I weighed myself this morning for the first time in ages. I’ve been off training for 3 months owing to an injury sustained just before christmas (which will be familiar to anyone who read my Tough Guy training log) and was not that surprised to see that I’m now 15 stone - over half a stone heavier than I was last year.

At my height, that’s a B.M.I value of 27. Now while I don’t set a lot of store in B.M.I., it is an indicator and, frankly, that’s poor. (between 20 and 25 is considered ideal and 30+ is clincally obese). The average weight for someone my height is actually 13st 5lbs (85kg) so that’s about a stone and a half I’d need to lose to get down to my average weight (which would give me a B.M.I. value of 24.)

At a sensible weight loss rate of 2lbs per week, I could hit that target by the end of May. Now that’s quite aggressive but fortunately, I am quite keen to get fit again and as I can’t lift heavy weights, I’m going to concentrate on running far more with a goal of doing Tough Guy again on the 31st July.

Now all this might sound quite vain and you’d be half right. But the main reason I need to lose weight is because I’m stingy. I can’t get into most of the trousers I own so rather than go out and buy new pairs, I’m going to cut back on the family bucket of fried chicken, the industrial size pizzas and refrain from drinking more beer than is produced by some developing countries. Tie that in with running and some low resistance, high rep gym work and the lard will melt off.

Plus I actually would like to finish a 5km race in under 45 mins this year!