Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is all about fat reduction not weight reduction, but nevertheless you do need to weigh yourself in order to do the fat reduction calculations.

The important thing is to always weigh yourself under the same conditions, using the same scale in the same place at the same time of day. First thing in the morning is normally a good choice.

Ideally you would only need to weigh yourself once a week in order to record progress, but there is a problem with that. Your body stores energy in your muscles in the form of glycogen. Every gram of gycogen that is stored also packs away about three grams of water. The effect of this is that depending on how full or empty your glycogen stores are, your weight can vary from one day to the next by as much as two pounds.

So if for one weekly weigh-in you get an 'empty' measurement and the next week you get a 'full' measurement then that could easily make you think that you've gone backwards over the course of the week whereas in fact you have been making progress. Other factors can also have an effect, such as the amount of food and drink that is currently being processed through your system.

So it's probably best to weigh yourself daily. That way you will get a sense about the range of weights that you are operating within and you will know whether that weekly measurement is a high or a low figure. Alternatively you could record your weight daily then once a week calculate your average weight over the last seven days. That then becomes your measure of progress.

We've been to four really good concerts over the last two weeks.

First up was James Taylor. With just a keyboards player for backing he played all the old favourites and still sounds great. His introductions between the songs are also an important part of the act and he has an engaging and amusing personality. The drum machine which features on a couple of songs has to be seen to be believed.

Next were The Waterboys. Right now I'm probably as happy to go and see them as any band on the planet and they didn't disappoint. Their back line has changed since last summer, perhaps a bit less funky but still sold. They played a lot of new material from the new CD Book of Lightning. I hadn't heard this before the gig, but it sounds really strong.

Moving along, we had the Australian Pink Floyd. This was enjoyable, although something about the concert gave it the feel of a classical concert rather than rock concert. I think it's the fact of having top-notch musicians playing someone else's material, so perhaps a sense of ownership is lacking. I wonder if bands like this will still be playing this material long after the others have gone to join Syd for The Great Gig In The Sky?

The comparison with Tinariwen the following night couldn't be more marked. Their music combines the chants and the rhythms of Touareg desert tribesmen with crunchy electric guitars. So not only their own music, they have invented their own genre. There are as many rough edges as the Aussie Floyd were polished, but somehow the net effect was mesmerising. Each song starts up sounding a bit like the last one, but it picks you up in its arms and carries you away as it chugs along. Quite extraordinary.

You don't get to my age without having a few aches and pains and in my case it's my knees that are the weakest link. However I've found a few things that help.

First of all I take two 400mg Glucosamine Sulphate tablets every day. The tablets that I use also contain Chondroitin Sulphate, MSM (MethylSulfonylMethane) and Vitamin C.

Secondly I try to find exercise methods that don't stress them too much. I used to do my cardio on a rowing machine, but I find the action of elliptical trainers seems to be much more kindly to them. I've also adapted the way in which I use the ellipticals. I'm slightly knocked-kneed by nature so to compensate for this I stand with my feet slightly splayed. I use an action which gives me the sensation that my knees are going outside of the vertical line, but when I look down they are moving pretty much straight up and down.

Finally I have re-introduced deadlifts and stiff-leg deadlifts back into my weight training regime, with the hope that having more strength in my quads and hams will be good for the knees. I'm doing this progressively, being quite careful with the weights. So far, touch wood, I seem to be able to do this without causing any knee pain.

I had to laugh when I saw this picture on the front of our local weekly free paper. Isn't that the most unconvincing dalek you could ever wish to see? And the expression on the little chap's face tells you that he is well aware of this fact. You can just imagine the conversation before they left home:

Nathan "Oh Muu-uu-um, it looks pants! My friends are all going to laugh at me".
Mum "Don't be silly Nathan, it looks really scary, just like the real thing. Now come on EX-TER-MIN-ATE"
Nathan (through gritted teeth) "ex-ter-min-ate"
Mum "Oh come on Nathan, you can do better than that!"

This sort of thing can scar you for life. He will probably suffer massive, inexplicable panic attacks in later life every time he sees a roll of Bacofoil. Parents, do not do this sort of thing to your kids!!

Recently I read the excellent "Hackers and Painters" by Paul Graham. The book is mostly a series of essays on the art of programming but he also strays into some other territory such as wealth creation.

One of his conjectures is that if Karl Marx was to come back to life and visit the offices of a large company in the western world then his first impression would be that his future vision had come to reality. The reason for this would be that, although there are obviously huge differences in wealth between those at the top of the organisation and those at the bottom, those differences are not immediately obvious. Compared to Karl Marx's day, rich and poor within modern society eat the same kind of food, wear the same sort of clothes and have broadly the same access to healthcare.

Karl Marx would probably also be bemused by the incidence of obesity in modern society. In the 19th century the working classes mostly wouldn't have the luxury of getting fat - an inadequate diet and grinding physical labour would have seen to that. These days obesity is more prevalent amongst the lower socio-economic groups.

In this context I was interested to see this article on the BBC web site describing a treadmill workstation that has been designed to enable overweight employees to shed some poundage whilst doing their work. Karl Marx, who lived in London from 1851 until his death in 1883, would have associated treadmills with the workhouses, those feared institutions which provided a safety net for those in society most wretched and unable to support themselves. Funny how times change!

Someone contacted me recently with the following question: "I am thinking of buying this programme and just wondered how easy it is to follow, would you reccommend it. I currently exercise quite alot anyway so that isnt the problem, what is the diet like?"

My answer:

1. What is the diet like?
BFFM is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change. The ebook provides you with extensive information about nutrition and its effects on body fat. Armed with this information you can then decide what you eat, how much you eat and how often you eat, all tailored to your body mass, your fat reduction goals, your metabolic type and your activity levels. That's one of the things that make it sustainable compared, say, to eating cabbage soup for the rest of your life.

2. I currently exercise quite alot anyway so that isnt the problem.
That's good. You might possibly still get some value from the book, though, as some types of exercise will be more conducive to fat reduction than others.

3. ... just wondered how easy it is to follow ...
The book itself is well written and easy to read. But to read it thouroughly and to put it into practice is going to take more effort, time and thought than just adopting an off-the-shelf diet. Nothing worthwhile achieving is ever easy. Having said that, it's not that hard either. The goal setting chapter has some good suggestions that really help you to establish new habits.

Someone kindly bought us a weekend break at the Mariott Hotel, Zurich and we are just back from that trip. The highlights:

1. The breakfast buffet in the hotel. Every possible thing you could want for breakfast was there, so we stocked up our stomachs for the day. The BFFM edict on eating frequent small meals had to be put on hold.

2. The Zurich transport infrastructure. The network of trains, trams, buses, boats and cable cars is incredibly efficient, timely, clean and convenient and covers the city and the surrounding region. For 34 CHF you can buy a ZurichCard which gives you unlimited use of this network for 72 hours. It goes to show the level of public investment that is required to tempt people out of their cars. I really can't ever see this happening in the UK.

3. Movenpick ice cream. As I say, BFFM was on hold for a few days!

4. The trip to Uetliberg, Zurich's local small mountain. The S10 train takes you to the top, from which you have splendid views of the city and the lake. From there it's a one and three quarter hour walk along the top of the ridge to Felsenegg, where we stopped for a beer. In the garden a little Swiss folk band had set up to entertain a small party of people enjoying a birthday celebration. From Felsenegg the cable car takes you down to Adlisvil and the S4 back to the city.

5. On the final day we took a trip down to Lucerne and its local mountain, Pilatus. The cable car takes you all the way to the top, but unfortunately it was shrouded in cloud. Undaunted we took the 30 minute hike to the 7000 foot peak, Tomlishorn. On the way back down we stopped at Fräkmüntegg which at 4600 ft was below the cloud level and offered superb views of Lake Lucerne. One day we plan to return on a sunny day to enjoy the full panoramic vista at the top and also the alternative route to the top provided by the world's steepest cogwheel railway running up from Alpnachstad.