Back in the 90s

No, I haven’t grown my fringe down to my nostrils and resumed wearing flannelette shirts and blundstones everywhere (although still partial to flannels). It’s my weight and waist. That’s what Willis is talkin bout.

Two years ago I joined a Melb Uni School of Physio knee study looking at how a group of people who’ve had part of their medial meniscus removed get along over time, compared to a control group (ie no knee surgery). I’m in the kaos group, not the control group. In Jan 07, when I was 3 months post-op, I did quite a few biomechanical tests and had an MRI courtesy of the study. The other day I had my year-2 follow-up tests. Full results are to come, but I learned some instant data:

My quads & hammies on my r leg are way stronger than 2 years ago (like about 25% stronger).
My weight is 90.5kg, up 10.0 kg from Jan 07.

I’m having another MRI on Sat. It’ll be good to find out how it’s going inside the r knee.

Now this weight thing has definitely gone too far! In Feb ‘08 I was 78kg. Even in May ‘08 I was 80kg, so this weight gain has been rapid.

My waist this morning is a cuddly 96cm. It was as narrow as mid 80s a year ago. 96 is higher than the federal government’s recommended 94cm for males. Being over that benchmark is disgraceful.

I ran an average of ~150km per month from Jan 08 through to Sep 08. Since the half marathon in Oct ‘08 I haven’t done much running (shin soreness). I guess maintaining a half marathoner’s diet during this period hasn’t been too smart!

Another factor is the fact that I started tapering off Zoloft in Aug 08. I was taking 200mg/day then. Just now I’ve reached zero. I read that it is associated with weight gain when being taken, not so much when you’re tapering off.

Anyway, my plan is to make the following simple changes to my diet & lifestyle:
No more added sugar.
Read labels. If it’s got more than 10% sugar, avoid it.
Kitchen pantry closed for business at 8:30pm.
Eat breakfast an hour or so after getting up, not immediately.
Stay away from Bread Top (Asian bakery).
Eat as many vegies as I like.
Do not buy packets of lollies.
Don’t eat all of the kid’s leftovers all of the time, unless it’s vegies.
Cook vegetarian dinners for the family more often.
Be enthusiastic about salads & soups for dinner.
Check out the CSIRO recipe books. I think they’ll be exactly compatible with my goals & those of the family.
Average 1 alcoholic drink per 3 weeks (have already been doing this for a few months).
Start doing a weekly 2-3 hour walk (with tiny bits of running thrown in). If this means getting up at 5:30am on a weekend, so be it !
Slowly build up the running (got the OK to do so from the sports physician). By the end of Feb be back to 4 runs and 30km per week.
On non-running days make sure a decent brisk walk or bike ride happens.
Give riding to work a go. Really.
Check & post my weight & waist each fortnight.

I’m going with the theory that sugar, rather than fat, is the major culprit. Please don’t confuse this with a low carb diet. I know carbs are vital fuel for active people. I want to cut right back on the sugars (high GI stuff). I think what I’m talking about here would be very compatible with diabetes recipes, so I should check out some diabetes recipe books.


I’m seriously considering doing a 50km charity walk/run in May to benefit the Dalit children of India. All of the above will appropriate steps.

This year I want to read novels and some non-fiction from the library and do a lot less skimming snippets of info in the internet. That is, I want to take time out to delve into and contemplate an author’s prose. Have already started. Currently reading ‘Disgrace’ by JM Coetzee. This book won the booker prize in 1999 and I believe is currently being made into a film.

I’ll refer back to this post during the year and check off how I’m going.