I wasn't expecting this.....

I believe that it's normal to lose most weight on the first week of any diet, but 2.6kg (6lb)??!!

I used the same machine in the gym, so it's not a calibration error, I hope! Should become clearer as I do more weigh-ins over the coming weeks.

To be fair, I did have a very austere week, apart from one significant cheat day at the Hudson's for Adrian's 40th birthday drinks. I can live happily on one cheat day a week !

What's also interesting is that 2.7kg of the 2.6kg I've lost is fat :)

This means that I must have put on 100g of muscle during the week. This is a testament to the extensive weight training I've been doing to supplement the diet (not!)

Actually I might try and up the weight work in the gym to see if I can make more of an impact in this area. Helps with the toning!

Anyway, it's a Saturday morning as a write this, so soon I'll be off to the Glasgow Parkrun with daughters Clare and Scarlett, and granddaughter Lily. That's always good fun. I'm also planning a bespoke half marathon run around Cumbrae tomorrow. I might even have some support cyclists with me for some of the way round :)

Bye for now....

Fit but Fat - First weigh-in of 2014 (ouch)

So, here's the damage.....

As you'll see from my 2012 posts this is a whopping 7.8kg (1st 3lb) higher than what I had previously achieved.  This confirms that the SLIM FIT SHIRTS DON"T LIE !

What's the plan?

Eating & Drinking
It's bad news for those of you with shares in New Zealand wine producers, Guinness, Warburtons, Lindt and the Derby Cafe. These are right out for the next couple of months. (Well, maybe a couple of cheat days). Focus is back on the low carb approach which worked so well in the past. This is difficult, but at least you can still get stuck in to a fried breakfast, or the inside of a steak pie.

On the alcohol front I'll be restricting myself to spirits in the main. This has the additional benefit of reducing my overall alcohol consumption because, let's be honest, G&Ts are fine, but they are nowhere near as tasty as a big cold glass of Oyster Bay.

Exercise
On the face of it I'm doing not too badly in this area. I run a half marathon every month with Chris Marsh and I do fairly regular 5km Parkruns on a Saturday morning, sometimes while pushing my granddaughter Lily in a buggy! (PB 25:27 , PB with buggy 35:17).

However, I know I could be doing a lot more to vary my fitness regime and I'm going to re-introduce swimming, cycling (in the gym), and some weights back into my routine. This should have the triple bonus of contributing to the desired weight loss, toning the flab up a bit, and hopefully improving my running performances too. I'll let you know how it goes!


2 years ago I was amazed by the amount of practical advice I got from you all, based on your own experiences. I'll be going back through the archives to reuse some of that, but if you've come across anything new that might be worth exploring then please feel free to share it here.  For example, I know a few folk who have tried the 5/2 diet (if that's what it's properly called). Have you, and if so did it work for you?

Bye for now!

Fit but Fat

I started this blog in January 2012 and in a frenzy of activity I managed to keep it updated, and lose lots of weight, and get fitter all in the space of a few months.

Credit for this goes to all of you who not only encouraged me in doing it, but who also gave me lots of great dietary and fitness advice. It really helped, and had a dramatic impact as you'll remember from the fantastic progress I made early in 2012.

Since then two things have gone a bit awry. The blog has been completely neglected (apart from a false dawn in August 2012), and I have returned (in the main) to my bad eating and drinking habits.

The only thing I have consistently kept up from that period is my cardio work, which evolved from running and walking on the gym treadmill, to participating regularly in organised running events.

In fact, these days I often run 5k Parkruns and charity events with the family, and I also run half marathons with my buddy Chris Marsh on a monthly basis.

I love all of this stuff and there's no doubt I am getting fitter with each event I train for and run in.

However, I am putting on lots of weight again, even though I've been running 14, 15 and 16 mile stints during my recent marathon training! The reason for this is simple. I am eating and drinking the 'wrong' foods in volumes that are not recommended.

Hopefully breathing life back into this blog will help me achieve the weight loss I need to get me back into those nice 'slim fit' shirts I was able to wear only but a year ago!

The next blog post later this week will include my starting weight and an initial improvement plan. I'm hoping for the same type of encouragement and advice I got from you before, so please feel free to contribute either or both if you can!

Long Time – No Blog Week 32 : 25th August 2012

Hello everybody!  

I haven’t updated this blog for ages because I’m a lazy so and so! Anyway, this is a short and sweet entry to get the momentum going on this again. It’s fair to say that I haven’t always been as austere as I was in the initial weeks of this blog (to say the least), however it’s not all bad.

Weigh-In

First thing to point out is that on the 9^th June I reached the lowest weight I’ve been since the 20^th century!  85.7KG (13st 7lb). This is also the top of my ‘healthy’ BMI range, so that was a good feeling. Unfortunately this was just at the start of my long wind down to the summer holidays and it was uphill all the way through that period until I got back above 90KG about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have refocused, but obviously not enough, as I have been sitting on 89.4KG (14st 1lb) for 3 weeks now. I’m confident I can start moving it back down and in the longer term I’m targeting 83KG (about 13st).

Nutrition
Even when I’ve been a bit lax I’ve still paid some attention to what I’ve been eating, which probably explains why I haven’t put too much on over the summer. My actual holiday was an exception to this where I just ate and drank whatever  wanted, especially in the 2^nd week. In the next blog I’ll start sharing my current nutritional habits and hopefully get some good advice and feedback from you folks.

Exercise
I’m now back working in Edinburgh after my 6 month stint in Denmark, so I’ve joined a Bannatynes gym there. I use it about 2 to 3 times a week, so not as intensely as the 4 nights a week I used to do in Copenhagen. I do run much further than I used to (6KM on the treadmill during each visit) and at faster average speeds. As a result I’ve decided to actually enter a running event ! I’ve got 6 weeks to get ready for this and I’ll let you know the details next week. The last time I ran properly outdoors some neds were chasing me down Great Western Road circa 1982. Before that it was at school when we used to run around Hogganfield Loch a few times each week. I was usually physically sick after these runs because I did actually try to do well for some reason I can’t now recall. Anyway, yesterday I went for a wee 4KM run from the house down to Muirend (for those who know it) and back. My main objective was keep running and to avoid walking at any time, which I managed to do. I’m actually looking forward to building upon this and I’m already thinking about various routes to try out.

Thanks for your time. Back again soon !

Days 33 to 50 – 11th February to 28th February 2012

Hello everybody! 

I’m been very undisciplined regarding the blog for a couple of weeks now, as those of you who take an interest may have noticed. In fact I’ve actually written the blog post offline twice but didn’t quite finish it and the moment passed by without publication. As I am now at Day 50 in this change of lifestyle it seems a good moment to pull my finger out and update the blog ! Maybe some bullet points are the best way to summarise the salient points since the last blog post.

·         Clare & I had a great night out on the 11^th February and it’s fair to say that I broke several dietary rules!  I had already decided that I wasn’t going to worry about the weigh-in consequences. Read on for the results

·         Despite the above I still haven’t had beer since 7^th January !

·         I’m back on full weights at the gym and my previously reported back injury has been more or less fine until …… I got back on the cross trainer!  It was really bad after that and, even though I enjoy that type of exercise, I won’t be back on it again for a while.

·         Have been using the pedometer for 22 days now and the results have made me think about how active I am at the weekend. I’ve made some changes, but not on a regular basis as of yet.

·         I’ve stopped taking diet drinks. Maybe this is too paranoid. See the Food section for details.

·         Continuing with the nuts for snacks approach. They are great and they take the edge off hunger really effectively.

·         For some reason last weekend I got incredible cravings for everything that I shouldn’t have. Choco, wine, beer, toast, potatoes, chips !!  Still don’t know what was the catalyst for this as it’s usually never that bad as constantly as it was. However I resisted temptation and going back to the gym seemed to sort it out.   

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Well, the night out with Clare (which included, amongst other things, lots of wine and Jaeger bombs) did seem to have an impact on my weekly weight change. The Tuesday weigh-in after it showed my lowest weekly drop in weight since I started this regime (0.7kg). At least it’s still going in the right direction, and I haven’t plateaued yet as you’ll see from the graph below.

FOOD
I had introduced some standard paragraphs into this section in previous posts, but I’ve decided to ditch them and to become a bit more random again. Partly because I didn’t always have content for each sub-section!

I want to explore further my earlier statement about not taking diet drinks any more. I have read(!) that taking diet drinks might not be so good for a couple of reasons.

1.       They are made from chemical rubbish which isn’t really any good for you.

2.       They stimulate your pancreas by fooling it into thinking you need to process sugar. This can gave you a greater craving for the real thing.

Any thoughts on this? At the moment San Pellegrino is my favourite tipple!

EXERCISE
It’s been pedometer crazy ! (well, not quite)

Obviously a pedometer counts the number of steps you do, but it will also extrapolate other data if you provide it with additional information. For example, it can use your average stride length to calculate the distance you’re covering and it can use your age and weight to estimate the number of calories you are burning. However, when I started using it on the treadmill in the gym I quickly noticed that not all strides are created equally. Seems obvious really but your running stride is significantly longer than the walking stride. In my case my average when walking is 60cm, but when running it’s 85cm! I was able to work this out by triangulating the distance covered as shown on the treadmill with the number of steps and the distance travelled as shown on the pedometer. The stats below take this into account where appropriate.

The stats below also show the huge difference in steps taken during the week and at the weekend. Especially the aerobic steps (which are fast walking or running). You’ll see that I’ve already taken steps (ho ho ho) one weekend to improve things, but I need to introduce this more regularly.

Losing the will to live yet? J

Bye !

Days 26 to 32 – 4th February to 10th February 2012

Hello everybody! 

Another week has passed and I’ve finally got myself a pedometer!  I have been very impressed with the Omron pedometer that I bought from Argos for 14.99 GBP.  There are more details of its results in the Exercise section, but I can tell you that I’ve put it through some fairly rigorous testing and it’s pretty damn accurate in terms of steps, distance covered and calories burned.  I have to confess I was initially skeptical about the effectiveness of these devices, but I am a convert.  If you would like to have a nosey, here is a link.

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002951&langId=-1&searchTerms=9279430

I’ve also been sent a link by Eugene for the Sheraton Fitness website. It has some very useful fitness tips for travellers and it is worth checking out. Here’s the link.

               

http://sheratonfitness.com/#tips

More good news on the weight loss front, although this may be tested at the next Tuesday weigh in. I’m going on a date with Clare this Saturday and I fully intend to have a glass of vino of three!   

I’m also using various types of nuts when a few slow release carbs are required (pre-exercise, etc). They are very effective. More details in the Food section.

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Another week of weight loss I’m pleased to say. This time I equaled the biggest drop in a single week (1.2kg)

As I've said before, I'm also weighing myself using the Wii Fit. This is both to corroborate the weigh in at the gym, and for another method of recording the history of my weight change. Both methods are aligned so far. (And the Mii is getting less round!)


FOOD
1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.
Scarlett and I made Susan’s excellent Sweet Potato & Lentil soup. If this sort of stuff is allowed in this dietary regime then bring it on!  Add lots of chilli for extra oomph. If you’re in a household with various tolerances to spiciness then you might have to add it to the bowl and not the pot. After the success of that soup I’ll be choosing another one in the nearish future. If anyone would like to know the recipe then hopefully Susan won’t mind if I share it here.

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)
Nuts !!  As I’ve posted before, I’ve had these recommended to me by various folk, including trainer Jimmy. I finally checked them out in some detail and have concluded that Almonds and Brazil nuts are the best option for delivering ‘good carbs’ when you need them quickly. They’re also great for a snack if you need something to keep you going. If you know of any other nut types that are worth considering, please let me know !

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)
Had a few whisk(e)ys on my birthday, but that was it. I stayed off the really bad stuff, like Guinness, despite some well meaning encouragement from certain folk who shall remain nameless (Gordon). As I said earlier I will be having a glass of vino or two this weekend. Having already done this at the Burn’s supper to no adverse effect, I’m not expecting too much damage to the plan. We shall see!  

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to (yet).
Nothing this week as I’ve now found a resource that is very good when it comes to facts on nutrition. Check it out here. Comprehensive.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

EXERCISE
Got rid of my back injury (or so I thought) by doing the light exercises for the affected muscles, as recommended by trainer/physio Jimmy.  However, I must have returned to the full programme too soon, because it’s back (if you pardon the pun!). Need to ease off again.

One thing that hasn’t been affected is my running, which I have ramped up from the initial suggested programme. I’ve now gone from  4x4 minute runs at 8kph (with 4x1 minute walking intervals  at  5kph) to 5x5 minute runs at 8kph (with 5x1 minute walking intervals at 5kph). It’s quite tiring but I feel I still have more in me.  I don’t want to spend too much more time actually running so the next change will probably be upping the pace. Not sure when that will be yet though.,

So, the pedometer. It’s very good and very accurate. Its only deficiencies are that its mechanism seems to struggle with counting stairs and its calorie counter doesn’t factor in gradients (or other > 0% resistance). However, I can live with that. My numbers have been quite high this week (average 12500/day) as it has included my gym running. I suspect these might drop over the weekend though when I’m not going to the gym. We shall see. On the next blog post I’ll have a full week of stats to look at, so we can see where/when there is room for improvement!  

Bye !

Days 19 to 25 – 28th January to 3rd February 2012

Hello everybody! 

When I initially started this blog I stated that it was a tactic to help me improve my diet and my fitness habits by almost shaming myself into actually doing something about it. At that time I was blogging on a daily basis and this was fuelled by the excellent contributions quite a few of you made during that initial period, in the way of advice, encouragement or both. As I’ve been developing good habits over the first few weeks  (as predicted by Eugene), I have been using the blog less as a daily motivation tool and the frequency of posts has lengthened. It’s now been a week since my last post and maybe that’s the correct frequency for sharing my experiences and canvassing your advice.  Of course if I stray off the path of righteousness I may have to start blogging more frequently again!  

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Once again I have made progress at the Tuesday weigh in. I’m now at the stage where I will be crushed if I don’t because I’m getting too used to it!  So, between the week 3 and week 4 weigh-ins I lost another kilo (or 2.2 lbs in old money ). Here’s the story so far…

Week 1 – 101.7kg

Week2 – 100.5kg

Week 3 –  99.6kg

Week 4 –  98.6kg

Haven’t checked the Wii fit numbers yet, but I will before the next blog post.

FOOD

1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.

Susan, I still haven’t made any of your recommended soups yet, but I shall tonight! Will report back on the success or otherwise of the venture.

I’m sticking to the porridge plan for brekky, but when I’m away it is only available as raw oats in the hotel breakfast bar. I just add milk and some light yogurt to a couple of tablespoonfuls of this. It is surprisingly good, however I stick to the cooked stuff at home. By the way I still add salt to porridge, which is a particularly Scottish habit I believe. Do others do this too?

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)

A recommendation from my trainer Jimmy is to take a handful of nuts before exercising at the gym. They’ve got carbs but they are slow release and good for supplying the wee bit of energy that you need during a workout. I’ve just been using plain old peanuts but my colleague Neill tells me that almonds are particularly good for this job.

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)

Sorry to be boring, but I’ve been pretty good this week!  I’m occasionally adding ingredients to things that I make that are dodgy in their own right, but which are a small percentage of an overall healthy meal. (e.g. Soy Sauce). That’s as naughty as it gets at the moment.

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to (yet).

It seems to me that all I’ve really cut out of my diet significantly is bread, rice, potatoes (all forms) , wine , beer and sugar (all forms). Everything else is more or less available to me, albeit sometimes in small quantities. Is that it? Is that all that is required? If so then my confidence in sustaining this lifestyle is increasing. In tandem with the weight loss each week this is very encouraging. Maybe it will be challenged when the weight loss finally stops!

EXERCISE

I took some advice from a trainer at the Copenhagen gym about the back muscle injury I sustained at the Eastwood gym and I got some surprising advice. I was expecting to be advised to stop any back related exercises until it was better, but instead I was told the following…

·         Continue the full programme

·         For exercises impacting the injured muscle….

o   Change from 3x12 repetitions to 1x20

o   Half the weight used in each exercise

The theory behind this is that it keeps the muscle from tensing up without causing it additional damage. You know, this counter intuitive advice has worked a treat. The muscle has improved all week.  I did have a setback on day 25 though when I hauled bags of shopping up from the car. It wasn’t the best thing for the muscle and I suffered a bit that evening. Back out with the Deep Heat and the paracetamol !

Bye !

Days 14 to 18 – 23rd to 27th January 2012

Hello everybody! 

This is the biggest gap between posts since I started and it now feels that it’s probably the correct frequency, unless something significant occurs in between posts. This was also the week of the Burns Supper, which was always going to be a challenge to my dietary plans! It turned out not too bad on that front I reckon, and it was also a fantastic night catching up with Ken, Dave, Craig and others whom I hadn’t seen for quite a while.

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

So, the weekly Tuesday weigh in at the gym took place as usual. I’m delighted to say progress is still being made as I clocked in at 99.6kg. Breaking 100kg made me feel very happy as you can imagine. For the record here are the results of the weekly weigh in jury…

Week 1 – 101.7kg

Week2 – 100.5kg

Week 3– 99.6kg

In a previous post I mentioned using Wii Fit to weigh myself and track progress. I was pleased to find out that it is completely in line with my weigh ins at the gym. This gives me some confidence in the accuracy of the measurements! On the Wii Fit you have an Avatar known as a Mii. It actually gets fatter/slimmer based on your BMI.  My Mii is still a bit rotund, but slightly less so this week.  Just like Mii.

FOOD

1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.

I haven’t taken on any of Susan’s soup recipes yet but when I do I would like to publish the recipe and results if she is cool with that. I’ll check with her.  Karen gave me a great curry recipe book for Christmas and it had its first outing tonight. Scarlett and I made a fantastic chicken and spinach curry which was really tasty and low in carbs and fat. Scarlett’s mum loved it!

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)

I have finally settled down to the controlled carbs approach. This means I’m not eating very much carbs but hopefully they are ‘good carbs’.  Have been doing muesli in the morning, which has been great, but I reckon porridge is the better option from a carb perspective. Both Clare and Susan put me on the porridge path and I will try to stick to it while working away.

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)

Burns Supper!

Ate the haggis and the neeps but not the tatties!

Had three glasses of red wine

Loads of Highland Park

But…Lots of water

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to (yet).

On food labeling is there a good ratio between total weight and the amount of carbs and the amount of carbs that are sugars? And what about starch? For example….

Porridge              100g   Carbs 60g   Carbs that are sugars 1g

Rice Krispies      100g   Carbs 87g   Carbs that are sugars 10g Starch 77g !!

Any insight into these ratios would be gratefully welcomed.

EXERCISE

In Copenhagen things have been going great based on Jimmy’s programme. This week though I have been working from home for a couple of days, so I attended the local ‘council gym’ down at East Ren in order to keep the momentum going (22 quid for induction plus 4 additional visits).  It’s not as spacious but it’s pretty well equipped and the folk there were really helpful. However, some of the machines for developing the areas I’m targeting are designed differently and I discovered that you can’t compare like with like when it comes to weights. The result is that I have injured myself by going too hard and too heavy on one of the machines. Deep Heat has been applied to the offending area. I’ll discuss the injury and my ‘other gym’ strategy with Jimmy on Monday.

Bye !

Days 11,12, & 13 - 20th to 22nd January 2012

Hello everybody! 

Well, I’ve now kept this up for two weeks and it’s beginning to feel ‘normal’. Eugene said to me that it takes 3 weeks to form a habit and I reckon he’s spot on. On each occasion today that I had a choice whether to stick to the programme or not, I did the right thing. So, I went to the gym even though I couldn’t really be bothered. I stayed on the treadmill for the allotted time even though I really felt it tough. I did all the strength exercises 3 times even though my body was saying ‘what the hell are you doing’?  I missed one exercise today though, as will be explained in the exercise section.  Have re-evaluated my approach to food this week due to advice received from various good folk! Read on.

(Haven’t weighed or measured myself since the previous post, so this section does not appear this week)

FOOD

1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.

In my Copenhagen ‘hotel’ room I have a microwave, a kettle and a toaster.  So, if I’m going to cook anything myself it has to be compatible with those tools. (There’s also a hairdryer, but I’m struggling to think what you could cook with it).  Don’t laugh, but I decided to microwave a sirloin steak. Now I usually like my steaks ‘rare’, but this is not really an option when using a microwave.  I blasted it so much that it actually got to the same texture as beef jerky (or maybe more like biltong. Erle?) Anyway, it still had flavour and it wasn’t too difficult to eat, Just goes to show you!

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)

Three main points to talk about.

a.    Good advice from Susan and Will about the amount of fat I should be eating. It should be low. Will recommends about 200g per day, which I might just eat with a spoon from a tub of Lurpak. :P   Actually I haven’t been paying attention to fat content until now because it’s not carbs(!). Last week I ate an entire plate of pork crackling (with some pork meat attached) in the work’s canteen. Now I am going to be much more sensible!

b.    A few folk have said to me (Clare, Susan, Karen, Paul, Jane, Erle ,Neill)  that carbs aren’t   necessarily off the menu, as long as it’s the right kind of carbs at the right time. This was reinforced by my trainer, Jimmy. He suggested that I have some slow releasing carbs at breakfast, like muesli. For some reason though I am still suspicious of this. Probably because it is contrary to Eugene’s approach and he has had a lot of success with that.

c.   Trainer Jimmy also said not to overdo the fruit. Once again Susan was in first with this recommendation (now endorsed by the Australian government). This is a wee bit of a shame because I wasn’t a big fruit eater before and I’m now really into it. As for tomatoes, no-one has really defined their contribution yet , apart from Erle who says that they’re the only thing you can eat loads of and not die as a result(!)

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)

I had to scrape some sauce from my tuna steak tonight. Apart from that, not much to report.

HOWEVER !

On Wednesday next week I’m attending a Burns Supper. I can’t see any way of sticking to the programme on that night!  Haggis, neeps, tatties! Need I say more?  Might just have to be a night off!  Will let you know if I succumb.

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to.

Tomatoes. Nobody knows! Are they good, bad or indifferent?!

EXERCISE

I had a 75 minute session with my trainer Jimmy on Saturday at 9am. Even having to get up and get prepared for exercise at this time on a Saturday morning was good for me.  This was the most educational training session I’ve ever had. I realised that for the past week or so I had been doing ‘pretendy’ exercise! Undoubtedly I have been getting benefit from my own ‘programme’, but post Jimmy it’s a different game.

Firstly, I am now running. On the flat. Although I was fast walking at 6.5kph on an incline of 6%, I am now running at 8kph on 0%. It feels much harder although the calorie count is almost identical!  I do this for 20 minutes with 1 minute walking breaks every 4 minutes.

Jimmy has set this weights/strength programme for me.  (the leg stuff is targeted on my snapped, right ACL)

All of the exercises below are done 3 times with 12 repetitions.

·         Leg Press  - 70kg

·         Leg Curl  - 20kg

·         Chest Press  - 0kg (Just using the bar to practise technique, then add weights.).

·         Back Row – 40kg

·         Pull Down – 35

·         Shoulder Press (free weight) – 4kg per arm

·         Abs on a big gym ball !

·         Lower Back on a weird device you think you might fall off ( and which is really tough)

Didn’t do the Abs today because they are really sore from yesterday! Need to ask Jimmy how best to approach this. Any ideas?

Bye !

Days 8,9, & 10 - 17th to 19th January 2012

So, back in Copenhagen and back on the straight and narrow. Have been in the gym every night since I got here and have been sticking to the dietary plan almost 100%. Fairly exhausted tonight though. I reckon this is an accumulation of fatigue throughout the week, so will probably still attend the gym tomorrow but keep it light. Bit of cycling or something. If you think this is a bit wimpy and that I should keep the tempo up, please let me know, and let me know why!

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Day 8 was a Tuesday and this is the day of the week I have chosen to weigh myself on the scales at the gym.  Here are the results…

Day 1 Weight:  101.7kg

Day 8 Weight:  100.5kg

So that’s a loss of 1.2kg (or 2.6lbs in old money) during the first week. I have to say that I’m very pleased with that. However, something in the back of my mind says that there is often a first week dividend in weight loss when you commence a new diet. Not sure if this is true, but I will be happy enough if I continue to lose even 1lb each week.

Another measure I’m calculating is how much it’s costing me per visit to the gym (can’t help it). It cost me 120 quid for 3 months membership, and I have been to the gym 7 times now. So it’s now standing and 17.14 quid for each episode of torture! This is another driver to get me out the hotel room and into the gym when I get back from work.

FOOD

Going with the new structure for this section as outlined in the previous blog post, here goes…

1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.

It’s nice to eat out occasionally and there’s usually a steak on the menu in most places. However, this week I tried out the Kebabish that I spotted a week or so ago. The place itself is really basic, with almost a ‘greasy spoon’ feel to it. Their mixed grill though was absolutely fantastic. Seekh kebab, chicken tikka, lamb tikka and a lamb chop with some salad! Yum.  Will definitely be going back… soon!

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)

After the previous disappointment around chick peas and Bovril I’ve been looking for some good news. I think the answer is Coke Zero. I have been reassured (you know who you are!) that there is practically nothing in this but fizzy water, caffeine and some black colouring! :P

I have bought into this, and it is nice to have a fizzy soft drink that’s allowed. Saying that, I’ve always drunk a lot of water, so the Coke Zero is a nice to have.

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)

I have been a good boy!  The only thing maybe worth a mention is my visit to The Globe bar on Wednesday night to watch El Clasico. I had a few straight vodkas and ice with slices of lemon. I believe this is about as strict as you can get while still drinking alcohol. What do you think?

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to.

Here’s a question. Can I take on as much protein and fat in my food as I want as long as I avoid carbs? This is a message I’ve been getting from a number of sources, however it is counter intuitive to me based on how I’ve been educated on this subject in the past.  This is exactly my approach at the moment, but any thoughts on it?

Guacamole. Well? Good or bad?!

EXERCISE

For the last three days I have kept with the treadmill and then some weights. I’m still fast walking at 6.5kph but upping the challenge by increasing the incline of the walk. The majority of the time this is at 6%, but I drop to 4.5% or even 3% when it’s a bit of a struggle.

On Saturday (Day 12) at 9 am I have an hour with one of the trainer’s from the gym (Jimmy), so that puts the kaibosh on any Friday night pub shenanigans!  Also I got it wrong in my previous post about the class I am attending later that Saturday morning. It is ‘Kettle Cross’. Apparently it involves a big heavy kettle. The mind boggles.

Bye !

Days 5,6, & 7 - 14th to 16th January 2012

I haven’t posted for a few days, basically because I didn’t find any time! However, now that I’m past the first week of the new lifestyle it’s probably sufficient to only post every few days in order to keep momentum.

Tomorrow is the day of the week when I check my weight. Also, I did a few body measurements at the weekend so I shall be monitoring and reporting on progress in that area too. When I have something to report it will be in a section called WEIGHTS & MEASURES. I actually do have something to report in this post, and it concerns my archive weight/bmi in Wii Fit !

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

We got a Wii Fit about 3 years ago, and as with many of these things it was used enthusiastically for a wee (Wii) while.  I haven’t touched it for years, although the kids still use it on occasion. This Sunday I went back on it to check the difference between my current weight and that from nearly 900 days ago! Interestingly I was 7lb lighter than I was then. This doesn’t surprise me too much, because I have been well over 16st a few times over the years.  I’ll now be using the Wii every couple of weeks as another way of tracking progress.

Regarding the 7lb weight loss, I informed Erle of this today and he asked ‘is it due to loss of fat or los of muscle’? Good question! I have absolutely no idea! Maybe a mixture of both.

FOOD

First things first. Chick Peas are 27% carbohydrate , so they are, sadly, off the menu.  

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4326/2

As I’m moving to a post every few days this section will now be structured on four topics.

1.       A review of anything new I’ve tried that is ‘in scope’.

2.       Passing on recommendations from others. (Do’s and Don’ts)

3.       Stories of me straying from the true path (and seeking forgiveness!)

4.       Questions that I haven’t been able to get an answer to.

I should hopefully have plenty of new material for each new post.

As regards my food intake in the past few days I have been a very good boy! I even took some sliced red peppers and broccoli to the IMAX for Mission Impossible!  My only faux pas was having a Bovril at the football. I assumed that this would be fairly safe. Wrong!! Full of potato starch, as I found out when I actually checked.

Finally a mention for Susan, who has sent me some delicious looking soup recipes. I’ll be trying out one of theme as soon as I get back home to my kitchen!

EXERCISE

Apart from running up and down to the car with a few bags for recycling, I had no meaningful exercise over the weekend. The 6km walk I had planned didn’t happen due to other events (dear boy, events). The lesson here is that my weekend planning needs to be much better. At least one weekend day should contain a long walk in it. Will also be trying to get swimming on the agenda as this can be a family inclusive venture!

So, after that weekend it was good to get back into the gym this evening. Did some fast walking , some weights and also tried the cross trainer. This was the first time I had been on this device and it took a bit of getting used to! Once I got some limb coordination going it I found it quite good, and it provides a bit of variety.

I also booked in to see one of the trainers for an hour so that he can help me put a programme together. The particular guy I want to see is only available on Saturday at 9am though, so it’s going to be a quiet Friday night for me.  At 11.15am on the same day I have enrolled in an introduction to cross training. As I get these sessions for free I thought I should start attending some when I can. I get the impression that cross training is a milder version of Jane’s recommended ‘boot camp’ events! We’ll see.