Tuesday, July 26, 2011

In der haus der Koffeekonig

Greeting, people (and approximations thereof).  Due to popular demand, I am once again blogging on my weightloss progress.

When last I blogged, I had reached my first goal of losing 20kg, and was sitting at 112.9kg.  That was a month ago, on June 25.

It is now July 26, and as of Monday (24th) I weighed 109.8kg.  However, I feel that may be a slightly artificial number as I had had little to eat that day.  It's probably closer to 110.5kg or something.  Time shall tell; in this case around 20 hours should be sufficient as I will weigh in after work tomorrow.

In terms of other things going on in my life, the last couple of weeks have been interesting.  I travelled up north for a few days for a wedding.  I think I managed to surprise quite a few people with how much weight I have lost; I got heaps of really positive feedback all weekend.

On coming back down south I was worried that having a bit of a gym break would stop my progress (I only went twice in the 5 days I was there).  However, there seems to have been little harm done.  Though overall I think my rate of loss has slowed - it used to be about a kilo a week, now it's slightly less than that.  But I guess that's to be expected.  On the down side, I somehow hurt my back while up there, which slowed things down a little.  It seems to have cleared up now, though can still complain when I sit still for too long.

Since returning my trainer has decided to begin a protracted campaign of causing me untold pain and agony, which is apparently, in his words, a "reward" for reaching my goal...  I worry that he may have crossed his definitions of "punishment" and "reward".  Oh well.  He gets results, so I won't complain.  At least, not within earshot of him.

Anyhow, time to go.  Until the next time, folks.  Stay hip, and don't let your bum fall off!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Return from Goblin Mountain

Hi folks.  Once again I have been remiss in my duty to keep you all informed on my progress.  Well , today I shall address that.

When last I posted, my bodymass stood at 118.3kg, and that was in mid-May.   It's now late June.  My weight?  The last number I recall was on Thursday, 23/06/11, and I was 112.9kg.  Which means I have officially reached and surpassed my first (admittedly unstated on this blog) goal of losing 20kg.

Huzzah! 
Huzzah!
Huzzah!

However, it has not been without its ups and downs.  I've had a few weeks where there was minimal loss, others where a case of gastro helped things a little, and so on.  But overall the losses have been continuing.

To make things official, my next target is to reach a weight less than 100kg before my birthday, which as you may know is on 26/10.  So, that means I have 4 months to lose 12kg.  Should be doable, but there's a bit to happen in that time.  I have other birthdays to celebrate, weddings  to attend, and travel to partake in.  It it my hope that these events won't cause any backsliding.

On a practical note, the amount of weight lost has not been without consequences.  Nearly all my clothes are now comically large on me, to the point where they don't really look any good.  I've had to buy yet another (smaller) belt.  I've dropped from clothes in the 4-6XL (depending on cut and age) to 2XL.  This puts me back into the mainstream range of men's clothing, something that I am immesely happy with.  But it also mean that I will be spending lots of money in the weeks to come in order to replace most of my wardrobe...  Sigh.

Anyway, time for dinner methinks.  Enjoy life, my fiends.

PS: That wasn't a typo...  :D

Monday, May 16, 2011

Welcome to Vapourland

Holy crap!  I didn't realise that it's been nearly a month since I last blogged.  There's more than one reason for that; the two main ones are being busy, and being lazy.

So anyway, last time I blogged, I was 122.4kg, and that was on 14/04/11.  Today is 16/05/11, and today's measurement was 118.3kg.  So that's around 4kg over 4-4.5 weeks.  This is a surprising result for me, because I actually thought that my weightloss had stalled over the last week or two.  This shows me that I'm still shedding kilos at roughly the same rate.  So I am happy.  Total loss is now 16kg (approx).

I've had to work for it though.  With Melbourne winter steadily encroaching, it's getting colder, and unexpectedly, I've been craving both soups and carb-heavy foods like pasta and potato.  I guess the body wants warmth, either from warm liquids or from burning carbs.  It's been taking a fair bit of self control not to indulge in lots pasta dishes several times a week.  Hopefully as winter progresses, the desires will be easier to control.

Finally (for today), my trainer has shown his true colours - he's mad!  Several times now he's pushed me to the edge of nausea.  He just keeps upping the ante on me.  Today for example, I was actually in danger of dropping a 20kg barbell on my head, because my shoulders were so fatigued that the right one pretty much gave out.  He called a halt to the exercise right there; it was at the end of the session anyway, so it was a lucky save for me.  And he's just going to get tougher as time goes on.  Woe is I!

Anyway, that's it for now.  Hopefully it won't be as long between updates next time.

Stay hoopy, froods!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Two months in

Hello again peoples.

Today's update is a bit of a milestone.  By way of a fortunate accident, I discovered that today is exactly two months since my membership at the gym began.  According to their records, I started attending on 18/02/11.  So two months, or 8 1/2 weeks of attending the ym 4 days a week.

And my progress to date?  Well, Saturday and today came in at the same figure (somehow): 122.4kg!

This is a bizarre feeling for me.  Actually getting steady loss is awesome.  The down side is that all my clothes are starting to look like parachutes on me, and I haven't had a chance to go clothes shopping yet.  I've decided that I'm going to raid the op-shops (by raid I mean shop at, not steal from).  That way if I end up dropping another size or two I haven't spent a fortune on clothes that are now too big.

To give you an idea of the scale of the amount of weight I've lost, when I left Townsville I had only one belt.  I'm not sure what size it was exactly, but it would have been around the 130cm mark I reckon.  I was consistently using the second last to last hole (in inner-most two holes) when dressing.  That belt is now so large on me that I can remove it without undoing it... on the inner-most hole!  I have had to buy a new belt, which when I got it I used the outermost hole.  Now I am using the third hole consistently.  Assuming that each hole is around 1inch from the nearest, that means I have lost no less that 5 inches (12.5cm) or so from my waistline.  In two months!  That makes me very happy.

But I don't intend to stop here/  I still have a long way to go before I get clost to my target.  So happy hunting until then folks.

(PS: total loss since my "official" starting weight is 11.6kg)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

SuperNova Results (Belated)

Sorry I'm late with this post.  I've been caught up with life, which is unusual for me because normally I don't have one.  Or at least, not one worth talking about.  But the last week has been fairly full on.

Saturday's results were the first high point.  Weigh-in was 123.7kg.  This made me tentatively happy since getting below 124kg means I have lost a minimum of 10kg since starting at the gym. Monday's result of 123.9kg confirms  that 10 kilo mark has been hit.  So happy me!  On a down note, my weight has been the same since (it's now Thursday) which is a little worrying.

Diet has been a bit up and down over the past week, due to external factors.  I went to Supernova on Saturday (a big pop culture expo - lots of geek stuff), and had a turkish bread for lunch.  Lots of carbs.  Sunday I had yum cha for lunch (my grandfather's 78th birthday).  That is a very dangerous way of eating.  Tiny portions, but it just keeps coming.  Very bad.  And because of work committments and visiting friends/relatives pretty much every day since then I've eaten out for lunch and dinner.  Not really bad food, just probably too much in terms of quantity.  So I've been naughty.  Hopefully now that things are settling down for this weekend I can get back on track.

So yeah, I'm happy to have finally hit the 10kg loss mark.  Only 24kg to go before I hit my first medium-term goal of 100kg.  I'm also starting to notice a small amount of muscle definition, mostly on my legs, which is also good.  On the flip side, I am paying the price of my dietary indiscretions...  Mostly happy days.

Until next time folks, stay froody!

Monday, April 4, 2011

April Fool

So this week's weigh-in is a bit of a mixed bag.  On the plus side, I haven't gained any weight despite a bit of naughtiness over the weekend (but honey-coated macadamias are just so yummy!).  On the down side, my weight was the same today as it was on Saturday.  I'm not sure what that means overall, but it was a little disappointing, considering the magnitude of the losses so far.

So what was the magic number?  124.9kg.  Both 9am Saturday (before any food), and 4pm Monday (after a day's worth of food and drink.  I don't know if that means my weight has plateaued, or if I've started adding muscle (I'm skeptical) or if there's another factor.  Probably I've just hit a natural plateau which I need to break through.  Or my body has adjusted to the exercises I'm doing and isn't being pushed as hard as it needs to be.

Regardless, I'm not going to let it get me down.  It's just one week, and I've still managed to lose some weight.  So I guess it's not really a bad week.  I'm not even sure I have a word to describe it.

The other thing that has me bugged at the moment is my PT's food plan.  For months (years actually) I've been a 2.5 square meal man.  I say 2.5 because I don't usually eat breakfast, but I have at least two main meals a day.  The rest is either a morning tea, or a supper or a midnight snack or a combination thereof.  It's probably more complicated than that, but you get the idea.  Since the move I've managed to get my food routine back under control most days.  Now my PT wants me to change that again.  He wants me to get into the "6 small meals a day" routine, with the right mix of protien, carbs and such at the "right" times.  Now, I know that it's the accepted wisdom of the fitness/nutritional industries to do this, and I understand (some) of the reasoning.  But to me it seems like more effort, fiddling around with extra food preparation and stuff, all to counter something that I've deliberately cultivated the self-control to combat; that is, hunger.

What also worries me is that at the moment I'm pretty confident that my daily calorie consumption is probably well below the recommented 2000cal/day.  Eating more often (even small quantities) means that it will upset the delicate balance I've managed to achieve, and I don't know if it will be for better or for worse.  Plus, it tends to make be feel uncomfortably full some days.  Maybe I'm just being stubborn, as I usually am when someone wants me to change something I'm not ready to do.  I guess the best things\ I can do is give it a shot for a little while, see if there is any merit in it.  After that I'll make a decision.

PS: Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!  It's appreciated.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Monday Weigh-In

Hi folks.  Just a belated update to record Monday's weight results.  I actually wrote (typed?) this one down so I didn't forget.

So at 4:15pm on Monday 28/03/11, I weighed 125.9kg.  This is consistent with my Saturday reading, which if you recall was either 125.8 or 126.8kg.  I couldn't recall which it was.  If it was the former, then the rise could just be a fluctuation due to the fact that I had eaten when I weighed in on Monday.  If it was the latter, then it means I dropped even further over the weekend.  I think the first is more likely.

As for my workout, I went for a mostly cardio session yesterday.

Warm-up on the treadmill for 10mins (24calories)
Exercise bike - target of 300 calories - achieved in approx. 30mins.
Rowing machine - 3 x intervals of 500m/1min rest.  No calorie count available.
Treadmill - 15mins @ 5.6km/hr and varying incline (ranging fro 2.5 to 10% for 2-3min intervals).  Approx 150 calories burnt.

Note that when calorie burns are stated, this is going off the calculated consumption provided by the equipment I am using,  It uses an estimate based on weight, age and the exercise being performed.  Actual consumption is certain to be different.  At least this gives a guideline,

Gym again tomorrow, then PT on Thursday.  Next (formal) weigh-in will be Saturday.

Until later folks.