Not bad

Well, i didn't post yesterday so i think I'll just hit the what happened items today rather than the usual rant about stuff.

Yesterday was running day. got up at 5 and started by 5:30. Running partner is not here so i was on my own. Started nicely but my mp3 player ran out of batteries and then at the half way point i just had to stop. But i kept walking and then ran the second half of the third lap. Then for the fourth lap i cut it in quarters - walk, run, walk, run.

i felt like I'd copped out of the run by the time was only 8 minutes more than the first time we ran so i am pretty happy. also, after 5k i really felt like there is not way I'll be able to run the actual half marathon - but after doing a little walking etc. i really feel that it wont be so hard - and there are still 8 weeks to go.

Today is fast day, had a good workout this morning and best of all i weighed in at 98.2kg. this is the lowest ever - now i know that Monday will be higher so i don't want to be too excited but it still is a milestone of sorts.

I will end today with a low carb meal and then stick to low carbs for the rest of the diet, which ends on the 6th. I intend to do two 30 hour fasts in this time - i know this will be hard but I'm sure the result will be great.

Exaggeration

In an attempt to remain motivated i like to read as much on nutrition, exercise and fat lose as i can as well as following blogs and listening to pod casts. I also subscribe to many discussion groups on this subject and have a great interest in the responses to the various topics.

I am astounded with the amount of BS and misinformation as well as the incredible contradictions of 'studies' and common knowledge. I've been wondering for a while what this all means and how it came to be that we could know so little about such an important subject. As we decode the genome and CERN's LHC seeks the boson how is it that we have an obesity pandemic that we don't seem to know the slightest thing about?

I've come to the conclusion that it's all a matter of exaggeration. This happens for a range of reasons, firstly that it is human nature to overstate things, secondly that it is human nature to look for the easy option and thirdly that marketing nutrition relies on the first two reasons to a large degree in the fight for a piece of this multi-billion dollar industry.

If all the methods of weight lose being touted had the results claimed then combining them would make the international concern 'underweight' rather than obesity. Plus we'd get there with no effort and everyone would be happy. As this isn't the case let's look at some of these elements and what i feel about them.

• Multiple meals per day - often we hear we need to eat six small meals, sometimes more, to burn fat and gain muscle etc. Doing this will increase our BMR while not allowing us to get hungry. Sounds logical as the body always has something to burn it should keep burning and easy as the glutton in us likes to eat more often and the lazy person in us does not want to be hungry. But really, how do you lose weight if you always have food to burn and how do you restrict how much you eat at each session if you don't want to be hungry and like to eat so much. This approach might help but only a little and it takes more discipline, not less.
• Interval training - old steady state cardio sucks and interval training is the new thing, it is apparently 9 times more effective. Really? if it's that effective there should be 9 times as many slim people as before, or something seriously visible as a result. If i lost 10kg in two months before using a steady state approach then now with intervals i should have lost more than 90kgs (wouldn't that be nice). Personally i do believe that intervals are better than steady state for me but my reasons would be different and you cannot say that steady state is bad either. For me personally i like intervals because i can burn more (because i work harder) in a shorter period of time, i really get the feeling of making progress by pushing as hard as i can an increasing that each week and it is not boring like steady state cardio. I like it but 9 times more effective is just plain BS.
• BMR - we often hear that if your intake of calories is less than your BMR you will lose muscle rather than fat. Every one will like this because if sounds like you shouldn't go hungry (remember that hungry is only a state of mind, you can be hungry while eating many times you BMR). This 'fact' makes no sense. If you eat at your BMR and then exercise then your caloric deficit would be less that BMR - what makes this number magic? It is relevant only to when you are doing nothing.
• Keytogenic - Dr. Atkins popularised the no carb revolution which we see resurging time and time again. He didn't invent it, nor did he study it and outside of this element he was a total quake. But it does work, he based the whole diet on studies done by two other doctors who proved that it does work. The principle is simple - burn fat as the only kind of energy (keytones) and when you run out of what you've eaten the body doesn't need to switch formats it just continues with the stored fat. Many don't like it because it is high in fat, many say that it's just water loss (but that's just the first five days) but really this is not healthy because it is so low in fibre and other nutrients one would get from other vegetables and fruits. Low carb is good but has clear down sides as well, plus you just can't do it for long periods of time.
• Carb Cycling - this one i find funny. it's trying to be a keytogenic diet but gives back carbs on "refeed days". The theory is that by having re-carb days you will not get the completely lethargic feeling of a full Keytogenic diet. BUT the lethargic feeling is only on the first few days of such a diet and by not hitting total keytone fuel this completely misses the point. In fact it is proven that when running on keytones the body is more energetic and has better endurance. The US army is looking to develop Keytone MRE's to exploit this fact.
• Diet is a dirty word - we must think lifestyle and not diet because a diet will not last in the future. The problem with this is that diet just means 'what you eat' and therefore saying that diet will not help weight loss is like saying that food will not help life. This is great marketing though as diet implies negative and hungry situations that people don't like. However there is no weight loss without a restrictive diet.
• Protein Shakes - after a workout get liquid protein into your system quickly to maximise the recovery and build muscle. Sounds logical but how much protein does the body need for this, how quickly can it really break it down and build it up and do we really want more calories after we've just burned some? This is not only a waste of money but it might just have a negative effect. Maybe if you are a serious body builder it might be worth looking at but never if you want to lose weight.
• Starvation mode - this theory is in line with many above that if you eat too little you will stop losing weight. Wow, how did we get sucked into this one. If you ate nothing then you lose weight, people who do actually starve because of reasons outside their control do not end up in a (holding pattern) - they lose weight. People that fast for religious purposes and then eat at night do not put all that nutrition to their hips because they have put themselves in starvation mode (actually they lose weight in most cases). This is again the lazy option, i am feeling hungry so i MUST eat otherwise I'll go into starvation mode - what a joke.

It's not hard to see why we are all getting so fat. We are kidding ourselves into the easy ways and then eating like pigs.

We also suffer from short memories. As a boy my father working in a gym (mid seventies i guess) and i remember that the main thing he was doing was circuit training. Funny how this is now what we are told we need to do to lose weight and that 'science shows' that this is the break through we've all been looking for. Maybe it's just a case of 'it used to work and what we are doing clearly doesn't work so let's do that again'

Dad was also a runner, the main technique used at the time to train was Fartlek (spelling) which is very simply interval training - have we really come so far or just full circle.

Personally i like circuits - it just feels right. I like lifting weights and the heavier the better because it make me feel like I'm working out rather than just cheating the system. I also like intervals for the same reason - i work really hard and it feels good without getting bored.

But i do not believe that i will drop massive amounts of weight in a short period of time.

What do you think?

Official Obesity

Well it is official! i have not managed to maintain below the obesity level. Today's weigh in was 100.8 kg. I am not happy however given the weekend's activities and last night's eating frenzy i know why. While initially very angry i have decided to look on the bight side - so here goes with some positives.

• It is a loss from last week and officially my lowest in the past ten weeks (and lowest official weigh in for the past 10 years also i think)
• The loss is fat, definitely not muscle.
• Losing 1lb of fat is pretty good, if i did it every week I'd be down 52 lbs in a year.
• I might have lost more than 1lb of fat as i have pushed hard and increased strength this week.
• The anger i felt this morning was turned into a really hard core workout.
• Stuffing my face on special food brought by my mother in law must have pushed the weight to a high point which will swing down later.
• My clothes fit better showing also that I've lost fat.

But, we must not let positive thoughts lead to a feeling of success. So this week i will continue with the ESE (even though i have guests from out of town and it will be difficult), run a full 10k on Thursday (even though my running partner is not here), eat lots of Shiritake noodles to reduce overall calorie intake and do a little more in the evening (most likely WII Fit).

I want to see a monumental result next week!

And Then the Wheels Fell Off

Yesterday was not good, a little bit extra with breakfast. Then as we had a stock take there was cakes and biscuits etc. for the teams. While waiting for them i had one, which turned into lots. Even lunch was a little bit over the top.

Got home and the family wanted dinner and with no food in the house we went for Pizza. Not quite as bas as it sounds this is reasonably healthy thin crust pizza and i only had two slices. Filled up on salad etc before hand.

But with a little bit more for each meal and snacks in between i think i ended the day at about 2,650 - a lot more than planned. i hope this doesn't mean i weigh in over the hundred on Monday.

Met my running partner at 5:30. i was TOO SORE to run and only made 5k. Clearly over trained the past few days and as Sunday is my rest day i shouldn't have been trying to run. Hope i can recover and move on.

Had Shiritake noodles for breakfast and will eat a healthy lunch - i hope this undoes the bad from yesterday.

Fasting & Golf

Hi, just a quick one. i had an appointment today to play golf with one of my customers. It's normally fasting day but i didn't want to be explaining to them why i couldn't eat lunch. And as i have another similar appointment on Saturday i it was only logical that i fast the day before.

But then i had just run 10k and didn't think it wise to go without nutrition immediately after that. so i came up with the plan to stop after lunch and then i could eat with the golfers the following day. Only worry was not having dinner, this is historically very very hard for me.

Got through it, but the wife was very upset that i wouldn't eat her food - she thinks i decided to fast because i didn't like what she'd cooked. Between you and me it did help a little but wasn't the reason.

Workout today was good, no issue with strength or endurance considering i hadn't eaten for 16 hours. Golf was really really bad. I'd like to accuse lack of energy or fasting for the poor performance but i don't really think it had anything to do with it - i just stink and today really showed it.

didn't actually have much to eat for lunch and haven't had anything since so i'm looking forward to getting home for dinner. i have some Shiritake noodles and a good idea of what i will do with them - more low cal for me please.

skinny-fat-skinny-fat-skiny

I'm not one of those people that 'has always been fat' but i have been fat at different points in my life so i also can't say i was always skinny until ...... I'm not sure if I'm a fat guy trying to get skinny or a skinny guy trapped in all this blubber. Let me give you some history.

As a child i was very thin. I guess i was a chubby baby but i have seen some family Christmas photos that make me look like a cancer patient (let me see if i can scan some when i go home in October).

Later in life, about 12 on i had a serious chubbiness. i have some shameful family pics from a trip to Queensland, don't want to dig them out. This stayed with me till about the age of 15, lost a lot with some mysterious illness that put me in hospital for a week.

So from 15 to about 22 i was skinny, but it wasn't till i was about 20 that i felt thin, even just those few years as an early teenager had me so body conscious. it wasn't till i was about 20 and working out a lot (unemployment) that i was comfortable to have people see me without my shirt.

When i met my wife i weighed 62kgs (136 lbs) and when my second son was born i weighed 115 kgs (253 lbs) that's almost double. Now I'm not ever going to be skinny like that again but it's still the truth (really must get some pics going - i think i have some VDO of me at 62kg)

In contrast, I've been heavy for a long time now but only recently have i begun to feel like a fat guy. Previously i was a skinny guy trapped in my fat body - but once people start describing you at the fat guy and no one you know remembers or was around when you were skinny you have to accept it (or do something about it)

So what I'm saying is in line with the title. Not always fat or thin but struggling with my weight is something I've always done. I remember times when I'd be eating 6 full meals a day in hope of getting heavier or doing Atkins till i was hospitalised (2005).

Now i don't know where this is going - guess I've got some demons to deal with.

Anyway, ran another 10k this morning. it wasn't any easier, maybe even harder but having the confidence that i knew i could do it was positive. Big issue is chafed nipples - at the end my white shirt was red from the nipple down on both sides - very embarrassing.

Anyone got a fix for this issue or should i stop running?

Liz, thanks for the advice on equipment and the link. I've now decided to change the plan for the next few weeks. Why isolate one muscle group when i can work more and burn more fuel. Also the elliptical won't be touched unless i have very sore knees (like right now) - there are plenty of other machines in the gym, i wanna use them all.

Not Obese

I am no longer Obese!! While it is unofficial (official weigh in is Monday only) today i weighed in at 99.8kgs (219.5lbs) which at 6 foot nothing makes me overweight and no longer obese from a BMI perspective.

Never did i think the term Overweight would sound so sweet.

Now i must try very hard to keep to my nutrition plan as i never want to see the obese reading again. I think Brad's ESE Post today really sums it up on this front.

And a big shout out to my followers Geoff and Liz. Finally i have some comments and someone to be accountable to.

Elliptical - what's the issue

OK, so yesterday i was good on the food front! Maybe went a little too low for lunch as i had only a fresh salad - but it was one of the best I've had. Today is ESE which is ok but I've got several guests today so I'm not sure how I'll go - if i can skip lunch I'll be there.

Workout today was the elliptical machine. So often i hear it said that this is a bad machine to work with, CB from TT hates it altogether. I really don't understand why.

I chose this today as it is low impact on the joints and after the 10k on Sunday my knees are sore. However, i find this the hardest of all my interval workouts and today was no different.

I set the thing to manual, give it level 17 and get going. i cycle at 6kms for the first two minutes, then i go a minute each of 8,10,12 &14 km/hr. i do this four times and then do a final blast at over 16 kms. one last minute slow to catch my breath and then follow the cool down.

It's a killer, i wasn't sure I'd make it. i really can't see how you can reject this piece of equipment. Maybe it's just that we see so many people on it going slow for hours - but you see that on the bike even more often.

One of the girls that does a full hour each morning on the same machine is a babe, she really has a super body.

What do you think?

Off Track

BAD NEWS! After the weekend of very very bad eating i have INCREASED in weight!

Last week 101.2 kgs (222lbs)
This week 101.4 kgs (223lbs)

i could think of a million excuses for this - it's only a small gain, i put on muscle because of the extra heavy workouts, it's just normal fluctuations, blah blah.

But the reality is that this is just unacceptable and my eating over the past week (few weeks) has been unacceptable.

There are only three more weeks left of my transformation (no alcohol, body for life). I vow (let the cyber world be my witness) to keep on track for the next few weeks with my Big Mac diet, Eat Stop Eat and no snacks. Also, to blast away the mistakes of last week i wish to do some extra - so every day i will do some additional activity , WII Fit, walking, Driving range, Golf, Wakeskate (something low impact that will not reduce my recovery from the regular workouts or intervals but does burn some extra calories). Then, during the last week of the challenge i vow to make my ESE fasts 30 hours, stopping food after lunch on Monday the 1st and Thursday the 4th - therefore giving me the full fat burning effect.

On a positive note today was the start of my workout change - every three weeks i change all the exercises in the programme. i keep the programme the same as it is the body for life challenge but i change the exercises. today was leg extensions and curls (mainly because i will not do these with future workouts) single leg calf raises with dumbbell, and for abs i really shook it up by using the back extension thingy to do side crunches using weighs (5, 10, 25lbs) and bent arm hanging leg raises. Not totally brutal today except for the abs but i have it mapped out as to how much i will increase the weight over the three weeks - this is exciting.

Let's look for some super good results for next week's official weigh in.

We Did It!!!

Today i ran 10 kilometres without stopping on the road (not on the treadmill). I can almost not believe that we did it.

I picked up the boss at his place at 6am and we hit the park shortly after. It's 2.5 kms once around so our plan was to do four laps. This being about half of our target - the half marathon in July which is 21Kms.

The first lap started hard, about half way around I started to feel better. But by the end of the second I was struggling - if I'd been by myself I would have stopped at two. but with company and a commitment we started the third. As we ended the third i really really didn't want to continue - but i took the attitude on the forth trip around that each step was one i didn't need to take again.

The entire last lap was run on willpower alone - I had nothing else. Really really tough. As we got to about 500 metres to go I picked up the speed. I noticed that I was passing everyone so I thought 'I won't let anyone pass me' then some guy in an orange shirt came thumping along, I had to give every last drop to keep up with him. Funny I was sprinting with everything I had and he was just jogging (it's all relative at the end of the day).

But we did it, two iced bottles of water later and i dropped the boss back home. then the problems started.

He's Belgian so he had some chocolates for my wife. I ate three before breakfast. I considered the "power noodles" but really wanted something more healthy so i had my usual cereal and strawberries and peaches. Then felt terrible, had to lie down on the bed - when I got up I had another chocolate. On the way to work I stopped at Starbucks and got a 'no fat' latte and a muffin. In total i think I've had 1,300 more calories than i need - much more than the amount burned on the run.

I must try to get though the rest of the day without going crazy.

Exercise

As i mentioned before I've always been quite fond of the gym. But having said that I've always signed up and worked out regularly for 1 month, felt great and then stopped. The most I've ever done is about 2 months.

Why this happens I've never really been able to figure out. i mean each time i could tell you why, got sick, went away, blah blah list goes on. What i find interesting or sad is that it always happens - it must be in my head.

But this time i can honestly say that it will not happen again. i have been going to the gym for over a year now, everyday and constantly. Not that the before picture on the right gives any indication of that but i think you can imagine what it looked like before.

I also have a range of other activities i do when I'm not at the gym ranging from Golf, sailing, wake boarding, kite surfing (that's a picture of me). In fact kite surfing is one of the main motivations behind this transformation as the lighter i am the more i can do it. due to light winds and my busy schedule i don't really get to do it enough for weight loss but hitting the gym each day and watching what i eat will help to get out more often.

Once i complete the 'Body for Life' programme that I've committed myself to i will start Turbulence Training which is truly three days a week. as i like to workout everyday this frees me up to do other interesting activities. I've already lined up a rock climbing course and at my son's Taikwondo studio they do Muay Thai so that will be on the radar. Also, as gay as it might sound i want to do a period of Pilate's as i believe it will sort out some of my other issues.

There is just so much to do. Spin classes i think are great and body pump at out gym is excellent.

Chris' BIG MAC diet

finally it's time for me to explain my nutrition logic for this transformation. i am not eating six meals a day, i keep things balanced and include periodic short term fasting.

Years ago after giving up on a quest to lose weight i was drowning my sorrows at McDonald's. it was just about the time that Super Size Me was being watched by everyone so you can see how low i was.

McD's had introduced nutritional information on their place mats to counter the idea that people didn't know what they were eating. while stuffing my face i realised that the Big Mac i was eating contained 500 calorie. this gave me the idea that if i had one big mac for breakfast, lunch and dinner i would only consume 1,500 calories per day. I truly believe that this would result in massive weight loss (but is probably not easy to do).

years later i was living overseas on my own with the family due to join in a few months. i was living in a hotel with the standard breakfast buffet - my worst enemy. so i decided to put the principle of the Big Mac diet into practise. Each morning i would make sure i had a breakfast of 500 calorie with a little of everything - toast for carbs, bacon and egg for protein and fat, oj to wash it down (but only 500 calories). Some days it was even hard to eat 500 but i stuck to it.

For lunch it didn't matter who i was with or where i was i just made sure i had 500 calorie only, sometimes leaving half a plate of food behind. Then at night same thing, if i was late home with limited options then I'd have.......... a Big Mac.

Now if i slipped up and ate too much, or often if i had a client meeting that required drinking or just a big night on the town it was a problem. i countered this by skipping meals the following day, small slip up no breakfast, big slip up no lunch also (always felt that this worked but it went against what we are told)

AND IT WORKED!

I lost a lot of weight and actually felt great. when the family joined me they were amazed by the change (although very small by current standards). of course i didn't keep it up and put it all on and more. later i lost some again with Atkins etc.

So now I'm back to the Big Mac concept - although i haven't been to McD's in all this time the 500 rule it what i stick to. i keep it as whole and healthy as possible. I've now added Eat Stop Eat to the programme which i like and i think will really help once i return to more normal eating habits and alcohol next month.

given the amount of exercise i do i haven't lost as much weight as I'd like but i have lost steadily for 8 weeks:

16-Mar 110.5 KGS 243.1 lbs
23-Mar 109.5 KGS 240.9 lbs
30-Mar 108 KGS 237.6 lbs
06-Apr 106.5 KGS 234.3 lbs
13-Apr 104.5 KGS 229.9 lbs
20-Apr 103.2 KGS 227.04 lbs
27-Apr 102.2 KGS 224.84 lbs
04-May 101.8 KGS 223.96 lbs
11-May 101.2 KGS 222.64 lbs

in reality my consumption is higher than 1,500 calories but the ESE brings it back in check. some say 1,500 is too low, i disagree.

What do you think?

Not Food

Yesterday was a very bad day for weight loss. I went to a food expo - this was a big event and we got tickets from a business partner as 'buyers' so the expo was not really open to the public.

there were samples everywhere! but as most manufacturers are processing food almost all food was processed which does not fit with my idea of food. in fact most of the items were not really food at all. even the 'Organic and Health Food' section was mostly good ingredients turned into CRAP.

One interesting thing was the 'healthy' instant noodles. this company markets themselves as trying to provide a healthy alternative to quick lunches of instant noodles. their product is MSG free, lower in fat etc. plus they give it supplements for improved nutrition. This is not advertising so i won't put their website here.

Anyway, the girl offered us to try the product for a week and see if we had any effect. My Japanese colleague (female) was given the Beauty version which contains collagen (or something like that) and i got the Power version that has one of the L-cariblahblah amino acids in it. Mine is supposed to improve recovery after workout and also increase sperm count.

At this stage I'm not sure if i will try this as i don't consider it food and thing most supplements are complete marketing crap. Couldn't even try it today as it's fasting day (or Starve Day as my mate Dave calls it). But i do like the business concept of this product - I'm sure they will do well.

Anyway, after too much chocolate, coffee, candy, and other crap i had to go to the bank. as another friend also had to go we went together. I think banks suck in all countries. this experience (2 hours) left us needing a burger so we found a place and tucked in. No as bad as fast food, we got a real burger and the fries were terrible so they didn't get eaten.

Bad day all round. i think crap at expo = 500 calories and burger = 900. Also had some cheese cake at our buffet lunch so lunch = 900. At least b'fast was small at about 300.

So total for the day = 2,600. this is about 1,100 more than my target - yes it was a bad day.

on the plus side i had a super heavy workout today. i bumped up everything and made most sets - I'm very happy. Dumbbell presses with 65 lbs in each hand for the max weight set is a long way from where i started.

AFD #61

Today marks the 61st day of no alcohol or Alcohol Free Day number 61 (AFD#61)

This is pretty impressive for me as i am virtually an alcoholic and really like to drink, work for a company with a drinking culture and live in a city with a drinking culture.

The booze for me is important to this transformation as it represents hollow calories, usually results in late night overeating and makes it so much more difficult to get up and go to the gym. Also they say it reduces testosterone - which normally i wouldn't see as an issue as i have too much anyway but as this helps with muscle growth having more helps too.

Today i was scheduled to play golf but as it was raining i did my interval training on the stairs at home. this is truly a killer workout. warm up for 5 mins (ground to 20th walking) then running up 5 flights and walking down (as hard a possible) then a walk from ground to home on 31st floor.

Heavy

Yesterday, thinking about my workouts and something I'd read on the net, I decided that I needed to go heavier today for my workout. They say that progress is what we must push for at each workout and it feels like I've been stuck with the same old weight for each exercise these past few weeks. So as this is the last week before I change the exercises again I thought it's best to pump it up and see what progress I can make.

Also, as today was the workout that comes after a 'fast day' i have been concerned that i don't have as much energy for those workouts - this was time to put that theory to rest.

Good news all round. I really pushed up the weight - today was lower body day. Squats, lunges, calf raises and abs. Everything with about 20-30lbs more than last week. i had expected that if i didn't complete all reps that would be OK - it was really hard but fun thing was i could squeeze out all the reps for all the sets - even the heavy ones.

Abs was the finale! I am using the decline sit up table set to the highest and holding a 35lbs weight (previously only 10). Again i got all reps out for all sets - i felt like a champion (most of the people probably thought I was a dick with all the huffing and puffing but i don't care)

Fasting

Yesterday was fast day as i follow EatStopEat on Tuesdays and Fridays (generally).

It went like a treat! Got up at 5:30 hit the gym by 6. It's interval training on Tuesdays and as i have just committed with the boss to do a half marathon in July (am i crazy) i hit the treadmill. Set to 9.3 kms/hr i cycle the incline from 1 to 4 and then for the 18th minute i go for an incline of 5. This is very heavy stuff (for me) incline 1&2 are fine but 3&4 really starts to hurt - that last 5 is serious. I like this workout, not changing the speed is better on the tread mill i find.

Got home and played with the baby because i had some extra time (normally for breakfast) and then a quick play with the wife.

Stopped in at Starbucks for a black coffee on the way to work. It's nice to have a quality low calorie beverage on fast day.

Worked hard, couple of meetings and closed the books for the month. Lunch time came around quick - i would hardly notice but my staff have a new programme of turning off all the lights at lunch time to save electricity. So sitting in the dark i did a few personal things I'd been meaning to get out of the way - the extra time on fast day can be really useful.

a little more work and then jumped in the car to see a potential client. got stuck in the rain but wasn't too late. usual 'coffee, tea or me' question and to my luck they presented coffee with sugar and creamer on the side (often they give it to you already mixed).

Got home early as i left straight from the clients office. a few panic emails to get out once i got there. This took me right up to 6pm. easy easy!

Now, as it's time to eat at 6 i always find it difficult if the evening meal is delayed - it's funny how easy it is to go without food if you are planning it but if you have to go without when you are planning to eat it is really hard. As the wife wasn't back but i could see she'd been cooking i just got out some pineapple as a small snack while i waited for them to get home. This kick starts the digestive system so when the food did hit the table it went down a treat.

Now a word of advice on dinner on fast day. it is very easy to woof down food quickly as the hunger kicks in. as the system is empty it can be easy to overload it, which is not comfortable and normally makes you feel that you've overeaten (even though you probably haven't).

It's much better to take the meal really slowly, savoring each mouthful and enjoying the experience and the tastes. i find i really don't eat all that much if i do this but leave the table properly satisfied. oh, and best to make sure there is quality food as junk just does not satisfy like quality.

Note: the picture is Robert De Castella winning the commonwealth games in Brisbane. I remember at the time i was into long distance running and he was my hero - I sat and watched the whole 2 hours on TV. i guess i would have been better going out running.

Blinding Flash of the Obvious

I want to lay down the details of how I've feel I've been cheated over the years in terms of the Gym and how to work out.

I've always been happy with the gym, my dad was a part time gym instructor so i grew up in and around the gym. i was a member at a young age and at about 19 i was working out hard trying to GAIN WEIGHT. I'd do super body building workouts of 6 sets and finish with half a chicken and chocolate milkshake (but I'll discuss nutrition next post).

Then at the age of about 24 i was really putting on weight so i returned to the gym but this time to LOSE WEIGHT. The instructor explained that in order to drop weight i needed to spend at least 20mins on the bike/treadmill in the 'fat burning' zone. this seems amazing but it was so easy to keep in the 'zone' that i did this a lot. They also told me not to work out on the weights so much and this also made sense as previously i used it to gain weight.

Since that day i have seriously struggled with my weight - now about 12 years. that day i walked into the gym i weighed about 80kgs. I've been up to 115kgs and now I'm trying to get back there.

Last year i decided to drop some weight, got off the booze for two months and modified my eating. I made sure i was working out every day (Sunday off) and dropped about 10kgs. During this time my method of working out changed as the long slow cardio was just plain boring.

From this i read a little and discovered that research shows that interval training proves better than the long slow cardio. Well this just instantly made sense as you just can't burn anything if you don't work hard. in fact it's clear that the harder you work the more you burn - blinding flash of the obvious.

I tried to create my own interval training/resistance training routine. It worked well but was just too hard to keep up. Over Xmas i lost track of the eating but managed to still lose weight. I thought i was really onto something.

I made a few clear mistakes with my programme and can now see this by following someone-else's. I'm doing the 'Body for Life' programme now and will then move to Craig Balantyne's Turbulence Training once complete.

What i now see is that intervals really push the limit of what you can burn while also increasing the cardio capacity (you get neither with long slow cardio) and mixing up the weight training keeps the muscles guessing. For mixing it up i do this even with body for life by changing the exercises every three weeks, it's amazing the difference it makes.

i believe that both bad nutrition and bad training advice are to blame for the Pandemic obesity that we see today in the world. i hope that more people can see the light as to how to get fit and how to eat.

Get Help

This is the beginning of a blog quest although the bean pole quest has been ongoing for some time. The reason for the blog is to help me achieve my goal and to stop me from giving up - as this is what usually happens.

So where are we at today. This is the beginning of week 9 of a 12 week transformation. I've lost 10kg (22lbs) so far and as this is the largest amount of weight I've lost in one go I am now worried that I'll lose momentum and give up (as I've done so many times before).

So this is my official log of my progress as I move forward in the quest to lose 30kg (66lbs).

The programme so far is the Body for Life 12 week transformation, no alcohol and healthy food combined with 24 hour fasts 2 times per week.

Once complete i will go onto turbulence training and keep the alcohol in check. As turbulence is three times per week i will do a range of other activities on off days including rock climbing, kick boxing, swimming and surfing. For now I've just committed to running a half marathon in two months time so i guess running will be a focus.

Today i had my upper body workout, a healthy breakfast of cereal, strawberries, peaches and low fat milk. Lunch was from the canteen (Thai food) with minimal rice. Tonight I plan for a salad but it will depend on what my wife cooks.

Tomorrow is interval training on the treadmill and fast till dinner.