How I Lost 5 Stone

Is anyone truly happy with their body shape? If you are, are there other things in your life you aren't happy with? I always found it a difficult balancing act keeping the main areas of my life in sync, with a level happiness. 


When I was younger I was as thin as a stick and it didn't matter what I ate it just didn't stay on. In my teens I was 6' 2" and kind of gangly looking. But in later life, a few years back and after the birth of my second son Kai, I was settled and things were good (or so I thought). I'd just taken on a new job and I was earning good money with a company car etc. Ironically while I was at my most settled I also put more and more and more weight on. I'd already added some significant podge in the run up to Kai being born. Without even realising it I soon, slowly and surely, added more to my significant waistline.


Me when Kai was born  

This picture was taken with still about another two stone to go on. There aren't many pictures of me from those days (those which do exist have probably been burnt by the ex-wife in some sort of ritual). As you can see though the fat face is hidden. There is another picture of me in work and my face is like a cartoon characters, very round!


I said above "without realising it", you kind of just justify things. My wife (at the time) was shrinking my clothes and those pesky clothes companies kept changing their sizes. Before I knew it my wife had shrunk the clothes before she even washed them and those clothes companies were making me buy 48" waist trouser instead of my old 36" - bastards!


Reality set in after I took on another new job. The weight kept increasing and I had a meeting with one of our insurance companies in Leicester. When I got there the lift was broken and I had to haul my fat, lardy arse up three flights of stairs. When I got to my floor I literally had to stop and compose myself while my lungs screamed for more air and my head was starting to weigh up where the nearest person was should I collapse. It was time to do something!


There was a problem though. I love food. Not the posh, rich food. I'm talking proper junk food - kebabs, burgers, pizzas etc. By the way you should always know you have a problem when the takeaway delivery man recognises your voice on the phone, knows you by name and prioritises your order as 'you're a good customer'!


So I loved food and knew that I'd tried cutting down in the past and it hadn't worked, so exercise would have to be my salvation. But again there was another problem. I'd had exercise fads before and they were just that; fads which lasted about a month (if I was lucky). Hmmmm problems, problems!


I had to break this down like I would break down a business problem. Inputs, outputs and production problems to convert the inputs into better outputs. While I was doing this I was re-introduced to Tony Robbins and I used his ideas as my starting blocks. So some of the following ideas are mine while other belong to him. As a side note if there is something out of balance in your life (relationships, work, money, body) I strongly recommend you check Tony out - he's a bit of a hero of mine.


First off I shocked myself into doing something, as if the near fatal stair incident wasn't enough! This is imperative as you need to know the size of the problem and you need to shock yourself into action. Mirror - check, alone - check, naked - check, from there I made an honest assessment of myself. Then I worsened that assessment to really shock myself and by the end of it I recognised that I was a big, fat, unattractive slob. Man I was ugly and if I did't stop then, well Jerry Springer would soon be round with a helicopter and a winch. 
CHANGE NUMBER ONE COMPLETE - I recognised that I had a problem and I shocked my fat ass into doing something - I also stopped justifying things with pathetic excuses


Now I'd always used time as an excuse. Busy in work, family commitments, the car needs fixing and the telly needs watching - I deserve some me time for gods sake. Yet it was 'me time' I had been neglecting. I had allowed myself to become this size because I hadn't given myself time to do something about it. One of Tony's mantras is that you have to give yourself an hour everyday. It doesn't have to be for exercise but you need an hour for yourself. I would have that hour and I would use it for exercise. Now I'd also heard that after 6 months of exercising it becomes addictive. So I vowed that for 6 months I would exercise every day for one hour. Interestingly some of my best ideas for work came about in those hours.
CHANGE NUMBER TWO COMPLETE - I knew I deserved the time and gave it back to myself


Now it's important to note that I'd made plans like this in the past, as you do. I then waited for life to get back in the way and provide some excuses, which it did. Not this time though. That very same day I went straight to JJB and I bought a weights bench and loose weights. When I got home I immediately set them up. I'd dabbled with weight training before so I knew the score. I then went online and ordered my first batch of supplements from Maximuscle to aide my training. After which I called my Uncle who I used to play squash with and arranged a weekly game, I joined the squash leagues and I arranged to play football. Within three hours I'd taken actions which would set me up on my way for my 6 months.
CHANGE NUMBER THREE COMPLETE - I took action and I didn't procrastinate, I'd invested in 'project me' and thus committed myself to it. I started exercising that day.


The last step was the hardest for me. I knew I had to cut down the amount of junk food I ate. But with my renewed vigour and love of life I could do this. What was important for me though was not cutting everything out. I always tell people that if I want a burger or a kebab I'll have one. Listen this isn't rocket science people and forget the fads or anything else. I only ever considered the calories and the fat content and you can treat them both the same. Simplify - take a plastic bag that can hold 10 apples now put in 10 apples (what you eat) and then take out the 10 apples you burn normally in a day. Now put in 12 apples for 5 days and take out what you normally burn in a day. The bag stretches a bit like your belly would doesn't it? So I knew that if I put 12, 13 or 14 apples in my bag then I had to burn the other apples off. On a normal day I would shrink my bag of 'considerable appleage' by burning off more apples. This was the way I looked at it. So I ate what I wanted, but with the proviso that every day I'd burn off more than I ate... EVERY DAY! So it was a mixture for me. I started eating better but I still treated myself when I wanted to.
CHANGE NUMBER FOUR COMPLETE: I simplified, I didn't look at fads and I changed my apple inputs and outputs


Other things helped me along the way as well. I'd always had the desire when I was younger to get bigger (muscle wise) and this was an opportunity. I also thought about how people saw me and how I wanted them to see me. Listen I'm no oil painting but at the time I was round and I didn't want to be seen as round. My first stone came off in a week, my first two stone within a month. Then people started to notice and that drives you on. While I did my weights I listened to Tony Robbins' CD's, they are perfect for training to. Listening to someone so positive giving you guidance is amazing, well it was for me. Others may just prefer to listen to dance music!


Initially I also took the diet thing a bit more seriously and I set out some simple rules for myself. I took a box of cereal to work and I had cereal 2 - 4 times a day with a meal in the evening. I no longer had lunch and dinner as two big meals. If I had a business lunch then I would have a sandwich or cereal for dinner. But these again were simple rules I created from my simply 'apples' theory. I never looked at fad diets and have never felt the need to.


After the first couple of stone though your body tends to adjust and the weight loss starts to slow down. There is also something inside you going 'you've done it... well done, now go get a kebab'. For me I had set out a 6 month plan, I wanted to be addicted. I stuck to my guns and can honestly say that after 6 months I was! Although not in the sense you may think. I would say a normal addiction is the desire for the rush of the experience, whatever that may be. Exercise addiction is different in my opinion. You don't really crave the rush of exercise you just sit there feeling guilty, and if you've shocked yourself right, worrying that the 'bellys gonna get you'! This is usually enough to get me back in the gym. These first 6 months were the most important of my longer term life.


There are pitfalls though and you often need to just re-adjust:


Reaching the plateau


Whether your dealing with weight loss through diet, exercise or both you generally reach a point where your body adjusts itself. At these times I have always found that I had to shock my system again.I've usually done this by changing my diet for a couple of weeks or usually by changing my workout routines.Interestingly sometimes the shock is actually a rest. I usually take an entire week off every three months to give my body chance to recuperate.


Real life sometimes gets in the way


Last year in November my Nan passed away. She was an important part of my life. Needless to say my alcohol and junk food intake increased and my training decreased. I found it quite hard to get back into a routine. Then it was Xmas and New Year (more alcohol with no exercise). Then I think general apathy set back in. Losing the routine and dealing with the bereavement meant my addiction guilt wasn't really working. It actually took someone commenting on a picture that I'd 'porked a bit' to get me back into action. Don't get me wrong I'd creeped to about 18.5 stone and nowhere near where I started. So I took the picture and I put it on an A4 piece of paper. On it I wrote "No junk food, train every day. Stop being a fat bastard". I posted them all over the house and got my ass back in gear. I shocked myself back into it again, I put Tony on the iPod and trained even harder. Interestingly I was immediately addicted again.


The time is sometimes hard to find


I make it sound so easy don't I when I say 'find an hour every day'? It isn't always easy and you have to work hard at it. Again I found some cheats for myself. Sometimes I worked late or I had other commitments so I really didn't have the time to train in the evening. I employed a substitution method. Every time I lost an evening, the next morning I got up at 5am to get the day before's session in. I am lucky to be able to work flexible hours so I'd utilise lunch breaks as well where required. I said find an hour I didn't specify when you had to find it.


When it comes to training I utilise a blend of strength and cardio work. Weight training, as well as getting me bigger, has delivered other benefits. The pure mechanics of what you put your body through means that it continues using energy and burning calories (in the recovery stage) after the actual exercise has taken place. I play squash, which is one of the highest calorie burning sports and I play football. I prefer competitive exercise as it keeps the mind active. Football remains the only sport though where I truly switch off. When my Nan was battling with cancer it was the only hour and half a week where I forgot. It all comes crashing back as I'm walking off the pitch though, but for that time I felt free and still do. We also have a running machine in the house so I aim for 2/3 cardio days and 3/4 strength days with a rest day each week.

Me last year before Nan passed away

If you can afford it and have the space I recommend having your own exercise equipment at home, in its own room. Remove the barriers of having to go to the gym and have that constant reminder.

I have eventually got to a stage where I have a settled routine now. Next year, to get where I want to though, I have a decision to make. It will require a lifestyle change in diet and exercise. I'm not sure if I want to go that far. Maybe I'll be posting again at the end of next year though with phase 2!


So now I'm 5 stone lighter and in 38" jeans (I can squeeze into 36" but I'd be kidding myself to say they're comfy). I want to lose another stone and a half but it's hard while trying to get bigger as well. The picture was taken before my Nan passed away and I'm pretty much back to this but bigger. The thing I like about this picture, apart from my hidden face (still shy) is that it is not after a workout. I always look bigger after a workout.


So in summary its not hard but it does take commitment. After 6 months though if you do this through exercise you will be addicted to it (in a funny way), if not before 6 months. You'll probably slip just like I did but it's important to pick yourself up and start again. It should be very rare that you slip back to the start, as you should have caught it before then. I won't buy bigger clothes for myself as this is a sign, much like being told that I'm 'porking a bit'.


Hopefully if you've read this you've found some interesting tips. Doing what I do won't suit everyone but the building blocks are the same.


1. Recognise the problem and stop making excuses
2. Shock yourself and tell yourself how fat you are, go OTT to get the message through
3. Give yourself the time - you'll be amazed what you accomplish and what ideas you come up with
4. Don't procrastinate - do it now, if it's night - order the stuff on line! You must commit.
5. Simplify your diet and work out what's right for you - stay away from fads!
6. When you slip make sure you realise it (don't buy the next size up) and start again
7. Continually shock your system by using varying workouts or diet


Most importantly set yourself objectives and not rules to live by. I'm going to train 7 times a week is achievable while your being flexible with yourself. I'm going to train at 8am every morning no matter what happens isn't always going to work.


Set your targets and then stick to them. I hope I haven't patronised in this blog entry as that was not my intention.


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Tony Robbins can be followed on Twitter @tonyrobbins the guy has 1.6 million followers and is amazing!