Eddie Izzard, quirky British comedian, has run 43 marathons in 51 days.  But that’s not the most impressive part.  Eddie is new to running, is 47 years old, and only had five weeks of preperation before his first marathon!  How on earth do you go from zero to a marathon in five weeks?  And how on earth do you keep going for a further 42 marathons??

Makes my achievements seem pale by comparison!

Run, Izzard, run and run again

Inspirational stuff.

Now into my third week of the new routine and it is going well.  I have missed one or two sessions but I think that was to be expected.  I have changed the routine slightly, due to the fact that I ache almost constantly.  I am now doing weights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – this should allow my muscles to recuperate in between sessions.  I am also going to cut down on the amount of cardio I am doing as well – my legs just cannot take it.  From next week I am going to do HIIT workouts following my weights sessions and have Tuesdays and Thursdays off.  If I feel up to it I may include an extended run at the weekend – have to wait and see.

On the whole I feel pretty good.  My strength has returned and I have to say that this new weights routine, albeit totally different to anything I have ever done before, is really effective.  I ache but I don’t feel like I am overtraining. 

My food intake has been business as usual; good wholesome foods during the week but then losing the plot and pigging out at the weekends!  Winter is now in full swing however and I therefore have no intention of dieting whatsoever.

My goal is simple: get through winter whilst maintaining a decent level of fitness.  This should help me with my weight loss pursuits for next year.

Well, I’m back again.  My cold lasted around ten days, but during that time I did no exercise whatsoever – I just felt too ill.  I must confess; I went on a major downer afterwards.  It seems like every time I try to get fit something happens to prevent me from accomplishing my goals.  I spent the subsequent weeks repeatedly asking myself “what is the point?”.

Time and time again I manage to reach a reasonable level of fitness only to see it all go down the drain.  I watched a TV programme about obesity a few weeks ago.  Long term studies had been performed to monitor the lifestyle of dieters and non-dieters.  Without going into it in full detail the outcome was that those people who had spent a decade yo-yo dieting (losing weight, only to put it all back on again) ended up being heavier than those over-eaters who made no attempt to lose weight.  It was also strongly argued that the vast majority of those yo-yo dieters would have probably been lighter after the decade of over-eating if they hadn’t bothered doing any dieting at all, and that there dieting lifestyle had grossly contributed to their current obesity.

Their constant dieting had actually made them fatter!

I understand the arguments behind these theories and, conversely, am in full agreement.  I daresay that if I had never begun any form of dieting in my very early thirties I would probably be significantly lighter than I find myself today, especially if I had added a fair amount of cardio into my routines.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing…!

Anyway, I digress.  Last Monday I decided to dig myself out of the hole I had created and once again began the slow and steady climb back to a fitter Neil.  I managed 3 painful HIIT routines and 3 weights sessions last week.  As usual, in an effort to re-motivate me, I am trying something different.  In fact, this is something I have NEVER tried before and goes against everything I have learned about weight training over the last 20 years…

I have decided to adopt my CONSISTENCY philosophy with my weight training.  As opposed to training each body part twice per week with a rest/growth period inbetween I am now going to perform a full upper body workout four times per week.  I will be doing high-rep sets with low weights and short rest periods, keeping my heart rate up throughout.  This will in turn burn more calories than one of my “normal” weights sessions and help to offset the fact that I am not dieting. 

Why am I doing this?  As mentioned in an earlier post, my enthusiasm for the weights has been severely waning as this year has progressed.  It has become mundane.  This is something different and goes against what is considered the norm.  I don’t expect to increase my muscular density but if I manage to maintain some CONSISTENCY then I am fairly certain I will tone up at a faster rate and burn a few extra fat cells in the process.

My weights routine is as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:

Chest – 2 sets of 30 reps
Back – 2 sets of 30 reps
Biceps – 2 sets of 30 reps
Triceps – 2 sets of 30 reps
Shoulders – 2 sets of 30 reps
Traps – 1 set of 30 reps
Abs – 2 sets of 30 reps

My cardio routine is as follows:

Monday – HIIT (25 minutes)
Tuesday – HIIT (25 minutes)
Wednesday – extended run, either indoor or outdoor, no less than 2 miles
Thursday – HIIT (25 minutes)
Friday – HIIT (25 minutes)
Saturday – extended run, either indoor or outdoor, no less than 3 miles
Sunday – rest day

As I am currently soooooo unfit I imagine this is going to be incredibly hard going.  For those people who have read my Blog before you will probably know that I love the challenge and enjoy pushing myself.  I am totally looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and hope to be running a good distance again before the end of the year.  I would like to see myself running a five miler within the next fortnight – that would give my morale a much needed boost.

Right.  ‘nuff said.

I am full of cold and feel dreadful!  Had it for the last few days so all forms of exercise have been non-existant.
Ugghhhh!

20 Minutes on Treadmill

Managed a rather tame 20 minute jog on the treadmill – tame as I had eaten a rather large Chinese takeaway only 90 minutes beforehand!  A tame run is better than no run however…

20 Minute HIIT Routine

20 minute HIIT on the treadmill today.  Legs still aching, but not too bad.  My eating habits are improving slowly but surely.
‘Nuff said!

20 Minute Road Run

Managed a 20 minute road run, which was a challenge as we went out for a large meal to celebrate my father’s Birthday and I still felt quite bloated whilst running (tsk, tsk).  Scraped through the 20 minutes, so still on schedule.  My legs are aching now though as, at my weight, I really am not suited to road running.  Treadmill tomorrow methinks!

3 Mile Road Run

Had a busy day today and still managed a 3 mile road run after dinner (32 minutes).  I am very happy with this as I am not a fan of road running (it really gets my shins) and I am only on my fourth day of continuous exercise after a long break.  I didn’t keep checking my distance on my Garmin watch; I was aiming for a run of around 30 minutes and was surprised I had run so far.  Really, really pleased.

On a different note, it is good to see that even film stars struggle with getting into shape.  I am currently reading a biography of the actor Russell Crowe.  He bulked up for his part in The Insider, puting the weight on quickly, yet finding it a long process getting it off again…

It had taken him six weeks to balloon up to 48lbs above his normal weight for The Insider and he fully expected it would take just six weeks to get it all off again.  To his dispeasure and frustration, he found it wasn’t that easy and it eventually took him five months to slim down to his normal athletic shape…*

Oh dear!  Sounds SO familiar.  I feel better now!!

* Taken from Russell Crowe: The Biography, Ewbank T. and Hildred S., p.151

20 minutes HIIT

Did a 20 minute HIIT workout, really pushing myself.  Built up slowly over the 20 minutes and peaked with two 30 second intervals at my treadmill’s full speed (8.1 MPH).  Feel good!  Also managed a bit of weights; a few sets of chest and shoulders.  Maybe I’ll get back into the weights, maybe I won’t.

I have spent much of the last three weeks thinking about what I have learned this year from my attempts to lose weight and get fit.  I have progressed from getting out of breath walking on the treadmill to running along an outdoor trail for a distance of 12 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes.  Whilst I am under no illusions that this is any kind of record-beating time, I covered this distance at a weight of 17 Stone 10lbs (248lbs; 112kg) – I don’t think this distance is too shabby for someone my weight!  Anyway, during the course of my fitness regime I managed to lose around 30lbs.  I have subsequently put a not insubstantial amount back on due to being extremely busy with work and family commitments over the summer months. It is now, finally, time to address this and get it sorted!

One thing that I keep on coming back to, like a small voice in the back of my mind, is the word CONSISTENCY.  I really do believe that consistency is of paramount importance when it comes to getting fit and losing weight.  You don’t have to go overboard with the amount of daily exercise you do so long as you keep at it.

I did a 20 minute run on the treadmill yesterday and it wasn’t pleasant, indicating that I have lost a substantial amount of my hard-earned fitness.  I have subsequently been researching how long it takes to become unfit and, according to exercise physiologist Elizabeth Quinn, all aerobic gains in newly-fit individuals can be lost in as little as two months…

The outcome is much different for new exercisers. Another study followed new exercisers as they began a training program and then stopped exercise. Researchers had sedentary individuals start a bicycle fitness program for two months. During those eight weeks, the exercisers made dramatic cardiovascular improvements and boosted their aerobic capacity substantially. At eight weeks, they quit exercising for the next two months. They were tested again and were found to have lost all of their aerobic gains and returned to their original fitness levels.

Now, I don’t feel as rough as I did earlier in the year.  It’s not as if I have been doing no exercise whatsoever; I have still been walking and hiking, and doing the occasional weights session.  Overall though, I have done very little proper cardio.  According to Ms Quinn, I should have probably lost all of my fitness gains by now, but I don’t feel like this is the case.  After a reasonably good 20 minute HIIT routine earlier today I was quite pleased with my performance.  I can only ascertain that, for me, I have lost a LOT of my fitness, but not ALL.

So, back to the point; consistency.  I have decided that, no matter how much cardio I do in a session, the most important thing is that I am consistent.  To this end I have decided to challenge myself.  I intend to run for at least 20 minutes EVERY DAY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR.  No days off and no excuses.  The only exceptions will be illness or if I am away from home and there is absolutely nowhere for me to run.

Alongside this challenge I intend to fine-tune my diet with a host of ideas I have come up with, as well as some good suggestions by fellow Blogger and fitness author Mark Vaughan.  It is my strong belief that I can get back down to what I was weighing two months ago by adhering to this challenge.

Le the challenge commence!

Detraining, Deconditioning and Losing Fitness
Mark Vaughan’s Blog

A quick word on my weight training…

My weight training has definitely begun to stagnate.  I am finding it harder and harder to stay motivated.  After so many years of buying into the “more muscle burns more fat” ideology, I am left disillusioned; I have a fair amount of muscle, so where is the fatburning benefit, ‘cos I just don’t see it!  After 21 years of hitting the weights I am considering early retirement from it.  I may continue to do a token gesture of weights from home but I can’t see it being much more than that.  Then again, I have said this on numerous occasions over the years…

Just had my first workout after a long rest (too long!).  I took it slow and steady.  I am now about to go for my first treadmill run in about two months(ish).  Here goes…

Well, I am on holiday and eating like a pig!  You name it and I am eating it!!  No chance of any exercise and surrounded by junk food – waddya expect?

Focusing on when I get back.  Abstinence and lots of running.  Weights four times a week.  And, hip-hip-hooray, my wife WANTS TO JOIN A GYM!   This is great news for me as it means that she is finally wanting to take things seriously.  She wants to lose a few stone and is determined to make a real conscious effort, which means that my job will be a whole lot easier.  I think she has been spurred on by one of her work’s colleagues who has recently lost quite a bit of weight.  Whatever the reason, there will probably be less junk food in the house – MASSIVE BONUS!

Gonna enjoy myself and try not to outgrow my jeans too much whilst away.  Can’t wait to get back running…

Been away for a few days and found the time to assess my current dietary situation.  I have had virtually no time at all to exercise over the last two weeks.  In fact I have done very little in the last month.  I am bored, if truth be told.  I feel like my life is a kind of merry-go-round, where each year I go through the same process of diet + exercise = a good bit of weight loss, only to get to the end of summer and put all said weight back on (plus a little bit more).  As I progress in years I am starting to wonder if it isn’t all just a little bit pointless.

My family couldn’t care less how much I weigh, so long as I am happy.  Why do I still care about my weight?  This is the key question that keeps on rattling around inside my brain.  Why do I keep on doing this each year?  If it is simply about being healthier then I have already accomplished this; I am probably fitter now than I have been at any time in the last fifteen years (although things have slipped a bit over the last few weeks).  I don’t smoke or drink to excess – in fact my ONLY vice is food!  I am physically strong and can run a distance of five miles in under 50 minutes without a rest.  So why am I still bothered about how much I weigh?

I cannot answer this question.  I am not vain, I am not seeking to attract members of the opposite sex, and I am not seeking to be on the cover of any magazines (!).  So why???

One possibility is that I am simply obsessed with the notion of being slim again, as I was in my younger days.  Maybe by being slim I will feel like I have somehow slowed time and that I will feel young again?  I dunno.  Is that what it is all about?  Some weird subconscious battle to reverse the aging process.  Is this a mid-life crisis???

Gonna go ponder some more…

Well, over here in the UK we are heading towards the end of our two “hottest months”.  Hmmm.  According to the MET office “Rainfall was significantly above normal in almost all areas…” in July (see http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/ ) – you’re not kidding!  It has rained nearly every day this summer, ruining my outdoor training (how dare it!).  I had planned to take my daughter camping at every given opportunity – yeah that went well (not!).  We are so sick of it that we are now looking to buy a caravan.  At least that way we can go and see some of the beautiful English countryside and not wake up to a soggy tent!  It is so frustrating for us Brits; you go all winter hoping to see some sunshine during July and August and you get nothing for all your patience.  I have barely seen the sun, apart from a couple of lovely days in June it has been a load of rubbish.  Honestly, the British summer is just a slightly warmer extension of winter.

On another happy note, I have just got weighed.  When I use the term “happy” I am being overly facetious!  18 Stone 7lbs!  Need I go on?  Somehow I have gained 15 lbs!  How???  Okay, I had an incredibly busy week last week, hardly had time for any training and ate whatever was close to hand, but to gain 15lbs!!!  Did I inadvertently swallow a cat or something?  What the hell is going on?

I am the ubiquitous yo-yo dieter.  Dictionary.com should just post a link to my site under the word yo-yo (or “fat”, “tubby”, “glutton”, “useless” etc etc).

My week is looking a little less busy and things should start to settle again over the coming month.  I am aiming to get right back at it and hopefully get back into the “17 stone zone” again real soon.

Still smilin’ – just!

After an incredibly busy week I am finally finding the time to post, although there isn’t much to report…

Managed just one workout this week: trained chest, triceps, shoulders and abs, followed by a 20 minute HIIT workout.  That’s it!  Wow!

My diet has been poor, as it always is when I have a lot of work on the go.  I feel like I have gained another three or four pounds over the last two weeks.  Not good.  I am having to face facts; this is it for me for this year.  I am hoping to carry on with my cardio and weight training throughout winter (which feels like it is on its way already), and hopefully maintain a weight range within the 17 Stone area, although this will be hard for me as I always overeat in winter.  Gonna try though.

After my post yesterday I decided to dig a little deeper into this subject…

The following is a video discussion of the article that I discussed yesterday by John Cloud of Time Magazine:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2009/08/07/am.exercise.myth.cnn

He basically goes over what he wrote in the article (for anyone who didn’t read the article).  Runner’s World responded with this.  I have also been reading various other responses to this article all over the web (too many to list).  I think there is a genuine concern to such an article.  Could us fatties, after all these years – decades even – possibly have been getting it wrong by thinking that we would lose all our body fat by doing loads of running and weights?  I must admit that I have ALWAYS considered exercise to be the key, and have turned to some form of cardio FIRST whenever I have attempted to lose weight.  Dieting has always been my last resort.  And guess what?  I have ALWAYS failed to lose enough weight!

I am going to really look into this over the next few days/weeks.  If I spent less energy exercising and more effort with my diet, will I lose weight more quickly?  Could it BE that EASY??

I am one of these “no pain no gain” kind of fools.  I have always figured that in order to lose weight I must do tons of exercise or it won’t happen.  So I do tons of exercise and TRY to eat less – but all the exercise is making me SO hungry and I end up blowing it after a few days.  So maybe if I ate my prescribed amount of calories and read a book or watched TV instead of exercising I would feel less hungry and more inclined to stick with it.  And maybe I would lose weight more quickly?!

I have been reading about “real” people’s personal experiences on websites such as Bodybuilding.com.  There are a lot of threads in the forums devoted to this train of thought (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=369910531#post369910531) for example (there are loads of others).  There seems to be a general feeling amongst real dieters that so long as you eat fewer calories than you need in a day you will lose weight, period.  It doesn’t matter in the slightest what these foods might be; if you want to simply eat junk food, then so be it, so long as you don’t go over the amount of calories you should be eating (RMR).

Does this mean I can just eat, say, 2000 calories worth of pizza a day and lose weight – with NO exercise?  Gonna do a bit more research…

Just read an interesting article from Time magazine entitled “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin”.  A little bit controversial, the article claims that exercise makes us hungry and in turn, we eat more than we would if we hadn’t done the exercise in the first place (thus defeating the object!).  It argues that, although cardiovascular exercise has a long list of health benefits, it isn’t all that effective at helping an overweight person become thin.

I kind-of agree.

The final paragraph of the article sums it up very nicely for me:

“In short, it’s what you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight.”

On this I couldn’t agree more!  It doesn’t seem to matter how much exercise I do – my weight rarely changes unless I restrict my calorie intake.  It is ALL about diet.  Which is so frustrating for me; I love exercise and could quite happily go running at any given opportunity.  On the flipside however, I absolutley hate dieting.

I have mentioned this article for one key reason.  Every time over the last ten years that I have attempted to lose weight I have included exercise - usually excessive amounts.  And every time I have FAILED!  Could it be that exercise is the reason for all my failures?  This Time magazine article certainly suggests that it is possible.

I am still exercising on a regular basis.  I had a week off last week whilst I was on vacation in Paris and London, but I am back in the saddle now and don’t feel like my fitness levels have dropped too much.  I am contemplating that if, for whatever reason, I stop exercising (as I more often than not end up doing when winter is upon us!), the next time I consider losing weight again I may do it WITHOUT exercise and compare the results.

After reading this article it certainly seems worthwhile…

Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin

Well, once again I failed.  After a barbecue last weekend I just carried on eating; takeaways, Doritos, pizzas – you name it, I ate it!  I still managed a good bit of cardio and weights though, doing four HIIT routines during the last week.  I didn’t bother getting weighed on Friday as there was no point.

So, after months of running, speedwalking, high intensity interval training, cycling, weight training (etc), I failed… AGAIN!  “Slim for Summer” – my arse!

Will I ever be slim again?  This is the question that is going over and over in my head.  I am 38 years old and maybe it is time to face the possibility that I am destined to be overweight for the rest of my life.  Incredibly though, I feel amazingly fit.  I have shrugged off the HIIT routines this week.  When I first started doing HIIT I was exhausted and my legs ached for days!

I have decided to continue with the exercise throughout the winter this year.  In previous years I have let it fall by the wayside, but not this year.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get things right for next summer?!  I have said that for at least the last ten years though…

Got weighed this morning; 17 Stone 6lbs (244lbs; 110kg).  I am almost half way towards my ultimate target weight!  

Whilst I am very pleased with my progress I desperately want to speed things up a bit.  My next benchmark/short-term goal is to reach 17 stone (238lbs; 107.9kg).  I am determined to achieve this before I go away on holiday so I am therefore setting myself a big goal: to drop 6 lbs in a week!

I will get weighed one week from today.  My mission is to be 238lbs.  This is going to be tough…

Well, my fourth day with virtually no carbs!  I actually feel really good and am in no way experiencing cravings .  I haven’t really bothered with cardio for the last few days for two reasons: firstly, it makes me more hungry – no good when you are starting out on a strict diet, and secondly, the lack of carbs will inevitably mean a significant lack of energy – no 12 mile runs whilst on this diet!

I am aiming to do some cardio later today and hopefully on a daily basis from today.  I am not setting myself any unrealistic targets as I know from experience that too much cardio with no glycogen stores just leaves you feeling exhausted very quickly.  I have felt hypoglycemic MANY times from making this mistake, which usually leads me to eating a load of chocolate and junk food to make me feel okay, blowing the diet in an instant!  Slow and steady will be the order of the day.  Gotta be sensible…

I have maintained my weight training however, although yesterday’s chest/shoulder/triceps/traps/abs workout left my shoulder in agony!  I have mentioned my dodgy shoulder many times – the result of a weightifting injury many years ago.  It hasn’t troubled me much over the last 12 months but today I am in agony with it!  Why now?  I can only assume it is due to the extended workout I had on Saturday – I trained for two hours as I had skipped a couple of workouts last week.  It has been fine though, until I trained yesterday, when I soon found out that the pain was back.  My wife massaged it for me last night and I am popping the ibuprofen, so hopefully the pain will subside soon.

Gonna get weighed tomorrow for the first time since July first.