Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles


Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup Brown Rice
2 cups Stir Fry Veg
Hoisin Sauce

100g Chicken
1 cup Brown Rice
2 cups Stir Fry Veg
Hoisin Sauce
3 Chocolate Digestives

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

TGUs 5/5 @ 16kgs KB in 5 mins
Goblet Squats 5 x 3 @ 16kgs KB

Two Handed Swings - 8/12 secs for 60 rounds @ 16kgs
(5 swings every 8 secs for a total of 300)

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

sunday roast dinner
apple pie & ice cream

Tuna, Onion, Lettuce, Tomato and salad cream
2 x wholemeal Pitta bread
2 x Slice of carrot cake
5 Chocolate digestives
1/2 pint of semi skimmed milk

Ooops - may have over done it today on bumping my caloires up. TWO slices of carrot cake and FIVE chocy digestives is just greedy! I did go for 2 long walks today so not to worry.

My shoulder is still a bit sore and I felt it especially when I needed to floor press the KB on my right side at the start of TGUs. Z-Health drills take the pain away, but only temporarily it seems.

Still, overall I am hurtling towards my goals and feeling better and looking better by the day!

Sunday weigh in:

200.4lbs @ 31% on tanita scales / 26.5% accumeasure calipers

Both worked out at a tiny amount of LBM loss and the vast majority of the 2.6lbs loss coming from BF.

I am very happy with my progress which takes me up to just under 18lbs in 6 weeks (I think thats when I started off).

So no changes necessary for the coming week. I have been reading A LOT on nutrition lately and have a lot of good solid ideas on what to do when weight loss stops or slows. But if it ain't broke then don't fix it!

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Bit of discomfort in shoulders today again

Few sets of 5 Goblet Squats @ 16kgs
5 GTG sets of 6 Assisted Pull ups
3 mile walk

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup Brown Rice
2 cups Stir Fry Veg
Schezwan Sauce

100g Chicken
1 cup Brown Rice
2 cups Stir Fry Veg
Hoisin Sauce

Friday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Bit of discomfort in shoulders today - TGUs?

Few sets of 5 Goblet Squats @ 16kgs
5 GTG sets of 6 Assisted Pull ups
Good long walk before breakfast

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup Brown Rice
2 cups Stir Fry Veg
Schezwan Sauce

Can of Tuna
1 Large baked potato
1 cup peppers
Red Onion, Tomato & Lettuce
Cajun Dressing

Sleeping patterns are messed up with work recently and I spent Friday catching up with a good 1 1/2 hr sleep in the afternoon. Also as I write this on Saturday I slept in until 10:30 this morning which was over 10 hrs sleep last night.

I've noticed in the past that I sleep a LOT when I'm losing weight well. I had weighed myself on Wednesday to see I had gained on Sunday's weigh in, but I felt confident that I would have lost that and more when I jumped on this morning.

Down to 201lbs and the scales read 31% BF (which is lower than last week but not necessarily accurate).

Thursday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Assisted face the Wall Squats 2 x 5 @ 16kgs KB
TGUs 4/4 @ 16kgs KB

Two Handed Swings - 8/12 secs for 60 rounds @ 16kgs
(5 swings every 8 secs for a total of 300)

Food Intake:
SuperShake
2 scoops protein
300ml skimmed milk
1/2 banana
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup oats
tsp Cod Liver Oil

4 x Wholemeal Bread
100g Chicken
1 slice Bacon
Tomato & Letuce
Salad cream

5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
Green Tea

Was working on Thursday but it was an easy day and I got back early. Really enjoyed the training which surprised me a little as I only got 3 hours sleep the night before.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Pull Ups - 1 @ BW.....yay!!

Food Intake: Maintenance calories (and probably a little bit more!)
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

Mars bar & cup of tea

100g Chicken
3 whole wheat Tortillas
1 cup peppers & red onion
Salsa & guacomole

100g Chicken
1 whole egg
1 cup brown rice
2 cups stir fry
Hoisin sauce

Mars bar & cup of tea

Haven't done any training in the last few days as I've been steady at work. Tonight though, fuelled by chocolate, I thought I'd try a pull up as I passed by the bar on my way to the clothes line. (Time was when I'd pass by the clothes line on my way to the bar but that's another story!)

Easy at the bottom, had to pull hard for the last few inches and barely got my chin over the bar. It will get a easier as I lose weight obviously, but good to see I managed one at this weight. Might be good for 5 when I drop another 20-30lbs and then I can look into the HKC.

Tuesday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Working all day

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

Can of tuna
4 x wholemeal bread
1 cup peppers
Cajun Dressing

Can of Tuna
1 Large baked potato
1 cup peppers
Red Onion & Lettuce
Cajun Dressing

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Work day: Knackered.

Food Intake:
SuperShake
2 scoops protein
300ml skimmed milk
1/2 banana
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup oats
tsp Cod Liver Oil

4 x Wholemeal Bread
Can of Salmon
Peppers & Letuce
Cajun Sauce

5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

TGUs 2/2 @ 16kgs KB
Assisted face the Wall Squats 2 x 5 @ 16kgs KB

Two Handed Swings - 8/12 secs for 60 rounds @ 16kgs
(5 swings every 8 secs for a total of 300)

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

sunday roast dinner
cheesecake, ice cream and cream (mmmmm)

Chicken and stuffing sandwich
2 x wholemeal bread
Slice of carrot cake
3 cookies
1/2 pint of semi skimmed milk

Probably went a little bit overboard today with the calories and actually feel a little bloated and tired. Not to worry though I have a physical week coming up and I did a fair old session of training today as well.

TGUs were good and I felt like I could do a few more of those no worries. I think that the swing session I'm doing is spot on for me; not too gruelling but plenty challenging and gets the sweat dripping.

Sunday weigh in:

203lbs @ 31.1% on tanita scales

A drop of over 4lbs in fat and an increase in 2lbs of muscle this week! I could live with that!

Unfortunately I have no idea if it's true or not as the scales are just so irregular and from what I've read across a few different sources, very inaccurate. I've never actually believed I was over 30% flab anyway.

Apparently much more accurate (but still only a guide) are the accumeasure calipers I bought this week. According to a study conducted by the NSCA they gave pretty accurate results as compared to the gold standard of underwater weighing all from a reading taken from one site of the body. Good enough for me.

From now on they will take the lead from all the other means of determining my progress including, scales, mirror/pics, measurements and strength levels. Also as it turns out my bodyfat % reading is around 4% less with them! Yay! So I've instantly lost 8lbs of fat and gain 8lbs of muscle. Now if only I can bottle it and sell it.

This is my rather long winded way of saying that I'm changing focus for the way I determine progress. In the end it doesn't matter as I may reach my target and decide that I've still too much BF or even not enough. It is simply a more reliable way to give me some idea of my progress and when I may need to change things up.

Incidently I do not need to change things up currently; I'm dropping steady at a sensible rate** with only a general measuring of foods using cups and by eye. So everthing stays as is: bring on the massive sunday lunch and dessert!

**I was wondering about the rate of fat loss and where the 1-2lbs per week comes from and if there were exceptions to the rule or not. You see a lot of diets claiming 20lbs in 20 days or read testimonials where bigger guys/gals have lost up to 4lbs per week while still maintaining or increasing muscle mass and strength. mc had told me earlier in the week that I was losing too fast but in the next breath saying as long as I was eating over 75grams of protein per day she doubted I'd be losing muscle. I told her that I had it to lose though, and she told me that it didn't matter.

From experience I disagree with this statement. I've lost a stone or more in a month without feeling any weaker when I've been 35-50lbs overweight. Though I don't have training/body comp data to back it up. I did find reference to a study though which does side with me.

Basically speaking if carrying a lot of excess fat you can create a bigger calorie deficit without your body panicing, going into stravation mode and canabolising muscle. This can be true up to a limit of around a 4lbs lose per week. After this it seems that muscle loss will kick in despite even massive stores of fat. We'd need a 14000kcal deficit for 4lbs a week.

As you become leaner though you need to be more and more conservative with your deficit to the point where bodybuilders / fitness models will create a deficit where they may only look to lose 1/2 lb per week so that they lose none of their precious muscle.

The upshot of it all is that 1-2lbs is the middle of the road recommendation to the average person who isn't massively overweight and doesn't want to get shreaded. At either end of this scale there is certainly scope for increasing and decreasing it. As I'm beginning to see more and more with this business it comes down to the (relevant) numbers.

As for me, I'm happy with what I'm getting and as I said will be changing nothing. I have a heavy work schedule coming up this week so it will be interesting to see the effect the extra calories burned will have on my body comp.

Saturday

Z-Health - first day I've missed doing Z Health since I started this blog again. Writing this on Sunday (still not having done any today so far) I can tell you that I still feel pretty good and in no pain. Don't know how long it would take the pain to come back, nor do I have any intention of finding out. DO YOUR Z HEALTH EVERYDAY!!

GTG assisted Chin Ups - about 50 reps

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
3 whole wheat tortillas
1 cup peppers
Salsa & Guacomole

Can of Tuna
1 Large baked potato
1 cup peppers
Red Onion & Lettuce
Cajun Dressing

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

"naked" TGUs 5/5
Assisted face the Wall Squats 2 x 5

GTG assisted Chin Ups - about 25 reps only

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 whole egg
1 cup brown rice
2 cups stir fry
Hoisin sauce

100g Chicken
1 whole egg
1 cup brown rice
2 cups stir fry
Hoisin sauce

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

"naked" TGUs 5/5
Assisted face the Wall Squats 2 x 5

Two Handed Swings - 8/12 secs for 60 rounds @ 16kgs
(5 swings every 8 secs for a total of 300)

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 whole egg
1 cup brown rice
2 cups stir fry
Hoisin sauce

1 Can of Tuna in water
1 Medium Baked Potato
Peppers, Red Onion and Lettuce
Cajun dressing

Been ages since I've had a baked potato - t'was lovely!

Training went well tonight. When I first did a few TGUs a little while back I was wrecked after only a couple of them. Tonight's by comparison felt easy....I may add weight.

I also think that I am getting very close to a proper squat. I had an aha moment tonight after doing face the wall squats and did a bw squat to just about paralell with an very upright posture for once. I think I learned the muscles I need to use. It's only taken me 3 or 4 years!

Swings were very easy on the lungs but I was sweating rightly and the muscles in my legs will no doubt feel it tomorrow. Good session though that had me finishing with a smile on my face and feeling really good.

I got some accu-measure calipers in today. I don't trust my tanita scales for body fat readings, they are all over the place day to day. I'm hoping the calipers can give me a more accurate display that I'm losing fat and not muscle though I'm not exactly sure of what way will be best for me to use them.

Swing Sets/Reps Clarification

Cheers Paul - good to know I have at least one visitor ;)

MC timed me doing a set of 5 swings: worked out at 8 secs. Then she said "Oh this will work out perfectly! At least it does with cyclists, so it should for swings." I'm a guinea pig I think.

So the craic is to do a set of 5 swings (8 secs on) and then rest for 12 secs. Repeat for 20 mins which is 60 rounds.

I thought to myself that there's no way I'd get close to going for 20 minutes, but it was actually pretty easy. Though my glutes and hams have been letting me know about it ever since.

Should be noted that my focus at the minute is fat loss and practice of the three lifts for HKC.

I also discussed how I'd get up to some decent numbers in swings in the past and just be absolutely ravenous, then break down and binge....for around 2 months. The reply was that there was absolutely no need for that level of work if I was looking for fat loss. I should be lossing a steady 1-2lbs per week and feeling stronger as the weeks go by with my KB practice.

Sounds good to me!!

Wednesday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Work Day: Messed around with a few TGUs and GTG sets of pull ups. Very stiff and sore from the swing session on Monday and the physical work over the last few days.

Back had been giving me a little cause for concern but managed to hold up to the lifting, dragging and twisting.

Food Intake: Up calories on Wednesday
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

Galaxy Chocolate Muffin
1/2 packet of Maryland Choc Chip cookies
While I watched the "Noisy Neighbours" getting pipped for 4th spot by Spurs!

Tuesday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Work Day: No training

Food Intake:
SuperShake
2 scoops protein
300ml skimmed milk
1/2 banana
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup oats
tsp Cod Liver Oil

100g Chicken
50g Wheat Pasta
Peppers & Tomato sauce

5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
Green Tea

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Session with mc - went over TGUs, Swings and Squats. Pretty good overall, few little tweaks here and there for the TGUs, swings are solid and the squats are coming along. We talked diet for a while, but I think I am pretty solid there too. She suggested a few ways to incorporate all the stuff I'm working on into practice and fat loss sessions - I will post when I get some notes through .

I did a swing session after based on one of things she mentioned:
Two Handed Swings - 8/12 secs for 56 rounds @ 16kgs
(5 swings every 8 secs for a total of 280 in about 19 mins)

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

Tweaked my back a little doing the swings so I stopped short of the 20 min/60 set mark. Doesn't seem to be too much wrong with it but will monitor.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

Sunday Lunch - Roast beef
Gateau, Ice cream and Cream

100g Chicken
3 x Wheat Tortillas
Peppers
Salsa
Guacamole

Lost another 1.5lbs this week so 13lbs in a month. My BF% went up from last week though. It may be a blip from my scales as I was at under 33% last night - or it may be to do with fitday playing tricks on me. I'm looking for 600kcals per meal (extra calories on wednesday and sunday) which I worked out from fitday. I was making dinner tonight and saw from the packaging that the tortillas are 200kcals each. I think I need to go through my food quantities again now to make sure I'm getting the right amount. Also I need to weigh them for a little while until I can get a good idea of portion sizes.

I have been doing some fat loss research and it seems that there are three compontents to fat loss; Calorie Deficit, Cardio and Resistance Training. I've been out walking before breakfast everyday for cardio but I've had no real resistance training to speak of. Could this be why my scales say I'm losing muscle?

I have another session with mc tomorrow so I can put this to her and see what she considers the formula for fat loss.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
3 fish oil capsules
Green Tea

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

100g Chicken
1 cup brown rice
2 cups broccoli
Cajun dressing

I know that this has turned into just me listing my food intake in the last week, but that should change soon. I haven't been doing the pull ups / squats / TGUs with enough regularity to include them here. I should be having a session with mc this coming week and getting some stuff for fat loss to do.

Friday
Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Food Intake:
SuperShake
2 scoops protein
300ml skimmed milk
1/2 banana
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup oats
tsp Cod Liver Oil

100g Chicken
3 Wheat Tortillas
Salad
Salsa & Gaucomole

5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
Green Tea