Week 25 (27 to go)

Another boring week. Stayed on track as far as diet and exercise is concerned. Had a slight blip on weigh-ins over the weekend after having back to back dinners with steak and minimal vegetables (full carnivore mode was engaged). But it was a plateau for a day rather than a mountain to recover from. All round solid result dropping 1.4kg.

Being a week out from midway through the challenge, i thought it was time to go through and see what physical things have changed. Next week will be all about measurements and graphs, lets make this week about intangibles.

Firstly - the infamous belt that did not fit in the first month of the challenge is now verging on a little loose on the lowest notch. I have to go and get a leather punch to continue the challenge (as i would like the story to be able to be told with one item at the end).

Secondly - i started the process of going through my wardrobe, and on advice of DMurf, wrap up anything big and donate it. There should be no going back. On Sunday i took on the challenge with my work shirts / casual shirts. They say a picture tells a thousand words, so i have added one below.

What that picture doesn't say is how i am going to financially manage having clothes while i am going through this change.... I have just donated 25 shirts! Fortunately this week there have been a number of click frenzy sales, so i have been able to build back up my current and hopefully future size shirts for not a lot of outlay.

A couple of these shirts were size 52. I have now got a handful of 46's and 44's to get me through the next couple of months. That's 4-5 sizes in 6 months.

Finally - I have done is do the same with my pants. Fortunately i did not have anywhere near as many of those to remove, however I have had to donate 5-10 items that are too big. For pants i have dropped from 48's to 42's. Again - 4 sizes!

I think it is fair to say that i am pretty chuffed with how things are going.

That's enough for this week. As mentioned, next week is midway and it will be heavily stats and measurements focussed, as well as have a progress photo.

Week 24 (28 to go)

Never have i been so conflicted with a weigh-in. This week i successfully lost 0.8kg which took me into the 130 kg realm - a place i have not been in 6-7 years. A good result and a real positive milestone in this challenge.

The confliction? Looking back at last week with my aspirational aim of hitting 136 in week 26, i stuck to my guns through the week on both diet and exercise. That included over the weekend just passed where I cooked Mothers Day lunches on both Saturday and Sunday for the grandparents that we had visit each day. On both occasions i cooked things that were healthy enough, both days i did not partake in any alcohol or desert and both days i fit within my calorie goal. I will admit on the Sunday, after a Pork Loin roast with veggies for lunch, we did order Thai for dinner that i probably did not need - but it was mothers day and i was keeping my wife happy and eating some delicious chilli and garlic chicken and vegetables.

On Monday, my weight jumped up by 1.4kg. This is something that happens when i drink - not when i keep within my calorie goal. Queue confusion, frustration and dismay at what the hell is happening in my body.

I did the only thing i could and got back into the exercise, possibly with a little more gusto than previous, and healthy eating. It took 2 days to get back to my previous weeks weigh in, 3 days to bring myself ahead of the Sunday morning weigh in. I am still unsure on what caused that uptick - was it too many carbs late at night? water retention for some reason? I will continue to monitor, though it is safe to say that Thai may be out for a little while.

I think my aspirational goal of being under 300lbs at the halfway point of this challenge has been stymied. I will continue to drive for it, but it now means i would need to lose 1.75kg per week for the next two weeks. While i have the occasional 1.7 - 1.8kg loss, it is usually backed by a low loss so it is highly unlikely that this is possible. I also don't want to break the intent of this challenge, which is to continue to eat and live a healthy life, not restrict myself and be on a 'diet'.

At the end of the 52 weeks i want to just continue with this lifestyle as normal, not feel like i am now eating 'normally' after starving myself. So far i am getting results from making good choices and exercising. I still have the occasional drink (or many), delicious meal and snacks. I am not going to change that for a short term goal that may see me bounce backward straight afterward.

Week 23 (29 to go)

This week was all round excellent. The furthest i strayed on my diet was having a scotch on Friday and Saturday night while watching a movie (well after dinner).

On Sunday - my planned rest day - we went back to the Botanic Gardens and burnt 485kcal trekking the over mountain walk (map below). While not a great speed or distance, i was proud of my wife who completed it as she has just started her own challenge. After the big walk we let the kids take their scooters around one of the smaller gardens where i jogged a fair portion of it with them.

This is something i have noticed - as a family we are becoming more active and living less like fat people. It is now harder to just sit on the lounge and watch the TV.

The rest of the weeks workouts have gone to plan resulting in a huge loss of 1.7kg, putting me 0.6kg ahead of target.

Not much else to say for this week. 3 weeks left until half way, i would like to try and hit 136kg to be under 300lbs for the halfway mark, but I think that may be a little too optimistic. 4.3kg in 3 weeks would mean an average loss of 1.5kg per week. I will set it as a mini goal to chase, but wont be devastated if i don't hit it.