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made it!
hi,
i think i've cracked it! although my weight hasn't actually changed that much. the spare tyre is gone though!
i'm 5'11" and was about 190lb of out of shape dough when this thread started. i very quickly lost half a stone to around 180lbs and there i've pretty much stayed.... the thing is i've been steadily incresing the exercise and working on what i eat so that i've been putting on muscle and getting a lot fitter while maintaining a pretty much constant weight. i'm a totally different shape comparted to six or nine months ago. broader shoulders, flatter stomach, love handles have all but gone and i've got a much broader, flatter chest.
here's what i did:
food:
- cut down on beer. basically abstinence or moderation during the week.
- cut out junk food.
- cut out "treats" at work. no more crisps, doughnuts, cookies etc.
- bran flakes, muesli or wholemeal toast for breakfast.
- switched to two home-made sandwiches for lunch. these are typically, wholemeal bread, sliced ham or beef, english mustard and green salad/rocket/spianch or watercress.
- after a few weeks of this it occured to me that although this was lot healthier than a shop-bought package sandwich it was probably more than i needed to eat. it is, after all, double the size of a shop-bought sandwhich. so i halfed the portion to one of these a day and added fruit or seeds to fill me up. maybe once a week i have a chicken salad, soup, ramen, rice or pasta as a change.
- i eat a normal meal in the evening. grilled fish and rice, soup and bread, steak and green beans, stir-fry veg, pasta, go out for ramen, sushi or whatever. just a normal meal.
exercise.
- cycle to work and back. usually full-on sprint both ways.
- swim 3 times a week. sometimes 4 sometimes 2 but I aim for 3. i started regularly doing just under 1k (30 laps) about 6 months ago alternating freestyle and breaststroke but as by stamina and technique improved i quickly found sticking to freestyle allowed me to get into a rhythm, was quicker and more rewarding. i now do between roughly 50 and 70 laps each session (1.6k to 2.3k) in sets of 20 and 30. i've learned to pace myself so that i start at a steady pace with a slow stroke rate and gradually build up until i'm basically sprinting the last 10 laps (allowing for traffic!).
i've got the swimming timed so that i can stop in on my way home from work. that way it doens't really take anything out of my day (i can get 50 laps of a 33m pool plus changing etc into about 40 mins).
- i recently did london to brighton on my bike (65 miles and something i think i would have really struggled to do a year ago) in under 5 hours with an average riding speed of 13mph. i really feel like i've turned a corner now and really miss the pool or my bike if i'm kept away from them for some reason. i'm eating better and feeling better than i have in years.
so although i haven't actually lost much weight i'm still very happy with the way my fitness, health and appearance has turned around.
good luck chaps,
al
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