Dilettante: Skinny-fat to lean and strong.

[dilettante]

Backgroud and long term aims

 

As the title says, I'm currently skinny-fat (maybe a little on the fat side of that at the moment) and looking to get lean and then get strong and somewhat muscular. The sort of things I want to be fit enough to do are parkour, running, cycling, swimming and rock-climbing.

 

I am around 92.5kg/203.5lbs down from 96kg/211lbs about five weeks ago. So I'm not doing too badly at the moment, it's just a shame that I'm having to lose weight that I had already lost before summer thanks to a lot of over-indulgence and laziness. Ah well.

 

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I've decided to focus on shifting fat for the rest of 2013 (13 weeks), aiming for a target weight of 80kg/175lbs by January 2014, and fully expecting to gain a pound or two back over the Christmas period because I will not go without Christmas treats. I am not really worried too much about the actual end weight, I'm just aiming for a weight that I think will mean I am quite lean, enough to start bulking up from a good grounding, without having to worry about having to cut lots after.

 

In the new year I will start bulking up, which I'll be doing from a pretty poor level of strength.

 

I'll be doing this on a paleo diet.

 

Current goals

 

Diet

 

So I have thirteen weeks to lose around 13kg, which is going to be a challenge. That's within the healthy level of weight loss, but will require a cleaner diet than I've been following recently, which has been paleo-ish, but included a lot of baked beans for easy, post cycling, breakfasts. I will remove these and instead focus on eating plenty of healthy fats from mixing eggs and avocado for breakfast and with coconut milk-based smoothies. I will not be excluding dairy, but will limit milk intake to post cycling so as to use the sugars at an optimal time.

 

Exercise

 

I usually cycle to work, which is a 2mile/3.2km journey each way. This has recently left my quads quite tired all the time, I think because the journey either way ends in a hill. I will be cycling at a relaxed pace and will not work too hard going up the hills/get off an walk them. However, my plan for the coming week is to walk to work for the first few days to help my legs recover a bit more from the extreme fatigue I'm currently experiencing.

 

Twice a week I will do low weight resistance training, to try to prevent loss of muscle mass.

 

Record keeping

 

I weigh myself once a week, monday morning, following my cycle to work and before I eat. While I'm not overly focussed on the actual weight I attain, regular weigh-ins will help me keep on track and motivated while I wait for my weight loss to become obvious from looking at myself in the mirror. I will update this log every couple of days with diet and exercise notes and issues.

 

The below, is my current physique.

[dilettante]

Weekly weigh in today: 91kg. I'm pretty pleased, considering that over the weekend I was munching my way through everything in sight trying to get enough calories for my legs to fully recover from cycling. I think also that I haven't weighed myself in almost two weeks so that's pretty consistent with previous weeks successes. I was told today that I look like I've lost weight in my face. So that's good too.

 

I have had a little trouble with diet the last couple of days, but that's mainly been due to oversleeping and not prepping lunches the night before (because I didn't expect to oversleep). I'll have to start making lunches the night before just in case.

 

I walked home from work yesterday following getting the bus in, and today cycled in but got the bus home (due to migraine and feeling like cycling would be a bad idea). I will walk in tomorrow and cycle home. Hopefully the walking and buses will mean that my legs won't be overworked.

 

I feel like saying my legs are overworked/overtrained or whatever is a bit daft, because last year I was capable of cycling 3 miles each way five days a week to work, the only difference being the journey was much flatter, though not entirely flat. Still, I think I am probably better off taking it easy if it means I get to continue to cycle in frequently and feel less achy and tired, rather than giving in and riding the bus everyday, which is a tremendous waste of money and opportunity to exercise.

[dilettante]

I'm sick at the moment, so I spent yesterday eating soup and bread and other comfort foods and downing a gallon of lemon, ginger and honey tea. Probably not the best for weight loss, but I don't think depriving my body of calories is going to do me any favours at the moment. Today I'm going to feel less sorry for myself and make sure I eat plenty of veggies and healthy fats and give my immune system a boost. With any luck I can kick this by Monday and get back to full force paleo and get back on track.

[dilettante]

Well, on Monday I weighed 92 kg. Today, Friday, I weigh 90. Despite feeling lethargic and drained most of the week I actually thought I had been eating enough. Turns out, not so much. So I figured it was safe to have  biscuit at lunch and ended up eating 5 and a donut. I actually felt better than I had all week - damn sugar monkey on my back. Need to be sure to eat more (healthy) calories or I'm going to lose weight too quickly. On the plus side, this makes my goal of losing 10kg more by new years much more achievable.

[dilettante]

Weekly weigh in: 92kg. Same weight I was at my last official weigh in. My diet has been poor.

Thinking about it, I felt much worse when I cut beans from my diet. I was losing weight at a reasonable pace, and didn't feel crap, though my legs were aching. Think that was a not-stretching/not enough protein issue though. I'd been gearing up over the weekend to go hard core low carb, but actually, I think that is a bad idea. Going to stick with what was working before, even if it means I don't hit my target by the new year. Ah well, I'll just keep at it a bit longer before bulking.

 

Just read over this thread and realised I've basically only lost a half kilo/a pound in the past month thanks to being ill and using it as an excuse to eat crap and then being too lax with my diet. Best to stick with what was working before this thread started.