What’s wrong with me?

Synopsis

Recently I have been struggling with my diet, appearance, and general fitness.
I am slightly overweight and have a moderately high body fat content
I have a very high Cholesterol level, however my other systems are within normal range
I have a beer gut and man boobs
I have lost some muscle tone and aerobic fitness
I am not enjoying the sports I do as much as I used to

My Weight and Body Fat

I’m 46 years old, 182cm tall, 87kg and 24% body fat (according to our scales anyway)
From what I have read I am over average weight and body fat for my height and frame.
If I was fit I should probably be less than 80kg and less than 20% body fat

Doesn’t sound like much to lose - 10% of my weight (8Kg) and 20% of my body fat (4.8%)
So weighing 87KG at 24% body fat I have 21KG of fat and 20% of that is over 4kg.
That's half of my total weight loss...in fat alone


My Cholesterol

My cholesterol was 6.9 this time last year - HDL 1.5 LDL 4.9 TRI 1.0
In September 2011 it was 6.7, now it is 6.5 – LDL is now down to 4.5
A slight reduction over 12 months but still high and needs urgent attention

The LDL cholesterol is apparently stored mainly in the abdominal cavity unlike normal fat which is stored in subcutaneous tissue.

This is a scary enough thought for me to act upon (somethings you just should NOT wiki) 

The doctor has recently put me on some medication in an attempt to lower it since my attempts to reduce it with diet change has not seemed to work so far.

Mmmm... Mc Kalestamarol

My Appearance

I am shaped like a pregnant woman and my man boobs are getting proportionally bigger as my gut grows
Maybe I'm pregnant with a beer baby
I’ve got skinny arms and legs and a “six pack of spare tyres" beer gut
I feel like one of those potato people kids make at school with toothpicks and a spud

I may be exaggerating about my form but when function is getting impaired there's a genuine problem
I feel a squeeze in the guts when I bend down to tie my shoes or touch my toes
This also has started to affect some of my sports
It is uncomfortable for me to paddle my kayak/raft wearing a life jacket
The waist belt of my backpack makes me want to hurl my breakfast
When I pedal my bike my knees slap my gut like Dolly Parton doing a Step class
I am getting sick of buying bigger trousers
Thank god for retractable seat belts or I would need to buy a larger car

I am sure this is what I look like at the beach

My Fitness

I don’t get to do as much of my sports as I used to a few years back and I have found it hard to do regular training.
I need to do regular exercise sessions for both cardio and weight trainning.

Work and family commitments seem to have taken priority recently over personal activities

A good side of this is that I have been doing things with the kids like surfing, cycling and running even though its great fun is just not full on enough training for me.

Another problem has been this horrible weather we have had over summer has made it hard to do our morning walk/run in the bush.
It has been a regular part of my fitness training for many years now, but this year it has been decimated by the weather.

If I miss too many morning walks our dog will end up looking like this poor bugga

 Don't worry I know how you feel fella!!

Maybe I should do some sort of "Boot Camp" thing or join a gym or just lock myself up in a padded cell so I cant eat Maccas.

Anyway, here's a few suggestions from Ryan - Great sites well worth a look

www.toughmudder.com

www.crossfit.com


So what am I doing wrong?

I eat too much of the wrong type of food
I am not involved in a regular exercise regimen
I am not doing any exercise that results in muscle gain



Updates info etc

Thanks to Garry and Ryan for the support via emails 
On that topic, I have added peoples email to this Blog as I had done for my other blog
However it is limited to 10 addresses only so its not an effective way of letting people know that I have updated the blog.

I have been researching the best way to notify people that the blog has been updated and I have found there are a few options.

The different methods will not cater for everyone, ie not everyone is on facebook, not everyone has a google account etc etc.

I will advised soon what I recommend.

Stay tuned for the next blog where I show you exactly how bad I am !

What When Why Where How

This is the initial post to advise my readers what this blog is all about.

What

I have decided to document my attempt to get fit and get into shape again and change my lifestyle for the better before its too late.

In his final letter to the Scouts, Baden-Powell wrote:

........One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man........

So whilst I am still a "boy" I am going to get as strong and healty as I can, so I can be useful and still do the things I do now when I am an "old(er) man".

When

NOW…Now is the time, “Now is the summer of my discontent”

Summer is over and I have had enough
I have only got autumn left to get fit for winter

 To quote the opening words of Shakespeare’s Richard III

Now is the winter of our discontent                                           (Not happy Jan)
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house                           (bloody Sydney weather)
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,                         (too merry in my case)
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds                            (my mountain bike)
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber                                         (the shed)
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute                                              (my guitar)
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,                               (I can’t touch my toes)
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,                                      (six pack abs)
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,                                
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time                                   (beer gut)                  
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;                                        (…that’s going a bit too far)
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,                                       (doing jack shit)
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:                                          (when I get on the scales)
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days……                          (Gluttony, Greed, Sloth)

Why

I had made a few changes last year and this, which has given me some impetus to achieve more
Recently I am not enjoying my sports as much as I used to
I’m a fat bastard
I have had enough

To quote Pulp Fiction :

Jules: Yeah, I was sitting here, eating my muffin and drinking my coffee, when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity.

Where

I am going to use this blog to document and share my goals, planning, research, activities and achievements (if any).

So that you don’t get bored with me crapping on, I will be adding links to various websites that I find during my quest, some will be serious information, and some will be humorous piss-takes, other links won't be so obvious.

(I will leave it up to you to decide which ones are whichJ)

How

They say that you should write your problems down so they are projected into the foreground of your mind rather than hiding it away in the back or having it float around your consciousness aimlessly.

Since I am a serial list-maker and list-ignorer I thought a public blog would not only embarrass me but may help attain some peer support, it would also serve as a timeline and repository for the information.

I will start first by describing my problems and secondly make a plan of attack and thirdly document the results.

Anyway here is Dr Pillai’s view on the subject of writing down problems

Important to Write Down your Problems

Be sure to search for some of the other words of wisdom posted on YouTube by the good Doctor like:

“Stop playing games”
“Unconscious speech and behaviour”
“Conceiving Unlimited Money”
“What really happens on a Full Moon Day?”
And the ever popular “4^th Moon Coconut Breaking”


Stay tuned for the next post where I will be detailing my problems, don’t worry, not all of them, just the issues effecting my weight and fitness