Football Fans In Training (FFIT) is a new nationwide health project  where supporters can sign up to take part in sessions aimed at increasing physical activity, improving diet and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

FFIT is open to 35-65 year old overweight males and is being provided by St Mirren Football Club as a FREE service to our supporters!

St Mirren in the Community's latest course - which runs for 12 weeks - is being attended by John Gibb who has agreed to do a diary of his experiences on the course.

Week 1

Last night was the start of the second FFIT course to be held by St Mirren. Following on from the success of the first course before Christmas, Gary Hocknull and Brian Sproul, are again at the helm of the second course.

Myself and 29 others, eagerly awaited the opening session, especially as we were very keen to find out what we had let ourselves in for!

I, in particular signed up for this for two reasons, one, to get a bit fitter and secondly to lose some weight and learn more about healthy living. I would be the right weight if only I was 6'2" tall!!

Brian and Gary introduced us to the course, explaining to our relief, it was not a boot camp, nor a weightwatchers course, but more of a education leading to a lifestyle change. The education focusing on healthy eating and small changes to habits that can make the difference, and gentle exercise.

With that said, we were suitably measured for height and width, and weighed, to provide a starting base.

We were all given pedometers and to carry out a log of a few details during week one. Namely to pick two days and record exactly what we eat, and secondly, using our new best friend, the pedometer, we were tasked to count our steps on three days and work out an average number of daily steps. The objective of these measurements, again was mainly to provide a starting point.

With all the introductions done and the mystery of the week's ahead explained, we then went on a stadium tour and a walk around the pitch.

We then departed, all set to complete our tasks and looking forward to next week's session.

Week 2

With week 1 safely behind us and all measurements and base step counts done we now have a platform upon which to measure our performance and progress.

Week 2 started with a discussion of food, by looking at what constitutes a healthy balanced diet, and using the Eatwell Plate to show the balance of each type of food and the suggested number of portions of each category. It was interesting to see what constitutes a portion of each type of food, and quite scary to look back at the two days food we recorded in week 1 and put it into these categories!! It came a shock to find out that 3 pork chops was more than a portion, and even worse, white wine is not one of your 5 a day fruit and veg!!

However, on the good side, the Eatwell Plate does not say you cannot have an extra chop or a glass of wine, it says you should balance your different types of food portions and with a 'give and take' approach it is possible to still indulge.

This week we set a couple of targets and how we are going to go about doing them. My initial target was to become 6 foot tall but using the SMART principle, it soon became clear that this was not achievable nor realistic so I settled for a change to my breakfast habits, changing to a portion of grapefruit and a cup of tea for breakfast instead of the mega bowl of cereal and milk. This will give a benefit of going from 3 portions of starchy foods and 3 of dairy, being replaced by 1 of fruit and veg. My second target is to cut out all biscuits, except 1 a week!! The other guys have all set different targets, these are individual targets, set by ourselves, and are what each of us feel is achievable within the timescale given.

Just when we were beginning to think that Brian had forgot about the pedometers and we were all going to get away with it, he brought up the base count and the targets for next week. This target is set by the course and is set at your own individual base step count plus 1,500 steps on at least three days of the week. It sounds a lot but it equates to an additional 15 minutes walking on three days of the week, making it a Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Time limited (SMART). So if you feel the urge, get yourself a pedometer and do it yourself!!

Check out the eatwell plate by clicking the thumbnail below.

So that was week 2 and the goals are set for the next week, so lets do it!!

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