New to the cause - this is where I'm at

[Geek On Fire]

So I've recently joined the Rebellion, and figured I should identify where I'm at, what I'm doing, and what I want to improve. Any input is welcome, of course

 

Where I'm at

I'm 39, 6ft tall, and am currently sitting at about 86kg (190lbs), down from a starting point a couple of years ago of 95kg (209lbs), putting me in the overweight BMI category. Visually, you can see that I'm carrying too much weight around my torso - too much gut, and I have man-boobs (I never feel comfortable with my shirt off). I'm making an effort to improve my diet, but chocolate is my downfall. I find it really difficult to just stop at just a small taste.

 

What I'm doing

After a long hiatus from regular exercise (I'm talking right back to my teens) circumstances led me to buy a bike and start cycling some of the way to work about 5 years ago. This snowballed into a newfound love of bikes, and I've been a keen mountain biker ever since (I have a few friends that also ride, which is what got me into the sport). I'm not gnarly, watching me ride isn't like watching a Red Bull video on  video on YouTube, but I'm now at the point where I beat my friends to the top of any given hill. Every time.

 

To complement my riding, because you can't always get time to hit the trails, and just to improve my endurance, I've dabbled in running on and off for the last 3 years, but have made it part of my routine for about the last 6 months. The area I live in is hilly, and I'm now getting up at 5:30am 2-3 times a week and doing 10km (6 miles) before work (it's summer here, so we'll see how this goes in winter).

 

In late 2014 I started up at the local Karate dojo, after watching one of my work mates earn his 3rd dan - he's now my sensei. Part of my motivation to run more stems from my enjoyment of my karate practise, and my desire to do better at it, and be the best martial artist I can be.

 

What I want to improve

To be blunt, I want to look good naked (cliche, I know).

I've set myself an objective of getting down to at least 80kg (176lbs) by the end of the year

As best I can tell, I'm keeping up a pretty good level of activity, but I think I need to work my upper body more. Thanks to running and riding, I have strong legs, that seem OK, but I'm lacking up top.

I'm keen on body weight exercise, and am trying to fit a routine of pushups, inverted rows using a suspended pole I've set up at home, and planks, into my routine,

Diet is improving, but probably needs the most work.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on any tweaks I can make to this formula?

 

Also, sorry if this is an over share, or if I've posted in the wrong forum.

[TankGrrl]

Hi and welcome! Running 10km before breakfast sounds pretty active to me but I notice you don't mention anything about your diet, except chocolate!

Remember that you cannot outrun your fork, it's 80-90% off the look good naked battle. It sounds like you will get the results you want if you focus on the battle of the plate. Head on over to the food threads and get some advice

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[Geek On Fire]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I never had good examples of how to eat well growing up, so it's probably the area I need to level up the most.

[Geek On Fire]

After a bit of forum trawling, and about a year of prior research, I'm going to bite the bullet and actually try an intermittent fasting regime. Just the basic "nothing between 8pm and 12pm" one. I'm afraid it's going to do my head in, but I'm starting at the beginning of a weekend, and am working from home on Monday and Tuesday, so casualties will be minimised if I lose it :smile: 

 

I have some direction with my training routine after reading more of Steve's posts, so it might be time to start my own battle log...

[Jarric]

Wow, 10k before work's a hell of a way to start the day; don't think I'd survive 10k at any time!

 

Diet wise, a couple of basic bits I found that helped me:

-Chocolate - buy expensive chocolate and ration it. You'll like it more for having quality chocolate rather than the cheap stuff, and you'll want to make a bar last due to the cost as well as your waistline. Some studies also show that dark chocolate in moderation can suppress your appetite, although I don't think there's enough evidence yet to say that that's conclusive.

-Learn to cook (if you can't already) and eat more home cooked meals. Helps to know what goes into your meal (and if you ever decide to go down the route of calorie tracking it makes it much easier).

-Read the recommended portion sizes on anything packaged you eat (including chocolate), it's often amazing how small the recommended amount is compared to what you would pour out for yourself.

-Cut out (or cut down) liquid calories. A couple of pints of orange juice is essential a meal (and the same goes for a couple of pints of beer).

[Geek On Fire]

Thanks, Jarric, it's taken me 3 years to get up to this point, so it's taken a while to be a 10K runner. I feel like I've been playing in tutorial mode for a while, so some stats were levelled up before I came here, but now I'm playing for real.

 

I'm placing a lot of focus on diet now (intermittent fasting, paleo-ish eating), and it feels like it's working.

[beatrix]

 

What I want to improve

To be blunt, I want to look good naked (cliche, I know).

 

Sooo relatable. I want to be the person who can take her shirt off any time of the day and say 'Oh I thought a bee got in there and while we are here, do say hello to my abs'. 

Thanks for writing!!

[Geek On Fire]

I genuinely LOLed at that. Thanks for the good start to my day.

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[insanity]

Thanks, Jarric, it's taken me 3 years to get up to this point, so it's taken a while to be a 10K runner. I feel like I've been playing in tutorial mode for a while, so some stats were levelled up before I came here, but now I'm playing for real.

 

I'm placing a lot of focus on diet now (intermittent fasting, paleo-ish eating), and it feels like it's working.

I just started the intermittent fasting thing myself, modified my first attempt this time around, have been paleoish for a while, but put myself on a strict, strict diet trying to trim fat and build muscle. The thing that's helping me is a crock pot, get one of those, or break out the one you have and cook up some meals before hand.