In 2003 at the age of 39, I realised I had to do something about my weight. I weighed approaching 20 stone (280lbs). Over the years I had tried several times to lose weight but each time I failed. Then on a trip to Paris to watch the closing stage of the Tour de France the light dawned… sitting in a restaurant one evening with my girlfriend I remarked that there were no fat women in the restaurant and wondered why that was. We looked at the plates in front of them and the answer was obvious. No carbohydrate. Meat, yes; vegetables yes; wine, yes; but carbohydrate, no. I resolved to try and lose weight again but this time by avoiding carbohydrate.

Within a year my weight had dropped to 12.5 stone (175lbs) . I had heard about the Atkins Diet and was astonished that, what I had discovered by accident in a restaurant in Paris, was a best selling book. If only I had been quicker…

10 years later, my weight is still (on a good day) 12.5 stone. I am a qualified personal trainer and a proponent of the primal or paleolithic way of eating. Through this blog I hope that others of a similar mind can share my thoughts and ideas. I am not out to convert anyone, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being over-weight if that is what you want to be, but I didn’t want to be over-weight. So I changed.