Mark's got too fat blog

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2007-07-14T02:43:00.000+01:00

I am switching posts here over to my main word press blog - which is Mark Crostons Blog.

There is a category for Weight loss already set up if you want to skip the random other posts.

I am just kicking into a 12 week weight loss phase before I go to Thailand.....

The Diet Week 19 and Leaving The Country!

2006-10-11T11:05:00.000+01:00

Results for week 19:
Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 00 - 167 lb
Week 01 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 02 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 03 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 04 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 05 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 06 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 07 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 08 - HOLIDAY
Week 09 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)
Week 10 - 158 lb (-2 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 11 - 157 lb (-1 lb) (-10 lb)
Week 12 - 16 - No Weigh ins
Week 17 - 153 lb (-4 lb) (-14 lb)
Week 18 - 153 lb (-0 lb) (-14 lb)
Week 19 - 153 lb (-0 lb) (-14 lb)

Maintained again. Not been feeling too well, so held off on the gym and increased my calorie intake.

The big news is that I fly out of the UK on November 2nd 2006, to spend a year in New Zealand, and possibly Austrailia after that. As you can imagine, that puts weight loss on a back burner, as I want to enjoy myself and be flexible. I will simply aim to maintain, but will have to judge it off my waist, as scales might be hard to find for a while.

I will be posting here still, but it might drop off in volume, while my main blog should see the bulk of the travel posts.

The Diet Weigh in Week 18 (+Hello MSN People)

2006-10-03T16:06:00.000+01:00

Results for week 18:
Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 00 - 167 lb
Week 01 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 02 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 03 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 04 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 05 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 06 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 07 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 08 - HOLIDAY
Week 09 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)
Week 10 - 158 lb (-2 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 11 - 157 lb (-1 lb) (-10 lb)
Week 12 - 16 - No Weigh ins
Week 17 - 153 lb (-4 lb) (-14 lb)
Week 18 - 153 lb (-0 lb) (-14 lb)

Stayed the same this week - I spent the whole weekend at my cousins wedding, so that involed a meal, some beer, no gym etc. Pretty happy that I maintained and I had an enjoyable time. Anyway, Congratulations to Steve and Kirsty Hammond!

Hello to you if you have found this blog via MSN's 30 top Blogs List - I am pretty flattered to be mentioned there next to people like Random Acts of Reality.

A quick summary then if you are new -
I started August 2005 at 231 lb - 16 Stone 7 lb
I am now (October 2006) at 153 lb - 10 Stone 13 lb
Thats 78 lb or 5 and 1/2 stone gone :-)

The Diet Weigh in Week 17 (I am back!)

2006-09-26T09:14:00.000+01:00

Results for week 16:
Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 00 - 167 lb
Week 01 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 02 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 03 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 04 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 05 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 06 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 07 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 08 - HOLIDAY
Week 09 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)
Week 10 - 158 lb (-2 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 11 - 157 lb (-1 lb) (-10 lb)
Week 12 - 15 - No Weigh ins
Week 16 - 153 lb (-4 lb) (-14 lb)

I'm back! Sorry for the long gap between posts. I stopped going to the gym for a few weeks and didnt follow my diet to the letter. Its only in the last week or so I have been exercising and trying to eat clean - but I did go out on Saturday night to celebrate. Since stopping drinking, I have become a bit of a lightweight (in more ways than one) and dont end up drinking much anyway - 4 pints would be a good amount these days.

I did try an walk the Cumbrian Way in 3 days at the beginning of September - we did day 1, 26 miles and camped, but one of our party knackered their feet, and then after a very late start on day 2, we got serious rain and my waterproof gave up - so we decided that walking an 8 mile high level section while I was soaked and someone was limping a bit was just dangerous. Will try again!

I have a wedding to go to this weekend for my cousin - so I may have to partake of a few beers again, and of course there will be a good meal. On the plus side, it will be good seeing all the family again, some of whom may not even recognise me! I saw an old friend who has not seen me for a year, and he actually had to ask me who I was :-) (I have lost a full third of my original weight!). I had to buy a new suit for this - I have gone from 44" chest to 36", and 38" pants to 30". The 36" jacket is a little bit too big, but nowhere cheap in the UK goes below 36" jackets. I dont think theres many short people who are healthy left in this here country!

Technorati: the-diet

The Diet Weigh In Week 11 + 1 Year

2006-08-16T09:22:00.000+01:00

Well, its been over a year now since I started my weight loss mission. I want to do a long illustrated post about that, but my net access is down at home (fried router?) so that will have to wait.

Results for week 11:
Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 00 - 167 lb
Week 01 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 02 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 03 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 04 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 05 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 06 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 07 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 08 - HOLIDAY
Week 09 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)
Week 10 - 158 lb (-2 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 11 - 157 lb (-1 lb) (-10 lb)

1 lb is OK, as I went out on Saturday night and drank a bit too much. In order to get this whole thing over and done with, I am going back to a strict no drinking policy after the weekend - where I already have commitments which are going to involve time in pubs / clubs.

I have moved onto the Body For Life program as of last week - so new workouts 3 times a week, and 3 HIIT cardio sessions as well. In practice this means:

Monday - Weights
Tuesday - HIIT Cardio (20 mins)
Wednesday - Weights
Thursday - HIIT Cardio (20 mins)
Friday - Weights
Saturday - Should be HIIT Cardio (20 mins)
Sunday - Rest

In practice, I will usually go out on a long ride (25 - 50 miles) on either Saturday or Sunday, or a long hike etc etc.
The weight training is a upper body / lower body split, so 2 routines to alternate, and having both workouts now, its certainly having an effect. My muscles are not used to this kind of volume, so it hurts for a few days :-).

Technorati: the diet | the-diet

Progress Pic

2006-08-10T15:35:00.000+01:00

As promised:

Shows:
August 28th 2005, 231 lbs
August 9th 2006, 158 lbs

Technorati: the diet | the-diet

The Diet Weigh In 10

2006-08-08T10:51:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 00 - 167 lb
Week 01 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 02 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 03 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 04 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 05 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 06 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 07 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 08 - HOLIDAY
Week 09 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)
Week 10 - 158 lb (-2 lb) (-9 lb)

Back to where I was before my Holiday. Eaten fairly clean this week, and have managed to get some more options for food in work - I have a George Foreman grill and my camping gas stove now, so most meats and pasta etc are now options for lunch.

I rode 43 miles on Sunday in around 3 hours - the forst time I have done distance like that in nearly a decade. Last night I rode 16 miles at an average speed of 15 miles per hour - which was good considering I left my off road tyres on the bike. Slicks are going on before I do another big ride.

I said on the diet forum that I would provide a before and after picture with this post, but that needs to wait till tonight when I have my camera.

Its really really close (3 days) to a year since I started this quest to lose weight - I had hoped to be finished by now, but I have not followed the plans I set the the required level of strictness. I really want to be strict with myself for the next 8 weeks - 2lb per week would mean that I was done in time for my cousins wedding.

11/08/2005 - 231 lb
08/08/2006 - 158 lb
Loss of 73 lb
Average of 1.4 lb per week

Technorati: the diet | the-diet

Back once again....

2006-08-03T09:19:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 2 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 3 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 4 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 5 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 6 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)
Week 7 - 158 lb (-1 lb) (-9 lb)
Week 8 - HOLIDAY
Week 9 - 160 lb (+2 lb) (-7 lb)

That could have been worse! Spent last week in Belgium, staying in Ieper and Dinault. Food was ok - lots of bread and cheese, plus whatever was easy to cook (BBQ :-)). The main thing is despite being pretty active, we drank every night (not to excess though). I love Belgian beers, and good beer is so much cheaper over there, leffe is cheap and served on draught in many places, and trappist brews are usually 2.5 - 4 euros a glass. I brought back quite a good supply of beer and a collection of glasses as souveniers. Of course, I cant really drink those beers right now, but its all good.

This week I have been back to the diet, so by Tuesday that extra pounds should have gone away.

Quick Update

2006-07-21T10:49:00.000+01:00

Not posted for over a week :-(

I am currently at around 11 stone 4 lb - (158 lb) which is a pound down on last week.

However, next week I am on holiday, so I suspect I will gain a few lbs. Since I have not been abroad for a few years, I intend to enjoy myself and just relax.

I will be back and post the damage on Tuesday August 1st.

The Diet Weigh in 6

2006-07-11T09:51:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 2 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 3 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 4 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 5 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)
Week 6 - 159 lb (-3 lb) (-8 lb)

Last weeks gain proves to be just random water retention or something like that. I cheated a bit this morning - I always weigh in before breakfast - but I forgot this morning, and weighed in after breakfast at 160lb - so I subtracted my oats and water from my weight to keep things constant.

Last week went OK - went to a mates birthday on saturday which involved a BBQ (I cooked stuff and didnt each mch of it) and beer (about 6 cans). Overall Saturday was probably over my calories due to the alchohol, but I was careful on Sunday and was on my feet all day as well. Due to be being busy I did 2 very short gym sessions last week - this week I am going twice again, but for longer. This weekend is a 20+ mile backpacking trip in the lakes, which will be fairly intense.

If progress photos do not appear this week, use the comments to remind me :-).

Technorati: the-diet

The Diet Weigh in 5

2006-07-04T09:28:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 2 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 3 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 4 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)
Week 5 - 162 lb (+1 lb) (-5 lb)

A gain. I did eat out late sunday night, so that gain will be gone in a few days. Back to the gym tonight - walked 10 miles on Sunday over Helvellyn and Catsycam - seriously hard work in the heat. Some pics will be appearing of that walk soon, but here is striding edge (our route up) to get you started:

And the summit photo (carried a tripod up a 900m mountain for this):

See more photos of the day at niges gallery

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Goals

2006-06-27T09:14:00.000+01:00

This weigh in hits a lot of goals / milestones:

1) - Lost 5 Stone in total.
2) - Healthy BMI
3) - Just started to weear 30" Jeans

My BMI works out as follows:

Height: 5 feet, 7.5 inches
Weight: 161 pounds

Your BMI is 24.8, indicating your weight is within the normal range for adults of your height.

That 1/2 inch makes all the difference! I used the CDC BMI Calc.

My new Goal is to lose 7 lb more before 22/07/2006. I may not be able to make this - 2 lb a week is ambitous this far into my weight loss, but its worth a try. I think I have 7-10lb to go before the love handles are gone - MUST do a body fat % measure again.

Technorati: the-diet

The Diet Weigh in 4

2006-06-27T09:12:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 2 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 3 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 4 - 161 lb (-2 lb) (-6 lb)

2lb loss is enough for me :-)

Technorati: the-diet

The Diet Weigh in 3

2006-06-20T13:19:00.000+01:00

Week | Weight | Loss | Total loss
Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 2 - 163 lb (-4 lb) (-4 lb)
Week 3 - 163 lb (-0 lb) (-4 lb)

No loss this week :-(. WOnder if this means a good loss next week?

Technorati: the-diet

Another Weekend

2006-06-19T09:10:00.000+01:00

The weekend went well - Saturday was spent walking in the lakes - covering 11 miles with around 3000ft of climbing. My legs still hurt, and I did get a bit sunburned, but I can now keep up with everyone on the climbs. I am still slow coming down hill, and I need to work on my flexibility for this.

Ate out for sunday lunch, but cut back in hte evening so should be on target for the week calorie wise.

This week I probably wont be riding in to work - 50mph winds are forecast, so some extra cardio sessions in the gym or swimming pool may be called for.

The weigh in is tomorrow.

Technorati: the-diet

Good Week So Far

2006-06-16T09:40:00.000+01:00

Went to the gym for the second time last night, and rode in on Wednesday. I decided not to ride in today, as my legs are a bit caned, and I have a 10-12 mile high level walk on tomorrow in the Lake District - will be doing a 12 mile walk tomorrow. Eatings been pretty good as well, so combined with a good weekend, I am hopeful of another good week.

Theres been some changes over at the diet HQ - Colin has brought the diet chanell on board as a sponsor. I have yet to make up my mind about this - the cynical side of me sees it as a link building effort. The prizes dont really interest me, so I wont be posting links to the diet channel on my entries just yet.

Technorati: the-diet

Milestones and Goals

2006-06-14T09:30:00.000+01:00

I have a couple of milestones coming up very soon -
1) Healthy BMI - My BMI is around 25.2 at the moment, so a few more pounds should make me officially healthy (until I start on a muscle building mission)
2) 5 Stone lost - only 2 pounds to go to this goal.

In terms of Goals, I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week for 6 weeks - so far I have lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks, so I am on for this Goal. Went to the gym yesterday, and have cycled in today, so everthings on plan. At the end of the 6 week challenge, I am off to France / Belgium / Holland for a weeks camping. No set plans and I will be driving, so we can pretty much pick and choose where we want to go.

After that, my goal is 10% body fat, or when I can see my abs. Not entirly sure what weight that is, I will have to measure my BF% again soon.

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The Diet Weigh in 2

2006-06-13T09:29:00.000+01:00

A good week :-)

Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)
Week 1 - 163 lb (-4 lb)

As predicted, last weeks lack of a loss translated into a good loss this week. I will continue with my program as is and hope for a 2lb loss in the coming week.

My weight loss graph returns:

Technorati: the-diet

Weekend Over

2006-06-12T09:17:00.000+01:00

The weekend went OK - had healthy options at a BBQ on Saturday night, after cycling 35 miles. Sunday I was out all day and had a nice Chicken in Dijonaise sauce for tea at a good pub. No desert or starters though, so everything worked out OK. No beer this weekend at all. We will see if this gets me the results I want.

Gym night tonight.

Total cycling for last week: 125 miles ;-)

Technorati: the-diet

Incoming Weekend

2006-06-09T10:39:00.000+01:00

This weekend, there will be no beer, so I might record a good loss this coming weigh in!

Feeling the cycling a bit now - my shoulders ache from forcing a singlespeed bike up a hill - got to get out of the saddle and honk. On the plus side, it stops you being lazy, gearing down and pootling up climbs, so my fitness will go up quite fast :-). I have done 97 miles since Sunday, so I will ride to the gym on Saturday morning - just to break the hundred miles in 7 days. I will continue to ride to work twice a week next week - and see how I feel. Hopefully, I can reach a point where I ride in most days, as this will save me £20 - £25 a week in fuel (a US gallon is $6.70 right now in the UK!).

Weigh in 1 - The Diet

2006-06-08T09:05:00.000+01:00

Finally remembered to weigh in - and I have not lost anything. D'oh!

Week 0 - 167 lb
Week 1 - 167 lb (-0 lb)

I will continue on the same plan as before - previous experience suggests that next week is likely to be a good loss. The next weigh in will be Tuesday to bring me into line with every one else.

I have just arrived at work after riding in again, and I am feeling good. 16.5 miles in 1 hour 18 mins.

Technorati: the-diet

Missed it again!

2006-06-07T11:11:00.000+01:00

Got up a bit late, and had to rush out. Will weigh in tomorrow :-).

On another note, I feel fine after riding to work yesterday, and will be riding in again tomorrow. I have also made a few changes to the blog, signing up to technorati,

Weigh in day

2006-06-06T10:09:00.000+01:00

This is the first weigh in on my new challenge - and I forgot to do it this morning. I will have to do it tomorrow.

On a plus side, I rode the 15-16 miles into work today. Its mostly off road down the canal, with a bit of road (including a short, nasty climb) at the end. It took me 1 hour 30 today - my goal is to knock this down to 1 hour eventually. What didnt help today is I crashed on the canal and mashed my knee a bit - should pay more attention, out of practice on a rigid bike.

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Weekend failings

2006-06-05T09:50:00.000+01:00

As usual, the weekend was not as good as it should have been - the food was pretty healthy, but I drank a fair few beers on Saturday night, not getting hammered, but certainly it was horribly close to 1000 calories extra. I really want to go at this last phase of weight loss full bore, so I will avoid going out next weekend. I have a friends birthday coming up, and that will involve a few drinks as well, so no more until then!

On Sunday I ate well and rode 30 miles on my new bike (work and back to check my route) - a single speed MTB built from mostly old bits I had / scrounged. With slicks on, it should allow me to commute the 16 miles to work in about an hour or so, starting tomorrow. The route is 90% off road on the towpath by the side of a canal, so the chances of being crushed by idiots in cars is tolerable. There is only one short sharp climb, near the end as you pull away from the canal, and I managed it with my one gear yesterday, so it should all be fine. The weather here is great now, so I am looking forward to my first go. I will be commuting twice a week.

Weigh in tomorrow.

Running again and my training program

2006-06-02T09:54:00.000+01:00

Last night I went for a run for the first time in a while. I was intending to do a Half Marathon, but as that's tomorrow I thing its off. The organizers have kindly deferred my entry until 2007 anyway.

My last attempt at training resulted in crippling shin splints, which also hurt when walking and mountain biking. This time, armed with new trainers and running off road on the canal, I made it through 20 mins of 1 min running and 1 min brisk walk with no shin pain. I intend to do this once a week and build up very slowly so that my legs toughen up.

My actual training plan goes like this:

Monday - Gym, 30 min HIT weight training session, 5 mins on bike to warm up / down
Tuesday - Cycle or swim or Rest
Wednesday - Gym, 30 min HIT weight training session, 5 mins on bike to warm up / down
Thursday - Running
Friday - Gym, 30 min HIT weight training session, 5 mins on bike to warm up / down
Saturday / Sunday - 15-30 mile off road cycle ride on one day, other day is rest. If no cycling, may do 10-15 mile hill walking.

The weight training sessions are based on HIT - High Intensity Training. I do 8 exercises, with one set of each exercise, performing at least 8 reps. I continue to failure - where I cannot move the weight any further at all. The trick is that you take 4 seconds to raise the weight and 4 seconds to lower the weight. This is pretty intense, making each set around a minute in length, and lifting slowly prevents you cheating and using momentum to lift.

A typical routine for me is:

Leg Curl
Leg Press
Calf Raise
Bench Press
Lat Pull down or Cable Row
Shoulder Press
Back Extension
Ab Crunch (Machine)

I try to adjust the exercises every month or so. I plan to design a program which leaves out leg work on Friday - as I am now running on Thursday and often cycling on Saturday, and I need more recovery time.