Fat Boy Slimming #3 - Glorious Food · Real Men Real Style Community

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Fat Boy Slimming #3 - Glorious Food

(This is part 3 of a series of posts discussing my thoughts on my current “glowing up while slimming down” journey.)

I’m a man of few vices.

That statement might come as a shock, but it’s true. It’s a blessing, but I simply do not possess what’s come to be known as an addictive personality.

Alcohol? Never cared for it. Sure, I’ll quaff a glass or two at celebrations or on holidays, but that’s the lot. Tobacco? I’m an ex-smoker, but when it came to quitting it was cold turkey and surprisingly easy. Drugs? I don’t have the inclination, contacts or cash for anything harder than a menthol lozenge. Gambling is a penny-stake online poker game when I’m having a loo break. And as for sex addiction… let’s just say I’m not afflicted, but I’d give it a bloody good go if the opportunity arose.

However, I’ve an Achilles Heel that makes mockery of the above, and that’s Food.

No great shock, right? I was a certified chubby funster for fifty-odd years, and while that can be glandular there’s always a gourmand component to consider. For me, it’s the combo of enjoying a huge portion and being absolutely mesmerised by chocolate treats. Too much food at meal times, and too much sugar in between.

Historically, my issue with dieting was twofold. First, the effort required for healthy improvement did not feel commensurate to the results. I’d starve myself all week (relatively), and only drop a pound. Or, worse, I’d maintain. Constant vigilance did not produce consistent loss. But the real killer to my resolve was the Food Noise. That voice in my head and its repeated mantra.

“You need to eat. Eat something. Have a cake. You’re starving. Screw the diet. You need to eat. You NEED TO EAT.”

Then, as part of my diabetes management, I was prescribed something new: an injection.

Free of charge via the wonderful NHS, I now jab myself weekly with an inhibitor that both teaches me when I’m full and removes the devil on my shoulder. It’s an absolute game changer.

“That’s all very well,” I hear you say, “but weight loss injections are cheating! Also, what does any of this have to do with being a stylish gentleman?”

The idea that these jabs are somehow dishonest, or a shortcut, is pervasive. My opinion, from the front line, is different. They are a tool. And tools are there to be utilised.

After seven stones of weight loss, I’m often asked my “secret”, and I always reply with “it’s amazing what a little dedication and a weekly injection can do.”

And honestly, while I acknowledge that the jab does the heavy lifting, it’s the “little dedication” that makes the difference. It’s the “little dedication” that ties it together with our collective journey here.

With the jab working wonders behind the curtain, and the Food Noise muted from my mind, I finally had the space to focus on making my consumption an act of deliberation. When not plagued by the mewling needs of my Inner Fattie, and when I could see steady and continuous improvement that seemed in step with the effort going in, I found that making informed choices was actually enjoyable rather than a penance.

It’s those informed choices, that considered decision-making, that’s a cornerstone of being stylish, or being a gentleman. By being exacting and intentional - in the way we dress, in the way we communicate, in how we interact with our world and the characters within it - we elevate our existence to become something heightened. It’s through such concerted effort, coupled with the knowledge pool we’re all sharing, that we achieve our collective goals and sculpt our self image.

There’s still work to do, a few more legs of the journey yet to come. But I’m happy with the road travelled so far, and I’m looking forward to walking that extra mile, be that weight loss or style management or new horizons entirely.

Best of luck on your own journeys, gents. Wherever you’re headed, you’ve got this.

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