Hi everyone!
My name is Gerard, I’m 33 and from the Steel City, Full Monty country, Sean Bean's back garden - Sheffield! By day I'm a legal adviser for a national charity, volunteer for a local one, amateur photographer and a lover of the great outdoors.
Welcome to my journey as I train in preparation for some serious weight loss, long term lifestyle and eating changes and finally my mammoth 106km non-stop ultra walking challenge, around the Isle of Wight.
Let's get one thing straight here. I'm no ultra-fit athlete or fitness fanatic that regularly enters these competitions, so this is a big thing for me. I also have many bad habits when it comes to eating. I'm no monk when it comes to food and I do let slip often.
I have however lost 2 1/2 stone since August 2015 with some general and sensible changes to my diet, but as I get closer to my challenge I need to start looking at my eating differently. I will be stepping up my training in February and March for the April challenge, and I need to ensure I'm getting what I need, without going overboard.
I have had my struggles and battles with weight loss and my fitness and their related side effects over the years. However I do like to set myself targets and goals to achieve.
So why do something like this I hear you say!? Well for starters I am fed up of not being able to do anything without feeling out of breath, hot, sweaty, tired and being massively embarrassed because of it. I have has relationships end because of my attitude towards my weight, and I am now in a new relationship. I do not want the same thing to happen again.
I recently caught the bug of challenges in 2013 which you can read about in my blog posts, and I do feel that some moral obligations to raising money for charity as well. This gives me some extra drive, in case I didn't need it in the first place.
Trust me, going to the gym at 6.30am and spin classes at 7.15am are not my idea of fun. I'd much rather be sat in the evening in a cosy real ale pub by the fire with a pint, pie, Henderson's relish and some mildly offensive folk band in the corner of the room. That doesn't get me over the finish line in the time I want though, and it doesn't help me with my long term lifestyle changes.
So please follow my progress and posts as I get ever closer to the big day (April 30th if you're interested). Any hints, tips and advice is very much welcome.
I will post some links below, I would appreciate anyone taking the time to read them and maybe even commenting, sharing, donating, etc.
Thanks for reading!
Gerard