No Frills Journal

[Victoria]

No idea what to put here so I'll just dive in...

Weight - 260lbs
Height - 5'7
BF - Far too high

Goal for the first stage is weight loss, 100lbs, probably less. I know I'm female, but 160lbs leaves me quite thin. I swear I'm full of lead.
I'll be putting a lot more effort into muscle gain in the next stage, but I'm not focused much on gain over the next few months.

I've been training for a few weeks now, it goes something like this:
Sunday - Sofa
Monday - Pool
Tuesday - Gym (upper)
Wednesday - Pool
Thursday - Gym (lower)
Friday - Pool
Saturday - Gym & Pool (gym full programme)
This is only rough, it's taking time to adapt from couch potato and I'm still editing the programmes. I'm adding running in soon on the Sunday, so will probably swap Saturday and Sunday around.
I'm not worried about the odd day or two that I end up taking for recovery at the moment, as I said I'm still shofting things around.


What I'm doing in the pool I'm keeping separate (though if there's any swimmers about, feel free to squeak up)


My gym programme is a bit hap-hazzard and still needs tuning. Split into upper and lower body:

Upper:
Warm up - treadmill for 10 minutes, just a fast walking pace
Bench:
Dumbbell bench press - 8x3 7.5k (no giggling at the 7.5s!)
Dumbbell flye - 8x3 7.5k
One arm row - 8x3 10k
Pullover - 8x3 10k
Cables:
Bicep curl - 8x3 22.5k
Tricep pull down - 8x3 22.5k
Flye (alternative if the bench is taken) - 8x3 18k
One arm row alternative - 8x3 27.5k

Lower:
Squats (with dumbbells 10k) - 8x2
Lunges - 8x2 no weight since I can't even balance without holding on
Stiff leg deadlift - 8x3 22.5k (I could use a heavier barbell but I couldn't get it back up on the rack!)
Cables:
Leg extensions, front back and sides - 8x2 9k (low weight intentional)
'woodchop' - 8x2 22.5k

I also have some gymball work on the lower days, for crunches/jacknife/bridge, and I've added my own 'plank' etc for core.

Cardio (after weights in all sessions):
Rower - intervals 500m/rest 1 min, quite high resistance


I'm not entirely sure about my gym programme, as I said it's a bit hap-hazzard I think. It'll probably change a lot of the next few weeks. Any suggestions welcome

[hugedyno]

I wouldn't worry too much about the particulars of the exercise regime at this stage. 6 day activity of any kind will be fine for the first few weeks. The main consideration will, of course be diet. Have you thought about a strategy involving macro-splits, or a daily calorie target/restriction, designed to provide an overall energy deficit?



HD.

[Victoria]

I knew I left something out! The complicated part.

Trust me, I know the importance of diet and all the ideals of what I should/shouldn't have. I've done a lot of playing around with macros in the passed, recording everything obsessively and shifting ratios. At this point I'm just eating healthy, and going for more protein rich foods. I'm eating a good 5/6 times a day, and rarely drink (alcohol).

I haven't really lost any weight to speak of, and I know this is because calories are too high (not from junk food, just calorie dense things like mince, and far too much of the wrong cheese!). So I need to work on that as well. Kind of lacking in snack ideas to carry with me since I'm out of the house most of the time, but I'm working on that too.

Foods I tend to eat regular are meats (chicken, beef, duck), fish (tuna, mackerel), fruit, and dairy (milk, eggs, yogurt). I do have rice and potato, but I'm cutting out pasta and most bread products. I'm also trying to sneak some nuts/seeds in but I'm lacking ideas in that department, I love roasted peanuts but they're so damn calorie dense, and generally not the best option! I'm thinking walnuts/almonds/seeds, if I can find something tasty to do with them. And we use good oils in cooking.
Unfortunately we have far too much sugar in the house (my husband is type 1 diabetic so there's always something in case of an emergency), which is another thing I need to get round.

My recovery time from workouts isn't too good (I don't think). For example after last Thursdays session (I did overdo it a little and injured my knee too by being stupid), I had sore muscles up to today, and my arm pits/chest are still a bit painful. All I had post workout was yogurt (14g protein total).
To me that suggests I may not have enough protein in my diet, especially post workout. So I've cooked up a nice big bag of chicken breast to have post workout the next few days, see if the increase in protein helps.

I'm purposely not obsessively recording every ounce that goes in my mouth, it's very time consuming and hard to keep up when cooking is shared at home. This is something I'll probably focus more on again later, when my exams are over with and I have time to be distracted.

A more complicated issue is that I have some unexplained diet related condition. Doctors have given up and diagnosed a sensitivity to sugar/carbs. My blood sugar is a like a stroppy teenager and I experience, again unexplained, hypoglycemia. I've tried low-carb, more than once, in theory it should solve the blood sugar problem at least but it makes other symptoms far worse. LowER carb is what I'm aiming for now (about 150g), symptoms have mellowed out and as long as I don't leave it too long between meals my blood sugar is fine. But I still need to do a lot of experimenting with foods and symptoms to find the best macro ratio, which I'll do later on.

[CosmicFish]

Nice one bubs. I'll be watching this with interest.

[Victoria]

Quote

Nice one bubs. I'll be watching this with interest.

If you miss it, it'll end up in your inbox anyway

[coma]

Yeah, I'll be reading with interest too.

What's your (non-starchy) vegetable intake like?

[sendos]

Quote

A more complicated issue is that I have some unexplained diet related condition. Doctors have given up and diagnosed a sensitivity to sugar/carbs. My blood sugar is a like a stroppy teenager and I experience, again unexplained, hypoglycemia. I've tried low-carb, more than once, in theory it should solve the blood sugar problem at least but it makes other symptoms far worse. LowER carb is what I'm aiming for now (about 150g), symptoms have mellowed out and as long as I don't leave it too long between meals my blood sugar is fine. But I still need to do a lot of experimenting with foods and symptoms to find the best macro ratio, which I'll do later on.

Interesting, mine used to be the same untill i adopted the low carb but obviously that didn't work for you. What are you main carb sources?

[Victoria]

Quote

Yeah, I'll be reading with interest too.

What's your (non-starchy) vegetable intake like?

Uh-oh

Hm, I missed out veg. I don't eat so much in the day unless it's salad, but we have quite a bit for dinner in the evening. Usual veggies are broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cauli, sweetcorn, peas (I know sweetcorn/peas/carrots aren't the best choice). Sometimes we'll go mad and have squash, asparagus or some other different things. Not all at the same time of course.

I'm not a massive fan of veg, so it's difficult to get a lot in. Unfortunately I eat too much fruit through the day, so I'm trying to replace it with veg, but there's something about raw carrot and celery that chases your appetite away!

[Victoria]

Quote

Interesting, mine used to be the same untill i adopted the low carb but obviously that didn't work for you. What are you main carb sources?

Unfortunately it seems to be a more common thing than doctors like to admit. Blood tests tend to come back normal which is where a lot of GPs wave you away. I only got as far as I did because my blood sugar actually drops below 2.4mmol, but still I haven't got any closer to the actual cause.

To be honest, my main sources are changing all the time as I'm trying to change eating habits. Years ago it was bread, bread, more bread, pizza, bagels, baguettes, and some more bread. Now I barely touch bread.
I've tried cereals, I love oats and keep trying to eat them but they knock me out. I can only eat a tiny amount before I flop over somewhere. Same with rice (I do only eat small amounts), potato. Pasta I love but it somehow drops my blood sugar. Any sugar (including fruit not that long ago) is out. Though interestingly enough, on the subject of sugar, I've always been fine with lactose (in smaller amounts).

So at this moment in time most of my carbs probably come from fruit, though I do sneak snack bars/packs of things for lack of anything better for day time snacks. I also eat quavers which don't appear to cause problems surprisingly. As I said up there somewhere, my day snacks need to be swapped for better things.

There's certain foods I can't touch in any amount, and other foods (like complex carbs) I 'appear' to be ok with in very small amounts, large amounts cause a lot of problems. As I said I still need to experiment. I think a food elimination diet will be on the cards later in the year so I can find exactly what ingredients are causing what symptoms.


Can I ask what symptoms you had? Was it one set of symptoms or did there appear to be mash of symptoms caused by different amounts of different foods? Did the symptoms come on after eating or did they onset over a few days?

[hugedyno]

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Unfortunately I eat too much fruit through the day, !

If you like fruit, may I suggest fresh pineapple and natural yoghurt as a 'pud' following a high protein meal (ie. bromelain = protein digestion) ?


HD.