Fighting The Flab

29th April Food Diary

08:15  2x Poached Eggs, 2x Lean Bacon, Mushrooms, Baked Beans, Tomato Sauce (1 Syn)
             1x Wholemeal Bread (3 Syns)
08:30  Coffee
09:40  500ml H2O
12:30  Pineapple, Melon, Apple, Blackberry's, Strawberry's, Banana,
             Muller Light Vanilla Yogurt, 3 Mini Meringues (3 Syns)
13:30  Apple
14:00  Lean Roast Beef, Roast Potato's, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage,
             Runner Beans, 2x Yorkshire (4 Syns)
16:00  Apple
18:20  300ml Dr Pepper (diet)
19:00  Ryvita Dark Rye Crispbreads (B), Laughing Cow Light Cheese Triangles (A),
             Lean Ham, Pickled Onions
20:15  300ml H2O and 400g Grapes
21:45  Vanilla Muller Light, Blueberry's, Blackberry's, Raspberry's, Strawberry's,
             Apple, Banana, Melon, Pineapple, 3 Mini Meringues (3 Syns)


Today was a hard day on the diet, not for any particular reason, just found it hard. Kerry made a great roast dinner which was filling, and I ate a lot of fruit as per usual (I still cant see how we are going to lose weight eating all this fruit and potato's etc) but I had to go into co-op and but some drinks for the family, on my own..... Now this did leave me in a bit of a dilemma... Firstly, I don't feel like I am losing weight, secondly I don't trust the diet, and thirdly, well who would know if I did buy a sneaky chocolate bar?

I didn't buy any chocolate or sweets or anything I shouldn't have. I went home and had some more fruit. If nothing else I can be honest and say I have given this diet a proper chance and have followed it strictly this first week. I don't feel any better and I don't feel any thinner, Tuesday night will tell I guess. Even if this diet does work, it is not as easy or as straight forward as The Diet Plate is to use, in fact I may have to dig mine out and start using that as well as the Slimming World diet, can't hurt to use them in conjunction?

Have not done any more training today, was meant to, just didn't find the time, or motivation. We did watch the girl with the dragon tattoo thought, the new one.... its good, but I have a sneaky suspicion the book is better, I get this idea, as Kerry kept saying it all the way through the film!... It was nice to snuggle up with Kerry though, even if I do whinge about the films she picks...

These are my best top 10 tips for anyone trying to lose weight.... please feel free to read them and pass them on... of course a link back is always helpful :o)

Tried and tested out on ourselves and people we have helped. I hope they can help you on your journey to being fitter, healthier and indeed slimmer, if that is what you desire.

1: Drink plenty of water.
This is by far the most important tip on any diet plan, and it is good for you as well. Nearly everyone I know (who is dieting) who has upped their water intake, has decreased there calorie intake! Simple. It has become quite common knowledge now that people can confuse hunger with thirst; the knock on effect from this is that you can end up eating calories you really don’t need.
"If you don't like plain water, try adding citrus or a splash of juice, or brew infused teas like mango or peach, which have lots of flavor but no calories," says Cynthia Sass, R.D. a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

CAUTIONARY NOTE! Check the labels as many of these have calories in them!

Hi folks, sorry I have been so remiss at posting... lots going on. Mainly, the internet and phone system at work has been down for nearly 3 weeks with next to no support from the company that supplies them. In the end I had to fix the issue myself. Not really what I am trained to do but luckily, not to different from the systems I know. Anyhow, long story short, we are back in business!!! Everything seems to be working. No thanks to talk talk enterprises.... I really would not recommend them as a supplier to any business. they mmay be cheap but having failed to return over 8 phone calls when directors have promised to call back always makes me wonder.

Anyhow... what have I been up to? Well I did the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride for a charity called EETEP. It was a great day and I enjoyed most of the ride (the last few miles into a headwind wasnt so much fun) but we did complete it. Here is a picture of Phil Booth (EETEP Chairman) and myself at the finish.



Other than that I have had the dreaded Flu... and survived... but it left me out of shape physically and drained. Just getting back into the training and diet now, weight has crept up to 301lbs (21St 7lb or 136.8Kg's) this is too high as I need to get down to 120kilos to compete properly. So a few changes to the lifestyle has to be made. I will get there, I always do. Just need to stay focussed.

On top of that the funds and sponsorship for the WKC World Championships has not come through as easily as I thought, so I have paid for a lot of the stuff I need personally. I still need to raise about a £1000 to get there and get the equipment I need and as such the TCS has set up a donations page for me to use. So if you would like to help me get to the World Championships and represent my country, please feel free to follow this link and donate anything to help the cause. There is more information here on LionsPride website.

Training tonight, which I am looking forward to and an interclub competition with Evade on Sunday. I have done some photo shoots for magazines and newspapers this last month for The Diet Plate the system I used to drop my weight from 36 stone!!! Like any diet, it only works if you stick to it, but I find this diet easier to stick to than any other diets I have tried and will forever be grateful to them.

Erm thats about it in a nutshell... I will be back more now I hope!!!

Hello one and all. Sorry for the break, life got a bit hectic!! As is the way of life, I guess.

Anyhow, as the title says, Im still going strong and training hard. Work is going well and everything is falling into place, slowly but surely.

I have no idea what my weight is, but people have started commenting on the fact that I am losing weight again, so I guess I am. :o)

As mentioned previously I am training hard, very hard. Stephen Primrose is pushing me hard and we had a great training session on Sunday with Tawatchai Budsadee. A great time spent with an amazingly experianced fighter. Many thanks for your time and comments!!!

The Diet Plate is working for me again, and I am begining to get used to using it all the time once more.

I think I will weigh myself next Monday, just to see how I am going, I want to get to 115 kilos or 18 stone 1 lb or 253 lbs, although not near this yet, I dont imagine it will take me too long with the Diet and the training. I am looking forward to yet again buying a new wardrobe!!

This morning was warm, actually no, it was damn hot. Woke up hot and bothered, had a shower, still hot and bothered, wearing shorts again today (once again, apologies for the legs, but they really are not my fault) and a t-shirt. Just glad we have no official visitors in the office today and I dont have to wear a suit.

Took the car today as I have to drive to Macclesfield tonight to train after work. Im looking forward to it, I know its going to hurt and burn, but that does not worry me half as much as not being ready for November. Stephen will make sure I am ready for whatever comes. Im glad I took the car, I just remembered why I insisted on buying a car with air conditioning (sorry planet).

Food wise, Im having some up and down days, I need to get a handle on that. I will, just takes a bit of will power and refocusing, but I will get there. It doesnt help that the rest of the house is full of chocoholics so there is always plenty of the stuff laying around tempting me, and yet again last night I failed :o( I dont know why I did this time, I just fancied it. Normally its for comfort, but this time I was calm and resonable and not angry, yet I still reached for it. I guess you cant be perfect all the time huh? My main meals are still under control by using The Diet Plate. Last night I had a jacket potatoe, with cheese (low fat) and some tuna. It was yummy :o)

I have started reading again, sounds like a strange statement, but I used to devour books, hungry for the escapism or the knowledge they contained, but over the past couple of years I have just not been able to sit down with a good book and get into it. I decided last night I was going to re-read one of my favourite books. Dan Millman's "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" which is a book which has helped me massively in my past. I was surprised at how easy I found picking it up and getting into it. I enjoyed it very much.

So today, no cycling (my bottom will be happy about that) but a serious training session tonight at Lions Pride (my legs wont be happy about that!) All in all, not a bad day.

I hope you are all well and life is giving you enough.

Stay safe.

Hello one and all... I hope you are well.

Today is Friday, which is no bad thing, I can do with a break of the weekend, although I get this strange feeling I am not going to get one...

I trained last night at Lions Pride with Stephen Primrose . It was a hard session for me, with 9 mins running for warm up and then 10 rounds of skipping!! Stephen gave me encouragement (erm, Im not sure thats the right word for it however, but it got me through to the 10th round) from the sides and I worked through the time trying to listen to everything that Stephen was telling em to do. I think I did ok, I couldnt have trained much harder or pushed any further as when finishing I was light headed and nauseus and fighting not to pass out. Which I guess is when you know you pushed hard. Shower and home. Sleep, shower, cycle to work. I enjoyed the cycle, the weather today is great and I am hoping I will get a chance to cycle tonight after training, well if it stays nice anyway.

As far as food goes, I am eating little and burning weight off. The Diet Plate makes my portion control so easy!! Loving the burn, loving the feeling, loving the result!!!

Hello, back again sooner than I thought... :o) So, yesterday, left work, cycled home (up a very steep hill, which left me gasping and my legs burning) jumped into my car and headed off to Lions Pride for what turned out to be a very intense training session.

Shadow Boxing warm up (3 rounds)
Core exercises, using Medicine Ball (3 rounds)
Basics and combination drills (12 rounds)

Stretching (yes lots of these... and man did I need it)

Shower, home....

Worked hard and enjoyed the session, got a bit frustrated with myself on a few occasions as I could not seem to get certain moves right, I guess they will come with more training :o)

Anyhow... awoke this morning, bit stiff, hot bath, and back on the bike... another couple of miles before work, its not far, but it is a start. This evening from work I am meeting Phil Booth (Chairman of EETEP) and we are heading out to clock some miles up. I forgot how painfull cycling can be on the rump when you are not used to it...

Food wise, obviously the trusted Diet Plate is getting another bashing, and I havent weighed myself this week deliberately as I want to use my size and feeling more than my weight as a judgement. I will however weigh myself every couple of weeks to keep some form of record.

Hope it stops raining before tonight...

Be Well

Well today is day two, day one went ok, except for a couple of biscuits that snuck there way in during a meeting :o( Oh well, at least that was all...

I had fruit for breakfast, apple, grapes, orange, melon. It was lovely, clean and refreshing. For lunch I had a healthy chicken and bacon sandwich on wholemeal bread. In the afternoon I had 4 biscuits :o(. For tea I had a jacket potato with some beans on them.

I did very little exercise yesterday, except playing with a Funkey Hula available now from The Diet Plate. It was great, and very funny, slightly painful as well, mind you it does say wear a heavy top to stop the wheels bruising you to start with, being one for instructions, of course I ignored that and was wearing a light weight thin summer shirt.. yip it definitely bruises!! Other than that it was a good work out.

Today I have skipped breakfast, grabbing an apple from the shops on the way into work as I was running late, there is nothing to eat in the office, which is just as well as I am quite hungry right now. I will nip out for lunch and grab something fairly healthy. Tea will be a couple of pieces of fruit on the way to the Dojo and I will probably end up grabbing a cereal/nut bar as well for energy, as well as some water. Water is great, it helps with hunger and stops you from getting headaches and dehydrated... My biggest 2 pieces of diet advice for people on the go, 1) The Diet plate for easy portion control. 2) Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day whilst dieting. Its really that simple.

Those that have followed this blog, know that I go on and off, hot and cold, especially where diet is concerned. I spent a long time loseing weight (seems like my whole life) and I lost a significant amount over the last 3 years (more than most of you weigh I bet!!!).

So where are we at? I started this 'new life' back at the start of 2007. Then I weighed a massive 36 and a half stone (511 lbs). Using several different diet techniques over relatively short periods of time untill I found The Diet Plate, which I then stuck to rigidly, I dropped weight down to 19 stone 9 lbs (275 lbs) a loss of 16 stone 12 lbs (236 lbs)!!!! I hit that weight and decided I had reached a place where I was comfortable so would lay of the diet for a while. I have put weight back on over the period of a year, and at times have started dieting again for a few weeks here and there. I went back up to 23 stone (322 lbs) about 5 weeks ago and decided enough was enough, putting aside excuses like lifestyle, being busy, not enough time to shop properly and prepare food (yes I am as guilty as anyone for those) I decided to dust the plate off and start again. Today I weighed in at 21 stone 10 lbs (304 lbs) a loss of 18 lbs in 5 weeks, so thats ok. :o)

I am also involved with a charity called EETEP and have agreed to do the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride with them on July 12th (watch this space for sponsorship details!!!) which is a 60 mile ride through what I can only imagine to be quite hilly country... so I guess it is time to get the bike out and put the car away for a while. :o) (That will help with the environment as well :o) and the savings on fuel too...).

On top of that most of you will be aware that I qualified for the England Kick Boxing Team this year and on October the 30th the team and I are off to Ireland to take part in the World Championships!!! I have neglected my training recently due to several personal issues which have needed addressing, now things are addressed (not sure if that is gramatically correct) it is time to train hard. I have to step my training up from twice a week to at least 4 days in the dojo with Stephen Primrose and hopefully 2 days spent riding a few miles. This will up my calorie burn as well as using The Diet Plate to bring my calorie intake down, and yet keep the correct balance of food groups so I dont starve my muscles of much needed vitamins and minerals to help them recover.

Starting Wednesday 20th May, I will try and blog at least every other day. This helps me stay focussed more than anything else, as well as giving me a place to vent frustrations!!

I hope you are all well...

The same video, but the final edit...



Again many thanks to developmedia for there help.

Is it just me or do I sound distinctly London????

The Video below is a first attempt. It was recorded at The Vitality Show 2009 in Earls Court Hall 2. Its one of the first pieces I have ever had to do and was nerve racking!!! However, it could be worse. In it I discuss how The Diet Plate works and my weight loss.



Many thanks to Developmedia (Ian and Kevin) for there very valuable time and assistance in shooting this film and putting it together.

Hello people.... I hope all of you are well.

The Diet Plate will be exhibiting at The Vitality Show in Earls court Hall 2. I am running the exhibition for them, so if you want to pop in and see us or come down to the exhibition for a massive saving on buying the system then please do.

Stay safe and I will post again once I am back.

Hello all, sorry for the neglect of this blog, it has not been my main focus as of late. So I am going to update people quickly, and then after Sunday, I wil start writing in more depth once again.

Weight has come down a fair amount, not 100% sure what it is at right now, but I am back below the 300lbs mark, thanks to hard training and The Diet Plate. Training is hard and takes up a lot of my time now, but I am enjoying it.

This weekend is the biggest challenge I have faced in a long time as I am taking part in the WKA British Open. Its light contiuous, so no rests or breaks. It will be tireing and fun. For this particular event its kicks above the waist and punchs, no knees or elbows.

Anyhow.... hope to catch you all soon...

Stay well and safe

Hello, I know it has been a while since I last posted, but I have been on a rocky road... I have left myself in a right state. I had some personal issues that had to get sorted; all of my own making as well.... which meant the end of last year and start of this year saw my focus being diverted to other things. I then started training for the fight I have on February 15th, for which I have to be 266lbs, first training session of the year I pull a ham string, which left me hobbling around for about a week. I then caught the dreaded lurgy, which laid me down low for over a week...

All in all not a good start, what’s worse, I jumped off the diet and comfort ate for about a fortnight, having restricted myself over the Christmas period. I have piled weight on, over a stone in 10 days, and find my self back at 312lbs. Eating and sleeping patterns have been disturbed, no training... lol... all in all not a good start....

I went to bed early last night, laid there looking at the ceiling and started crying. It has been a long time since I laid there crying, and not something I would normally admit too. After a few minutes, I started laughing, my life is full of ups and downs, but its the ups and downs that makes life so much fun. I am not in a good way or anywhere near ready for a fight, however, I have just over 4 weeks, and I can do this. I have done it before and I would do it again, and I will succeed in doing it this time. It’s not easy and not even recommended to do what I am about to, there is a risk of injury as well.

I went through the house this morning and threw out all foods that weren’t fresh or organic. I dug The Diet Plates out of the cupboard, and started planning my meals for the week. At 6am, I headed down to the local pool and swam for an hour, averaging about 40seconds a length, so I did somewhere between 90 and 100 laps. My arms and stomach are sore, but movable, and I enjoy the burn. Tonight when I finish work I am heading for the dojo (Lions Pride @ Macclesfield) to train with Steve Primrose. That’s going to be hard; Steve will work me extremely hard and doesn’t take failure well... I am looking forward to it, and I am nervous as well. I hope the knee and hamstring hold up, I am sure they will.

So this is me, my New Year starts here, the 13th January. I am at my heaviest for a while now at 312lbs, and need to be 266lbs. so 46 lbs to lose, it will come over really fast with the training and diet over the first couple of weeks, and then it will slow down.

I am finally focussed on what I have to achieve and I am looking forward to the challenge....

Be Well

OK folks, here goes.... as you know (if you read this blog) I lost a massive amount of weight then lost something, maybe I did plateau or maybe I lost drive and vision... either way, although the weight isn't piling on I am now struggling again, so its decision time... I have decided this, it is time to get back on The Diet Plate.

This week sees me starting to build up to training again, and I cant wait. I need the focus and drive and determination it gives me to centre myself. I have a fight in February for charity (15Th) and I need to be at a certain weight to compete. This weight is 4 stone 1 lb from where I am now... so its time to dig out The Diet Plate again, and start putting in the hard slogs at training to shift this weight, as quickly as possible really... although crashing weight isn't a good idea, the sooner I hit the weigh in mark the sooner I can concentrate on regaining muscle and energy levels.

So whats my weight? 22 stone 1 lb (139.8 kg) or 309lbs.

I am sad at being here, OK so its a long long way from where I started, but I have been lighter as well....

I will be back.....

Hello... Wednesday, Midweek... OK so I am bored.... but shh don't tell the boss lol...

I trained yesterday twice, once at Evade (which is undergoing some major renovations and installing a fitness suite, whatever one of them is) and again at The Chi Centre in Macclesfield with Steve Primrose... both were very different but good sessions. Heavy pad work session at Evade, and lots of fitness training and conditioning with Primo... All in all today my body aches... not the excruciating build up of lactic acid I suffered a while ago after training at Beast Masters, but it aches, my quads ache and so do my forearms.

So training is back on track... wahoooo... well for this week anyway. Tom Cox, from Evade asked me to go to his lesson tonight as they are sparing, and I am going to try and make it, although I know the timing is going to be tight...

Food... well actually the food side is going OK, I did eat some stupid sugary jelly sweets yesterday, as I missed my evening meal and got hungry and snacked... Dam... Note to all diet followers out there, don't skip meals.... note to self... try harder and do better...
The Diet Plate portions are back on track and I am using the plate and bowl regularly, and I am feeling better for it as well. Just goes to show what balance of food does for your body.

September the 24Th there is a seminar in London by Dan Millman, at the mind body spirit festival, it costs £40 and that's without travel and sorting out digs for the night... :o( So as much as I want to go I guess I wont be... Would be great to meet the man and listen to what he has to say. His books have helped me no end. Especially the now much acclaimed Way of the Peaceful Warrior series...

A quick note of thanks to Claire for the advice and help and kind comments. You can read her blog here

Hello folks.... how is life in cyber land? Good I hope....
I have stepped up the training as I said I would, however this has not been without problems. My body hurts, and I am suffering migraine type headaches as well. I am keeping myself hydrated, but I am burning through the energy in my body fairly quickly.
Today I rode 7 miles on my bicycle, then did over an hours intensive training in the dojo, had some porridge for lunch, and have drunk a fair amount of water to rehydrate my body. Tonight I am training with Steve Primrose who has just defended his world title last weekend (Well done Steve), in the hope of banging, cajoling and smashing my body into the type of shape it should be for my first full contact fight at the end of august.
I want to drop 21lbs from this weeks weigh in and I plan to do that using The Diet Plate and intensive training. Hopefully within the next 4-5 weeks, this will enable me to have 10 days or so walking around at that weight before I fight...

Hello one and all..... So I said I was going to get back on my diet and I didn't.... I know I know.... However, today is the day!!! Have weighed myself, so not good as I am back up to 21 stone 10 or 304lbs..... that's so not good..... and I have lost a lot of muscle mass as well due to the inability to train.

Hello, once again...... I really am getting into the swing of this blogging thing huh? Lets see, training at Evade was great on Thursday, I trained with Dave Breed and he put us through our paces, with a good conditioning workout using weights, some self defence drills and then a blast on the pads to finish it off with. I loved the workout although it was hard, and I have been paying for it over the last two days with a huge lactic acid build up in my thighs.
In the office Thursday I met Simon the MD from PushOn a specialist online marketing company. It was a great meeting, I was really impressed with there attitude and portfolio. After that I had to put the finishing touches on a presentation I was doing for a meeting on Friday.... so after rewriting it at least twice, it ended up 52 pages long and midnight when I thought, that's enough.... Fell into bed and passed out, and strangely enough I don't remember thinking about smoking.....
So the morning of Friday, I was awake and ready to go.... slightly nervous and anxious as this meeting was important for me. Got a text from Steve Primrose informing me he had officially stopped smoking!!!! Great news!!! Keep up the good work mate.... The down side is Steve (King of the ring welter weight kick boxing world champion) Also trains me, the end of the message was want to train Sunday? For the first time ever I thought about this..... by Sunday he is going to be ratty..... this could hurt.... lol. Still he is professional and in both our busy lives I cant afford to miss a training session.... so I will let you know how bad it was on Monday...
So the meeting, it was fine, I did well remembered the main facts and had the figures at my finger tips when cross examined on several points, I think all in all I did well. Dr Ian Campbell was there and it was a privilege to spend time with and speak to the UK's leading obesity specialist.
Friday night was the tester.... went and saw some friends and had a drink.... they all smoke and I have to say so did I, however, I only smoked 3 cigarettes and only half of each of them... I hated the taste and I hate the smell, in fact it almost makes me nauseous. This morning was the worst, how could I have smoked for so long, my mouth felt horrible and the taste, well it was disgusting. I am convinced more than ever now that I will not smoke again.
So what on today's menu? This morning I had my usual breakfast of porridge, using The Diet Plate Bowl. I am out at a Charity event during the day today, so I will try and find a sandwich to eat for lunch, and try and stay away from the cakes on offer!!! This evening I will have an early tea Chicken Korma and rice from my local. I have a treat every Saturday, its not bad as I measure it out on The Diet Plate, I love this diet, eat whatever you want in the right portions. The tag line 'portion control made easy' is so honest and simple. If you want to try it then buy the complete weight management system (it works out cheaper than buying them singularly, like I did).
My thighs still hurt.... have I mentioned that? I took my dogs out for a walk this morning to try and break down the lactic acid, it has helped, but they still hurt....
Oh well, I probably wont get on tomorrow, so I will see you all Monday with the new weigh in.... fingers crossed....

Stay Safe