Day 98 - Hello old friend

This week has been a little different. Felling a little tired at times and so wondering is this was my apnoea back or whether it was just the weight loss program.

Anyway, got the results from the sleep clinic and hear I now have only 'slight' apnoea which is a change for where I was, which was seriously bad apnoea. So maybe it is just the way things are.

Also, feeling the cold really bad this week, unlike my 'old' self. Hello 'cold' friend!

Going well at the gym now with around 3 visits a week and my BPM is coming down each visit and strangely I am enjoying it! The feeling of euphoria after the work out and then sauna and steam room is fabulous, all the endorphins rushing around...lovely.

Anyway, weigh in and I lost a further 3.3lb, which takes my net weight down to under 13 stone which is lower than I can ever remember since I was a lad and just married.

As such this chnage is now causing the wallet to be hurting as I have to buy more clothes (thank goodness for E-bay). Strange when you buy more new clothes this seems to bring out a 'requirement' for the wife to also buy more clothes for herself, coming out in sympathy for my need I guess!

This song seems highly appropriate as not only are more and more people meeting me and saying how different I look, am beginning to realise how different I feel (and look). So it is a little like the 'old friend' in question is me from a long time ago. It is a little scary at times, because I wonder why it took me so long to meet this 'new person' and have left this 'meeting' for so long. Ah well.....

Title: Hello friend
Artist: Chris Rea
Album: On the beach
Year: 1986

Hello friend, where you been so long?
Time goes by, so easy it sleeps away
Just like a shadow at the end of the day

Hello friend, how are things for you these days?
Some guy from way-back-when, he mentioned your name
Did he ever get back to you?
Ah, you know I told him to

Sometimes I turn and I swear I hear you call
And I often wonder how we lost what we knew
Seems it gone in the wind, washed away in the rain
And the years go by and by

The bridges you burned, long sinced turned into ashes
When there were no reasons, now the river runs dry
Seems it gone in the wind, washed away in the rain
And the years go by and by
Where you been so long

Day 90 - Now that I can tuck it in!

Well the sleep apnoea appears to be under control and I am both sleeping OK at night and staying awake during the day.

Having been off the BP tablets for a week all appears good on this front too! Fingers crossed.

Also it seems I have dropped another 'dress size' to 36" waist trousers (comfortable) versus 42" (very tight) at the start. And a funny thing s my leg length appears to have grown by 2" due to the fact that my 'waist' is now higher up my abdomen than it used to be! Or truthfully speaking I am now wearing trousers around my actual waist for the first time in ages.

In fact as other things have been on my mind other than my weight, I had no real expectation of what weight loss I might expect to achieve, except I wanted to tip the five stone barrier.

Anyway, guess my surprise when I found I had lost another 5 1/2 pounds last week (and I was weighed a day early!), so not only have I lost over 5 stone but substantially over and now I am only a couple of pounds over 13 stone. Fantastic!

I thought I would use this song, because I like it, and while the sentiment is nice (basically....I will love you whatever or however size/weight/grey you are) I think my reasons for changing my life are fundamentally about my health and not my weight (and certainly not my grey hairs, of which I have many!).


So, therefore, the song still works for me but may not apply precisely!


Title: 'Til you can't tuck it in
Artist: Beautiful South
Album: Painting it Red
Year: 2000

Your figure like your friendship
Gradually grows and grows
The clothes that you thought that you'd shrunk
Their size just froze

When the body that you thought of as yours
Just ups and goes
I'll be happy with the weight
Of the partner that I chose

Your quick-step is slower
But your spirit's still out on the floor
And you can still hack it
'Cause you know what your feet a free for
And I'll love my dear
'Til you can't tuck it in anymore, anymore

Your second grey hair came a month
After the first
It didn't make you better
But it didn't make you feel any worse

Your third grey hair appeared
With the fourth on your beard
Your fifth, sixth, seventh sprouted out
From your nose and your ears

And I'll love you my partner
'Til you can't hide the grey anymore
Your distinguished good looks
Am the ones young girls cannot ignore
And I'll love you my partner
'Til the grey hairs hairdressers floor, hairdressers floor

Your eighth and your ninth and your tenth
You just looked to the sky
Like the charge of the Light Brigade
Was passing you by

Your quick-step is slower
But your spirit's still out on the floor
When it comes to raw beauty
You've a whole whorehouse waiting in store
Your corset has grown
Bid you're still always first to the drawer
And I'll love you my partner (And I'll love you my partner)
'Til the grey hairs the hairdresser's floor
Hairdresser's floor, hairdresser's floor

Day 84 - The king of the rumbing spires

A good week for several reasons.

First I went to the doctor and he agreed (based on my blood pressure reducing over the last 2-3 months) that I should try a month without medication. Very positive and hopefully this will lead to a permanent situation.

Also, I have been taking tests for my sleep apnea and so far feel great, I await the results, but I definitely feel better.

Add that to the fact that I have lost a further 3.9 pounds and now I am a smidgen away from losing FIVE stone since I started! Wow!

No other reason for this song than I love it and reminds me of times gone by. Hers' to the little man Mr Bolan, I hope God's looking after you!

Title: The king of the rumbling sires

Artist: T.Rex

Album: Single release

Year: 1969

Light all the fires,

It's the King of the Rumbling Spires,

Light all the fires,

It's the King and he's coming home.

We're so windy fair

Priestess of my young soul

Mighty eagles pair

On the peace of your hair.

Light all the fires,

It's the King of the Rumbling Spires

Light all the fires,

It's the King and he's coming home.

Doi doi doi

Day 77 - Keeping the dream alive - Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

Week 11 and I am looking to review some significant health matters for me. Having suffered from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSP) for around 4 years, I have arranged for a re-test to see if my weight loss has affected my condition. So I have not been using my CPAP device since Monday and have to pick up my testing device this Friday and will get the result the following Monday. I am not sure how I feel right now as some of the symptoms are similar to those from being on the LL program. Well next week will tell.

Also, I am taking a visit to the doc next Tuesday to see if my hypertension has altered. I have been monitoring this for a while now and I think it is lower but can I consider stopping the tablets? Again next week will tell.

So all in all, the next week will be interesting.

However, this has not stopped me getting on with the plan. After weight in today, I have lost a further 4.9 lb taking my weight to under 14 stone for the first time in over 15 years! Yippppeee.

This is a lovely song from a Scandinavian band who sound on this track a lot like the Beatles. A song about optimism and positive thoughts. Great stuff and just what I need to take on board for the next week. Fingers crossed.

Song: Keeping the dream alive

Artist: Freiheit

Album: Fantasy

Year: 1988

Tonight the rain is falling

Full of memories of people and places

And while the past is calling

In my fantasy I remember their faces

The hopes we had were much too high

Way out of reach but we had to try

The game will never be over

Because we're keeping the dream alive

I hear myself recalling

Things you said to me

The night it all started

And still the rain is falling

Makes me feel the way I felt when we parted

The hopes we had were much too high

Way out of reach but we have to try

No need to hide no need to run

'Cause all the answers come one by one

The game will never be over

Because we're keeping the dream alive

Day 70 - I didn't know what love is

After a hell of a week, the weigh in. I don't feel as if anything has changed, but this is maybe in my mind rather then in reality. This was proven to be the case as I found at weigh in I had lost a further 4 lb, taking my total weight loss to over 60 lbs! Fantastic.

And so to a song very dear to my heart as I relate to it closely from a time when I was in the middle of a family crisis due to illness and I found out what was important in life. After a tough week both with the plan and with some issues at home, this song reminds me of exactly what is important. My family, love and all that. Simply beautiful......

Title: The Hurt

Artist: Cat Stevens

Album: Foreigner

Year: 1973

Young son, don't let me down, young son

I'm trusting you to keep on, never turn away now

Hold on, never let go, now hold on

Turn your heart to the bright sun

Love will come your way

Cos 'till you make that final show

You'll never know what love you've been missing

Missing

You say you want to seek the truth but you work alone

No one to help you and nobody to push you on

So you sit at home drinking your wine, television on

You wait for a miracle, cos you say one day one'll come along

But wishful thinking, boy, any minute now you might be gone

I'd like to help you brother but that would be wrong

Until I got hurt, I was looking, I was on my way

Until I got hurt, until I got hurt, darling I didn't know which way

Until I got hurt, 'till I got hurt, why didn't I

I didn't think of this until I got hurt

'Till I got hurt, baby, I didn't know what love is

Day 63 - just a Day in the Life

After a hard week I 'needed' a boost and therefore my weigh in this time was key for me. I have been away in Barcelona on a business trip (pictures in my other blog - link below) with some colleagues who enjoyed the food and drink in fine places. I joined in the company but abstained from the fun. This was really difficult in such a relaxed atmosphere.

The only light relief I was able to get (and no calories) was a visit to the local Casino attached to the hotel. In there I won €400 playing blackjack, so someone up there was looking after me and wanting me to have some fun!

So to the weigh in. Amazing, I have loss a further 6.2 pound in the week, making my total weight loss to over 4 stone. I am, of course, overjoyed.

A song about life and a great song too. No more, no less. Enjoy life, I am.

Title: A day in the Life
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Year: 1967

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords
I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Day 55 - 2 months - If that's what it takes

Except for 1 day, the end of month 2, week 8 but day 55. Finally over the last couple of weeks I have realised the ability to change is in my hands and what this means for me and my life is becoming very clear to me. This is not a diet, it NEVER has been. This is about a change in my life and the consequences are fundamental, important and worthwhile. I feel refreshed and renewed that I can and will achieve my goal.

These thoughts are spreading to all parts of my life, not just to my own physique. I am looking to make positive and life changing decisions that will benefit my wife, family and me.

This week's weight loss has been a modest 3.3lb, but this still very good. Firstly, this takes my total weight loss ver 50 pounds so far and puts my net weight to under 15 stone for the first time on over 15 years! Indeed a major milestone and a great boost to my confidence.

An apt piece of music from my favourite Beatle. A time of realisation has dawned on me and this sums it up well.


Song: If that what it takes
Artist : George Harrison
Album: Cloud nine
Year: 1987

And now it begins to shine
And you found the eyes to see
Each little drop at dawn of ev'ry day

Your smile, it comes back to me
And whatever you may say
Don't let it stop, never fade away

As we got to get out in this world together, oh
Doesn't really matter if we start to make some changes, oh

If that's what it takes (that's what it takes)
Then I've got to be strong (that's what it takes)
Don't want to be wrong
If that's what it takes