JKL2207

I'm levelling up and continuing with Adventurers.

I knew you would find a way to like veges.

Thanks for staying with it to the very end. And now the next step is defining the goals for the next challenge. You are absolutely right it is only just the beginning. Lets see how next challenge pans out. My thread is updated with results. Also cross posted results on the reporting in thread.

End of the Challenge Report Weight loss goals: (A+) +1.5 CON, + 1.5 DEX From 69 kgs to 65 kgs: Current weight :63.5 Kgs From 18.3% Body Fat 10 14% Body Fat: Current 10.5% Body Fat As far as this goal is concerned I achieved it at week 4. I am genuinely surprised at how fast the weight dropped once I started the paleo diet. I am also very surprised that I was able to maintain and build some skeletal muscle mass during the weight loss, which previously was unattainable. 100 push ups: (A+ +3.5 STR, + 3.5 STA) I really had to push myself through the program, my results are a bigger chest and I can do 105 push ups in a go so this has been achieved. I had to repeat week 4, 5 and 6 to get this done. But to be honest I have very happy that I stuck with this goal. 100% Paleo Diet: (A, +1.5 CON, + 1.5 WIS) I honestly thought this would be impossible to stick with for the following reasons, living in Hong Kong one of the food capitals of the world, my natural curiosity and love of all things food, and the small kitchen that I have to adjust to. To my surprise I stuck with the Paleo Diet fairly well during the course of the 6 week challenge, there were a few instances where I had alcohol and had some things that weren't paleo, like deep fried crab claws on day 1, a salad with salad dressing that wasn't paleo, pumpkin soup, some sausages at the beerfest. And of course some alcohol at the start and at the end of the challenge. Curse you wedding, curse you beerfest, If only they were a day earlier or a day later. But it has highlighted something quite important to me, unless I decide to become an unsociable hermit, 100% paleo is not feasible long term. Coming out of this challenge I have decided that I will continue Paleo on Monday to Friday breakfast to afternoon snack will be strictly Paleo, dinners I generally skip on the week nights due to working out so it leaves weekend breakfasts which I can keep paleo, as for lunches and dinner, this will be open to social events. I have learnt also that preparation is definitely the key to maintaining any semblance of this diet. Sleep by 10:30 and wake up by 6:30 (A++ +1 CON, +1 WIS) This wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. But I was gradually working towards before the challenge so I had a jump start. Thoughts and Review All in all I stuck to my stated goals, there were a few hiccups with the Paleo diet. This challenge more than anything else highlighted the importance that diet plays in weightloss. Also undertaking this diet I think I have consumed more foods which were considered counter productive to weight loss like more meat, eggs and nuts. And I am genuinely surprised by the result. Coming into the challenge I was already exercising and I think to many that is how you lose weight, coming out of the challenge I now know better. Moving forward: I intend to keep up the paleo diet with some leeway for social occasions, and even then I will stick to paleo choices as much as I can. Exercise wise I feel that I want to step up the intensity but reduce the frequency of working out. Average of 10 classes a week I think long term is not terribly conducive for a social life, So I am exploring crossfit 3 times a week might be the way to go moving forward.

End of the Challenge Report Weight loss goals: (A+) +1.5 CON, + 1.5 DEX From 69 kgs to 65 kgs: Current weight :63.5 Kgs From 18.3% Body Fat 10 14% Body Fat: Current 10.5% Body Fat As far as this goal is concerned I achieved it at week 4. I am genuinely surprised at how fast the weight dropped once I started the paleo diet. I am also very surprised that I was able to maintain and build some skeletal muscle mass during the weight loss, which previously was unattainable. 100 push ups: (A+ +3.5 STR, + 3.5 STA) I really had to push myself through the program, my results are a bigger chest and I can do 105 push ups in a go so this has been achieved. I had to repeat week 4, 5 and 6 to get this done. But to be honest I have very happy that I stuck with this goal. 100% Paleo Diet: (A, +1.5 CON, + 1.5 WIS) I honestly thought this would be impossible to stick with for the following reasons, living in Hong Kong one of the food capitals of the world, my natural curiosity and love of all things food, and the small kitchen that I have to adjust to. To my surprise I stuck with the Paleo Diet fairly well during the course of the 6 week challenge, there were a few instances where I had alcohol and had some things that weren't paleo, like deep fried crab claws on day 1, a salad with salad dressing that wasn't paleo, pumpkin soup, some sausages at the beerfest. And of course some alcohol at the start and at the end of the challenge. Curse you wedding, curse you beerfest, If only they were a day earlier or a day later. But it has highlighted something quite important to me, unless I decide to become an unsociable hermit, 100% paleo is not feasible long term. Coming out of this challenge I have decided that I will continue Paleo on Monday to Friday breakfast to afternoon snack will be strictly Paleo, dinners I generally skip on the week nights due to working out so it leaves weekend breakfasts which I can keep paleo, as for lunches and dinner, this will be open to social events. I have learnt also that preparation is definitely the key to maintaining any semblance of this diet. Sleep by 10:30 and wake up by 6:30 (A++ +1 CON, +1 WIS) This wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. But I was gradually working towards before the challenge so I had a jump start. Thoughts and Review All in all I stuck to my stated goals, there were a few hiccups with the Paleo diet. This challenge more than anything else highlighted the importance that diet plays in weightloss. Also undertaking this diet I think I have consumed more foods which were considered counter productive to weight loss like more meat, eggs and nuts. And I am genuinely surprised by the result. Coming into the challenge I was already exercising and I think to many that is how you lose weight, coming out of the challenge I now know better. Moving forward: I intend to keep up the paleo diet with some leeway for social occasions, and even then I will stick to paleo choices as much as I can. Exercise wise I feel that I want to step up the intensity but reduce the frequency of working out. Average of 10 classes a week I think long term is not terribly conducive for a social life, So I am exploring crossfit 3 times a week might be the way to go moving forward.

Its okay to take some time off to recover, maybe you could explore some other exercises to keep things light but at the same time fresh. I think that may help keep the interest up in exercising and should ensure that you will have the desire to continue exercising once your break is over.

Week 6 update: Still wasn't feeling the greatest, I am certain even though I didn't set going to the gym on average 10 times a week as a goal that I won't be able to do it this week, as I missed out on too many classes early on. Day 5: Meals as planned (grilled chicken breast with lemon and chilli) Cycle class Push Ups Program Day 6: I went to a an all you can eat Japanese restaurant and just ate lots of sashimi and grilled meats, it was possibly as close to paleo as I could get there. Subsequently I felt full for the rest of day and didn't eat anything else. (pretty bad for the metabolism I know. Missed out on gym (at this stage I was resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to hit the 10 classes for this week. Day 7: Breakfast lots of Chinese Kale Lunch: Roast turkey wing, roast duck breast Snack: Grapefruit Then attended the beer festival, (I purposefully attended it on sunday afternoon because I knew that I would instinctively control my drinking as I would have to work the next day.) Had 3 interesting beers I have never seen before (I know its bad) I was very tempted to continue but I thought its best not to fall apart right at the very end. Going to do the Push ups test tonight and then write up a progress report and results for the 6 week challenge.

I ended up going, it was good fun, I did have a few drinks and it was in moderation so I guess it was okay.

Welcome to Hong Kong. Hope you have found some food choices that aren't quite so expensive and aren't as unhealthy as McDonald's. Did you know there is a Beer fest happening in LKF this weekend?

Thanks I reckon you goals are fantastic, definitely something aim for. Week 6 Update: I have been struck down with some sort of flu or head cold for the last 4 days so I haven't been working out as much as I usually would. Meal plan: Breakfast 2 eggs, grapefruit Snack: Nuts Snack: Apple Lunch: Chinese Kale with (variable) Snack: Carrot and celery Stick. Dinner: Chinese Kale (I got a great deal from the markets so I have a fridge full of the stuff) Day 1: Cycle class Meals as planned (lunch with curry beef) Push ups program Pilates class Day 2: Meals as planned (chicken salsa) ViPR class Day 3: Cycle class Meals as planned (Pork chops in tomato and onion) Push-ups programs Day 4: Took a day off work today to rest up. Breakfast 2 eggs, grapefruit Snack: Nuts Lunch: Vegetable soup with extra serving of Chinese Kale I am considering doing a body pump class tonight seeings as how I have missed about half the classes I would have attended this week already. The weekend is going to be a killer with a beer festival in Hong Kong, Still undecided as to whether I should attend especially since these are the last few days of the challenge... Jeebus give me strength.

As long you get something out of the challenge I reckon its a win.

Week 6 Mini Challenge: Goal 1: Join a Dragon Boat Team for the year 2014 Goal 2: Gain Muscle (I've now lost weight now to get some more muscle) Goal 3: Undertake IIA CIA studies (internal auditing)

Week 5 Progress Report: Weight loss 65 kgs and 14% Body Fat (Completed or exceeded) I weighed myself today, my weight is currently at 63.8 kgs with a 10.9% body fat. I did state previously that I wasn't going to weigh myself last week but I thought just for the heck of it I should do it and I was also a little curious as to the impact of the reduction in exercise. I will do one more weigh in to mark the end of the 6 week challenge next Monday. 100 push ups Week 5 is still as hard as I remember it to be, the good thing about it my progress this time round was the recovery didn't take as long, so I take that as progress. Week 6 should prove interesting as well as the test at the end. 100% Paleo Diet I stuck with the Paleo Diet pretty well throughout the week. I know on the weekends I ate some less than healthy foods and didn't eat much vegetables but it was still paleo so still on track with this one. Sleep by 10:30 and wake up by 6:30 On the weekend I finally managed to do sleep in, 8:30am!!!! Other than that sleeping as been on track. Thoughts and Review All in all this has been a good week, the active recovery bit left me feeling a little bit unfulfilled in my workouts, I managed to finish off this week's mini challenge, although to be fair I had already made up my mind I was going to do these goals when I was evaluating where I wanted to be.

Week 5 Update Day 6 Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, grapefruit Went for a 4 hour hike so I had my snacks and lunch in an almost continuous phase which is as follows: Nuts, Apple, Banana, Biltong (south african style beef jerky) (pepper, chilli flavour) 3 litres of water. Dinner was a BBQ in which I had 2 chicken wings, steak, salad (lettuce, tomato, onion) Day 7 Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, steak, Grilled tomatoes, Lunch: Smoked Duck breast salad Dinner: Steamed fish, Curry Chicken, Steamed Scallops, Vegetable soup Yoga class.

Don't get too down on yourself. You got your vege intake at least. Will be updating my thread with progress report and also update. Who is taking on the week 6 mini challenge? This one looks pretty easy.

Hey I won't be back until Monday, but for now I have updated my thread with what is going on. Have fun and good luck with the new challenge guys. Good to know that you are still with us swarneke, and good work not gaining weight at the conference, those things are torture to anyone losing weight. This is almost the final stretch it would be awesome if everyone could come back and update their progress. Lets finish these last 10 days off strong.

Week 5: Day 3 Morning Cycle Class Meals as planned (with curry beef) Body pump class Push up week 5 day 2 column 3 Day 4 ViPR class (reduced the weight of the ViPR from 10kgs to 6 kgs for the challenge Meals as planned. (Pork Chops) I won't be able to post for Friday but it will go something like this: Day 5 Meals as planned (Chicken) Cycle class Push-ups Program Week 5 day 3 column 3 For the a challenge for resting up I was planning on not going to the gym on the weekend and instead go hiking so it will reduce intensity so to me that is in a way active recovery. I will however still go to Yoga on sunday so I can still keep up the 10 gym classes a week.

For challenge 5 active recovery I will post my recipe for lunch preparation. The curried beef is as follows: 3kgs of cubed beef brisket 8 tomatoes chopped 6 onions chopped 1.5 heads of smashed garlic 1.5 inch cube smashed Fresh ginger Bay leaves Cumin seeds Coriander seeds and fresh coriander leaves Fennel seeds Stick of cinnamon tumeric Chicken salsa: 10 deboned and skin removed chicken thigh fillets 8 tomatoes diced finely 6 red onions diced finely 1 bulb of garlic diced finely 1 bunch of parsely coarsely chopped 6 birds eye chilli coarsely chopped 6 lemons juiced 1 blended capsicum The above is accompanied with a mixture of Chinese kale, Choy sum and baby cabbage. For other meals, I have boiled eggs, grapefruit and Apples, chopped celery and carrot sticks. I am pretty sure the nuts that I do have in the diet arent considered fresh I think other than that everything else is. I think thats a +1 wis for me already. As for the recovery bit that should be quite easy just miss a couple of classes here and there.

Sweet I already do the cooking part, and I do log in all my recipes as well, that one is already in the bag, active recovery, so just go to the gym less this week.... Thats quite easy too.

Good Stuff Tateman. My week and progress report is updated in my challenge thread. I hope other are doing well too.

Week 4 Progress Report: Weight loss 65 kgs and 14% Body Fat (Completed or exceeded) I weighed myself on Monday actually, my weight is currently at 64kgs with a 11% body fat. At this stage I will mark this down as goal complete, So I won't be weighing myself anymore, I am very confident that continuing on with my current diet will be more than enough to maintain this weight. 100 push ups Week 4 push up program has proven bit easier, I think going back to week 4 is a good move. Out of all the goals I have made for myself I would say this is the most challenging goal. It will be interesting to see if I can do the 100 push ups by the end of the 6 weeks: 100% Paleo Diet The preparation for the diet is pretty much a habit for me, I didn't have any slip ups this week, (very happy about that) I have been very experimental with the fruits lately. I think this is a long term habit that I can stick to. It will just be down to devoting one or two mornings a month to preparation for lunches. Once the challenge is over I will relax the paleo diet to allow myself one or two cheat meals a week on the weekends but will still monitor processed foods, carbohydrates when I am out. Sleep by 10:30 and wake up by 6:30 This goal is pretty much nailed down as a habit, I am quite happy to report, the downside is that its not only the weekdays I am doing this, its also the weekends ( can be annoying but I reckon its for the better) Thoughts and Review Out of the 4 goals I have made for myself 3 I would consider either complete or I have down in a comfortable habit. The push up goal that I set myself is the only one that I am not sure whether or not I will be able to complete (fingers crossed that I do).

Week 4 Update: Day 5 Meals as planned Push up program week 4 day 3 column 3 Cycle class at night. Bought some food for preparation Also prepped portioned out and froze some Pork Chops in garlic, onion and black pepper sauce. Day 6 Decided to buy more food to prep for the next 3 weeks so that I don't have to prep any lunch or dinners for the next 3 weeks. Breakfast: chicken steak with pepper and lemon, salad of lettuce, red onion, cherry tomatos Snack, Mangosteen Snack, Pomelo, Dragon fruit, nectarine, I actually loaded up on a lot of fruit today ViPR and Stretch and Abs class Dinner: stir fried, bacon with baby cabbage, chinese kale and choy sum with garlic and chilli Day 7 Body Pump class: Breakfast, Eggs, bacon, garden salad Snack: Nectarine, Grapefruit, dragon fruit, kiwi fruit, Cherries Snack: Raw unsalted almonds Prepared, Indian style beef (6 pounds of beef) curry and also did a grilled chicken salsa steaks. Dinner: Didn't really have a formal dinner as such just kept snacking on whatever I was cooking and nuts. Yoga class Meal plan for week 5: Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, mixture of grapefruit and pomelo snack: Apple Snack: 1 raw unsalted brazil nut, 5 almonds, 5 walnuts, 5 pecans lunch: Grilled chicken salsa or curried beef with baby cabbage, chinese kale, and choy sum Snack: Carrot and celery Dinner: Soup I'm quite happy at the moment as during the challenge I still have in the freezer 22 frozen items that I can take for lunch as well as 10 portions of soup this should ensure that I am well stocked up to take on the rest of this challenge without too much preparation and also allows me a bit of time to focus on activities other than just prepping for the next week ( not that I don't enjoy cooking) Week 5 Update: Day 1 Cycle class Meals as planned (Chicken steak for lunch) push ups program week 5 day 1 column 3 Pilates class Day 2 Boot camp class Meals as planned (Chicken Steak) Classes that will be attended: Pilates, RPM, ViPR,

That's awesome that you have the drinks under control, and yes I would give the beers to your dad."Out sight out of mind."

Cool to see you are still with us. You are killing it mate. I'm sure your cardio will fall into place soon.

Its actually been very different each time, this time it was the first time that the trainer busted out the bosu. Format it seems to go on from is do a lot of different exercises, for example pushups, sprints, burpees, mountain climbers, wheel barrow races, bear walk, side planks, weighted lunges and squats, squat jumps. That was just some of the exercises from tuesday. But its good fun and takes the thinking and pushing yourself out of the workout since you have someone else to do it for you. Thats probably the main reason why I prefer gym classes now. Day 4 ViPR class in the morning Meals as planned.