My Journal - A new life

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Shaun81

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My Journal - A New Start

Following on from my "New Members" post, I am still feeling headstrong and looking to make a MASSIVE change in my life.

I give up wayyyy too easy, even though I KNOW this is what I want more than anything - sounds ridiculous but I know I won't be the only one.

I received lots of sound advice and some good starting points from you guys in my first post so here I am looking for motivators to help me through what will quite possibly be my toughest yet most important change to date.

Below I will detail my eating and exercising diary as much as possible and would greatly appreciate guideance on how to improve my plan or just plain old pats on the back for actually getting through a tough week.

Food

I plan to eat as healthy (fresh produce) as possible, I am not going to monitor my calorie intake but just try to eat whenever hungry and stop when full. Hopefully somebody on here with a deep grasp of nutrition will be able to point out areas where I can improve.

I also plan to cut out all booze but with Christmas I may endulge in the odd Jack Daniels and Diet Coke (but will record it and stay off the pints).

Exercise

I plan to have 1 rest day per week

Mon - 2 sets of 9 circuit training exercises strung together as quickly as possibly with 1 minute rest between full sets.
Tues - HIIT cardio training - either some form of running or some sort of indoor improvisation like burpees.
Weds - same as Mon but 9 different exercises.
Thurs - same as Tues
Fri - same as Mon but 9 different exercises.
Sat - same as Tues

The next 4-6 months are going to be a long haul, especially over Christmas, but here goes, join me........

Day 1

Today I took measurements:

Waist - 39" - I wear 34" pants comfortably so this was a true surprise to me but if I breathe out and be honest, this is the size just below my naval :-o
Weight - 82kg
Fat - 20.7%
BMI - 25.4

Breakfast
1 x pint water, 1 x banana
Snack
1 x pink apple
Lunch
1 x veg soup, 1 x wholemeal bread
Pre-workout snack
1 x chicken salad on wholemeal bread
Dinner (Post workout)
1 x sea bass with roasted veg
Pre-sleep
1 x protein shake

I only drank water througout the day, approx 5 pints.

Exercise

2 sets of the following:

Gym ball press-up x 12
Single leg romanian deadlift x 10 each side
Dumb bell hammer clean x 12
Dumb bell curl to press x 12
Burpee x 12
Chair Dip x 12
Dumb bell chair step-up x 10 each side
Gym ball press-up jacknife x 12
Side lunge x 10 each side

I then did 1 minute front plank, 2 minutes side plank.

All in all about 45 minutes worth.

*Whew* Game on :)
 
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Day 2

Breakfast
Oatmeal cereal with skimmed milk
Snack
1 x pink apple
Lunch
Vegetable Soup & wholemeal roll
pre-workout snack
Chicken salad on wholemeal bread
Dinner (post workout)
lean beef & vegetable stir fry
Supper
1 x protein shake

15 minutes of HIIT Training (really tough day at work, the force was not with me tonight)
I used 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off for 15 minutes.
I alternated sprinting on the spot, starjumps and burpees

Am I heading in the right direction so far?
 
I feel it's going really well so far but it is very early days.

I hope I can gather some support from you guys as I know that the first month is going to be really tough for me. Once I am in the routine, hopefully I will start to see changes that will spur me on.

Day 3

Breakfast
Oatmeal cereal with skimmed milk
Snack
1 x pink apple
Lunch
Vegetable soup with 1 x wholemeal roll
Snack
Ham salad on wholemeal bread
Dinner
Smoked cod fish cakes x 2 with brown rice
Supper
1 x protein shake

Exercise

2 x sets of the following:

12 x hammer curl with twist
10 x one-arm dumbell snatch (each side)
12 x diamond press-ups
12 x dumb bell swing
10 x one leg chair squat (each side)
10 x alternating standing shoulder press (each side)
10 x split dumbell romanian deadlift (each side)
12 x gym ball chest press
10 x dumb bell lunge (each side)

Feeling good :)
 
Day 4

Breakfast - Fruit & fibre with skimmed milk
Snack - 1 x pink apple
Lunch - Chips & gravy (was this or nothing today :( )
Snack- Banana
Dinner - Roast gammon & chips
Supper - Protein shake

Exercise - Rest day

Bit disappointed with today but things just seem to have been against me. Did not get a chance to get out for lunch so forced to the canteen late in the day leaving no choice at all.

Back on the exercise routine tomorrow.
 
Day 5

Breakfast - fruit & fibre with skimmed milk
snack - 1 x banana
lunch - fish & chips (homecooked)
snack - 1 x pink apple
dinner - chicken curry (homemade) with wholegrain rice
supper - shared large bag of crisps with g/f
supper - porridge oats (this is where a pizza used to come in)

Alcohol - 4 x jim beam and diet coke

Exercise

2 sets of the following:

12 x gym ball shoulder press with dumbells (DB)
10 each side - reverse lunge with DB
12 x jacknifes
8 each side - T Press ups with DB (could not manage more than 4)
12 x jump squat
12 x bent over flye with DB
12 x squat curl
12 x press-up row with DB
12 x gym ball leg curl
 
I know it isn't an easy habit to break but kick the booze. Number 1, it has NO nutritional value, number 2, it makes you less able to stick to your goals by triggering hunger in some but even if it doesn't with you at the time, the next day your body is going to crave carbs and grease because it knocks your blood sugar out of whack.

I was a long time habitual drinker, not a drunk but drank consistently. I weaned myself off of it and it is rare for me to have a glass of wine- maybe 1-2 times a year. I can't believe how much better I feel! Find people who do things that aren't related to alcohol for socializing- a bike club or runner's or walkers group or maybe some other activity. Lots of fun to be had not drinking.

Good luck and keep up the good work! It isn't easy to resist during the holidays so plan ahead and always keep your goal in mind, it will make it easier to turn down the crisps and chips. Keep some fruit in a backpack and a carton of yogurt and you can snack when there isn't anything else around.
 
Hi there. Good work! If you fall of the wagon every now and then don't let it get you down. Just climb back up there and keep riding.

scanning through your diet there I noticed some mention of chips and crisps sneaking in there and not so much of carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, etc.

When i made a big change to my life, health-wise, the biggest change was my snacking habits, it takes a bit more effort to snack healthily but it's totally worth it.

I certainly don't have a perfect diet but for me, crisps are in there with donuts in the list of things I just don't eat, ever.

anyway , not trying to hassle you or anything, good luck with your new diet and training program : )
 
Many thanks to both of you for your replies.

world_is_my_gym - I certainly won't take such a constructive comment as "hassle" buddy. I am sure that many people on here have been where I am right now, I wanted to post my current diet "warts n all" in the hope that people with more experience can pick holes in it to help me adjust....you have done just that, thanks, now it is up to me to make that change.

I find it hard to replace "chips" every night of the week, especially as rice and pasta also have so many carbs in them. Is it the type of carb that makes those 2 foods better than chips?

Mel - Alcohol is my health demon, I am not an excessive drinker but I do often slip back to having "a few" at weekend and I really do wish I could cut it out completely. My first step has happened already and that is to cut out pints completely. I used to drink pints of lager or cider, they are gone now and I will slowly begin to ween myself off the stuff altogether over the next 3-6 months.
 
Regarding 'chips' - I assume we're talking cut up deep-fried potatoes here. If your cooking them up yourself then they're not an evil thing that you need to cut out of your diet completely. It's just that they absorb a heck of a lot of oil, and the cheaper oils that are usually used aren't really the healthiest.

Personally, I prefer to just boil or microwave the potatoes and try to get the healthy oils into my diet from nuts, avocados, olive oil, etc.

If the chips are bought from a restaurant, pub, or fish and chip shop then the quality and age of the oil used can be an issue.

Avoid the processed frozen chips from the supermarket, mostly just rubbish i think
 
Well I had a big lapse last week and ended up sacking the whole week off.

Very disappointed, these early stages are really where I need the encouragement.

Back on it this week though. Big change this week for me is to eat alternatives to chips. As you can see fromn the diet listed for week 1, chips started to play a role in my dinners towards the end of the week.

This week we have bought extra veg, new potatoes and pasta which I hope to introduce more to phase out the chips, we shall see.

So far this week:

Monday

Exercise

2 sets of the following:

Gym ball press-up x 12
Single leg romanian deadlift x 10 each side
Dumb bell hammer clean x 12
Dumb bell curl to press x 12
Burpee x 12
Chair Dip x 12
Dumb bell chair step-up x 10 each side
Gym ball press-up jacknife x 12
Side lunge x 10 each side

I then did 1 minute front plank, 2 minutes side plank.

Food

Break - Wholewheat Muesli
Snack - banana
Lunch - chicken salad on brown bread
Snack - 2 x wholewheat crackers with extra light cheese spread
Dinner - Roast gammon, salad and wholewheat wraps x 2

Tuesday

Exercise - running - 20 minutes outside.
10 minutes in one direction, then beat the time on the return (negative split)

Food

Break - Wholewheat flakes and nuts
snack - pink apple
lunch - banana
dinner - organic pork loin steak with rice noodles and spring onions

Also I have begun reading Paul Chek's "How to eat, move and be healthy" and as a result have started looking more closely at Organic meats, you will see that creeping in aswell.
 
Wednesday

Exercise

2 x sets of the following:

12 x hammer curl with twist
10 x one-arm dumbell snatch (each side)
12 x diamond press-ups
12 x dumb bell swing
10 x one leg chair squat (each side)
10 x alternating standing shoulder press (each side)
10 x split dumbell romanian deadlift (each side)
12 x gym ball chest press
10 x dumb bell lunge (each side)
 
Monday 4th Jan - New Week 1

Well, spent a fortune on my bike and at the supermarket. Bought 3 very good, highly recommended books and have been reading up over the holidays: the new year will be a full fledged concerted effort.

I will be recording my food and exercise religously and will update on here as often as I can.

I will also post up monthly weight/fat/BMI figures.

Wish me luck!
 
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