22. …and the dish ran away with the spoon.

It's rare for me to eat out these days. Instead I prefer to prepare and cook meals at home. This allows me to monitor what ingredients I use. It also enables me to record the calorie implications of dishes I make, as well as note the protein, carbohydrate and fat content per serving using the MyFitnessPal app. In addition I enjoy being a 'have-a-go home cook', so going into the kitchen is a pleasure not a chore. When I do dine out, often I'm away from home travelling for work or leisure, so have no other option.

A couple of Sundays ago my food and nutrition content started well at home - porridge with a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder topped with blueberries for breakfast. A Sunday morning workout was followed by a protein shake and a couple of bananas. Lunch consisted of a breast of roast chicken - marinated in lemon juice, honey, olive oil and cayenne pepper - with wholemeal basmati rice and mixed vegetables. The app on my phone told me I was on target for achieving my daily 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% fat intake.

Then the naughtiness crept in. In the afternoon I jumped into the car to drive down to Manchester. En-route I had to call into motorway services for petrol, so decided to make a quick pit-stop and grab a coffee. "Would you like anything else with that?" asked the barista. Without hesitation I ordered a piece of chocolate tiffin to accompany my beverage. But as I sat enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and Cumbrian landscape, I plugged my refreshment into MyFitnesPal. YIKES! This was calorific. 

On arrival in Manchester I checked into my hotel, but as there was no restaurant, I had to head out to find an evening meal. Fortunately there was a JD Weatherspoon next door. I wandered in, found a table and then looked at the menu. As it was Sunday, the pub was offering a traditional turkey roast. That'll do me! I thought. When I placed the order for my food I was asked "Is that the larger option?" Being a little tired from the drive down, I wasn't thinking clearly. "Yes!", I replied.

I returned to my table and then started to examine the menu again. I look at the calorie information of the meal that I'd ordered. As I couldn't believe the figures, I quickly totted them up again on my mobile phone calculator. I wasn't wrong. This meal contained over half the calories of my daily intake allowance.

It suddenly made me realise that "unconsciously" eating out is one reason why our population is becoming increasingly over-weight. I didn't need to order the large meal, but it was only an extra £1.50, so it would seem like a good deal to most people. In fact, the regular size meal was perfectly acceptable and would've kept me within my daily calorie allowance.

However, I must applaud JD Weatherspoon for actually providing calorie information on their menus. I'm sure that this will assist all their clients, me included, to make more informed decisions about the meals and the portion sizes they decide to order and eat. Let's hope that more pubs, cafés and restaurants follow this lead and include calorie information on their menus and labels too. I'm sure we'll all find that very useful indeed.

21. Project Triple-F

Last autumn I needed to establish new aims and goals for what I wanted to achieve in the second half of my time at Luke Bremner Fitness. So I created Project Triple-F – the three Fs being: Fit; Fabulous; and Fifty.

I know that it's hard to believe from my boyish good looks, but in early March I celebrated that significant birthday. On the actual day itself I was enjoying some winter sunshine in Las Islas Canarias with a friend, so we decided to mark my Hawaii Five-O with a swim in the Atlantic. Bracing is the word that I think best describes our jolly-jape.

On my return home, I was greeted with more birthday cards and a bowl cancer screening kit. My initial reaction was, 'How thoughtful!' But in all seriousness, I'm delighted that NHS Scotland are so proactive in this matter. As we get older, our health and well-being becomes more important. It's another reason why I took the decision last year to change my lifestyle to become fitter and healthier.

I find it interesting that 50 seems to be such a defining age. It hasn't gone unnoticed that I've recently become of interest to companies selling life insurance and pensions. In fact I'm a little perplexed myself as to whether I continue taking the multi-vitamins I've always done, or switch to the manufacturer's 50+ brand.

When Luke last did my body measurements I was 49 and rules regarding body fat percentages for that age group applied. However pass one specific day and suddenly the game changes. New mathematic formulas need to be applied and everything appears to get tougher for an 'oldie' like me.

Given the recent news that many parents rarely spot child obesity, it makes me appreciate that I'm probably in much better shape now - regardless of my age - than the majority of our nation's population is.

"So no problems about whipping your top off in public then?" asked Luke, when I told him about my celebratory dip in the sea.
"Absolutely not!", was my reply.

I hadn't really thought about this until I was asked, but Project Triple-F has certainly worked in helping to restore my confidence about how I look and feel. Long may that continue.

Postscript: I recently put together the video testimonial above for Luke. It explains a little more about why I chose to shape-up, why I selected Luke Bremner Fitness as my personal trainer, and what the benefits to me have been.

20: Feeling comfy…?

How's your new year fitness regime going? 

It's hard to believe, but I'm now in my tenth month of working with Luke at Luke Bremner Fitness. I love what I do there on a Tuesday and a Thursday morning… and those who know me are very complimentary about the results I've achieved through regular exercise, better nutrition and more sleep.

Over the past three or four months I've fallen into a very comfortable groove - a bit like wearing a pair of favourite slippers - hence the reason why I haven't written a blogpost in months! 

Luke creates and adapts workouts for me which focus on different parts of the body and muscle groups. Some of the more recent exercises have been challenging - hyper-extensions being one of them - but I've been delighted with my progress and how well I've met these new challenges. In addition we continue to monitor and analyse my food and fluid consumption as well as evaluate things like posture etc. So everything is tickerty-boo!

Well, it was. That was prior to this morning's workout!

Today Luke decided to mix things up a little for me, in a way that only Mr Bremner knows how. More sets, more reps, less rest time. It was intense and I coped as well as I could. In fact, I even managed to surpass a couple of personal goals, which in itself thrilled me. But by the end, I was completely spent.

As I hurtle towards a rather significant birthday, I know that I'm probably in the best shape that I've ever been in. More importantly I'm ensuring that I'm match-fit for the second half of my life - which was one of my main aims when I first approached Luke last year and asked for his help.

There's an inspirational phrase that I saw recently that keeps popping into my head. It read "Losers quit when their tired, but winners quit when they've won!" I apply this saying to those with shiny new January gym memberships, but who've already created excuses in February as to why they can't go any more.

If, like me, you decide to invest the time and money in order to transform your body and be a happier person, then Luke and Keith at Luke Bremner Fitness really are the boys to help you. Why not give them a call and see if they'll do an evaluation session for you? Just remember to tell them that I sent you!  

19: DISASTER!!!

AAAGGGHHH!

It was inevitable that this was going to happen. Luke at Luke Bremner Fitness has been forewarning me and preparing me for this day over the past 6 months.

So it's with a heavy-heart that I have to announce that my stats for this month aren't as good as they've been in the past. Not only have I put a little bit of weight on, both my chest and waist measurements have slightly gone in the wrong direction too. As a result, I doubt that I'll ever go out in public again, in case anyone notices.

I jest, of course… :)

In fact Luke and I had a quite a long philosophical chat about why this has happened during my monthly evaluation: Less intense workouts due to my injured right IT Band; A week's vacation in the sun; A couple of back-to-back weekend's away from home - when I missed doing a workout and had less control over my diet; Anxiety over a hospital appointment and; Introducing poultry back into my diet. One, or all, of these things could be a contributing factor.

Luke always talks sense. He's advised me not to radically change anything, as doing so wouldn't help us to identity what the possible root cause is. To assist us with this new challenge I've said goodbye to Argus, and hello to another new app - MyFitnessPal.

I've only been using MyFitnessPal for three or four days, but already it's pushed every geek and OCD button within me. Thanks to a handy feature that scans the barcodes of products I buy, I can easily scrutinise the nutritional statistics of the food I'm eating. Thus I can pin-point what is good and what is not so good. Based on this new information, it looks like I'll be in the kitchen even more now making meals from fresh raw ingredients.

I'm confident that what's happened to me over the past month is a temporary blip. With some fine-tuning to my diet and exercise programme, plus encouragement from Luke, my stats will head in the right direction once again.

18: With compliments

Last weekend I drove to Cheshire to attend a 25th wedding anniversary event for one of my best chums from art college and her husband. Amanda and Paul had certainly chosen a spectacular location in which to hold their gathering - the Discovery Centre at Jodrell Bank - home the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world.

As part of the pre-supper entertainment we were treated to a tour of the orrery in the Planet Pavilion. It was an ideal opportunity for us to ask those questions we'd always wanted answers to… for example: "What happened to Pluto?" and "Where else do you think there's intelligent life?" Sophia, our knowledgeable guide, made the mind-blowing subject of our planet, solar system, galaxy and the universe easy for us to follow.

For me, what made Saturday evening so memorable, was meeting-up with members of Amanda's family again. As her folks lived not far from mine, I regularly used to see them - and her sister and brother - when I occasionally gave Mandy a lift home from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication.

That was 27 years ago! - and although I'd met Amanda's parents briefly in the early 2000's - I haven't had any contact with them since then. So it was fun to instantly recognise Mandy's brother, say hello to him, and then watch as he tried to guess - wrongly - who I was. Similarly the same with her mum. When they both realised it was me, their reactions were the same. The compliments flowed about how well I looked.

On Sunday, before I headed back to Scotland, I called in to see friends in Stockport who are also customers of mine. I hadn't seen Mary and David since January of this year, when they exhibited at a trade exhibition in Glasgow. So "the Derek" they remember was the one at the start of 2014. Their compliments about my physique were the same as those of Amanda's family.

Before starting my fitness programme with Luke, I'd read somewhere that it would take approximately two months for me to notice any changes to my body shape, two more months for those immediately around me to acknowledge the changes and a further two for the whole world to see them. Certainly from the reactions and compliments I received at the weekend this seems to be the case.

As Yuri Gagarin said to ground control, during the first manned space flight he piloted on 12 April 1961 - "I feel fine. How about you?"

17: Halftime

I know it's September and it's technically the start of autumn, but I've only just managed to shoe-horn a week off work - a consequence of being self-employed - and am enjoying some much needed time-out in a relaxed Ionian idyll.

The day before departing Scotland I had a monthly evaluation with Luke Bremner. Considering my Fringe Festival naughtiness (way too much alcohol) and the less intensive gym workouts (due to my IT-band problem), the stats weren't bad at all. Waist and chest measurements down, body fat down, lean mass up a little.

Suddenly my vacation, and week away from the gym, feels like a natural halftime for me.

Over the past five and a half months I've achieved a lot with Luke. Looking at my initial goals and incentives - most have either been met or I'm well on the way to reaching them.

My goals were to lose the "spare tyre" around my mid-rift and have a flatter stomach. Tick. I wanted to swap the "moobs" for pecs, start developing my biceps, and lose weight but replace it with muscle. All of these are underway.

My incentives were: new motorcycle leathers. Not on order yet, but will be soon. Be able to change body type status of online profiles from 'average' to either 'athletic' or 'toned'. Tick. Find Mr Right. Tick.

Prior to the evaluation, Luke and I had agreed that I'd continue working with him for another 6 months. I'm loving what's happening to me - both physically and mentally - with his input. I'm now interested to see what we can achieve by March 2015.

However on Thursday Mr Bremner asked me the killer question: "What do you want to achieve in the next 6 months?" My answer was simple. "I don't know. I'm really going to have to think about that."

There's no doubt that my original aims and objectives kept me focused and committed to my fitness regime. I'm also excited to see where the next half of my personal training programme will take me. But in order to sustain my current motivation I need these new goals.

So for the next few days, whilst enjoying the warmth of some late summer sunshine, I'm going to contemplate this dilemma. Regardless of what I decide, I know the second half will be as beneficial to me as the first one was.

16: Ouch!

A couple of weeks ago, whilst preparing to go to Luke Bremner Fitness, I became aware of a slight pain in my right hip. I didn't think too much about it and, as usual, walked briskly uphill from Edinburgh's Stockbridge to Luke's private training studio in Jamaica Street.

After changing and doing a general warm-up, Mr Bremner started to show me some new exercises that he'd incorporated into my home workout routines. As we went through these together, I became aware that the pain in my right hip was increasing.

"It could be something to do with your IT band." Luke said.

Not knowing what he meant, I assumed he was referring to the resistance bands I used at home for exercises like rowing practice. Thankfully he went on to explain what the Iliotibial tract, or 'IT band', is and its function. His final thought of that session was "Let's keep an eye on it!"

I returned the following Thursday and started my hourly session with some squats. However there was little improvement with my right leg. Instead of making things worse, Luke took swift action and decided that we should spend the remaining time looking at foam-rolling and muscle stretching techniques.

Up until then I'd only used a foam roller for thoracic spin exercises. So to start with Luke demonstrated some foam roller exercises that would help to alleviate the pain in my IT band.

Often when I'm the process of doing the final rep of a final set in the gym I let loose a lion's roar that's inside me. However these new exercises had me yelping more like a wounded pup!

We progressed to using a tennis ball to massage other muscle groups in the feet, chest and shoulders. Each exercise seemed to hurt more than the last, so much so, that by the end of the hour I'd almost forgotten about my original IT band problem.

Luke's advice was not to do any more home workout routines. Instead I was to focus on the foam rolling and stretching exercises, which I've been doing diligently. As each day passes, not only does the IT band in my right let become less painful, but the exercises themselves seem to hurt less too.

In order to allow my leg time extra time to recover, we spent last week's workout sessions looking at mobility and posture. As always I've been given excellent advice and techniques by Mr Bremner on how to improve these too.

Yesterday I finally started to lift serious weights again and my right leg, although not 100%, held-up to the challenge pretty well. There's no doubt that all the stretching and rolling I've been subjecting my body to over the past fortnight has really worked. More importantly I'm now doing many of these exercises daily in order to prevent something like this happening to me again.