myweightlossjourney

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Great News On My Weight Loss

As I’ve stated many times on this blog I have a constant battle on my hands. Losing weight is not easy and as my fitness instructor
Mark Finn from Dockside Fitness say’s ” It’s not rocket science, work out hard, work out regular and eat better”.

Essentially I couldn’t agree more with Mark’s philosophy but in practice we all know how hard it is to beat the weight loss demon.

One thing I’ve realised over the last few months is the basic concept of exercising the right way. This has been proved dramatically to me over the last few weeks with my abdominal work. I’ve worked hard over the years trying to flatten my stomach and find that elusive six-pack – all to no avail!

What my fitness instructor pointed out after watching me for a few reps was that I was doing my abdominal work out all wrong!! Within a few weeks I could feel a dramatic improvement in my whole abdominal region. Not only was it getting stronger but it was also getting flatter – miraculous!!

Amazingly I felt connected to my abs, I’d tried many times to feel a connection there, to get the mind/muscle relationship going without much success, but now I understand what this means and I can feel my abs working throughout the day.

One noticeable benefit is the ability I now have to sit on the floor with my legs straight out in front of me and be able to hold that position easily. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me, particularly as a way of realising my abs have increased in strength and functionality. I LOVE IT!

I am inspired to workout harder and workout smarter simply because of the progress I am seeing and feeling.

I’ll keep you updated and when I get a decent picture I’ll show you a before and after, they’re mot washboard abs yet but I feel proud of what I’ve manged to achieve and hope I can inspire you to improve too.

Until next time workout hard and workout smart.

Group Workouts Inspire Weight Loss and Fitness

Hey Guys sorry it’s been such a long time since I posted here.

Like a lot of people who are constantly on the weight loss journey I slipped-off and was quite naughty for a while.
My main weakness in the whole scheme of things is “too much beer” and as It got hotter in the summer I drank more
beer! Then away on the road working for a couple of months eating quick food at motorway service stations – not good at all!

I’ve been working-out hard now for a about 6 weeks in the park early mornings. The thing that has me so motivated at the
moment is that we have a good group working-out together. Some mornings there’s as many as eight of us and on others
there’s only two.

Social Weight Loss

The good thing now is that it’s become a social thing as well as a workout thing. We’re helped, motivated, pushed and inspired by
our trainer Mark Finn of Dockside Fitness. One of the things that’s great about Mark is he turns up in his van and unpacks a mobile gym.

He is constantly adding new bits of kit and dreaming up new ways of using them. He recently produced 2 big thick heavy ropes about 6 or 7
meters in length. From swinging them around above our heads to whipping them up and down and even hauling ourselves up and down them
the list is endless – and great fun. They also make you ache in places you didn’t know you had muscles.

I have to say that a trainer is great inspiration but the group is a stronger motivator for me. We’ve all got each other to compete against and
cheer on, and we can all see much improvement. We had lots of photos taken by Nick Gregan so we can chart our progress.

I recommend anyone struggling for motivation to get a buddy to train with and if possible form a group as the benefits are tremendous.

Weight Loss In The Rain – And Loving It.

Heavy rain this morning meant my workout in the park was damp and cold. But like a trooper I struggled through it, braving the discomfort of the rain and wind. But hey, if you’re on a mission you’re on a mission. And that’s me.

My mission plan has always been to alter my diet by sticking to a fairly harsh diet for a few weeks, combining this approach with an increase in the intensity and regularity of my exercise regime.

Sometimes it’s hard to motivate yourself to get out of bed and do the exercise. This morning was one of those days but I leapt out of bed ready to take on the challenges of the day ahead. Namely do my exercise, watch what I eat and overcome the boredom threshold and the reulting snacking late on a night.

I have to say that today was a great day, I felt invigorated whilst working out in the rain at the park, I’ve not craved too much for sugary things, I’ve eaten well especially this evening eating grilled fish and a beautiful salad.
I feel an urge to meaure myself and see if I’ve lost any inches or weight but I am not going to do that until Sunday, two weeks in.

I’ll keep you posted guys.

• MyFitnessPal.com Brings Free Calorie Counter & Fitness Tracker to Android Market (eon.businesswire.com)
• Food Portion Size & Regular Exercise (lifescript.com)
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Weight Loss Diary Day One

Being the sort of bloke who loves his food I find it incredibly difficult to ration myself to one potato or a sliver of cake.
I always have to fight the twin demons of my own weakness and mild greed getting the better of me.

I tend to easily loose my concentration – well that’s what I call it.

So what I thought I’d do with this site was to make a bold statement to the world and to my friends. I thought I’d follow one
of the principles of  basic psychology and that was to make a statement, write it down and let everybody know about it,
especially the people whom like and respect. Then if I find myself weakening or find that the task is too difficult I can always
remind myself of the promises I have made to the people I like and respect.

I’m hoping that the thought of telling my closest friends and family that I am on a weight loss mission will spur me on and
keep me focused on the real issue and the real target – which to me is weight loss – but not simply so that my jeans will fit me
better. This is one of the main reasons obviously, but at my age ( approaching 50 ) I think it’s important to be aware of the health
issues that being over weight causes.

So in the spirit of writing things down I thought I’d jot down my goal and some unpleasant but vital statistics.

My goal is to loose 1 & half stone or 21lbs. It kind of rounds up to 10kg more or less. It may seem like a lot of weight to loose and it
is but I am a big guy as you can see below. My other main goal to coincide with my health issues is to reduce my body fat % down to 20%.

Weight   17st 5lbs      or 110kg
Waist      44 & 3/4″   or 114.5cm
Neck       18 & 3/4″   or 48.5cm
Chest      46 & 1/2″   or 118.5cm
Bicep      16 & 1/2″    or 42.3cm
Thigh      26″              or 66cm

Body Fat 27.9% = 30.7kg

Guys please leave your comments whether they are in aid of my motivation or ideas for exercise.

• How to Keep a Food Diary (lifescript.com)
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Weight Loss and Jogging – The Conundrum

Jogging is a great way to burn calories, but many overweight people, myself included find that jogging is too hard. One of the major problems I generally encounter with running is the effects it has on my joints, in particular my knee’s and my lower back. These are common problems I know from other people but I also understand and can confirm that as I loose weight I find that the whole jogging and exercise procedure becomes much less destructive on my body.

A healthy lifestyle will incorporate the elements of good nutrition along with exercise. A low fat diet is part of the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The guidelines also recommend that you engage in approximately 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity most days of the week. Following these recommendations will have important health benefits.

Weight Loss and Maintenance

A 2010 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that at least 150 minutes per week of moderately intense exercise helped women maintain a normal weight. Weight gain occurs when your caloric intake exceeds your calorie burn through activity. Cardio exercise is an effective way to burn large amounts of calories in a short period of time. An hour running at 8 mph will burn over 900 calories in a 160 pound person, according to Mayo Clinic.