Wednesday Weigh-In 6 August

Ok, so I'm writing this on a Thursday morning and therefore strictly speaking it is not a Wednesday Weigh-In, but the weight measurement was taken yesterday so same difference.

I've not yet reached the point where I want to suppress my appetite. Almost immediately after publishing last week's entry, I went in search of food and I've lacked the level of discipline I need to shift the extra lbs I'm currently carrying. The scales were pretty kind when all said and done, but if you take 2 five mile runs out of my weekly activity there would almost certainly have been a gain to report. As it is, there has been no movement.

No Score Draw

My foray back into the running world has been going well. After the first couple of runs I had tight thighs and quite a few aches and pains. The last two efforts have not resulted in anything other than sweat and satisfaction. It is becoming easier to run, maintain a decent pace and go for longer. On Friday and Tuesday night I managed just over 5 miles. I'd be lying if I said it was 5 unbroken miles as I did need to slow to walking pace periodically to catch my breath, but things are definitely going in the right direction. If I can manage 5 miles after barely a week back into training, I'm pretty positive that I'll be race ready for my next half marathon in October.

This week marks 6 years of wedded bliss. I'd like to pay tribute to my wife for putting up with me, my mood swings, my desire to get out of bed on a Saturday morning to abandon her and the boys to go running in a park, for supporting me over the years in my weight loss efforts and for loving me regardless of whether I was the 24 stone man who she moved in with or the 14 stone man who runs 13.1 miles for the fun of it. It takes a special sort of person to tolerate me, and I'm so grateful that I came to my senses all those years ago.

Wednesday Weigh-In 30 July

Did you miss me?

It has been a bit of a prolonged absence from the blog. More than 50 days away and probably lots of questions about what has been going on. In that time there has been the World Cup, a trip with the family to Disneyland Paris, the start of an interim promotion at work, a birthday, a wedding, my eldest finishing Reception Year at school and my youngest deciding that partial lower limb paralysis was not going to stop him getting vertical.

Who is a clever boy then?

I've not spent a great deal of time thinking about my weight. Until the last few days I've done very little exercise either, with my 6 week gym membership expiring with little usage. All the while my wife has been very proactively dieting and doing incredibly well. I'm very proud of what she has achieved to date thus far and only wish I had been more supportive in recent weeks.

I wouldn't say that I've been in self-destruct mode, but I've definitely not been at my best on the eating front. I'm carrying a bit more lumbar than a few months back but things could have been a whole lot worse. I briefly touched 15st a couple of weeks ago which I can't say was a tipping point, but has prompted some corrective action. Spending a few days with Mickey Mouse certainly helped as there is a hell of a lot of walking involved going round the park day after day. The prohibitive cost of food meant I was restricted to the picnic prepared every morning, cutting out top up snacks. The walking and hot Parisian sun certainly helped to burn the calories.

This week I've started to turn my attention back towards exercise. I signed up some time ago for the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October and it has dawned on me that it won't be long before that comes around. Barring a handful of sessions on a treadmill in my short lived gym experience, I had not run since my half marathon back in March. Knee and back injuries, apathy and the lazy lure of summertime have put paid to my fitness levels, and when I embarked at the weekend on my first parkrun since February it showed. I recorded my second slowest time over the 5k distance and it was one hell of a struggle.

Slow Slow Slow

Still, it was a starting point to move forwards from. My first meaningful run in months, exhausted from the week away. Probably a bit dehydrated. Lots of excuses I could draw upon, but ultimately down to my inactivity in recent times. With the cobwebs shaken and the body given a rude awakening to the concept of exercise, I felt better for it. Last night I went for another run and it was easier. Still a lot of mileage to cover in the next couple of months to get me race fit.

Tuesday night action

So where do I sit on the weight front. Better than expected to be honest. I'm approaching my 6th wedding anniversary and I'm virtually 1st lighter than the day I got hitched. The 14st target remains aspirational and not altogether out of sight, and with the upcoming surge in training I should be able to shift a few lbs without having to starve myself in the process.

Content

Onwards and upwards then. 73 days to go until I run this  Plenty of work needed to get me to the finish line.

Hour of Power?

A selfie too far?

Hello everyone. Hope you enjoyed the sunshine over the weekend. It was nice to spend a bit of time in the garden with the boys, particularly playing football with my eldest who seems to be really getting into just ahead of the World Cup. Unfortunately while the weather was pretty good, my appetite for the unhealthy showed now sign of abating, despite my lovely wife doing brilliantly with her diet plan. Lots of secret snacking and not being as supportive as I really should be.

So today it was important to get the week off to a good start as a means to move forward, and with only a couple of hours left it is a question of so far so good. Weetabix for breakfast, salad for lunch, avoiding buying anything supplementary when I popped to Tesco to buy some bits and bobs, plus a pasta dinner this evening.

The photo at the top of the page says quite a lot too. Firstly, I am clearly not cut out for being the focus of selfies. Second, I'm in desperate need of a haircut, and finally, I've spent a bit of tonight down the gym. Just over an hour in fact of cardio split between treadmill, cross trainer and reclined bike. Seeing as I've not yet quite got the diet back on track, the way forward in the short term is to build up a sweat.

Gym done. Bathroom scales friendlier after an hour of cardio #winning #fighttheflab
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) June 9, 2014

I certainly did that tonight before being blessed with a refreshing summer shower on the way back to the car. My knee and back are still holding up, and there were far fewer complaints from my body about being put to work than there were on Thursday when everything felt extremely tight. Apparently I have 124 days until the Royal Park Half marathon, and that will come around in no time at all. The focus for the next few weeks is going to be on general fitness, trying to lose the extra lbs I've acquired in the last couple of months. I've another 8 gym sessions to use from my pass which will take me up nicely to my holiday. After that, August and September will be about getting miles in my legs and building up towards race fitness for October.

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