On 6/1/14 I was 20st 3lb and very unfit. I went for a check up and my cholesterol was too high, my blood sugar results indicated I was a candidate for type 2 diabetes and was told to change my lifestyle if I wanted to avoid the possibility of any early death and illness as I got older. I did nowt for a month or two and went diving, only to have to be helped out of the water and helped off with my kit, I was knackered.

In May I decided to do something about it and spoke to the dietician at the doctors, I chose not to 'fad' diet but change my eating habits. I cut out rubbish, chocolate, bread etc and ate more healthily (fish, chicken, salads etc) and had smaller portions. I began walking on a night and set myself a target of a three mile walk, which I achieved quite quickly and began swimming again.

This morning I weighed in at 16st 12lb, I swim a mile three times a week, walk the three miles at least thre times a week (same distance just quicker) and bike a couple of times a week (about three miles). I have dropped from a 44" waist to a 40", but can just get into 38" but its not too comfortable yet. One drawback is I go on holiday to France in two weeks and NONE of my holiday clothes fit me, so that is going to cost.

My cholesterol is now in the 'normal' range and my blood sugars are normal as well. I feel a lot better, fitter and look better.

Hard bit will be maintaining it once I have got to my desired weight and sizes.

Steve, unless you are 7' tall, even you must admit you are overweight.

No matter what exercise you are engaging in, you need to adjust your intake/expenditure further.

I was surprised how easy I found making the changes in my lifestyle that led to me dropping 10kg this year.

BTW, I made money on replacing my wardrobe

A few inches off 7 feet Dave (about 12 in fact). I have engaged in portion control and eating healthier, instead of stopping off at lunch and buying a Mars bar and a packet of crisps, I have some fruit and raw carrot in a cool bag and take a dish of home made soup to warm up on site. My problem always was eating rubbish on a regular basis and very inactive. I do feel a lot better, but am aiming to gradually get to 15 stone.

How did you manage to make money, my wife just puts everything into charity bags and shoves in the Air Ambulance bin at Co-op.

Taking clothes out of Air Ambulance bins and flogging them on ebay



Seriously I buy from charity shops, car boots and ebay auctions. I then sell on ebay on a buy it now, make an offer basis. You need to know what makes money and either have some patience or list a lot of items

I have been doing a bit of e-baying recently, for my own use. Got rid of a lot of dive kit I no longer use and flogged some older lenses and bought newer ones. So far so good, not had any disappointments. I am suprised that I got as much as I did for some of the dive kit, bought a 15l cylinder 10 years ago for £99 and flogged it for £126 a week or two ago (they are now over £200 new), well chuffed.

I've rarely failed to make a good profit with dive gear when I've found it, even old and uncertified stuff still fetches good money.

I found three bespoke-tailored suits yesterday (it would've been four but one had some tiny holes in the back of the knee), got the lot for £50, should fetch at least £200 each. Even if they don't sell immediately I ain't bothered, they fit me like they were tailored for me and I've also got two regular customers who should fit into them with no problem.

Back on the diet theme: this weekend will mainly be taken up with preparing cabbage and other vegetables and starting the fermentation process for the GAPS diet

Do you declare you profits to HMRC?

does he, legally, need to?

are you a tax lawyer now?

He implied he does buy and then sell stuff regularly, which could constitute trading. HMRC do review eBay traders.

Hellish operation to try and claw back some scraps of revenue, are eBay UK an actual UK based company, do they have to respond to information requests on registered members, are Paypal a UK registered company and do they have to respond too, if not then good luck in trying to find hundreds of thousands of UK individuals who sell regularly on eBay under pseudonyms AND then try and prove that they weren't just emptying their wardrobes on a regular basis.

FWIW, I sell goods online (not eBay) as "additional income" and declare it via an online submission each year (I've been a case for "special interest" in the past and don't want them sniffing around my door again), you'd be surprised to learn that I haven't make a profit from my sales, not once, no tax to pay.

If you'd bothered to take even the slightest notice of previous posts in the past, you may have noted that I've been self-employed for the past 15 years and as I've previously stated, my income (from whatever source), is declared. Not that it's any fooking business of yours anyway

Remember, every woe Dally has is someone else's fault, he's always looking for someone to blame.

Dally, what do you do, how much do you earn, how much tax do you pay compared to the hand-outs you get?

Self-employed so earnings vary. Pay reasonable amounts in tax - certainly much more than most people. But as you know I have a vested interest in people paying their taxes.

Self-employed so earnings vary. Pay reasonable amounts in tax - certainly much more than most people. But as you know I have a vested interest in people paying their taxes.

Self-employed so earnings vary. Pay reasonable amounts in tax - certainly much more than most people. But as you know I have a vested interest in people paying their taxes.

Self-employed so earnings vary. Pay reasonable amounts in tax - certainly much more than most people. But as you know I have a vested interest in people paying their taxes.

So much for this been a fitness thread!

Thinking of joining a gym. What do people pay per month?

anything between £12 and £90, depends what you are looking for

For £90 I'd expect a footman to go and lift weights for me while a maid served tea and cream cakes to me in the restaurant.

or be at Bannatines somewhere down south!

That's pretty much what happens in the gyms I used in Delhi.

David Lloyd are wanting something like £77 per month. Some new gyms in London are about £15 a month on offer (usually £25) but I want to go near home. Seems to be about £31 at our local sports centre but I think that's a bit steep.

I go to Exercise4Less in Hull, although there ain't a lot of them around. They are brilliant value imo. I pay £10pm has about 12 benches which is a lot compared to some gyms that are lucky to have a handful. Plenty of free weights and smith machines. A crossfit section and group activities area. Spinning class section. Loads of treadmills and cross trainers, half a dozen rowers plus more and even a boxing ring. The only thing it doesn't have is swimming pool/jacuzzi or saunas. But that's why it's so cheap. Brilliant gym without heavy costs. Saying that I would go to David lloyds if it was close to where I live or on route to work but I also refuse to pay roughly £60pm for it.

I train at a little backstreet gym and I know a few other members also go to xercise4less for the convenience, heard it's pretty good when it's quiet but that's a rarity with the massive membership base they have.