I guess it is my turn....

Right well as the two blokes have already started, the guilts finally kicked in enough for me to break my mute virgin status and post some big time commitments for all to see. Not saying I am happy about it but it's definitely something I see as a worthy means of keeping me in check and it might be just what I need to spur me on to repeatedly say "no thanks" when offered some tasty decadent morsels especially with Christmas fast approaching. I still don't get it why when you say "no thanks" that people feel they need to offer again (and sometimes again after that) just to make sure you have not changed your mind?! If you say "yes", they don't look at the size of your belly and then check you're sure of your answer in case you have had a super dose of moral conscience like you should have. I guess I would get quite bitchy if they did that though... and then eat two at once just despite them!

I am much more vertically challenged than my eatlesspies counterparts at a mere 1.63metres (no idea what that is in feet but let's just admit that I am a lot closer to mine than they are). Though I have no issue with my height or lack there of, my width is a different story. I've felt like the "large" girl for pretty much as long as I can remember even though the childhood photos don't show anything of the mental picture I had of myself at the time. I guess it stemmed from lots of my friends being prem-babies so I was always going to be bigger than their tiny bony frames and being as tomboy as I was, I'm still quite taken back by the fact that I so vividly remember 'that' girl at swimming training telling me I looked fat in my togs and that I quit swimming because of her. She was always a bitch and let's face it, I used to beat her all the time....the mental psyche of a nine year old girl is obviously more delicate that I liked to admit.

From there my physical activity involved soccer, volleyball and hockey. By the time I reached high school it had declined to only tennis and hockey. By age 14 I wanted the freedom that money could provide so my after-school job was promoted to higher priority than hockey training. This also saved on the substantial expense of travelling from Taupo to Rotorua twice a week for games therefore justifying my decision to quit.... Damn it! I was never that competitive (or maybe I just hated losing too much) that most sport since then has been limited to social grade.....VERY social.

I'm not hugely motivated by weight loss or I would have done it already. The idea of it is great, don't get me wrong, but the numbers on a scale actually mean very little in the big picture. I would much rather be able to fit clothes again when I go shopping and not feel so anxious about participating in physical activities with friends to the point that I decline the invitation like I do at the moment. Wherefore art thou Cardio?

So lifestyle changes here I come! Having Adrian doing it with me is awesome - I don't think he realises the support he provides. Okay so there is that aspect of guilt veiled innocently in knowing he is getting up and doing exercise which twists away at me until I get up and go for a walk, but it is no more than the sad eyes I get every time I look at Charlie, our dog, who just loves being out sniffing the neighbourhood and peeing on anything he can cock his leg at! I hope the holidays are also going to be a chance for me to get to the pools and join Adi in the lanes as a bit of a step up from the current 3-4x 30min dog walks per week that I get in at the moment.

The biggest challenge for me is re-educating myself about what being hungry actually is and not eating til I feel sick just because it tastes good. Since this blog started, despite not having written on it, it has played on my mind. I have noticed just how routine eating has become for me - especially the "just-home-from-work-exhausted-need-something-before-dinner" grazing or the "bored" grazing; and also how much I associate food with socialising or having fun. I'm not sure how I am going to tackle this latter one but it is something for future posts I guess. In the meantime during the week I am focussing on lowering the carb intake while upping the protein and avoiding the snacking as well as smaller serving sizes to reduce the overall intake.

So whether Adrian likes it or not, food will be changing. Less take-outs and more veges - though just for him I will avoid all pumpkin and kumara!

Exercise Plan #1

So now that I've said hello, I should probably say how I'm going about getting healthier. Today marks week 2, day 1 of the first plan Chris set up for me (Chris is the brother-in-law-in-every-way-except-married guy), and it's one he's set up to play both into my strengths and my goals.

First up my cardio fitness is fucking shocking, so that's gotta be the primary short-term goal - I figure if I can't breath then I can't exercise. For this goal I'm swimming 3 days a week before work. It's pretty short and sweet, largely because I'm pretty sure I'll drown trying to do more - a 50m warmup (which I swim breaststroke), followed by 5x50m reps at a higher level (freestyle for these), and lastly another 50m to warm down (breaststroke again).

The next short-term goal is to get some muscle strength back to my core, the abs and lower-back. Chris has got me doing a series of stretches, followed by some core exercises. The stretches are for 30-60 seconds in duration, and the exercises are generally reps of 10 for each one. I'm doing these 3 days a week too, on the off days between swims - Sunday is my day off. I shan't be more detailed about what exercises exactly, mostly because I don't want to shit all over Chris' business and spill his secrets. If he's ok with it, then I'm happy to share.

At home, we're not making huge life changes to our food - at least not yet. We're coming into summer anyway so the fruit and vege options are getting cheaper and more prevalent, so we're just trying to have more of those instead of fattier options. With lunch I'm taking at least 2 pieces of fruit - today, for example, I've got a banana, an apple and 2 manderines - and cutting back on buying fatty shit for lunch.

The plan is still super early on, but I'm definitely feeling there's been progress already. After the swim on day 1 I swear I was going to hurl, but today I felt like there was more left in the tank after I finished my warm down.

That's a good sign right?

Introduction part blahhhhh

I am writing this now as I have been slack in even getting the first post up.

I'm Paul, I am current resident of California, USA and was brought up (and still am) a New Zealander. I am
slightly taller than my counterpart Adrian at 6ft 4 and a lot heavier at 142kg currently. I usually sit around the
136-138kg mark and I am trying to get past this and down to a much better weight for me.

My main motivation has been lately finding out I could go back to playing sport that I have been missing out on for 14 years.
I had a random knee injury that specialists told me there wasn't much they could do and that I shouldn't be playing sport but I
recently found out that this is incorrect. So this has given me extra motivation to drop more weight and hopefully be able to get
back into the things I loved when I was younger.

Currently I have just started physical therapy for my knee so my main exercise is 1 hour of exercises until I can strengthen a lot
of my muscles around my knee. I am planning to hit the weights a couple of times a week or more to get some upper body work going.
Eating wise I have just started mixing things up in the last few weeks and I am dropping some of the carbs I usually eat and adding
in more protein. I have gained a little more weight in the last month or so from eating worse than I did before and I want this to change.

My goal is to hit 105-110kg and be back playing sport actively. I also want to still be able to enjoy food like I do but in a healthier
way. I think a big part of my problem is lack of exercise as I am naturally atheltic and my body is craving sports.

I am going to do this and make a difference to my life.

Introduction #1

An introduction seems like a good place to start, so I'll kick this fucker off.

I'm Adrian, currently a resident of Auckland, New Zealand. I'm a little taller than average (185cm - that's about 6' 1" for those of you still living in the stone age), and a fair slab too heavy for my height (107kg last time I checked).

My main motivation for getting more active has been my weight, which has gone up about 12kg in the last 12-14 months. I know that weight isn't the only measure of health, but this is the main indicator for me. I've also put on a steady growth of chubb around my waistline, which isn't the smartest move for my ethnicity (European).

Not too long ago I joined up with some extended family + friends to do a group triathlon, and having had a competitive swimming history I thought 300m on a beach would be a cakewalk. I don't know how long it took to complete, but I nearly threw up twice before tagging my teammate, and nearly threw up again 3 times more before sitting down. I was proper fucked.

This was a pretty massive shock for me, and I couldn't believe that all those years in the pool had vanished. Back in the day we were swimming 6km a day for training, to fail so miserably at a mere 300m was just crushing. Hell, I had a 6-pack back then, now it's a keg!

And so I've just started the long haul back into being fit. Today marks day 4 in my first week of that haul, and I'll admit it's not easy. The husband of my partner's sister (it would be easier to say brother in law, but we're not married yet) is a personal trainer, so with his help and planning, and the motivational support of my friends and family, I'm going to lose this fat and get back to being me.