Day 3 - 12th January 2012

Woke up this morning after last night in the pub with no ill effects, and actually felt a bit more energetic than during Day 2.  Ended up in a pub again this evening, but it was a quiz night at The Globe, so that’s ok then.  (Neill and I came 2nd out of 24 teams, only just beaten by the regular winning team of 5 boffins! They won 130 quid but we got 65. Obviously we came out best on a winnings per team member basis!)

My mention of Body Mass Index in the Day 2 post got a lot of reaction both online and offline, and I am now a skeptic. Darren’s view of it gets a 12A certificate. Phil pointed out that rugby players who are fit as fiddles have BMIs which make them ‘morbidly obese’!  My nephew Chris told me that he is considered overweight via BMI, which, if you know him,  is ridiculous. Susan suggested that hip to waist ratio might be one of the ways to monitor progress.  On that last point, there was a discussion over breakfast at the hotel where Erle also suggested measuring your body stats to check progress, as you may lose fat without necessarily losing weight. This sounds very sensible as I am carrying a lot of extra weight on the torso at the moment and I would hope that it would start disappearing over the coming weeks and months. Time to buy a measuring tape!

Reckon that I’ll still weigh myself every week though, just to see if there is any change in that area. Will let you know.

FOOD

Brekky – Four pieces of cooked ham, slices of red pepper and some tomatoes. Glass of water

Lunch –  A plate with the following piled on it from the canteen salad bar. Four slices of roast pork, four slices of roast chicken, herring, cheese, green peppers, celery, red cabbage and one egg. I also put cold butter beans on my plate but was informed by Neill and Erle that this was ‘starch city’, so I sadly had to leave them untouched.

Dinner – Bit of a rush after the gym as Neill and I had to get to the quiz at the Globe. Had scrambled eggs with smoke salmon and tomatoes, two rice cakes and some raw cauliflower.

Snacks – Two bananas, an orange, raw cauliflower and some slices of ham.

Drinks – Green tea, black tea, black tea with lemon and camomile tea.  Loads of water. A ‘few’ straight vodkas and ice during the quiz!  

A  question about chick peas and the derivative, humous.  I’ve been informed that, as they are protein and not starched based, that they are available for selection! Is this your view too? I’m hoping there’s a positive response to this because I love the stuff.

EXERCISE

This was another quick visit to the gym due to the need to make it along to the Globe quiz (see opening paragraph, decision vindicated).

I went straight to the treadmill. Although it can be a wee bit boring I had my Infinite Monkey Cage BBC podcast to get me through it. As with yesterday I just kept to the fast walking because this seems to be exercising me enough for the moment.  This time though I upped the gradient to make it a wee bit harder.

I used the treadmill for 30 minutes. I walked just over 3km and burned 220 calories fast walking on a gradient of 5% for 20 minutes and 6% for 10 minutes. I noticed that I could control my breathing in a way that brought my heartbeat down and allowed me to up the gradient!

I then went on the weights for remaining 15 minutes. It was all upper body stuff as I want to be like Charles Atlas! (See Bazooka Joe bubble gum offers circa 1974).

Back tomorrow!

Day 2 - 11th January 2012

I’ve been a wee bit tired today which I’ve put down to a combination of blogging to 0030 yesterday, adjusting to exercise and also adjusting to a new diet.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's Day 1 post that I weighed myself at the gym.  I came in at a whopping 101.7kg, which is almost bang on 16st in old money.  As I am 1.84m tall I either have to lose about 3st (over 20kg) or to grow to about 2.1m in height in order to have a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index). It’s currently at 30.1 and I should be in the 20 to 25 region.

I have had different advice on the frequency of weighing yourself (daily or once a week). I reckon I’ll go for the once a week option as I would be hoping to see progress, and it might be demotivating to see up and down fluctuations on a daily basis!

FOOD

Brekky – Three pieces of cooked ham, scrambled eggs, melon and pineapple. Half litre of water.

Lunch – Once again a big plateful from the canteen salad bar with small portions each of red and green peppers, cold ham, salami, roast beef, pickled herring, tuna, salmon,  onions, blue cheese, raw mushrooms, two hard boiled eggs.  Half litre of water. (I also had some beetroot before realising it was of course a root vegetable!)  

By the way they have this stuff called Chilli Explosion at the canteen. It’s in a large pepper grinder type thingy and I use copious amounts of it after I’ve loaded up my plate!

Dinner - Went out with colleagues and had a 200g sirloin steak with green beans. Drank San Pellegrino with it! Really good.

Snacks – Two small bananas , a pear, 3 slices of parma ham, raw cauliflower

Drinks – Green tea. Loads of water. One bourbon and ice, two Stolichnaya and ice (with slices of lemon!)   

So it didn’t take me very long into this venture to end up in a pub!  (The justification of this visit was to watch the Man City v Liverpool match, so that’s ok then). While in there I followed Eugene’s advice of only having spirits and, if having a mixer, which I didn't, only using diet tonic water or actual water. Was a bit weird compared to sinking pints of Guinness, but on the whole it’s an approach I could get used to.   

Still eating a lot of fruit! Susan reckons this might be too much (lots of sugars in them  I presume), so I shall start cutting down, starting with breakfast tomorrow.  Of course I still need my Five-A-Day, which up until now I got via the wonderful Magner’s Cider.

Quick question to everyone about tomatoes. As these are apparently a fruit (seeds on inside), should I cut down on these too?

I'm also worried about my egg consumption. Think I might be overdoing it a bit and piling up the cholestorol.

EXERCISE

As I was going out with colleagues this evening I only had 45 minutes available in the gym. I eschewed the weight machines and focused on the treadmill and bicycle. Based on Eugene and Susan’s feedback I checked out my optimum heart rate range for exercising, which turns out to be between 128 and 138 bpm. This knowledge had a direct impact on how I used the treadmill !

So, I used the treadmill first for 30 minutes. I walked 3km and burned 170 calories fast walking on a gradient of 4%. The reason for the walking was that whenever I sped up, my heart rate quickly jumped to 150+.  I think this means that I have a bit to go yet to even get close to fitness!

In the remaining 15 minutes I jumped on the bike and burned 95 calories over 5.5km at level 4.

You might have noticed that I dropped a couple of levels from Day 1 on the bike. This is because I felt really tired after only one day’s exercise. Will be interesting to see how my body responds on Day 3.

Finally, I want to send my good wishes to my brother-in-law Neil who lives in Turks & Caicos. A car driver cut across him today and knocked him off his bicycle. From the photos it looks like the helmet and his face took most of the impact of his fall. In fact his helmet split in two so it’s a good job he was wearing one in the first place or it could have been very serious.  Although drivers in Denmark are very aware of the cyclists they share the roads with, this incident has made me think twice of cycling to and from the office.  Many in the medical profession jokingly refer to cyclists as ‘organ donors’ but unfortunately there are real risks for cyclists on any road, anywhere.

Day 1 - 10th January 2012

Firstly I'm still overwhelmed about how many folk are sharing advice and their experiences on both exercise and nutrition. A few in quite some detail. Sincere thanks again for taking the time to do this. It's very much appreciated. Although there are occasionally competing approaches proposed (especially on the ideal foods to eat), it means that I am fully informed of the options and their particular benefits. I will share these with you in this the blog and tell you which I've decided to go for. Feel free to add your own experiences and opinions about these choices.

I consider this the real Day 1 of this venture as yesterday I did no actual exercise apart from handing over 999 DKR for 3 months gym membership! Today I actually went to the gym and used the equipment. I'll tell you more about this later in the post.

I think I need some sort of structure to these posts. Not sure what would be best, so I'll take a trial and error approach. Any feedback on the structure gratefully received! Here goes...

Food
I have been munching for Scotland today. stuffing myself with every piece of 'healthy' food I can get my hands on. In fact I've already stopped while writing this post to cut up chunks of cauliflower to snack on. Contrary to Susan's advice earlier today that I should, in effect, 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper' , I actually swapped the king and the pauper roles around and was a bit king-esque at lunchtime too. Here's the inventory....

Brekky - Muesli and natural yoghurt, melon and pineapple. Glass of water. (was in a hurry mind you)
Lunch - Big plateful from the canteen salad bar of red and green peppers, cold ham, salami, red cabbage, red lentils, pate (smaller bit than yesterday), blue cheese,raw mushrooms, two hard boiled eggs.  Half litre of water.
Dinner - Scrambled eggs (3!) with parma ham and tomatoes. A rice cake. Two slices of cooked ham, three slices of roast beef.
Snacks - Two bananas, a tangerine, a mango, a few handfuls of peanuts and some cauliflower
Drinks - Four cups of green tea and lots of water.

I mean, that is veritable feast! This is no challenge at all if I'm munching this on a daily basis. Doesn't feel right! Would be interested to know what you think?

One thing I do have available as a snack, but which I haven't touched, are some carrots. This is because Eugene, who has been exceptionally good at sharing his own very successful experiences, has told me that root vegetables are out! Apparently this is to do with their solubility in your stomach. The thing is, as they are soluble they slow down your metabolism. So I'm going to avoid them and stick to green leaf stuff instead. Eugene actually has a complete radical programme that worked extremely well for him. Will come back to it in another post.

Many of you, Julie, Pam, Susan, etc are very much recommending a balanced diet where the bad stuff is significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated (e.g. vino!), or you eat moderate portions of 'good verions' of the bad stuff like, wholemeal bread.

The Jury's still out for me on which consistent approach to nutrition to select , but I should really make some sort of decision soon!

Exercise
Although Darren and Julie suggested (for different reasons) that I shouldn't use a gym, I had already paid my dosh so I went along for the first time this evening. Started out on some simple, light stuff as I obviously need to acclimatise a bit first! Here's the 'programme' and the stats.

Used the cycling machine for 27 minutes. Level 5 for the first 15 mins and then the rest on level 6. Both on the flat. The calorie count was 192 and the distance was a smidgen over 10KM. I like the bike because it's gentle on my dodgy knee, but it's not as hard as the treadmill as I later found out!

Did a few weight machines on various muscles around the body. didn't push it too much and on one occasion I had to drop the previous user's 65KG setting down to 30KG! A bit of a way to go then!

Finished off on the treadmill for 23 minutes. Ran on the flat for 2.4KM. Calorie count was 122. Heart rate got to 150 on one occasion. Need to check if this is ok! I have to say that I felt more benefit (knacked) from the running than the cycling.

When I got back to hotel I took the stairs to my 4th floor room. I'm employing this 'take the stairs' tactic, as recommended by Ture, whenever I can.

Got some interesting suggestions during the day on exercise ideas.

The scariest one was from Jane who recommended army style bootcamps that take place at the weekend around Glasgow! Not sure I'm quite ready for this yet! Maybe if I improve my general fitness a bit first.

Darren proposed that I get off public transport earlier than I need to and walk the rest of the way to my destination. Will probably do this occasionally. Would expect the frequency to increase as the weather improves!

Finally, my cousin Paul suggested that I cycle to work, as a considerable number of people do in Copenhagen. I checked the distance between hotel and the office (10KM) and I'm seriously considering it. Will make enquiries on how to obtain a cheap, cheerful and functional bicycle !

Thanks again to all who are taking an interest!   

Day 0 (zero) - 9th January 2012

So, in my enthusiasm to enlist the help of FaceBook friends for encouragement and advice on how achieve my lifestyle change, I inadvertently caused mayhem in many inboxes and on many timelines. I'm just about over the embarrassment of this but have at least learned something else about the mechanics of FaceBook.

Of course the reason why there was so much activity was due to the great response I got. As well as genuine encouragement there was no shortage of advice and folk sharing their own experiences. I think some of the different advice on approach may be incompatible with each other, so I quickly have to decide what's the most appropriate way forward for me.

The reason I called today Day Zero was because I always expected this to be a day of positioning and dipping my toes in the water of healthy eating before getting stuck in completely from Day 1. So, here is a (short) list of today's achievements!

• Joined a gym just around the corner from my Copenhagen hotel (but no gym activity today I must confess)
• Had hotel a breakfast that did not involve bread, but did involve muesli ! Also had two boiled eggs.
• At work I lunched on turkey (yes, I know), salad peas, tomatoes and pate. (What's the general view on pate as an acceptable food in this venture?)
• Went to the supermarket and bought eggs, ham, tomatoes, carrots, grapes,celery,water,mixed nuts and paprika rice cakes (which are delicious, so i'm having one right now).
• Rustled up some scrambled egg with tomato and ham and had my first rice cake.
• No alcohol !

 Would be interested in getting your opinion on the suitability of the above foodstuffs and if you've got any other recommendations (especially tasty ones!).

Advice Received
Thanks to everyone for their advice on how to approach this. Received various recommendations via various channels. Here are some of the highlights.

• Use a pedometer to measure how much walking you're doing each day (Susan and Pam separately) - this one looks pretty good http://www.argos.co.uk/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=9279430
  
• Choose hills and stairs when walking if they're an option (Ture)


• Regularly do 10 minutes of press ups/sit ups in the hotel room. Use apps such as iPushUps and iSitUps to support this. (Darren)


• Stay focussed but do things in moderation (Janice)


• Get to sleep early! (Ross) - this is difficult for me


• Cut way down on the carbs but don't go mad or you'll just end up having a blow out! (Neill and Erle) - I completely eliminated carbs once and ended up devouring an entire tub of Haagen-Dazs in a frenzy


• And a pile of advice from (Eugene) , including; Routine, routine and routine. 3km brisk walk every day. Breakfast without any Wheat, Bread, Butter. Soup for lunch. Dinner without any pasta, rice, potatoes. 2 litres of water. No wine, beer but white spirits ok with diet tonic. (also Jack and ice would be ok).

So there's a lot to play with there!

Tomorrow is Day 1 for real, and I'll be heading to the gym. Should be fun :P

Day -1 (minus 1) - 8th January 2012

Two fried eggs, square sausage (fried), fried bacon, white Warburtons toast with thick layer of Lurpak, two wines on a flight to Copenhagen, two pints of Guinness and two cheeseburgers from McDonalds.

In theory this is my last 'unhealthy' day for quite some time. I would like to think that today was like a condemned man's last meal, but it's not far from typical, especially on a weekend day.

The fact that I travel a lot doesn't help and it adds another dimension to this challenge!

I'm hoping that writing this blog keeps me focussed on this objective. If you're following it then your encouragement and advice is much appreciated!

ps Happy 1st Birthday to my granddaughter Lily!