January 2010
43 posts
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Missed a day at the gym yesterday...
…too long spent getting out of Birmingham.
Got home too cold and too hungry…
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...however...
…have felt that my nutrition is more in control despite not entirely sticking to my plan this week in the face of a heavy cold and horrible sore throat which was followed by a hacking cough. My deviations to ‘keep up my resistance to the cold/feel better’ have been not as bad as they have been in the recent past. So all is pretty good.
I will not hit the gym later tonight...
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Gym day eleven...
…so after a day off and still with a lingering sore throat I get back to the gym.
I managed to catch up with a full set of lunges that I failed to do on Tuesday plus a full set of core exercises as follows:-
50 x upper-body crunch
50 x lower-body crunch
50 dumbbell flexion/extension with 10kg dumbbell
50 x upper-body twist
Cardio was fifty minutes which was split into 5 minutes on the...
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Expectations...
……keeping them low is important at the moment as I’ve been want to quit when I’ve not met them. One way to help with this is to not weigh very often. I was drawn to do so today but kept the scales at a distance - which is not easy as they sit very close to where I change.
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Cautionary tale...
…whatever else thinking about your weight and not being happy with it is tiresome and can become a daily round of disappointment.
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It's a race...
…I’ve entered the Bristol 10K on 9 May 2010. All being well if I am on schedule I should be at a running weight come race day and be able to do the race in around 60 minutes.
Hopefully this will provide an interim goal. Specific training will start on 15 March 2010.
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Rest days and cautionary tales...
…Wednesday is a rest day for me. The other is Friday. I’m glad today. My sore throat has ramped up the discomfort and I’ve been awake for three hours this morning and it is about ten to eight. Sleeping removed my ability to restrain my coughing and I finally gave up on it and surrendered to the salt water gargle and hot lemon and honey wash.
Somewhere here I am going to...
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Gym day ten!
Poorly today and with a very sore throat but managed to do most of the strength exercises only failing with the last ten lunges…
I cut short the cardio to two sessions of 15 minutes each on the bike and on the treadmill both against reasonable inclines.
On top of that I walked up and down a large hill for an hour and a half.
Followed my nutrition plan to the letter as well, so a good day.
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Day nine at the gym...
…and four days in five and a weight that is two kilos less than five days ago.
Today was core exercise day followed by an increased cardio regime of 50 minutes. An additional five minutes on the cross trainer starting at level 10 increasing to level 13 and reducing again. The walking at incline had a raised pace of 5.2 kph.
I followed my nutrition guide perfectly as well. I’m...
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Gym - day eight...
…back at the end of a packed weekend I managed to get a late night session in with a run of 30 minutes in which I nearly managed to cover two miles… just three hundred metres short.
Despite consuming far too much party food late into last night I’ve ended the weekend a little lighter than last Thursday.
Currently less than a kilo off target so need to keep up the momentum now.
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Gym - day seven...
Did some core exercises and 45 minutes cardio before heading off for weekend and potentially no time for the gym!
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Day six at the gym...
…after five days of not. And the consequences are…
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I need to remember that I’m easily disheartened, that my body stores calories as if in famine all the time and that when I don’t move I really don’t move as Monday through Wednesday this week has shown.
The good thing was despite it aching more than the last few times I managed the whole strength training and 45 minutes cardio as before. I’m still at the same level but it...
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Day five at the gym...
Good 45 minute cardio session as per this week’s schedule preceded by a strength training session as detailed a couple of days ago.
I ate a Chinese take away tonight but only what was on my plate and not the leftovers I was offered. I want to be able to visit people and eat what they are eating so took this one for that ideal.
Unfortunately I was tempted by the scales at the gym…...
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No exercise today...
…and a kobeda kebab.
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So... day off from the gym
Have walked a mile through the snow in 30 minutes though.
In the meantime I’m going to detail my workout regime.
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Cardio...
I’ll detail this each week…
This week it has and will consist of 22 minutes walking up various inclines (starting at 2.5% and increasing by 0.5% every two minutes up to 5% and then reducing back down at the same rate to 0.05% - all this at a rate of 5 kph) and 23 minutes cycling against various resistances starting at level 10 for 13 minutes and then increasing up a level each minute...
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Strength training...
15 reps each of…
Quadriceps - 16 kg dumbbell tap squat
Back - 16 kg single arm dumbbell row
Chest - 14 kg dumbbell chest fly
Chest - 14 kg dumbbell chest press
Back - 14 kg dumbbell pullover
Biceps - 14 kg dumbbell hammer biceps curl
Shoulders - 12 kg dumbbell seated shoulder press
Hamstrings - 12 kg dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift
...
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Core exercises...
50 x upper-body crunch
50 x lower-body crunch
50 dumbbell flexion/extension with 10kg dumbbell
50 x upper-body twist
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Gym day four...
Did some core exercises and 45 minutes cardio split as yesterday.
Felt a lot easier and heart rate was lower. Able to cycle significantly quicker.
Also dipped in the outdoor pool again. It is a lovely feeling to be warm of body and cold of head whilst swimming.
Have decided not to weigh every day as I have done in the past. I found this was a significant demotivator if I hadn’t lost,...
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Fat Fighters...
…or to give it its correct title, the Herbalife Weight Loss Challenge, is an educational evening where a nutritionist gives a class in sensible eating. Running alongside this is a challenge whereby the people who attend get weighed and then compete to lose the largest % of body weight over a twelve week period. The winner takes some of the combined entrance fees. There is a second and...
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The advice tonight was eat protein at every meal. Firstly it is the building block of the body; it is important to keep your intake up and to have protein with each meal. Crash diets can reduce protein to such levels that body tissues are damaged. The second reason is that it is an aid to keeping blood sugar levels stable which not only prevents hunger but also stops blood sugar related mood...
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So my before pictures...
Taken tonight at Fat Fighters… will take them again in twelve weeks time.
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…and the tale of the tape.
Chest 131 cm (51.6”)
Waist 136.5 cm (53.7”)
Hips 127 cm (50.0”)
Weight 145.7 kilos (that I knew!) (22 st 13 lbs)
Fat % 41.8
BMI 41.3 (really really morbidly obese)
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End of week one... day three at the gym.
I did strength training and 45 minutes cardio. I’ll use Wednesday to detail what I do with the strength training and core strength training. Cardio was 22 minutes on the treadmill walking up various inclines and 23 minutes on the bike at an increasing then decreasing incline for the last ten minutes. I’ll change this every week from now. I also swam a bit outside.
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Week one weight loss...
…is 0.9 kilos or 2 lbs. Just under the rate of 1 kilo per week that is required to meet my goal.
My nutrition has not been fantastic this week but I start “Fat Fighters” classes tonight which last for twelve weeks and are run by a nutritionist. I’m hoping a little bit of knowledge will see me change my diet for the better.
Initially I’m hoping to lose 2 kilos per...
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So whatever the weather...
…didn’t quite work.
BUT tomorrow.. well tomorrow is another day… a slightly less wet, slippery and miserable one hopefully.
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Snow...
… and more snow and then some ice.
No gym for a couple of days and I feel I’ve lost some momentum. Will do something tomorrow whatever the weather.
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So today was day two at the gym...
…and it went well. More later. It is late and I’m exhausted.
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Day one at the gym...
…and faced with the not so good news (but not as bad as I feared) that…
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So how did it go?
Well first of all I managed to get there which is better than I managed for the last few weeks of 2009 which saw me cross its threshold only once or twice in December. However it hurt… I managed to do about an hour of mixed cardio and resistance work which I will detail at some point.
The cardio consisted of 22 minutes walking up various inclines and 23 minutes cycling against various...
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“The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters : one represents...”
– M. Scott Peck DD p. 79 (MFRT p. 279)
December 2009
6 posts
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...and the opportunity that presents itself...
…through a crisis of being unhealthily overweight is to lose a significant amount of my body weight… about 33%.
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Why a fat Swan?
I thought as an added incentive and as a way of raising some needed funds for a worthwhile charity I would combine my fitness drive with a fundraising drive for…
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The Swan Project...
…which is a charity that is aimed at empowering the personal recovery and growth of any person who is committed to either reducing their drinking or abstinence, in a way which helps the individual to connect to their environment.
So I enlisted the help of a friend to design a logo for my year’s attempt to drop eight stone to fifteen stone and to...
…and hopefully after…
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