Gone! Got 'im! It's all Over!!

In the words of the great Bill Lawry, the Ashes were lost for another couple of years this morning to the old foe, England. A day of national mourning is now underway in Australia as pompus poms wreak havoc in Melbourne. Rightly so I suppose, England have totally outplayed Australia bar 2-3 days of the series. Still the only thing worse then a whinging pom is a successful one. I think Australians at the moment, myself included, are finding this so hard because for an entire generation the national sport of cricket has been dominated by Australia. In fact it got so bad/good that a couple of years ago the media was complaining that there was no competition anymore and that they couldn't see any other country catching up. But everything goes in cycles really so we will have to bite the bullet and work our way through the degradation of the cricket team for another couple of years.

On a better note, a slightly smaller christmas then previous years has minimised the damage on my fitness goals and after a couple of days of mucking around not following a diet I am back on track and hitting my dietary goals well. Slowly I will refine and improve my techniques to go for specific things but for the next 4 weeks my focus is purely weight loss, I can define and bulk up (in a good muscular way later). Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/original700/britain-england-australia-ashes-cricket-2009-7-19-14-11-50.jpg)

The Torment Continues...But it has only just Began!

More birthday celebrations, more overeating, more bad food and less exercise. Completely disrupting my weight loss admittedly more due to my feeble self-discipline than the celebrations themselves. Worst of all the pain has only just began with Christmas tomorrow. Luckily with my mum leaving for Japan on Christmas Day and a most likely small celebration with Dad it will hopefully be a much leaner Christmas then previous years.

The temptation of the seasons has had one positive impact though. It has made me rethink my approach. My plan has been to continue doing weights at the gym and have the input of cardio from bike rides to and from work. However El Nina wind currents have caused December to have only 6 days of sun so far when usually in Brisbane we have 20 days of sun if not more which has severely limited my cycling to/from work to nil. I need to really focus on dropping weight for the first 6 weeks and then re-evaluate for the final 6 weeks. My plan now is to drop 3 out of 6 gym sessions for cardio sessions. In addition to this the input of some birthday money will be put to use in acquiring a water proof pack so I can ride regardless of the weather. Gotta get stuck into my new plan now and make sure tis not the season to be fat! Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://www.funny-potato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/merry-christmas.jpg)

The Last Temptation of Homer..Doh!

When I say Homer I really mean myself. After a good but draining day I arrived home, had a little snack and had a relax. However as dinner cooked a stream of flavour drifted down the stairs and into my room. Mmmmm......i was drawn along the scent trail Looney Tunes style. Homemade rissoles and fried rice. I just couldn't help myself and served up a big serve of both. Topped that off with a small slice of cake and there went the day's dieting. Luckily dinner was the imperfect exception to a fairly decent day hopefully minimising the damage. Lately I have been good with eating small serves of Grandma's cooking but the accumulation of the day somehow triggered me to break the pattern.

Today is on a much better rebound. I woke naturally early at about 4:30a and took the dog for a walk. When I am up and walking the dog I know it is going to be a good day and it really sets up my mood for this outcome. Perfect diet so far with gym to go but another birthday celebration will disrupt the dieting again. It's only Vietnamese so shouldn't be too much as long as I go to the gym. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://blog.skimkim.com/wp-content/upload/homerdonut.jpg)

21st Celebrations

A solid 3-4 days of dieting and working out was erased by a weekend of 21st celebrations. However I managed to control myself enough to limit damage and my stats at the end of the week were basically the same as the week before meaning they cancelled each other out - given the party season with Christmas on the horizon I hope this is not a continuing pattern. On the one hand no damage or minimal damage is occurring but one the other hand no progress towards the goal is being made. To void this cancelling out situation I think I just need to make sure I do my workouts and perhaps add a little extra exercise to try and still lose weight while enjoying Christmas in moderation.

Two days into this week, two gym sessions and two solid diet days. Monday was a bit of a dodgy day emotionally - I think it was like that because of the unorganised nature of my diet (I didn't have all the ingredients for my diet) on top of still having a sleep deficiency. However a good night gym session and good, deep sleep made sure I woke up this morning in a good mood. Gotta keep the train going. Alpha and Out!

Tests, Tests, Tests Everywhere

About 2pm Tuesday afternoon, lethargy and frustration hit me with the full force of my burn out and I retreated home. I therefore missed the gym, walking the dog and riding to and from work however this is balanced out with a solid effort of the dietary front.

After notching up 2 straight days of perfection from the use of my "Test" method I am beginning to see my journey as a series of tests. Theres the Sleeping-In Test, the Tuesday Night TV Test, the Afternoon Snacking Test, the Dinner Constraint Test and many more. Based on this collection of tests yesterday was one of mixed success. While successfully beating the afternoon snacking and dinner constraint tests, I gave into the night snacking and Tuesday TV tests, not by much but nonetheless a concession. However despite the mixture of results yesterday I am still in a positive mindset and was overall happy with yesterday. This positivity has continued to rise as today draws onwards. However failing the Sleeping-In Test again today I do thoroughly believe that getting up early and walking the dog is highly beneficial for the overall state of my being throughout the day. Always look for the key factors for a successful day. Alpha and Out!

The Perfect Day...

...for my diet anyway. Yesterday was the first day I think ever that I've been able to stick to my diet plan with no strays to the dark side of food. Not even too many cups of tea, biscuits or lollies which usually I usually fall for. What I did was see every pang for bad food or every weak situation as a test. Test one was going shopping for my diet supplies. Usually this results in at least one fat purchase such as chocolate of chips. Test One, Check! Test two was watching TV without a snack where I usually grab a handful of lollies. This took a lot of mind power but nonetheless, Test Two, Check! Accompanying this technique was punishment exercise. Whenever I got a pang for fatty, sugary foods I had to do 10 push-ups or sit-ups, hopefully this will Pavlovian train me that the thought of "bad" food triggers a response to exercise. Two years of psychology becoming useful!

My powerful prevention of consuming extra food yesterday showed me that I really want the result and also that it was possible for me to stick to a strict diet. Just need to get exercise going and I'll be set. Alpha and Out!

(pic from http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/images/healthy%20eating%20plate%20small.jpg)

Toast

Burnt toast, that was the personification of my past two weeks since my last blog. The realisation of burn out finally hit me mid last week, mainly by the fact I had done sweet F all for almost a month, doing the bare minimum at work to get by, and last week the gym fell out of the equation too. That is twice in about a year which is very frustrating. However I am now in a better position to grab the burnt toast, scrape off the charred remains of my life and be reborn with delicious butter and some sugary spread (although probably not a good for the diet).

The best thing about burnout is that a cure is also a cure to my primary goal of this blog....Exercise, getting fit, accomplishing something. Fitness is going to be my drug, my anti-depressant, my number one project from now until the first week of March 2011. It will be my primary focus - sculpting, fat burning, dieting, scraping away the charred remains of the past year and a half. Accompanying this pursuit of fitness I will endeavour to slowly improve my personality, bring it out of its protective shell and really chase the lifestyle I have desired since finishing high school.

Wish me luck, it is finally time to claim my share of the world I live in!

Alpha and Out!

pic from (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_48LkpLeTmgg/S5Vt0-7vpiI/AAAAAAAACwE/AMnR51LFdk4/s400/burnt-toast.jpg)