It's been a while...

Yes it has been a while since my last post. We have sold our house, moved and are about to build the new family home in about a months time. Everything has changed.

Including me!

The results are in and I officially lost 80cms and around the 7kg mark in weight. My body fat went from over 20% to just under 14% and I now have a 94cm waist.

My goals haven't changed too much. I am still aiming to be under 90cm around the waist and to be back in the 70's for my weight. The most important thing for me though is to get fitter and stronger.

I was told I looked more like 29 than 37 the other day! Gotta love it..

So two things that helped me achieve these fantastic results were 1. Crossfit and 2. Paleo diet.

I can go into these more with anyone who wants to know more...

If you want to see what it looks like, pop in and see Susan training with me over the coming 12 weeks as we again take on the Transformation Challenge.

Thanks for your support and thanks to my beautiful wife for keeping me on track throughout.

And yes I am on another 12 week challenge as we speak! I will let you know how it goes...

IS STRESS MAKING YOU FAT?

Is stress making you fat?

I was hoping to get this done as a seminar and would love the opportunity to have a few of you guys in to discuss the merits of this statement.

In brief though the answer is yes. Stress can make you fat.

I have struggled to varying degrees with my weight and I can track a lot of it back to the one real cause. Identifying it and dealing with it has been a key to my recent success. Stress presents itself in many ways. Food can be a stressor to the body as well. My stressor appears to have been dairy.

I am not suggesting that everyone give up another food group but I will get you to ask yourselves WHO it is that recommends that we have Dairy and cereals and grains and everything else on what I beleive is an UPSIDE DOWN food pyramid.

Trust your body.

Listen to your body.

The results will follow.

6 week results!

Hey guys.

The results are in. I can say that for the first 4 weeks I really had no loss to talk of and certainly was starting to doubt whether blogging the results was such a good idea!!

I stuck fast and true and with a few modifications to my diet the results are in and here they are...

START ........................... 17/2

WEIGHT 90.2 ........................ 87.0
SHOULDER 121 ....................... 113
CHEST EXPANDED 105 .................. 105
CHEST RELAXED 103.5 ................. 101
BICEP R 35.5 L 35 .................. R 33 L 34
WAIST NARROWEST 97 .................. 90
WAIST NAVAL 105.5 .................. 98.5
HIPS 114.4 ..................... 109.5
THIGH R 62.5 L 67 ................... R 61 L 62.5
CALF R 43 L 43 .................... R 42 L 42.5

SKINFOLDS
TRICEP 14 ....................... 12
SUPRAIILIAC 18 ....................... 18
UMBILICUS 40 ....................... 30
THIGH 8 ....................... 4

So as you can imagine I am pretty happy at losing 40cms in the 6 weeks so far.I need to get my waist measurement down to 90 so that will be the latest of the goals.

YAY!! Out for now..

I'm Back!

Well firstly thanks to Donna and Susan who have reminded me that I was supposed to be keeping you up to date! Once a week does not cut it.

I have told a few people that I have started a new eating plan as of last Monday. I am now dairy free, gluten and wheat free as well as knocking sugar out as well except for the occasional bit of fruit.

What is there left to eat?!!!

I have stripped back to an all natural diet which means eating as fresh as possible and CLEAN!
Mostly I have been eating good quality meats and vegetables for all meals. I am still having my omelette's in the morning as eggs are still one of the few complete foods from an amino acid point of view.

Yesterday I made myself a simple chicken laksa in the slow cooker. I used zucchini, carrot and spring onion with my 700gms chicken, one can of coconut milk and 2 teaspoons of Thai green curry paste, gluten free of course.

The smell of food cooking in a slow cooker is always a favorite of mine. It makes the end product so much worth the wait.

The result of the new way of eating for me over the last week or so has found me with a pair of looser pants this morning. These are the results I am trying to focus on this time around. I have a couple of clothing items that I don't quite fit into at the moment. I still will be checking my weight but the cms are falling off at the moment so I will be happy with that.

The list of foods so far that I am eating include:

Organic meats
Salmon
Lots of vegies
Chicken thighs
Some fruit mainly berries
nut butters(almond,brasil and cashew)
Coconut milk
Coconut oil


The Variety is there and coming up with interesting combos will be the hardest thing in the future but I need to stick this one out.

My measurements are due today so I will get them up on here tomorrow at some stage.

Out for now.

SLACK SLACK SLACK

Ok. So I have been pulled up a couple of times this week and for good reason. I started this blog to keep me honest and now I know that I really need it.

Yesterday I pulled off the double sweat session for the first time in ages. Cruised in to work and jumped straight on the cross trainers with Rodney for a 20 minute Body For Life workout. Most people know the drill of interval training and managed to burn around the 320 calorie mark. Finished the workout off with a practice session for some of my crossfit lifting.

Finished off in the arvo with the latest fenix force workout. Mother of a workout. 600 row, 50 squat below 90 degrees, 40 push ups, 30 sit ups, 20 burpees and 10 floors on the step mill. All for time.

Smashed it in just over 10 minutes.

Today was my final in my 3 initial Crossfit gym sessions. As of next week I will be joining in with the classes on a Tuesday and Thursday at 6am. The classes are a 1 hour workout with the fear of the unknown at this stage. I definitely will have more to report after those sessions.

Anyway that's it for now. The house is now up for sale on realestate.com.au for those of you looking for a new house! Wish us luck. A quick sale is what we wish for so that we can move on and build the family compound of our dreams..

Thanks for your support

THE WAGON

I fell off the wagon over the last week or so. Not so much on the food front but on the exercise side. I found that it was sometimes easier to just go home rather than stay at the gym and slog out the hard yards.

Back on course this week and you will find me on the treadmills before work tomorrow!

I have been to the Crossfit box in fitzroy twice now. I spent the last session realising that when you train when you are fatigued it all goes out the window. Rest and relaxation form an important part of any exercise regime and is evident in training intensity, recovery and even in body composition. Sleep is also a great way of making sure you don't eat that extra lot of calories that you don't really need.

I will try to make the blog a little more regular and interesting (susan!). I find that when I do, I can't make as many excuses!!

OUT...

NEW WEEK BECKONS...

Starting back on a Monday after what felt like a long weekend was always going to be hard. My brother got married on the weekend and thankfully we survived without eating up a storm. It was a cocktail reception which meant that the food was staggered over the evening. This in itself brings up a great point.

When we eat our primal instincts kick in and even though we are constantly surrounded by food, we think that this may be our last meal EVER! Next time you are eating, take the time to chew your food until it liquifies in your mouth and then swallow. The average person chews only 4 to 6 times before they swallow meaning great hunks of food are forced down our throats making digestion and nutrient absorption soooo much harder than it needs to be..
Chewing more also means that our bodies get a chance to realise that it has eaten. Once you re train yourself to eat in this manner, it will become very hard to over eat at all.

I managed to be trained today as part of an interview for a new trainer. I think I might get all the new trainers to train me as part of their learning process. It will give them all great feedback and I will train more so I see it as a win win for all!! Mainly for me I suspect..

Out for now..Glad to have the day off tomorrow. Hottest 100 party here we come!!