Sanus per Aquum
That's 'Health through Water'. A strapline in the literature of the Spa Hotel M and I just spent a few days at, celebrating our paper wedding anniversary. That's one whole year of wedded happiness (which already exceeds the previous effort .. ahem .. ouch). So, we spent a few days 'mini-honey-mooning' at a Spa place in Leicestershire last year and loved it so much, we resolved to try and save up all year to do something similar again (albeit not as long a stay, ho hum).
This place was closer to home - in the Hampshire New Forest village of Brockenhurst. Approx 1.5-2hrs drive from Brighton. It had a multi-section hydrotherapy pool, couple of saunas, steam rooms, heated 'chill out' and quiet rooms, with candle heated citrus scent, oriental flute melodies and organic 'oolon cha' on tap!
Relaxing times. I should however point out a different strapline, perhaps Insanus per Aquum, might have been more appropriate for me. Coming as this short break did at the start of my calorie burning odyssey, I expected unfettered time and space to swim and gym might have kickstarted my little project to the tune of some early, juicy gains, in terms of lbs quickly - and easily - lost ...
Not so, unfortunately. I did between an hour to two hours exercise a day, in both pool and gym. Came home to weigh in on new "Chameleon" scales. NO CHANGE! You're kidding me, no change?? Now I am REALLY starting to question the feasibility of last January 2010's weight loss claims (see feb 16 post).
I guess it was only 3 days of gym/ pool work (and 11 days in total), but according to all my calorie regulation metrics (also see feb 16 post) I might have expected to have lost 3 lbs in the last 2 weeks since this all began on Feb 16th. I have been burning about 300-500 calories a day with exercise and consuming a weight loss target number of calories (or less) so there should not have been such an unpleasant status quo.
Oh well, I am in this for the long haul. Perhaps a year of inactivity has made my thyroid and metabolism comatose, and an initial first few weeks of exercise will nudge them to life. Until then, boo ya sucks.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Pa(i)nting by Numbers
My idiosynchratic use of brackets (above) has always been applied where I see a possible visual pun. Never thought to explain that before in previous posts, but this one is I guess tenuous, at best!
So I've been trying to get a bit more scientific about my health/ weight loss/ 'get in shape' plans. And I have to say that, 2 weeks into the project, it's really got me wondering how accurate (sic. real) my 'dramatic weight loss' metrics were last January (but more of that in a later post).
I have been looking at Calories. How many calories I eat versus how many I need; how many convert into 1lb of fat (weight gain); how many you need to burn to lose fat/ weight; the consequences of going on a starvation regime (loss of muscle and water first, rather than unsightly fat).
I have never done this before in all my almost 40 years. And it has been an illuminating process. Despite looking fairly ordinary, I am considered (just over the) borderline 'Obese' according to my BMI and Body Fat measurements (see online calculator here). Hmmmm. So here are some of my metrics (normal limits for my dimensions in brackets):
Weight: 13stone 1lb/ 183lb/ 83kg (11stone/ 155lb/ 71kg)
BMI (Body Mass Index): 29.5 (25)
Body Fat (%): 27-32% (22%)
In short, I have some work to do. I knew this, of course but it's been good to do a little research/ number crunching to try and give the whole task a sense of perspective; a structure that helps make it all rationale, manageable and my attempts/ my need to lose 2 stone a little less daunting.
About those Calories:
3,500 Calories equates approximately to 1lb in fat. So if like me, you put on weight insidiously over time when you don't exercise the culprit lies herein. I know this sounds obvious but I know plenty of people whose weight does not fluctuate, even when they don't exercise - they either do not exceed their calorific requirements (whether intentionally or not), or they are just 'built that way' (metabolism is another subject, for another time).
There is a metric called the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), which 'represents the minimum amount of energy required to keep your body functioning, including your heart beating, lungs breathing, and body temperature normal' (Caloriesperhour.com).
My RMR, calculated at this website, is 1686 calories per day. In a nutshell this means therefore, that in the absence of doing any exercise, any calorific intake over my RMR + small estimate calories to get out of bed, go to car and walk between patients will be an excess - and any excess of 3,500 calories or more literally starts to pile on the pounds.
So let's try to put all this together in a case study called ME:
I have put on 1stone/ 14lb/ 6.34kg in the last 12 months. This means I have over consumed to the tune of 14 x 3,500 calories (49,000), or approx 950 calories per week, every week for the last year. Based on the numbers above, My RMR (1,686 calories) + @ 150 calories to get up and go to/from be at work = 1,850 calories. Add another 950 calories makes 2,800 calories, on average consumed every week.
Am I a gluttonous, lazy pig?? Lazy, almost certainly in the sporting exercise stakes at least, but gluttonous?? Well, that depends. Here's a typical day:
Breakfast is always a small/ medium bowl of branflakes and oats with soya milk (350 calories), followed by 2 rounds of wholemeal toast with marmite and peanut butter (305 calories) totals 655 calories. Lunch is usually left overs (400 calories) and Dinner typically involves salad, tofu (or similar) and rice (600-800 calories).
'Weighing in' at approx 1,600-1,800 calories, my 3 meals a day hardly has any Mr Creosote level alarm bells ringing, does it? So where has it all gone to the dogs:
1 pint of lager = 200 Calories (Govt Guideliness = 24 units/wk = 8pints/ wk = 1,600 additional calories/ wk)
Chocolate Biscuit/ Celebrations* = 100 Calories each
KitKat Chunky = 270 Calories
Kettle's Crisps (Shared bowl while watching family movie) = 500 Calories
* patients are always giving us Thank You chocs at work
Hmmmm. So by drinking a can of lager A DAY, sharing a bowl of Crisps with family once a week and popping a couple of the ubiquitous little thank you chocs (none of which strike me as particularly gluttonous traits) I am pushing myself over the calorie cliff. This is incendiary stuff for me, as a person who has never believed in dieting or watching calories. If you are not exercising, it really does not take much - and that is an understatement, it's a barely imperceptible increase in eating - over the 3 meals a day to edge a person with a certain type of body make up towards obesity. I am unlucky that I am 'built this way' but there is no real chance involved when it comes to over-consuming calories I guess. No one else to blame but me.
So what am I going to do about it?
1) Exercise of course. Since leaving London where I cycled A LOT, I have taken a job that has meant I have sat in a car all day for the last 2 years. And been really tired (mentally and physically) adapting to being a parent in record speed. Exercise has been an after thought but it's clear from the above that I need to exercise, exercise and exercise a little bit more in my life to bring these numbers under control.
2) Cut out those imperceptible but damaging grazing habits (and of course alcohol). Exercise sounds terrifying to some people I imagine but as I camp myself firmly in 'mid-life' I am very aware that changing habits, however small and inocuous, could be a far greater challenge and imposition.
The Calculator.Net website I linked to earlier in this post, tells me that - based on my metrics - and in the absence of calorie burn through exercise, I should aim for a target of 1,843 calories a day if I want to lose 1lb/ 0.4kg/ wk through dietary habits alone. Or 1,343 calories if I want to lose 2lb/ 1kg/ wk.
Without exercising too much, the first target sounds feasible. In order to achieve a net consumption of 1,343 calories, however, I would need to exercise for about an hour a day too (@ 600 calories with moderate, fat burning heart rate - 65%-85% of our maximum heart rate, in case you were wondering. What is maximum - sic. safe - heart rate (Beats per Minute)? 220 minus your age .. for me this is 220-39, makes 181 BPM. To burn fat without giving myself cardiac arrest (!) I therefore need to do any form of exercise that raises my heart rate to 65-80% of this maximum number = 120-140 BPM.
So there you have it. That's me - soon to be .. (quite literally) PANTING ... by numbers!
Feel the Burn!!
I have written in some detail so that anyone who reads this and feels the need/ wish to make similar changes can do so. I have to say though, that now that I have the figures to hand, did I really lose 1stone/ 14lb/ 6.3kg in a single month last year?? That's over 3lb/ 1.5kg a week. Meaning a net consumption of about 800-900 calories a day? Which equates to only eating breakfast and half a lunch a day (I certainly did not do that - I do not believe in starving myself/ feeling hungry which is why I never eat salads as anything over than a side). Or, eating normally but doing almost 2 hours of exercise a day - I don't remember doing that either. 45 minutes of rowing, max.
So either the scales were wrong, or the nervous energy (it has another name - Stress!) involved with planning a wedding and getting married equates to about an hour of physical exercise a day! Perhaps that's why I felt I was being dragged through the ringer backwards before I got married ... ahem. Only joking, Angel x
My idiosynchratic use of brackets (above) has always been applied where I see a possible visual pun. Never thought to explain that before in previous posts, but this one is I guess tenuous, at best!
So I've been trying to get a bit more scientific about my health/ weight loss/ 'get in shape' plans. And I have to say that, 2 weeks into the project, it's really got me wondering how accurate (sic. real) my 'dramatic weight loss' metrics were last January (but more of that in a later post).
I have been looking at Calories. How many calories I eat versus how many I need; how many convert into 1lb of fat (weight gain); how many you need to burn to lose fat/ weight; the consequences of going on a starvation regime (loss of muscle and water first, rather than unsightly fat).
I have never done this before in all my almost 40 years. And it has been an illuminating process. Despite looking fairly ordinary, I am considered (just over the) borderline 'Obese' according to my BMI and Body Fat measurements (see online calculator here). Hmmmm. So here are some of my metrics (normal limits for my dimensions in brackets):
Weight: 13stone 1lb/ 183lb/ 83kg (11stone/ 155lb/ 71kg)
BMI (Body Mass Index): 29.5 (25)
Body Fat (%): 27-32% (22%)
In short, I have some work to do. I knew this, of course but it's been good to do a little research/ number crunching to try and give the whole task a sense of perspective; a structure that helps make it all rationale, manageable and my attempts/ my need to lose 2 stone a little less daunting.
About those Calories:
3,500 Calories equates approximately to 1lb in fat. So if like me, you put on weight insidiously over time when you don't exercise the culprit lies herein. I know this sounds obvious but I know plenty of people whose weight does not fluctuate, even when they don't exercise - they either do not exceed their calorific requirements (whether intentionally or not), or they are just 'built that way' (metabolism is another subject, for another time).
There is a metric called the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), which 'represents the minimum amount of energy required to keep your body functioning, including your heart beating, lungs breathing, and body temperature normal' (Caloriesperhour.com).
My RMR, calculated at this website, is 1686 calories per day. In a nutshell this means therefore, that in the absence of doing any exercise, any calorific intake over my RMR + small estimate calories to get out of bed, go to car and walk between patients will be an excess - and any excess of 3,500 calories or more literally starts to pile on the pounds.
So let's try to put all this together in a case study called ME:
I have put on 1stone/ 14lb/ 6.34kg in the last 12 months. This means I have over consumed to the tune of 14 x 3,500 calories (49,000), or approx 950 calories per week, every week for the last year. Based on the numbers above, My RMR (1,686 calories) + @ 150 calories to get up and go to/from be at work = 1,850 calories. Add another 950 calories makes 2,800 calories, on average consumed every week.
Am I a gluttonous, lazy pig?? Lazy, almost certainly in the sporting exercise stakes at least, but gluttonous?? Well, that depends. Here's a typical day:
Breakfast is always a small/ medium bowl of branflakes and oats with soya milk (350 calories), followed by 2 rounds of wholemeal toast with marmite and peanut butter (305 calories) totals 655 calories. Lunch is usually left overs (400 calories) and Dinner typically involves salad, tofu (or similar) and rice (600-800 calories).
'Weighing in' at approx 1,600-1,800 calories, my 3 meals a day hardly has any Mr Creosote level alarm bells ringing, does it? So where has it all gone to the dogs:
1 pint of lager = 200 Calories (Govt Guideliness = 24 units/wk = 8pints/ wk = 1,600 additional calories/ wk)
Chocolate Biscuit/ Celebrations* = 100 Calories each
KitKat Chunky = 270 Calories
Kettle's Crisps (Shared bowl while watching family movie) = 500 Calories
* patients are always giving us Thank You chocs at work
Hmmmm. So by drinking a can of lager A DAY, sharing a bowl of Crisps with family once a week and popping a couple of the ubiquitous little thank you chocs (none of which strike me as particularly gluttonous traits) I am pushing myself over the calorie cliff. This is incendiary stuff for me, as a person who has never believed in dieting or watching calories. If you are not exercising, it really does not take much - and that is an understatement, it's a barely imperceptible increase in eating - over the 3 meals a day to edge a person with a certain type of body make up towards obesity. I am unlucky that I am 'built this way' but there is no real chance involved when it comes to over-consuming calories I guess. No one else to blame but me.
So what am I going to do about it?
1) Exercise of course. Since leaving London where I cycled A LOT, I have taken a job that has meant I have sat in a car all day for the last 2 years. And been really tired (mentally and physically) adapting to being a parent in record speed. Exercise has been an after thought but it's clear from the above that I need to exercise, exercise and exercise a little bit more in my life to bring these numbers under control.
2) Cut out those imperceptible but damaging grazing habits (and of course alcohol). Exercise sounds terrifying to some people I imagine but as I camp myself firmly in 'mid-life' I am very aware that changing habits, however small and inocuous, could be a far greater challenge and imposition.
The Calculator.Net website I linked to earlier in this post, tells me that - based on my metrics - and in the absence of calorie burn through exercise, I should aim for a target of 1,843 calories a day if I want to lose 1lb/ 0.4kg/ wk through dietary habits alone. Or 1,343 calories if I want to lose 2lb/ 1kg/ wk.
Without exercising too much, the first target sounds feasible. In order to achieve a net consumption of 1,343 calories, however, I would need to exercise for about an hour a day too (@ 600 calories with moderate, fat burning heart rate - 65%-85% of our maximum heart rate, in case you were wondering. What is maximum - sic. safe - heart rate (Beats per Minute)? 220 minus your age .. for me this is 220-39, makes 181 BPM. To burn fat without giving myself cardiac arrest (!) I therefore need to do any form of exercise that raises my heart rate to 65-80% of this maximum number = 120-140 BPM.
So there you have it. That's me - soon to be .. (quite literally) PANTING ... by numbers!
Feel the Burn!!
I have written in some detail so that anyone who reads this and feels the need/ wish to make similar changes can do so. I have to say though, that now that I have the figures to hand, did I really lose 1stone/ 14lb/ 6.3kg in a single month last year?? That's over 3lb/ 1.5kg a week. Meaning a net consumption of about 800-900 calories a day? Which equates to only eating breakfast and half a lunch a day (I certainly did not do that - I do not believe in starving myself/ feeling hungry which is why I never eat salads as anything over than a side). Or, eating normally but doing almost 2 hours of exercise a day - I don't remember doing that either. 45 minutes of rowing, max.
So either the scales were wrong, or the nervous energy (it has another name - Stress!) involved with planning a wedding and getting married equates to about an hour of physical exercise a day! Perhaps that's why I felt I was being dragged through the ringer backwards before I got married ... ahem. Only joking, Angel x
Friday, February 11, 2011
Reflections of my life
"Take(s) me back" - God I love this song. Actually, I first heard it sung as the below Reggae cover version, by one Barry Biggs and I loved how emotional it made me feel. I think I must have been about 14 (1985). Have no recollection at all about how I came across it, although pretty sure it wasn't in the charts at that time. Suggestions welcome from those of you who knew me at the time.
Don't know why it suddenly came back to me on the way to work this morning, but thank you Google for bringing the memories flooding back ... not only on the soft reggae cover I remember (for the lyrics more than the sound I might add), but also a pretty powerful live version of the original, by Marmalade (I did not know that). And hell to finish off this particular flavour of nostalgia, here's a second track by Barry Biggs (a name I didn't even know till today) that I also remember fondly from my early teens in the mid 80s, called "Love Come Down"... tears of emotion and nostalgia starting to form ...
"Take(s) me back" - God I love this song. Actually, I first heard it sung as the below Reggae cover version, by one Barry Biggs and I loved how emotional it made me feel. I think I must have been about 14 (1985). Have no recollection at all about how I came across it, although pretty sure it wasn't in the charts at that time. Suggestions welcome from those of you who knew me at the time.
Don't know why it suddenly came back to me on the way to work this morning, but thank you Google for bringing the memories flooding back ... not only on the soft reggae cover I remember (for the lyrics more than the sound I might add), but also a pretty powerful live version of the original, by Marmalade (I did not know that). And hell to finish off this particular flavour of nostalgia, here's a second track by Barry Biggs (a name I didn't even know till today) that I also remember fondly from my early teens in the mid 80s, called "Love Come Down"... tears of emotion and nostalgia starting to form ...
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Happy Birthday Rubber!
And what better way to celebrate reaching the age that dare not speak it's name .. "Fit at F..." wait! I can't say it! Without giving too much away, I think you are 'Fabulous' and hope that you are now going to be 'Naughty'. Have a great day, Sexy. N xxx(x)
Meet Crispin the Cross-Trainer (if it's a boy) ... Or Ella Elliptical , if it's a Girl!
And what better way to celebrate reaching the age that dare not speak it's name .. "Fit at F..." wait! I can't say it! Without giving too much away, I think you are 'Fabulous' and hope that you are now going to be 'Naughty'. Have a great day, Sexy. N xxx(x)
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Monday, February 07, 2011
Me Reach!
Me - at the epicentre of what must surely be the spiritual home for all modern Veggies ...
... well apparently not! 4 days on my residential Union Steward's training course and not a single dodgy, fungal product in sight. How disappointing ...
After months of anticipation (a quick google search would probably have put me out of my misery), it turns out that Quorn products - the now ubiquitous vegetarian main stay - have absolutely nothing whatsoever do with this quaint little village in the heart of England (Leicestershire).
I was told by one of the hotel's receptionists, that 'Quorndon' is actually far more famous as the home to one of the oldest and most famous fox-hunts in England! How very slightly ironic ...
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Phase 1 over, and not 'by 'alf' ...
So, between Jan 1st - Feb 1st, I appear to have lost about half a stone (6lb, or 3KG). A quick reminder - the plan last month was to stop drinking alcohol completely, but not to start exercising. This was so that I could try to differentiate whether it was the lack of booze or the exercise that contributed to my rapid weight loss last year (I lost a stone in the 6 weeks running up to my Feb 13 Wedding).
The above result is both encouraging and yet, potentially demoralising too. Allow me to explain a little further - I exercised a lot before the wedding last year. And I mean a lot. 30-45 minutes of rowing every other day, and pretty much daily in the last two weeks. According to this year's result, I would have lost half a stone anyway, just through quitting the alcohol. This then means that I only lost half a stone through - literally - exercising my tits off. Half a stone lost is better than half a stone gained so I can't complain, at the end of the day, I suppose.
My Goal for Phase 2? To lose a stone and a half (21lb/ 10KG). In theory, this could take about 3 months ... if, I exercise intensively and continue to abstain from alcohol. This is a pretty aggressive timeframe, and by mid-March (6 weeks time) I should have a better idea how SMART this goal really is (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and appropriately Timed - it's a physio thing). I suspect 3-6 months is more realistic, possibly much longer if it's true that weight is harder to shift with each passing year.
Should I achieve the weight related goals, I will be back down to 11.5 stone (161lb/ 72KG), my 'resting' weight back in London when I was a daily cycle commuter and was racking up anywhere from 35-80 miles a week. How ironically comical it feels now to report that, even back then, I felt like a fat bastard, because I had the ever present 'spare tyre' (and a dissatisfied wife with a penchant for tall skinny men as it turned out).
So, gentleman start your engine (!) and let the exercise commence.
So, between Jan 1st - Feb 1st, I appear to have lost about half a stone (6lb, or 3KG). A quick reminder - the plan last month was to stop drinking alcohol completely, but not to start exercising. This was so that I could try to differentiate whether it was the lack of booze or the exercise that contributed to my rapid weight loss last year (I lost a stone in the 6 weeks running up to my Feb 13 Wedding).
The above result is both encouraging and yet, potentially demoralising too. Allow me to explain a little further - I exercised a lot before the wedding last year. And I mean a lot. 30-45 minutes of rowing every other day, and pretty much daily in the last two weeks. According to this year's result, I would have lost half a stone anyway, just through quitting the alcohol. This then means that I only lost half a stone through - literally - exercising my tits off. Half a stone lost is better than half a stone gained so I can't complain, at the end of the day, I suppose.
My Goal for Phase 2? To lose a stone and a half (21lb/ 10KG). In theory, this could take about 3 months ... if, I exercise intensively and continue to abstain from alcohol. This is a pretty aggressive timeframe, and by mid-March (6 weeks time) I should have a better idea how SMART this goal really is (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and appropriately Timed - it's a physio thing). I suspect 3-6 months is more realistic, possibly much longer if it's true that weight is harder to shift with each passing year.
Should I achieve the weight related goals, I will be back down to 11.5 stone (161lb/ 72KG), my 'resting' weight back in London when I was a daily cycle commuter and was racking up anywhere from 35-80 miles a week. How ironically comical it feels now to report that, even back then, I felt like a fat bastard, because I had the ever present 'spare tyre' (and a dissatisfied wife with a penchant for tall skinny men as it turned out).
So, gentleman start your engine (!) and let the exercise commence.
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