500 Days of Slimmer - and Some Other Crap Too...

[Buttonman]

The first of the month! Back from a week in Tenerife, all inclusive including beer. Not a great help to the diet but I was relatively good. Held back from the sweets including the biggest jar of Nutella you'll ever see. Pump action!

Lose Weight : Parked until the year to go mark on April 1st so we can get a good run at it. Wife has me on this wheat free diet - no bread for a month or chocolate either. Weight seems static but I'm more hungry.

Update Blogs regularly : Went gangbusters on this one with 5 'W' films critiqued as well as as a mighty 18 Definite Articles. Pick of the films, if not the blogs was sexy Dutch nihilism fest   Wij and The Witch starring Finchy from 'The Office'.

Update the Lettersentertainyou thread for each letters publication event : All letters events have been recorded for posterity - a Special edition saw a scrotnig 297 reads! Join the party!

Average 12,500 steps a day : Hovering just under 10k a day on average and that includes a 32,655 step day on January 8th. Will boost this once the days lengthen.

Get 105 Letters Printed : - Letter 100 saw print this month!

Pass ACII : Passed assignment 1 of 'Advanced Claims' - assignment 2 in for marking and assignment 3 underway. Hope to have this subject licked and onto the next this month. I work in claims so this was always going to be the easiest of the 3. Still hard though!

Get on TV Again : Mainly researching Tipping Point at the moment.

Bag 50 Munros in total : Parked until the Summer!

Some progress, but not on all fronts. Learning that there are only so many hours in the day. The exams will see the focus for now and will hopefully be out of the way for the summer.

Happy diet sheets everyone!

[Gary James]

Lose Weight : Parked until the year to go mark on April 1st so we can get a good run at it.

Is it merely a coincidence that your diet resumes on April Fools' Day?

Get on TV Again : Mainly researching Tipping Point at the moment.

Good luck.

[Buttonman]

Lose Weight : Parked until the year to go mark on April 1st so we can get a good run at it.

Is it merely a coincidence that your diet resumes on April Fools' Day?

It doesn't start on April 1st, but will be documented from then. As it's my birthday it's a good staging point!

[Proudhuff]

You go girl, we're right behind you... by about a mile 

[Buttonman]

Another month goes by! Much poorer - thanks corona virus - but still kicking on despite the crappy weather. Last month’s self indulgent progress towards the goals is as follows:

Lose Weight : Been on a no chocolate, bread or Haribo diet since Tenerife and have only shifted about 3lbs. The wife has this book with lots of advice about changing your metabolism. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work with me as I’m on beta blockers for my heart. Going to go back to the fasting mimicking diet this month which worked for me in the past. We are moving house on the 10th so takeaways will need to be avoided.

I also joined a gym! Yes Puregym in Paisley has been my second home this month with <checks app> 21 visits this month. I am not a fitness addict but I am a cheapskate. The annual membership cost me £228 so my plan is to get it down to £1 a visit for the year. Started out OK and got to a 28 minute treadmill 5k after a few visits. Just need to ramp that up without dying!

Update Blogs regularly : A poor month with only one upload to each to keep them ticking over - my reader was most upset. The ‘W‘ blog saw only the terrible Wine Country  . And the definite article enjoyed only the Netflix series The Spy

I did half watch the remake of 'Whisky Galore' and 'Wrong is Right' but haven't gotten round to finishing either.

This has been down to me going to the gym every day and focusing on my exams. Clearly multi tasking is beyond me.

Update the Lettersentertainyou thread for each letters publication event : No letters published in February. Several complaint letters have been sent (and not printed)

Average 12,500 steps a day : Showing at 9111 steps a day but that seems low - made 10k a day for nearly 2 weeks straight with the gym obviously helping. Will go more hikes once this bloody weather clears up.

Get 105 Letters Printed : - Several have been sent. Raffle tickets bought, so to speak.

Pass ACII : Passed  'Advanced Claims' - 2 assignments in a month! Good effort me - didn’t knock it out the park marks wise but the win’s the thing.



I have now started’ Strategic Claims Management’ and have read the book. Writing up Assignment One starts today as the wife is away to Arbroath.

Get on TV Again : Still researching Tipping Point at the moment.

Bag 50 Munros in total : Parked until the Summer but likely sherpas have been identified!

So a mixed month but some progress made. Main target is to get the exams done and then I can watch all the rubbish films I want whilst eating calorie free snacks.

Hope those that signed the pledge are sticking to it!

Let us know your failures - it's liberating!

[Gary James]

Been on a no chocolate, bread or Haribo diet since Tenerife and have only shifted about 3lbs.

Cutting certain foods from your diet is no guarantee that you will see immediate results - don't focus too much on the specific amount of weight, and concentrate more on how you feel overall. It really isn't the foods themselves that can cause problems, but the garnish which is added without a second thought. Snipping back salt intake (which can be more difficult than it sounds) and getting rid of extra sugar in a diet is more important than depriving yourself of anything you like. And all that will accomplish is you getting a craving for what is on the banned list. Everything in moderation. 

We are moving house on the 10th so takeaways will need to be avoided.

Sultanas. You can laugh all you want, but if I didn't have a big 1lb bag of the damned things beside me at all times I would be munching on chocolate. All. Day. Long. Works out far cheaper in the long run as well, so it is worth buying a couple of bags a week. There are some, uh... side effects.

I did half watch the remake of 'Whisky Galore' and 'Wrong is Right' but haven't gotten round to finishing either.

There's a remake of Wisky Galore?  ...why? Actually, I think I'm going to deliberately miss out on that as it'll merely provoke a few thousand words of ranting at the state of modern cinema.

Bag 50 Munros in total : Parked until the Summer but likely sherpas have been identified!

Any Munro in particular taking your fancy?

If you see any of my workouts outlined, please - given that you have a heart condition - sail straight past them. Don't even read them. As soon as I mention that I'm going out for a run you should zip straight onto the next subject.

[Buttonman]

Thanks for your notes Gary - all very interesting.

I've always seen diets as an exercise in denial but you make good points. Everything in moderation I guess.

The Whisky Galore remake starred Gregor Fisher and was as crappy as you anticipate.I can see it living on my planner for evermore, unwatched.

I know my limits with exercise - Munros are fine - lots of time for a breather. It's the high impact stuff I'm best avoiding. Currently getting my 5k treadmill time down to 25 mins - little and often!

[Tiplodocus]

Good points. I find that merely measuring my food intake (using Myfitnesspal) is enough to change my behaviour for the better. It identifies just how much I get through on unnecessary snacks.