It’s that time . . . You know the one.
The one where you decide ‘It’s time to loose a few pounds’. Oddly enough i was always very gangly as a youngster. I distinctly remember being 6’1″ and 10 stone. At that point i remember thinking ‘i’m too skinny’ and decided i needed to bulk up a bit. I was probably in my early 20’s. That spawned a 3/4 year stint of going to the gym as often as possible and hitting the weights. Firstly a friend and i attended the local (small) gym at the top of the road but soon found it frustrating not being able to go onto the machines or use the weights whenever you wanted. There was ALWAYS somebody else on there. It’s kind of selfish, yes. But when you set yourself 1/2 hours aside a night to ‘get it all done’ it’s annoying having to wait for other people. Especially when they are just ‘sandbagging’. ie – Taking it easy. I want to get on. Fire out my sets and move on. I don’t go to the gym to jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
So we made our own gym. My friend had a rather large garage (three cars size) which was in a bit of a state. We started to clean it out and tart the place up a bit. Nothing drastic. A stereo, some strip lights and a lick of paint. Then we set about kitting it out. We had lots of free-weights, a rower, bench, multi-gym, heavy-bag, speed-ball and a few other bits. It was a decent place to work out. We’d work out most nights. Within a few years i’d put on about 4 stone and bulked out a reasonable amount. This was all before i started martial arts . . . I was strong but not particularly fit and certainly not flexible. That took a few more years.
So fast-forward to the here and now. I’ve slowly gained weight over the last 5 years. Not too drastically but noticeable. Last week i decided to start a diet. First up was a set of digital scales. I weighed in at 16 stone 6. Now whilst that is a fair old weight i carry it pretty well. I’ve got a fair amount of muscle so i don’t look like Private Pile. however i could certainly do with shedding a stone or two. I’m at that self-concious stage where i dread being tagging in facebook photos because i’ve got a complex (yep, blokes get weight complexes too. Believe it). Being overweight also makes certain aspects of martial arts hard. Simple exercises such as ‘bouncing on the spot’ are much harder when you have extra weight to move. Sometimes it comes in handy. Grappling for example. You can use your power to manipulate people better. Hence why most combat sports have weight catagories. Having the extra weight means you can also put more power behind kicks and punches. I don’t think it’s big-headed to state i can deliver a pretty powerful punch and knock most people across the room with a side-kick (on the pads). However if i had the choice i’d sacrifice some of that power to be slimmer and fitter
So thats the aim ! Loose a bit of weight. My target is 2 stone by Christmas. a tall order ? Maybe. But why set an easy target ? Life isn’t easy. So what’s the plan then ? Well i like food . . . And i like a drink . . . Hence the weight : ) However that doesn’t mean i have to cut them out completlely. I’ve worked out i need to stay below 2200 calories a day to make my target. My lunch at work is about 1100 calories (and is the most enjoyable hour of the day, it’s not changing !). That leaves me 1100 in the evening, minus any extra i burn through training. And sometimes we burn a LOT ! 1100 means i can have a sensible (but tasty) dinner in the evening, perhaps a youghurt for ‘afters’ and a drink or two. I’ve ditched the high-calorie beers such as hoegaarden and leffe, my two favourites : ( It wasn’t unusual for me to polish off two bottles per-night. That’s an extra 600 calories right there. Now i favour a glass of vodka/coke-zero (i like the taste of alcohol ! It helps me relax in the evening), which cuts that down to about 70 calories per glass. I’ll have one/two. I also cut down my portion sizes, added vegetables to EVERY meal and cut back on the mayo (Mmmmm mayo), i only use the half-fat stuff now too. Takeaways are limited to once a fortnight and i only drink a beer on my day-off. So no drastic changes. However following this guide i managed to shift 5 pounds last week ! : ) I was really happy with that. However it could be one-off so i’ll find out when i weight in on monday.
Current weight = 16.1
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