Project: C.H.E.K Your Health

Sunday is weigh-in day.

One a week is enough. It’s not particularly healthy nor exciting to be obsessing over every little fluctuation... of which there are likely to have been many throughout my birthday week just gone.

I’ve set a goal to lose 10 kilos but, in truth, this journey is less about the scales and more about how I’m feeling in my own skin... which is a good thing to remind myself, now.

The scales tell me reliably that I have lost just 0.2kgs this week. It seems my birthday is akin to holidaying in Noosa (foodie's heaven); ie not terribly compatible with weight loss.

C.H.E.K Trainer Gus Rickard says: “Health is not a part time project. It’s what you do consistently that will determine your results.”

So with his wise words ringing in my ear, it’s time to ‘fess up...


So, I’ve got myself a trainer (with a pornstar name), a food coach to educate me, and a C.H.E.K project partner in crime (Fatboy Charlie) to keep me honest.

Together, we’re on an eating program of fat, fat and more fat. Not just any type of fat... but rather, the good fats. And not just fats on their own, but rather, each meal must be a combination of fat, protein and carbs in the form of vegetables. No sugar.

The problem: I just demolished a big chocolate cupcake with fluffy cappuccino coloured icing and divinely delicate chocolate flakes. Happy birthday to me!...

Project: C.H.E.K your health

Guest blogger Charlie de Demko

I'd like to think I have always been conscious of my diet. Even if a little misguided at times.

In my twenties I'd have phases of being very fit, not drinking and eating well. During these purple patches I would shop (what I thought was) healthy: low fat everything, low fat marge, low fat milk, wholemeal bread, lettuce, tomatoes, tinned tuna etc etc.

Dom, best friend and flatmate, would call me a 'salad eating b*tch'. He was right. I had been sold some idea from the front of a box of Special K...

Happy on Hastings: Bistro C  

Project: C.H.E.K your health

I've never been one for rules and regulations. Stick them on me and I'm likely to freak out like a claustrophobe being fed into an mri scanner. There are plenty of stories to prove it. Times, however, are a changin'.  

For the past five days I've been relaxing on the bourgeois shores of Noosa with friends and family. Aaah... life can be so pleasant.

(Right: Tash, Lizzie and me on Hastings Parade)

I am, however, no stranger to the holiday indulge bulge.   So, prior to departure, I was curious to see how my new committment to C.H.E.K your health would fly in the face of Bistro C and its fine dining compatriats on Noosa's main strip.

As I write now from the safety of my Sydney home, I am proud to say that I ate out every night, relaxed on the exercise front, socialised and indulged... and came back to exactly the same number on the scales. Whoa!... 

Project: C.H.E.K your health       

Even though my trainer Leila Lutz has a name like a pornstar, she is one smart cookie.

Only very recently, I was training with a bunch of rock star women aiming to run Coastrek, a 50-100km trek/run hosted annually by Wild Women on Top. Nothing pornstar about that name then, eh?

I loved training with these girls but, unfortunately, it didn't take long for problems to arise. First, my right hamstring blew. Then my left calf. Then my left hip. Then my right hamstring again, and again. Then finally my left knee. At that point, supported by the advice of my physio, I pulled out of the long-distance event.     

That's when Leila Lutz, my trainer with a pornstar name, suggested our three month program for rehab and optimal health...

                            (Note: This image is digitally altered for manifestation purposes) 

Project: C.H.E.K your health         

Check me out... I'm HOT! Yeeha.  

I've just returned home from an evening with international speaker and best-selling author Wayne Dyer at Darling Harbour, Sydney. It was hosted by Hayhouse Australia to launch the big man's brand spanking new book titled Wishes Fulfilled.  

Addressing a 2000 strong audience, Dyer talked us through his five step process for manifestation...   

Project: C.H.E.K your health 
 

Guest blogger Charlie de Demko:

I'm not even sure how I got here, but here I am… 36 years old, unfit, stressed, tired and overweight. 

Fact – I'm fat and I'm unhappy about it.

Yes, I'm aware my habits are contributing: I work far too many hours at a computer, I don't eat breakfast, I pretend to exercise (good at that) and I'm addicted to coffee, as well as treats at 3am...

Project: C.H.E.K your health

It's been said that life is like a box of chocolates. Forrest Gump reckons it's because you never know what you're going to get inside. I reckon there's more to this metaphor.

Consume it fast, unrelentingly and with disdain for the consequences and you'll wind up sick, fat, sad and possibly dead before your time. Or, at the very least, wishing you were...