Day 27

Its hard adjusting to not having a gym and the intense cardio I’m used to. The hardest part is not having heavy weights for strength training. I was doing so well with the weights abs I could even see some estimation on my arms and back and shoulder.

I’ve been a bit lazy about looking for exercises that utilize my own weight. That’s my next goal.
My only mode of exercise so far has been going on runs (more like walks with a bit of running.) And watching what I eat.

I weighed in this morning just to see if I was on the right track. I now weigh 168.6. So far I have lost a pound and I am happy about it. I need to get to a place where any loss is good enough and I don’t need huge drops to feel good about my progress. I think I’m going to do away with weight loss goals that are tiene specific e.g lose 4 pounds in a week. I just need to lose period.
Now I only need to lose about 21 pounds to get to a healthy bmi. I’m not putting a time limit to it. I’ll just do my best to get there and soon.

I hope this loss continues.

Day 24: weigh-in and aha! moment

I weighed in at 169.6.

I’m beginning to think that the 165 was a fluke. I got on 3 times and it said 165. I even went away come back and it was still the same. Anyway I’m only 4 pounds away from it and my goal this week is to get to 165 by the end of the month. That would mean a loss of 0 for the month of September but I’m ok with that.

I had an aha! Moment after looking at my food diary this last month. I’m not on plan as I used to be. Back when I was losing steadily, I was off the rice, potatoes, bread and corn. This past month, I have been eating all those abundantly. I haven’t gone over my calories once, but my food has been heavy on the carbs and not the good ones.

I’m making a pledge to myself. No rice, potatoes, bread or carbs that are nit strictly from green veggies.
I will drink 4 literal of water everyday and I will try and get my protein over 100 gems. This will be a challenge being vegetarian but I plan of getting in a huge amount of tofu and soy beans, eggs and avocado.

As for exercise, I hope to get in 70-100k this week of running. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get rid of the 4 pounds. Weigh-in is on the 30th.

Good choices this week people.

Day 22: last chance workout :Killer cardio

Since my weigh-ins are on Sundays, I’m going to make Saturdays my last chance work out days.
this means the intensity is going to go up and the eating will be super low carb with plenty of water.

First thing is a 10k in the morning followed by a full body workout.

I found this cardio workout online and its killer.
It will take you about 45-60 minutes.

SET 1
Jump rope ——– 1 minute
High knees ——– 1 minute
Butt kicks ———— 1 minute
Jumping jacks ——-1 minute
Burpees. ——— do 20
RUN 10 minutes

SET 2

Jump rope ——– 1 minute
High knees ——– 1 minute
Butt kicks ———— 1 minute
Jumping jacks ——-1 minute
Push ups —— do 10
Tricep dips —— do 10
RUN 10 minutes

SET 3

Jump rope ——– 1 minute
High knees ——– 1 minute
Butt kicks ———— 1 minute
Jumping jacks ——-1 minute
Mountain climbers ——1 minute
Burpees ——do 20
RUN 10 minutes

If this doesn’t get your heart pumping, I Robt know what will.

Day 22: Recipe -TVP(textured vegetable protein) patty

For vegetarians and vegans, we need to get protein mostly from soy.
One thing I make weekly for breakfast is tvp “sausage” patties. On Sundays, I try and make about 10 patties to last me all week. I always eat two every morning with a couple of eggs and some avocado. I like that I have a regular set breakfast that I can make in no time. I know how many calories are in it and don’t have to fret too much in the morning.

Here is my recipe.

TVP pattiee

Ingredients
-1 cup dry tvp -you can get this at the health store
-1 egg
-1/4 cup wheat flour /or regular all purpose flour.
-3/4 cup hot water
-a couple of table spoons oil.
-1 tsp cummin
– 1 tsp mixed herbs
– a pinch of salt
-go crazy with any spices you like.
– if you like you can add some veggies to give it colour and different flavours. I sometimes add green peppers, onions, shredded carrots and mushrooms.

1. Put the tvp in a bowl and add the spices and salt.
2. Add the hot water and stir. Cover the bowl and let the tvp hydrate for ten minutes.
3. Add the egg and flour and mix
4. Add any veggies (optional)
5. Make sure the mixture can form into patties. If boy add some more flour and eggs.
6. Put a non stick pan on the flame and add some oil. About a tbsp. Or enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
7. Form the mixture into patties and put them in the pan.
8. Cook on both sides for about a minute or until brown.

Makes 8-10 servings
Calories 92, protein 7.3g, net carbs 3.8g,

These are delicious and I try to make varieties by adding different things.

Day 21: working out without a gym

I don’t have a gym membership anymore because I need fl cut back on my expences for a while. I’m really bummed out because I was enjoying having a personal trainer doing strength training with me. I need to come up with a workout plan that doesn’t need equipment.

The cardio part is no problem. I have a plan to get in about 10-15kms everyday. I think I burn about 1000 calories just running.

I’ll be working on my abs daily.
-100 side bends each side, 3 sets
-crunches 50 reps, 3 sets
-bicycle crunches 50 reps, 3 sets
-scissor kicks
-reverse crunches

Mondays
– chest and back

Tuesday
-biceps and triceps

Wednesday
Hips, butt and shoulders

Thu-Sat
– repeat Mon-Wed

Sunday
-rest day

I’m going to do a bit of research on what exercises I can do for the different body parts and do not need equipment. I know it will mean being creative with exercises and atleast investing in some dumbbells.

I hope I can make this work. I don’t want not having a gym to be an excuse.

Running to lose weight

Running goals

I always say I credit most of my weight loss to running. What made running enjoyable for me was getting Nike running. I got the sensor you put in your shoe and use it with an ipod to track your runs.
It tracks your distance, pace and how many calories burned. The best think about Nike running is that the more you run, the higher you go up on your levels.

There are about 6 colour levels

Yellow 0-49km,0-30mi
Orange 50-249km, 31-154mi
Green 250-999km, 155-620mi
Blue 1000-2499km, 621-1552mi
Purple 2500-4999km, 1553-3106mi
Black over 5000km, 3107

As of this morning, I am at 1078.71 which means I am at level blue. I need 1421km to go to get to purple.

It took me a year to get to 1000km and my plan was to take another year to get to 2500. That would mean 1500km by September 1st 2013. I did the calculations and I would only have to do 4km daily to reach my goal. Because ei currently do an average of about 10km daily, I thought I could push myself and see if I could get the 1500km in less time.

Plan number 1 is to gt it done by December 1st. That would mean an average of 115km everyweek for the next 13 weeks. I don’t think I can do that. In order to set more realistic goals, I have decided to give myself the rest of yge year to cover 1000km. This would mean an average of 70km weekly which is completely doable if I get some serious commitment.

I’ll keep track of my weekly runs here to make myself accountable.

Day 20: I’m back.

Been gone for a minute buy now I’m back to my regular schedule.

First, I missed my regular Sunday weigh in because I was out of town. Lucky for me (not so lucky though) I weighed-in on Friday where I had not lost a damn ounce. I was still 173 pounds after a whole week of working my butt off.

I got back home last night after a whole weekend of bad eating and almost no water or protein. Just pure carbs and no exercise whatsoever. Well I did get in about 5k walk around the town I visited.

I’ve been feeling really down about my lack of weight-loss and was considering taking a week off from actively trying to lose weight. No exercise, no counting carbs and protein, and no drinking ridiculous amounts of water. Just eat whatever I want but count my calories. My plan was to weigh-in today just so that I can have an accurate read on what a week without exercise would do to my weight.

Lo and behold. I weighed-ed in this morning at 169.7. This is after a weekend of bad eating and no exercise and I’m down almost 3 pounds. Now I’m not so sure about taking a week off exercise. I went for for 7K run this morning and I’m planning on doing another 5K this afternoon. I am staying away from the gym and weight lifting for the rest of the week to see if this change will jumpstart my weightloss again. I really need to get back to my lowest of 165.

I was hoping to get to goal by the end of the year but I feel like the pressure is too much and I’m a bit obsessed with the weight loss thing. I want to take it one day at a time for a while and see how it goes.
Today is food prep for the week. It always helps to have something to eat ready.

Day 1: because I am a glutton for punishment

So I caved a weighed in this morning. Haven’t lost a damnable thing still exactly 173 pounds.
This is after 5 days straight at the gym. Running 20 miles so far this week. And getting in about 4 literal of water daily. I haven’t gone over my calories even once.
What the fuck yo!! This weight loss thing is confusing.
Ive been lifting crazy weights. Squaring 40 kgs. Bench pressing about 10kgs. And I’m doing about 3 sets of 30 reps each. Have I built muscle? Is this why I’m up. I feel smaller and my clothes are practically falling off, so I don’t really feel like I’m gaining weight.
I’m a slave to the scale. I know I should be more concerned with inches.

Day 15

Day 15

I’ve been back on track for 4 days now. Been to the gym everyday this week and have been running everyday. I have logged in 30.34 Kms. About 18.9 miles. Today I even recorded a new time for my kilometer. 5’19”. Yep. I only need to cut out 20 seconds from my time to get under 4 minutes for a 1K.

My eating has been good but not perfect. I am averaging 75g of carbs daily. I wish it was closer to 50. My protein hasn’t been too Goodall either. I think its about 65g. I need it to get up to 100g. My calories are great if not a bit too low.

On a different note, I think I need some type of challenge to motivate me. Or maybe some type of reward system to get me moving.
I like it when I have goals to work towards. I’ll have to think of something.

I’m tempted to weigh in tomorrow to see if I’ve made any progress. Official weigh-in isn’t until Sunday.I’m afraid if I don’t see a significant loss I might lose my momentum. Hopefully that fear will keep me off the scale until Sunday.

Day 13: lentil.soup

Lentil soup

1 cup dry lentils (produces 2 cups cooked)
3 large carrots shredded
1 large onion
1/2 green pepper chopped
2 tomatoes
1tbsp olive oil
1tsp corriander
1tsp cummin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 knor chillie cube
A pinch of salt
1 tbsp mixes spices (marjoram, sage,

-boil lentils untruly soft (about 30 minutes)
– put onions and olive oil in a pot and cook until brown.
-add tomatoes and chilli cube.
-add in the shredded carrots and spices and cook until soft.
-add in the lentils with the water used for boiling (no losing nutrients.
-add water to desired thickness.
-cook for 15-20 minutes on low heat.

Makes 4-5 servings.
Calories 199, net carbs 16.4, protein 9.8 g