IM JUST USELESS

at blogging, i haven't blogged for a month so i must be useless at it, I'm sure there are millions of people all over the world waiting on my next blog episode, well here it is at last, finally, the thing that you've been waiting for your whole life.

nothing has happened! 

to my exercise regime, i am still under physiotherapy so therefore have had no go ahead to commence anything more than a brisk walk, i could have done some spinning on my turbo trainer but my life seems to be just work at the moment. after 8 years of self employment i have decided it has become too much of a struggle finding work enough to pay the bills, as David Cameron says "we're all in this together" and while he gets paid thousands and thousands for basically smirking on TV and shouting "ere ere ere" in the houses of parliament, I and the rest of the country have to try and graft to make ends meet, so i have signed up to a couple of employment agencies, the first agency got me the odd day driving an industrial bin wagon around deeside and Ellesmere port, that soon ended when they messed me about so i ended up going to one in Warrington, the very next day i was off to Haydock, no the races weren't on, i was sent to a company who seem to pay peanuts, well they got this monkey for a couple of long days, 6am starts and finishing at 4pm, well that was the plan, the 2nd day i sat in a canteen until 830 and then when our truck was loaded we ended up driving around the outskirts of Manchester until 530pm so a long long day but thankfully it was only 2 days and then i had a phone call saying some better news that they had a company nearer to home who paid more and wanted me for a week with 8am starts. after driving around the WA, M and OL postcode areas for a week i had the boss shake hands and tell me they'd had a phone call from a customer praising me, so for once i felt good and proud of myself, i think its best i don't mention the problems I've had with the tacho now I'm in a positive mood.

anyway, this blog is meant to be about my health and fitness, well i feel I've been too hectic this week with work, not been finishing till almost 8pm and I hadn't weighed in for around a week so when i got up yesterday morning i stood tiredly on the scales expecting no change as that was what had happened for the last few weeks, i felt id hit a brick wall with weight loss, started to question what id been eating and whether my lack of exercise was the reason id been stuck. i slowly looked at the scales and imagine my surprise when i saw that my weight had dropped to 13st 8lbs, that's almost half a stone lost in the week id been driving, i hadn't been eating a lot for my lunch as i didn't want to end up being like the stereotypical lorry driver like this one

so i have another week at the same place coming up, hopefully my will power to resist truck stops and crap food along my journey may bring another good figure on the scales come next Saturday.
when i reached 14 stone i felt really good, although i set myself a target of trying to get to under 13 i really thought it might have just been wishful thinking, but 8lbs to go and how amazing would that be, to see 12st something on the scales. i need to get an appointment made to see the doctor and review my health after 3 months of dieting, will be very interesting to see my results cholesterol wise as that was slightly above where it should be when i went last time. 

remarkably and maybe foolishly, the day after i got under 14st i signed up to do the 2013 great Manchester run, it is only a 10k which i think is around 6.5 miles but i think its a challenge i can do, it isn't until the end of may so i have all winter and spring to start some proper fitness training and get out there and achieve something, 50 will be upon me before i know it and i don't want to be idle when it arrives.

and finally id like to congratulate my friend for completing the Chester marathon, her first, 26 miles is an amazing achievement in such a fantastic time of 4hrs 20, well done Lesley.
I'm pretty well sure that's beyond me, ill just set my goal of the 10k....and a time of..........???

UNDER 14 STONE GOAL REACHED

Hooray, party time, for the first time in years I have broken 14 stones and it feels good!!!

I've had a celebratory dried date to mark the achievement but no time for resting on my laurels or my fat backside, I've not been able to exercise due to my calf injury which at first was diagnosed as a partially torn Achilles but is now being talked of as a deep calf injury. anyways after 2 visits to the physiotherapy department at the local infirmary and 3 weeks of twice daily stretching its feeling a lot better, i know its not 100% sorted but i feel more confident to try and use my turbo trainer now, I've had a couple of goes on it but will do it daily now, 20 Min's at least just to get the heart going.

today is Great North Run day and i have a couple of good friends taking part so good luck to them, not sure i would like to fight through the massive crowds of runners there is there, 40000 runners getting in my way that wouldn't be fun! but saying that, this year i had signed up for the Sandbach 10k but had to pull out due to this calf injury, i have had it a while!! so i would like to attempt one of those next year as well as some cycling and who knows i may even apply for the great Manchester run.................................UPDATE..........................Ive just entered the BUPA Great Manchester Run on the 26th May 2013

Hopefully my friends can encourage me and give me some advice along the way, its only a 10k run, I've done 2 half marathons in the past from one extreme to another, Ripon while i was quite fit during my Army years, i finished that in 1hr 40, I also did the 25th Malta half marathon when i was 42 and very unfit, my training included one 2 mile run and a few days in the bars in Sliema, that played a big role in my very slow time of 2 hrs 30 Min's not helped by my calf injury!

 

so my next target is going be breaking 13 stone, that's not going to be an easy target but one I'm determined to do, being able to do that would obviously make running that 10k in Manchester a lot easier. hopefully the cycling on the turbo trainer(and outside if weather and time permit) will boost my weight loss, I've also got a fitness disc for the XBOX so I'm going to be busy sweating from now on.

BODY FAT %

When i started out on this adventure to make myself healthier and leaner i was quite shocked to see my body fat %, it was just over 30% meaning out of my total weight of 220lbs(99kg, 15st10lbs) 66lbs or 30kg or 4st 10lbs was FAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this chart below shows how much body fat we should have for our size

 

well for the last few days my weight seems to be stuck at 14st 3lbs, BUT my body fat seems to dropping daily, when i first started the figure never seemed to move away from 30%, sometimes it would drop to 29% and sometimes it would rise to 32%, I've not been sure whether my scales are broke(due to the weight inflicted on them over the last few years) or whether they just don't work properly or indeed if the batteries are flat. having just been on them again after my tea a delicious weight watchers sweet and sour chicken mmmmmm i am convinced the scales are OK, the figure is reading 24%, now if I look at the chart above and i check along for my age group 25-35

OK 36-45, you'll see that I'm now in the average section, i don't care if this info is wrong I'm celebrating it as a slight victory, no battle is won and the war against bad health certainly isn't over. i definitely don't feel average, i still feel fat because i am, I've still got a lot of fat around my spare tyre and thighs but I'm noticing muscles in my legs i don't remember seeing before.

 

I've discovered i really like olives, i best behave and not have too many covered in delicious oily dressing from the farm shop, just a treat every now and then!!

KNOCK TO MY CONFIDENCE?

tried on some t shirts in TKMAX the other day, earlier i had bought a fleece for the indian summer we are about to have and was shocked that i could get into a size Medium, feeling all full of myself i browsed the sale rails(tight-arse) looking through all the M sized t shirts, found 3 i liked and went to try them on, entered the changeing area with a smile and took off my shirt and put on the first one, oh dear, it went on but was a bit like one of those spray on tops that hug the contours of the body, not a good idea and definately not a good look. off it came and on went the 2nd one, the same occurred, why am i not surprised! took it off and along came my smile with it, reluctantly i tried on the 3rd one and it wasnt as bad so i kept that one as i know i will get into that one soon enough without it cutting off my circulation, i swapped the other 2 for large sizes and headed for the checkout desk to pay.

what ive learnt is that although the t shirts i already have are now getting way too baggy to be anything but rags for work, i still have an enormously long way to go to get the body i want, the good points are my once ballooned stomach is now a lot flatter than it was and my chins are reduced to one, unfortunately the michelin tyre around my waist is proving hard to shift but ive got to keep telling myself ive only just begun this long journey towards a healthier me and along with it a slimmer body, i ceetainly know where the excess stones are on my body, upper thighs, waistline and moobs.

 

WHATS MY TARGET?

I was asked today what my target weight was, a quick think later and i decided anything under 13 stone would be ok, then I thought id check on the NHS website, it says that for my height 5'7+1/2" i should weigh between 8 1/2 stone and 11 1/2 stone, well I'm an endomorph which means i have a stocky frame with stronger thicker heavier bones than someone who is a long distance runner so i reckon I'm going to be a bit over the 11.5 stone guideline the NHS has me down for.
my BMI has dropped to 30.9 from 34 back in mid July i think that's good going, so the target now for a good BMI of 24.9 is a weight of 11 stone 7 lbs, Jesus i think that's going to be tough going, are the NHS correct with their figures???

I've been to physiotherapy this morning, i woke up and my leg felt quite ok, not right but better, so i decided to walk to the infirmary, bit of a mistake that as i nearly didn't make it, walking up Winnington hill was excruciatingly painful, this was then explained to me by the physio as walking up hill was using the muscles that are inflaming my problem.
my problem is a partially torn Achilles tendon, this was probably done over 2 years ago when i did the Malta half marathon. id felt my calf go after 15 minutes and carried on for another 2 1/4 hours to finish the 13.1 mile race, what an idiot!!! 
anyway I've been given stretches and exercises to do twice daily, bad news is i hoped id be able to run once everything was sorted out but it appears that is not the best thing to be doing once you've had a tear, but the good news is i can cycle so i maybe becoming a bit more focused on doing that as best i can, although I've been told not to cycle out of the saddle, could make it difficult going up some hills. 

think this but further up towards the calf muscle(partial tear)

DROP 'EM

Yes this morning i weighed in and I dropped 2 things, firstly I dropped my underwear and stood on the scales looking out of my window at the busy shoppers going into sainsburys, it was 815 there werent many about in this rain, secondly, i dropped my weight too HOORAY!!!

looking down I thought, "wow, not seen that for a while", yes the figures on the digital readout of the scales read 14st 5lbs which equates to 201lbs or 91kgs, thats a loss since ive been recording the figures of 19lbs, 1st 5lbs or 8.6kg, thats quite a weight not to be carrying around anymore.

i do remember my friends wedding back in about 1991 ish when i was at the post office getting wet and shoving bits of paper through peoples doors, we decided to lose weight to look good for the wedding, i did get down to under 90 kg so its been a while since ive been around that weight. the difference is that time i did the atkins diet, all I ate was meat slices, chicken, eggs and cheese, lots and lots of cheese strangely it worked but im sure it wasnt as healthy as what im doing now. i choose wholewheat and wholemeal instead of processed stuff and my portion sizes have come down from eating for 2 down to eating enough, food is fuel after all, i even had bacon and egg the other day, just 2 rashers with the fat cut off and scrambled egg, id have probably had twice the amount before with baked beans, mushrooms, toast and HP sauce so you can see why my calorie intake is reduced.

im starting to think im going to need a new wardrobe, not a few pieces of wood screwed together but a new set of clothes, trousers are sliding off me, t shirts are very baggy but my socks seem ok!

so there we have it, some good news on this wet and windy day, im still losing :-)



28 mile bike ride

BIKE RIDE WITH ROB
click the above link to view our ride, 28 miles through the cheshire countryside,