Social Life Vs Fitness Regime

Being sociable comes with its pitfalls especially when the ultimate goal is to lose weight.  Halloween is nutritionally bad as the majority of the food is high in refined sugar with little in the way of nutritional content.  Our hosts this weekend made a huge effort to make sure I didn’t go without, so I was eternally grateful for that.

The problem for me is that I have no option but to follow the plan I’ve set myself.  Having been on the receiving end of bad health and bad diet for nearly 20 years means I cannot lose focus at such a crucial point in my plan.

Losing 35kg is not something that can be achieved overnight, so this time of year is particularly awkward with Bonfire night and Christmas looming.

But persevere I must if I’m to stand any chance of reaching the golden 70kg before next September…

A little name dropping won’t hurt anyone…

So far in my quest for a better me, I’ve found help and inspiration from a number of resources, so conveniently I’ve added them here…

Ben Coomber (BodyTypeNutrition)

www.bodytypenutrition.co.uk – Qualified Nutritionist

Martin MacDonald (MacNutrition)

www.mac-nutrition.com – Consultant Nutritionist

Joseph Lightfoot

http://jplightfoot.com/ – Strength & Conditioning Coach

Grass Fed Meats (Meat by Mail!)

www.athleat.co.uk

Online Supplements

www.myprotein.co.uk

Magazines

www.mensfitness.co.uk

www.fsnjournal.com/

Books

What the F**k do I eat

The Paelo Diet Cookbook

Milestones are a good thing…

So today I found out that I am the lightest I’ve been for the last 13 years!

At the start of this year, I made a personal commitment to reach my target weight of 75kgs by September 5th 2012.  Why so specific?

Next year is my 40th birthday and in that time, I have to unravel 19 years of bad diet, poor health and sport injuries along the way, some of which were that brutal, they impacted my pursuit to get fit.

So this year, I started out at 105kg and in nearly 11 months I’ve managed to lose 17kg.  Now to me, that’s not a great deal, I’ve lost focus a few times this year and it has cost me lost weeks.  Self indulgence and lack of focus to get the job done are the main reasons, but in the last two months I can really see all my efforts starting to pay off.

I recruited the help of Ben Coomber at Body Type Nutrition (http://www.bodytypenutrition.co.uk) to look at my diet and help me get things back on track.  He has really helped me to understand the mechanics of nutrition and how it can help me to achieve my goals.

I have always had an interest in nutrition, but never looked in the right places for the help I needed to make it work for me.

Every day is a school day, but the key for me is setting small milestones to work to and rewarding myself with little perks when I achieve them…

Cakes in the office….

So my boss brought cakes into the office yesterday and I desperately wanted one, but resisted the urge.  A friend of mine tucked in nonetheless, but I decided to look at the nutritional breakdown instead.  It didn’t make for great reading!

“So do you know how much refined sugar is in that thing”, I asked

“I couldn’t give a sh!t”, he replied

This got me wondering, that if we could tell if the food we ate would either reduce or extend our lifespan, would that make any difference to the food choices we made?

I would like to think it would.  Its the very principle I live by these days.  Carefully planning right down to macronutrient level to make sure I have the right level of Protein, Carbs and Fat.

Yes Fat is a good thing, provided its the right sort of fat…

Well hello there…

So this is the start of something very interesting…

My aim is self education in the world of nutrition.  During the last couple of months I’ve made significant progress into understanding nutrition through extensive research and with a little help from a friend who has his own nutrition business.

I am far from understanding this very complex subject, but I’m reading the right books and journals and keeping up with the ever changing and sometimes contradictory news reports that fill the airwaves daily.

This page has been set-up in essence to remind me and share my ramblings with a wider audience.

Not everyone finds the subject of nutrition interesting.  There are people who like what they eat and have little interest in getting the most out of their daily diet, but if I can help people to make an informed choice then I consider that a job well done.

nu-tri-tion |n(y)o͞oˈtriSHən|

noun

the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth: a guide to good nutrition.

• food; nourishment: a feeding tube gives her nutrition and water.

• the branch of science that deals with nutrients and nutrition, particularly in humans: she took a short course in nutrition | [ as modifier ] : nutrition experts.

DERIVATIVES

nutritional |-SHənl|adjective,

nutritionally |-SHənl-ē|adverb

ORIGIN late Middle English: from late Latin nutritio(n-), from nutrire ‘feed, nourish.’