Blonde will make thin ....Here we go again !

[Girgy85]

Todays grub....

Scrambled eggs and beans on two toast.

2 chicken breast, jacket potato, peas and cottage cheese.

Yogurt.

Back to work tonight so taking another chicken breast with cottage cheese. got a bag of fruit in boot of car to snack on too.

Corned beef ash healthy/unhealthy? Ingredients.... tin of Corned beef, 2 tins veg soup, 2 potatoes, sweede carrot onion leeks, peas and two oxo cubes.

You eating the whole thing in one go?

Doesn't sound particularly unhealthy but appears to be quite a large portion.

its a full pan but not eating it all obv. usually have a giant yorkshire pudding filled with the corned beef ash.

[MANTIS01]

Mantis - you are manage a gym right?

You must have seen hundreds of fatties coming in in January with the best of intentions year in year out, and seen some successes, and mostly failures.

From your experience, and the experience of your personal trainer colleagues, what do the fatties who go from no exercise & lifelone bad diet, to gym crazy health fantastics, do differently?

I dont mean what do elite fitness nuts do, I mean literally the guys that change their lifestyle from bad to good and stick to it.

Also, any chance you could write in shorter paragraphs? 

All first timers see gym sessions as punishment and the sofa as reward, esp after a hard day at work. Regs see gym sessions as rewarding/stimulating and the sofa as laziness. They know actually getting fit means you prob wont be tired in the first place. The success stories establish a routine for long enough that this physiological change in mentality happens, and it happens naturally to everyone. It's easier for some to get that focus from the start due to their circumstances. I've got a member who was an obese alcoholic a few years ago and the GP said he had less than a year to live if he didn't change his lifestyle. That's quite some motivation so no surprise the guy is super fit today. If you offered jet-lagged Woodsey £10k to do a gym session today he would be bending and stretching like a demented Jane Fonda in no time. But generally you do have to show a certain tenacity at first to establish a change.

You don't go to beast yourself at first because that is psycologically seen as punishment and is easy to avoid, you set realistic fun goals and set about achieving them. Just going can be a goal. You need to focus on your initial motivation eg you want to see your kids grow up or look buff on the beach in the summer and that will be a reward worth striving for. Constant positive re-affirmation of the initial longterm goal broken down into small manageable steps are the building blocks to lasting success. Once you've created a habit and acquired a trained mentally you will love the feeling of hitting goals and getting stronger/fitter/better so it's an easy upward spiral from there. Also the results don't really show for some time so your appreciation of ROI heightens over time when you look in the mirror and this continues to spur you on. It's very easy for fatties to feel self-conscious as well but the success stories have the ability to think feck them I'm here for me.

But don't listen to me cos members who join gyms and don't come but still pay for months because they're deffo going to come one day are golden.

Sorry about the paras man.

[Simon Galloway]

So it's not that you can't be arsed, it's just that you have no time?

I'm confused.

If I had 12 spare hours a day, I'd have plenty of time to go to the gym, and then it really would be only laziness stopping me.

When I have 1 spare hour a day, on the back of minimal sleep and non-stop on the go, sometimes I cba to dedicate that spare time to the gym.

[EvilPie]

I have to disagree with at least one point Mantis has made there.

I consider myself a gym reg. I see my gym sessions as rewarding and stimulating. I don't however view the sofa as laziness. The sofa is amazing!!

I'd probably disagree with some other bits as well but I couldn't be bothered to read the rest after work, picking the kids up from school, cooking dinner, getting the wife from the train station I just dont have the time.

[EvilPie]

So it's not that you can't be arsed, it's just that you have no time?

I'm confused.

If I had 12 spare hours a day, I'd have plenty of time to go to the gym, and then it really would be only laziness stopping me.

When I have 1 spare hour a day, on the back of minimal sleep and non-stop on the go, sometimes I cba to dedicate that spare time to the gym.

I don't believe that you only have 1 spare hour every day. It's just an excuse. This isn't a criticism by the way. I'm guilty of it myself.

There's absolutely zero chance that you are doing meaningful stuff 23 hours every day.

If you are then you need to make a few changes.

Please don't take this as a direct dig at you Simon. It's aimed at everybody, myself included who claim to not have the time to do things. It's a very common problem and one that's very difficult to get over.

[Simon Galloway]

The only thing I am slightly wasteful with time on is surfing whilst "working"

At the moment, lie-ins don't happen, 5-6 hours sleep, kids all day, work at night, not gone out for ages, zero TV, zero xbox, picked up a book for the frist time in 2 years this week, etc.  I'd love to make a few changes, and will be as soon as circumstances permit.

The only poker player really to have seen me at home is KOL - who cliffed "fuck that for a game of soldiers"  In the time it takes him to make a cup of tea, dust has started to gather and switching  the TV on is an afternoon's work.

It's all relative, not asking for any violins.  Just pointing out that some people have a very fast-paced life and others with less responsibility don't.

I fully understand that long term, I have to find a balance that includes regular exercise.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am deceptively sporty and don't need an excuse to play sport at any opportunity.  At the moment, 500cals a day, 19 hour days, juggling plenty, yes I'm not balanced.

[Marky147]

I wouldn't be going to the gym on 500cals a day anyway you'll prob end up in the hospital 

[Raman]

Managed to get my weight today, purchased anew set of scales from Asda. 

I have got the mrs to take a photo of my weight whilst I was on the scales so will post that when i figure out how to get the image from her iPhone. 

I weighed in at 155.7kg in St/lb thats 24st 5lbs. 

I have been thinking things over as well and having given it some thought I don't want to either fail at this or damage myself by pushing myself too hard to drop the weight so will be ammending my pledge.  I still aim to get to 20st for the 14th of June.  But rather than make it £25 for each pound not lost I am going to change that and have laid it out below what my intention will be now.  My reasoning for this is i don't think if I failed completely and never shed a pound I'd be putting myself in a situation were£1400 is a lot of money for me to give up and I am not sure I'd be able to afford it in one lump sum.  So I want the sum I am donating to charity if I fuck this up to me manageable and something I would be happy to give up in the end if that makes sense?

With that in mind I am doing this on a sliding scale on a % basis.

a) if total weight loss is > 90%  of target I will donate £200
b) if total weight loss is > 80% but <90% I will donate £300
c) If total weight loss is > 50% but < 80% I will donate £400
d) If total weight loss is < 50 of target I will donate £500.

The way I see it is that no matter what happens charity benefits because I would like to donate something for the benefit of having this thread as a motivation. 

So if Lee could ammend the OP with this in mind it would be much appreciated.

[sovietsong]

Happy with my eating today, had a few potential hurdles but got through ok.

Fruit is going down well helping me break up the day and also drinking loads of water.

I would really like to get evening meal tips from the other fatties. Tonight I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms and 1/2 a tin of baked beans.

[RED-DOG]

Total disaster today. Ate everything. Bread & butter, cake, chocolate, biscuits, a pie, crisps, pasta...

[sovietsong]

Total disaster today. Ate everything. Bread & butter, cake, chocolate, biscuits, a pie, crisps, pasta...

Get back on it tomorrow red! Don't let the rest of the fatties down

[RED-DOG]

Can't type....   fingers..... too..... greasy......

[Woodsey]

Happy with my eating today, had a few potential hurdles but got through ok.

Fruit is going down well helping me break up the day and also drinking loads of water.

I would really like to get evening meal tips from the other fatties. Tonight I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms and 1/2 a tin of baked beans.

I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea but I have been eating the healthyish meals from M+S for tea, they have some good offers like 3 for 2 on usually. The thing I like about them is I can see the calories in them and it enforces portion control on me too which is something I struggle with a lot. One of the things about M+S ready meals is they are always artificial colouring/flavouring and preservative free. They also try and keep the salt content within sensible limits, but check each pack. And to be quite frank I would struggle to cook something as good myself for the 2 or 3 quid I'm paying and I'm not a bad cook at all.

[leethefish]

Total disaster today. Ate everything. Bread & butter, cake, chocolate, biscuits, a pie, crisps, pasta...

Get back on it tomorrow red! Don't let the rest of the fatties down

This a slip.....but one day won't kill you mate straight on it today!
 

[Woodsey]

Total disaster today. Ate everything. Bread & butter, cake, chocolate, biscuits, a pie, crisps, pasta...

Get back on it tomorrow red! Don't let the rest of the fatties down

This a slip.....but one day won't kill you mate straight on it today!
 

Lame excuse imo, he just shouldn't have touched any of the bad stuff in the first place imo