Day Fifty Two...

I've just finished packing all my clothes whist my dearest if having dinner with her friends. I didn't want to go the meal, but as soon as they're done I'll be racing into town to meet them.

We plan on leaving early tomorrow morning, but there's a few staying over tonight, so I imagine there will be a few hangovers to contend with. Of course, I'll be as fresh as a daisy.

I've been asked to do a couple of extra nights the week after I'm back from holiday. This is a pain in the ass, as I thought I was finished with all that. However, it's a few extra quid in the bank I suppose.

Day Fifty One...

Today I've been planning the week ahead. I'm off on holiday next week. Well, when I say holiday, I mean I'm going to visit my dad and will be laying flooring all week. Nobody's idea of a fun packed week, but I kind of looking forward to it. I'm off to the Isle of Skye, so if there's any nice weather, I should have a great time enjoying the fishing.

Then, next weekend, I'm off to a wedding. This will be a strange event. I'll be completely dry, and not eating. One thing is for sure, I am guaranteed to be the designated driver.

On top of that I've got my partner's 30th celebration tomorrow night which is a meal with 20+ folks in Londond followed by a booze up in the Amber Bar. I've been excused from the meal, but will definitely be attending the drinks. I'm sure nobody will notice me just drinking water...

So, unless I get near an internet cafe or get bored enough to post from my phone this is me signing off for a week. I've got 2 weeks worth of food packs since I'll be missing my next session. What I need to do is find a way of mixing them up in serving stations. I need a proper chordless mixer...

Day Fifty...

Wow. Yesterday I shed my 50th pound and today I completed my 50th day on Lighterlife. Now I've reached a double half century and am feeling pretty pleased.

When I started this programme I didn't know if I had the will power or the drive to do it. However after the first few weeks things have got a lot easier. There has beent he occaisional slip when I start to think about the food I'm missing, but monstly it' easy. I'm very happy to have got this far.

Next week I will have completed my first cycle of abstinence. Men are on packs of food for 8 weeks and expect to lose 3 stones. I have already surpassed that by half a stone, so seem to be doing well. I'm guessing I'll got straight onto another 8 week cycle and try to lose another 3 stones. Considering that I will not have the large losses of week one on my second cycle, 3 stones looks like an ambitious, but acheivable target.

I still have a nagging feeling about keeping the weight off in the future. I was reading another weightloss blog of a guy who lost 170lbs. Within a year and a half after hitting target his weight went up to over 500lbs. There are very few success stories from people who have kept the weight of year after year. Every statistic I read says that people almost always put the weight back on. I don't want to do that.

What I'd like to see is real numbers for people on Lighterlife, or any other diet one, two and three years after finishing.

Day Forty Nine... Weigh in

Today was a rushed day. I was late getting out of bed, late leaving for home and almost late for my Lighterlife session tonight.

This week I lost another 4lbs. This is a bit on the low side, but the previous two weeks losses have been massive, so I'm still happy. My weight loss has now hit the heady heights of 50lbs.

50lbs doesn't seem like a lot of weight to me when I think that my target is around 150. However, if you try to lift 50lbs it is a huge amount of mass. It's the same as 90 packets of butter or almost the equivalent of of a sack of potatoes.

So, if I lost so much weight, how come I can't feel it? The most disappointing thing about this diet is that fact that so far, I deel no difference. My clothes have become gradually looser, but there is still no real difference int he way I feel.

Anyway, I'm off to try to think of a way to celebrate my 50th pound being shed.

Day Forty Eight...

Back at work after the weekend. Things are always easier at work, but today I am missing food again. I don't know why, but the urges for a cheese burger are back. The missus cooked some lovely smelling chicken with five spice. I really felt like I was missing out.

Appart from that it was easy. I just ate my packs, drank my water and watched a couple of episodes of 24.

Day Forty Seven...

Tried in vain to get a bicycle for the missus but failed miserably. I'm going to have to come clean and get it after her birthday. Ho hum. I'm sure she won't mind, but it's a bit disappointing.

I spent the rest of the day working on the computer and watching series 6 of 24. I almost never watch TV, maybe 15 hours a year. However, I managed to get addicted to 24 many moons ago and have recently caught up by downloading watching all the ones I missed. Series 5 seemed like the best in ages, but series 6 seems a little weak so far. Apparently their making another two, so I'll probably watch them too.

Easy day on the diet. I have no nightshift so packing away all my water and packs was a doddle.

Day Forty Six...

I've tried unsuccessfully to by a birthday present for the missus this weekend. It's her 30th on Wednesday and I know what she wants, I've had enough hints. She is after a new bike to replace her very cheap one we bought about a year ago.

I've gone round dozens of bike shops and just found nothing suitable or in stock. There is now a good chance she'll get an IOU for a bike and a little something extra to open on the day.

When buying good quality bikes for women there is a huge drop in the numbers available and none of the retailers carry enough stock.

The diet's been going fine recently with the exception of still missing packs when I'm on nights. I'm trying to fix that and have now got it all under control. I hope.

Day Forty Five...

After working late on thursday I had a very lazy friday. The missus went out for a few drink, but as I was working I didn't go along. She arrived home around 2am just as I was starting to work and was pissed as a fart. I put her to bed and carried on the work. She'll have a huge hangover tomorrow.

I've definitely got a case of man flu. I don't really feel bad, but I'm a bit blocked up, have earache and just don't feel right.

I've been asked to do the night shift all weekend. I said I'd do it, only if there was none next week.

Day Forty Four...

It was another late start today after a long night. These long nights are going to continue over the weekend. I said I'd do them as long as there were none the week after.

I'm finding it hard to eat my 4 packs a day at the moment as I am awake a silly times. It's a poor excuse and I need to make sure I get them. I'm coming down with a cold and I don't know whether it's down to poor nutrition, no sleep or over work. Either way, next week I'll get back to normal.

I was giving the annual appraisals to some of my team today. We go through this process every year. It consists of filling out a form, meeting with boss for an hour to go through form and last year's objectives, redoing form after boss points out all the things you were too lazy to do and then sending it off to HR for it to be filed. It all seems pointless, but we have to do it. I have 21 staff members, so it takes me almost an entire week to get through them all.

I walked home as usual today, but decided to go much faster. I did the walk in just over an hour. It felt like a decent bit of exercise. I think I'll time myself more often. I found myself losing concentration and dawdling until I remembered I was trying to go fast and speeding up again.

Day Forty Three...

I turned up to work around one o'clock for a very important meeting about the future of the operations department in my company. I am the de facto head of operations since there's nobody else doing it. In an attempt to formalise the operations area and cement my own position I've been doing a lot of work recently shaping and planning the team for the future. This involves hiring a whole stack of people and that's a hard thing to get approved where I work.

To cut to the chase, I got every thing I wanted for 'phase 1' which is an additional eight staff, and broad approval for my future plans of increasing my team to fifty one. At the end of the day I couldn't be more happy.

In other good news, one of my regular customers shouted at me, "Dammit, you're getting thinner every day I see you"! That made me very happy indeed.

Day Forty Two... Weigh in

Well, that's the end of week six. It's been a weird week due to working late a lot of nights and I've been like a walking zombie for most of it. However, I haven't felt the ened to cheat on my diet at all.

I've also had my first people notice I've lost weight. Surprisingly they were two blokes. I assumed women would be the first to notice, but no, it was a couple of guys. That really cheared me up.

My weigh in was tonight. I lost another 8lbs. This is the largest weightloss I've had since the first week and takes me over three stones lost. My total is now 46lbs in six weeks. I am losing on average over 1lb a day, which is crazy. I have a rising doubt about the figures though. My scales at home are much more conservative in their weightloss figures. I think I need to got a second opinion from somewhere to put my mind at rest or give me a more realistic figure.

Day Forty One...

The start of another week at work. I'll be doing a few nights this week, so am off to bed. I've just realised that my first weekend was completely temptation free. This was the easiest weekend by far. Normally that is the worst time for me.

Doing nights is a new experience for me. My sleep is normally very regimented, so I'm struggling to sleep in my off hours. This is only for a short time, so I expect to be back to normal soon. I am wondering if I should be taking more meals as I am awake for far longer. I have some spare from missed meals in the past, so will have them on standby if I get hungry.

The Broadband man was supposed to come tomorrow, but he actually turned up today at about 9am. We were quite lucky that the missus was still feeling ill and had taken the day off otherwise there would have been nobody here to help. Anyway, he got it sorted and I'll back online. It's quite amazing how much you miss the web when it's taken away like that. I had no way of checking my work mail, blogs, fishing and photography forums. This just made me realise how much I actually use the web for. I also wanted to check the news, time that the Formula One was on telly and the bus route to Wembly. So it was a bit of a loss.

Day Forty...

Just another lazy Sunday. Not.

Today, for some reason best known to myself, I decided to do an almighty spring clean. I gutted the flat from top to bottom. It took all day. There's nothing much interesting I can find in housework, so this will not be the most interesting post you ever read. I managed to fill three black bags full of stuff and ship a load of boxes out to the garage. The place looks a lot better. It wasn't at all bad before I started, but I hadn't given it a proper clean for ages. When I mean proper clean I mean empty all my bookcases, CD racks and dust it all before putting the back, plus beating the rugs and washing the curtains.

At the end of it all I decided to get a cleaner so that I don't have to waste entire days cleaning when I could be fishing.

Day Thirty Nine...

No trip away as the missus is feeling pretty bunged up with the flu. I am playing the good guy keeping her supplied with tablets, drinks and general sympathy.

I went to decathlon today to buy some kit. Decathlon are a large French sports shop chain. They have a few stores in the UK and they are massive. You can get everything you need there.

I picked up a new pair of trainers and a set of dumbells to improve the tone and stop any muscle loss on my arms.

Day Thirty Eight...

I worked through the previous night so mostly just relaxed for the day. I went to WH Smith and bought a load of fishing magazines to get some tips for the summer. I don't often buy magazines as they seem to just reprint the same articles every year. As a beginer they are great, but as you become more experienced they have less value. The other reason I don't much like then is the huge amount of advertising they carry. My flat is now full of flyers for various tackle shops around the country, much to the missus' dismay. I was hoping to find some information on fishing on kayaks, but there was none. I flicked throgh a load of boating magazines too, but also came up blank.

Anyway, the day went fine. I was supposed to do no work, but I was called into a couple of one hour conference calls, so I didn't get as much relaxation as I would have liked.

We're planning a weekend away, perhaps in Brighton this weekend. We'll see where we fancy going in the morning.

Day Thirty Seven...

The next few posts are all posted a few days late. As I alluded to in my previous post, my Broadband died. The engineer came out today to sort it and I'm back online.

I worked until about 1 o'clock before heading home in the middle of the day for some sleep befomre coming back in for another night. I manged to get a few hours kip before starting again at 2am. I was a bit knackered and got my number of foodpacks mixed up so ended up two down due to some double counting. I really struggled to sleep too and was a bit of a wreck when I got up later. I tried to get to sleep, but of course didn't manage it until an hour before my alarm went off. Argh.

Day Thirty Six...

It's late at night, or early in the morning as I write this. We're testing a new application on our live website today so I'm working late. I have to do it in the middle of the night when the public don't use us much. I left work at half past six and went straight to bed, and got up at one o'clock expecting to work from home. This was a great plan except my broadband was broken so I had to get a taxi to work.

So, here I am testing the applications to breaking point.

I tried on my kilt an jacket this morning to see if it still fitted me. I have a wedding on the 7th next month and I want to wear it one last time. The outfit is about a year and a half old. I got it made to measure on Saville Row last year and it cost around £2,000 all in. It is very loose. I think I can get away with it if I get a tighter belt to hold it up, I don't have enough belly anymore.

This is the first time I've noticed my clothes actually getting looser. My day to day clothes seem the same. I tried on a huge big parka since it was pissing down tonight and it also was definitely looser.

I have come to the conclusion that I definitely need to remove a couple of links from my watch too. It keeps slipping around my wrist. This will mean profit. I have a fairly expensive watch and the links go for around £30.

No Longer Mobidly Obese

Ugh. I hate typing the phrase morbidly obese. It sounds so, well, morbid!

Anyway, after today's weigh in I now have a BMI of 39. This means I am merely obese. Not much to celebrate, but it's another motivating factor.

Day Thirty Five... Weigh in

It's the end of week five tonight and time for my latest weigh in. The week has been my easiest on Lighterlife so far. Only really one day of temptation. The rest of the week was plain sailing.

We lost another member of the group this week. Three sessions ago we had four, last week three and this week only two. Maybe I'm scaring them off.

I was a bit worried this week after a disappointing loss last week. I've been gulping the water down and walking miles to see if that will help lose th weight. However, my scales at home say I've lost very little so I am a bit apprehensive again this week.

All my worry turned to joy when I was weighed on the official scales. I am 7lbs down on last week. Woo hoo. That makes my total loss 38lbs after 5 weeks.

This is the first time I've been genuinely happy after a weigh in. I did a lot of research and knew what to expect so the first weeks were not a surprise. I took a little knock last week, but this week's effort has made it all perfect again.

We covered goal setting this week in the counselling session. I told that my goal was to buy a kayak and go paddling regularly. This is all tied in with Lighterlife. THe money I save not buying food and drink will fund the purchase and I need to be a certain weight or I can't use the kayak I want. It will also help me keep fit after I finish the programme.

Day Thirty Four...

The observant of you would notice that the last couple of days I've been filling in the reports a day late. I've started to watch 24 at night with the missus and I'm not near a computer at bed time when I normally fill it in.

I was an easy day today. Things were busy after the weekend's failures so I had no time to think about food.

I am forcing the water down myself like there's a drought coming hoping that it might make a difference for this week's weigh in. Once again I think my losses may be minimal.

Day Thirty Three...

The weather was fantastic. However I didn't really take advantage of it. I had a lazy day pottering around the ouse not doing much. The missus and I caught up on an old series of 24 that we hadn't seen. I think we must have watched 8 or so episodes.

So rather than use the great weather to get some exercise or go fishing we stayed in and got square eyes.

On the upside I drank buckets of water. I'm pretty bad at making myslef complete my full amount at weekends, but I forced myself to drink constantly through the day. I hope it works, like last week this doesn't look like it's going to be a big loss.

Day Thirty Two...

What a difference a day makes. Last night I was ignoring all temptation and felt no need to stray. However, almost since I woke up this morning I wanted to eat.

There was no reason for it. Nothing triggered it. My mood just seemed to have changed. What's odd about it is that fact that last night I was so positive that there was nothing that could get in the way of me completing the course. I couldn't understand why I'd ever stray from the plan. Then bang I was brought down a step or five. I've now learned I cannot be complacent at all.

Since I worked so late the previous night I've had a lazy day. Appart from a trip out to the bank to sort out a problem with my ISA I've done little except sit in from of the computer. I was researching what I'm going to do to jkeep fit once I finish lighter life. As you may have read, I love my fishing. I've decided to buy myself a sea going fishing kayak. The difference between these and normal kayaks or canoes is the fact that you sit on them, and not in them. They are pretty expensive when you include the kayak, fishing bits, clothing, roof rack etc. I think that this is something I'd love to use i the summer months along the south coast. I might even get another one for the missus, although probably without the fishing extras.

Day Thirty One...

It's late and I'm still at work. We had a large system failure today and it is still ongoing, although a solution is hopefully not too far away.

One of my team had a leaving party today. I bought lots of beer, cake and nibbles for the team. They've all gone off to party I am sitting alone at my desk beside a dozen bottles of beer, a huge tray of nibbles and the remnants of a chocolate cake. I could grab a bottle and a bite to eat and nobody would know.

I am hungry. I've had nothing to eat since lunch and can't have anything until I get home. However, I am not remotely tempted by the lovely food that's right beside me. I am getting some perverse sense of satisfaction out of that.

Must get back to work...

Day Thirty...

I have just realised I think about food a lot less these days. In the first two weeks I couldn't get food out of my mind. If something would have made me quit back them it would have been the mental torment of not being able to concentrate on anything else.

Don't get me wrong, I still miss food. But the aching longing that pestered me every waking hour has dissipated. I can talk comfortably about the food I miss without hunger pangs. However, when it's something I really miss I mentally count down the days until I know I can get it.

This is the thing I need to fix. I need to replace food as the thing I look forward to with something else. I find it hard to do that. What else gives the same about of pleasure for £10 than a Chinese buffet with crispy duck, or a curry with cold beer. Ideas?

Day Twenty Nine...

Other than the reading on my scales, I haven't had any proof that I've made a difference to my health or appearance whilst being on Lighterlife. However, today I got conclusive evidence.

When my doctor filled in my medical form my blood pressure was 158/117. This was high due to a number of factors. Being overweight, being in pain from broken ribs and having a family history (both sides) of high BP meant that I was always a risk.

This morning I had my first monthly check in with my GP. He was happy with my weight loss and was very supportive. The best news was my blood pressure had dropped to 128/84. That is very normal and I'm very happy!

Day Twenty Eight... Weigh in

Very busy day at work. I think this is going to be one of those weeks. I don't mind, as it keeps my mind focused, but I know I'll be knackered by the end of the week.

I had a wierd dream last night. I had eaten a packet of jelly babies by mistake and was really stressing about screwing up my ketosis. I dreamt about food at the start of the programme, but haven't for a couple of weeks.

I lost 3lbs this week. I thought it might have been less, so am not too disheartened. I knew it was coming as I went up n weight for a few days after my last weigh-in.

From the three new starters from last week, one lost 10lbs, one lost only 4lbs and the other didn't turn up.

Ho hum. Here comes another week.

Day Twenty Seven...

Another week draws to a close. Tomorrow is my 4th weigh-in. If things continue to go to plan I am now 16% of the way to my target weight. That sounds a lot better that 5 months.

Another fairly normal day at the office except for the fact I got hungry earlier than normal for lunch and felt hungry again in the late afternoon. It was real hunger, not just wishing for better food. The packs filled me up and I felt fine soon after consuming them.

My friends find it hard to beleive that I'm not always fainting or having headaches, even though I am only on 500 calories a day. Although I had a funny comment at work today from someone who doesn't know I'm on the programme. She offered me a chocolate which I declined. "Never mind", she said, "you're hardly wasting away". I laughed as I thought, "If only you knew".

Day Twenty Six...

Dull day. Spent most of it on the computer completing preperation for meetings this week. This weekend has been the easiest on the diet so far.

However, I still have one pack to eat, so I'm going to knock it back now and head to bed.

I think I may be about to have one of those low weight loss weeks I've read about. I am still the same weight I was on weigh-in day last tuesday. So the next two days will have to be amazing if I am going to see any real losses. I'm not too bothered. I know that I am burning far more calories than I am eating, so I must be burning fat.

First Sign?

I've consitently said that I've noticed no difference to myself since starting this diet. I've had a few people that have said that I look different, but only AFTER I mentioned I was changing my eating habits, so they don't count.

Anyway, to the point. My watch, which was always a little slack on my wrist, kept completely rotating as I drove to my fishing this morning. Every corner I went rounf turn my watch round on my wrist. I kept puting it back and it kept turning upside down again.

I thought that was my first real sign, other than the scales, that I was losing weight. However, I'm trying to spin it now and it doesn't work. I do notice my watch getting tighter on hot days, so maybe that's why it doesn't turn now.

Still looking for the first conclusive sign.

Day Twenty Five...

What a great day today. I woke up early to take a bunch of novices fly fishing. There were about 14 of us altogether but only 3 people had any experience.

It was a hard day for beginners to learn. Fish don't really like the sun and the recent weather meant that it was very weedy close to the bank so the casts had to go far. So they had to learn to cast miles to fish that weren't interested, tough ask.

I wandered up and down the line of them, demonstrating and prodding until they were getting it right. I also cast it for them and caught many trout for them to fight and reel in. If I was fishing for myself, I maybe could have had 20.

So it was a success. Many people landed their first ever fish. I think definitely a few of these folks will try it again. Their enthusiasm was driving them to keep going for hours and hours. Eventually at 1800, I packed it in. Ten hours on my feet wandering up and down between anglers was knackering. However, I was mildly disappointed to find I only did 7200 steps.

So a few of us took some fish home. Mine went to a special place since I'm not eating. There is a mini zoo in Syon Park called Tropical Forest that have a couple of crocodiles. They welcome any excess fish with a free visit. So I have a quick look in there with my fishing pals before heading home.

Although I'd drunk lots during the day I downed a couple of pints of water as soon as I got home, and quickly made up a Thai Chili soup.

The other half is off out tonight and I can't decide whether to watch a film or read a book. It's a hard life...

Day Twenty Four...

I felt a bit strange waking up this morning and was a little dizzy. This is the first time I've had anything like that before. I have a pint of water and a cup of soup and it quickly passed. Maybe I just needed a little energy.

Work was a pain. We had a major failure, whilst at the same time trying to release new features on the website. We worked hard until about 8pm and then left for the weekend.

Leaving work I was starving and this evening's food was definitely needed. I was straight into my foodpack bag the second I got in.

I'm not particularly looking forward to another weekend without real food. However, tomorrow I'm teaching people from work how to flyfish at a local lake, so I'll have something to take my mind off the food. Of course, we are laying on lunch, but I'll just use that as an excuse to get some fishing in myself.