My Fitness Journey - Day 37 (Saturday, 06 February 2016)
Originally published at Rodney's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
So it has been awhile since I last posted about what was happening in my fitness journey. If I am honest with myself, the news hasn’t been good. In some ways, it would be easy to blame the fact that I was travelling a lot for work during the last 2 weeks or so, but that wouldn’t be the truth. The truth is also that I made several bad food choices and didn’t really commit to exercising like I should have.
Up until the first week of February, I was really pleased with myself. Even though I was travelling, I managed to eat a sensible meal, get in some sessions at the hotel gym, and tried to move around. Then this week I had a business trip to Barcelona and what can I say, the great food there was too much to resist. Add to that I was at a conference with some type of food that was served every few hours and I decided that the entire 3 days would basically be a cheat on my diet. So I basically managed to add back 2kg during the week. It was actually more than that, but I thrust myself into the gym today in order to kick-start my system. The net effect, assuming I get myself back into line, will likely be that I set myself back a kilo of weight loss.
It was a powerful lesson to learn - that when travelling I need to stick to the plan as well as I can. I think back to all of the opportunities I had to make better choices, but not eat past the point of satiety. But I ignored all of those. I am not going to beat myself up for it. I am just going to do better next time. And the next time is on Saturday when I go to London for a couple of days and then onwards to Copenhagen for a couple of days.
Diet
In terms of my diet, I have firmly left Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet behind. I am not so keen to return, despite the fact that I have put on a kilo. I think this way because I think I was not eating very clean and eating a lot more than I would have done if I had stayed at home. In fact I know it. And since I don’t have any medical conditions which require that I should have to restrict foods, I think the key word is moderation. I will try and focus on better nutritional choices and if that doesn’t work, then I will reconsider dietary choices.
Exercise
Perhaps more concerning to me is that my cardio workout is yielding less effect. I think the issue is that I have put on too much time on the elliptical trainer. According to my Fitbit Charge HR, I am burning about 15-20% less calories for the same workout. But yet, in another way I am amazed because it means that it takes less effort for the same workout so something positive is happening in the sense that I am adapting. My old knee injury means that running is still out of the question, but I know that I must switch things up. It’s just a pity because the elliptical was a great way to spend 45-60 minutes and get a great result in terms of calories burned.
I have also decided that I will start lifting weights from 01 March 2016. Right now I am using machines to lift weights, but everything I read about Stronglifts 5×5 seems too compelling not to try. The problem I have is that I want to try it without the pressure of the muscle heads around me. They are not bad people, but I guess I have unfortunately met more than a couple whom when I asked a question or two pretty much treated me like shit for asking. So I learned not to ask anymore. Maybe what I will do is to get a personal trainer to show me how to the basics for a few weeks and then continue on my own.
Anyway, it would be easy to get discouraged now and say “where are my results?!?”, but I know that when I stick to the system of movement and informed choices, that I see results. This equipment, combined with determination, shall power me to success.