Back to Business As Usual

I feel great, after a couple of below par days at the gym, today was a complete turnaround. I started well on the treadmill and managed to do an above average first 25 minute session. Then, in the second session, I built in 6 minutes of running at 10 km/ph so that I cranked out a kilometer to add to the total distance that I ran. I also broke over the 400 calorie mark for that session for the first time since last week. I felt so good once I had finished that I did a further 25 minute session walking at 6 and 7 km/ph in five minute blocks. I feel much better and I am pleased to report that there was no pain at all. My total calories for the day were 1,102.9 - the most I have ever done before since I started to rcord my progress. Now all I have to do is build on this with the trainer tomorrow. It is fantastic to be feeling so good again when exercising, maybe my body is over the shock of losing all my curly locks!

A former boss of mine is in town today so I am about to head out and meet her for a coffee at circular quay. I get the feeling that every visitor to Sydney that we have will be meeting me down there! Just as well that it is one of my most favourite of places in Sydney. I have to take them to a train station that is on my line so unfortunately I wont have much time to knock around in town, but if I do get up to anything exciting I'll make sure that I let you all know about it.

A couple of nights ago on tv there was a segment on 60 minutes about diabetes, and the disease formerly known as adult onset type 2 diabetes. They had some really young kids on the show that had the disease and basically were saying that it was all down to their diet (8 years and 16 years). I was watching what the kids said that they had been eating before they got the disease, and it was rather frightening. The resemblance between their diet, and what mine had degenerated to, was rather sobering. There were several interviews with people that had lost limbs to the disease and all I could think about watching these poor people was how glad I am that I have made a start in reducing my weight, and I hope that I am doing enough right now to prevent myself from getting it. The individuals were urging anyone out there to do whatever they could not to get the disease.

I am fortunate in that there is no family history of diabetes that I am aware of. Family history and genetics plays a major role with this disease, although this was largely left out of the show on 60 minutes. The message was that there is an epidemic sweeping the country and kids are now getting what used to be an adult disease. However, while watching the entire clip it became clear that most of the kids on the show had a diabetic parent, varying between type 1 and type 2. Diet and what have you clearly contribute, but genetics cleary plays a role, emphasised in the same piece by the fact that scientists on the show were searching for a gene that causes it. I believe that you must have a disposition to get the disease as I notice that it is particularly common in certain parts of the world, not just decadent 'fat' western countries where it is rising (India and Pakistan spring to mind).

Immediately after the show we were treated to Supersize Me on free to air tv. I had seen it a few years back at a film festival and was stunned by what happened to the film maker, in particular his liver. It was over the top in that no one would eat McDonalds three times and day for a whole month, but I was still shocked at the havoc it wreaked upon him and I noticed many similarities between what he experienced, and how I used to feel. At one stage he is really down, and then he eats his Mackers and almost seems to be intoxicated from the food. I remember that while eating that sort of food I would feel good, but the rest of the time I would feel like crap. I believe that my liver must have suffered during those days, particularly considering the amount of liver damaging alcohol that I used to drink. Apart from my parents visit, I haven't really touched the stuff since embarking on this mission and I would be interested to know what sort of state my liver is in. It may be that I should head to the doctors and get a blood test to see how I am.

I certainly feel much better, and have more energy. I am still prone to remain sedentary, but at least now I feel guilty when I do it, and normally get out and about to assuage my guilt! However, I have noticed a new trend, and that is that I can actually enjoy exercise, and it is possible for me to feel good when I am doing it. A few months ago that would have been impossible and I must remember how far I have come, as well as keeping track of how far I still have to go. I may still be obese, probably even morbidly so, but at least what I am now has to be so much better than what I was, and where I was likely to end up.

I'd like to say also that while the government is always on about the obesity epidemic and consequent rise in the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, there seems little on offer to assist people that are affected by this problem. Unlike many other things, there are very few people or experts suggesting that there are any concrete steps that could be taken by governments to address this problem by assisting individuals that are in danger of becoming negative statistics in this area. I'd like to know why the only proposals are to regulate the advertising of fast food on tv, or punishing fat people by introducing fat taxes - levied either on food or fat bodies. Why are more positive things not being considered? If everyone agrees that exercise is good, why not offer tax incentives to get people exercising? Perhaps make gym memberships tax deductible? This is no guarantee that people will go to the gym, nor is it a guarantee that they will lose weight if they do. But any exercise is better than none, surely.

The government (in Australia at least and with the current Minister of Health Tony Abott being particularly clear on this point) seems to hold to the view that it is entirely the fault of the individual that they are fat and lack the discipline to control themselves. There have been proposals for a fat tax to be adopted to make fast food more expensive, thus discouraging people from eating it. I say how about something more positive like subsidies for fresh healthy foods to make them less expensive and more readily available? What about teaching food appreciation at schools, instead of serving up pies, ice cream and chips in school lunch rooms?

I notice that smoking and smokers are treated completely differently with quitlines being sponsored by the government where people can call 24 hours a day and get help to give up that habit. I think it is a double standard that there is no corresponding assistance for overweight people that might need the same help. Is it not the case that people can be addicted to a certain type of food? I guess the main difference is that everyone has to eat to live, but you don't have to smoke to live. Unlike smokers that can claim to be addicted to the nicotine in tobacco, fat people apparently just lack self discipline. Gluttony is, after all, a deadly sin. Instead of whipping fat people, perhaps some constructive ideas to positively help those that want to address this issue for themselves would work better.