Diet is going to be my biggest problem, i know, because historically it has been my biggest problem and i cant see how that is going to change. I have looked to see why i have such an issue with food. I can remember as a kid scoffing chocolate biscuits before my parents got up out of their beds! I can remember it pissed them off. i can't remember why I had such a hang up with food. But I continue to try and beat it.
My diet will consist of enough calories to keep my metabolism working hard, but not too much that I start to store more fat. The principal of cutting 500 calories a day by reducing intake by 250 calories and 250 calories burned through exercise is still a good benchmark, but my diet has to contain the right foods, the right balance. But strangely the biggest challenge will be to continue eating all day, splitting into 6 meals a day. The body takes 2.1/2 hours to digest a meal, so i am looking to eating every 2.1/2 to 3 hours. This should mean the metabolism is getting maximum energy from food, the right food. One problem is my lack of real knowledge of food. I need to read up on proteins, carbohydrates and fats so i know what i am putting into me is the right foods!
One challenge will be eating out. Aisha likes a MacDonald's now and again, maybe once a month. Taking her and Kim out without eating will be a real challenge. But one i feel i am ready for.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Metabolism
I have been doing research into how I can increase my metabolism for weight loss. One is by energy intake, ie food and drink, the other is by exercise. The key is to get the right balance of the two, so i lose weight while my metabolism increases.
Last night I read about the zig zag effect. its where you have a few low calorie days followed by a couple of high calorie days. The theory is that a few days of low calorie intake burns body fat, and before the metabolism can adjust to this new low intake a high calorie day or two increases the metabolic rate, ensuring fat is burned even faster. whether or not this works I don't know yet, i haven't done enough research, but it would make sense as to how I am not hitting 20 plus stones. I know My diet has been bad in the past, and I look at very fat people wondering, on the basis of how much i eat, how much they must put away! Maybe the difference is that most weeks i would start of with great intentions and this would fizzle out. Maybe i was on a zig zag diet without knowing it!!
To get my metabolism going I need to keep exercising, that I know. And one routine that stands out is kettlebells. I think the key with them is they give you a cardiovascular workout while building muscle. Building muscle is going to be key, as this will also increase the metabolism. I want to burn fat, and only fat.
i also need to understand my diet better. when i started this I hoped to keep my diet healthy, without having to make too many changes. This approach was wrong, I need a complete overhaul. The hearty meals is great, but I need to split that into 5 or 6 small healthy meals to get my metabolism going. I am researching how best to do this.
The final thing I am looking at is improving my sensory acuity when it comes to my body. I am going to chart this, and measuring will help, but if i can improve how I understand my own body, and what works and doesn't work for me, then i will have a better chance of succeeding.
Last night I read about the zig zag effect. its where you have a few low calorie days followed by a couple of high calorie days. The theory is that a few days of low calorie intake burns body fat, and before the metabolism can adjust to this new low intake a high calorie day or two increases the metabolic rate, ensuring fat is burned even faster. whether or not this works I don't know yet, i haven't done enough research, but it would make sense as to how I am not hitting 20 plus stones. I know My diet has been bad in the past, and I look at very fat people wondering, on the basis of how much i eat, how much they must put away! Maybe the difference is that most weeks i would start of with great intentions and this would fizzle out. Maybe i was on a zig zag diet without knowing it!!
To get my metabolism going I need to keep exercising, that I know. And one routine that stands out is kettlebells. I think the key with them is they give you a cardiovascular workout while building muscle. Building muscle is going to be key, as this will also increase the metabolism. I want to burn fat, and only fat.
i also need to understand my diet better. when i started this I hoped to keep my diet healthy, without having to make too many changes. This approach was wrong, I need a complete overhaul. The hearty meals is great, but I need to split that into 5 or 6 small healthy meals to get my metabolism going. I am researching how best to do this.
The final thing I am looking at is improving my sensory acuity when it comes to my body. I am going to chart this, and measuring will help, but if i can improve how I understand my own body, and what works and doesn't work for me, then i will have a better chance of succeeding.
Monday, 6 September 2010
Going for Goal
the last four weeks have seen my mindset change. My diet is steady, but no great, but the major change has been the level of activity. I am far more active than i have ever been, and more importantly I am enjoying it. The kettlebells is great, though i am out more on the bike, trying to use up as much of the summer as i can.
I have also been doing a lot of reading lately, trying to learn more about weight loss. I have also been trying to incorporate NLP into the fray, not easy with my limited knowledge. But I think i am going on the right direction. So this week, i have set myself a target of writing up my goals. I am going to write up a daily goal, a weekly goal, a monthly goal, a quarterly goal and a yearly goal. At the moment i will concentrate on fitness, but I am going to do something similar for my finances. Hopefully by setting targets I have something to aim for. I also want to do a proper assessment of myself physically before I begin, a sort of before and after shot. I am going to take all my measurements, and use them to assess my progress. My one concern and its a big one, is its groundhog day and I have been here so many times before. I don't know why this time its different, but i think the biggest one is that I have been assessing my life recently as I turn 39 next year. That means I am one year away from the big 4 0. A milestone i want to pass in far better shape than i am in now, both physically and financially. So i think with that coming up Its the right time to take it to the next stage.
I have also been doing a lot of reading lately, trying to learn more about weight loss. I have also been trying to incorporate NLP into the fray, not easy with my limited knowledge. But I think i am going on the right direction. So this week, i have set myself a target of writing up my goals. I am going to write up a daily goal, a weekly goal, a monthly goal, a quarterly goal and a yearly goal. At the moment i will concentrate on fitness, but I am going to do something similar for my finances. Hopefully by setting targets I have something to aim for. I also want to do a proper assessment of myself physically before I begin, a sort of before and after shot. I am going to take all my measurements, and use them to assess my progress. My one concern and its a big one, is its groundhog day and I have been here so many times before. I don't know why this time its different, but i think the biggest one is that I have been assessing my life recently as I turn 39 next year. That means I am one year away from the big 4 0. A milestone i want to pass in far better shape than i am in now, both physically and financially. So i think with that coming up Its the right time to take it to the next stage.
Monday, 30 August 2010
last week has carried on pretty much from the week before, started good, fizzled out a bit due to work commitments. Still haven't weighed myself, i am not avoiding it, just haven't got round to it, but will do tonight. Need to get a figure to start from. This weekend I read a report that made more sense than all the articles I have read on weight loss. It was simple, easy to understand, straight to the point. After reading it i thought yes, that's it, that's how easy all this is. I have posted it below. It is aimed at those wanting to lose 10lb, but the facts apply to all weight loss.
Often people are not really overweight but instead are just looking at how to lose 10 pounds that have been hanging around for a few weeks or even a few years that they do not know how to get rid of. Well I have a few ideas on how to lose 10 pounds now and fast that should get you on the right track.
How to Lose 10 Pounds
1. When trying to lose weight it comes down to energy in and energy out. There is no real way around this. To lose 10 pounds you need to burn 35000 calories more than you take in. The math doesn’t lie and you can’t lie to a scale either.
2. Most of our body is water and because of this there is water retention. Your body combats what is throwing off electrolytes or stress or other factors and it will naturally retain water.
3. Fat is high in calories. High water foods are low in calories. In order to change that input output ratio you need to raise the amount of low calorie density foods and lower the amount of high caloric density foods. so eat less red meat and fatty deep fried food and eat more fruits and veggies which are high in water content and nutrients.
4. All weight loss comes with a reason. What is the reason that you want to lose the weight? When you are hungry and drive by a McDonalds or KFC and just want to do drive through what is going to stop you? Certainly not losing weight.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – Pulling this all together
So how do you pull all of this together? how to lose 10 pounds?
When you want to know how to lose weight it comes down to planning. Plan to drink a lot more water, it will make you pee more often but will also clean you out and give you move energy. You also have to get more exercise and by exercise I mean try to get one hour of exercise of any kind in a day. This needs to be exercise that you like and not exercise that just feels like work as that will not be sustainable.
As far as eating goes you will need to get back to those core eating habits of eating fruit and vegetables and reducing the amount of heavy carbs like rice and potatoes and make sure to eat often. Eating smaller meals more often will keep that metabolism up for you.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – Here are 5 lose 10 pounds tips
Eat all your food in 5 or 6 meals a day instead of three
Cut back on your White carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta) and substitute with vegetables, which are higher in water and nutrients anyway
Exercise first thing in the morning by walking or light jogging or even biking for 30 to 45 minutes
Drink water from morning until night to stave off those urges to eat more food and to keep your metabolism up
Eat all your food in those 5 or 6 meals before 7:30 at night so that you are not going to sleep on a full stomach
If you want to know the real secret of how to lose 10 pounds you need to worry about why you are trying to lose weight. On those days where it is really tough to diet or exercise or make good decisions then you need to be very clear what the heck this weight loss sacrifice is for. Is it going to make you more healthy, losing 10 pounds will make you a lot healthier. Or do you want to fit into smaller clothes? Or is it a goal to prove that you are in control of yourself? All of these reasons and more are important. Write you reasons down and post them up everywhere. Make sure that you never forget the WHY of how to lose 10 pounds.
So now you know what I know about how to lose 10 pounds the rest is up to you to plan, eat, drink, exercise and follow through on your goal.
To be able to lose a minimum of 1 pound a week, there’s a simple formula that you must follow.
First, know that 3500 calories equals to one pound. If there are 7 days in a week you can focus on decreasing 500 calories on a daily basis. Now you can either decrease 500 from food, 500 from exercise or 250 from both; food and exercise.
Decreasing 250 calories from food and exercise would be the best option since this will help you lose body fat and increase your lean muscle at the same time.
It’s a pretty simple schedule, but if you can decrease a minimum of 500 calories a day you’ll see 1 pound gone each week!
Double that amount per day and you’ll see a decrease of 2 pounds a week!
That’s how simple and easy it is to shed 1-2 pounds a week!
And in a months time you can see a decrease of up to 8 pounds…
The final paragraph hits it on the head, 3500 calories equals 1lb, split that into 7 days per week equals 500 calories a day. Now I am not going to start counting calories, I know it wont last with me, but the theory is great, and i will use this as a trigger when thinking of weight loss. The positive feeling continues...........
Often people are not really overweight but instead are just looking at how to lose 10 pounds that have been hanging around for a few weeks or even a few years that they do not know how to get rid of. Well I have a few ideas on how to lose 10 pounds now and fast that should get you on the right track.
How to Lose 10 Pounds
1. When trying to lose weight it comes down to energy in and energy out. There is no real way around this. To lose 10 pounds you need to burn 35000 calories more than you take in. The math doesn’t lie and you can’t lie to a scale either.
2. Most of our body is water and because of this there is water retention. Your body combats what is throwing off electrolytes or stress or other factors and it will naturally retain water.
3. Fat is high in calories. High water foods are low in calories. In order to change that input output ratio you need to raise the amount of low calorie density foods and lower the amount of high caloric density foods. so eat less red meat and fatty deep fried food and eat more fruits and veggies which are high in water content and nutrients.
4. All weight loss comes with a reason. What is the reason that you want to lose the weight? When you are hungry and drive by a McDonalds or KFC and just want to do drive through what is going to stop you? Certainly not losing weight.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – Pulling this all together
So how do you pull all of this together? how to lose 10 pounds?
When you want to know how to lose weight it comes down to planning. Plan to drink a lot more water, it will make you pee more often but will also clean you out and give you move energy. You also have to get more exercise and by exercise I mean try to get one hour of exercise of any kind in a day. This needs to be exercise that you like and not exercise that just feels like work as that will not be sustainable.
As far as eating goes you will need to get back to those core eating habits of eating fruit and vegetables and reducing the amount of heavy carbs like rice and potatoes and make sure to eat often. Eating smaller meals more often will keep that metabolism up for you.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – Here are 5 lose 10 pounds tips
Eat all your food in 5 or 6 meals a day instead of three
Cut back on your White carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta) and substitute with vegetables, which are higher in water and nutrients anyway
Exercise first thing in the morning by walking or light jogging or even biking for 30 to 45 minutes
Drink water from morning until night to stave off those urges to eat more food and to keep your metabolism up
Eat all your food in those 5 or 6 meals before 7:30 at night so that you are not going to sleep on a full stomach
If you want to know the real secret of how to lose 10 pounds you need to worry about why you are trying to lose weight. On those days where it is really tough to diet or exercise or make good decisions then you need to be very clear what the heck this weight loss sacrifice is for. Is it going to make you more healthy, losing 10 pounds will make you a lot healthier. Or do you want to fit into smaller clothes? Or is it a goal to prove that you are in control of yourself? All of these reasons and more are important. Write you reasons down and post them up everywhere. Make sure that you never forget the WHY of how to lose 10 pounds.
So now you know what I know about how to lose 10 pounds the rest is up to you to plan, eat, drink, exercise and follow through on your goal.
To be able to lose a minimum of 1 pound a week, there’s a simple formula that you must follow.
First, know that 3500 calories equals to one pound. If there are 7 days in a week you can focus on decreasing 500 calories on a daily basis. Now you can either decrease 500 from food, 500 from exercise or 250 from both; food and exercise.
Decreasing 250 calories from food and exercise would be the best option since this will help you lose body fat and increase your lean muscle at the same time.
It’s a pretty simple schedule, but if you can decrease a minimum of 500 calories a day you’ll see 1 pound gone each week!
Double that amount per day and you’ll see a decrease of 2 pounds a week!
That’s how simple and easy it is to shed 1-2 pounds a week!
And in a months time you can see a decrease of up to 8 pounds…
The final paragraph hits it on the head, 3500 calories equals 1lb, split that into 7 days per week equals 500 calories a day. Now I am not going to start counting calories, I know it wont last with me, but the theory is great, and i will use this as a trigger when thinking of weight loss. The positive feeling continues...........
Monday, 23 August 2010
Another week, another step in the right direction. It started great, Monday through to Thursday seen me on the bike and swinging the kettlebell on alternative night, but it came to a grind over the weekend due to work commitments. i did manage a long walk along the beach on Sunday to watch the speed boats, only to get caught in the downpour and soaked before getting back to the car!!
I have been sitting this morning thinking of a simple plan that wont see me pushed too hard that i wont see it through, and something that i can do so i can measure my progress. I have decided to split into three catagories. Firstly is cylcing. I have to admit I am loving being out on the bike, and will look to do a lot more off road stuff next year. I have a running track close to my house and am going to use that to measure my cycling, timing myself while increasing the distance. Secondly is the kettlebells, I have a simple routine i do where i do double handed swings broken up with press ups or some other free weight activity. I am going to do the same as the cycling, time and measure. Thirdly I am going to do simple press ups, increasing the amouth daily, or weekly, as this works on two areas I need to work on, arm and chest, and should be fairly straight forward to measure.
I wont write any routine down, like Monday Cycling, Tuesday kettlebells etc as that has been my downfall in the past. I will stick to the three disciplines, measure them and hopefully see the benefits. Oh, and i still haven't weighed myself.
Feeling positive about this, I know i can do it, i just need to catalogue much of what i have oalready been doing.
I have been sitting this morning thinking of a simple plan that wont see me pushed too hard that i wont see it through, and something that i can do so i can measure my progress. I have decided to split into three catagories. Firstly is cylcing. I have to admit I am loving being out on the bike, and will look to do a lot more off road stuff next year. I have a running track close to my house and am going to use that to measure my cycling, timing myself while increasing the distance. Secondly is the kettlebells, I have a simple routine i do where i do double handed swings broken up with press ups or some other free weight activity. I am going to do the same as the cycling, time and measure. Thirdly I am going to do simple press ups, increasing the amouth daily, or weekly, as this works on two areas I need to work on, arm and chest, and should be fairly straight forward to measure.
I wont write any routine down, like Monday Cycling, Tuesday kettlebells etc as that has been my downfall in the past. I will stick to the three disciplines, measure them and hopefully see the benefits. Oh, and i still haven't weighed myself.
Feeling positive about this, I know i can do it, i just need to catalogue much of what i have oalready been doing.
Monday, 16 August 2010
Last week I started writing down my fitness routine, and things went well. On Monday and Tuesday I was out on my bike, both approx 8 miles. Wednesday and Thursday I had the kettlebells out, keeping it simple with double handed swings, then Friday was out on the bike again this time for probably 6 miles. Saturday was a day of rest, and Sunday i went out for a long walk along Newburgh beach. I think I need to add more detail to my workouts, especially to the kettlebells, get some numbers involved so I have a better way of charting my progress!
one thing i haven't done yet is weigh myself, that should be done, once again to chart my progress!
one thing i haven't done yet is weigh myself, that should be done, once again to chart my progress!
Monday, 9 August 2010
I have decided the time is right for me to try and once again chart my progress. I have thought long and hard about it, and I feel i am in a much better place mentally to attempt this. I know i have tried and failed many times, unfortunately i am sure there are many in my shoes who have done exactly the same. But I feel i have made good progress over the last few weeks. My attitude towards food and exercise has changed, where before food was always in my thoughts, and seemed to be a noose round my neck at times, i now see it more as an energy source. I have kept things very simple, and it seems to be working. A lot of it goes down to planning. On Sunday I made a huge bowl of pasta with vegetables and put it into Tupperware boxes. I now have a healthy snack when i need one. If that option wasn't there, it would be too easy to snack on junk food. Last week i done the same with chicken and rice. Next week it will be something different.
The exercise is also going well, especially on the bike. On Sunday I went out for an hour, all round Bridge of Don, along the river through tillydrone and home. Last night i was out for 40 minutes, coming unstuck when i slipped on a wooden bridge due to the heavy rain. I have been looking into different routes and am going to go along the old Dyce to Ellon rail track which is now a path for walkers and cyclists. Will probably do this on Saturday.
i have printed off a weekly chart, which i have broken into sections for each day. I wont sit here and type up my great plans for the weeks and months ahead, that hasn't worked for me in the past, but I will fill out chart, and catalogue it here, so i have a permanent record, and something to analyse. For once i think i can do this. It feels good!
The exercise is also going well, especially on the bike. On Sunday I went out for an hour, all round Bridge of Don, along the river through tillydrone and home. Last night i was out for 40 minutes, coming unstuck when i slipped on a wooden bridge due to the heavy rain. I have been looking into different routes and am going to go along the old Dyce to Ellon rail track which is now a path for walkers and cyclists. Will probably do this on Saturday.
i have printed off a weekly chart, which i have broken into sections for each day. I wont sit here and type up my great plans for the weeks and months ahead, that hasn't worked for me in the past, but I will fill out chart, and catalogue it here, so i have a permanent record, and something to analyse. For once i think i can do this. It feels good!
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