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 !