The War is On!

Guess how much weight I lost this week?



Zip.


Nil


Nada.

If anything, I actually put on weight as I was a little generous with my starting weight.


On one hand I'm not surprised - I didn't eat well over the weekend, and had pizza for tea Sunday night - my weight always goes up after this - I think its because its salty - and my body retains the fluid. However for the rest of the week I ate exceptionally well, and exercised every day. I am convinced that I eat better than most people, less than most people, and exercise more than most people - yet whilst everyone around me's weight remains stable (eg hubby, children), my weight keeps creeping up. I've spent ages soul searching re this, and reading about why this is happening. I have a few theories:

1. Yo yo dieting/weight gains and losses over the years have taken their toll on my metabolism. I don't think my metabolism works the same way as people who have maintained a stable weight over a long time. Because my eating is still somewhat erratic (sometimes I eat the absolutely ultimate clean/healthy/elite athlete type diet and then some times crash and burn and - I wont say binge - but I eat a series of unhealthy choices - akin to what others consider a normal diet (!) ) I may confuse my body - low calories one day, then an abundance of calories the next - body thinks - "must hold on to these - don't know when I will see them next"

2. Winter is impacting on my metabolism. I've read lots about how winter affects people's metabolism, and I've noticed on lots of other blogs about people struggling with weight gains at the moment. Because it is so cold, the body sends out more "hungry" messages because it is diverting its energy into maintaining body temperature. And like most people who lose large amounts of weight - we really feel the cold. So it may be making me more hungry, and it certainly impacts on my motivation to exercise. Whilst I'm still exercising regularly, the intensity, duration and frequency have definitely dropped - because its so damned cold and dark all the time - all I want to do is curl up in bed with a good book

3. I'm probably dehydrated. I know I don't drink enough, and being winter I'm drinking even less. I might drink a 600ml Powerade light, a low fat Feel Good Iced Coffee (non SA's wont know what a great high calcium, low fat, high protein drink this is!) and maybe a few glasses of diet coke) So volume wise I might get close to 1800 mls, but the bulk of this is caffeinated which is dehydrating. I try and drink the water, but really only managing this if I'm exercising. I love the Powerade Light, and can drink 600 mls of this in a flash, but it does contain calories - although only 60.

3. My metabolism in general - I think because I have been eating so little for so long now (nearly 2 years), lots of information out there suggests that my body will have slowed my basic metabolic rate to cope with this. this would explain why I eat less, eat better food, exercise more than most, yet still struggle with my weight. I can impact on this (ie raise my basic metabolic rate) in several ways. One is eating more often due to the thermagenic impact of eating (warms you up), and secondly by gaining more muscle mass. Apparently and extra 1 kg in muscle mass can equate to your body needing an extra 400 - 500 calories a day! I've been a bit slack on the old weight training lately - so maybe this is somewhere to start. To me BMR seems to be the key, I really want to raise my BMR so that I can eat semi normally for the rest of my life and not gain weight!

I officially start two weeks of holidays as of today - so I have decided to start and assault on my body. THE WAR IS ON, and I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!!!

• I will knock my body into shape, and teach it to behave properly if it kills me! There are no time excuses over the next two weeks not to fit everything in, exercise lots, eat really well. So this is my plan:

• Drink more - I will drink 3 x 600mls of either water or Powerade Light, and accept the calories that go with this if needed

• Exercise at least twice/day - Morning and night. Will do the treadmill blast in the morning (have detailed this below) and run/walk in the evenings, plus weights on alternate days, and core work inbetween. (that should shake things up). will also look for other exercise opportunities during the day for hikes, long walks, bike rides etc. Nothing high in intensity - just volume

• Eating - will follow Vanessa Wiltons Winter eating plan. This will be interesting, it is a clean eating plan of 6 small meals per day - but it looks like sooo much food. I will also track in on the WW E-tools (points system) and Calorie King. I'm very keen to see how the two tools match up.

• I will take Fat Blaster tablets 3 x day. Now this is an interesting point. I don't think you need these to lose weight, but they are meant to impact on your metabolism (which I'm aiming for) and they are an appetite suppressant -which I shouldn't need if I'm eating well - but this is an all out war - and I want to see what the maximum results are that I can achieve - so we will see.

I will try and post my achievements daily over the next two weeks to keep me accountable. After all - I'm on holidays - I've got nothing but time to devote to this!


Here's the treadmill blast program that I quite enjoy in the mornings if I have time. Its short and succinct but gets the HR up.

Warm Up
1 min walk, 1 min jog over 10 mins

Working Harder
1 min side shuffle x2 (once with each leg leading), walk 1 min @ 3% incline, run 1 min @ 3% incline
1 min side shuffle x 2, walk 1 min @ 6% incline, run 1 min @6 % incline
1 min side shuffle x 2

Working Harder again
1 min running slow @ 6% incline, 1 min running fast @ 6% incline over 10 mins

Cool Down - repeat warm up

OK - that's it for now. The question is - how much weight do you think I can lose in two weeks???