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Today is Friday, which is my “Weigh Day”. The main headline this week is that I’m down 1kg – whoop! That’s just over 2lb in old money and is up at the maximum end of what I’m aiming to lose per week. The scales say body fat is also down to 27%, which indicates that at least the majority of what I’ve lost is fat, so that’s excellent!
I’ve still got a long way to go to get down to my 18% goal, but knowing everything is going in the right direction is really encouraging.
My measurements are all also down by about a centimetre too. My partner is out today, so I haven’t be able to see what the body fat calipers say (they are most accurate you get the same person to use them each time) but I’ll try that later too.
My current weight is now 62kg and body fat is 27% according to the scales.
Training
My training since my last Weigh Day has been:
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Strength training with heavy (for me anyway!) weights in the gym
Monday: 5 mile slow run outside (not fun, as discussed here)
Tuesday: TRX session (similar to this) at home
Wednesday: 12 mile slow bike ride (only intended to go out for half an hour, but it was such a lovely day I got a bit carried away!)
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Circuit style “functional” session in gym
I really need to get around to sharing more of the details of my training sessions because I know a lot of you liked this post. Will get onto that soon.
Eating
My diet has been pretty “clean” too. It probably helped that I was revising for a nutrition exam which I took today! (I think it went well.) This week’s eating has been like this…
I’ve started most days with a bowl of chopped up fruit. Then I’ve been having some cereal, or a flapjack, or other snack like maybe Quorn Bites and hummus. Lunch has been things like eggs with a huge salad and a bread roll, or a veggie burger, or just a sandwich depending on what I’ve been doing. I snacked on fruit and nuts a lot in the afternoons, or some celery or avocado with ‘light’ cream cheese, or I think I had a sandwich one day when lunch didn’t quite hit the spot and I was hungry later on. Dinners have been something like Quorn fillets, or veggie sausages, or some kind soya protein, with steamed or roast vegetables and a few potatoes or a bit of rice. In the evenings I’ve been having a banana and maybe a couple of slices of toast with low sugar jam an hour or two before bed. I also had a whey protein shake on a couple of the days after training.
It’s Personal
I’m just sharing this because so many people have asked about my diet, eating like this might not be right for you. It isn’t right for me every day. I’m a big believer in listening to my body. If I feel hungry I’ll eat a bit more, or maybe I’ll feel like eating a bit less. I also plan my meals around my exercise. For maximum benefit it’s important to have a good meal a couple of hours before exercising and to eat as soon as possible afterwards. So these foods haven’t necessarily been in this order every day, depending on when I’ve been able to fit my training in.
Again, I’ll try and put up a post with more detail on this soon, because I know some people are keen to hear more about my diet, but this should give you an idea of what I’m eating… which is a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruit and veggies, including – shock horror – bread and potatoes! If you are at all surprised that I’m losing weight this way, I’d advise you to have think about whether you’ve become so sold on various diet plans that you’ve forgotten the basics – easily done nowadays!
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and reading this. I’m so excited to have so many people sharing this journey with me. I’d love to think this blog might be helping you with your goals in some small way too. If it is, I’d really appreciate it if you’d click one of the social buttons and share the love and/or say hello in the comments section. Do let me know if you have blog too so I can pop over to your place and see what you’re up to.
Enjoy the weekend, here’s to another week of fat loss coming up!
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Congrats on your weight loss and your fat burning success. What I like about your exercise routine is that there is no routine, you do something different every day! Best way to reach the different areas. I’m starting to think about re-incorporating weights again but will get used to running first.
I’ve found since I’ve cut out all sugar of my diet (through necessity, I dont recommend it as drastically as I’ve had to) my appetite has gone completely. Its very weird as I’ve always been a big eater but I think at least reducing unnatural sugar is a good way to reduce appetite.
I have just set up a new blog at Goji Nuts for Health and have written about my first running session after six months, I hope you check it out
That’s very interesting. Every time I cut down on sugary foods I find my cravings for junk food ease off too. Hormones certainly have a lot to do with it, but I think habit plays a big part too. People tend to crave the foods they eat often and I find that it’s only when I go “off track” and eat too much junk that I crave those foods… Another thing I must write a post about soon! Jx
Well done on your weight/fat loss. I was looking forward to seeing what you’ve been eating as I want some ideas on how to fill myself up! However, it seems I’m eating more or less the same as you, which is frustrating. Maybe I’ve still got to find my full switch. Doubt I’ve lost anything this week, I’ve been hungry all the time, including an hour after breakfast of poached eggs, mushroom & grilled tomato with a small slice of granary (one of the 400g store baked loaves). I’ll be interested to see if I have lost this week. Look forward to the next instalment in your quest x
Thanks Lesley. Yeah it could be that you’ve got a bit insensitive to when you’re full, but maybe you’re just not eating enough to fill you up. I eat an absolute ton of fruits and veggies, so maybe you could include more of those? I don’t think the fact that you felt hungry after breakfast is anything to worry about, you probably just didn’t eat enough to fuel what you were doing the day before. When I feel hungry I get worried that I might start metabolising muscle, so I try to eat right away. I hope you get a loss this week too – when’s your weigh day? Jx
Aawww sorry, do you decide what ads you have on your blog – I always think the ones similar to what you’ve got on today aren’t usually very helpful and are “fads” or expensive weightloss pills!
L x
No I don’t, but I can block ads from particular advertisers from appearing. I don’t like the sound of the diet pills one at all, but I’m seeing an ad for whey protein right now. Can you let me know what site the diet pills ad links to please? (I need to know that to block it). Thanks for the heads up – sounds like a totally opposite message from mine! Jx
Just spotted your reply, sorry – I will pay more attention when I’m reading in the future & let you know whether I spot any. You’re ok today! It was probably lose 2 stone in a month or something like that with a link to some fab new pill.
L x
Well done.
My weight day is Monday and I’m down 0.9kg. Mind you I’ve got quite an aggressive plan of 1kg a week for the next 17weeks to get me significantly below my 2009 London Marathon weight as I don’t really want to carry around the ‘extra baggage’ for a 3rd time in 2013.
Deliberately drink large quantities of water which seems to reduce my snacking desires.
Hi Dave. Yes, I drink a tanker truckload of water every day – it definitely helps reduce cravings. I find it also helps my skin and digestion. 1kg per week is do-able, but please don’t get down if some weeks it’s less. The slower is better for keeping it off in the long term, after all, and as a long as things are generally going in the right direction most of the time you know you’re on the right track. Keep me posted! Jx
Hey,
Well done for this week’s Bodyfat Blitz! I’m slowly but surely upping the exercise and replacing more sugary snacks with fruit. Having remained static for 3 weeks (which, to be fair included a massive baking session and a decadent weekend in Paris) I’m hoping a loss will finally appear on the scales this week. (weigh day on Thursday)
One thing which I found unnerving was that despite the scales barely changing (less than 1lb), my measurements (which I take every 4 weeks) were creeping up by 1/2″ here and there so that got me back in the gym sharpish!!
I won’t count on your weighing scale to tell you how much fat you have lost. The only thing it measures is your own body weight and since you have been exercising you probably develop a good amount of muscles and muscles weight more than fat. Do you see where I’m getting to on this? You might get to the point where your weight is not improving but actually you are gaining muscles. Even fitness trainers will discourage you with the use of weighing scales.
Hi Alex, Thanks for the comment. I’m a personal trainer myself and I certainly know not just to rely on weight to gauge my progress. I’ve talked about that quite a lot on this blog, for example here: http://www.juliasfitnessblog.com/blog/2012/06/22/wohoo-im-burning-more-calories-while-i-sleep/
My scale is fitted with a body composition analyser (electrical impedance) and I also use body fat calipers and take measurements.
