Feb 05 2009
Hurray! - today my vitamix arrived. I have seen raw food enthusiasts rave about their vitamix and how it can make so many fantastic foods. If you haven’t seen one take a look on YouTube as there are loads of great recipes that can be only done on a vitamix.
I won’t get a chance to try it out until the weekend so for now it can stay in its box for one more day. I can’t wait to make some smoothies and raw ice-cream.
Feb 02 2009
After work I attended my first kettlebell class.
All I wanted to say was that I loved it. I couldn’t believe something that looks so easy can take so much out of you. I will be buying my own set of kettlebells and doing this more often.
Unfortunately the classes are only on weekly so I will have to wait another week before I try them again.
Feb 01 2009
I am raring to start a new 12 week phase of Project Ripped. I have made a few mistakes since finishing phase 1. I was so pleased with my progress last summer and was disappointed to jump on the scales a few weeks ago and see that I had added so much fat to my frame.
The things that worked for me last summer were:
When I finished phase 1 a number of things happened. Work became more stressful starting a new school year and with too many examination groups to manage. The weather turned and the nights shortened making cycling, my preferred exercise activity last summer, much more difficult to fit in. I definitely couldn’t do it mid week after October due to darkness. Finally, all of the nice fresh vegetables I grew in the garden came to an end as the growing season finished.
Foolishly I gradually reverted to a standard british diet of cooked food and even worse started eating sweet snacks.
Over the last 3 weeks I have cut out all junk foods and have started to eat more and more raw food in an effort to get my health back. I had noticed poor health before I had noticed the weight gain - fatigue, headaches and a bloated torso. Most of these things have gone again now although I do have a few headaches that I think I am getting from the detox.
Here are my starting statistics (along with my starting statistics at the start of phase 1):
No photo today as it is freezing out in the garage where I normally take the photos. First photo of this phase next Sunday when I will hopefully have found a warmer alternative.
Goals for this phase are to regain maximum health and get rid of some of the niggling annoyances that hound me and to get my waist down to at most 34″. By the end of the summer I would like to be leaner than I ever have.
My plan is to eat as close to a 100% Raw diet as is practically possible, do some colon and liver cleansing, try some alternative exercises such as the kettlebells and manage my stress levels.
Jan 28 2009
I have decided to start Phase 2 again on Sunday.
I have spent the last week trying to cleanse my colon with oxy powder and have been adhering to my raw eating schedule similar to last summer of a raw fruit smoothie for breakfast and lunch. I have also made some raw treats such as goji fudge, raw chocolate brownies and raw chocolate.
Although I have had a few ‘detox’ headaches and been through a bit of an energy roller-coaster over the last week I must say I am feeling pretty good right now. Gone are most of the niggles that have been bothring me over the winter. Work is still extrememly tiring but I am feeling a bit better about handling it at the moment.
On Phase 2 I plan to post weekly photos for weekly accountability. I don’t eat 100% raw food at the moment and I intend to make the switch during phase 2. I will post through the week only when there is something of interest to write about. My goals in phase 2 are firstly health related and secondly as a consequence of good health to lower my body fat and increase my muscle tone.
I have some real tough weeks ahead at work with a completely unrealistic schedule of work. It should all be over by the end of April. I am in two minds about continuing in teaching next year. I enjoy the classroom aspect of helping people to learn but am frustrated by increasing amounts of paper work and bureaucracy. The credit crunch may help me to make my mind up to stay but I will see how I feel over the coming weeks.
My daily accountability is to maintain:
If I do each of these things every day then I will regain my health and lose the body fat.
Jan 20 2009
Having hovered around or about 12 stone and 1 lb for a few months since the end of Phase 1 in September 2008 I was horrified to get on the scales in the new year and weigh 12 lbs. heavier. I had been feeling quite unwell for about a week after Xmas and had a suspicion this was just down to the usual over-eating over the festive period.
So, I have started to prepare myself for a new phase by attempting to get back down to 12 stone before starting . Over the last couple of weeks here are my basic weights:
I have managed the weight loss by reverting to a healthy and predominantly raw diet. I have fruit juices for breakfast and lunch and have made some raw chocolate and brownies. I share a cooked meal with my family during the evening and have a superfood drink before bed. It is amazing how much better I feel in only two weeks.
I have been reading an excellent book by Mike Nash over the last week called Agressive Health. Although little of it is new to me it contains most of the things I have come to believe, and more, over the last year. I watched a video of Mike on YouTube and was surprised to see his kitchen full of the same things that I have - cacoa beans and powder, maca, mesquite, suma, agave nectar, etc.
The one thing that Mike has reminded me about was the power of green food and sprouts. Although I never did it last summer I am going to grow my own wheatgrass and juice it each morning. I have started some sprouts but they will not be ready for eating for another couple of days. I don’t have any wheatgrass seeds yet.
I am also looking to buy some kettlebells. I read about these a long time ago but never understood their appeal. With a little background reading and research I think I get it now. Kettlebells give all the benefits of resistance training but with a better ‘useable’ fitness as the muscles are worked together.
I will use the next few weeks to slowly get back in to exercise again and then I will start a new phase to see what sort of progress I make and to try to get closer to the goal of becoming healthy and ripped.
Jan 12 2009
Happy new year everyone.
I have been ‘out of the game’ for a while with the tiredness of work, etc. I have been suffering a real lack of energy and my diet also suffered as I sunk into a bit of a low.
Over the Xmas break I ate a little more than I should and put a bit of weight back on. The two weeks off work did me a world of good though and gave me some breathing space to see the world as it really is. Depending on this recession, and the right opportunity presenting itself, I will find work at the end of the year on something that energises me and not drains me.
The good news is that I have started eating some more raw food again and have started to feel instantly better. I have even lost 5 lbs of weight from the Xmas ‘pile-on’.
Now is the time to start planning for 2009 and losing the rest of the body fat. This time next year I could be in the single figure body fat %.
I am thinking HIIT for the coming year. I’m not sure of my exact direction yet but I am ready to start something new in February with accountability.
All I need to do now is view some of the shredders blogs for motivation - thanks guys and girls.
Nov 05 2008
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has sent my kind comments and encouragement. It means a lot to me.
I just wanted to give you all an update. My illness is dragging on and I am still unwell. I have something on my lungs and find myself coughing if I talk for too long. I am reluctant to get anti-biotics and prefer to have my body heal itself naturally but if this carries on for another fortnight then I will take myself off to the doctors.
I am finding myself tired. For example, when I came home from work today I couldn’t keep myself awake. At 5:30pm I took myself off to bed and fell in to a deep sleep. I woke about 10:00pm but then went off to bed again a bit later for the night.
It looks like I have missed out on the group shred this time round but hopefully I can join another one in the future.
Getting ill like this does make me think about my life and the causes. I feel everything stems back to work as that is the main activity that fills my day. As a high school teacher I do find it stressful and it does take a lot of energy out of me, leaving me without the energy to do other things in the evening. It also exposes me to lots of germs as over 100 different children pass through my classroom each day.
The energy draining aspects of the job seem to cause me to go in to a downward spiral of sleeping, inactivity and losing the energy and will to eat healthily.
For the sake of my health I am seriously considering changing my career at the end of this school year.
Oct 28 2008
Just a quick note to let you know that I haven’t posted anything yet as I am still unwell. My joints are very sore and I am really tired. It feels like flu like sympoms so I am resting fully until I feel a bit better. I will join the group shred as soon as I am over the worst.
Good luck to everyone else.
Oct 27 2008
Thanks to all of you leaving comments and asking where I have been.
After finishing my first 12 week phase I had planned to take a week off and start my next phase. Pressures of being back at work, the end of plentiful fresh raw food as we enter Autumn and falling in to a spiral of ever increasing tiredness saw me delaying the start of Phase 2.
I have still weighed myself every Sunday and I have been hovering around the 12 stone 1 lb. mark that I was at when I finished Phase 1. So, in theory, I haven’t put any weight on. Although I haven’t eaten ‘clean’ I have been very careful not to over eat.
I really want to get down to 11 stone in weight and start to lose quite a few more body fat percentages so now is a good time to restart my next phase.
I have had various colds with sore throats, headaches, coughs and runny noses over the last 3 weeks. I guess that this is the result of not eating as well, not exercising and suffering from the stress of work. After starting this new year at school I do wonder if I should be working in something else. I love what I do but it takes every last bit of energy from me leaving me like a hollow shell at the end of every day.
It was a coincidence for me to receive an email from Adam Waters inviting me to be part of a two week group shred. This is just the incentive I needed to get back in to things. I could quite easily have taken another week off. Thanks Adam and to all of you who suggested a group shred.
Sep 21 2008
Today is the start of a new phase - Phase 2. Phase 2 aims to get me down to a single digit body fat percentage.
What better way to start off a new phase than with another physical challenge. This morning was a team relay cycle race for charity around the 37.7 mile mountain TT course. Our school put in a team and I was on the third leg. My leg started with a steep climb followed by a long decent and then some flat. I would estimate this leg to be about 8 miles long. For the first time in a long time I was following other riders and this caused me to push myself harder than I normally would. I was exhausted, my heart was pounding and my lungs were exploding. I was trying to reel in a rider in front that was about 400m ahead at the start and about 50m by the end of the leg.
Overall we finished 12th out of 25 teams and it was quite humbling to see a team of young teenagers come in second position. One of our team was a 15 year old student who set the fastest time of any rider on the first leg. These youngsters are very impressive.
A few key statistics to start this phase off include:
Similar to the last phase I will use a bit of intuition and feedback to guide myself through the process rather than stick to a rigid plan. Having said that I plan to do some running, cycling, resistance training and, for the first time, some HIIT training.
I will continue to try to eat predominantly raw food and see this as more of a challenge as we head in to Autumn and Winter without our fresh garden produce.
The following photograph shows my starting physique on Day 1 of Phase 2.
Although my side profile looks so much better than my starting profile in this phase I am looking for my lower torso to become extremely lean. I would like to see the small overhand over the shorts disappear and perhaps for my abdominal wall to become parallel with my back.
Looking at the front I am looking to see a lot more definition in my abdominals and also a reduction in the fat deposits around my chest. Although I have lost a lot of fat from around my pectorals I would like to see this fat reduce to just a very then covering of skin where I can see only the shape of my chest muscles.
At the back I would like to get rid of the bulge around my waist. It has reduced significantly during Phase 1 but there is still a pronounced bulge there. I would like to see the bulge disappear completely during Phase 2 and see my lats clearly displayed with only a thin covering of fat and skin. It would be nice to have a more defined shoulder and tricep area.
