Year of the Diet: diet 2013

Showing posts with label diet 2013. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 28 August

I'm going to start this article by telling you something you really don't want to know. Summer has pretty much come and gone. Ok, we're still getting some nice sporadic sunshine, but the days are visibly getting shorter and September is coming up in a flash. Sorry to depress you but that is rather how it is. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.

When looking back over the past three months, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. When I got on the scales for my weigh-in on 29 May, the diet was going south. My weight was shooting upwards again and there was a danger that this very public attempt at weightloss was going to peter out into nothing. I was 17st 6lb, fairly demotivated and downright annoyed at having let things slip after a good start to the year.

I was very clear about what was needed at that time 'Consume less, exercise more, lose weight.' A pretty simple equation but one that is not so easy to implement. 13 weeks later I can look back with a large chunk of satisfaction for making it happen.

Consume less - that is probably the easiest bit. I've stayed pretty tightly to my daily plan of cereal, healthy salad, good size main evening meal. With alcohol removed at least 6 days a week and drunk in smaller quantities when I've allowed a tipple, plus near removal of bread, there can be no doubt that my calorie intake has dropped. Good!

Exercise more - I knew when I started out in January that exercise would make or break my goal. In the early part of the year I wasn't motivated, but pulled on my trainers a couple of times in May for some light jogging, followed by heavy wheezing. For whatever reason, I found that I enjoyed it. Sure it was blimming hard in those early days but things progressed. I've had lunchtime dates with a treadmill on average three times a week, and the last 8 Saturday mornings have been spent participating in 5k ParkRuns. I've even signed up for a 10k in a few weeks time. Another box ticked.

Runner 1226 ready for action!

And so where does that leave me on the weightloss front. Well, in a pretty good place actually. 17st 6lb 13 weeks ago, now weighing in at 15st 10lb. 3lbs shed this week. 24lbs gone during the summer, 38lbs in total for the year, with a tantalising 3lbs left to go before I hit target weightloss. Proof that when applied correctly, the equation works.

Been another very good week

So for me it has been a great summer. The good weather, family holiday and The Ashes have been a welcome bonus, but as the autumn draws in I'll be reflecting on a period where I've taken great strides into making 2013 Year Of The Diet.

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 14 August

The weekend marked the 5th year since my wonderful wife stood by my side and uttered the words 'I Do'. With two young children added to the family, a romantic weekend to celebrate our anniversary was always out of the question, but we did get away all the same. Staying with my in-laws guarantees three things. 1) A chance to spend quality time with family. 2) Excellent hospitality. 3) I will eat and drink too much.

The latter has always been my own fault. Whereas I'm more inclined to turn down a beer from the fridge at home, when offered one there more often than not I say yes. This trip though was a little different. I was determined to enjoy my time but not kick the diet into touch. That is what usually happens on Christmas visits, hence why my dieting fires up on 2nd January every year! For a 4 night stay to have kept alcohol consumption down to 5 cans of beer and a glass of wine was a marked change, and added to relative restraint on food intake means this trip has resulted in minimal damage to the diet.

It helped that the day trips undertaken involved a reasonable amount of activity, rather than sitting on my backside the whole time. A trip to York Maze results in a fair amount of walking (and getting lost) while a day in Blackpool requires a good amount of time on your feet, whether marching up and down the promenade or standing to attention while the little one enjoys the 2p machines. Throw in the Saturday morning 5k (another 16 seconds off my PB, now standing at 26:35) means this was a pretty active weekend.

So how does all of the above bear out for the Wednesday Weigh-In? Well, this time last week the scales told me I weighed 16st 3lbs. Today they politely inform me that I am now 16st 1lbs. A somewhat surprising loss, but nonetheless very welcome.

2lb gone - getting closer to seeing 15

I'm inching closer to my target of 15st 7lbs. It appears I'm striking the right balance between reduced food & drink intake and increased exercise. For the most part I'm feeling good and staying away from the bad stuff is proving straightforward, most of the time. I'm on a roll and while things keep moving in the right direction, it is a formula I intend to follow.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Signed up and raring to go

It was back on 11 January that I first mooted the idea of running a 10k. However, despite liking the idea in principle, it remained just that and was put to the back of my mind. I had more important things to focus on with the birth of my son, his surgery and recuperation. Then there was the small matter of getting back into the routine of having a baby in your life. Understandably, the running was shelved.

Quite what made me decide to hit the gym and embrace the treadmill when I was at a conference in May I really don't know. Part of it was bloody-mindedness I suppose, having joked over drinks the night before that I'd be up early to exercise. I'm so glad that I did haul myself out of bed though as it provided a springboard for what came next.

I've typically gone to the gym three times a week, primarily to run. It wasn't easy to begin with. Indeed I found it quite a frustrating experience as my asthma combined with poor level of fitness would not let me do what I wanted. Through much perseverance, my stamina improved and got me to a point where I wanted to test the water with an organised run.

My first ParkRun came in early July. A 5k weekly free event, I puffed and wheezed my way round the course in just over 30 minutes. In subsequent Saturdays, I have improved week upon week, notching up a sub-27 minute finish last time out. I look forward to Saturday mornings, and often find myself visualising the course, trying to work out where I can cut out a few seconds next time out.

So having moved forward on the exercise front in recent months, what am I to do next? Well, the logical thing is to go back to that subgoal for this year and participate in a 10k. And that is exactly what I am going to do. Yesterday I registered for the Moor Park 10k event on 29 September, and together with colleagues who are fellow rookies at running, we are looking to complete the course and in doing so fundraise for a worthy charity. All donations are welcome

In the next 8 and a half weeks, I'm going to have to up my game. I've never come close to running 10k, so I will have to find time to run beyond what I'm doing already, and get my legs and lungs ready for the race. If I can continue to lose a lb a week as I have done recently, I'll be getting close to my target weightloss around the time of the race. Wouldn't it be great to hit that mark and then cross the finish line? One can hope! The important thing is to get myself physically ready for the run and if by doing so I can close in on my goal in the process, that would be a nice bonus on the side.

Some hard miles ahead then. 8 weeks doesn't seem nearly long enough to get ready, but then in less than 8 weeks I went from completely unfit to finishing a 5k. I can do this, and look forward to the challenge.

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Forward Progress

parkrun logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don't know what specifically it is about Saturday mornings that makes me feel so rough. There was a time when it would have been half a dozen pints and a dirty kebab that accounted for it, but it has been some years since that was a regular occurrence. To be honest, the newer slimmer (older) me would probably struggle to consume on a night out as I managed in days gone by, not that the opportunity comes about too often now I'm the proud dad of two beautiful boys.

This morning, just as last Saturday, I didn't feel my best. The sore neck that was was impairing me has improved a lot after finding a better pillow combination and managing to get some sleep with the weather cooling down. And yet after polishing off my branflakes, all I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed rather than head off to Black Park for my weekly ParkRun.

However, head off I did. I've no excuse not to now, after my other half bought an annual parking permit meaning I don't have to scrounge together £2.50 to park my car to do the run. If I don't use it, I'll be in trouble, so looks like my Saturday mornings for the foreseeable future will be spent killing myself in a pair of running shoes.

It is funny running outdoors. I'm used to hitting a treadmill at the gym, where I have the choice of music or Sky Go on my phone to keep me amused, or failing that Millionnaire Matchmaker or Emerdale on ITV2 to laugh at while going along at a steady 12kph. But when I'm running outdoors, I leave the phone at home and just focus on the course. Except my mind never lets me just focus on running. Today it was telling me there was no point in entering the 10k in September because I'll just embarass myself. It was trying to convince my body that I'd have to give up when I hit the 2k marker, which in due course I managed to miss and suddenly found myself at the 3k marker instead. It had me believing I'd run slower than last week and possibly slower than my previous runs too.

And yet when the result came through earlier this afternoon, another PB had been notched up. 23 seconds off last week's time, finishing a respectable 28:02. Link to my ParkRun times True it isn't quite as swish as my brother-in-law who recorded a sub 25 minute run today up in Bradford, though he politely informed me that circuit is a lot easier than mine!

Given I've not engaged in any meaningful cardio exercise since the run last Saturday morning, I was delighted to have topped my PB. It felt like a struggle throughout, but I'll happily feel dreadful every week if it keeps knocking 23 seconds off the time. I'd like to think that at some point I will find it gets easier, though I somehow doubt that. Still, an obvious target for next week is to dip below 28 minutes and if I do that I'll be ecstatic.

So tonight, I'm going to enjoy my now traditional Saturday night bottle or two. I think they're merited after giving up an hour of kids TV this morning to go and run myself into the ground. Weightloss in the week followed by a PB at the weekend. Things are progressing nicely.

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In - 24 July

After several weeks of non-movement with the bathroom scales, today has seen some action. I'm delighted to say they have gone in the right direction. The last few weigh-ins have had me at 16st 8lb. Today I am 3lbs lighter.

YES!

While I have been upbeat in my last few weigh-in articles about levelling out, I will admit there was a degree of frustration involved. Like anybody else, when dieting you want to see things happening to reward you for your efforts. I've had my running endeavours to keep me happy but to have had another week on 16st 8lbs would have been blimming irritating. So to see that 3lbs have disappeared in the last 7 days is both relief and excitement.

I've now lost just over 2 stone since the start of the year. My first weigh in had me on 18st 6lbs and a target was set of 41lbs loss to get me back to 15st 7lb, which is what I weighed on my wedding day some 5 years ago. I've 12lbs left to go before I hit my goal and just over 5 months of the year to do it. I don't want to be presumptuous, but that does sound increasingly possible.

My stint at daddy day care may actually have worked in my favour the last couple of days. While I've not managed to get to the gym, I have found that the fridge is my friend after all. My lunch and dinners have been heavily loaded with spinach and mushrooms, and bread has been removed from the diet. I don't attribute a 3lb loss completely down to this, but I can't discount it either.

So, it is with a spring in my step I go forward today. The weightloss is ticking along again, my running continues to improve (a 58 second improvement on my 5k PB on Saturday) and I've enjoyed a few days with my boys. Definitely been a good week.

Monday, 22 July 2013

Well I'm just a modern guy

Today is the first of a three day stint of being a stay at home dad. My wife has returned to work following her maternity leave and for the next three days, I'm at home with baby (and his brother). The parenting side of this holds no fears for me. I'm adept at changing nappies, serving baby rice and playing ridiculous board games where you stick a plastic bee on your head and have to collect magnetic balls hands free. No, the only thing that worries me about the next few days is me.

Let me explain. My achilles heel in my bid to lose weight is the weekends. Aside from half an hour on a Saturday morning when I pretend to be Sebastian Coe, I'm far less active than I am during the week, and eat a lot more. Going to work offers me more structure in that I've got a lunch hour where I can get to the gym and back, and be regimented on what and when I eat. At home with two young boys, the gym is off limit and the fridge is not my friend.

So the next three days present something of a challenge, not least as the weather today is meant to get stupid hot again which may prohibit extended periods at the park or even an evening jog when my other half gets home. But I know I've got to make this challenge work, because this is essentially a trial for what will become a full-time vocation in a few weeks time.

I'm taking advantage of the recently changed laws on paternity leave and will be taking September and October off in entirety, as an extension of my wife's maternity leave. Two months at home with my little one, while getting his older brother settled into his first term at school. It is something I've looked forward to ever since finding out we were expecting, and all the more so after my initial paternity leave was by and large spent living in a hospital, following the birth and subsequent surgery.

Quite how being a modern dad and taking additional paternity leave will work out remains to be seen. When push comes to shove, I can't imagine being out of the office during the busiest month of the year will make me many friends, though the timing is purely coincidental. Despite the modern world supposedly embracing equality and diversity, it will be interesting to see if putting family first will have a negative impact on future career prospects. It shouldn't, but then women of child bearing age shouldn't be discriminated against in the job market either, though regrettably it does happen.

Enough pondering about the job. My task at hand is to be daddy. September/October should be easier to maintain discipline as there will be a structure to the day, walking my eldest to and from school, providing some light exercise whilst pushing his brother in the pram. As for this week, I'll just have to be on my best behaviour, avoid the pitfalls of the food cupboards and try to ensure I'm not sat on my backside tapping away at the laptop throughout.

Thursday, 13 June 2013

Three Reasons to Feel Good

After my calf tightened up at the gym on Tuesday, I've spent the last couple of days away from the treadmill. As much as it has been a good chance to rest up, I've missed going. Rewind the clock to a few weeks back and I never thought I'd be saying that! My leg feels a lot better this evening though so I plan to squeeze in a little bit of huffing and puffing (aka running) tomorrow before the weekend kicks in.

The fact that I've dropped the physical part of my diet regime has not meant that I've given myself a green light to ignore the eating bit. I've added some fruit to my daily routine (who doesn't love peaches!) and enjoyed a fat free yoghurt with my lunch, but nothing that it going to substantially deviate from the three meal a day plan.

There was a brief moment of temptation at work today, when I was presented with a large box of Swiss chocolates from some very grateful students I've helped to secure jobs. These were very quickly offered to colleagues throughout the office and I'm pleased to say that I was able to keep my hands away from them. As my newest reader (big hello to Emma in Warwickshire) pointed out, this gave me three reasons to feel good. Receiving the chocolates in the first place was great, and a lovely gesture that was as unexpected as it was welcome. Secondly, in giving the chocolates to my colleagues, I was able to turn the tables and be the person providing the gift. And finally, I can be all smug and sanctimonious that I was strong willed and able to resist. Yay for me.

Would indulging in one chocolate have hurt my diet in isolation? No, of course not. Would one have led to another, and then probably more? Undoubtedly yes. I look forward to the day when I manage to find that balance where I can enjoy a treat and trust myself to leave it at that. Until then, I'm sticking to Plan A and abstaining from bad stuff wherever possible.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In - 5 June

Having been completely on the ball with my diet over the past 7 days, I would have been pretty annoyed if I hadn't seen positive movement on the scales this morning. I have to say I am pleased to have been rewarded for my efforts. Last week the scales read 17st 6lb. Today, well you can see for yourselves.

Going to start with a 16 next week!

All that talk about going back to the primitive was put into action. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. No alcohol. Barely a snack (I treated myself to a Smarties ice cream from the freezer on Sunday night for having got through the rest of the weekend intact). Add in more exercise than I'd done the previous month and the standard diet formula of eat less sweat more has proven very effective.

To move forward from here, I can't rest on my laurels. Proving I can stick to a diet for 1 week is fine in the short term, but my long term goal is still way off in the distance. I need to build upon this success and ensure I apply the same principles next week and the weeks to come. I know that it is unlikely I will replicate the same dramatic weightloss every time, but I'm motivated by the longer game rather than instant results.

Immediate challenges on the horizon present themselves in the form of a networking event this afternoon in London (will I have a drink, won't I? No chance to hit the gym today) plus my nephew has a birthday and I'm off to a BBQ and I've never yet been able to manage to ration myself sensibly when there are plates of charcoaled meat to consume.

However, enough about the future. I will take a moment or two to feel smug for meeting what I set out to achieve this week. The diet is back with a vengeance, and this time I'm not going to let things slip.

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Keep on running

Tomorrow is the first Wednesday in a while I am looking forward to. Over the past week, I've stuck to my guns by keeping to a three meal a day no snack diet plan, and got off my flabby backside and exercised. Lots of it too. I've run on six out of seven days and quite unexpectedly I am starting to enjoy it. Things are becoming that little bit easier every time I hit the treadmill, presumably because my body is adjusting to being used rather than abused, while my pathetic lungs are showing signs of playing ball too.

How do I know that things are improving? Well, having taken snaps of the workout summary most of the days I've been at the gym, I can monitor my progress and the images tell their own story. The first was my session last Friday when in just under 24 minutes I covered 3.53km in a mixture of run and walk. The second pic shows my workout today, when in a similar time of just over 24 minutes I managed an additional half a kilometre.

Gym on Friday

Gym on Tuesday

Simply put, I've been able to increase the intensity of my running, both by upping the pace (I now run at 12k/h, walking 7k/h) and by being able to maintain running for that little bit longer. My aim now is to extend my running time, building up my stamina until I'm able to run 5km flat without needing to slow down to catch my breath.

Physically I'm feeling better for all this exercise. I thought I may have a few aches and pains from running, but barring some slight tight calf muscles, I'm feeling good and hence able to run again the following day. I'm expecting to see a weight loss when I get on the scales tomorrow which be welcome. The challenge is to replicate the past 7 days so that it becomes the norm rather than the exception.

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