BACK WITH THE DAVE MONK SHOW ON BBC ESSEX

As you may recall, at the beginning of my 5 Stone Challenge I was invited to spend some time with BBC Essex radio presenter Dave Monk to talk about my work with the Dream Factory and about how I intended to change my lifestyle to overcome the challenge and lose 5 stone.  Since then, I have returned to spend time with Dave and his highly supportive listeners at regular intervals and yesterday I did so again. You can listen to our discussion online in full here.

It’s great to be able to help raise the profile of this charity, which brings a little light into the lives of families who seem to feel so encompassed by darkness and I can’t thank people enough for their donations, encouragement and offers of help.

DAY 140 OF MY 5 STONE CHALLENGE – COMPLETE!‏

This morning I woke-up at 6am as usual, but all I wanted to do was assume the fetal position and drift back off to sleep (of course, I didn’t).  I got up, had a shower and headed into the office, certainly feeling less than my usual partying self – dizzy, tired, grumpy and a little sick does not a good Murf make!

When I arrived in the City, I was approached by a sea of salespeople trying to offer me free samples of their products, most of which fell outside of the 'healthy' food and drink category, so I grabbed an iced caffe latte and a fruit smoothie and headed to the office. As I strolled through the office the temptation continued. I had forgotten it was the charity cake sale!! The smell across every floor in the building was wonderful. Working for such an international organisation, there was such a vast variety of goods to choose from and a few months ago, I would have made light work of ensuring I visited each station to support the good causes. Alas, this year I made a donation and scurried off to my office putting myself on lockdown!

For lunch I turned to one of my favourite dishes from the restaurant EAT; Chicken Laksa Soup. It's officially described as: "a Malaysian classic. Lots of noodles and chicken in a spicy coconut creamy soup. Garnished with a fresh salad of spring onion, spinach and coriander." All I know is it is delicious and thanks to the wonderful website My Fitness Pal, I can always see what I'm eating and how bad it is for me. This particular dish is 365 calories for a 'big' portion which I think is very reasonable for a hot lunch and something which fulfils me and stops me wanting more throughout the afternoon. Also, because this is a creamy dish with noodles, you don't want any bread with it, so it's a real winner in my books.  For dinner I had a grilled gammon steak with a medley of vegetables.

A GREAT WEEKEND - PACKED FULL OF TEMPTATION!

For those of you who know me, you will be aware of just how hectic my schedule can be.  I’m a big believer in the phrase ‘carpe diem’, so try and ram as many events and see as many people as I possibly can during the course of most weekends.  However, socialising is almost always accompanied by the temptation of good food and drink!

On Friday, I attended a wedding, but was very well behaved.  I didn’t drink, I didn’t eat and I only stayed for a few hours before giving my apologies.  From previous experience, weddings and I just don’t mix well, so I think I have to resign myself to the fact that weddings forever more must be judged on the basis of ‘all or nothing’.

Saturday I caught up with some family, then in the evening caught up with an old friend.  We went for dinner locally to the Clocktower Restaurant and I was pretty good on the food front (olives as an alternative starter, followed by a grilled chicken breast and vegetables).  The owner of the restaurant is a friend of mine, so she joined us towards the end of our meal and kept bringing over peach bellinis, which I enjoyed very much!  We then decided to pop into a local nightclub called Club One9Five and really spent a good 4 hours dancing until we couldn’t dance any more.  It was great fun and I managed to stick to vodka and tonic, so relatively well behaved given the highly tempting surroundings!

On Sunday, we went for breakfast in a fantastic local coffee shop Belgique and enjoyed some scrambled eggs with a toasted bagel.  Later I met another friend and went off to Upon Park for West Ham’s last game of the season against Reading.  I go to football quite regularly, but my friend had never been before, despite being a life-long West Ham fan.  It was great day and the sun was shining so the 4-2 result to my team ended the season beautifully and left West Ham joint 9^th in the league tables.  Not bad considering we weren’t even in the league 2 years ago!

In the week ahead, I hope to keep focused on the food and really get in some good exercise.  I hope you’ve all had enjoyable weekends too.

DAY 135 OF MY 5 STONE CHALLENGE – COMPLETE!!

It's amazing how quickly you feel better about yourself when you return to a healthier way of living.  I honestly do believe a lot of it is psychological.  If I had a penny for every time someone has asked me ‘Do you feel better for the weight loss?’ the charity coughers would be overflowing!  The truth is I actually don’t feel any different to when I started.  I obviously noticed the weight loss in my clothes, having gone down 8 sizes and I also notice a difference in my physical ability when exercising, but I don’t feel a massive change overall, as so many people seem to suggest will come at some stage.  Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that I’m still overweight, even though I have lost 3 and a half stone, and I still have a long way to go.  I do, however, feel positively towards knowing that when I am dieting and exercising I am doing the right thing, not only for my own health and future, but also in raising money for the Dream Factory charity.

I’ve also been thinking about ways to ensure I remain focused on the challenge for the rest of its duration and came across a new American study, which suggests that people who attend regular dieting groups across a 3 month time scale lost an average of 8.6lbs compared to those going it alone who lost an average of 1.8lb.  They weighed the same group again after 6 months and those in the group lost an average of 10.1lbs compared to the solo dieter who had actually put an average of 5lbs on!  Thankfully, I use my blog and social media to continue to communicate with other dieters which is much like a dieting community for me.  When life gets busy and I stop blogging seems to be the time when I also stray from the diet plan, so the key from now on in is to keep blogging, regardless of what else is going on!

WEEK 19 OF MY 5 STONE CHALLENGE – COMPLETE!!

To say I’ve lost my way with this 5 Stone Challenge would be an understatement!  The past few weeks have been peppered with so many luring social events and I seem to have made some marvellous excuses as to why I should be allowed “just one night off” for a birthday or wedding or family gathering or…!!  I’ve broken the cardinal rule which is you have to ensure that whatever goes in, has to be burned off to come out.  It seems as though as soon as the sun makes its extraordinarily rare annual visit, my body cries out for alfresco dining...which is obviously best complimented with copious amounts of vino! 

However, I’ve had enough of not making the progress I desire.  I am now officially 19 weeks in, so have 15 weeks left to complete this challenge.  I think the last time I posted my weight was just after my trip to Mexico at the end of March and I weighed in at 23 stone exactly (146.4kg).  So starting afresh, I hopped back on the scales today and weighed in at 22 stone and 9lb (144.2kg).  My BMI is 38.3 and body fat percentage is 33.6%, so I still have a long way to go, but at least I know where I stand.  Now I know I have to lose 1 stone and 9lbs (23lbs) in the next 15 weeks as an absolute minimum, so the food focus is back and I’ll be stepping up the exercise regime too.  Of course, there’s no time like the present, so today I took a nice stroll from my office which is just off of Liverpool Street, across the Thames to the Mayor of London’s office at City Hall, then I walked back again – it’s almost a 4 mile round trip, but only took me about 40 minutes, so easy to do in my lunch hour.  It also gives me an opportunity to venture into parts of the city I wouldn’t usually see as part of my daily routine and it acted as a sharp reminder of just how magnificent our historic London skyline really is.  Of course, within 5 minutes of leaving my office without an umbrella or overcoat, the heavens opened and I appeared at the Mayor’s office looking rather like a drowned rat!  Another lesson learned.

Thanks again to everyone for their continued messages of advice and support.  Needless to say, the whole reason why I’m going through this massive lifestyle change is to raise money for a charity which so desperately needs support to make dying children’s wishes come true.  It’s realy that simple.  We are just trying to give kids a break in life they so richly deserve.  If you think you can help with that, you can make a donation via my JustGiving website here or you can send a text MURF50 then the amount you want to sponsor (anything from £1 upwards) and send it to 70070 or you can call the charity directly on 020 8501 1234.