I chain onto the end of the circuit. I do a sort of "abdominal turn" on a strange looking machine. You basically lift a weight by rotating your upper body.

I also do a 45 second plank and 20 "half-squats" where I do not bend beyond 90 degrees. Half, because my quadriceps ligaments still hurt like hell and I do not want to risk further knee injury. This is in response to the Linda Kriel 30 days plank challenge that our weight-loss group have taken on.

Exercise is definitely easier now. I think it is due both to improved fitness and reduced weight. My resting heart-rate is down from 95 to 65 now. I think that is quite a dramatic change. I am still taking blood pressure medication, but I think I must see the doctor soon. I am having dizzy spells when I get up quickly, it may be due to blood pressure getting too low. I've been negligent in that regard, as I am doing this whole thing without medical advice.

It is incredible how much harm I have been doing to my body. Every single day that I face the man in the mirror, it becomes more and more clear. Stretch-marks, skin-tags, hanging flab and those are just the obvious things. Add to that high blood pressure, gout, gastric re-flux, worn joints and it is clear that my warranty is well and truly voided by now.

Last night I had the guts to look at my body-shape again. I am still carrying a lot of excess weight in the form of fat, water and lose skin  in my lower abdomen area, but my upper torso is definitely improving. I can see the beginning of my lats forming there! That typical triangular shape is starting to peek at me.

The past weekend, I did an experiment using two bags of 8 kg dog food. I picked it up in the grocery shop and walked around with it for a while... must have looked a bit silly. It was however a bit of a schlep to carry it around. To think I have been doing that for years already and I have another two or more bags to drop on top of that.

I am not sure of what my ideal weight must be. I am not of slender build at all, fat aside. My shoulders are wide and my chest "depth" is quite deep, so much so that a 2XL shirt is the smallest I can wear, regardless of whats going on around my middle. I am 1.87 meter tall, and according to BMI I should be 85kg. Without looking for excuses, I do not think that will be practical for me. I think I will wait until I dropped more weight to properly judge that.

Our weight-loss group has lost 31 kg in total up to now. Congrats to all of you! 

Tonight I will be watching the Bulls take on the Lions at Loftus, in the company's box. Afraid of the free access to food, drink and snacks... I do believe that for this lifestyle change to stick, I must learn to handle these kind of situations, so I am heading to the valley of the shadow of death. I have a feeling it will be that for the Bulls as well. I predict a hard day at the office for them.

Body beat

Last week the expert from the gym suggested that my diet is not optimal, because I cut out carbs completely. He also suggested I start to do some circuit training as well, which I duly did.

I got my hands on a diet by Linda Kriel, who is  a well known fitness and diet guru. She used to feature in the Body Beat clips that was part of "Good Morning South Africa" in the 80's to 90's. Oh man it was such a good way to start your day. Just check out the video clip from back then:

Fast forward 30 years and she still does it quite well...

Where was I... My lovely wife joined me in this quest, although her weight is very close to ideal in any case. (Did I mention before that she has natural grace and beauty?) So we are both eating according to this diet. I also exercise using the super-circuit at the gym. My routine is as follows; Start with 5 min stationary bike cardio, burn about 50 calories, then do the super-circuit, with climbing steps between machines. I do 20 repetition per machine and I set the effort level so that the last repetition is almost impossible to complete. At least I am not that guy forever adjusting it to lower levels any more.

The most difficult part is actually the stairs between machines. That last step is like a mountain. I finish off by doing another 5 minutes on the stationary bike, burning another 50 calories. Normally I need some help to get down the stairs by then. I think stamina is not my forte, I am more a speed and strength guy.

I found a cure for the lazy weekends as well. I've started laying out a vegetable garden at home, to supplement all these veggies we are now supposed to eat. So after a few hours of swinging a pick ax, digging trenches and general manual labour, I now have the beginnings of a vegetable garden, a few bad blisters on my hands and huge respect for people who do this kind of thing for a living!

Now for the good news. It really works! After my session on Friday, the weekend, yesterday and today, I am down 2 kilograms already! I have broken the 15 kg barrier!

The word "diet".

I missed my goal for this week, by almost a kg! Lost a measly 600 gram. And I have not been cheating. To be honest I feel cheated. 

I've been reading up on weight loss theories. One thing remains true at all times: Diet is a noun and not a verb. Because if you are "on a diet", it implies you will be "off a diet" at some stage. It's like driving your car without a fuel gauge. You need to know where you are, what you've taken in and if you need to take it easy.

I notice now that I get grumpy when I don't go to the gym. I guess that is a good sign in some way? My gym partner still has some effects of the flu, but yesterday we could go, and last night I felt much better, like I am more in control again. Of course the scale shattered that illusion this morning... I will just need to work through it.

Spoke to one of the experts at the gym yesterday. He says I might actually be eating too little. According to him, your body needs some nutrients to be able to metabolize your body fat. It sounds like sound advice. He also says I should start on weight or circuit training, as this is accelerates weight loss. I am prepared to try and I will do it from now on. My fitness has picked up a bit, so it is not as uncomfortable as before. At his advice I am going to see a dietitian as well, if my medical aid covers it.

So this afternoon, it's me and this place:

On a lighter note, I see that a proper Hankey Pankey burns about a hundred or more calories. I think it's time my wife should start joining me in this quest...

My silver dream machine

I must admit, this blog entry is just an excuse to post a great song, but I am going to make it fit all together. Continue reading. 

I commute to work by motorcycle. Yes I know it's dangerous and so on, but it is the only way I can mange to have some semblance of a presence in my children's school life. It allows me to zip home within 25 minutes regardless of traffic. It's also a great money saver, as it is light on fuel and I maintain it on a shoe-string budget. My bike is a simple 2005 Kawasaki KLE 500 cc. On the excitement-scale, it's about two heartbeats per minute away from a lawnmower. 

In the last six months I've noticed that acceleration is getting more and more sluggish. I put it down to old-age, as it did tick over 100000 km this week, which is a lot for a bike. As it turns out I should have done a little more introspection. I'm down by 13 kg now and all of a sudden, my bike has a bit more grunt again! I guess that BMW 1200 GS will have to wait for now...

In other news, my gym partner has the flu this week, so I am stuck at work lunch times. It feels strange and I can tell my weight-loss progress is slowing down. Need to get out and do something!

I have almost lost 10% of my starting body weight. That is my next target and I hope to reach it this week. 

I get by with a little help from my friends

Last night, for the first time, my friends noticed that I am losing weight. It really is a nice feeling to be honest. Thank you to all of you. Some of you are working through your own personal issues, much more intense that losing a bit of weight. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I still have about 40 kg to go and to be honest, it seems like a huge mountain to climb. At the moment I am losing weight at about one kilogram per week. In the beginning it was between two and three kilograms per week. There are various theories about this. One theory is that you lose the fresh flab first, sort of easy come easy go. I kind of believe this, as I am now at a weight that I have maintained for years before recently losing control. That mirror is still a horrific sight though.

I also think I am not drinking enough water. According to Livestrong your body needs water to burn fat, in fact you actually burn calories when you drink water! I have been holding back on the water in order to cheat the scale, seems I've been cheating myself. 

I've also been thinking about these so-called fat burner tablets for a while. Will it actually help me accelerate the process? If things continue at the current pace (which I doubt), I will be on target by May 2017. That seems like a lifetime away. To be honest, I'm a bit impatient for that. For now I will avoid it, but I haven't dismissed the idea completely.

I did 30 minutes of Cardio today and yesterday, worth 360 calories per day. We had a long weekend and it really is not good for losing weight. You need that daily routine and activity of going to the gym, feeling what 100 calories feels like, in order to control your eating habits. It is also better not to be confronted with readily available food, especially for somebody who tends to eat out of boredom like myself. What will I do one day when I retire? Hopefully my relationship with food will have improved by then.

I still need to lose 200 gram to reach my goal for this week. Hold thumbs for tomorrow morning!

I've got Friday on my mind

My body is declaring war on my mind. Who will win? Losing weight has become a much slower process this week. I've been taking in 1200-1500 calories per day and lost only 1.1 kg. I feel a bit cheated. This moment was always coming, it's just a matter of working through it.

I am starting to hate mirrors. My weight loss up to now is 11 kg so you actually feel lighter on your feet, you ascend stairs much easier and so on. But that moment you get out of the shower, you realise that you are still carrying a huge hunk of lard around. Unfortunately this is not going to be a quick fix...

Burned 300 calories yesterday. It was quite painful. It is clear that this is the time for gritting my teeth and to be dedicated to the cause. Unfortunately no gym today, as my my partner is having a weekend off. Maybe I should cycle a bit with the children.

Luckily it's Friday today. Planning to rest a bit over the weekend to allow some recuperation to put in a good effort next week. No binge eating though!

It hurts so good.

The day before yesterday, I had a meeting at work that dragged into lunch time. This resulted in us missing our normal lunch-time gym session. We decided to pop in after work, as the traffic was hectic in any case. Because yesterday was an day off, due to the municipal vote in South Africa, we did a bit extra to compensate.

I did 320 calories on my two cycles, as well as some walking and running training. We did our walking and running training as follows: The track is 200 meters long, and we basically sprint 50, briskly walk 150. We kept this up for 15 minutes or so. The last sprint nearly killed me. It's more or less my take on what HITT traning should be... for absolute beginners. I estimate 500 calories burned for the whole gym session.

Driving home, I almost did not have enough power left in my legs to operate the clutch on my car. The end result of that was that I basically needed a full body Voltaren rub just to get out of bed yesterday, not that my wife wanted to oblige... At least I know this pain is for a good cause. I think you might say it hurts so good...

We had some friends over last night for some of these:

It was really difficult not to go crazy, but in the end I persevered. Had mine with rye bread and a side salad. I prepared the tomato relish without sugar, using artificial sweetener, and nobody noticed. I was so uncomfortable from all the food. Strange how quickly your stomach adapts.

Just want to express my thanks for all those reading my blog. You help to prop me up when I start to fall over.

Tarzan boy...

Nobody that has never been grossly overweight realises how intimidating a gym really is. On our very first day, we walked into the place behind a real Tarzan Boy. He was about 1.9 meters tall and was wearing extremely tight tights and a very small sleeveless top. He had muscles in places where I do not even have places. What made it even more intimidating, was that he was walking with a distinct cross-dresser type swagger. I was following this guy into a  locker room that seemed extremely lonely... Fish, dry ground, you get the picture.

As it turns out, that was the strangest day so far. In the mean time, I've been meeting normal people just like me. About half of them are regulars, while some are new faces that disappear soon. You get basically two groups: The young body building types, and the older health conscious types. The former group talks supplements, impact training and such things.

The other group does not talk at all. They just stare blankly in front of them. I guess they are concentrating hard to un-see the things you see in these locker rooms. I still find it disconcerting to look up and be faced by some very ugly realities! Why do these places not have more privacy?

I burned another 330 calories yesterday. Sadly my weight was up by 400 gram even though I was eating very carefully over the weekend. I am guessing this would be due to my body trying to prepare itself for a period of "famine". 

I am finding MyFitnessPal a very handy tool, although I can tell it annoys my wife a bit when I log everything before starting to eat, which makes it fun as well! Last night I could not close the dairy. It demanded that I eat something more for health purposes, which I did. 

She drives me crazy...

We have a bona-fide psychopath living in our house. She manipulates people (especially me), she has no empathy for others and cares only for her needs. Yet, she is also perfectly normal. She is a two-year-old. The other children got through this stage beautifully, I believe it will be the same.

She also has the most beautiful smile that makes the sun shine brighter and makes the world a more beautiful place to be in. Her name is Katinka:

She's always had this habit of sitting on my lap at dinner, pointing at my food, indicating what I should eat next. No big deal, only thing is, she actually touches my food and I have seen the places that finger goes... This has never been a real issue, but all of a sudden it drives me crazy!

I think it comes from the fact that that single plate of food, that she is stabbing her finger at, is all I will be having. Therefore I savour the tastes and enjoy it much more than before. You see, eating on an empty stomach is sort of a new thing for me.

In other news, a guy smashed through may mother's, neighbour's fence, damaging three vehicles. He gets out, stumbling drunk. Calls the owner of the house "Dude" before he runs off to get his mother's help. Guess how old he is... 42 Years! I guess if I do a bit of introspection, I'm not that far off from this guy. It's all about taking responsibility, also for your own health.  

I lost 4 kg last week! I am now officially 10 kg down from when I started. It took me 3 weeks, which is incredibly fast, I'm sure the "hitting the brick wall" part is around the corner, but I will work through it. I want to lose as quickly as possible to start to enjoy the gym work a bit more.

Friday we spent two hours in the gym, as the traffic was stationary in any case. My muscles are still a bit stiff, but I will try my best today. I am planning to try this HIIT thing that I've been reading about.

I was a good boy this week-end. Every day was 1000 calories below the daily allowance. 

Hold thumbs for this week.