The Diet Guy

The Day After

Well yesterday was a real milestone for me, it was my celebration of five years since I decided to trim down in weight, I never realised what a bumpy five years it would be but in all that time I have stayed at goal weight and never had to jump back onto a diet at any point. When I was losing weight I always talking about it being a one way journey and how determined I was to never regain the weight and play the yoyo lifestyle anymore that I had been doing since the age of 12.

I was really nervous yesterday and to go from someone who literally would never take his clothes off infront of anyone to going totally naked in front of total strangers in a photographic studio was something I was very proud of and I actually really enjoyed it (apart from maybe too much baby oil!)

I run a logic in life now of try anything once, if I don't like it then I won't do it again but if I do like it then I'll do it more and more. For me this was something I really loved doing and will go back an do some more shots on my ten year anniversary of being slim.

I did get a few mails last night asking if I will put up my full on photos and the answer is yes but I am waiting to get them from the photo studio, should be a couple of weeks but then I will post them all up.

 

5 Years Ago...

Five years ago my eating was out of control, I was a very big guy getting bigger by the month.

I then decided in September 2005 to do a diet and trimmed down 11.5 stone (161 pounds) in 20 weeks.

 
The day I finished the diet I decided never to diet again, never to obsess over food and to prove everyone wrong who said that people who are big are destined to regain all their weight. I dealt with the real reasons I overate and I have never touched a diet since then.

Big Mike would never get changed in a changing room, Big Mike never went swimming for fear of people looking at my belly and judging me, Big Mike was never seen with anything but a full set of clothes on !

Today I went and stripped off naked in a photo studio to show the world that it is possible to be big, get slim and then stay that way for years and years and years !

 

Slim And Happy

What do we mean by slim? What do we mean by happy? We say these diet words and terms and use them as if they are the same thing. But do we really understand what the concept of happy actually is? Or what slim actually means and feels like ?

What does slim have to do with happy and why does being happy depend so much on being slim first ?

Do we actually answer these questions before we go in search of the goals ? Or do we just have a traditional understanding that if you are slim you are by definition happier than any person out there with some weight to trim off ?

If you believe in a positive mindset, like I do, then you will realise that positive results attract more positive results and the more you believe in yourself and what you can do then suddenly you will start delivering more success and the more your realise you can achieve things then the more you will push yourself and go in search of the results you desire.

The results we all get though are dependant on many factors of which although a mindset is fundmentally simple our behaviours in life can be very complex and are based on top of our core beliefs and these can be very deeply buried and show themselves in very strange ways.

I was chatting with somebody today who couldn't make eye contact with me at all, eventually I asked them why and they said that they didn't like anyone looking into their eyes in case they saw through them, it was a fascinating chat as this person was incredibly good at singing and a very talented musician and I would like to have half the creativity they had but their core beliefs about themselves and self confidence really did need a boost.

Self confidence and low self esteem are of course linked but they are both based on the beliefs we have about ourselves and as beliefs are just a perception (I believe I cannot play the guitar and guess what!) then you can change those beliefs in the blink of an eye.

Some 5 years ago now I changed my belief that I couldn't be slim and went and got the prize I wanted, since then I believe that I am a slim person who doesn't need to diet or worry about food and therefore I stay slim and don't struggle with my weight. I speak to people all the time who have a belief about themselves that they will always have to diet and eat food suppliments to stay slim and therefore that is exactly what they do.

Therefore my advice for today is to really explore what you believe about yourself and if you don't like it then change the belief, you can be whoever you want to be, you can be slim, happy and play the guitar if you really want to.

Don't You Care What People Think ?

I went to a great 80's BBQ last night and it was a fancy dress. Now I hated fancy dress when I was big as I always struggled to find a costume and used to go as a ghost as it meant I could just put a sheet over my head !

But last night I went out and bought a Whoopee Cushing costume !

Now when I was there someone said to me that I looked really funny but didn't I care that some people may think I look stupid.

My answer was I couldn't care less what people think of me as my true friends will love me and like me whether I am wearing a silly 80's costume, a designer suit or a pair of pants !

And people who want to take the mickey out of me and say I look stupid aren't on my radar of things to let bother me and therefore it's not a problem.

So I had a great time ! I laughed all day and all evening and was even gladiating as a whoopee cushion !

Life is way too short to care what everyone else thinks about you!

Don't Quit Poem

Thanks to Claire for sending this to me.

Why Would They Solve It ?

I have a stinking head cold at the minute, I have felt really rough all week and feel worse today to the point I am laying in bed and just haven't got the energy to get up.

I was chatting with someone last night about flu/cold remedies and the fact I was drinking some ultra lemon drink with loads of different drugs in but that actually it wasn't making me feel much better.

They then said to me that it wasn't in the interest of the flu/cold drugs industry to fix the problem and make me better, because if they were to say cure the common cold, or create a pill which immediately made you feel better then the industry would go bust and they would lose millions and millions of pounds a year.

It reminded me of when I was a kid when I asked my Dad why they didn't make a lightbulb that didn't last forever and he said the same thing, why would they ?

Anyway my point is why would the diet industry look for a successful product that helped people trim down long term ? I have always taken the logic that if one person can get slim and stay slim without dieting then we all can but the more I look at the industry the more I realise it is not only designed for failure it relies on failure to be able to survive.

Therefore my advice to anyone is to do one more diet, just one ! get slim on it and then give up the dieting lifestyle, it has been nearly five years for me now and I haven't touched a formal diet since, and for that reason I don't obsess over food anymore and I don't beat myself up all the time.

Just remember who has your best interests at heart!

Inspiration For A Sunday Morning

Thanks to Claire for sending me this video link last night, a real inspirational video while having a cup of coffee on this raining yet gorgeous Sunday morning.