Seeing the light

Ok so for those who don’t know me, my names Gareth and I’m the guy who is in charge of the website, design etc. For those who do know me, you’ll know I have probably one of the unhealthiest diets known, especially for my age.

So to give you some insight of how bad it is, here’s an example of an average day of just what I consume.

So it’s a Monday, I get up, skip breakfast, and that’s the first major no no, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I get to work, and I’ll immediately start my day on a can on irn bru or coca cola, we’ll get to lunch time. And it’ll vary, I could go to the cafe this day and get a chicken burger and a Mexican chicken and cheese Panini with again another fizzy drink – and eat that totally with no hassle. In the afternoon I start to flag, concentration wise so I need a pick me up, again this will be in the form of fizzy drinks. I’ll get home and I’ll either cook something – now when I say cook something I’ll get chicken breasts, and put spice on them, usually Nandos, and have chips, mash and garlic bread with it or order a Chinese or some form of takeaway. And on average have around 3 / 4 glasses of fizzy juice a night before going to bed. This goes on all week, until I get to a Friday, which I’ll usually have a “cheat” day and get a 10 inch pizza with 2 toppings and a pasta, again no problem I’ll eat the lot… Now imagine this each week? For well over a year, it gets you thinking…

Now I’m 5’10, 10.5 stone, so my BMI for my age is correct and I do slight work outs in the house, and go walks with the dog etc., I’ve got a defined body and build so I consider myself quite healthy. However Thursday last week, I took out a policy with Health Rewards, did my health check – and I was completely honest as I have been above. I get to the Vitality Age part and it hits me with 35… Now considering I’m only 27 and have the genuine fear of being 30 seeing this hit me quite hard. So what did I do apart from cry inside a glass case of emotion? I joined the gym, and got myself some kit including a Garmin which my policy got me a discount on because I have Vitality Plus, so happy days.

So we’re into a new week, and a new way of thinking. My first gym session in over a year and I did what I could, which then to my shock showed me just how unhealthy I actually am. Especially that I’m ex-military and used to train and be healthy, being able to run a mile and a half in 7 minutes 30 odd seconds and lift all sorts of weights. It’s got me really thinking “what is the inside of my body like”. I can’t even imagine how clogged up everything inside me must be, so last night after the gym, I took the dog a walk (with some jogging bursts) around Drumpellier country park 4 times just so I didn’t feel as guilty for all the abuse I’ve put my body under this past year. So I’ve booked myself into a roadtohealth screen check on Thursday, and at my age I shouldn’t be nervous about something like that – but I’m not looking forward to the results at all.

So what’s the point of this blog? Well it’s to shed some light on folk like me who eat what they wish, that think like me that there invincible, won’t get fat and aren’t unhealthy. It’s also to point out that the things Vitality offer are actually an eye opener aswell as a tool for “seeing the light” and engaging me to give me the push I need to get healthy.

If you don’t have a policy I’d recommend it, in the space of a few days, It’s already motivated me to changing my way of thinking – whilst I can’t just change overnight, yesterday for example I cut out juice completely and hit the water hard, now going from 7/8 cans a day to nothing is a MASSIVE achievement in my book. But it’s these changes that will result in me becoming healthy. Furthermore I’ve saved a lot of money already what with having a discount on the roadtohealth screen check and the discount on the Garmin device.

I’m going to keep writing blogs of my journey and have set myself some goals for eight weeks time so keep tuning in and we’ll see where I end up.