Half way there!

I've pushed hard with the running to get back on track and racked up over 190k for June. That's got me over half way on my Under Armour You VS the Year 2017 Challenge.

Top 2% for my age group isn't too shabby either.

I've just signed up for my first paid race, the 5.30 at Brighton. Running at 0530 doesn't seem ideal but some good charities and should be a good experience.

When a weight gain is good!

Back from the gym this morning, started with a Boditrax scan followed by a 5k run and then some weights. I've pushed harder on the runs this week, added in some sprint sections and increased the weights significantly. I'm at 462/1017 on the Under Armour You Vs The Year challenge so well on track to complete this years running goal. Actually, the graphic below looks great, top 3% and 4977/198729 for my age group isnt bad for a newbie.

The scales this morning showed my weight had increase 0.5kg so I was a little despondent after over 5k everyday and eating very carefully. However, the Boditrax scan put a smile back on. A kilo of fat lost and 1.5 kilos of muscle gain, more than happy with gaining weight today! Fat percentage is now down to 12.4%, compared to my first scan result of 21.3% and I'm only 1.6Kg away from my initial muscle mass weight of 57kg. 

I've set the goal for the next reading to drop another 1%. Looks like this weekend is going to be great weatherwise so time to go off and enjoy it!

Is this thing on?

I've been wrapped up with training and now well beyond my target and at 66Kg and my goal this year is to complete the Under Armour You vs Year 2017 challenge of 1017k in the year. I'm slightly behind target due to injuries but only by 30k. Lately I've been thinking about diets, fads and how many people approach dieting and how success often leads to failure. I'm included in that camp, well I'd like to think I used to be included in that camp. Previously I've dieted, achieved success and then in next to no time I'm back where I started and more often than not I weigh more. Simply because the diet works, but my lifestyle didnt.

 This time around, my lifestyle has changed and I can pretty much eat what I want although my sweet tooth seems to have gone and for the first time in my life I actually enjoy salads! Diets are short term gains, and they need to be seen that way. If you can't maintain the diet, you'll put the weight back on as soon as you finish. If your diet leaves you hungry, its not sustainable. Pretty obvious really but the amount of  diet books, pills and the whole diet industry seems to be capitalise on the quick fix rather than the lifestyle change needed.

 My diets worked, I've eaten healthier for sure and exercised but the key has been to consume less calories. Exercise has given me calories in the bank to eat more if I want so I havent had to be strict and I don't walk around hungry all the time. My magic number in terms of calories, was 1600 a day, and thats before my excerices "banked" calories which are usually around 500 or so.

Breakfast is typically around 500 calories, and lately it's been Overnight Oats, usually the Peanut Butter version. I find this fills me up and gives a good mix of Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates to keep me going through the morning.

Lunch varies, quite often it's Eggs of some description or Chicken Salad.

Dinner, is whatever my wife makes. Meats & Salad or a Slimming World recipe (shes a member and I must admit I enjoy some of the recipes).

My only concession to the Diet industry is Protein shakes. Tracking my food with MyPlate shows I was struggling to hit the protein requirements and an SIS Whey protein is usually my top up after a workout.