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!