Yes you did read that right! This week has been an odd concoction of learning experiences which has really confirmed what I thought I knew - that my current behaviour is starting to become such second nature that going back to where I was in March is almost unthinkable.
Last weekend was spend exploring Western Germany, with maybe a few too many beers and certainly more sausage than you can shake a frankfurter at (I'll forgo the obvious innuendo here!) so my weigh in was broadly flat on Wednesday, non-on, but still not the leaps and bounds I had hoped for so I felt a little bit dejected.
Now in the past, a "setback" like that might have thrown me off course, but it just made me even more focused to achieve my target to loose another 20kg by Christmas. Derailing therefore was not an option. Instead I took a long hard look at what I had had to eat, and drink in Germany, and just refocused. I've never really been a massive fan of food planning to the tiniest detail, but it does have its uses, and one thing I'm going to do in the future is make sure that I have planned all of my meals for the aftermath of a big heady weekend away before I've gone, then there's no "oh well let's wait another day" to getting back on track.
This has worked, this week everyday I've been below 1700 calories, my target of 2000 means that I have some headroom left in the event of any external factors. Most days this week I've been around 1500!
One further step forward this week has been clothes! I have finally had to admit defeat with work trousers, and gone out and buy new ones, a whole 8 inches smaller in the waist than when I started out on this journey. It's a real boost to see results like that. Stats, graphs, and KPI's as I discussed last time are one thing, but seeing clothes that actually don't fit you because they are too big, is the biggest boost you can have!
A final thought: I was talking to an overweight guy on the train into work the other morning one of our regular commuters. He's not as big as me and probably two-three years older than me. His attitude was appalling and one that I really couldn't understand.
He actually came up to me, knowing I worked for the train company, and said that he'd noticed my weight loss over the last few months and that he was very envious! We shared experiences of weight gain, and going through your teens and twenties overweight. I asked him why he had never attempted to loose it!
His response was "this is what I am!"
Maybe I am wrong to judge other people here, but how can someone, who acknowledges the risk that obesity causes to them, is suffering with the affects of it be too blasé to actually try and make an effort. I provided him with this blog, and some of the techniques I have been using. Hopefully he's reading this and will make a positive change, if not, then I find that sad, and yet another reason why this journey for me is definitely going to be a one way ticket down...
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Friday, 2 November 2012
What get's measured, get's managed...
So I'm now 7 weeks into this since I really started hitting the gym and watching my food intake, and it already starts to feel like what I am doing is becoming habit, and is ingrained in the fibre of my being.
They say that for a behaviour to become second nature takes 12 weeks, well I suppose I am now over half way through that process, and it's these next 5 weeks that are going to be the most crucial to cement and embed what I am doing!
Now as a 20-something management type with a degree in business, I like my Excel Spreadsheets, I like my KPI's and my SMART Objectives (Key Performance Indicators and Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Time, Realistic...cos I know some people will have gone "eh?") and my Outputs, these are the things that I get results with in my job, and well with 7 weeks worth of data to pour over, these are what I can start to measure in my Quest for Slimming Success.
My key KPI's are obviously my actual weight, calories consumed, calories burnt, but taking this a step further into my actual work outs, distance, time, heart rate and weight pushed (or pulled) are all critical.
I have already mentioned MyFitnessPal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) and I cannot stress how much of a simple one stop shop this little app is, and its associated website. Some of the calculations are not 100% especially as we get into the bigger ranges of weight, but they give you the general trend.
The next set of KPI's, about physical activity I can strongly recommend Nike+ (http://nikeplus.nike.com/) which with an Iphone or Ipod, you can track activity as you do it, I am lucky as I go to a Virgin Active gym we have TechnoGym cardio equipment which interfaces directly with your iPhone and your workout and a whole raft of stats about your workout.
The major output are two fold: 1 - my weight, and 2, something that has always been close to my heart - clothes!
I have started to feel a difference in my clothes, I have had to downsize considerably in the trouser department already, and my work trousers have had to be binned as they won't stay up any longer!
My weight, although I don't know for definite what my starting weight was is now being measured, and in the past week I had lost 11 1/2 pounds! Now extrapolating (big word alert) that back, I must have lost at least the 3 stone mark by now!
Now I have set myself a short term goal to see me through till Christmas.
Loose 4 Stone (56ibs) by 21st of December. Its specific, measurable and will be done so weekly, the time is 8 weeks, based on performance to date it is achievable and it is realistic.
This ties into my other Output, clothes, when I lost all of my weight before, I went mad, spending £1000s on anything with a name on it from Prada and Versace to G-Star and Diesel, fashion might have moved on, but my love of it hasn't, so I've bought my self some new clothes to get into when I hit that target of 4 stones!
Now, I have been plugging websites and app's galore, but this is the biggest one, and a thank you to the new lady in my life, Allison. The one thing that I got from wrtiing my last blog was that I need support along this journey, and so I have joined Slimming World with a friend. Alison, our consultant, has given me some fantastic new ideas for healthy eating, and proved to be a real dynamo of motivation and support! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/314882326512/?fref=ts)
They say that for a behaviour to become second nature takes 12 weeks, well I suppose I am now over half way through that process, and it's these next 5 weeks that are going to be the most crucial to cement and embed what I am doing!
Now as a 20-something management type with a degree in business, I like my Excel Spreadsheets, I like my KPI's and my SMART Objectives (Key Performance Indicators and Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Time, Realistic...cos I know some people will have gone "eh?") and my Outputs, these are the things that I get results with in my job, and well with 7 weeks worth of data to pour over, these are what I can start to measure in my Quest for Slimming Success.
My key KPI's are obviously my actual weight, calories consumed, calories burnt, but taking this a step further into my actual work outs, distance, time, heart rate and weight pushed (or pulled) are all critical.
I have already mentioned MyFitnessPal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) and I cannot stress how much of a simple one stop shop this little app is, and its associated website. Some of the calculations are not 100% especially as we get into the bigger ranges of weight, but they give you the general trend.
The next set of KPI's, about physical activity I can strongly recommend Nike+ (http://nikeplus.nike.com/) which with an Iphone or Ipod, you can track activity as you do it, I am lucky as I go to a Virgin Active gym we have TechnoGym cardio equipment which interfaces directly with your iPhone and your workout and a whole raft of stats about your workout.
The major output are two fold: 1 - my weight, and 2, something that has always been close to my heart - clothes!
I have started to feel a difference in my clothes, I have had to downsize considerably in the trouser department already, and my work trousers have had to be binned as they won't stay up any longer!
My weight, although I don't know for definite what my starting weight was is now being measured, and in the past week I had lost 11 1/2 pounds! Now extrapolating (big word alert) that back, I must have lost at least the 3 stone mark by now!
Now I have set myself a short term goal to see me through till Christmas.
Loose 4 Stone (56ibs) by 21st of December. Its specific, measurable and will be done so weekly, the time is 8 weeks, based on performance to date it is achievable and it is realistic.
This ties into my other Output, clothes, when I lost all of my weight before, I went mad, spending £1000s on anything with a name on it from Prada and Versace to G-Star and Diesel, fashion might have moved on, but my love of it hasn't, so I've bought my self some new clothes to get into when I hit that target of 4 stones!
Now, I have been plugging websites and app's galore, but this is the biggest one, and a thank you to the new lady in my life, Allison. The one thing that I got from wrtiing my last blog was that I need support along this journey, and so I have joined Slimming World with a friend. Alison, our consultant, has given me some fantastic new ideas for healthy eating, and proved to be a real dynamo of motivation and support! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/314882326512/?fref=ts)
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