Dear All,

First things first: I'm well behind on this. For once though, it's not as much my fault as it has been previously.

It's been a very difficult period - and I haven't wanted to post here, as I've been fighting to keep my spirits up and feeling awful about letting people down.

About 8 weeks ago, I tore a calf muscle playing squash. It felt pretty bad, but I assumed it would just be a minor inconvenience. The reality was a lot worse. A few days later the swelling became so substantial my GP - at the second time of asking - referred me to A&E, where I was, after a battery of tests, eventually diagnosed with a DVT.

This led to 4 weeks of self-injected blood thinners, and crutches I only managed to escape about 2 weeks ago now. I am thankfully finally off the injected thinners, but am still taking pills, and as a result have been advised to do minimal exercise - as any even slight injury will bleed and won't stop. This means even basic upper body/weights is a potential risk - as even those minor muscle tears caused by exercise can potentially cause a problem, and take weeks to clot and heal.

I'm no longer in pain, but I am immensely frustrated. I'm going to miss my target, but I am thankfully still well under my starting weight - I'm 117.1kg as of this morning (didn't dare weigh myself for weeks!).

I'd like to revise my target, and I'm thinking 110kg or so is both optimistic but also achievable.

Naturally, I'd entirely understand if you would no longer want to contribute. If you are still happy to contribute on this basis, then please let me know - email jm@hubbub.net. If I don't hear from you, I'll chase you once more, but otherwise I'll assume you'd rather not, and I won't process your donation.

Love to you all - and my very best wishes,

Jonathan

It's been a tricky week and a half since I tore my hamstring, as it's meant very little exercise has been possible. However, after a week away in Germany at the table football World Cup (stood up 10+ hours a day with a half hour walk to and from the venue every day), and managing largely to stick to lack of alcohol and lack of unnecessary junk I've dropped another few kg. Down to 116.4kg, still a bit ahead of schedule, and the hamstring is almost ready for some light jogging.

Thank you all again for keeping me motivated and helping me keep up the momentum.

I'm going to do this.

Well, week one down, and almost 4kg is gone. Roughly the same weight as an adult mongoose. When I'm done, I'll have lost the same weight as a roe deer.

Thank you all so much for your pledges. It means a huge amount to me and to MQ, and it will keep the pressure on not to let up.

There have been a few blips this week - and some interesting observations. Firstly, unless I eat breakfast, I don't tend to lose weight the following day. Very small sample size so far, but with otherwise the same diet, same exercise pattern, if I don't eat breakfast, I come out roughly the same weight - and with breakfast, I lose 400g+. I'm sure there are good reasons behind this, but in the meantime I'll just make sure to keep eating breakfast.

On Saturday, I tore a hamstring, so that'll be a small setback which reduces some of my ability to exercise... 2-3 weeks or so before that'll be fixed. But it won't stop me.

This week I travel to Hamburg for the table football World Cup (from Tuesday night through to Sunday). 5 days on my feet competing in an international competition is likely to do me some good - it's hardly exercise for fit people, but when you're as unfit as I am I expect it to help. Wish me luck!

Once again, you're all amazing and you inspire me to keep going. Keep telling people about this. Thank you again - I really appreciate it. :)