darren mcneill

I am consuming 1500 a day, it was when I went to log a couple of times and it gave me the warning so I ate something to bring it up. My appetite has just completely changed now. Its like today, I have ate 2 eggs, 2 packs of 120g cooked chicken breast, 2 apples, 26g snack pack of nuts and a yogurt. Just about to have my tea (Fish, cauli cheese and veg) and I am at 1,222. I now need to get another 200 in really. I am just not eating the crap, so I will make up the calories with some fruit or something. Its quite hard to get calories in when you dont eat crap or drink beer! lol. Darren

Sunday 19th May 2019 - Week 2 completed Well..... 3rd session was on Tuesday. The first thing we did was weigh me.... identical... not a jot lost (91.4kg). As you can imagine my PT couldn't get his head round it, then I showed him the previous food journal from the weekend. His look of disappointment hit me like a hammer. He didn't complain massively, but I knew that I had let myself down and him... so....... The MyFitness app was downloaded immediately and I decided to take this seriously. I am quite a determined individual when I set my mind to it (which is why the property side of my life seems to be moving quite fast), so like anything I set my mind to I decided to absolutely smash this one out of the park. My next weigh in was Friday..... 89.6KG!! Boooooom!!! 1.8kg lost in 3 days. I have just been disciplined and incredibly boring with what I am eating. Mainly protein with very little carbs during the day, then in the evening a balanced meal. No Beer. No snacks. NO false calories. This weekend we went to the mother-in-laws and we did have a chinese. I had sweet sour chicken and egg fried rice with a few chips..... didn't enjoy it. Didn't enjoy the fact that I had wasted calories on that crap, and more importantly I didn't enjoy how it made me feel after. Very sluggish and just generally crap. I have noticed that I am feeling more energetic on my current eating plan. Even on my training days when I have been absolutely beasted from 7am-8am, I can work until 8pm (which I have done on both Tuesday and Friday this week). I feel tired near the end of the day, but not exhausted. One thing that has become apparent to me is that my hunger levels have dropped massively. I am also drinking gallons of water! I now always have a pint of water with me at home or in the office and when in the car there are lots of bottles of water. This week I have been told off twice by MyFitnessPal as I had only reached 1100 calories in the day (and this is after eating all day and my evening meal), so had to get something to tip me over the magic 1200 calorie mark. It is a bit annoying as I wasn't hungry but did as I was told. I have also split my diary into sections of time, rather that "breakfast" etc. My time segments are: 6am-10am, 10am-12pm, 12pm-2pm, 2pm-4pm, 4pm-6pm, 6pm-10pm. I do still eat my tea past 8pm which I know isnt the best, so this might be something that I have to work on. The problem is here that the Mrs works until 8pm 3 days a week, and the other days I am running round doing after school clubs etc Here is this weeks log: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday And finally here is my projected weight in 5 weeks if I continue: Today I have just sat and had a look at all of the colourful graphs and pie charts that you get when you log food. I have been eating a lot of eggs, and didn't realise the fat contect in them compared to the lean chicken that I have also been eating, so the eggs will now be trimmed back massively. They are a decent snack for hunger but having looked at the fat content I am just going to have to cut them right back. I have been purchasing the ready cooked portions of chicken (normally in a tray at 140g). On Friday I purchased a number of chicken breasts myself and will cook them now in advance and take them with me during the day, more to see if it saves me any money. I have also found that Aldi do some great "protein shots" at just 29p a packet which are a great mid afternoon treat. There are loads of flavours so the next time that I am in I will be treating myself to some. I have now also started looking at white fish as options and what vegetables I can have with them in the evening. Thats it for this week.

Followed the advice. More in my post coming up, but thanks. Kind of obvious really so no idea why I didnt start doing it! Darren

Wednesday 15th May 2019 I will comment properly at the weekend as I want to keep this a weekly update, but this morning I have re-joined the MyFitness Pal app. Anyone who is on the app feel free to add me: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/how_long_will_it_last Darren

Christ, when I wrote my age in the title then I felt quite old! Well, I am very big on journals for accountability, so thought the off topic part of the forum would be a good place to bare my soul on my latest personal conquest! I am now at the point in my life where the money side is starting to look much better.... so I intend on making sure that when I finally hit my goals that I am in a position to try and make sure I am in a physical condition to do so, so exercise, healthy eating etc. Of course this wont stop me getting hit by a bus or getting a terminal illness (That's pretty much out of your hands) but what I can at least try to do is get myself fit so if I am lucky to dodge the daily perils of life and actually get to a decent age in life then I am fighting fit and able to enjoy life. Personally I have been gaining weight over the last few years. My work has become less active and I am now at the point in my property journey where I run my business from my office and my car, so my physical exertions are getting a lot less! It sort of came to a point a few weeks ago when I bought a size 16 neck shirt, and it was far too tight for my comfort... enough was enough. I have always used my busy lifestyle as an excuse for not going to the gym, and now I dictate my own diary. I have never stepped foot in a gym, so I decided that the best route for me was 1 on 1 with a personal trainer. It turns out that there is one literally 2 minutes from my house, so over the last few weeks I messaged him and then last Tuesday I finally turned up at 7am and had my first session. I am attending twice a week (Tue and Fri) and the session is 7am-8am. This works for me as it allows me to then have a full day in work, plus my Mrs does not work on those days so I am free to not have to worry about getting the kids to school. So....... Tuesday... First Session. F--- Me! I haven't exercised properly for probably 20 years now. Having a PT is definitely the right route to take. The exercises we did started off gradually, and even the warm up absolutely killed me. We got to a point where we were taking a walk to cool off and rest and I had to stop because my legs were jelly and my head light. I felt like being sick (and really wanted to) put wasn't. I hadn't ate before this session which is good and bad. Good because I didn't vomit (nothing there) but bad because you need some food in you for energy for exercising. My PT absolutely beasted me (well, it felt like it, but it was probably a very light workout for normal people). The next day (Wed) I ached a little, but it was Thursday that was the most painful. My god I couldn't walk down the stairs or get in the car without being in agony. The PT had been working more my lower half of my body, and squats are what crippled my leg muscles!! My word there was some pain. Fortunately on Friday morning I was in an OK position and it wasn't hurting as much...... Friday.. 2nd Session This session felt much better. I didn't feel ill until close to the end of the session. This time I had read up on what I should eat before a gym session. As I do not have much time to eat I went for Greek yogurt and an apple. These are digested easily and give the body a little bit of an energy boost, which I must admit I did feel whilst working out. Don't get me wrong, I was a complete wreck again, but I could walk out of the gym and didn't feel dizzy, just exhausted. This session was more upper body. As I am typing 48 hours later my arms and shoulders are in complete agony. I have used muscles that I did not think existed, and now lifting my arms is an incredibly painful experience. What I have established is that your muscles ache after 24 hours, but for me personally the real pain kicks in at around 36 hours. Yesterday I was fine all day until I got home. Then around 5pm I could feel a much sharper pain, and it just got worse and worse. Last nights sleep wasn't great as I could not get comfortable at all because my shoulders and arms hurt so much. My legs however do hurt, but not at the same level. I know that I probably have another 2-3 weeks of this pain, but also that it will start to get better. I have muscles that never get worked and are now being put through some serious exercise!! We also spoke about my food intake. My issue is that during the day I eat fairly OK, but in the evenings I will snack and drink beer!! I have had to log my food inputs and have made a more conscious decision to eat better (Although I have had weakness this weekend in the way of Chocolate HobNobs and the Mrs wanting a takeaway on Friday!). My main actual goal is to simply get healthier, but we have set a target of losing 10kg in 10 weeks.... so I do also need to pull my finger well out of my bum (which is why my journal has been started). Even if I have only one person knowing about this that is enough for me and my personal pride to get on with it! So here is also my food diary for the week: Food Diary TUESDAY 08:30 - 3 boiled eggs 11:50 - 50g cashews 14:15 - Large bowl bran flakes 18:45 - Gammon, cauli cheese, new potatoes, green beans 18:45 - Greek Yog 18:45 - evening - 2 x 330ml San Miguel (last ones in the fridge, I was having those bad boys!) WEDNESDAY 05:35 - 4 x Weetabix 12:30 - 50g whole almonds 13:45 - 4 boiled eggs. Small tin of tuna. 18:30 - Apple 20:30 - Fish, golden rice, peas and sweet corn. Greek yog THURSDAY 06:10 - 3 x boiled eggs 10:00 - Apple 11:00 - Bowl of shreddies cereal 16:30 - Apple, half small tin tuna 20:00 - Sharwoods curry sauce, chicken breast, basmati rice. Greek yog. FRIDAY 06:10 - Apple, Greek Yogurt 07:00 - WORKOUT 11:30 - Chicken breast, 2 boiled eggs 13:00 - Apple 16:00 - Apple 19:00 - Greek takeaway, 1/2 bottle Prosecco, 8 x choc hobnobs ☹️ SATURDAY 08:00 - 2 boiled eggs, gala apple 11:00 - Cooked breakfast with toast ☹️ 14:00 - Apple 16:00 - Apple 17:00 - Small piece of cheese (15g) 18:00 - Spaghetti Bol, garlic bread. Choc ice, 10 hobnobs ☹️ So that's me and my new "project." I am going to update each week and hopefully things will soon get much easier, as even typing this makes me want to cry at the minute! Darren

Sunday 12th May 2019 2 years ago today I received the keys for my first ever property renovation on Newchurch Road: I personally cannot believe it has only been 2 years. So much has happened and the small project that I started with has snowballed into multiple companies. I thought it would be worth taking a snap shot of exactly where I am at this moment in time: Purchases - On Friday I completed on my 19th purchase, with another due to complete next week. Rentals - The Friday completion was my 7th rental with the completion next week being my 8th. Rental Income - The rental income on my 8 BTL's is £3143 after mortgage costs Money in the bank - £40,000 Money tied up in BTS projects - £62,500 Money tied up in BTL properties - £ 56,500 The main bulk of my purchases above have occurred since July 2018! Back last August I was completing on my 4th property purchase: This was one of those moments that boosted my growth. The investor that I purchased this property with also loaned me £40,000 on my unencumbered rental property (I have just paid them back this month after re-mortgaging). That injection of physical cash then allowed me to buy and renovate 2 more properties, and then the purchases scaled up. In 2019 I decided to go into lettings for my clients. As of this morning I have 19 properties either under management, renovation or being purchased by clients that we will manage. At the moment the income from management is at £614.50. So that is where I am up to after my first 2 years physically involved in property. I am unsure where I will be on my 3rd anniversary as you never know what opportunities arise, but what I can say is that I still have the same determination and hunger so will keep pushing forward to see what we can do, You can follow my regular weekly journal below if you would like to see what we get up to each week: Thanks, Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com

Hi Jay, The market is definitely slow at the moment, some areas are slower than others. I have 2 flips that have been on the market since Jan. Both had sales fall through and after that there has been very little interest. I have basically listed them for rent now and whatever lands first wins!! One rented within a week, the other has viewings next week. One is in a better area so I just made up a rental figure of £525PCM as I wasn't in a rush... and it has been agreed and the tenants are moving in on Sunday! I had reduced both on multiple times and then I got to the point where it would mean making significant cuts, and there wasnt much point. The For Sale Listings: 1 - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69906103.html 2 - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70297318.html The Rental Listings: 1 - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-71262190.html 2 - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-71434615.html If I wanted I could still have them listed for sale but tenanted, which is an option that you could do? Are you in a rush to sell? In relation to the listing images, they are really poor from the EA. The picture angles are shocking. If you look at my own listings (I do these myself) I try and get as many images as possible from all corners of the room so that people can actually see the layout (I also put them in order). From your side I would completely declutter, and I mean EVERYTHING. When we were selling our own home we literally filled the cars with everything from the house. Cleared the fridge of clutter, removed anything from a surface, just made it as clear and neutral as possible. I would be looking to declutter for your images and then also get a decent EA on board who knows how to use a camera! Darren www.fmp-investments.com

Just wanted to say a big thanks for the meetup last night. It was great to simply chat property with other like minded individuals rather than my Mrs just moaning at me! Darren www.fmp-investments.com

Hi Anne, We have moved into managing lettings for our clients. Taking on others properties is not really part of our strategy as we like to interview and vet everyone ourselves, but I don't mind you getting in touch if you would like a chat. I like to treat the properties as if they are my own and I do like us to go above and beyond for our clients and tenants. Feel free to say Hi and have a chat if you would like us to look after your properties for you? Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk -- 01706 507202 Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates - Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates

Get the right part and its worth it... get the wrong part and its a........ Burnley is a challenge and requires some serious research. Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk -- 01706 507202 Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates - Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates

I have just joined, Hello! lol.... Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk -- 01706 507202 Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates - Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates

Hi Jimmy, I think the first thing you should do is speak to an accountant. They will advise you the best way, and it will be much better than hear-say and peoples opinions on here. I can send you the details of a good accountant in the UK if you like, but then I am not sure if it would be best for you to speak to an accountant in NZ?!? Living outside the UK you will be taxed before you receive your rent normally (I have some HongKong based investors, but they have purchased it in their own names, not a business..... I definitely think you need to speak with an expert, then you can make more educated decisions. If I can help in any way then feel free to get in touch. Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk -- 01706 507202 Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates - Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates

Hi Tim, This is something that we have moved into recently for our clients. We are currently sourcing properties where the ROI can be maximised by completing a small amount of renovation work and then revaluing at a higher price either in 6 months (cash purchase) or 2 years (BTL mortgage purchase). We manage everything for our clients as they are time poor due to high pressure jobs. We even liase with some clients solicitors for them so that they are not bothered with trivial issues. We then manage the renovation, the lettings and the management. This week we have sourced a couple of crackers that were snapped up straight away: (We have covered the basic rental costs and made assumptions on mortgage fees etc) Property 1: This property is listed at £45k. It is interesting as there is a property on the same street currently listed at £59,950 (£60k to normal people!). There are also a few others in the area at a similar asking price. We have calculated the returns based on a revaluation at £55k and £58k. Anything more is simply a bonus! Purchasing less than £45k is also another bonus. We are also speaking with someone about mortgages below the £50k purchase price range (Well known bank) to give our clients even more options in regards to buying with mortgages. Property 2 This property is in a much better area with a train station and motorway links. The asking price is £60k and we have calculated the revaluation at £75k. There is a house on the same street that sold 12 months ago at this price. 1/4 current property asking prices are: £79,950 - 2 bed terrace £95,000 - 3 bed terrace 1/4 mile rental asking prices are: 0.05 miles - £425 - listed today 0.00 miles - £450 - listed 23rd March 0.06 miles - £495 - listed today There are some great opportunities out there, they just do not always seem as apparent as what you think! Feel free to get in touch for a chat if you think we can help you. Darren BTS -- BTL -- Lettings -- Sourcing www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk -- 01706 507202 Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates - Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates

Hi Roby, Feel free to get in touch and have a chat. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Yes we do, we have sourced quite a number of BTL's for clients now and our client list is growing as we also have the boutique lettings service that creates a totally hands off experience. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings