Day 6

Yes. I made it under 120 kg's. This morning I weighed in at 119.8 kg. It's a bit of a scrape but I will take it! Tar is now a comfortable 108 kg. He has done really well and is so focused on his goals. He was not even tempted to have some fried chicken nibbles at lunchtime. Of course I allowed myself to as I figured I would go along with the Fast Diet's philosophy of eating what one likes on the non-fast days! Dinner didn't really happen as we weren't too hungry after our late evening walk. Of course I had a few bites of steak.

We left our exercising to the evening and completed our 5km walk in approximately 55 minutes. We were power walking for a lot of it and we both felt a lot lighter and even fitter! 

Summary:

Exercise
5km walk - 55 minutes

Food
Breakfast - Special K cereal and a piece of toast with peanut butter (Darnel). Egg white omelette (Tar.
Lunch- Wholemeal bread with egg filling (both of us) 5 chicken nibbles (Dar).
Afternoon snack - wraps with salad and a little minced meat (1 each). 
Dinner - Nectarine each. Tar wasn't hungry and Dar had five bites of steak! This was late at night :(

Weight
Dar - 119.8 kg
Ta - 108 kg

Yours in Pain

Dar

Day 5

Today was fast day again! We stuck to the same menu as Monday; porridge (oatmeal) and a chowmein. It wasn't quite as bad today in terms of feeling hungry. I did have another nap late afternoon which helped to stop me thinking of eating!

We trained hard again doing weights in the morning and a 45 minute walk in the evening. I was pleased with my resistance levels as I was able to add more weights to some of the exercises.

Here's a selfie of us in the weight room today (excuse the grubby mirror).

Summary:

Food

• Breakfast - Porridge (oatmeal) and blueberries. A little skim milk.
• Fruit - one slice of watermelon
• Dinner - chicken chowmein using one breast between us and lots of veges.

Exercise

• Weights - upper body x 5 exercises
• Walk - 40 minutes

Weight

• Dar - 120.4 kg
• Ta - 109 kg

I am really hoping that tomorrow morning when I weigh myself I will break the 120 kg mark. I haven't been there for nearly two years.

Yours in Pain

Dar

Day 4

We only did one exercise session today of a one hour walk, 5 km long. It actually felt pretty good and we enjoyed walking together.

My food today was fairly simple and I am glad that I haven't been reaching for a bar of chocolate or packet of biscuits.

I can't let my husband escape from the tragic before shot, so here is his below.

Summary:

Exercise

• Walk - 60 minutes / 5 km

Food

• Breakfast - Special K cereal and peanut butter on toast (Dar). Egg white omelet (Ta).
• Lunch - Ham and salad toasted sandwich on wholemeal bread and with no butter (Dar). Chowmein (Ta).
• Dinner - Wraps with prime beef mince salad and cottage cheese x2 Dar and x3 Ta.

Yours in Pain

Dar

Day 3

Here's another tragic reminder of what I currently look like. This photo was taken 5 days ago and it was a motivating factor for me to take my weight loss seriously.

It's actually a bit of a reality check as I didn't realise that I looked this big! Never mind, tonight I shall visualise myself as I wish to be! Today's eating was much the same as Tuesday.

Summary:

Exercise

• Weights - lower body 4x exercises plus some core work.
• Evening walk 25 minutes (Dar only)

Food

• Similar to Tuesday.

Weight

• Dar - 121 kg
• Ta - 110.6 kg

Yours in Pain

Dar

Day 2

We made it through the night! Fast day #1 done and dusted. Before I talk about Day 2, here is a photo of Ta and I with one of our sons. This was taken last week and is reflective of where we are right now in terms of our bodies.

As you can see we have a lot of work to do. So this is what we got up to today.

Exercise:

• 1 hour 5km walk (morning)
• 40 min walk and a bit of jogging

Food:

• Breakfast - Special K cereal (Dar) Egg White omelette (Ta)
• Lunch - Wholemeal sandwich with fat free ham and salad
• Snacks - plums
• Dinner - Chowmein with steak pieces
• Water

The 40 minute exercise session made us laugh. We went with our children and while they were jogging freely we (especially me) looked like whales trying to run! It felt horrible but at the same time felt empowering! It felt like we were finally taking our lives back! I can't wait till I can run freely again.

Yours in Pain

Dar

Day 1

Apparently weight loss is 70% what you eat and 30% exercise (correct me if I'm wrong). So with that bit of advice, we know that we have to eat right to achieve our goals. Over the years we have tried the following eating programmes with some success:

• Jenny Craigs - lost 26 kg's (Dar) 15 kg's (Ta)
• Body for Life - can't remember the amount
• Protein type diet (lost 7 kg's)

Obviously, we have not been able to maintain our weight loss once we have come off these diets. Of course this will be our battle this time too. In order to combat this we intend to make our new eating regime a permanent lifestyle change.

We are looking to incorporate elements of various eating programmes that we have encountered. One that we are very keen to try is the Fast Diet as promoted by Dr Michael Mosley. In a nutshell, you eat normally for five days a week and then you cut your calories to 500 for women and 600 for men on the other two days. 

The good thing about this diet is that you don't truly fast. You do get to eat. So this morning we had porridge with blueberries. We had a little skim milk but no brown sugar (that will take a bit of getting use to).  Late afternoon we had a small apple. This evening we had a plate of chowmein that was made using only one chicken breast between us and lots of veges. It was quite delicious as we added corriander, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. I will post up this recipe later.

To be honest, I was really starving today, and I found that I needed to take some  naps to sleep it off and not be tempted to eat. No doubt my hunger was heightened because we started our weight training regime too. We are following the program that is set out in the Body For Life book. Today we worked our upper body and really enjoyed pushing our bodies again. In the evening we went for a thirty minute slow walk.

Summary:

Exercise 

• Weights using the Body For Life program. 5 upper body exercises
• Walk - thirty minutes

Food

• Fast Diet plan
• Porridge and blueberries. A little skim milk and no brown sugar.
• 1 small apple
• Chowmein - 1 chicken breast, veges and herbs.

Weight

• Dar - 123.1 kg's
• Ta - 112 kg's

Yours in Pain

Dar

In the beginning...

There once was a guy (who weighed 112 kg's) and a girl who weighed (123 kg's). They were in their forties and enjoying life with their medium-sized brood. Once upon a time they had both been sporty and slim. In recent times, they exercised only their mouths and as a result, their bodies looked more suited for Sumo wrestling. Then one day, they decided that their lives were going to change. They knew it would take a lot of work and sacrifice but they were prepared to make the change. They were prepared to get up one more time. They were prepared to break through the PAIN BARRIER. This is their journey as it unfolds...

Hi. My names Dar (that's me on the left) and my husband's name is Ta (obviously the guy on the right), and yes, we are the guy and girl in the story above. We are determined to lose weight and get fit so that we can truly enjoy our family and many more exciting adventures together. 

The name of this blog, "The Pain Barrier" comes from an event that was held at our high school. For a couple of weeks of each year the sports teams would go through intensive training sessions where athletes would be pushed to their limits. They would be forced to reach a type of pain barrier that only they could break through. And so it is with weight loss. As you try to get into shape, you are constantly hitting new pain barriers that need to be broken: eating addictions, exercising struggles and even social changes.

We have had success with weight loss in the past but have gone through that all too familiar cycle of putting the weight back on. However, that doesn't matter. As some wise person once said, "It's not how many times you fall over that matters, it's how many times you get up that counts." And that statement will be our mantra.

We look forward to sharing this journey with you. We aren't really the types of people to "put ourselves out there" but we figured that if we shared our journey with cyberspace, then we would have to stay committed to our goals.

Yours in Pain

Dar