Breaking the plateau

I think I may have finally broken my 15 stone plateau. I weighed in this morning two pounds and 0.3% body fat down on last week. It may be a little too early to celebrate as I wasn’t very well yesterday (seems to be a bit of a recurring theme this – can’t remember the last time I spent a Saturday on top form) and slept most of the day, so I didn’t eat much. We shall see how it goes tomorrow after a day of normal eating today. If it holds, I think I can probably FINALLY cross off that number one goal for the last time.

Hubby and I went for a walk today since the weather was so nice. Walked for an hour down by the river. Lovely. Then this evening, I had to do my B Workout from the Turbulence Training for Female Strength programme. I got to do assisted chin-ups. Very assisted. And then I did my intervals straight after. Although these were only RPE 8 compared to RPE 9 yesterday, they were for one minute instead of 30 seconds and the work-rest ratio was much shorter: 1 minute on; 1 minute off, i.e. 1:1, compared with 30 secs on; 90 secs recovery, or 1:3 I did yesterday. Also, yesterday I did the intervals fresh, having been in an unfit state to do them after my weights workout the day before. This time, I was already sweating and exhausted, with some serious DOMS going on in my abs and glutes. But amazingly, for the first time ever, I ran (well, jogged, 7 kph) all six of my high-intensity intervals! I feel fantastic.

10 kph

I didn’t do my interval training yesterday because it was late, I was hungry and the TT weights workout left me lying on the floor in a puddle of sweat unable to stand up. Hubby had to come and help me into the shower!

Today I did the first interval session, workout A, with a high-intensity interval of 30 seconds at RPE 9 and 90 seconds recovery at RPE 3, times 6. By the way, if you’d like to know more about interval training, what it is and how it works, check out this post.

Anyway, earlier today I was checking out other people’s challenge logs, and sent a couple of them to a post I had written about working out when you’re not feeling your best, how to get the best workout and not overdo it using a heart rate monitor. In it, I wrote about doing my high intensity work at 5 kph. That post was written in October 2007, but I remember even more recently when 3 mph (4.8 kph) had me going about as hard as I could manage. More recently, I have started to do short jogging intervals, first at 7 kph, and then at 8 kph, although the longest I have run at that speed is about a minute and a half. While part of the problem is my bad knee (no cartilege), the first time I ran, my lungs were on fire after about 10 seconds, and it has always seen me gasping for breath by the end of my intervals.

Well, today I warmed up for 5 minutes then hit the 8 kph button on the treadmill for my 30 second interval. And I barely got to 70% of my max HR, hardly an RPE 9. I figured as the number of intervals increased, maybe my heart rate would gradually increase, so I kept to 8 kph for the next two intervals too. If anything, my heart rate started going down. So I did my last three intervals at 10 kph, and I still only got to around 80% of my MHR! Now that’s not to say that I could run – and I was definitely running, not jogging – at that speed for much more than 30 seconds, but damn if it didn’t feel good. Just need to make sure that my knees are OK tomorrow, but I can hardly wait till next time. I’m loving this new me!

Turbulence Training 5th Body Transformation Challenge

Well, it is now day three and I have just done my first Turbulence Training workout. Oh dear. I had a dreadful headache yesterday and went to bed. If I am strict with myself, I can still get all three workouts in this week – one on Sunday and one on Tuesday. My TT week runs Wed to Tues. My workout plan for the twelve weeks of the challenge is as follows:

1. TT for Female Strength 1 (4 wks)
2. TT For Female Strength 2 (4 wks)
3. TT Fat Loss Fusion Intermediate (4 wks)

So today I did workout A of phase 1 of the Female Strength programme. It wasn’t pretty. I only managed 4 reps of body weight rows (actually 2×4, 1×3) and I wanted to puke during the Ball Ab Crunches w/ Med Ball, but the real killer was the step ups.

In the past when I’ve done step ups I’ve used a step in its highest setting with quite large weights in my hands, but today I thought I would try and use the weight bench. I am 5′4 and my legs aren’t particularly long – the bench is level with just above my knee. Certainly by the third or fourth rep, my form was rather horrible.

I don’t know whether to return to using a step and holding big DBs in my hands or whether I concentrate on getting strong enough to lift my BW onto the bench? I figure that is probably the better option when looking at the big picture. And besides, by the time I can shift my 15 stone frame up to the bench for 3×8 reps on each leg with good form, I will have thighs of steel and an ass to die for.

On the nutrition front, I know that my weight loss has most likely stalled because I’ve become lazy with my eating habits so I signed up with FitDay when I started a few days ago. This is a great site that lets you register for free and log your food, exercise and stats and does all the difficult calculations for you. No, I haven’t turned into a calorie nazi, mostly it is to keep me honest and out of curiosity – to give me a baseline to work with if I decide in the future to make any changes to my nutrition.

So I have now been logging my food and activity for three days. It has certainly helped me clamp down on mindless nibbling. But otherwise, I was surprised by how well my macronutrient ratios came out.

After three days, my average cals were 1708, although it was lower on the first two days and higher today (workout day) and my macronutrient breakdown was 22% protein, 31% fat, 47% carbs. I was expecting that I would be more carb-heavy and not be eating enough protein. The fats are heavily skewed to mono and polyunsaturates. This was much closer to where I should be than I thought I would be, so I guess, for now, I will just carry on doing what I’m doing and see how I get on after adding the TT workouts and cutting out the grazing.

To TT or not to TT, that is the question

Ha! No sooner had I decided to get my act together than an email dropped into my inbox telling me that today was the last day to register for the 5th Turbulence Training Body Transformation Contest, at least if you want the full 12 weeks allowed for your transformation.

I first discovered TT a couple of years ago and was immediately smitten with this style of training. As long-time readers will know, I often recommend TT and have even had my mum doing it. But as for my own efforts, since my first dalliance with TT, I have fallen off and climbed back on the wagon several times over, and haven’t done TT in nearly a year!

Well that email, and the timing of it, is obviously some higher power trying to tell me something. So I have thrown my hat into the ring and registered for the contest. And I’m dragging hubby along with me, kicking and screaming no doubt!

I will obviously write more about TT over the coming weeks, but if you’d like more information about Turbulence Training, just click here. Wish me luck.

To PN or not to PN, that is the question

Today I came up against a bit of dilemma that had me questioning everything I know about myself, about nutrition and about weight loss. The Team at Precision Nutrition (PN) are about to launch a 6-month nutrition and fitness training programme called Lean Eating for men and women who want to lose weight and get in shape. The programme provides unrivalled support and coaching and is incredibly reasonably priced. Plus, places are limited to 100 women and 100 men, and there is a $10,000 prize in each category (men and women) for the best transformation. Registration begins tomorrow (Wed 27th May 09) and details can be found here.

As a member, and because I pre-registered my interest, I had the opportunity to reserve a place today, 24 hours before everybody else, and so be in with a good shot at getting one of the no-doubt coveted spots. So here is my dilemma…Should I?

The Pros:

• It is a sound, scientifically based system of nutrition, and all of the cutting edge research is now pointing to PN-style advice for maximal weightloss. If I followed the programme, I would no doubt achieve superb results.
• Everything I read this days, whether about fitness, business, whatever, says that the people who succeed tend to have mentoring and/or coaching support. If you don’t have a coach/mentor, get one. This programme provides that.
• I had a couple of problems when I initially tried PN (see below). Individualised attention to address these could help me overcome what stands in the way of my best results.
• Normally, this kind of support costs fortunes. They are practically giving it away here.
• My weight has been stuck at 15 stone for around a month now. PN would shift me off this plateau and get my weigh loss going again.
• $10,000 prize money is not too shabby.

The Cons:

• As I said above, I had a couple of problems when I tried PN for myself a couple of years ago. The most important one was that as a depression sufferer, I found that after a few weeks, my mood began to get more erratic and I felt a little out-of-control. I associated this with the effective reduction in carb intake, as carbohydrates are linked to enhanced serotonin function, and came off the PN programme. Having spoken to JB at a conference recently, he was aware of this effect and suggested it might be dealt with using a high dose of daily fish oil. This is my primary health concern regarding PN, but the promise of individualised attention is tempting.
• It is boring. At least for me. There seem to be many people who like the type of food in PN, but I do not seem to be one of them. I am a carb girl through and through. I am also a 15-stone carb girl, and am aware that my love of carbs, and my lack of love of veggies (see previous posts) may well be what got me into this position in the first place. Hence my continued interest in PN, despite the initial problems I had. My biggest concern is that I would not be able to stick to the programme, or that I would be absolutely miserable doing it. Hubby reckons that at least part of my depressive problems the first time round was probably due to not enjoying myself rather than the direct effects of restricted carbohydrates.
• I made a decision at the beginning of this year that I was going to make changes, but to do them whilst continuing to have a life. I wanted to be flexible to enjoy situations that arose. I wanted to have variability and I didn’t want to obsess about calories, macronutrient ratios, carting protein-rich meals around with me everywhere I went, cooking up a hundred weight of chicken breast each weekend, etc etc. Signing up for this programme, would mean giving that up.

It is this last point that is the real sticker, I think. This is the one that is going to stop me from sticking to the programme and achieving my goals. It is the one that is going to make me most miserable. It occurs to me that perhaps I need this kind of short, sharp shock to knock me into shape, and this could be the best thing that ever happened to me. It would also mean faster results. By doing it my way, I am conceding that progress will be slow. But after talking it through with hubby, I have decided I am not at that place. I am not ready to give the programme everything I have and am thus less likely to see it through.

My weight has been stuck for around a month because I am eating too much junk – not so much at meal times, but a little of this here, a little of that there. I believe that you can lose weight and get into shape without turning into a protein bore and without giving up the life you want. I just need to stick to my principles. So here is what I have decided:

1. Start keeping a food diary again.
2. Be stricter with myself about meal plans and not eating other than planned snacks.
3. Stick to my workout plan, which I have been a bit slack about the last couple of weeks. Do it even if I don’t want to.
4. Try to implement more of the Body Fat Solution nutrition rules. Start with the veggie rule (see previous posts).
5. If this doesn’t kick start my weight loss within two weeks from today, i.e. 9th June 2009, have a look at my calorie intake – use FitDay or the like to work out exactly what I am eating and where I need to make adjustments.
6. If I have not lost at least 3 stone (42 pounds) come the next PN Lean Eating programme in 2010, I will sign up then.

Anyone who wishes to tell me I have made the right decision, feel free to comment below. LOL.

A very long weekend

This weekend was a long weekend in the UK, but unfortunately I managed to come down with a cold Friday afternoon, sleep all day Saturday, feel like hell on Sunday, and spend Monday cleaning the apartment. I have had no inclination to exercise, but have been trying to eat reasonably well. I cooked breakfast this morning, a spinach and mushroom frittata, which took care of three servings of veggies, but it’s kind of been downhill since then.

On the plus side, my weight was up 0.4 pounds on the week before but my body fat was down 1.2%. Guess those workouts are working. Not really much to add at the moment. My main focus for the week is to do all my weight sessions and get in five servings of veggies each day. The closest I have managed so far is four. Must do better.

Five to six servings of veg

Although there are a number of good reasons for it, in particular, a certain slackness of will of late, I have noticed that my weight has been hovering around the 15 stone mark (210 pounds) for over a month now, so I decided to re-read the nutritional rules in The Body Fat Solution. As I had already adopted a healthier eating plan when I started reading the book the first time round, and as this was very similar to what Tom Venuto recommended, I didn’t particularly adopt the plan in the book. But I thought that I might try and implement Tom’s guidelines and see if that helps shifts me out of my plateau.

One of the Rules in particular stands out. Rule No. 3 is to eat fibrous (non-starchy) vegetables with every meal and to aim for at least five servings a day. I am nowhere near achieving this. Although I have been aiming for, and getting at least seven servings of fruit and vegetables most days since early this year, that number is skewed heavily towards fruit, which I eat at breakfast, as snacks, and sometimes as desserts. I tend not to do so well on vegetables. So this is going to be one of my key goals over the next few weeks, although I’m still not completely sold on veggies for breakfast. I tend to have cereal with added berries etc, or stewed fruit and greek yoghurt with flax seeds and walnuts for breakfast, at least during the week, both of which I take into work with me and eat there. I don’t have time to cook breakfast Monday to Friday, and to be honest, I rarely want hot food first thing. So that limits me to salad veggies that can be eaten cold and taken to work. Hmmm. Any suggestions? I wonder if juicing one of my servings would be allowed?

Out of chaos…

Our local water board has just begun replacing a stretch of underground pipes in the city centre. It’s only a small stretch, but the work, which began yesterday, has brought the southern access routes to the city centre almost to a standstill. A bus trip that would normally take just about 10 minutes, from where hubby drops me off in the morning, took an hour yesterday. And it took me nearly an hour and a half to get home from work.

So today I walked the stretch of road affected by the chaos. A lot of other people seemed to have the same idea. It took me 20 minutes in the morning, and although it seemed like traffic was flowing more smoothly than yesterday on the way home, the sun was shining so I decided to walk anyway, picking the bus up once I got south of the congestion area. And despite growing up in this city, and having lived back here for nearly five years, I saw things today that I hadn’t known were even there. I am rediscovering my own city. Also, there is a nice looking deli just yards from where I work that I had never seen before. Let’s just hope the weather holds. Apparently the work is scheduled to last for about three and a half months, but may take up to five. Perhaps, from this utter mess, southern Mancunians will break out their walking boots and get into shape.

14 Minute Muscle

When I wrote my post yesterday, I said that the next level up on 7 Minute Muscle worked each body part twice a week, for seven minutes, I had remembered incorrectly. Apparently, Level 2 involves doing two 7MM workouts for a single body part, one after the other. So instead of 7 minute chest, it is now 14 minute chest.

Back on free weights, I nearly changed my mind after the first 7 minutes, but then figured, what the hell, just try it for fun. I have recently developed a new concept of ‘fun’ that I was previously unfamiliar with. So I did the second seven minute set. I am now in no doubt whatsoever that I have had a workout.

As follows:

A brief cardio warm-up (9 mins GXP: 3′ easier, 3′ harder, 3 min easier) – this was actually my first formal exercise in a week! And despite procrastinating for a couple of hours this evening, it felt so good to be moving again once I started. Followed by two 7-minute sets (5 minute power, 2 minutes hypertrophy):-

• A total of 30 reps incline barbell bench press (30kg) over five minutes
• A total of 19 reps incline dumbbell flyes (8kg) over two minutes
• A total of 38 reps flat dumbbell bench press (10kg) over five minutes
• A total of 26 press ups (BW) over two minutes

I have to admit, those push ups at the end may not have been the prettiest I have ever performed. As I got into position for the first one, I wasn’t even sure my arms would support my weight! So here I am, dripping wet after a 25-minute workout, upper body trembling, and feeling bloody fantastic. Aahhh. I’ve missed that. Back tomorrow. That’s as in ‘back workout’ not as in ‘I’ll be back’. Well, works either way. ‘night all.

Playing mind games with myself

My week was not great. I have been playing mind games with myself. One of the reasons that my workout week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday, rather than starting Monday with weekends off, is that if I know I have the weekends ahead of me, it is too easy for me to defer my workouts reasoning that I will make them up at the weekend. I get round this by starting my workout week on Saturday which allows me to get a good start to my workouts for the week, and come Tues or Wed when I don’t want to work out, I know that I will only have to catch up Thurs of Fri after work when I am even more tired. This usually works for me.

7 Minute Muscle is playing into my ‘I’ll do it later’ weakness. Because you only work out one body part a day for 7 minutes, five days a week, it is much easier to double up later in the week (two 7-minute sessions for two diff body parts) than to make up, say, a 40-minute workout. Despite doing really well my first week in Italy and doing all my workouts, plus extra cardio, the last few days I didn’t work out. I figured I’d do them when I got home, doubling up, using my own free weights rather than the multigym, which I didn’t particularly like.

So here I am, home, back at work, and waddya think happened? I only did ONE of my five workouts last week, i.e. just 7 mins of resistance work for my chest, and that I did when I was still in Italy. No cardio nothing.

Also, I don’t feel like I am working hard enough doing each body part just once a week. I don’t feel I’ve given 7MM a fair try since I’ve only done it for two weeks and one of those was using a multigym in a hotel gym, so I’m going to stick with it a bit longer, but to get round both of the above problems, am going to go to Level 2, where you work each body part twice a week and your workouts last 14 minutes (plus a few minutes organisation) each. Times five days. They will add up much more quickly if I start thinking about deferring them.

As for diet, apart from a Chinese takeaway the night we got home (thank god no more italian food), I went straight back to healthy eating. I had done my best to continue to eat mostly well while on holiday, with occasional treats for really scrumptious sounding puddings rather than constant pigging. I found it surprisingly difficult to eat well though – I rarely got even 5 servings of F&V a day despite having 2 or 3 for breakfast, let alone the 7 I aim for at home. Omega 3 rich food was hard to come by and everything is refined white flour. Plus, I partook freely of wine most nights, but limited it to one glass most (but not every) night. I had set myself a goal of coming back no more than 2 pounds heavier than when I left. I was on track for the first week, according to the scales in our room, but kind of let myself go the last few days (see above).

The morning after we got back (and the morning after the Chinese take away) I was up three pounds. Switching back to my usual eating plan I dropped all three pounds by Sunday morning (official weigh day) plus an additional one, taking me one pound less than before I went away, but my body fat was up 2.4% points (and has been since coming back), i.e. I’ve lost lean body mass. Another reason to start getting a bit more serious about my resistance training for the next couple of weeks.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse and I am proud of myself for not doing what I would have done in the past and using a holiday as an excuse to pig out and let myself go. But I am quite disappointed by the LBM loss. Hopefully, I can turn that around relatively quickly