This week's weigh in was a bit of a disappointment. Only lost 400 grams, which was still a loss but would have preferred it to be more. The diet has changed somewhat as planned. I'm now eating some carbs, usually with lunch, along with eating fruit with the protein shake at breakfast. Haven't quite had the burst of energy I was expecting from the extra calories.
I'm very much looking forward to cracking the 10 kg loss total :)
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It hasn't been hard to notice how much fitter I'm getting. Not just with running on the treadmill, where I'm managed to run for 10 minutes without falling off the treadmill. But out bushwalking as well.
Last weekend was walking out in the Tinderry Nature Reserve near Canberra. The walk was a mixture of everything - fire trail, steep ascents and descents, bashing through the bush, and rock scrambling. There was also quite a bit of ice and even a bit of snow to be negotiated. Made for a beautiful walk with a nice degree of diversity and a fabulous view at lunchtime.
I was going to just write a general post about the week or so just passed but I got a shock standing on the scales this evening. I usually aim for a kilogram but the scales showed I lost 2.6kg in the last week. Seriously? I stood on the scales three times in disbelief.
The result has inspired me to keep up the hard work.
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It's been a busy week. I took my favourite fitness test on Sunday walking up Mount Tennent near Canberra. It's a great challenge but I tend to spend most of the walk - it's a 700 metre climb in the 7km to the summit - muttering. I managed to finish the walk in under four and a half hours, which is probably the quickest I've done the walk.
I had to stop at the supermarket on the way back home and who should I bump into? The trainer from the Men with Guts programme. He inspected the contents of my shopping basket and thankfully all was okay, except for having reduced fat milk instead of skim milk (I didn't know there was a difference). I'm relieved I didn't have any contraband - chocolate or iced coffee - in the basket!
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The walk up Mount Tennent followed a bushwalk I took while I was in Adelaide. It had been a while since I'd done an organised bushwalk - this walk was in and around Mount Lofty with Friends of the Heysen Trail. Despite growing up in Adelaide, I've never really walked around Cleland Conservation Park and the Mount Lofty Botantic Gardens.
Growing up in Adelaide, I thought the Mount Lofty Ranges were impressive but, after years in Canberra looking at the Brindabellas, the Mount Lofty's aren't as impressive. I was made to pay for my lack of faith - in the 15km we walked, we climbed over 800 metres. There was some fabulous scenery on the walk, a number of animal sightings, and the company was great too.
Okay...time to get serious. I've been messing about since my last post, doing some exercise here or there, but eating a whole lot of rubbish.
But I've also just turned 39. If I'm going lose 40 kilos by 40, I really need to get my backside out of confectionary aisle and into the fruit and veg section.
With the support of my wonderful wife, I've started the Men with Guts programme at the YMCA (http://www.canberra.ymca.org.au/healthfitness/weight%20loss/Pages/Men%20with%20Guts.aspx).
Wow it's a tough programme. Twice a week, a whole bunch of us get flogged at the gym - boxing, cross fit, PT...all the things that I usually manage to avoid. It's great having a bunch of blokes in the same room going through the same journey and trying to achieve the same thing.
The most challenging part is the diet. For the first four weeks, protein shakes for breakfast and lunch (and they're not too bad), protein and veggies for dinner, and fruit/veggies as snacks. I've got from 2000 calories a day to around a 1000. Think I sleep walked most of the first day due to a lack of energy.
Now, the hardest part is not the lack of calories, it's hanging out in places where I wouldn't typically eat healthy. Like at the food court where my wife and friends are eating Maccas...just cruel. Or at the football. Occasionally I stray from the path...mmmm, kitchener buns...then realise how many calories I've consumed and workout the walk needed to burn them off!
But I'm loving the exercise, including the gym sessions. Dusted off the Fitbit and doing my best to meet the goal of the programme of 10,000 steps per day, and one extra solid workout a week. Spin classes, running on the treadmill, discovering different walking routes around my town. It's amazing how much fitter I've got in the last three weeks...
Those 40 kilos are going to be history!
This week's weigh in was a bit of a disappointment. Only lost 400 grams, which was still a loss but would have preferred it to be more. The diet has changed somewhat as planned. I'm now eating some carbs, usually with lunch, along with eating fruit with the protein shake at breakfast. Haven't quite had the burst of energy I was expecting from the extra calories.
It hasn't been hard to notice how much fitter I'm getting. Not just with running on the treadmill, where I'm managed to run for 10 minutes without falling off the treadmill. But out bushwalking as well. 
