Here are week 4 results
Age: 39
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 211 lbs
% Body Fat: 28.1%
Lean Body Mass: 152lbs
Fat Mass: 59 lbs

ok, so looking at the figures it looks like i have once again lost Lean Body Mass but the calipers I use show 30-31mm as 28.1% body fat, and my measurement is down from 31 to 30mm, so i feel there has been progress made. Certainly my overall weight is down and that is good. I am taking steps in the right direction with the eating, splitting my meals down, avoiding junk, simple really. It has an effect on family life and can be tough, not eating with the family due to other constraints, but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.The fitness side has been bad this week. A culmination of long working hours, Christmas build up and very bad weather has made it tough, and all i have wanted to do was hibernate. Last night was -14 deg C and it hasnt been much above freezing for the last week. The roads have been trechorious, so things have ground to a halt. But I made a decision if the fitness suffered the diet wouldn't. So looking back on the week i am happy enough all things considered. This next week is the big challenge, not to put on wieght over Christmas. I have already decided to treat Christmas day as a normal day, i dont want things disrupted because I am eating my meals over 5 sittings! But I will avoid the usual excess as best I can!!

Here are my stats for week 2 of my challenge

Age: 39
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 218 lbs
% Body Fat: 28.1%
Lean Body Mass: 157lbs
Fat Mass: 61 lbs

Looking at those stats the big shift has been the lean body mass, which is dissapointing. But this could be down to me not measuring myself accurately with the accumeasure body fat calipers. I need to practice more to make sure I am doing it right. When i do it and i take a measurement I am not 100% convinced it is accurate!what is good is i lost 7lb overall. Ok so not as much fat as i wanted, but my weight came down and if nothing else it gave me a positive feeling!!So lets review the last week. Nutrition - i am closer to the 5 meals a day target, but still dont measure my meals and have an accurate calorie amount for each meal. But what I am eating is healthy and balanced. One struggle is the in between meal meals, if that makes sense! What to eat at 10am and 4pm!! But certianly i feel progrss has been made since last week, and it will only get better.Fitness - i completed the first week of my running programme, and it felt good, especially with the weather being so awful. I have also devised a simple kettlebells programme that I will follow, I will post this up in the next couple of days. My finger was dislocated in the car accident but is only badly staved and will be back to normal in a couple of weeks. I tried the kettlebell and it will be fine, press ups etc are still a problem. Once I have the running and kettlebell programme going, and am happy with them I plan to add in some swimming. But thats a couple weeks away. I am trying to progress through to these things. One common mistake I made in the past is I would make these great plans in my head about what I would do and never did. This time it is a different approach.

Last night I got myself out and done my 30 minute running challenge in the snow. The snow made it harder, as in some places it was like running on sand. so I headed for the local school as the car park was cleared better than most places and ran round the edge of the car park. i did a minute running with two minutes walking for 30 minutes, and coped surprisingly well considering the weather, conditions and the fact i struggled a bit with it last week!!Back out again on Thursday. Tonight i head off to see the Wedding Present at the Tunnels to re-live my youth. Last time I seen them was at the Venue in Aberdeen in '88, when we all had slimmer waists and more hair!!

WEEK 1
Well thats the first week in, time for a review. I will split it into two sections, fitness and nutrition.
FITNESS - this has been a let down, mostly due to the bad weather. But I cant use that as an excuse. So i will head out tonight running. As I only completed one part of my running plan I will start again from scratch. I also plan to clear out my garage tonight so I can make room for some kettlebell swinging!!
NUTRITION - This has been better than fitness, but is still no where near where I should be. I haven't written up a proper eating plan. I am not controlling my calories, I am still guessing. Where I have made progress is my mental state. Now when I eat something, I think of the good it will do me, and more importantly the harm it will do me. My biggest issue this week has been due to poor planning of meals, I have been going into starvation mode. But I know I am doing it, and I know how to solve it, I just need to concentrate on sorting out the meal plan. Last night was spent making meals for the next couple of days. I will get there eventually!
Below are my new stats for the week
Age: 39Height: 5' 9"Weight: 225 lbs% Body Fat: 28.6%Lean Body Mass: 162lbs Fat Mass: 63 lbs
The change is purely down to me using the accumeasure fat calipers, as my old calipers broke. These should be far more accurate. I am going to measure myself every night, but only to put the practice in so i can get as accurate a reading as possible!
All in all I don't want to beat myself up too much for the last week. My mental attitude is better and that is a big step forward. I didn't expect to lose any weight as I had a day out on Saturday with beer involved, but that's gone and I don't plan any more alcohol until the New Year. This week is another new beginning!

Yesterday i started my 6 week running routine, Christ it was hard work near the end. I also done what was even harder, i took some photos of myself as a reference. Nothing brings it home more than looking at those photos. i will post them up here but not yet. i took a photo with a newspaper to show the correct date, and will use this as my bench mark. i also took some base stats for me to work on. They are

Age: 39
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 225 lbs%
Body Fat: 32%
Lean Body Mass: 153lbs
Fat Mass: 72 lbs

Now the first two i cant doing anything about, but the rest will get addresses. I used a set of skin thickness calipers to work out my body fat, i don't know how accurate they are but they will do me. I will measure myself each week. So 72lb of fat to burn off. Last night was a start, unfortunately a woman crashed her car into mine last week and I have injured the finger on my left hand. This will restrict the weight training i had planned, and also the swimming I was going to do, but i cant keep putting this off, so i will do what i can. i have the hospital tomorrow so hopefully the finger is on the mend.
My aim is simple, 2lb a week every week, with no lean body mass lost, and ideally body mass increased due to muscle gain. I know that wont happen straight away, i need to work at it, as I still don't have the nutrition side nailed down yet. Yesterday I tried 5 small meals and the culture change is huge, and will have an impact on my home life, but they understand.
Starting now is also significant because I didn't want to wait until the New Year as I would just put on even more weight over the holidays, not what i want!!

Run Fat Boy Run

I have come across an ideal running plan to get me started. it covers 6 miles and takes someone who is a poor runner into someone who can run for 30 minutes. This will be stage 1. The plan is

Week 1
Monday - run 1 min, walk 2 mins, repeat 10 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - run 1 min, walk 1 min, repeat 10 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 1 min, walk 1 min, repeat 15 times
Sunday - rest

Week 2
Monday - run 2 mins, walk 2 mins, repeat 6 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday run 2 mins, walk 2 mins, repeat 10 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 2 mins, walk 1 min, repeat 10 times
Sunday - rest

Week 3
Monday - run 3 mins, walk 3 mins, repeat 5 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - run 3 mins, walk 2 mins, repeat 6 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 5 mins, walk 1 min, repeat 10 times
Sunday - rest

Week 4
Monday - run 6 mins, walk 3 mins, repeat 4 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - run 5 mins, walk 2 mins, repeat 4 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 8 mins, walk 3 mins, repeat 3 times
Sunday - rest

Week 5
Monday - run 8 mins, walk 2 mins, repeat 3 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - run 10 minutes, walk 2 mins, repeat 2 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 20 minutes
Sunday - rest

Week 6
Monday - run 12 Min's, walk 2 Min's, repeat 2 times
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - run 15 Min's, walk 2 Min's, repeat 2 times
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - run 30 minutes
Sunday - rest

All this effort to go from walking and being out of breath to being able to run 30 minutes will take combined just over 9 hours of my time over the next 6 weeks. Not much is it. It also means i can work in other exercises such as kettlebells without impacting on my time too much.

This weekend I re-read some of my most recent posts, a little reminder of where I am. I covered diet, and with that i know what I need to do. I also covered metabolism, and that is linked to diet(frequent meals) and also to exercise. So what will I need to do with that? Well lets start with the kettlebell. I will use this for strength and cardio vascular exercises. I will also start hitting the pavements with some running. Cycling might not be a great option with the dark nights and colder weather, and I will also do some swimming. One option i haven't considered recently is going to the gym. I don't like the gym, never have. But I have to build muscle to increase my metabolism, so maybe I don't have that option. Will i write out a plan? I don't know, it seems the one thing i am good at is breaking plans!! I will look at other options as well, like walking. I was out this weekend and it was great just to get some air into my lungs. Anything else? One thing i will look at is taking part in some sports. Football would be beyond me just now, but is a future option, but maybe badminton or squash. Lets see.