Friday 17 June 2011

Hi and welcome to The LTFU Blog*

I’m starting this blog mainly as a motivational tool for my weight loss journey that started in earnest (again!) on the 1st of June 2011. This will be my second serious attempt at losing weight and hopefully things will work out better this time around. In all honesty I’m not writing this for the whole world to share in my sad panda story but purely to keep record of my lifestyle change and the ensuing fat loss (or so the theory goes). In the off chance that somebody else might actually visit this page I thought I might as well make it interesting and if anyone in a similar position finds something useful on this blog in future at least all this effort wouldn’t have been in vain. 

Let’s start off then with a short and painfully boring history lesson … About 10 years ago I started using the SureSlim program (yes the one that tests your blood and all sorts of other things) but please don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I’ve suddenly realised that I’m fat and I needed to lose weight, I’ve always been the fat kid as far back as I can remember. I know I had some sort of kidney issues as baby/toddler but it’s not something I know or remember much about. I distinctly remember though being the biggest kid in our whole group when I started school and was pushing the scales close to 60kgs (which is apparently a lot for a 7-year old kid), the day I left school I couldn’t have been much less than 125kg. When I started the program for the first time, about 10 years after I left school, I’ve already ballooned to a not-so-beefy 150kg but following SureSlim’s sort-of personalised program for 8 months (without any form of exercise I might add) I’ve dropped down to approximately 115 kilos which I thought was pretty remarkable. Unfortunately around this same time I’ve lost my job and went through a 2-3 year period of not really knowing whether I was coming or going which saw me surely but slowly gain back everything I’ve lost. 

By 2004 my life was sort of back on track but by now I was so accustomed to this 150kg-ish bulk it didn’t really bother me at all. So it went for 5-6 years with me not really giving a hoot about my looks (or how people sometimes looked at me) but by the end of 2010 I started to notice that whenever I saw myself in a photo all I saw was this gigantic monstrosity. Deep inside I just knew that my 150kg days were long gone and that I’m just kidding myself to think along those terms.  Even my closest friends of many years started asking embarrassing questions and made comments on my huge size. Being the “jolly guy” that I am it was pretty easy to joke about it and laugh out loud whenever the subject got mentioned but at the end of the day it still leaves a painful impression which led to me finally deciding to do something about this matter.  

Starting 2011 I consciously tried to eat healthier (with emphasis on try) and consistently had thoughts of starting some sort of exercise in the back of my head but being the perennial lazy ass I never really did anything about it and before I would know it I would find myself in the queue at the McDonalds or the KFC or ordering some sort of takeout pizza. 5 months down the line and still not really having done anything about my predicament I heard that some people at work was thinking of starting a Biggest Loser contest with a pretty decent cash prize for the winner. Luckily with me also being the perennial poor ass, I saw this opportunity as the great motivator I was always waiting for. (Who knew money has this amazing property?) Knowing that SureSlim worked for me in the past I thought that if I simply followed my old program again I would stand a very good chance! 

Anyway, the competition kicked off on the first with me realising my worst fears, embarrassingly I weighed too much for the 150kg max capacity electronic scale which tried valiantly to give a reading but all it could muster was an error message. At least they could take my measurements which were:
  • Chest 137cm
  • Waist 152cm
  • Hips 165cm
These figures may not be the most accurate though since it was taken by a less than eager male colleague who didn’t seem too enthusiastic about measuring a fat dude but at least it’s something to work with. Obviously to make things fair for everyone competing I had to get myself weighed accurately as soon as possible. Having had SureSlim on my mind from the beginning I phoned and made an appointment to go see them on the 4th of June. To make a long story short I went there simply to abuse their industrial scale but after talking to them they made me a great offer I simply couldn’t refuse … so I joined up again for 6 months which at least allows me to go weigh myself every week (which I feel is important in the beginning to keep you motivated when you see that your suffering during the week was actually worth it) and it gives me a support base should I need it. 

The big question everyone is probably asking is “So how much did you weigh?” Well the embarrassing answer is 186.2kg … I’ll even repeat that ridiculous number (and make it bold and a ridiculously zany colour and for good measure a decent font size as a reminder of my humiliation and to say to myself … NEVER AGAIN!!!)
 
186.2kg!!!!!

th tomorrow I can happily say that after 2 weeks of rigorously following the program (at least mostly) I had my first weigh in last week and I’ve already lost 5.3 kilos (i.e. weight = 180.9kg after Week 1) and that I’m due for my second weigh in tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll see a similar result so here’s holding thumbs! 

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If you’ve read this far first of all congratulations and thank you, not many people would have. Since you already know basically everything about me why not join me in my weight loss journey? I’ll try my utmost to update you at least once a week on my progress, share with you know what’s working for me (or what’s not) and give general tips and hints on weight loss as I stumble upon them during my own research. Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or if you know of any helpful or inspirational websites please let me know so that I can share it with everyone else.     
  
Many thanks and see you all next week! 

* I’ll try to keep swearing to the bare minimum but sometimes in life things just needs to be said ... if you can’t live with the odd expletive being uttered … Eish, I don’t know???  

4 comments:

  1. Burkie I think this is absolutely amazing wkat you doing and I take me hat off to you for taking on such a big challenge and for having such a positive outlook on your situation. I will support you every stemyaniae way as I know front personal extperience that its no joke taking on a challenge like this! Well, good luck my friend. We look forward to sharing your progress and success with you. Tania

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  2. Very motivating!!! Now I aso have to get my ar$e into gear and take this seriously!!!

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  3. Well done for putting your foot down and taking on this challenge...I'll be keeping track of your progress and support you all the way to the winning cheque!!

    Good luck and may the carrot sticks be with you!!!

    The Viking.

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  4. Thanx for the encouragement peeps!

    Mr. Viking Sir ... the day I eat a carrot stick is the day I die ... Thanx but no thanx dude!

    :)

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