Moobs to Lose

So, as with my earlier post around what I’m planning to do at the gym, I have always struggled with the best way to lose weight through my diet. I get easily frustrated by people’s differing opinions - especially those who insist that I need to calculating macro nutrients to lose weight efficiently.

I don’t doubt that that is the case if I’m desperately trying to lose the odd pound or two to reach goal weight, but given the state I’m in at the moment I feel that eating ‘healthily’ combined with a regular exercise team will shift a lot of the excess fat and at least start me off on the right track.

In addition, given the fact the wider family consists of two girls under two, it’s just not feasible to always shop/cook a separate meal for me according to a specific nutritional plan.

Instead, I believe that we all know what is good for us and what isn’t. We all know we should be eating more veg and green stuff and less chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks.

On those days when I’m not at the gym, I’ll be looking to minimise carb intake, but generally speaking I’m going to start by focusing on eating healthily, with a daily meal plan that will look something like the following:

Breakfast: Porridge with a teaspoon of honey OR 2 poached eggs with wholemeal toast Lunch: Salad  OR Soup

Dinner: Grilled chicken Wholegrain Rice Green vegetables (such as broccoli or beans)

Ok, so how am I going to go about losing 3 stone (42lb)?

Well, it obviously breaks down into diet and exercise, which are the two areas that I’ve always struggled to properly understand. Therefore, I’m going to list out what I’m planning on doing here, but I’d love to get feedback from readers to let me know whether I’m on the right track.

My overall gauge for success is ultimately how I look and feel. I want to get the point where I’m body confident and have the strength and energy to feel great and keep up with my two young daughters, so I’m wary of setting a specific goal weight.

Having said that, I need something to aim for when I climb on to the scales each week.

When I got myself sorted out a few years back, I had a goal weight of 13st (182lb) which i got really close to without ever breaking. In hindsight, that may have been slightly optimistic then and is probably even more so now given that I’m now in late 30′s.

So this is where I’m starting from.

I absolutely hate this picture, but in the spirit of being completely open and transparent with the blog, I’m posting it to motivate me and as a starting point.

I’m a 38 year old married father from the UK who has always struggled with his weight to one extent or the other. The last couple of years though I feel that I’ve really let myself go and my weight has ballooned at the same time that my overall health has gone through the floor.

This morning, I weighed myself and realised that I’d hit 17 stone (238lb) for the first time and that, coupled with the fact that my 40th birthday is rapidly approaching, has made me determined that I need to do something about my health and finally shed the moobs.

This isn’t my first attempt. In fact, like a of other people who have struggled with weight for a long time, I’ve tried getting fit a number of times and largely failed. I managed to get myself in shape properly about 5 or 6 years ago (probably a story for another post) and want to get back to that. 

Due to failings in the past, I’ve decided to try something new - hence the Tumblr blog. 

The idea of this blog is that I have a record of my goals and motivations and also hold myself accountable to the wider online community.

Fitness and nutrition have always been frustrating for me as I’ve never been able to fully understand them. And getting myself in shape is going to be a long tough journey.

So please, please, please, please please - if you’re reading this post (or the blog in general), drop me a line, a like or a reblog so that I know people are actually reading this as it will keep me motivated.