I'm back

I took the dog round the village, I think he was just bored as he didn't seem desperate to cock his leg, though he did so, of course, during the walk.

Right, back to what I've eaten so far today.  I've used the Google calorie calculator, which I remember finding quite useful before.  iGoogle is vanishing in November, but that doesn't matter, it'll do for now.

Today, I've had muesli for breakfast, about an oz, 30 grammes, which is 2/3 of their suggested portion. But I'm only 2/3 of the average size of person.  I hate milky cereals, so only have a splash, enough to make it undry.  According to the calculator, it came to 141 calories.  For lunch, I had whole lots of cheese, Stilton, the local unpasteurised brie-style and Cheshire.  I guessed 1 oz of each.  I had two Ryvita and about a quarter of a Matzo cracker because I still had cheese left, some cherry tomatoes and some cucumber.  This was 412 calories.  Later, I had a couple of almonds, but the quantity doesn't go down far enough - however 1/16th of a cup is 33 calories, so that will do.  I also had some light beer, which seems to be 102 calories.  That makes 688 calories altogether and apparently I'm allowed 1639.  But it's not 4 o'clock yet, I have cake in the tin and dinner to come, so I think I'll use them.  However if, on average, I'm a hundred or two short of what I use, I suppose it has a gradual effect.

Waisting away

Well, I measured myself again for the first time since February, and I'm 34-26-36.  An inch off the waist.  And I weighed myself and I'm 8 stone 7, which is a pound less than the last time I looked, some time ago.

I'm not restricting what I eat at all, though being moderate in quantity.  Size 10 is on the big side, but I haven't tried an 8 yet, largely because I haven't been shopping for clothes recently.  I don't know why it is I'm still dropping weight, very gradually indeed (no health issues), but it has to be the overall quantity of food I think.

I may keep a food diary for a while, just to see what I seem to be doing right.  I can't remember what I did before, whether I used an app or what, but I'll have a look for one.

Today, usual present breakfast of - hang on, dog needs to go out.  I'll be back.

It makes for disturbing reading.

Well, the scales arrived. I'm not totally sure about their accuracy, but I say that because I live in an incredibly old building and there are simply no flat surfaces. Tomorrow I will try them on the ground floor and see if there is any difference.

So, the scales purport to assess weight, body fat, total water/hydration, muscle mass, and bone density/volume or something.

I set them up as per the instructions; interestingly, there are two types of body profile you can choose: normal person, male or female, or athlete, male or female. An athlete is defined as someone doing 11 or more hours of intense physical activity a week. I'm probably only doing about five at the moment, unless you count dog walking, which it probably doesn't. We do walk quite fast though, and there are lots of hills...

I think I am somewhere between the two, so I set up a profile for each type, and the measurements are quite different.

Shit, too.

Anyway, I digress. This was always intended as a balls-out post, let it all hang out and hide nothing. So here we go.

First setting, as normal person:
Weight: 16st 4.8lbs (229, US Fat Fans)
Body fat: 33.3% (as perfect a third as you'll find. Who knew? This, of course, makes me obese)
TBW (water): 37.8 (this is actually 10 points below where it should be apparently, but as I have spent the first half of 2013 drunk, I think this is understandable)
Muscle: 38.7% (yay! This one is ok!)
Bone: 5.2lbs (this sounds incredibly low to me - and according to their ranges, it is, as for my weight it should be more like 7.5lbs)

Then again, as an athlete:
Weight: Same
Fat: 28.8% (4.5% better!)
Water: 42.5 (a lot better but still low)
Muscle: 42.1 (six percent below what is 'unacceptable')
Bone: 6.2lb (much better - still low though)

In a nutshell, I am fucking fat, and fucking muscular. Now to work on that fat part; gym sign up is at the weekend, probably Sunday, and Saturday I have a run planned for 60-80 minutes, I'll see how I go. Then next week, we swim, and run.

I have also just been shopping, largely with breakfast in mind. I bought a few tins of fish, and some smoked mackerel, plus some carrots, oranges, and eggs. I've found that on days when I get my breakfast right, everything else falls into place. My ideal breakfast is quite protein heavy, with a mackerel fillet or two, a couple of hard boiled eggs, and an orange. That really keeps me full and it's all stuff I like eating, and takes no preparation, as long as the eggs are cooked in advance. Having carrots around makes snacking easy too; I have bought some dark chocolate from Aldi, but it's the stuff where it's in five smaller bars, and they're very slim and small. Works for me.

So, that's the plan. Your thoughts?

No change

There's still no particular change - that is, I'm not weighing myself and my clothes are still roomy.  However, I realise I'm becoming a bit casual and it would be easy to get into the habit of 'just one won't matter' whether it's chocolate biscuits or whatever, and sooner or later it will matter.  So I'm making every effort not to get into bad habits and am mostly successful.

As for exercise, I'm afraid I've got way out of cycling.  There always seems to be an excuse - and I never did start to enjoy it, even when I resolutely cycled most days.  I've been walking a lot recently though - we've been looking after friends' dog for ten days and it's meant a lot of extra exercise, some of it even for me.

Badgerdaddy and I haven't seen each other for a while, living at opposite sides of the country nowadays, but are planning to put that right before long.  Woo and hoo!

An experiment...

I just ordered some fancy-schmancy bathroom scales that measure bone density, weight, fat content and hydration - allegedly. They will be here end of the week-ish.

I'm about to sign up for a very, very tough off-road marathon - so I plan to map physical changes here, according to what the scales say. Could be fun, could be heartbreakingly awful. Soon find out.

I'll be doing 4-5 runs a week with perhaps four swimming sessions and occasional gym workouts (which will be mostly core focused, or occasionally hamstring), all being well, for the next 15 weeks.

Like I said, it could be fun.

You'll never guess what!

I put all the weight back on. Every pound.

It's mostly through drinking, self-medicating since my separation. I also had a strange injury, which meant I cut back on the amount of walking I was doing and right back on the running. It's amazing how quickly you can add weight when you consume over 1,000 extra calories most days, and don't walk three hours in the woods with the dog, then go for a 70-minute run in the evening. It can really build up...

Injury seems to be sorted, running is going well so far this week, and life is settling down a little bit too. So it's all coming off, with lifestyle changes to keep it off this time.

Dagnabbit.

Z wakes up

It's been a while, sorry if you've been dropping in hopefully.

I did go and buy those new bras, finding that I had dropped a size - 32 instead of 34, that is.

The reason I don't write here often is that there doesn't seem anything to update on a diet blog when one isn't actually dieting. I seem to have settled at my present size for now, though I'm only too aware how easy it is to let a pound or two creep on without taking much notice. I've been working rather harder than I'd wish of late, and the occasional chocolate biscuit has been eaten. Still, no weight gain; or at least, I'm no bigger.

In fact, lying in bed a few minutes ago (that is, I'm still lying in bed), I ran my hand down my side to rub a tickle and realised I could feel all my ribs. I knew that, but I'd forgotten. I'm not used to being the size I want to be. It's nice.



Sent from Z's iPhone