Year of the Diet

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.

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Reasons to be cheerful

It is a Bank Holiday weekend, and while the weather for the most part has been pretty miserable, I've found plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Yesterday morning I got back into the running groove and brought up a new personal best for the 5k, clocking 26:20, beating my course record by 31 seconds and taking 15 seconds from my overall PB that I ran in Bradford two weeks ago. Armed with a new set of clip-on headphones, this was the first time I've run with music in my ears and it helped with the trudge around the damp Black Park. Also for the first time I adorned a running vest which wasn't incredibly flattering. I think I'll have to find myself some biceps from somewhere if I'm going to wear it more often.

Headphones good, vest displaying untoned flabby arms bad

Later in the morning I attended my eldest son's graduation ceremony. He's not some child genius, but his nursery like many others run a nice little event to mark the end of his time there before the transition to school. With my boy dressed smartly for the occasion I had to peer into my wardrobe to find something decent to wear (the vest was a definite non-starter!) To my great surprise, I found myself comfortably getting into my jeans and so smugly wore those along with a M-sized short sleeve shirt. Happy days! The graduation was very sweet and all the kids looked fab in their gowns. Regrettably I missed most of it as the little one was a bit on the grumpy side, but there was a nice little family picnic afterwards, admittedly sheltered from the rain.

One man and his boy - can't quite believe he starts school in a few days time

Saturday evening I had a rare night away from the boys and went to visit my best man and his baby daughter. I purposefully drove to avoid making it a boozy trip and ate beforehand despite the knowledge that my pal would be ordering himself a curry. I was pretty proud of myself at declining leftovers, despite the veggie samosa looking so good. When I got home I didn't have a drink either, so rare brownie points for me on a Saturday night.

Today has been a pretty quiet affair, with my lovely wife letting me catch up on lost sleep by sending me back to bed mid-morning. It is always good to recharge the batteries once in a while and I very much appreciate the opportunity. When I woke up, news filtered through on the phone that my friend James had done really rather well in his Triathlon, completing the course in under three hours. A few weeks back he was trying to encourage me to do one with him, though as I pointed out, I'm still learning the ropes with running, and felt trying to cope with three disciplines would be a bit much. Still, I'm full of admiration for him, not least as he opted to raise money for the Shine Charity who were such a great help to my family. So may I very publicly say well done mate, and thanks to everybody who sponsored you.

Looking at the clock, in five weeks time, all being well I will have completed my first 10k race. It is coming around quickly now so will have to up my game in my preparation. I know my colleagues are doing the same and collectively we're looking forward to it, albeit with a touch of apprehension. Please support us if you can as we bid to raise money for the Lynda Jackson Macmillan Centre http://www.justgiving.com/teampcc

And if I needed further reason to be cheerful, there is no work on Monday because of the bank holiday. In fact, with time creeping forward to the end of August, I won't be facing Monday Morning Blues again until November, as I'm due to start my period of Additional Paternity Leave. It will be a shame to lose the gym as a result, but I'm very much looking forward to spending quality time with my little one and getting his big brother settled into the school routine.

Whatever you're up to for the rest of the long weekend, enjoy!

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 21 August

A relatively quiet week on the blog front means this is my first post since the last weigh-in. What has been happening in the meantime? Well, I had what I'd call my most 'relaxed' weekend in a while. After a family picnic at Ruislip Lido, where I ventured back towards bread and consumed a couple of pork pies to boot, we ate out in the evening. Now, try as you might to make things better for yourself, you know before you step foot in a Toby Carvery that you will be leaving somewhat less healthy. Even with only opting for 2 roast potatoes and filling my plate with cabbage and cauliflower, I could see my Saturday morning run being scrubbed from history at the food counter. Worse still, because we had vouchers for free ice cream and not everybody wanted one, I ended up eating about two and a half portions. Not great behaviour from somebody wanting to lose weight!

Having let my guard down somewhat on Saturday, I found Sunday a struggle and couldn't help but eat a bit more than I needed to have done. A Cornetto from the freezer. A couple of cake bars. A packet of my 4yr old's 'Animal Biscuits'. I was feeling tired from the day before and adding sugar seemed liked a good idea at the time. Except that it never is as you then struggle with the rest of the day as your body pines for more sugar when levels go down. It filtered into my Monday as well and I felt pretty awful at work. I did manage to keep to my diet and just about survived a trip to the gym, but in the evening I surrendered to a large vanilla Onken Biopot which didn't last very long. There are worse things that can be eaten admittedly, but even so, I've come to expect a little bit better of myself.

The Saturday morning run didn't quite go according to plan either. It was always going to happen that I would stop setting PBs and my little run of success came to an end this weekend. After a somewhat slow start in which I got rather boxed in at the start, I used up a bit too much energy getting past people and making up for lost time. RunKeeper clocked my second km at 4m45s which is sub-24 minute pace. Subsequently I struggled during the middle stages of the race, ran out of puff and laboured to a finishing time of 27.04. This was only 13 seconds slower than my best time on the course so strictly speaking not bad, but I was disappointed with how the run went and know there is plenty of room for improvement.

I rather proved my point with that in the gym yesterday. Having been annoyed with myself for my eating over the weekend, and for a pretty pointless session on the treadmill on Monday, I focused on my job at hand and decided it was time I ran 5k in 25 minutes. Barring the first minute when I'm walking at 7kph pace to get the machine up to speed and enter numbers into the computer, I ran the distance at a consistent 12kph for the first 4k, stepping up to 13k and sprinting at 17k to round of the last km. 5k covered in a shade under 25 minutes. If I could replicate that outdoors, I'd be a very happy bunny.

So where am I today with the weigh-in? Well in spite of my weekend excess, I've managed to drop 2lbs. 16st1lb last week, 15st13lb today. Two and a half stone lost since January 2nd and just 6lbs to shed before I reach my target of 15st 7lb. It is taking a while but I'm getting there!

Great to see 15 at the start - been a while!

Finally, I received a pat on the back from an unexpected source at the weekend. My sister and I like all siblings prefer to engage in banter rather that directly offer one another praise. So to receive a public commendation on Saturday night as I did came as a bit of a surprise. True it was delivered as a back-handed compliment, but I'd expect nothing less. Thanks Sis!

Ok so he's a total running and diet bore these days but fair's fair Little Brother looking shit hot! www.yearofthediet.com

As the paragraphs above evidence, I'm guilty as sin of being a running and diet bore. But I'll let you judge for yourself on whether I'm looking as good as she says

Big kid in a playground