Turbulence Training 5th Transformation Contest – end of week 8

Week 8 of the 12-week Turbulence Training 5th Transformation Challenge has been a bit rubbish. I have had ongoing trouble with my back, which is thankfully better now. This has impacted on my workouts and I am now two TT workouts behind – I should have finished my current programme this week but have two more sessions to do. Eating has been mostly good, but took a bit of a hit round my birthday. Eek.

Exercise:

I only did two of my TT workouts this week. I increased my reps on a few exercises in workout A but had to drop a few in workout B, which I did with a still-complaining back. I am seeing continued improvements in my aerobic capacity on interval workouts but didn’t manage to get in my increased endurance workout C this week. Also didn’t play badminton or do pilates. Did manage to Wiiiiii, though, and also a 50 minute Aerobox workout from a DVD. All in all, I still managed 3 hours 50 mins of exercise this week (although a lot of this was much lower intensity stuff) – that is now a quiet week for me! I guess I’ve come a long way.

Nutrition:

Calories a little higher this week, for the second week in a row. Only managed 5 servings of fibrous veg 3 times, and still not drinking enough water.

Av cals: 1873
Av deficit: 440 (range -1100 to +1400)
32% Fat, 19% Protein, 46% carbs, 3% alcohol
Micronutrients: Over 100% of everything (although it was close for a few nutrients) except Vitamin E (57%) and iron (70%).

Lifestyle:

Pretty poor here. I didn’t get to bed by 11.30pm at all this week. Didn’t meditate, didn’t do a mind-body workout and only did bonus cardio twice. One plus – I only watched four hours of TV this week.

Body:

Two weeks with slightly higher calories has taken its toll, I think. Although my average calories were not way out – 1873 this week and 1891 in week 7 – there were a few days where I was well over 2000 or even 3000 on one day! Also, the bad back has hit me, impacting on the exercise I could do and reducing the size of my deficit. I think the combination of the increased calories and the decreased exercise has taken its toll on my results. Here are my results for weeks 5 through 8, figures in bold are changes in the last four weeks and the ones in brackets are changes since last week.

Weight: 14 stone 4.6 (200.6 lbs, 91.2kg). Down 5.2 lbs. (Down 1lb this week)
Body fat: 44.0%. Up 0.4 since week 4 (Up 0.6% this week)
Waist: 108.5 cm. Down 1.5 cm (No change)
Hips: 127 cm. Down 2 cm (No change)
Thigh: 64 cm Down 2 cm (Down 1 cm)
Knee: 43 cm. Down 2 cm (No change)
Calf: 40.5 cm. Down 0.5 cm (Up 0.5 – must have got the reading wrong last time)
Bicep: 39 cm. Down 1 cm (No change)

Overall, these are pretty good results, but I am quite upset that my body fat has not come down too. So while it is nice that I have lost another 5 pounds this month, bringing my total this challenge to 10 lbs, I was gutted that 80% of that was lean body mass. As my BF% readings have been pretty consistent over the couple of weeks, I can’t even use that as an excuse.

Really there is not much that I can change – obviously cut out the birthday cake and three course meals. And skip the takeaway – but as that was my first one in six months I don’t feel too guilty. I am maintaining a good rate of exercise, held back only by an injury, and I guess, the take home message is just to keep up the good work. I am not prepared to take extreme measures – this contest was never about winning for me, so I don’t want to do anything that might derail my long-term efforts either physically or mentally. I am certainly a much healthier, happier person than I was at the beginning of 2009. Plus, my thighs are much thinner too!!!

So with that in mind, here are my goals for the coming week, although they are likely to remain pretty constant for the next four.

Specific goals for week 9:

1. Get 100% RDA vit E and iron from food
2. Drink a litre of water every day at work
3. Get 5 servings of fibrous veg at least four days
4. Get at least five hours of exercise in this week
5. Do at least 30 minutes pilates this week
6. Go to bed no later than 11.30pm at least 3 days this week
7. Do 20 mins Transcendental Meditation twice this week