CrackerWatson: The Journey: The adventure of a life not lived

[CrackerWatson]

Like any journey there is preparation.

 

This is what this post is, soon the journey will begin for real.

 

I am currently gathering the equipment I will need and mentally preparing myself for what will come.

 

I will step on ground both familiar and new...but will push myself further and harder than I have before. There is a need to move away from the old me and find the new me that wants to be released.

 

I want to participate in activities that are only viewed from the outside, taking on challenging adventure races (Spartan Race, Tough Mudder...) return one day to the Krav Maga classes that I once loved, but no longer would be able to keep up with.

 

A new dawn will rise soon.

[CrackerWatson]

Last day of the week in the office...

 

Which means when I walk in Monday its the start of a new week and the start new of a new journey.

 

Armed with my gym bag I will take responsibility for my actions and inactions! The input and the output!

[MissoulaSquatch]

Having decided recently that I want to train for Spartan Races (and possibly some Tough Mudders), I will be your first subscriber to this post..seeing someone in similar shoes to me working towards the same goal could be very motivational.

[CrackerWatson]

Update!

 

So this week I was supposed to start at the gym...

 

It didn't happen...

 

A reason (or excuse depending upon how you look at it) I am currently working on clearing an area of my work place, which has meant most of this week has been moving equipment of all sorts, I have been lifting, moving, pushing, pulling and lots of sweating. 

 

Is this the wrong way to do it? now at Wednesday and today I haven't done any of these things, as work has stalled due to other events. I'm still not sure if this is the right frame of mind, but in the last couple of days I have probably put more time in doing these things than I would have spent in the gym working out...

 

What did happen is that I also started changing how I fuel myself.

 

I have started the 5/2 method (not calling it a diet as I don't see it as one). I made a note of all I ate over the last two days and totals were as follows:

 

Monday 1292cals (approx.)

Tuesday 766cals.

 

I learnt something from these last couple of days:

 

1) When you start to consider what you are eating and keeping a note, it is really easy to watch portion control and types of food you are eating, otherwise you feel a bit of guilt creeping in!

2) Baked potatoes, smoked mackerel, corn on the cobb and bananas are more calorific than I expected.

3) 500cals is easy to breach!

4) Its easy to eat much less without trying in the early days!

5) You forget that when you have tried this before you get really tired!

 

Outcomes from this:

 

I really need to start studying calorie intake on all items including fruit and veg! 

 

Hardly ground breaking but I had thought I would be better off than this :?

 

So what's next?

 

Well heavy lifting work will be completed in the next couple of days, so that will mean next week really will be starting in the gym!

 

Better planning of food to ensure my 2 days a week are around the 500cal mark, but also try and ensure that my non fast days are still good fuel rather than bad fuel.

 

Again hardly ground breaking, but one of my problems was eating without conscious thought of what I was consuming and the mount of activity it would take to burn that fuel. I liked someone's comment (somewhere on the internet) that as well as putting calorie figures on a packet, also put how many burpees it would take to burn it of...I know I would probably think twice about consuming some products!

[SpecialSundae]

Just a tip on 5/2 - You're meant to eat a comparatively normal amount on your 5 days and the 2 days aren't meant to be consecutive (600 calories for men rather than 500).

 

Don't succumb to feeling guilty about eating, it tends to backfire longer-term.

Do view food as (very enjoyable) fuel and try to give your body the best you can.

Don't feel guilty about having something naughty once in a while.

Do listen to your body. The 5/2 diet isn't for everyone.

[CrackerWatson]

The guilt aspect is more about the secret eating type of unconsciously just picking something up rather than being aware of what's going in.

 

The 'normal' day on Monday with 1300cals, I was actually surprised at how low that came out. As I said I just made a note of what I ate in the day and then looked up the Cals today. I had originally looked at just eating better rather than the amount of Cals anything contained.

 

I realised from when I started the 5/2 earlier in the year (a couple of holidays away so me drop off the wagon) that it made the whole process easier if I did allow myself the odd naughty treat, the problem before was that the treat was the norm :?

 

The early stages of 5/2 were quite challenging particularly adding more veg and less process food I had headaches and felt tired, but that's because I knew I was just consuming less rubbish. I quiet enjoyed the challenge of eating to a limit, but at the same time didn't beat myself up if I was a bit over as it was still so much better than I was consuming previously.

 

Will just need to see how I get on through the xmas period

[CrackerWatson]

So its one week since i updated my journal....how has it been?

 

not bad...not great, but not bad.

 

I kept up the 5/2 for one week, increased my fruit and veg intake and reduced my soft drink in take (slightly but its still a reduction). Boosted my regular day Cal intake by adding mid morning and mid afternoon fruit snack and cups of fruit/green tea, it didnt add loads but i generally felt better (less tired/grumpy) when i did this.

 

Stil havent got to the gym...

 

Now it might seem like excuses (but i am genuinly miffed as i want to get started) but last week was an active week. Both at work and at home, i was doing a lot of moving boxes and furniture and climbing ladders and i was basically knacked each day and the thought of doing more of the same in the gym just didnt entertain me at all.

 

This week was a holiday Monday and was therefore not near the gym at work, i did however replicate some of the lifts using my Kettlebells at home (16kg in each hand) and today i have been bouncing around buildings attending various meetings and carrying a pile of kit in my bag.

 

So lessons from the last week:

 

1) Sacrifices will need to be made...If i cant make my trip to the gym because of work, i will either need to get up earlier to get in the gym before starting (thats going to mean a 5am wake to get there at a suitable time) or im going to need to stay late to get in after (and will probably mean a 8pm arrival back home)...so going to need to look at thngs and plan each day accordingly!

2) I am going to have to carry more stuff...My role means i could be in any building on any day at any time, both for proactive and reactive reasons, this will mean that i am going to have to start carrying two bags, one of the gym stuff and one for my work equipment (or one big bag)....so going to need to consider the logistics of my plans.

 

This week is going to end with 600cal Thursday and a kettlebell/bodyweight friday...this might not be the week that i planned physically but i am going to try and keep the momentum up by replacing the activities.

[MissoulaSquatch]

You do have a second gym option: home gym.

I started building mine last winter when we had unbearably cold temperatures..never really started to use it until I started working with my Personal Trainer recently.

My workouts are based around resistance bands and bodyweight right now..and it definitely works.

If time is hard for you to find I would definitely recommend this option since you dont have to find time to travel to the gym...just hop out if bed and get to it.

[CrackerWatson]

Thats why i started swing my Kettlebells...I think the other part of my training is going to be reilience...If a plan falls apart...do something else...you can pick up the plan the next time.

 

Ideally the Strong lifts is Mon/Wed/Fri alternating between two plans which i can do when im at work. I have loads of bdoyweight plans and my kettlebells as well, eventually i will be mixing it up a bit.

 

I think this is one of the reasons i have failed in the past, i get an idea in my head and when it falls apart i dont really know what to do next...hence why currently replacing the stronglifts program with kettlebells currently, the KBs will be my fall back for my on days and allow me to atleast be active with weights on the right days.

[SpecialSundae]

My previous Thursday training buddy doesn't seem to be training on a Thursday at the moment. Want some company on a Thursday after work?

[CrackerWatson]

Doh...that should have been Friday :?

[SpecialSundae]

Eh well.

 

I've got Saturday morning training with my coach most weeks. Might be doing Wednesday 17th?

[CrackerWatson]

Update time.

 

Not a lot to update.

 

Still haven't been in the gym yet, jumping about offices buildings and a lot of people needing help before it gets quiet for Christmas (might have a change to get to the gym next week after all and im now off the week leading up to Christmas!!!)

 

Still trying to do home workouts on my planned work out days to compensate, tis week I looked at bodyweight exercises...that was poor and totally deflating... but I guess that is a win as well as a lose...knowing you and your limitations and all that.

 

Still doing the 5/2 and enjoying it. Found a 5/2 cook book in a shop the other day so that will be cool to get a better idea and mix of dishes, stir frys will only go so far!

 

Also learnt about some cheap places to get alternative cooking items (im thinking coconut oil) without paying the earth for it!

 

Still haven't fully given up soft drinks, but managed to cut back on a few again over the course of the week, increased in green tea, and having a pint or two of water in the evening at home.

 

Mini goals for next week (starting Monday as hosting an xmas party at the weekend ):

 

• Cut out all fizzy drinks
• Aim for 2 litres of water a day
• Get to gym!!!!
• Do a Neila Rey body weight worksheet on Tue and Thur

 

So will report part way into the week again most likely

[GingaNinja]

Hey, was pointed your way by Sundae. I am an Edinburgh nerd! Lifting stuff and things, though only starting out.

Good luck with your goals

[CrackerWatson]

I missed my kettlebell workout on Friday ... Kettlebells were stuck under ice and snow in the back garden which was like an ice rink :?

 

I did however do day one of Stronglifts!!! I got to the gym!!! glad to say (and sad considering the weight) that today I can feel bits of my muscles. haven't done weighted squats for years and it is showing, so glad to be starting at he beginning again with some structure. 

 

I will need to relook at technique and body position of a couple of the moves and need to remember to stay on my heels for the squats but my current body shape does make some moves more challenging or like the rows, less effective...however it's a start!

 

Didn't get my full two litres but was still better than any day last week, however I did have a day with no fizzy juice, I count that as two out of three for day 1

 

Hello KingLeeroy, nice to meet another Edinburger on here

[CrackerWatson]

So I feel that I need to record what's in my head, just to get it out...

 

On Monday before doing my lifting session, I took my weight and felt utterly dejected and horrible.

 

I breached (god that makes me think of whales!!) a figure that I really never thought I would let myself get to and it has totally left me feeling so low. My weight has crept up to the point where it has a zero at the end and it aint 10 :?

 

I am the largest I have ever been in my life...I cant get my head round why I cant stick at things when I know how bad this is for me...I know that my health will slowly be getting worse...and I know that I need to be doing the good stuff and eating the good stuff...yet I still cant keep the momentum up! 

 

This isn't some cry for help by the way this is more a rant at my self for being so stupid, I know all these things that I am doing wrong are having a bad effect on me.

 

I'm not going to knock myself out right now...its Christmas next week, ill be staying away from home being fed and watered and I don't want to stress myself out and upset my girlfriend...but January 5th I need to step up, I need to knock this out the park...I need to make some major changes that might make me want to cry at times because it is becoming so much of a challenge...but I cannot continue on this self destructive course of unhealthy inactivity and poor diet!

 

There...its recorded!

[CrackerWatson]

So thought I would make a post Christmas pre New Year update.

 

I fell off the wagon...

 

I was so far off that I can see it way down the road...In fact its so far away that I'm not even sure its my wagon.

 

There was soft drinks, there was Rum, there was Jack D, there was local brewed ale, there was food...oh lordy so much food...there was bubbly...there was days of inactivity...im sure you get the picture...and I'm not going to beat myself up over it as I know I'm probably not he only one to have lived this life last week.

 

So onwards and upwards, my first challenge period starts soon.

 

I will also now have an added incentive. Some colleagues in my work area are starting a weekly weigh in and I am going to join in and you know what I am going to win! I have the most to lose and therefore will have the biggest impact and it is a fairly competitive bunch...I reckon we should put in a pound (in cash!) a week, so I can get all the money at the end

[CrackerWatson]

Day 1 of Challenge 1

 

12:34pm

 

Not a great day so far. Got to work at 8am and almost immediately went straight into a meeting, I'm now out and still haven't had breakfast and I'm due in the gym about half one.

 

Figure its time to grab a piece of fruit (banana I think).

 

I don't know if its because I know that I cant have one, but I really fancy a drink of fizzy juice...damn its draw!!!

 

14:29pm

 

First day of Stronglifts 5x5 done:

 

Squat 5x5 @ 20kg

Bench 5x5 @ 20kg

Row 5x5 @ 30kg

 

review of performance:

 

all OK apart from the fact that I think I need to look at my technique for the row, don't think it is spot on as feeling a bit of pull in my back. also going to use the bigger plates next time.

 

Now going to have lunch/breakfast of some Heinz cream of tomato soup.

 

Will be doing a shop on the way home and plan to make a big pot of soup (Chorizo and Sweet Potato) to last the week .

 

15:40

 

Soup had followed by an apple.

 

this now makes 2 goals for the day achieved...Just need to end the day with no soft drinks and I'm done!!!

 

21:36

 

The day is nearly done!

 

I had a lovely dinner made by my girlfriend of Chicken served in a tomato and red pepper sauce (all hand made!no jars here!) served with Couscous...was very nice

 

a small glass of fruit juice and a coffee (probably the low point of the day).

 

Going to have a large glass of water before heading to bed...still need to fit in another couple of pints over the course of the day (i also started the day with a nice cold pint of water).

 

However...today has been fizz free!!!

 

Day one done with a win!

[CrackerWatson]

Day 2 of Challenge 1

 

Day 2 was full of win... 2 bits of fruit and no fizzy juice!

 

I didn't achieve all I wanted to yesterday, I wanted to throw in a half hour cardio session but my body was telling me otherwise. It wasn't just the pain of the muscles, that I can deal with...but it was the tiredness I struggled all day, ended up having dinner of toast and falling asleep on the sofa woke up and went to bed...hardly an exciting or productive evening.

 

There was also the headache which continues into today (day 3 now). I put it down to the changes in my fuel, I am consuming a lot less sugar and fake sugar and I think it has thrown my body.

 

Will def be keeping an eye on this!

[CrackerWatson]

Day 3 of Challenge 1

 

2 pieces of fruit...Done!

 

Stronglifts 5x5 day 2

 

5x5 22.5 kg Squat

5x5 20kg OH Press

1x5 40Kg Deadlift

 

...Done!

 

Loads of water and no fizz planned or actually wanted!

 

This looks to be another good day! Squats seemed easier and lower today and bigger plates were much easier for deadlifting and therefore will make rows more natural (yes I know this is obvious!!! just recording for my own dumb brain )

[CrackerWatson]

Day 4 of Challenge 1

 

11:33am

 

Porridge to start the day earlier, made me happy

 

A bit of muscle pain today but not as bad as day two, thighs and left hip area feeling it the most.

 

Aims today, still increase water intake, I got 3 and a bit pints yesterday, I want to aim for 5.

[SpecialSundae]

Looks like you're absolutely nailing your first challenge!

 

The first week back at work is always quite a tough time for fatigue in workouts. It gets easier.

[CrackerWatson]

Cheers

 

Unfortunately I often compare myself to the Scotland/Edinburgh Rugby teams...A good start but often tails off towards the end...

 

I am liking the idea of the 6 week period...its a short goal...In the downtime I can work on another goal and then start again with the next challenge

 

Well that's the idea anyway

[SpecialSundae]

Believing that you'll fail puts you half the way there! You've got a supportive gang here, so hopefully that'll help keep you motivated.

[CrackerWatson]

it is a hindsight comparison... I do go out with good intentions