Damien Mason

Cereal (smaller bowl) - 2.5
Home made lamb kebab - 6.5 (120g lamb - 3, lebanese bread - 3, tzatziki - 0.5, salad)
Crumpets with vegemite - 2.5 (1 per crumpet, 0.5 for small marg)
Apple - 1
Home made pizza 1/2 - 7
Ice cream - 6
Total: 25.5

1 hour iaido - 4
Total: 4

Food over: 20, Exercise over:10

Bugger. Ah well, the week starts again tomorrow.

Cereal - 3
50g chips - 5.5
1/2 cake - 4
Sushi (2 rolls) - 4
Tart - 4.5
Noodle soup - 3
Crumpets - 3
Total: 27

45 minutes brisk walk - 5
Total: 5

Food left: 5.5, Exercise over: 6

Cereal with milk - 3
Lollies - 4
Tim tam - 2
2 chicken, cheese and sweet chili sauce pitas - 6
Fish - 3.5
Rice - 2.5
Steamed Veges - 0
Ice cream - 4.5
Fruit -1
Total: 26.5

30 minute brisk walk - 4
Total: 4

Food left: 32.5, Exercise over: 1

Toast with small amount of margarine and vegemite - 3
Small glass of juice - 1
Lollies - 3
Steak and cheese 6 inch sub - 6.5
Apple - 1
Chinese food (small serve of meat and rice) - 8
Toast - 3
Milk - 1
Chocolates - 2.5
Total: 29 (whoops!)

30 minute brisk walk - 4
Total: 4

Food left: 59, Exercise left: 3

Ok, I thought I might put in a post here about the techniques that have helped me stay motivated while exercising.  I’ve started and eventually abandoned pretty much everything, walking, jogging, the gym, so I’ve got a fair idea what has helped keep me going.

Choose something you already have to do and add exercise to that.  For example, I have to walk to work every day.  There’s no way to get out of it.  So to extend that walk in the morning by half an hour is a relatively simple thing.  I found when I would come home with plans to head out for a walk or a jog or whatever “later” too much else would come up and i’d never do the exercise. Before or right after work (before you get home) is a great time to do something.

Pick a time each day to do your exercise and stick to it no matter what.  I found this was a problem when I was jogging.. i started off great, going for a 20 minute jog at 7pm.  But then I missed one.. and then I missed a few more.  Soon enough I had given up on it without even realising.  The same thing happened with the gym. If you tell yourself “this is what I have to do and there’s no other option” then it’s much easier - you’ll just do it.  And if you tie it to something else you have to do.. well, there’s no excuse

Start a sport with regular classes.  Ok, obviously for me this is Iaido.  It’s awesome because it’s like surprise extra exercise.  You’re doing it for the sport, not the health, so it’s a bonus.  Find something you want to do.. and if it’s a team sport even better, because then you have the motivation of not wanting to let your team down.  I’m not sure the gym or pilates count for this so much because they’re basically exercise (although if you’re doing pilates for a reason other than improving health then it would be ok).. you need to do the exercise without feeling like you’ve done it.

Take away chances to avoid or lessen the exercise.  A trick I have is to have my entire walk take the half hour, instead of doing laps.  I think if I had 15 minute laps it would be too tempting to give up after one, and if they were ten minute laps i guarantee I’d only ever do two.  By the time i start getting tired, at the 15 minute mark, I’m too far away to turn around and go back In the past I’ve done the same - walk 15 minutes in one direction, and then you have to walk home again.  Walk down a hill so you have to go back up.

Start easy, and do something you enjoy.  I think that’s the most important thing… you don’t need to run 5kms every day, you don’t need hours of weight training.  You just need half an hour every day to go for a walk and see the scenery.  It’s really not that much to ask, but if you did it 6 times a day that’s your week’s exercise sorted.  And then add to that gym time or pilates or walking the dog or gardening or whatever and you’re doing wonderfully.  If you make it a chore you’ll find ways to get out of it, you’ll resent when you have to do it, and you’ll never stick to it.

I hope that helps anyone who is reading it.  Let me know what you thought of it.  I have another motivation post planned for later in the week too

Muffin - 12
2 chicken, cheese and sweet chili sauce pitas - 6
2 apples - 2
2 toasted sandwiches - 5
Total: 25

30 minute brisk walk - 4
1 hour iaido - 4
Total: 8

Food left: 88, Exercise left: 7

And yes, I’m trying to get in as much extra exercise as I can to make up for the extra food points I’m getting while I’m trying to fix up my eating habits

Ok, this is from Weight Watchers For Men.. I imagine the values would be pretty similar for women, except they would be allowed less points because they don’t include the exercise.

Basically you’re assigned a certain number of points worth of food each week, and are required to do a certain number of points worth of exercise. Beyond that you can make up for extra food points by getting extra exercise points, they are worth 1 for 1.

For the exercise, if you’re not exercising at all you need to get 15 points per week, if you exercise occasionally it’s 20, and if you exercise regularly it’s 25 points. This can be difficult, but things like cleaning the house and gardening count so make sure you include them.  The points are calculated from a half hour of exercise, so that’s a good number to try for be it walking or whatever (half an hour of walking up stairs, for example, is a whopping 6 points)

The food is dependent on weight. Here’s how it’s calculated:

OK, so for me I’ll be trying for 25 points of exercise, and 160 points of food.

Also for men a waist measurement of 68 - 94cms is the healthy range.  It’s good for men to track their waist measurement because often that’s more indicative than weight.

I think the first week or so it can be very shocking to find out what stuff is worth.  Often you think you’ve had an ok day, but in actual fact you’re quite a bit over.  That’s ok though, because it means you have somewhere to go with it - if you were eating perfectly but still not losing weight then there’d be a problem :)  And it helps pick you up on incidental snacking too, which is (one of) my bane.
I hope that makes sense, and if you want more information let me know. I’m happy to see you posting on here Dayna, and I hope Glenn and Dee will do the same. You guys can help each other, much like I make Cheryl come on jogs and stuff with me

Cereal with milk - 3
KFC burger - 7
KFC medium chips - 8
2 pieces toast - 2.5
apple - 1
2 pieces toast - 2.5
uht milk - 1
Total: 25

30 minute walk - 3
1 hour iaido - 4
Total: 7

Food left: 113, Exercise left: 15 

Cereal with milk - 3
Some lollies - 2
Water - 0
Bread Roll - 3
Noodle soup - 3
Steamed buns - 5
Toast - 2.5
Toast - 2.5
Milk - 1
Total: 22 points

30 minute walk - 3
Total: 3 points

Each day I’ll post the food that I’ve eaten and the exercise that i’ve done, with their points values.    At the end of each week, I’ll also post a summary for the week in points.  I should be managing 25 points in exercise and I think 160 points in food (I’ll confirm that before the end of the week)

If anyone wants to join in, they can add their food and exercise for each day in the comments and I’ll give you the points values.  This is from Weight Watchers for Men, but I’m sure it’s applicable for women too.  It’s all about increasing your fitness and being aware of what you’re eating after all.

So this morning I weighed myself:

 81.5kgs