Evolution of the Former Fat Bastards

It’s started - Penny (my housemate) and I have decided "enough fat bastards". We moan that we cant fit into our clothes, that our belts are too tight and that we simply are sick of being overweight.

The challenge has started and I am going to subject you to it. You can read about the journey, might help you to sleep at night or could simply bore you to tears ... but while that is happening, we will be shedding pounds quicker than Posh Beckham at a cocktail party.

We started on the weekend but beer and football stood in my way and visitors from interstate really screwed up Penny's start as well, so Monday we started in earnest.
We have taken bread, processed white food, rice, pasta, pastry, nuts, coffee, soft drinks, and most importantly and the hardest thing to give up, is my beloved gift of Bacchus, wine. For someone who works with wine and is ever so fond of a drink, to give this up has been a challenge - it is not forever of course but until the pounds start disappearing, we will be diligent.

We are grumpy, we are cranky and we are waiting for ketosis to kick in so our bodies are using some stored business instead of us stuffing them like silos with food that our bodies don’t need as much of.

Why now? Who knows, apart that from looking at photos and bemoaning the tightness of some of my clothing, its time to start looking after the temple.

Giving up food that one loves is a challenge of enormous proportions. As soul diva Aretha Franklin has said “I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.” Another quote I found, and I don’t know from who it comes, is “The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends”. This makes much more sense to me, but I am determined and Penny is as well.

The hard thing is motivation, and we are good for one another. As I sneak to the pantry looking for a sweet biscuit, Penny reminds me that I shouldn’t be. As she craves diet cola or something sweet, I play the voice in her head and remind her that there is an outcome here that will be good for us. The strange thing is that I normally don’t eat sweet biscuits.

I want to be healthier rather than being thin. I couldn’t really give a fig for being thin as I will obsess. But I want to be healthier. I am at an age where this needs to be considered now. Not in 5 years, but now. And as my search for a mate... a penguin... continues, I need to be in my best emotional, mental and physical state to be ready.

I also want to wear clothes as they should be worn, rather than buying things with X in the size. I don’t need to be a small or a medium – I am too ‘big boned’ for that.

So the journey will continue, and to quote Winston Churchill – ‘It will be long, and hard, and there will be no withdrawals’ . Wish us luck.