Hello 10k posts! Time to get active in this thread again imho:P Also congrats sir!

Keep going Jon !!

I stumbled on this thread, it's 4:14am here in CA... All of the food pic's are making me want to eat my own face and die. #HowRudeJon #KeepItUp, It all looks so good, and healthy, that Avo/Ham/cheese lunch plate looked amazing!

Hahahah I felt the same !!

6:40am now, finally i can eat something... guh, long night, I'm still freaked my new "Ghost Friend" is trying to eat me. Jumpiest night i've ever had in my life. LOL.

I saw Artichokes at the store today, and almost cried. I love them w/ a passion that knows no bounds!, The salmon i cooked in a caramelized garlic butter then sprinkled pepper and doused in lemon. The artichoke is just a dumb artichoke, nothing fancy.... I want it inside me, for always! Get jealous!

I made a huge mistake opening this thread. I am super hungry now. Good job Jon

So how is your gym plan going? I will hit the gym later today to train my back after hurting my spine 2 weeks ago while warming up for the deadlift. Hopefully it will go well!

haha sorry about that @Mr. Margo . TBH it is probably the worst ever. Eating so much shit, look dreadful, drink all the time and also have a pretty bad chest pain which i have had for the last 3 days. Need to sort it out i know but something is stopping me....just need to figure out what that is.

OK so a bit of an update:

Obviously not been doing anything with my weight and am now back to just below my highest weight. I havn't been a pure pig or anything just not eating good meals, bit to much booze and no exercise. I just kinda lost the drive.

So i went to the doctors for my asthma review and we spoke about my weight. I was pretty honest and told her how much money, time and effort i put into trying to lose weight over the last year or so. She said i was in tier 3 ( off the scale obese basically) and that i qualify for a gastric band appointment. Basically i would have to go and get assessed, all measurements done, weighed, medical, seminars, food plans and so on. Then they would say i can have the band or not........or they could instantly tell me and i could go and straight away get it privately for around £4k.

So i turn up for my appointment yesterday 30 minutes early. I just sit in the car park and what i see worried me. Lots of people turning up all twice my size, twice my age and completely ruined basically. Not being able to walk, 2 people helping them out of taxis, on mobility scooters and just totally fallen apart. It was a shock to the system that i could even be classed anywhere near these people. I am not under playing my size here at all im 23 stone but i am also 28 years old, can run, lift weights, fight and so on.

Basically i decided to bail on the appointment and cancel it. No way was i going to go through all of this at this moment when i feel i can do things a different way. Some may think this was a terrible decision on my part as well i should get any help i can but i am not an idiot and although i have been by stopping my training i can turn this around and do it in a better healthier way.

Hi mate, haven't posted in a while...been flat out with the move and wife's hospital problems etc but happy to post here....

I think you've done the right thing and I'm glad of it. I actually don't know about the procedure and I'm not making a comment on that specifically, but at your age it really comes back to drive and discipline. You should be able to get a handle on it yourself as long as you want to make the changes. So as long as cancelling the appointment isn't really just postponing it for however many years then all I'll say is well done.

@Jon-PokerVIP I ran a Starbucks while in College for 4 years, i was assistant manager. My boss's name was Evan O'day, he's on my facebook friends so you can look him up. He was 400 LBS when i started, underwent the Gastric Band, and lost 200LBS in 2 years. He still ate terrible, drank a ton Which Was AWESOME, cause he was gay and soooo much fun to party w/. I Agree w/ @MinerBoy23 tho, If you're willing to eat healthy, make changes in ur diet, you can do it. There is the Band tho, and it worked out really well for Evan, he's happier for sure, we're still close. Just the Poker Lifestyle tends to lead to weight gain, I put on some weight when i wasn't exercising reg and working at all. I'm dropping back down to my normal 165ish fighting weight again thanks to Work, but Either option works. I'd suggest really going for the healthy... But it's up to you. GL Dude, You can PM me on Fbook or here about Evan, I'll even put you in contact w/ him onFBook if yu like.

I can certainly support the idea of going for a healthier option. I can also relate to your situation. Here's the thing, we're conditioned to look for easy solutions, there seems to be a pill or a medical procedure for everything these days, but those shortcuts turn out to be far less glamorous in the long run than they look at first sight. Take gastric banding surgery for example. Well... it's a surgery with cutting and anesthesia and all that jazz so even though it's relatively safe it's not without its risks. Also, on average you'll usually lose about 40-50% and not all of the excess weight so it's not a get out of jail free card (+ you have tubes with salt water running under your skin which probably doesn't sound that fun). Same goes for all the supplements, fads, workout programs and everything else trying to convince you that you need a bunch of money and extrinsic motivation to lose weight while in reality you only need good old fashioned intrinsic motivation and discipline. You don't even need money (thou it can help). Supplements are pointless and if you don't like going to the gym for some reason you don't have to, exercising at home can do the job just fine.

If you need any help with diet/workout program just let me know. While I'm not the most knowledgeable person out there when it comes to fitness (not even close) I don't want to sell you a bunch of supplements so I have that going for me:) Also I'm in the process of losing weight myself so I have practical experience (+ already made some mistakes that I've learned from). Good luck sir!

Hey good to see you on here and appreciate it! Hows the wife? New house looking sick? Any money left? lol

Yeh you hit the nail on the head there about the postponing of it. This is what was running through my mind at the time.....when i am 35 and 35 stone will i regret this and hate myself for it. But then the next bit you say comes into it - i am young and have discipline in everything else i do in life so there is no reason why i can't do this.

Hey man the gastric band no doubt would make me lose weight and would be the easy fix. My problem with it is just mentally like do i really want to be that guy...when i feel i am strong enough and smart enough to do it the hard way. May sound dumb but i dunno i just couldn't do it i don't think and want to give this one more shot!

Hey man nice words and really appreciate it. I have joined the herbalife program and actually loving it tbh. The shakes and snacks not only save me time during the day but also taste great!

The program is basically

Breakfast: Shake
Snack: Tuna/chicken/meat (protein type things)
Lunch: Shake
Snack: Repeat
Dinner 500-700 calories. Mostly eating fish, chicken, veg

I think my total calorie intake per day is 2000 and made up heavily of protein type snacks, balanced shakes and and good meal. Sometimes i can have a nice bigger meal etc.

Currently i am not exercising but that is changing as i am getting a cross trainer for my flat. I figured this was the best machine to buy as its a pretty much all over workout.

Cross trainer sounds good. While it's probably best to combine cardio with some resistance training, if losing fat is your main goal literally everything that burns calories will work (and you're not very likely to injure yourself using cross trainer). As for herbalife, I hope it works well for you. My main problem with it is that it doesn't relaly teach you anything. Surely you won't drink shakes for the rest of your life? The rest of your diet looks great in theory so what I would do in your place is that I'd use herbalife for as long as you're getting results from it and slowly transition into a normal balance diet with maybe one shake per day. Again, good luck sir!

Yeh i hear you man about the teaching but i think maybe like 6 months doing this could be the kick start i need. The lazy way to do it yes but at least its a way to do it which is pretty healthy for me and suits my lifestyle.

@Jon-PokerVIP I just have a BarBell/Weights and a Pull up bar. You can get a full body workout w/ those simple things... Eat more vegi's/Wheat/Fruit/WhiteMeat. Your diet doesn't have to be boring, I like Nuts as well as fish/Chicken/Turkey, red meat isn't super healthy. GL man, We're rootin for ya!
Been cooking this for 4 hours now... So Hungry!!! It's pork, but it's lean PorkShoulder, Gonna eat it for a week!!

And nuts are full of good fats and proteins

#SnackOnSnakah!

Julie's getting better thanks Jon. Off the pick line and the 24/7 anti biotics but still on oral anti biotics that leave her feeling pretty ordinary. She's returning to work today though and hopefully the anti biotics aren't required for much longer.

In regards to the finger itself, it has pretty badly deteriorated due to the infection and remains in a splint. Looks like a bone graft sometime in the next 6 months is the go.

The house is looking good and feeling like home. We're loving it. Moving is exhausting though. No plans to do it again any time soon. I've logged on for a game a few times in the past 2 weeks but generally just can't be bothered playing for too long so have had nothing to report o the poker front.

Just started pumping out the kms in the past week though so I guess things are slowly returning to normal and I'll ramp up the hands again soon.

Want to see that bad boy when it's been cooked! Looks goooooooooood