Mark's got too fat blog

My posting has become really slow recently - sorry to anybody who was a regular reader :-(.

I am in a slighty strange situation - my weight has gone down to a level which is close to normal (I carry a bit of muscle, so the bmi index doesnt work that well), and I can now do the things I enjoy. The last 2 weeeknds have involved riding 20+ miles off road on Saturday and then big meals and plenty of beer afterwards. I miss the gym quite often during the week, and often avoid going on fridays so that my muscles are fresh for a ride on Saturday.

Diet wise I do OK - I eat sweets occaisionally now and tend to snack outside of my allotted 6 meals a day which doesnt help.

I am still a little fat though - small man boobs, love handles etc, but not to the extent that it makes me look too bad. However, I do want to get rid of this and get lean, but my current habits and diet are not working that well. I dont want to settle for "pretty OK" though - I set the goal of a 6 pack (say 10% body fat) and that is when I acheive sucess.

Recently my weight has been tending to drop less than a pound a week, so I am not wrecking the good work I did, but neither am I getting closer to my Goal any faster. I need to drop 10-15lb. Thus I will now eat clean and exercise for the next 8 weeks, and I will cut the drink out again as well. Luckily I usually go to the pub with a guy who has just started a cycle of muscle building, so he is off the beer for the next 8 weeks. All I need to add to that is the gym 2 - 3 times a week depending on what my weekend plans are. My half marathon plans are all but dead - major shin splints have kept me from running, and now affect my walking and cycling, but thay are getting better. Once I have strengthened those muscles I will return to running and set myself up for a challenge later. I have decided I prefer cycling off road anyway!

Posted by Mark at 10:17 am | 4 comments

The program of diet and exercise I followed has been converted into an article on a new website - www.mansized.co.uk. The full text of the article can be found here.

This is a much easier to follow format than the Mens Health forums, so I reccomend you go there and read it!

I weighed in at 12 stone 5lb - 173lb. Still not making the gym 3 times a week, and I still eat the odd stupid thing - high sugar stuff etc etc. Obviously I am keeping it sensible enough to keep losing weight though. Last sunday was a 6 mile walk to climb Scafell Pike (977m, 3200ft) and this weeeknd is planned to be 8.5 miles around Coniston which also includes 2 more 800m peaks. I allow myself a bit of a cheat day when climbing mountains though!

Posted by Mark at 9:57 am | 3 comments

Been very quiet on the blogging front recently. I'm still here, and still losing weight.

Last week (after a week off exercise and higher cals) I was 12 stone 7 lb - which is a 4 stone loss. Less than a stone to go - hopefully I can get to a point where I am happy to wander about in summer sans shirt :-). This summer is threatening to be the hottest for 30 odd years!

Weigh in is tommorow, today I am tired and sore after climbing Scafell Pike yesterday - 3500 feet of ascent after we wandered round a bit.

Posted by Mark at 11:29 am | 1 comments