Perseverance

I am over a week in to my strict nutrition programme and I'm still going strong.

There have been moments of weakness, I'll be honest with you. I've had the odd, broccoli induced hallucination where I'm some Willy Wonka figure, surrounded by chocolate and orange faced little people. By that I mean Umpa Lumpas, not people from Essex.

It's been more of a mental adjustment than just a case of choosing the right food. I've had to train myself to consider food as merely fuel, as opposed to the highlight of my ordinary day.

The task has been easier than I had anticipated. That's not to down play the enormity of the change I've made, or even the task that still lies ahead, but I have decided to dedicate all my efforts to making this programme a success and my will has, so far, stood up to challenge.

I have lost over a stone since the start of my programme and the whole of my body feels healthier. There is a spring in my step and my mind is keener than ever.

If I'm honest this is probably the first time in my life I have completely given 100% to anything. As a man that has high expectations of myself I think I have always subconsciously been half-arsed in my previous efforts, knowing that if I fail I have the excuse of not trying that hard. There are no excuses this time. I've exhausted every last sinew of self-discipline and determination to stick to this programme. The fact that I am already noticing the positive changes I set out to make will only spur me on further.

In my second week the exercise has increased. I am now running for an extra five minutes and my body weight circuits have increased from three sets to five. This means 100 squats, 100 press-ups, 2 1/2 minutes of plank, 150 sit-ups, 50 split leg squats and 50 tuck jumps four times a week. I should be an adonis by the end of this!

In a funny kind of way I have enjoyed the exercise. The loss of weight has relieved some of the strains on my joints and I have felt like I'm far more capable of pushing my body further.

I still miss a lot of food. And I mean A LOT! Not the fast food you'd expect but things like jam sandwiches, beans, parsnips, fruit and most definitely chocolate. The hardest adjustment has been going cold-turkey from caffeine. Especially when I was having a meeting in a coffee shop today, surrounded by beautiful aromas. Luckily I haven't been getting the shakes yet, or done my best Trainspotting impression and crawled down a toilet to retrieve some excreted coffee beans. It has, however, been hard.

Currently I'm looking forward to my allocated cheat day at the end of the 14 days. Details of my fast food tour will be released shortly. After that it's back to the grind of being healthy.

Regardless of how much I miss my tasty food, or how much weight I lose, I will persevere with eating the right thing. As Winston Churchill once said: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."