Hey, on the subject of health, check out this page of good-smoking-manners adverts from Japan. Compare and contrast to the UK equivalent...

My two bits.

Don't worry too much about what you eat if it's of reasonable quality. (No prepared foods, cook yourself from the most basic ingredients appropriate to your kitchen skill level).

Eat full, sit down meals (two or three a day with starch, protein and veggies) on some kind of more or less regular schedule and _no_ between meal snacks. (this is the most important point).

Don't beat yourself up over holiday eating or the _occasional_ lapse from your schedule. Do beat yourself up if you can't go three days without potato chips and candy bars between lunch and dinner ...

Don't drive when you can walk/bike. Exercise in other ways on a regular basis.

It won't make you super thin, but it will lead you eventually to an appropriate weight and fitness level, which is a far better goal.

(Might not help if you've already totally screwed up your metabolism by lots of diverse dieting or years and years of poor eating habits):

Try Courtney's health club at the Queen Mother Sports centre in Vauxhall Bridge Road, that is if you can withstand the Herta Bothe-type Finnish fitness instructor there ...

I've put a comment on your blog.

In essence it consists of eating a sensible diet full of fruit and veg and getting (and using) one of these:

www.concept2.co.uk

There is no better way to get the maximum exercise in a time-efficient way. Forget other fancy expensive equipment, this is the real deal (the testimonials on the site are all true).

I'm going cold turkey with the cigarettes on Saturday so you won't be the only one indulging in a battle of will-power. Best of luck.

Eat less !

Alex, good luck. Try a gym but be sure to go to one where they have helpful, intelligent staff able to sort out a regime for you, check you out and monitor how well you do. Also walk when you can and use your computer to keep track of how well you are doing to use it as a motivational tool.

Apart from that, avoid the usual stuff like fatty foods, sugar and keep the booze levels down. Not rocket science I know!

HJHJ: thanks for the link. Looks interesting.

Scott - use 24 hour nicoteen patches. Break the habit of lighting up then taper of the nicoteen. Couldn't be easier and it worked for me and my wife. Much better than cold turkey.

Johnathon,

Trust me, the C2 is a miracle machine - provided you put in the effort. Everything Redgrave says on the web site is completely true. It's the best £900 you will ever spend.

I've bought two in the last 10 years (both still working fine), so I should know. I'm 45 and have a family and limited time to train, but am fitter than 99% (really) of 20 year olds as a result of using one of these.

Gym instructors don't know how to use them, incidentally (I've seen them giving some comical instruction). It's not complicated - just look on the web site.

HJHJ : Bugger, I've been looking at buying a rowing machine for a while now - basically because of the reasons you mentioned on the diet blog. That Concept 2 thing looks the business but I can't see anything that mentions shipping to Australia. And 900 quid is a hefty price tag!

James: Concept 2 have an organisation in Australia (www.concept2.com.au), so you can buy it there too - AUS $2178 inc. GST. The C2 machine is made in the US.

It most definitely is the business. You don't need any other equipment to get a complete workout. It is practically indestructible (especially for home use) and will last forever with only the occasional spare part (which are very cheap and easily replaced). In 10 years of thrashing my machine I've only ever bought some new plastic feet thingies which cost about £8 and took 2 minutes to replace. The price is an absolute bargain considering the quality, durability and what it will do for you.

For those that remember the BBC programme "Gold Fever" - about the GB coxless four training for the Sydney Olympics - the C2 is the machine on which both James Cracknell and Steve Redgrave rowed themselves unconscious. I've only come near to this once - on a very hot day following a competitive 20 minute test, I fell off and couldn't move for 5 minutes. You don't have to be this crazy, of course. Quite sane people use the C2 every day.

I see on eBay.co.uk that there are a couple of Concept IIs at the moment, so eBay might be a good place to keep an eye on if you're looking for a machine without paying top whack.

If you're going to spend money on fancy equipment, make sure the wife or long-term friend is there to KICK YOUR ASS about using it.

I've been, among other things, a professional mover, and I can't tell you how many unused exercise machines festooned with laundry and storage boxes I've shifted from one basement to another.

If you're not sure about that, pushups and situps (yes, situps, not crunches: if you're a desk jockey, it's likely that your psoas is *under*-developed, and needs it for long-term back and hip health) are plenty sufficient for anybody who wants to burn a ton of calories and get themselves into at least the start of great shape.

Scott - I speak as a former Olympic Gold Medallist smoker. Sixty a day. If I was out for the evening, another 20.

I think it had been working in the back of my mind that this really was making me feel awful in the mornings. Anyway, one day I decided to quit. I bought a supply of cigarettes and put them in a kitchen drawer - didn't want to get caught short in case I lost my will power. The night before I quit, I sat and smoked until midnight. At midnight, I emptied the ashtrays and washed them. I was now a non-smoker. Over the next few weeks, when anyone offered me a cigarette, I'd just say, "No, thanks. I don't smoke."

I didn't do a transition period. I didn't say to people "No, thanks. I'm quitting." People who say they're quitting, or "trying to quit" are not committed.

If you really don't want to smoke any more, Scott, then that means you are already a non-smoker in your mind. If you're not sincere, you will play both ends against the middle by saying "I'm trying to quit." That means you are playing at it.

I won't say "good luck!" because if you have already decided to be a non-smoker, you won't need it.

Get the book "Overcoming Overeating". Graze. Stop worrying about your weight. Diets don't work.

I've made the same commitment you have, but I started in June. Since then I've lost about 22 lbs.
One way I managed it was to stop eating certain foods. No more french fries, donuts, sodas, potato chips, nachos, cheese. The one I miss the most is cheese, but it did bad things to my guts. I started avoiding anything sugary - my tea is sweetened with stevia, as is my lemonade, pudding, etc.
Next I started eating certain foods; an apple, orange, handfull of grapes, and a carrot a day keeps the doctor away. Don't forget to have some protein after a workout; a chicken or fish sandwich is good - you don't really need the powders.
Then I started running. At first I couldn't run even a quarter mile lap on the local high school track. Now I can do eight miles, and I regularly run 5 miles three times a week. On off days I might go swimming for an hour, or walking for two or three.
From past trials I have found that machines and gyms are a waste of time and money. My stepper and cycle just ended up drying laundry, and the gym was too much effort to get to, and a bit crowded when I wanted to work out. Now I just put on my shoes; the walks to the track and back are good warmups and warmdowns, and an hours run burns about 900 calories. As for weight-lifting, I simply substituted push-ups, squats, and crunches. They require no money, no gym, no equipment, and little space.
So that's the secret: eat less, eat differently, do more.
You might notice that a lot of weight-loss programs seem to require a lot of time ie an hour a day of exercise. Well, that's the way it is. I gave up on TV, and spend less time on the Net, but it does feel good to fit in pants that are two sizes smaller, and to be able to run a fair distance without being out of breath.
Next for me is to get a heavy punching bag - maybe I'll paint it with the pictures of certain politicians; that should get the sweat up.

HJHJ

Exactly right on the C2 machine - the instructor I have (she of the Finnish sadistic tendencies) seemed to be almost completely ignorant of how to use the machine. I worked it out from the instructions on their website and the clearly posted 4-step instruction on the machine itself.

When it comes to complicated machines, Ron Gesell is quite right - with the sole exception of the erg (short for rowing ergometer a.k.a. the Concept 2 rowing machine), which are standard training machines for not only rowers but football players, rugby players, sailors, F1 racing drivers and even Tiger Woods. Why? Because they work - like nothing else.

Julian, there is also a stage-by-stage animation on the C2 web site. It's simple really - on the 'drive' it's legs, then body back, then arms. On the recovery it's the reverse - arms away, body forward and then legs. If you ever hit your knees with your hands or have to raise them not to hit your knees, you've got the order wrong. Fast drive and slow recovery is the way to do it. If you do it well, then you can go faster at a slow stroke rate simply by accelerating hard on the drive, than someone who goes back and forwards like the Duracell bunny.

The damper lever isn't a measure of macho-ness, incidentally. It's like the gears on a bike - it changes the feel, but if you go faster than someone else, you've gone faster - it's irrelevant which gear you were in. Top Olympic rowers use the lower settings (3-4) and accelerate hard. Gym prats use level 10.

When it comes to complicated machines, Ron Gesell is quite right - with the sole exception of the erg (short for rowing ergometer a.k.a. the Concept 2 rowing machine), which are standard training machines for not only rowers but football players, rugby players, sailors, F1 racing drivers and even Tiger Woods. Why? Because they work - like nothing else.

Julian, there is also a stage-by-stage animation on the C2 web site. It's simple really - on the 'drive' it's legs, then body back, then arms. On the recovery it's the reverse - arms away, body forward and then legs. If you ever hit your knees with your hands or have to raise them not to hit your knees, you've got the order wrong. Fast drive and slow recovery is the way to do it. If you do it well, then you can go faster at a slow stroke rate simply by accelerating hard on the drive, than someone who goes back and forwards like the Duracell bunny.

The damper lever isn't a measure of macho-ness, incidentally. It's like the gears on a bike - it changes the feel, but if you go faster than someone else, you've gone faster - it's irrelevant which gear you were in. Top Olympic rowers use the lower settings (3-4) and accelerate hard. Gym prats use level 10.

I've lost 45 pounds in the last year by

1. eating 3 meals a day (balanced, moderate portions) and no snacking. I eat quite a lot of meat as I tend to feel less hungry after protein than carbs. As my choleterol is only 3.5 this is okay I think.

2. Cutting right back on the booze.

3. Exercising regularly on a rowing machine and walking more.

Weight loss has been gradual and I won't be putting it back on. Lifestyle changes rather than a "diet" I suppose...

I'm a rower myself and my crew and i use it 3 times a week and it wont destroy your muscles like running and it works your hole body.
If you do 20minute or up to 60min (if you can handle it) 4 times a week you'll soon be as fit or fitter than anyone your age.