XXL

As mentioned in the introduction I had regularly noticed that with the majority of articles on people loosing weight most of them had experienced a moment or a certain event in their life which helped them to kickstart their weightloss.I had been unhappy with my current appearance but I would definetly say that my momment of realisation was in April 2001.

I was visiting NewYork with my college and was having a fantastic time, the second we arrived you instantly knew you were in NewYork. The buildings, people on the streets, even the smell seemed to match the images I had previously only seen on television or in movies. Baring in mind this was 6 months before the attack on the twin towers, the place was fantastic.

We've all heard of American size portions, their famous for their sizes and how large just about everything is, especially NewYork. I was in fat-lad heaven, Mcdonalds supersize was bigger than ours, pizza slices I thought only excisted in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles cartoons, a famous cafe, visited by Jamie Oliver just as he was starting out his TV career, called the Carnigi Deli served food by the pound weight, the beef sandwich nearly suffocated me it it was that densley packed!

On a visit to a department store to buy clothes and gifts I was extremely happy, designer clothes in sizes which back home would be impossible to find. Growing up as large as I was meant my only source of clothing had to come from mens shops such as Burtons Menswear. Not because I particularly liked the stuff they sold their but basically because they stocked shirts and trousers above size L and weighst 36".

Browsing through the piles and piles of Raulph Lauren jumpers and Tommy Hilfiger polo shirts I noticed that none of my friends were with me. I looked around but all I could see were several overweight shoppers such as myself all busy looking at the designer clothes in the same way I was, joyful at the sight of XL, XXL and even XXXL. I looked around and also realised I was the only teenager in that particular section. These guys were in their late 20's and 30's and looked unhappy, unhealthy and basically overweight, sweating under the halogen shop lights, glistening with glee at the sight of a pair or trousers that would actually fit and look half decent in.

I was the only teenager in the section and I was hitting XXL for some of the bargains on offer, I never wanted to reach the XXXL mark that I now felt closer too then more than I had ever before. It was at this point I knew that when I got home I needed to stop with the way of life I had grown so used too and begin to make some major changes.

Introduction

Many issues sprung to mind when I decided to create this Blog. Politics, Current Affairs and perhaps even the fact Jennifer Ellison is here in Sunderland and im meeting her on friday, all valid and extremely important subjects but not really what I would deem interesting for myself or anybody wanting to get to grips with what it is Im actually about.

Perhaps the one thing in my life I've managed to stick too and achieve something with for a good 6 years now is being a full fledged gym addict. Superficial and egotistical I hear you think, and to some extent how right you are! The gym and the way of life I have devised that fits the style of training I have developed is something important to me and for anybody wishing to start out at the gym or are looking for new methods and pointers which will aid them in there current love affair with the treadmill please read on.

Up and till the age of almost 20 I was what we could say overweight. On my 19th birthday I weighed 18 stone, possibly more, I have some recollection of my mother tampering with the bathroom scales but this was a subject best not raised in our house for fear of rath of the mother so I could have actually weighed more! My parents, both overweight, had I felt passed their genes down to myself and due to a lazy dont go out attitude I spent many a night, day, infact 24/7 sat in front of the tv or computer doing nothing but watching and eating.

Now to those of you who think well so what big deal, it dosent matter what you look like, I can quite agree but 18 stone at 5ft 10 is not a healthy weight to be. I am not trying to say that everybody in this situation is unhappy and to some extent I was extremely happy. Good family, good friends, decent social life and I had just completed a college course in media studies and was contemplating University, my life was fine and on the outside I was doing great.

Ive read many magazine articles on women and men loosing vast amounts of weight, in some cases stones and stones. What I had noticed was a trend in why they decided to loose weight. Yes the common issues were health, image and a general pressure from society to look thin but what they all had in common was a point in there life when they had had enough of their current appearence and body size.

This blog will be a stage by stage process in how I managed to loose, at one point just over six stone. I'll try to give hints and tips on what I feel are good ways to develop a strong opinion of the gym and what the right foods are to eat and what methods and techniques can be used to maintain a healthy gym lifestyle around what I call a very healthy social lifestyle.
I drink quite often, I eat takeaways, Im not 100% perfect but I can perhaps show you that If you do feel your overweight you can make a difference to yourself and still enjoy the things in life which we are told are bad for us.