last week has carried on pretty much from the week before, started good, fizzled out a bit due to work commitments. Still haven't weighed myself, i am not avoiding it, just haven't got round to it, but will do tonight. Need to get a figure to start from. This weekend I read a report that made more sense than all the articles I have read on weight loss. It was simple, easy to understand, straight to the point. After reading it i thought yes, that's it, that's how easy all this is. I have posted it below. It is aimed at those wanting to lose 10lb, but the facts apply to all weight loss.

Often people are not really overweight but instead are just looking at how to lose 10 pounds that have been hanging around for a few weeks or even a few years that they do not know how to get rid of. Well I have a few ideas on how to lose 10 pounds now and fast that should get you on the right track.
How to Lose 10 Pounds
1. When trying to lose weight it comes down to energy in and energy out. There is no real way around this. To lose 10 pounds you need to burn 35000 calories more than you take in. The math doesn’t lie and you can’t lie to a scale either.
2. Most of our body is water and because of this there is water retention. Your body combats what is throwing off electrolytes or stress or other factors and it will naturally retain water.
3. Fat is high in calories. High water foods are low in calories. In order to change that input output ratio you need to raise the amount of low calorie density foods and lower the amount of high caloric density foods. so eat less red meat and fatty deep fried food and eat more fruits and veggies which are high in water content and nutrients.
4. All weight loss comes with a reason. What is the reason that you want to lose the weight? When you are hungry and drive by a McDonalds or KFC and just want to do drive through what is going to stop you? Certainly not losing weight.

How to Lose 10 Pounds – Pulling this all together
So how do you pull all of this together? how to lose 10 pounds?
When you want to know how to lose weight it comes down to planning. Plan to drink a lot more water, it will make you pee more often but will also clean you out and give you move energy. You also have to get more exercise and by exercise I mean try to get one hour of exercise of any kind in a day. This needs to be exercise that you like and not exercise that just feels like work as that will not be sustainable.
As far as eating goes you will need to get back to those core eating habits of eating fruit and vegetables and reducing the amount of heavy carbs like rice and potatoes and make sure to eat often. Eating smaller meals more often will keep that metabolism up for you.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – Here are 5 lose 10 pounds tips
Eat all your food in 5 or 6 meals a day instead of three
Cut back on your White carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta) and substitute with vegetables, which are higher in water and nutrients anyway
Exercise first thing in the morning by walking or light jogging or even biking for 30 to 45 minutes
Drink water from morning until night to stave off those urges to eat more food and to keep your metabolism up
Eat all your food in those 5 or 6 meals before 7:30 at night so that you are not going to sleep on a full stomach
If you want to know the real secret of how to lose 10 pounds you need to worry about why you are trying to lose weight. On those days where it is really tough to diet or exercise or make good decisions then you need to be very clear what the heck this weight loss sacrifice is for. Is it going to make you more healthy, losing 10 pounds will make you a lot healthier. Or do you want to fit into smaller clothes? Or is it a goal to prove that you are in control of yourself? All of these reasons and more are important. Write you reasons down and post them up everywhere. Make sure that you never forget the WHY of how to lose 10 pounds.
So now you know what I know about how to lose 10 pounds the rest is up to you to plan, eat, drink, exercise and follow through on your goal.

To be able to lose a minimum of 1 pound a week, there’s a simple formula that you must follow.
First, know that 3500 calories equals to one pound. If there are 7 days in a week you can focus on decreasing 500 calories on a daily basis. Now you can either decrease 500 from food, 500 from exercise or 250 from both; food and exercise.
Decreasing 250 calories from food and exercise would be the best option since this will help you lose body fat and increase your lean muscle at the same time.
It’s a pretty simple schedule, but if you can decrease a minimum of 500 calories a day you’ll see 1 pound gone each week!
Double that amount per day and you’ll see a decrease of 2 pounds a week!
That’s how simple and easy it is to shed 1-2 pounds a week!
And in a months time you can see a decrease of up to 8 pounds…

The final paragraph hits it on the head, 3500 calories equals 1lb, split that into 7 days per week equals 500 calories a day. Now I am not going to start counting calories, I know it wont last with me, but the theory is great, and i will use this as a trigger when thinking of weight loss. The positive feeling continues...........

Another week, another step in the right direction. It started great, Monday through to Thursday seen me on the bike and swinging the kettlebell on alternative night, but it came to a grind over the weekend due to work commitments. i did manage a long walk along the beach on Sunday to watch the speed boats, only to get caught in the downpour and soaked before getting back to the car!!
I have been sitting this morning thinking of a simple plan that wont see me pushed too hard that i wont see it through, and something that i can do so i can measure my progress. I have decided to split into three catagories. Firstly is cylcing. I have to admit I am loving being out on the bike, and will look to do a lot more off road stuff next year. I have a running track close to my house and am going to use that to measure my cycling, timing myself while increasing the distance. Secondly is the kettlebells, I have a simple routine i do where i do double handed swings broken up with press ups or some other free weight activity. I am going to do the same as the cycling, time and measure. Thirdly I am going to do simple press ups, increasing the amouth daily, or weekly, as this works on two areas I need to work on, arm and chest, and should be fairly straight forward to measure.
I wont write any routine down, like Monday Cycling, Tuesday kettlebells etc as that has been my downfall in the past. I will stick to the three disciplines, measure them and hopefully see the benefits. Oh, and i still haven't weighed myself.
Feeling positive about this, I know i can do it, i just need to catalogue much of what i have oalready been doing.

Last week I started writing down my fitness routine, and things went well. On Monday and Tuesday I was out on my bike, both approx 8 miles. Wednesday and Thursday I had the kettlebells out, keeping it simple with double handed swings, then Friday was out on the bike again this time for probably 6 miles. Saturday was a day of rest, and Sunday i went out for a long walk along Newburgh beach. I think I need to add more detail to my workouts, especially to the kettlebells, get some numbers involved so I have a better way of charting my progress!
one thing i haven't done yet is weigh myself, that should be done, once again to chart my progress!

I have decided the time is right for me to try and once again chart my progress. I have thought long and hard about it, and I feel i am in a much better place mentally to attempt this. I know i have tried and failed many times, unfortunately i am sure there are many in my shoes who have done exactly the same. But I feel i have made good progress over the last few weeks. My attitude towards food and exercise has changed, where before food was always in my thoughts, and seemed to be a noose round my neck at times, i now see it more as an energy source. I have kept things very simple, and it seems to be working. A lot of it goes down to planning. On Sunday I made a huge bowl of pasta with vegetables and put it into Tupperware boxes. I now have a healthy snack when i need one. If that option wasn't there, it would be too easy to snack on junk food. Last week i done the same with chicken and rice. Next week it will be something different.
The exercise is also going well, especially on the bike. On Sunday I went out for an hour, all round Bridge of Don, along the river through tillydrone and home. Last night i was out for 40 minutes, coming unstuck when i slipped on a wooden bridge due to the heavy rain. I have been looking into different routes and am going to go along the old Dyce to Ellon rail track which is now a path for walkers and cyclists. Will probably do this on Saturday.
i have printed off a weekly chart, which i have broken into sections for each day. I wont sit here and type up my great plans for the weeks and months ahead, that hasn't worked for me in the past, but I will fill out chart, and catalogue it here, so i have a permanent record, and something to analyse. For once i think i can do this. It feels good!

I am now more convinced than ever that finally, finally I am on the right path. It has taken me years to get it, but I understand the concept of weight loss, and am putting it in place. Trousers fit better, that's my main point of reference. I also feel fitter, I have been doing more cycling, which has been good, well when i am not getting soaked in the rain!! I didn't touch the kettlebell at all last week, so will get it out more this week.
The main aim of this blog was to track my fitness, to see where I started from, to look for inspiration, and I think i have moved away from that. But I am not going to start making bold promises, not yet. I have failed too many times when doing this, and the failure always affects me, certainly mentally I then find it harder to start again. At the moment i am in a good place, i am more active, and am going in the right direction.

Another book i have recently finished is The 21 indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Yet another book i received from my boss to read, and very easy to pick up and put down as the way it is written it is broken down into small section and little bites, full of quotes from famous leaders, politicians and culture heroes of past. Here's a sample of some

“Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.” ~ Bernard Montgomery, British Field Marshal


“How can you have charisma? Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are making them feel good about you.” ~Dan Reiland, Vice President of Leadership Development, INJOY


“Competence goes beyond words. It’s the leader’s ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how- and know that they want to follow you.” ~ John. C. Maxwell

The 21 Qualities of a leader as defined in the book are
Character
Charisma
Commitment
Communication
Competence
Courage
Discernment
Focus
Generosity
initiative
Listening
Passion
Positive Attitude
Problem Solving
Relationships
Responsibility
Security
Self Discipline
Servant hood
Teachability
Vision
It does give a good insight into how to behave as a leader. It was good to self evaluate, to look to see where I could change, and learn. But the same with Broken Windows, it goes to highlight the failings of others and this can be very frustrating. I have learned from this book not only in my work life but in my private life. The definitive message I got was that the easiest option isn't the best option, and that is something I have been guilty of in past. Being aware of the decisions I make and how the affect others is important, especially as I am no longer an independent single guy, I am a husband, a father, a supervisor, a team leader. Looking at the list, i felt that character was the most important Quality, and if you could grow your character the others would follow. I am trying to put it into practice, lets hope someone notices!!

I promised i was going to speak about the books i have been reading lately, so lets start with the book that has left the biggest impression on me. Broken Windows Broken Business was written by Michael Levine. The synopsis from Amazon is below
Social psychologists and law enforcement officials tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and left un- repaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken and the neighborhood will soon go downhill. According to Levine, the same theory is applicable to the world of business. Examples of this principle in action include: JetBlue, which figured out that giving fliers what they really want (leather seats, personal televisions, etc...) when they travel was the absolute key to success * Google, because of its extraordinary and reliable customer accessibility, was able to break out of the clutter of all the Internet search engines. * On the downside, McDonalds lost its edge in recent years when their "Broken Windows" of sloppy eating areas and unsanitary bathrooms began to drive customers away * Same goes for Kmart, which lost sight of its customer base by trying to go upscale. In BROKEN WINDOWS, BROKEN BUSINESS, Michael Levine offers the theory that all problems in business stem from the tiniest details and by extrapolating all the "small" remedies into a much larger plan, these items can stimulate business growth and keep customers coming back for more.

Reading the book wasn't that overwhelming at the time. My obvious reference point was my work, and we have signed up to the Broken Windows concept, it was my boss that gave me the book to read. I tried to relay what i read with what happened at my work with little success. It wasn't until after I read the book that it started to make more sense. One Sunday i took my daughter to the cinema. Instead of queueing for our tickets at the box office, we had to queue at the popcorn stand, adding 10 minutes to our wait, meaning we missed the start of the film I thought to myself. The week after I had to MOT my car. I went to a shop to buy a paper to read while i was waiting. The queue took forever, while the manager sat at an empty til doing some paperwork. Another broken window I thought. And then the list grew. I would notice more and more things that were broken windows, things that made us perceive businesses as sloppy and things that may make us choose not to use these businesses in the future. Even this morning, as I drove into work, i was sat behind a van, owned by the same company my brother works for. Now I know that this company is having major internal problems, a major broken window. But the van that i seen this morning was neat, clean, and even had the name of the company on the license plate. It also had all the usual information like the service they provided, contact details etc. Very professional i thought. I then noticed a van which had the complete opposite effect. It looked a mess, the van was dirty, the information on it was unclear, and it looked very unprofessional. The fact the driver didn't give me right of way in rush hour is beside the point. But it got me thinking of how that two vans give totally different messages to potential clients. If you had to choose a plumber, or sparky based on this criteria, and lets be honest quite often we will employ someone to do a job for us without a recommendation, then which one would you choose?
The downside of this book, is now I question nearly everything. what does the state of the pot holes in Aberdeen say about the council? What does the state of my garden say about me? everything i see or hear about, or read about is a potential broken window!! But I have also put the concept into my own life, i know what my short to medium term aim in life is, and I know how to identify the broken windows in my life, and hopefully, how to repair them!!