We cannot obtain a healthy body and then expect to keep it with an unhealthy lifestyle. Our health, fitness and girth are products of manor in which we have behaved. We cannot change the things we have done to ourselves but we can alter the way that we behave now. In changing our behaviour today we will improve our health for tomorrow.

A geek looking at how we change the things that make us less healthy.

Category: Personal Progress
Posted by: Matt
Last week I tested out the Melaleuca Access bars I had been holding on to.

I can say without a scratch of doubt that after 2.5 hours of working out and still feeling ready to keep going that they do the job - and how! I'll be writing about how you can get hold of these bars soon I promise.

After the work out I got on some fancy scales and came in at 18 stone 12 (which is a lot down from being over 20 stone last year) with an estimate body fat of 40% (I take it that is not very good). I last saw 18 stone when I was... 18 so the prospect of getting back to my youthful size fills me with some joy. I've even found time to blog about it.
Category: Online Stuff
Posted by: Matt
The size of your waist can tell you far more about the state of your health than the number on a bathroom scale. Studies have linked larger waist sizes to higher risk for heart attack, cancer, diabetes, dementia and even incontinence.

Last month, Harvard Medical School researchers reported on a study of 44,000 nurses that showed even normal-weight women face twice the risk of premature death from heart disease or cancer if they are thick around the middle. Other studies have shown similar risks for men.

The notion of waist size as a barometer of health has been around for years, but the vast majority of doctors still put patients on a scale and calculate their body mass index, which measures weight relative to height.


WAIST; Watch Your Girth By TARA PARKER-POPE
Category: Health News
Posted by: Matt
It appears that I am 100% justified in my approach to "diets" and "weight loss".

By focussing on girth rather than mass I may have been on to more than I realised. A new report shows that fat on the bum and thighs might actually be good for you while fat on the tum (girth) is not. The BBC have more.
Category: Personal Progress
Posted by: Matt
I'm not one for making "New Years Resolutions" as I think they are a wee bit pretentious and totally artificial. If and when I feel the need for a new chapter in my life I will start one. That is how I gave up smoking, for example, I choose a day that it would all end that was not so far away and I worked towards it.

Well this year was going to be no exception. Except that it 50% is and 50% isn't.

It all started like this:

My friend Dave and I were chatting over a hot cup of Chai when he showed me his list of New Years Resolutions. I pointed out to him that they were too hard because they were unquantified. That means there was no numeric way of measuring the success or lack thereof. So being a right royal meany I made him tell me "How much more often?" and "To what measurable level?"

Beaning equally mean he popped around to my house a little while later and made me help him right up a chart of what, how and by when.

By the time we were done I had seen something in the chart that inspired me. I can not tell you what exactly it was but something about the easy simplicity of the goals as they were then laid out got me thinking.

Keep Reading to find out what happened.

» Read More

Category: General
Posted by: Matt
Well the excess is over. The scales have come back out and as we try to get back into our work clothes the resolution to do better is out in force...

Or, like me, you feel fairly pleased with your progress.

I need to find the money to buy new clothes as mine are falling off me these days. Just a few months ago I went into Big For Men (a shop for fellows of the larger size) and was told. "We don't do clothes that small".

Here's to your success.
Category: General
Posted by: Matt
Now is the time when traditionally we all try to get over the winter feast excess. "Eat, drink and be merry", we said, "for tomorrow we diet".

Now that it is tomorrow the time of frantic dieting is upon us.

But wait. Our bodies are programmed to gain a little over the colder months and then shed it during the hotter months. This natural fluctuation can caused the too close watchers of the scales to freak out. Especially if they ate a little more turkey than was perhaps needed.

Don't get me wrong - I did say "a little" gain not a whole load. So don't freak out, keep steady and be healthy. Fast loss of fat is far less healthy than fast gain (although that's not too good for you itself).

One of the tools I have been using to help me keep a steady pace health wise is a product called Attain. It helps to keep me feeling full for the two hours before a meal. I'll be talking about this at some length this year so stand by for some hot tips on looking hot by the time the season is, well, hot.
Category: Online Stuff
Posted by: Matt
I've been using a new line of vitamins and all I can say is that they are most good. I've been feeling healthy and the waistline looks better than it has done in a long while.

In other news my blogs have been getting heavy spam for the phrase Oes Tsetnoc which is some sort of spamming contest. It's all very annoying.

The big Christmas fail point is upon us and I plan to have some solid health advice and videos for you over the next few months.
Category: Personal Progress
Posted by: Matt
I've been trying out a weight loss bar with some surprising results.

In part from my investigations ("Further Debunking the "Melaleuca Scam" Myth" and "Melaleuca - Not the scam I was told it was") I ended up on a road of events that landed me with a few free health goodies from Melaleuca Inc..

The bar in question is your basic cereal bar with yoghurt and nuts and so forth but it is designed to stop you craving food. I had three and used one each day at times when in all honesty I should have eaten something but didn't have time. Surprisingly they work really well.

I'm going to be getting some more of them.