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Fat to Fit - Time for change? Me, too!
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Btw James - how's the dry Sept going? I know it's only the 2nd but I've been tempted!! Have also been given blackberries and apples today - it would be criminal not to make a crumble wouldn't it??
I really need help....
I'm doing it easy. I usually give up alcohol for January or September so I should be fine. Loosing 50 lbs is unbelievable. Well done. I have run over 70km in the last 2 weeks and have not dropped any weight at all, although I do feel fitter.
Hi Cathy...my plan is simply eat less calories than I use. Key elements are a Fitbit (or any pedometer/calorie counter will do) plus myfitnesspal.
Fitbit: counts every single step I take (plus I use to record gym sessions as well). So I have a pretty usefull record of my energy expediture.
MyFitnessPal: counts every scrap of food I eat. All the snacks, cups of tea, etc. I have scales at home, i overestimate things when i eat out etc.
Connect the two, so that exercise feeds into myfitnesspal and set up a 500kcal daily deficit. (which rolls up to 1lb a week)
Eat to plan and don't overeat. But the mental trick i use it I don't worry if I'm over on a daily basis, I get a little worried on a weekly basis but the most useful tracker is 'monthly'. So as long as I have a 14000 gap over a month, I'm fine. Which allos me to have great meals out, go out for drinks etc.
Month 1 I cut out most carbs (so no pasta, bread, cakes, potato etc). Still had porridge for breakfast. I also cut out alcohol.
Since then, just eat sensible within the plan. lots of protein, vegetables etc. The number of meals that i have with pasta/potatoes./rice has reduced. Still drinking alcohol. Still having occasional cake and treats. Luckily, my diet before was pretty healthy, rarely snacked, never really did crisps, fizzy drinks etc, so it was not really a change of what I ate, more of a hard look at amount.
The great thing is, when I do a long run, I have to put more food into my plan, so often I've ended up the day going 'i need MORE food!'. Which works wonders, as then you're not really on a diet. But you have to be really honest with what you're eating.
James: 2 weeks is nothing, especially if you've unconciously decided that you're running and therefore can eat more! At a sensible rate, you're looking at only 2lb weight loss - I've had days when I've varied 4lb, eg depending on what I've eaten, how much salt, water etc. It's about the long term and keeping at it.
Just started with the myfitnesspal app, it's a bit of an eye opener! Nearly fell off my chair when I realised my "healthy" bowl of Alpen was over 500 calories!
Stevie, know exactly what you mean! It's amazing where they hide. It really makes you think about what you're eating and balance it all out. A big bowl of Alpen means a small dinner..
I use nutracheck. It's £8 per month, but it has pretty much all and every food available so it makes it easy to log my calories. It's worked for me so far - just under a stone and a half lost - along with the running. It is pretty scary how many calories certain foods have (a flapjack? Forget it!) but I still enjoy a beer or glass of wine, pasta, curry, etc., so long as it's within my daily calorie range.
My plan is to keep it up until Christmas, by which time I'll be at my target weight and then enjoy Christmas (and all the goodies that go with it). In the new year I'll start again and hopefully will only have put on a few pounds. Then it's all about maintenance.
Colleagues are noticing I've lost weight, too, which is great motivation.
There's been some great stories of weight loss (Rachel's loss of 50 pounds is just amazing!) and running on this page, so keep it up everyone, and to all our new online friends, welcome!
Hey Rachel thanks for that. I know it's obvious burn more than you put in but you're right sometimes it's not clear exactly what you're putting in. Never mind the temptation to tell yourself lies!! I don't know about this my fitness pal I'm just going to Google and find out about it.
Thanks again.
Evening all.
I've a 5k race after work tomorrow (Olympic 5 and 10k runner, Julia Bleasdale, is going to run, too - though rather quicker than me - it's for charity) and I've a bit of a cold.
Hoping I feel better tomorrow....
3.5 miles of hill training tonight, wasn't as bad as I was dreading! My 10K is a bit hilly apparently so hopefully some specific training will take the edge off it on the day, fingers crossed!
Good luck tomorrow Jae, let us know how you get on!
Hi all,
Jae I hopeyou are feeling better tomorrow and enjoy the race even if you have to take it easy.
Did my 'tempo' run tonight but there wasn't much tempo going on... all that happens in the 'fast' stretches is that my arms and legs move round a bit faster
and then I have a sneaky 30second walk before jogging on. I have been following the 10k 8week programme on this site and am at week 6. I am fitter and have lost 5lbs even despite a birthday filled holiday.
I like the realistic and pragmatic approach to going from fat to fit on this forum... there are no quick fixes and I always try to remember how long and slowly the weight crept on.
Thanks for sharing top tips... I have been keeping a food diary but it is so easy to underestimate the energy you are consuming. I run with an ipod with Nike+ fitness app that tells me pace, distance, calories used and most importantly plays me fab music so I can't hear how out of breath I am
. The app has a 'power song' option to do your final sprint to.... I haven't used it yet... does anyone have favourite 'power songs' other than the obvious Eye of the Tiger!
Hey Jae
Good luck for tomorrow hope you feel better for it. What's the charity?
I'm realising listening to you lot that I'm a stone age runner, no gizmos or fancy aids. I don't even have a running watch at the moment. That must be why I'm so slow! I need to get myself kitted out. The Nike iPod thing sounds good. I'll go have a look at one of those. I fancy doing a power run to Queen - Don't stop me now.
The Pretender by The Foo Fighters for me!
Still feeling grotty, but have some cold and flu drugs which should clear my head. Actually feel ok when outside in the fresh air, but unfortunately I'm stuck in the office. If I feel ok later I'll run it, but I won't be racing, just trying to get round ok.
The charity is a local one to me that provides housing and training for adults with disabilities. The people who run it are lovely so it's a pleasure to run for them.
The Pretender is a great power song, Stevie. There are tons that fit the bill. Mostly rock tunes, though.
This is a cracking feel good thread. Jae can I hire you as my personal motivator?!
Try as I might I can't seem to fit in 4 runs a week and its doing my head in! My body just rejects one of the days I'm due to go out because I've likely overdone it the rest of the time. My plan for last week was for 6,6,6,12 but I only did 6,6,12. This week its 6,Intervals,6,14. I'm hoping the shortness of intervals won't break me too much tonight so I can get another 6 miler in tomorrow.
I ran 6 at my half marathon pace last night, averaging 9.12pm. I say thats my half marathon pace - it's not. Its slower than I want to go in order to break the 2 hour barrier and its psychologically tormenting me! Especially as i had to give EVERYTHING for that 6 miles - I'm not even sure I can sustain it.
Still, I have 4 and a bit weeks training before Oct 6th to work on it. I'm hoping with the extra training, the taper, another few pounds off and race environment adrenaline I'll make it. Famous last words!
Weight wise, since my last post I have lost 3lbs, and I'm hoping to lose another 7-8 more before the race.
+1 for MyFitnessPal. Best thing I like is as I use Endomondo to track my training, it auto posts my runs into MFP too and calculates the calories etc seemingly more accurately.
Keep up the good work everyone I'm hoping to keep a closer eye on this thread!
Matty, I know what you mean about fitting in! At the moment, I try and do 2 runs on the way to work and then 2 at the weekend. Doesn't always work out that way. I rarely run in the evening, very littel motivation to do that
Rather you running before work than me!
It is definitely tough in the evenings - after a long day at work the last thing I want to do sometimes is put my trainers on...
But when I consider the alternative - getting up early - it's even less appealing!
9-10am at the weekends seems to be my sweetspot. So its a good job all the running events I've done have started at that sort of time
Hi Matty,
Yes, I am available for hire. I charge very reasonable rates.
I know what you mean about fitting runs in. I run at lunch time 2-3 times a week (I have a very understanding boss - though I only tend to run about 5k) and then a long run early on a Saturday or Sunday. I have a young son and another baby on the way, so I know that the weekend runs will be harder to do in the coming months.
Still, you're managing to fit in at least 3 runs, so that's good news. You'll get around the half marathon in October no problem as it looks like your other runs are quality. And, as you said, the race environment/adrenaline may even get you round in your target time. Everyone here will be rooting for you, so keep in touch as the race nears and let us know how it goes.
By the way, I ran the charity 5k (head cold and all). It wasn't measured very well so it was a bit under the full distance but I ran whatever distance it was in 24.39.
It was bloody hot and bloody difficult with a bit of an uneven surface, but I managed to overtake a few people (a very sweet feeling) and even beat my department colleagues to finish 11th out of around 30. To put things into some perspective, the winner came in at around 17 minutes, so it was no mean feat.
I have earned a beer.
Just worked out my split times - if the race had gone the full 5k distance I'd have done it in 27.51 (give or take a second) which would have smashed my previous best, since returning to running, of 29.10. A bit disappointed that it wasn't measured properly....
Cracking work on the 'almost 5k'! Although poorly measured you can take great encouragement from the time.
Do you have a local parkrun? That's always a good metric for checking your improvement - same course, timed, and generally pretty accurate too! Measure your times every few weeks and I reckon you'll smash it!
Thanks mate.
I do, but I can only really leave the family for one weekend run a week as my expectant wife struggles with my rather adventurous toddler son, so I choose the long run rather than the 5k parkrun. I do plan to do parkruns in the future but it's not feasible right now, sadly.
Well done Jae that was a great time esp considering you were not well at all! Never mind the negatives about the race there's a lot to be positive about - PB is always good
I did the speed work I failed to do yesterday at the gym this morning. I agree with you Rachel getting it over and done with in the morning is good gives you a real feel good factor for the rest of the day too. After work I can easily talk myself out of it as I'm goosed usually.
My great news is that I may have lost about half a stone. It's difficult to be accurate as in my house the scales give a different reading depending where you put them but I weighed at the gym and even on my worst measurement I've lost half a stone but could be around 10lb
and my clothes are noticeably looser yippeee.
Well done on the run today Jae, especially as you weren't feeling 100%! It shows good progress and makes all the hard work worth it!
I had a steady 4.5 miles tonight but it was a bit of a slog to be honest, hot and heavy legged
probably a knock on effect from yesterday's hills session. I was going to rest tonight but the other half was away so took the opportunity to get out, will definitely rest up until the weekend's "long" run now.
Good work on the weight Cathy!
Nice work with the weight loss and running, guys. It's brilliant to hear about the real determination and progress on this thread (especially when we're not feeling up to it/had a hard day/aren't really in the mood, etc).
I've got a 9 miler this weekend to contend with, but I'm taking today and tomorrow off to fully get over my cold (though yesterday's exertions have certainly helped). I've also lost around a stone and a half since I began the long road to fitness again.
What's everyone else planning for the weekend, running-wise? And how are your weight loss plans going? This thread began just over six weeks ago, so it's as good a time as any for an update. Don't feel obliged to post, but I know some of you have made great strides - so to speak (well done, Cathy, on the half stone!).
I had my last prep run yesterday and according to everything I read, i'm supposed to be spending the next 3 days eating pasta to get ready for my first ever half-marathon on Sunday! Yes, I know that's an exageration,
Considering I only started all this in January, feeling pretty good about the race. i just have to avoid falling over or catching a cold in the next few days and I'm ready!
Morning
Just catching up on this thread as I havent posted on here for a while.
Its sounds like everyone is doing great with their weight loss and training. I have lost 8 lbs since I started running again properly in May and feel so much better and fitter for it.
Rachel - Your 1st half marathon thats great, which one are you doing? I am doing the GNR in a couple of weeks for the 2nd time. I loved it the first time, it is an amazing experience, so good luck
Well so far I've lost 6 kilos since 17th July. The running has been the main factor but myfitnesspal is certainly concentrating the mind as to what I'm eating in the first place!
Good luck for your Half Rachel, I'm sure you'll love it!
Lesley, I'm doing the Greewich Run to the Beat. It's with a group of people from work, plus sister and friend. As long as I beat my sister I'll be happy! (unlikely, she's definitely fitter). I've also signed up for the Richmond Running Festival 2 weeks later...it's local, so thought why not! It's not as if I'm racing them, just getting round
Good luck, Rachel. You'll beat your sister, no problem! Let us know how it goes. It's all very exciting.
Great weight loss and running, Liversedge and Stevie. It's brilliant - we're all getting fitter and losing weight together in our respective parts of the country. I love visiting this thread to see how everyone's getting on. For a while it was just me posting to myself about my progress (a nice way to keep on top of things, nonetheless) but now there's a great little community growing!
Is anyone else from Yorkshire on here?
Rachel - I know Greenwich well as I am from Kent originally and my dad used to guard Greenwich Park. I do miss the south everything seems more green down there.