This has been tough to write, as it addresses some hard questions that need answers It all started on the back of reading this blog by Gary Brennan,. He is talking about how things used to be for him and food before he lost an almost unbelievable 25 stones via the bike. Before we get to the nitty gritty of this piece, I must point out that I consider Gary a friend and someone who was instrumental in setting me on my way back to health and fitness back in 2009.

Take a look at the comments section of that very soul searching piece by Gary. A guy has dived in, in an unnecessarily argumentative manner in my view, to make the point that Gary has nothing to be proud of by losing 25 stones as he shouldnt have got like that in the first place.In agreement

Now heres the shocker, I agree totally with him. In fact Ive always thought that, not about Gary in particular, but about me. I got to 22 stone, 41b with a background of the military, mountain biking and rugby. I was a total active nutcase. How the clucking bell did I let myself get to a state of morbid obesity? The fact that Ive lost 7.5 stones is nothing to be proud of, Im ashamed Ive had to lose it and still be in a position where I need to lose more

But heres the thing, 20/20 hindsight is a bloody handy thing to have. If I could have my time again knowing what I know now ol course Id do things differently, but I am where I am so deal with it fatso!
The argumentative chap in Gazs blog is wrong on a couple of points though, it is frighteningly easy to put weight on and astoundingly difficult to get it off. If it were hard to get fat and easy to get thin, then we wouldnt be seeing an epidemic of obesity hitting the Western world in general.

Slippery slope
Theres a question that I asked on one of my first ever weight loss blogs over at www.massivemtber. co.uk – why did I get like it? Obviously by sitting on my arse and filling my face with crap! But why did I do that? I knew at an intellectual level that it wasnt such a great idea and I could see myself getting fatter and less fit and ill so again, why?
I have my own theory that it is a form of mental illness, I mean a sane person doesnt knowingly self – harm do they? Lethargy and gluttony is self – harm no matter how many nudge nudge, wink wink fat bastard jokes you package it in.

This leads naturally to the murky, self – serving and dishonest world of politics for a grand scale solution. I can very smugly take a bit of the moral high ground here, I never had any help from the medical profession or spent any of the NHSs shrinking budget on getting myself better, nor has Gary, we did it the good old fashioned hard way.

What about those who cannot help themselves? Do we continue spending money to treat the illnesses obesity causes or spend money on gastric band operations? Im instinctively against the whole idea of gastric bands as it isnt getting to the root cause of the issue, its just forcing people to eat less, but Im not a medical professional so what do I know?

Ill be totally honest here, and Im not fence sitting, I dont know what, if anything, the powers that be should be doing. My instinct is education at childhood to prepare kids to keep active and eat right, maybe even compulsory cooking lessons to prove that eating a balanced healthy diet with fresh produce isnt expensive or a time consuming thing to do.

All I know is Im not proud of myself, Im ashamed of myself in fact and I regret deeply the need to be doing what Im doing now. Oh and finally, just for clarity, Im not out for sympathy, I never have been. This is my fault and only I can put it right.