Toms View of the World

It’s a Meme! Yes, I’ve been tagged for a meme by Chris over at “Work up this Morning”.. it’s been a while since I’ve been tagged for one of these, so I thought I’d give it a go anyway!

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Well, over the weekend, I took the plunge and signed-up for a membership at the local council run fitness centres.

This is not my first gym membership by a long way, but at the moment it’s a very good deal - £28 per month gets me access to use any of the Cardiff Council Leisure centers, including the Gym and Pool at every site, but also other facilities too - now so far, I’ve only tried the 2 facilities nearest to home and work, but I already have a preference - and for the money, the gyms are fairly well equipped - some of the equipment isn’t the newest, but it seems well maintained.

Now all I have to do to get my money’s worth is get down there 2 or 3 times every week. Motivation is gonna be the hard part.

According to rumours, Alton Towers have introduced a weight limit on Spinball Whizzer (and Chessington are expected to follow suit with Dragon’s Fury) which means I now have a target - I want to be half-a-stone below the limits set by the parks for these rides.

So the graph on the left needs to get down to 238 (17 stone) from it’s current 280 (ish) - this means I need to lose around 42lbs. This will not be easy… but it’s something I keep telling myself I need to do something about.

With my ongoing frustrations at making no progress with the WeightWatchers diet plans this time round (I did lose around 3 stone last time I used the scheme, but put it all back on again - so I’m not saying it won’t work for you) I am now giving a new weight-loss system a try - in this case Paul McKenna’s I Can Make You Thin (Book and CD) and the accompanying I Can Make You Thin 90-Day Success Journal.

This is far less about what I’m allowed to eat, and counting calories, or scoring food up to a daily limit - it basically follows a series of “rules” about eating - which hopefully I’m ready to start following.

The biggest difference in what I’ve read and seen so far is that this helps you deal with the “comfort/depression/boredom” type of eating, where you are eating out of habit, or for the comfort “emotion” that food gives through having low self-esteem, rather than because your body actually needs the fuel.

We’ll see… (yes, I’m a sceptic, but I’m giving it a try)  I think the hardest part is going to be dealing with other people as my eating patterns should change, and “eat what you want when you want” could be a problem at work - but I’ll give it a try.

Well, today was the day for Chancellor Gordon Brown to make clear the governments budget for the this year, would it be a “family friendly” budget, with more benefits and breaks for couples and parents, or would, for once, the government recognise the very different needs of the single person, already hit hard in recent years by increasing petrol, gas, council tax, national insurance etc.

In the early stages, it looks good (more…)

Halfway to a Beatles classic.

So the tradition of giving something up for lent (traditionally the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter) is upon us again.

Me, I’m going to try and quit chocolate (in the form of bars, biscuits, cookies, and other sweets) - hopefully this’ll also help the diet!

What if anything are you lot giving up?