Week 13 (39 to go) - End of Month 3

So, the big thing this week was the weekend away with my beautiful wife to see Tool in Melbourne. I had the best of intentions to remain healthy and not drink while away - the start to many a big night story.

We flew to Melbourne on Saturday morning - i got up, did my workout and had a normal breakfast. Dropped the kids at my parents and headed to the airport. I grabbed a coffee at the airport and saved eating lunch until we landed and got to Melbourne. There were many places to eat, however we went safe with Nandos. I had a burger on wholegrain with their spicy rice. All in all, not the worst lunch, but not the best. Off to a good start. We walked around the city for a while until it was time to head to the hotel and get ready. We had dinner booked at the European Bier Cafe. Lets just say, the Euro beers on tap, and menu / surrounds had me throwing any semblance of staying good out the window, let alone the 6.6% beers. The food and drink was great, we finished up and headed to Tool. It was about a 1.5km walk from the pub. Long story short - Show was great, many beers and Canadian club and drys were consumed. We walked back to the hotel in the crowd of Tool and Elton John fans. The positive, that day was my highest step count - a little over 13,000 (withings tracker is not a generous as other trackers). The negative - the walk seemed longer and more hilly than i remembered on the way back.

Next day, breakfast was poached eggs, toast and spinach. We walked around and looked at Cooks cottage, the model village, Federation square etc and then had Lunch on the river. I had fish, chips and salad and i squeezed in an apple muffin for good measure. No dinner as i had eaten more than enough and was not hungry when we got home. Sunday was over 11,000 steps.

The rest of the week was back on track, including getting up at 4:00am Monday to catch up on workouts due to my work schedule.

On the weight tracker, my weight went up by about 1kg for my Monday and Tuesday weigh ins, putting me a long way behind target. Then my body reacted and caught back up to be near line ball. If ever there was a reason to get back on track, this was it. I could have easily written off the week being disappointed with results. I was actually concerned i was going to get my first forfeit this month and made plans to do the gym thing. I know i am not at 145kg like i originally planned for when i would do the gym thing, but with the exercise i have been doing, coupled with the eating i am feeling good enough to take on the gym challenge.

Speaking of the B52, now that i am officially 1/4 of the way in, i have revised targets and plans. With my new scales, i have determined that i should be aiming at a target weight of 115kg. instead of the 110kg originally targeted due to the 1kg a week loss plan. This should be a body fat % of approximately 15-20% (depending on muscle mass), putting me in the middle of the target zone. This means that my target weight loss from next week on has been revised to 0.9kg instead of 1kg. Not a major change, however provides a more realistic end target to meet the outcome of the B52.

I have, as always, included my measurements for the month below. On average a solid 2cms off all round, with 3cms off the waist.

Weight results below.

Week 12 (40 to go)

So, 12 weeks in and 11.8 kgs down. This week I lost 700g, which considering there were two Tool concerts in between, as well as a weekend with my son where the NRL 9's and movies were the go, i am quite happy. I think lack of sleep and overall laziness when not exercising last weekend was to blame. I am 200g behind target, however with a little focus this week i should be back on track for Month 3 weigh-in.

Nothing else to really report. Exercise and Weights progressing and i am now down to notch 3 on the belt, so all positive. I am happy overall with where things are at.

Week 11 (41 to go)

So, main highlight of this week, my new scales! They came in last Friday and as mentioned last week, I did the normalisation of numbers. My new scales measured me as 0.9kg higher than the old ones. Based on the indicative numbers from my GP visit last week, my weight loss of 10.2kg in 10 weeks seems to be legitimate, so i have gone back and amended the tracking numbers up by 0.9kg (planned and actual numbers). This should mean i can keep tracking the trend from this point on.

The scales are fantastic, they match to my fitness app (Withings Health Mate) and do the arbitrary body fat %, muscle mass, bone density etc. I hop on them daily which is automatically tracked in the app, which in turn updates my food tracker and provides an average weight weekly. This allows me to look at my data when a measurement is flat or up day to day. For instance, this week i discovered the basil and tomato meatballs with spaghetti leaves a measurable lump in my stomach the morning after...

Food - again, i have been good. I had a few whiskeys on Saturday night (on ice) while watching a movie, other than that, i have been bang on.

Exercise - i have upped my cross trainer time from 16 minutes to 24. This is a 3 x a week thing before weights. First time was a challenge, however i am able to keep the same pace and resistance as i had at 16 minutes, and am now doing the equivalent of 7.5km's each work out (up from 5.5km's). Weights are steady, slight increase in the major muscle workouts (curls, bench press etc) and minor increase on weights where helper muscles are engaged. Some exercises are harder than others - the usual.

All in all, still on track and feeling good. I am sticking to my exercise plan and working from home 2 days a week, this has meant i have been a little absent in my local office, however i am prioritising my health over work travel. This is something that does not majorly impact my ability to function at work, however i do miss seeing people occasionally.