Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Christmas is a bad time for weight loss

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

…but it’s a great time for weight gain.

It looks like I’ve got a bit more work to do next year.  I can’t believe how easy it is to put on weight.  A month of eating a little too much and not going to the gym and there goes a few kilos of weight.

Bugger.

End of Year Thoughts

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Like many people I’m entering that pensive time of year where you look back over the last year while thinking about what’s to come in the next year. This year I’m going to see it out 8kg lighter than I started it but 7kg heavier than in the middle. On the one hand I’m pleased with my weight loss and on the other I’m very disappointed with my second-half weight gain. But what went right, what went wrong and what am I planning on doing next year.

What went right?

Without doubt the thing that went most right was my hypnosis sessions. The way hypnosis is dressed up as being a way to focus your subconscious is difficult for some people to swallow but for me it was all about visualising a goal and ways to achieve it. It made a huge difference to my overall aim. Another thing that went right was having a goal to focus on. At the end of June a fair few of us took on the 3 peaks challenge. Having a goal, something tangible to achieve, really spurred me on and having that sense of not letting others down was a great motivator. Failure at the three peaks challenge also was good for me. To only manage 2.5 peaks actually has worked out pretty well. I am immensely pissed off that I didn’t make the top of Scafell Pike and it’s confirmed to me that I really hate failure. I now have a good range of emotion, from the good times on the coast to coast walk to the bad times on the 3 peaks. The first half of the year went extremely well. 15kg loss in 6 months. The focus, the eating pattern, the gym attendance, everything just seemed to slot together.

What went wrong?

An over analysis of how to lose weight. I like to visualise my goals and have a good way of tracking them. At one point though I had graphs coming out of my ears and it was no fun. The second half of the year also went wrong. Letting my routine slip meant over eating and not getting to the gym enough. This wasn’t helped by me catching a horrible cold in December but the cold can’t be blamed for everything. Lack of balance. With my new job came a new routine and I haven’t settled into it fully. I have to squeeze the gym in at lunch time and the shorter sessions are good for some things but bad for more. A goal only midway through the year. HAving noting to focus on at the end of the year was just simply a bad idea.

The plan for next year.

The simple plan for next year is to shift a bit more fat. I’ve yet to figure out how much but I’m thinking of trying for 90kg by the year end. That’s around 14 stones and it will be the lightest I’ve been since I was 14 years old. I also want to focus a little bit more on body shape. I’d like to shift the weight from around my waist and bulk up a little in my chest and arms. I also want to get back into my outdoor activities. Although we did the three peaks last year most of the year was spent indoors doing DIY. I want to get back out on my bike and do some more mountain biking. And since I love biking I’m also thinking of getting out on a road bike at some point. With Kent being so flat it’s much easier to find good road routes. I also want to pick up some more walking weekends too. I used to hate walking but now I love it as a way to spend time with Michelle, chill out and think about things away from work. Challenges will also play a big part in next year. After doing the coast to coast walk I felt an amazing sense of achievement and I want to feel that again. I’ve got a couple of friends who ran the GRIM challenge this year and I would like to get my fitness to a level where I could do that. I’ll also be re-doing the 3 peaks, probably tackling a 50mile walk near Canterbury and hopefully picking up another long distance challenge.  Other than I want to get better at self-hypnosis.

I think that’s about it for now.

A little late

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

A little late this week but better late than never…

weight loss tracker week 7

I’m surprised I lost weight as I’ve been pretty ill recently.

I’ve also been looking into goals for next year.  Realistically I don’t think I’m going to acheive seeing out the year at 100kg so I’ve turned my attention to planning the beginning of next year.  More on that whn I have a little more time.

Sid.

Week 6 – Ill but heading downwards again

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

weight loss tracker week 6Well it seems that a bout of flu helps you lose weight.

Something for the weekend.

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

I did a little experiment last week to confirm what I thought was the reason I’m putting the weight back on.

Daily Weigh InIt’s the weekend that is causing me all the hassle.

It seems that I’ve fallen back into an old trap.  The graph above is a daily weigh in throughout last week.  It’s pretty obvious to see that as I go through the week I do well and lose weight and then it gets to Friday night and I start piling it back on again.

Now all of that can’t be fat, I find it difficult to believe you can lose 2kg in fat and then put it all back on again in a week.  However, it does bring home the fact that I haven’t been as disciplined as I should have been during the weekends.

Now that I’ve confirmed this I’ll be making a special effort not to make the same mistake again.  It’s going to be tough since it’s the run up to Christmas but I really want to see the year out at 100kg.

Week 4 – Bugger

Monday, November 9th, 2009

I shocked myself this morning when I weighed in.  I knew it wasn’t going to be good after having a blow-out weekend with friends who cames down to stay.  I didn’t think it would be this bad.

weight loss tracker week 4

Clearly that curve is heading in the wrong direction and clearly I need to do something about it.  I think a very small part of it is bias due to weighing in on a Monday but the trend can’t be ignored.

It’s time to get a bit more serious again.

Big Mistake

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

I’ve just made one of the biggest mistakes in my gym going history.

I’ve just been to my regular Thursday lunchtime spin.  There were only two of us.  For some reason we decided to ask the instructor to really push us.

Whatever you do, please learn from my mistake…DON’T DO IT!

I am sat here in a bit of a daze, still shaking a little bit.

Having said that, it was pretty awesome and I know that give me 30mins recovering and I’ll be good to go again.

Still, if you do it you may want to take a bucket.

Sid.

Not really going in the right direction.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Has someone put me in reverse or something?

Weight Loss Tracker Week 1

As you can see above this week I managed to lose -1kg.  Yes that’s right.  Off to a flying start by putting on another kilo in a week.  I would love to be surprised by this but I had a week that is becoming all too typical.  Friday and Sunday kind of sum thing up, a burger for Friday lunch, fish and chips on Friday night for tea and then on Sunday we had a Chinese takeaway to celebrate me finishing the deck.

It’s starting to take the piss a little and it’s starting to annoy me.  So, here’s to a better week 2.  This week I’ll be putting together my goals and rewards table so I have some small things to aim for and I’m going to try and get together my motivational montage again.

Goal for next Monday is to be back to 105kg again or more hopefully 104.5kg.

Week 8 Progress

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

So another week has gone by and another week of no progress.  I really just haven’t been on the ball and all the time I can see my goals slipping away.  So it’s time to get back on it.

I’ve decided one of the things that’s troubling me is that I’m trying to do too much.  I’m spreading my attention to thinly between food and gym and measurements etc etc.  Starting from now then there’s going to be 2 measurements I’m going to take, weight and waist/hips measurement.  It’s where I want to lose most so that’s what I’ll focus on.

I’ll still be looking after food too but maybe not as in depth.

Wish me luck.

Week 7 Progress

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Well not much to report here this week since I’ve had a week off.  So essentially my progress is that I haven’t progressed!

As I mentioned I had a bad back from gardening an generally I’ve been feeling like I’m not making much improvement.  So I thought a week off would do me good.  I didn’t count calories or anything but I made sure I didn’t go too crazy.

Other than taking a break I’ve been looking at my motivational montage again trying to pick it up and get more inspiration to push ahead with more changes.  Sometimes I wonder why I’m trying to lose weight so it’s nice to remind myself every now and then.  I’m also going to put together a short video instead of my picture.  I want to get a few more things in to remind me why I’m doing this.

This coming week will be week 8 which means I’ve got 3 weeks to show some good progress before I seriously start to think about changing routines.

Wish me luck.

Sid.