Pub Talk Health Challenge part 1...

“I’m going to get sick”

“Come on, just three more”

If this is something you are used to hearing then I applaud you. You have been to a gym. You are either fit or at least trying to become better at pretending to be. 10 days ago I was climbing into a pint of Guinness as if I was Mark Renton chasing a suppository down the jacks knowing full well that it was going to be my last for 32 odd days. I have just had the above conversation and it feels great. Well, I can’t feel most of my body but mentally, I’m basically there.

Not that taking a month off the black stuff should be heralded necessarily but when you combine a complete overhaul of diet, exercise regime, substance intake (I’m keeping the fags for now, gimme one vice to get through it) the body gets a bit confused. I’m absolutely gagging for a Dairy Milk. I haven’t had sugar outside of fruit in over a week. To say I was irritable for the first few days would be an understatement. I don’t think I ever realised how much the body withdraws from things that aren’t nicotine/alcohol/insert Class A of choice here. Through the help of dietician Orla Walsh and personal trainer Marcus O’Driscoll this month, personally, is about proving that mentally and physically we are in control of our bodies. I mean this at the most base level. I’m not trying to have 0% body fat, I’m not trying to achieve enlightenment, I’m just trying to show myself that it’s possible to change the way we view ourselves and change our quality of life through doing simple things right. Something Orla said at the very start of this process on the show was that if we go out and drink six pints in the pub it’s the equivalent of sitting in and eating a sliced pan. I thought this over and over. I fucking hate sliced pan.

I’d like to think I’ve had a good diet for the past few years. In hindsight, I didn’t. In the past ten days I’ve eaten more fruit and veg than I had in the previous 10 weeks. I’m starting to learn through talking to people each day that it’s an unfortunately ingrained Irish trait that we see what others do and think that as long as we’re doing better than someone else then we’re doing pretty well. The classic excuse for drinking too much is that there’s always someone who drinks more and “well, at least I’m not as bad as ____”.  For me, it’s time to change that.

I’ve genuinely noticed a lift in energy, especially in the mornings, my skin feels better and I’m actually getting shit done that would have taken three times as long before due to general lethargy and apathy towards doing anything if it didn’t have to be done.

This is all very optimistic and you’ll absolutely see me act out that famous scene from Trainspotting using a pint as a prop come March 7^th but hopefully with a renewed sense of being in control of my health. From March 7th, I’m not going to stop drinking and I’m not going to become militant about my food, I’m just going to be more aware of what I’m putting in and how I can balance that against my overall lifestyle.

Day 1 I weighed 69.8kg, about 11st. My BMI was 23.6 and my fat% was 16.6%. I’m not interested in losing weight or gaining muscle mass, I just want to my body to be a healthier version of what it currently is.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t hurt as much as this afternoon…



For those of you who don't care here's a good looking man with a beard and an atttractive lady who has managed to convey the sense of being a Native American despite wearing very little. I think the hat gives it away. Something for everyone anyway.