it's all over. I made 190. not bad, not good. Read about it tomorrow as I return in the magazine with Beta Male.

Hi Robert,
Well done for trying. I agree with you on going public. I use Times Health just to keep my own records. I have been loosing weight for over four years now. (nearly 4 stone off) This has been up and down but finally I gave up clubs etc. And now I do this for me in my own way. (Healthy eating most of the time and excercise) I am in control of my weight and have changed my life around but still eat well and have a drink when I wish. As we get older, sadly it gets harder to keep weight of. ( It is common sense at the end of the day)
Good luck with the future and remember DO IT FOR YOURSELF.

this is drawing to a close and I've got to say I'm disappointed with myself. For some reason, social commitments, lack of enthusiasm, the public nature of the challenge, I never really got going in the way I know I can. I just didn't turn up! I'm not that fussed, except I feel I've let Chance UK down and raised a much smaller sum than I could have done.

Never mind. I suppose most diets end in failure, or in a the most partial success. So in that sense it's been realistic. I'll probably go and lose the weight quite easily now. I haven't been happy with doing this in public. strange, because I write about myself for a living, but this I'm not not comfortable with. I'm sure it works for some people, but it hasn't worked for me. Either I generate my own motivation or I don't generate any. And on this occasions, I haven't generated any. It reminds me of taking my degree actually, 22 years ago, when I just couldn't summon up the will to study. I wasn't especially wild-living, I just couldn't get on with it.

Still, I reckon I make 190 and that's something.

It's not so bad Robert - you will still make some money for charity so keep going and do your best. I know that 'could be doing with losing a few pounds' feeling - it is amazing how much better you feel when you do lose a few. Good luck!!

try participating in some "spin" classes, v.high engery expenditure!

yes, my plan is to lose as much as possible in the next eight days to raise the maximum amount of money, not worrying too much about the whole yo-yo business, then to try to do it properly and make the weight in time for the first bit of decent weather of the year. I'm disappointed in myself for not doing better so far (about half a stone in 3 weeks) but then as many of you have said, I haven't been very consistent and consistency is the key. one binge and it all seems to go back on, which it never used to when I was a younger man. Also, I suppose I'm keeping it real in that if you never go out and exercise all the time, which is what I usually do when I'm in a serious diet zone type frame of mind, then of course you can lose weight relatively quickly. This way maybe it'll stay off for a while.

I also want to make it clear that, really, I'm not that fat. It's more "could do with losing a stone or so" than "look at the state of him".

Anyway. Off for the weekend

No, an extension wouldn't help. You need a rapidly approaching deadline which you now have so you can pull out all the stops as it'll soon be over. Try drinking water when you feel hungry, works remarkably well. And if you become as addicted to your computer as I am to mine I can happily miss mealtimes without noticing.
And if you need an added incentive - you could always offer to make up the cash difference if you don't make your target....there, all that salty sweat is dripping calories out of you at the very thought.
If you have cravings use disgusting visualisations to get over them, cigarette stubbed out in boiled egg-type of thing.
Soon be over.

As it now looks as though you are to miss your target, are you going to continue afterwards for your own personal satisfaction to prove you can do it?

Thanks very much to everyone for the encouragement. I tried to get a two week extension to my deadline but no dice. So, ten, 11 days to go. It looks like the 180 target is out of reach but I'm trying hard to lose as much as (sensibly) possible in the time remaining. It's no excuse, well it is a bit of an excuse, but the diet has come at a bad time, lots of social and family commitments, damned if I'm going to sit there and drink diet coke. Still, very much in the zone now, crackers, a few bits of fruit, salad, increase in proteins...

There was an excellent article in the Guardian today about the great work that Chance UK is doing. Keep up with the diet, They need your support. I started with you (on 13th April) and have lost 9lbs so far. My motivation is a bit more prosaic - a family party to celebrate my sister's silver wedding on 7th June.

I don't think you have got your head round this yet. This may help. My husband crept up top 14 and a half stone and ignored my warblings about it. We went on holiday to South Africa and a week in he had a TIA (mini stroke). He had to get back down to 13 stone and once he got his head round the seriousness of it he has been losing a steady 2lb a week. His problems have been, like you, social events, but you have to remain fixed on your goal, and if it is serious enough in your head you can do it, and it sounds to me that for you it simply isn't. I mean, 'couldn't be arsed to queue up at the salad bar'! Good luck Yvonne

Hi Robert
It is always hard to keep up the diet when you are having a break. We're all sending you our best wishes from Chance UK. I am still up for designing that solution focused diet for you which helps keep up your spirits even when things haven't gone so well and stops them getting worse.
Gracia

Weekend was not good, not good at all. I went to Seville on Thursday afternoon for my cousin's wedding on the Saturday and had major and repeated tapas and cerveza-related relapses. No significant exercise apart from a bit of swimming and trudging round the cathedral. Plus a few dance moves in the early hours of Sunday morning. So, not great. I think I'm going to try to get an extension to the deadline.

Hi Robert
I hope you have not given up, we've not heard anything for a few days now.
Does this mean your out there cycling like mad and dropping the pounds as we speak. Give us an update.
You may not make the deadline now, but you can still shift a few pounds.
DON'T GIVE UP

Can we have a post-weekend update please?

Hi Robert,
Have you tried eating a few dried apricots now and then?
Don't know if they'll have the same effect on you
but on my delicate system they make me dump a dress size.
I do hope that has been helpful.
Kind Regards and all the very best,
Vanessa

Coo. You've not got many days left to achieve your goal.
I'm coming at it from a direct opposite, and am trying to lose my weight through diet mainly as I have a ****ed up knee and a now a dodgy hip too.

Are you fully recovered from your 'incident' with the bike?

Hi Robert - just read all the comments since your start up message....and oh, what a familiar story!! Dieting is easy when life does not get in your way, and I've done a few diets in my time. Fact is, in order to lose weight we just need to apply the simple equation of fewer calories in than we use up in a day. Don't blame the time factor as your problem - read back through your entries and you will see that it is your social events/travels that threaten to stop you acheiving your goal, not the time in which you have given yourself to reach it. I felt really motivated by your magazine article where you started this whole thing off.....go back yourself and read it again and I'm sure you will feel more determined to succeed. Good luck!

Think about how good it will feel to reach your goal - imagine that feeling whenever you need some motivation!

Thanks for the advice Carly. The colonic had crossed my mind. I had one years ago and have been looking for an excuse to do it again.

I think a huge bowl of porridge for breakfast might be the answer. I'm on that at the moment and it doesn't half set you up.

Basically I reckon I could do this if I hadn't given myself such a daft deadline.

"You can't out-run your mouth" is a good saying. Also "a six pack is made in the kitchen." And cardio tends to make people hungry, generally. Not saying you should stop exercising, because it has other benefits too but maybe try to stay hydrated and take a protein shake afterwards, than heading for the fridge. Weight lifting is good for body transformation, but it'll make you lose inches, not necessarily pounds. Maybe join something like a rowing club, where you'll be forced to do exercise, or let down all your fellow rowers. And exercise is good for distraction from hunger pangs or mindless eating.

Diet-wise, try low-carbing or, depending on mental strength, alternate-day fasting.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/healthy-living/feast--famine-the-alternate-day-diet-808940.html
Basically, eat nothing or under 300 calories one day, then 'whatever you want' the next. Although it's not the most pleasant experience.

And get the emotional relationship to food right - it's just fuel. Not a treat, not a comfort blanket. Food has no power over you. You don't need to clear your plate. Stick up motivational pictures. Think of the charity etc.

I guess you could always go for a colonic the day before your final weigh in if you get really desperate.

Anyway, good luck!

It crossed my mind Paul, certainly. but it didn't seem to work very well for him did it?

i'm feeling good. Not particularly about my weight, but because spring seems finally to have arrived. I'm going to have a drink on my way home to celebrate. I'm trying not to weigh myself all the time, but this morning, in my pantsm which must themselves weigh half a pound, I was 195. so that's 195 off in nine days, which under normal circumstances would be pretty good, but not if you've given yourself 28 days to lose 20 pounds.

Anyway. musn't grumble. sun shining. hull city in the play offs. can't be bad.

i hope u can do it because i also started my weight loss mission around approx. same time and therefore want u to succeed as much as i want it for myself.
trying hard, good luck.london

Robert, absolutely wouldn't want to seriously propose it but am I the only Beta Male devotee thinking "What would a Deputy Prime Minister do to hit this target?"

sorry everyone, starving hungry, about to cycle home, will try to put something halfway intelligent on later.

thanks for all the encouragement. lasgane for lunch. couldn't be arsed to queue up at the salad bar.

Hi Robert. Another great Beta Male fan here - I don't know about all these people that read your page first, I like to keep it as the treat at the end. Anyway, as has already been pointed out you have taken on a pretty crazy challenge, which I guess in Beta Male terms means it's okay if you don't manage to do it, you'll still get lots of good column inches out of the Bob-tries-to-diet-but-can't-quite-work-out-how saga... Seriously though, my experience is that low-carb is the answer - not eating less, just stuffing yourself full of protein and fat, with a bit of vegetables to keep those vitamins coming, and ignoring the carbs as far as poss. That means - guess what - you don't get to feel hungry! You feel hungry? You eat. You just eat the right stuff - go for some meat and not bread or potatoes. You're at a party? Go for the peanuts, ignore the pretzels or the crisps.

And forget about booze for now. Completely. Because we all know that there's no such thing as "just the one".

Go on, promise yourself a major blow out after 10 May. Book the restaurant now!

Drastic measures? I'd suggest not going out, at all, as this seems to be the weakest point in your regime! I wouldn't fancy that, but you have rather set yourself a bonkers challenge! Mum got salmonella once, and lost about that, 20lbs, in 3 weeks, but I wouldn't advocate that as a strategy. The real challenge might come in the days after 10 May. Do you care if it all goes back on?

Really, good luck.

Julia

Robert
Good luck!
I have recently agreed to take part in a Questars challenge in our local Brecon Beacons - mountain biking, running and kayaking triathlon event. I decided it was the only way to maintain a regime, having the date of the event looming as well as a fear of letting the other members of my team down! I recommend it.
John

the thing is, how MUCH do you want to do this? if I was documenting my struggle in a national newspaper, I wouldn't be scarfing chips, beer and wine. If you can't do it for professional or personal pride, think of the "poor children" you are trying to raise money for!
Discipline for 20 days..... are you man enough??!

(tried really hard to be stern there, but am really much fluffier!!!)

Hi Robert,
First of all, congratulations on the crazy challenge and the great column (which makes me read the Times Magazine from back to front).

May I just say: stop stepping on those scales every other hour. It is not good for your mental health.
And, if I can be even bossier, clearly you are not eating in accordance to your exercise regime. You need more food. More and better food that can keep you away from crisps, etc. And maybe, if you build in some sort of reward process, it will be easier.
Say, absolutely no alcohol for 2 weeks. Not a drop of it. Then, if all goes well, you can start again with a couple of evenings per week. Doable?

Anyway, whatever people tell you, what counts is in your head. Something needs to click in there and set you on the path to sainthood… at least for a few weeks.

I started, yet again, last week. Something clicked. Ho long will it last? No idea. I do know that the difficult part comes later, when you actually need to keep the pounds off.. But that’s another story.

Have a good weekend,
Olga

here i am again. just been out for dinner: shrimp/crab/olive oil/bread/olives. followed by lamb/chips/some kind of gunky sauce/ bit of token lettuce, then cheese, plus bread, two bottles of wine. beer before I left. haven't finished yet. thing is, i still reckon i can make the deadline, but obviously i'm going to have to take drastic measures;. never mind the cabbage soup, I thing i'll just not eat and smoke loads of ****s and that'll do the trick. what does anyone reckon to this?

i've just weighed in and I'm back to 200. So, after one week, nothing has happened. amazing how one big blow out can affect everything, it's unforgiving, there's no room for error. never mind. tomorrow is another day. if all else fails, i'll just not eat for a week and see how that works.

Robert, Robert, Robert. I have just read this weeks times mag. No wonder you moved the date. Sitting quizzing at your PC will not help remove the pounds.
(Says me doing much the same) but you are doing well and have plenty of time to reach your target. I have just taken up running at 52 years of age and can recommend it highly (with IPOD) But following the correct training for beginners of course.
Don't give up, the end results are worth the effort.

Neil, Penny, many thanks. Bad setback last night, and on the cards again tonight, but on the whole, not a bad first week. 7lbs lost in 7 days without really hurting myself, though obviously I\'ve a lot to play with and the first few pounds come off quickest. but I reckon another 13lbs in 3 weeks is at least do-able. social commitments are the big problem. if I could go off and live in a hut by myself for the next 3 weeks, no problem. i blame the modern world.

Having been convinced that my clothes were shrinking for the last few months, I finally accepted the blindingly obvious fact that I was fast becomming a bloater. Together with a friend of mine, we have formed a diet club, which has since been renamed fat camp, for all too apparent reasons. I'm on a no carb diet, which frankly, is miserable, but also seems to be doing the job and I've lost nearly 8 pounds in four weeks. This week I became somewhat carb obsessed, when I read an article about the rising price of bread world wide and instead of worrying about global starvation, become obsessed with the idea of eating toast.....worrying.

But good luck to you Robert, and everyone else!

Fat Camper

Wow - a lot of weight to lose in a short time! But congratulations you already seem to be doing pretty well.

I reckon the only way for you is to keep up the excercise (obviously with eating less) which you appear to be doing. If you can do it I reckon I could lose my measly 2lb before the end of April!

Keep going - will be watching your progress - DETERMINATION I reckon.

Good luck

Penny

another setback. my cousins came round, got the snacks out, the wine, the beer, one thing lead to another, pistachios, pretzels, peanuts, deadly combination. i shall bed very surprised if the scales don't seak of some awful disaster in the morning....

it's not the exercise that's the problem Francesca. Yesterday I cycled 23 miles (10 of it into a very unforgiving east wind), did 10 mins on the cross trainer, boxed for a while and did some stretches and whatnot, and overnight I'd lost a measly one pound. The reason? Food, too much of it. Beyond a certain point, exercise just makes me hungry and I shovel down the first thing to hand.

Check out British Military Fitness classes (www.brtimilfit.com/co.uk) they are really good and people who I do them with also really like going, and I am NOT and excersize person!!

Thanks Joanne. No diet as such, except eating less, particularly in the evening, when you don't really need it. I think you basically know what's Ok to eat and what isn't. I tend to cut right back on carbs, up the exercise, cut back radically on booze, and hope that does the trick. But you're right, not much time. Another fortnight would have been good, but my deal with the boss at work was that he would pay the money to charity if I lost it in 4 weeks. I reckon it can be done, but it's not easy. on the other hand, that makes it more exciting.

I cycled 23 miles today which is a lot for me. went to IKEA and had a shedload of meatballs. rice instead of chips. no alcohol.

Hi Robert, you haven't given yourself much time! What are you doing diet wise? any particular regime or just counting calories? i reckon if you're going to make a serious stab at this you need assistance from one of those boot camp type personal trainers, or get adopted by Victoria Beckham!!
Good luck

196 this morning! Game on. I feel like I've finally got going, with some semblance of food discipline after the madness of three five course meals in 24 hours in France. exercise also picking up, with the usual cycling supplemented by the nasty squeaky cross trainer contraption my wife bought for me when i broke my collarbone two years ago and couldn't use my bike. Also working the punchbag conscientiously and violently if not very gracefully.

I think I agree with Simon about sleep. I need loads. Lack of sleep and travel (and the two often go together) are the big enemies of a consistent regimen.

Hi Robert,

Following your progress with interest. I know exactly what you mean about the cross-trainer. If ever a machine was designed by a sadistic SOB this would have to be it!! In fact, I now avoid it totally as I found that the thought of it was putting me off going to the gym. I now stick to the treadmill, rowing machine, stationary bike, my mountain bike and loads of walking. (Plus, of course, working two jobs helps!)

I believe good sleep is essential. I find it much easier to maintain my regime if I have slept well. I also find that lack of sleep tends to make me grumpy (at least, grumpier than normal, if my Fiancee is to be believed LOL).

Anyway, good luck and keep us posted.

Saw that you joined the 'ab fab' group, so welcome. Jump in with the rest of us nutcases there!

Cheers,

Simon

avoided the crisps/canape temptation by simply not turning up to the party. good solution I thought. thanks for the encouragement Sue. I got a bag of nuts/raisins out of the machine. could have been worse.

what are people's thoughts on sleeping? I reckon it cuts both waysa. on the one hand, you can't eat while you're asleep. on the other, you move around more when you're awake. although I do a fair bit of tossing and turning and scrunching the duvet around my toes, which must burn up a few calories. done pretty well tonight. no carbs. 10 mins on ghastly cross trainer thing. 6 mins punchbag, bit of stretching and whatnot. will weigh in tomorrow with a degree of confidence.

Don't give in! That 4 o'clock time is the worst! Try to have a little bag of dried fruit and nuts to nibble on such as apricots, cranberries, brazil and walnuts - I find this really helps - and it's def not good to go hungry! You only build up fat reserves!

Good luck on your 20lb challenge! Glad you've joined Ab Fab!

very very dangerous time of day this. lunch has worn off, won't have tea for at least another hour, possibly longer because I've got to drop into this do on the way home. Very real possibility of getting massively stuck into major crisp/canape session there, on hitting the vending machine hard before I leave. Got to tough it out.

back from France, where I had a five course lunch on Monday, a five course dinner on Monday night, and another five course lunch on Tuesday. Say what you like about the French, they know how to eat. 11 euros for pate, steak, cheese, yoghurt, wine, coffee. unbelievable. down side is having lost a fewlbs, I'm back up to 199 this morning. So my net weight loss after four days of my so-called diet is 1lb. I need to get myself in order. Travel is the enemy of self-discipline.

in deepest auvergne, having a beer and some cashews. about to go out for a french slap-up. had four course lunch, on top of hefty breakfast at stansted. no exercise to speak of. snowing here, so possibility of calories being used up there. exceptionally cold.

This quest of "how I lost 20 lbs in 25 days" gives you a perfect title for your round of public speaking engagements. I am happy to offer you an audience on that theme in my living room -whether or not you make it since the tale is in the journey!

thanks Bev. if it's any encouragement, I seem somehow to have lost 3lbs over a not-especially abstemious weekend.

Off to France. Note extraordinarily ungodly hour.

As a serial faller from the wagon, diets, drink, times health club, you name it - I've started......... but never finished........ but feel motivated by your column this week and am going to give it (yet another) go.

Hope you get there - I'll be with you!!

thanks roger, Olivia and lisa. Much obliged. Not a good start this weekend. Cycled a fair bit, also did some boxing, and a bit of walking, stretching, press ups etc, but I do that anyway, and what really counts is food and drink, and that wasn't great. Went to kent, so fair bit of cake, Guinness, a couple of burgers from the first barbecue of the year. I reckon I might have broken even for the weekend (can't face weighing myself til tomorrow when I've had chance to dehydrate overnight). But that's not good enough. two days gone. I don't feel I'm psychologically quite ready for it yet, but that's always the case until you start.

Off to the Auvergne in the morning for two days. will try to blog, but probably too busy stuffing my face with foie gras to get near a computer.

Yes olivia, I reckon that was me. I did international politics and I was a great deal more serius in those days. I've lightened up a bit since, emotionally if physically.

Beta Male is always the first thing I read in the Times every Saturday. Keep up the good work (with the writing and the diet!). I'm now inspired to lose some weight too: I cycle to work and back every day (18 miles: best commute ever as its all around the beautiful Torbay Coast ) but eat too much rubbish (kitkats/marmalade sandwiches/anything left on the kid's plates etc.). Look forward to reading about your experiences/failings/embarrasing moments/success* *delete as appropriate

dear robert - i've been meaning to ask you this for years... did you do international politics since 1945 as one of your papers at Oxford? I think i was in your tutor group (sorry to hijack your blog to ask you this, but it's been bugging me). I'm sure there was arobert crampton in my gorup...but (or should that be and) he was terribly serious looking and intellectual...
Good luck...I'll race you if you like

Just read your article, good luck. I'm sure you'll do it! :)

hmnnnn....just went for a bike ride. nearly got knocked off actually, so this almost became the shortest lived, as well as the least popular, blog in the history of the web. Anyway, I'm still here. 5 miles done. no lighter. just weighed in at 198, which is what I was an hour ago. Going to have some breakfast and head off to Kent for the weekend.

very new to this business of blogging. at what point does it become embarrassing that it's just you doing it? Might as well be writing this down on the back of an envelope. it's like an empty dance floor at a wedding, the disco has strated up but there's just this one awful exhibitionist cavorting around shouting about himself.

had a cup of tea. no sugar. but then i never have sugar, so big deal.

just dragged myself out of bed. hungry. which is good. i'm going to do a few minutes on the not-very-good cross trainers, possibly followed by a bit of stretching, then the weigh-in.

i'm going to start doing this properly tomorrow. this is a bit of a test, see if it works.