I got onto the scales this morning and swear to god I think I heard the scales sigh. When the hell did I gain so much weight? Over the last couple of months I’ve definitely noticed that my trousers have been shrinking in the wash more and more every day but I think yesterday I felt it the most. Summer is in the air and I’m the heaviest I’ve been in YEARS. Part of this I guess can be attributed to the general lack of exercise, another part of this can be attributed to the general amount of rubbish I’ve been eating at work, and even more can be attributed to the snacks I’ve been taking on in between meals, after meals and during meals (I know, how the hell do you snack during meals?).

Needless to say I need to do something about this and bloody soon. I’ve been down this road before, I’m prone to gaining weight, however I know EXACTLY what needs to be done to loose weight and sustain it for a good long time rather than these crash course diets. This isn’t for everyone, this is what has worked in the past for me, so I’m writing this down to make sure I REMEMBER my list every time I try and break it, and I will try and break it over the next week where my mood will no doubt be pretty foul for a little while until I get used to it all.

1. Item one - Stop eating junk. Seriously it all fucking adds up. That little bit of chocolate at 11 from a colleague to that additional biscuit at around 11:30 to that kit kat at 3pm and the list goes on. Part of the main reason I guess is boredom and just wanting to get something done. So I'm going to have to get myself a whole bunch of fruit every Monday, every time someone has got their birthday cakes I grab an apple or something. I'm allowed one chocolate sweet thing a week and that's about it.

<li><p>Item two - This is an important one and probably the one that's going to be the hardest to maintain. Eat smaller portions. Don't get second helpings. It's OK to feel hungry every once in a while. There are loads of ways that will make you achieve this. Some have tried using smaller plates. I'm more of the thought that you should balance it out as best you can and keep it smaller than usual. </p></li>


<li><p>Item three - Eat everything I've been eating but with care to item two, however include for removal of deep fried things like fried potatoes, etc. Keep the bread consumptions down to a smaller amount, in fact a lot lot less. Don't eat the loafs, eat wraps exclusively and those Swedish style cracker things (they're not all that tasty but they give the impression you're eating bread and for next few months that should be ok, I've had my fair share of bread these last 27 years it's time to take a break).</p></li>


<li><p>Item four - Drink more fluids, cut the bloody sugar from the coffee and the tea. Four years ago I used to have 3 sugars in my tea and coffee, now I'm down to 1. I think it's time to cut it down all the way to 0. This is a small thing but I think one that I've been thinking about for a good long time and I think it's time I actually implemented, seeing as I'm on a roll right now anyway.</p></li>


<li><p>Item five - Last item, but definitely not least, I've got to get back to exercising more regularly. Currently I'll run sporadically and then I'll play basketball once every other week for a couple of hours, get a crap and generally be slow as fuck on the court. It's time to move it up a notch and have my 30 minutes run in the morning every morning. Combined with the above I'm pretty sure I can get to shape and loose the excess kilos that are hanging off me right now. </p>

Currently my target is 12kg. If I get there it’ll be the least I’ve ever been and the target weight I’ve always wanted to be. Traditionally the first 6kg are moderately easy as my body has store an immense amount of crap so it’ll shed that faster than the last 6kg which will be pretty tough to get rid of. I’ll keep everyone posted with mini posts from now on regarding my progress. Is there any clever little php scripts that I can record all of this down? I’m pretty sure I saw something on someone’s blog a while back that was tracking his weight loss progress as well.