ps - This is what my cat looks like.

Day 365: Year's up

This is my last day in my year off the grog.

I started this year thinking it was normal to drink pretty well every day, and to get pissed pretty well every week. I had been drinking to excess for about 20 years. Living like an Aussie bloke.

Well, sorry to say this, but Aussie blokes come last. They miss out. They miss out on time, on health, on chicks, on exercise, on nature, on looking good.

They miss out.

Cracking a tinny or swishing some fine wine around your mouth while you hold the glass up the light: if you have any tendency to go that bit far then it's all the same. Whether you justify it through mateship or sophistication, it is all the same. Getting pissed; that's what it is.

You are making a choice as to how you spend your time. Dancing with a drug so engrained in our culture you don't even know it is one, or spending your life doing the things you want to do, looking after yourself, keeping your health and weight in check, and waking up each day clear headed with a sense of purpose.

It's just a choice.

I've chosen to get my shit together. It's a slow process. This year I lost over 22kg, but have recently put some back on so I'm back under 20kg. But I'll be on track soon enough, and 15-20kg lost is still fabulous. And you know what it's just the start.

I'm changing into someone completely different to the person I was when I started. A beer expert? A fat drunken guy who came last more like it. Even though, like many, he thought he was coming first.

I am going to be that fit guy people look at when he walks past. Not in a fuckwit way. Just in an a 'that guy is fit' way. Getting off the piss has allowed me to work that out.

I'll get there. Sober. I'm off to my own personal training session now. It's dark. Raining. I hate gyms - or at least the old me did, but I'm going to one.

Wouldn't be doing this hung over.

Enough rambling. It's all there if you want to reminisce: my ramblings for a year.

Thanks to those who supported me through comments and otherwise. It does make a difference. You know who you are.

Good luck working it out on your side.

Day 364: One day left!!

Almost there ladies and gents!

Had the barbie yesterday. Funny watching my brother drink beer after beer after beer........ And no I didn't want to grab any. I'm far past that.

I woke up with a cracking headache at 3.00 again this morning - second day in a row. I really think it is due to drinking soft drink. Not to sound like a nutter or anything.

Bit nervous about the personal training tomorrow. I think this guy is a hard arse. Hopefully he has the maturity to deal with someone like me: if it's too hard or he is a cock then I won't last.

But I'm hoping.

Going to buy myself one of those Weber Qs I think and move towards simple protein and vegetable meals. Forget high end cooking most of the time.

Day 363: Not long now

Well 2 days left now. Appropriately enough, I am having another barbeque with my brother, as I did 12 months ago. Instead of getting pissed as a fart, behaving badly, and getting hung over (wiping out 2 days of my life), I'm actually walking around the mountain with him at 8, and will then have a (sober) barbie with him at 12.

I also met with a personal trainer yesterday. I'm going to start some hard core 1-1 training, 3 times a week. Just me and him in a gym, for 1 hour at a time. High end guy, will cost a fair packet for 3 hours a week - one on one. That should get my thinking back on track.

I've gone off the rails a little this last little while, in terms of my weight and food and exercise, but it is recoverable, and, in a way, I think I'm keen just to knock this year off so I can move onto the next phase.

Day 360: Weight gain

Well, the eye off the ball for a couple of weeks means I have put a few kilos on.

Going off the piss does not make you a lean, fit guy. But it does allow you to get into a routine that can transform you into one.

5 days to go till my year is up (which makes it a Monday, rather than a Sunday).

Anyway, I just want to get to the end of the year. Appropriately enough, a mate wanted to go for a walk today, so he should be arriving any minute, for us to trudge off into the dark.

That is, if the piker doesn't pike. He is a weak prick, generally.