Another Kayak Photo...

Day One Hundred and Sixty Three...

The missus has gone out for dinner with a few mates. It's like we're passing ships in the night at the moment. She got home from her holiday last night and was in bed by the time I returned from my class.

I'm out all weekend and then I'm off to Athens. Previous to her holiday she was in France with work, so we haven't spent any time together for ages.

Work was pretty good today. We had a few emergency situations which the team managed to handle very well. I was delighted. This is a big relief for me as I need to hand over a lot of that work to my newly hired managers. They've proved they can cope, so that should take a lot of pressure off me.

We had big announcements of redundancies today. They do not directly affect me of my department, but I can see some big knock on effects if the anticipated strikes occur.

Tonight I am going to try to book a nice hotel in Athens and go to bed early with a book.

Mrs Lard, I promise to answer your questions soon. I've been avoiding them whislt working out how to word them properly.

Day One Hundred and Sixty Two...

I had my skipper course after work today and I was thoroughly looking forward to it. Unfortunately I couldn't find my notes. After a long search at home before going to work and a fruitless search in the office I went along sheepishly without them. I muddled through the class this evening. We learning about tides. This is the key thing that I want to learn from the course as it is what affects me the most from the kayak.

It was very interesting and I got most of the information I need.

Unfortunately it is continued next week and I'll be in Athens so I'll need to catch up later.

I've booked a few days away next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to go and watch Aberdeen play in Greece in the UEFA Cup. I've supported Aberdeen since I was very young and this is the first time since I've been employed that we've made it any distance into European competition.

Day One Hundred and Sixty One...weigh in

My weigh in was back to normal this week with a loss of 5lbs. This brings my total loss to 123lbs. This also means I now weigh under 16 stones and if we switch to metric means I weigh less than 100kgs.

I have no idea when the last time I weighed under 100kgs, but I am guessing it would have been secondary school. With a few more weeks like this week I should have lost all the weight I need to by Xmas. It would be nice to be able to have a little turkey on Christmas Day as part of maintenance.

Tonight I tried the new peanut crunch bar. It is the nicest thing I have tried on the Lighterlife programme. It is the first bit of food I would actually chose to each when I finished the diet. It tastes like a tracker bar, which was one of my favourite treats before I started. I got 7 for the week.

I actually felt a bit weird getting food I like. Since I started this journey I've stopped looking at mealtimes as food and they are definitely not things I look forward to or enjoy much. I am definitely just refuelling when I eat these days. However, these bar will change that relationship as I may actually look forward to eating them. Dare I say it, they may even offer temptation to eat more than I should?

Maybe I overreacting - it has been nearly 6 months since I ate something I've properly enjoyed.

Day One Hundred and Sixty...

With the missus away and me not having anything planned then the inevitable happened and I just spent all night working on Monday. I found it quite productive, but hard going too. I often wonder where the point that your work becomes worthless is. I'm sure after 12 hours the output becomes crap.

I wrote a report on a supplier and rereading it the next day I could work out what point I was trying to make, so the work is just wasted. Normally I am fairly coherent and concise, but this is long winded and far too circular and repetitive.

I definitely think I should attend some kind of writing course. My prose is never the best, but I find it hard to work out how to criticise my own output as I read it in my own head at my own pace. I have no real idea how it 'sounds' to other readers. My mother is a writer so I should have the genes, but I've never really spent enough time crafting these skills.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Nine...

I awoke quite tender on Sunday morning. The fact that I paddled about eight miles (according to the GPS) the day before has left me with a stiff chest and arms. However, it was great to do some hard exercise. I'm surprised I can do that much physical exercise on such low calorie intake, but it seems the body can take a lot of abuse.

I mainly caught up with the washing and a bit of work over Sunday and didn't do anything to exciting at all. The missus left around 2pm to go away on holiday with her mum so it looks like I'll be on my own for the next few days again.

In the old days, if the missus was away that would definitely mean I'd be ordering in pizza most nights. That's not because I can't cook, but because I liked eating masses of unhealthy food. Nowadays the thought hardly enters my head.

Here's a shot of myself on the kayak with my first kayak caught pike.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Eight...

I awoke just before my alarm at 0530 this morning and slipped out of bed. After a quick shower I dressed and left the house. I loaded the kayak to the rook bars, made sure it was all secure and headed for the filling station. I filled the car up and bought sever large bottles of water and started the journey to Lowestoft.

The AA said it would take about 3.5hours, but leaving at 6am in the morning means there is no traffic on the roads so I made quick progress and arrived before 9am. The journey up was lovely. The sun rose and burned off the early mist, shining bright red as it did so. Where I got there there were a fine array of kayaks from the other kayak fishing forum members and a supplier who brought some along to try.

After about an hour of chat we decided we should do less of the chatting and more of the fishing. We split into a couple of groups. One headed off to sea and the others stayed in the Norfolk Broads. I decided I would try for pike in the Broads as I have never deliberately caught one.

The launch was a far less eventful one than my previous efforts at sea as the broads were flat calm. We were soon under way and fishing lures to try to tempt a few of the local fishy residents. Unfortunately we didn't catch on out first trip out. However, the lures were all chewed up, so there was definitely some interest from the toothy critters.

We had a break for lunch just after one. I mixed up a shake in a bicycle water bottle whilst my partner had a couple of rolls. There was a smell of bacon sandwiches coming from elsewhere and I felt a few hunger pangs in my guts.

The afternoon's fishing went a lot better than the morning's. I caught a couple of nice pike. I wasn't confident enough to take my own camera with me, but a fellow kayaker took a shot. When I get a copy I'll post it.

I loft for home around 6pm absolutely shattered. I had to get out and wander around the car to keep myself awake. In the old days I'd have drunk a can or two of red bull, but I than think of nothing more sure of kicking me out of ketosis than that.

The journey home was fairly uneventful really and I managed to get back in time to watch the last half hour of the rugby. After that finished I just went to bed.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Seven...

After work on Friday I got everything ready for a fishing meet at the weekend. Myself and a bunch of like minded kayak fishers have decided to meet up at Lowestoft for a few days fishing. I'm only going for the Saturday and I want to get as much out of it as possible so I prepared everything for the next day.

I made sure the batteries for the GPS and VHF radio were fully charged, I put the roof bars on, packed spare clothing and loaded the car with the fishing gear.

Just about when I had finished this the missus came in from her France trip. After a brief chat we both decided it was time for bed. She was knackered after her trip and I was trying to get as much sleep as possible before my early rise. As usual all my clothes were lined up in the spare room to ensure a quick get away.

On the diet front it was just another week of business as usual.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Six...

I woke very late this morning. Normally I am up early every day, but since I started Lighterlife I've definitely been sleeping more. This morning I slep straight through until 9am. I don't think I've slept that late for 10 years.

I arose very fast, showered, iron my clothes and ran for the tube. When I got there the Cenral Line was knackered so I emailed work from the Blackberry and was told that everyone else was late for the same reason. Sometimes the tube delays can help.

At lunch I popped off home to drive to Shoeburyness in Essex to pick up a drysuit. I'd picked the one I fancies online and wanted to try one one for size. I though I may be somewhere between a medium and a large. I tried the medium but it was too short. Apparently they're only for folk up to 5'10" and I am 6'2". I couldn't stand up in it. However, I tried on the large sized one and it was perfect.

http://www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=28_97_99&products_id=29 - I got it in the red colour. I also got a free fleece suit thrown in which just looks like a big grey romper suit. I topped off the spending spree with a pair of boots and a pair of warm gloves. I now have everything I need to keep myself alive on the water in winter.

On my way home the missus called me from France to say her flight to Heathrow was cancelled due to fog so she has to stay the night. So I'm on my own again tonight. I didn't want to do a secone night without updating the blog, so I logged on, but I will not go to my work email.

I'm going to iron tomorrow's shirt and go to bed with a book.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Five...

After going to bad late I slept in a little in the morning and walked my cousin to the tube station and gave him all the directions he required to get around London.

I quick tube ride later and I was at my desk. I cleared my calendar so that I could have the next day's afternoon off and got down to some work. I actually managed to get some stuff done! This is an unusual event as normally I am in back to back meetings.

At home at night I was at a loose end. The missus was away with work in Lyon and I didn't want to turn the computer on as it was most enjoyable the night before. In the end I read lots and ended up playing on the Nintendo DS. Although it's a computer at least I wasn't working.

I've been playing a game on the DS which works out your 'brain age'. The lowest you can get is 20 and I have been 21 a few times. Last night I finally made it to 20, so I went to sleep happy.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Four... weigh in

My cousin arrived last night on a flying visit. He's in town to pick up various visas for a round the world journey he's planning. We stayed up late and chatted and looked at photos. It was great not o have the computer on and be working for a change.

My weigh in was pretty uneventful. I was disappointed to only lose 2lbs this week. This is my lowest loss so far. As I want to be finished abstinence by the New Year I don't want any more weeks like this. I am now exactly 16 stones and have lost a total of 8 stones and 6lbs. This is a great total, and I'll be focusing on that rather than my measly loss.

No Longer Obese.

I forgot to mention something in my flurry of posts last night.

After my last weight loss I am now no longer obese. My BMI rating dropped below 30 and I am now only overweight.

It's just a little thing, but I guess it makes me realise that I am far closer to the end of this journey than the begining. That, coupled with the ever decreasing size of my wardrobe is really firing me up to finish this thing.

My current estimations put me finishing right about Christmas. This is later than I originally wanted and will force me to make some hard decisions around what I want to do with food and alcohol on Christmas Day and New Year.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Three...

After a more eventful weekend than the previous I went back to work pretty refreshed. It was good to have my mind taken up by things that aren't work related.

Today my mind turned to this blog which I've neglected terribly recently. I thought about whether I wanted to carry on posting to it and decided I did. I definitely want a record of what I've done in the last few months.

When I started researching Lighterlife I was annoyed by the amount of blogs on the web about weight loss that just stopped. I decided mine was not going to be one of those.

So, I'm back. Readers, I hope you're still around.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Two...

I awoke around 0700 as my nephew came in to wake me up so we could watch racing cars. It was the Chinese Grand Prix and he was terribly excited. Since I like Formula 1 I was happy to indulge him and we watched it together.

After it was done and we were washed and fed we went to Decathlon to get some gear. I wanted to warm weather gloves and a waterproof jacket for cycling to and from work through the winter. I also wanted to get new lights, but they didn't have anything I fancied. I also picked up a new tent as they were remarkably cheap. We usually go on holiday to the continent once or twice a year and the one we have, although excellent, is a faff to put up and take down. This new one takes 2 seconds to put up and about a minute to pack away. It couldn't be easier.

Once my brother had gone home I did a spot of work on the computer and then watched Scotland get beaten by Argentina. I was a bit disappointed as I though Scotland should have played much better than they did.

Day One Hundred and Fifty One...

My brother arrived with his nephew just in time to watch the England against Australia rugby world cup match. I was amazed to see that England beat on of the main favourites for the competition. Whilst this was going on my brothers 3 and a half year old son played noisily with some radio controlled cars we got as a Christmas present. To be honest they are perfect for him.

After the game we popped outside to play rugby which was great fun until the wee fella got a gentle ball on the nose. Many tears later he decided it was time to go back inside and play with the cars again.

The missus made dinner and I excused myself whilst they ate roast chicken. Afterwards we put the toddler to bed and watched another shock in the rugby as France beat New Zealand.

The rest of the evening was spent chatting and catching up. I hadn't seen my brother since early July and that was at least 50lbs ago so he was pretty amazed at my weight loss. Eventually we went to bed quite knackered. Kids really can be quite demanding.

Day One Hundred and Fifty...

A century and a half of days gone on this crazy diet and things are still going well.

I'm starting to notice more and more definition on my face. I've actually got bones under there. My collar bones now permanently jut out and my double chin has all but gone. When I sleep on my side my knees are so bony it hurts and I have to move position.

I still don't feel a lot different, but when I catch myself in the mirror when I'm dressed I certainly see it.

I nipped out at lunch today to get a new winter jacket. I've really been feeling the cold recently but had nothing to wear as my jackets are all far to big for me. I was quite happy to get into a medium jacket, which although a little close fitting, will be perfect for the weeks ahead. I am guessing that I will never be below a medium size so I am happy to spend the cash for clothes I will get longer use from.

I also had some annoying news about someone I recently offered a post to. We'd agreed a starting salary for the person who is joining us on a scheme which helps accident victims back to work. Unfortunately it seems that the salary I offered was far higher than the agreed amount for people coming in from that scheme.

I have kicked off big time about this as the scheme only pays about £50 a day and I think paying someone as little as that is really taking advantage. The candidate got the job on merit and should not get a lower rate due to having a minor disability. The person has actually accepted the role on the lower pay, they thought they were getting that amount anyway, but I feel that we're exploiting them.

When I got home I spent the evening with the missus tidying the spare room and sitting room so that it was child friendly. I have lots of bits and bobs from fly tying including hooks and sharp tools which we need to keep right out of my nephew's reach

Day One Hundred and Forty Nine...

Today was supposed to be the day I started to hire my management team. I had two strong candidates lined up for interview in the afternoon and I was looking forward to offering one a job. Unfortunately the first phoned to cancel first thing in the morning and the second failed to turn up.

I was gutted. I'd put a lot of effort into hiring recently and the quality of applications has either been crap or they've been snapped up elsewhere or they simply haven't turned up. The light I saw at the end of the tunnel this morning looks a little dimmer.

I was pretty pissed off when I got home and it didn't get much better for the rest of the night. The missus has been unwell recently and things got complicated. She was diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago. This has been mostly fine with occasional small relapses but recently she's had another. This time though the symptoms are a bit more frightening. She's lost her sense of taste and a bit of here hearing. To be more precise, food she used to love now tastes bad and she has muffled hearing in one ear. Admittedly these aren't the worst things that can happen to an MS sufferer, but they have a huge impact on our lives and constantly remind us that this shadow has not gone away.

Day One Hundred and Forty Eight...

I was back at my training on Wednesday night. This time we learning about meteorology and marine electronics. This was a pretty interesting class for me as the weather is obviously very important for a kayaker. It was also good to get some information on chart plotting on the GPS.

As I left the course I got an email on the Blackberry saying that we'd better gear ourselve up for a general election as the odds were that one would be announced for the 1st of 8th of Novemeber. This would cause a bucket load of work I do not need right now, so I wasn't too happy to get the news.

Day One Hundred and Forty Seven... weigh in

Today was my weigh in. This was my first for a fortnight since the last one didn't quite work out.

I popped along to the session and met with the counsellor who couldn't have been more apologetic. Apparently the locum had some emergency surgery and all the other counsellors int he area were at a conference so nobody could step in on the night.

I explained that I wasn't too bothered as I had some spare packs. I guess in hindsight I could have complained about the loss of counselling for a week since that is part of the fee. To be honest I can't be arsed. The rest of the programme has been so good for me that it seems churlish to complain about this incident.

My loss was 11lbs over the last two weeks.

That brings my total loss to 116lbs. Over the last 21 weeks my average weight loss has been 5.5lbs a week. Of course this figure is buoyed by the larger early losses, but is still very impressive.

Day One Hundred and Forty Six...

Looking at my calendar at work I have 43 meetings this week. So it looks like I'll have to do a lot of working from home if I am actually to get any work done again this week.

My brother called and asked if he could come up with his son at the weekend. His missus is working nights at the weekend and she can't sleep with the kid running around all day. Since it'll stop me working I was delighted to accept.

Day One Hundred and Forty Five...

Sunday was almost exactly the same as Saturday. By the end of it I really did feel like I wasted the whole weekend.

Hopefully the next weekend will be more interesting.

Day One Hundred and Forty Four...

The missus got up early and went off to see a friend for a weekend up north.

I stayed at home and watched the rugby world cup whilst catching up on my work stuff. I don't normally like to work at the weekend, but until I can hire my management team below me I have to do half a dozen jobs.

At the end of the day I felt I had wasted my Saturday, but I actually did acheive a lot.

Day One Hundred and Forty Three...

This day looked great in the calendar. I had no meeting booked after lunch. This means I could actually get some work done.

Unfortunately my optimism was unfounded. I just fielded questions from my desk all day. No wonder my boss works from home any time he actually wants to get something done. I used to occaisionally work from home when report writing, but to be honest I'm not very good at it. I might have to refine that skill.

I fanced going to a film with the missus on Friday night, but the missus was too tired. Instead we went to bed quite early and watched a move.

Day One Hundred and Forty Two...

I started the day with my regular trip to the doctor for my Lighterlife update. I got my blood pressure checked which came back 127/87 which is just about perfect.

He quizzed me for a while about the programme and I answered as truthfully as I could. He asked me if I'd recommend it to others and I found it hard to answer.

Lighterlife is not for everyone. I think if you give someone the options and spell out what it will really mean for them then they would be armed to make the desicion themselves. However, I think that recommending someone starts this programme not understanding that it required constant sacrifice would be a mistake.

This is easy to follow if you have the right mindset, but would be a nightmare if you can't say no or can't resist peer pressure. You have to think about this diet hard and be ready for the ups and downs that will come your way.

At night I popped down and picked up the week's food. It was the counsellor's husband handing out the food and I didn't hang around to get weighed. I just paid my money and ran.

Day One Hundred and Forty One...

I had my RYA Day Skipper course today. We learned about yachts and powerboats and what all the bits are. I now know the difference between a Genoa and a jib and know my sheets from my warp.

This stuff will not help me paddle my kayak any faster, but I just love to learn, so am having fun anyway.

I got a message from a fellow LL'er today that the counsellor made contact with him and that there would be foodpacks available on Thursday night. Although I have just about enough food to last until next week it would involve eating more bars than normal and some flavours that I don't really like these days.

When I left the course it was about 10.30pm. The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. I was freezing as I waited at the station to take me home. When I arrived I knocked back a couple of shakes and read in bed before going to sleep.

Day One Hundred and Forty... weigh in

Today marks the end of twenty weeks on Lighterlife.

As I have repeated many times it's been pretty much plain sailing after the first few weeks. I've had a fairly average week this week which means I've stuck to the plan and have probably lost around 3-5lbs. Back in the old days I'd have lost5-7lbs, but things are slower these days.

I popped down to see the counsellor as usual at night, but the door was locked when I got there. There is a women's group before the men's, so it's unusual to see nobody there. I new my regular counsllor would not be there, but we were expecting to get the locum.

After half an hour of waiting I left and went home foodless. I wasn't too worried as I guessed I'd have enough at home. However, I was upset at not getting weighed. My scles at home weigh me higher than the official Lighterlife scales, so are not an accurate indication of my progress.

When I got back home I counted out my packs. I had 26 left over, which at a scrape would get me though to the next session. On the plus side, I'd saved £66.

The reason I had so many is that a few times when I was working late nights and split shifts I got mixed up and didn't eat all my food. On top of that, every now and again I miss one during the day and don't want to catch up at bed time since it means getting up in the night for a piss.

I did feel sorry for the guy who'd just started the week before though. He'd had a good abstinant week and now had no food. Of course I offered a share of my spares, but he refused.

Day One Hundred and Thirty Nine...

First of all I should apologise for not updating the blog for ages.

A mixture of my new job and the missus being unwell has meant that this has had to take a back seat for a fortnight. However, I'll do my best to fill in all the details.

Monday was the usual hectic start to the week. Again the weather was crap so I didn't cycle in. I haven't been to work on the bike for a while and am really missing it.

I am starting to find my feet at work and am only just realising how big my world is getting. At forst I thought it was just a little extension to my existing role, but no, this is much larger. I had my first board meeting this week and I have to say everyone was most welcoming. I got a few, "it's about time" comments, which cheared me up and made me feel less like a fish out of water.