I miscalculated the distance on my last run and it was actually 4.93km not 4.64km so I actually was running at 10.5kph rather than 9.9kph. Much better! :o)
Bring on the takeway! (mmmbeeertastessogoodafternothavingitforages)
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Very very cold, like... very
We set off a tiny bit late to get to the start of The Hell of The Ashdown this morning, but thanks to it being 8am on a Sunday, there was no traffic at all and we got there with plenty of time. The organisation of the event is such that there are never hundreds of people milling about, though there are one thousand places allocated between the 50km and 100km rides. I waved Mr TOTKat goodbye at around 09:20 and headed back to the car to get some change for a cup of tea.
At around 11am, after hunkering down under a blanket in the car and reading for a bit, I went for a 5km run which wasn't painful, but felt rubbish; sluggish legs and generally didn't feel great. 28 minutes meant that it was indeed pretty slow at 9.9kph (I usually do 5km at around 10.6kph or faster). A quick protein shake and more book under a blanket after that (I had on a thermal base layer, a technical long-sleeved top, a long-sleeved cycling top and a fleecy jacket and long running tights and jogging bottoms on the bottom half and I was still cold even with a fleecy blanket on top of that) in the car 'cause it was warmer than the ride HQ. A couple of teas and salad after that and I was worried that I'd not had a progress call, but as I had very little battery life left on the iPhone (thanks to using it as a navigation aid to get there) and didn't want to use it up. 5 hours after the start and I was extreeeeeemely cold and more than a bit worried and was just tucking into my egg mayonnaise when I got a text message... then two voicemails from 25 minutes earlier! So I called and got through to a very weary, but slightly perking up Mr TOTKat who'd "bonk"ed quite a bit but was thankfully right around the corner from a feeding station and had munched and perked up a bit since the first plaintive voicemail. I was so relieved to hear he was OK and "only" 10 or so miles away, so about an hour or so and he'd be done.
So, I finished my book, went for another tea and waited at the finish line for Mr TOTKat to come over that last hill. Admittedly, I was a bit premature in deciding to stand outside and ended up being there for half an hour and chatting to a lady who was worried about her son and husband who'd not finished yet either.
It was really great to see Mr TOTKat cresting that last hill and crossing the finish line; 108.8km and 5000 feet of climb is no mean feat at all and I'm very proud of him for meeting the challenge! And I was more than a little bit cold by that point, though the time had flown while I was reading. We adjourned for tea and cookie then headed home for hot bathing, beer and Chinese Takeaway. There's only so much cold and a bit stressed I can take before the slightest hint of not having to cook will be grasped with both hands. Damn the numbers for today; I'll cheat hard and be damned!
At around 11am, after hunkering down under a blanket in the car and reading for a bit, I went for a 5km run which wasn't painful, but felt rubbish; sluggish legs and generally didn't feel great. 28 minutes meant that it was indeed pretty slow at 9.9kph (I usually do 5km at around 10.6kph or faster). A quick protein shake and more book under a blanket after that (I had on a thermal base layer, a technical long-sleeved top, a long-sleeved cycling top and a fleecy jacket and long running tights and jogging bottoms on the bottom half and I was still cold even with a fleecy blanket on top of that) in the car 'cause it was warmer than the ride HQ. A couple of teas and salad after that and I was worried that I'd not had a progress call, but as I had very little battery life left on the iPhone (thanks to using it as a navigation aid to get there) and didn't want to use it up. 5 hours after the start and I was extreeeeeemely cold and more than a bit worried and was just tucking into my egg mayonnaise when I got a text message... then two voicemails from 25 minutes earlier! So I called and got through to a very weary, but slightly perking up Mr TOTKat who'd "bonk"ed quite a bit but was thankfully right around the corner from a feeding station and had munched and perked up a bit since the first plaintive voicemail. I was so relieved to hear he was OK and "only" 10 or so miles away, so about an hour or so and he'd be done.
So, I finished my book, went for another tea and waited at the finish line for Mr TOTKat to come over that last hill. Admittedly, I was a bit premature in deciding to stand outside and ended up being there for half an hour and chatting to a lady who was worried about her son and husband who'd not finished yet either.
It was really great to see Mr TOTKat cresting that last hill and crossing the finish line; 108.8km and 5000 feet of climb is no mean feat at all and I'm very proud of him for meeting the challenge! And I was more than a little bit cold by that point, though the time had flown while I was reading. We adjourned for tea and cookie then headed home for hot bathing, beer and Chinese Takeaway. There's only so much cold and a bit stressed I can take before the slightest hint of not having to cook will be grasped with both hands. Damn the numbers for today; I'll cheat hard and be damned!
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Niggly leg
After the surprise high kcal burn during yesterday's run through, my leg started to feel niggly last night and this morning it was definitely sore at the back, but so is the right one now, only less so. I'm hoping it's "just" DOMS and as such I've planned a gentle run tomorrow to kill half an hour while hubby is doing the The HELL of the Ashdown ride. Tell you what, finding a 5ish km running route around there that has any less than a total climb of about 100m is not easy! I've had to find a flattish bit with a loop I'll have to do twice and that'll give me a total climb of around 45m. Not quite the gentle run I was looking for, but given that Mr TOTKat will be cycling for 4 hours or so I've got to find -something- to keep me occupied while I wait.
Brekkie today was scrambled egg and egg whites on a toasted High Bran and Seed bagel, with Marmite. Lunch, mmmmlunch... one of my favourites, though it is quite low protein so I sneaked in some extra in a scoop of unflavoured whey powder - roasted, spiced butternut squash soup with a slice of unfruited malt loaf:-
After fighting with the garden for all of about 20 minutes before deciding that it was way too cold and my fingers hurt too much from the cold (couldn't wear gloves to do weeding as it requires too much fine-grained finger control) we sat down for an afternoon snack of more of that heavenly banana and raisin malt loaf (with an apple on the side for me 'cause they're really nice and we have loads at the moment):-
I've been wanting to try out Clearspring's buckwheat soba noodles for a while as they're a "healthier" alternative to the Amoy Straight to Wok ones we usually use; they're higher in fibre, have no added oil to keep them moist etc.; so it was a fabulous excuse for a (chicken) BEEP:-
Exercise - rest day
Brekkie today was scrambled egg and egg whites on a toasted High Bran and Seed bagel, with Marmite. Lunch, mmmmlunch... one of my favourites, though it is quite low protein so I sneaked in some extra in a scoop of unflavoured whey powder - roasted, spiced butternut squash soup with a slice of unfruited malt loaf:-
After fighting with the garden for all of about 20 minutes before deciding that it was way too cold and my fingers hurt too much from the cold (couldn't wear gloves to do weeding as it requires too much fine-grained finger control) we sat down for an afternoon snack of more of that heavenly banana and raisin malt loaf (with an apple on the side for me 'cause they're really nice and we have loads at the moment):-
I've been wanting to try out Clearspring's buckwheat soba noodles for a while as they're a "healthier" alternative to the Amoy Straight to Wok ones we usually use; they're higher in fibre, have no added oil to keep them moist etc.; so it was a fabulous excuse for a (chicken) BEEP:-
Exercise - rest day
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1640 1797] |
| Protein (g) | 113.1 (28.4%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 203.4 (47.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 42.0 (23.7%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 8.7 |
Friday, 29 January 2010
New routine!
370kcals burned going through a 1 set run-through of it in 47 minutes today with lots of stopping and talking in between and no real cardio-based cool down (but including a warm up of 1km rowing at the start). So I'm quite impressed by that. Mike(?) is very enthusiastic, really encouraging (slightly OTT on that front) and very attentive to form. He's put together a really nice full body routine full of complex (as in multiple-muscle group) exercises and showed me some new toys in the gym that I previously pooh poohed (mostly the Powerplates and Kinesis jobbies). As we went through the routine he modified them to fit me better (most notably when I mentioned that my left arm and shoulder is significantly weaker and I end up compensating for it, so he broke out clean and press barbell into squat and press dumbbells on each side to help build up the left side a bit more to even things out a bit). I have to wait for him to write up the routine with the extra notes from today's session (mmm, new plank variation and its tricky!) and he'll email them to me in time for my Monday work out. I'll post the routine once I get it.
Today's real highlight is dinner. 250g Bison rump steaks. They look incredibly lean, if a little on the thin side, but if they're anything like that buffalo I pot roasted, then we're in for a real treat tonight! And I get to have my weekly wine treat which takes me to 5 units of alcohol this week.
Only 1 cheat so far this week (the wine), but then there's the weekend which is a bit on the unplanned side at the moment, so plenty of scope for more cheating there!
Exercise - 47 minutes run through at the gym (HRmax 180, HRavg 142)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad: spinach, sweet pepper, celery, walnuts, chicken fillet and lemon juice
(sneaky chocolate from the box I was handing 'round the office)
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
D - bison rump steak; sweet potato, potato and carrot mash, cauliflower and wine
Today's real highlight is dinner. 250g Bison rump steaks. They look incredibly lean, if a little on the thin side, but if they're anything like that buffalo I pot roasted, then we're in for a real treat tonight! And I get to have my weekly wine treat which takes me to 5 units of alcohol this week.
Only 1 cheat so far this week (the wine), but then there's the weekend which is a bit on the unplanned side at the moment, so plenty of scope for more cheating there!
Exercise - 47 minutes run through at the gym (HRmax 180, HRavg 142)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad: spinach, sweet pepper, celery, walnuts, chicken fillet and lemon juice
(sneaky chocolate from the box I was handing 'round the office)
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
D - bison rump steak; sweet potato, potato and carrot mash, cauliflower and wine
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maitain weight (inc. exercise) | 1860 2105 |
| Protein (g) | 166.1 (36.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 150.7 (30.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 34.2 (16.8%) |
| Alcohol (g) | 41.6 (15.9%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 9.1 |
Thursday, 28 January 2010
And on the 7th day
Well, OK, it's Thursday but it's my rest day. So, I am actually resting. I think part of the reason my thigh gave out last week was because I went at it hard, five days in a row as well as not warming up properly. So, today's lunching and munching had to be a bit more frugal due to the lack of burn. That said, the banana and raisin malt loaf I made at the weekend was sooooo nice, that I've made another one now that the first one is down to the last crust :o)
Lunch was a bit experimental today; I got some Edamame beans in the shopping (I love them) and was going to have them with spinach, sweet pepper, walnuts and goats cheese but there was lettuce that needed finishing and it turns out that the Edamame beans are proteiney and fatty enough that I didn't need the walnuts, so I ended up with this instead:-
(lettuce, Edamame beans, capers, very very ripe goats cheese and lemon juice)
Beef chilli for dinner. Nomsicles, but not all that photogenic, plus you've seen it before!
And for those of you who have been asking for the malt loaf recipe, here it is again (bread machine recipe, but I'm sure it'd work as a manual one with a bit of working out timings):-
* 15g (1 tbsp) Sugar or Agave nectar
* 75-100g Raisins (or any mix of dried fruits, I use 75g when I add banana or 100g without banana)
* 200g Strong White Flour
* 2g (1 tsp) Dried Yeast
* 200g Strong Wholemeal Flour
* 70g (2 tbsp) Malt Extract (Holland and Barratt is the only place I've found so far that sells it)
* 15g (1 tbsp) Milk Powder
* 15ml (1 tbsp) Olive Oil
* 290ml room temperature water
Stick it all in the bread maker (making sure the yeast goes in first and the wet ingredients last so that the yeast is protected from the wet ingredients by the flour etc. at the start), except the dried fruit which goes in the nut dispenser (or wait for the nut/raisin beep) and set it to "raisin bake" mode or equivalent. You can add chopped banana in with the dried fruit (I added 2 ripe bananas to mine to end up with a 1/10th loaf slice being 220kcals :o)) and it seems to work quite well, though be careful the dispenser flap doesn't get all sticky and stuck closed, thus not dropping in the fruit into the mix (voice of experience!).
This one is a lot fluffier, bigger and flatter-topped than the last, perhaps fresher yeast and a lack of me hurriedly mixing in the fruit with a wooden spoon a few minutes into the bake cycle 'cause the nut dispenser door had got stuck shut. *ahem*
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and Grape Nuts
S - banana
L - salad - lettuce, edamame beans, capers, goats cheese (with rind) and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - banana and raisin malt loaf, toasted :oD
Exercise - rest day (bit of foam rolling and a few planks & pressups, nothing worth logging)
Yes the %s don't add up to 100%. This is because there is port in the chilli recipe and even though the alcohol is boiled off, WLR doesn't know that's what happens when you cook alcohol so the alcohol is still registered in the nutrition split. Annoying, but there you go.
Lunch was a bit experimental today; I got some Edamame beans in the shopping (I love them) and was going to have them with spinach, sweet pepper, walnuts and goats cheese but there was lettuce that needed finishing and it turns out that the Edamame beans are proteiney and fatty enough that I didn't need the walnuts, so I ended up with this instead:-
(lettuce, Edamame beans, capers, very very ripe goats cheese and lemon juice)
Beef chilli for dinner. Nomsicles, but not all that photogenic, plus you've seen it before!
And for those of you who have been asking for the malt loaf recipe, here it is again (bread machine recipe, but I'm sure it'd work as a manual one with a bit of working out timings):-
* 15g (1 tbsp) Sugar or Agave nectar
* 75-100g Raisins (or any mix of dried fruits, I use 75g when I add banana or 100g without banana)
* 200g Strong White Flour
* 2g (1 tsp) Dried Yeast
* 200g Strong Wholemeal Flour
* 70g (2 tbsp) Malt Extract (Holland and Barratt is the only place I've found so far that sells it)
* 15g (1 tbsp) Milk Powder
* 15ml (1 tbsp) Olive Oil
* 290ml room temperature water
Stick it all in the bread maker (making sure the yeast goes in first and the wet ingredients last so that the yeast is protected from the wet ingredients by the flour etc. at the start), except the dried fruit which goes in the nut dispenser (or wait for the nut/raisin beep) and set it to "raisin bake" mode or equivalent. You can add chopped banana in with the dried fruit (I added 2 ripe bananas to mine to end up with a 1/10th loaf slice being 220kcals :o)) and it seems to work quite well, though be careful the dispenser flap doesn't get all sticky and stuck closed, thus not dropping in the fruit into the mix (voice of experience!).
This one is a lot fluffier, bigger and flatter-topped than the last, perhaps fresher yeast and a lack of me hurriedly mixing in the fruit with a wooden spoon a few minutes into the bake cycle 'cause the nut dispenser door had got stuck shut. *ahem*
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and Grape Nuts
S - banana
L - salad - lettuce, edamame beans, capers, goats cheese (with rind) and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - banana and raisin malt loaf, toasted :oD
Exercise - rest day (bit of foam rolling and a few planks & pressups, nothing worth logging)
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1706 1794] |
| Protein (g) | 132.3 (32.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 175.0 (39.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 50.3 (27.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 8.8 |
Yes the %s don't add up to 100%. This is because there is port in the chilli recipe and even though the alcohol is boiled off, WLR doesn't know that's what happens when you cook alcohol so the alcohol is still registered in the nutrition split. Annoying, but there you go.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Good gym
Apart from the skinny little diva who showed up in microscopic gym shorts (Abercrombie and Fitch dontchyaknow!), a teeny vest, trainers and no bra; and proceeded to spend 10 minutes in front of the mirrors, making sure her baseball cap was on perfectly before throwing gym equipment around because it was in her way (though she could barely lift much of it, so hah!) and then struggling to do some puny hanging bent-leg raises. It was veeeeery difficult resisting laughing at her. Yeah it's good that she's actually in the gym doing some resistance training, but the -attitude-!
Me, I burned off a very respectable 499kcals in 52 minutes whilst being careful with my leg. I kept the weight lower on the lunges and leg curls and made sure to warm up gently first. For the first time, I managed 10 pressups in a row with no rests in between and I've changed my planks to be straight arm planks - mmmm, much harder! :o) Shame I ran out of time, 'cause it'd be nice to have done 3 sets of 10 pressups rather than just the one. Ohwell. Rest day tomorrow (and using the foam roller for 15 minuts at home, following Rachel Cosgrove's foam rolling exercises/stretches to get the kinks out of my legs and shoulders, might squeeze in some pressups there too) and then new trainer on Friday!
Nice eggy salad for lunch today (shown here in unmixed state - I like my eggs to sit on top so they don't go mushy during the morning):-
This is becoming one of my favourite evening meals; lightly smoked salmon fillets are so incredibly flavoursome:-
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, capers, walnuts, 2 boiled eggs and lemon juice
S - a pear and a mini Babybel Light
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillet with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf
Exercise - 52 minutes gym (HRmax 184 HRavg 158)
Me, I burned off a very respectable 499kcals in 52 minutes whilst being careful with my leg. I kept the weight lower on the lunges and leg curls and made sure to warm up gently first. For the first time, I managed 10 pressups in a row with no rests in between and I've changed my planks to be straight arm planks - mmmm, much harder! :o) Shame I ran out of time, 'cause it'd be nice to have done 3 sets of 10 pressups rather than just the one. Ohwell. Rest day tomorrow (and using the foam roller for 15 minuts at home, following Rachel Cosgrove's foam rolling exercises/stretches to get the kinks out of my legs and shoulders, might squeeze in some pressups there too) and then new trainer on Friday!
Nice eggy salad for lunch today (shown here in unmixed state - I like my eggs to sit on top so they don't go mushy during the morning):-
This is becoming one of my favourite evening meals; lightly smoked salmon fillets are so incredibly flavoursome:-
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, capers, walnuts, 2 boiled eggs and lemon juice
S - a pear and a mini Babybel Light
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillet with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf
Exercise - 52 minutes gym (HRmax 184 HRavg 158)
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1800 2231] |
| Protein (g) | 157.7 (36%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 164.6 (35.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 56.1 (28.8%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 8.0 |
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
's not fair
I was 250kcals under maintenance overall last week, but I'm a kg heavier. I know I said I wasn't going to beat myself up about it, but this plain isn't fair! Where did an extra 7,000kcals to create a kg of weight -come- from if I was 250kcals -under-?
So, if it's not real weight gain, what is it? Water retention? Unlikely, given the amount of water I've been drinking in the last 24 hours. Transit? Mmm, possibly. Actual fat? Very unlikely in that time period plus there weren't enough kcals to make that much fat without me sleeping through the whole weekend and not moving at all. It's gotta come from somewhere though! Meh. Anyway.
Leg rehabilitation is underway; after a week of using lifts rather than stairs, not walking/running up escalators, no gym, no running, no cycling, no swimming and some deep-tissue massage. I made sure to do a gentle warm up on the rower, taking it gently for the first 500m then a bit harder for the last 500m and then going gently for 5 minutes on the cross-trainer to see how it felt before going quite a bit harder for 12.5 minutes, gently again for 2.5 minutes then 2 minutes cool down and some actual stretching for once. It feels OK; a bit "scratchy' on the inside as if the middle was having rough wool rubbed on it, but no pain at all and no straining feeling. So, I think I'll try some gentle resistance training on it tomorrow, with lighter weights than usual and a slow build up rather than straight into working weight.
Brekkie was my usual greek yogurt creation, with a scoop of whey, fruit compote and some flaked almonds:-
I had a banana before today's little trial gym trip and a protein shake afterwards to fuel up those poor neglected muscles.
Lunch is getting a bit standard, spinach, capers, a few walnuts, tomato (usually sweet peppers) and chicken. Tomorrow it'll be eggs instead :o)
I had a pear and some carrots and houmous to keep me going through the afternoon without killing people or chewing my own arm off. I do so -love- houmous and I even actually seem to like raw carrots now. Me! Raw carrots!
There were a few veggies to use up after Burns Night dinner last night, so I boiled 'em up and mashed 'em to go with some beef chilli:-
And I just -had- to try some of the Stilton which was part of our Christmas hamper at the weekend, and how better to serve it than on top of some toasted, fruity, home-made malt loaf with a big mug of tea:-
Exercise - 1km warm up on the rower; 3 sets of - plank (60s), pulsed side planks (10) and press-ups (5); followed by 22 minutes on the cross-trainer.
So, if it's not real weight gain, what is it? Water retention? Unlikely, given the amount of water I've been drinking in the last 24 hours. Transit? Mmm, possibly. Actual fat? Very unlikely in that time period plus there weren't enough kcals to make that much fat without me sleeping through the whole weekend and not moving at all. It's gotta come from somewhere though! Meh. Anyway.
Leg rehabilitation is underway; after a week of using lifts rather than stairs, not walking/running up escalators, no gym, no running, no cycling, no swimming and some deep-tissue massage. I made sure to do a gentle warm up on the rower, taking it gently for the first 500m then a bit harder for the last 500m and then going gently for 5 minutes on the cross-trainer to see how it felt before going quite a bit harder for 12.5 minutes, gently again for 2.5 minutes then 2 minutes cool down and some actual stretching for once. It feels OK; a bit "scratchy' on the inside as if the middle was having rough wool rubbed on it, but no pain at all and no straining feeling. So, I think I'll try some gentle resistance training on it tomorrow, with lighter weights than usual and a slow build up rather than straight into working weight.
Brekkie was my usual greek yogurt creation, with a scoop of whey, fruit compote and some flaked almonds:-
I had a banana before today's little trial gym trip and a protein shake afterwards to fuel up those poor neglected muscles.
Lunch is getting a bit standard, spinach, capers, a few walnuts, tomato (usually sweet peppers) and chicken. Tomorrow it'll be eggs instead :o)
I had a pear and some carrots and houmous to keep me going through the afternoon without killing people or chewing my own arm off. I do so -love- houmous and I even actually seem to like raw carrots now. Me! Raw carrots!
There were a few veggies to use up after Burns Night dinner last night, so I boiled 'em up and mashed 'em to go with some beef chilli:-
And I just -had- to try some of the Stilton which was part of our Christmas hamper at the weekend, and how better to serve it than on top of some toasted, fruity, home-made malt loaf with a big mug of tea:-
Exercise - 1km warm up on the rower; 3 sets of - plank (60s), pulsed side planks (10) and press-ups (5); followed by 22 minutes on the cross-trainer.
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1828 2131 |
| Protein (g) | 152.8 (34%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 191.0 (39.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 51.1 (25.6%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 14.6 |
Monday, 25 January 2010
Back to it!
Yeah, it looks like not bothering to publish daily means that I slip a bit more than when I plan to slip a bit and go public with it. So. Back to it! Almost completely, 'cause we've had roasted haggis tonight, with neeps, tatties, swede, carrots and gravy:-
Exercise - still resting up my leg; with a side of deep-tissue massage
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and pecan nuts
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, capers, celery, herby goats cheese and lemon juice
S - a pear
S - beef jerky
D - roasted haggis with neeps, tatties, swede, carrots and gravy
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf
Exercise - still resting up my leg; with a side of deep-tissue massage
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and pecan nuts
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, capers, celery, herby goats cheese and lemon juice
S - a pear
S - beef jerky
D - roasted haggis with neeps, tatties, swede, carrots and gravy
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1731 1815] |
| Protein (g) | 109.3 (25.9%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 184.5 (41%) |
| Fat (g) | 62.1 (33.1%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 9.0 |
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Yeah, so I've been bad
And I've been eating and drinking for England since Friday evening. I could have reined it in today; and more of today has been quite good, but I just really did not want to cook, so we're having takeaway for dinner. Almost a week of no exercise, due to my iffy leg, and for some reason that's resulted in eating and drinking too much. It's been at least 7 cheats of my 7 allowed for this week, if not a couple more. Not the best three days ever, but sometimes it just happens and I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
Yesterday's "family Christmas Dinner" (this is the first time we've got together to do Christmas present exchange etc.) was really good. I bought a buffalo roasting joint from Alternative Meats and pot roasted it for 6 hours.
And served it with boiled potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips and sugar snap peas. It was deeeelicious!
There was so much liquid from the meat juices and the marinade it was roasted in (vegetable stock, port, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of honey on top) that it just needed a little thickening to make into a gravy which was -heavenly-. At 1kcal per g and fantastically tasty, I vote for more buffalo! (and there's most of the potatoes still left, so I'll probably mash them up with some sweet potato tomorrow)
Tomorrow, I'll be getting a deep tissue massage on that strained thigh muscle and then we'll see how it goes with a bit of cardio on Tuesday. I'll have a go on the cross trainer and if it starts off well, I'll do an intervals session.
Yesterday's "family Christmas Dinner" (this is the first time we've got together to do Christmas present exchange etc.) was really good. I bought a buffalo roasting joint from Alternative Meats and pot roasted it for 6 hours.
And served it with boiled potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips and sugar snap peas. It was deeeelicious!
There was so much liquid from the meat juices and the marinade it was roasted in (vegetable stock, port, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of honey on top) that it just needed a little thickening to make into a gravy which was -heavenly-. At 1kcal per g and fantastically tasty, I vote for more buffalo! (and there's most of the potatoes still left, so I'll probably mash them up with some sweet potato tomorrow)
Tomorrow, I'll be getting a deep tissue massage on that strained thigh muscle and then we'll see how it goes with a bit of cardio on Tuesday. I'll have a go on the cross trainer and if it starts off well, I'll do an intervals session.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
I won!
Yes. Me. -I- won. -I- won a physical competition!
I'm so very happy about this. I've never won anything like this before. 37 years old and I've won my first physical competition.
Remember back in December, I did the UK Challenge taster challenge at my local gym? Well, I found out today that I was the fastest woman. Details and full results will be emailed out to competitors tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see how close it was. I don't really care about the prize (though I won't be turning up my nose at it, for sure!) it was all about how far I've come in the last 6 months since I started doing some proper, regular exercise. And I can honestly say that I'm proud of how far I've come and it's great to have it verified by winning this challenge. Yes, there's still more work to do and there will always be work to do; of course there is. But I often lose sight of where I started from and the distance I've travelled when I do this kind of thing. It was the same when I lost weight; the numbers on the scales and on the labels on my clothes didn't -mean- anything to me.
So.
Anyway.
YAY!
I'm so very happy about this. I've never won anything like this before. 37 years old and I've won my first physical competition.
Remember back in December, I did the UK Challenge taster challenge at my local gym? Well, I found out today that I was the fastest woman. Details and full results will be emailed out to competitors tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see how close it was. I don't really care about the prize (though I won't be turning up my nose at it, for sure!) it was all about how far I've come in the last 6 months since I started doing some proper, regular exercise. And I can honestly say that I'm proud of how far I've come and it's great to have it verified by winning this challenge. Yes, there's still more work to do and there will always be work to do; of course there is. But I often lose sight of where I started from and the distance I've travelled when I do this kind of thing. It was the same when I lost weight; the numbers on the scales and on the labels on my clothes didn't -mean- anything to me.
So.
Anyway.
YAY!
Hoorah for eggs!
Almost 2 weeks of making packed lunches every single day I'm at work now; I usually give in once or twice a week and get a soup from EAT or pod. I'm quite pleased that I've not cracked yet, despite the odd little setback and really not feeling like it a few times.
Today's lunch protein was in the form of boiled eggs, for a change, which I cooked while eating brekkie this morning and they were absolutely lovely even though they were cooked, peeled and cut up this morning, 4.5 hours before I got to my salad. Nice change from the alternating between chicken fillets and goats cheese. Ohyes indeed.
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - Nakd bar; Cocoa Loco
S - tall, skinny caramel macchiato
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, celery, 2 boiled eggs and a dash of honey & mustard dressing
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillets on couscous, lettuce, sweet pepper and a dash of salad dressing
Exercise - enforced rest
Today's lunch protein was in the form of boiled eggs, for a change, which I cooked while eating brekkie this morning and they were absolutely lovely even though they were cooked, peeled and cut up this morning, 4.5 hours before I got to my salad. Nice change from the alternating between chicken fillets and goats cheese. Ohyes indeed.
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - Nakd bar; Cocoa Loco
S - tall, skinny caramel macchiato
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, celery, 2 boiled eggs and a dash of honey & mustard dressing
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillets on couscous, lettuce, sweet pepper and a dash of salad dressing
Exercise - enforced rest
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1446 1797 |
| Protein (g) | 128.3 (36.5%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 127.1 (33.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 46.3 (29.6%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.9 |
I never thought I'd think like this
I'm really hating not being able to train at the gym, or run, or cycle or even swim.
It's so worked into my routine as well as allowing me to eat more during the day. My stomach is used to eating lots and my brain and muscles are used to that lovely hour on most days where I get to focus on getting fitter and healthier and not think about anything bad, or tricky, or worrying.
I'm irrationally worried that I'll gain fat while I'm not training. Of course my muscles will waste a tiny bit through lack of use, but it won't be anything really appreciable in the time scales we're talking about here. I know these things, but I still think I'm going to wake up fat. Mad. huh?
Anyway, I'm giving my leg the weekend to feel significantly better or I'm off to the doctor to see about getting a referral to a physiotherapist. I've got a skiing holiday coming up soonish, dammit! And there is no way on Earth I"m missing out on that!
It's so worked into my routine as well as allowing me to eat more during the day. My stomach is used to eating lots and my brain and muscles are used to that lovely hour on most days where I get to focus on getting fitter and healthier and not think about anything bad, or tricky, or worrying.
I'm irrationally worried that I'll gain fat while I'm not training. Of course my muscles will waste a tiny bit through lack of use, but it won't be anything really appreciable in the time scales we're talking about here. I know these things, but I still think I'm going to wake up fat. Mad. huh?
Anyway, I'm giving my leg the weekend to feel significantly better or I'm off to the doctor to see about getting a referral to a physiotherapist. I've got a skiing holiday coming up soonish, dammit! And there is no way on Earth I"m missing out on that!
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Yesterday and today
(no photos as my new camera is in Scotland right now)
Yesterday...
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, blueberries and pecan nuts
S - banana
*swim*
S - 1 scoop whey in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, honeyed goats cheese, walnuts and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - banana
*run*
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
D - pork and mustard sausages with sweet potato mash and peas
Exercise - 20 minutes swim (204m warm up, 408m timed, 442m cool down), 28 minutes run (4.9km)
Today...
B - greek yogurt, 1 scoop whey, blueberries and desiccated coconut
S - Nakd bar - Berry Cheeky and a skinny caramel macchiato (cheat #1 this week)
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, capers, roasted chicken fillet and honey&mustard dressing
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - prawns with garlic, lime, chilli and 4 billion tons of tomatoes (and couscous)
S - mini Babybel Light
Exercise - rest (plus a deep tissue massage)
Yesterday...
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, blueberries and pecan nuts
S - banana
*swim*
S - 1 scoop whey in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, honeyed goats cheese, walnuts and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - banana
*run*
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
D - pork and mustard sausages with sweet potato mash and peas
Exercise - 20 minutes swim (204m warm up, 408m timed, 442m cool down), 28 minutes run (4.9km)
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1958 2237] |
| Protein (g) | 147.3 (30.5%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 184.2 (35.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 72.1 (33.7%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.8 |
Today...
B - greek yogurt, 1 scoop whey, blueberries and desiccated coconut
S - Nakd bar - Berry Cheeky and a skinny caramel macchiato (cheat #1 this week)
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, capers, roasted chicken fillet and honey&mustard dressing
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - prawns with garlic, lime, chilli and 4 billion tons of tomatoes (and couscous)
S - mini Babybel Light
Exercise - rest (plus a deep tissue massage)
| Calories (kcal) [kcas to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1380 1795 |
| Protein (g) | 147.7 (44.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 126.7 (35.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 29.9 (20.1%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 9.9 |
Hamstring twang
Damn. So the pain down the back of my left thigh appears to be a hamstring strain. So, in order to make sure I don't do myself any long-term damage -and- I've got a fighting change of training properly soon, I'm laying off running and weight training for a good few days.
Bit of a bugger as it means I get to eat less and it throws out my eating plan for the rest of this week at least. And I've had to reschedule my first PT session with my new trainer for next Friday rather than this Friday. Bah.
I am consoling myself with a skinny caramel macchiato and will aim just to stay within maintenance kcals for the rest of the week rather than any deficit. And this afternoon, I'm booked in for a deep tissue massage to help things on their way to mending. (expect whining about how much that hurts later ;o))
Bit of a bugger as it means I get to eat less and it throws out my eating plan for the rest of this week at least. And I've had to reschedule my first PT session with my new trainer for next Friday rather than this Friday. Bah.
I am consoling myself with a skinny caramel macchiato and will aim just to stay within maintenance kcals for the rest of the week rather than any deficit. And this afternoon, I'm booked in for a deep tissue massage to help things on their way to mending. (expect whining about how much that hurts later ;o))
Monday, 18 January 2010
Thighs of burning fire
Well, lesson learned there I'd say. Full body weights on Friday, mad cross-trainer intervals on Saturday followed by the first run in ages on Sunday, equals thighs of burning fire. Ohyes. They hurt. All along the front and on the back of the left one. Walking up stairs is fun. As is using my legs with no assistance to get up from seated, especially when carrying things. Ow.
And I was gonna run part-way home after work. Hah! Decided to swim after work with hubby instead :o)
Brekkie was utterly delicious this morning. I used a sample sachet of the cookies and cream flavour and ohboy is it nice! Gotta work through the vanilla first before I'm allowed to buy any though:-
Lunch was lacking in bulk. I generally need lunch to at least look substantial and though it tasted good, it looked a bit pathetic in the lunch box:-
Which meant that come 2nd afternoon snack, I was about to tear arms off and chew at them, but managed to stick to the carrots and houmous I'd packed, except the houmous was a bit mouldy and I ate it anyway.
The salmon fillets we get from Ocado are fabulously tasty, "lightly smoked" makes them salty and smokey and just really strongly flavoured so they need nothing doing to them at all. So, so, sooo nice:-
Exercise - 48 minutes weights (HRmax 179, HRavg 166) and 33 minutes swim (HRmax 172, HRavg 163)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop cookies and cream whey, fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - Dorset Cereals; 3 berries and cherries bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in semi-skimmed milk (no bloody skimmed. again.)
L - salad; spinach, sweet peppers, capers, roasted chicken breast, honey, mustard and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - banana
*swim*
D - salmon fillets with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - 1 scoop strawberry delight in semi-skimmed milk
And I was gonna run part-way home after work. Hah! Decided to swim after work with hubby instead :o)
Brekkie was utterly delicious this morning. I used a sample sachet of the cookies and cream flavour and ohboy is it nice! Gotta work through the vanilla first before I'm allowed to buy any though:-
Lunch was lacking in bulk. I generally need lunch to at least look substantial and though it tasted good, it looked a bit pathetic in the lunch box:-
Which meant that come 2nd afternoon snack, I was about to tear arms off and chew at them, but managed to stick to the carrots and houmous I'd packed, except the houmous was a bit mouldy and I ate it anyway.
The salmon fillets we get from Ocado are fabulously tasty, "lightly smoked" makes them salty and smokey and just really strongly flavoured so they need nothing doing to them at all. So, so, sooo nice:-
Exercise - 48 minutes weights (HRmax 179, HRavg 166) and 33 minutes swim (HRmax 172, HRavg 163)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop cookies and cream whey, fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - Dorset Cereals; 3 berries and cherries bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in semi-skimmed milk (no bloody skimmed. again.)
L - salad; spinach, sweet peppers, capers, roasted chicken breast, honey, mustard and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - banana
*swim*
D - salmon fillets with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - 1 scoop strawberry delight in semi-skimmed milk
|
Sunday, 17 January 2010
First run of the year
With not very many weeks to go to the first triathlon of the year, it was about time I hauled ass outside and did some running. So, suited up in semi-cold weather gear; long running tights, t-shirt, hoodie, hat and gloves, I headed out on a familiar just-over-5km route; thinking "this is going to be horrible". As I crested the first little hill (over the railway line), I looked at my HRM and it was flashing "180". That's BPM. And I tend to keep it 170-178 running, or rather I was doing when I was running at least once a week. I felt fine though. Odd. Hey ho. So I kept on trucking at the same pace and checking on my heart rate every km or so. I felt totally and completely fine and it was staying at or just above 180 all the way. Usually I feel a bit rough if it stays up there and if it stays over 182 for more than a couple of minutes I feel pretty sick. But not this time. Nope. Fine. Well, I'm not arguing, so. Pace was 9:14/mile, or speed of 10.45km/h which is slightly faster than I was doing in the 10K race last year. Yes, quite pleased indeed.
Nommy chocolate orange shake post-run and a hot bath.
Lunch today - pea and ham soup (made with a tin of mushy peas and chopped ham :o)) with rye bread:-
Snack - beef jerky and an apple ('cause they're so nice I can't resist them!):-
Dinner- chicken in spicy black bean sauce (more commonly known as BEEP) with noodles:-
Exercise - 5.35km run (HRmax 185, HRavg 179)
B - toasted wholemeal seeded bagel with Marmite
S - banana
*run*
S - 1 scoop chocolate orange whey in semi-skimmed milk
L - pea and ham soup with rye bread
S - beef jerky and an apple
D - chicken in spicy black bean sauce with noodles
Totals this week:-
Exercise Count: 6
Exercise time: 03:55
Exercise kcals: 2,392
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise Count: 184
Exercise time: 103 h
Exercise kcals: 57,259
Nommy chocolate orange shake post-run and a hot bath.
Lunch today - pea and ham soup (made with a tin of mushy peas and chopped ham :o)) with rye bread:-
Snack - beef jerky and an apple ('cause they're so nice I can't resist them!):-
Dinner- chicken in spicy black bean sauce (more commonly known as BEEP) with noodles:-
Exercise - 5.35km run (HRmax 185, HRavg 179)
B - toasted wholemeal seeded bagel with Marmite
S - banana
*run*
S - 1 scoop chocolate orange whey in semi-skimmed milk
L - pea and ham soup with rye bread
S - beef jerky and an apple
D - chicken in spicy black bean sauce with noodles
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1797 2151] |
| Protein (g) | 153.5 (35.6%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 213.6 (46.4%) |
| Fat (g) | 34.4 (17.9%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.5 |
Totals this week:-
Exercise Count: 6
Exercise time: 03:55
Exercise kcals: 2,392
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise Count: 184
Exercise time: 103 h
Exercise kcals: 57,259
How Not To Get Fat
Mostly, I liked it.
Mostly, it gives good advice.
It starts off with an easy-to-digest, pop science explanation of how our bodies deal with food, the chemical and biological interactions. Then explains the problems with "diet"s and the fact that an eating regime is for life, not just to drop a few pounds only to put more back on again because you revert to how you were eating before. There are sections on psychological aspects, the effect of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine and finally a bit of a bashing of exercise. The bashing is pretty much in the same vein as the "diet" bashing in that exercising hard for a few weeks to lose a few pounts, then stopping, it just as bad for your metabolism as fasting for a few weeks and then going back to "eating normally".
Mostly, it states what seems to be obvious about eating right all of the time (and exercise as much as is sustainable and keep it up). But the scaremongering around messing up your metabolism if you've ever been fat and dieted or exercised hard is a bit much at times. Of course, if you diet hard, then put the weight back on (and more) then diet hard again and repeat, your body (and mind) is going to be very confused.
Generally, I'd recommend it for anyone who is either young and worried about gaining weight later in life; or anyone who is overweight and wants to permanently keep weight off after losing it; or anyone who has already lost weight and wants to maintain that healthier weight for the rest of their life. I'd also recommend it for just anyone really. Unless you've really already got a handle on eating frequently and moderately with a focus on unprocessed and unrefined foods.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Quick little intervals session
Brekkie was a slightly overcooked pile of scrambled egg+egg whites on a toasted bagel with Marmite. Nommy, but sub-optimal due to the eggs being ready too quickly. Bah. Then I slobbed about watching Saturday Kitchen (mmmfoodporn), followed by lunch.
A Japanese-style dressing spiced up an otherwise quite boring tuna salad; lemon juice, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and wasabi paste. Very very tasty on its own and a subtle change to the overall flavour of the tuna when mixed in with it. The tuna was lovely by itself. The salad was nice by itself. But, ew, they did not go together so well. I suspect it was the tomato that broke the flavours.
I was going to swim today, but changed my mind. I'm a tiny bit bored with swimming (better get my ass out of that attitude sharpish with only 12 weeks to the first triathlon!) so decided to do a little bit of intervals on the cross-trainer instead and some core work. The pleasant surprise was that 3x 60s planks weren't hellishly hard; side pulsed planks x60 were clean and almost "easy"; and I did 5 full press ups in between sets of planks without shuddering and grunting and thinking "I can't do these" after only the second press up of each set. :oD
But.
*yawn*
I just want to play around with cooking food right now and taking pictures of it. To be honest, the idea of these triathlons is scaring me as I've not run in a while and cycled even less recently. I didn't want to do any ironing or vacuuming today either, but they needed doing. Bah. And, indeed, meh! Glad I pulled my finger out and did them, so.
Er, anyway...
Afternoon snack experiment:-
Gosh it's nice. The almond butter tastes more like cream with the sharpness of the apple (which was one of the nicest apples I've had in a long time, thank you Waitrose.) And, as well as being delicious, it fulfils "protein plus fruit or veg" :o)
Dinner was one of my favourites. We make a huge vat of beef chilli every now and then and freeze it down in portions. Occasionally, we make lasagne using the chilli instead of a beef bolognese and ohhhh is it tasty!
B - scrambled eggs (1x egg and 3x egg whites) on a toasted seeded wholemeal bagel with Marmite
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, tomatoes, capers, tuna and Japanese-style dressing
*gym*
S - 1 scoop milk chocolate whey in semi-skimmed milk
S - sliced apple spread with almond butter
D - lasagne made with basic beef chilli
A Japanese-style dressing spiced up an otherwise quite boring tuna salad; lemon juice, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and wasabi paste. Very very tasty on its own and a subtle change to the overall flavour of the tuna when mixed in with it. The tuna was lovely by itself. The salad was nice by itself. But, ew, they did not go together so well. I suspect it was the tomato that broke the flavours.
I was going to swim today, but changed my mind. I'm a tiny bit bored with swimming (better get my ass out of that attitude sharpish with only 12 weeks to the first triathlon!) so decided to do a little bit of intervals on the cross-trainer instead and some core work. The pleasant surprise was that 3x 60s planks weren't hellishly hard; side pulsed planks x60 were clean and almost "easy"; and I did 5 full press ups in between sets of planks without shuddering and grunting and thinking "I can't do these" after only the second press up of each set. :oD
But.
*yawn*
I just want to play around with cooking food right now and taking pictures of it. To be honest, the idea of these triathlons is scaring me as I've not run in a while and cycled even less recently. I didn't want to do any ironing or vacuuming today either, but they needed doing. Bah. And, indeed, meh! Glad I pulled my finger out and did them, so.
Er, anyway...
Afternoon snack experiment:-
Gosh it's nice. The almond butter tastes more like cream with the sharpness of the apple (which was one of the nicest apples I've had in a long time, thank you Waitrose.) And, as well as being delicious, it fulfils "protein plus fruit or veg" :o)
Dinner was one of my favourites. We make a huge vat of beef chilli every now and then and freeze it down in portions. Occasionally, we make lasagne using the chilli instead of a beef bolognese and ohhhh is it tasty!
B - scrambled eggs (1x egg and 3x egg whites) on a toasted seeded wholemeal bagel with Marmite
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, tomatoes, capers, tuna and Japanese-style dressing
*gym*
S - 1 scoop milk chocolate whey in semi-skimmed milk
S - sliced apple spread with almond butter
D - lasagne made with basic beef chilli
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1669 2188] |
| Protein (g) | 141.6 (34.9%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 146.4 (33.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 55.5 (30.7%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.9 |
Good old M&S
My favourite work dress has died a bit. The lining is torn all down one seam, but far enough either side of the seam that I can't repair it as the lining would then be tighter than the dress itself. It was £29.50 from M&S and I loved it as it fit, flattered and went in the washing machine at 40C.
So.
I got a new dress from M&S:-
Which, it turns out, fits better and flatters more! And was £29.50 again :o) (so this time I bought two and will keep one in the wardrobe for when the first one dies) All's well that ends well.
So.
I got a new dress from M&S:-
Which, it turns out, fits better and flatters more! And was £29.50 again :o) (so this time I bought two and will keep one in the wardrobe for when the first one dies) All's well that ends well.
The last 6 months
...since I bought my heart rate monitor, I've racked up 102 hours of recorded exercise (there were a few sessions that weren't recorded, but that's just tough). That's 3 hours 55 minutes average per week. And there's 56.5K kcals (56.5 million calories!) recorded too (the odd session recorded with time but not kcals burned, but again that's just tough). That's an average of 2,200 kcals burned per week.
I'm pretty pleased with that.
I'm more pleased with the results of taking on weight training as the major part of my weekly exercise as that's had more palpable results; shape change and body fat % drop. Of course, the festive season set me back a little, but I'm almost back on track and ready for a routine change which always shakes things up a bit. Targets set, locked and loaded. Here's to the next 6 months!
I'm pretty pleased with that.
I'm more pleased with the results of taking on weight training as the major part of my weekly exercise as that's had more palpable results; shape change and body fat % drop. Of course, the festive season set me back a little, but I'm almost back on track and ready for a routine change which always shakes things up a bit. Targets set, locked and loaded. Here's to the next 6 months!
Friday, 15 January 2010
Exotic meats
Hopefully, by the time I get home there will be a delivery of "exotic meats" waiting there. I ordered 4x venison steaks, 2x buffalo steaks and a buffalo roasting joint. 'cause, dammit, venison is really really tasty, low in fat and high in protein and we both like it and I though it'd be nice to have some buffalo too, to try. So I've planned for venison steak and various veggies for dinner tonight along with a nice bottle of red (cheat #2 this week - in theory I'm allowing myself up to 7 out of 35 meals to be cheats, at 80% compliance, though something like fish&chips once would count for all 7 that week in all likelihood!).
Anyhoo, this morning I tried Grape Nuts on my greek yogurt and fruit and they were laaaaavly! They a lot harder than the ones that come in the EAT yogurty mixes, but nice nonetheless. Quite carb heavy compared with my usual (so far) flaked almonds, but I think that's OK.
Lunch had some of that amazing honeyed goats cheese in my salad. Man, that stuff is heavenly; creamy and sweet but definitely cheese-like in flavour at the same time. Goes exceptionally well with walnuts, capers and lemon juice over a spinach and sweet pepper base.
Aaaand here's the glorious steak; yes the order arrived :o) :-
[photo - er, except we ate it and I forgot to take a photo *ahem*]
Exercise - 47 minutes weights (HRmax 183, HRavg 162 - I've upped the weights on my leg curls and lunges with cable pulls and changed from pull-ups to chin-ups and 3x8 at 30kg assist on those. New routine next week!)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and a sprinkle of Grape Nuts
S - Nakd bar; Berry Cheeky
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate whey in semi-skimmed milk (there wasn't any skimmed ;o))
L - salad - spinach, sweet pepers, capers, spring onions, walnuts, goats cheese and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous ("accidentally" ended up eating twice as much of this as intended as it'd been out of the fridge too long and needed eating up)
S - mini Babybel Light
D - venison steak with sweet potato, broccoli and 1/2 bottle of red wine
Anyhoo, this morning I tried Grape Nuts on my greek yogurt and fruit and they were laaaaavly! They a lot harder than the ones that come in the EAT yogurty mixes, but nice nonetheless. Quite carb heavy compared with my usual (so far) flaked almonds, but I think that's OK.
Lunch had some of that amazing honeyed goats cheese in my salad. Man, that stuff is heavenly; creamy and sweet but definitely cheese-like in flavour at the same time. Goes exceptionally well with walnuts, capers and lemon juice over a spinach and sweet pepper base.
Aaaand here's the glorious steak; yes the order arrived :o) :-
[photo - er, except we ate it and I forgot to take a photo *ahem*]
Exercise - 47 minutes weights (HRmax 183, HRavg 162 - I've upped the weights on my leg curls and lunges with cable pulls and changed from pull-ups to chin-ups and 3x8 at 30kg assist on those. New routine next week!)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and a sprinkle of Grape Nuts
S - Nakd bar; Berry Cheeky
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate whey in semi-skimmed milk (there wasn't any skimmed ;o))
L - salad - spinach, sweet pepers, capers, spring onions, walnuts, goats cheese and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous ("accidentally" ended up eating twice as much of this as intended as it'd been out of the fridge too long and needed eating up)
S - mini Babybel Light
D - venison steak with sweet potato, broccoli and 1/2 bottle of red wine
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 2055 2278 |
| Protein (g) | 139.5 (27.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 165.6 (30.4%) |
| Fat (g) | 63.4 (28%) |
| Alcohol (g) | 41.6 (14.3%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.8 |
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Hungry day
Really wanted to go to the gym today but my mind won over my body and I protected my rest day. Rest days are important and it's sometimes hard to remember that.
Having not gone to the gym, my eating times are a bit different and that's resulted in being hungry at odd times (lord knows there's a lot of protein today so it can't be that); 1 hour after having my nommy lunch salad I was still hungry. Meh. Still, I am liking my yogurty breakfasts (greek yogurt with vanilla whey mixed in, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top):-
And there was a v. tasty dinner of Aberdeen Angus and cracked black pepper chipolatas on butternut squash mash (roasted and mashed squash is sooo intense and sticky and tasty!):-
Also, today had a cheat meal in it, due to extenuating circumstances, a medical need for tea and cake and wanting to be supportive and inclusive:-
Inclusivity tastes... OMG, SO GOOD! Morrisons Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes are DIVINE! They take a lemon sponge cup cake, make a cavity in the middle and fill it with lemon curd and top the thing with lemon butter cream and a tiny sprinkling of meringue crumbs. I've not had cake in a while and it was amazing. I could taste every distinct flavour; the butter; the icing sugar; the floury, fatty, sugary, moist sponge; the tangy, sticky, zingy lemon curd... But no, this is not the start of a slippery slide into stuffing my face with cakes, it was a treat, a cheat, a free meal and certainly has been counted in my food diary for today and I know it's empty calories but I don't feel guilty for eating it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed sharing the pair that we bought and sharing the experience of the fabulous flavours.
Exercise - rest day
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, capers, baked chicken breast and honey and mustard dressing
S - beef jerky!
S - 2x tangerines
S - Lemon Meringue Cup Cake
D - Aberdeen Angus and cracked peppercorn chipolatas and mashed butternut squash
Having not gone to the gym, my eating times are a bit different and that's resulted in being hungry at odd times (lord knows there's a lot of protein today so it can't be that); 1 hour after having my nommy lunch salad I was still hungry. Meh. Still, I am liking my yogurty breakfasts (greek yogurt with vanilla whey mixed in, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top):-
And there was a v. tasty dinner of Aberdeen Angus and cracked black pepper chipolatas on butternut squash mash (roasted and mashed squash is sooo intense and sticky and tasty!):-
Also, today had a cheat meal in it, due to extenuating circumstances, a medical need for tea and cake and wanting to be supportive and inclusive:-
Inclusivity tastes... OMG, SO GOOD! Morrisons Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes are DIVINE! They take a lemon sponge cup cake, make a cavity in the middle and fill it with lemon curd and top the thing with lemon butter cream and a tiny sprinkling of meringue crumbs. I've not had cake in a while and it was amazing. I could taste every distinct flavour; the butter; the icing sugar; the floury, fatty, sugary, moist sponge; the tangy, sticky, zingy lemon curd... But no, this is not the start of a slippery slide into stuffing my face with cakes, it was a treat, a cheat, a free meal and certainly has been counted in my food diary for today and I know it's empty calories but I don't feel guilty for eating it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed sharing the pair that we bought and sharing the experience of the fabulous flavours.
Exercise - rest day
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, capers, baked chicken breast and honey and mustard dressing
S - beef jerky!
S - 2x tangerines
S - Lemon Meringue Cup Cake
D - Aberdeen Angus and cracked peppercorn chipolatas and mashed butternut squash
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1840 1799 |
| Protein (g) | 140.8 (31.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 145.1 (30.3%) |
| Fat (g) | 76.7 (38.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.0 |
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Potential new trainer
Michael is a sprinter. Michael is built like a small brick privy. Michael likes the idea that I want to lift heavy and be able to do pull ups. However, Michael seems to be a little hung up on lifting heavy will make me bulk up (which it won't unless I eat protein for England and take hormone supplements) and, as he's a runner, a little hung up on cardio too (but I've told him that I don't do treadmills as I get sea-sick afterwards). But still, he'll have a new routine for me for next Monday and we'll run through it together. He does get that I'm competitive, driven and don't really need/want someone standing over me for motivation. I think he might be a good replacement for the trainer I had before. We'll see next week.
We'll also see how I've done in the Virgin Active UK Challenge taster competition. The competition ends today, the draw for the bike happens next week and the results of who was fastest woman and fastest man will be announced. *fingers crossed* I was still in the lead on Monday this week! I don't really care about the prize, I just want to win a competition that involves physical prowess, dammit!
Today went like this...
For brekkie, I decided to try coconut and chocolate with my yogurt and blueberries:
Not as tasty as I'd hoped, so I won't be doing that again.
And for dinner, a trusty beef chilli with shaved courgette, sliced onion and some toasted pine nuts sprinkled in:
Nom, as usual!
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax 184, HRavg 161)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop chocolate whey, desiccated coconut and frozen blueberries
S - Dorset Cereals, 3 Berries and Cherries bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, tomatoes, spring onions, capers, prawns and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - mini Babybel Light
D - beef chilli with courgette, onion and toasted pine nuts
We'll also see how I've done in the Virgin Active UK Challenge taster competition. The competition ends today, the draw for the bike happens next week and the results of who was fastest woman and fastest man will be announced. *fingers crossed* I was still in the lead on Monday this week! I don't really care about the prize, I just want to win a competition that involves physical prowess, dammit!
Today went like this...
For brekkie, I decided to try coconut and chocolate with my yogurt and blueberries:
Not as tasty as I'd hoped, so I won't be doing that again.
And for dinner, a trusty beef chilli with shaved courgette, sliced onion and some toasted pine nuts sprinkled in:
Nom, as usual!
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax 184, HRavg 161)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop chocolate whey, desiccated coconut and frozen blueberries
S - Dorset Cereals, 3 Berries and Cherries bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, tomatoes, spring onions, capers, prawns and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - mini Babybel Light
D - beef chilli with courgette, onion and toasted pine nuts
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1644 2210] |
| Protein (g) | 139.0 (34.2%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 129.4 (29.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 64.0 (35.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 15.4 |
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
New toy!
My trusty Canon Ixus died a few months ago after many years of good service. It Just Worked. Then at a gig at Somerset House last year, it went a bit funny. The day after, it recovered and was fine again for a while until it wasn't any more.
Under advice from cameraphile friends of mine, towards the end of last year, I checked out the Canon S90 and fell in love a tiny bit. And yesterday I finally gave in and spent some of my October bonus on one. So now I have one functioning compact camera and one slightly broken (USB connector usable only with great care, so it needs repairing, though I can use a card reader instead if I have to) DSLR that has lasted really well since March 2007 or so and still going strong at well over 10,000 photos taken with it now.
Obligatory cat test shots...
Under advice from cameraphile friends of mine, towards the end of last year, I checked out the Canon S90 and fell in love a tiny bit. And yesterday I finally gave in and spent some of my October bonus on one. So now I have one functioning compact camera and one slightly broken (USB connector usable only with great care, so it needs repairing, though I can use a card reader instead if I have to) DSLR that has lasted really well since March 2007 or so and still going strong at well over 10,000 photos taken with it now.
Obligatory cat test shots...
Experimentation with swimming effort
The slightly further away Virgin Active isn't where Google Maps says it is. So I missed it, went past it and wandered around aimlessly for about 10 minutes until I stumbled across it by accident. Anyway. 25m pool, normal swimming cossie and no real attempt to go particularly quicklyt resulted in 07:33 for 400m. Not bad, I think. And definitely improveable. Though I did end up only doing 1200m instead of the usual 1600m in total as I'd be way late getting back to the office after getting so nicely lost.
Oh and my HRM watch total exercise time has finally ticked over the 100 hours mark. So now it says "100 h" with no minutes or seconds and it looks like there's no rounding up, it'll only get to 101 when I've actually done at least 101 hours.
Mmmm lamb biryani for dinner:-
Exercise - 25 minutes swimming
B - Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, 1 scoop vanilla whey and flaked almonds
S - Nakd bar, Berry Cheeky
*swim*
S - 1 scoop chocolate whey in skimmed milk
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, walnuts and honeyed goats cheese
S - tangerines
S - carrots and houmous
S - mini babybel light
D - lamb biryani, peas and sweetcorn
Oh and my HRM watch total exercise time has finally ticked over the 100 hours mark. So now it says "100 h" with no minutes or seconds and it looks like there's no rounding up, it'll only get to 101 when I've actually done at least 101 hours.
Mmmm lamb biryani for dinner:-
Exercise - 25 minutes swimming
B - Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, 1 scoop vanilla whey and flaked almonds
S - Nakd bar, Berry Cheeky
*swim*
S - 1 scoop chocolate whey in skimmed milk
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, walnuts and honeyed goats cheese
S - tangerines
S - carrots and houmous
S - mini babybel light
D - lamb biryani, peas and sweetcorn
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1710 2024] |
| Protein (g) | 115.6 (27.%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 155.7 (34.7%) |
| Fat (g) | 70.8 (37.9%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.5 |
Monday, 11 January 2010
Frozen blueberries are... frozen
This was breakfast... (frozen blueberries and flaked almonds on greek yogurt with vanilla whey mixed in)
Maybe next time I should take them out of the freezer the night before I want them for breakfast? Nice solidification of the yogurt around the cold berries but a touch too cold for this time of the year. Very tasty though!
Today is going to look like this...
Exercise - 48 minutes gym (HRmax 183 HRavg 167)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds on top
S - Dorset Cereals; fruit, nuts and seeds bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate why in semi-skimmed milk
L - salad - lettuce, peppers, capers, walnuts and a roasted chicken breast fillet with lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - mini babybel light
D - fish pie - pollock fillets with broccoli and mushrooms in a white sauce, topped with potato and sweet potato mash
Maybe next time I should take them out of the freezer the night before I want them for breakfast? Nice solidification of the yogurt around the cold berries but a touch too cold for this time of the year. Very tasty though!
Today is going to look like this...
Exercise - 48 minutes gym (HRmax 183 HRavg 167)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds on top
S - Dorset Cereals; fruit, nuts and seeds bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate why in semi-skimmed milk
L - salad - lettuce, peppers, capers, walnuts and a roasted chicken breast fillet with lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - mini babybel light
D - fish pie - pollock fillets with broccoli and mushrooms in a white sauce, topped with potato and sweet potato mash
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1662 2232 ] |
| Protein (g) | 144.0 (35.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 158.4 (36.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 52.1 (28.6%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 9.3 |
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Weekly roundup (boring stats)
Totals this week:-
Exercise count: 5
Exercise time: 03:20
Exercise kcals: 1,894
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 176
Exercise time: 99:35 <- uh oh! Gonna go over 100 on Monday!
Exercise kcals: 54,744
And for today... I made a chicken Vindaloo for dinner (took a Jamie Oliver recipe and tweaked it a bit :o))
Exercise - rest day
B - toasted wholegrain bagel with Marmite and a poached egg
S - yogurt with fruit compote
L - spicy butternut squash soup
S - toasted rye bread with ham, sliced tomato and mustard
D - Chicken Vindaloo (totally home made) with rice, peas and sweetcorn
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
Exercise count: 5
Exercise time: 03:20
Exercise kcals: 1,894
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 176
Exercise time: 99:35 <- uh oh! Gonna go over 100 on Monday!
Exercise kcals: 54,744
And for today... I made a chicken Vindaloo for dinner (took a Jamie Oliver recipe and tweaked it a bit :o))
Exercise - rest day
B - toasted wholegrain bagel with Marmite and a poached egg
S - yogurt with fruit compote
L - spicy butternut squash soup
S - toasted rye bread with ham, sliced tomato and mustard
D - Chicken Vindaloo (totally home made) with rice, peas and sweetcorn
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1728 1798] |
| Protein (g) | 122.3 (29.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 219.3 (48.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 40.8 (22.1%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.1 |
Size does matter
We went swimming yesterday and I re-timed my 400m for " a laugh". Hah. Not funny in the end. This time I was 26s slower! The differences; a pool that's 3m longer (so 20 lengths of 20m instead of 23.5 lengths of 17m); and a non-empty pool (i.e. having to overtake slowpokes who subsequently fill your gob with water as you're breathing in so you can't breathe at the right time and your whole body starts to scream a little for some oxygennowpls!). I can't believe that the latter made a huge difference, to be honest.
So. When I go swimming on Tuesday next week, I'll make the trip to the slightly further away (8 minutes from my desk instead of 2) Virgin gym in town and use their 25m pool and see what happens with that. In the mean time, I am mostly despondent and unhappy about it all.
Saturday went like this...
Exercise - 32 minutes swimming (HRmax 180, HRavg 168)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, walnuts, spring onion, low fat dressing and 2 boiled eggs
S - carrot and houmous
S - 1 scoop whey in 200ml water and 1 mini babybel
D - casserole - onion, butternut squash, courgette, tinned tomato, balsamic vinegar and venison sausages
So. When I go swimming on Tuesday next week, I'll make the trip to the slightly further away (8 minutes from my desk instead of 2) Virgin gym in town and use their 25m pool and see what happens with that. In the mean time, I am mostly despondent and unhappy about it all.
Saturday went like this...
Exercise - 32 minutes swimming (HRmax 180, HRavg 168)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top
L - salad - lettuce, sweet peppers, capers, walnuts, spring onion, low fat dressing and 2 boiled eggs
S - carrot and houmous
S - 1 scoop whey in 200ml water and 1 mini babybel
D - casserole - onion, butternut squash, courgette, tinned tomato, balsamic vinegar and venison sausages
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1608 2103] |
| Protein (g) | 128.1 (32.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 111.1 (26.1%) |
| Fat (g) | 74.1 (41.8%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 11.9 |
Friday, 8 January 2010
Warmer and much less stressy
As I said, we stayed in a hotel last night. So I got a lovely hot bath before bed and was actually too warm in the night. When the power finally came back on properly at around 10am today my stress levels dropped quite significantly.
Gymmage today was quite good; I did try JAG's suggestion of negative movement practice for pull ups but was too weak to do anything other than drop quite quickly, so I went back to using the machine assistance but concentrated on making the lowering movement very slow. I think it might be time to get a trainer at this gym. I've got about 2 weeks left before I need to change my weights routine, so now would be a good time to have a chat and see what are the options.
Protein count for today is pretty high, probably due to the cooked brekkie at the hotel :oD
Exercise - 51 minutes weights (HRmax 178, HRavg 158)
B - bacon, scrambled egg, baked beans, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey in 200ml water
L - tomato and pancetta soup with mascarpone and 1 scoop whey
S - carrot and houmous
S - tangerines
S - banana
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
Gymmage today was quite good; I did try JAG's suggestion of negative movement practice for pull ups but was too weak to do anything other than drop quite quickly, so I went back to using the machine assistance but concentrated on making the lowering movement very slow. I think it might be time to get a trainer at this gym. I've got about 2 weeks left before I need to change my weights routine, so now would be a good time to have a chat and see what are the options.
Protein count for today is pretty high, probably due to the cooked brekkie at the hotel :oD
Exercise - 51 minutes weights (HRmax 178, HRavg 158)
B - bacon, scrambled egg, baked beans, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey in 200ml water
L - tomato and pancetta soup with mascarpone and 1 scoop whey
S - carrot and houmous
S - tangerines
S - banana
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1806 2199] |
| Protein (g) | 138.1 (31.3%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 158.2 (33.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 68.0 (34.6%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.0 |
*rage*
EDF are bastards. Power cuts of 8+ hours two night running, so no central heating (electric ignition) or hot water. So we went out for dinner last night and stayed in a hotel. Of course, this totally wrecked my food plans for the day AND it was a rest day so my allowance was low anyway. Cold, tired (didn't sleep well at all the last two nights) and generally very grumpy.
Not a happy bunny at all.
Dinner was nice though. Very nice. We tried a Japanese place just down the road, which specialises in Maki rolls. And the food was really tasty and not expensive either.
B - greek yogurt with fruit compote and walnut pieces on top
S - tiny slice of rye toast with ham and a mini babybel light
L - salad - spinach, goats cheese, peppers, tomato, capers, walnuts and lemon juice
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
S - carrots and houmous
D - gyoza, followed by salmon maki rolls (shared) then teryaki beef with steamed rice with 2 bottles of beer and then a pint in the hotel bar before bed
Exercise - rest day
Not a happy bunny at all.
Dinner was nice though. Very nice. We tried a Japanese place just down the road, which specialises in Maki rolls. And the food was really tasty and not expensive either.
B - greek yogurt with fruit compote and walnut pieces on top
S - tiny slice of rye toast with ham and a mini babybel light
L - salad - spinach, goats cheese, peppers, tomato, capers, walnuts and lemon juice
S - 1 scoop whey in semi-skimmed milk
S - carrots and houmous
D - gyoza, followed by salmon maki rolls (shared) then teryaki beef with steamed rice with 2 bottles of beer and then a pint in the hotel bar before bed
Exercise - rest day
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 2258 1802] |
| Protein (g) | 115.0 (21%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 212.0 (36.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 67.9 (27.8%) |
| Alcohol (g) | 46.9 (15%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 8.0 |
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Drat
OK, so the protein powder is officially Good. But, of course, I didn't order any more until the day before yesterday so I've now not got any for tomorrow. Drat. Still, there's chocolate milk to keep me going until it arrives. Really really hope it comes tomorrow at some point so I can get back to it on Friday morning.
Natural, strained Greek Yogurt for breakfast, with protein powder, fruit compote and a sprinkling of nuts is pretty nice. The protein powder is more than sweet enough to make the natural yogurt really quite decadent tasting, so I'll be doing that for a while I think.
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax - 184, HR avg - 158)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, Summer Fruits compote and a sprinkle of walnuts
S - banana
*gym*
S - chocolate milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, red pepper, capers, spring onion, prawns and lemon juice
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - clementines
S - fruit & nut mix
D - venison steak with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot and broccoli
Natural, strained Greek Yogurt for breakfast, with protein powder, fruit compote and a sprinkling of nuts is pretty nice. The protein powder is more than sweet enough to make the natural yogurt really quite decadent tasting, so I'll be doing that for a while I think.
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax - 184, HR avg - 158)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, Summer Fruits compote and a sprinkle of walnuts
S - banana
*gym*
S - chocolate milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, red pepper, capers, spring onion, prawns and lemon juice
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - clementines
S - fruit & nut mix
D - venison steak with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot and broccoli
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1658 2194] |
| Protein (g) | 113.5 (27.6%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 192.7 (43.9) |
| Fat (g) | 52.0 (28.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.6 |
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Speedy splosh
My new tri-suit arrived today so I gave it a go in the pool. Killing two birds with one stone, I decided to time myself for 400m so I can give it to the Thames Turbo Triathlon organisers to assess where I should go in the swimming section.
Given that I usually do 1600m in 31-32 minutes, I guesstimated 07:45 for 400m and entered than on the entry form yesterday. Today, in the pool I did 400m in 06:47! If I look at last year's race results, that's a full 20s faster than the fastest woman swimmer of any race last year and slower than only 6 of the men. *cough* I knew I was good :oD
Of course, I want to improve on that now even though I know full well that my running and cycling times will be proportionally nowhere near as good. That's just not the point for me right now. Yes yes, I need to get out and run some too so I can get a reasonable 5K time; I'd be really happy with 26 minutes or so where the fastest women are doing it in around or just under 20 minutes. Cycling... no idea how fast I can do it whatsoever.
Anyway, back to the food and suchlike. Day 2 of protein powder and my stomach is totally fine. If it's still good after tomorrow, I shall declare this new stuff "Good".
Exercise - 31 minutes swimming (7ish minutes at "mad thrash" speed - HRmax - 179, HRavg - 167)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk with 1 scoop whey
S - Dorset Cereals Fruit, Nut and Seeds bar
L - Salad - roasted chicken fillet, lettuce, capers, kidney beans and lemon juice
*swim*
S - chocolate milk
D - pork and apple sausages with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot
S - slice of rye bread (to try it)
Given that I usually do 1600m in 31-32 minutes, I guesstimated 07:45 for 400m and entered than on the entry form yesterday. Today, in the pool I did 400m in 06:47! If I look at last year's race results, that's a full 20s faster than the fastest woman swimmer of any race last year and slower than only 6 of the men. *cough* I knew I was good :oD
Of course, I want to improve on that now even though I know full well that my running and cycling times will be proportionally nowhere near as good. That's just not the point for me right now. Yes yes, I need to get out and run some too so I can get a reasonable 5K time; I'd be really happy with 26 minutes or so where the fastest women are doing it in around or just under 20 minutes. Cycling... no idea how fast I can do it whatsoever.
Anyway, back to the food and suchlike. Day 2 of protein powder and my stomach is totally fine. If it's still good after tomorrow, I shall declare this new stuff "Good".
Exercise - 31 minutes swimming (7ish minutes at "mad thrash" speed - HRmax - 179, HRavg - 167)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk with 1 scoop whey
S - Dorset Cereals Fruit, Nut and Seeds bar
L - Salad - roasted chicken fillet, lettuce, capers, kidney beans and lemon juice
*swim*
S - chocolate milk
D - pork and apple sausages with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot
S - slice of rye bread (to try it)
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1879 2071] |
| Protein (g) | 119.6 (26.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 223.1 (45.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 57.8 (28.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.2 |
Good so far
The whey protein hasn't turned me into a groaning, gurgling pile of digestive ick. AND, I'm back to my (slightly inflated) pre-Christmas weight; looks like it was mostly bloat and "stuff in transit".
Monday, 4 January 2010
Oosp!
We appear to have signed up to the whole Thames Turbo Triathlon series for 2010. 4, sprint triathlons (426m swim, 21km bike ride, 5km run) on bank holiday mondays throughout the year, starting on Easter Monday at 7am. It'll be the bike ride that kills my time.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
CTRL-ALT-DEL
Here we go! This will be a test of whether this new protein powder (with no added CLA) messes with my stomach.
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk and 1 scoop whey powder
L - Salad: spinach, kidney beans, goats cheese, capers, spring onion, walnuts and lemon juice
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey powder
S - fruit and nut mix
D - salmon fillet, couscous, peas, sweetcorn and lettuce
Exercise - 49 minutes weights (485kcals inc. background)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk and 1 scoop whey powder
L - Salad: spinach, kidney beans, goats cheese, capers, spring onion, walnuts and lemon juice
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey powder
S - fruit and nut mix
D - salmon fillet, couscous, peas, sweetcorn and lettuce
Exercise - 49 minutes weights (485kcals inc. background)
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1624 2241] |
| Protein (g) | 116.5 (34.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 144.0 (29.4%) |
| Fat (g) | 64.3 (36.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.5 |
Little run up...
...to get me back into the hang of doing this posting food & exercise lark. Tomorrow is the start of sorting out the macro ratios, there's not enough brain-cells to make all of the changes at once today.
B - Cheerios with semi-skimmed milk
L - Roasted tomato soup with creme fraiche, topped with toasted flaked almonds
S - Fruit and nut mix
S - A huge pear
S - 2x oat cakes
D - Beef chilli with mashed sweet potato, carrot and a bit of potato.
Exercise - rest day
This week's totals:-
Exercise count: 3
Exercise duration: 03:29
Exercise kcals: 1,887
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 169
Exercise duration: 96:02
Exercise kcals: 52,701
B - Cheerios with semi-skimmed milk
L - Roasted tomato soup with creme fraiche, topped with toasted flaked almonds
S - Fruit and nut mix
S - A huge pear
S - 2x oat cakes
D - Beef chilli with mashed sweet potato, carrot and a bit of potato.
Exercise - rest day
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight | 1350 1819] |
| Protein (g) | 59.1 (17.9%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 155 (44.1%) |
| Fat (g) | 54.6 (37.3%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 11.2 |
This week's totals:-
Exercise count: 3
Exercise duration: 03:29
Exercise kcals: 1,887
Totals since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 169
Exercise duration: 96:02
Exercise kcals: 52,701
Eating crow now alright
Having been so pleased with my lack of weight/fat gain over Christmas, I've just managed to weigh in 2.5kg heavier than 3 weeks ago. Way to go! AND I've done 3 really hard weights sessions this week where I've increased the weights quite significantly (for me - e.g. bicep curls which are new in this routine, I've upped from 5kg dumbbells to 7kg dumbbells in 3 sessions - 40% increase!) on some exercises and increased a bit on most. I ache like a bugger and my belly is wobbling; nice contrast there! I don't fit into shirts I fitted into nicely 3 weeks ago. It's all down to bad eating and too much drinking. I know that. I had a huge pile of bread yesterday for the first time in a very very long time and my stomach was phenomenally uncomfortable afterwards - I'm just not used to eating bread much any more.
So. Never has it been a better time to get a grip on food and drink and get back to doing things properly, and in fact take things up a notch:-
I've got a skiing holiday in March which may mess things up a bit due to "Sno Camp" being on a Thursday for six weeks which means no weights on Wednesday or Friday as it looks like there will be at least some strength training in those sessions. Not quite worked out how to work around that and keep up the cardio and have 2 rest days in the week, so we're thinking maybe that it'd be better not to do "Sno Camp" at all; it's bound to be targetted at people who have done bugger all exercise all year anyway - and... have you -seen- my thighs?
So. Never has it been a better time to get a grip on food and drink and get back to doing things properly, and in fact take things up a notch:-
- I will complete 3 weights sessions per week (not a feeble 2; but work commitments may torpedo this sometimes) of 40+ minutes.
- I will complete 1-3 cardio sessions a week of 30+ minutes hard effort.
- I will take part in at least 2 of the 4 Thames Turbo sprint triathlon series.
- I will increase my protein intake overall as a proportion of my daily nutrition - by using protein supplements where/if necessary.
- I will significantly decrease my intake of simple carbohydrates; bread (eat that maybe once a week anyway), potatoes, pasta (almost never eat that anyway)
- I will not cut out couscous (I like it a lot and it's a great complex carbohydrate)
- I will have no more than 1/2 bottle of wine per week (or 2x cans of lower alcohol beer) and it will count as a cheat/free meal in itself.
- I will post my food and exercise plan/results every day (90% of the time averaged over a month)
- I will try yogurt with fruit in/on and maybe some nuts for breakfast at least 4 times before giving up if I don't like it.
- I will make lunches up in bulk a couple of days in advance to make things easier.
- I will try to fear nuts less as a snack - yes they're very calorific for their weight/bulk but they -are- good for me in small amounts.
- I will eat bananas as a snack before exercise only (or within 2 hours either side of it, but at no other times)
I've got a skiing holiday in March which may mess things up a bit due to "Sno Camp" being on a Thursday for six weeks which means no weights on Wednesday or Friday as it looks like there will be at least some strength training in those sessions. Not quite worked out how to work around that and keep up the cardio and have 2 rest days in the week, so we're thinking maybe that it'd be better not to do "Sno Camp" at all; it's bound to be targetted at people who have done bugger all exercise all year anyway - and... have you -seen- my thighs?
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