Big Day for England and the USA

And the for the football teams too.  I'm off to London to meet up with the old work crew.  My day meeting got cancelled so it is just a social.  Heaven knows what that will do to my weight as we will be having a few to drink.  I've been exercising each day, doing 30 minutes with a three peaks setting on my XTrainer.  It is getting back into a routine that is important and I've managed to sort that out.  Today I will probably try and exercise straight after lunch and then get showered and head on up to London.  

The match is on mid afternoon and no doubt there will be fans milling around at all the pubs in London.  Not my favourite but let's see how bad they can get between 3 in the afternoon and going home time.  Unfortunately for me I also have a Curry evening booked for tomorrow and so I think my diet is right out the window this week.

I hope for further victories for the USA and England - and let's hope that our teams will also follow our lead!

And at the Weigh In tonight the contender scaled

16 stone and 8lbs which is Llbs = 232 pounds which I was surprised at I expected no change or a slight increase.

I can only put it down to the stepping up of my exercise and the way I am eating at the moment.   I'm really pleased and my stomach is visibly smaller and I feel "tightened up" if there can be such a thing.  My trousers are beginning to feel lose so I can tell something is happening and as I said yesterday my skin feels better I guess because of increased circulation.   My blood pressure is dropping too - so all is going the right way and it is encouragement for me to see it and to record it.  My word though 129 over 81 is brilliant for me....  Cool.

I'm off for a shower now and some R&R as it is Sunday.  Tomorrow I have a full on day as I record all the stuff we did last week at Boot Camp.  Fun, fun fun. 

Strangely

I have felt a lot better these past few weeks and my skin feels totally different and I can feel weight coming off and muscles tightening up as I continue to exercise and my diet takes on a habit rather than being a novelty.  I tend to have a lot of salads now and I'm enjoying them as I make them with some little twists to the recipe.  I'm doing 30 minutes of exercise a day and hit the 7kM mark on the XTrainer today.  I'm exercising late in the afternoon after having done a days work which means that I am actually stopping myself being slouched over my desk and I get on and do a good 30 minute work out.  I've been doing three peaks in 30 minutes which is pretty strenuous.

In the world cup today the USA did brilliantly to come back from a 2:0 score to even the match.  England were utterly dire and had no zing or anything else going about them.  Perhaps a stick of dynamite up their backsides may have made them wake up.  It was utter rubbish and so I headed over to the DVD player and watched a film.

I fear thought that the England and USA performances may reflect on this week's tally of how Steve K and I are doing in our "gentleman's bet" on weight loss over the next 6 months or so.  Last week I did manage a flying start to the campaign but I think that is similar in every start of eating properly and exercising - I managed to lose 4 lbs which wasn't bad.  After 3 days in a Hotel this week, despite being a good boy and choosing proper food, I have to admit to having a few beers and tomorrow we are off to a barbecue.  I feel that the USA may indeed make a fighting come back this week.  We will find out on Monday. 

Health is one of those things that we just take for granted.  In a few weeks time it will be 4 years - YES - 4 years since I first realised that something was very wrong indeed.  About this time, 4 years ago, there had been one surprised moment when a small amount of blood came out when I urinated (I thought I had strained myself carrying a very heavy sanding machine up and down the stairs).  There were a couple of odd spots that appeared but nothing that made me ready for the sight that befell my eyes on the 2nd of July 2006.   The world cup was on then as it is now and David Beckham was captain of England.  We were playing Portugal and Wayne Rooney got sent off and we lost the game.  I was in a bit of a mess.  I arrived at my Hotel as the game started and went to the toilet.  I had been in the car for a good 4 hours I guess.  I had a full stream of blood coloured urine.  It was the most unearthly thing I had ever seen.  

I went to the shops and bought some cigars - I'd given up for a long time but needed something to calm me down.   I bought lots of different bottled drinks and water and tried in vain to drink them to stop the bleeding.  I went to the restaurant, had more drinks but nothing helped.  I remember ringing my wife in quite a state and explaining what had happened.  I had to do three days work and planned coming home on the Thursday and so an Appointment was made for me to see the doctor on Friday.  The rest is history (see beginning of this blog).  So the world cup means a different thing to me as it will always coincide with my finding out that I had bladder cancer, something that wasn't fully diagnosed until the 21st July almost three weeks later.

My how things move on.  I'm still here - Hurrah!!!!  I intend to be here in another 4 years too and in 4 years after that.  I wont push my maker with any more than that - I'm sure I've pushed my favours in that respect as far as the envelope will go.  I reflect and know that I'm still happy with my lot and privileged to be here. 

Back to exercises

30 minutes worth this evening which went OK - I've ramped up another 10 minutes and it seemed to go fine.  Based on this I reckon I could do 40 minutes if needed but I'll see how I get on.  I managed to eat very little today which I was quite pleased with too.  I hope that I'll see some further improvement over time in weight and in my shape.

I've just spent another 30 minutes messing around with network problems and router issues.  Conflicting IP addresses and a wire which had fallen out all make for an annoying end to the day.  I need to go and get into bed and calm down.  It makes me really angry that everyone has had issues all night but no one has told me until I found out for myself.  When I start doing something everyone says its been like that for hours!!!  I'm at a loss as to why no one tells me these things in the first place.  I could have cured it straight off if Ii'd had the facts in the first place.

Just another thing that is sent to try me..

Technology makes

My life slower.  The internet is running like a dog this morning - the router is intermittent, the major PC of the house is on a go slow and I'm beginning to lose patience with the whole thing.  It is beautiful and sunny outside and perhaps I might just take a walk out if the situation doesn't improve.

I certainly need to do some exercise.  Whilst I probably burnt off lots of calories in nervous energy I put most of that back on with the couple of beers I had and the food I ate, even if I was concious of what I was eating.

We have a lot of work to do in the next 6 months and I'm taking in just how much of that is on my shoulders as the operational "expert".  We have a good team but one that isn't full time or one that cannot actually spend more than the odd day here or there.  We are going to find it hard going I think unless I can find an interim financier.  But that is the excitement of the whole enterprise and part of the reason for doing it. 

I need to keep focussed on being well and fit as I will need to be that to put this much effort in over the 6 month run.  I like it that people think we are "brave" to give up our day jobs to try this out but if we didn't take this journey then we will never know if we could have achieved it or not.  Both of us are cancer survivors and have a different view about the life we now have bequeathed to us.  That too makes the journey important.

I am Shattered

Having battled with the M25 (London orbital motorway) or as we know it locally - "the Car Park" I arrived on Monday to a lovely hotel in the Surrey countryside and we have just finished three days of the most intensive sort of work - we called it "boot Camp" and it feels like it.  I am going to retire after a not too bad journey home.  

I#ve been pretty good with my eating but we have mostly sat around this week and so Ii don't expect that I've lost any weight - in fact I expect to have put a bit on.  A barbecue beckons on Saturday which I may try and escape from if Ii can....

My head is definitely spinning away so I need to get some shut eye and I've agreed not to do any of this work until the weekend just so we can "come down" from the intensive workshops we have been doing giving us all a chance to calm down..  It is all good stuff but amazingly challenging and at the same time really exciting.  

Well here I go

Off for a few days now to get cracking on some business ideas at our "Boot Camp".  We have a Hotel for 3 days to thrash out our business plans and to try and focus on what we need to do in the next 6 months.

I'm quite excited by the prospect and this should get us charged up and ready to go for sure.  The odd bit of work I am doing for the charity is a bit - well - distracting and so I hope this will give me the direction and the focus I require.

I might get to blog whilst I am away - if not - I'll be back on Wednesday evening and will add something then.

Weight

Just broke off from the Germany Australia game to measure myself and I'm surprised that I weigh 16 stone and 10 pounds.  Which is a lot less than I expected.  So that's 234 pounds.  I say I'm surprised because I've been out a couple of times this week.  However, I have been very good on eating and exercise so perhaps that accounts for it.

That's the end of an era

Last meeting as Secretary - had many plaudits and was made a fuss over.  Mind you it wasn't helped by a very nice guy reporting on my health but not getting it quite right.  He made it sound like the tumour was still in me and that they were waiting for it to grow to whip it out in July.  Which of course is wrong and what is actually happening is that it is already gone and they are taking a peek and some more tests.

England versus US at Soccer today.  Mmmm 1 : 1 not great and we always make it difficult for ourselves. Of course it was England playing on 2nd July 2006 when I found out that things weren't right with me.  It is coming up to my 4th anniversary with that and suddenly it seems a distant memory.

Life is funny and it throws some strange stuff at you.  I have no idea what will happen to me in the next few months.  The new business venture, relationships with work colleagues at the place I've left and so many other things are happening I can hardly believe it.

Oh well - I'm sure they will all come out in the wash.  I must remember to publish my weight tomorrow.  It has taken a bit of a pounding this week and will next week as I am in a Hotel for 3 days!!

A bit slow today

Poor old chap I am.  Yesterday was full on and I managed to do about 12 hours work.  then I went to the wine bar!  That was OK apart from many raised eyebrows from people I knew - why?  Well I was sitting with one of my female colleagues and so everyone added 2 plus 2 and got to 7 or more for their answer!

Anyway, it was funny a little later on when someone bought us a bottle of wine (a whole bottle).  I told him that we were very grateful and that we would name our fist born child after him :-)  Well I thought it was funny anyway.  The trouble was that I really didn't want to drink that much wine and we were about to go home so it just caused me to drink more than I wanted and to get home late.  I do feel a little slow today consequently.

I see Microsoft is doing its usual trick and loading updates and getting me to reboot my machines it's all very well but I've hardly got anything done whilst I wait for one or other of them to settle down.

I need to get some exercise today too so perhaps I'll have a go at that before dinner.  I'm out tomorrow and I am preparing for that but it just seems to be taking for ever to get the PC to boot up again and to finish the work I started about 2 hours ago.  In the time taken to write this blog the PC has rebooted but none of the programmes are actually working at the moment - sometimes PCs are rubbish.

Got the exercise in

So I managed to get 20 minutes in tonight too. I'm walking a lot tomorrow so that will be my exercise for Thursday. I'm up to my eyeballs in work on Friday and over the weekend and then I'll be off for the three day new business workshop. I've finished off my actions and mailed them out. now I re-read them I see there are some typos in there but hey - that is Microsoft for you, this new office suite is horror and it reverts to different languages and changes things on the fly all the time. Worst days work I ever did was upgrading and in upgrading it has lost its speech to text dictation capability which I used to use. GGGgrrrrrr.

Off to bed early as I have a very long day tomorrow.

I'm feeling good but isn't it strange I can still feel the ache in the back of my hand where they stick the cannula every time I have an operation. Not long to wait now - a month today I have my pre assessment and in just 5 weeks my next operation....

Day 3

I did well today - kept to diet and I didn't go silly last night so was fine getting up this morning.  I feel a lot better than I normally do - I am guessing that the exercise has done that.  I missed out tonight on that but will have a chance to do some in a short while as I have finished my work for now.  It is amazing how much work you can clatter through when you are motivated.  Also though - I was out this morning - which slowed up progress.

Into London tomorrow for a big all day meeting where they want me to work late.  I can't believe it yet they have used loads of my time this last few days but I will bill them for it.

I feel like I have lost a bit of weight already which is good.  I can certainly feel it around my middle.

The major work starts next week on the business front.  I am really looking forward to getting going on Monday when we will thrash out the detailed plans. 

Day 2

Well - so far it has gone quite well. I'm out tonight for a few beers but managed to control myself at lunch time and breakfast these days consists of fruit and not much else. I bought myself a little fresh parmesan so I can flake it onto my salad with some sun dried tomatoes to go with it.

Another 20 minutes hard exercise using the 3 hills in 20 minutes not climb a mountain programme as I did yesterday. It has the desired effect of getting a sweat up and I actually felt quite good after it.

The truth being known I felt quite good this morning too which was great. I actually noticed that my skin felt different and I think this is one of those early signs that the blood is beginning to flow around a bit. I'm hoping to make sure that I try and exercise each day where I'm not getting out and about. If I can do this every day I reckon that will make me lose weight a lot quicker and feel better too.

The new venture stepped up a pace today yet again as my business partner and I thrashed out some more details. This time next week I imagine we will be very tired but really charged up about the business as we will be just over half way through our kick off workshops. There is a long way to go yet but the excitement mounts. At the moment we are both poised to get going but we let the brakes off next week :-)

Things are good at the moment.

Lifelites Promotional Film

This is Lifelites promotional video. It shows the work they do in children's hospices in the UK. For the past 2 years I've been lucky enough to work alongside the team at Lifelites and their work is fantastic - just watch this to see what they do.  

Exercise Sucks

Which is why you should wash your mouth out with chocolate!

I cannot remember where I saw that but it amused me. I've had a full on day and as the title may give away, I have just come off my Cross-Trainer after a 20 minute work out - somehow I chose the one which simulates going up a mountain but hey ho I still managed it but crawled for the last 2 minutes of the routine. I'm just cooling down now before hitting the shower.

This seems to be a reasonable way of setting my day up. I can get up early and get cracking for work and then at the end of the day can do a half an hour session and get ready for some dinner.

I've been really good today and eaten primarily fruit and salads with some oily fish slung on top of that. Tonight will again be a salad - and in the summer I don't mind those - with perhaps a little home cooked ham.

I'm out tomorrow at lunch and in the evening but I will just try and be sensible if I can. Beer and alcohol are high in carbs and if I can miss those out then I have a fighting chance of losing this weight. Mrs. F. says I look slimmer already around the waist which is where most of the excess weight is doing the opposite of hiding :-)

Oh well, Exercise Sucks but if it means I can fit back into my suits and clothes in a few months I will be pleased. Better still if I have to buy new :-)

The New Dawn

Well today I start the new job in anger.  Unlike many jobs though, I actually know what I am doing as I am my own boss.  I have a good head start.  All change, so work and I turn a corner today.  I really hope that I can lose weight and run this venture as well as maintaining a good balance between everything.

Exciting times!

Weight

Well here we go:

Tonight my weight is 238 pounds or 17 stones exactly.  That's dressed and in cotton socks :-)

I've decided to measure this weekly and see how I am getting along.  Steve in the US will also be tagging along too.  It isn't England versus the US - that happens later in South Africa at the World Cup - Soccer.  

I am also taking other measurements and my blood pressure to see if I can correlate the new diet with my exercises and relate that to general health and well being.

I also realise that next week will be a bit more of a challenge as I will be staying at a Hotel for 3 days!

Anyway, it all starts tomorrow - I hope to get off to a flying start with the new business and just hope the guys at the charity will not be asking me too many questions or asking too much of me.

Tired few days

I've been making sure everything goes smoothly this week and handed over my job to my successor.  Unfortunately there was more work to do and I ended up doing that Friday morning but I can bill that of course.  It just meant that I was pretty tired and just had so many things to do.

The village has a festival of music this weekend so we are going to that.  It is beautifully amateurish as they haven't even produced a flyer letting us know what is going on yet.  Doh!  It starts in a few hours so we will just wander up there and see what is to do.

Mrs. F. reckons that I've lost a couple of handles off of my waist these past few weeks.  I'm getting ready for the transatlantic weight loss challenge.  I will be regularly updating the blog on how I am doing.  I'm being pretty good about the food I eat and have managed to change over and not get too upset over not eating the quantities or types of food I used to have.  I am also going to have to watch out for beer drinking - I tend to enjoy a beer or two with my friends and I have 2 or 3 more meetings coming up that will seriously set back my weight loss plan.  After that though I imagine it will be a little easier to not drink as there aren't too many meetings happening again until September.

It should be fun I reckon.

New Venture Gets Ever Nearer

The excitement mounts as we spent today arranging the hotel and meeting room and the agenda and all its elements.   We had a productive day looking back at the work we have already done and were pretty satisfied that we have picked up quite a lot of the elements already undertaken.

The hotel is booked and as of next Monday I am on this almost full-time.  I have a bucket-load of work to do and just hope that I can get a good run at it to start things off with.   It is inevitable that there will be a few minor distractions but as long as I remain disciplined it should be OK.

What is amazing is just how much work there is to do still - we are talking many man months and we've already been at this a couple of years...  

Relief

Well it was as if Thursday night had never happened.  Thank goodness for that.  I managed to find a couple of occasions where we would be alone to chat if that was needed and nothing at all so I think I got away with it and it was just the wine talking.   That also makes sense over something else that was said too so all that brain work was for nothing but, it may have been different - you shoud always prepare and, as my colleague reminds me, you should always be living in the "now" as the past and future are not the place to be.

Deep stuff he comes out with - it messes with your head!!

Still home alone so happy enough.  A day of work tomorrow on the new venture and see how my replacement has managed when I get in Thursday.