Get in!!!

I'm so pleased that I set up a mini challenge with my cousin this month. We both decided on targets that we wanted to achieve by today and I'm pleased to say that we both met them.

I decided I wanted to shift 5kg from the 1st to 31st October. I really knuckled down and got my eating on point with 4 to 5 small meals a day and one blow out day each week where I eat and drink whatever I want.

I'm so happy to post that I've lost a total of 6.5kg!!! That's a stone. GET IN!!!

It started off bad because I weighed myself on the 1st October and posted it as 86.8kg, but my weight shot up straight after because of a few days in Amsterdam. So in fact, my 6.5kg loss is from a slightly higher weight than 86.8kg.

Also, even though I did a lot of exercise this month, I still had room to do more. Hopefully I can work out more in November.

I don't want to tell you the exact weight for today because I normally weigh in on the first of every month anyway, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow! I must add though, today is my blow out day, so I'll be putting weight on haha!!!

Feeling good

Managed to pull out some old t-shirts today that I haven't worn in ages. Feels good to try them on and not see bulges everywhere!

I've gone a step further too by getting rid of all my L clothes too. Hopefully I can just stick to M now. Gulp.

Cinema food ban... So far, so good

After last night, I think I've been to the cinema five times since I imposed that cinema food ban, and not once have I bought any ice cream, drinks, nachos, hot dogs or sweets. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Let's see if I can keep it going until the end of the year.

Importance of sleep during weight loss

Getting between 7-8 hours of sleep is very important if you're trying to lose weight. Apparently those who only get a few hours of sleep are more likely to pile on the pounds.

I've heard that you can lose up to 116 calories for every hour of sleep you have. If you're keeping your main meals to around about 450 calories, think how much you can lose just by sleeping.

My rule is to always have eight hours of sleep. Even when I get up for work at 4am (like now!), I go to bed at 8pm to make sure I get the full eight hours. It might sound boring, but it's not every night and I do feel so much better for it in the morning, especially when stepping on the scales!

Mini challenge update

I've got until the end of this month to complete the mini challenge I've set with my cousin (see http://mytwelvemonthmission.blogspot.com/2010/09/training-partner.html)

I'm excited about telling you the details of it, but I'll wait until this Sunday to let you know when we've finished.

I will tell you I'm feeling really good right now, though. Energised.

Food For Thoughts

The trouble I've always had is linking binging with emotions. I'm the sort of person who either wants to celebrate a good occasion with food or try to make myself feel better when I'm down in the dumps by stuffing my face.

Now for me, if may not be the same for you, that doesn't really work because I only end up feeling worse after. I feel stuffed, sick, lethargic and may possibly have a migraine he next day, so it can't really work to help me 'feel better'.

I had a day full of highs and lows yesterday and ended up having a pick n mix binge consisting of chocolate, fudge, jelly beans and fizzy cherry cola bottles.

Was I happy when I was eating them? No because I was thinking to myself that my day of relaxed eating is coming this Sunday, I shouldn't be doing this now. Was I happy after? No, felt sick that I ate all of it so quickly. Am I ok with it this morning? No because even though I've only put a couple of hundred grams on, this is a month I've quite honestly being doing brilliantly with food and to be honest that binge was uncalled for.

I think when losing weight, we have to lose this attitude toward food and view it not as something that makes us feel better, but something that we require as fuel in our everyday lives to keep us going.

I read about a theory called 'Pleasure and Pain' in a book called 'Awaken The Giant' by Anthony Robbins. It's a really simple way of thought where you link the feelings of pleasure with something you want and pain with something you don't want.

So with regards to weight loss, I could link the pain with the sickening, tired, lethargic feeling I get after a binge and the pleasure with knowing I'd lose some weight if I didn't binge.

Another example could be that I might feel pain in getting up early and working out, but maybe I should feel pleasure in that as that's the sort of work that will help me achieve the body I want, which in turn is another pleasure.

I think this way of looking at things is useful and can help me to not binge when feeling certain emotions. It's different for everyone though, you need to find for yourself what you regard as pleasure and pain.

By the way, an even easier method to take your mind off food when you're down is just get yourself a new hobby. Sometimes a few rounds on a punchbag can improve your mood. Just picture your boss when you do it.

Weighing Everyday

I know a lot of people are against it, but I've found myself checking my weight everyday. I always make sure I check it as soon as I get up in the morning.

I've heard many people say you shouldn't do it because it seems too obsessive, but I don't see why you can't do it.

Things are going well in terms of weight loss at the moment, so stepping on the scales in the morning is something I actually look forward to, knowing I've done a day of good eating and exercise.

It's really up to you whether you decide to go for weekly or daily weigh ins. If you're looking for huge losses and eating well and exercising right, then maybe holding off to once a week is the way to go. On the other hand, if you're like me and want to feel like you want to see daily results, albeit a smaller amount of loss per day compared to a week, then do it daily.

Do what suits you, but don't let people tell you it's obsessive if you weigh yourself daily!

5km Race Update

Disappointed with my 5km run this month. Managed 28.23, about 1.12 slower than last month. Here's how it stands...

July 5km - 34.02
August 5km - 30.22
September 5km - 27.11
October 5km - 28.23

I was really excited about this run, I genuinely thought I could achieve 25 mins. I've been working very hard on my interval running over this month, notching up about 8km in 45 mins.

I knew I had to run each km at 5 mins max, so I started off very strong, keeping up with the first half of the runners. At 1km, I clocked in at 5.07. So I was a little bit behind and i started to panic. I ended up doing too much in the second km which made things worse in the third and didn't leave me much to salvage in the last 2km.

I'll need to make some tweaks to my training now. I've already got a few things in mind. I'll start working on it from Tuesday.

I'm booked up to January for the 5km races. I'll definitely make an improvement in November.

Quark Cheese

I'm not really a big cheese fan, but if you are, I've come across a great cheese called Quark which could be a good addition to your diet.

It's a soft, creamy cheese that's low in fat and high in protein. I've managed to get some low fat Quark which is a minuscule 0.05g of fat per 100g. If you're on a high protein diet, it's good because it's got a high protein content for a cheese (about 13.5g per 100g).

Since it's creamy, I drop a big spoon of it in a chicken salad and mix it in. It's also good as a sour cream replacement in fajitas.

Unfortunately you can't grate it and put it on a pizza, but that's the compromise of losing weight I guess.

Eating Out

If you're out and about and you haven't got food with you, there are a couple of places I'd recommend for some healthy munch.

For lunch, Subway is always a great place to go. Get yourself a six inch wholemeal sub with some meat and salad (no Meatball Marinara or sauces!) That gives you a high protein, low GI lunch.

For dinner, Nando's is always brilliant. Get a half chicken with brown rice and you're sorted. If you want to reduce fat more, take the skin off the chicken, but that comprises the taste. If you don't mind it slightly bland, then go for it.

Other things to consider if you want to be careful when you're eating out...

• Drink water
• Get a baked potato (no butter) as a good carb hit
• Salad with no dressing's always good with chicken, eggs, fish etc
• Sorbets are a healthier alternative to ice cream

And if you don't want to be careful when eating out, go mad with the menu.

Nike+ Sensor

So got that Nike+ Sensor over the weekend. Finally used it today and it's brilliant.

If you've not seen one before, here's what it looks like...



Basically, you've got two sensors, one that you connect to the bottom of your iPod and a second which goes inside your trainer. It only works with Nike+ trainers, because they have a little slot in the inside of the left shoe that you connect the sensor to.

Once you're up and running, you can set all sorts of runs, ie distance runs, timed runs, calorie burning runs. I used it for a 50 minute run, and every 10 minutes, it alerts you in your headphones how long you've run. I'm sure if I'd set it to 5km, it would alert me every km.

It's brilliant, I love it. You can get spoken feedback as you're running, so it keeps you going. It's got a power song feature too, which kicks in a chosen track for you when you need it for the last part of the run... I'm sure you might be thinking Eye Of The Tiger haha!!!

It's a good addition to your running, well recommended.

On target...

Even though I was on/off with my exercise in the past couple of weeks because of a mix of Amsterdam/run down/possible flu, things are looking good because I'm dropping off the kilos.

Got the October 5km run coming up soon, a new weights regime which focuses on arms and the end of the mini challenge that I set with my cousin (will go in to more detail towards the end of the month about that)

I've also got that Nike+ iPod Sensor which I'm looking forward to using tomorrow morning. Will let you know how I get on.

Pasta Sauce Recipe

I've been making this pasta sauce recently and I'm loving it because it's low fat, quick to make and gives you a few servings for the week.

The trick I use is to make it in a Teflon saucepan, that way I can avoid using any oil. If you don't have a Teflon saucepan, I recommend you get one because it's non-stick and you can eliminate oil from your cooking. If you don't, then just put a drop of Olive Oil in.

Ingredients

1 onion finely chopped (I like to use red onions)
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
Paprika
Oregano or other Italian Herbs

Method

Dead easy, just brown the onions and garlic in your saucepan until their soft (about 3-5 mins on a medium heat), then add the tomatoes and simmer on a low heat for about 20 mins. Add the oregano and paprika to taste.

It's great because you get about 3-4 servings out of it and I think it's better than buying processed sauces. Put some meat or vegetables in, whack in some wholemeal pasta and you've got yourself a good, healthy meal.

Cinema Food Ban

You know I totally love going to the cinema and when I do go, there's always a special I have... A Ben and Jerry's Core Sundae with Phish Food, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, fudge sauce, whipped cream and white chocolate polar bears. It's basically about two weeks worth of fat and sugar!

Now I was pretty impressed with myself when I went to the cinema last Friday and Sunday and had nothing at all but water. I don't know if I'm actually getting sick of the sundae, but I just didn't feel like it.

On that note, I've self imposed a ban on cinema food for the remainder of 2010. Trust me, that won't be easy as I want to watch Wall Street, Saw 3D, Action Replayy, Tees Maar Khan, The Social Network etc etc

Will let you know how I get on during my next visit.

Back on the wagon

I'm very proud of something I managed to achieve over the weekend. Now you know my style when I eat junk, I do it royally. When I'm bad with food, I'm REALLY bad. If I eat junk one day or go out or something, then I'll eat rubbish the next day, then the next day, then the next, until it turns into about five days straight gorging on takeaways, chocolate, drinks etc., which then results in lots of headaches and feeling lethargic too.

Now on Saturday, I had a wedding to go to. Even though I tried to be good, I ended up eating about three plates of starters, two main meals and lots of beer. When I woke up on Sunday, I was thinking about all the junk I could eat that day and the fact that I was going food shopping later and the cinema too (Ben and Jerry's!)

Something sensible finally took control of and said 'No, snap out of it. You ate loads of junk yesterday, you enjoyed it, GET OVER IT!!!'

And just like that, I did.

For the first time this year, I managed to have a day of binging which was just that. One day only. Nothing more. Sunday was back to some real, clean, healthy eating. When I stepped on the scales this morning, I was so much better for it. I'm feeling the extra energy too and I'm minus the headaches I get after junk.

I'm hoping I can use wisely and build in one day of 'relaxing' (not too much though!) so I don't go made without chocolate etc. Let's see how it goes.

October Weigh In

Never got a chance to post on Friday, so I took my weight and here it is.

1st June - 79.5kg (12 stone 7.3lbs)
1st July - 85kg (13 stone 5.4lbs)
1st August - 85kg (13 stone 5.4lbs)
1st September - 84.1kg (13stone 3.40lbs)
1st October - 86.8kg (13 stone 9.36lbs)

I know, I know, I'm totally going backwards here, but trust me. I had a moment of clarity over the weekend. Expect big changes on 1st Nov. If not, I'll give £100 to whoever emails me first on info@jasrao.com

But beleive me, it's not going to go there.