Dud3s

Well, I'm one of those post-university fatties. 6' 4" and about 21 stones (133kg). Throughout uni i've gone up and down from 18 to 21, 18 was when I trained for a half marathon in 2005. It's come to the point where I realise (not the first time), that you can't find clothes to fit, and when you do you either look like you're wearing a bra or skin tight hot pants.

So, the solution, sign up for another half marathon in september '07 and begin cross-training for 3 hours, 5 times a week for the 4 months over summer. I have 4 months off before starting a PhD so it's best to be productive because I won't get another opportunity.

What I do (I already started :( ) is get up at 8, instantly have a couple of bananas and an apple and a pint of water. Sit down or prepare my gear untill 9 so the food rests and won't give me stitch. Then:

-Set off cycling for an hour at 9,
-get home at 10 and immediately start running to the local horse race track (2.5 miles around). Run round there a few times within an hour and then run to the swimming pool.
-Swim for 30-60 mins in the pool to relax the muscles and take a breather. (but still swimming enough to burn calories). Then walk back home (15 mins).

As soon as I get back I eat lunch which is a tuna salad (tuna, salad :s, cottage cheese and a bit of pasta). I eat straight away so the protein gets in to the muscles to prevent minor damage.

You might think this is too much or too little, but this is what I'm doing and as long as you're determined enough to lose weight and you can put up with the boredom of running, you'll be fine. When I did this last year I lost a stone in the first 1.5 weeks, and carried on losing untill I was at 18 stone within 1.5 months.

You have to be safe though. Over doing it and not eating enough can damage your body. So if you can't physically manage the long training times, reduce by 50% and aim to get to 100% within two weeks.

I'll put it this way, if a 21 stone man can do all this and he's unfit, someone just as big or small can. It all comes down to your mindset and determination. I don't many of each because I'm naturally lazy, but there are factors like the tight clothes, job interviews, self-confidence and so on that will boost everything. Oh, one thing I have learnt from experience, confidence. Confidence is probably THE number one positive factor you will need and use after you lose a certian amount of weight. It's not ego, it's just self-belief and being happy. After I lose the 1st stone, something clicks and you no longer think about the training or the eating plans, you just do it and you pretty much shine and everyone can tell.

For the thin people reading this, you have to have been in our (me and similar people) position to fully understand, but adversely a thin person gaining muscle will work the same (if that's what they want, most people living near me are skinny and try to be big). Weird really, small aim to be big and big aim to be small. Where's the mid point :S .

Anyways, feel free to comment