Posts Tagged ‘body shape’

So Christmas and New Year have been and gone. Most people would expect to ad weight over this period, but I have taken a bit of different approach and on Thursday I’ll see what results I got out of being good with food and exercise over the period. Mind you I needed to as I had let rip a little (ok a lot) since the end of November and added 6.2 kilos in the space of 4 weeks.

I know it was madness and I intended to keep it in check but the Christmas cheer and relief that I had lasted the 10 month challenge just meant I gave myself too much slack. That’s now been tightened up .. a lot.

My final weigh in of 2009 (21 December) put me at a total loss of 37 kilos (121 kilograms), down from the 30 November figure of 43 kilos lost (115 kilograms). So I set a target of 117 kilograms by 7 January, 2010 reversing some of the madness that I had carried on with pre Christmas.

I am hoping that I’ll be able to improve on that, but I’m not so sure if it is coming off as quickly as I had thought, we’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve been walking and heading to Bikram Yoga a lot (pretty much every second day) and eating relatively well, not perfectly but much, much better than the weeks leading upto Christmas. The other standard influence has been still working too many hours – my own fault but sort of unavoidable.

Here’s the update from pre Christmas, not particularly proud of it, but it is what it is – just a bump in the road.

Not the best week and half of weight loss, ok maybe weight loss is the wrong description as I went up a little, another wave in the pattern.

I am not too concerned though as I understand exactly what has been happening and how I have reacted to things around me.

As before when work intensity and demands increase I stop putting myself first and take the easy route to putting food in, this is especially apparent in the evenings, when I leave the office and head home only to crank up the computer and continue to work.

I feel back to the old pattern of eating takeaway almost every night until last weeks weigh in, and look at the impact it has had, during this period I was eating well at breakfast and lunch, but the evening meal is highlighted as having a massive impact.

My self justification has simply been that I am too busy to prep and cook a meal at home and it’s easier to grab something on the way home, eat and get back to the outstanding work that needs to be done. The reality is different, it’d be easier to prep and cook and not to mention cheaper as well.

I‘ve had a second thought as well. Some of you may know or realise that I shot an interview with Today Tonight that hasn’t aired as yet and I’ve been using the thought that when that airs people will see me buying takeaway and either pick me up on it or shoot be me crappy looks, so I’ll have to be good and restrict it back to Fat Food Fridays.

The real outcome / learning is that I am still battling to put me first when it comes to food and I need to get back to planning my meals better.

Instead of beating myself mercilessly for a bad week I am going to take a bit of advice from this quote and make sure the next few weeks really count: “Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past.” Tyron Edwards

It’s Christmas part season, but that is not causing any challenges as I really don’t drink anymore and so drinking water and watching everyone else get wasted is sort of an interesting sport (not in a mean way). With family functions I can plan an give myself some good options, and the family are right behind me so there’ll be no sneaking lollies or other goodies.

So here are last week’s results, the see-sawing continues, but at least I have definitely put he 40 kilos mark to rest forever and now the target is set at 50 kilos. I am still confident that if I eat well, almost regardless of the level of exercise I will drop weight consistently each week. It’s all about the food for me at the moment.

So a week where I gave all the previous weeks loss back, it’s been a common story, 2 steps forward and one step back, but it’s just part of the journey and it doesn’t mean I’ve failed, but just learnt a little bit more.

This could be titled “The Tale of Two Brothers”, I’ll leave the other two aside for he moment, yes I come from a larger family of six children, four boys and two girls.

The six of us were born over an 18 year period (’54 – ’72) and all have a pretty good relationship with each other, at times testy, but that’s to be expected in a family of any size.

My younger brother has never dealt with weight issues, although no doubt has confronted his own challenges over the years, as a father of three and separated he has some of the same situations as me, but thankfully a pretty good relationship with his ex-wife.

As kids growing up I was closer in age to the brother above me and as we reached adulthood we had a lot of friends in common and so became quit tight, whereas little brother was 4 years younger and the relationship not so tight as kids. That has changed and developed as we grew older and no doubt will continue to.

I am incredibly proud of my little brother, he is the Ironman to my Wobbleguts – first let me explain Wobbleguts.

When I first started on the Saving Alan journey one of my forms of xercise was Aqua Aerobics, keeping the weight off my ankle joints and feet which were really suffering due to my size.

One day after class my son and I played in the wave pool and mucked around with a story about a super hero and a villain. I decided to give the superhero the name of Wobbleguts, because ion the swimming pool my belly wobbled like you can’t imagine, much to said sons amusement.

So I am Wobbleguts, he has lived on since that day in the pool some nine months ago through our bedtime stories. We create stories around Captain Wobbleguts and his merry men including Monster Guy, Dark Knight and Golden Ninja – a formidable foursome of force.

When we first started the stories, all my son wanted to do was kill Captain Wobbleguts, but we made a deal that we could only let him die when my belly was pretty much gone. So Wobbleguts, your days are numbered!

Back to my brother. A few years ago he started going to the local gym and getting a little more serious about his body shape (enter vanity comments here …), dropping his golf off which I never thought he would do as he was an avid golfer and was able to get his handicap down to single figures.

He seemed to find a little community and click at the gym which motivated him and the change was evident. From being just a normal lean 40 year old he started to develop some serious guns and went shirtless at every opportunity – so would I with the shape that he developed and how hard he had obviously worked.

But something else happened, the kid who was never into running started to get a bit serious and before I knew it he had clocked up a couple of marathons, sheer lunacy in my book, but little did I know that was just the start.

The next thing to appear was a racing bike (bicycle) and out came the lycra – well it was a great opportunity to show off the physique and the tan! He told me he had joined a Triathlon Team called Tribal, this was going to be interesting because couldn’t really swim very well, how was ever going to survive the swim leg of a Tri?

With gusto he threw himself into the training and now 12 months later he just completed his first (I fear there will be more) Ironman length Triathlon. I am so incredibly proud of him and what he has been able to achieve, how he has gone about it, his single-mindedness to prepare his body and mind plus his ability to juggle his everyday life and still deliver on being a father to three gorgeous kids, a worker, brother, friends and partner.

Our stories are similar in that we have both set out with a goal in mind and are focused on the journey and what we have to do to get there. We both needed to learn more about food and diet, exercise and how our bodies work and their current limitations, and we both need to plan ahead to be able to get everything into our sometimes complex and confusing lives.

So last Sunday I was tracking his progress via the web, saw that he had a great swim, a couple of minutes under his expectation, but the bike didn’t seem to be panning out as expected and so I thought he must have gone into complete meltdown after going too hard in the swim. I’ll let him pick up the story from here in an email he sent around last night;

Hey Everyone,

I am now officially an IRONMAN!!

Didn’t quite break 12 hrs. It was 12hrs 18min. But I am absolutely rapped.

The day was hot and windy. 30+ degrees, sunny and windy. Not ideal conditions. At least the water temperature was under 24 degrees so I could wear a wetsuit.

Did the swim in 1hr 18min. A couple mins quicker than planned. I swam really well. Controlled and easy. It felt awesome for a guy who couldn’t swim 100m 12 months ago. 143rd out of 194 in my age group (there must be 51 absolute nuff nuff swimmers…lol). This was by far the biggest thing I achieved. I have carried a fear of swimming and deep water for 30+ years.

Everyone wants to know about my 12min transition. That is embarrassing. But by the time i did my hair!!! I cant believe it was that long. Something to work on!!

The ride was a little disappointing. I rode to heart rate (77-80% of max heart rate) and just couldn’t get the speed up to what I wanted because it felt like we were riding into a head wind all day. It was probably a cross wind that was only a tail wind for a few km’s each lap. I decided to keep to heart rate rather than speed and destroy the legs for the run. I had a little mechanical problem towards the end of the first lap. Had to stop twice because the cadence sensor came loose and was hitting the pedal/crank. Fixed it ok the second time. Struggled on the bike around the 140-150km mark. Didn’t help that they ran out of sports drinks at the drink stations and only had warm/hot water or cola left. So I had to adjust the nutrition plan a little (Kath taught me well). But I coped. So I did a 6hr 20min 180km ride. 144th out of 194.

The run was fantastic, if you can say that after 180km ride. During the first 2km, I was thinking Olympic distance tri’s are a lot better option (10km run)…lol. But I got into a really good rhythm. I worked out I had to run a sub 4hr marathon. But it would have meant pushing my heart rate beyond 85% for the whole run. I again decided to run to 78-80% of max heart rate so I wouldn’t blow up. Which meant at the end of the first lap (14km) I knew I wasn’t going to break 12hrs, but I didn’t care.

I felt strong and was moving really well. But the run leg was like a battle zone. People doubled over with cramp, vomitting and struggling to just walk. I can’t believe how many younger and fitter guys I ran past (they all went too hard in the ride and paid the penalty). But the highlight was interacting with the crowd. I played it up alll along the run. Ordering beers, hamburgers, taxi’s, singing, high 5ing kids, and generally joking with different groups. I did this so I would look forward to seeing these groups at different parts of the course.

The last lap i started to feel it in the legs a bit and slowed. But it wasn’t about time at that stage, it was about taking it all in. And not walking at any stage, which I am happy to say i didn’t walk….ran all the way. Running down the finishing chute was unbelievable (the true highlight of the day). The support crew was towards the start of the chute. Hi-5’s all round and then sucked in the last 150m. It was awesome coming over the line. I felt like i could have done another lap. I was not in distress at all. So i ended up doing a 4hr 20min marathon which I was rapped with considering the amount of people i passed. 43rd out of 194 (266th male out of 966). Somehow running has become my strength.

So over all 12hr 18min. 90th out of 194 in my age group. 463rd male out of 966. And i am now an ironman, and planning the next.

Kath gave me some fantastic advice on Friday night. If I wasn’t smiling for 95% of the time, I shouldn’t be there. It was so true. So I decided to take that into the race. So I joked and chatted my way around the whole bike and run course. And it just puts you in a different mindset. It made my day so enjoyable. There were lots of people who went quicker than me, but I doubt that there was many who enjoyed it as much as I did. The spectators and volunteers were awesome.

The Tribal (the Tri squad i am a member of) cheer squad was awesome to. It was great to see Kath and a mate Nathan every lap. There smiles almost matched mine. It was great to have someone special watching along the way and at the finish and to talk about it afterwards. The coach was over here to and was great to have him here to keep an eye on me.

The house I am staying in is a Rockstar party house. So it should for $5000 per week (thank god we filled it with close to 10 people for most of the week). Wait for the pics on Facebook. Although there are 19 stairs to my bedroom. They have been a struggle until today. The legs are recovering well. I have shared the house with 2 Pro triathletes (one competed at the Olympics last year). And a few others have come and visited and it has been a great week. Just the 3 of us left now and heading back to Melbourne tomorrow.

So it has been an incredible journey and experience particularly for my first ironman. Now I have to prepare for my next. Port Macquarie. Very hilly and demanding, but it will a great challenge. Sis has already volunteered to come down as support.

Well that’s all for now. look forward to seeing everyone very soon. And i can tell you all about it in person. Thanks for all your messages, they have been appreciated.

Paul (Official Ironman)

The moral of the story – if anyone notices me starting to follow little brothers path – stop me! It’s starts with a bike and ends in lunacy.

The real moral of course is I just need to do things in the moment, for the fun, for the enjoyment, for the journey. I need to enjoy the personal challenge and you never quite know what I’m capable of.

So my journey continues with no defined events to compete in etc and I’ll pick up new things as I go and discard others as ell, most important is that I find things I enjoy and that enthuse me.

At 158 kilos no form of exercise got me excited, but things change if just give yourself a chance, schedule your world a little, live in the moment and with intent amazing things can be achieved.

Bro, thanks for letting me post your email, you inspire me.

Well, here we are at the end of 44 weeks of trying to turn my life around from a health perspective.

Total weight loss -43 kilograms

It would be simplistic to say that I failed because I didn’t reach the goal of 50 kilos.

But I just have to look at the upside to know that this has been a great success so far, and I say so far because it doesn’t end here. I still have another 30 kilos plus to lose and a whole lot more to learn across a range of things – cooking, time & task management, health and my fitness.

So I am very happy and seemed to have found a renewed vigour to not only keep going but to up the ante a little, but I’ll keep that to myself for the moment and just let the results speak for themselves.

The donation function (which seems to have been disabled a little early, should be reactivated tomorrow) will continue to be available for anyone that wants to make a donation to The Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute indefinitely.

My next two goals are 100 kilos and then 90 kilos. So another 17 kilos to 100 and 27 to get to 90 kilos. From there I’ll head to 85 kilos and reconsider my goal from there, but my feeling is 85 would be a very healthy weight for me, still regarded as overweight on a BMI, but I reckon it will sit well with me. No time frames on the rest of the journey, except that this time next year I’d like to be at the 85 kilo mark, and I still have a lot to learn, understand, test and no doubt I’ll have periods of flatlining and increases as I have over the past 44 weeks – it’s just part of the journey.

I’ll continue to blog about my experiences and try and dig even deeper to give a perspective of what I have been through and and going through as well. I am looking forward to the next part of the journey with optimism and excitement to see what it will be like to feel light on my feet again, to fit good clothes properly and a whole lot of other little milestones that will pop up throughout. Speaking of hich I had a stupid one the other night, I realised that laying in bed I could see the my feet, that may not sound like much, but for as long as I cn remember my stomach has been in the way, who knows what I’ll see next!

So here’s week 44’s chart. There is one weird measurement here, my waist actually increased 2cm which doesn’t make any sense with the weight loss and the cm loss on the hips and highs. Size loss in the waist is normally inline with what happens in the hips and thighs, but I think the reason is my movements.

I bet you never thought I’d talk about this … nor did I.

I am so regular every morning, but this morning it just didn’t happen and I felt a bit bloated and blocked up. Normally I only have trouble if I have been eating poorly, but I had been very good the past 4 days, it’s weird but I can tell from the consistency of my movements (take that either way, both are relevant) how well my body is functioning and I’ve learnt how my diet at any given time alters it. So I probably missed on a bit of size loss this week and maybe even a little weight loss as well, but I’ll get the bonus of that at the next weigh in in 11 days.

Click to see larger image

You can imagine how much of a problem losing 40 kilos is, in terms of the challenges of clothes. As I am losing eight there seems to be no use buying clothes only to see them hang off me within a month or two. So far I have lost my way through 3 suits – not a cheap exercise and it wont be long until I am on to my fourth.

On Facebook yesterday Sasha Goldsmith suggested to Witchery Men that he needed a new wardrobe for Christmas, so I piped up and added that I was getting desperate and clothes were going to cost a fortune. So who knows, Laura? Maybe a little sponsorship deal?

Anyway here are some of those photo’s that usually appear in weigh loss ads to illustrate the change in size since I started in February, the most amazing one is the suit jacket, when I started I couldn’t do it up. The jeans were so tight they were digging in severely and I only wore them under sufference. The shirt .. well I can fit Declan in there at the same time.

I am looking forward to what this will look like with another 30 kilos gone.

off to the Healthy Heart Clinic and final weigh-in, will update tonight.

I’ve been a little under the pump recently, and along with having some internet connection trouble at home I missed last weeks weigh-in and measurement update. So here’s two weeks in one.

Week 41 was pretty good, I was really good with food ad I exercised pretty hard, whereas week 42 I can’t claim the same and there was some interstate travel which normally means a poor outcome in the given week. So one good week, and one average week.

The losses:

• Week 41 – 0.8 kilo lost
• Week 42 – 0.7 kilo lost

Go figure, sometimes I just can’t work out the balance, what is the right level of exercise to the maximum outcome and how perfect do I need to be on food. A lot of dietitians and nutritionalists will have the answers, but I want to work it out for myself and how my body and lifestyle operate.

The most pleasing part of the past 2 weeks is the loss of cms around the waist, a total of 3.5 cms, not bad heh!

So I’ve reached 40.5 kilos lost, the same loss I had at week 32 (Sept 11), so we could say that I have stuffed around for the past 10 weeks for no outcome! But you know, the real part of this was always going to be the tough weeks, not the good weeks. How could I overcome the weeks of gain or plateaus and keep going and not give up.

The fight is between the ears, not around the waist.

So while I am not losing s much as I’d like, I am learning a heap about myself and am a lot happier and together than I was at the start of the year, but I still have a long way to go as far as learning and organising my life to reach the outcomes that will be sustainable for the long term.

A while ago I spoke bout developing a calendar for planning food and everything to do with exercise and running a household .. well procrastination has continued on that one and it’s still not done. It will be soon.

Just reading today’s Herald-Sun and saw the story of an Englishman, called Paul Mason who weighs in as 444.5 kilograms, almost 3 times my current size.

It’s easy to mock him or the predicament he finds himself in. This is more proof that weight gain / loss definitely has more to do with mental health, than purely a series of bad habits. It’s why we do things that dictate the actions and eventually the outcomes, we all know that.

Yet Governments look to solve the issues in ways that don’t deal with the root of the problem, sometimes believing (here comes the cynic in me) that it is good enough to be seen to be doing the right thing, saying the right words verus actually understanding the underlying issues and skills that need to be comprehended and positively implemented.

Of the high horse now, check out the story here http://bit.ly/22yBKE

Slept in the morning, missed the hour walk, so am going to have to catch up a little over the next few days. I really need to make sure I confine work to work hours as much as possible.

Finally I’ve broken through the 40 kilo mark, for a while it felt like I was never going to get out of the 30s.

Here’s a quick look at how long it took to move each of the 10 kilos:

• 10 kilos            3 weeks
• 11-20 kilos      7 weeks
• 21-30 kilos      6 weeks
• 31-40 weeks   16 weeks

Now I know that the loss will slow, but I have been really off the boil the past couple of months, and now feel that I am back on track strongly. This mornings weigh in has really given me a confidence boost that I needed, I didn’t expect to lose much at all, so dropping 2 kilos waqs fantastic.

So now I am into the last 12 weeks of SavingAlan and need to move at least another 9.5 kilos to make my first major goal. Over this weekend I am devising a calendar that will cover all of the things I need to do each week and I am also going to get back to running a food diary, because as I tell clients, if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. When I have it completed I’ll share it.

One of the beautiful things about the weight / size going off is this morning I got my son to see if he could put his arms around my stomach and touch his hands or fingers behind my back. And for the very for the very first time he could do it, he was so excited and started to tell me that I really must have lost some cms, but maybe not weight as it could be all muscle – he’s a bloody little legend.

So here’s this weeks results, can you believe I’ve lost 37cm around the waist, no wonder clothes hang off me.

So here we are around 3/4 of the way through Saving Alan and it’s going to be a tight finish to make a 50 kilo loss before the end of November.

In the past two months I have been bouncing up and down in weight, not due to anything other than my commitment to eating well and exercising enough to move the weight, I have a good week followed by a bad week, I really need to put a good patch together again and average just on 1 kilo a week to reach my minimum goal.

Over the past 2 months I have only dropped 2.5 kilos total, an average of 0.31 kilos a week, which would mean only another 4 kilos for the rest of the project for a total loss of 42.6 kilos, short of my set goals, so I really need to step it up and focus more on eating well under all circumstances and making sure I increase the intensity of exercise as well.

Maybe I have been feeling a little satisfied that I have moved close to 40 kilos (25% of my body weight) and have mentally taken the foot off the accelerator.

But now is the time to give it one big hard push through to the end of November and see just how low I can go in that time frame. I am not sure if 60 kilos is possible, but 50 is achievable (another 11.5 kilos) and if I can average 1.25 kilos a week I’ll lose another 16.25 kilos for a total of 54.75.

Things have happened over the past weeks which saw me fall back to old habits and not care so much about me and the outcome, but I’ll write about that in the next few days, it’s no excuse, it’s just what I went through and how I reacted.

Here’s this weeks results.