Tag Archives: weightloss

Buying a book called Racing Weight does not mean you will instantly be at Racing Weight, more’s the pity

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So we have been reading a lot. What to wear. What to eat. Even how to pedal. Cycling magazines litter the house. What has happened to us? Parcels arrive at the house almost daily. Electrolyte tablets, gels, whatever. Most likely it is for me – arm warmers or other such ridiculous items. Packages from weirdly named places like Wiggle and the poor postman is a constant visitor.I found a fantastic blog called Sportive Cyclist by a guy called Monty. He offers all sorts of practical tips and recommended a great book called Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. Sub title: How to get lean for peak performance. We need all the help we can get.

What a great book. Loads of practical tips for improving your cycling performance by improving the quality of your diet and effectively reducing your fat content while retaining your lean, muscle mass. 

Would have been even better if I had read it 5 months ago and not finished it a week ago. Ho hum. Meanwhile the Wayneybaby has been annoyingly determined and has lost 18 lbs (or 8 bags of sugar). Grrr. Good for him obviously. But grrrr nevertheless! For some reason I have found it really hard to train and lose weight at the same time. Although the scales do say that I have increased my lean tissue and reduced my fat content a bit, I had hoped that all this exercise would have shifted more weight. Nope. You really do have to address the diet too. In the last couple of weeks when we have ramped up the exercise the scales have finally started to move in the right direction. Can we move Sunday’s ride back to November? 😉 

Ah well, the super skinny cyclists will be whizzing past me up the hills for sure… but for now mwua ha ha I will have the benefit of gravity on the way down. 

Signing off now. Until tomorrow!

JustGiving link: 100 Miles of Pain

No Sauvignon Blanc tonight after a mediocre day

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Today was okay. Not amazing but not terrible either. Even the good old English weather was okay. Just. This morning my Google Now thingy on my phone told me there was a 70% chance of rain. I ignored the forecast and wore a summer dress with some summery high-heeled wedge sandals. What a rebel! (Hardly!)

Overall it was an okay kind of day. Work was okay. Average levels of interuptions. My food intake was okay – ish. Walked up to the town at lunchtime to top up a few steps on the pedometer. Probably a little over my calorie goal in total but no wine consumed tonight – I didn’t fancy it.

Tomorrow will be a week since I started my own 13 weeks to the beach mission and then I will know what needs to be done tomorrow and in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to some good sleep tonight!  Until tomorrow.

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Still 2 left!

A stressful day tested my resolve!

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Work yesterday was stressful. Not like life or death stressful. But stressful nevertheless. I was constantly interrupted so that I couldn’t get anything of substance done. It was unfortunate, but I did need to react to the interruptions for long-term … Continue reading →

4 changes of clothes before breakfast!

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So I set the alarm for 5.30am but somehow didn’t leave the house until 7.45. Why? I couldn’t find what I thought was a flattering outfit to wear for work. This is not for lack of choice, but simply due to the bit of extra padding my dresses are tighter and shorter – they rise up due to the extra around the middle and bottom bit. So that’s why I tried on four outfits before I was happy enough to leave the house!

That’s one of the things I disliked so much about being heavier – the care needed to disguise unflattering lumps and bumps. And conversely, one of the things I loved, loved, loved about being lighter – being able to have much more choice about what to wear. Plus … early mornings are not my best time in the day so those few extra minutes in bed were fabulous! 

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Shoe choice was equally lengthy - one must get the silhouette right!

Having got over the clothing dramas of the morning, I did manage to successfully complete day 2 of the new ’13 weeks to the beach’ mission. My food diary is complete and pleasingly I did not feel hungry or deprived on 1,200 or so calories a day!

Good luck to anyone trying to do something similar!

Until next time.

Today I confessed my weight to …

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… an old friend.  One that I hadn’t contacted in a while. The old friend has been with me since the start of my journey 2 years ago. The friend is myfitnesspal.com!

I told my old friend my new weight goal, my current weight and how much weight I’d like to lose per week. I was rewarded with a calorie goal per day and an updated weight graph.

My goal is stated – written down – always an important thing for me and I have a date (and a reward) in mind. I will track my food and activity. Day 1 is complete. I am focused. It was good to make friends with my old pal again.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

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Just say no to the unnecessary chocolates!

12 hours to go but the temptation to ditch the diet is almost unbearable!

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All good tonight with 12 hours to go…

I’ve been exactly the same weight to the half pound for 3 days. I’ve given myself the goal for tomorrow morning as it’s my birthday … then am off out for lunch and doing lots of lovely other things this next week. So I’ll be having a diet holiday for a few days.

With only 12 hours to go, the urge to start the diet holiday is almost unbearable! Especially with a giant white chocolate Toblerone in the house! But resist, I will!
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Until tomorrow! Resist, resist!

36 hours to go in the 4-week focus…

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36 hours to go in the 4-week/9-day push. In the last 36 hours, I achieved the 9-day target and my gym goals 🙂  The problem with achieving your goals is that you then need to set some new ones! So, new gym goals have now been revised and the programme revised with some even more evil-sounding exercises … including way too many squats for my liking!

It didn’t dawn on me until I was driving home that in my new programme, my repetitions have increased by 50 percent! Wah! Okay, okay … that’s the 6-week goal. But still … wah!

Breaking things down into smaller goals works really well for me – into manageable chunks that don’t seem too overwhelming – both in terms of time and difficulty. It’s amazing what can be achieved when fully focused on a short-term goal. It seems silly to even say it, but the short-term goal thing is so obvious, yet so effective.

4-week focus … time is nearly up. From a weight-loss perspective, I may  be a pound or two adrift from the four-week goal, but you never know what might happen in 36 hours!

In any case, I’ll be able to enjoy my birthday in the knowledge that it’s all in the right direction. One step at a time.

Good luck with your own goals, whatever they may be!

It’s the weekend and (eek!) treats are in the house…

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5 days done, 4 to go on the 9-day push … and things are on track … but …

There’s a whole load of temptation in the house, though, as Wayne went food shopping and bought treats as his (17 and 15-year-old) daughters are staying for the weekend. So it’s a danger zone for me… the lure of crisps, chocolate (mmmm… maltesers!) or whatever might prove too much for me.

Normally I’d let myself have a little treat to avoid feeling deprived – but am very focused on this last push, so I am trying to avoid calorie-dense, nutritionally-low value foods – to make every calorie count! It’s amazing how much you can eat of ‘real’ food in comparison to, say, even 4 squares of chocolate. So I’ve put those ‘treats’ out of sight, so I am not so tempted. I think I’ll be okay, but I generallly find healthy eating more difficult at the weekends. If I stray, I’ll compensate by being more active –  walking or going to the gym. I have a gym review booked in tomorrow afternoon anyway – having body fat percentage measured (eek!) so I hope it is down a little and to have met my other 4-week gym goals.

Am now very close to my 9-day goal, I might even be able to beat it … and possibly hit the original 4-week diet goal. We’ll see! I’ll be happy with hitting the 9-day goal, the 4-week goal or anything in between!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have a happy one, y’all!