Lost over 10 kilos!

This is not the most active blog, but I hope to improve on that in the future.

Since I wrote list, I am happy to report that I have managed to loose about 10 kilos of weight! I feel very proud over this achievement and I also feel a lot healthier. Most of my clothes now fit better and some do not fit at all, as they are now a bit too large. This might of course necessitate an investment in the near future. On the other hand, clothes I could wear before, are now possible to put on again.

So, how did I achieve this? I am sorry to say, but there is no magical trick. I have done a few lifestyle changes in order to make this more sustainable. In short:

1) Not driving to/from work.
Most often I use public transport. Only doing this requires a few thousand steps (to walk to/from bus stop etc.). A few times I have even jogged home from work (around 6 kilometres).

2) Eating healthier
Often I have brought my lunch and snacks to work instead of going out to eat. Not only is this healthier (of course depending on what you bring), but also cheaper.

3) Exercising more
I have found my way back to regular exercise. I again do some regular rowing, running (well, let's be honest and call it jogging) and walking. This has also turned out to be a good way to handle relatively high level of stress at work.

All in all, no enormous changes and I feel healthier, happier and have been able to save some money!

Time to shape up!

I got a wake up call when I stepped on the scale this morning: 106.3 kg!

I have many things to blame for this, not least bad discipline when it comes to eating properly and exercising regularly. It is time for this to change and it starts today with at least some moderate physical activity in form of an hour or two of gardening, a 3 km walk with the dog and a few kilometers on the rowing machine planned.

I am quite large by nature (and lot of proper training in my youth), but should not be this heavy, since I do not aim to build a lot of muscle. First target is to get out of the deciton club (i.e. the the club for those who weigh more than 100 kg). If I could get down to 96 kg I would be very happy, so that would be my stretch (or rather "lean") target.

As I have a sporting background with a lot of training, I do see the risk of the strong will taking over and getting me into a tough training regime immediately, resulting in injuries. For example: If I would today go for 10 km run (in reality it would be a jog), I am sure I could do it, but my knees would pay a heavy price over the next few days, resulting in less training over time.

I will keep you posted on what will hopefully be a successful journey to lower weight levels.

Weight tracking

For me it is very easy to gain weight. In very young years I was not the fittest, but in my mid/late teens I started exercising a lot, got fit and also enjoyed eating a lot - which I needed due to all the training. We are talking about 6-10 sessions of at least one hour each every week, so it was intense. During that time I weighed about 85 kg.

During my years at university I gained weight, but the last year was very intense in school, I lived quite an ascetic life and ensured I went to the gym a few times plus did some running. I started working being the fittest I have ever been and weighed in on 88 lean kilos.

Working meant a lot of sitting still on the butt as well as starting eating lunches at restaurants, both of which I was not used to. I relatively quickly gained 20 kilos! I felt heavy. When bending down to tie my shoe lasers I got out of breath. I quickly realized something had to be done and by changing some eating habits relatively quickly lost a few kilos and felt a bit better.

Since then I have been around 100 kg, but a few years back I carved out most carbohydrates from my diet and went down to 96 kg, felt - and looked - much better!

This was unfortunately not sustainable and I slowly gained weight again.

Lately I broke my all time high and weighed in on 107.8 kg!!

I believe the gain had been more gradual this time, so did not feel as heavy or tired compared to last time. I still feel that I could row decently on the rowing machine, but of course not as well as back in the days. In any case, the surprising breaking of my all time high has now made me determined to loose weight again and I am on my way, with some setbacks last two weeks, as can be seen in the graph below.

I strongly believe for this to work in a more sustainable matter this time around I need to change some habits, but also keep some in order to not make the change too drastic and thus not sustainable. So, in short:

- no sweets during the work week
- no more french fries during 2016
- weigh myself and keep track of that at least once per week
- exercise more

Regarding the exercise I will only do limited running until under 100 kg again in order not to ruin my knees, but biking, rowing, walking and the odd tennis game is on the agenda. I will keep track of calories burnt via exercise via the Suunto watch described in earlier post (I am not sponsored by Suunto, I just happen to like their product; you might have your own similar device).

I will also make my fight against being unfit semi-public by making posts here on the blog.