Q&A

As promised tonight I will post the most frequent questions that I've been asked along with my answers. If you have any questions for me please feel free to ask or if you'd prefer to email me a question rather than have it on public display please feel free to do so: juptin@live.co.uk

Q: Why did you decide to lose weight?

A: I was on the verge of reaching 40 years old and I had spent most of my 30s in a very unhealthy state, I felt that the beginning of a new decade should be a beginning of a new life style, I'd had my indulgent decade and it was time to get healthy before my increasing age started to give me even more health problems than I already had.

Q: How did you manage to lose so much weight in a fairly short amount of time?

A: It was all about wanting to do it, really wanting to do it, because if you don't go into something like losing weight wanting to change yourself then you are destined to fail. I spent time before I started my new life style effectively reprogramming my mind to stop eating junk food, for instance I thought to myself over and over again "sugar is poison".

Q: How did you lose the weight? Did you go to the gym?

A: I'm allergic to exercise! What I've achieved has been down to a calorie controlled diet and the only real exercise I done is walked more than I used to. When I first started out in January 2014 I didn't really have a "way" of dieting, I just cut everything that was bad for me out, then later in January I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app onto my iPhone and something just clicked, it was the tool for me, it appealed to the way my listing mind works because of all of the statistics that it generates.

Q: Are you eating special food?

A: This one is a sort of yes / no answer as I've been eating from mainly the Sainsbury's and Tesco healthy food ranges, but I've also been eating "normal" food but I've been really concious of the calorie content of what I eat.

Q: Are you hungry, it must be difficult not eating properly?

A: I can honestly say that I've not been hungry as I changed my life style rather than going on a diet, so I've been having three meals a day with snacks but I've been focusing on what I eat. To start off with having smaller portions was a problem as I used to eat in large quantities, but once you start controlling your portions correctly your stomach capacity shrinks down and it takes less food to fill full, it was just a bit of a struggle to start off with.

Q: What about beer, do you drink alcohol?

A: I've been teetotal for 14 years, this is through choice not because I had alcohol problems or for religious reasons just because from my mid teens I had been immersed in a culture of over drinking due to my rugby playing and my heady boozy weekends. I came to realise that I had done enough drinking to last me a life time, I'd had a lot of fun and now was the time to cut it out before I did actually start to have alcohol related problems, be it addiction or health issues. I feel that not drinking has given me an advantage in my transformation from a 23 stone 4 pound person to a 14 stone 7 pound person and if you really want to lose weight I feel that trying to cut out alcohol is a good place to start.

Q: Do you eat chocolate, cakes or sweets?

A: I have a very (very) sweet tooth and I knew straight away that I was just going to have to just cut it out of my life! The only time I have sweet food now is when I go out for a meal with my partner and we share a dessert. I literally cannot have sweet food in the house as I just can't trust myself at the moment!

Q: So how do you cope with no sweets or chocolate etc.?

A: I've replaced sweet food with a controlled amount of fruit, usually 100g of grapes or cherries and 100g of natural low fat yoghurt and I try not to have more that two portions of fruit a day as it still contains naturally occurring sugar. Also Hartley's no added sugar jelly pots are fantastic to cure the cravings and are less than 10 calories a pot.

Q: How do you feel, you must feel great?!

A: I do feel great!! I have more energy, feel more confident and the best thing is that I can have whatever clothes I like now, also having people comment about how great I look feels great too!

Q: You look like a different person, has anyone said that to you before?

A: Yes they have, I've had friends and family not recognise me and my neighbours who I talk to regularly not recognise me. Sometimes I look in the mirror or see a photograph of myself and I can't believe the difference myself.

Q: Have there been any drawbacks?

A: I wouldn't really call it a drawback but it's been slightly annoying having to replace my clothes so regularly, I've been through six generations of new clothes since January 2014 and it can get a bit expensive! One time I had worn a pair of jeans twice and they were so big that I had to replace them and drop them off to a charity shop, but on the other hand this is a really big morale booster too!

Q: I've been trying to loose weight myself without much luck, do you have any tips?

A: Personally I'd say look at what you are eating, identify what is causing you the problem, for example too much bread or a lot of cake and chocolate or too much beer and just cut it out completely. For myself abstinence has worked the best, it is hard but you see results quickly and you regain control of yourself.

Q: Are you ill?

A: No not at all!! In fact I'm healthier than I've been in a long time as my type 2 diabetes is going into remission.

Business Trip

I have to travel around a bit for my work and this always throws up the problem of evening meals and breakfast, it really stresses me out that I have to try to keep to my calorie goal while eating from a menu that is usually not aimed at dieters. 

The hotel I'm staying in this evening has a Beefeater next door (I can feel the anxiety rising!) and I had to undertake a considerable amount of research to find out what I could have, fortunately I had a two hour train trip to do this. 

Luckily the first thing I discovered is that Premier Inn has a data sheet online for all of the menu options for breakfast and shortly afterwards I found that the Beefeater website has an interactive menu that has a full breakdown of nutritional information for everything on it. Result! 

Using my new found knowledge I cobbled together the following dinner:

6oz Flat Iron Steak: 377 calories. 

I changed the fries with the steak for an extra salad: 39 calories. 

Chargrilled Flat Mushrooms: 145 calories. 

This is a total of 561 calories, which isn't much different from my home cooked dinners.

For dessert I bought from Sainsbury's

80g Pack Of Apple Slices: 44 calories. 

Total 0% Fat Free Greek Yoghurt 170g: 97 calories. 

So that's a grand total of 701 calories. To put that into perspective my home made dinner yesterday was a grand total of 703 calories, so I class this a small victory!

Breakfast however is a whole different ball game as I feel £8 for toast and coffee is a bit steep, so my hotel breakfast will be:

One slice of brown toast: 94 calories. 

One poached egg: 73 calories. 

Baked Beans (100g): 91 calories. 

Grilled Tomato: 10 calories. 

One Quorn Sausage: 95 calories. 

So the grand total is: 363 calories. Admittedly my usual breakfast is only 136 calories, but it doesn't cost £8!

Before & After Photos

Me in April 2012 and me on Saturday 5th July 2014. 

Me in May 2014 and me in May 2013.

Me in March 2013, me in May 2014 and me in July 2014. 

The full set. 

Ice Cream & Lollies

As the temperature has been rising of late I thought that a post on healthier ice cream and ice lollies may be useful. As with most of these "treat" type of foods they are only healthier if you moderate your intake of them, so strict portion control is a must.

The following are the best options I have found whilst out shopping, but I must admit that I very very rarely have them as I worry about triggering myself off on sweet food again

You should note that by their very nature ice cream products will be high in fat and lollies will be high in sugar, so I've also noted this in my list below:

• Tesco Goodness Rocket Lollies - 39 calories / 8.5g of sugar per lolly.

• Tesco Goodness Milk Flavoured Lollies - 41 calories / 6g of sugar per lolly.

• Tesco Healthy Living Caramel Iced Dessert Sundaes - 111 calories / 8.5g of sugar per sundae.

• Tesco Healthy Living Mint Iced Dessert Sundaes -  107 calories / 6g of sugar per sundae.

• Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Vanilla Ice Cream - 82 calories / 11g of sugar per eight of a tub.

• My Carte D'Or Caramel - 110 calories / 15g of sugar per half a tub.

• My Carte D'Or Cherry - 100 calories / 14g of sugar per half a tub.

• My Carte D'Or Chocolate - 110 calories / 12g of sugar per half a tub.

• Wall's Twister Ice Cream Mini Lolly - 44 calories / 7g of sugar per lolly.

• Sainsbury's Rainbow Ice Lollies - 37 calories / 8g of sugar per lolly.

• Wall's Mini Milk Strawberry & Chocolate Ice Cream Lollies - 30 calories / 4.5g of sugar per lolly.

Another option is frozen yoghurt and the best options I've found are 170ml tubs from Yoo Moo, they are however higher in calories than the above products, but conversely they are lower in fat. 

I urge caution when considering getting any of these products as they will be sitting in the freezer, you'll know that they are there and the temptation will be ever present; in my case when I know that these products are in the house it's almost like they are calling out to me for attention until I give up and eat them. The best option, in my opinion, is to consider making your own home made ice lollies using no added sugar  fruit squash.

The Healthier Cooked Breakfast

One of the joys of a Sunday morning for me was having a cooked breakfast and I thought that those days would be over when I started my new healthy living, but no, I discovered that there is still a way to enjoy this treat without going to over the top with the calories. Admittedly the more I got into the habit of losing weight and wanting to get to my target the more I decreased my intake of cooked breakfasts on a Sunday but it really was a help when I started off so I thought I'd share this with you.

A majority of the products used are from Sainsbury's so for ease I will link to all of the ingredients at Sainsbury's.

Oil: Frylight Sunflower Oil Spray- 1 calories per spray.

Bread: Warburtons White Bread, Medium Sliced 400g - 58 calories per slice.

Bacon: Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Smoked Bacon Medallions (also available unsmoked) - 33 calories per rasher.

Sausages: Be Good To Yourself Pork Sausages - 81 calories per sausage.

Baked Beans: Heinz Reduced Sugar & Salt Baked Beans Snap Pots - 147 calories per pot.

Eggs:  Free Range Woodland Large Eggs - 85 calories per egg.

Now this may not seem like a "full" a breakfast as you're used to but losing weight is all about portion control and giving and taking a bit in order to achieve your goals. One tip I have is think of how many of each item you'd like to have and reduce it by one, so for example I'd normally have three slices of toast, so I'd actually have two and so on. The more you get into the healthy way of living the more you'll find yourself able to cut this down even further, but it's a good starting point.

My healthier breakfast is:

• Two slices of toast: 116 calories.
• Two rashers of bacon: 66 calories.
• Three sprays of oil in a medium to small frying pan for the bacon: 3 calories.
• Two sausages, baked: 162 calories.
• One egg poached: 85 calories.
• One spray of oil in the egg poaching pod: 1 calories
• One baked bean snap pot: 147 calories.

This is a grand total of 580 calories

As I noted in an earlier post because I have beans I don't use margarine on the toast as you don't notice it's missing.

Now for comparison is an average cooked breakfast that I used to have using standard ingredients and the larger portions before I decided it was time to lose weight:

• Three slices of toast: 288 calories.
• Four rashers of bacon: 276 calories.
• Three sprays of oil for the bacon: 3 calories.
• Three Sausages, baked: 414 calories.
• Two fried eggs: 170 calories.
• Three sprays of oil for the eggs: 3 calories.
• One tin of baked beans: 328 calories.

This is a grand total of 1482 calories

Now when you consider that today all of my three meals and snacks totalled 1060 calories you may begin to understand where my weight problem stemmed from!

Dr. Oetker Pizza

Pizza is a perennial food favourite, even if it is just flash cheese on toast, but if you're not careful you can end up with a daily calorie limit busting plate full.

One thing to watch out for is that some brands of pizza will give you the calorie count for half a pizza, while others will give you the count for a quarter of a pizza, the latter is usually when it's got a high calorie count so that it doesn't look as disastrous on the box; so make sure you read the box carefully when making your selection.

My own personal favourite "home" pizza is the Dr Oetker Ristorante range of frozen pizzas as they have a fairly reasonable calorie count per half a pizza, I think this is mostly down to the thin base. Make sure you read the cooking instructions as this brand advises you to cook them on the lowest shelf of the oven and this really does make a difference to how the finished article turns out:

• Mozzarella: 437 calories per half a pizza.
• Pepperoni-Salame: 434 calories per half a pizza.
• Speciale: 420 calories per half a pizza.
• Funghi: 432 calories per half a pizza.
• Hawaii: 382 calories per half a pizza.
• Pollo: 378 calories per half a pizza.
• Limited Edition Spinaci: 430 calories per half a pizza.
• Quattro Formaggi: 458 calories per half a pizza.
• Margherita: 407 calories per half a pizza.

The one issue you may have is actually getting the pizza in half as if you cook the whole thing then the temptation is going to be to eat the whole thing or have pizza for lunch or dinner again the following day which isn't really a good plan if you're trying to eat a balanced diet. Snapping the frozen pizza in half is one, fairly vague way of doing it, sawing it in half with a bread knife is the better option, but the hands down winner is option three: get yourself a pizza buddy and cook the whole thing then cut it in half and have half each with a salad, doing this lets you have a treat without really cheating yourself as you don't have to take any special measures i.e. not eating properly for the rest of the day. Aim for your side salad to be between 62 and 80 calories and you're going to be OK, just don't be tempted to do it more than once a week! 

Medical Update

As I've been suffering from giddy spells where my vision seems to white out and I feel like I'm going to fall over I thought that a trip to see the diabetes nurse was in order as I had visions of my blood pressure being too low or other such horrors.

Luckily as it turns out it would appear that this has been caused by low blood sugar that stems from my weight loss impacting on my type 2 diabetes as when she took a blood sample it's glucose level was only 3.5 mmol/L  when it should be 4 to 7 mmol/L before meals or under 8.5 mmol/L two hours after a meal.

So the outcome of this was that once again my medication was reduced and I was also supplied with a new blood monitor. So now I have to regularly check my blood glucose level before a meal, after a meal and when I have one of the giddy spells. Also my cholesterol is low, which again is good news as it indicates that I may no longer need to be taking statin tablets; oh my blood pressure incidentally was OK.

The main thing is I now know exactly what is causing the issue and I can modify my eating to try and combat it, I'm going to transfer one of my evening snacks, most likely the low calories crisps, to the afternoon and hopefully when I have my next proper blood test later in the month everything will indicate that I'm in remission from type 2 diabetes and I'll be able to come off of medication altogether, having to stab myself with a self propelled needle a few times a day is a price I'm prepared to pay if this is the outcome.

Also the nurse took the details of the MyFitnessPal app off of me after I gave her a quick demo as she wants to loose a few extra pounds herself, she said that this will be her homework for tonight.

Diet Coke Update

It's my pleasure to announce that I'm now totally free of the near iron grip of Diet Coke, all of the cravings have gone and it's become like chocolate and jelly beans: consigned to the past, I don't even find myself thinking about it any more. Getting rid of Diet Coke from my life was one of the hardest things I've done; I have found that giving up junk food and diet soda was far more difficult that when I gave up smoking in my twenties, the good thing is that I'm sleeping much better and I'm really enjoying my single morning and afternoon black coffees and the caffeine hit from them is amazing!