About

 Hi and thanks for joining me on my journey,

I don’t know about you, but when I read a book or a blog, etc, I really enjoy knowing a bit more about the author as it helps me to understand and identify with them and where they are coming from. For that reason I have written this page about me and my objectives for those who are interested. You will also be able to hear me on my podcasts and probably see me on video elsewhere on this blog.

Where do we start?

I was born in Birmingham in 1956, which at the time of writing makes me 52 years young. I presently live just 100 yards from a sandy beach in a lovely seaside village in Somerset on the ‘West Coast’ of the UK and I live a CHARMED LIFE! I am married with two amazing children, Ethan who is 6 and my daughter Lele who is 11, going on 29! I have a really lovely wife also, although she is always disowning me as she says I am a little crazy. She may be right!

I live life on my terms…

I have pretty much ALWAYS worked for myself and in a way and style that suits me. My income is generated from doing a mixture of my favourite things which are speaking, writing and coaching on the subjects of entrepreneurism, self-improvement and more recently, stock market trading.

Apart from my favourite pastime (enjoying time with my family!) I am also involved in Judo. More recently, I took up Bell Ringing too which is about the last thing I could have ever imagined myself taking an interest in until my daughter wanted to try it.

I have an EXCEPTIONALLY full social and community life and seem to be on the go every day between 6am and 9pm, including the weekends. I just love challenges and being busy making a difference with the things I enjoy doing.

I have been described as a happy and as a VERY positive and optimistic individual with a big personality – and with a body size to match, which is the reason for this blog.

I have enjoyed success at many things, and although most of my life is in balance, my weight and levels of fitness are not something I can boast about and have never been happy with. I tend to be a bit of an EXTREMIST and have HUGE passion for just about everything that I do.

This is especially evident when it comes to food as this is an area that I have long over-indulged, and now I am paying the price for my lack of discipline and attention.

Like most people with a weight problem, I had been in denial for years and had decided never to think of myself as fat or obese …but rather as just short for my weight, and that’s what I used to say to people as a funny way of excusing my constantly expanding waist line. It always made people smile and laugh when I said it, until one day a sharp-witted acquaintance instantly made the calculation and reckoned that if I was the correct height for my weight, I would be 11’ 2” tall! This painfully accurate response really made me think!

So why this, and why now?

Over the past 7 years my level of health and fitness have suffered and deteriorated a lot as I was diagnosed as being type two diabetic and also suffering from severe sleep apnea. These two self-induced inflictions certainly slowed my lifestyle down somewhat, but in themselves were not enough to make me do anything positive about reversing my situation.

My BIG attitude change has developed over the past year as I have suffered much pain and discomfort with related diabetes problems, particularly more recently with a horrible medical condition which has been responsible for my now almost evangelistic approach to losing weight and becoming fitter. Although I am probably the most positive and happy person you are likely to meet, at the time of writing my I am neither fit nor healthy, this fact is about to start changing dramatically!

Good planning makes a difference…

A good plan can be compared to a route map making your journey and pathway easy to follow. For that reason, and as becoming slim and fit is a large and ongoing task I wanted to make as fun and enjoyable as possible, I started listing my ideas for lasting slimness. The idea of starting a daily diary, book or blog really appealed to me as I LOVE WRITING and it would act as a good central focal point that would keep my objective firmly fixed in the front of my mind.

It wasn’t long, though, before I began to realise the additional benefits of developing this blog were MASSIVE!

They would make me socially responsible to others who might follow my progress. After all, who wants to look stupid or a failure? So this in itself was a strong motivation to write it. MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY however, my journey could help others who also have the same objectives, but are uncertain of how to reach them.

I was encouraged by friends who I shared my ideas with to make the whole project much bigger. They too felt that the blog could be a motivational model for others to follow and replicate if they wished. By following my blog people could have a fly-on-the-wall view of my progress and learn from both my successes, mistakes and challenges that I will have to learn and overcome.

My focus really started changing and soon I wanted to make this blog a community website for like-minded people sharing the same challenges - as many as possible!

It all starts with attitude…

In the planning and preparation stages for my journey I became certain of one thing. Successful and permanent weight loss and good levels of fitness have more to do with developing the correct attitude than anything else! Certainly, having the right nutritional intake and exercise are vitally important, but without the correct attitude the whole thing becomes difficult, boring and no fun, and that’s why most people fail miserably.

With the right attitude you can do and achieve ALMOST ANYTHING…

For that reason much of what visitors to this site will learn is about staying positive and developing a good mindset. Get this bit right and the rest becomes fun and easy and success is INEVITABLE!

Get it wrong and you will ALWAYS have a challenge with your weight and fitness!

What this website is not about…

For the above reason this website is not about calorie-counting, hardship and deprivation. Weight loss and becoming fit do not have to be about negativity and going without, unless you allow it to become so.

Lasting health and slimness is about positively re-educating yourself, developing fun new habits and learning and discovering new and healthy alternatives to improving the quality of your life and helping you to live longer.

This blog is about abundance and moving forward and learning from others who have discovered the pathway to success - and then doing it for yourself. Whatever size you are right now and whatever personal challenges you might have, is irrelevant. WE ALL have to begin our journey from some point. Just remember that life is here to be embraced, enjoyed and lived as FULLY as possible and if you are even slightly horizontally challenged, it’s more fun becoming slim and fit together.

My aims and objectives…

Personal objective: to become slim, fit and healthy for the rest of my life. I realistically expect my journey to last twelve to fourteen months, although it may take much longer. How long it takes is really irrelevant so long as I am constantly progressing and going forward. My starting weight is in excess of 25 stone (350 pounds) or 160 kilos …I am a big boy. However, I expect to lose approximately 3lb a week if I give it my full attention, and that will bring my weight down to the 13 – 14 stone mark within a year. Then I can reassess where we go from here.

Incidentally, the reason I can’t be more accurate about my EXACT WEIGHT is that I can’t find any scales which go above 25 stones!!

However, it’s not just about weight as I expect to build additional fitness and muscle as I advance, so I will be measuring myself as well as monitoring my feelings and levels of wellness which are just as important to me, if not more so.

Fitness objective: this is a difficult one to specify, but I aim to become fit enough to complete a half marathon in something over the same period of time, even if it is only walking or swimming. This one can be nailed down as we progress and I discover my limitations.

Blog objective: to develop a lasting resource to inspire others to take action in their own lives.

Warning…

As I have already stated, I was in denial over my size and lack of fitness for years before it affected my health to the degree that I took action. You don’t have to wait that long as I can accurately predict your future for you. There WILL BE a price to pay for obesity and being overweight in the future, it almost certainly will be painful and unpleasant and perhaps even fatal. THE END!

Please don’t learn the hard way as I have done! If this website helps just one person to improve their life and levels of health, then this blog and the hard and ongoing work it has taken to develop it will make it all worth while…

Finally, and on a positive note…

As I was writing this entry I came across the below picture that was taken from the beach in front of my home last year. With a view and beauty like this, and a family as nice as mine, I have everything to become slim and healthy for. Please support me by following my progress, you can subscribe to the RSS feeds or receive new entries by email on the right hand side of this page…