Week 3 -An old milestone again

It has been a relatively good week – All remnants of the illness finally disappeared during the week and the boy is sleeping better….marginally.

I haven’t managed to get to the gym this week or do any exercise which is starting to annoy me – I find with exercise its very difficult to gain fitness and see improvements but very easy to lose those gains. The illnesses have a part to play as does the busier lifestyle at home – however, that being said, I know I need to find the time to get back into it as soon as possible.

I had two successful fast days this week – the minimum I want to achieve so a success to some extent. We have also eaten well during my non-fast days – one day having meatballs, pumpkin mash, broccoli, courgettes and runner beans – a non fast day meal that was spectacularly healthy.

Just a short blog this week so will quickly get onto results…

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

RESTART WEIGHT 16ST 5lbs

LAST WEEK              16ST 2lbs

TODAY………………..15ST 13.5lbs

So a weight loss of 2.5 lbs great considering no exercise and just my minimum 2 fast days… really pleased.

I’m sure there is a change in muscle/fat ratio so I need to get to the gym to weigh myself on the machine that gives me those details but pleased my actual weight is back below 16 stone. As that’s the case its time for some milestone pictures (should do these every 1/2 a stone lost!!!). 3 pictures of each –

1. My lowest weight before stopping the blog last time.
2. My restart pics
3. My pic now.

So still some way to go and I think I can notice the difference from lack of gym work… so time to crack on with the next week!

Richard

Week 2 – Have I restarted well?

It goes without saying that my restart would be met will full confidence and an attitude to succeed. There would be no point restarting if that wasn’t the case – the only way I would have failed is if something hampered me … like getting ill….. WELL

I got ill….

No excuses here – I picked up a chest infection on Friday and only really managed to clear it today. That being said I still did my best to fast – I just didn’t exercise at all!!!

So having wrote the blog Wednesday I wasn’t sure if I was going to fast Thursday – as it was we went shopping in Kingston which meant breakfast at The Terrace – a restaurant/sandwich shop which is always packed – made good choices though by not having butter on my toast and having scrambled eggs and black coffee. That evening we were to see my parents for the first time in 4 weeks courtesy of them going on a long cruise round the Caribbean (alright for some) we all went out for dinner.

Friday I fasted – more shopping – this time to Windsor and just a black coffee whilst out. My chest infection had kept me up a bit the night before so on returning to our home town I left the wife shopping and came home for a few hours sleep. I woke and picked our daughter up from school and we all met in town. We walked past ‘the Thai place’ (see last weeks post) and I had a chicken stick – just some marinated chicken breast on a skewer BBQd. We came home and had fajitas for dinner … no alcohol though and I’m under my 600 kcal mark… GREAT STUFF.

Saturday and Sunday were standard fare for our household. Breakfast was egg on toast – swimming Saturday morning with our daughter and relaxed for most the rest of the day – needed as I still felt rubbish. Sunday we went out for dinner with friends. Our restaurant of choice was The Leftbank at The Runnymede Hotel. It’s not cheap but the food is amazing – I think I may have spoken about it during my earlier posts but essentially it is an eat as much as you like affair – a big table of starters (salads, breads, cheeses, soups, fish etc. followed by a carver roast – Rib of beef for me – and then a separate big table of desserts (which I limited myself to just a few spoonfuls) – a great meal with great friends.

Monday I was back at work for the fist time in 2 weeks. I didn’t eat all day – and probably didn’t need to after the feast the day before. Dinner was cottage pie – made with sweet potato mash.

I still had the tail end of the illness on Monday – in fact I am writing this Wednesday evening and have only felt better today – so really pleased with how the week has gone considering.

To take stock – a few really good meals out with family and friends, an annoying illness that resulted in no exercise, a couple of successful fast days and a fair amount of walking shopping….. To Tuesdays weigh in!!!!

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

RESTART WEIGHT 16ST 5lbs

LAST WEEK              16ST 5lbs

TODAY………………..16st 2lbs

A THREE POUND LOSS – YAY – BACK ON TRACK…. NOW TO CONTINUE THIS FOR THE WEEK AND THROW IN SOME EXERCISE.

Week 1a…. Where have I been? Has it all gone wrong? Time to Look Forward!!!

So a full 28 weeks after my last post I am back. That’s over half a year!!!

I thought about why I stopped with my blog and have various reasons that I will come to – as well as reasons for why I have decided to start again now.

For some reason last night I decided to re-read my blog – there was a lot that made me smile and I felt quite sad how I had failed to continue with it. I finished the week after my boys golf weekend last April – maybe the successes of that weekend went to my head!

So what has life delivered for me since then….

Looking back over my blog a number of things stood out – obviously the diet as well as my gym sessions. The other constant was my wifes’ ongoing pregnancy. Thinking about the last six months that’s where I would like to start – partly because it has been a small yet significant part of why I have neglected this.

April and May as well as the early part of June saw my wife getting bigger and more pregnant. I continued with the fasting diet relatively well over this time as well as going to the gym but none of that now was my primary concern. I realised once the baby came my chances of getting to the gym may be limited so I carried on working out fairly hard – this picture is from May 28th, 6 weeks after my blog stopped. I may not have been writing about it but I was still working at it.

Brenda was off work all of June, part annual leave leading into maternity leave, this ‘nesting’ period generally meant slow walks into town, eating out, working in the garden and maybe watching box sets. She was having a planned  C-Section on 22nd June, it really took the guessing out of the birthing process and everything was just working towards that date.

My son was born at 10:15 am and perfectly healthy. He and Brenda stayed in the hospital that night and were released late Tuesday. We now have 2 children and the dynamics of our lives have changed massively… as you can imagine.

When we had just one baby in the house, and you had a tough night, you could sleep at some point the next day – with a baby and a 4 year old that option is generally out of the question. Our daughter was great when young and slept through the night, most of the time, from 6 weeks old. My son however, now at 4 1/2 months, is still up for a midnight feed as well as various times for general comfort throughout the early hours. One or two nights like this is easily dealt with, but the cumulative effect after weeks and months is tough. I have likened it to what I imagine mild depression to be like. Suddenly you don’t want to exercise or diet!!!!! Sometimes all you want is to eat breakfast, a lunch out or a takeaway. Often the logistics of leaving your wife to look after both children so you can spend an hour or two in the gym is out of the question – and when you have missed one or two sessions it becomes easier to miss another than the pain of starting up again.

It hasn’t all been bad however.

Whilst my religious 2 or 3 fast days and 4 gym sessions have gone completely out of the window since June they haven’t disappeared entirely. I have still been in the gym on the odd occasion, and been for a few runs. I have also been picking up 2 or 3 fast days a fortnight. I may have gone a week here and there not fasting at all but have generally done something each week.

Also our general eating has been quite good. Whilst I say I have had breakfast most days it is usually with good choices. I no longer have butter on my toast, my eggs are poached not fried, our lunches out are usually to the Thai ‘place’ in Staines market enjoying a curry, takeaways are either kebabs (which used to be a fast day meal) or Japanese sushi. When we cook at home it has also been very healthy using ‘superfoods’ (thanks Jamie Oliver). I have mentioned how good a cook my wife is and she has been making some great dinners.

Of course, being the summer, we spent a lot of time in the garden BBQ-ing – I have intimated before how this is a great way to cook meat as the fat drips down into the fire – not poaching the meat in it.

We also planted a lot of veg in the garden… these have given us a multitude of good clean fresh veg.

So to recap – I haven’t been religious about the diet – but I haven’t been particularly bad either!!!

So why now to restart the diet – no reason really – better to start now than next week – In a way I wish I had started last week or last month but I had to be ready otherwise I wouldn’t have stuck it out like I want to. Oh, and in seven week I fly off to South Africa for a fortnight.

Previously I had been fasting on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Wednesdays and Fridays are market days so the Thai ‘place’ will be there – I don’t want to commit to fasting when it will be too hard seeing how I enjoy their food so much. So my plan will be 3 fast days a week, all working around work and family life. I may now fast over weekends, whereas I didn’t previously and may even do some fast days back to back. The way I’m looking at it…..

7 weeks till my holiday = 21 fast days

As far as exercise is concerned – I will try to gym as much as possible but sleep deprivation may get in the way – I have been running a couple of time recently – no more than two miles so far so less than 20 minutes – this will become my fall back option if I can’t take the gym as its much easier on the wife that I am not disappearing for hours. We are also walking lots – we have the bizarre advantage that my son doesn’t like his car seat so we tend to walk most places.

So after all that my new weigh in!!!!

Weight on April 22nd …. 15st 12.5lbs

Todays weight…….            16st 5lbs

So a 6 1/2 lb weight gain. Less than half a stone – not bad all things considered.

Of course weight isn’t everything and I am aware I have lost some toning but my previous topless and black shirts pics against my ones I have just taken show some slippage but nothing irreparable.

So here goes…. take two, my diet rebirth, getting beach body ready!!!

I hope you forgive me for disappearing and are happy to continue my journey with me once again.

Richard

Week 14 – Full appraisal

I have been at this diet now for several months and have seen some great success. I have noticed though, that over the last few weeks my weight loss hasn’t been as good as I would have hoped for. That being said I have had a few weeks which aren’t conducive to losing weight so I’m not overly concerned – I just feel it is now time to take stock and see where I am at so that I can give myself a new start – a reboot if you like – to push on and continue my journey with greater success.

Firstly my weigh in.

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              16st 0.0lbs

TODAY………………..15st 12.5lbs

So a loss of 1.5lbs – incredible considering the week I have had. I was expecting a big gain!!!

I said last week my plan was to do 2 fast days, Tuesday and Thursday.

Tuesday went ok – We had carpet fitters round so I spent a lot of the day moving furniture and didn’t manage to hit the gym. It was a hot day so drank lots of water through the day and we had a BBQ for dinner – chicken kebabs, minted Lamb and salad.

Wednesday the carpet fitters came back to finish the job – so again lots of moving furniture and no gym. Ate well throughout the day with another BBQ for dinner.

Thursday was meant to be my 2nd fast day. I didn’t have breakfast and went to the gym for an insanity class. Really pushed myself knowing it was my only class of the week. Now, I have discussed how my wife is currently heavily pregnant. She was off work last week and our daughter was at nursery. I realised that this was going to be one of the last chances we would have to go out for lunch together with no kids in trail – just the two of us. She was a little surprised I wanted to break my fast day, however, I felt it important to treat her considering I was going away for the weekend. We went to a local Japanese restaurant (Momo – Staines) and had (amazing) dumplings and sushi. I also had dinner so a failed fast day but for the right reasons.

Friday Saturday and Sunday saw me away for my golf weekend. Myself and 9 mates left at 9am for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Ashbury Manor in Devon. This is a huge golf complex with 5 golf courses, accommodation blocks, full board and a bar – throw in a pool and other leisure facilities it can be a great weekend. You have to use golf buggies so not the usual 7-10 mile walk however the buggies need to remain on the buggy path so you are walking lots if you don’t hit you ball near said path!!! It is also very hilly and you may hit your shot and walk to the green instead of walking back to the buggy leaving your playing partner to drive – 3 rounds of golf probably meant 3-5 miles of walking per round so not too bad. The meals there are generally plentiful. Mostly it is help yourself and breakfast can be a full english (bacon eggs sausages etc. Or there are choices of cereal and fruit. Lunch is buffet style with salads, chips, ham, pate, loaded potato skins, spring rolls etc. Dinner is 3 course. The starter is buffet style similar to lunch, The main a few choices off the menu with pudding – cake, ice cream or cheese.

One thing I noticed is that i am making much better choices. For breakfast, instead of piling my plate high I just had scrambled egg on toast. Lunches I ate lots – always hungry after golf. For dinner I had the vegetarian option both nights. Several years ago I read “The Prison Diaries” trilogy by Jeffery Archer. This was his diary written at a time when in Jail – in there he said he became a VIP – a “vegetarian in prison”. The main meals are cooked en-masse so are generally poor in nature whereas if you require a specific dietary requirement the meals are cooked specially – thus greater care is given. I took this philosophy to my dinners during this weekend and was greatly rewarded – my mates had some horrible dry chicken on the first night whereas I had a fabulous vegetarian lasagna – so good that on the 2nd night I wasn’t the only one opting for the vegetarian option. Apparently a great philosophy of eating in many situations where food is cooked for a large number of people so conferences or long haul flights the same idea works.

On top of all this I drank a lot – my drink of choice in these settings is Guinness and had more than a few pints – followed by wine – followed by a few whiskeys – so my good choices on food counteracted by the booze!!!

Now for the golf – skip this part of it doesn’t interest you…. scroll to golf free zone

I play to an 18 handicap – I can hit the ball a long way but am not overly consistent. We played in teams of 5 match play. I played singles on days one and two and foursomes on day 3. The first days singles stableford score also went towards the individual trophy so we had to complete 18 holes regardless of how the match play score ended. This was good as I won 6&5 and eventually scored 34 points and won the individual trophy by a country mile.

On day two I played one of my best mates Will. I never beat him – he is very consistent and was playing off 16 so I only got two shots – not enough by my reckoning as he usually beats me by 5-10 shots. This time he didn’t and I won 5&4. I think it was a mixture of him not playing well and me playing better than usual – nice though that when it matters I came out on top – but I’ve promised not to mention it too much!!!

On day 3 I played foursomes with a 28 handicap player against two other high handicappers, I didn’t play as well today and the match came to the 18th. A 210 yard par 3 – they put their ball in the rough 100 yards right of the green whereas I put mine 5 ft short of the green straight at the pin. We won the game 1 up. So three games and three points helped my team to win the team trophy as well – I think it is likely my handicap may be cut for next year!!!.

golf free zone!!!!

After our 3 1/2 hour drive home I had Jacket potato and tuna for dinner.

Monday wasn’t meant to be a fast day but I woke up and decided I should give it a go, especially considering I failed my fast day on Thursday – it was a tiring weekend and I thought a fast day immediately would be too much but I managed to make it all day and just had our special salad for dinner. Our special salad consisted of roasted butternut, carrot and pumpkin (we often also add parsnips, beetroot, onion, garlic etc or any combination of them all) Basically cube everything up, drizzle in olive oil, balsamic or, on this occasion, a homemade Moroccan spice and roast in the oven. Once cooked pile high on a bed of rocket and add toasted pine nuts and raisins – delicious. In the past we would add feta cheese, however Brendas intolerance to dairy and my better choices now mean this isn’t added!

I didn’t gym on Monday – The weekend really took it out of me and felt the gym would be a step too far.

The week in total

2 fast days, 1 gym session, lots of furniture moving and a boys weekend. Really didn’t expect to lose weight, let alone 1.5lbs so really pleased and able to move forward with some purpose.

My full appraisal will start with body measurements.

DATE	19 Jan 2015	10 Feb 2015	24 Feb 2015	27 Mar 2015	22 Apr 2015
WEIGHT (KG)	108	104	102.5	101.3	100.9
WEIGHT (STONE)	17st 0.25 lbs	16st5.0lbs	16st 2.0lbs	16st 0.75	15st 12.5
NECK (inches)	16.25	16.00	15.8	15.8	15.8
CHEST (inches)	44	43.5	43	42.5	42.5
STERNUM (inches)	41	38.75	37.5	37	37
HIPS (inches)	44	43	42	41	41
WAIST (inches)	40	39.5	39.25	38.75	38.75

So no major changes – which is fine considering what the last 3 weeks have involved.

My full appraisal now will look at all the pics – I have taken new pics today so can see any changes.

Slight losses so good here.

Again – I think some minor changes in this latest pic – more so round the jaw line!!!

I’m not sure about this latest pic – but a decent marker going forward!!!

So that is where I am at – a few weeks of excess due birthdays and a boys weekend. Just under 9 weeks until the baby arrives and nothing else (planned) that should get in the way of me fasting and gyming as I want to!!!

Richard

Week 13 – Starve a fever, feed a cold.

What a horrible/brilliant week. I alluded to the fact last week that I had man flu. So let me explain how the week has gone.

Tuesday Morning I went to my usual body combat class. Whilst I pushed myself through it well enough I had a bizarre feeling of a hangover, even though I hadn’t drank alcohol for a good few days. I felt kind of vacant and realised I was coming down with something. I went to work and got through the shift but felt steadily worse throughout the day.

Wednesday I was booked into Body Attack but cancelled as when I woke up I felt worse still. I was due at work at 13:30 and, even though I slept for about 9 hours the night before, I went back to bed after dropping Our Daughter off at nursery for a few hours. I was also due to be fasting but I know when I am feeling like this then I need to eat. It was most certainly a cold… but a very sever one. So bad that I realised after a few hours at work, I just wasn’t concentrating to the extent required to do my job safely so left early sick….. something which I hate to do but just needed to get back to my bed.

Thursday was a complete write off. Now in bed with medication I slept for most of the day, and during my awake hours ate. So eating and not moving = not ideal for weight loss!!!

Friday I was recovering slightly, however now I had to face up to the fact we had a busy weekend. So I continued to fuel my body with food and did little exercise. One of my wife colleagues was leaving work and she arranged for him and a few others to come to ours for a BBQ that evening. One of those things planned well in advance and would have been a doddle if it wasn’t for recovering from illness. I cooked for about 15 people including steak, lamb and slow roasted pulled pork.

Saturday allowed for a lie in and, as it was my birthday the following day, we went out as a family to Marlow. A town on the Thames with some lovely shops, parks and restaurants. My wife took me to a restaurant called chequers were we had one of the best Steaks I have eaten in this country, a piece of rib eye cooked to perfection.

Sunday was my birthday so I fasted and didn’t drink anything all day. Of course that is a lie. Breakfast in bed, left over Bbq from friday for lunch, Met up with lots of friends at the pub for multiple pints of Guinness followed by a Nandos dinner. All topped off with me sat on the sofa with a few beers watching the Masters golf until midnight. A great day!!!!!.

Monday was my daughters birthday… 4 years old. We took her to a theme park which involved lots walking, a healthy packed lunch, and dinner at Zizzis in Hampton – 1 x pizza Rustica. My wife had a go at me as I ordered full fat coke… and she was right – it is these choices that need to be changed so still work to do.

In truth, I still haven’t fully recovered from my illness. Ideally I would have rested all weekend as much as possible but with two birthdays and a leaving do this just was not going to happen – Monday night I was lying in bed and felt worse than I had done since I got the bug, I was hot, tired, sweaty and felt rubbish. I fell asleep at just gone 8pm and slept through till 7am. That seems to have done the trick – I don’t think the bug has entirely gone but I think/hope the worse of it has passed.

My plan for this coming week was always going to be just 2 fast days. I am on a golfing weekend away with friends on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and as I knew we were at the theme park Monday this meant 2 of my usual fast days just weren’t going to happen. So I have decided that this week will be 2 fast days on Tuesday and Thursday.

So to the weigh in. Lets recap… Illness, a leaving do, 1 x gym session, 0 x fast days, 2 x birthdays…. hmmmmmm

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              15st 11.50

TODAY………………..16st 0.0lbs

So a gain – not an unexpected one though so no major worries. take away the illness, even with everything else that went on, I would have fasted and gone to the gym so I will take this one on the chin and move on.

Richard

Week 12 – better late than never

Week 12 and I’m late writing my blog – a good reason though – I have gotten MAN FLU. Now as everyone know this is worse that normal flu and I feel I have been close to deaths door. Of course I haven’t, but I’m a bloke so can’t cope with these things as well as women do, and have been generally useless for a few days…. hence the late and short blog.

Last week went well with no major ups or downs.

I do have to make a correction to last weeks blog. Once my wife had read it she said I made it sound as though our meals outside of the fast days were unhealthy and bad. This is not the case at all – the meals at home are generally very healthy – steamed veg, limited carbs, nothing fried, skin off the chicken – that sort of thing. My choices when at work are also generally ok but I find it easier to have a sandwich or wrap and snacking at work is a big downfall…. I did try the canteens salad the other day – grilled piri piri chicken, roasted butternut and peppers – very tasty – maybe the way forward.

To the weigh in

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              15st 11.50

TODAY………………..15st 11.50

No change…. I will write a longer blog next week when I feel better – probably with a weight gain due to me siting in bed doing nowt for several days!!!

Richard

Week 11 – Milestones

Straight into this weeks weigh in before my generalised ramblings….

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              16ST 0.75

TODAY………………..15st 11.50

So back on track in style. 3.25 lbs lost in the week – my best weekly weight loss since week 2!!! And best of all I am now below 16 stone for the first time in a long time and hit the milestone of over 1 stone lost.

So why has this week shown such great results…. TRUTH IS I HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA!!!!!

Looking back over the previous weeks I have actually lost about 5 pounds in as many weeks. Just as I would expect to on this diet – I had several weeks where the scales didn’t budge but persevered and now the scales have finally caught up.

So how has the week been….

Tuesday saw me on a morning shift so no gym and ate well. Im finding, as Tuesday morning is my weigh in, I’m allowing myself to eat whatever I want throughout the day – even still I only had poached eggs on toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and a home made burgers in ciabatta for dinner.. I did however enjoy various snacks throughout the day.

My fast days were all successful as far as food is concerned, firstly Wednesday I was working so missed my usual gym session. Did not eat at work as standard on my fast days/morning shifts and ate sausage and sweet potato mash for dinner.

Thursday was an afternoon at work so I managed to get to my Insanity class in the morning. There was a big accident on the motorway and work text me during the class saying give extra time – something that’s a bit difficult when the class finishes 30 mins before I usually leave. Because of this I did not make my usual lunch or prepared dinner so got a sandwich from the petrol station for Lunch and, as the meals in the canteen were surprisingly unappetising, had another sandwich for dinner.

Friday was an afternoon at work and a fast day. I was an earlier start than normal so managed to finish at 7pm – I knew I would be finishing early so my wife made dinner – pasta with a tomato sauce – my portion was small as pasta contains higher calories.

Saturday I was off work and we had a day for my daughter. Swimming and ballet classes in the morning followed by a walk into town where we went to watch Cinderella at the cinema (it was quite good!!!). We had the obligatory popcorn and after we went out for dinner to a restaurant called Spur. I had Burger, chips and onion rings.

Sunday I was back on mornings so breakfast at work and lunch at home. Chicken Pie with steamed veg….. oh and some wine.

Monday, another morning shift so no gym classes again but fasted successfully and we had fajitas for dinner with the usual lettuce leaves instead of wraps.

Basically on my eating days I ate foods certainly not associated to being on a diet – I didn’t manage to get to the gym as much as I would normally – just one session this week. But my fast days went very well … and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Does this mean I will quit the gym? Of course not – Whilst my weigh ins are done weekly the process is going to see results over a longer period of time – I may see a slowing down in the weight loss this week due to last weeks relative inactivity so will keep going with both the diet and the exercise.

On a side note….

I am now the same weight as I was when I first met my wife in 2009. I will post a picture of us at my 30th birthday 6 weeks after we met alongside last weeks torso pic – I feel I actually look thinner back then but I was two weeks away from running a marathon so carried the weight very differently. I feel better now than I did then even though I was probably fitter than I am now – well not probably… certainly – I don’t think I could run 10km (6.2 miles)… let alone 26.2… but I have promised myself… for the good of my knees, not to run till nearer 15 stone than 16!

After the marathon in the initial stages of our relationship two things happened – I reduced my running intensity, only going out a few times a week – eventually dropping to not going out, and I ate more – I was enjoying getting to know Brenda and put on what I coined “happy fat”. Over the course of the next 6 years I have been up and down with my weight, losing some for our wedding, losing some after the birth of our child, losing some at other times of greater commitment – but the same thing has always happened – THE WEIGHT RETURNED. As I said in week 1 of my blog I need something to work towards… or at least I always thought I needed something to work towards as that is the only times I have succeeded in the past….

And this brings me on to my second milestone….

Finally…… Finally…. I have come to realise that losing weight isn’t about working towards something…. It is a damn sight more complicated than that – It is about committing to something, changing the way you are and what you have become, changing your whole way of life because you want to – not because you need to. Im not saying that needing to lose weight won’t make it happen, just that once the “need” is out the way there is nothing to stop you slipping back into old habits and as the saying goes Old habits Die Hard.

Weight loss is about eating less calories than you expend. Simple really but as I have said before it is much harder to do than say. By living the way I have over the 11 weeks I am successfully doing that – before it has always ultimately failed because it wasn’t a way of life – this is a process I am committed to for the long haul and am thoroughly excited about the future milestones.

Thanks for reading

Richard

Week 10 – What’s going on?

Straight into this weeks weigh in…..

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              16ST 0.25

TODAY………………..16st 0.75

A slight weight gain – I’m not concerned by movement of just 1/2 lbs but i am slightly concerned by this plateau I have gotten myself into. 2 Weeks of similar weigh ins preceded by a weight gain everything has stalled and I’m not really sure why – though I have a few ideas which I will come to later.

This week has been similar to most – I fasted well on Wednesday, had my semi fast day on Friday and nailed it on Monday. Gym wise, I have worked out lots including a vigorous 1hr 45min double session with Insanity and Body Attack. On my eating days things haven’t been so great – I have eaten and drank over-liberally so this may be one of my first issues.

So here are my thoughts on why I have stalled.

I discussed in an earlier post the point of TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) basically the amount of calories needed to do all the things I do in a day but no more. By restricting my calories on fast days I am making my weekly amount of calories in vs calories out be in deficit thus I should lose weight. At the moment I am not losing weight so maybe my TDEE needs to be looked into. Am I eating too much or has my TDEE changed? One of the points of TDEE is that it takes into account my Basic Metabolic Rate – that is the amount of calories required to do the basic functions my body does, heart beating, lungs moving, blood pumping, heat regulation, eyes blinking etc. I have lost almost a stone and a half, suddenly my body isn’t finding all these jobs as difficult as it may have once found them so it is possible that my BMR has reduced. If so my TDEE would also have come down so I may now be eating exactly the same as I was at the beginning of this process throughout the week but I’m not losing weight because my body is now more efficient!!!

A second possibility is that after 10 weeks of gym 2-4 times per week I am starting to put on muscle. I am certainly noticing changes to my legs, whether it is the same amount of muscle, just with less fat surrounding I do not know, however I feel fitter and stronger than before. I don’t get as tired walking up stairs, I can do more push ups/sit ups/squats/burpees during insanity classes. I punch harder in Body Combat and push harder physically in Body Attack classes. I am starting to get biceps…. only starting mind!!! I have always been under the impression that body fat weighs less than muscle so an increase of muscle will certainly slow my weight loss down. There is some evidence of this in my previous posts of the weigh in machine at the gym which shows my body fat % reducing. I was working Tuesday morning so wasn’t able to check this week. If this is the case then will I start seeing these results through measurements. I measured myself this morning and found no change to my previous results from a few weeks ago but have looked back through my posts and noticed I haven’t given these out so will do so now.

DATE	19 Jan 2015	10 Feb 2015	24 Feb 2015	27 Mar 2015
WEIGHT (KG)	108	104	102.5	101.3
WEIGHT (STONE)	17st 0.25 lbs	16st5.0lbs	16st 2.0lbs	16st 0.75
NECK (inches)	16.25	16.00	15.8	15.8
CHEST (inches)	44	43.5	43	42.5
STERNUM (inches)	41	38.75	37.5	37
HIPS (inches)	44	43	42	41
WAIST (inches)	40	39.5	39.25	38.75

So reductions across the board which is great news. I’m losing more inches than I am weight (in percentage terms) so this leads me nicely to a picture – how does this make me look?

Two weeks between the pics – no weight loss (in fact a minor gain!!!) I will leave you to judge if you can see a change?!?!?

My final thought with regard to my plateau will nicely give me a chance to talk about my favourite BBQ dish – let me explain.

I make an amazing slow roasted pulled pork (even if I do say so myself). My method is simple to talk about but takes some effort to do. I take a Piece of Pork shoulder (bone in) and trim away the fat – liberally cover in a rub of my choosing and leave in the fridge overnight. About 12-16 hours before eating (depending on the size of the meat) I will start to cook. I have a kettle BBQ (weber) and set my coals to cook in a style known as the “minion method”. Basically I arrange it so that the meat is not directly over the coals, and that the majority of the coals are not lit. By separately lighting just 5 or 6 coals and placing them to one edge of all the unlit coals I get a very low heat and a long burn time. I have an electric meat thermometer combined with BBQ thermometer – a device with two probes – one gets stuck in the meat and left there, the other sits inside the BBQ – these wirelessly transmit the temperatures to a handheld device so I can ensure my BBQ isn’t getting too hot, nor my meat cooking too quickly. I add smoking wood chips to my coals to give my pork a great flavour. After the internal meat has reached the desired temperature (88-90 deg C) I take it off the grill, wrap tightly in foil, and rest for anywhere up to 2 hours – then shred and serve with a BBQ sauce and burger buns – obviously not on a fast day!!!

Where is the link then? 

Well, during the cooking process, the temperature of the meat doesn’t rise in a constant fashion. When the internal temperature reaches 70 deg C the temperature stalls and may not rise another degree, or even drop a degree or two, for an hour or more. Peeking inside your grill at this point can ruin the cook. But the stall in temperature is standard and occurs when the collagen begins to break down into gelatine. The reaction absorbs energy and forces moisture to the surface of the meat, which cools it. Panicking at this time lose more moisture and temperature in the cooking chamber and only contribute to a longer stall. By not fully understanding the process of how this particular meat cooks results in an inferior result. (ref: Pitt Cue book)

And there is my link – I need to understand what is happening inside my body. I am getting fitter, stronger but not losing weight. I have stalled my weight loss but there are other things happening – I left you to judge the pictures but personally I can see a change. At this time in the pulled pork cook people may peek… similarly during my weight loss process I do not want to panic – changes are occurring and a plateau may just be my body getting ready for the next big push to break down my fat stores more in the coming weeks. That being said I am not going to take my eye off the overall system – I will check my BMR/TDEE but essentially for the next few weeks carry on as I am – If no further changes to my weight have occurred by week 12-13 I will re-assess once again.

Thanks For Reading

Richard

WEEK 9 – A QUICK UPDATE

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              16ST 0.25

TODAY………………..16st 0.25

Stayed the same !!!!!!!

Feeling good though – and committed for this coming week – I’m expecting great things

A bigger update next week.

Cheers

RJ

Week 8 – Back on Track?

After last weeks slightly disappointing, but not unexpected, results i was determined to get back on track and ensure each fast day was achieved.

My sister said to me during the second week, after I told her how easy I was finding the fast days, that that was to be expected during the early parts of the diet, the real crux would come after a few months to see if I was still finding it easy, both to succeed each day but also to have the commitment to ensure I achieve. Wise words…. I think that was the problem last week – it was all too easy to fall of the wagon.

After weigh in last Tuesday I went to Body Combat (45 mins) I came home and spent the day working on our outdoor kitchen – we love to eat al fresco and over the past few weeks we have developed a 4 unit kitchen area next to our BBQ under a lean too – it’s going to allow some cracking cooking to happen outside in the coming months. I took a panoramic shot …

That evening we tested it all out – BBQ ribs, sausages with salad and sweet potato.

Wednesday saw me back at work – I fasted successfully through the day but didn’t do any exercise. For dinner we had fajitas – chicken and veg with a fajita spice mix. Home made salsa and guacamole, all using lettuce leaf for wraps.

Thursday a non fast day – the only bad thing I did was enjoy some (lots of!!!) chocolate at work.. otherwise ate relatively healthily.

Friday another fast day – and another successful fast day – nothing eaten until dinner at work where I had Marks and Spencers’ duck sushi rolls (250 kcal) and a large chunky vegetable soup (300 kcal). I did 45 mins of Body Combat in the morning too.

Saturday morning saw a 1 hour class of Combat with work in the afternoon – I took in a chicken curry which had come out of the freezer – however found that I was able to get away from work before I had a chance to eat it – seeing as it hadn’t completely defrosted I left it for Sunday and came home via the Fish and Chip shop – deep-fried cod, chips and onion rings doesn’t sound like “diet” food but after a good week I felt I deserved it!!!

Sunday saw no exercise, a lazy morning with breakfast in bed with the family, work in the evening and managed to eat my chicken curry.

Monday was my last of 4 afternoons at work and I did a 45 min Insanity class first thing. I really pushed myself in this class as usual Mondays would see me follow this class with and hour of Body Attack – as I didn’t have time for this second class I pushed myself harder than I otherwise would have in Insanity. I fasted successfully and had a small portion of leftover lasagna for dinner. Probably well under 600kcal but I was cautious as it was pasta and soya milk as well as all the other usual ingredients … still delicious though.

Tuesday morning and weigh in – feeling good about this last week – 3 successful fasts, 4 gym sessions, lots of work in the garden – should be some good results…. lets see.

Weigh In

INITIAL WEIGH IN  17ST 0

LAST WEEK              16ST 2.75

TODAY………………..16st 0.25

GREAT NEWS – BACK ON TRACK!!!! 2.5 lbs lost this week – or 1.5lbs over 2 weeks if you take into account last weeks gain – overall the trend is going in the correct direction.

So its time for a shirt update….. lets see the progress…

So still tight and not available for wearing to work which is my goal…. but all the buttons done up so proper progress…..

Now for something different.

Most overweight people will probably feel the same as I have done in the past and that is that they don’t like taking their shirt off. Be it at the beach, in the garden, during the summer – getting a tan is an embarrassing process!!! You may have noted that I have not added “fat shirtless” pics on my blog….. time for that to change – I’m determined to have a different summer this year to those of the past – one where I’m not embarrassed by my overweight body so along with the shirt progress pics I will start the following…

Really putting myself out there now…. so must keep true to this way of life, keep my diet going, keep the exercise levels high and ensure the next pic of me like this shows real change.

Thanks for reading.

Richard