I probably should have started a log 12 months ago but instead I've been posting in the BBV, in other people's logs and in the Health and fitness thread as the mood struck me.
I don't apologise for it because I got great help and support from everybody but I should know better. Thanks for the patience folks and nobody told me to fuck off which was very decent of you all.
I'm not really posting here for comment but more so to keep myself accountable to what is a much harder goal to track then simple weight loss. I of course welcome comments but that's not the reason for the thread.
My health and fitness goal is as follows;
To improve my body composition over time for the truly long term, in a manner I can sustain within my overall lifestyle, and without putting myself at excessive risk of injury.
I shared my primary health and fitness goal for 2013 in the health and fitness thread on 10.01.2013.
I have specific physical targets and challenges set out in my mind as markers for myself but they are just markers the body fat scans are the true test and the primary goal for 2013.
I'm not a fan of weighing or measuring food, or stressing about my diet or training program. My approach is to listen to my body and to try to adapt long term habits and behaviours that are both productive and sustainable for me and my body/mind. I couldn't manage a food log for more then a week or stick to a program for more then a few days as life gets in the way so I have to do what will work for me.
Since the post above, I've gotten back to a pretty strictly primal diet except I'm probably overeating dark chocolate in the evenings. My average carb intake is not at the lowest it's ever been (one meal a day seems to have a carb portion at the minute) but it's improving. For example I had sweet potato yesterday and I'll be having a banana today. But by keeping conscious of it I am keeping it relatively low and making informed choices coupled with trying to have those carbs post training sessions.
I'm occasionally doing 16 hour intermittent fasting on days I'm not feeling hungry in the mornings (typically not training days).
The IF isn't planned but since I've brought these back in I feel a good bit sharper and less like I'm overeating which I have felt somewhat since I started back working with the structure that puts on my day and my eating habits/social situations.
When I wasn't working I tended to have a large brunch or a large meal in the evening and some smaller meals around those and I was straying into IF without really noticing. I've needed to bring this back in consciously as I felt I was unconsciously overeating when not particularly hungry due to portion sizes outside of my control and because I was concerned about slumping at a time when I couldn't eat food.
My exercise consists of ~5 hours of walking/hiking per week. 1 or 2 short swim sessions a week to stretch the body out after a hard session and 3 bodyweight strength/HIIT type sessions per week. The workout sessions have gotten stronger over the last few weeks and I'm beginning to get into a steady training rhythm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Unfortunately I'm spending ~50+ hours a week sitting in the office and ~15 hours at home watching sport/tv per week. I try to spend time standing up watching tv ironing etc but I've been a bit lazy about it. This is an area I need to address as much as possible as this can add a lot to the party in an imperceptible way.
Anyway since the 10th of January my weight has gone up to 91.6 kilos. My body looks and feel stronger/tighter so I'm not complaining but it's weird to see the scales go up after the relentless push down in 2012.
My plan is to keep going until June/July and then have another scan done to check on progress.
My intention is to try and do an update here once a week as a log and to keep myself honest.
I don't apologise for it because I got great help and support from everybody but I should know better. Thanks for the patience folks and nobody told me to fuck off which was very decent of you all.
I'm not really posting here for comment but more so to keep myself accountable to what is a much harder goal to track then simple weight loss. I of course welcome comments but that's not the reason for the thread.
My health and fitness goal is as follows;
To improve my body composition over time for the truly long term, in a manner I can sustain within my overall lifestyle, and without putting myself at excessive risk of injury.
I shared my primary health and fitness goal for 2013 in the health and fitness thread on 10.01.2013.
So I finally got around to having an iDxa scan done in UCD for €95.
Very simple and straightforward process.
The results were fascinating as well. My overall bodyfat percentage is 26.6% (plus or minus 0.5%). They gave me a break down by area and all sorts of other stuff but for my purposes at this stage that’s all I needed. He also confirmed my bone density was pretty good which I already suspected (plenty of milk and cheese eating all my life).
What that percentage means is that basically I’m still slightly obese. Here’s the Wikipedia page on the subject of bodyfat but obviously everyone is individual.
Basically in a nutshell I have 23.098kg of fat and 63.612kg of muscle. (The remaining 3.49kg is bone and blood etc). So in order to get to 16.6% body fat I’ll have to go to something like 15kg of fat and increase the muscle to 75kg!!!
16-17% is my aspirational long-term goal.
If I was to get down to 16.6% purely by losing fat I’d have to drop ~12kg which would have me at circa 12st 4lb which is pretty light and skinny for a guy with my build and not something that appeals to me.
This time last year I was 116kg and now I’m 90.2kg. Therefore if you assume my muscle mass didn’t increase over the course of the year (it did but this is to establish a lower bound) then my body fat was 48.898kg. Therefore my bodyfat percentage was at least 43.5%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the truth is it was probably more like 51% (57.51/ 112.51). What a scary thought.
In summary I guess it’s a case of lot’s done plenty more to do!
Very simple and straightforward process.
The results were fascinating as well. My overall bodyfat percentage is 26.6% (plus or minus 0.5%). They gave me a break down by area and all sorts of other stuff but for my purposes at this stage that’s all I needed. He also confirmed my bone density was pretty good which I already suspected (plenty of milk and cheese eating all my life).
What that percentage means is that basically I’m still slightly obese. Here’s the Wikipedia page on the subject of bodyfat but obviously everyone is individual.
Basically in a nutshell I have 23.098kg of fat and 63.612kg of muscle. (The remaining 3.49kg is bone and blood etc). So in order to get to 16.6% body fat I’ll have to go to something like 15kg of fat and increase the muscle to 75kg!!!
16-17% is my aspirational long-term goal.
If I was to get down to 16.6% purely by losing fat I’d have to drop ~12kg which would have me at circa 12st 4lb which is pretty light and skinny for a guy with my build and not something that appeals to me.
This time last year I was 116kg and now I’m 90.2kg. Therefore if you assume my muscle mass didn’t increase over the course of the year (it did but this is to establish a lower bound) then my body fat was 48.898kg. Therefore my bodyfat percentage was at least 43.5%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the truth is it was probably more like 51% (57.51/ 112.51). What a scary thought.
In summary I guess it’s a case of lot’s done plenty more to do!
I'm not a fan of weighing or measuring food, or stressing about my diet or training program. My approach is to listen to my body and to try to adapt long term habits and behaviours that are both productive and sustainable for me and my body/mind. I couldn't manage a food log for more then a week or stick to a program for more then a few days as life gets in the way so I have to do what will work for me.
Since the post above, I've gotten back to a pretty strictly primal diet except I'm probably overeating dark chocolate in the evenings. My average carb intake is not at the lowest it's ever been (one meal a day seems to have a carb portion at the minute) but it's improving. For example I had sweet potato yesterday and I'll be having a banana today. But by keeping conscious of it I am keeping it relatively low and making informed choices coupled with trying to have those carbs post training sessions.
I'm occasionally doing 16 hour intermittent fasting on days I'm not feeling hungry in the mornings (typically not training days).
The IF isn't planned but since I've brought these back in I feel a good bit sharper and less like I'm overeating which I have felt somewhat since I started back working with the structure that puts on my day and my eating habits/social situations.
When I wasn't working I tended to have a large brunch or a large meal in the evening and some smaller meals around those and I was straying into IF without really noticing. I've needed to bring this back in consciously as I felt I was unconsciously overeating when not particularly hungry due to portion sizes outside of my control and because I was concerned about slumping at a time when I couldn't eat food.
My exercise consists of ~5 hours of walking/hiking per week. 1 or 2 short swim sessions a week to stretch the body out after a hard session and 3 bodyweight strength/HIIT type sessions per week. The workout sessions have gotten stronger over the last few weeks and I'm beginning to get into a steady training rhythm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Unfortunately I'm spending ~50+ hours a week sitting in the office and ~15 hours at home watching sport/tv per week. I try to spend time standing up watching tv ironing etc but I've been a bit lazy about it. This is an area I need to address as much as possible as this can add a lot to the party in an imperceptible way.
Anyway since the 10th of January my weight has gone up to 91.6 kilos. My body looks and feel stronger/tighter so I'm not complaining but it's weird to see the scales go up after the relentless push down in 2012.
My plan is to keep going until June/July and then have another scan done to check on progress.
My intention is to try and do an update here once a week as a log and to keep myself honest.
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