Christmas, plus a break

Christmas was good. Moved house on the 23rd and now that we're settled we've started to paint. Crazy...

With moving there was no time (or need) for much exercise, and now I'm painting so ditto. Food's been OK, but not fantastic.

As a result of the move I won't have net access from home for a while, so this blog will be updated less regularly. However I'm still tracking my food and will still post my day's consumption and exercise, just in bulk.

23 December

No TFS this morning - figure moving will tire me out enough (plus there's no floor space).

Meals will probably be a bit irratic again today, so I'll just list em in rough order.

Shake
Plenty of pepsi max
Can't remember the rest.

22 December

Busy day at work, and we're moving tomorrow morning at 9am.. so any thought of food tracking went right out the window. The day went something like:

Shake
Shake
Lentil loaf
Apple
Shake
Salt and vinegar chips (a handful)
2 sugar free choc chip cookies

Need dinner but there's nothing to cook or cook with (hence the snacky stuff at the end of the night).

Think tomorrow will be worse :-(

21 December

TFS first thing again today.

Meal 1 (0700): Shake
Meal 2 (0930): Lentil loaf
Meal 3 (1130): Lentil loaf
Meal 4 (1330): Shake
Meal 5 (1600): Apple
Meal 6 (1800): Shake
Meal 7 (1900): Custard + Xmas cake

Cals: 2094
PCF: 29/50/21

Think fitday's custard is worse that what I had.. will have to adjust tomorrow.

20 December

TFS straight out of bed.

Meal 1 (0700): Shake
Meal 2 (0930): Wholemeal spaghetti, TVP + Tomato sauce
Meal 3 (1200): Lentil loaf + mushrooms
Meal 4 (1430): Shake
Meal 5 (1730): Shake
Meal 6 (1900): Small amount of chips

Cals: 1859
PCF: 33/49/18

December 19 + measurements

Weight: 73.6
BF: 13.6%

BF's down a little, which can only be a good thing!

Meal 1 (0730): Shake
Meal 2 (1015): Wholemeal spaghetti, TVP + tomato sauce
Meal 3 (1230): Wholemeal spaghetti, TVP + tomato sauce
Meal 4 (1430): Shake
Meal 5 (1700): Apple
Meal 6 (1745): Shake
Meal 7 (2000): Steamed broccoli and mushrooms
Meal 8 (2100): Vegemite sandwich (spelt bread)
Meal 9 (2200): Lentil loaf

Cals: 2072
P/C/F: 36/52/12

Great eating day at work - helped on I'm sure by some TFS in the morning. Took a shake to work for the first time - worked well and kept my energy levels up in the arvo. Also managed to eat every 2-3hrs as planned.

TFS tonight too. I swear the minimal amount I'm doing is increasing my appetite amazingly.

Very happy with food today. Lots of it, high protein and low fat.

18 December

Meal 1 (1100): Shake
Meal 2 (1430): Toasted spelt bread, tomato and cheese sandwich
Meal 3 (1600): Shake
Meal 4 (1930): Wholemeal spaghetti, TVP + Tomato sauce

Cals: 981(!)
P/C/F: 34/51/15

Still doing some bodyweight stuff morning and night, but haven't got any running or weights. We're moving this week so packing etc.

17 December

Meal 1 (0930): Shake
Meal 2 (1230): 2 Dahl bread rolls
Meal 3 (1500): Shake
Meal 4 (2100): Pizza

Cals: 2592
P/C/F: 26/51/23

16 December

Meal 1 (0715): Shake
Meal 2 (1045): Dahl and brown rice
Meal 3 (1330): Dahl and brown rice
Meal 4 (1615): Shake
Meal 5 (1900): Beer and Pizza

Cals: 2830
P/C/F/A: 19/50/10/21

Seeing as I haven't been able to get much exercise in lately, this morning I decided to do some of the bodyweight stuff from www.trainforstrength.com. 2 sets of 10 for dog series, boot strapper and flutter kick. Only a very short session, but it's got blood pumping which must be good.

15 December

Meal 1 (0830): Shake
Meal 2 (1300): Alfredo pasta, broccoli and mushrooms
Meal 3 (1530): Cake (damn birthdays!)
Meal 4 (1745): Shake
Meal 5 (2200): Dahl and bread.

Cals: 1404
P/C/F: 27/53/20

To be honest, I think I've picked the wrong time of year to start out. It's friggin impossible to any sort of a routine happening when there's work and social stuff on almost every day. Maybe the sensible thing to do is concentrate on diet until ater new years, then hit the program properly. In the mean time I'm going keep running and doing yoga as much as possible, and get a weights session in when I can.

I'll still keep this journal going for both food and exercise.

14 December

Couldn't sleep again last night, so up late again this morning.

Meal 1 (0730): Shake
Meal 2 (1130): Beans + spinach
Meal 3 (1500): Birthday cake
Meal 4 (1900): Indian

Out to dinner tonight and didn't get home till now, so that threw plans for a run out the window. Once again, can't make a decent estimate for dinner so won't bother with PCF and cals today.

13 December

Meal 1 (0700): Shake
Meal 2 (1100): Beans + spinach
Meal 3 (1430): Beans + spinach
Meal 4 (1740): Shake
Meal 5 (2200): Steamed broccoli and mushrooms, glass of milk
Meal 6 (2230): Cottage cheese and vegemite roll

Cals: 1801
P/C/F: 30/53/17

Very much back on the horse today. Moved yesterday's weights session to tonight to try and not waste the whole week. Very glad I did - fantastic session. Still quite pumped.

Bad night's sleep last night (couldn't get to sleep till about 2am) but some pepsi max though the day kept me awake. Great day at work too - interesting tech seminar in the morning then got heaps done in the arvo. Going out to see a friend of a friend ring church bells (!) and will see if I'm still pumped enough to go for a run when I get home.

Just home. Too late to run but the church thing was suprisingly fun.

12 December

Shake
75g Chocolate
Pasta + TVP sauce
1 Beer
Vege nachos

No weights. No running. No energy. No motivation.

11 December

Meal 1 (1015): Shake
Meal 2 (1200): Greek salad
Meal 3 (1400): Wholemeal crumpets w/ avacado, cheese and chilli

....

Lost track of Sunday. Not good. Feeling pretty slack and distracted.

10 December + measurements

Weight: 73.4
BF: 14%

Essentially unchanged, but that's not surprising given the week I've had. The best thing so far is that I'm starting to feel pretty decent.

Meal 1 (0900): Shake
Meal 2 (1200 - 1600): Cheese, crackers, homous, bread, 5 beers
Meal 3 (2030): Vege burrito + salad, 1 beer

Cals + PCF: Too hard to work out today with most food eaten out of the house. Feeling full, but ate fairly healthily atleast (other than the beer of course).

No running tonight, home too late from dinner.

9 December

Meal 1 (0650): Shake
Meal 2 (1015): Apple
Meal 3 (1300): Pasta, TVP and tomato sauce
Meal 4 (1745): Shake
Mea1 5 (2130): Oats, milk + whey
Meal 6 (2200): Toasted spelt bread w/ feta and tomato

Cals: 1771
P/C/F: 34/53/13

Although my calories are down a bit, I'm feeling pretty good. I decided not to push myself with eating today, so just took the pasta and a few apples to work. Only ended up eating one. I'll work up to my full diet, but I think I might have approached it a bit quickly.

I am tired though, but will make the effort to go for a run when it cools down a bit.

Well I'm glad I pushed myself to run tonight. As I'd planned, I paced myself much better. I ran for 15:03 (7m more than last time!) and went atleast 1/3rd further. I'll have to get the car out and to a quick run round the block tomorrow to measure the approx distances.

Pretty hungry after the run, so caught up on some of the day's cals.

Very happy with myself, and feeling the best I have since Monday's weights session.

8 December

Good night's sleep and nothing social today, so it's looking promising :-)

Meal 1 (0645): Shake
Meal 2 (1100): Beans and spinach
Meal 3 (1330): Beans and spinach
Meal 4 (1600): v. small peice of banana cake
Meal 5 (1630): 2 beers
Meal 6 (1800): Shake
Meal 7 (2130): Spaghetti, TVP and tomato sauce

Cals: 1687
P/C/F: 23/56/9 (+12% alcohol)

Hmmm. Well. What can I say?

Would you beleive it was my work's 100th birthday today? Hence the cake and the beer. This week has been unbeleiveable...

Not to mention, we had to pick up wedding photos tonight, so there was no time for running or weights.

I've made a complete mess of this week. Tomorrow night I'm going for a run, then Saturday it's back to what it should be (other than, of course, the BBQ I'm going to).

I'm wondering if I am always like this and only just noticing because I'm writing it down. I don't think so, but you never know. It'll be interesting to see how things track over the next few weeks.

To be honest I'm pretty upset with myself. I was starting to feel noticable better in the early part of the week, despite the stress of the interview. Now I'm feeling run down and lazy again. Only one way to fix that though, and tomorrow's a new day.

7 December

Decided to sleep in the morning, which was nice. Have my work xmas party on, so once again, diet will be 'interesting' today. I really picked a good week to start this didn't I?

Meal 1 (0715): Shake
Meal 2 (1230 - 1700): BBQ - salad, soy burger, soy sausage, bread, turkish bread, hommus. 6 pack of beer
Meal 3 (1800) : Vege Pizza

Ok, so today hasn't gone that well :-) I'm not too fussed though - from the outset I said I wasn't gonna be a nazi about this - I still have to have fun every now and then. Unfortunately this week's been atypically socially active and stressful.

I'll move weights to tomorrow night, and double up on running on the weekend. It's not anywhere near as good, but it's better than nothing.

Today's been a good unwind from the last couple of stressful ones. Tomorrow I'm back on the horse....

6 December

Interview day! A bit nervous, but I think I should be fine. I got up early this morning to do yoga - should help me stay calm-ish for the rest of the day (interview's at 1pm).

Meal 1 (0645): Shake
Meal 2 (1000): Apple
Meal 3 (1415): Pasta with TVP, tomato and red wine sauce
Meal 4 (1745): Shake

Cals: 1461
P/C/F: 32/56/12

Interview went fairly well, though I could only manage the apple beforehand. Cals are down today as a result.

I'm meant to run tonight, but it's was a bit wet and I'm still buggered. Bad day on the health front today.

5 December

Up early for work (0630). Had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I'm a little tired.


Meal 1 (0640): Shake (1 c oats)
Meal 2 (1230): Indian (rice, dahl, curried vegies, salad)
Meal 3 (1530): Small slice of cheesecake
Meal 4 (1800): Shake (1 c oats, plus some coffee to wake me up)
Meal 5 (2130): Steamed broccoli and mushrooms

Cals: 1912
P/C/F: 24/57/19

Both OK, considering.

Bad, bad day at work food wise today. Had a work lunch (indian, not too bad in itself - calories roughly estimated for FitDay) but that was all I ate all day, other than birthday cheesecake that is. Plus I didn't manage to get home till 6 :-( Now it's weights time and I'm exhausted.

Quite annoyed at myself, because 1) I was really looking forward to kicking arse with weights tonight, and more importantly, 2) I needed a good day today to prepare me for my promotion interview tomorrow.

On the positive side, my PCF isn't too bad (thanks lentils) and my calories will be on target (thanks rice). I'll see if I can salvage an otherwise very average day with my workout...

Weights session was quite good. I'm pretty happy with it, but I think the bench 1RM I got the other day might be too low. I'll stick with it for the rest of the week and if needed up it next week.

Overall I think the day turned out OK. Only problem now is that the caffine's still kicking and it's bedtime :-(

4 December

Grrr, up late again this morning! Though it's the last day of my holidays, so work will put a stop to it tomorrow. Gonna be some work to try and fit in the 2 meals I've missed though.

Meal 1 (1200): Shake (1 c oats)
Meal 2 (1400): Grapes, 2 Tomato and avocado sandwiches (spelt bread - high protein, no sugar)
Meal 3 (1700): Shake (1 c oats)
Meal 4 (2000): Beans and spinach

Cals: 1817
P/C/F: 28/55/17

Only managed the 4 meals today, so fell about 500 short on my calorie intake. Fat's a little high, but I'm pretty happy with that PCF.

Yoga tonight was good. Nice and relaxing - which is what I needed to prepare for going back to work tomorrow.

3 December

Up late again this morning :-( But on the up side, I'm feeling much less fat and run down. I'm spending the day preparing for an interview next week, so no excuses to not eat myself stupid :-)

Meal 1 (1000): Shake
Meal 2 (1200): Whole wheat spaghetti, TVP, tomato and red wine sauce
Meal 3 (1400): Curried beans and spinach
Meal 4 (1600): Shake (1 cup oats)
Meal 5 (1900): Alfredo pasta with broccoli and mushrooms
Meal 6 (2100): Oats and milk
Meal 7 (2200): Greek salad
Misc: Red wine (bad, but tasty :-) )

Total cals: 2256 (getting there)
P/C/F: 27/54/16 +3% alcohol (not too bad either)

I decided that I should start my program today, rather than on Monday, so I did my Saturday run. Went fairly well - around the block in 7:46. It used to take me about 9, so that's an improvement. I think I need to concentrate more on distance and length of time than speed though, so I'll try and slow down a little and go further on Tuesday.

2 December - Stats and food

Did some measuring today, results are:

• Weight: 73.5kg
• Height: 173cm
• Body Fat: 14% (measured using these)
• Deadlift 1RM: 88kg
  
• Bench 1RM: 68kg
  
• Bar Row 1RM: 68kg
  
• Situp 1RM: 37kg
  

Not sure how accurate the BF measurement is, but the important thing is that I will be using the same tool and technique every time.

Food today has been:

• Meal1(0930): Shake
• Meal2(1400): Wholemeal spaghetti with Tomato, TVP and red wine sauce
• Meal3(1430): 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup milk, grapes
• Meal4(1645): Shake
• Meal5(1900): Greek salad (no dressing)
• Meal6(2100): Baked Beans and spinach
  

As you can see I got up late, then missed 2 meals in the middle of the day.

Cals: 1616 (waaaay too low)
P/C/F: 30/55/15 (not too bad)

Feeling pretty good, though I was drained before meal 2. Neck and shoulders are a bit tight after the 1RM tests, but it felt good to lift again. I've lost 10kgs in both my bench and deadlift, but that's too be expected. When I re-do my 1RM tests next month I'm hoping to have gained that back.

1 December

I'm still feeling pretty tired, so my diet hasn't exactly been perfect the last couple of days. That said though, I've stayed away from junk since I got back to Canberra, and have been having good, healthy meals. Some hightlights:

• Shakes. I really missed these while I was away. Having 2 a day, but lack of other food options has meant they haven't been at the usual times
• Baked Beans and spinach. This one was a 'what's in the cupboard' special, but it turned out pretty damn nice. Thanks to my wife for the idea
• Tomato, TVP and red wine sauce over spaghetti. Tweaked recipe that turned out well.
  
• Alfredo pasta with mushrooms and broccoli. This was a holiday invention of my wife's when we got sick of eating crap. Cheap and easy, and fairly healthy
  
• Cottage cheese and Vegemite tortilla (my favourite 'good' treat)

I'm not eating enough meals, and they're not in the best order. I'm already feeling much healthier though. Looking forward to getting myself sorted over the next 3 days to give myself a good solid base for training next week.

Talking of training.... there's still been zero exercise. That's mostly due to being so damn tired. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be doing a session to work out my 1RMs in preparation for next week. Not great training in itself, but it will be good to get the feel for it back again.

Tomorrow is also when I start tracking my diet through FitDay. It can be a royal pain in the arse to set up custom foods, but it's still the easiest way I know to work out exactly what you're putting into yourself. I'll publish a summary (cals, PCF) each day for the next 2 weeks.

Pictures

Some photos of my current 'pysique'. You can see why I want to get into shape....