OK - so it has been a bit quiet on the site recently - a month off to be precise. But I’m back and super motivated.
I had 2 weeks in the South of France which were amazing. Had a series of exercise plans worked out before I went to make sure I kept up some of my muscle strength whilst away. I planned to do at least 3 sessions a week. Here are the main points:
- It was bloody hot so daytime training wasn’t really an option. I had to choose morning or night. In the end it worked out much better at night (5ish) - the sun had cooled and I had at least an hour before eating dinner and getting tucked into the red wine. Morning time was too hard as I always woke up dehydrated (partly from the heat and partly from the red wine).
- The training sessions were either upper body (with various press up and core exercises) or lower body (with various squats). They could be done without any weights or equipment which was great.
- Managed a couple of decent 7K runs too.
- Plus lots of swimming.
- I ate a fair amount - some days more than others - and had loads of thin crust pizza (my biggest treat).
- I drank most nights (totally required when on holiday in France).
When I came back I was measured for weight and body fat percentage. My weight was actually down by a few hundred grams but my body fat percentage was up by half a percent (to 18.25%). This basically showed a drop in muscle mass and a bit of fat gain. But I’m happy that I now know what damage a 2 week holiday can do and how much work it requires to put it right - because let’s face it, we all need a blow out occasionally. I can’t go the rest of my life without eating pizza.
So all in all I’m really happy that I understand what I can do with my body. This really helps to motivate you when deciding whether to sneak a treat or not.
Since being back, I have trained really hard 5 days a week (1 upper body, 1 lower body, 1 core, 1 run, 1 cycle). I also had a big drinking weekend in the middle which added a bit more fat again! But I feel amazing - really in control. Now I’m going to push on for the next few weeks with a tight diet, good sleeps and not too much drinking. That elusive 6 pack is only a few months away. And Australia is looming….
I had the big weigh-in today and was really dissapointed with myself. My official weight at the start of my regime (4 weeks ago) was 92.5KG. This morning it showed 90.6KG. That is a loss of half a kilo or one pound per week. Now that would all be OK but I know I was lighter in the middle of last week - I was definitely under 90 KGs (at the same time of the day). I’ve had a really bad cold for a few days and my diet went to shit on Thursday/Friday/Saturday - comfort eating and gorging on some chocolate etc. I also had a pretty stressful week which didn’t help.
Scott says this is OK as I should have been rewarding myself for getting to the end of month 1. But to be honest I was saving that for next weekend (I’m going to a fancy hotel in Mull with a fab restaurant). I’m really pissed off at myself for not holding on until then. I’ll blame it on the bad cold but in reality I could have been stronger and avoided eating the crap.
However, I’m now focused on month 2 and going to be more strict with my diet again. It is scary how quickly you can fall off the wagon though. I think I really need to get to a good point of body definition so that I’ll be desperate not to lose it and it’ll be OK to stick to the diet. I’ll also be able to learn what makes me put weight on and what helps me to keep it off - when I can snack and when I can’t.
Cheers, M
I’ve booked up for a 10k run in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on Fathers Day in June. I’m really looking forward to it as this will be the first proper run I’ve done since the BUPA Great Winter in Edinburgh in January - and that was only 5K.
I’m not sure how quickly to push into the running training or whether all the legs and general aerobic fitness that I’m doing with my personal trainer will take me most of the way anyway. I think I’ll need to try doing a few 7 or 8 k runs at least. That will be easy enough to manage at the weekend - even with the rest of the stuff during the week.
I am an avid reader of Mens Health Mag and I plan to get into the reader section - photo of how I used to look as a fat bastard and how great I look now 
Still got a way to go but certainly still making great progress. I keep getting amazing comments from my wife - even walking back from the cinema last night she had her arm around me and said it felt great as she held onto something resmbling muscle rather than dodgy love handles.
I am feeling really happy that the weight loss and the general ‘tightening’ is happening in the right places (ie, my love handles and my moobs (man boobs)).
Keep on truckin….
I weighed myself this morning and am now down to 89.7KG - Wow! I am so chuffed. That is a really huge milestone for me. I was the best part of 95KG 3 months ago. It is in thelast two weeks (since starting a proper diet and full training) that I have lost around 3KG. I’m really, really happy. The biggest reason I feel great is that I don’t actually feel like I’m on a ‘diet’. I’m just eating really healthy stuff and no carbs after 4pm. Piece of piss;-)
My digestion has also never felt better. Plus no fatigue during the afternoon or dinner time.
I cannot sing the praises of this approach highly enough. I will be making a plan for anyone else to follow who reads this site. Two thirds of the progress is down to diet, one third down to weight training and cardio training. But you cannot get the same results with just one of the approaches.
PS - after the upper body training on Monday morning, I got DOMS (sore muscles) on Wednesday afternoon. It is only in my biceps - but I cannot straighten my arms at the moment. Slightly painful but I know it will go by the end of today.
I’m just back from a great 7 days in Sydney - looking out for a new place to live at the end of the year. Fabulous place.
The wheel has completely fallen off my running though - I feel really pissed off with myself. I had been having a few niggles (sore knee, dodgy stomach virus) but I could definitely have got myself back on track sooner than now.
My reasons/excuses for not running more in the last 2 weeks are:
- The week leading up to when I went away was totally filled up with work and prep for leaving (4 kids to be left with grandparents needs a lot of prep!) - I can forgive myself that week because it was really unusually busy.
- The week while I was away - I took my trainers and Nike+ but I didn’t manage to get off my arse to do a run. We were really busy throughout the whole week - it wasn’t a holiday - it was a mission to find out everything about living in Sydney. However, if I am being honest with myself I could easily have squeezed in a couple of good runs. We did lots of good walking though!
So all in all I’m pretty annoyed at myself and know I could have done better.
What is frustrating as well is that while I was there I met up with Pete (an old friend from Uni) and he has done a great job of losing weight. He has spent the last 5 months with a personal trainer 3 times a week and has lost around 15KG. Down from 85KG to 70KG. He looks great on it too - it takes years off him. I was really jealous but really inspired at the same time. Here’s how he did it:
- He worked 6-7am Mon/Wed/Fri with his trainer and did an array of fat burning exercises. On Tues/Thurs/Sat he spent that hour running.
- He cut out lots of carbs from his diet and completely banned them after 3pm.
All sounds pretty simple doesn’t it. He lost all the weight he wanted to but he isn’t ‘ripped’ in terms of muscle. That is his next challenge.
So - today I’m researching personal trainers to see if I can follow the same model. I’ll let you know how I get on.
By the way, I weighed myself this morning and I was down to 92KG - that is really reassuring. I’m still losing a little weight each week despite my crap running. Just think what I could do if I kept my running on track!
I went for a run last night and found it pretty tough. I had a dodgy stomach beforehand (without going into the details of how long I spent in the bog!) - but I felt OK when I started out for the run. However, I felt really tired in my legs - not the heavy legs that you get after weight training or hill climbing - but just a lack of energy in them. I’ve never had that before. My speed just felt way off and when I tried to push myself harder there was nothing left in reserve. Totally different to the way it has been for the last month.
So I managed to run 5K (although I was hoping for 7-8K) and I walked for another 3K afterwards to try to warm down. My left knee was hurting too - I’m becoming concerned that I am damaging my knees with my running style. If I kneel down on the floor, both my knees are sore - but I’m fine when I’m walking about. I may look into going to a running clinic to analyse my style of running. I know there are many things to look at such as cadence and foot fall.
At least I managed to get the Ks in though, which is all contributing to my gradual weight loss and general well being. I weighed in at 93.2KG which means I’m losing a little weight but not a massive amount. I am happy though as this is probably a sustainable amount - I’m not starving myself or missing out on too many luxuries - I feel like I could keep going with this regime for the rest of my life. Plus I definitely feel much tighter around my belly and my jeans fit better so I think I’m losing weight in the right places.
I’m going to Sydney in 10 days so a couple more pounds off would be nice
Cheers, Mark
I’ve been away for the weekend with all my extended family and I haven’t managed a run (despite taking my kit with me). It was just really difficult to find the time (even 30 minutes) as there were 7 kids and a mad rush to try to squeeze lots of fun stuff in for everyone.
The only time I could possibly have done it would have been on Sunday morning. I left all my gear by the door and staying away from the booze on Saturday night but I still couldn’t bring myself to do it. I don’t like running in the morning - full stop. I wish I did. I do get up early to work but I always feel like I would really hurt myself if I tried to run.
Anyway - this means that I am really pissed off with myself as all my good work is starting to tail off. People have started to comment that I have lost weight and it feels great. I’ve started wearing T-shirts that I got for a present last year but couldn’t wear as they were too tight. I just need to focus on that goal and keep going.
I’m doing OK with my food - staying away from junk and not snacking. But I do feel like this is a bit of a hurdle at the moment. It has been neraly two months since I started this and no the complecency can set in. Time to kick myself up the butt again and go for the next level. I am currently exactly 94KG - I wan’t to be below 90KG in a couple of months.
Here we go…..
I am aiming to reduce my weight as part of my running program. However, I haven’t been really focusing on it. I think that was the wrong approach. I tied myself up in knots by trying to say “the weight isn’t important - muscle is heavier than fat etc”. But in reality the scales do not lie - not when I know that I am at least a stone overweight. By ignoring the measurement against my goals I am just kidding myself.
So my wife bought a fancy set of digital scales and I am now measuring myself once a week. The best time to weigh yourself is when you get up in the morning, after having a pee but before any shower/shit/shave
Yesterday I stood at 94.7KG. Let’s see where we go from here. I am also going to measure all my vital bits (especially chest, belly, hips).
Ta, M
I’m now interested in gathering some info on my body. My wife ‘kindly’ bought a new set of decent digital scales. I weighed between 15 stone 2lb and 15 stone 5 lb depending on time of day etc. I am going to weigh myself once a week to see where things take me.
I am also interested in measuring my Body Mass Index - this is a simple measure of weight against height. I am smack in the middle of the ‘overweight’ section - at least I’m not technically obese. However what is scary - to reduce my BMI to below 25 (technically normal weight) I would need to drop to around 13 an a half stone. I thought 14 stone would maybe see me right but not according to this.
Fuck me, that means I need to lose the best part of 2 stones. Ouch - this could take longer than I thought. I guess that means I need to work even harder - well here goes….
BTW - here is a link to an online body mass index calculator (BMI calculator) - http://www.whatsmybmi.co.uk