Sabotage!!! and good news...

Regret is a big 6 letter word. I'm really annoyed with myself. Evertime when things are on track I seem to be losing it. Well, seem is putting it lightly. I AM losing it!!

Let me start with the good news first. I've done a whopping 51 miles on Sunday.

We've decided to cycle the upcoming Spring 50 last Sunday. The actual event is this coming Sunday so we thought we'll do it to check the route and also use it as a training event. My average cycling speed was only 10.6 mph which is a bit ridiculous. 
However, in defence I may add that there were many hills and total elevation gain was 650m which is enough for a 50 mile route. It was quite a difficult route to do and I struggled for most of the way. Quite silly really. The feeling to get back home was absolutely great though!

What is nice is that I now have a benchmark for next Sunday.Hopefully I can do a bit better. The picture on the right has a distant cyclist in it...my LEJOG partner!

So why am I losing it? Well, weight-loss is at a standstill but has nothing to do with plateaus or anything like that. Purely me that is sabotaging my own success which is such a shame. Sunday's effort made me drop at least a couple of lbs but only to be ruined by me not sticking to my diet yesterday and also having some wine (when I vowed NOT to drink in the week!). I had a spinning class this morning which was then missed due to feeling way too lazy to get up. So an opportunity to burn 500cals this morning totally missed...

I'm struggling to focus and find it quite tough. Has anyone got some tips perhaps??


Below are my results.

Uncategorized Running Street Running Track Running Trail Running Treadmill Running Cycling Cyclocross Downhill Biking Indoor Cycling Mountain Biking Recumbent Cycling Road Cycling Track Cycling Fitness Equipment Elliptical Indoor Cardio Indoor Rowing Stair Climbing Strength Training Hiking Swimming Lap Swimming Open Water Swimming Walking Casual Walking Speed Walking Transition Swim to Bike Transition Bike to Run Transition Run to Bike Transition Other Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding Boating Cross Country Skiing Driving Flying Horseback Riding Inline Skating Motorcycling Mountaineering Paddling Resort Skiing/Snowboarding Rowing Sailing Skate Skiing Skating Snowmobiling Snowshoeing Whitewater Kayaking/Rafting Wind/Kite Surfing

Geocaching Fitness Recreation Race Special Event Training Transportation Touring Uncategorized

Time:

04:52:28

Distance:

51.85 mi

Elevation Gain:

650 m

Calories:

2,451 C

CTC Ladies ride on Saturday 13 March

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

What a great cycling weekend this was! First on Saturday, doing a 10mi ride with the local CTC Ladies (see attached link for details) and then on Sunday, doing a great run of 30.4mi down to Malpas in Cheshire. My legs were aching when I got back home and I can still feel the sore this morning. We had to battle a bit of wind, especially on our way back yesterday so it wasn't a straight forward nice ride. We were determined to go out 'whatever the weather', and were very pleased with ourselves when we managed to finish what we set out to do.

I burned a brilliant 471cal (10mi) and 1451cal (30.4 mi) on Saturday and Sunday. There was a huge hill just outside Malpas which gave us some good exercise! Tonight is another spinning class and my legs will probably complain but I do think they need it to 'unwind'.

 My LEJOG partner outside the Red Lion Hotel Garage (interesting name, sin't it?)

I've received a Dutch cycling newsletter this morning from the Fietsberaad people and they mention a good piece of cycling research that was done amongst European cities called 'Bicycle policies of the European cities: continuous and integral' . The document can be found here: http://www.fietsberaad.nl/library/repository/bestanden/Fietsberaad_publicatie7_Engels.pdf

Don't worry! It is in English. It is a document worth reading and will give you some thought about what can be done here and elsewhere.

Happy cycling!

The end of February

And here we are at the end of February 2010. It has been a four week journey and so far I think, it has gone very well.
I have lost a total of 9lbs in February, having started at 11st11 and weighed in today at 11st2. Whoohoo!! My bodyfat percentage dropped as well which I am really pleased about.
I have lost 4% of body fat which is really great.

I'm just back from a spinning class and burned 323 cals. That was the lowest so far for a spinning class. On average it is above 500cals.

Well the days to doing LEJOG is really getting low now. 102 days is really not much at all, so a slight panic is setting in. I've still got SO much to do!!

This week will be particularly challenging. I'm out all week except for Tuesday when I will try and do a double spinning class, one early morning and one in the afternoon, after 5pm. Apart from keeping up with my exercise, it is always a challenge to take my diet with me where I go. And if you are most of those hours in a car or on a train, it is difficult!

We are planning our summer holidays. Inevitably it includes some cycling! The CTC (Cycling Touring Club) is having their annual birthday rides in Cornwall this year which really appeals. Lodging will be in Penryn at Exeter Uni campus and will be over 6 days. Each day has a choice of 4 bike rides with a variety of distances to cater for everyone. In the evenings are good entertainment and breakfast and dinner are included in the price. Now to find the money to go...!

I have no further news on my Brompton which is a bit disappointing. I was promised a phone call to sort of give me an idea of when the Brompton will be ready but nothing came yet. My bike voucher has arrived about a week ago and it has a deadline of 60days on it. I phoned the bike dealer to let them know and they told me that they don't think there will be a problem. So watch this space!

End of the week - here comes the weekend!

Now who doesn't look forward to a weekend? The scales this morning told a lovely story. I have so far 'only' lost 6lb since I started but my bodyfat has consistently crept down and this morning it changed from two ++ to just one + and came in under 40% bodyfat.

Now the hard bit starts to keep that up and keep it going down. I couldn't keep my spinning class today which was a big pity. I think every one missed is a missed opportunity to keep weight going down. I went to town and came home too late to unpack the grocery bags and to leave for the gym. That sounds like a real feeble excuse now that I wrote it. At the time it just doesn't feel that way. I like being on time and really must be in the car 20min before class start to get there, get into the gym, up the stairs and onto the bike. People flock to the class and is spinning well in advance of the class, so eager are they.

My next class is at 13.30 tomorrow and the masterplan is to keep going after class for another 30min (take my own music) as there isn't another booking for the studio after my class. I burn on average 500cal at a session so hopefully I can push this up to about 800cal tomorrow!

I do need it as 1) I missed tonight and 2) we have a party on tomorrow evening which means there will be drinking and eating.

Even though I'm off the alcohol I can't really guarantee that I would totally abstain tomorrow night. The party would be fun! I haven't been to something quite like this for a while. The theme is schooldays and it is a 60th birthday. In honour of the birthday boy I took some effort today to get me something which resembles a school uniform. I'm not sure about my new shirt though. I fitted the white one but it was too tight and too see-through for my liking. I then went for the black one but the comments I got back was "Mum! It looks like you will be going to a funeral!" as my skirt (a nice shortish one) was also black and so is my pumps.

Maybe I should get the white shirt but maybe at another store? I will see how I feel tomorrow.

We have another episode of '24' to watch so I need to get going...thanks for reading. I will let you know tomorrow what my Cal burn rate was!

Spin those wheels!!

Spinning class is quite addictive! I've attended tonight's and already looking forward to tomorrow morning's which is at 6.45am.

I took my Garmin to the class and put it on a training programme where I needed to burn 500cal for the session. Spinning class ended and i had 40cal more to go, so I joined the main room and went on the treadmill for less than 2 minutes when my calorie target was reached. Yippee!

My willpower was strong today and I didn't cheat apart from having a few ovenbaked chips tonight (as a meal) with my other half. I had lots of water and that continues.

I have a bit of a challenge coming up. I'm sleeping over in a hotel on Wednesday night and usually I will have a glass or two red wine and a lovely meal but I'm in a different frame of mind now so wine is OUT! I will have to tell the cook what I want for dinner which is a small portion of protein and lots of veg.

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
- Ursula Le Guin

Diets diets and more diets

Getting your mind in a state that it would accept that you are about to go on a very strict diet is quite an achievement.

Strategic planning was all that I could think about this last week and after talking to a friend of mine at the office, I was convinced that I knew which diet to go for. Firstly: I don't have a lot of time. I have about 4 months to either succeed or to fail and have the get super-fit the same time. I have been to WW in the past but the choice of food is too overwhelming. I think that I will do better on a diet which tells me exactly what I need to eat and as my days are so unpredictable (being all over the country most weekdays), I need something which doesn't involve a lot of cooking so shakes and bars should do the trick. Yes, I can hear you all saying that soups, bars and shakes doesn't work. But I have a trick up my sleeve and that is all this exercise that I will do with this including the upcoming big bike ride!!

My friend is on LL (sorry I have to use all these abbreviations...) and absolutely swears by it. He has lost an enormous about (4 stone I think in total!) and if he can do it, I can do it. So I've been preparing myself mentally for this new challenge that starts tomorrow. I contacted the Councillor of the LL dept here locally and arranged an info session.

What a disappointment! Firstly. I can't just 'sign-up'. I have to have a medical. OK! Cool. I can live with that. But then came the sticker. I must join a group and the only group where there are spaces are on Wednesdays. Bugger. They can put me onto a waiting list for Saturday...great hah. Do they want customers or what?

I got slightly annoyed with the lady that did the briefing session as she sort of insinuated that I'm not prepared to make a commitment. (When I said I can't do Wednesdays). There was another lady with me at the info session and she said she has no problem with signing up on Wednesday. Well, that's fine for her but I can't tell my boss that I need to be back home for a diet class when I'm halfway across England, now can I??

Anyway. It seems that I will have to do this all by myself. I must admit I that I will save shed loads of money as the LL diet is £66 per week!

I went to Tesco and bought Slimfast which also caters for shakes, bars and soups. I got some instant drinks which I can take on my travels and also got powder which I can use at home.

Tomorrow will start with a bang as my team is meeting and we all go for a meal during the meeting. Well I will either fake not being hungry (and try to stop my tummy rumbling) or I will have to take out my Slimfast shake and enjoy that whilst everyone else is having a lovely light lunch.

So rules for this week:

1. No alcohol
2. No tea/fizzy drinks
3. at least 4 litres of water per day
4. Shakes for breakfast and lunch and a very small cooked meal (chicken breast plus salad) for dinner
5. Exercise at least 3 times a week

I also have had some thoughts about enrolling with a personal trainer at my gym. Maybe the shed loads of money that I will save because I'm not on LL could be usefully spend there.

MMmm, I can hear you ask, how much has she to lose? Well. I would like to lose 2 st and 7 lbs. In metric that is nearly 16kgs. Ouch...

Will keep you posted!