Read Me First

What is the Daily Fat?

Easy! The Daily Fat is an ongoing journey following myself (Dylan). I am starting to turn my life around in terms of my health, weight, fitness and anything else that comes with that and I wanted a place to document my journey, feelings, and thoughts, in the hope of not only helping and motivating myself but hopefully helping others too. I know that sounds like a cliche, but if just one person reads this and is like 'Hey, I'll give this a go' then goal accomplished! I aim to post daily, this might be once, twice or a few times, documenting everything from going to the Gym to the food I eat, even maybe recommending something really helpful in my journey. I am clearly not an expert and I won't pretend to know everything there is to know about nutrition or diet, so my opinions are my own. Also, there's no room for trolls here, so take that negativity elsewhere, if you are really going to be mean to someone who is trying to better themselves in every which way possible, then what type of person does that make you?

The Fat man Himself!

So anybody eagle-eyed will have already spotted that my name is Dylan and I am 27 years old. If this is the first time that you've seen my name, then shame on you! I live with my Partner (Kirsty) and our Cat (Eenie), in the City of Sunderland in the United Kingdom, before I get any stick, I was born in Gateshead, so technically I'm half Mackem and half Geordie, yes that is possible, so don't come at me with that shade. Kirsty is an absolute godsend and I'd literally be completely lost without her, she is also the most amazing cook that anyone has ever seen, she should be a sous chef in one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants, but she's obviously not about that life. I currently work in Claims Management (don't ask, it's very unexciting and unfulfilling #SorryNotSorry). However I start University in September 2019 (There are only about 4 people who know this, so you're in the game now). You never know, there might be a University blog coming soon (I'm joking, I honestly couldn't find the time). Anyway, I've waffled and realised that I haven't really given much away about me, but I'm a canny guy (I think anyway). I am a HUGELY unconfident person in every walk of life, I panic about what I look like in a restaurant, or eating a sandwich, or whether a little bit of podge is sticking out of my T-Shirt, but this is what I'm here to change and it would be awesome, if you could push me in the right direction every now and then.

The Why, The What!

One of the questions you might be asking is possibly Why? Why am I doing this and why now? Well my BMI puts me into the Morbidly Obese range and although not the be all and end all (according to some people) it gives an oversight of how healthy you are and the answer is... well not very. Everything in terms of measurements such as Muscle Mass, Body Weight, and most importantly Visceral Fat is either too high or too low and it's not a good high or a good low. In short this needs to change, I am especially concerned by my Visceral Fat reading, as this is the fat that surrounds important internal organs, if nothing is done about this, then it could lead to a whole lot of complications, the good news is all is not lost and I'm not at the stage of no return, however I have incredibly difficult work ahead of me, so I need all the support, motivation and inspiration I can get. P.S. Click the blue links if you want to learn more about them (I Promise they're all reputable websites).

The How!

So, some people will tell you that it's about eating healthy and exercising until it hurts, whilst this is very true, it's also unrealistic. Yes, of course, you need to eat healthily and have a balanced diet, that includes Carbohydrates, Fats, Sugars, Protein, and all that good stuff, but you also need to train your body and your mind (I know sounds cliche again). Not only do you have to physically get up and go but you have to educate yourself on things such as Nutrients, Macros and teach yourself about portion control, eating habits, what works and what doesn't, unfortunately, there is no blanket approach and what works for one may not necessarily work for others. There are a lot of diets out there and if I'm very honest, I've maybe tried them for a few days and given up, not this time. We (me and Kirsty) have chosen Slimming World as a starting point and we will be loosely following it, I know that some people love it and some people loathe it, as I said above, everything is not for everyone. However when comparing diets, Slimming World seems to have the most variety and also teaches you about 'Good Foods' however I must admit that it doesn't really teach you about portion control, so that is something you have to work out for yourself. As a basic overview of Slimming World, you are allowed to eat as many 'Free Foods' as possible, these usually include things such as meats, potatoes rice and fish, whilst restricting yourself of other foods such as Crisps and Chocolate (The usual stuff that tastes amazing, but never does you any favours). Foods that aren't 'Free' carry something called a 'Syn Value' which is short for 'Synergy' but erm, we all know that's not what it really means **Rolls Eyes** you can have up to 15 Syn's a day (if you're a bloke like me) and around 12 I believe if you're a woman, and by filling yourself with 'Free Foods' the hope is that you stay away from unhealthy high Syn stuff, but if you do feel you need the extra treat you can go at it up to your Syn Value. It's a clever idea and it works for others (We are yet to see if it will work for me, but hey watch this space). Slimming World gets a little bit complicated because you also have little things called Healthy Extra's (HEX) and there are 2 lists of them, typically an 'A' list and a 'B' list, you can have a certain amount from the 'A' list and a certain amount from the 'B' list in addition to your Syns, these healthy extras are designed so you can get the right amount of nutrients into your body, such as calcium, fiber and Vitamins A-ZZZ (lol). So, now you know the basics, this is what we're going to follow, I'll be sharing food triumphs and try-harders, and thoughts and impressions on the plan. The reason we're loosely following it is that we aren't actually joining a class or even joining Slimming World officially, we're just stealing their foods and their info, again #SorryNotSorry. This is my understanding of Slimming World anyways.

That is only half of the story, you now know what plan I'm following in terms of diet, but with diet comes exercise. The answer to this is again short and simple, We are going to the Gym and we're exercising til it hurts, at the moment I am very much still finding my feet, it's completely out of my comfort zone and something I've only ever done when I was younger, but I can't tell you how much I enjoy it, the feeling of accomplishment afterward and that 'Aaaah' afterward is just beyond words, I ache, I hurt but I feel amazing, I sleep better (Apart from waking up 700,000,000 times a night to pee) and just for that after feeling it's worth it. I'm not currently following any particular program or guide, apart from following some step-by-step instructions on my PureGym App, mixing things up here and there, increasing and decreasing times it's working wonderfully, I sweat from places I never even knew I could sweat from (Like my wrist, how weird), sorry if that's too much information, but I haven't even started yet.

And Then...

So that's it, it's a huge work in progress and I have a difficult task ahead of me, I don't even know how difficult that task is going to be, I don't how quickly or slowly I will make progress, I don't know if there are times I will want to give up, or times I think I could have done better, but it would mean the world if you could follow me on this journey, you'd make a fat guy really happy.

Flabs Away!