Week 4

So, we now head towards the middle of the competition and statistics show this is where “dieters” fall over the edge. The edge of what exactly? I don’t even feel like I am balancing yet let alone going to fall. I keep saying to myself that there are now only six weeks to go and we are almost at the half way stage. Anyway, I am not dieting, in the words of JP I am on a life change.

I know I have put the work in, I know what I have eaten ( I also know what I havent eaten come to think about it). No seriously, I have been very good with not one sin crossing the imaginary border inspection point just in front of my mouth. If there were HM Customs officers on patrol they would be just as strict as me and passport or not they would be refused entry. If your name’s not down you’re not coming in. End of story.

Thursday Weigh Day came and went. I was “sort-of” happy with the outcome, I think my early results have somewhat clouded my latest achievements and knocked back what should be regarded as a good week on Leeds Largest Loser. To sum things up I have lost just shy of 3 stones in four weeks which is an incredible achievement.

On the sponsorship front I also reached the £500 mark which is far more than I could ever imagined. Thank you for all your contributions. But please DO NOT STOP. If you havent already donated then please look in the side bar of this blog for the link to Virgin Money.

Thank you for reading, as always.

Weigh In – Thursday 13th February

I really feel like I have worked hard this week. The combination of food and exercise have felt good. I think I would be punishing myself too far if I said I need to try harder. I have done everything I have been asked….and more this week.

It was never going to come off at the rate it has been doing over the last three weeks, I understand that. Maybe I should just quit moaning and steady myself for the next seven days. I tried to blame my attendance record for the last week, but I think I am actually looking for excuses instead of being happy with the achievement. I know I was so fixated on getting to 42lb so I was able to say I had lost three stone so maybe my own goal got in the way.

Which ever way I look at this, it was still a loss….A WHOLE CARP in fact, and when you look at the fish it looks big and heavy. Realistically, that one less weigh to carry round everyday. So to touch on figures (which is something I have been told time and time again by Charlotte & Lorena NOT TO DO) my current loss after week 4 is 37lb which is actually 9.79% of my body weight lost.

I am sure there are plenty of Carp sitting at the bottom of a gravel pit somewhere that weigh 37lb. Wait till we start comparing my weight loss to sharks….as if.

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support.

Red Alert 14-2-14

RED ALERT ! …. RED ALERT !….  RED ALERT!….  RED ALERT!

DISASTER !!   has struck…. Valentines Day is thrust upon us in the United Kingdom. My thoughts are keenly re-focused to the delicate subject of what to buy the current Mrs W?  She is not so mean to consume chocolate right in front of my eyes so the option of a box of Thorntons is probably a no-no. Anyway, after using many brain cells I came up with the idea that a flock of red flowers would satisfy the soul.

Anyway, just in comparison the above was not the issue; Saturday evening we are cooking. A nice meal in at “The Towers” sounded good to me. Then came the bombshell…a bombshell dropped from an altitude that even Felix Baumgartner would have been proud of. It turns out we are having dessert after the meal. AAAAAARGGGHH NOOOOOOO……..

Romance…Love…Passion…Valentines Day…how can I say no. I cannot………. can I? The whole atmosphere will be ruined.. picture the scene . I have…I dont want to go there again. So for this I beg forgiveness…..?

My Fitness Trainer
Who’ art in Cookridge
Lorena be thy name
Thy kettlebells come
Thy regime will be done
On the bike as it is in thy pool

Give us this day our daily exercise
and forgive us our dumb bells
as we forgive those who don’t diet
and lead us not in to temptation
With Apple Crumble and Custard

For health is the life choice
The Power and the Fury
For ever and ever
I’m always full !

Power of Pavelka

Decisions, Charity Bags & Throw Away Clothing

Yesterdays impromptu clothes fitting ceremony inspired “The Great Wardrobe Clearout”. Now as much as that sounds like a BBC1 programme for day time viewing only let me assure you it wasnt or isn’t. I think part of the master plan was to see what I have got that might fit me again? More importantly was to throw away anything that didn’t.

If you take a peek at yesterday’s post showing a picture of me donning a rather large (XXXLarge to be precise) white shirt you will see where I am coming from. Already things are starting to show and we are almost coming to the end of week 4. No, seriously I don’t want to go back to old ways so a positive head and eating sensibly will see me through.

So yesterday it was time for a “closet re-organisation” and a chance to sort through my entire wardrobe of clothes and trash everything that didn’t fit. This was much harder than I thought, maybe at this stage there wasn’t much to actually throw away. I am sure you know what I mean here; some of the clothing that I have been wearing since the turn of the year still fits; well, just. It does look a bit on the baggy side which in turn offers comfort. One of the things about having an extended waistline is that baggy clothes tend to feel more relaxed than their lycra counterparts. At the end of the day I always get changed and don my “”Baggies” to chill out on the sofa to wind down and put my feet up with Mrs W.

Since losing inches from everywhere my once baggy clothing has just become “offensive”. Offensive to whom I have no idea but it sounded good so we will stick with it. After dragging everything out of the cupboards and depositing it in a huge disorganised pile on the bed it was time to begin my personal fitting session. Things went to plan, in fact things went much better than that as the end result saw many items saved from certain demise and reinserted on the “wearable” shelf. As I sit here typing I am adorning a colourful t-shirt that hasn’t seen daylight for many years. Some of the items spared from certain disposal looked to have been worn only a few times… even better.

After an hour of re-organising and decision-making the task was over. As a result, only a handful of items were now destined for shores afar. I just wonder if they will find someone big enough to wear them. I mean, my white shirt alone could house two homeless families from the Yemen quite comfortably.

This process will have to be revisited again very soon I suspect. But for now, I have many new (but old) garments that I can wear with pride. As for the charity bags, they are sat patiently waiting to be fed.

Thanks for reading.

Sit Rep…Week 4 : Mr Ben

After rummaging through old clothes in the wardrobe today and feeling like Mr Ben… (if you dont know who Mr Ben was then you missed out) but thats another story. For those of you who do remember Mr Ben there is a photo below for a quick refresher.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this is a sneak preview of my progress after trying on a shirt I wore last year. Y’all ready for this?

Remember ………. the competition isnt even half way through yet ! So there is plenty of time to lose so much more. Pounds and Inches to be never seen again.

I already do that……..

I saw this on Facebook today. A post from my mentor Jessie Pavelka…

Guess what? I already do that. I use an App for my phone and ipad called My Fitness Pal The App tracks your daily food intake and calculates breakdowns based on your input.

MyFitnessPal is a free smartphone app and website that tracks diet and exercise to determine optimal nutrients and caloric intake for the users’ goals. In a Consumer Reports diet rating, MyFitnessPal was rated the best free program (with 83 points) in overall satisfaction, “maintenance, calorie awareness, and food variety

Currently, I feel like I’m succeeding. My journey is in it’s fourth week and all is good. Thank you for reading this blog, please feel free to comment as all words will be encouraging.

Thank you

Work hard, rest easy

As I enter the weekend its time for a two-day break from the gym. Two days sounds drastic doesn’t it? I have been reading and researching on the internet about the human body and the rest in needs to recover. Since the beginning of Leeds Largest Loser I have felt that the “rest days” have been a waste of time. I have been focussing on burning calories and getting fitter. All I can see is that the weekend has been wasted when it comes to my goal. This isn’t entirely true as my diet (which is 50% of the effort) remains the same. I have stuck to the plan 100%. Everyone found it frightening that I was only taking in 800 calories a day but I have done exactly what I was told and its working. I was shocked at first, wouldnt anyone be? The diet was a drastic change from my normal routine. I have settled down to smaller portions and the correct foods for what I am going to achieve.

One of the component parts of the exercise regime is rest. Rest and sleep are crucial for healing and maintenance of health.  They are also imperative for optimal weight.  I did some research and found that studies have shown that those who sleep less often weigh more!

The benefits of sleep are:
■Regeneration of energy expended throughout the day
■Restocking of cells and organs with fuel and nutrients
■Destruction of old, damaged and toxic cells
■Replacement of old cells with new cells – the multiplication of cells during sleep is more than double that of waking hours
■The elimination of toxins from the body
■Reorganization of mental and emotional thoughts – the subconscious mind through dreams works things out mentally and emotionally

Our body’s metabolism has three separate and distinct phases every 24 hours – digestion takes place between noon and 8:00 PM, assimilation between 8 PM and 4 AM, and detoxification between 4 AM and noon.  That is why it’s important to sleep at night.  Most of your eating should be done from noon to 8 PM when the body is in the digestion mode.  Eating in the morning prior to noon should be light to prevent disruption of the cleansing that the body is doing at that time. Exercise promotes improved sleep quality by allowing smoother and more regular transition between the cycles and phases of sleep.  Exercise in the morning or afternoon, not close to bedtime.  Stanford University School of Medicine researchers studied the effects of exercise on the sleep patterns of adults aged fifty-five to seventy-five who were sedentary and troubled by insomnia. The result? The time required to fall asleep was reduced by half, and sleep time increased by almost one hour.

As much as my brain is telling me to get back in the gym today the research is telling me to rest. I am quietly confident that my trainer would say the same thing. As much as the rest is welcome the diet continues as it has in the last three weeks. This is all preparation for the coming weeks…

FAIL TO PREPARE………..PREPARE TO FAIL

Thanks for reading….

A new type of pain….

Last year my lovely wife Elaine completed a life long ambition; To take part and finish The BUPA Great North Run. For two-thirds of the course the rain poured down and her feet became sodden. The outcome was a series of blisters that she describes as very painful. In order to solve the issue mid-course she opted to change running styles. This had a knock on effect with more blisters appearing in different parts of her feet. Looking back I have no idea how she completed the race let alone with her shoes on.

The above makes my issue this evening sound so trivial but I will admit that tonight’s melee was totally my fault. What did i expect leaving my training socks at home. I wear brightly coloured socks during the day and often refuse to pair them up which results in the mismatch of designs. I could hardly enter the gym wearing those now could I?

I was left with three options….
1. Get changed again, drive home and pick up missing socks.
2. Get changed again, drive home and abandon training
3. Go barefoot and do my best

Option three was the hard mans choice. Feel the pain Markus ! Two hours in and it really started to sting… obviously my new shoes were not fully adapted to my feet yet. They did actually feel very comfortable, almost slipper like. It was at this point that I had no alternative but to retire to the changing room and admit defeat.
I was very surprised I lasted that long actually but having said that I am very focussed on this event.

What lays before me now is a weekend off. That is unless I decide to hit the swimming pool in which case yonder blister will fill up with blue chlorinated water !

Thanks for reading…..

Featherweight v Heavyweight

This was todays no-brainer……….

The presence of fried fish and chips
salt and Vinegar and bread and butter
Hot mugs of Yorkshire Tea and
a chat with the mother-in-law
Fridays are my “bestest” day of the week

However, times have changed..as we do too
I sit alone, upon the couch..tupperware in hand
A box with no scent, no taste and no interest
With calories in my mind and goals to be set
I tuck in to a colourful and tasty meal..

Post-meal I feel full
Full of goodness, full of the right food
My goal is still in sight and very clear
Friday is always on my mind
but for now, a different reason

I never know what the next one brings…
Will it be chicken?
Will it be roast beef?
Will it be Salmon?
Who knows….
Either way, it will be for the best.

Trust me…