phil_hg_uk
I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
I started skipping a few weeks ago, when I got a skipping rope at first it took me ages to get the length right and the next day it felt like someone had broken both my legs
Getting rid of stubborn weight
- Thread starter Crackle
- Start date
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I started skipping a few weeks ago, when I got a skipping rope at first it took me ages to get the length right and the next day it felt like someone had broken both my legs
Dayvo
just passin' through
- Location
- 59° 50′ 5.55″ N, 10° 47′ 41.89″ E
I started skipping a few weeks ago, when I got a skipping rope at first it took me ages to get the length right and the next day it felt like someone had broken both my legs
If you anyone needs to find the correct length of a skipping rope, take the rope and stand in the middle: the handles should come up to your armpits. Adjust the length accordingly.
OK, I've come up with a rough plan based on advice received, the book @VamP recommended and what I've done in the past. As soon as I've fleshed it out I'll post it on here for comment but it basically means some small adjustments to what I eat and when I eat it, changing the intensity of some of my exercise as well as trying to increase it and do something different and setting some targets.
I'll give it a few months to see if it works, target 1 being to reduce my percentage bodyfat and ergo my weight, target 2, to maintain that. I think this will be my last serious attempt, if it doesn't work, I'll stick to maintaining where I am now.
That book told me I'm not going to be a racing snake, maybe a racing slow worm but hey, they can move fast when they try. At least the one I tried to get a picture of did.
I'll give it a few months to see if it works, target 1 being to reduce my percentage bodyfat and ergo my weight, target 2, to maintain that. I think this will be my last serious attempt, if it doesn't work, I'll stick to maintaining where I am now.
That book told me I'm not going to be a racing snake, maybe a racing slow worm but hey, they can move fast when they try. At least the one I tried to get a picture of did.
So here's the plan, some aspects I haven't quite decided on yet, comments welcome on that but it's mostly there.
Food
Firstly, I am not going to calorie count: I thought long and hard about this, it's worked for me in the past but it's an arse and I think for this phase, unnecessary. Monitoring my body fat and weight will be enough to tell me if I'm successful or need to change things to slow the loss down or speed it up.
I am going to eat more vegetables, more fish, more nuts and seeds and more fruit, as well as lean meat, chicken, lean mince.
I am not going to eat, anything fried, anything processed, anything prepared. No drinking, no grazing my way through the fridge.
This actually won't be so difficult as I managed to get gastritis over the summer, diagnosed with a gastroscopy. I don't recommend either but it has actually spared me on to do this as I can't fekkin eat or drink much anyhow!
Typical meal plan:-
Breakfast - granola (oats and nuts), yoghurt, kiwi/cherries and banana + a coffee
Lunch - soup or salad and fish or chicken
Dinner - sweet potato (oven baked)/rice/whole wheat spaghetti, fish, broccoli or a tuna stir fry or similar
Snacks - nuts/seeds/raisins
Drinks - water/peppermint tea/green tea
No supplements aside form the flaxseed oil and cherry extract I already take.
None of that is onerous or difficult. That said I won't deny myself the occasional treat.
Exercise
I want to incorporate some core strength stuff every day. Nothing dramatic and it will compliment the stretching I've been doing anyhow.
I plan to exercise 4 times a week (I don't commute otherwise this would be easier). One of those sessions will be intervals and it will be mixed between bike and running. Initially 3 running, 1 bike for a few weeks as I pick up the running again, then I will temporarily swop to two of each and once the weather goes proper murky, it'll be running with a mtn bike session as cross training. I need to think about and refine what constitutes easy, tempo and above lactate as I've never really tried to apply this to myself in a structured way, help possibly needed here. On top of this, I will swim once a week. I plan to do some adult swimming lessons at some point.
Aims
Cycling I haven't decided on but almost certainly I want to do a half marathon in March next year. This is twice the distance I've run before and a proper challenge to me and I plan a 12 week training period for it. On top of that doing a triathlon has been lurking in my thoughts for some time but I will see how the swimming goes first, I'm really not a good swimmer.
That's it, long post, put down for my deliberation as much as anything else. If that don't shift some weight, I give up and will return to the beer once my bleedin stomach is better!
Finally, I did some double checking on performance and weight with regard running from the period when I began to be consistent if not profligate.
so when I started at my highest weight I was typically running 9:50 to 9:20 a mile. Longer runs were over 10 and I could never do much better. Then I dropped 9kg and I began to run under 9 until it was down to 8:30 and then below 8. Longer runs were under 9 as well (long being relative here). Well over a minute a mile difference, so I'm conscious of the difference some weight loss can have.
I'll let you know how I'm doing in a month or so and if I've managed to stick to the plan or needed to make changes, or life got in the way!
Food
Firstly, I am not going to calorie count: I thought long and hard about this, it's worked for me in the past but it's an arse and I think for this phase, unnecessary. Monitoring my body fat and weight will be enough to tell me if I'm successful or need to change things to slow the loss down or speed it up.
I am going to eat more vegetables, more fish, more nuts and seeds and more fruit, as well as lean meat, chicken, lean mince.
I am not going to eat, anything fried, anything processed, anything prepared. No drinking, no grazing my way through the fridge.
This actually won't be so difficult as I managed to get gastritis over the summer, diagnosed with a gastroscopy. I don't recommend either but it has actually spared me on to do this as I can't fekkin eat or drink much anyhow!
Typical meal plan:-
Breakfast - granola (oats and nuts), yoghurt, kiwi/cherries and banana + a coffee
Lunch - soup or salad and fish or chicken
Dinner - sweet potato (oven baked)/rice/whole wheat spaghetti, fish, broccoli or a tuna stir fry or similar
Snacks - nuts/seeds/raisins
Drinks - water/peppermint tea/green tea
No supplements aside form the flaxseed oil and cherry extract I already take.
None of that is onerous or difficult. That said I won't deny myself the occasional treat.
Exercise
I want to incorporate some core strength stuff every day. Nothing dramatic and it will compliment the stretching I've been doing anyhow.
I plan to exercise 4 times a week (I don't commute otherwise this would be easier). One of those sessions will be intervals and it will be mixed between bike and running. Initially 3 running, 1 bike for a few weeks as I pick up the running again, then I will temporarily swop to two of each and once the weather goes proper murky, it'll be running with a mtn bike session as cross training. I need to think about and refine what constitutes easy, tempo and above lactate as I've never really tried to apply this to myself in a structured way, help possibly needed here. On top of this, I will swim once a week. I plan to do some adult swimming lessons at some point.
Aims
Cycling I haven't decided on but almost certainly I want to do a half marathon in March next year. This is twice the distance I've run before and a proper challenge to me and I plan a 12 week training period for it. On top of that doing a triathlon has been lurking in my thoughts for some time but I will see how the swimming goes first, I'm really not a good swimmer.
That's it, long post, put down for my deliberation as much as anything else. If that don't shift some weight, I give up and will return to the beer once my bleedin stomach is better!
Finally, I did some double checking on performance and weight with regard running from the period when I began to be consistent if not profligate.
so when I started at my highest weight I was typically running 9:50 to 9:20 a mile. Longer runs were over 10 and I could never do much better. Then I dropped 9kg and I began to run under 9 until it was down to 8:30 and then below 8. Longer runs were under 9 as well (long being relative here). Well over a minute a mile difference, so I'm conscious of the difference some weight loss can have.
I'll let you know how I'm doing in a month or so and if I've managed to stick to the plan or needed to make changes, or life got in the way!
Last edited:
michaelcycle
Senior Member
- Location
- London
Sounds like a solid plan: focus on food high in nutrient density but low calorie density which will provide sufficient volume, conscious eating to prevent unnecessary over eating, and a decent amount of exercise.
Obviously portion size can be an issue (particularly with calorie dense things like nuts) but I am sure you can tweak as time goes on depending on results. I don't think you need to be overly militant with the "no processed, fried or prepared" line but if you have no problem omitting these things then all the better.
Good luck!
Obviously portion size can be an issue (particularly with calorie dense things like nuts) but I am sure you can tweak as time goes on depending on results. I don't think you need to be overly militant with the "no processed, fried or prepared" line but if you have no problem omitting these things then all the better.
Good luck!
I don't intend to be over militant, that's self defeating in the long term. I'll try to be quite strict through this month though to get things moving.
Crackle's brain is missing kind of thing.
Thought is one thing, commitment is another but hey, might as well have a crack whilst can only gaze longingly at fried breakfasts and beer.
I'm updating this now rather than at the end of the week as planned, mainly because my end of month target is in jeopardy because, as is it's wont recently, my body has broken down temporarily, so my planned fastest 5k park run attempt may not be on as I can't run. I might still make it, depends if I can manage a run tomorrow and don't exacerbate the problem. I won't bore you with the details but it's not a training injury. If I do make it, I'll update separately.
So, what have I managed, that's the important bit right? Well, it worked. I've dropped my body fat percentage by 4.5% which represents a 17% change. The book predicted 25%, So I'm on target to meet that. Weightwise, I'm at 72.4Kg, under the magic 73. That represents a 3% change in weight as I started at 74.5 having lost half a kg from the summer due to the gastritis. So for a 3% change in bodyweight I've achieved a 17% change in bodyfat.
I'd have done better but my gastritis has faded to nearly normal and I had a craving for some fried food and a few glasses of wine, so the last week or two has not been too disciplined but I think I've found the formula. Another kg of weight loss will see me hit the 25% target the book set. That won't be as easy as it sounds but it's possible.
I mostly stuck to my plan. I didn't do the core I'd planned, I strayed occasionally on the food front and I ended up dropping most of my cycling, as in recent years, I prefer to run in this weather. This is fine but as I need to build distance the last few weeks have not really burnt so many calories, that will hopefully improve next month.
Fitness wise, making 25% of my workouts more intensive is definitely working. I can probably tweak that some more now and build in a bit more structure but my average hr and more importantly the perceived effort, especially uphill, is going down. I had been guilty of going through the motions for a few years now so this has refreshed my enthusiasm. I'm still very much an average athlete but I'm a better average athlete than I have been
So I'll crack on, finish this months 5k target and move on to next months fastest 10k target and see where I get to.
So, what have I managed, that's the important bit right? Well, it worked. I've dropped my body fat percentage by 4.5% which represents a 17% change. The book predicted 25%, So I'm on target to meet that. Weightwise, I'm at 72.4Kg, under the magic 73. That represents a 3% change in weight as I started at 74.5 having lost half a kg from the summer due to the gastritis. So for a 3% change in bodyweight I've achieved a 17% change in bodyfat.
I'd have done better but my gastritis has faded to nearly normal and I had a craving for some fried food and a few glasses of wine, so the last week or two has not been too disciplined but I think I've found the formula. Another kg of weight loss will see me hit the 25% target the book set. That won't be as easy as it sounds but it's possible.
I mostly stuck to my plan. I didn't do the core I'd planned, I strayed occasionally on the food front and I ended up dropping most of my cycling, as in recent years, I prefer to run in this weather. This is fine but as I need to build distance the last few weeks have not really burnt so many calories, that will hopefully improve next month.
Fitness wise, making 25% of my workouts more intensive is definitely working. I can probably tweak that some more now and build in a bit more structure but my average hr and more importantly the perceived effort, especially uphill, is going down. I had been guilty of going through the motions for a few years now so this has refreshed my enthusiasm. I'm still very much an average athlete but I'm a better average athlete than I have been
So I'll crack on, finish this months 5k target and move on to next months fastest 10k target and see where I get to.
Last edited:
Sittingduck
Legendary Member
- Location
- Somewhere flat
Well done, so far.
bozmandb9
Insert witty title here
- Location
- South Oxfordshire
Sounds like an excellent plan, and a great result so far! Keep up the great work!
This is such an unhealthy saying. If you're exercising more you invariably need to eat more, food is fuel.
I should say at that point that if I was hungry I ate. Approaching a meal hungry is fine but leaving one still hungry or being hungry not long after doesn't work. I ate more before any longer outings. So when I say longer I mean going on the bike for a few hours as opposed to running 30mins and when I say more, I mean adding some extra fruit to my breakfast not eating a slap up fry up.
