Lighter life

Hi everybody,

Well it's been pretty nice weather and the other day when I went for my run I took it fairly gently because it was so warm. A lady I passed on route said "You seem to be enjoying that", and do you know I really was.

When I get to this point with my running I usually begin to wonder why I ever stopped in the first place. Sure enough I can rationalize about sore joints and things, and I know that last year it was due do a sprain that took three months to heal. But nonetheless I wonder I can forget that feeling.

I came across a picture today which is proof positive if I needed any that quick fix diets don't work. Her name is Jackie Cox and she is the founder of Lighter Life. This is a diet based on shakes and claims, through counselling, to get to the bottom of weight loss issues during the period of food abstinence.

Jackie clearly still has issues

Losing my first stone.

Hello everybody,

It's been a lovely week with plenty going on and lots of fine weather. I was a bit naughty so I wasn't sure that I would lose this week, but I did!

Have been doing my sit-ups except I forgot yesterday. Oops. My waist is now 38 inches (I lost half an inch this week) which is an improvement though still pretty flabby.

I've kept up my fitness regime and am enjoying it which is great. I have done a little video and there is also one of me and the family at the Hare Krishna temple yesterday. Hope you enjoy them.





Kim

Toning up the abs.

Hi,

Just a quick blog today because I'm off out but thought I'd share something with you.
I've been told that it only take three lots of twelve sit ups (done as reps or spread throughout the day) to really improve your abs. So I'm trying it out.

I started Sunday with a waist measurement of thirty-eight and a half inches. I've lost two and a half inches without doing sit-ups but need to move it a pace before the summer hols to get into next size down (size 16).

I'll put my waist measurement on here for the next few weeks and we'll see how it goes.

I haven't done much running this week as I pulled something on Sunday (stretching as I woke up ... a fine way to get a sports injury!) so I rested it for a couple of days but today I got back on with it. It was great and I posted my second fastest time without pushing things too hard, it being my first day back.

Off to a cheese and wine party tonight so not sure how things will be for Sunday's weigh-in but I'll do my best to be virtuous!

Lazing on a sunny afternoon!

Hi,

Today was my weigh in so I got up bright and early for that. I lost two pounds which is good and have lost another inch off of my hips which is great.

I haven't exercise yet today. We visited my sister-in-law and had Italian food out which was lovely. I ordered the salmon and vegetables which was not as healthy as I expected as it was accompanied by battered courgettes and sauteed potatoes. Never mind I have a week to wear it off.

Having stuffed ourselves we didn't have the run we had planned along the Thames but instead walked along a way and caught the tail end of a festival which was going on. We also watched people rowing and yachting. Absolutely beautiful. Here is a clip of what we saw and it shows part of the route which I ran the other week.




Have a great week,

Kim

One Lump or Two?

Hi,

Sorry not very good at getting on here sometimes! Apart from that though I am quite proud of myself. It was the school fair today and there was a barbecue and Indian food as well as Ice Cream and the inevitable cake stall. I avoided it ALL!

Yesterday I tried on some clothes which have been too tight. The jeans fitted perfectly, the trousers went on okay but were still rather tight but the dress, which I didn't expect to zip up slipped on fairly easily. Unfortunately looked all lumpy around my waist and bottom.

I decided it's time to do sit-ups. I have done some of course, and was intending to do more but somehow I didn't. Not now though. If it wasn't for those lumpy bits the dress and the trousers would be fine.

Today I had another bash at the HIIT training which I talked about the other day. This time I did more stretches because last time left me rather sore. I also thought that rather than walk in between I would jog. The pace is about the same but would mean I wouldn't cool down so much between repetitions. I also did more stretching after and did 100 sit ups.

Needless to say I ache!

Well, here are my diet diaries for the past few days. Something may get added to today but I'll let you know if it does.

Enjoy the weekend,

Kim

Thursday

Breakfast: Banana and Branflakes (260 kcals)

Lunch: Bagel and Houmous (535 kcals)

Dinner: Mackerel and salad (490 kcals)

Snacks: Strawberries (40kcals) and Nectarine (50kcals)

Drinks: Water (11/2 ltrs) 2x Coffee (20kcals)

Total= 1395kcals

Friday

Breakfast: Branflakes and banana (260kcals)

Lunch: Oatcakes and salad (230 kcals)

Dinner: Chicken fajitas (455 kcals)

Snacks: Nectarine (50kcals), Strawberries (50 kcals), Mousse (88kcals)

Drinks: 4x coffee (40 kcals) water (11/2ltrs)

Total= 1173 kcals

Saturday

Breakfast: Branflakes and Banana (260kcals)

Lunch: Oatcakes and houmous (410kcals)

Dinner: Sardines and salad (475kcals)

Snacks: Biscuits (90kcals)

Drinks: Water(2ltrs), 3x coffee(30kcals), strawberries 40(kcals)

Total= 1305kcals

Tuesday's Diet Diary

Hi,

It's late but I did keep a diary of my food yesterday. I just couldn't get on the computer to post it!

Yesterday I did my usual run that I showed a few weeks back. It rained so I wonder if that was why I did the second half slower than the first ... maybe my clothes weighed twice as much!

A friend I haven't seen for a few weeks asked me if I had lost weight yesterday which was nice because she didn't know that I was dieting. It's a definite boost to the esteem when people start to comment.

The reason I decided to keep a diet diary and track the calories was to a) be accountable and b) check that I am keeping to a sensible number of calories. The thing is that when I started this diet I didn't want to get bogged down with calorie counting which I know always makes me obsessive. However, all sensible diets work but creating a deficit between the energy we consume as food and drink and the energy we expend in living, breathing, metabolism, brain activity, moving, exercise etc.. If you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight.

Many modern types of diet, such as Rosemary Conley and Weight Watchers, are based on giving a plan where the user chooses from a variety of meals or counts points. They might have rules such as maximum percentages of fat or following points but they are basically a calorie controlled diet. The calories have been calculated so that it is simpler to follow and to supply a sensible calorie deficit.

The problem with these kinds of diets is primarily sticking to them because they can be restrictive and/or become boring and followers often hit a plateau.

However, since I have for the most part just stuck to healthy choices and avoided junk I wanted to ensure that my one pound weight loss last week was not due to me eating too many (albeit healthy) calories. What I have done therefore is to write down what I have eaten and then calculated the calories at the end of the day.

Basically, so far this week I have stuck to between 1200 and 1400 calories which is perhaps a little low for my weight. So long as I am not hungry though I guess that my body is okay with it.

If this week my weight loss is still a little meagre then I might push it up a bit, however, it may just be that I'm subconsciously avoiding eating.

I have also been reading about cheating your body into not noticing the calorie deficit to avoid weight loss plateau's. When I've read a bit more about it I'll let you know.

Tuesday's Diary

Breakfast: Branflakes and banana (250kcals)
Lunch: Tomato soup (250kcals)
Dinner: Smoked salmon with salad, avocado and cous cous and oil and vinegar(570 kcals)
Snacks: Nectarine (50kcals) Brioche(135kcals)
Drinks: 5x coffee (50) and 1 1/2 litres of water (better!)

Total: 1305 kcals

HIIT or miss!

Hi All,

Going to check in with diet diary but thought I'd also let you know what else has been going on.

Today I got an e-mail from a lady who's blog I read and it was very interesting. Steph Rice is in the fitness industry and was talking about people exercising but not achieving great results because they are not working out efficiently.

Many people do long sessions of cardio (40 mins plus) but although this is great in many ways it isn't the most effective for fat burning. Steph explains that although these burn fat while we are doing them this increase stops shortly afterward while other exercises keep the flame turned up for much longer (some studies suggest up to 24 hours). Here is the link so you can read her article and follow her blog if you wish
http://thesexyflatstomachsolution.blogspot.com/

This kind of exercise is called HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. It can incorporate a range of exercises but basically consists of a warm up period followed by bursts of exercise at about 90% capacity followed by a period of about double the length recovering. This is repeated usually 8 times or more followed by cool down. These sessions would usually last between 15-30 minutes.

Steph's article made me think. I've spent many years exercising but not getting the results I had hoped for and now perhaps I had an idea why. Since I was in my twenties a number of people have told me that I don't need to diet but just exercise. This has never worked for me; although I did manage to keep my weight in check when I was running seriously I still never felt slim.

I put this down to the fact that these were men and that as men have I higher percentage of muscle that they were simply burning more fat during this exercise. This probably does have an impact however the most recent person to say it to me was a woman. One thing the majority of these people have in common (not counting the fitness fanatic I live with!) is that they were in the forces.

This is where Steph's article suddenly rang a bell. It occurred to me that during basic training the recruits probably do quite a lot of this kind of training as opposed to massive endurance runs.

Recently I've heard quite a lot about ex-army people doing circuit type training in parks etc. which a lot of people seem to be turning to as a change from the local gym. If the results are as good as those being talked about with HIIT then they've definitely "hit" on the right formula. (Excuse the pun.)

So this afternoon before school pick up time I ran up to the park and then did 10x20 second sprints followed by 40 second cool down periods. A quick cool down and I went over the road to collect my daughter. I hope nobody could smell me! I enjoyed the work out and will definitely include it in me regime.

Tuesday's food diary looks like this:

Breakfast: Yoghurt with banana and cherries (200kcals)
Lunch: Bagel with chicken (300kcals)
Dinner: Salad and chicken (400kcals)
Snacks: Salad with oil and vinegar dressing(100kcals)
Olives (50kcals)
Drinks: 4x Coffee (40kcals) 1litre water(ugg) and 1 glass red wine(85kcals)

Total= 1175kcals