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02/03/2005: "Getting fit"
Yeah yeah, I know 'tis the season of rapidly failing New Years Eve resolutions, but there is more to it this time!
As I am sure I have told many of you at great length, I fully intend to become the new singer for INXS. And after a Christmas holiday filled with eating, drinking, and sitting on my arse, I had packed on a couple more pounds than I would like, so, its time to get rid of them!
Now, I know it is fashionable in California to either obsess about your weight, or obsess about not obsessing about your weight, but I am much more realistic. My weight over the last 20 years has not varied all that much, despite long periods with little real excercise and pour diet. When I left Australia in 1988, I weighed 189 pounds, which was the heaviest I have ever been. My excuse there was exam stress - I really did eat, drink, and sit, 16 hours a day for three months. Once I started travelling though, the weight melted away pretty quickly, and I dropped down to 165 pounds in a month and a half - and boy, did I feel better for it. The magic of that twenty pound weight loss? Lots of excercise and a tight budget. I would go for long walks during the day, and in the evening, wind up in a little country pub somewhere, with 5 pounds spending money - then it was a simple choice between eating dinner and drinking five pints of beer - you can guess who won!
My weight slipped back up to a pretty consistent 185 pounds, but then about four years ago, I decided that I would throw off the convention of meal times. Yeah, I know that people go on and on about "breakfast being the most important meal", but often I don't want breakfast. So, my new regime consisted of eating when I was hungry, rather than when I thought I should, or when I was bored. I dropped ten pounds in about a month, and felt so much better for it. It really is amazing what just a ten pound weight loss will do.
So, after Christmas, I was back up to 185 again. Plus, I did a lot of wedding dancing, and that reminded me of how unfit I had become - so, it was knuckle down time. My "new regime" consists of:
- reduced alcohol consumption (yes, I am down to 2 beers a week!)
- reduced chocolate/junkfood consumption (no sugar-packed soft drinks, and less chocolate)
- eating less when I do eat
- An excercise routine (that I have worked out over the years, then run one mile, five times a week.
So far, its going well. Just a week and a half, and I'm already three pounds down, and my 1-mile time has dropped from 9:00 minutes to 8:40. OK, still a ways to go, with a goal time of 7:30, and a goal weight of 170, but we're off to a good start. My diet is so effective, that I've been thinking of publishing it - under the name "The Bloody Obvious Diet". OK, at a loss of around 2.5 pounds a week, its not one of these wonder diets, but then again, it is very easy to follow. I guess the important thing to remember is everyone is different, and it may take a long time to find out what suits you. But the bottom line is, this is really just an excercise in will-power, as is so much in life.
Mind you, I forget who said it, but I've always been a subscriber to the philiosophy of "The only way to truely beat temptation is to give in to it"! 
Replies: 7 Comments
On Thursday, February 3rd, at 08:34 PST, June said:
It was Oscar Wilde who said "I can resist anything except temptation".
On Thursday, February 3rd, at 10:03 PST, Princess said:
YEah I come from a family of people who care a lot about their weight and having been an athlete from 6-18 I never much paid attention to diet or body mostly out of rebelliion I suppose. I knew because of the intense training my body was going to look different and when I stopped at 18 due to injury I was not suprised and didn't much care that i gained 20 lbs in just a few months. I too have found (though I rarely weight myself ) that I have about a 10 pound fluctuation annually but stay just around 165/170 due to winter, stress or summer increase of activity. Unless I travel. Travel means regular exercise and like you said, it melts away. For example, when I went to peru for 3 1/2 weeks, high protein diet and LOTS of walking every day got me in shape and down to 150 easy, which I agree felt better though I never felt bad at 165. I find these 5 things to help ( and you can write them in your book too)
1) Do NOT eat less than 2 hours before you go to bed. I know it sounds like swimming after you eat to avoid cramps, but my body at least won't digest when it's tired and rushed. It cops an attitude and refuses.
2) DO NOT wait until you are STARVED to eat. I find I eat twice as mch as I need to if I eat when I am really hungry. Big family syndrome, eat quick or you don't get seconds when the fact is, you don't need them. If I eat slowly and I am still hungry, fine, but there is a lot to be said for eating before you are about to pass out from hunger. ( Which for me an my motabolism gives me about a 25 minute window between ah I am hungry and FEED ME)
3) snack. I can't stress enough. you touched on this a bit with the regular meals things, but I find grazing on little things every 2-3 hours not only breaks up the monotony of my day but gives me more sustained energy and contorls hungar and ultimately weight.
4) Pay attention to your cravings. This is more from a health and happiness standard which relates but maybe doesn't CONTROL weight, but I have always said, any attention to your body and what it asks for. I went to the fridge the other night and there were ginger snaps and a bowl of pistashios, raisins, almonds and dried mango. I thought I REALLY WANT ginger snaps. But I thought I would be healthier eating the nuts and raisins. I ate the nuts and raisins. 20 minutes later I was not satisfied. I had 3 ginger snaps. and I realized my body needed the sugar or something in there. three cookies later my body thanked me and I thought, I just ate more than I needed to because I thought I was being healthier. lame. Trust that your body needs what it wants in moderation. ( On a side note I rarely take vitamins since I have found I often get sick if I take them. My conclusion is that I don't crave particular foods when I take them because I am getting the vitimins synthetically, when in fact it not the same thing, and ther are other nutrients in foods I crave then just the vitamins in a supplement) at least not for me.)
5)Consistancy. I find that though in many respects variety is the spice of light, my bosy does not like when I am sporadic. If I exorcise 3 days in a row, and then not at all for a month, I'm not really helping my body. If I reduce my food intake or what I am eating and "diet" for two weeks and then binge on junk food for 2 weeks, again I think my body tends to get confused. To a certain extent routine seems to be better and though I don't eat the same thing every day I think sticking to a regime no matter how strict, sticking to it willproduce the heathiest result.
Keep in mind it's not about just losing weight, it's about FEELING good. If that means you have more energy when you are exorcising, great, if makes you feel good to fit into a pair of pants better, okay, if it means a number on a scale gives you that smile great, but happiness is key to NOT obssessing and losing eright for the wrong reason.
AND FINALLY, there are 3 people in my cast doing the south beach diet, which pretty mch would exclude me eating everything I like for two weeks. I mentioned I would have to be paid to stop eating those things, that I don't know if I could physicaly do it, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be too happy with no pasa, bread and fruit. SO looks like on a double dog dare, I am toexperiment with that. The wager 10 pounds the first two weeks. can that be good for you? Interesting...we will see how far I get. SO much for good sense and consistancy.
On Thursday, February 3rd, at 23:12 PST, Dun dada DuNN AJ said:
I'm not sure I would buy that book..But I Love the title.
On Friday, February 4th, at 12:11 PST, Simon said:
I always learnt that should leave at least 4-5 hours between meals so your metabolism has time to get over the last one, and that snacking was a bad thing.
People often say you get unfit in an office job, but this company seems to take some time out on a Friday to go to Kings Park and play soccer. After running around for about 30 mins today (ok..it was more like 5), I realised how unfit I am these days. I'm sure the beer and video games doesn't help. I am relying less on public transport and walking more these days too. Not that I know what my weight is in pounds, but I could do with being about 5kg lighter I reckon. Maybe you're on to something with this diet thing 
On Monday, February 7th, at 10:43 PST, Princess said:
Take the card tour here...these are DISGUSTING! If you want a diet that inspires you to not eat ever, this would be the ticket!
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html
On Tuesday, February 8th, at 14:50 PST, Fi said:
Good on you Chris!
I know plenty of people who struggle with their weight but never find the discipline ot change their habits. Its hard work and you're doing a good job. Mind you, I don't think you were overweight (even at the weddings). But changing your habits to be healthier is a good thing even if you don't measure it by pounds lost.
I've been trying to be kind to myself since getting to Brisvegas. My goal is to prevent myself from getting unduly depressed - something that tends to happen when I eat badly and don't get enough exrecise. So, its hot sweaty walks every morning with Hank, plenty of trips to the dog park where we are both making friends, and Aikido twice a week which simutlaneously provides exercise, stress relief and social interaction.
Mind you, I'm still on two beers / alcoholic beverages a night...it's hard breaking bad habits. I'm impressed that you are so committed.
Fi.
On Tuesday, February 8th, at 15:02 PST, Chris Tann said:
Committed? Well, I certainly should be! 
Latest news from the scales is that I am up again to 185, but thats OK - weight really is a small part of the equation, and I know that I am bulking up on muscle to make up for the flab thats going. I hit 8:20 on my last mile run, a new personal best (at least for the last two decades), so something is working! I know 8:20 is still pretty slow, but I still want to keep my routine at a level where I can comfortably do it every night. Once I hit sub-8's, I'll start increasing distance rather than speed.
