The first of these changes has been the elimination of a large percentage of the unhealthy beverages from my diet. In the first week I have seen a significant reduction in the amount of coffee I am consuming. I have replaced it, except the morning cob web cleaner, with an organically grown Rooibos tea. Rooibos is an African tea made from the Rooibos bush. It is great tasting tea and is much the same taste as you standard Lipton from the supermarket, but I enjoy it more. For those of us that drink Lipton Ice Tea it is the tea in the Red Tea variety.

On the Red Tea ice tea I am using that and water to replace the consumption of soft drinks and energy drinks. I still have to odd soft drink, but am choosing Coke Zero or Sprite Zero. I can not stomach the Diet varieties with the exception of good old Bundaberg Ginger Beer. The others taste like strained compost, but less healthy to consume.

On the diet front I have been eating much healthier. We have all been eatting healthier with much more cooking going on within the home, which is fantastic. When it was not practical for us to cook I have been opting for a healthier option in a six inch six grams of fat or less Subway sandwich with no dressing. I have also walked to the store to obtain my sandwich so am getting exercise just getting my bodies fuel.

As documented in the A Change is as Good as a Holiday post we have been looking, and found, some new digs. This lead to a celebration on Friday night of Chinese food at our favourite, soon not to be, local restaurant. I restrained myself rather well, certainly much more than I normally would.

I have also managed to introduce a regular walking regime into my routine. I went for a 20 minute walk which quickly stepped up to 30 minutes. Then all of a sudden I was walking for an hour or more. Since the last of those big walks it has rained pretty much solid and limited my regime. Tonight was the first night that it has not rained, and as luck would have it work got busy and confined me to home. Also, I had to pack and clean the house.

This week is going to be a bit of a loss in terms of organised exercise, however incidental exercise will increase. We will be moving a lot of our belongings from Thursday, hence I will be quite active moving boxes, fridges and couches for the weekend. I expect that will compensate for the loss of some of the organised exercise. I will be compensating from next week though I expect as I will be keen to explore the new area.

So now you no doubt want to know what all that has achieved. Well I have managed to increase muscle mass and stamina for sure. I have also dropped 7 kilos to 137.4 kilograms (302.915 pounds). So I am a stilly definately a fatty, however I believe I have made the crucial first steps in becoming a much leaner and meaner individual. Only time will tell.

I was not surprised I have been around this mark for ages. Briefly before Christmas I broke through 140 kgs, but Christmas being as it is I am now back above that mark. For some reason converting it to pounds has proven an eye opener and is a further driver for this old tub of lard to get up and do something about it.

The strategy begun at the beginning of the week with the reduction of coffee in my diet. It has been directly replace by copious amounts for cool fresh water. Courtesy of my 1.5 litre Grolsch bottle I can easily gauge my consumption. On the first day of implementing the strategy I drank 2 cups of coffee and 4 litres of water. Yesterday I drank 1 cup of coffee and 5 litres of water. Today, with 6 hours left I have consumed 1 cup of coffee and 2.5 litres of water. I expect that by days end I will be around 4.5 litres today. I am already feeling better about drinking water and have noticed that the cotton mouth I usually get is on the decline.

I also have cut back on the intake. Last night the meal was Spaghetti Bolognaise. Now I am not a fan of the dish, but would normally consume at least a second helping. Last night I consciously decided that i had eatten enough after one helping. Later in the night I did have a munch on a bread roll and some of the remnants of a Christmas cake, but I would have done that normally anyway. I am now reteaching myself that one portion is enough and that I do not have to consume it because it is there. That is primarily how I have gotten into the beach ball shape I am today.

Healthier and leaner alternatives have also been introduced to my diet. The first such alternative replaces butter and margarine from being spread on my bread. I never used to have it on the bread, however started to again in line with the rest of the family. So instead of butter or margarine I am going to be having nothing or avocado. Avocado is one thing I used to despise, but after being with socko and trying it I find I quite like it, so much so that I am going to try and grow my own.

I have never been a breakfast consumer, bad I know, and that is something that I will be endeavouring to change over the coming days. I am planning to go with Up and Go which has been recommended to us by a dietician in the past. It is a milk based drink that contains the equivalent of a serving of Weet Bix. So it is healthy and low in the GI scales. I was almost being good in its consumption last year, but have fallen back into old habits. It is now time to shatter those habits.

There has also been the conscious avoidance of naughty food that if consumed now will simply end this. For example, my niece is staying over night and went to Sugar Fix today. Sugar Fix is a candy store that gets a lot of overseas candy in, primarily from the US. My niece has literally been falling over herself to share her goodies, which does make me proud, however I have had to turn her down flat each time. I know that if I have one I will have a hundred, and thus defeat the purpose of this challenge.

Exercise has also begun. Last night I begun with a brisk 15 minute walk around the local streets with my iPod pumping the tunes. Whenever a slow tune came on it got skipped to keep me moving briskly. Yes I know that sounds corny but it worked. On the length of the walk I know it does not sound like much, but when I am used to do nothing at all it is an infinite improvement. In fact last night it was so late that I could have quite easily skipped it, but I didn’t. I also managed to score a nice garden pot and a perspex container to use as a mini hot house from the imminent council cleanup.

Today, I sacrificed my lunch break and went for a 30 minute walk around the streets in the next suburb. As it was 27 degrees C in Sydney today I managed to get the heart rate up. I actually intended to go for a 20 minute walk, but the route I took was untravelled previously and had a couple of long steady inclines. I thought that was great and will be going that way again for sure. Also, as a bounty on this run I collected about 6 pots that were being scrapped on the council cleanup. I intend going for another walk a bit later in the evening when it has cooled down a bit.

I will also be getting my bike out later and cleaning the spider webs off of it. I also need to fix the brakes on sockos’ push bike so that she has some. We will then begin riding around the neighbourhood aswell. Probably also with my sister tagging along and my Mum on her tricycle when its modified. It will be a pleasure going around as a family, although that will mean the iPod being left at home.

By no means am I on the complete road to gaining control over the blubber that is my belly, but I have made a promising start. I now need to maintain the momentum for a few months and ensure that the current activity is not in vain. Thanks again to the Go Smell The Flowers crew for giving me that final nudge to take action. Also, many thanks to all the kind commenters that have stopped by so far.

So I am in the contest to win a 7 nights stay for 2 in a hotel. Now whilst the prize is attractive it is my goal to use this contest as a crucible to make a true lifestyle change in much the same way that I have embraced gardening. I will be counting on my fiancee to support me in the quest to become fitter for life.

Last night I said goodbye to one of my favourite, but terribly unhealthy, convenience foods. The store bought pizza. I thus tonight consumed my last store bought pizza for the next few months. Even then I made a healthier decision in cooking my own rather than order from a plastic pizza parlour. I decided on a rather nice Papa Guiseppi’s Chicken and Corn. It was scrumptious, but will be the last one I consume for many months.

I assure you that I have a fair chunk of spare blubber to lose at the moment and as from tomorrow I shall be beginning a regular exercise campaign of a walk around the neighbourhood. I will indeed be out smelling the flowers and shedding the spare kilograms.

I am looking forward to the challenge!