Reboot

Well after Christmas I kind of got lazy and stopped counting calories. My weight has slowly gone up to 90kg, so I really need to get my act together. I just had a look at my last entry and wow I looked a lot better last August! I wish I had kept up with it. Damn you Christmas!

So I am going to start counting calories again and am going to try and ride my bike regularly and try and get back into lifting weights. I'll use apps to help me, MyFitnessPal, Fitocracy and some form of MapMyRide.

Looking at my last picture I am kind of disappointed in myself. I decided to relax my calorie counting over Christmas and I guess my ability to estimate calorie content of food badly slipped. Oh well, I'm still a lot better than I was when I started trying to lose weight so hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult to get back on board.

The past couple of weeks I've slowly been getting back into counting calories and trying to regain some self discipline. I used to easily decline treats like lollies and chips but these days I have difficulty doing that. I have slowly been getting back into making my own food and measuring it, so hopefully I keep going strongly with that until it becomes second nature again.

I think re-reading my blog is the wake up call I need to get back into things.

Damn I'm disappointed in myself!

27th August Update

I weighed in at 85.4kg this past week so I am pretty pleased with progress. I haven't been counting calories too carefully either.

Here is a photograph, making a change from previous photos I am wearing a shirt (Size XS). It fits pretty well but I prefer S for now. Once I lose the rest of my belly and hip fat I should be able to wear them as comfy as S's are now.

Please ignore the dirty mirror.

Changing It Up

Seeing as I have been plateauing a lot lately, and my weight has been going up and down in 1kg increments I have decided to lower my caloric intake. MyFitnessPal automatically calculates your intake but I have been finding it too much and it must be my maintenance.

In any case, I have lowered my caloric intake to ~1600 calories per day. This seems to be an average "cutting" intake that I have seen many people adhere to on bodybuilding discussion forums. I will give it a go and see how it works.

It hasn't been too hard to be honest, it means less snacking and more whole food, which is good. When I started I ate 90% whole food. The thing about whole foods I have found is that they are incredibly filling for the amount of calories in them.

I made a soup last night with my girlfriend out of a "vegetable starter pack" which basically contained a few soup staples (potatoes, onion, parsnip, leek etc.) and made a soup with that and some lentils and tomato soup. It was surprisingly good, and makes about 5 or 6 servings. Each serving has approximately the following:

Calories: 177
Carbs: 40g
Fat: 5g
Protein: 7g

So not too bad. I guess it wouldn't be ideal if you were on a really low carb diet but I don't bother with that, just stick to a calorie goal and try to eat whole foods. In any case the carbs are from vegetables so I don't think it's too bad. The soup is incredibly filling though, you don't even need bread with it.

So because I have been making myself prepare and eat whole foods, sticking to about 1600 calories per day isn't really that hard at all. One thing I was neglecting too was drinking enough fluids. I just wouldn't and probably confused thirst with hunger some times. Always good to drink some water with a meal to make you feel more satiated.

I was considering uploading some progress photos but I have been plateauing for ages so I don't see too much point, also the photos I took are just incredibly fuzzy. Must be the mirror or something, perhaps I will take a photo when next I weigh myself.

That is all for now.

Update

At a plateau again, weight keeps fluctuating from 87-89kg in the span of a couple of weeks. I've been trying to be consistent with my caloric intake but who knows. I am a bit lax these days, probably because it's winter.

However, I fit into small sized shirts now, bought a couple and a small jacket, and they fit me well, they aren't super tight either.

I am not too worried about it for now, however when summer comes I may get really into it and cut my calories more to try and get a "ripped" physique. Will see when that time comes!

June 2012 Photos

Front
Side

Unfortunately quite poor quality and lighting. It didn't look too bad on my phone but it came out really fuzzy on the computer.

Ah well. One day these photos will make for a neat slideshow. If only I stuck to a size convention. I should have kept them full size and just text linked to them, that way proportions wouldn't be skewed.

Progress Update12/06/12

Weighed myself this weekend, weighed 87.2kg, so I am pretty chuffed with that.

Trying to take it easy at work, while still making progress on my Diploma work. I have been getting too stressed from it so I am trying to just let go a bit, at the cost of speed in completing diploma work.

I need to work out more, I think.

Also a CD came, Marcus D's Melancholy Hopeful, giving it a listen now and trying to relax.

Plateau Busted

This morning I weighed 88.2kg. I have finally broke through my plateau at 89kg. Now if only I could update my MyFitnessPal stats, I can't however because it's being a piece of shit and not loading the CSS by the looks of it.

Because of this recurring error I have barely been logging food the past week. Still, I seem to be able to monitor what I eat and gauge calorie content by eye now so it's not too bad.