This week's story is a bit different. I put out a general plea on twitter last week for more posts and Dave got in touch. He outlined the nature of his story and I was intrigued. I wasn't disappointed when Dave emailed me this post. Y'see, Dave had a serious problem with an addiction - to crisps. In his post, he tells how giving them up changed his approach to healthy living. Over now to Dave...
Give up crisps!
There. That’s it. That’s my story. Give up crisps and
fitness will come prancing to your very door, clad in lycra all fresh from a Multi
Fit class without so much of a sweat.
Yeah right....
Giving up crisps was actually just one way I mutated from a
tubby fellow to slightly less tubby fellow. But it’s what it stands for. And
how it’s given me a whole new level of discipline I really didn’t think I had.
Let’s go back a few years. I was 30 years old with a 38inch
waistline... And a heavy crisp addiction. No, seriously. I was on three or four
packs a day. I’d popped and was never going to stop. A few party bags of kettle
chips of a Friday night and a couple of Pringles tubes on the side? No
problemo.
I lost count how many times my long suffering other half Liz
had suggested giving them up for a week as I did my weekly trolley dash down
the savoury snack aisle. I also lost count at the amount of times I told her
where she could stick that idea. “They’re one of life’s little pleasures,” I’d
reason. 90% hydrogenated fat, they’re also one of life’s most fattening
pleasures...
It all came to a head one evening at a friend’s house,
post-pub. A 12 pack of Walkers lay temptingly on his living room table. Not my
chosen brand, but fat buggers can’t be choosers. I tucked in without ceremony.
Or asking.
I’d gobbled nine packets within the hour. The only ones left
were the plain. I would’ve devoured them too if grumbles weren’t being made by
the crisps’ original owner. He’d even resorted to telling me they belonged to
another friend in the glimmer I had more respect for him and would stop. I knew
he was right and, as blinded by addiction as I was, I also knew nine was getting
silly. Plus I don’t like plain...
The next morning I awoke a greasy, greedy, shameful shadow
of myself. I text my friend to apologise, took a long shower and decided I had
to give up crisps. I made the announcement and Liz looked relieved; finally,
I’d admitted to my problem.
A week passed and I’d stayed true to my promise. I’d even
handled them, passing them around the room, and I’d not been tempted to treat
myself. I don’t want to sound big headed but I’m sure my friends were in awe of
this sudden, seismic shift in behaviour. What’s this? Fatty Jenkins isn’t
helping himself? Quick, get your variety bags out, they’re safe again!
Then it came; the challenge. The real moment that sealed the
deal for me in my anti-crisp career: My mum’s birthday. Liz and I arrived at my
old family home to celebrate and we were greeted by six bowls of crisps. It was
the Walker’s limited edition range of strange flavours; builder’s breakfast,
dead squirrel and such. A flavour test, my brother called it, laying down the
gauntlet.
“I can’t do it, I’ve given them up mate,” I say with pride.
“F&*k off!” was his tart reply.
Liz, mum and dad just observed. We all knew what I had to
do. I took a single crisp from each bowl, ate them and guessed all the flavours
correctly. Cue a hearty family applause. Handshakes with dad and brother, hugs
with mum and Liz. I took a bow and that was it. A heavyweight champion of
crispology, I’d retired at the very top of my game. And crisps have NEVER
touched my lips again (well, there was one paprika Dorito on a really drunk
afternoon...)
So why have I sprawled this saga out to such a degree?
Simple... It’s a cool story and one that’s helped me lose several stone. Now almost
33 with a 34inch waistline, the anti-crisp stance changed my entire attitude to
snacking. Suddenly I couldn’t just go on eating autopilot, munching away because
it tastes nice. Sometimes I’d just munch ‘because it was there’, but now I had
to think about what I was about to eat. Am I really hungry? Do I really need to
eat this?
Unwittingly I’d installed a discipline that’s even more
important today. Now editor of a food magazine, temptation to snack and sample
beyond necessity is at an all time high. And while I blatantly do know how to
enjoy my grub, I know I can eat well because I won’t be gorging a whole load of
unnecessary snacks later on.
Admittedly my weight loss wasn’t just down to giving up
crisps. I also took up running around the same time, and have run two half
marathons since, but my years of lapsed gym memberships suggests that I never
would have stuck to it if I hadn’t adopted this level of self discipline. And
it started with giving up crisps...
What a great story! I am sure we can all relate to his tale. We all love things that are bad for us and it is really easy to overdo it without thinking. I think his story proves that it's possible to develop discipline if you put your mind to it, although you have to be driven and really want it to get you started. I'd like to thank Dave for contributing to this series and making it such an entertaining read.
If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. Do please join in - or ask your friends if you know someone has a story to tell, even if they don't blog.
I'll have a new episode in the My Fitness Story... series next week.