Squats, deadlifts and Thai food. Back to business.

This week's blog music is If The Music Ain't Loud by Tim Timebomb and Reef The Lost Cauze.  Music is the thing that's always brought me me most joy and the best times, so in the spirit of feeling on the up following last week's blog, here's a song about how great music is.  How very meta.

The view on a walk to work.  I love London.

Happy to report this week has gone really well, I feel like the depressive cloud has properly lifted and I've been back to feeling super motivated the way I felt a couple of months ago.  Last Friday after I posted the blog I went out to see The Wildhearts for about the millionth time, who were awesome, and bounced about and danced like a loon and all around had a great time and drank a few pints.  All the jumping around aggravated my old achilles injury of course so had to skip boxing on Saturday and beer is the worst thing for my diet...  worth it, totally worth it.  I did get back in the gym on Sunday to lift weights for the first time in ages though, it's a bit intimidating when you've not done something for a while so was happy to get close to my personal best for squats and deadlifts (130kgs each) and followed that up with an hour of yoga.  A few more sessions at 12 Rounds during the week including some sparring and things are really feeling on track. I'm getting excited about heading to the gym each day, planning my week out to get my sessions and rest days in and feeling dedicated and motivated to work hard while I'm there, I remember this feeling and it's fantastic and it's so easy to forget how much I love it when it feels like an effort to get out of the house.  Much like when I started this journey the hardest thing is getting going but once you do it's easy to get caught up in the momentum and eating a clean diet is easy when you want to make sure you're putting the right things in your body at the right times so it's working at it's best.

Laab moo.

The weather has helped too.  We're getting a glorious warm and sunny start to the autumn and it making me want to walk everywhere, just being more active generally is always good and I've been back in the habit of getting off the tube early to walk the last couple of stops and I can't recommend doing that enough.

My diet has been bang on this week, if a bit repetitive.  Cinnamon porridge with berries for breakfasts and home made thai flavoured turkey burgers for lunch every day (I didn't want these every day but the lovely Diana defrosted all my turkey mince.  It's OK though, they're tasty and super healthy) and evening meals have been just as healthy.  If you're worried about healthy food being boring then get into making curries and Thai food, you can take all the starchy carbs and sugar and processed rubbish out of your diet and still have exciting food if you're cooking with spices and fresh herbs which are so good for you. The best thing I've made though is laab moo, a Thai dish that my trainer/guru/spirit animal Kat introduced me too, it's minced pork with lots of spices and fresh herbs and it's the proverbial dog's bollocks, I'm going to be making this a lot.  Check out this recipe, I skipped the toasted rice (keep it low carb innit?!), used a load of fresh basil, coriander and mint and also added some deseeded tomatoes at the very end, so it's hardly authentic but seriously tasty and nutritious too.  I can also report that leftovers makes for a fantastic breakfast with a couple of runny eggs on top.

Thai turkey burgers.  These pics are a recipe, just add fish sauce.

Breakfasts continue to be awesome.

Thanks for reading.  Here's an owl and a pussycat who are total BFF.

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Getting punched in the face is better than being depressed.

This week's blog music is Order of the Dog by Ginger, probably my favourite ever songwriter kicking out a blinder about his long-term mental health issues.  This blog is supposed to be about me fighting the flab but it all starts in the head.

OK, so it's been ages.  In my last blog post I talked about struggling with a spot of depression and how I felt like I was on the right side of it and mostly feeling better by the end of the post.  Safe to say I spoke to soon and that shit just lingered and lingered.  My friend Femma from our 12 Rounds nutrition group sent me this cartoon the other day that actually does a good job of summing up what depression feels like, energy and motivation are the first things to go and that's hardly good for me writing a weekly blog about how I'm losing weight and getting healthy as you can imagine. Under the Black Dog, without energy or motivation I don't remember why I write a blog, I don't have the chutzpah in me to make the effort to do so and I don't even care why I've been trying to lose weight and get healthy in the first place.  In fact I'm totally convinced everything is a waste of time in the long run so logically why bother with any of it?   I always love spending time at the gym, being energised by all the positivity I find there and one day a couple of weeks ago I found myself in tears walking down there on a Saturday morning just because I'd been kicked off the bus a few stops early. Just totally unable to cope with any kind of stress, constantly full of anxiety and I wanting nothing more than to cocoon myself and just say fuck it all. So the diet goes to all hell, gym sessions become less frequent and half hearted, I feel like I've let myself and others down but don't feel capable of dealing with it, sleep is difficult  and best of all Dan starts boozing.   Awesome combination.  

Another cartoon that sums it up quite nicely.

So that fact that you're reading this is a good sign.  It took a while to realise I was sliding down and then it takes quite an effort to work up to getting healthy again, It's easy to forget that eating poorly, especially emotional eating/drinking, and not doing exercise makes my body and mind feel worse and worse and vice versa but as of last weekend the cloud was finally lifting proper, I'd been in the gym more, the diet was mostly getting back to business and then on Saturday I did my first bit of sparring in a while (I didn't want to, John from the gym just tapped me on the back at the end of the session and said "You're sparring") and it's amazing how getting punched in the face few times clears the cobwebs.  Although if you're reading this and suffering from depression I don't think clinically that would be recommended.

So by Monday morning I was back to feeling full steam ahead on this and I was feeling great about getting in the gym before work.  The diet's been 100% on point all week (made easier by my beloved Diana starting doing The Body Coach 90 day plan, so she's filling the fridge with green stuff and being super organised, well done honey!), I've been in the gym plenty and enjoying it again and looking forward to each session and doing yoga (yoga is the best, note to self - never ever stop doing the yoga). I've got more sparring sessions booked in for next week and feeling legitimately motivated again, even if just not to get hit in the face so many times.  Feeling like myself again.

7am Monday morning training with my guru/spirit animal Kat

Roasted peppers stuffed with chili.  Oh yeah, I remember that I
actually really enjoy healthy food.

Cinnamon porridge, chia seeds, raspberries and peanut butter.
It's like pudding for breakfast and it's AWESOME

Next week, less mental health and more clean eating and sweating my guts out.  Thanks for reading.  Here'a an amazing rabbit and a kitten and baby waking up together, cuteness approaching critical mass.


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It's better to be angry.

This week's blog music is Brought to the Water by Deafheaven.  Certainly not everyone's taste but I'm going to see them this week and they also sum up my mood lately.

So it's been a couple of weeks since the last blog and I was all full of passion and eager to get stuck back in with gusto, well things haven't exactly gone to plan.  The thumb injury I complained of a few blog back is still playing up (must go to a doctor) my gammy old achilles tendons the same which has made things a pain in the arse to exercise efficiently and then the old black cloud of depression settled in again, and while it wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be back in the day it did take me by surprise.  The healthier lifestyle and all the exercise have really done wonders for improving my mood this last 10 months but every now and then it just kicks in and couple of weeks ago it kicked in harder than it had for a some time.  No rhyme or reason for it as far as I could tell, life was great, just an overall feeling of worthlessness and a bleak empty hole where there's no point to anything where the enthusiasm used to be, fun eh!?

Luckily Diana and I had a short holiday booked and we headed to Amsterdam to see our joint favourite band Coheed & Cambria play and enjoy a few days sitting in the sun drinking Heineken by the canals.  Bliss!  Apart from the fact the it absolutely pissed down the entire time we were there, old Dan was more than a little disappointed.  Coheed were awesome though and regardless of the rain we still had fun.  A break is a break even if it's not ideal a few quality days with my girl, awesome pancakes and some very fine dutch weed and coffee and was good for the old brain box and I came home feeling much better even after not being in the gym for a whole 10 days.  10 days is an eternity, I'm usually in there 5 days a week.  My mental health is so often ties up with how clean I'm keeping my diet and how much I'm getting in the gym it was actually quite nice to focus on one without the other, even if I've probably got a bit fat as a result.

Me and Di and Coheed & Cambria.

Who were awesome.

So I'm back home and while still not 100% I'm getting there.  Things don't help, things like the heat and humidity leading to poor sleep, things like getting to the gym at 7am on a Monday morning in the rain only to remember too late that it's shut because the trainer's in Cyprus getting married (congratulations Daniel & Faye!), things like missing more workouts than I'd like due to other commitments and tube strikes and most most all things like going to FUCKING IKEA on a Sunday!  This was the first (and last) time I'd ever done this and Jesus Christ what are people thinking? What an absolute crush of humanity.  But the thing is, getting pissed off at crowds and long queues and screaming kids is a healthy response to those things, depressed Dan would have just been crushed by it, pissed off is good, it means I'm happier.  Next week we've got another few days away with friends in the countryside so that should help and I'll squeeze a few workouts in between then and now. The next blog should hopefully be back to feeling fit and healthy and eating a loads of healthy food and being super-motivated to improve my fitness again so I can write about that rather than all the reasons I've not been writing about that.  One step at a time, there's always bumps along the road and I'm glad that these days I can recognise them as only that.

Amsterdam in summer.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a grizzly bear rolling down a hill and the latest cutest thing ever, baby Tasmanian Devils

Amsterdam is great for the mind, not so much the waistline.

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How to lose 9lbs in 10 days.

This weeks blog music is 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts which is not only a wicked, upbeat slice of snarling guitar-pop it's also the walk-out music for UFC Bantanweight champion Ronda Rousey who fought again this past weekend, winning by knockout in 34 seconds flat.  I'm a huge MMA fan and Ronda is amazing, history in the making level stuff.

Healthy eating is awesome. Look at that feckin' steak!

The weekend before last we had the inaugural 12 Rounds Sports Day on Clapham Common.  We had a good turn out and games of rounders, egg & spoon race, sack race, picnic blankets, Pimms (quite a bit of Pimms actually) and then all off to the pub for more games and encroaching drunkenness, I don't really drink a lot these days and felt decidedly pissed after a day in the sun and a few pints. All very British, all very charming, very silly and a good day all around, even old Dan's crippling social anxiety seems to be firmly on the back foot these days, who'd have thought being healthier could do so much for your mental health eh? (Loads of people as it turns out).  But Sports Day was the bold line under my little break and getting back to business.

So I lost 9lbs in the 10 days since, impressive eh?  Wanna know my special secret?  Well the main part of it is to put on 9lbs in the previous 10 days, and if you then get your arse back in the gym and clean the diet right up it all just falls right back off, I think my metabolism actually reacted well to having to deal with ingesting a load of crap for a little while, keep it on it's toes y'know?  So I effectively maintained the same weight for in 20 days - probably not a dieting plan I could sell to the masses but a good lesson in why you shouldn't believe amazing headlines like the one above. It's true, but it's not all the way true.  Also as I've talked about before the scale hardly tells the whole story anyway, I've fit into clothes this week that have been hanging in my wardrobe for ages without me every being close to being able to fit into before, so my body's changing even what the scale isn't and that feels like much more of an accomplishment. There's no secrets, quick fixes or magic tricks to losing fat and getting healthier:

Eat lots of green stuff.

Don't eat things made in factories.

Move around more.

Do the above consistently and long-term.

That's a gross Dan shaped sweat puddle in the ring.  One of these days
I'm going to weigh myself before and after a hard session.

I've really the been enjoying the moving around more part as much as ever, I think the break did me good.  More sparring at 12 Rounds at the weekend and although I got pretty thoroughly battered I feel like I'm starting to understand what I need to do.  I'm pretty confident hitting the bags or pads or working movement drills in the gym and I can see the theory of what I need to do playing out in front of me, the next stage is just putting it together in the live situation - piece of cake I'm sure.  A bit like the diet really, it's one thing to know the theory, that you should avoid the pizza and eat the salad, it's something else to do that while being repeatedly punched in the face, head and ribs.  Yep - I'm pretty happy with that metaphor and am sure I have suffered no ill effects from sparring.

Myself, Hollie and Jo from our 12 Rounds Facebook nutrition/support group.
This photo was taken at 7.30am on a Monday and we are SMILING.  Exercise is like witchcraft.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a pomeranian doing the greatest sneeze in the history of dogdom and a baby elephant chasing birds.

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How to put on 9lbs in 10 days.

OK, I suck. This is supposed to be a weekly blog but I've slacked off the last few weeks, appropriately then the blog reading music this week it Back Where I Belong by Rancid.  Taking time off the blog usually means taking time off the gym and the diet too so I'm very glad to be back both here and there.

So since I last wrote I've finally got back to some sparring at 12 Rounds Boxing.  I did a little bit of sparring last year before I got hurt and miserable and basically quit so to get myself back up to the level of fitness and confidence to step in the ring for a few rounds felt like a pretty sizeable achievement.  I did manage to immediately jack my thumb up with a poorly executed left hook to the body but all in all great fun and I can't wait to get in there more and more.

Done a bo-bo.

Balance

Shortly after the smooshed up thumb came my birthday which was a perfect pair of excuses to take about a week off the gym, indulge at home, cinema visits, comedy shows, even a pro-wrestling show in Tooting and also go out to eat loads (Honest Burger, Five Guys, The Tooting Italian and Graveney and Meadow were all good but Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester was just that little bit more special - thanks Diana!).  It was about time for a rest anyway, trainers at the gym even sat me down as they were worried I was over doing it, I've got a history or injuries so I just love the fact that my trainers keep an eye out for me in that way. Although these days I feel like I'm getting better at managing my recovery after hard work outs letting me work much more than I used to. Stretching, yoga, diet, I even had an ice bath after a session the other week which was considerably more unpleasant than the work out.   But still, balance is a good thing and working hard most of the time is all well and good but one occasionally needs to put one's feet up, eat ice cream and watch loads of MMA which is what I've been doing.  Lovely.

I'm back!  LET'S BLEEDIN' 'AV IT!!!!

All well and good until I actually wanted to go back to the gym though.  Amazing how quickly the fitness falls away having a bit of break and eating crap - Jesus Christ, first day back I was seriously struggling but after a few sessions it feels like it's coming back, I also jumped on the scales to see I'd managed to pack on 9lbs in about 10 days which is pretty good going!  I'll be back up to full power again though, that weight'll come off, the fitness will come back and get even better and I'm going to be sparring more and changing up the training a bit in the weeks to come.   Stay tuned for in the coming weeks for updates on training changes, the progress photos that I forgot to do before my birthday that can now wait 'till I've shifted this ice cream weight, a report on the inaugural 12 Rounds sports day and an exciting announcement.

Having a break is great but I'm refocused, rededicated and back where I belong.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a cat being terrified by a cucumber.

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
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The Lying Milkshake

This week's blog reading music is Methamphetamine Blues by the Mark Lanegan Band.  A dirty, driving slab of grinding blues from one of the greatest vocalist of a generation.  Seriously, listen to Mark Lanegan.

I've been getting pissed off about the food industry again this week.  I've noticed a trend towards marketing products with a high protein content as health foods as if just mixing a scoop of powdered whey into anything makes it better for you.  Protein bars which are about as good for you as a Mars bar, protein infused ice cream which is just ice cream.  I mean look at this bloody thing, it's a Snickers high protein milkshake with a 'Sports Cap', y'know, because it's healthy and provides 22g of protein.  IT'S A FUCKING MILKSHAKE.  Some of the ingredients of this healthy drink - Rapeseed Oil, Xanthan Gum (derived from corn syrup, the worst thing in the world for you short of cigarettes), Salt (because you need extra salt in milk), cane molasses (sugar), sucralose (sugar) as well as artificial sweeteners and flavours.   Another one, my friend Femma who started the 12 Week Transformation course with me last year was handed this outside a train station this week (it was a promotion not just a milk pusher....  I hope), milk with added protein sounds healthy right?  Here's what's added - Sunflower oil, corn oil, Beta glucan (what?), Trisodiumcitrate (what?), Carrageenan (what?), Dextrose (sugar), Salt, Sucralose (sugar) and artificial sweeteners and flavours again of course.

I wanted a proper shake so I made one in a blender.
  Cottage cheese (yes, really) lots of berries and a spoon of peanut butter.  Delicious AND healthy. 

It's no wonder that people struggle to lose weight when they walk into a shop and see products like this marketed as a healthier option, much like the low fat versions of packaged foods that tend to be packed with sugar and salt, they're no healthier for you than the full fat version.  People with the best of intentions who are trying to be mindful of their waistline will pick up baked crisps, or low fat breakfast biscuits or yogurts or 'healthy' bread options and then be surprised when nothing changes for them, unaware that the whole time their body is dealing with a massive dose of sugar most of which will be stored as fat.  My advice, always read the ingredient list, you'd be amazed the amount of products that have added sugar in one of it's many guises, salt, or fats.  Better than that even is just to buy real foods as much as possible, if something's been made in a factory it's probably not ideal for helping you get into shape.

Need extra protein? Just eat real food that's
high in it. Like me eating LOADS of eggs.

This kind of stuff has been on my mind a lot this week so I watched a documentary on Netflix that I'd recommend that deals with sugar in foods and childhood obesity called Fed Up - trailer - It's American-centric but a lot of what's covered applies to the UK too, especially the ways in which foods are marketed to the public.  Marketing sucks, remember if someone's trying to sell you something they have their profits higher on their list of priorities than your well being.  Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, learn to cook, exercise, you'll feel lots better than drinking a milkshake that's lying to you while you do so.

Oh look, real food.  This lovely summer stew took about
10 minutes to make.

Thanks for reading, here's a great big dog who's scared of kittens and a pitbull who's definitely not thinking about eating all these baby chickens.

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The Sad Step

This week's blog reading music is Testify by Rage Against the Machine.  This was on in the gym this week and is a perfect heavy bag hitter.

I've had a couple of moments this week that remind me that this whole process is still going well and that's important because I took the weekend off and was very lazy, technically I was being sensible and needed a rest because I was worn out from the gym but I enjoyed being lazy.  So I had this random picture taken of me in the office, totally normal boring photo right?  Well for me to see this photo was pretty cool, being someone who has been overweight their whole life I always hated seeing myself in photos, I knew I didn't look great but seeing myself was always even worse that the mental image I had.  So as a result this was a pleasant surprise, not posed or angled or sucking in the gut or any effort made for appearances but a reasonably healthy looking person in their natural habitat.  Almost didn't recognise me.

 Things like this are important, my guru/spirit animal Kat from 12 Rounds has taken a few ladies from the gym to Thailand on a fitness retreat (yes, I'm jealous) and posted an update the other day about body weight and how getting on the scale is not necessarily the best way to measure our relative success or failure and it's really not, I do use the scale as a general state of where I'm at but there's so many things that can effect it a few lbs either way it's really not something to get hung up on, the amount of sweat that's poured out of me in the gym recently would see my weight bouncing all over the place if I weighed myself before or after working out. Seriously, it's gross.  Stepping on the sad step every morning and not seeing a change in your weight can be depressing, seeing a photo of yourself looking kinda the way you'd like to look or fitting into clothes that were too small is  much more motivating.

4 days off from the gym and my first session back was an
hour spent with these bastards.   Urgh.  Felt great, afterwards

Yeah, BEEFCAKE!

Another non scale related success this week - I sat down to give blood on Monday (you do give blood if you're able, right? Click here if not.) and had the big velcro strap around my upper arm to take blood pressure, "Just make a tight fist for me Daniel" as they always ask and RIIIIIIP!!!  Open comes the velco Incredible Hulk style! WOO HOO!  Now, I'm not actually getting big beefy arms and I don't lift big beefy arm type weights but this definitely never happened before. Purely something only I would notice but a cool thing.  Also a pair of shorts that last year I couldn't fit past my thighs this week fit with space to spare, super satisfying! So these things all made me happy even if the scale's been pretty immobile the last week.  Actually I've probably put on a couple of lbs after my lazy weekend (there was pizza, twice) but screw it, I'm happy, motivated and looking forward to noticing all the small changes I'm making happen, only one of which will be a number on the scale.

Got into making frittata this week. Simple to make in advance
and keeps well for lunchess

Thanks for reading.  Here's a puppy enjoying a massage.

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
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Check out the 12 Rounds Boxing website here
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Twitter @12_roundsboxing