You haven't seen a blog from me this past weekend because I was too busy stuffing my gob with shit that's not healthy, including two nights worth of beer and tequila.
Friday and Saturday night I had those two gigs, and what stonking awesome rockers of a show they both were! But I'll come to that shortly...
Firstly, my health update: the bad stuff started Friday morning with cake and stuff at our weekly office tea, as you may know had you bothered to read my previous entry. Then Friday evening was Liezel's work function. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you choose to see it) I had to miss dinner at the function because the queue for the food was so ridiculously long by the time I managed to get to it that I couldn't wait long enough to get a meal. Their fucken prize giving took so long! Anyway, I was quite gutted because the food looked and smelled fantastic, although admittedly I would have pigged out on a monstrous plate of food, given the opportunity. Lucky for me I did manage to have a WHITE BREAD roll with full fat LIVER SPREAD as a snack at the table earlier, which was divine.
I managed to plunge 3 beers and a glass of red wine down my gullet before I had to head off to my gig, where I managed to force down another couple of beers and 2 vodka & red bulls. After the gig I went back to the function, managed to scavenge another last glass of that fantastic wine they had in copious volume, at which point my wife decided she wants to go dancing in Edward street. We ended up at China White, which is a shit-hole at the best of times, a students meat market of note! By the time we got in there most of the kids were already comically shitfaced and very brave, the mix of testosterone and oestrogen wafting through the place like an invisible storm, and the DJ pumping out the worst commercial tunes he could find. Of course I was grumpy because the red bulls I had earlier had worn off during a half hour of serious drumming workout, this old man just wanted to close eyes and sleep! Anyway I obliged the wife and let her have her dance for a while before we headed off all the way back to Parklands!
Saturday was an up and out early day, much to my tired old body's delight. We went out to Durbanville to feed my mothers cat and fix her computer. We also popped in to see Ouma, my grandmother. We haven't seen her in about 2 months and my conscience was nagging me a tad to make an appearance. We stuck around there for a good 2 hours and caught up on the family gossip and other news. Shame, the old biddy really appreciates our visits, seldom as they are. It doesn't sound like too many other family members ever visit her and I don't think she has too many friends left who are still breathing. She always seems to be in the shit with at least half the family, who just outright avoid contact with her. I know she's a shit stirrer and as stubborn as the next one, but I do feel sorry for the old girl, she's quite lonely, and about to hit 80. She doesn't seem to think she'll be around for much longer, which I say is bullshit - she'll probably outlive most of us! I also understand her reluctance to drive around too much anymore, which really is a victory for road safety because she is a fucken hazard behind the wheel! I promised to take her out for the day sometime soon for a picnic or something.
We had cake. With icing!
Saturday night was another gig, and a late one again featuring a few more carbo packed beers and tequilas which made no effort in pasting themselves around my waistline. Not to mention creamy cheese crisps somewhere along the way.
Not surprisingly Sunday I slept late, all the way to 11.30! I can't explain in words how wonderful that was! Thanks to my wife for allowing it!
We then headed off to the new Makro at Montague Gardens for one of the worst experiences of my life! I absolutely hated the place, it was packed to bursting point with an insane volume of people, half of whom had big screen TV's in their trolleys! It was unbelievable! I'm sure when the crowds have died down it will be a nice place to shop, they have some good specials, but I'll wait for that. The fact that Tammy was throwing her classic tantrums just aggravated my mood. It was a truly kak experience, and an expensive one!
I heard that place did a turnover of R39 million on it's first day!
In the afternoon I went off and had a much more leisurely grocery shopping trip to Pick & Pay, alone, for our weekly supply of healthy foods based on the menu I set up for the week.
Last night I cooked up a very delicious chicken curry with brown rice. Big pot of food, delicious and nutritious, I packed a big tub of it in the freezer for another day. I won't bore you with the recipe detail, except it had all good stuff; loads of vegetables, no oil, I skinned the chicken, and used fat-free yogurt instead of cream. Worst ingredient was a few potatoes.
Between Friday and this morning I only went down 0.2kg, not surprisingly. To be honest I expected it to be higher, though strangely on Saturday I was down to 96kg (from 97 on Friday) and Sunday it was 95.3kg. Probably because of hangover dehydration. This morning I was back up to 96.8kg.
Crap, check the time! I need to get back to work! I'll do another blog later about the gigs, with pictures and video. If you read this far - thanks! Appreciated! If you didn't - I hope you trip over the pavement and land with your face in a fresh pile of dog shit (just because I know you'll never know I said this!)!
Monday, 31 October 2011
Friday, 28 October 2011
Halloween Rock & Roll
Todays title relates to the night I have ahead of me! Starting off with Liezels corporate Christmas fuction which is a rock & roll theme, then I'll be off to play some proper rock & roll with my band The Pits at Zula bar and probably still go back to the rock & roll party. Hectic schedule! Then tomorrow night we'll be jamming yet another set of rock & roll in Plumstead at the Jolly Roger. All this through Halloween weekend celebrations.
I've just printed off the set list for this weekends gigs, it's going to be two awesome sets of live music! I'll record them with the camcorder and post the videos up to youtube over the weekend, maybe even get some photo's if somebody is prepared to man the camera. My friend Claire took pics at the Punk gig a few weeks ago, I think she's forgotten about us, understandably as I know she's very busy with actual paying tog jobs, so I'll try get some with my camera this weekend so we have something to show for these gigs.
I also found out yesterday we (The Pits) are featuring on the front cover of the LMG magazine in November, and we have an article in the Garage magazine (photo below). So you see, we're getting famous! Maybe then I'll even get a few more readers on my blog, besides the regulars (Liezel, Tamsyn, Richard, that I know of). But then I'll probably have to be a bit more fucking careful what I write too. People in the general public can get pathetically sensitive and offended by honest opinions. That's why celebs end up being so fake all the time, living "constructed" lives, so as not to upset the pussies out there.
Ok, off on a tangent!
Back on the usual boring bullshit of my lifestyle challenges, today I have to admit the diet is going out the window like an unwelcome fart. We had our usual Friday tea in the office this morning, and although Evelyn very kindy catered for us health conscious few with a platter consisting of rabbit food, aka, celery, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, etc (much to the sheer horror of the chocoholic sweet tooths in the crowd). Unfortunately the platter also had sausage, cheese, ham, cream cheese, and she supplied croissants and chocolate cake. The platter was very nice but it would have been plain rude if I didn't have some cake and croissants too, so I did have a generous portion! The cake was lovely, but more important - OMF I forgot how good cheese tastes!
To make matters worse there is a 3 course buffet dinner braai at the party tonight, at which I will unlikely have the will-power to stay away from the nice juicy greasy saucy meaty stuff and just eat a plate of yet more fucking lettuce! Hell no, today is a treat and I will enjoy it!
Needless to say that bar graph I have plotting along with my daily weight reading from my bathroom scale every morning is probably going to have a mile high spike tomorrow!
This photo below is a screenshot of my weight loss chart. The bar graph is my weight in kilograms each day pulled from the data on the left. The red line is the average weight I need to be at daily in order to get to 80kg by 25 December, Christmas. It works out to 0.33kg a day that I have to lose to reach my goal, which is loads I know, but as you can see I'm quite well ahead of my daily average by around 2kg. Now tomorrow it's quite possible the black graph bar for 29-Oct will stick it's determined peak over the red line, which just means I have a shit-load of squash to play this weekend to get it back down again and I won't eat ANYTHING until Monday morning! This morning I was 97kg, 0.3kg down on yesterday, which is expected after the hour of squash I played last night.
I've just printed off the set list for this weekends gigs, it's going to be two awesome sets of live music! I'll record them with the camcorder and post the videos up to youtube over the weekend, maybe even get some photo's if somebody is prepared to man the camera. My friend Claire took pics at the Punk gig a few weeks ago, I think she's forgotten about us, understandably as I know she's very busy with actual paying tog jobs, so I'll try get some with my camera this weekend so we have something to show for these gigs.
I also found out yesterday we (The Pits) are featuring on the front cover of the LMG magazine in November, and we have an article in the Garage magazine (photo below). So you see, we're getting famous! Maybe then I'll even get a few more readers on my blog, besides the regulars (Liezel, Tamsyn, Richard, that I know of). But then I'll probably have to be a bit more fucking careful what I write too. People in the general public can get pathetically sensitive and offended by honest opinions. That's why celebs end up being so fake all the time, living "constructed" lives, so as not to upset the pussies out there.
Ok, off on a tangent!
 | |
| Extract from Garage Magazine. |
Back on the usual boring bullshit of my lifestyle challenges, today I have to admit the diet is going out the window like an unwelcome fart. We had our usual Friday tea in the office this morning, and although Evelyn very kindy catered for us health conscious few with a platter consisting of rabbit food, aka, celery, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, etc (much to the sheer horror of the chocoholic sweet tooths in the crowd). Unfortunately the platter also had sausage, cheese, ham, cream cheese, and she supplied croissants and chocolate cake. The platter was very nice but it would have been plain rude if I didn't have some cake and croissants too, so I did have a generous portion! The cake was lovely, but more important - OMF I forgot how good cheese tastes!
To make matters worse there is a 3 course buffet dinner braai at the party tonight, at which I will unlikely have the will-power to stay away from the nice juicy greasy saucy meaty stuff and just eat a plate of yet more fucking lettuce! Hell no, today is a treat and I will enjoy it!
Needless to say that bar graph I have plotting along with my daily weight reading from my bathroom scale every morning is probably going to have a mile high spike tomorrow!
This photo below is a screenshot of my weight loss chart. The bar graph is my weight in kilograms each day pulled from the data on the left. The red line is the average weight I need to be at daily in order to get to 80kg by 25 December, Christmas. It works out to 0.33kg a day that I have to lose to reach my goal, which is loads I know, but as you can see I'm quite well ahead of my daily average by around 2kg. Now tomorrow it's quite possible the black graph bar for 29-Oct will stick it's determined peak over the red line, which just means I have a shit-load of squash to play this weekend to get it back down again and I won't eat ANYTHING until Monday morning! This morning I was 97kg, 0.3kg down on yesterday, which is expected after the hour of squash I played last night.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
The run that didn't happen.
This morning I had my alarm clock set to go off at 5am with the intention of getting up early to go for a jog around the neighbourhood. The motivation to start jogging in the mornings is strong with full intention because it's much easier than trying to get to the gym in the morning with time to get ready and get going in short supply as it is. I'll stick to gym in the evenings, but I want to get even more cardio exercise going to get even fitter and speed up the fat-burn weight loss!
That alarm went off at 5 and I could hear the familiar splatter and twang of raindrops pummelling the tin roof over the braai area outside my window (actually it was more of a gentle pitter patter). I won't deny that I was delighted not to have to get up, because my first jog for exercise in donkeys years would have just been demotivating to do in the rain. I was looking forward to the run, kinda, but it was sheer bliss to set the snooze on my alarm for 20 minutes later as I fell back into a deep warm comfortable sleep albeit for only a short while longer!
Last night we collected Tammy from her grandmother after a stopover at Canal Walk so I could exchange a few shirts I bought last week, that were too BIG for me at the size I've been buying them the last few years. I got a few different ones at the next size down, one of which I'm wearing now and fits comfortably, and a couple of other nice tops. My Edgars account is now at a stupid level, so no more clothes shopping for some time to come, at least another 6 months.
We got Tammy home around 7.30, and I never thought I'd be so happy to have her back. After two days without my baby girl I missed her terribly, it was great to have her back where she belongs! I don't know how I'll ever manage to let her go when she grows up and moves out and gets married someday!
Well I cooked supper which was intended to be stir fry, but turned out more like a chicken and fresh vegetable stew. Very healthy, completely fat free and it was really delicious.
Only after dinner did I head off to the gym, got a court at 8.45pm and played squash until 9.30 against some Indian guy called Sam who gave me a proper run around, which was great, it was a good workout.
Despite that I still only came down 0.1kg from yesterday to 97.2kg. A little disheartening, but at least it's still down.
Today I go for a decent haircut and not a no.2 shave for the first time in many years of donning the tennis ball look. Liezel is even paying the exorbitant price to have it done at a hairdresser, mainly because she is trying to doll me up as her fashion accessory for her work party tomorrow night. But it's fine, I'll play along, and bank the favour with high interest!
This weekend I have 2 Halloween gigs on with my band The Pits:
Wow, I just got really good feedback from the operations director of UCT libraries for the brilliant work I did for her this week, she will be writing a letter of praise to my boss. The timing is perfect as I'm just about to start nagging about renewing my contract which expires end of January. Cool stuff, and that's just motivated me to get off the blog and do some work!
That alarm went off at 5 and I could hear the familiar splatter and twang of raindrops pummelling the tin roof over the braai area outside my window (actually it was more of a gentle pitter patter). I won't deny that I was delighted not to have to get up, because my first jog for exercise in donkeys years would have just been demotivating to do in the rain. I was looking forward to the run, kinda, but it was sheer bliss to set the snooze on my alarm for 20 minutes later as I fell back into a deep warm comfortable sleep albeit for only a short while longer!
Last night we collected Tammy from her grandmother after a stopover at Canal Walk so I could exchange a few shirts I bought last week, that were too BIG for me at the size I've been buying them the last few years. I got a few different ones at the next size down, one of which I'm wearing now and fits comfortably, and a couple of other nice tops. My Edgars account is now at a stupid level, so no more clothes shopping for some time to come, at least another 6 months.
We got Tammy home around 7.30, and I never thought I'd be so happy to have her back. After two days without my baby girl I missed her terribly, it was great to have her back where she belongs! I don't know how I'll ever manage to let her go when she grows up and moves out and gets married someday!
Well I cooked supper which was intended to be stir fry, but turned out more like a chicken and fresh vegetable stew. Very healthy, completely fat free and it was really delicious.
Only after dinner did I head off to the gym, got a court at 8.45pm and played squash until 9.30 against some Indian guy called Sam who gave me a proper run around, which was great, it was a good workout.
Despite that I still only came down 0.1kg from yesterday to 97.2kg. A little disheartening, but at least it's still down.
Today I go for a decent haircut and not a no.2 shave for the first time in many years of donning the tennis ball look. Liezel is even paying the exorbitant price to have it done at a hairdresser, mainly because she is trying to doll me up as her fashion accessory for her work party tomorrow night. But it's fine, I'll play along, and bank the favour with high interest!
This weekend I have 2 Halloween gigs on with my band The Pits:
- Friday at Zula Bar, Long Street, Cape Town. R30 cover.
- Saturday at the Jolly Roger, Plumstead. FREE entry.
Wow, I just got really good feedback from the operations director of UCT libraries for the brilliant work I did for her this week, she will be writing a letter of praise to my boss. The timing is perfect as I'm just about to start nagging about renewing my contract which expires end of January. Cool stuff, and that's just motivated me to get off the blog and do some work!
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Salad, again?
I have to admit that salad I made for lunch today was delicious! Worlds apart from that rubbish I made yesterday that even the rabbits would have turned their noses up at! Just shows what a little extra effort can muster up.
Todays slaai medley was a conglomerate of the usual lettuce, cherry tomato & cucumber, spruced up with spicy juicy garlicky fried chicken breast, diced, and crunchy fresh baked croutons (both made by me last night), with dried cranberries and low-fat feta. The combination just worked, especially the occasional tang of cranberry sweeteness amongst the spiciness of the chicken. I wish I had a photo because it even looked nice and colourful.
Just goes to show, keeping it simpler makes the flavours work together better.
Gym tonight again, we're going strait from work, I have a court booked at 5.45 and you bet your ass I'm going to play like a man possessed for the full 45 minute session! I need to burn off more than I have been it seems. This morning the bathroom scale (which I've now affectionately named "Spiteful Fucking Bitch") told me I was 98kg, exactly the same as yesterday! Which defies belief since I stuck to healthy eating and had a good workout last night! So tonight it's a solid cardio fat burn mofo of a workout with a fat-free protein shake for dinner. That bloody scale better say something around 97kg or less tomorrow morning or it's gonna be strapped to a busy railway line!
Saw my mom today. She gave me keys to her house! True story!
The picture below is a little inspiration as to why Liez and I are on this health drive. If not we would end up looking like this couple by the time Tammy is the same age as this little girl. Probably with slightly more stylish beach tents, but just as big! Even the sharks would avoid taking a chomp out of this lot for fear of death by cholesterol!
Todays slaai medley was a conglomerate of the usual lettuce, cherry tomato & cucumber, spruced up with spicy juicy garlicky fried chicken breast, diced, and crunchy fresh baked croutons (both made by me last night), with dried cranberries and low-fat feta. The combination just worked, especially the occasional tang of cranberry sweeteness amongst the spiciness of the chicken. I wish I had a photo because it even looked nice and colourful.
Just goes to show, keeping it simpler makes the flavours work together better.
Gym tonight again, we're going strait from work, I have a court booked at 5.45 and you bet your ass I'm going to play like a man possessed for the full 45 minute session! I need to burn off more than I have been it seems. This morning the bathroom scale (which I've now affectionately named "Spiteful Fucking Bitch") told me I was 98kg, exactly the same as yesterday! Which defies belief since I stuck to healthy eating and had a good workout last night! So tonight it's a solid cardio fat burn mofo of a workout with a fat-free protein shake for dinner. That bloody scale better say something around 97kg or less tomorrow morning or it's gonna be strapped to a busy railway line!
Saw my mom today. She gave me keys to her house! True story!
The picture below is a little inspiration as to why Liez and I are on this health drive. If not we would end up looking like this couple by the time Tammy is the same age as this little girl. Probably with slightly more stylish beach tents, but just as big! Even the sharks would avoid taking a chomp out of this lot for fear of death by cholesterol!
Monday, 24 October 2011
Fuck Mondays!
Ok so that title's a tad over-dramatic, granted, because I'm normally quite optimistic about Mondays, as much as that sentiment is forced with a teeth-baring grin more often than not. I just didn't enjoy this one.
Specifically, and I've said this before, it's not pleasant going to gym on Monday evenings. The place is just ridiculously overcrowded and irritating, it's packed to the brim with brats and wannabe snobs out to impress and get laid. Fuck off and be cool somewhere else you little shits and leave the rest of us to get our exercise without having to trip over your bloated ego's and suffocate in your ferremones!
Liez and I went in there after 8pm hoping it would be a little less busy, and sure it was probably less busy than at 6pm but still very much not pleasant. I was seriously keen to have a game of squash, been trying for days to catch a cancellation with no luck. All the courts fully booked until closing today. So I took the chance of getting a free court from a no-show, no such luck. That really fucked me off, which I realise is unreasonable of me, but I don't take disappointment well when I'm determined, especially since it's screwed with my weight loss plan in that I didn't get the cardio workout I needed which means the scale reading is going to depress me in the morning. Even more so the fact that I ended up spending 40 minutes pumping weights and circuit machines on my upper body (arms, chest, shoulders, lats, back and abs), so the newly forming muscle is going to push that scale reading up even more.
Yet the walrus around my waist clings on doggedly!
Apart from the gym I was just irritable today, had a dull day at work and spent far too many hours of the day in the car stuck in traffic. Took me fucken 50 minutes just to get the 4km out of Parklands again this morning. I still pulled finger at some guy just because he had a bigger car than me that I couldn't see past and I was sick of staring up his exhaust pipe for half an hour. I think he saw me, and of course I felt like a cock when I realised what a cock I was behaving like!
We dropped Tammy off at her granny Bev this evening where she will spend the next 2 days and nights while she's off with the chicken pox. It's a big help from Bev and much appreciated, but it just annoyed me even further because I don't like it when my Tammy's not around, I miss my little peanut too much, and of course I worry about her when I'm not directly in control of her safety and well-being. I know she's in good hands, I'm just saying how it is. This house is too quiet without her and noticeably empty, despite the mess that's evidence of her recent hurricane adventures!
Dinner tonight, for the record, was cooked and eaten early at 6.30, a recipe that was suggested by our Will-Powers sponsors, slightly modified to my liking. 2 chicken breasts sliced up and fried with an onion, large leek, 8 large mushrooms, a load of spinach, tablespoon of crushed garlic, origanum, pepper, honey and soya sauce, served on a bed of gem squash. I enjoyed it thoroughly, as did the missus, and the portion sizes were just enough.
I also fried up more chopped up chicken breast in garlic, lemon and chili sauce for tomorrow's lunch salad, and I baked a load of nice crunchy garlic croutons. Tomorrow's salad will be a shitload better than today's.
Well I feel better now after my rant, off to bed...
Specifically, and I've said this before, it's not pleasant going to gym on Monday evenings. The place is just ridiculously overcrowded and irritating, it's packed to the brim with brats and wannabe snobs out to impress and get laid. Fuck off and be cool somewhere else you little shits and leave the rest of us to get our exercise without having to trip over your bloated ego's and suffocate in your ferremones!Liez and I went in there after 8pm hoping it would be a little less busy, and sure it was probably less busy than at 6pm but still very much not pleasant. I was seriously keen to have a game of squash, been trying for days to catch a cancellation with no luck. All the courts fully booked until closing today. So I took the chance of getting a free court from a no-show, no such luck. That really fucked me off, which I realise is unreasonable of me, but I don't take disappointment well when I'm determined, especially since it's screwed with my weight loss plan in that I didn't get the cardio workout I needed which means the scale reading is going to depress me in the morning. Even more so the fact that I ended up spending 40 minutes pumping weights and circuit machines on my upper body (arms, chest, shoulders, lats, back and abs), so the newly forming muscle is going to push that scale reading up even more.
Yet the walrus around my waist clings on doggedly!
Apart from the gym I was just irritable today, had a dull day at work and spent far too many hours of the day in the car stuck in traffic. Took me fucken 50 minutes just to get the 4km out of Parklands again this morning. I still pulled finger at some guy just because he had a bigger car than me that I couldn't see past and I was sick of staring up his exhaust pipe for half an hour. I think he saw me, and of course I felt like a cock when I realised what a cock I was behaving like! We dropped Tammy off at her granny Bev this evening where she will spend the next 2 days and nights while she's off with the chicken pox. It's a big help from Bev and much appreciated, but it just annoyed me even further because I don't like it when my Tammy's not around, I miss my little peanut too much, and of course I worry about her when I'm not directly in control of her safety and well-being. I know she's in good hands, I'm just saying how it is. This house is too quiet without her and noticeably empty, despite the mess that's evidence of her recent hurricane adventures!
Dinner tonight, for the record, was cooked and eaten early at 6.30, a recipe that was suggested by our Will-Powers sponsors, slightly modified to my liking. 2 chicken breasts sliced up and fried with an onion, large leek, 8 large mushrooms, a load of spinach, tablespoon of crushed garlic, origanum, pepper, honey and soya sauce, served on a bed of gem squash. I enjoyed it thoroughly, as did the missus, and the portion sizes were just enough.I also fried up more chopped up chicken breast in garlic, lemon and chili sauce for tomorrow's lunch salad, and I baked a load of nice crunchy garlic croutons. Tomorrow's salad will be a shitload better than today's.
Well I feel better now after my rant, off to bed...
Salad Overkill
I think I got a little too ambitious with my salad today, it's not quite as nice as I'd hoped it would be! Just the combo of ingredients don't really work, namely the usual base of lettuce, cherry tomatoes & cucumber, with mixed nuts, raisins, mixed sprouts, chopped gherkins, sun dried tomato, red pepper, and balsamic dressing.
Earlier I had a small bag of mixed nuts and raisins as a mid morning snack, and the usual smoothie for breakfast.
I was a bit despondent this morning as I'd only lost 0.3kg in the last day, I expected more since our gruelling climb to the top of Lions Head and back down again yesterday morning. That was a workout and a half with not much weight loss to show for the effort!
That said, I've lost 4kg in a week, since last Monday, which isn't too bad going. Being at 98kg today I was hoping to get to 95 by this coming Friday, though I think 96.5kg is probably a bit more realistic. But still I'll keep trying, including a game of squash every day this week!
Hopefully this evening somebody cancels their squash court booking or doesn't turn up because it's fully booked as always and I'd really like to play this evening. The squash booking system at Virgin Active Tableview doesn't really work because as the bookings for a day are opened online 2 weeks prior people go on and book up the slots quickly so it's near impossible to get a booking on weeknights within a few days of wanting to play, let alone on the day. Then what happens is people book courts for just in case, and often just don't turn up without having the common courtesy to cancel their booking so somebody else can use the court. So if I don't have my booking made 2 weeks in advance I gotta just rock up and hope for the best, which is what a lot of people do so the competition is stiff.
I'm now in the habit of booking my courts every day as they open up for that day in 2 weeks time so that I get my court securely booked, though I DO actually cancel in advance if I'm not gonna make it.
The only plus side of this system is that because of all the guys rocking up in the hope of getting a court, on days that I have a court booked there's often random people that will join me for a game so I don't play solo all the time. I do enjoy playing solo sometimes, but a game with an opponent is more fun and a great workout!
So, about that climb up the mountain yesterday, I'll blog about it later, maybe, since the photo's are at home. Check them on Facebook in the meantime if you're impatient.
I got nothing else to say now.
Earlier I had a small bag of mixed nuts and raisins as a mid morning snack, and the usual smoothie for breakfast.
I was a bit despondent this morning as I'd only lost 0.3kg in the last day, I expected more since our gruelling climb to the top of Lions Head and back down again yesterday morning. That was a workout and a half with not much weight loss to show for the effort!
That said, I've lost 4kg in a week, since last Monday, which isn't too bad going. Being at 98kg today I was hoping to get to 95 by this coming Friday, though I think 96.5kg is probably a bit more realistic. But still I'll keep trying, including a game of squash every day this week!
Hopefully this evening somebody cancels their squash court booking or doesn't turn up because it's fully booked as always and I'd really like to play this evening. The squash booking system at Virgin Active Tableview doesn't really work because as the bookings for a day are opened online 2 weeks prior people go on and book up the slots quickly so it's near impossible to get a booking on weeknights within a few days of wanting to play, let alone on the day. Then what happens is people book courts for just in case, and often just don't turn up without having the common courtesy to cancel their booking so somebody else can use the court. So if I don't have my booking made 2 weeks in advance I gotta just rock up and hope for the best, which is what a lot of people do so the competition is stiff.
I'm now in the habit of booking my courts every day as they open up for that day in 2 weeks time so that I get my court securely booked, though I DO actually cancel in advance if I'm not gonna make it.
The only plus side of this system is that because of all the guys rocking up in the hope of getting a court, on days that I have a court booked there's often random people that will join me for a game so I don't play solo all the time. I do enjoy playing solo sometimes, but a game with an opponent is more fun and a great workout!
So, about that climb up the mountain yesterday, I'll blog about it later, maybe, since the photo's are at home. Check them on Facebook in the meantime if you're impatient.
I got nothing else to say now.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Mountain in the sky
I took these this morning when I went to drop Liezel at the gym. It looked so awesome I just had to get some shots. Taken from across Flamingo Vlei in Tableview at the SANCCOB penguin sanctuary.
Spotty
Below are a couple of pictures of my Tammy with the chickin pops, as she calls it. Fortunately it has not turned out to be too serious, probably because she had her vaccinations, and at least now she's had it and won't get it again. Still, it's not been pleasant for her and she's quite had enough of it now. Yesterday at around 11.30 I got a call to go and fetch her from the school because her teachers said she had chicken pox. I remember sending her to school with 3 small spots on her face near her nose, which I assumed to be little mosquito bites. By the time I fetched her she was covered in spots. Despite appearances she was her usual cheerful self and quite excited about her "chickin pops".Tonight Tammy is sleeping over at her granny Bev because Liezel and I are out early tomorrow morning to hike up Lions Head. We're looking forward to it as a great bit of exercise in the fresh air outside of the gym for a change, though if I have my way I'll probably pop to the gym for a session on the squash court anyway.
So this evening after we dropped Tammy off at Bev's, Liez and I went down to Canal walk to do some shopping. I invested in a whole new range of clothing including some smart shirts, trousers, jeans and T-shirts. It's going to be fun paying off my Edgars account over the next 6 months to pay this lot off, but at least I'll have some cool new clothes to go with my hot new bod!Now I just need a sexy hair cut.
After shopping we stopped off at Ocean Basket for our weekly treat, a break from the diet. It was a reasonably healthy meal, we both had grilled fish and 6 prawns with stir fried vegetables instead of chips. It was actually a very tasty meal, and goddamn it felt so good to eat a decent hearty meal like that again instead of the meagre rations I've been limiting myself to over the last 10 days!
I'm having my doubts about dropping down to 95kg by this coming Friday, I seem to be hovering around 99kg the last 2 days, probably because I'm countering the lost fat with new muscle, but I'm hoping to at least drop another 2 kg by Friday. I'll gym every day this week but I'll stay off the weights and just play squash and possibly cycle just to do fat burn and not muscle gain. After next weekend I'm happy to drop 1 to 2 kg a week until I get to around 85kg at which point I'll change tactics to maintain not going over 85kg in the long term. If I can do that at 80kg even better, but I'm being realistic.
Friday, 21 October 2011
9 years later
Today is my 9 year wedding anniversary with the best wife a man could wish for! Happy anniversary Liezel, you really are the greatest, you've made my life complete and worthwhile, you've been a wonderful partner to be with and an inspiration to be the best I can so you and Tammy can have the best in life! I love you as much as ever and I hope we have a long life together to look forward to!
Providing of course we keep on the right track of recovering our health and well being and maintaining it permanently!
Last night's workout at the gym was very intense! I played squash against some random regular who had me running around for half an hour that I'm surprised my heart muscle didn't freeze up and blow a gasket like a cars engine when you push it too hard. It was a brilliant workout, followed by a more sedate solo game just whacking the ball at the wall (as you do in squash) for a further half hour before some other angry people kicked me off because they'd been waiting so long! After squash I headed upstairs and worked my arms, shoulders, my sixpack and pumped my moobs. I pushed quite hard, thus the soreness today, but it's a nice sore! Maybe being our anniversary I'll get my wife to rub my moobs for me later!
I did also get slogged in the nuts by a squash ball. It wasn't pleasant!
This weekend I'm going to invest in a new squash racquet. The one I got from dad for Christmas was great and I've got good innings out of it, but it's a little warped from hitting the wall too often and it doesn't have a very nice balanced action and it's very slow. So I'm going to find a decent semi pro one with a powerful action and a bigger head. I'm very excited!
I also plan on getting some smart new clothes to accessorise the new look me. Maybe even a decent haircut and not the usual tennis ball look no.2 shave.
So this morning I got up and climbed onto the scale and got quite a surprise. Not so much by the numbers on the scale, but the fact that I could see my toes! I haven't seen my toes from standing upright in quite some time!
The numbers also took me by surprise. I was heavier than yesterday, at 99.4kg, that's 0.2kg up. But then I took my place on the porcelain throne and relieved myself of the smelly stuff, then climbed onto the scale again and I was down to 98.9kg. So that's 0.3kg down on yesterday, which is less than I'd hoped for but not a big panic as I'm sure I added weight in muscle yesterday. What did surprise me was my stint on the loo brought me down by half a kilo, I swear I didn't even eat that much yesterday! WTF!!!
Dinner last night was leftover chicken stir fry, again eaten late after gym and just before bed. Before gym I had 2 provitas with avo humus. This morning was a smoothie again.
Lunch today will be yet another salad, with fruit in between to snack on. And I have a small pack of lean biltong, which will serve as my protein for the day!
BTW, the reason I list my daily food is for the sake of my diet planners/lifestyle coaches Tamsyn and William, they want to know what I'm eating and this is how I'm telling them.
Well I better do some work. Have a good day all!
Providing of course we keep on the right track of recovering our health and well being and maintaining it permanently!
Last night's workout at the gym was very intense! I played squash against some random regular who had me running around for half an hour that I'm surprised my heart muscle didn't freeze up and blow a gasket like a cars engine when you push it too hard. It was a brilliant workout, followed by a more sedate solo game just whacking the ball at the wall (as you do in squash) for a further half hour before some other angry people kicked me off because they'd been waiting so long! After squash I headed upstairs and worked my arms, shoulders, my sixpack and pumped my moobs. I pushed quite hard, thus the soreness today, but it's a nice sore! Maybe being our anniversary I'll get my wife to rub my moobs for me later!
I did also get slogged in the nuts by a squash ball. It wasn't pleasant!
This weekend I'm going to invest in a new squash racquet. The one I got from dad for Christmas was great and I've got good innings out of it, but it's a little warped from hitting the wall too often and it doesn't have a very nice balanced action and it's very slow. So I'm going to find a decent semi pro one with a powerful action and a bigger head. I'm very excited!
I also plan on getting some smart new clothes to accessorise the new look me. Maybe even a decent haircut and not the usual tennis ball look no.2 shave.
So this morning I got up and climbed onto the scale and got quite a surprise. Not so much by the numbers on the scale, but the fact that I could see my toes! I haven't seen my toes from standing upright in quite some time!
The numbers also took me by surprise. I was heavier than yesterday, at 99.4kg, that's 0.2kg up. But then I took my place on the porcelain throne and relieved myself of the smelly stuff, then climbed onto the scale again and I was down to 98.9kg. So that's 0.3kg down on yesterday, which is less than I'd hoped for but not a big panic as I'm sure I added weight in muscle yesterday. What did surprise me was my stint on the loo brought me down by half a kilo, I swear I didn't even eat that much yesterday! WTF!!!
Dinner last night was leftover chicken stir fry, again eaten late after gym and just before bed. Before gym I had 2 provitas with avo humus. This morning was a smoothie again.
Lunch today will be yet another salad, with fruit in between to snack on. And I have a small pack of lean biltong, which will serve as my protein for the day!
BTW, the reason I list my daily food is for the sake of my diet planners/lifestyle coaches Tamsyn and William, they want to know what I'm eating and this is how I'm telling them.
Well I better do some work. Have a good day all!
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Perfecting the salad.
The great news of this day in my life is that I did indeed manage to break the 100kg backbone. This morning I clocked in at 99.2kg! That's 0.9kg down on yesterday morning!
Everybody whoop for joy for me!!Yippy!
My next immediate target is to get to 95kg by next Friday, that's 4kg to lose in a week which is a big ask, but also a big challenge and I'm going for it with guns blazing! 5 more sessions in the gym should do it in conjunction with my diet and the oceans worth of water I've been drinking! On top of that we have been duped into climbing to the top of Lions Head on Sunday morning at frikkin 8am! That means I gotta get up at 6pm ON SUNDAY MORNING to go out for a hearty dose of punishment, death by PT.... So don't anybody bloody dare tell me I'm not fukken serious about this "lifestyle change" because I'll kick your ass!
Just saying!
The reason I've set such a big goal for next Friday is it's Liezel's annual company Christmas party, and I want to go in there looking good and strong and handsome so my wife can be proud of her man, and so that Liezel's bitch of a boss can at least say she got klapped by a hunk!
Also I have 2 gigs on next weekend, and I've had enough being the stereotypical fat drummer unnoticed at the back of the stage! When I do my drum solo I want to see all the hot chicks in the crowd gawking at me wide eyed, nipples erect and licking their chops as they bitch-slap and claw their way to the front of the stage to be the first to shove their cleavages in my face! Of course only my sexy wife will be allowed near this drummer, much to the dismay of the ravenously randy crowd of hotties now queueing up for the toilet to relieve their frustrated hormones!
Lunch today, as if anybody gives a rats, was yet another bowl of food that would make any self-respecting rabbit proud! Lettuce, Rosa tomatoes, Israeli cucumbers, yellow pepper, cashew nuts, raisins, roasted seeds, mixed sprouts and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Very tasty salad, but not the best so far. Yesterday's with the avo was the best, I loves avo! Didn't use avo today because I know that Liezel already took her daily quota of avo to work as my avo humus made yesterday to snack on with pro vita.
Breakfast was an absolutely fabulous smoothie made from banana, paw-paw, low-fat yogurt, fat-free milk, raw jungle oats, that Future Life stuff, a spoon full of peanut butter, dash of honey, and a bit of water.
Dinner tonight is last night's leftovers of Liezel's stunning stir fry, which I'm looking forward to!
Anyway, enough of this kak, I need to plot my daily weights on a spreadsheet quickly before lunch break is over.
Everybody whoop for joy for me!!Yippy!
My next immediate target is to get to 95kg by next Friday, that's 4kg to lose in a week which is a big ask, but also a big challenge and I'm going for it with guns blazing! 5 more sessions in the gym should do it in conjunction with my diet and the oceans worth of water I've been drinking! On top of that we have been duped into climbing to the top of Lions Head on Sunday morning at frikkin 8am! That means I gotta get up at 6pm ON SUNDAY MORNING to go out for a hearty dose of punishment, death by PT.... So don't anybody bloody dare tell me I'm not fukken serious about this "lifestyle change" because I'll kick your ass!
Just saying!
The reason I've set such a big goal for next Friday is it's Liezel's annual company Christmas party, and I want to go in there looking good and strong and handsome so my wife can be proud of her man, and so that Liezel's bitch of a boss can at least say she got klapped by a hunk!
Also I have 2 gigs on next weekend, and I've had enough being the stereotypical fat drummer unnoticed at the back of the stage! When I do my drum solo I want to see all the hot chicks in the crowd gawking at me wide eyed, nipples erect and licking their chops as they bitch-slap and claw their way to the front of the stage to be the first to shove their cleavages in my face! Of course only my sexy wife will be allowed near this drummer, much to the dismay of the ravenously randy crowd of hotties now queueing up for the toilet to relieve their frustrated hormones!
Lunch today, as if anybody gives a rats, was yet another bowl of food that would make any self-respecting rabbit proud! Lettuce, Rosa tomatoes, Israeli cucumbers, yellow pepper, cashew nuts, raisins, roasted seeds, mixed sprouts and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Very tasty salad, but not the best so far. Yesterday's with the avo was the best, I loves avo! Didn't use avo today because I know that Liezel already took her daily quota of avo to work as my avo humus made yesterday to snack on with pro vita.
Breakfast was an absolutely fabulous smoothie made from banana, paw-paw, low-fat yogurt, fat-free milk, raw jungle oats, that Future Life stuff, a spoon full of peanut butter, dash of honey, and a bit of water.
Dinner tonight is last night's leftovers of Liezel's stunning stir fry, which I'm looking forward to!
Anyway, enough of this kak, I need to plot my daily weights on a spreadsheet quickly before lunch break is over.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
The best Avo Humus this side of Greece!
One last effort for the day to write a little blog just to say how knackered I am! Had a hectic workout in the gym, full 45 minutes of squash and I pushed myself, then went upstairs to the weights and circuit and did some legs and ass exercises. All that for an unfit overweight smoker is quite an accomplishment. But as shunted as I am I feel good. Will be stronger tomorrow!
Also Liezel made a delicious chicken stir fry for dinner which was spectacular, especially as I was so hungry by the time I got home from gym at 8.30 I was close to taking a bite out of my car's steering wheel on the way. On top of delicious (the stir fry, not the steering wheel) it was healthy, made with chicken breast fried up with onions, garlic, carrots, marrows, green peppers, green beans and mushrooms in a soya sauce with honey, served on a thin bed of brown rice. Admittedly I ate a slightly larger portion than the meagre pickings I'm supposed to eat on this diet, but I don't feel bad at all after a good day of diet and workout. In fact I feel fantastically fed right now!
But, that's not all we ate this evening. When we got home from work, before I took Tammy to her swimming lesson, we were both very hungry. So I made us a healthy little snack...
Wholewheat Pro vita's as the base, then I whipped up a delicious humus to dip the Pro vita's (un-buttered) into. My humus was made as follows:
Blended up a mixture of a can of chick peas, a large avo, 2 cloves worth of garlic, a little Veri Peri sauce, salt & pepper, lemon juice, and a splash of sesame oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Easy peasy, and I can't even describe how awesomely delicious it was, and still is. We only had 3 Pro vita's each with some of the humus on, the rest is in the fridge for another day.
I'll end this off by mentioning what a fabulously adorable and beautiful daughter I have been blessed with! Thank-you Jesus for the best kid in the world, she really is special, she owns my heart. My little peanut!
Also Liezel made a delicious chicken stir fry for dinner which was spectacular, especially as I was so hungry by the time I got home from gym at 8.30 I was close to taking a bite out of my car's steering wheel on the way. On top of delicious (the stir fry, not the steering wheel) it was healthy, made with chicken breast fried up with onions, garlic, carrots, marrows, green peppers, green beans and mushrooms in a soya sauce with honey, served on a thin bed of brown rice. Admittedly I ate a slightly larger portion than the meagre pickings I'm supposed to eat on this diet, but I don't feel bad at all after a good day of diet and workout. In fact I feel fantastically fed right now!
But, that's not all we ate this evening. When we got home from work, before I took Tammy to her swimming lesson, we were both very hungry. So I made us a healthy little snack...
Wholewheat Pro vita's as the base, then I whipped up a delicious humus to dip the Pro vita's (un-buttered) into. My humus was made as follows:
Blended up a mixture of a can of chick peas, a large avo, 2 cloves worth of garlic, a little Veri Peri sauce, salt & pepper, lemon juice, and a splash of sesame oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Easy peasy, and I can't even describe how awesomely delicious it was, and still is. We only had 3 Pro vita's each with some of the humus on, the rest is in the fridge for another day.
I'll end this off by mentioning what a fabulously adorable and beautiful daughter I have been blessed with! Thank-you Jesus for the best kid in the world, she really is special, she owns my heart. My little peanut!
Nearly there...
... there being down in the weight range of double figures, not triple! According to our new bathroom scale this morning I weighed in at 100.1kg. I checked and checked again, true story! So by tomorrow I should be under 100kg for the first time in years, except briefly last year when I was gymming so hard for 3 months I lost around 5kg and got to about 98kg, which quickly shot up again over Christmas and beyond as my inherent laziness and greediness and affliction for the bottle took hold again!
In other words, this fat bitch aint gonna be so fat for much longer!
I've already noticed today I don't have to stretch so far to get to my keyboard because I can sit a little closer to my desk.
To be honest, this coffee with sweetener and fat free milk is taking some getting used to, but after drinking gallons of water constantly all day the little bit of flavour is very welcome!
There won't be another blog again today, I need to spend lunch time working on my photography course, it's falling way behind with all this health stuff, and I have to keep up the effort with the photography or it is not going to succeed! I have a lot of learning and work to do to learn to be a pro photographer, and at some stage work on setting up the business too, which has to include getting out and shooting to build up my portfolio which will be my primary marketing tool!
That said, if anybody reading this wants some photo's done of yourselves, your family, your pets, your shoe collection, your party of any kind, etc please let me know. I'm willing to work for free if it's a basic job or for cost price if there are costs involved. But this is a limited offer... once I get organised I will start charging competitive rates! But please note, if you want me to photograph yourself and whoever (or whatever) engaged in any explicit or sexual act the job will certainly not be free, but I'm open for negotiation!
Have a nice day!
In other words, this fat bitch aint gonna be so fat for much longer!
I've already noticed today I don't have to stretch so far to get to my keyboard because I can sit a little closer to my desk.
To be honest, this coffee with sweetener and fat free milk is taking some getting used to, but after drinking gallons of water constantly all day the little bit of flavour is very welcome!
There won't be another blog again today, I need to spend lunch time working on my photography course, it's falling way behind with all this health stuff, and I have to keep up the effort with the photography or it is not going to succeed! I have a lot of learning and work to do to learn to be a pro photographer, and at some stage work on setting up the business too, which has to include getting out and shooting to build up my portfolio which will be my primary marketing tool!
That said, if anybody reading this wants some photo's done of yourselves, your family, your pets, your shoe collection, your party of any kind, etc please let me know. I'm willing to work for free if it's a basic job or for cost price if there are costs involved. But this is a limited offer... once I get organised I will start charging competitive rates! But please note, if you want me to photograph yourself and whoever (or whatever) engaged in any explicit or sexual act the job will certainly not be free, but I'm open for negotiation!
Have a nice day!
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Steamy windows
{I knew my scale is a bullshitter!}...
Unfortunately I will be breaking one of the will-power cardinal rules tonight - I'm eating dinner within 2 hours of bed! We went to the gym tonight after work and just got back at around 8pm after stopping at the shop on the way home. I've cooked a dinner of steamed green vegetables (peas, broccoli & baby marrows) and smoked haddock. That's it! Just wolfed it down. And I'm now knackered!
Liez and I have both said what an unsatisfying meal this has been, I just put some chilli sauce on my veg and some balsamic vinegar on the fish. It was dull and bland and not very enjoyable, in comparison to my usual culinary masterpieces!
We're going to have to make this diet thing a bit more creative or I fear we may fall off the wagon soon, Liezel before me for sure! (she's already trying to convince herself that a piece of cheese will be ok for an after-dinner snack!) We got a few recipes as part of the will power package, but we need to find a few more of these fat free low carb concoctions that are easy to make and don't require too many strange and expensive ingredients.
Anyway I'm not too worried at this stage, I'm making a huge and concerted effort to eat healthy foods in the right portion sizes and I'm working out hard and playing squash at the gym every day or two and I can feel it's already paying off so if I cause kak and eat something fattening like an avo or banana now and then I'm not gonna slit my wrists with disappointment.
On top of that I'm not even thinking about drinking! Even I'm finding that hard to believe! Yes I do get a craving now and then but for the most part I'm not missing the bottle and quite enjoying life without it. Maybe I'm not such a bad alcoholic as some people have convinced me to believe I am. But time will tell if I'll be on the receiving end of some "I told you so" gloating in the near future or if life will continue happily in the long term without the need to get shit-faced every second day and I can shove it in the crotch of my critics that I'm not an incurable drunk!
Time will tell...
That stop at the shop on the way home from the gym was to buy a new digital bathroom scale. R199 later I got home and tried it out, and lo and fucken behold - I'm almost 2kg lighter than I was this morning! Considering I had quite a weak workout on the squash court this evening and no other exercise today I don't believe that to be true! This morning I was 102kg, this evening I was 100.7kg! I tried it 4 times in different floor locations and exactly the same - 100.7kg!
So what now? Do I leave the original figures my old scale bullshitted me with or do I average down the previous figures by around 1.5kg lower? Because right now that weight-loss graph that William threatened me with is going to have a hell of a dip on the 18th October as if I ran 30km and fasted at the same time!
So anyway - tomorrow's weight loss agenda: banana & strawberry smoothie with fat free yoghurt and Liezel's new "Future Life" meal supplement stuff as a smoothie for breakfast (see how fucken complicated this is getting already!), salad for lunch again, chicken & vegetable stir fry with a little brown rice for dinner, with various fruit and maybe a few Big Mac's in between as snacks. Then gym again in the evening, got a squash court booked at 6.30 if anybody wants to join me.
Tonight I really didn't have the energy to push hard on the squash court. Dunno why, but I really didn't get into it enjoyably. Eventually I let Tammy onto the court with me and we bashed a few balls around lightly.
Well that's all for tonight. Hopefully this natural energy will start coming soon because right now I feel knackered with a belly full of vegetables!
One thing I will say though, I haven't had heartburn in over a week except mildly on Sunday after the roast chicken. That's a good sign because before I was suffering with severe heartburn constantly, sometimes so bad it was excruciating! I normally go through a 48 pack of Rennies in a week and copious volumes of Eno at night. Though I do have a suspicion the half litre of cheap whiskey every 2 days and the crappy fatty food may have had some contributing factors!
Good night okes!
Unfortunately I will be breaking one of the will-power cardinal rules tonight - I'm eating dinner within 2 hours of bed! We went to the gym tonight after work and just got back at around 8pm after stopping at the shop on the way home. I've cooked a dinner of steamed green vegetables (peas, broccoli & baby marrows) and smoked haddock. That's it! Just wolfed it down. And I'm now knackered!
Liez and I have both said what an unsatisfying meal this has been, I just put some chilli sauce on my veg and some balsamic vinegar on the fish. It was dull and bland and not very enjoyable, in comparison to my usual culinary masterpieces!
We're going to have to make this diet thing a bit more creative or I fear we may fall off the wagon soon, Liezel before me for sure! (she's already trying to convince herself that a piece of cheese will be ok for an after-dinner snack!) We got a few recipes as part of the will power package, but we need to find a few more of these fat free low carb concoctions that are easy to make and don't require too many strange and expensive ingredients.
Anyway I'm not too worried at this stage, I'm making a huge and concerted effort to eat healthy foods in the right portion sizes and I'm working out hard and playing squash at the gym every day or two and I can feel it's already paying off so if I cause kak and eat something fattening like an avo or banana now and then I'm not gonna slit my wrists with disappointment.
On top of that I'm not even thinking about drinking! Even I'm finding that hard to believe! Yes I do get a craving now and then but for the most part I'm not missing the bottle and quite enjoying life without it. Maybe I'm not such a bad alcoholic as some people have convinced me to believe I am. But time will tell if I'll be on the receiving end of some "I told you so" gloating in the near future or if life will continue happily in the long term without the need to get shit-faced every second day and I can shove it in the crotch of my critics that I'm not an incurable drunk!
Time will tell...
That stop at the shop on the way home from the gym was to buy a new digital bathroom scale. R199 later I got home and tried it out, and lo and fucken behold - I'm almost 2kg lighter than I was this morning! Considering I had quite a weak workout on the squash court this evening and no other exercise today I don't believe that to be true! This morning I was 102kg, this evening I was 100.7kg! I tried it 4 times in different floor locations and exactly the same - 100.7kg!
So what now? Do I leave the original figures my old scale bullshitted me with or do I average down the previous figures by around 1.5kg lower? Because right now that weight-loss graph that William threatened me with is going to have a hell of a dip on the 18th October as if I ran 30km and fasted at the same time!
So anyway - tomorrow's weight loss agenda: banana & strawberry smoothie with fat free yoghurt and Liezel's new "Future Life" meal supplement stuff as a smoothie for breakfast (see how fucken complicated this is getting already!), salad for lunch again, chicken & vegetable stir fry with a little brown rice for dinner, with various fruit and maybe a few Big Mac's in between as snacks. Then gym again in the evening, got a squash court booked at 6.30 if anybody wants to join me.
Tonight I really didn't have the energy to push hard on the squash court. Dunno why, but I really didn't get into it enjoyably. Eventually I let Tammy onto the court with me and we bashed a few balls around lightly.
Well that's all for tonight. Hopefully this natural energy will start coming soon because right now I feel knackered with a belly full of vegetables!
One thing I will say though, I haven't had heartburn in over a week except mildly on Sunday after the roast chicken. That's a good sign because before I was suffering with severe heartburn constantly, sometimes so bad it was excruciating! I normally go through a 48 pack of Rennies in a week and copious volumes of Eno at night. Though I do have a suspicion the half litre of cheap whiskey every 2 days and the crappy fatty food may have had some contributing factors!
Good night okes!
New diet, new lifestyle, new challenges.
Yo yo yo wazup all my loyal readers and Noodle Fans! What's your news?
Mine is as follows: I'm shrinking!
Yes yes I know I'm going on again about my eating habits and this, now famous, diet and lifestyle change I've embarked on, and barking at!
So far so good, I had my bunny food for lunch, it was actually an awesome salad with the usual lettuce, tomato, cucumber with avo, cashews, roasted seeds, baked croutons and some balsamic vinegar. It was delicious!
Tonight, after gym, I'll make a dinner of fish & green vegetables, steamed! Sounds boring, but I will make it great! Maybe I'll even photograph it so you junk-food junkies out there can see how good healthy food can be!
The latest development in this bodily drama is Liezel and I went to see an old school mate last night who I last saw at school, 17 years ago. She (Tamsyn) and her partner in culinary crime William have this diet & lifestyle plan as their business (called Will-Power) which they kindly sponsored us for free (THANKS!) It's quite long winded so I won't go into much detail, I only have 5 minutes of lunch left, and I don't want to give their business away. I've promised to return the favour of a family photo shoot for Tamsyn and her daughters.
Basically it's not your usual crash diet based on a specific focus such as protein or calorie diets. It's a logical system involving a balanced diet, smaller portions and cardio exercise, and cutting out certain foods for a while to reach the first milestone, among other things. It's good for the body and importantly it's sustainable long term even after the ideal weight is reached. Apparently I should lose 30kg, which is a shitload of lard to shed!
Liezel and I spoke about it afterwards and we are keen and excited to take on this new challenge. It will certainly be tough because it fucks up our comfort zone and our long-time routines and bad habits, but we know it's for our own good and the rewards are worth the effort and we are going for it! Going like a Boeing! There like a bear.
I'm also amped to gym as often as I can, and just half an hour ago managed to nab a court this evening thanks to a cancellation!
Since last week Wednesday when I started this "change" seriously I have made a conscious effort to eat healthy for every meal, and with this new Will-Power plan mine and Liezels eating habits will become even healthier. I've been to gym 3 times since too.
Last Wednesday I weighed 104.5kg, this morning I clocked 102kg, and I can actually see and feel the difference already! It's great, I think I'm going to love the new me! Then you gonna see how vain I really can get, but don't worry I'm not an arrogant chop! It will just be nice to go out and feel great and not be constantly conscious about the walrus wrapped around my waist! Maybe the chicks will start noticing me again as more than just the great passing mass that's blocking out the sunshine. Not that I need to be noticed by the chicks, but it will be nice for my wife to think I'm some kind of hunk again and act accordingly!
Mine is as follows: I'm shrinking!
Yes yes I know I'm going on again about my eating habits and this, now famous, diet and lifestyle change I've embarked on, and barking at!
So far so good, I had my bunny food for lunch, it was actually an awesome salad with the usual lettuce, tomato, cucumber with avo, cashews, roasted seeds, baked croutons and some balsamic vinegar. It was delicious!
Tonight, after gym, I'll make a dinner of fish & green vegetables, steamed! Sounds boring, but I will make it great! Maybe I'll even photograph it so you junk-food junkies out there can see how good healthy food can be!
The latest development in this bodily drama is Liezel and I went to see an old school mate last night who I last saw at school, 17 years ago. She (Tamsyn) and her partner in culinary crime William have this diet & lifestyle plan as their business (called Will-Power) which they kindly sponsored us for free (THANKS!) It's quite long winded so I won't go into much detail, I only have 5 minutes of lunch left, and I don't want to give their business away. I've promised to return the favour of a family photo shoot for Tamsyn and her daughters.
Basically it's not your usual crash diet based on a specific focus such as protein or calorie diets. It's a logical system involving a balanced diet, smaller portions and cardio exercise, and cutting out certain foods for a while to reach the first milestone, among other things. It's good for the body and importantly it's sustainable long term even after the ideal weight is reached. Apparently I should lose 30kg, which is a shitload of lard to shed!
Liezel and I spoke about it afterwards and we are keen and excited to take on this new challenge. It will certainly be tough because it fucks up our comfort zone and our long-time routines and bad habits, but we know it's for our own good and the rewards are worth the effort and we are going for it! Going like a Boeing! There like a bear.
I'm also amped to gym as often as I can, and just half an hour ago managed to nab a court this evening thanks to a cancellation!
Since last week Wednesday when I started this "change" seriously I have made a conscious effort to eat healthy for every meal, and with this new Will-Power plan mine and Liezels eating habits will become even healthier. I've been to gym 3 times since too.
Last Wednesday I weighed 104.5kg, this morning I clocked 102kg, and I can actually see and feel the difference already! It's great, I think I'm going to love the new me! Then you gonna see how vain I really can get, but don't worry I'm not an arrogant chop! It will just be nice to go out and feel great and not be constantly conscious about the walrus wrapped around my waist! Maybe the chicks will start noticing me again as more than just the great passing mass that's blocking out the sunshine. Not that I need to be noticed by the chicks, but it will be nice for my wife to think I'm some kind of hunk again and act accordingly!
Friday, 14 October 2011
I ate bunny chow.
It's not what you think!
In Cape Town and other SA places of cultural incest like Durban there is a popular and if done properly a highly delicious take-away meal called a bunny chow, or "Bunny" as it's affectionately known. It consists of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry. I've have some awesomely delicious fatty lamb curry bunny chows that are to die for, and others that I nearly did die for, they were so bad. The good ones were great, but these things are cholesterol packed heart-stoppers that bring on heartburn that would make a volcano seem tame, not to mention ring-sting for days where soaking the loo paper in liquid nitrogen overnight doesn't cool your arse sufficiently.
But I've not had one of those in ages.
What I had for lunch today, for the first time in my life by choice, was a SALAD! Yes you read that right, I ate a fucking rabbit food (lettuce) infused salad that I deliberately and consciously prepared this morning with the intention of it being my sole lunch for the day!
And an even bigger shocker - I really enjoyed it! True story!
It was concocted (because I know squat about making salads!) with fresh lettuce chopped up (I can't stand big leafy plate sized leaves of lettuce shoved in my face to eat!), baby tomatoes, baked croutons, raisins, mixed roasted seeds, low-fat feta and some chicken breast. No dressing. It was actually flipping delicious; I wolfed it down and would have licked the bowl, had my colleagues not been around.
On top of that I had a fruit smoothie for breakfast! Dinner last night was chicken breast and steamed veg, and tonight it was seafood paella, both delicious and nutritious meals lovingly prepared by my wife! Liezel has actually cooked 3 days in a row, all healthy meals practically fat free (no oil, butter, cheese, etc used), and besides the BROWN rice in the paella no starches.
I must admit I'm very impressed, especially with her paella. I'm not normally a big seafood lover, but this was goooood!
Of course, being serious about this diet for as long as I can make it last, my portion sizes have also reduced dramatically. As I sit here I feel like I could easily heap another loaded plate of food, and the temptation to smother it in cheese is almost unbearable, but I won't do it! Just like I'm sitting here after 10pm on a Friday night stone cold sober! I've not had a drink since last Saturday. Admittedly this evening when I got home, before heading off to band practice, I had a serious craving for a drink, a bottle of whiskey... so far the determination is holding firm.
I must admit though, with this diet and smaller portions I am finding myself to be constantly mildly hungry, and I haven't yet stocked up on "healthy" snacks, because I don't have a clue what to get! Usually there's cheesy chicken sausages, or cheese to make toasted cheese sandwiches, or crisps, or fatty leftover braai meats, etc to chomp on. Now I'm lost!
Tomorrow we'll bash heads and figure out what to get and go get it. Yesterday I already spent R400 on fresh fruit and vegetables, fish & chicken. We just need to add to that for the meal planner for the week.
Ok enough bragging about my culinary challenges; if you've read this far I'm impressed, though you must be bored as a fly stuck in dry paint!
In case you missed my Facebook post earlier, today I've been suffering with seriously painful moobs. I've not been to the gym in 3 months, now I've been the last 2 nights in a row, my man-boobs took serious punishment with the bench-press, feels like I got smashed in the tits with a cricket bat! Hope they're sufficiently recovered by tomorrow, I've got a squash court booked at 9.45 am and intend to do a full workout after the squash. Check me dropping drumsticks at tomorrow night’s gig because my muscles are lame. Wouldn't that be a joke after all my bragging about this gig being a rocker!
Well that's enough babbling for one night, I'm off to bed. Sober. For a change! Tomorrow is going to be a great Saturday, no hangover to nurse!
Oh and btw - F**K this piece of S**T computer! Thank the monkeys I have been saving this blog to Notepad as I go along or I would have lost the whole thing because this useless PC is so damn slow it couldn't even handle saving via the browser, tried running a spell checker and it crashed. I'm really starting to hate this bloody thing; it's such a handbrake on progress!
"Please God let me win the lotto tomorrow!!!"
Ok I know that's mildly blasphemous and not going to happen, but it's worth a shot! Apologies for the rant! I just get furiously frustrated at the time wasted with this pile of electricity sucking scrap metal!
In Cape Town and other SA places of cultural incest like Durban there is a popular and if done properly a highly delicious take-away meal called a bunny chow, or "Bunny" as it's affectionately known. It consists of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry. I've have some awesomely delicious fatty lamb curry bunny chows that are to die for, and others that I nearly did die for, they were so bad. The good ones were great, but these things are cholesterol packed heart-stoppers that bring on heartburn that would make a volcano seem tame, not to mention ring-sting for days where soaking the loo paper in liquid nitrogen overnight doesn't cool your arse sufficiently.
But I've not had one of those in ages.
What I had for lunch today, for the first time in my life by choice, was a SALAD! Yes you read that right, I ate a fucking rabbit food (lettuce) infused salad that I deliberately and consciously prepared this morning with the intention of it being my sole lunch for the day!
And an even bigger shocker - I really enjoyed it! True story!
It was concocted (because I know squat about making salads!) with fresh lettuce chopped up (I can't stand big leafy plate sized leaves of lettuce shoved in my face to eat!), baby tomatoes, baked croutons, raisins, mixed roasted seeds, low-fat feta and some chicken breast. No dressing. It was actually flipping delicious; I wolfed it down and would have licked the bowl, had my colleagues not been around.
On top of that I had a fruit smoothie for breakfast! Dinner last night was chicken breast and steamed veg, and tonight it was seafood paella, both delicious and nutritious meals lovingly prepared by my wife! Liezel has actually cooked 3 days in a row, all healthy meals practically fat free (no oil, butter, cheese, etc used), and besides the BROWN rice in the paella no starches.
I must admit I'm very impressed, especially with her paella. I'm not normally a big seafood lover, but this was goooood!
Of course, being serious about this diet for as long as I can make it last, my portion sizes have also reduced dramatically. As I sit here I feel like I could easily heap another loaded plate of food, and the temptation to smother it in cheese is almost unbearable, but I won't do it! Just like I'm sitting here after 10pm on a Friday night stone cold sober! I've not had a drink since last Saturday. Admittedly this evening when I got home, before heading off to band practice, I had a serious craving for a drink, a bottle of whiskey... so far the determination is holding firm.
I must admit though, with this diet and smaller portions I am finding myself to be constantly mildly hungry, and I haven't yet stocked up on "healthy" snacks, because I don't have a clue what to get! Usually there's cheesy chicken sausages, or cheese to make toasted cheese sandwiches, or crisps, or fatty leftover braai meats, etc to chomp on. Now I'm lost!
Tomorrow we'll bash heads and figure out what to get and go get it. Yesterday I already spent R400 on fresh fruit and vegetables, fish & chicken. We just need to add to that for the meal planner for the week.
Ok enough bragging about my culinary challenges; if you've read this far I'm impressed, though you must be bored as a fly stuck in dry paint!
In case you missed my Facebook post earlier, today I've been suffering with seriously painful moobs. I've not been to the gym in 3 months, now I've been the last 2 nights in a row, my man-boobs took serious punishment with the bench-press, feels like I got smashed in the tits with a cricket bat! Hope they're sufficiently recovered by tomorrow, I've got a squash court booked at 9.45 am and intend to do a full workout after the squash. Check me dropping drumsticks at tomorrow night’s gig because my muscles are lame. Wouldn't that be a joke after all my bragging about this gig being a rocker!
Well that's enough babbling for one night, I'm off to bed. Sober. For a change! Tomorrow is going to be a great Saturday, no hangover to nurse!
Oh and btw - F**K this piece of S**T computer! Thank the monkeys I have been saving this blog to Notepad as I go along or I would have lost the whole thing because this useless PC is so damn slow it couldn't even handle saving via the browser, tried running a spell checker and it crashed. I'm really starting to hate this bloody thing; it's such a handbrake on progress!
"Please God let me win the lotto tomorrow!!!"
Ok I know that's mildly blasphemous and not going to happen, but it's worth a shot! Apologies for the rant! I just get furiously frustrated at the time wasted with this pile of electricity sucking scrap metal!
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Time for change
The time has come to make some drastic, dramatic changes in my life... time
to re-take control of my life, my health, my family's health and well-being, and
my home! Time to take the bull by the horns (plural, please note), time to shape
up or ship out, come right, however you care to see it; before death do I part!
Fact is it's time for change! Serious, life-changing change!
"What happened, who put a cracker up your arse?", you may be wondering. Well I've known for a while now I'm not the healthiest looking or feeling chop around but a long chat with my mother on Sunday night sparked that cracker up my arse and got me thinking quite seriously about my life and where it's going in terms of my health and lifestyle. Nothing she said to me was new to me, I've just been too lazy, drunk or hungover to take seriously the fact that I have been killing myself slowly with my lifestyle, though with good intentions of changing my ways at some stage or another, but "just not today, it's been a kak day and I need a drink when I get home, and a cheese sandwich!".
But no not just change with the drinking, as my alcoholism is no secret, but also with the crap I eat, the smoking, lack of exercise, and general unhealthy and lazy lifestyle!
I know I've had this photography thing going, and it's still going as seriously as when it started, it's given me something to focus on and at least make some constructive use of my semi-pickled brain. The progress with the course and the photography training in general has been slow going despite my efforts and intentions, a lot of time has been lost and wasted being drunk and hungover all too often. And of course there's the small matter of a family to attend to, let alone a home which has fallen by the wayside in it's running and maintenance, again thanks to the booze.
AND, yes you're right I did recently "give up the bottle", which I did wholeheartedly and determinedly, but like the previous few attempts it didn't last! I won't bother listing the reasons that justify sticking my head back in the bottle yet again because it will just be a list of futile excuses. And I'm not promising this time it's forever either, I've learned about making that commitment publicly and then going back on it sheepishly. But as always the intentions are there!
This time it's different in my mind because I have honestly realized that my lifestyle, not just my drinking, is going to kill me before I reach 40 if I don't make a massive U-turn on the direction I'm heading! But also, this time it's different because it's not just me making a futile attempt at major change and tackling it all by myself with few people aware, let alone giving a shit; this time I'm dragging my wife with me!
Family diet; cutting down portion sizes, cutting out snacks, cheese, bread, etc, and generally tackling a healthier eating lifestyle of which we still need to design a plan.
On top of that we are going to gym again. At least twice a week, EVERY week!
We have set ourselves a target, one which I think is quite generous, of each losing 5kg by Christmas. If we both get there we will reward ourselves with a holiday in January, if either of us fails then no holiday, and whoever doesn't meet the target has to sign up for a marathon of at least 15km in January! So far Liezel is keen, she said so with her dessert of cheese on toast and a bag of popcorn in hand last night!
I've stuck up a chart outside our bathroom whereby we will weigh ourselves every morning and log it to track progress and motivate each other if either slacks off.
Personally, I am setting myself a goal of reaching 90kg by February next year, currently I'm at 104.5kg. That's nearly 15 kg in 3 and a half months!
Also as part of this big health drive plan, we are going to put up a whiteboard in the kitchen and plan our meals, lunch and dinner, weekly, based on a set of healthy recipes. Each day's meals will fall under a roster which will also include planned activities for each evening, eg walk on the beach on Mondays, gym on Tuesdays (the whole family), Tammy's swimming on Wednesday, sort & fold & pack washing on Thursday, etc, something like that. We'll sit down and plan it out in the next few days. Our grocery shopping will be done weekly and according to the meal planner, which should work out cheaper than our usual random trolley loads of heart-stopping crap!
I am also now on a mission, as part of the plan and as a distraction to the booze, to catch up on all maintenance and DIY that needs doing around the house on weekends, like fixing stuff, clear and tidy my garage, get my garden looking like some sort of living garden and not a desert with 2 shaggy trees, install the intercom, etc. All stuff that could have been easily done over time already, had I not been rendered useless by hangovers at least one day of every weekend!
This all sounds great and glamorous and you probably don't believe a word of it. But I am dead serious, before I really am dead! All of this is for my daughter! The thought of what will happen to her if both her parents are dead because we didn't look after ourselves is terrifying, I can't have her grow up without parents, and I for one am going to make sure I see her grow up and live her life, and be a positive part of that life as the dad she adores!
Thanks mom for the kick in the chops that I needed! And thanks Liezel for the support!
Watch this space, soon you will see photo's of a family looking fit and healthy and happy!
Fact is it's time for change! Serious, life-changing change!
"What happened, who put a cracker up your arse?", you may be wondering. Well I've known for a while now I'm not the healthiest looking or feeling chop around but a long chat with my mother on Sunday night sparked that cracker up my arse and got me thinking quite seriously about my life and where it's going in terms of my health and lifestyle. Nothing she said to me was new to me, I've just been too lazy, drunk or hungover to take seriously the fact that I have been killing myself slowly with my lifestyle, though with good intentions of changing my ways at some stage or another, but "just not today, it's been a kak day and I need a drink when I get home, and a cheese sandwich!".
But no not just change with the drinking, as my alcoholism is no secret, but also with the crap I eat, the smoking, lack of exercise, and general unhealthy and lazy lifestyle!
I know I've had this photography thing going, and it's still going as seriously as when it started, it's given me something to focus on and at least make some constructive use of my semi-pickled brain. The progress with the course and the photography training in general has been slow going despite my efforts and intentions, a lot of time has been lost and wasted being drunk and hungover all too often. And of course there's the small matter of a family to attend to, let alone a home which has fallen by the wayside in it's running and maintenance, again thanks to the booze.
AND, yes you're right I did recently "give up the bottle", which I did wholeheartedly and determinedly, but like the previous few attempts it didn't last! I won't bother listing the reasons that justify sticking my head back in the bottle yet again because it will just be a list of futile excuses. And I'm not promising this time it's forever either, I've learned about making that commitment publicly and then going back on it sheepishly. But as always the intentions are there!
This time it's different in my mind because I have honestly realized that my lifestyle, not just my drinking, is going to kill me before I reach 40 if I don't make a massive U-turn on the direction I'm heading! But also, this time it's different because it's not just me making a futile attempt at major change and tackling it all by myself with few people aware, let alone giving a shit; this time I'm dragging my wife with me!
Family diet; cutting down portion sizes, cutting out snacks, cheese, bread, etc, and generally tackling a healthier eating lifestyle of which we still need to design a plan.
On top of that we are going to gym again. At least twice a week, EVERY week!
We have set ourselves a target, one which I think is quite generous, of each losing 5kg by Christmas. If we both get there we will reward ourselves with a holiday in January, if either of us fails then no holiday, and whoever doesn't meet the target has to sign up for a marathon of at least 15km in January! So far Liezel is keen, she said so with her dessert of cheese on toast and a bag of popcorn in hand last night!
I've stuck up a chart outside our bathroom whereby we will weigh ourselves every morning and log it to track progress and motivate each other if either slacks off.
Personally, I am setting myself a goal of reaching 90kg by February next year, currently I'm at 104.5kg. That's nearly 15 kg in 3 and a half months!
Also as part of this big health drive plan, we are going to put up a whiteboard in the kitchen and plan our meals, lunch and dinner, weekly, based on a set of healthy recipes. Each day's meals will fall under a roster which will also include planned activities for each evening, eg walk on the beach on Mondays, gym on Tuesdays (the whole family), Tammy's swimming on Wednesday, sort & fold & pack washing on Thursday, etc, something like that. We'll sit down and plan it out in the next few days. Our grocery shopping will be done weekly and according to the meal planner, which should work out cheaper than our usual random trolley loads of heart-stopping crap!
I am also now on a mission, as part of the plan and as a distraction to the booze, to catch up on all maintenance and DIY that needs doing around the house on weekends, like fixing stuff, clear and tidy my garage, get my garden looking like some sort of living garden and not a desert with 2 shaggy trees, install the intercom, etc. All stuff that could have been easily done over time already, had I not been rendered useless by hangovers at least one day of every weekend!
This all sounds great and glamorous and you probably don't believe a word of it. But I am dead serious, before I really am dead! All of this is for my daughter! The thought of what will happen to her if both her parents are dead because we didn't look after ourselves is terrifying, I can't have her grow up without parents, and I for one am going to make sure I see her grow up and live her life, and be a positive part of that life as the dad she adores!
Thanks mom for the kick in the chops that I needed! And thanks Liezel for the support!
Watch this space, soon you will see photo's of a family looking fit and healthy and happy!
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