This is something of an experiment. I have not posted a blog before but it is something I have thought about for some time. There are a few I follow. I would like to think that my thoughts - possibly my ramblings - will appeal to someone else. 

I am not entirely clear where I will go with this, but if I do not start, then it won't go anywhere.

I've been losing weight for a couple of months. I thought about starting this when I started my diet, but I didn't want to simply post about dieting. It has been a dominant part of my life for a couple of months. I have kept a diary and will refer to that but I didn't want to find that was the only thing I had to write about. I also didn't want to start writing about losing weight only to fail and give up losing weight, potentially publicly.

The diet has gone well. I was a fat 95kg when I started (in case any non metric fellow Brits ever read this, that's very nearly 15st, in case any Americans decide to follow me, that's about 210lbs). I started on 3 August and today, 16 October, I'm 77.8kg (12st 3lb, 171lb). I have just 400g to go to get to my target which is less than a pound whatever side of the Atlantic you're on.

I hope to get there in a couple of days. If I do, I will write more about that. 


There's no doubt that it was all too easy to get fat. I avoid talking about obesity because I think turning being overweight into some kind of condition is a way of avoiding responsibility. I didn't think of this, I read it somewhere and I wish I could remember where. Nevertheless it is true. I became overweight because I ate too much. If you take in more calories than your body uses then you will get fat. I hesitate to subscribe to ideas about "healthy" foods as well. All food is healthy; it is the balance in ones diet which is important. Any food contains nutrition, otherwise it would not be food. Eating too much of anything, or missing important elements from a balanced diet means one is eating an unhealthy diet, but suggesting a particular foodstuff is unhealthy is simplistic. So, I ate too much for my needs and put on weight steadily over several years. After a while this becomes a normal thing and it is easy to start to accept it. Making the decision to change things and to accept that this really means making changes in how you eat is a big step.


I could say this was harder than giving up smoking. I did that a long time ago - and it probably added to my weight gain for a while. There is no healthy level of smoking, whereas giving up eating all together will cause illness and even death. 


Time to stop before this gets too long.