Diet Hell

Well, not really. I thought it was going to be hard, but this first month wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I haven’t skipped my exercise at all, nor have I eaten badly. Now I am not talking about just eating carrots and lettuce (though I do have nice salads now and again), I actually have proper meals, I just keep track of how much I eat in total and I keep an eye on my portion size. I really don’t have the feeling that I’m on a diet. This is probably one of the reasons why I am not feeling like quitting.

Now a thing that has surprised me is my endurance for working out. I used to hate working out, but now I actually look forward to my runs in the week. I love pushing myself a bit further and actually noticing that I can run a certain amount of time. I get a high after my runs and I feel really good about myself. The circuit-training is a different matter. It’s short which is good, but I don’t really love it. I am happy when I’m done and I see the results already. I feel firmer and I’m actually getting some muscles. In the end that will also help me with my running results, as my knee is getting stronger.

There was a time I used any excuse not to run because of my bad knee. You name it, I said it. Now I’m not so afraid any more of hurting my knee. I think I’ve hurt my knee once really bad, but I thought to myself: ‘it’s correcting itself already, I’m still standing and I’m still running. I’m fine, no need to panic.’  And I kept running. I do still feel a bit of pain now and then, but I’m feeling a lot more secure about my knee and my own abilities.

Now for the result after a month of doing this: I lost 9 lbs. I went over my goal for the month! I try to aim for half a stone per month (7 lbs). I also took my measurements now and I’ll see in another month’s time how many inches I lost.

All in all, I am proud of myself.

The Loser

Time for some health updates!

Well, after 2 weeks of running, cross circuit training and eating healthy I can definitely see a change in my body. First things first, the weight loss for this week: -1.5lbs I’m happy with this. I would have loved a solid 2lbs, but it’s a loss and that is what counts in the end. I guess that my clothes are starting to loosen a lot also shows that it’s working for me.

Now for the activity levels; I was very hesitant of going up to week two of C25K, but when I actually did I was really amazed with how well I did. I can’t do it completely and it seems that my second 90 seconds run always seems to fail. That could be a wall I need to break through, but so far I am really impressed with myself. My knee is getting better too. I have days that after working out it hurts, but it always seems to sort itself out and while running I feel no pain and I don’t collapse into my knee.

The 30 day shred is now finished for level 1. I do see a lot of progress with that too. I was panting for the first few days and I’m not saying its easy now, but it’s easier compared to those first few sessions. On Monday I will be starting level 2 of the shred, and I’ve already heard it is much, much harder then level 1. I predict a lot of pain in my future. All in all, it’s been a long time since I was this active and I’m quite proud for sticking to my work out regime.

Food wise I’ve been good. I’m logging all my calories and preparing meals goes quicker and I’m actually enjoying the quest for low calorie meals that are still nom-worthy. I’ve also noticed how much of a glutton I’ve been. For example; normally I would eat half of a fajita kit easily, but looking at those calories I should really only eat a quarter of it. I did so today and even though I loved to have eaten more, it was enough. That is the weird thing, I have to tell myself that I am full and I don’t need to eat it all. Small steps, but I’m on the right track.

The Running Noob (and painter)

Hard work pays off it seems. After a week of working my ass of with Jillian Michaels and her 30 day shred and starting week 1 of c25k, I can already notice a difference in my stamina. I also kept tracking my calories and nutrition and it all paid off. I’ve lost 5lbs in my first week.

I am really over the moon with this. Now a week ago I would have said I only cared about the pounds flying off, but working out has done something strange to me. This morning I did my third run on c25k. Now how this programme works is as following: you warm up, and then you run for 60 seconds and after that a brisk walk for 90 seconds, rinse and repeat. At the beginning of the week I did reasonably ok. I couldn’t finish every run, but it didn’t bother me. I was just starting out. However, Wednesday I did really badly. I only could finish 2 runs of the 8 I had to do. I was so disappointed with myself. This morning however, I only had 2 of the 8 runs that I couldn’t do completely. It’s been such a long time that I’ve been so proud of myself. I’m finding it more and more important to actually also look at my health instead of just the weight. I’ve always wanted to be a runner, but I never saw it happening. After this morning, I finally believe that with patience and time I might actually run by the end of the year for 45 minutes in a row.

Now because of all of this it’s been a bit quiet on the gaming front. I guess I got a bit of a burn out with WoW. I have those now and again and I’m sure that in a few weeks I’ll be happily grinding along, gaining levels on my toons. I’ve been thinking of making a druid my main. Now I always thought that would be my nelf who has been my main forever in Vanilla, tbc and wrath, but lately I’m wondering if perhaps I should switch to horde as my main side. Not sure and I need to ponder about this idea for a while.

And my last geeky news: I got a paint station for my Warhammer models. I have two big armies (woodelves and Chaos Daemons) and I should really finish both. At least with this paint station I can move everything around when I need my desk free, but still keep it all together. See that big dragon on the station; yeah I’m making that big boy my main project! I’ll keep updates on this blog about how he’s coming along.