So, we’re 1 month into sleekgeek – well 4 weeks.. of 12, and I’ve already had it tough. I feel my diet is slipping a little from being the good little boy I have been, to cheating every few days. Which is 100% better than I WAS doing.. but still – a Mc Donalds at 2am is never a particularly wise idea…. (I know.. I know).

Add to that an ice cream I had when I took my daughter for a walk on the beach on Sunday – but I’m going with that one being forgivable..

I ALSO only exercised 4 times last week, circumstantially missing opportunities Friday (ate late, was 10pm before I could run), Saturday (had 101 things on.. also woke at 1pm with my ankle hurting) and Sunday (woke up late, had my girl and fell asleep putting her to bed, waking up at about 10:30..) – but lame excuses aside, I didn’t get any exercise in this weekend, and I ate badly. So virtual hand slap.. and we’re moving on.

Had a great (10pm) night run tonight. Really enjoyed it! Trying to run a little earlier in the evening, but my daughter took her time to get to sleep, and I needed to make sure she was really asleep before I went.. (don’t worry, my folks are here to look after her while I run).

The run was good, and I really enjoyed it, knocking 20-odd seconds off my current best and almost a minute off my last time. You can check it out on Runkeeper.

I hit the gym both Tuesday (on my own) and Thursday with Justin, and think it’s going well. I can feel my strength building, I’m just struggling to track it well on Fitocracy because when I’m with Justin I just do what he says… and don’t really take notes. I have my notes from Tuesday still, so need to add that in.

As we’re hitting the 2nd part of the 3 (imaginary) legs for sleekgeek, I figured I want to ramp things up a bit, and exercise 6 times a week – currently 3 days run, 3 days gym. I also need to set Sunday afternoons or some time aside for organising my lunches, because I’m getting lazy and then, although I end up eating ok (salad from woolies, and chicken either from there or Nandos – because I can get breast at Nandos -woolies just does thigh/leg which is more fatty) – but it’s obviously more pricey.. – my whole week’s chicken costs the same as one days, more-or-less. (the salads are pretty reasonable at about R18-R20 though.

ooh! also – I’ve started on some protein shake, getting (2.7kg.. of) the Evox Synergy Whey Protein shake (2.2 Cookies and Cream and a complimentary 500gm Chocolate). So added it to my oats this morning and think I’ll introduce it as an afternoon snack, but will chat with Justin again as to the best times to have it.

On that note, Diskem has awesome prices – a lot cheaper than most anywhere else (if you can find it cheaper… let me know ) – but the bloke there was pretty unhelpful and just chatted to his bulked up friend about roids or something – ok probably not that, but I wasn’t listening.. and he wasn’t helping me. But I got on fine myself, some advice would have been handy though.

Ok, measurements. As usual, I’ll weigh-in tomorrow, but my tape measures are as follows (with pics following) :

Waist: 109 [-1] - seems I have a consistent waist loss of 1cm/week. So that’s sticking with the norm at least
Tummy: 112 [-1.5] – I’m finding measurements on this to be testy.. but let’s go with 112.
Chest: 112 [+2] mmmm. not sure what’s going on here. could be muscle growth a little, hopefully? otherwise CRAP!!
Bicep: 38 [+2] at least my biceps are getting a little bigger yay!

So, mixed feelings on that progress. my belt has stayed on the same notch for the last week, but it has seemed to be getting looser on it, and I’ve pushed onto the last one once or twice. I do think that this is evidence that I need to tighten up my eating and start behaving myself. I’m in this to win it, and I’ve just been buggering around a bit the last few days.. so it’s time to pull my socks up.

Pics:

It’s been a slow week. I started feeling sick on Monday, and thankfully managed to contain it, so it never really got bad, but I took a break from all exercise to give my body a chance to catch up. On top of that, it’s been a bit of a cheat-week with more than once a naughty something or other slipping in. It started last week Saturday with Dan’s birthday (which I think I mentioned in my last post) – where I had some pink drinks, and nachos. Nothing too crazy – although I’m pretty sure the frozen strawberry/litchi daiquiris didn’t do me any favours. Neither did the Cobra beer or staying up ’til 4am.. Which explains the onset of the cold this week. Then, Tuesday was Valentine’s day, and although I stayed home with my folks, the dinner was a little extravagant for my lean, no sugar, no ‘bad’ carbs diet. I mostly behaved, eating 1 slice of wholegrain ‘health’ loaf stuff, and a small-ish bite of white olive bread.. other than that, I think everything else was pretty copacetic.

The rest of the week went well, if I remember correctly, although Saturday was my sister-in-law’s birthday party.. (these parties are killing my diet) but I tried to keep things as on-par as possible, ordering steamed-hake-stuffed calamari tubes and ribs – but that was basted THICK in some sweet tomatoie substance, which I did my best to scrape off, but think I failed a little.. so that was that.

Then yesterday we went to lunch for my sisinlaw’s birthday, and I had a light windhoek – well not even 50% actually. OH YES – also had a Castle Light (1) on Friday night. Followed it up with a few Jameson’s on 2 rocks, which, I believe, is preferable.

And then after lunch yesterday (some yum chicken breast on tomatoe, a bit of pumpkin, brie and some other veggies), we had an !icecream!..oooh. so that was me mis-behaving, and no exercise. Probably the naughtiest week so far. I forgot something else – last sunday I had 6 blocks of Beacon chocolate – we were watching an ice ballet, ok.. it was a necessity! although that works out to about 30g, I think – so can’t be toooo bad..

The highlight of my week came Friday night, when my best mate, Chris, spilt beer all over the only pants (shorts) I had with me.. and I was staying over the night. So being the nice friend he is, he lent me a pair of his jeans for me to sleep in. Only concern was, for the last 5 years, I’ve been a size 40. His jeans for a 36. Best news ever – They fitted like a glove!! that’s 2 whole frigging sizes down! (granted, according to his admission, they were a ‘big’ 36 – but I’m taking the win when I see it! 2 whole sizes!!)

With all that in the back of your mind, here’s my stats for this last week:

tummy 113.5 [-0.5] (I’m quite stoked I lost anything at all)
waist 110 [-0.5]
chest 110 [-1]
biceps 36 [-1] (don’t think this is great.. but it’ll come right soon!

Pics:

It’s been an interesting few days. Feeling a bit sick – but think I brought that on myself. Had a late night Saturday with Dan’s birthday party – was lots of fun, but was also a tiny sleep night. Sunday I went with my folks and a friend to watch the Nutcracker on ice – was awesome!

But misbehaved a little – had nachos and pink drinks on Saturday, and a few blocks of chocolate on Sunday. And then a slice of wholewheat bread tonight.. So.. a little naughty – but not to bad after all that – had planned to cheat a bit this weekend anyway. The real crappy bit was the lack of exercise – last time I ran was Saturday – was going to run last night, but was feeling like I had a cold already..

The good side is that I’m fitting well into my suit jacket – first time since I bought it – and then it was a tight fit – now it’s snug. Also, my belt has gone from hole 3 to 6 – so exited about that!

But with that said.. I did my measuries today – here’s the rub:

tummy 114 [-2.5]
waist 110.5 [-1]
chest 111 [-1]
bicep 37 [-]

So, there’s still movement! I’m not sure why my waist isn’t shrinking as fast (according to the tape measure) – it’s weird because my belt says i’ve lost at least 5-10cm in belt length.. so not sure how that works.

Pics:

It’s been a tough week. From a diet point of view, I’ve kept a pretty tight ship (brocolli, rice, peppars, cottage cheese and chicken strips makes for a great lunch). Besides a bit of popcorn here and there and a mielie today ..I’m going to refrain for corn-based jokes.. things have kept on steadily. However, the exercise has been.. strained. My run on Monday went well. Great in fact. And my weigh-in on Tuesday tipped me into a great mood as I lost 3kgs. But I got into the gym a little late Tuesday, and although I left feeling pretty wasted – so that’s good – but, it was a little short.  Then Wednesday I woke with an incredibly pained left ankle, which I can only think is a result of the squats I did. And that left me a little unhappy.. and unable to run on Wednesday. Thursday’s gym session went well-ish.. but not great and ended feeling a little faint. But I was a bit of a noob and ate too much dinner (Trout and veggies – it was great, but ate a little close to gym time.. ) so felt blegh-ish and stopped. Then, tonight I was *going* to go run.. but my folks decided on a night out, so that’s that. I’ll have to pull a day-run tomorrow. it *was* going to be my day-off as I have my Dandan’s birthday party, but oh, well.

And that’s about that. I’ll catch you all up soonish again! Love you all. kinda.

So, I weighed myself today and I’m down to 116.5kg! That’s a 2.7kg drop from Thursday’s weigh-in (or 1.9kg from the 118.4kg I’d weighed in 2 days before). So, that’s awesome news! Things are going well and I feel like I’m slipping into a good routine here.

Onto my WeightTrain. My trainer was ill today, so I hit my gym session on my own. Everything went well – here’s what I did:

Seated Chest press
20 x 35kg
11 x 45kg
5×45, 3x 40

Lat pull down
20 x 45k
15 x 45
6 x 55

Lateral raises | arm curls
20 x 4 / 21 x 8k
15 x 4 / 15 x 8
10 x 4 / 12 x 8

Tricep dips (body weight)
18, 12, 8

Leg extensions
3 x 50, 18 x 40
17 x 35
17 x 35

Squats
30 x 20k
20 x 30k

Ok, so I officially weighed in for SleekGeek on the second feb – some 5 days ago. I tape-measured myself today – will do my weight & fat % tomorrow.

Here are the results. I’m quite happy with them!

The first set of brackets is compared to my tape measurements I did last monday. The second set is compared with the sleekgeek stats done last Thursday.

tummy 116.5 [-4.5] [-3.5]
chest 112 [-3] [-1]
thigh 65.5 [-4.5] [-.5]
neck 45 [+1] [-]
bicep 37 [+2] [+1.5]
wrist 20 [-] [-]
waist 111.5 [-0.5] [N/A]

So, a good week overall! I’ve lost a total of 4.5cm on my tum in 1 week! that’s awesome! and a total tummy loss of 5.5cm. My waist isn’t that hectic yet, but I think it’ll get there. Good loss (-3) on my chest, which is cool, plus a bit of muscle growth presumably. Not sure what a bigger neck means – but I’m hoping it’s a good thing. And I’m a little flummoxed as to why my thigh seems thinner.. maybe there was fat on it.. but I’ve been running and gyming on them, so would have though they’d be getting bigger, not smaller.. oh well, I’ll track it over time

From a workout point of view, I’ve gymed on Thursday -damn it was a hard one! Friday was a rest day. Saturday saw me getting some new shoes and doing my first day run, which was interesting. Sunday I rested again, and then went for a decent run tonight again which went well. All-in-all, Monday – Sunday last week, I exercised 5 times, which is bang on target, although I’d like to start increasing that over the next few weeks.

Pics:

I got my SleekGeek stats today, so thought I’d put them up on here. Makes for decent tracking, and I can compare the measurements I took on Monday.

Alright:

Tummy: 120cm (-1cm)
Chest:113 (-3cm)
Thigh: 66 (-4cm) – granted, it’s based on a pinky-to-thumb measurement from the knee – and my hands are bigger than the dude who took it.. so that’s probably the reason.
Neck: 45 (+1) – not sure what this means…
Bicep: 35 1/2 (+ 1/2)
Wrist: 19 (-1cm) – also not sure what this means…
Height: 1.88 (-)
Weight:119.2 (+1kg – weighed in yesterday (different scale, different time of day & different clothes – and was around 118)
Fat% 31.2 (done on Virgin’s machine thing – so can’t be compared with the stats I got from my trainer. I do think it’s gone down a bit from last time though – when testing on the same system)

So not vastly different than my own readings – in all honesty, these could be more accurate – dunno.

Also did my 3rd street run, earning me a foursquare badge hehe. You can see the run here.

Feeling totally drained and quite hungry after my gym session today. Had a smaller dinner, so maybe that has something to do with it, but really feel like I pushed it – could feel the energy draining from me as I pushed through the hour.

I also joined up to Men’s Health’s Belly Off Challenge. There’s some huge prizes for nothing down, so that’s pretty cool.

I’m finding it a strange thing – each day I oscillate between being excited about gyming, weightloss and the rest, and being mortified, and rather dreading the next run/weights session. And then afterwards, usually, I have an almost post-coitus glow about me.. It’s quite refreshing really, although right now I’m feeling a little thirsty so I’m going downstairs to grab a water. chow!

I did my second StreetRun tonight – at about 9:25. It’s actually quite pleasant running in the evening, the cool air and lack of people or heat make it quite nice. Did remarkably better than SR1, finishing almost 2 minutes faster! I’m starting to enjoy this running thing – just need to get myself some kit now. Want the loosy shirts, short shorts and some decent runners, then I’ll be all set.. I’m quite geeky-excited about all this!

And speaking of geeks, here’s my stats for my SleekGeek entry (which will double up for Week #3 measurement & pics too):

Tape Measure Stats:

(compared with last week’s)

Chest 115 (-3)
Bicep 35 (-3) (not sure if this is good or bad?)
Tummy 121 (-1)
Hips/waist 112 (-2.5)
Thigh 70 (+2) (again – not sure if good or bad – presuming good.)
Neck 44 (-)
Wrist 20 (-)
Height 188

Pics.

Warning – these are neither flattering nor particularly nice to look at.

It was a struggle to put them out there.. but I’m committed to the cause.. or some such.  Now I’m considering making an animated gif out of these…

I’ll be getting my weight, BMI and other measurements done tomorrow, so I’ll put those in the next post.

Until next time!

This next week promises to be a big one. The 3rd week of CamLite, it also marks the start of the SleekGeek challenge I’ve been mentioning these past few weeks. I’ve paid my R500, all I need to do now is send through my pics and current specs (which needs to be done within the next 3 days I think).

On the one hand I’m quite excited for this third week. I’m starting to feel more gym-fit, which means I can hopefully start pushing myself a little more, and with SleekGeek starting, it’ll push me to finalise my eating plan, and exercise schedule.

I’ll be posting on the eating plan soon enough – and look forward to and advice you peeps may have. Regarding the exercise regime, I’m trying to find a way to exercise twice a day as a norm, and would like to push for a 6-day exercise regime, resting one day a week.

Ok, so the future looks bright, but in reality, I’m feeling a little low. I’m not sure if it was the scale saying I’m back at 120kg, backlash from the huge dietary change, or that I had 2 ice-creams yesterday, in all their sugar-coney goodness. It’s probably the sum of all of the above, but I’m really feeling a little low on stoke.

Dammit, I forgot one. I cracked a beer today for the first time in over two weeks. There, I said it. Probably of all the things I’ve lost, I miss beer the most. Well, beer, pizza and chocolate, but I digress. So, I cracked that beer. Hard. But got about 4 sips down and gave the rest to my boet. It sure tasted good, but I was feeling guilty.

This whole thing feels so tough. Walking through the Spar this morning looking for eggs, it struck me – of the food-stuffs on sale, a good 90% of them I simply won’t be buying again – at least for a very long time, and hopefully never in any real quantity. It’s fucking tough. And I used to frequent those isles – whether it was chips, or the biscuit isle. Maybe a coke or alcohol-free beer (I said I was in Spar). Gone are the days of grabbing a chocolate, or Reece’s Peanut Buttercups, or Magnum from the shelf as I queue for a till. Or even grabbing a bag of rolls for a ham and salad roll. The odd “I’m starving, feed me” pie is also a memory. As is the great little pizza shop across the lot. All a fading memory, for my taste buds at least, because at this moment they’re very much front-and-center in my cerebral cortex – or wherever they would reside.

Mmm enough lambasting about the past.. time to catch a grip and pull myself up by the short-and-curlies and grow a pair. This isn’t a game for sissies.

Now that I got that out, I must say, I’m feeling a lot better. Definitely more resolute and focused. It really helped to open all my deep dark desires to the internetesphere, well all my twitter & facebook friends that took the time to read this ( hi, guys! ).

Workout 7. Thursday, 26 Jan. Weights #3.

My third workout went well. I managed to get through over an hour, and every workout leaves me less stiff and buggered the next day, even though I’m pushing my body more and more. It’s a good feeling. For the longest time I’ve been scared of pushing myself. When I was younger – in highschool – I’d often feel terrible, and nauseous after my gym, so I just didn’t really like to go. Now, as I’ve gotten older, I’m finding I can push myself more without those side-effects. And I feel like I’m getting into my stride a bit more. I’m still a little light-headed as I go through my sessions, but it’s getting better and better -and it seems I just need a fruit or some juice, and that sorts me out.

Workout 8. Friday, 27 Jan. Cardio.

Went for my first street run today! My dad said he’d run with, which I really appreciate. We went out at about 9:30 Friday evening, which was good – the air was cool, and the slight breeze along most of it was good. The slight headwind on the last stretch made it a little hard.. but overall I think I’m liking road running!And an added bonus is I can track it with RunKeeper. Here’s the run, with all the nice stats and goodies.

I had to do it with my cross-trainers, as my runners are hurting me – so the search for a decent pair of running shoes is back on, unfortunately – but I think I’ll need to get that sorted as soon as I can.. don’t want to hurt myself here.

The run was a little worse than I’ve gotten used to (over the past 2 weeks..) – I ran for just under 20min, but did 2.4km instead of the usual 2.8. Also, I only ran my first stint for 6:30min, instead of 11 – that was somewhat because I had nothing to focus on (I’m used to seeing my time, etc- and watching sport or something really helps from a distraction point of view). I think I might wear my watch for the next run.. (or my heart rate monitor.. if I can get the thing to sync with RunKeeper, otherwise I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort. Actually – I first need to figure out how to get the bloody thing to work. I’m thinking it might have a flat battery..)

Although, I’ve just checked my route out on Runkeeper, and I think the difference in elevation might have something to do with the run – I’m used to running on flat, so the variations in elevation probably effects the time and difficulty – along with wind, etc – so I’m actually sufficiently happy with this run – I realize I can’t compare it directly to a treadmill run.

Rest Day. Saturday, 28 Jan.

Apart from being a nice rest day – and the tattoo convention!! (which was awesome) – It was also a day of cheats. I had 2 ice-creams- as I’ve already said. I’d have been ok with one. The first one was planned, but the second one – at 9 last night – was unnecessary, and a little overzealous, with sugar cone, dip & caramel flake thing.. sigh. It *was* yummy – so I think I’ll take that away with me – because it’s going to have to last me the next 12 sleekgeek weeks.

And that’s that for now. I should grab a run this evening again (Sunday), so I’ll keep you all posted, as usual. Salute!