1. More visits to the doctor than the rest of my life combined
2. More pain than I’ve ever felt before
3. The biggest weight loss and me weighing less than I did when I was 16!

My symptoms were really simple yet excruciatingly painful. My stomach was swollen 24 hours a day, the lower half of my stomach was in constant pain and the lowest part of my spine felt like it had somebody kicking it from the inside! This all god worse within minutes of me eating ANYTHING. The worst part was there was no esacpe from this pain and every trip to the doctors resulting in more painkillers and more blank looks. Even dispite some more sinister symptoms that I’ll not go into here everybody wanted to label it as IBS and “tough luck”. This isn’t ideal when you’re working for yourself. I’ll never trust the NHS again.

Then just to make life even more miserable I started developing upper abdomen pains centred around my actual stomach, when this flared up it felt like my whole chest had stopped working and getting any sleep was totally impossible. Whenever I ate I was either sick straight away or within an hour had the runs, this despite feeling constantly blocked and bloated. I lived like this for 2 months with almost no sleep and very little food. I wasted away rapidly losing almost 2 stone in weight, there were plenty of times when I was “sleeping” on the sofa because I hated the thought of my wife having to wake next to a corpse.

Eventually though I got fed up with hearing the same old rubbish from the doctors (to this day they’ve never run any real tests for anything in order to be able to diagnose IBS). I was hugely fortunate to have a client that knew of a specialist centre out in Thailand. Two emails later and I’d discovered that 1. They couldn’t treat me because of ulcer complications but much more importantly 2. A big list of supplements and diet changes to go through. I can’t thank them enough for their help.

I started on these within 2 days and in less than 2 weeks it has transformed my life. I’d say that at the moment I’m about 80% back to normal and getting better each day. My stomach is no longer bloated at all, I’m eating normally, going to the toilet normal and I’ve finally started to put on a little of that lost weight. I still need to get a few things checked out for the nastier symptoms just to make sure there’s nothing deadly lurking but in terms of a day to day life I’ve gone from being crippled on the sofa 24 hours a day to being back at work.

If what I had for 2 months was IBS then it’s a new one on me, I’ve never suffered from anything like that before and to be honest I never want to again. More amazingly though I can’t get over how simple a fix it was for people who know what they are doing when all the western doctors I’d spoke to were very much resigned to “It’s IBS, tough you just have to live with it”.

IBS For 2 Months is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

All I know is that I walk an average of 10 miles a day (I brought a GPS watch with me) not including up and down apartment stairs. I do a lot of swimming, heck this time I didn’t even drink that much. When you combine that with only having 2 meals a day it tells me that there has to be something else going on but what is it?

In the space of 2 weeks I’ve put on 5 pounds. To put that into perspective, living my normal life at home but being a lazy sod (i.e. no gym or exercise) it would still take me 3 months to put on that weight. It just has to be the food on holiday, maybe in other countries the dip everything in lard before giving it to you? I’m buggered if I know but what I do know is that I’ve got a hard 4-6 weeks in the gym to shift this extra holiday weight…then before I know it the wife will have gone and booked even more holidays!

Another Holiday Another Massive Weight Gain is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

That seems whacky to me, why pick on the crosstrainer? I’d “done my back in” at least 3 times in my life, 2 seriously enough to warrant months of physio. My car crash had damaged my neck quite badly, basically there are plenty of reasons why I might have a bad back. Even if you do want to have a go at how I exercise surely there are plenty of other things in the gym that are as bad as a crosstrainer?

Just about every fixed weight machine involves using your body in a motion that isn’t natural. Serious fitness freaks hate fixed machines and would much rather just pick up some free weights.

The other thing I can’t understand about why a Chiropractor would pick on the crosstrainer is the number of people who use them. If they really do damage your hip and back then wouldn’t we be going through a massive pandemic of gym people with back problems? It’s not happening as far as I’m aware?

So even though I could see no sense in it I stopped using the crosstrainer at the gym, I did this for 2 years. My back stopped hurting. Then 2 months ago I decided to give it a go again. Despite the usual burn of getting used to a new piece of equipment I felt that I came through unscathed…until I woke up the next morning. Ouch, I could hardly move, all down one side of my back and hip was killing me like the worst sciatica ever. The morale of this story is simple, not all things make sense and it pays to listen to people that you are paying to know more about a subject than you. I’ll not bother with the crosstrainer again.

Chiropractor Says No To Crosstrainers is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

I do a lot of different types of exercise but the one thing that consistently wipes me out is an all body class that I do once a week. During that class I end up in more pain than I do with any other exercise and it hasn’t got any better in the 5 months I’ve been doing it. The embarassing thing is I still struggle with some of the exercises, is this the wall?

I’m used to exercise and I’m used to pain. The feeling of my muscles burning up and that intense stinging sensation is nothing new, I don’t mind it. I can watch the other people in the class going through the same thing, their faces contort, their brows pour with sweat and they generally look like they are on their last legs. This is normal. I assume that my pain feels the same as their pain at this point.

It’s the next stage that gets me, the stage where my muscles physically can’t lift the weight. This isn’t a mental thing at all, it is a physical thing and my muscles can not do what I’m telling them. What this feels like is not a pain, in fact it’s much more numb than pain. Is this the sensation of the wall or was the wall the pain bit before hand? I really don’t know but what I have noticed is that the other people grimacing can carry on that bit longer, where as I can push myself to the point my legs won’t hold my weight others can shake it off in a few seconds and be fine.

Who is doing right here, is there a point before muscle fatigue where you are supposed to stop? Is going through the wall just about going through the pain barrier up to a point where you can still do an exercise correctly or is about exercising until collapse? I’d love somebody to be able to shed some light on this.

What Does The Wall Feel Like? is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

When it comes to exercise I tend to measure everything by the week, I use weekly cycles to set out my program as well as measure any goals I’m looking to achieve. My overall program for a week will usually involve a mix of weight and cardio sessions. Obviously how you mix this up depends on what your goals are. Most people new to exercise will tend to start with more cardio that weights and change the balance as they get fitter.

Once I have a weekly program I’m happy with I stick to it for 4 weeks. During this time I am always looking to improve on everything I do. Can I push out that third set? Is it time to add another 5 kilos? Can I take 5 seconds of my 500m rowing time? I use that 4 week mark as a time to stop and think. For that 1 week I concentrate entirely on technique and see IF I’ve made any significant improvement. If I can still perform at a higher level with the same (or improved) technique then I carry on that same program for another 2-4 weeks. What I’ve found is that at around 8-9 weeks I hit a serious plateux, I’ve heard some people drag out an exercise program for 10 weeks but for me 8 is always about the upper limit.

What I then do is alter at least 50% of what I’m doing. So if I’m doing 3 weight sessions and 2 cardio days I’ll mix up the excercises on 2 of my weights sessions and try something totally different on 1 cardio day. This allows me to keep things fresh as far as my body is concerned but also gives me some continuity. You don’t have to do it like that, for example if you are only exercising 2-3 times a week then there’s nothing wrong with starting a whole new program once you reach that plateux.

The important thing is to always be striving for improvement, it’s far too easy to get yourself comfortable in the gym doing the same exercises with the same wights for years on end if you’re not careful. You have to remember that it’s when you throw your body a curve ball that you see the biggest improvements and changing your program is a great way of doing just that.

How Often Should I Change My Gym Program? is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

The second thing is what you drink. With so many bars and waiting staff at easy reach you will be temtped to either go for alcohol or soft drinks. It doesn’t matter if you usually drink mostly water at home, as soon as you’re on a cruise you’ll opt for what’s at hand. Don’t do it, or at the least make sure to alternate whatever other drinks you have with water. Not only will it help keep a healthy complexion but it also aids massively in the digestion of all that rich food. It’s the combination of fat food and fat drinks on a cruise that pile on the real pounds.

The final tip involves the lifts. Or should that be avoiding them. Give yourself a rule where if you are only going 4 floors or less that you take the stairs, they are always much quicker than waiting for the lift on a cruise ship anyway.

In order to just maintain a weight there really isn’t any need to go to the gym onboard, just using the stairs that little bit and eating sensibly is enough. If you really can’t resist what is offered up then thing about only having 2 meals a day instead of 3 (breakfast and dinner). It’s a rule we’ve always stuck to and the very worst we’ve ever done on a cruise if put on a couple of pounds. Compared to some of the fatties we’ve seen who have managed to put on 17 pound on a 2 week cruise that’s not bad is it?

Staying Slim On A Cruise is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

When it comes to being fat you have 3 options:-

1. Eat less
2. Move more

OR

3. If you’re not prepared to do either 1 or 2 or a combination of both then please shut the hell up about being fat. Learn to live with it and let the rest of us get on with living normal lives without having to listen to your shit about how fat you are.

Cambridge Diet – Guess What? is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet

You are going to have to trust me on this one but I’ve been there and bought the T-Shirt on more times than I care to mention. I was brought up on a high protein and carbs diet with not a huge amount of fresh wholemeal goodness. When I up my fibre intake through fresh fruit, veg and whole grains it plays merry hell with me. However this last time I’ve stuck it out for a couple of weeks and you know what, as of now my body is back to normal. All the nasty “too much fibre” side affects have buggered off and all I’m left with is a nice feeling and plen of energy. All “movements” are back to normal even with me consuming the full RDA for fibre and a do feel much better for it.

The lesson here is then when you increase your fibre intake the chances are you will get some side affects whilst your body adjusts. The thing is though are bodies do adjust and if you can just see it out the extra wellness from having a good amount of fibre in your diet is worth seeing through that little bit of suffering.

Are You Having Too Much Fibre? is a post from: Too Much Drinking, Now I Need To Diet