War on Waist

Up and running again, after the latest waddle at the back of the pack on Saturday, man mountain was delighted to have seen his parkrun buddies and looking forward to a dramatic reduction in the heavy burden of the backpack of lard. Time to take that giant step onto the scales. Neatly weighing up the pros and cons of the War on Waist, the pesky scales delivered good news and bad news. First the bad. It looks like those early successes of pounds tumbling from this bulky peak are a thing of the past. Now the good news. Although the rate has slowed, the weight is still coming off. Another four pounds this week. But it felt like a good week and more was expected.  Just goes to show this is a long haul and it’s going to be tough, getting harder not easier. Still, pound for pound, it’s worth keeping up the food fight. Oh, and an unexpected side-effect of the lard reduction programme has shown its ugly face. It would appear that there is a direct correlation between a decline i...

A little bit of what you fancy does you good, or so the saying goes. Well, as it turns out, quite a lot of what you fancy can do some good too. As feared, the lads' day out in Edinburgh was a festival of overindulgence, old blokes telling familiar old jokes, former colleagues and friends reliving the 'good' times and waxing lyrical about their brave new worlds. All washed down with too much beer, too much fast food and just the right amount of scepticism and laughter. A rare treat to be savoured. Now though, in the cold light of hindsight, it all seems a bit much. Wracked with doubt, it was time to face that giant step onto the scales. And, as feared, the lard reduction programme had suffered. The War on Waist was struggling to overcome the hurdle of carefree consumption. Still, a small but welcome loss of three pounds was recorded for the week. All in all, the day out just served to refocus man mountain's attention on the big prize. Sensible eating (rabbit food) and...

Train tickets at the ready the gang of dedicated drinking buddies is all set to descend on the big city for a day out. It’s a rare treat and will be filled with fun, fine ales and food. Oh, and calories. Progress in the War on Waist has already been slow this week as I was working to a deadline - copywriting commitments and parental taxi duties taking priority over strolls with the dog and the parkrun/ walk.  Even so, another five pounds managed to trickle off the man mountain. Hopes are high as the old friends (friends for a long time and long in the tooth) prepare to converge on Auld Reekie from north, west, south and even further south.  A bunch of old hacks ready to recapture the unique humour of busy newsrooms. Trouble is, the laughter will be liberally lubricated with beer. The waist warrior can’t help wondering if the calorie counter clicking away at the back of his head will spoil the fun, and the overindulgence halt the man mountains decline. Perhaps the lo...

Butterflies joined the grumbles and groans in the pit of my cavernous belly as the clock ticked down to a follow-up appointment with the diabetes nurse. Of course, she was charming and put the waist warrior at ease, but the very mention of the D-word makes this so-called warrior go weak at the knees.  Anyway, fear not, because most results revealed good news - all an improvement on a visit three weeks, or so, ago. Even the test results from then weren’t too scary in light of the heavy burden of lard that sparked the War on Waist in the first place. Helped by a very hot and sweaty third parkrun/ walk, much-appreciated support from far and near, and the natural wonders of salad and vegetables (yes, that’s rabbit food Dad), more fat has tumbled from the man mountain. The running (walking) total of weight lost so far was logged as 1st 9lb by a delighted D nurse. All well and good but can the waist warrior keep up the food fight? 

Shock set in as the spotlight revealed how much food was being devoured daily by the blob - extra toast first thing (lots of butter), mid-morning snacks (usually cheese and bread), huge lunch (at least four slices of bread stuffed with cheese or meat, or both, plus plenty of mayo), and that was only the start.  Snacks followed around three o’clock with more just after four when the teenager returned. Then it was nibbling through the cooking schedule - good munch while preparing tea for the teenager (and leftovers). Time to rustle up dinner to share with always-working-late wonder woman (tasting, sample or two while waiting, tidying up leftovers). Okay, not every day was quite that bad but it was a lot of food, even if most of it was good food. Which is why, after slightly more than a week of the War on Waist, the blob has lost a few ounces short of one stone. Weight rolled off as the blob tumbled from the top of the fat mountain, helped by more walking and parkrun number t...