Be Excellent To Each Other

From as early as I can remember I've known that sugar is bad for me. I'm quite sure everyone else does too, sugary snacks have always been regarded as fattening. This documentary seemed to be reaching a little bit in order to present a more compelling narrative. There's a story there and a case to answer but the notion that wonky health advice issued at the behest of the food industry is chiefly responsible, nah. I think they basically nailed it in the opening five minutes, food got cheaper and as a species we are no good at resisting temptation.

Yeah, no conspiracy here, but if you want to use it to make you feel better then that's ok, I guess.

I'm celebrating my 0lb loss this week, with 4 cookies from sainsbury's for lunch.

That's how this diet thing works right?

Sure - in excess. It's better for you than what they replaced it with though, the 'healthy' polyunsaturated fat products. And, of course, more sugar.



I think it's a multi-part thing. I think the dietary advice we've been given over the last 30 years is, essentially, wrong. I think the massively powerful agricultural lobby in the US has been exceedingly effective at suppressing efforts to make changes to that - see the recent example of them stepping on the World Health Organisation to prevent them from issuing anti-sugar guidance, and the fact that there is a terrifying paucity of research out there into the actual biological impact of diet, and I think we're also rubbish at eating what we should, and not what we shouldn't.

The food manufacturers are also exceptionally good at marketing to us. The second episode of that series was fascinating. The fact that British manufacturers effectively invented snacking between meals. The tagline of the Milky Way "The snack you can eat without spoiling your appetite" takes on a frightening significance when you consider that the sugar/leptin action effectively means that the snacks you're eating between meals do the opposite of spoiling your appetite - they actively suppress your "I'm full" response.

Eat less, exercise more will always be the route to health for most people. The actual structure of the modern western diet though, is pretty much entirely based on that government issued advice in the early 70s - which is provably based on self-interest, not science.

I'm not considering it some sort of shadowy conspiracy, I'm considering it a painful oversight with dangerously far-reaching consequences, that we're just starting to see the impact of.

In the book I got MrsA, it says (amongst other things): "Exercise more, don't eat rubbish food or have snacks, eat sensibly get used to feeling hungry, don't eat rubbish at weekends, avoid fizzy drinks, even diet ones, drink water instead" which is exactly what I've been telling her for a while, but she never believes me it is in print form and costs more than a tenner.

Yeah, give up. You're obviously not motivated at this time to do it. It's a real 'mind over matter' thing and you have to buy into it 100%.

It's hard to know how much sugar is being pumped into, well, everything though. We're trained to look for low-fat and not eat sugary sweets... but everything else is crammed full of it these days.

Looks like I'm having a knee op next week that will mean I won't be able to run for probably six months if rehab goes well. Going to be so hard to not put on any weight, or at least it will once I regain sufficient mobility to reach the fridge.

Yeah, that's true, they did mention that as well.

And, don't forget, a significant portion of all the wheat we eat is basically turned directly into sugar as you metabolise it.

Have the leg removed just above the knee instead - no need for the complicated op and a factored-in weight compensator!

Ouch, six months? Harsh.

Couch To 5K week two starts tonight. I'm strangely looking forward to it.

Pish and piffle. Buying in to it 100% and mind over matter arguments are just excuses for people who don't want to do anything about it.
Roughly 2000ish calories a day, and running 3 times a week, it's impossible to not lose weight doing that, it's very easy to do and that is still my plan.

Those cookies are about half of your day's allowance then. Good luck with that!

Run 2 of week 2 for me when I get in from work tonight I'm also looking forward to it in a weird way. My thoughts are usually along the lines of:

Stage 1) T-minus 2 hours = Can't wait to get out there.
Stage 2) T-minus 1 hour = Hmmm... looks like rain, i'm gonna go out anyway.
Stage 3) T-minus 5 minutes = ugh, I really don't want to do this.
Stage 4) T-minus 0 minutes = right, lets do this!
Stage 5) T-plus 15 minutes = Whose fucking idea was this bullshit.
Stage 6) T-plus 30 minutes = Awesome, can't wait to do it again.

Breaking through stage 3 is the difficulty...

I don't think I could be any more trepidatious if I was having it removed. Especially after I had to go and watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtiRdmRfb80

Indeed, i'm well aware of that, 1000 calories for the rest will be easy, I have about 500 left for dinner, plus an extra 300 burned off due to the run.

Piece of piss.

Quoting for posterity!

Hey, i've lost 5lbs in 2 weeks so far, i'm doing ok

In all serious, the whole "maximum attack, you must commit, losing weight is really difficult" mindset I find very weird.
I was putting on about a pound a month over the past year, which is 3500 calories a month. So I need to eat around 100 calories less a day than I was to maintain my weight.
Cutting out that extra 100 calories a day is extremely easy to do, then add on doing exercise on top of that and it is impossible not to lose weight.

Putting a load of mythology around weight loss is just an excuse to be idle. I should know, i'm the most idle person I know, procrastination is going to be my middle name when I get round to sending in the forms.

I think you've pretty much misunderstood everything I've just said, but ok.

"Yeah, give up. You're obviously not motivated at this time to do it. It's a real 'mind over matter' thing and you have to buy into it 100%."

Seemed pretty clear to me

I might try Bradley Wiggins's diet:

That was pretty much me this weekend, just without the racing....

Yesterday I had a bowl of porridge and a cheese sandwich. Then went cycling on one of the hardest routes I've ever done. It wasn't enough. I ran out of water about 2/3rds of the way through. On completion, I had a double chocolate muffin, a large cup of coffee,a bottle of lucozade, a bottle of coke and ome more water in about 10 minutes. I've been hungry all day, as well.

When I was a bit younger and knew no better I used to go skateboarding all day and skate hard on literally nothing but haribo, fags and cans of coke. Always felt fucking great, too. I think that for all but proper athletes concern about correct nutrition etc contributes little more than a source of excuses.

That's fuck tons of sugar and stimulants, though. A banana half way round would probably have sorted me.

I think that this topic has pushed me over into getting a road bike to get a bit of variety. I'm not great at running, and only really enjoy riding bikes when it comes to exercise. From around here, there's loads of big hills to go up, so I might take the jump and get lyrca'd up and aim for 100 miles a week to begin with.

I want to improve my diet. Every day, I'm consuming so much sugary stuff and white pasta.

Following on from what I said earlier about the weight I've been trying to lose, here's my inspiration.
The photo that made me realise I wanted to lose weight, taken at my cousins 30th last July...


...and a photo of me taken 12 months later, July 2012 last week on holiday.


Check oot those pins!

Fucking hell. That's an incredible change.

As much as I would argue that slumped over in a chair is never going to give the best picture, you look amazing in the second picture.

Well done you.

Jen must be like

Well done!

2nd run of week 2 done, not a problem fitness wise but i've still got quite painful shins when I run. I know it's mostly the shock to the system due to doing fuck all for years, but I was hoping it would start to calm down now, it's the thing that stops me from running rather than being out of breath.
I think i'm going to have to get a gait analysis done and see what they say, i've got some quite good shoes but I haven't made sure they are the right ones for my style. I'm not expecting a new pair of shoes to stop the ache completely, but I might as well if i'm going to carry this on properly, at least i'll know it's just needing to get used to it then.

DAYUMMM!

*wolf whistles*

Gilly: awesome fat loss! myp and I are crying at the minute.

Impressive stuff, Gilly!



Same here. Last week no problem, this week unhappy shins. I've had my gait analysis done, and bought appropriately supportive shoes, so I'm not sure that'll help you.

I'm not expecting it to help a great deal, but it's worth doing.
It's just a matter of of keeping at it until my legs strengthen I think, it's just annoying more than anything else. I know it isn't anything serious like shin splints, as the pain is completely gone after about 30 minutes, and it feels more like muscle ache than anything else.

How did you get on with week 2? I found it a bit harder than week 1, but still quite manageable.

The shin thing will go after a while. Happens to me every year at the start of the new football season. How many days a week are you running? You having days off in between?

It's only 3 times a week, so plenty of rest days.

Yeah, fine. Shins ache, but only when I'm running. Stops immediately the minute my bulk stops pounding the ground.

Three days is fine. Give it a few more weeks and the shins will stop hurting. It's bloody agony when it happens though, so don't let it grind you down!

But when it does, it steals your cat.

Crying into my burger.

Gilly, you look amazing! Well done, you must be so pleased with the results

I want your legs... *reaches for axe*

Woah... wait, I missed something!

Craster... CRASTER mind you, CRASTER is... I can't quite believe it I'm typing this... Craster is exercising.

These truly are the end of days. I'm heading home to be with my family. God speed to you all.

I'm surprised no one's called a low fat margarine 'Middle Aged Spread' yet.

a cheese spread surely? Not quite mild, not quite mature.