Slack

A number of things have collided together in my life and unfortunately, fitness has taken a bit of a back seat over the last two weeks.  I'm quite ashamed to say that actually, as fitness has been such an immense thing for me over the past year or so.  But it's a reflection of my personality; I'm all in on everything I get interested in.  All or nothing, or perhaps not so much anyway.

So we did the Wolf Run and it was very enjoyable.  The obstacles were great fun and really not all that challenging, but we're giving our super strong bodies the credit for that.  But the run was tougher than expected and at times a bit too much.  Would definitely do another one and two things; a) train more for a 10k run than obstacles, b) not severely sprain thumb getting into a river 5 seconds in.

That hurt.  A lot.  My thumb went blue from the bruising.  It was quite the sight.

So that injury put me out of the gym for a few days and I also caught a cold from my daughter who also had to stay off school.  Haven't lifted anything heavy properly for over a week :-(

So a very unproductive week fitness wise.  However, on the plus side, I'm dying to get back to the gym and I've had a rest.

Also, am looking at going into business with a couple of friends who have a great local business and want to expand.  An opportunity came up and it feels like the right time and the right thing to do.  Am very excited yet also slightly terrified about it all.  But I'm just trying to go with it.  Everything will work out the way it should do in the end - it feels like my life is wave after wave of opportunities to ride along on and see which take me somewhere and which just fizzle out...

Paleo progress/plateau?

So stats for this week:

Weight: 10st 9.8lbs i.e. The Same

Stats: 27/52/36 i.e. The Same

I'm finding it hard to eat veg, fruit is so much more portable. Plus, I'm generally hungry a lot of the time. I've succumbed to popcorn twice and about 3 becks blue. Oh and a Chinese so that's probably awful even though I didn't eat any rice, just meat and veg. Ok the meat was in a light batter. Well actually, quite a lot of batter. 

However, I do think my body is changing shape a bit. I feel more straight up and down rather than curvy. Some clothes feel a bit more forgiving. 

Wolf run today so had three rest days last week. Will rest tomorrow then have a run Monday to shake the legs out. Next week will hopefully bring better results. 

Carbs

It's interesting to see that I have adapted pretty well to a low carb diet. But when the day goes badly and stress levels rise, the need, or craving rather, for carbs is at times unbearable. 

Driving home with the kids, for a fleeting moment all I wanted was wine and chocolate. So I bought apples and tried to calm down. 

Doug got home and we could have gone for a filthy dominos combo, but we held firm and I ate Paleo chilli with loads of salad. 

The minimal damage done by my mud working week blip was a bag of popcorn and two Becks blue.

A few too many carbs for weight loss I suppose, but so much better than a bottld of wine and lashings of chocolate. 

See self, you can be strong!

Paleo update

I didn't make it for a run on Wednesday as I was feeling a bit weary and it was proper raining. But on the plus side I stuck to eating paleo all week and my only 'cheats' were a blue becks (alcohol free), some microwave popcorn, a muller light and a curry (quite a big cheat I suppose but I at least avoided rice and naan and had chicken tikka, salad and veg curry plus a few sneaky poppadoms).

What else have I had that's non-paleo?

Coffee, Sweetner, Skimmed milk

Protein shakes

Fry light

Kidney beans (did not agree with me at all!)

Black beans (likewise)

Soy sauce and a smidge of teryaki

So, what are the results?

Well, quite bloody good actually!

Weight: 10st 10lbs / 150lbs 

Stats: 27% fat, 52% water, 36% muscle

So that's a 3lb weight loss in a week. Get in. 

And of my original 153lbs, 44 were fat and 53.5 were muscle. According to the suspect scales, now 40 are fat and 54 are muscle. That's certainly going in the right direction!

So the verdict on Paleo eating is definite big thumbs up for results. 

Is it easy to do? Yes, when I consider how organised I used to have to be to eat healthy, this is probably easier. Cooking up big batches of meaty sauces using minced beef is fine. Eating bacon, eggs, sausages, chicken, ham, salmon, tuna and loads of veg and salad is easy. Fruit - great. Love it. Nature's portable desert. 

Do I miss sugar? No, not really. But I know one taste and I'll crave more.  Kinda like the booze. So it's best to just not have the first taste. 

What about carbs? I suppose at times yes, hence the popcorn. But that was a real treat.  And I am training hard too, so a few carbs should not hurt too much. It will be interesting to see next weeks results as you always drop a lot of weight on the first week of a change of eating habits.

More pull ups

Husband fancied one of these so it's on its way:

Power Bar 2

So to progress my pull up, I'm going with the free weight routine at the gym plus using resistance bands to get started at home.

This is a good video for pointers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIguz4DZwCA

She says do 4 sets of 10 reps and then 3-4 using the stool to hold and drop twice a week and leaving 2 days between to rest (i.e. monday + thursday).

This girl has some good ideas as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIZLkE9OLpU

And I'm quite enjoying some of the rest of their videos whilst we're at it

In touch with my inner cavewoman

That's how I used to describe the howling noises I made during labour. 

Now it's an ethos to live and eat by.  I've been getting increasingly frustrated with my inability to lose weight, or really body fat, whilst doing loads of exercise and generally eating reasonably well.  Well, actually not eating very well, trying to eat really well and succeeding some of the time to count calories and stay under 1200 net, but generally feeling tired, grumpy and, jeez, just HUNGRY!

So, lots of reading and research and paying particular attention to two websites - www.nerdfitness.com and then www.marksdailyapple.com - has drawn me to the conclusion that the carbs have simply just got to go.

So I'm at day 2 of following this simple guide to Paleo eating:

Mark's Daily Apple's 21 day Primal Blueprint

So far so good.  Plugged the stats of what I ate yesterday into myfitnesspal and came out with about 1200 cals.  Wasn't really hungry, didn't feel tired.

Today I have eaten:

Breakfast - smoked salmon and two scrambled eggs

Snack - apple, carrot sticks, celery sticks

Lunch - Cuban picadillo with romain lettuce leaves, pineapple, apple

Snack - 6 almonds, sugar snap peas

Snack - Protein shake, 5 brazil nuts

Dinner - Bolognese sauce with courgette spaghetti
I have also done the badass Spartacus workout after a full 9-5 day at work and sorting out two kids either side.

Go me!

So let's see if I can manage a run tomorrow, technically my Friday as I work 3 days a week, and see how my stress/energy levels are.

Overall, I'm feeling really good this week.  Not drinking alcohol is helping and if I can get results without being knackered or hungry with this way of eating on top I am laughing.  Plus, managing to stick to these new ways of doing things is doing my confidence and mental strength a world of good.  I'm feeling really in control and just generally clearer.  It feels like this is the way forward.

I am aiming for the 17-21% body fat range shown in this article:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/02/body-fat-percentage/

According to my (probably inaccurate) scales here are my stats today:

Weight: 10st 13lbs / 153lbs (I'm 5'7" - BMI is 23.9 so healthy)

Stats: 29% fat, 50% water, 35% muscle

Waist 31"
Thighs 26"
Hips 42"
Bust 32"

So I will check weight and percentages again next week and review measurements in 3 weeks.

(And I defo don't look like I belong in the 29% fat category, so I'm sure my scales are buggered)

Spartacus v2.0

Doug found this. It's a total badass! Did it yesterday and am aching from it today which is good as I haven't really felt much pain of late (Doug says because I need to go heavier). 

http://getfitandlivebetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Spartacus_Workout_2.0.pdf

It's a great one because mentally you can convince yourself that it's easy to do 40s of anything and 10 minutes is nothing. You can also do it at home with a couple of weights. The mid point set is also pretty simple, so a rest round in effect. 

The squat thrusts and squat jumps got a bit tiresome towards the end. But the thrusters are fab, especially if you go for a low squat. Feel the burn baby!