Weighting It All Up – An Update

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So about a month ago I posted this, where I said that I needed to sort out a few things. One of these things was to join the gym. Well after a month I finally got the money together to pay for a years membership in the Kingfisher in Renmore and with where I work I was entitled to a €100 discount so that was a real clincher for me.

Last Wednesday week I went to the slimming world meeting and after a week that I though had been OK, not have been over doing it on anything that I shoudn’t have, I was up 2lbs. I was disgusted with myself even to the point where I said to the poor lady who was wieghting me “ah, fuck this shit I’m fed up of it now and couldn’t be arsed anymore” and then stormed off. I was just so frustrated with it that needed to vent about it.

After this, the next 3 days where a disaster for any kind of weight loss. I ate and drank all around me. It was the Saturday evening after and I was sitting at home watching telly. While I was sat there eating subway, bags of sweets and an icecream,obviously still feeling sorry for myself, I got a phone call that I wasn’t expecting. It was Jackie, the group leader from slimming world. It was the best call that I had gotten all week. We chatted for only a short while, 10 – 15 mins, but Jackie talked me through where I was having problems and ways around them. So that was when I coped myself on. I was good from then on.

I went to group on Wednesday and decided that I was going to start the whole thing like I was brand new to the group. I went to the new members desk, sat in on the talk that explains the diet to you and even stayed to group, which I had only done once, the first week after I had started. I got weighted expecting to be up because of all the stuff I had in the few days after my strop, and I was. I was up 1.5lbs. Back to my original starting weight.

So with a fresh mind on it, a new year long gym membership, I am all set and ready to go. I have been very good over the last few days, have been to the gym 3 times this week already with my goal of getting to the gym a minimum of 3 times each week I would say that I am off to a flying start.

I am working on creating the new page to track my weight loss and hope to have it up within the next week, it will have a tracker sheet on it that will show my progress, even over the last few months so that you can see where I was going and where I am going.

I have set a goal, which I think is very achievable, to have lost a stone before my sisters wedding on the 17th of November, which is 6 weeks from yesterday. So that means that I need to loose the stone by the Wednesday before so that it registers on the scale at the slimming world group.

So from here it’s onwards and downwards, on the scale that is.

Mike

Weighting It All Up

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Being fit and healthy should be at the top of every bodies list. Your health is your wealth. Without it, life could be miserable, just look at the recent case in the UK where Tony Nicklinson who suffered with locked-in syndrome and requested to die due to such bad health. I do realize that this is an extreme case and is out of context here, but it gets my point across about your health being your wealth.

What I’m referring to here is weight loss. There are many cases, particularly in the good old US of A, where people have become so over weight that they are confined to their beds. One case was so bad that when the guy had to go to the hospital for obvious health reasons, they had to take a wall out from the side of the house in order to get him out. Again another example of your health is your wealth but this time this case is a bit closer to home. I’ve always struggled with my weight. I’ve tried this diet, that diet and the other diet. Some with a bit of success and others not so. The main reason that any diet does or doesn’t work is completely down to the individual themselves in most cases, although I do realise that there are other reasons why some people can’t loose the weight such as thyroid glands. For others though this does ask the questions, what is their level of motivation? What is the reasons behind it and are they willing to commit themselves to a restricted diet and an exercise regime that may be tasking, depending on their level of fitness.

What is my motivation? I have a few reasons that would motivate me to loose weight. The very obvious one is, as I said in the first two paragraphs, health. Being overweight can lead to a number of different health risks, which goes without saying really but the two that I fear the most are diabetes and heart problems. You always hear of over weight people having heart attacks in there 30′s, 40′s and 50′s and this to me is way too young an age to be suffering from the effects of a heart attack. Preferably I’d love to never suffer from a heart attack. So loose the weight, lower my cholesterol and reduce my risk of heart attack.

Diabetes is a dieses that nobody wants. Having to constantly watch your sugar intake, your insulin levels and being very careful with what you eat or drink, just think of those delicious chocolate bars that you can’t have or those refreshing pints that you crave. If you are good at watching all of these things then you won’t really have a problem, but what happens if you don’t monitor these things. Gangrene, amputations, I think, I’ll stop there.

Another motivation to loose weight is how I look. Everybody is concise of how they look. For me it’s about being able to wear clothes that I like without having to find a t-shirt that doesn’t make me look like I’m pregnant or hiding a football up my top. Then there is the other side of it. Seeing a top or pants that I like and not having to worry if they have a size big enough to fit me. Particularly pants, ever hear of “builders bum”? It’s not pretty!

So what do I need to do next? Well, I have been part of a sliming club all summer and to my shame and embarrassment, I have not really been following it perfectly if at all and it comes as a waste of my time going to the meetings, a waste of the peoples time there and a waste of money by paying the weekly fee. So the first thing I need to do is plain and simple, JUST STICK TO THE FUCKING THING!!!

So that is the diet part sorted. What’s next? The exercise. A gym I hear you say? Indeed!! This is my next move. I only need a gym with exercise equipment and some weights also as I have found in the past that gyms with pools, saunas, steam rooms, etc are all just a distraction to the purpose of my going to the gym.

So my check list:

  • Buy food for diet
  • Join gym
  • Stick to diet
  • Go to Gym

Simple right?

We’ll soon find out. I will write a post with my current stats, i.e., weight and measurements and will post them to the blog, I may even create a page where you can follow my progress if you like. Nothing like making all of this public to encourage me to do well, otherwise I would feel embarrassed to be publishing posts each week where I hadn’t been to the gym or ate and drank all around me.

Wish me luck.

Mike

P.S. This is part of the 101 in 1001, Get Fit

101 in 1001 Revival

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So as I said in my last post, I don’t blog that often and as a result the 101 in 1001 has been neglected and completely fallen to the way side. It needs a complete review and overhaul. Some of the goals are still relevant and will more than likely be kept while others will be scratched off the list.

Finding 101 things to complete in 1001 days can be a double edged sword. It can sound like a lot of things in such a short space of time but also depending on what your goals are it may seem like such a little amount in such a long period of time.

The best way to go about this would be to review the previous list.

  1. Donate Blood.
  2. Random Acts of Kindness.
  3. Get Fit.
  4. Bake Bread.
  5. Bake an Apple Pie.
  6. Identify 100 things that make me Happy.
  7. Loans
  8. Become Vegetarian for a week.
  9. Learn a Computer Language.
  10. Learn to speak a new language.
  11. Go see an F1 Grand Prix.
  12. Read 20 books.
  13. Save 10 euro for every goal I achieve.
  14. Learn to play the piano.

The first goal, donate blood, is going to have to be scrapped unless they change soon as they will not take blood from a gay person. So this rules me out for a blood donation and strikes the goal from the list.

The second goal, random acts of kindness, will also probably have to be scrapped too due to the fact that how can I prove to anyone that I have committed a random act of kindness without boasting about it and that, I feel, would just defeat the purpose.

The third goal is still very much a viable option, get fit, and God knows I need to start somewhere and sometime soon. So this is being kept for the new list.

The fourth goal, bake bread, is being kept as it was something that I always wanted to do and I actually have done just look here, and I will do again but this time I want to add a bit more to it that just baking bread but I haven’t decided yet as to what that will be. Watch this space I guess.

The fifth goal, bake an apple pie, is being kept also. I didn’t complete it yet so I want to make an alteration to this goal. It does not have to be apple pie, it can be any kind of pie, pastry or dessert that I feel like really. Will let you all know what it will be when I decided that too.

The sixth goal, identify 100 things that make me happy, is being kept. I do already have one thing identified here, but I am going alter it slightly to just identify things that make me happy as I feel trying to quantify it would just lead to me posting about thinks just to satisfy the number required, whereas this way I will be posting about thing that actually make me happy.

The seventh goal, loans, is going to have to stay. Clear my loans. It says it all really.

The eight goal,become a vegetarian for a week, is staying. Although I have not made a proper attempt at this, I still think that I can do it. So it stays.

The ninth goal, learn a computer language, is staying and if any of you really know me, you will know that I’m all about computers and am currently learn computer languages.

The tenth goal, learn to speak a new language, I will also be keeping. I did start to learn Spanish but due to lack of use I have forgotten most of it, so I will have to take out my notes, brush up and look into furthering my knowledge of the language.

The eleventh goal, go see an F1 Grand Prix, will be staying for sure. This is non-negotiable.

The twelfth goal, read 20 books, was originally added in order to encourage me to read more books. I love reading but finding the time to do so is sometimes a bit more difficult and therefore by adding this to the lit will get me to sit down and actually read some books in order to satisfy the list.

The thirteenth goal, save €10 for every goal I achieve, is going to stay, what an easy way to save money really!!!

The last goal on the current list, learn to play the piano, is staying. I have always loved the sound of the piano but never really devoted the time to it. Recently I was given a few lessons on it and I found it easy to follow the lessons but I never really got the chance to practice properly. This one will take time.

Naturally I will be adding to the list over time, once I decide what the other items are that I want to achieve I shall add them to the list. So for the moment, watch this space.

Mike

A Civil Day.

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I love having a blog, the only problem is that I never blog, well very rarely. I always think that I have nothing to blog about, but when I think about it I do have quite a lot to blog about. This being a personal blog I should be blogging about my life, my thoughts and any experiences I encounter in my life.

So this post is about the events of the last few days. It all circles around a big event in anybodys life. I got hitched. My partner Freddie and I took the plunge. Being that this is Ireland there is no gay marriage so we had a civil ceremony which now makes us civil partners, but this is another post for another day. Anyway, this is a very big step for anyone to take. So what made me decide to do it? It would be very hard to pin it to one reason only, although there are a few different reasons, there are also somethings that stick out more than others.

Mike and Fred Celebrating their big day.

He’s always there! Any time something is wrong, I know I can go and tell him what is on my mind, what is wrong, what has happened. Although sometimes he may not have the answer for me it certainly helps to have someone there to talk to about it, even if he doesn’t have the answer for me he may say or do something that could help.

He’s fun and full of life. It is very rare that he is not up for doing something different or fun. I know myself I can be quiet and just want the easy life and have a coffee and do nothing too strenuous with the day, but I know if I feel like doing something different and exciting with my time he’s the guy to go to.

The easiest one to list is the one that should be obvious to anyone really, because I love him. I know this without a shadow of doubt in my heart. I know that he is the one whose face is the last I want to see at night and the first that I want to see in the morning. The one that I want to be there for when he needs me to be. It makes me want to spend the rest of my life with him and I am not embarrassed saying this as it is how I feel.

We had our big day on Friday morning the 17th of August. It was a very small affair with only 13 people at the ceremony itself, but this is what we wanted. Just family and a few very close friends. That morning thought there was a bit of a rush to get there as the letter informing us of how the ceremony would proceed stated that we had to be there 15 minutes early. We got there with 2 mins to spare but the registrar herself was late and didn’t get there until after the allotted time. Despite all our rush, the ceremony was over in a flash. It took at the most 15 mins and that was it we were “married”.

There were tears shed, more noticeable were the ones from my mother who started when the registrar only said to sit down and that was it, my mother was off. The problem here is that when my mother starts it hits me too, so no matter how hard I tried to hold the tears back, they came. During the ceremony as the vows were being made, both Freddie and I shed a tear also.

Afterwards we travelled to renville park to take a few photos to remember the day by. The photos were of course taken by the one and only Clive Mulvey, so Clive being as a good a photographer as he is and being the one with the vision we followed his direction in order to get the perfect snaps, which did get us a little mud on our feet. Once the photos were taken it was back to the hotel for a meal for all. I have to say that the dinner was really nice and hats off to the Oyster hotel in Oranmore for doing a great job and being very accommodating to us.

The big day itself was all over and done with by 2pm. A four hour wedding. Sounds good doesn’t it? We saved the best part for the next day. Saturday night was the big party. We booked a party room in the cottage bar in Salthill and once the guests started to arrive the party really got under-way. Between family and friends we had quiet a crowd there. In fact we didn’t have enough room in our room, some of the crowd had to spill out in the the main bar area. Not ideal really, but unfortunately there was not much more we could do. Afterwards of course was the house party hosted by myself. Since I had rented lights for the DJ in the Cottage bar, I was able to take them home with me and had them set up so that when people arrived there was music and lights there too.

The end result was a messy apartment, a few sore heads around Galway city and county but most importantly two happily married people.

Hello Strangers

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Ok, so I’m the stranger here. Yes it has been a while. The last post was this back in September. Which saw my unsuccessful attempts at making bread in an earnest attempt to be to make something from nothing. It was also something from the list and in so doing I have knocked another item off the list. Even if progress is a bit slow on the list.

It’s been three months since I last posted. Honestly I would prefer to post more often but just don’t set the time aside for it really. I was orginally going to make this one big long post about the last few months but I think a better idea would be to set aside a few different post to dedicate to each topic, like my trip to Hong Kong, which should be a lenghty post as there are plenty of pictures to post and things to talk about.
Right now is time to get ready for the Christmas period. Work is over until the new year, shopping is nearly completed and the wrapping to commence, not to forget the amount of drink to be consumed, which begins tonight and will continue for the next few days. Out with friends, work colleagues and family at home.
So i’ll sign off here and wish all of you the merrist of Christmasses.
Mike.

Not So Freshly Baked Bread!!

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Some of you may remember the list that I created in October last year, The 101 in 1001 list. Well It’s been lying idle for some time now. There are somethings that I have done recently that should have been added to this list at the start but I never realized it and some stuff that I am about to do that should be added to it. I just don’t know if adding after I have them done are just before I am about to them is right. The thing is, they are big things and things that should be added to the list. Some advise on these would be great if anyone wants to give some. Thanks.

Well onto the main topic of this post. Item number 4 on my list was to bake bread, well, viola, it is done, almost. I went at this my usual way, without proper planning. Ever heard the phrase, “Fail to plan, plan to fail”? Well this probably would have went a lot easier if I had planned it correctly. I did manage to make to loafs of bread.

First I got most of my ingredients, “most”, see a problem? I got the flour, self raising, some raisins, just to add something to it. A new baking dish and some grease proof paper, which from years of watching my mother bake Christmas cakes annually I though that I would need. See the picture below for when I though things where going smoothly, i.e., before I even started.

 

 

 

Cooking ingredients and equipment on the cooker

And so I got started. I mixed the flour with some milk and created my dough. The whole time not anyway near sure if I had the mix right. I done a lot of guess work with it I created a great big mess, see below!!

That picture makes it look like I knew what I was doing. Do not in anyway be fooled by this. I was, still am, a complete novice. Still this shall not deter me. I plan another go at it very soon. I have to admit, I did make two goes of this. The first loaf. I put grease proof paper in the pan and when it came out the paper was all stuck to it. The next time I didn’t use any because the pan was “non-stick”. That was a mistake. I had to pry the loaf from the pan with a knife!!

You can see below the final results. It was tasty, but not completely ate.

After having written this post I realized that I actually blogged about baking bread!!

I think I just really out-gayed myself!!

Mike.

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong

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So, for those of you that don’t know,I am heading to Hong Kong in 4 weeks time to meet up with my boyfriend, Frederick, who has been over there since the end of June (yes, yes, I know the question that you are dying to ask, being that he is asian, so of course he can catch flys with chopsticks!!). When the visit is over I plan on packing him into my suit case and dragging him back to Ireland with me. Luckily enough, it won’t come to this as his flights are already booked to return to Ireland, the same ones as I. It’s true what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

There are a few plans already made for when I am there. A visit to Bangkok in Thailand to visit both DJTonic and the newly breasted Jenny Winsiri. Visit the scene there, which from what I have heard is meant to be fantastic. With hosts like Tonic and Jenny I’m sure we won’t be dissappointed, no pressure guys ;)

Another place that we plan to visit is called Macau, which I am told is the asian version of Las Vagas, Viva Macau!!! I had never heard of Macau before until Freddie mentioned it.

While in Hong Kong some of the places that I plan on visiting are listed below in the links, click each link to get more details of each.

“Bats at Wetlands” Exhibition

Hong Kong Mid-autumn Festival

The Peak

Victoria Harbour

Disney Land Kong Kong (Yes, you read that correctly, it’s the child in me)

I will be in that part of the world for 3 weeks. I was also hoping to see the Singapore Grand Prix as it is on the first week end that I am there, but I will have to see what the story is with funds.

So the next 4 weeks cannot go fast enough for me as you can probably imagine.

Mike

Book Review: 61 Hours by Lee Childs

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Book No.1.

I started reading this book in mid 2010 and for some reason put it down again. I couldn’t remember the reason that I put it down. So when I came across it at the start of the year again I decided that I’d give it another go.

61 Hours

Image by CraigGrocott via Flick

The problem was that I was I quickly reminded why I hadput it down. I found that the start of the book was quite slow to get started and didn’t seem like it had much momentum. I wasn’t connecting with the characters in any way at all. If I’m reading a book it is important to me that I feel something towards a character, be it hate, love, admiration, etc. I need to connect.

I had to work, which at some points seemed like a little too much for a novel, but once I got passed the first four chapters before I then started to feel something towards the main character of the book. He was someone that would have to grow on you and read more about in order to “get” him.

When we finally get into the town where the main part of the book is based it is then that we are starting to see the aspects of the book that would keep me gripped and wanting to read more. I saw things that made me ask why? They started to come quick and fast. It got to the stage that on the Sunday evening when I finished the novel I spent 8 hours straight, without interruption, turning page after page just to get to the end because I had to find out and know what was going on and what was about to happen.

In the end I had changed my mind about the book. I had gone from thinking that it was boring and slow to thinking that it was gripping, page turning and so full of action that I had to spend 8 hours straight just to get to the end.

I would advise this as a read to anyone. Just make sure to give it time before you put it down after the first chapter or two.

Mike

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Something New For The List

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Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been thinking about a few new items to add to the 101 in 1001 list. Some of them actually make sense, some them are a good thing to do and others may seem pointless but I want them on there all for their own separate reasons.

The first one, which would be the good thing. Read 20 books in the 1001 days. I like to read a lot, but lately I just don’t seem to have the time or never take the time to pick up a book. It was only last week that I again got the chance to pick up a book and start reading and it occurred to me during the week that I should make more time to read and what better way to make sure I do take time to read than to put it on the list. I am currently on my first book of the 20, Lee Childs 61 hours. I’ll post a blog review of this when I have it read, which won’t be long more now, over half way through it now.

The next on the list is the one that makes perfect sense. For every goal I knock off the list I am going to put 10 euros into a savings tin. So when I have the list completed, I will have saved 1010 euros. IT can go to paying bills, loans or just to buy myself something nice. :)

The third one doesn’t really make much sense and is kind of pointless, but I always wanted to do it and love the sound of it when used to play music. Learn the piano. It might not be of much use to me but it would be nice to be able to play an instrument. I can see myself sitting down some day and just playing music that I can enjoy and relax to.

As part of the 101 in 1001 I have also added a new page for it. It shows my list, what I have done, what I have not done and what is currently in progress. So these are three more to add to the list.

Laters,

Mike.

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She’s Packing.

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I’ve decided that I’m finally going to part with my dearly beloved. Yes you’ve read that right. It’s time for us to split, to go our own ways. It’s not without a heavy heart that I say goodbye as she was the first one that I could genuinely call smart. Yes there where times when she was groggy and grumpy or full of fun and excitement, but we all have our moments. Yes indeed, it is time to say goodbye to my HTC Hero.

She was my first smartphone and I loved it from the first moment I opened the box. The knowledge that was at my fingertips any time I wanted it, or just to surf the net, read my facebook updates or spend ages trawling through my twitter feed and of course the hours spent playing Angry Birds (curse of a game if you ask me).

So what’s next on the cards? It can only be the HTC Ace Desire HD. “What’s so special about this phone Michael?” I hear you aks. Well lets see:

Screen: 4.3″
Processor: 1GHz
756 MB of RAM,
1.5 GB internal memory,
8 Megapixel camera,
720p HD Video recording,

Want to know more just visit the HTC webiste or watch the video below:

 

 

Jealous much? :)

Mike

 

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