Hello from Shrinking Webby

Shrinking Webby is … me.  Who is Webby?  I’m a older geezer.  OK.  Here goes.  Inside I’m still 19 but outside I’m 55 and have been expanding over the last few years.  55 is a milestone year for me.  It is a year when I had wanted to be ‘retired’.  That’s not quite the case, but I am working on making this my last year working for others.  But that’s not what this blog is about.  Another challenge for this year is I’ve made a commitment to get down to my ‘fighting’ weight.  I’m going to use this blog to keep me honest and chart my journey from a fat old geezer as I shrink.

This was me, just over two years ago…

Looking at that, I can see why I did not like having photos taken.  It confirms that I was not a 19 year old and I could be used as a pillow.  I am a vegetarian, and have been for almost 30 years.  When I said told people that, they used to do a double take.  But chips, cake and chocolate are all vegetarian.

Now I’m three months into the slow-carb diet, as described in 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris.  I came across Tim through the 4 Hour Work Week, while looking for an escape route from the drudge with the rest of the herd commuting up and down to London, squeezed in the Tube like sardines in a can.  I’ve not escaped yet and, again, that’s not what this is about.

So, why the slow-carb diet?

One advantage of a long daily commute is the time for reading, podcasts and I took full advantage of that, devouring many and in my journey I came across the idea ‘decision fatigue‘ and the simplistic rules seemed to resonate:

  1. Don’t eat white carbs: potatoes, pasta, rice, bread (or grains)
  2. Eat the same meals as often as you can
  3. Don’t drink calories (although 1-2 glasses of wine is OK)
  4. Don’t eat fruit
  5. Have one anything goes, cheat day a week

So without warning, I decided to try it for a week up to Easter and use Easter Sunday and the promise of chocolate eggs my cheat day.  It was a bit of a challenge but it seemed to work OK.  Now just over 14 weeks and I’m still going.  I’m can now actually use the bathroom scales and I’m wearing 38cm trousers when I used to be wearing 44cm ones.  But it’s slowing down and I’m starting to stall a little.  So this is what I am here for, to keep me going as I break through this plateau and continue my life as Shrinking Webby.