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.

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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.

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Get fit in the gym, lose weight in the kitchen.

This week's blog reading music is Swimwear by Hey! Hello! who I went to see play last week, perfect summery goodtime pop goodness.  Play it, it'll improve your day.

Just fuck off.  Right off.

I'm using Instagram a lot, there's a big community of people on there using it for support and motivation, posting pictures of healthy food and weightloss progress and whatnot and it's always good to have like minded people to encourage you, even if they're just on social media.  So of course alongside some great before and after photo of someone who lost 100lbs or a delicious looking grapefruit (this happened, I've been really into grapefruit all week because of an instagram picture) you get a decent amount of horrendous bullshit motivational memes like this awful one right here.   Urgh.   But I saw one that actually was just good advice that said "Get fit in the gym, lose weight in the kitchen" and that's so true.  I remember years ago thinking that if I go to the gym regularly that would make up for me basically eating whatever I liked.  One counteracts the other, right?  Wrong, really wrong. Obviously what I'm looking for is to be generally healthy all over but diet and exercise don't have the same effect on the body and it's taken a while to realise.  You can get get fitter and stronger with improved recovery times and better stamina by just hammering away at the gym but you'll never get rid of your love handles that way, that's got to be taken care of in the kitchen.

Badass.

So I've been in the gym lots and enjoying it more than ever, and doing yoga and even taking it outdoors to work out on Clapham Common in the sunshine, but I've been thinking a lot about eating really clean this last couple of weeks and the weight's coming off more quickly than it has in a while.  I've always loved food and if losing weight meant I had to go hungry this whole this would have never got off the ground for me but I think there's a perception that if food id good for you then it either is going to be boring or taste bad, now pizza is great and all but I find that the healthier I eat the more I enjoy healthy food.  But healthy food doesn't mean a plate of leaves and a boiled chicken breast, it's all about balance, I've really enjoyed cooking new things this week and it's all been good.  We got a BBQ going at the weekend with veggie kebabs with a honey mustard glaze and GIANT prawns that was wicked. My steak cooking skills are getting pretty good so we had a huge rib-eye on Friday with salad and a stack of garlic mushrooms cooked in butter (yes, you can have butter and still be healthy).  I made a spiced spinach and kale soup from chicken bone broth with crispy bacon on top which was just packed with good nutrition and was delicious and I've been making baked egg muffins, frittata from egg whites with feta and brocolli, salmon and squid curry....  basically just been packing in loads of protein and veg and the old bread and pasta and sugar cravings that haunt me have gone away.  I've noticed a change in my attitude towards food and it might be just because I'm feeling really motivated about the entire health thing but I find myself thinking more about what my body needs rather than what it is I want.  I'm heading home after a workout and I don't WANT cookies, I NEED some carbs, I like this change in me because it doesn;t feel like there's any effort or willpower involved in eating healthy, I'm just naturally making healthy choices.

I achieved one of fitness the goals I set for myself this week in that I finally did a full pull-up, I've been able to to one where I jump up and get my chin over the bar for a while but now I've been able to do a couple from a proper, straight-arm hang from the bar and pull myself all the way up.  A big deal for me as when I started this journey last year I couldn't even support myself hanging from the bar for 30 seconds.  Next goal - a full set of 10, pulls ups are really hard.
.

The 12 Rounds Boxing crew after working out on Clapham Common.
I'm in the middle at the back, my guru/spirit animal Kat is front and centre.

We got a BBQ going this week, those prawn were HUGE and delicious.

Thanks for reading.  In case you didn't see it here's the coolest rockstar moment ever and a kitten who doesn't realise he's being watched

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For great protein powders and other associated health stuff visit Bulk Powders and use code DB4MY2 for a £5 discount on your first order over £15.

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Real food and the diet of the future.

This weeks blog reading music is Capable of Anything by Ben Folds where Ben has taking his joyful pop sensibilities and has recorded an album with a classical chamber ensemble. I'm listening to loads of death metal at the moment but I loved this track, very appropriate now the sun's shining too.

The future's idea of a fry-up.  What do they know?!

So I started a new diet this week, it's a diet system imported from the 31st century where you can eat whatever you like and the company supplies you with all your food in easy to consume capsules taking away all the fuss of you needing to cook, clean or even digest.  Let me make this clear, the future is going to be rubbish, look at the photo for God's sake! Does that look like double bacon, eggs, mushrooms and a fried slice to you  Bah!  What a load of balderdash.

I'm talking bollocks of course, I just take a handful of supplements every day, but I get wound up at the concept of a 'diet'.  These short term unsustainable plans that promise an amazing transformation but only succeed in emptying people's wallets. As someone who's been overweight and unfit their whole life and is finally making real changes it's clear to me that the only way to really get rid of the fat and get healthy it to eat real food, healthy food, consistently and permanently.  There's no 6 week plan or magic pill to take after which your life will be different, you need to actually change the way you approach your life.

On my colleagues desk at work, don't fall for marketing. 

I've been thinking about real food a lot this week.  I've taken to using Instagram a lot as there's a big community of people on there who use it for health/fitness/weightloss inspiration and it's always good to surround yourself with people with common goals but I see a few people on calorie controlled diets feeling very proud of their limited Hula-Hoop intake or only eating 2 slices of white bread and this really isn't real food.  Obviously if they were previously eating 5 bags of Hula Hoops or a large pizza instead of the bread it's an improvement but it's still not ideal.  One of the biggest lessons on this whole journey for me had been the cutting out of precessed foods, anything with more that a couple of ingredients on the label is generally a no-no and even things that market themselves as healthy quite often are not all they're cracked up to be.  Look at Shreddies for example which Nestle (who are utterly evil anyway) market as a healthy breakfast and proudly proclaim"Whole Grain!  High Fibre! Fortified with vitamins!", what they don't point out is that 6% of a Shreddie is made out of 2 different types of sugar and sugar is the worst thing for anyone trying to lose bodyfat.  If you're watching your diet and you must buy processed foods always look at the ingredients as sugar gets packed into everything, especially 'low fat' versions of food.

I've been cooking new things this week.  These egg muffins are great, protein helps keep me feeling full and I got bored of eating boiled eggs.  Just whisk up a load of eggs and whites with veggies and seasoning and bake in a muffin tray, they'll stay good in the fridge for snacks all week.  Real food!

After slipping on the diet a few weeks back I'm currently feeling really motivated and I realised today that I've flipped my approach.  I used to be unhealthy all the time and occasionally make an effort to go 'on a diet' which would generally last a couple of weeks before I'd quit and was back to old habits, but these days it's more a case of healthy living is the daily norm and every now and then I'll go off the deep end for a couple of weeks, eat crap and get drunk.  I can embrace the unhealthy times and enjoy them because at this point I know it's the exception to the rule.  I'm back, I've already lost the extra pounds I put on at the festival I went to and more besides, I've also finally been able to do a proper, full pull up (sometimes several) without jumping for the momentum so have achieved a goal I set for myself last year and that feels good too.  Next goal a set of ten.

Slow cooked a beef short rib this week for the first time.
That's some real fuckin' food.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a dog who sure is pleased to you meet you.

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
Befriend me on My Fitness Pal to share your fitness journey and keep tabs on mine.
Or follow me on twitter for geekdom and more cute animals.

For great protein powders and other associated health stuff visit Bulk Powders and use code DB4MY2 for a £5 discount on your first order over £15.

Check out the 12 Rounds Boxing website here
12 Rounds Facebook page
Twitter @12_roundsboxing

The awkward, creeping horror.... Is OK actually.

After last week's horrible bleedin' racket this week's blog reading music is Bliss by Tori Amos.  I've been a fan of Tori's for donkey's years and think it's a shame that a lot of people only remember her for one huge hit single in the 90s.

Temples was awesome  \m/

After the weekend I just had at Temples Festival in Bristol I need something a bit gentle too. Temples is an extreme metal festival and a great weekend was had but aside from getting up and doing yoga and pushups before the drinking began Jesus did I fall off the wagon with the boozing and being a music festival food choices were exclusively brown.  As a matter of fact falling off the wagon seems to be a bit of a theme in recent weeks but each time with a different attitude, and it's the attitude that really effects how I'm going to deal with this going forward.  The first week was that I was being lazy, just slacking on the whole health and fitness thing and slipping back into old habits, by far the worst by far, the week after that I had a concious decision to have a day off over the weekend and this last week I've just had a load of socialising to do and although it was hardly the most clean living week I had a great time doing it and actually found a benefit in other ways.

12 Rounds representing at the Clapham Grand.

So last week, yoga, one strength & conditioning session and that was it, evenings and the weekend were fully booked and I just let myself off the chain a bit.  Wednesday was a Nintendo based quiz night in Stoke Newington (beers), Thursday was a boxing event at the Clapham Grand where we had 7 fighters from 12 Rounds on the card who went 6 wins, 0 loss & 1 draw on the night, (celebratory beers) and then Friday to Monday was Temples (ungodly amount of beers).  Huge respect to Kate, Rachael, Daniel, Ludo, Will, Tom, Joel who got in the ring representing 12 Rounds and to Kat, John & Kirk for working the corner. Great performances all around and I'm so inspired to get in there myself, watch this space!  That's hopefully the future but as working out and diet goes it's pretty much a write off for me this last week, but I've had the chance to work on something else instead.

If you've been reading for a while you'll know that I suffer from social anxiety. I can get really uncomfortable in social situations, especially when I don't have someone or something to latch onto and this has been known to work itself into full-on panic-attack mode in the past, give me a night out with one or two close friends and I'm happy but too much beyond that comfort zone and I'm a state, or at least that's always been the case.  The night out for the fights was the kind of night I used to absolutely dread - loads of people, most of whom I only knew in passing milling about and making small talk but I had a great night.  It helps that pretty much everyone who trains at 12 Rounds is a sweetheart but in the time since I started this blog and started getting my arse into shape I've got so much better at this kind of thing, it shouldn't be surprising to someone looking in from the outside but I've been amazed at how much getting myself healthier has effected how much more confident I am and how much more positively I interact with the world around me.  As for Temples, that was a whole other level, I don't have a lot of friends who are into the same kind of music as me and was invited along on Facebook by someone I've kinda known for years but who's never been a mate, he invited me months back along with 6 other guys all to stay in an apartment together, I agreed but was frankly terrified by the prospect....   3 days with 6 strangers and one person I kinda knew?  Absolute horror.  But at the time it was booked I knew this whole social problem was something I was trying to work on and and I knew if it was a trip I committed to it would be something I had to work on even more, nothing like terror for motivation eh?  Turns out I spent the weekend with a nice bunch of chaps and the occasional moment aside the old creeping terror hardly raised it's ugly head at all and the only social weirdness I took part in was being an absolute drunken buffoon...  y'know, like a normal person.

So I'm home, feeling happy with the fact that I seem to be doing better at being a person, I'm seriously craving some vegetables, I'm sworn off the booze for the time being, my diary is full of almost nothing but booked gym sessions and yoga and I'm feeling like I'm going to do better than ever this summer.

Just as soon as this hangover wears off.

Oh, I missed you.  I won't go away again for a long time.

Thanks for reading.  Here's some baby goats wearing jumpers and a shark who loves a belly rub.

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
Befriend me on My Fitness Pal to share your fitness journey and keep tabs on mine.
Or follow me on twitter for geekdom and more cute animals.

For great protein powders and other associated health stuff visit Bulk Powders and use code DB4MY2 for a £5 discount on your first order over £15.

Check out the 12 Rounds Boxing website here
12 Rounds Facebook page
Twitter @12_roundsboxing

Of grindcore and wall smashing.

This week's blog listening music is Built to Grind by Agoraphobic Nosebleed.  Hey, it might be utterly horrible sounding and probably even a bit painful for most of you to hear but at least it is only 22 seconds long.   This coming weekend I'm going to Temples Festival in Bristol which is all extreme metal bands and there's a rumour that Agoraphobic Nosebleed might play an unannounced show, this is very exciting for old Dan as they've only ever played one gig despite being a band I've been into for 15 years or so.

Right, so after last week's realisation that things had started to go badly and I wasn't dealing with it properly this week was much more back to business as usual. OK, so there was a drunken night over the bank holiday weekend but I least I drank straight whiskey rather than beer - gotta watch those carbs after all (I didn't care so much when I needed pizza the next day to deal with the hangover but there you go).  But that was a blip, and a conscious decision of a blip at that and that's the important aspect, making a decision to get drunk or eat a pizza isn't nearly as band as slipping into a state where booze or pizza or other unhealthy choices are the norm which is what was starting to happen the couple of weeks previously.  This week's been 90% on point and that's not bad.

Back to business.  Lunches were getting lazy.

Weight isn't really the best way to measure overall health but I did jump back on the scale this week to see I'd put on a few pounds, not as bad as I thought it would have been though, it's also back to tracking food on My Fitness Pal which I'd also kinda forgotten about but I've really found to be a useful tool when I actually use it.  Gotta keep myself in check and still use it even if I'm not eating well. It's all well and good putting all the salad and steamed salmon in there but kinda misses the point that when I eat a slab of cheesecake I conveniently leave that off eh?  The point is it's about being honest with myself -  there's no point thinking everything's going OK when it's isn't, there's no point convincing myself a bag of salt & vinegar McKoys is a reasonable thing for me to be eating at lunch (it is the King of all crisps but it's also so unhealthy and one of the last things I should be be eating) and there's really no point in finding excuses or justifications for myself to eat badly or exercise less and I did all of these things, total self-defeating behaviour.  I know I feel happier and healthier when I stay accountable to myself but it's an effort and it's easier to take the path of least resistance.

Less proud of myself than I look.

Whoops!

So, recognising all that is pretty healthy I think and I've still been in the gym plenty.  We had a strength and conditioning session at the weekend which resulted in my smashing a plaster wall with a medicine ball.  The class instructor demonstrated the exercise first but clearly she didn't have my ball chucking gusto obviously and a couple of people went before me as we do our circuits in rotation but I'm a fair bit stronger and twice the size of most of the ladies in the class so when it was my turn it got good and smashed.  I immediately took my ball over to a brick wall but the person after me went right back to the smashed plaster wall and put another great dent in it!  Oh well, gives the gym a spot of character I suppose and I offered to plaster the hole up which will be fun.  I watched some good sparring sessions at 12 Rounds this week too as we've got 6 people from the gym fighting at the Clapham Grand this Thursday (Come! It's always good fun) and I have to say I'm getting the itch to get in there again, think I need to have a word with the management about getting some sparring in so I can take my aggression out on people in the gym rather than the gym itself.

Sparring session at 12 Rounds is fun to watch.
Hopefully that'll be me before too long.

Thanks for reading, here's cow enjoying a cuddle and a budgie doing an R2-D2 impression.  I'll check in next week with an update on quite how unhealthy my weekend festival experience was (I'm not expecting a good one).

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
Befriend me on My Fitness Pal to share your fitness journey and keep tabs on mine.
Or follow me on twitter for geekdom and more cute animals.

For great protein powders and other associated health stuff visit Bulk Powders and use code DB4MY2 for a £5 discount on your first order over £15.

Check out the 12 Rounds Boxing website here
12 Rounds Facebook page
Twitter @12_roundsboxing