Daz's Blubber Blog

First Quarter Update

2008-03-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

Twelve weeks down, still going strong, ahead of target and under budget!
18 pounds of lard lost so far - 1.5lbs/week
3 inches off the waist and most of the beer belly has gone.
1.7 inches off the arse.
2.5 inches off the moobs (man-boobs).
Body fat percentage down by 2.7%
Bread, biscuits, chocolate, cheese since 01/01/08 - Zero!!
Keep yer chins up............

Slooowly does it......

2008-03-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's been the 'fat end' of six weeks since my last post and apart from sticking to my new years resolution of no chocs, bread etc, I've been eating normally. Only lost 4.5 lbs since the last post but at least its still coming down and still ahead of schedule - 8 weeks in and 16 lbs down. The 36" jeans I started wearing a month ago are getting a bit baggy and I'm starting to eye the old 34 incher's which haven't seen my arse for a couple of years.
Hammering the rowing machine as well, nearly back to the fitness levels I had before the cancer - steady 5k pace of 2.05 (for you rowers out there) and coming down by the week. Also working on the beer belly with the eight minute abs routine, give it a go, it definitely works although pretty tough to start with (not as tough as the blokes voice), theres a six pack under there somewhere!
Next post whenever.............

Like a stone!!!

2008-01-17T16:22:00.000-08:00

Just back from 2 weeks offshore. Did the will power last the course? It certainly did, 16 days in and no bread, cheese choccies or biccies which is damn good going considering our second week was deluged with free chocolates from all sorts of departments, in fact I don't think a day went by without someone bringing a load of the brown stuff down for the lads to gorge on. I didn't have one bit, not a solitary morsel. The only luxury I allowed myself during the whole fortnight was a packet of dry roasted peanuts, woohoo!!!!

Anyway, to the stats. And our survey said........

98.9 Kilo's, thats 15 St 7.5 lbs.

Down 11.5 lbs!!! Plus 2 inches off me kite! Bloody hell. And to be honest, it was a doddle, didn't really crave for anything at all and was rarely hungry. Although I'm a bit of a sceptic, I now have some belief that this NLP technique actually works. We'll just have to see if works over a long period.
4 weeks at home now so I'll be doing weekly weigh-ins. I can't even hope to have anything like the spectacular loss that I've had during the first two weeks, what with Marie's superb cooking and the lure of the Beaujolais but after all the goal is just a pound per week and I'm well ahead of schedule.
Next week yaw'll.

Flabby New Year

2008-01-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

Almost four months since my last confession can mean only one thing. Yes, dear readers I fell from the wagon and tumbled into an abyss of over-indulgence of the kind not seen since the days of the great pie fest of 1988.
Although I've avoided the scales for a few weeks, I guess I'm somewhere around the 105kg mark, my heaviest ever.
So, I'm starting again from scratch but the challenge is still the same - drop 52 lbs in 52 weeks, this time I have the convenience of starting at the beginning of the year - am I kidding myself this will make any difference??
Anyhoo, to kick off the new me, I've made a resolution to give up four things..........
1. Bread - this'll be tough, I usually have some sort of bread with most meals
2. Chocolate - should be easy enough unless they start throwing around the free sweeties at work
3. Cheese - I love cheese!!
4. Biscuits - one dips and even hob nobs, they've got to go.
Apart from that, I'll be eating pretty much the same but using some NLP techniques (more on this later) to curb any over-eating.
Weigh-in tomorrow, offshore on Thursday, so first update in two weeks........

Gannin' doon....

2007-09-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

Nearly 3 weeks since the last weigh-in and I wasn't too hopeful of any losses this time, but much to my surprise I'm down 4 pounds with a body fat drop of 0.5%.
Got off to a great start offshore with loads of gym time - plenty of weights and rowing, but as the trip drew on, the long shifts took there toll with only 1 gym visit in the last week. Also, the free choccies were flying around and I was filling my boots most days!!
Fours weeks at home before the next offshore trip. I'll keep on with the light weights in the garage and try to pick up where I left off with the cycling last time I was at home, although the rowing machine has been dusted off and I'm hammering that two days out of three. Still pursuing the 8-minute abs program most days, lost half an inch since last time and theres a six pack under there somewhere.
Until next time constant reader, keep yer chins up..........

New Strategy

2007-08-14T02:48:00.000-07:00

Corned beef diet, only kidding!! I've been reading an e-book called 'Burn the Fat, Feed the muscle' which preaches (amongst other things) the merits of increasing muscle density to help burn more calories even when at rest. So, thats what I've been doing these last two weeks - weight training that is! I've a small set of weights in the garage but no bench so have been limited to training the arms and shoulders. Back offshore tomorrow though, so I'll have the full range of equipment available to give me a thorough beasting. I haven't neglected the cardio work by any means, the new bike has had a bit of a hammering with over 100 miles this trip - no great shakes by regular cyclists standards but a good start all the same.
Been training the abs almost daily, currently following the 8-minute abs program - dropped quarter of an inch this trip.

The scales don't reflect the good work I've been - haven't dropped an ounce, hopefully due to the weight training but most probably due to the excesses of entertaining visitors and attending golf outings!! I've also been skimping on the 5-a day and had had nothing like the amount of water I should be drinking, must try harder.

So, my new strategy is fat loss rather than weight loss. I'm gonna hammer the weight training but also maintain plenty of cardio with the rowing and cycling. The net result will be a slower weight loss and most probably a revised target as my muscle density increases. I'll be concentrating on my body fat monitor rather than the scales from now on as this should give a more realistic view of any progress. Current body fat is 31.4%, target is 16%. For more on body fat percentage, go here
More tales of lard in a fortnight.

'Get with the program fatboy'

2007-07-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Bit of an up and down fortnight. Got off to a good start but started to fall by the wayside towards the end of the trip - a bit of a radiotherapy hangover sapped my enthusiasm with sore skin and a very sore head made hard work of my gym sessions. Was training three out of four days but each third day felt really difficult and my heart rate was sky high! Still managed plenty of rowing, some cycling and cross training. I've also started some weight training which might explain the less than impressive weight loss this time. Only 3lbs lost when I was targeting half a stone - must have been the comfort eating! Body fat is down 1% which confirms I've gained a little muscle as my lean weight has increased by half a pound.
Two weeks at home, I'll continue with the rowing and weights, I'll even try to get out on that new bike I bought a few months ago. One big hurdle will be my brother arriving for a long weekend which usually ends up a beer and food fest
More fat loss follies in two weeks.......................come on back yawll.

Here we go..........................

2007-07-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't exactly leap out of bed with excitement this morning, more like the slow crawl of expectation of the next twelve months of abstinence and hard work.
The poor old scales revealed no surprises, peering over the beer belly to see a figure which is nearly the heaviest I have ever been - 103.6 kgs, thats 16 stones and 4 pounds in old money. Thats a full stone heavier than I was a few weeks ago when struggling to eat due to the radiotherapy! It also leaves me with 53 pounds to lose to reach my stretch target of 12st 7lbs - a weight I haven't been for nearly 30 years!
Next to the tape which only just made it around to show a waist measurement of 45.5 inches - this was measured around the widest point (the love handles) and is with guts relaxed - letting it all hang out! I took other measurements just for the hell of it - chest, bicep, thigh and arse! By the way, waist measurement seems to bear little relationship to trouser size, which is still a svelte 38".
Last year we bought a body fat measuring gadget (ebay cheapy), this told me I have 32.3% body fat - which equates to 74lbs of lard.
BMI (Body Mass Index) is worked out using the link on the right and is not a definite gauge as it doesn't account for muscle density etc - so take this figure with a pinch of salt, although it does calculate I'm in the 'Obese' bracket - oh what a surprise!
So thats it, the numbers are in and are down the right side column.
I'll update the weights and measures every 2 weeks or so (no weigh-in when I'm offshore) and endeavor to update the blog as frequently as I can with my latest fat busting efforts and tips.
1 pound per week should be easy enough but we must take consider holidays, christmas etc and get stuck in now to give a little breathing room to account for the up n' down occasions.
Gerramongit...............................

Wait for it, wait for it........

2007-07-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

OK fatboy's and girls, we're on the countdown to my next challenge. Having successfully kicked the Hodgkin's arse, it's now time to shift all of my excess blubber over the next twelve months. We start this coming Monday 16th July with the initial weigh-in and will run for a whole year. I'm looking to lose approximately 52 lbs in weight during the challenge, which conveniently works out to be 1 lb per week, which, should be easy!!!. I'm not too sure of my current weight - somewhere over 16 stones and by the end hope to be around 12.5 stones - a place where I haven't been for 30 years!! A combination of healthy eating, lots of rowing, cycling and some swimming should do the trick.
If you are like-minded and like-bodied and are up for the challenge then by all means join in, I'll need all the support I can get. Come back Monday for the full S.P.