Year of the Diet: diet 2014

Showing posts with label diet 2014. Show all posts

Monday, 10 March 2014

The Award Winning GKT

On Friday I attended my industry awards event, called the National Undergraduate Employability Awards. I was a finalist in the category for Outstanding Contribution to Work Experience, and having missed out in the previous two years it was a question of third time lucky. I picked up my award from Sahar Hashemi, co founder of Coffee Republic, and was also presented with a personalised bib for my little boy which reads 'When I Grow Up I Want To Do A Placement'. Having experienced more than a few setbacks in my career in recent years, it feels fantastic to receive some recognition.

#NUEAwards Outstanding Contribution to Work Experience goes to ...Graham Kaye- Taylor at Brunel Highly Commended to Tim Ward at Salford Uni
— ASET (@ASETOnline) March 7, 2014

Now, given that this is a dieting and weightloss blog, I'll skip further talk about the work side of Friday. I've got another blog for that should anybody be so inclined. Instead I want to talk about the suit. Back in January, I bought myself a new suit specifically with the Awards in mind. Having slimmed down last year I knew that my existing ones would be a little on the large side and so I invested during the sales.

I opted for a skinny fit mid grey suit, and I'd be lying if I said I was totally confident about wearing it. Having spent so many years plumping for an additional X on the label of my clothes to provide more give, the concept of figure hugging attire is a little alien to me. I've come to accept I can get away with slim fit shirts, but this was taking things to another level.

I'm still haunted by an experience of my suit trousers splitting down the bum on my way to present at a conference years ago. I had that in my mind for most of my journey into London, causing me to stand on the train and tube when seats were available. There were feelings of dread as I approached the venue in case something similar happened again. The trousers were predictably tight given their design, and I was highly conscious that one wrong movement could result in embarrassment. My calf muscles in particular felt restricted, having grown in recent months through running.

I needn't have worried in the end. The suit held firm and without wishing to sound hugely egotistical, I looked fantastic. Through the afternoon I had people showering me in compliments, many of whom would not have been aware about this blog but have met me at previous awards or in the line of work and could see the difference. The picture below shows the moment where I'm collecting my award. By way of comparison, the picture underneath is from the 2012 awards

Winner 2014 - complete with bib

Highly Commended 2012 - T-Shirt & Champers

Just for good measure to illustrate how far I've come, here is a picture taken at a wedding reception back in 2004.

Wearing my sumo fat suit

I'm not sure I'll ever fully believe that I'm slim. However, taking the occasional stroll down memory lane by looking at photos in my early to mid 20s serve up a very graphic representation of what I'm not. I'm no longer the guy who struggles to find clothes that fit, who breaks toilet seats or splits their trousers. Winning an award feels good. Winning an award whilst looking great feels even better.

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

On the comeback trail

After yesterday's fairly downbeat entry, I'm pleased to report I'm closer to my usual self today. I didn't get a brilliant sleep last night, with the little man making himself known at 4am, but I managed to chalk off a few solid hours before hand and that made a world of difference. I won't say that I was completely chipper throughout the day, but nonetheless a very different personality to the moody beast that filled my shoes on Monday.

The cameo run last night helped restore some resemblance of sanity. It was a defiant slap in the face to the doom clouds I'd allowed myself to be swallowed up by in recent days. The turnaround will have come too late to see any benefit on the scales tomorrow (expecting another gain) but whereas I've been eating without a care for the consequences, the last 36 hours has seen restraint.

I've not run tonight. I could have done in some desperate attempt to get back to even on last week's weigh-in but to be honest that seemed futile and a waste of a training run. Instead I plan to go for what will be my longest circuit to date tomorrow evening, subject to the weather.

Fundraising has been going well, with the total inching towards £300. I struck on the idea to sell Cadbury's Creme Eggs after seeing they were on offer at Tesco (12 for £2, bargain). I bought two boxes for the office and invited my colleagues to have them at 50p a pop with all proceeds going to the run. The idea caught on and I subsequently sent three boxes to my friends at RateMyPlacement - whether I go home with the award at their bash next month or not, they are an incredibly good bunch, and I'm grateful for their support.

I don't fear the scales tomorrow. What will be will be. When they show me as heavier than last week, it will be fully merited. However, I now feel in a better place, ready to embrace the tried and tested diet rituals, train hard for the half marathon and get on with every day business that has seemed such a struggle of late.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Wednesday Weigh-In - 12 February

Last week I was positively laissez-faire about gaining 1 pound. This week I'm incredibly relieved that I replicated the feat rather than multiplied the damage. It appears that my idea of maintaining a healthy weight consists of stuffing my face like a lunatic for several days and then putting myself through 48 hours of detox ahead of a weigh-in. Not exactly a healthy way of doing things and certainly not a methodology I'm keen to repeat in future.

My Achilles Heel over the past week has been biscuits at work. Buy a pack with the intention to have an occasional treat, and before you know it the packet is empty. Repeat the next day. And the next. Over the weekend I didn't do myself any favours either, drinking more on Saturday night than I really needed to, and for no reason. Sunday I went to my mother's house and predictably ate to excess (Love your mother loathe her cooking) and while I did follow this up with an 8 mile run later that evening, it didn't take a genius to work out that I would be up against it for the weigh-in this morning.

So another pound gained. Alarm bells are not ringing yet as I've been fully aware of what I've been doing. I also know what needs to be done to reverse the trend. Cut out the extras and remain disciplined. Sounds so easy and yet the temptation is always there.

No great surprise

If I needed motivation to get back to it, the fact that I have just over three weeks until I attend an industry awards event should help restore food sanity. While I've always maintained this dieting lark is about being healthy, I'm allowed one day a year when vanity takes hold! I'm up for an award titled 'Outstanding Contribution to Work Experience' and having been a finalist in the same category the last two years without taking home the gong, I'd like to think that it will be a case of third time lucky. I've bought a new suit to reflect my smaller physique, and know I'll be in front of photographers and camera crews. You don't get many opportunities to feel like a rock star working in Higher Education, so when the chance comes along you want to make the most of it.

Two years ago I was 'Highly Commended', receiving a bottle of champers from Olympian Steve Backley which was nice. Last year I had much more important things on my mind than winning, as the Awards fell just a few days after my son was born and was still in special care following his surgery. This year, well we'll just have to see. Win or not, I want to look my best, just for one day.

Highly Commended - Close but no cigar!

So hopefully I've got my recent gorging out of the system now. A few weeks of being relatively good will mean I can head to the NUE Awards on 7 March looking good, feeling great and hopefully will have something to celebrate by the end of it.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Wednesday Weigh-In - 5 February

The headline news this week is I've had my first gain of 2014. However, in the immortal words of Corporal Jones, 'Don't Panic'. The scales put me 1 pound heavier this week compared to last Wednesday, but I've no reason for concern. It may sound a bit defensive but what is a pound anyway? I'm using scales which round up or down to the nearest pound. It is a marginal gain at worst.

Up, but not down

I'll admit I've not been particularly diet focused, but then as I said last week I'm now in maintenance mode and so a little movement up or down from 14 stone is not unrealistic. There were a couple of cans on Saturday night ending dryathlon. There were fewer runs than the previous week. Yesterday was my wife's birthday and so I enjoyed a large slab of chocolate cake, rather than go for a 4 mile run the night before a weigh-in like the previous Tuesday. I'm certainly not blaming the gain on a nice treat!

On a more positive note, I feel slimmer. A belt that I bought back in October because my existing ones were too big is now in danger of being replaced having moved onto the last hole at the tight end. I'm also going to have to think about getting my wedding ring resized as my fingers are smaller than they used to be and it has been noticeably looser of late.

I'm feeling good on the running front. I've mapped out some longer routes for me to try out as I push my training forwards in the next few weeks. Yesterday I received a bunch of donations on my sponsorship page and I've recruited some colleagues to bake some wonderfully sugary badness for a Macmillan style coffee morning next month, with proceeds going towards the run. I'm looking forward to a bit of indulgence when that comes around.

Over the next 7 days it would be good to see that 1 on the picture above drop back to a 0. I'm giving blood later today so if I was so inclined could check the scales tonight for reassuring comfort. But I'm very happy with where I'm at right now. I'm not blase enough to say the weight can take care of itself, but so long as I don't do anything silly, my exercise will keep things in check.

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Wednesday Weigh-In - 29 January

After a two week hiatus, the weigh-in is back. Technical difficulties with the bathroom scales have been fixed so it is back to business as usual. It turns out the battery was fine, though I did buy some spares just in case. My best guess is some moisture got into the scales causing them to have a paddy. Now they're working again and so on with the show.

Two weeks ago the scales put me at 14st 3lbs. Today we're a little bit lighter.

On the money

Two weeks of Christmas took me up to 14st 11lbs. Four weeks of relative sensibility got me back down to where I was immediately prior to the festive season. 14st dead is the lightest I've been in my adult life and I vowed when I was here before not to actively diet to achieve further weightloss. I stand by that and now 2014 is all about maintenance.

Had the scales been functioning properly last week I think it would have been a very different reading. I'd been under the weather, not exercising and eating noticeably more. While this week I've not been a saint on the food front, I've had easily the most productive week of exercise in months. I've notched up more than 27km in training for the half marathon (17 miles in old change) which more than takes care of the take out last Thursday night and typical weekend snacking. Judging by the scales this morning, it did more than just that too.

As I ramp up my training to the next level, there is pretty realistic expectation of dipping under 14st. That won't be unwelcome, and will be the first time I've hit that territory since I was a child, but I won't get carried away with it. 14st is a healthy weight for my height. My physique is already starting to look a little silly, with skinny bits surrounded by excess skin from my 24st era. I'm never going to have a well chiselled bod, so no point putting myself through the wringer to try to achieve one. Running may help firm up some areas, but in my case it can't revert nature.

So with my Christmas gut dealt with before January is out, now is time to focus more narrowly on the half marathon. Keep on running and my weight will tick along with minimal intervention. That is the theory, let's see if I can put that into practice.

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

I am Karl Pilkington

Tonight I learned a valuable lesson to take forwards with my half marathon training. Essentially I know nothing about running and I am an idiot.

Yes I am

Why do I think this? Well, to date I've been making things up as I go along. A bit of running here, a bit of running there. I've not followed any particular plan or schedule, and have just been getting by on my own instincts. When I wasn't feeling 100 per cent a couple of weeks back, I listened to my body and held off on the training front. So far so good.

On Sunday I ran 10 kilometres. I've never run further, and so by default that was my long run for the week. If you look through simple training plans, such as this one following a long run should come a rest day and then an easy/recovery run. Yesterday I rested. Today I should have been a recovery run. Only I knew better and had greater ambitions. I wanted to raise the bar a bit higher and get up to the 8 mile mark tonight.

I felt pretty fresh and had no ill effects from Sunday's exertions. But it soon became apparent that my body wasn't up to anything challenging this evening. Unfortunately having set out for a long run, this epiphany occurred only after I had run 4 and a half kilometres away from the house. Clearly a ploddy run around the block would have served me better tonight, rather than find myself a long way from home. The journey back was a patchy mix of walking and running. My apps tells me in total I ran just over 7.5km which is still a good workout, but well below what I was aiming for.

So today I've learned that I don't know best. I'm going to formalise my training schedule and listen to the advice of people who know a lot more about this running lark than I do. I've still got 7 and a half weeks to get this right, and I will.

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

My blogs on a Sunday night tend to be quite negative affairs. I've usually eaten too much and am feeling a little sorry for myself when I come to write them, and could quite easily have penned an article that maintained form had I got around to writing this earlier. However, unlike previous Sundays, today had a happier ending to report.

Yes I've consumed a hell of a lot more than I would during the week. There has been cheese. There have been bags of crisps. Toast came back into my life and then there was the smaller matter of the roast dinner I cooked for the family this afternoon. I should have felt bloated. I should have beached of the couch tonight. Instead I checked on the weather, felt that my evening meal was far enough down the digestive tract for exercising without nausea, and then pulled on the running gear.

The net result? Well, whereas yesterday I really struggled with the 5k, tonight I ran 10k in 52 and a half minutes. http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/471158571

This will either set me up well for a couple of well disciplined days ahead of the weigh in on Wednesday, or make me feel like hell. The jury is out on which way it will go but I'm expecting to be a little sore in the morning.

Despite my relative struggle on Saturday morning, it has been good to get running again after the self-imposed break for illness. Since Thursday I've clocked up just under 21km, effectively a half marathon. Sometime between now and 22 March, I've got to pull the three workouts into one and not spread it across different days.

A good way to end the week. Hopefully the next one will be more productive still.

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Saturday Struggle

Following my tongue biting exploits of a couple of days ago, today represented a chance to get things back to normal. Saturday morning means parkrun, and having missed out last week I was raring to go this morning. The overnight rainfall meant the ground was always going to be soft under foot, but it wasn't particularly chilly so I was anticipating a good run.

What I had was a struggle. It became self evident early on that my lungs may have been up for plodding around the estate on Thursday night, but they were not going to play ball at parkrun pace. I could hear me gasping before I reached the 1k marker. Before reaching the 2k, my parkrun acquaintance caught me up, wished me a good morning and I could barely muster words back to him. On reaching 3k I did something I've not done for some time and took a breather slowing to walking pace.

I absolutely thought I was done. Like a broken steam train I was coughing and spluttering. A fellow runner asked me if I was ok and I assured him I was, but didn't really feel that was the case. I was staring at my first DNF and concerned about the psychological repercussions that may have for the challenges ahead. So I got myself moving again, and decided to make the best of the situation. If I wasn't feeling physically strong, why not turn this into a training session to replicate the latter stages of the half marathon, when I know I will find the going gets tough.

At the 4k post I found myself taking a breather again. The incline at this point on the Black Park course is nothing like as severe as Bradford's teeny tiny hill, but when I've already mentally given in earlier in the race, it stands to reason that I will also slow down for the most difficult part of the circuit. Into the last stretch and I found it difficult to keep pace with a junior female runner. I know when I'm running that I'm not in competition with anybody else, but it isn't great for confidence when overtaken by a little girl.

Yes, I run like a girl

At the finish line came a sense of relief. Things will get easier as my chest and lungs clear up, and I get back into the running groove. I wasn't particularly interested in my finish time but when the text came through I was rather surprised at it's respectability. 24.29 is by no means a poor effort (my PB is 23.46) so with two breathers and some lingering germs factored in, this was a good run. It just really didn't feel like it at the time!

If the chance permits, I'll get out again on Sunday for a more leisurely if longer run to build up stamina and put distance back into my legs. I felt no ill effect from my Thursday night plod around the estate so something at a similar pace should do no harm.

Monday, 10 March 2014

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