Sunday 24 June 2012

Proof in Numbers

I am now over two weeks into Operation shed 5 stone and I'm feeling pretty good and still really motivated. Although I have been training for a few weeks now it has only been the last couple of weeks that I have really nailed the diet that Oli at Peak Fitness had advised me to follow to get the best results.

So, after bounding into the gym on Thursday very smug and pleased with myself with my training and diet, Oli decided to spring a weigh in on me. Crap, this wasn't what I wanted and felt it was too early, my last weigh in was only 7 weeks ago and it had take 5 weeks to get my head around this diet, but Oli was insistent that I needed to see my progress so I could carry on knowing that I was doing well. I thought I would mention quickly that I work in lbs, whereas Oli works in kg, another thing that I will need to get my head around at some point!

So, apprehensively I stepped onto Oli's fancy scales and looked dead ahead, waiting what seemed an age for the beep so I could step off and hear the results. Immediately I saw that I had lost 2kg, just 2?? My scales at home had told me that I had lost 7lbs, but, as I had admitted to Oli, the first 4-5 weeks were really tough and although I had been working really hard, I had only been following bits of the diet and had found it a real struggle. I imagine that I may have put on weight during this time, so my 7lbs weight loss sounds about right.

Oli then explained the results to me, handing me a 6kg weight he said that is the amount of body fat that I have lost, which he then worked out to be an approximate loss of 4.5% body fat, music to my ears! He then worked out that I had gained 4kg in muscle mass, which I am really pleased with and Oli very impressed with. All the other numbers were also going in the right direction, my bones are getting stronger, I am better hydrated, my resting metabolic rate has gone up and visceral fat has gone down.

So, I think that is proof in numbers that the diet, as hard as it was to get my head around, and focusing on weight training and intervals is obviously working for me. This week I plan to commit a cardinal sin (sorry Oli) and start some training again with Regency Runners. I need to see how the shins are going to hold up and, I have just realised that I have less than three months to get ready for the Great North Run. Off the back of London Marathon I shouldn't have too many problems preparing for the race so I'm hoping that running this week will be a bit of a boost in confidence.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

So how do you feel about your gym???


So since I've been put out from running with the shin splints, the good thing is that I have still been able to get to the gym and continue with the weight training that Oli has set out for me. I had no PT session last week as Oli was away on a training course in Denmark, but I managed 3 sessions in the gym and a swim. I feel quite good about the stuff that I do in the gym, I am reasonably strong so I enjoy weight training, the only problem that I have found is finding the right time of day to go and train. As much of the stuff that I do is in the weights room, which is quite small so gets really busy, usually with men. Personally I find this quite an intimidating environment.

This has got me thinking about gyms in general and wondering how other people feel about the time of day that they train and if the gym being busy makes a difference to how they feel about the gym.

So firstly, as a woman I feel you have to be quite brave to go into this male environment, as soon as you walk up the stairs to the weights room you can get the glares, you can see them thinking, what are they doing in here, this man’s room! Speaking to a few female friends, it isn't just me that feels like this, especially when they are hanging around in groups or congregating around a machine that we may want to use. The general feeling from my friends has been to go to the mats area or free weights/kettle bells area to do their workout, and then queue/wait around for machines, but all for the same reason, because they feel a little intimidated.

Thinking about this a bit more and after discussing with a male friend of mine, I don't think it is just us girls that can feel intimidated in the gym. The gym that I attend runs a lot of classes, as do most gyms I imagine, I have joined in on a few and I have to say they have been really enjoyable. A lot of this might have something to do with the fact that it is mostly ladies in these classes, so I feel much more comfortable, and also that I "belong". But, how do men feel about joining in these classes? I think we tend to think that they won't be bothered, but it seems not. Apparently, men feel exactly the same walking into say, a spin class as we do walking into the weights room, they see us as we see them, and lets face it, thinking about it, walking into a room of 20 odd women to join them in exercise must be pretty damn scary!

So, I thought I would share my not very nice and I'm sure very isolated experience at the gym last week. Friday night I decided to head to the gym about 8pm, I thought that it would be reasonably quiet so I could get my workout done and go as soon as possible, but was surprised to see that it was quite busy, mainly in the weights room where there seemed to be pairs of men hanging around and generally getting in the way. I decided to grab some free weights and go around to the mats and carry on with some of the stuff that Oli had set me to do, mixing up some walking lunges, press ups, squats and shoulder press. After I had finished with the free weights I put them away (something that everyone else in the gym seems to be allergic to, annoying) then moved on to leg press and lat pull down, I set up both machines as I needed them and started with legs. As I was walking over to the lat pull down one of the rude men in the gym nudge his mate, actually pointed at me and said "I bet you'd love a girl that looked like that" which was met by not just a snigger, but a full on belly laugh.

Now, I know men seem to think that us girls are a bit stupid, but are we now seen as being deaf and blind too? He knew damn well that I would have been able to see him and hear him as I was literally stood 10 feet away from him, so I can only assume he was just being downright nasty. Had I been sat on my sofa stuffing my face with a pizza and drinking full fat coke, then I would have taken that and said, you know what, you might have a point there, but I'm sure the fact that I was in the gym, and by this time dripping with sweat, was a clue that I don't plan on looking like this for long?! Now this could have gone one of three ways, I could have got upset and left, I could have confronted them and caused a scene, which probably could have then ended with me getting upset and leaving, or, I could have put the weight up and banged out another set. I chose the latter, and when getting up I turned and looked at them as their jaws hit the floor at what I, a girl, a foreigner in their gym, had managed to lift.

Satisfying doesn't even come close!

I imagine many of the guys feel like this when they are smashing it through a spin or combat class whilst some of the girls are dying on their arse!

Oh and quickly, a 5lb loss on week 1 of Operation lose 5 stone!

Monday 11 June 2012

Shin splints, booooo!

In the last post I mentioned that I had to pull out of the Two Castles 10k yesterday. I only got the place two weeks ago and was really looking forward to the event. Two Castles is my local 10k race, it starts at Warwick Castle, and finishes at Kenilworth Castle. This would have been my first Two Castles 10k Race.  Being the Regency Runners local event, the Regency Runners are always out in full force. This I think always makes it extra special. In fact, a twitter friend of mine @russw ran the race yesterday and said that Regency Runner shirts were everywhere, I won't of course mention that he was pipped on the line at our local parkrun Saturday by one of the new members to the club, Samantha!

So the reason for me pulling out is? Probably every runner’s worst nightmare shin splints.
Since the marathon, my primary running goal has been to improve my pace. As I have mentioned before I have joined the 5k 10 week course at running group, this involves lots of interval work, just what I need. Or so I thought!

The problem with changing your pace up after a marathon is your muscles are still healing, not just from the 26.2 miles but also the months of training that you have put in, so when you start to have a go at sprint sessions your muscles are all sticky and can't move properly, causing more damage. I thought that the 4 weeks I took off from running after the marathon would have been enough, but it appears I was wrong yet again!

I have only been running once a week, with the PT sessions at Peak Fitness and my own sessions in the gym I have been able to keep myself busy enough. As I have been having the pain for a few weeks, I thought the rest in between runs would do me some good.

Thursday I decided to go down to meet with running group for a relays session, pretty stupid idea I know, but in my defence my legs felt surprisingly good. I got through the first drill with no real pain, but during the second drill I started to feel sharp pains in my shins during the sprints, this was then quickly followed by quite heavy pain in between the sprints so I quickly dropped out quite miserably half way through.

I had a physio appointment with Cathy booked for today as I knew the shine splints were quickly becoming an issue. After lots of pain, prodding, poking, ice and tape, this is the result:


I think secretly Cathy was very pleased with the pretty patterns that she made on my legs with her tape, however I don't quite know how I can hide this when I am in the office tomorrow!

Sunday 10 June 2012

Finally, I am in control



Well it has been just five days since Operation lose 5 stone began and I have mixed feelings today. This may have something to do with having to pull out of the 2 Castles 10k this morning at the last minute, so to say I am disappointed and frustrated is an understatement! 

Since I came clean with myself, and all of you, that I have had difficulty controlling my diet things have been getting easier. I think the most important thing that I say there is control; I need to remember that it is solely up to me what I buy in the Supermarket, what I cook and what goes in my mouth. I know this may sound really easy to those of you that don't have an unhealthy relationship with food. To me it’s not just a simple case of buying, cooking and eating that I have to think about. It’s also ignoring the marketing that is used to get you to buy the products; reading past the "low fat/ half fat /0% fat /low calorie/ good for you" rubbish that is all over the packaging and pretty much every food advert anywhere, and educating myself on the actual ingredients. 

I believe that control is the most important thing that I personally need to think about. It is really important that I and I alone control what goes in my mouth. 

An easy way if doing this is by preparing all my meals and snacks myself, rather than letting others plate it up or buying pre-packed sandwiches from the Supermarket. This is especially important when going out to eat! It is a sure fire way of having that control taken away from you with the portion sizes, that they will pile on your plate for you! I'm quite worried about this as I much prefer having a nice meal out as opposed to a night in the pub! In fact I'm due to go out this Friday, for an Indian so this will be my first test! 

I refuse to stay in and not socialise so controlling my own portion sizes and making sensible choices when I am eating out is something that I need to get used to!

My PT Oli has given me lots of advice as regards to my diet, the main things being eat lots of protein, about 150g per day, keep well hydrated and also cut the carbs. Now, I know many of you will question this, but to be honest, carbs don't really agree with me anyway and also, I'm not cutting them completely; I'm just not eating them after lunch and making sure that what I do eat is whole grain. As diet is the most important thing that I need to concentrate on, I found that I had a lot of brain clutter, being told one thing then another by somebody else. Everybody having their own opinion and ideas was confusing so I decided to buy Bob Harpers "The Skinny Rules." 




Now, I have to admit, I don't like the title, the word skinny does not say healthy to me (obviously a marketing thing) but I trust Bob, who doesn't?! The book basically gives you 20 rules to follow and gives you explanation as to why. When I read the book everything completely made sense, for example, Oli had told me to drink water and ignore the flavoured waters or squash, no added sugar or not! Apparently your body isn't clever enough to know that the squash is no added sugar, so your pancreas releases insulin, and you stop burning fat, and it makes you hungry, Bob agrees, he wasn't making it up - hooray! (I bet I'll pay for that comment tomorrow!) Now, the problem here is that I hate water, you can say that it doesn't taste of anything as much as you want, as far as I am concerned, it tastes like swamp. I guess this is something that I need to get used to! 

So some of the rules in the book:
  • Drink a large glass of water before every meal
  • Eat protein at every meal
  • No carbs after lunch
  • Learn to read food labels
  • Get your portion sizes right
  • Go to bed hungry
  • Eat your vegetables
  • Sleep well
  • Plan one splurge meal a week
Obviously, he doesn't just list the rules and expect you to get on with it. Each rule is explained in detail and backed up with research and facts which make you understand the reasons why you should follow them. After reading this, everything makes sense, I now have zero brain clutter and everything is so much clearer. Brain clutter by the way causes anxiety, which can lead to depression and binge eating.

 As well as the set of rules, Bob has included a 4 weekly plan in the book, which I have decided not to follow (what was I saying about control earlier? No thanks, I'll read the rules and decide on my own meals!). Also there is a really good section with recipes which I have found particularly helpful for the variety of food that I can chose from whilst keeping my protein and vegetable intake up and carbs low.

 I'm not going to say that I have found the last few days easy with my diet, but I have felt very satisfied that I have been in control and there have been no temptations, secret trips to the shop for sweets or raiding the cupboards gone 9pm. 
 So, so far so good, I am finally in control!


Tuesday 5 June 2012

So I ran a Marathon, so now what?

If you had been following my previous blog then you would know that I ran this year’s London Marathon. An amazing experience that I will never forget, for a number of reasons, one of which being how hard it was! Now, I know that a marathon is supposed to be hard, and also that it is hard for everyone, but I made it particularly hard for myself as I ran it being 5 stone overweight. Not a very good idea I know, I imagine I have done some lasting damage to my knees and when I think about the pressure I put on my heart and lungs to be honest I'm surprised I'm still here.

I imagine that there will be people reading this that are thinking, well why didn't you just lose the weight? Surely the training would have helped you to lose it? Didn't you think you should lose it when you got your place? And also, how did you get yourself into that state in the first place? If I had all the answers to these questions then believe me I would have done it already!

Usually when people are as overweight as I am, let’s face it, it's because they eat too much and don't exercise. That's just basic common sense right? I'm not going to deny that I eat too much, but I am far from lazy, doing some kind of exercise 5 out of 7 days a week, but this of course won't help me if I continue to eat as much as I do. What's the point in killing myself in the gym or running until I'm close to vomiting if I'm just going to think, "oh I can eat that I've just worked really hard" or "I'll work that off later." How stupid?

Looking back, I don't really know where it all started, it just kind of did. I've never been what you would call thin, as a child and a teenager I was never fat, the weight has kind of crept up on me. I was never really into sports at school, preferring cigarettes and cider, so PE was the only chance I got to do any exercise, if I could be bothered. At home treats were limited to two biscuits a day, no fizzy drinks and we would never be allowed a McDonalds or any kind of junk food. We all stuck to a healthyish diet, everything in moderation.

My lack of exercise continued into my 20's where I had continued with my 20 a day smoking habit and nights out that lasted all weekend (and weekends started on Thursdays back then!) also after over a decade of being a vegetarian, I succumbed to bacon sandwiches to cure a hangover. This soon lead to McDonalds, pizza and any other junk food that would cure a hangover or set me up for a night on the beer. I spent so much time yo-yoing and crash dieting, getting down to a size 12 then piling it all back on, and more until at 28 years old I needed an outfit for a friend’s wedding and had to buy a size 22 pair of trousers. How disgusting?! This is when I gave up smoking, I started exercising, using exercise dvds and a super strict diet then discovering a love for running I got down to a size 14 for my sister’s wedding, and ran a half marathon on the way. Three years later and I am back in a size 18 and dragging myself around wondering why I'm finding things difficult, note to self - it's because you are a big fat batch that's why!!

Since then I have ran numerous half marathons and 10k's, and swapped exercise dvds for hard gym sessions, but I still can't sort out my diet. I know what I need to do, what I need to eat and what foods are good and bad, but getting my head right is proving more difficult. To put it simply, I need to stop stuffing my fat face with crap that is no good for me. I need to stop kidding myself that because my meals are relatively healthy it's ok to eat chocolate and other equally disgusting things in between meals, it's not ok to treat myself on a Friday or ignore any kind of healthy eating when I eat out, which is happening more frequently. I don't know why I seem to think that being this size is either attractive or acceptable? It's neither, and I know that I really need to beat it this time. I think 5 stone is a good target, 70lbs is quite a good round number.

It maybe that I don't need to lose quite that much weight, I plan on doing it the sensible way and using weight training to build muscle which will then help me fight the fat, we all know that muscle weighs more that fat but knowing my starting weight (sorry I'm not sharing!) I think 70lbs is doable. I have a personal trainer who has been great and very patient with me over the last few weeks while I've been trying to get my head around my diet, he is also battering me in the gym, and giving me great work outs to do in between our meetings involving weight training and vile intervals! As for running, I haven't put it on the back burner, but I am now running just once a week, and concentrating on getting faster, so lots of hills, sprints and intervals. My aim is to get a sub 30 5k by the summer, so fingers crossed. I'm also back to a weekly spin class, hooray! (my favourite!)

So, here is a before picture. Don't panic, I haven't taken a photo of myself in my underwear or swimming gear, I wouldn't do that to you its gross. Instead I am wearing clothes, phew, but as you can see I'm pretty massive, so there is a lot of work to do.





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I'm a fatty trying to get to be a thinny!