Nevertheless, my last post on September 1st recorded a weight of 15st 5. I weighed myself late on Sunday night and it said 14st 12. That’s quite an impressive loss in weight given I haven’t actually made that much of an effort. I did for the first few days, I ate healthily, but a midweek trip to see a friend and a lot of alcohol consumed led to a temporary dip (again). Following this, we’ve got some popcorn and crisps bookending a trip to family member who made me a fibre-filled pancake that went right through me.

Whatever happened, it is welcome. My routine is back on tomorrow as I am unemployed still, and with no other commitments – early mornings, protein and plenty of walks. Let’s see where I can be on Sunday.

I moved house, outside of London, which is half the reason I stopped blogging and eating healthy. The other half is that I have a short attention span, and in my last week at work I drank to excess. Now I am home, it is September 1st and I am going to get moving.

I am 15stone 5, and currently unemployed. This gives me license to laze around, but also means I can control what and when I eat like I haven’t before. No longer restricted by an office. Unemployment is, in honesty, the optimum condition for weight loss.

This is me today:

My target of 1600 is calculated according to my ‘sedentary’ lifestyle. Basically, sitting around, not exercising, just walking about like a normal person. No effort made. 1600kcl at this point would result in weight loss of 1lb per week, if I stick to my targets. Obviously, given my unemployment, it would be wise to perhaps get more exercise so I have even more ‘negative calories’ – the difference between intake and output.

So I’m off for a walk. Cheerio.

5.49 miles later (a detour to the supermarket to get cottage cheese and yoghurt), I arrived at my front door. On the way, I had a Veggie Delight Subway Sandwich. Now, I know Subway is fast food, but this is just a baguette filled with salad. It’s not toasted, not dripping in cheese or processed meat. Just salad, tomato, onions, peppers. So, not bad. Well into good net calorie intake. Only, I arrive home, and my friend calls – he’s bored, wants to go eat somewhere.

Well, Ok I say. But I’ve eaten and I won’t have much, just a starter or a salad. About 2 hours later, I’m fork deep in Diablo Pasta, putting back into me the 700 calories I burned off walking home. Whoops.

Thank god for the walk.

Calorie intake wise, I’ll have done about the same as if I was to have got public transport home and sat on my backside eating snacks, crisps and rubbish all night – as I do a lot. So, no (extra) harm done.

But I shall try not to have 2 dinners too often.

I’m a vegetarian. I am a male vegetarian.

For over 10 years now, I have not eaten meat. No hot dog has crossed my lips, no burger has crossed my thoughts. For a time I ate some fish (last year) due to a lack of protein. This stopped when I got a fishbone stuck in my throat.

So there we have it. I am an overweight, male vegetarian. My diet is terrible and mainly consists of hydrogenated fat, but this is what I am trying to change. Evolution from a diet that is high in carbohydrates (pasta, potatoes) to one that is high in protein (green veg, eggs). This is not easy. Take away carbs from a vegetarian and that is most of our stock food. You do not have a varied diet of eggs and quorn, but I suppose I do not have a varied diet of crisps and pizza at the moment.

So here is the difficulty. It is becoming a known truth that you are more successful at losing weight when you eat more protein. It is harder to digest and keeps you full for longer. I know this works from my own experience last year, when I went for a couple of months eating scrambled eggs for breakfast each day. I would then be full from 7:30 until midday or 1pm, depending on when my lunch was due.

However, when I ate cereal at work at about 8:30, my hunger would return at around 11, 11:30. Eggs are Gods food in many ways. And I go out of my way to eat none. So I suppose that must change.

But how easy is it to have a varied vegetarian diet when you are restricting your carbohydrates? The answer.. is not.

I like blogging. I have done blogs on politics, on sport, and on my personal life to a pretty superficial level. The reason is I find it hard to open up to anyone about things that genuinely trouble me, or my insecurities. Blogging can give you a way to talk, either in conversation or as a megaphone, and can give you the veil of anonymity to discuss things that usually wouldn’t get discussed.

That is the reason for my new blog, and it shall stay anonymous to my friends, and for all intents and purposes, to everyone. This is because I won’t be using my real name, or giving too many details of who I am. I’m just more comfortable this way. This enables me to really talk about things.

So where to start? I’ll say this much. I am 25 years old, I am British and I am male. I am overweight by at least 3 stone and I have various medical conditions in a sensitive area that I’ve known about for at least 2 years and haven’t dealt with. This blog is going to chart my attempts at keeping a food diary, losing weight, and setting my life in some sort of order.

I do this for a couple of reasons. Now that I am 25, I feel the pressure of actually doing something productive with my life, and acting like an adult. In doing this, it is surely important to start taking care of myself in a way that I have never done. Through laziness more than anything. The need to get out of bad and lazy habits is heightened now I am in a serious, but long distance relationship.

Someone once said ‘self improvement is masturbation. self destruction is the answer’. I like to think they both achieve the same end.

No, I haven’t watched the film lately.

I hope to use this blog to connect with others who are trying to lose weight or to better themselves in some way, to offer support and try to motivate myself to stay on course. Updates will be frequent.