Monday 30 September 2013

100 Reasons Why I am Doing This……..


There has been a discussion of late in one of the Facebook groups I am part of about the reasons why we are all going through our weight loss journeys and what we wanted to achieve whilst doing it.

I have decided to note down mine here for all to read.  I have gone back to the start of my journey and made sure I have included items that I wanted to achieve back then and may have already done so.  If I have achieved this I have noted it along-side the item.
This a varied list, taking in athletic achievements, health and well being achievements and other which fall into a myriad of categories.  There is no rhyme or reason for some of them, just something I wanted to tick off the list.  They are also in no apparent order, just as I remember them.

1.       Get Healthy
2.       Look Healthy
3.       Look Fit
4.       Lose the beer gut and love handles
5.       Be able to run around with my kids without puffing after a few steps (Done)
6.       Give me more energy and desire to want to do the above (Done)
7.       Set a good example for my kids (Done or doing)
8.       Be around to watch my kids grow up
9.       To be able to run 1km non stop (Done)
10.   To get fit enough to ride 200kms in 2012 for the Ride to Conquer cancer (Done)
11.   To fit comfortably in a plane seat without the arm squashing into my side (Done)
12.   To fit into a size 38 jeans (done)
13.   To wear a size 36 jeans.
14.   To be confident enough to sit by a pool with my shirt off (Done)
15.   To lose 30kgs (Done)
16.   To get my definition back in my legs
17.   To be fit enough to run around at my sons football training and not feel like coughing up a lung (Done)
18.   To buy clothes off the rack, not in the Big Man section (Done)
19.   To push myself outside my comfort zone with clothing (Doing all the time)
20.   Being able to run 5km non stop (Done)
21.   Being able to run 10km non stop (Done)
22.   To run 5km in under 30 minutes (Done)
23.   To run 10km in under 1 hour
24.   To run a half marathon without stopping (Done twice)
25.   To run a half marathon in under 2 hours 30 minutes (Done twice)
26.   To run a half marathon in under 2 hours
27.   To run a marathon
28.   To try Crossfit
29.   Make my mum proud of me for finally losing my weight
30.   To document my journey, the good, the bad and the ugly on this blog
31.   Feel confident in wearing lycra bike gear in public (Done)
32.   Building confidence and allowing myself to try new things in public (Done – I think the mankini episode at the Melbourne finale proves this)
33.   Changing my outlook on life and embracing the new lifestyle for a healthier future (Done)
34.   Teaching my children that good food can be nice and having them embrace our change of life. (Done)
35.   To ride 1200kms in 12 days doing all 6 Ride to Conquer cancer rides in 2013
36.   To sit on a camping chair and not worry about it collapsing underneath me. (Done)
37.   To not feel conscious about people watching you eat because they always judge the fat person.
38.   To be able to go on all rollercoasters and waterslides with my kids because I can fit.
39.   To feel proud of myself (Done)
40.   To be a better husband
41.   To be a better father
42.   To be able to breathe normally when just sitting down (Done)
43.   To finally finish SOMETHING!!!
44.   To have abs…..
45.   To complete a triathlon
46.   To learn to swim properly so I can take part in triathlons
47.   To wear speedos and people be looking at my body not the horrible bathers……
48.   To not have people call me Big Fella all the time
49.   To be able to go for a run with my son as he gets older and fitter
50.   To help my wife achieve her health and fitness goals.
51.   Meet new and likeminded people to help me continue my journey (Done)
52.   Challenge myself on a regular basis by upping the ante with my physical challenges. (done but continuing to do so)
53.   To Kokoda again as a fit healthy person
54.   Take part in Around the Bay in a Day – Cycling 235kms
55.   Be fit enough and crazy enough to take on the 3 Peaks Cycling Challenge
56.   To wear my first ever pair of skinny jeans (Done)
57.   To learn to love weights.
58.   To fit into a pair of size 38 shorts I had never worn (Done)
59.   To fit into a size L shirt (Done)
60.   To wear a medium size shirt.
61.   Change from Obese to Overweight on the BMI scale on 12WBT (Done)
62.   To lose a total of 40kgs in weight (Done)
63.   To find my thing!! (form of exercise that I just love to bits) DONE!!!  You thought it was something else didn’t you?
64.   To lose a total of 50kgs in weight
65.   See my weight in double digits
66.   To not feel everyone looking at me when I enter a room because of my weight (or think it is because of my weight).
67.   To like who I am and what I have achieved
68.   To not allow my weight to set limitations on what I do
69.   I want to skydive……..
70.   To know I can do anything I set my mind to…
71.   To learn to surf with my kids
72.   To have guns (even if they are cap guns)
73.   To do a chin up
74.   Learn to like Burpees (is that even possible?)
75.   Do this for myself first and foremost
76.   Ensure my weight does not become a reason for illness (Diabetes, stroke, Heart attack, etc)
77.   Practise what I preach
78.   Just be myself all of the time.
79.   Push myself on a regular basis to be harder, faster, stronger than the day before
80.   Eat as clean as I can as often as I can
81.   Be confident enough to take on challenges never thought possible regular and push myself (Done)
82.   Be able to wrap a normal towel around my waist without it gaping and flashing skin. (Done)
83.   Try new exercises all the time to see what I like and experience new things (Done and still doing)
84.   I want to have a hot body for my wife (and me)
85.   To be strong for the first time in my life
86.   To never have my kids worry about the size of me in front of their friends
87.   To try boxing at a boxing gym.
88.   To lose my man boobs
89.   To only have 1 chin (done)
90.   To have a shapely arse again.
91.   Not having any flab on my inner thighs
92.   To continue to inspire people through actions not words.
93.   I want to be able to easily squat with my bodyweight on a bar
94.   I will learn to be able to do 100 push ups in a row
95.   To do a duathlon in 2014
96.   Set my sights on a huge 2014 (2 half marathons, possibly 2 marathons and 1 RTCC)
97.   I want to be able to do Paint Ball and run the entire time
98.   To prove to others that it can be done if you want it
99.   To love myself enough o actually be a little vain
100.       To continue to do this for the rest of my life because I am worth it…….

Friday 27 September 2013

Big Wheels Keep on Turning…..Until the Magpie comes Swooping

This week has been a lot quieter than last, by a long shot, but what has been pissing off this week.



Organised to go for a long ride Sunday morning, be back in time for Julie to go for a ride also…..No FFS

Julie decided to change the times we went on Sunday so she could include 2 friends riding with her….FFS

She was late leaving and a lot later coming back…..FFS

Instead of going for 4 hours they were gone for 6 hours…..FFS

It pissed me off at the time, not because they were taking extra time, but because I had no idea what was going on……FFS

The managed to ride 70kms though which was great as this was the longest ride for one of our friends……No FFS

I managed to get out for my ride and did 75kms in 2:55 which was what I had hoped…..No FFS



I was swooped by a friggin magpie AGAIN whilst riding along the highway……FFS

I hate these birds, but even more whilst travelling at 35kms next to trucks doing 100kms….FFS

I hated that I also had the speed wobbles up whilst trying to get the magpie away and stay on my bike……FFS

Must have looked like a right dick to the drivers…..FFS

This had me on edge for the rest of the ride whenever I saw any bird flying near me for the next 55kms……FFS

Managed to spend some quality time with my wife over the weekend trying to get through a few of the 240 dvds we came home from Bali with…….No FFS

Sadly that included a few too many white wines, homemade hummus and other naughty items….FFS

Bought a new pair of running shoes on Monday much to my wife’s disgust…..No FFS


Took them for a run on Monday night (new flat foot style shoes, no heel/toe drop) so need to get used to them……No FFS

Decided on Monday night that I needed to mix up the training a little as per my last post, so did some weights on Tuesday night…..No FFS

Until the Mozzies decided to feast on me that is…..FFS

I hate these bastards as much as I hate magpies……FFS

I managed to finish off my fundraising for the Ride to Conquer Cancer rides, which means I have now raised over $16K this year…….No FFS

I can now help Julie finish her fundraising for Adelaide……No FFS

If you want to donate to her ride please do so here.....No FFS

She only has $618 to go.....No FFS



This will mean that in 2 years we will have raised over $31K between the 2 of us……No FFS

I am very proud of our efforts and how this will be used to help find a cure for cancer…….No FFS

Work is a bit frosty at present with a number of changes being made and a few people being made redundant……FFS

No idea what this means for me, my department and area of the business……FFS

The universe smiled on me on Wednesday and provided me with the most pristine day to allow me to ride to work and home again.  68kms done, 1500 calories burnt……No FFS

The next day it bucketed with rain and blew a gale. Thank god I wasn’t planning on using the bike then…..No FFS

Decided to tackle the weights last night, which I really enjoyed, but after doing some lunges I felt a twinge in my glute, which I haven’t felt before.  It has now moved into my lower back……FFS

Grand Final weekend is always a special one for us, but Julie has to work…..FFS

I will spend it at home with my kids, having what they call a football party……No FFS


Finish the weekend off with a bike ride on Sunday for a few hours…..No FFS

Have a great week everyone.

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Time to Mix It Up a Little or a Lot

So, it has been a little while between posts other than my FFS Friday posts, partly because I have been away, but also because I haven’t really had anything of value to put out there.  I don’t see the point of blogging if it is just mundane boring crap, so I don’t.

Last few weeks have been hit and miss really.  I went away with the wife and kids for a wonderful time in Bali for 10 nights.  I was very naughty and overindulged on EVERYTHING!!!!  But so what, I am living even if it meant a gain of 6kgs approx. in that time.  Some of this was fluid retention from the flight, but either way, I am not making excuses, I am owning and now doing the hard yards to lose it.  Aside from that, this post is not about me gaining weight and owning my indiscretions, this is more about me noticing a change in attitude and something that I need to rectify.



When I first started this journey to a new me I was open minded enough to try all the workouts put in front of me.  I was running, cycling, doing Michelle Bridges DVD (the kids loved to laugh at dad dancing again as they called it) and basically had a crack at everything.  This obviously worked for me as I lost 24.5kgs in 12 weeks.  Yes I had it to lose, but it only came off because I put in the hard work.  Gradually I started to work out which things I liked and those that I didn’t like.  Those I didn’t like I decided not to do.  This included the DVDs, online workouts (12WBT versions of the DVD’s), burpees, mountain climbers and even weights to a certain degree.  So what the hell was I doing then?  Well I have been doing a lot of running and cycling and have found tabata training as well.  These became pretty much my only forms of training.  This is where I went wrong I believe.  But more on this later.

My new found love of running took over for a period for 2 reasons.  I was training for a half marathon, so obviously needed to do a lot of running, but I was only doing the half because I enjoyed the running so much.  I am a firm believer that all of us need to find a type of exercise that you purely love otherwise you will never be keen to stick with it and working out will be a chore and soon something that you will give up.  For me running and cycling were those forms of exercise that I would gladly do over any other.  I would gladly get out on the bike over any other type of exercise, as would my wife.  Now doing something you love allows you to enjoy your exercise and forget about a lot of things.  Whilst out on my bike I had a strange thought on Sunday.  Coming towards me was a guy on his bike.  He was probably a bit bigger than me, which made me think, “Is that what I look like on my bike when people look at me?”  



Now I don’t really care what people think of me, but lycra is far from flattering.  The strange part is I don’t consider myself to be a fat person when I am on my bike.  I am out, moving along at a brisk pace and feeling fit and happy.  I am a cyclist.  I guess I feel like this because I am happy with what I am doing and love being on the bike.  If I was doing a Pump class or swimming in my Speedos I might feel otherwise.  Purely and simply because these are not my things and I would be self-conscious about it.  Yes I know it is a strange way to look at things, but I am the same with my running.  When I am out there, no matter how slow I am going, I am a runner.  I do long distances and I feel great.  People can’t take that away from me, nor can some of the people probably sniggering about the fat fella joffling along run as far as me.  I don’t really care either.  I love my running, I will do it at whatever pace I can at that time and stuff you whatever you think.



Now in doing this though I have probably caused myself to fall behind where I could have been.  By cutting out the diversity in my training, my body is used to the same old exercise.  Yes I can increase my distance and increase the intensity but the DOMS are not there and are not the same.  I realised this after my weekend session last weekend with my crazy group of Western Warriors in our Garage Session.



When I was trying everything I would have DOMS every day.  "Ouch" I hear you say, or "Why would you do that?" I actually enjoy the feeling of DOMS.  It proves to me that I have worked an area that hasn’t been worked for a while and that I must have pushed myself.  Now I am not saying I enjoy walking like John Wayne, or not being able to touch my toes without screaming in pain, but knowing that you have pushed yourself is a great feeling.



I have decided that whilst I have a huge schedule coming up next month with my cycling, which means I need to be on my bike a bit, I will be looking to get back to mixing up my training.  I need to just to help myself.  I have looked at the things I used to do and what I am not doing now and have worked out what I will be bringing back.  The dads will not be happening.  I just don’t like that aerobics, gym class sort of exercise.  Hell I don’t even take part in the 12WBT finale workouts anymore.  It just isn’t me.  I don’t want to skip around and do side winders or whatever those crazy arse movements are called.  In fact the last finale I just ran to the venue and watched the workout.  Yes I would rather do a run beforehand.  I did notice that I had cut out a lot of exercises that I need to bring back.  I can’t remember the last time I did a lunge of any sort.  I actually like the lunges.  I had not done a weights session in so long, so last night I did one.  I didn’t want to push myself too hard as it was the first time back, but I actually enjoyed it and had the wobbles in the arms at the end.



So in essence, whilst you need to find the form of exercise you love and one that will keep you going back and keeping active, you also need to mix it up, try different things and keep the body guessing so you can feel the DOMS.  As my wife told me once “Is DOMS is GOOD!”

I can see a few sessions of weights, lunges, burpees, squats and tabata coming up over the next couple of weeks as well as the cycling and running.


What are you going to do to mix it up?  Hit me with your training ideas, I may just be able to use them as well.

Friday 20 September 2013

Hissy Fits & Dummy Spits

Interesting couple of weeks all round. This post was going to be sent from Bali via but due to some issues noted below it wasn’t hence the reason there hasn’t been one for a couple of weeks.

Having to do my FFS post on notes via phone Sucks...FFS

Knowing that I am doing on my phone because I am on holiday....No FFS

Kids have been so excited this week about holiday that jumping out of their skins is an understatement....FFS

Spent all day Saturday helping my oldest build his medieval castle for school project...FFS

Thank god my creative mother was on hand to lend assistance....No FFS

Group workout on Saturday was a tabata circuit which went for an hour followed by 30 minutes of boxing. This caused a couple of dummy spits or tabata tantrums as we called them....FFS

Saturday night we held our trivia night raising money for our bike rides. We raised over $5k..... No FFS

Sunday was Father's Day. I received the usual gifts from the Father's Day stall, new coffee cup from kinder and the big hugs and kisses.....No FFS

Julie went to work and left me with the ferals. Great Father's Day separating them all from punching on as well as having to go shopping.  There were a few dummy spits this day ( from me mostly).....FFS

Decided I needed to buy myself a Father's Day present and bought a 6 pack of beer. Like I needed it.....FFS

Drank the beer and some wine when Julie got home. Very naughty......FFS

Julie bought Aidan his first pair of thongs for our holiday. He won't take them off. Even wore them to bed on Monday night.....FFS

Got to bed at midnight and up at 5:30am to go to airport....FFS

Parked at the Long term car park at airport. Had 3 buses drive past before being picked up.....FFS

Kids were so excited this morning about going to Bali, it was doing my head in....FFS

Dropped wife and kids off at airport before parking car, needed her credit card to park car, meant she had to wait until I got back for a coffee.....FFS

Wife and kids checked in without me due to length of time it took to get from car park to terminal. Now I have to queue up again.....FFS

Kids in the pool at the villa

Arrived in Bali at our villa very tired and kids extremely excited and wanting to do everything straight away…..FFS

Tried to log onto WiFi when we arrived to notify everyone that we had arrived safe, only to find credit for WiFi had run out.  Took manager another 3 hours to get it fixed……FFS

Had a swim with the kids in the pool after checking out the villa, pool guy turned up to check everything and turned filter on, which caused power to shut off……FFS

Called villa manager to notify her power was out, she came around and realised it was safety switch…..No FFS

WiFi was fixed but was that bad that we couldn’t actually send anything via facebook, twitter or Instagram for large portions of the day.  To have a 12 year old not able to use his phone or the 4 year old not able to use iPad was the end of the world…..FFS

Thank god that every bar and café in Bali has free WiFi…..No FFS

This gave me an excuse to have regular visits for Bintang…..No FFS

First of many......


Cleaner for our villa was shite to say the least…..FFS

The house next door to us had chickens and roosters.  Motherf*$@ing rooster and a mate started crowing at 3am the first night for 3 hours……FFS

This continued every night…..FFS

Kids were still on Australian time the first morning so up at 5am and ready for action…..FFS

I told the kids I was going to kill said rooster and cook him, to which Aidan asked me everyday when I was going to do it…..No FFS

Took Julie out for her birthday to WaterBom Park, which we all thoroughly enjoyed and left when the place closed.  Kids had a ball as well…..No FFS

Birthday Girl at Breakfast......


I was able to watch both Carlton finals in our villa via the Australian Network cable channel…..No FFS

Power went out once again in our villa right on dark as I was in the pool with the little ones….FFS

Julie called the manager who was adamant it wasn’t a credit issue as she topped it up when we arrived…..FFS

She had a technician come over and look into it.  Seems there was an issue out at the connection to the power lines, but it only put power out in our villa……FFS

Took the guy 45 minutes to fix it, so we were in the dark, no aircon, wife having a hissy fit because we were staying in Fawlty Towers……FFS

Took kids to the beach for the day, hired some beach chairs, boogie boards and had a ball…..No FFS

Visiting the beach just checking it out


Owen took to the boogie board, loved it, which was a total surprise to both Julie and I……No FFS

Aidan hated it and wouldn’t go on it again after the first time, which shocked us….FFS

Paige got extremely sunburnt, when her rash vest came up a couple of inches, which resulted in blistering and now peeling.  A new experience for her……FFS

We had to leave villa and head to Club Med, so villa manager organised a driver for us…….No FFS

Stupid bitch knew how many of us there were but still managed to get a car that could not fit us all in without little ones sitting on our knees……FFS

This cause Julie to have a mini meltdown, carry on about Fawlty Towers again and have her umpteenth hissy fit of the holiday……FFS

We get to Club Med and all the issues of the last 9 days were forgotten……No FFS

We had forgotten how much we love Club Med and how much we love their kids club……No FFS


Nuff said, this is how we all were at Club Med.




Checked in, signed kids into kids club and headed to the bar for a cocktail……No FFS

Drank far too much on the first day which meant both Julie and I were not functioning very well that evening……FFS

Last day in Bali started with a 30 minute full body massage for $5 out on the beach……No FFS

Getting a massage


Where we had our massage


Flight home was a debacle.  Took us 90 minutes to check in at counter, get through customs and immigration and then rush to get the bus out to the plane.  All with 4 tired, irritable and feral children……FFS

As you can imagine, this was all in a hot airport, which led to a few dummy spits by both Julie and I at said kids…..FFS

We finally got on the plane, delayed a further 30 minutes due to incompetent check in staff holding other passengers up……FFS

Little ones went straight to sleep……No FFS

Julie and I waited to get a beer and a wine before we tried to nod off, we just needed the peace and quiet……No FFS

They didn't have one that said Julie


Jumped on the scales to see that I had put on a total of 6kgs in less than 2 weeks…..FFS

Not stressing about it, had a ball, expected a gain, did nothing over there to prevent it, so now just working my arse off to correct it……NO FFS


Planning next years trip already, but to where?.......No FFS.

What happens when Julie organises transport.