Archive for June, 2009

An interesting week with a great outcome.

Exercise wise only 2 Bikram Yoga sessions and a single walk, although a 2 hour hour one last Sunday. I am thinking the balance of walking and Yoga will give me the best outcomes for weight loss and rebuilding some muscle as well. The previous weeks when loss has been lower I’ve noticed the changes in terms of some muscle definition, reflective of the impact of Yoga, while the walking definitely burns the weight off.

I am getting great loss from the waist which is causing me all sorts of problems with clothing. In the past 2 weeks I have lost 5.5 cms and now my suits just look ridiculous, so I need to go hunting for a new suit, but I don’t want to spend too much as in a couple of months I’ll have the same problem. So clothing is now going to get expensive.

I am also finding it really difficult to find the time to write, with the pressures of work, fitting exercise in and making sure I eat ell something has had to give, and so the blog is not being updated as often as I’d like but I am going to try and up the volume.

Here’s the update for the end of week 21.

The cm loss keeps going and the change I can see in my body is fantastic, from the shape of my stomach, the change in my legs – starting to some definition in calves and quads, plus the neck and chest. I feel like if you drew my shape I’d look like a pear, but that wont be for long. I’m almost at half way to my end weight goal, and over half way to the 60 kilo mark I set for the SavingAlan project .. so all is good.

Some ok numbers .. but could be better.

I didn’t eat very well last week, I ate burger and chips on Wednesday night and that should have affected size and weight, so I think I could have a really strong weight loss week coming up.

I’ve decided that the best combination of exercise at the moment is Walking and Bikram Yoga, so I am going to up the walking levels and maintain at least 3 Bikran Yoga sessions a week. When I get down to around 100 kilos I’ll bring the gym back into the mix and see if I can build some upper body strength and maybe even get me some ‘guns’. Yoga is certainly strengthening my body and developing the flexibility which is great and I know that walking burns the weight off, so we’ll see what is ahead.

Here’s this weeks details;

SavingAlan Week 20 Results

Small discoveries make a massive difference to my headspace and motivation, now these comments may seem a little ludicrus to most people, but to me they are confirmation I am doing the right things and it is working and it gives me a little high.

Driving home tonight I noticed that I could actually see my wrist bones, and feel them quite clearly .. nice change. I often do a test as it gets closer to weigh in each week by wrapping my middle finger and thumb around the circumference of my wrist to see if they touch, now they do .. woo hoo!

All of a sudden I can feel my hip bones without pressing through a whole lot of flab, they’re just there, that’s cool. Laying in bed I do a little test of putting my elbows on the mattress and folding my arms across my chest – or at least up the side of. From being a good 3-4 inches apart, I can now intertwine my fingers, not all the way to the webbing, but not far away from. As a bonus I cn feel my ribs clearly.

It’s the little changes that make such a big difference in keeping the focus on continuing.

Just thought I’d share it.

I’ve had a few fails this week, but that doesn’t mean the end of the project, just momentary lapses or bad judgment calls. I was aware of what I was doing every time, but a combination of laziness and hunger got the better of me. The good news is that I won a lot of the battles this week, plenty of opportunities to eat poorly or make wrong choices.

Kerry, how did you know it was one of my favourites?

not much to say, they're awesome

Caleb's attempt to tempt

would have been so good with Pumpkin Soup

Ppl are starting to think I am weird photographing food

everyone likes lollies

Crumpets & Crumpet toast rock!

I used to drink over a litre a day

late afternoon temptation

Sat afternoon, I wonder who gave me th idea for these? Moo?

mars' Apple cake

Mum's chocolate cake

Chocolate Mousse

Cinnamon Tea cake

Lemon delicious

Plum Pudding, great when hot in a bowl of cold milk

Shortbreads

Lasagne & Chips

Chicken Parma

Chicken Schnitzel, served with Dad's famous chunky chips

Fish'n'Chips

Swine Cup Cakes

I still have a bit of work to do contacting everyone, and so the good news is that we should still see some sponsorship growth during the balance of the project. Each week the number of supporters grows and the total increases and I am very grateful to everyone who have shown their support for SavingAlan and Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.

Thanks to my new sponsors – Sam, Harley, Gavin, Jamie and Rheika. It’s great to see some crew from work getting on board.

Thank you for your support, please spread the word to your contacts, let see just how far we take this from my small network and really raise some serious funds for Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.

* Julie Long    $2 per kilo
* Mark & Marlene Fry     $1 per kilo
* Peter Applebaum    $5 per kilo
* Heather Albrecht    $100 donation
* Annie Sargood    $1 per kilo
* Peter Burley    $1 per kilo
* Larry Clark    $3 per kilo
* David Hamilton    $100 donation
* Chris Gray    $10 per kilo
* James Manolios    $1 per kilo
* Alan Long    $2 per kilo
* Marcus Lovett    $5 per kilo
* Martyn Thomas    $1 per kilo
* Jill Hennessy $3 per kilo
* Elizabeth Hoyle $1 per kilo
* Mark  Peaker $150 donation
* Amanda Daniel    $1 per kilo
* Leigh Oneill    $1 per kilo
* Declan Long    $1 per kilo
* Rob Manning    $2 per kilo
* David Chinn    $25 donation
* Craig Reardon    $1 per kilo
* Nik Kontoulas    $2 per kilo
* Simon Herd     $25 donation
* Clare Crawford   $0.50 per kilo
* Ben Cornwall    $2 per kilo
* Dani Carey    $100 donation
* Tony Hardy    $3 per kilo
* Jacqui Pinge    $1 per kilo
* Sam Stark   $1 per kilo
* Harley Giles $50 donation
* Gavin Appel  $100 donation
* Jamie Crick  $0.50 per kilo
* Rheika Tompkins    $50 donation

So far based on my weight loss of 33.2 kilos we have raised $2401.40 (up from $2,030.40) and we add another $52.00 for every additional kilo lost, up $1.50 per kilo from last week. Hopefully it will continue to grow towards the $10,000 mark by the end of November, so spread the word. On the basis of losing 60 kilos we currently raise $3.795 for Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.

Thanks to everyone for your support, it’s awesome.

Have sponsored me yet, come on and head to the Support Alan page and join in.

Well an interesting week, not much time to write and this weekend wont be much better.

I decided last weekend to go to Bikram Yoga each day, to the exclusion of other exercise options, so I did 6 Bikram Yoga sessions in 6 days, Saturday to Thursday inclusive. I even went to a class at three quarter time of the Essendon – Adelaide game, in hindsight probably just as well.

I am not sure what results I was going to end up with, but as the week went on I could really start to see the change in my body and its shape. So I figured that I would see some size loss, but I just wasn’t convinced that I was lighter. I was desperately hopeful that I’d be able to drop off another 2 kilos, but I wan’t feeling it.

So weigh in this morning saw me lose 0.4 kilos and another 5.5 cms in measurements. My naturopath, Fleur, who weighs me and measures me each Friday morning has always said that a plateau will appear, but as long as I continue to lose cms the weight will follow. Plus the old cherub of muscle weighing more than fat, so with the amount of Bikram Yoga I have done last week and the fact that I can feel my body shape changing – thighs geting more definition, can feel my hips bone and ribs and the shape around my belly has altered – maybe it is the fact that I have built some muscle along with burning fat.

Over the past 10 weeks my average weekly weight loss has been 1.07 kilos and I have been losing size at an average of 3.75cm each week. So this week while the weight was light on / off, the cm loss was 46.7% higher than the 10 week average.

So my exercise strategy for the coming week contains at least 3 Bikram Yoga classes and 3 walks, along with really focusing on eating well and measuring if and when I am in ketosis.

So here are the results;

Good cm loss, but disappointing weight loss, maybe I put muscle on?

I’ll write some updates tomorrow, ‘tll then.

It’s pretty nrmal to be continually tempted by foods you know you shouldn’t eat. I set out last week to photograph every food that has been put under my nose, and where it would have been so easy to just slip one or two in my mouth on the basis that I had been exercising hard and therefore a little pampering wouldn’t hurt, I didn’t let myself down.

Well that’s what Fat Food Friday is for, and as I lose weight even that is losing its lustre, this week I could only eat about a quarter of my Fat Food compared to what I used to, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as in the past .. change is taking place, but I do yearn for that bad food to tatste as good as used to.

So here’s last weeks line up of food with a defeated stamp or a fail stamp .. fail was the food I ate.

Doesn't that cake look awesome?

Who doesn't like Lindt Balls?

Vegemite Roll ..fresh bread and the great smell of Vgemite

Chips at the footy, wouldn't have changed the result as the Cats belted our Bombers

Every now and then at work, mid to late afternoon I hear the crumpling of the chip packet and I start to weaken

Feel like a bit of crumpet? Oh yeah!

Fat Food Friday morning .. well avoided

Sandwiches on Thu. nice fresh white bread .. hmmm

They look so good

I truly love croissants ..

Baguette with butter

I just watched as others devoured

Jam donut was calling out to me

I ate the Omelette and left the toast behind .. what strength!

Party food

Sausage Rolls couldn't even tempt me

The waitresses started to think I was weird

Just a mouthful .. just one

I even said no to these

Deep fried Calamari .. that was the hardest to say no to

one wouldn't have hurt would it?

devoured a few of these on Thursday, not sure if I should have or not .. yeah right!

fat Friday Fail - Burger and Chips .. couldn't complete!

Still short of the half way mark in the savingAlan campaign to lose 50-60 kilos and I am now well past the half way mark to the target set for end November. This week’s weigh in was good in a weight sense but short of centimetre loss, which is weird because I feel like I have lost more size around the chest and waist but it din’t show up.

Maybe i am going to see size and weigh alternate week to week. As long as I am having a loss and not a gain I am heaing in the ight direction. There has only been one week where I have gained weigh an size in 4  months and I am oretty pproud of myself for being able to achieve that on my own.

The change in size is obvious to everyone who hasn’t seen me for a while and the positive reinforcement is fantastic and driving me to stay true to myels and continue to follow my plan and not allow temptations get in the way. having said that, the odd break is fine, it doesn’t mean the end of the prorm, it just means a challenge next time I feel tempted.

So here’s the weekly update chart, a 2 kilo loss, and only 0.5cm loss around my thinghs.

Week 18 Update

I’ve worked hard this week, two Bikram Yoga sessions, two walks and a session on the stationary bike.

Compare that to the last week of January and it’s a big improvement, well it’s actually a total reversal as the only exercise I was doing was playing in the band or walking around the shops (not just fast food stores).

On Mondays I now have some permanent exercise partners, Marc and Clare. Last Monday we took off for a walk around Albert Park Lake, something I haven’t done for 6 years and walked the 4.6kms in around 47 minutes. And Marc is already hammering me for  commitment for next Monday, but I’ve given them the week of due to the long weekend and I am going to head in and do another Bikram Yoga session.

Clare, me and Marc

So tomorrow morning is my weekly weigh in, my moment of truth. I have no idea what weight loss I will get this week, but I can tell that I have lost some centimetres.

My suit is hanging off me, but I don’t quite fit into another old suit that I have – it’s probably not far away though. This is the last suit that I have to get back into, after that I’ll have to start finding some money to buy clothes during the transition from fat guy to healthy guy.

I tried an old shirt on a couple of weeks ago and it was a good 4-5 cms from being able to be done up around the girth, tonight I was able to do it up comfortably and has now moved from the old side of the wardrobe to the current side.

So we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

I still haven’t got around my total network at this stage, but the support is climbing which is fantastic, thank you to everyone who has committed sponsorship and donations to the project supporting Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute

I’d like to welcome the new sponsors; Clare, Ben, Dani, Tony, and cousin Jacqui.

Thank you for your support, please spread the word to your contacts, let see just how far we take this from my small network and really raise some serious funds for Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.

• Julie Long    $2 per kilo
• Mark & Marlene Fry     $1 per kilo
• Peter Applebaum    $5 per kilo
• Heather Albrecht    $100 donation
• Annie Sargood    $1 per kilo
• Peter Burley    $1 per kilo
• Larry Clark    $3 per kilo
• David Hamilton    $100 donation
• Chris Gray    $10 per kilo
• James Manolios    $1 per kilo
• Alan Long    $2 per kilo
• Marcus Lovett    $5 per kilo
• Martyn Thomas    $1 per kilo
• Jill Hennessy $3 per kilo
• Elizabeth Hoyle $1 per kilo
• Mark  Peaker $150 donation
• Amanda Daniel    $1 per kilo
• Leigh Oneill    $1 per kilo
• Declan Long    $1 per kilo
• Rob Manning    $2 per kilo
• David Chinn    $25 donation
• Craig Reardon    $1 per kilo
• Nik Kontoulas    $2 per kilo
• Simon Herd     $25 donation
• Clare Crawford   $0.50 per kilo
• Ben Cornwall    $2 per kilo
• Dani Carey    $100 donation
• Tony Hardy    $3 per kilo
• Jacqui Pinge    $1 per kilo

So far based on my weight loss of 30.8 kilos we have raised $2,030.40 (up from $1,720) and we add another $50.50 for every additional kilo lost, up $6.50 per kilo from last week. Hopefully it will continue to grow towards the $10,000 mark by the end of November, so spread the word. On the basis of losing 60 kilos we currently raise $3.505 for Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute.

Thanks to everyone for your support, it’s awesome.

Have sponsored me yet, come on and head to the Support Alan page and join in.