Been on and off with the food thing recently. Managed to gain a couple of pound last week, not impressed, but to lose them again this week. Hoping to get my bike fixed over the next couple of days and start cycling to work again. That's the plan, it remains to be seen if it happens. Since my bus ticket runs out on Tuesday though there's a good chance it'll work. Also, it's a good time of year to start cycling again.
Today though I'm off up the road for training.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Sunday 20 February 2011
Vaguely irritated
So I head up to training yesterday with the idea of getting in a good 3 hours of exercise. This sounds more impressive than it really is. It's martial arts training and I'm the instructor so it's not really that sustained or energetic for me unless I really push myself at it. I was planning to yesterday and suddenly found myself mightily annoyed as the training session was cancelled. We only had 1hour total.
I was not the only person to be a little put out but I was able to kick it quite hard for the 1 hour that we did have.
At some point today I shall be getting the weights out for a bit of a session. When I was in New Zealand I was unable to afford a gym membership so I bought a stack of weights for use at home. They were shipped back to the UK on my return and have been in storage. I got them out a few weeks back and have been gradually building up in their use.
1 of the handy things about increased muscle mass is that it takes more energy to supply them with fuel, in other words, the more muscle you have the more calories you can burn off by merely breathing. However, I have no intention of turning into a walking wall of muscle. My target weight is 12 stone. I'm currently heading for 14.
Why 12 stone?
Over the years I have discovered that 12 stone is the perfect weight for me, provided it is made up mostly of muscle. The reason being that if I bulk up beyond that then I'm start to slow down due to the increased muscle mass, any less and I loose the power that is associated with it. As a martial artist these are 2 massively important factors for me to consider. Hence, 12 stone.
With that said I think I'm going to head out shortly on a run.
I was not the only person to be a little put out but I was able to kick it quite hard for the 1 hour that we did have.
At some point today I shall be getting the weights out for a bit of a session. When I was in New Zealand I was unable to afford a gym membership so I bought a stack of weights for use at home. They were shipped back to the UK on my return and have been in storage. I got them out a few weeks back and have been gradually building up in their use.
1 of the handy things about increased muscle mass is that it takes more energy to supply them with fuel, in other words, the more muscle you have the more calories you can burn off by merely breathing. However, I have no intention of turning into a walking wall of muscle. My target weight is 12 stone. I'm currently heading for 14.
Why 12 stone?
Over the years I have discovered that 12 stone is the perfect weight for me, provided it is made up mostly of muscle. The reason being that if I bulk up beyond that then I'm start to slow down due to the increased muscle mass, any less and I loose the power that is associated with it. As a martial artist these are 2 massively important factors for me to consider. Hence, 12 stone.
With that said I think I'm going to head out shortly on a run.
Wednesday 16 February 2011
This should be easy
Seriously, I'm not kidding. Losing weight shouldn't actually be that difficult.
First of all I point blank refuse to count calories. I think that is a monstrously depressing way to live. I really do. It's nigh on impossible to exist in this day and age without knowing what a healthy balanced diet should consist of, so calorie counting seems excessive to me. All it's really attempting to enforce is a sense of portion control. As I see it, we all eat way to much. This leads me to the conclusion that the simplest way to lose weight can be summed up as follows:
PUT DOWN THE FORK!
To be clear, this applies to me as well. I have the habit of picking up the fork and eating, and eating and eating some more. This is 1 of the 2 mistakes I'm making. In the picture I posted below I had a body fat percentage of 14.7%
The second mistake of course being that I'm not taking enough exercise. There are no magical weight loss pills, acupuncture won't make me thinner (though perhaps more religious, sorry, terribly joke) and doing 5000 sit-ups everyday won't give me a visible 6 pack (the fat will still be on top of it, you need <12% body fat for a visible 6 pack). The sad but simple truth is that you can't target the area for fat loss. It all comes off at once. This means cardiovascular exercise. Which sucks because it's so much nicer to sit on the sofa, swallow a pill and get thinner. Sadly that pill doesn't exist so its time to get up and get moving.
This is the part where it becomes less easy, though not difficult. All we really need to ditch the extra kilo's (and I can name 2 people that I think don't need to do this, wish I was 1 of them) is the willpower to exist on a calorie deficient diet. That's it:
lower the amount of food that goes in, increase the amount of work the body does, the weight will then drop off.
To be perfectly frank I believe this to be nothing more than an exercise in discipline. If you've ever kicked a habit then this is the same thing, just a different habit.
In the next couple of posts I'll outline my plan to implement the above.
Couple of things though. The first thing to realise though is that this isn't about dieting. Diet's don't work because we've evolved to believe a lack of food is famine and our bodies then actually store more fat. No, diet's don't work, lifestyle choices do however. I'm not going on a diet, I'm changing the way I live to become healthier, there is no end to this 'diet' for a very long time.
The other thing is that if I'm not in for the long haul I should just order a pizza and give up right now. Ever see those magazines with a headline, 'Get a beach body in 4 weeks,' 'Slim for the summer in 2 months,' 'Lose that Christmas gut in the 12 days'? Yeah, they're all full of crap. Ugly truth, it's going to take a long time to get my body back the way I want it. It may not even be this year, but that's okay, because I can accept that at the outset, it's why I can do this.
First of all I point blank refuse to count calories. I think that is a monstrously depressing way to live. I really do. It's nigh on impossible to exist in this day and age without knowing what a healthy balanced diet should consist of, so calorie counting seems excessive to me. All it's really attempting to enforce is a sense of portion control. As I see it, we all eat way to much. This leads me to the conclusion that the simplest way to lose weight can be summed up as follows:
PUT DOWN THE FORK!
To be clear, this applies to me as well. I have the habit of picking up the fork and eating, and eating and eating some more. This is 1 of the 2 mistakes I'm making. In the picture I posted below I had a body fat percentage of 14.7%
The second mistake of course being that I'm not taking enough exercise. There are no magical weight loss pills, acupuncture won't make me thinner (though perhaps more religious, sorry, terribly joke) and doing 5000 sit-ups everyday won't give me a visible 6 pack (the fat will still be on top of it, you need <12% body fat for a visible 6 pack). The sad but simple truth is that you can't target the area for fat loss. It all comes off at once. This means cardiovascular exercise. Which sucks because it's so much nicer to sit on the sofa, swallow a pill and get thinner. Sadly that pill doesn't exist so its time to get up and get moving.
This is the part where it becomes less easy, though not difficult. All we really need to ditch the extra kilo's (and I can name 2 people that I think don't need to do this, wish I was 1 of them) is the willpower to exist on a calorie deficient diet. That's it:
lower the amount of food that goes in, increase the amount of work the body does, the weight will then drop off.
To be perfectly frank I believe this to be nothing more than an exercise in discipline. If you've ever kicked a habit then this is the same thing, just a different habit.
In the next couple of posts I'll outline my plan to implement the above.
Couple of things though. The first thing to realise though is that this isn't about dieting. Diet's don't work because we've evolved to believe a lack of food is famine and our bodies then actually store more fat. No, diet's don't work, lifestyle choices do however. I'm not going on a diet, I'm changing the way I live to become healthier, there is no end to this 'diet' for a very long time.
The other thing is that if I'm not in for the long haul I should just order a pizza and give up right now. Ever see those magazines with a headline, 'Get a beach body in 4 weeks,' 'Slim for the summer in 2 months,' 'Lose that Christmas gut in the 12 days'? Yeah, they're all full of crap. Ugly truth, it's going to take a long time to get my body back the way I want it. It may not even be this year, but that's okay, because I can accept that at the outset, it's why I can do this.
Monday 14 February 2011
I'm getting better
at not having the unhealthy options that I've let myself become used to. It seems I am still appalling at undertaking the exercise that I should be doing. This is something I find quite strange as I've been reasonably athletic for most of my life. It's habit really, I was in the habit of working out and now I'm not. I need to get myself back into that habit and that's simply a case of discipline.
Finding the time in amongst work though is proving to be somewhat tricky. I'm sure I'll find someway to to work it in though, I could do with taking time off from work to get some exercise. Though I will feel guilty if I'm doing less work, but something somewhere has to give and working all the time just isn't good.
Finding the time in amongst work though is proving to be somewhat tricky. I'm sure I'll find someway to to work it in though, I could do with taking time off from work to get some exercise. Though I will feel guilty if I'm doing less work, but something somewhere has to give and working all the time just isn't good.
Friday 11 February 2011
I'm having a pizza
I have been working insanely hard this last couple of days. Mostly on my new website. Part of that 2 jobs thing is that I'm starting a business and was advised to get a URL and Landing Page up for it. I've been doing that and have given up for the night
For the interested the location is Campaign Cartography. It's going to be the next big thing so tell all your friends. Well, I hope it's going to be the next big thing because if it isn't I'm humped and christmas will be cancelled this year.
Anyway, as I'm now very drained of energy I'm having a large pizza for dinner and not caring about it. I've been carrying my heavy rucksack around all day so I don't feel quite so bad about it.
For the interested the location is Campaign Cartography. It's going to be the next big thing so tell all your friends. Well, I hope it's going to be the next big thing because if it isn't I'm humped and christmas will be cancelled this year.
Anyway, as I'm now very drained of energy I'm having a large pizza for dinner and not caring about it. I've been carrying my heavy rucksack around all day so I don't feel quite so bad about it.
Sire, they are running!
Today I won, though it was a close run thing, especially when I saw the porridge that was on offer. I mean seriously, it fell off the ladel in clumps. Chuck some milk on top and it's golden. Well, off-white, but you get the idea.
I forgot to take my backpack down with me though. Part of the problem is getting time to exercise, so I'm building it into the things that I would do normally. For instance, I've tossed 5 kg of weight into my backpack that I carry around with me. I'm trying to get into the habit of carrying that everywhere.
I also eschew travelling in the lift. I work on the 4th floor and there are 80 stairs between the ground and my level. I take these now instead of the lift.
I forgot to take my backpack down with me though. Part of the problem is getting time to exercise, so I'm building it into the things that I would do normally. For instance, I've tossed 5 kg of weight into my backpack that I carry around with me. I'm trying to get into the habit of carrying that everywhere.
I also eschew travelling in the lift. I work on the 4th floor and there are 80 stairs between the ground and my level. I take these now instead of the lift.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Today I lost the battle
I cracked and had the breakfast I shouldn't have had, but I was exhausted, so what's a guy to do.
I have a picture of what I used to look like before I gained the weight. I may post it here. It's currently my desktop background to guilt trip me into doing more exercise. It's sort of working.
I have a picture of what I used to look like before I gained the weight. I may post it here. It's currently my desktop background to guilt trip me into doing more exercise. It's sort of working.
Wednesday 9 February 2011
TO ARMS!
I despise working until 5pm. That's why I wake up at 6:30am every morning. I'm in work an hour later and get paid a daily rate. This means I can leave at 3:30 and be home by 4. Depending on how much energy I have that day I either have time for breakfast or not. If I don't have breakfast then I face one of the toughest challenges of my weight loss day.
The work canteen.
They do a full cooked breakfast, more importantly they also provide rolls and it's self service. This led to a habit of having a sausage roll and a bacon roll for breakfast most mornings. It only cost £2 as well. This has led to an expansion of the waistline.
Happily they also make porridge. Porridge is 50p for a huge polystyrene cup of it, so it's healthier and cheaper but lets face it, bacon tastes so good. If you disagree you are simply wrong.
My daily battle then can consist of going into the canteen to get porridge which is horribly located beside the fried food. It's tough, especially for a dyed in the wool carnivore like myself. More often than not I am able to win this battle. Today was tough though, what can I say, I want a bacon buttie. They taste sooooo good.
Today I won the battle, tomorrow I might lose, what's important though is that I win the war.
The work canteen.
They do a full cooked breakfast, more importantly they also provide rolls and it's self service. This led to a habit of having a sausage roll and a bacon roll for breakfast most mornings. It only cost £2 as well. This has led to an expansion of the waistline.
Happily they also make porridge. Porridge is 50p for a huge polystyrene cup of it, so it's healthier and cheaper but lets face it, bacon tastes so good. If you disagree you are simply wrong.
My daily battle then can consist of going into the canteen to get porridge which is horribly located beside the fried food. It's tough, especially for a dyed in the wool carnivore like myself. More often than not I am able to win this battle. Today was tough though, what can I say, I want a bacon buttie. They taste sooooo good.
Today I won the battle, tomorrow I might lose, what's important though is that I win the war.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
about the background
If I've done this correctly than the background picture should show a mountain with fog piled up on one side of it. This is a picture I took when I was out fell running 1 afternoon. This is an activity that I haven't been able to do since I tore my left knee up when I was rock climbing one afternoon.
I want to be able to Fell Run again. That's one of my goals.
I want to be able to Fell Run again. That's one of my goals.
Right, I need to put up some pictures here
I have many problems with this weight loss thing. First of all I've never really had to so I've never kept track of it. I weigh myself using my a set of scales that I can only access once a week. I'm going to start taking a picture of the weight on them so that I can keep track of it. I'll try and post it on here so that I can follow how much, if any, I'm losing.
Monday 7 February 2011
I hate him
My co-worker is sitting opposite me eating buttie made from Lorne sausage and normal sausage. I've had my weetabix for brekkie and an apple. He better eat that thing faster or I'm going to get one. Grr. Discipline, that's the watchword.
Sunday 6 February 2011
This will not last
I am certain of that, this will not last. I have started this blog for only one reason. To make myself feel guilty for being fat. I got the idea from a buddy so I'm trying it as well.
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