back to work....

Hi All,

Well today I started my work week, Drove the steam engine all day, LOVED IT! been missing it a bit of late because of a sore back and then track work, So it was my first full day in about 3 weeks!

I've been trying very hard today to be good and watch what I eat, will I started OK, had a 30 minute walk after dropping wife off at her work at 7am and before going to my work, but after that it's all been down hill and getting faster and faster. I'll have to be better tomorrow (MMmm... seems like I say THAT all the time now!)

Weight today: 127.95kg

Jeff

My Sunday (which is Saturday)

Hi All,

Well it's my Sunday today, it's Saturday for everybody else, but I start my work week on Sunday. Wife and myself went to town today, yes we got a Playstation 2, we also got a 2nd hand controller, ABBA singstar bundle (mic's & music) and a game for me, total $298! We researched the best prices we could get the stuff for and then went to the local Noel Leemings shop and asked if they could much those prices.... they DID! we saved about $40 all up & got 11 Flybuys points too!

It's the 2nd time that Noel Leemings has match a competitors price, first time we got a new still camera, Noel leeming price $599, competitors price $290, yep that's right Noel leeming dropped their price $300 to make the sale! you just can not complain about service like that at all, which is why we went back today to buy the Playstation 2. We also made sure we used the same sales lady as her service and salesmanship are 1st class.

What else today? we braved the local discount shop on a Saturday morning, it was mad, but you just know it's not that bad yet as it's still over 3 weeks till Christmas. We then spent the best part of 4 hours spring cleaning the flat, now looks much better then before!

Today's weight was another shocker, but only because it went down about .6 of a Kg!

It's now 127.65kg! after all that over eating yesterday I was sure it was going to go the other way!

Jeff

half the weekend gone...

Hi All,

Will half of my weekend is already gone and what have I done with it?

VERY LITTLE! that's what!

Wife and myself had a look around town this morning, we are trying to get in to the Christmas shopping, but we're not in the Christmas shopping mood yet, so it was a bust! mind you we did have a look at a Playstation 2, we may just get it for both of us, singstar for wife and something like GT 4 for me....

On the weight front, bad bad bad day for eating Way to much, guess I'll pay for it sometime soon...

The weight this morning was 128.30kg :(

Jeff

End of the working week

Hi All,

Well it's the end of my week today, means a lay in bed tomorrow and then a bit of a lazy day, Saturday the wife and I will have to do all our normal stuff like cleaning the house and doing washing before returning to work on Sunday. Today at work was good, but the work was hot, heavy and just plain hard on the body, which means it SHOULD be good for the body and the weight!

Today's weight was 128.10, better, but not good!

Wife and myself have just been watching a TV documentary called "half ton hospital" it was about people that have major problem in controlling their weight some of them were up around 50 stone! It started us talking about my weight and how my wife fears for me and whats me to lose weight and be healthy for her and any kids we may have.... I what that too, but HOW do I do it?

my weight has been a long term problem for me, how long? about 34 years out of the 40 I have lived so far! as I have got older I have got bigger.... as I have said in a older post, 3 years ago I got off my back side and got to the gym and got help with my eating, because of that I went from 148kg to 101kg, but then because of major life changes I have let it slip and bit by bit I have put 27kg back on. I KNOW that it's not good and has started to have an affect on my health and I REALLY what to lose the weight again but for now my will power isn't up to it....

I NEED somebody to stand beside me, help me and encourage me to do the right things, Wife does, but sometimes when I need it the most she isn't there but at work, I also know that in the very end the ONLY one that can help me is ME! I know that it's wrong to come home from work and have a snack before tea, I know at work I SHOULD NOT have that chocolate biscuit etc

In the end it comes down to one little fact.....

I AM DOING IT TO MYSELF AND ONLY I CAN STOP IT!

Jeff

That tomorrow....

Hi All,

Well today is yesterdays tomorrow.... and the weight this morning was 128.20kg, not as bad as yesterday which is good! means I dropped 0.7kg in 24 hours! I had a good day, went for a power walk after dropping the wife at work at 7am, I had a half hour that I managed to do the walk in before I had to come home and get ready to go to my work for the day.

My work was good today, I was using the wacker to pack up the railway track sleepers, so using that wacker in it's self is a good workout! guess it should help the weight tomorrow, that and the diet is about the best it's been all week!

Specking of the wife, I seem to feel in love with her more every day! there isn't a day goes past without me thinking how lucky we are to be together and how lucky I am that I have her and that she loves me so much! when I look back at all the things that could have gone wrong in the 2 years that we dated long distance, I'm amazed that we got through it all...

And you know what? from the day I frist held her in my arms and looked into her beautiful eyes, I could not have wished for or found a more perfect love!

Jeff

A shocking day.....

Hi All,

Well today I got out of bed and onto the scales like I normally do, only to find out I had put on 1.3kg in a day? (today's weight 128.95) I mean HOW do you put on 1.3kg in a day? Ok my eating wasn't 100% good yesterday, but still should not have been that much! there are 2 reasons I can come up with for the huge gain....

1) I did drink lots of water yesterday...

2) the cheap scales I have are playing up...

I think maybe it's reason number 1 as I checked my weight after I got home from work e.g. after eating breakfast, lunch and drinking water etc over the course of the day, do you what? the scales came up with 128.55kg, every other time I have check the weight at the end of the day, there has been about .5 to 1kg more weight at the time which is understandable.

So I'm shocked at my weight today, but hopping it was because of drinking heaps of water the day before, guess we well all find out tomorrow!

Jeff

And today was WET!

Hi All,

Will today I was rained on from 8:30am to 4pm with the only time I wasn't in the the rain was when I was trying to get the wacker working again! The wacker is a 2 stoke powered jack hammer, we use it at work with a spade fitting to push stone under the railway sleepers (sleepers are the large bits of wood on which the rails are fitted) anyway it was running fine and then just stopped...

We spent about 1 hour on it and got it going again, not sure how but it did go! Had lunch then went to use the wacker again, wouldn't start! after myself and another stuff member had it in bit and back together a 2nd time it still wouldn't start, we had run out of ideas and then we decieded to change the sparkplug, new plug and the wacker started first go!

We still don't know why... the old plug was working good and had spark, so did the new, but something must have been wrong with that old plug? I guess it took us about 2 to 3 hours to do that, but it did keep me out of the rain for that long! and I still got must I the work done that I was meant to do today. I hope it dosn't rain tomorrow....

Today weight is 127.65kg (280.83) a small loss, but a loss all the same!

Jeff

Another day another $

Hi All,

Not much to say today, back at work for the week, first day that I have driven the train at work for over a week, missed it and had a blast today just because I was back driving. We had our normal share of good tourist and idiot tourists at work today, but like all things in life you have to take the good with the bad ;) I sometimes wonder how much people research a place/country before traveling to it. Going by some of the questions we answer every day, not much!

Today's weight 127.75kg (281.05 lbs) yet another small gain and there starting to add up again :(

Mind you the next 2 weeks at work are track work weeks (repairing the railway tracks) so that is heavy hard work, so that should knock off a few kg's.....

Jeff

Lazy Saturday....

Hi All,

Today was a lazy day, up late and packed the wife off to work, she was doing a extra 5 hours today because her work is short staffed, I had plans to full in the time.... I was planning on going up the valley and taking photos of trains, eating fish & chips well sitting in the sun waiting for the train(s) to pass...... only one problem.... it RAINED ALL DAY :( needless to say I didn't do that! instead I run the wife to work in the car, then spent 1 hour in town looking for Lonely planet books on Hong Kong.

I did find two different ones, a full version and a pocket size one, but the price put me off them, I ended up going to the public library and found a 2 year old pocket size one, I got it out and it's been good, has fulled in a few gaps so far!

The wife has just finished cutting my hair, say's I look much better now! LOL :)

Today fight with the weight wasn't a good one, I have eaten to much today, but the fish & chips was the worse bit! I have dig out my dumb bells set from last year and have started trying to use them again, so that may help...

I did find this morning that my scales I use for checking my weight are a bit "funny" I weighed myself this morning when I got up (127.55kg) then for some reason I weighed myself again about 30 minutes later, I got 127.80kg this time, so I had a play, I tried a couple of more times and got readings between 127.10kg & 127.90kg, some of it seemed to be the way I was standing e.g. bent over a little or upright and some seemed to be for no reason. For that reason I will check my weight 3 time and take the middle reading from now on! and before you say it was because of my clothing, it was not! I had the EVERYTHING the same in all cases today.

And on that note, today's weight will be..... 127.55kg (280.61 lbs) a gain again, but not a big one.

Jeff

a one day work week...

Hi All,

Well I would love a one day work week all the time and because of the sore back this week that's what I have had! Today is Friday which is the start of my weekend, my work week normally being Sunday to Thursday. But unless I win LOTTO I'm still going to have to work 5 days a week for the mean time....

Today the wife and myself didn't get up to much, walked in to town and paid bills etc, took about 60 minutes the same amount of time it took me on Monday with the sore back, but this time we got a LOT more done! we also had about 1 hours walk this afternoon too.

Fridays are normally a bad day for my weight, I normally have had Friday's "off" the diet and would allow myself to eat anything I felt like, the only condition was I had to limit the amount. Problem was I wasn't (still not) any good at eating in moderation so I "over" eat, the weight I put on on a Friday would normally take the rest of the week to take off again.....

Do you see were I'm going wrong so far? ;)

So today being Friday I've had the day off the diet, BUT the difference today is I have been careful about not over eating. The wife and myself had KFC for lunch, the cost normally is about $20 and we eat it all, today we paid only $8.90 and was less than half the amount we use to get, the good news is I still felt full at the end of eating, it cost less and should have a less amount of impact on my weight.... also today I managed to stay away my pigging out on other stuff like crisps and biscuits etc. So I'm hopping with the walking today and the more careful eating that I don't do my normal jump up in weight tomorrow, watch this space.....

Todays weight before I forget is : 270.40kg ( 280.28 lbs) a small gain, but a gain all the same :(

Jeff

A happy day

Yes a happy day, why? because I was back at work! I spent the day lapping in steam valves on one of the railway engines at work, normally it's a long slow boring job.... today I LOVED it! because I wasn't stack at home! Ok the back wasn't 100% and I can still only bend over as far as my knees. The other good thing is I made it all day without having to take pain killers, so much better!

Now that made life interesting this morning and also made me late to work on my first day back! it took me over 40 minutes this morning to put on my socks and my work boots, all because I could not reach my feet, I got there but it wasn't easy at all! Then I found there is nothing much more embarrassing then having to ask a co-worker to do up your boot lace, it's ever that for spend 30+ minutes trying to do it back up myself....

And before I forget, today's weight is: 127.30kg ( 280.06 lbs)

Jeff

today's highlight is...

Walking to the mailbox at the end of the drive!

Not much I know, but I'm still here at home with the sore back, good news is I think I will be able to go back to work tomorrow. Most likely not doing my normal job because there is a lot of shoveling will bent over and the back isn't that good yet....

But I should be able to do something, most likely working on repairing one of the railway engines we have at my work. What ever I end up doing tomorrow HAS to be better then sitting here at home!

Mind you now that I can sit for longer (not the 2 minutes as before) I have spent a lot of time looking at websites about Hongkong and also the Philippines, why? Because the wife and myself will hopefully be traveling back to the Philippines next year via Hongkong. The plan is to have a layover in Hongkong of about 5 days before flying to Cebu in the Philippines.

I have found out a lot of information and found some good blogs and websites so now have a better understanding about Hongkong & the Philippines, can't wait to travel again! As I said in my first post, I spent 8 weeks in the Philippines last year and LOVED it, loved it so much that I MISS the country!

I have talked for many years about wanting to "travel" and I always come up with a reason not too.... no money, no time, to much risk..... etc etc etc, you know how it goes, Now that I have traveled and gotten over those what/if's and maybe's, I find I only have one thing left.... and that is I WANT TO TRAVEL MORE! I want to see what this world is like, but not so much the "normal" tourist spots, but more of the untraveled places.

Untraveled you say? places like Mindanao the southern most island in the Philippines, it's meant to be "unsafe" maybe the western side is but the mid/east side of the northern coast isn't and that's were I spent 6 weeks last year.... it was very different to what I'm use to and very few tourist, how few? I saw only about 10 others in 6 weeks! but I had a blast! the locals are friendly and welcome you. it's was great and I felt safer there than any other place I've been.

The only problem is the NZ government has Mindanao listed as a "extreme" risk for travelers, means it's almost impossible for me to get travel insurance, I don't know maybe the government needs to have a look and make it only the south of Mindanao as extreme risk, but I guess it's easier for them just to say "all" of Mindanao is....

As a interesting aside... I have just found out the travel insurance I was sold for my last trip didn't cover me will I was in Mindanao! when I got it I made a point of asking the travel agent if it did cover Mindanao and I was told "yes" Oh but it didn't! luckily I didn't need it!

Jeff

P.S almost forgot the weight today... it's 127.40 kg (280.28) being semi careful about what I'm eating as I'm not doing much to burn it off for now.

I want out!

Hi All,

Will I'm still at home with the sore back, the good news is it's getting better semi fast, but I am SO sick of being here! I want to get back to work, to get out and about and just live a bit. Soon I'm going to go and pick my wife up at her work, yesterday I did that and driving the car was SO painful..... today I'm hoping it's not so bad, lest today I'm not using pain killers, so I'll take that as a sign that I'm improving!

Even if I have a hard time getting into the car and it's painful to drive, I'm still going to pick the wife up for ONE reason.....

I WANT OUT OF THE HOUSE...... even if it's only for 10 minutes....

I have decided that each day I post on this blog I'll also post my weight, two reasons:

1) it will keep me honest

2) It will help me stay on track if I think somebody out there is watching me ;)

so on that note today's weight is:

128.00kg (281.6lbs)

Maybe someone out there will get a bit of help out of following this blog and my LONG ongoing battle with my weight, even if this blog helps 1 person (me!) than that is good!

Jeff

I hope the world is ready for me!

Hi all,

Well I always said I'd NEVER blog but here I am.... it's amazing what a sore back and being bored can do for you ;)

This blog will be about "things" as in anything I feel fit to post about, it may go months between posts or maybe everyday, time will tell, but to give you a idea it will cover travel, railways, my life and anything else....

Now I know I'm over weight, I have been from the ago of 6, I'm now on the wrong side of 40 :( about 3 years ago I got off my backside and did something about it, I joined a gym, went to it 6 days a week, walked, did weights and I was eating much better, over 2 years I dropped from 148kg to 101kg, I was happy about that and my life was much better, also it was much easier to do most things.

15 months ago I spent 2 months in the Philippines getting to know my long time girl friend in person (that sounds bad!) anyway we married and we came back to my county (New Zealand) in the last 12 months together we have set up a home and got our live together working very will, only problem was my weight became something I didn't worry about anymore, which brings me to today......

Today as I sit here doing this blog my back is painfully sore, sore to the point of not being able to do anything! sitting ok for 2 minutes, standing the same, laying down, it ALL is painful! how did I get back here? I after I lost the weight I promised myself I would NEVER PUT IT BACK ON, but here I am with my weight back up at 129kg :(

The painful back has been a big wake up call to me this week, and I know now that I have to get back to the gym, and watching what I eat, just so I can enjoy life with my wife and hopeful have a family one day!

Anyway I hope you will enjoy my wandering around in life as much as I do! thanks for reading. and just to finish, here's a couple of You Tube video's I made of my time in the Philippines last year (yep, you tubing was one of those "other" things I was never going to do!)

Jeff