Why oh why does January take so long to sort itself out and bugger off?
I mean seriously, this month is bloody long.
It feels longer because I'm dieting too. Every day, watching my calories and (especially at work) watching other people eat what they want when they want is getting annoying.
However, it's not all bad. I'm no longer so tired on the walk to and from the office every morning. It's an inconvenience I'd rather not have, but it's largely a positive one because it's forcing me to walk a couple of miles every day. The inconvenience I still can't stomach is the distance from my desk to the tea room at the office I'm working from now, but I'm sure I'll learn to live with it (or crack up and melt down in a caffeine deficient moment).
The diet itself is going alright. I've cheated a couple of times but I'm still making more sensible choices. For instance, where if I was really being lazy and wanted a takeaway, I'd order a whacking great big pizza, now I'm ordering chicken kebabs, which are better for you. They're still not great for you, but it's better than all that bread and cheese. On the one occasion in the last fortnight where I did get a pizza, it made me so ill (from the grease, I'm assuming), that I have no desire to have another one any time soon.
The food I'm making on a nighttime is getting better too. A particular favourite that I'm enjoying is Gammon steaks, sweetcorn, new potatoes, pineapple and dry fried eggs. It's so very simple, but so delicious and filling. The main one I'm enjoying is my home made bhuna curry. Adapted from the recipe I used to make a fish curry for a party before new years, I've made it a couple of times now and with chicken it's just amazing. Very filling, very tasty and great for these cold nights.
This morning, I weighed myself for the second time. I didn't weigh myself on the first week of the diet for reasons that I can't quite remember, so last week was the starting weight for this bout of dieting.
This week has me dropping 5lbs which I'm over the moon at as I wasn't confident I'd lost any weight at all this week. More impressively as well, my wife, who has always struggled with diets, has lost too. So we're in it together and losing together. This has made me very happy indeed.
For this coming week, I'm going to be starting my exercise regime up again, starting with a run tonight. It's been about 6 weeks since i was running properly so if I'm honest, I'll be amazed if I can manage more than a mile and a half, but we all have to start somewhere. Hopefully I can be back up to 3 mile runs in a few weeks.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Monday, 20 January 2014
Monday, 6 January 2014
6th of January 2014
So last week's start to the healthy living didn't start. I'm weak, so sue me.
However, today is the proper start in my eyes.
Food wise, I've been good and low calorie. A recommended portion of cereal for breakfast and a sensible lunch.
That said, 45 grams of breakfast cereal is absolutely nothing in the bowl.
I've managed to avoid temptation at work too. Mostly because the canteen in the new office is bloody expensive, but I've also been strong. A weekly event in the new office is croissants delivered for breakfast. I must have walked past them 5 or 6 times but I didn't crack and I resisted. I love croissants so this is a big deal for me.
Further to this, the new office is encouraging me to exercise more. For a start, as I'm working as a contractor I'm not allowed to park on site. The closest secure car park is nearly a mile away from the office, so there's just under 2 miles of walking a day. The tea room is about 100 paces away from my desk which means I'm managing more milage for my large daily intake of caffeine. Hopefully this will have a nice effect on not only my fitness but my waistline.
It's only day 1 but I'm trying my best to be strong. Hopefully I can keep the positive mental attitude up.
Monday, 19 August 2013
19th August Part 2
Erm.... yeah, alright then :-/
So, I went to the gym tonight and got my initial weigh in. It's not pretty.
27st 2lbs
Thats 172.5kg, or 380lbs.
This is officially the heaviest I've ever been. Seriously, I've never been this big before in my life. I'm actually disgusted at myself.
The gym session didn't go well either. My fitness has dropped so much I could barely manage half an hour of light cardio. I'm such a mess right now.
However, onwards an upwards. There's only so long I can sit mithering at myself for letting myself go so badly, especially considering how hard I worked in June.
So this is the way I'm looking at it; I managed to go to the gym tonight when I could have easily stayed home, I've been tracking my food and come well under my daily allowance and I'm back at the start of a hard process.
I know it won't take long to start losing weight again, so I'm not allowing myself to be demoralised by this.
I'm going to try. I have to try. I don't want to be this size forever.
Till next time
So, I went to the gym tonight and got my initial weigh in. It's not pretty.
27st 2lbs
Thats 172.5kg, or 380lbs.
This is officially the heaviest I've ever been. Seriously, I've never been this big before in my life. I'm actually disgusted at myself.
The gym session didn't go well either. My fitness has dropped so much I could barely manage half an hour of light cardio. I'm such a mess right now.
However, onwards an upwards. There's only so long I can sit mithering at myself for letting myself go so badly, especially considering how hard I worked in June.
So this is the way I'm looking at it; I managed to go to the gym tonight when I could have easily stayed home, I've been tracking my food and come well under my daily allowance and I'm back at the start of a hard process.
I know it won't take long to start losing weight again, so I'm not allowing myself to be demoralised by this.
I'm going to try. I have to try. I don't want to be this size forever.
Till next time
Monday, 15 July 2013
July 15th 2013
Climbing back on a speeding wagon
So, after a couple of weeks off the diet and generally eating and drinking whatever I like, I'm starting another 4 week stretch of the diet.
To recap, in the last month I managed to lose a stone in total through 2 weeks of extreme diet and exercise and then 2 weeks of just taking it easy. I like the idea of the shorter goals as they're much more satisfying to achieve.
So as of today I'm back on it. I managed to fast again from last night to lunchtime today and I'm currently sat outside enjoying the sun. It's far too warm for any walking right now, I'm just enjoying the sun without working up too much of a sweat.
I'm not visiting the gym tonight because I'm utterly exhausted and frankly, I have too much to do tonight, so I'll be going tomorrow and I'll weigh myself then. I know I've put some of that stone back on, I can feel it in myself and in my clothes, but I'm not worried overall.
My goal for this month (taking me to the middle of August) is to lose another stone. I'm wanting to have load about 4 and a half stone by Christmas so a stone a month between now and December, allowing for some slightly missed targets is something I feel is perfectly achievable.
But the focus is 14lbs in the next four weeks. I managed that much in two weeks last month, so I'm confident that I can manage it.
I'll update tomorrow when I've weighed myself
Monday, 1 July 2013
July 1st, 2013 part 2
Wasting time is a waste of petrol. And dinner.
So this is it. The weigh day at the end of the month.
Given how badly I've been eating over the last fortnight and my lack of exercise, I was prepared for the worst. So I step on the scales and:
25st 12lbs
That means in two weeks I've not lost anything. In better news, it means I've not gained anything either. I know, I'm as surprised as you are.
That means in a month I've lost a flat stone. It's not as much as I wanted to lose, however, I'm not going to argue considering I only actually tried for half of that time.
I'm counting it as a win.
In other news, I don't think I'm over the sickness bug I had last week. When I was at the gym, I was halfway into my warmup when I had to stop. I was dizzy, nauseous and didn't feel grand. When I stopped the machine, I took a swig of water then immediately had to run to the toilets and throw up. I felt fine before I went on the machines, so I don't know what triggered that off.
Suffice it to say I'm a little disappointed and feeling rough.
I was planning on doing P90X tomorrow night but it looks like I'll have to put that on hold for now.
This week is the work event I have been building up to and it is the North East Chilli Fest so I won't be dieting or exercising for the rest of this week. Given how I'm feeling, I'm not going to go crazy and binge on junk food, I'm still going to eat sensibly, but I'm not going to be as fastidious as I have been about eating.
Next Monday I'll be setting myself another 4 week target to see if I can drop some more pounds.
In retrospect, maybe I should have weighed myself after throwing up... I might have weighed less...
Friday, 21 June 2013
June 21st 2013
Hello again
I know I haven't posted for a few days. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice to say, I'm dealing with some issues at the minute so blogging hasn't been on the top of my agenda.
For that matter, neither has diet or exercise. I haven't been to the gym since monday, but I have been trying my best to continue with walks during the day at work, making sure, at the very least I get out once a day. It's not the level of intensity I was wanting to maintain, but it's better than nothing I guess.
This weekend I go to get measured for my suit for the work event. I know I haven't lost as much as I want to , especially in inches, but I'm confident I can get something nice.
I'm hoping to get to the gym tonight and get some frustration out on the treadmill. It's always fun to spend a friday night in a gym, isn't it?
I'll probably post again to let you all know how the suit fitting goes. I may even supply a picture, but only if you're all good and are playing nice out there.
I really need to lay off the coffee... that got a bit weird there, did it?
I know I haven't posted for a few days. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice to say, I'm dealing with some issues at the minute so blogging hasn't been on the top of my agenda.
For that matter, neither has diet or exercise. I haven't been to the gym since monday, but I have been trying my best to continue with walks during the day at work, making sure, at the very least I get out once a day. It's not the level of intensity I was wanting to maintain, but it's better than nothing I guess.
This weekend I go to get measured for my suit for the work event. I know I haven't lost as much as I want to , especially in inches, but I'm confident I can get something nice.
I'm hoping to get to the gym tonight and get some frustration out on the treadmill. It's always fun to spend a friday night in a gym, isn't it?
I'll probably post again to let you all know how the suit fitting goes. I may even supply a picture, but only if you're all good and are playing nice out there.
I really need to lay off the coffee... that got a bit weird there, did it?
Monday, 17 June 2013
June 17th 2013
Wait... is it Monday again? Who said it could be Monday again?
I seem to be getting out of the habit of blogging at the weekend. I should rectify that..
Anyway, this weekend was a quiet one for me. Given how much pressure I put on my body last week and the effect it had on me when working out on Thursday, I decided to rest over the weekend and let my body recover. I did manage to do a couple of miles of walking on Saturday morning, but over all, I kept the weekend relatively quiet.
On the food front, I stayed relatively on course with the diet. On Saturday we attended a friend's birthday barbecue (or Braai, for the South Africans in attendance) where I pretty much gorged on meat. Just meat though. Lots of chicken wings, sausage, burgers, all cleanly cooked and all carb free. Nothing more manly than a dinner consisting of meat, meat and more meat. I had a couple of burger buns but definitely had less than my 100g of carbs across the day.
Sunday, I was a touch more relaxed, in that for dinner I had fishcakes and potatoes, which was comparatively heavy on the carbs, but it was all good clean food, so I don't feel guilty about it.
Over the weekend, I also discovered something amazing. I've been struggling a bit with hunger on this diet and I do feel myself wanting to snack during the days at work, especially when people around me are munching their way through the day. So a friend recommended I try making spinach crisps. They give you the crunch and the flavour you crave, but they're positively good for you. They're also a doddle to make. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
A couple of handfuls of baby leaf spinach
1 tablespoon of oil (olive, sunflower, or vegetable)
Salt
Pepper
Whatever flavouring you want
Put the spinach in a bowl and pour the oil on top. You only need a tablespoon of it, a little oil goes a long way. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and your chosen flavouring on top (in this case, I'm using chilli flakes) and get your hands in, rolling the spinach and flavouring around in the oil until every leaf is covered.
Pre-heat an oven to 125 degrees centigrade. Place non-stick baking parchment or non-stick foil onto a baking tray. Lay out the leaves individually, making sure they don't overlap. Place the tray in the oven and bake.
Check the leaves after 10 minutes. Some leaves will cook faster than others. You want them to dry out and the oil to dissipate. It took about half an hour of mine to be ready in total. If you want, you can turn some of the bigger leaves over halfway through.
Once they're cooked, take the tray out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. Once they're cool, serve and enjoy.
They're so good and very moreish. Give it a try, I really like them.
Onto this week and the pressure is back on. This weekend will the point I get measured for the suit for the work event so I need to keep the intensity up across the week to try and lose as many inches as I can. Today is weigh day so later on today I'll know how much work I need to put in to try and maximise what I can for the week.
Expect my stats and another picture this evening. For now though, go and try the spinach crisps.
I seem to be getting out of the habit of blogging at the weekend. I should rectify that..
Anyway, this weekend was a quiet one for me. Given how much pressure I put on my body last week and the effect it had on me when working out on Thursday, I decided to rest over the weekend and let my body recover. I did manage to do a couple of miles of walking on Saturday morning, but over all, I kept the weekend relatively quiet.
On the food front, I stayed relatively on course with the diet. On Saturday we attended a friend's birthday barbecue (or Braai, for the South Africans in attendance) where I pretty much gorged on meat. Just meat though. Lots of chicken wings, sausage, burgers, all cleanly cooked and all carb free. Nothing more manly than a dinner consisting of meat, meat and more meat. I had a couple of burger buns but definitely had less than my 100g of carbs across the day.
Sunday, I was a touch more relaxed, in that for dinner I had fishcakes and potatoes, which was comparatively heavy on the carbs, but it was all good clean food, so I don't feel guilty about it.
Over the weekend, I also discovered something amazing. I've been struggling a bit with hunger on this diet and I do feel myself wanting to snack during the days at work, especially when people around me are munching their way through the day. So a friend recommended I try making spinach crisps. They give you the crunch and the flavour you crave, but they're positively good for you. They're also a doddle to make. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
A couple of handfuls of baby leaf spinach
1 tablespoon of oil (olive, sunflower, or vegetable)
Salt
Pepper
Whatever flavouring you want
Put the spinach in a bowl and pour the oil on top. You only need a tablespoon of it, a little oil goes a long way. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and your chosen flavouring on top (in this case, I'm using chilli flakes) and get your hands in, rolling the spinach and flavouring around in the oil until every leaf is covered.
Pre-heat an oven to 125 degrees centigrade. Place non-stick baking parchment or non-stick foil onto a baking tray. Lay out the leaves individually, making sure they don't overlap. Place the tray in the oven and bake.
Check the leaves after 10 minutes. Some leaves will cook faster than others. You want them to dry out and the oil to dissipate. It took about half an hour of mine to be ready in total. If you want, you can turn some of the bigger leaves over halfway through.
Once they're cooked, take the tray out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. Once they're cool, serve and enjoy.
They're so good and very moreish. Give it a try, I really like them.
Onto this week and the pressure is back on. This weekend will the point I get measured for the suit for the work event so I need to keep the intensity up across the week to try and lose as many inches as I can. Today is weigh day so later on today I'll know how much work I need to put in to try and maximise what I can for the week.
Expect my stats and another picture this evening. For now though, go and try the spinach crisps.
Friday, 14 June 2013
June 14th 2013
Well, that was frustrating.
So my treat day was a mixed bag. On the one hand, the bolognese was amazing. I've been missing pasta and rice while I've been doing this diet, so it was a perfect treat for me. However, when I got to the gym last night, I suddenly realised that I may have been overdoing the exercise this last fortnight.
I started on the cross trainer, like I normally do, but my legs were like lead. Seriously, after 2 minutes I was sweating like I'd done 30, I had no energy and I was really struggling. I pushed on to 10 minutes worth but I was pretty much dying on my feet at that point. I managed to get some weights done after that so the trip to the gym wasn't entirely a wasted effort, but I just felt ghastly.
This morning it took every ounce of self determination just to get out of bed. I think I'm well and truly exhausted now, as in, exhausted to the bone. I've decided today I'm having a day off from exercise. I need to give my muscles a chance to repair themselves and get their strength back, otherwise I'll never be able to work out.
I'm also going to fuel myself today, so I'll be having sweet potatoes with my dinner and I've bought some nuts into work with me to keep myself going.
It is really frustrating because I know how little time I have left this month to make a difference for the target event, have a day off from exercise feels like a waste to me. I'd rather not have a day off, but I realise that my body is telling me it needs to rest.
Bah. Stupid body.
So my treat day was a mixed bag. On the one hand, the bolognese was amazing. I've been missing pasta and rice while I've been doing this diet, so it was a perfect treat for me. However, when I got to the gym last night, I suddenly realised that I may have been overdoing the exercise this last fortnight.
I started on the cross trainer, like I normally do, but my legs were like lead. Seriously, after 2 minutes I was sweating like I'd done 30, I had no energy and I was really struggling. I pushed on to 10 minutes worth but I was pretty much dying on my feet at that point. I managed to get some weights done after that so the trip to the gym wasn't entirely a wasted effort, but I just felt ghastly.
This morning it took every ounce of self determination just to get out of bed. I think I'm well and truly exhausted now, as in, exhausted to the bone. I've decided today I'm having a day off from exercise. I need to give my muscles a chance to repair themselves and get their strength back, otherwise I'll never be able to work out.
I'm also going to fuel myself today, so I'll be having sweet potatoes with my dinner and I've bought some nuts into work with me to keep myself going.
It is really frustrating because I know how little time I have left this month to make a difference for the target event, have a day off from exercise feels like a waste to me. I'd rather not have a day off, but I realise that my body is telling me it needs to rest.
Bah. Stupid body.
Thursday, 13 June 2013
June 13th 2013
Me - "You there! Boy in the street! What day is today?"
Boy - "Me? guv'nor?"
Me - "Yes you! What day is today?"
Boy - "Why it's the tenf day of your diet guv"
Yes, butchering A Christmas Carol to the point that Charles Dickens is positively drilling for crude oil due to the speed his coffin is spinning indicates that I've made it through the first 10 days of this monumental effort to lose weight and I get to have my first cheat day!
Oh, precious carbohydrates, come to me, fuel me!
As you can guess, I've been looking forward to this. Mostly because tonight I get to indulge myself after a week and a half of carb abstinence. Given how tight time scales are, I'm not going to go ballistic as some people do, but I'm going to treat myself to a big plate of Pasta Bolognese to reward myself for being as strong as I have been.
However...
The exercise must continue so with a full belly I will be hitting the gym again tonight, so the treats will be short lived, but well enjoyed.
I'm still stiff as a board from Tuesday's foray into P90X, so I'm glad I've decided to leave trying that again until Friday because I think at this point I'm just far to broken to even consider it. The gym tonight will be a mix of cardio and resistance, with focus on my back and arms. I've done plenty of work on my legs in the past week or so, but seeing as they increased in size by an inch I think I could do with laying off them and toning my upper body. Expect me to be more broken tomorrow.
I'm maintaining a high rate of activity this week and I'm trying to stay on the wagon. It's not helping that it appears to be biscuit and sweets week at work as I'm constantly receiving group emails saying some tasty treat has been left on a desk for everyone to share. So far though i haven't cracked and I haven't inflicted wrath upon anyone, so I think I'm doing well.
That said, I'm practically salivating at the chance to have some pasta tonight...
Boy - "Me? guv'nor?"
Me - "Yes you! What day is today?"
Boy - "Why it's the tenf day of your diet guv"
Yes, butchering A Christmas Carol to the point that Charles Dickens is positively drilling for crude oil due to the speed his coffin is spinning indicates that I've made it through the first 10 days of this monumental effort to lose weight and I get to have my first cheat day!
Oh, precious carbohydrates, come to me, fuel me!
As you can guess, I've been looking forward to this. Mostly because tonight I get to indulge myself after a week and a half of carb abstinence. Given how tight time scales are, I'm not going to go ballistic as some people do, but I'm going to treat myself to a big plate of Pasta Bolognese to reward myself for being as strong as I have been.
However...
The exercise must continue so with a full belly I will be hitting the gym again tonight, so the treats will be short lived, but well enjoyed.
I'm still stiff as a board from Tuesday's foray into P90X, so I'm glad I've decided to leave trying that again until Friday because I think at this point I'm just far to broken to even consider it. The gym tonight will be a mix of cardio and resistance, with focus on my back and arms. I've done plenty of work on my legs in the past week or so, but seeing as they increased in size by an inch I think I could do with laying off them and toning my upper body. Expect me to be more broken tomorrow.
I'm maintaining a high rate of activity this week and I'm trying to stay on the wagon. It's not helping that it appears to be biscuit and sweets week at work as I'm constantly receiving group emails saying some tasty treat has been left on a desk for everyone to share. So far though i haven't cracked and I haven't inflicted wrath upon anyone, so I think I'm doing well.
That said, I'm practically salivating at the chance to have some pasta tonight...
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
June 11th 2013
Today was a day spent in pain.
Mostly because I overdid it at the gym last night. For the first time in a long time I used that machine which simulates climbing stairs. Boy was that a mistake. It had my legs, backside and back in agony all day.
But, I'm not going to complain as I'm still on a high because of my weightloss so far.
Today at work I managed about 4 miles worth of walks without the pain that came last time I did such a lot of walking. I would have managed more, but I was very conscious about how far I'm walking at work, I don't want to be away from the office for too long, lest I get in trouble.
Food wise, I haven't really deviated from my normal chicken, pepperoni, ham, egg and spinach lunch box. It's still nice, I still love it, it's still all protein and hardly any carbs which suits me down to the ground. For dinner tonight, it was chilli con carne, with broccoli and slim green beans on the side. Again, high in protein but still very low in carbs. And bloody delicious to boot. Yum.
I'm actually going to write up the recipe for my chilli con carne at some point this week, I think you guys will really enjoy it. It's cheap, simple to make, makes about 4 portions and is easily freezable for months after cooking. It's fantastic.
Tonight I was planning on going to the gym, however, after nearly 2 hours pissing about trying to update my phone, failing and then having roll it back, it now seems a bit late to be going to the gym. I reckon I might try P90X for the first time tonight and see if it works for me.
If you don't hear from me in 24 hours, assume it's killed me.
Mostly because I overdid it at the gym last night. For the first time in a long time I used that machine which simulates climbing stairs. Boy was that a mistake. It had my legs, backside and back in agony all day.
But, I'm not going to complain as I'm still on a high because of my weightloss so far.
Today at work I managed about 4 miles worth of walks without the pain that came last time I did such a lot of walking. I would have managed more, but I was very conscious about how far I'm walking at work, I don't want to be away from the office for too long, lest I get in trouble.
Food wise, I haven't really deviated from my normal chicken, pepperoni, ham, egg and spinach lunch box. It's still nice, I still love it, it's still all protein and hardly any carbs which suits me down to the ground. For dinner tonight, it was chilli con carne, with broccoli and slim green beans on the side. Again, high in protein but still very low in carbs. And bloody delicious to boot. Yum.
I'm actually going to write up the recipe for my chilli con carne at some point this week, I think you guys will really enjoy it. It's cheap, simple to make, makes about 4 portions and is easily freezable for months after cooking. It's fantastic.
Tonight I was planning on going to the gym, however, after nearly 2 hours pissing about trying to update my phone, failing and then having roll it back, it now seems a bit late to be going to the gym. I reckon I might try P90X for the first time tonight and see if it works for me.
If you don't hear from me in 24 hours, assume it's killed me.
Monday, 10 June 2013
June 10th 2013
Is it monday again already? Ugh.
Everyone was telling me that the weekend was going to be the hardest part of my diet. That it would be a struggle to stay clean and healthy because everyone naturally treats themselves on weekend.
Well, bugger that. It wasn't any harder than during the week. I'm thinking that's because I slept in later on both days, so I had less time of actual fasting before I could eat. Either way though, it wasn't too difficult to stay good.
The hardest part of the whole weekend is when me and Mrs D popped to the cinema (saw Star Trek, brilliant film, go and see it) on saturday night. Instinctively when you go to the cinema you want the largest popcorn available and an enormous fizzy drink to wash it down with. I managed to resist, partly due to the fact that a large popcorn and drink combo is nearly £9 but also because I had earlier managed to convince myself that I wasn't going to buy sweets. Instead, I popped into Tesco on the way to the cinema and bought a bag of mixed nuts and a bottle of mineral water. Much more filling, much more satisfying and slightly quieter. I also burped less.
I managed to get to the gym on Sunday morning and walloped through a quick workout. It was much busier than when I normally go on an evening, so I didn't really want to hang around with groups of people flocking past me. I did discover a great way to keep me going at the gym, though and it's not music. Audio Books. I've been listening to the Game Of Thrones books for a while through the Audible app on my phone and it honestly wiles away the time on the cardio machines so much better than music ever could. When I'm listening to music, I'm picking the song to bits and analysing it, or I'm wondering what the next song to come on is. When I'm listening to the book, it's just the story that's happening and I get lost in the tale being told. It's a revelation, I'd recommend you try it.
Today is monday (you can imagine my displeasure) so that means it's also weight and measurement day. I'll be posting another picture of myself today too, so you can all go and compare me to last week. Hopefully I've lost a nice chunk of weight and prove that all this hard work and suffering is working.
Everyone was telling me that the weekend was going to be the hardest part of my diet. That it would be a struggle to stay clean and healthy because everyone naturally treats themselves on weekend.
Well, bugger that. It wasn't any harder than during the week. I'm thinking that's because I slept in later on both days, so I had less time of actual fasting before I could eat. Either way though, it wasn't too difficult to stay good.
The hardest part of the whole weekend is when me and Mrs D popped to the cinema (saw Star Trek, brilliant film, go and see it) on saturday night. Instinctively when you go to the cinema you want the largest popcorn available and an enormous fizzy drink to wash it down with. I managed to resist, partly due to the fact that a large popcorn and drink combo is nearly £9 but also because I had earlier managed to convince myself that I wasn't going to buy sweets. Instead, I popped into Tesco on the way to the cinema and bought a bag of mixed nuts and a bottle of mineral water. Much more filling, much more satisfying and slightly quieter. I also burped less.
I managed to get to the gym on Sunday morning and walloped through a quick workout. It was much busier than when I normally go on an evening, so I didn't really want to hang around with groups of people flocking past me. I did discover a great way to keep me going at the gym, though and it's not music. Audio Books. I've been listening to the Game Of Thrones books for a while through the Audible app on my phone and it honestly wiles away the time on the cardio machines so much better than music ever could. When I'm listening to music, I'm picking the song to bits and analysing it, or I'm wondering what the next song to come on is. When I'm listening to the book, it's just the story that's happening and I get lost in the tale being told. It's a revelation, I'd recommend you try it.
Today is monday (you can imagine my displeasure) so that means it's also weight and measurement day. I'll be posting another picture of myself today too, so you can all go and compare me to last week. Hopefully I've lost a nice chunk of weight and prove that all this hard work and suffering is working.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
June 5th 2013 part two
Seriously tired...
Today hasn't been anywhere near as intense as yesterday was. I've managed one walk today. My feet are still blistered and sore from yesterday, which puts the kybosh on walking.
I was planning on doing a bit of exercise at home but, I didn't. Simple enough. I'm far too tired. In fact, my eyes are still burning, I'm that tired.
I didn't have any nuts with me at work today so I came home from the office hungry enough to chew through a wall. On this diet of mine, I'm allowed up to 100g of carbs a day, though the idea is to minimise that as much as possible. My lunch (which was the same as yesterday) contains about 4g of carbs, so I have pretty much my entire day's allowance to play with.
So tonight's tea consisted of chilli, broccoli and potato waffles. That's right, potato waffles. Going off the package breakdowns, the portion of chilli worked out at 50g of carbs, the broccoli is free and the waffles were only 30g of carbs in total. Really nice, really different dinner and completely within the constraints of the diet. Win.
Tonight is the weekly visit to a friends house where we normally engage in beers to break up the week. Now, for the last 4 weeks I've not been drinking anyway and bringing pop but because I'm being so strict I can only really bring water. Big bottle of flavoured water it is, then.
However, I maintain, so tired...
June 5th 2013
Man, I'm tired.
This diet really takes it out of you, energy wise. With me trying to shock my body into using up its stores of fat and carbs, it's leaving me very tired. Apparently it'll get better by Friday. I sincerely hope it does.
I'm still utterly hungry but I'm getting used to the hunger pans and I'm trying not to clock watch up until 1230 when I can eat today. It's only an hour and a half from this point, but it does feel like a million miles away.
I've tried going for a walk this morning but the blisters on my feet are making it difficult. I definitely don't think I'll be hitting 5 miles today. Lets call today a kind of rest day, still doing exercise but massively reducing the intensity.
In news unrelated to the diet (but related to health), I've now made it a month without smoking. I don't feel the need to smoke any more and it's not bothering me to be around smokers. Also, I've saved a fair chunk of cash, as demonstrated by the NHS Quit Smoking app right here:
If I can do that, I can lose weight again. After all, that only took a month, so this idea of taking things a month at a time should hopefully work for weight loss too.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
June 4th 2013, part 2
Evening all
So today I feel has been a fairly successful day. I've done a lot of exercise and I've eaten very well. However, the exercise has come at a price. I'm utterly broken.
Today I walked a total of about 5 miles around the business park where I work. You can see the walks I do on the runkeeper widget on the side of this blog. Today has been an utter scorcher with temperatures around about the 21 degree mark. Today I was power walking as hard as I could to maximise my potential calorie burn. When wearing business dress and sweating like a bastard in the midday sun, things aren't going to go to well.
Without getting into graphic detail (I appreciate many of you may be reading this at breakfast time), I've over exerted and the natural friction that comes from my thighs and a poor choice of boxer short for the day have provided me with an almighty and very painful rash across my inner thighs. Added to the gargantuan blisters I've got from walking in rubber soled shoes that aren't trainers, I'm a bit of a wreck right now. It hurts to even walk.
So, with that in mind, tomorrow I will probably still walk around work, but not as much or as intensely. Tomorrow's exercise I feel will need to be a touch gentler. This will probably be a great juncture to break out Your Shape on the Xbox again and do some Tai-Chi, Yoga and Boxercise.
Today was the first real day of my 30 day challenge and I think it has gone well. Granted, yes, I'm in pain and I'm uncomfortably hot, but I think all things considered I could be in a much worse state.
Lets see what tomorrow brings
Michael
So today I feel has been a fairly successful day. I've done a lot of exercise and I've eaten very well. However, the exercise has come at a price. I'm utterly broken.
Today I walked a total of about 5 miles around the business park where I work. You can see the walks I do on the runkeeper widget on the side of this blog. Today has been an utter scorcher with temperatures around about the 21 degree mark. Today I was power walking as hard as I could to maximise my potential calorie burn. When wearing business dress and sweating like a bastard in the midday sun, things aren't going to go to well.
Without getting into graphic detail (I appreciate many of you may be reading this at breakfast time), I've over exerted and the natural friction that comes from my thighs and a poor choice of boxer short for the day have provided me with an almighty and very painful rash across my inner thighs. Added to the gargantuan blisters I've got from walking in rubber soled shoes that aren't trainers, I'm a bit of a wreck right now. It hurts to even walk.
So, with that in mind, tomorrow I will probably still walk around work, but not as much or as intensely. Tomorrow's exercise I feel will need to be a touch gentler. This will probably be a great juncture to break out Your Shape on the Xbox again and do some Tai-Chi, Yoga and Boxercise.
Today was the first real day of my 30 day challenge and I think it has gone well. Granted, yes, I'm in pain and I'm uncomfortably hot, but I think all things considered I could be in a much worse state.
Lets see what tomorrow brings
Michael
June 4th 2013
Fasting sucks.
It really does.
Despite my grumbling, I made it to lunch time without caving, giving myself a good 16 hour fast with just water and coffee to keep me going.
Lunch consisted of this:
Chicken, ham, boiled eggs, pepperoni and spinach leaves. All protein and iron. Spectacular. Complemented with some cashew nuts its got me full and feeling satisfied.
I've managed to walk about 3 and a half miles so far today and depending on if my feet stop hurting, I should be able to make it out for another one before home time.
Right now though I'm going to dive into a pint of water because I'm red hot.
Michael
Monday, 3 June 2013
June 3rd 2013
Hi there.
My name is Michael and I am a man who struggles with many things. Depression, weight, money and a few other things to boot.
For years I have struggled with my weight. In 2011, I managed to successfully lose about 5 stone in weight. You can have a look at my old blog about it over on http://weightytimes.tumblr.com. However, in the intervening two years or so, I have been through a lot and managed to put most of that weight back on. I'm not back up to my heaviest, but I'm not far off it.
My weight gets me down, significantly. I have no clothes that fit me any more and, annoyingly enough, I can't really afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. More importantly, I don't really want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. I have a lot of nice clothes that have either barely been worn or not even worn at all.
I recently quit smoking after about 5 years of fairly heavy smoking. I know I've put on weight from that, mostly because I became orally fixated and replaced cigarettes with sweets. But, I'm now at 28 days without smoking so I feel the time is right now to start losing weight again.
To achieve this, I've decided that I need to use short term targets. When I lost weight last time, it was because I had two months to fit into a suit for a friend's wedding. This time, I have 30 days to fit into a suit for a posh work do. So today is the first day of my new regime.
So here is my plan for the next 30 days.
I haven't weighed myself yet today, but I am visiting the gym later today, I'll weight myself there and post up my starting point. I'm also going to post up my stomach, chest, thigh and bicep measurements as well.
I will be conducting some high intensity training (to the best of my fitness) consisting of several gym visits a week, complemented with up to three walks around the park next to my office and then a home workout (something along the lines of P90x, Insanity or 30 day shred). I will have one rest day a week where no exercise at all occurs.
Diet wise, for the next 30 days I'm doing some extreme dieting. This will consist of fasting from 9pm to midday every day and for the first 10 days, limiting the amount of carbs I'm taking in massively. I will be eating mostly lean meat and green vegetables, maintaining a low GI balance on the foods I can eat. After 10 days, I'll gradually start to reintroduce carbs into my diet. This also means a strict no alcohol policy with the possible exception of one day in June I will take off for a friend's birthday.
The work event is on July 4th, so at that point, I will have a couple of days back on normal eating before I commence my next 30 days (which won't be as extreme, this is just to get the ball rolling).
I hope to keep you all updated with my progress as I go.
Thanks for reading
Michael
My name is Michael and I am a man who struggles with many things. Depression, weight, money and a few other things to boot.
For years I have struggled with my weight. In 2011, I managed to successfully lose about 5 stone in weight. You can have a look at my old blog about it over on http://weightytimes.tumblr.com. However, in the intervening two years or so, I have been through a lot and managed to put most of that weight back on. I'm not back up to my heaviest, but I'm not far off it.
My weight gets me down, significantly. I have no clothes that fit me any more and, annoyingly enough, I can't really afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. More importantly, I don't really want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. I have a lot of nice clothes that have either barely been worn or not even worn at all.
I recently quit smoking after about 5 years of fairly heavy smoking. I know I've put on weight from that, mostly because I became orally fixated and replaced cigarettes with sweets. But, I'm now at 28 days without smoking so I feel the time is right now to start losing weight again.
To achieve this, I've decided that I need to use short term targets. When I lost weight last time, it was because I had two months to fit into a suit for a friend's wedding. This time, I have 30 days to fit into a suit for a posh work do. So today is the first day of my new regime.
So here is my plan for the next 30 days.
I haven't weighed myself yet today, but I am visiting the gym later today, I'll weight myself there and post up my starting point. I'm also going to post up my stomach, chest, thigh and bicep measurements as well.
I will be conducting some high intensity training (to the best of my fitness) consisting of several gym visits a week, complemented with up to three walks around the park next to my office and then a home workout (something along the lines of P90x, Insanity or 30 day shred). I will have one rest day a week where no exercise at all occurs.
Diet wise, for the next 30 days I'm doing some extreme dieting. This will consist of fasting from 9pm to midday every day and for the first 10 days, limiting the amount of carbs I'm taking in massively. I will be eating mostly lean meat and green vegetables, maintaining a low GI balance on the foods I can eat. After 10 days, I'll gradually start to reintroduce carbs into my diet. This also means a strict no alcohol policy with the possible exception of one day in June I will take off for a friend's birthday.
The work event is on July 4th, so at that point, I will have a couple of days back on normal eating before I commence my next 30 days (which won't be as extreme, this is just to get the ball rolling).
I hope to keep you all updated with my progress as I go.
Thanks for reading
Michael
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