SCD/Marathon Update - One Year On

In Jan 2017 being terribly overweight and unfit and having a long standing dream to be able to run a marathon I set myself the following goals.

• Lose 10lbs
• Run a marathon by the end of the year
• Do 1 chin up

The means I settled on were: the Slow Carb Diet, cold showers and various exercise plans off the 'net.  Now one year on (Jan 2018)

• I've lost 47lbs (3st 5lbs), 23 1/2 'total inches' (waist, hips, thighs, biceps) and my BMI has reduced by 7.1.
• Run a marathon, two half-marathons, three 10k, one 5k and around thirty Parkrun 5ks,
• Can regularly do 5 chin ups.

I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement from my wife, and all the people who sponsored me on my marathon but also the following people made it possible

Tim Ferriss (Slow Carb Diet)
Alan Broodryk (NHS knee and hip specialist and former ultrarunner)
Jason Fitzgerald (Strength Running Warm ups and running plan)
Nick Nilsson (chin up specialist)
The Forest Rec Parkrun Volunteers

In 2018 I'm hoping to run my first ultra marathon.

Leicester 10k

All sort of aches and pains but set a new PB 50:12.

Got a medal this time - free engraving and a free massage after (and a free upgrade to first class on the way home!)

After the race I ran the last few miles of the Leicester marathon course just to check it out. When I do it for real I probably won't 

1) run so slowly

2) stop off to buy a bag

3) stop off to have lunch at Burger King*

*unless I'm WAY ahead of schedule...

In other news I'm now down to 12st 1lb

Good Times

This week the training has really kicked up a gear. I've run 13.7 miles twice (2:42 on the second one) plus a couple of shorter things. Today I ran another ParkRun PB and got my best position (due, no doubt, to all the bank holiday absentees) and then ran half of the Robin Hood half marathon course as prep for the race.

I also had my weigh in - and I've dropped all my holiday weight plus an extra pound! So I'm back to having lost over 3 stone this year and, with the holiday season over, I'll hopefully keep it off.

So how does a slow carb diet guy celebrate losing three stone? Like this!!!!

CHEAT DAY!!!

Oh, and I've found this documentary so inspiring, I've watched it twice

Milestone

3 Stone to be precise. Or 3 stone, 1lb to actually be more precise. Since starting the Slow Carb diet in Jan this year I've gone from 15.4lbs to 12.3lbs.

Thanks Tim Ferriss

SCD: Week 22

After a few weeks of gaining or sticking I lost 6lbs this week - perhaps due to being really strict about not eating after 8:30 at night.

Got accosted by a store detective in Boots, Upper Parliament Street who accused me of taking stuff of the shelves. I did to be fair. MY keys, MY loose change, MY travel card etc. which i placed there while I weighed myself. No apology from the 'private dick'. Hoping to receive one from the manager...

Overall I've lost

17.3 kg

2.9 stone

37lbs

one of my pairs of jeans don't fit, I've had to punch 2 extra holes in a belt and I've bought the 1st 2 'large' T-shirts I've owned in probably 20 years. 

SCD: Week 14

Lost another lb. So I've lost

11.4kg
1 stone 11lbs
or 25lbs.

Went for my first (park) run in around 2 months. My hip's not really getting any better, so what the hell. I came 227th at the ParkRun. Got lapped by the winner while I was still on my first lap. Good times.

SCD Week 8

[Bad Ass Breakfast @Warsaw Diner. - My ass was perfectly fine...]

It's official (according to the doctor) that I've done something unpronouncable to my hip - and the only cure is rest. So no running probably for the next 2 weeks.

Had a pretty big cheat day and spent half of it working at the Royal Concert Hall with a few beers after to celebrate the end of a long and challenging project.

So I put on 2 lbs, 4 inches and 0.8 BMI. Gonna have to be really strict and do what upper body exercise I can.

Before [2016]

erm... still 'Before'? [2017]

SCD Week 7

No exercise due to injured hip, lots of eating out due to work, and lots of stress and upheaval due to life.

Weight unchanged - which feels like a positive

lost 1/2 inch

lost 0.6 BMI - which feels like a mistake (as I'm now taller!)

Felt quite ill after cheat day - Pizza/Spicy pizza/LOTS of pizza probable causes. Maybe ice cream too...

SCD Week 6

Apropos nothing - I love the leafy heart of celery

This week I lost
1.8 kg/ 4lbs
3 TI
0.3 BMI

I shaved 32 seconds off last weeks 5k time. I beat a guy with a dog. I was beaten by a lady with a pushchair (and child). On a hill.

And a guy started the race next to me and immediately ran into a lamppost. I think I beat him too.

Overall I've lost 8.3kg/18lbs
10 TI
2.7 BMI

SCD Week 5

Been working away a few days this week and it's been hard to find SCD friendly food. Twice I've ended up getting kebab meat and salad and once I plumped for a roast chicken for £2.50! I ended up eating most of it over 2 meals. Not ideal but there you go. Better than Maccy D's.

On my cheat day run I did 7 miles (longest yet). I ate some wine gums while running, or rather put them in my mouth and then spat them out - I could actually taste the cherry flavouring in the red ones and found all of them unappetising.

I ate a fish finger and cheese toasted sandwich for dinner and had 2 and a half slices of Asda pizza. That was all it took for the roof of my mouth to get sore.

Drank a can of diet coke - slowly - could just about take the sweetness.

This week I lost

1kg (2 lbs)
1 TI
0.3 BMI

I've given up measuring the comically inaccurate body fat.

In total I've lost

6.5 kg (14.3 lbs)
8 TI
2.4 BMI

and today at Parkrun 191 I ran 1.03 faster than last week even though I felt I was taking it easier. That's 1:06 off my PB.

SCD Week 4

This week was my birthday so I ended up having 2 cheat days.

A family meal on Sunday and then my official birthday on Wed. 

And so I gained 3lbs. No surprise. But I lost an inch from my waist!

This week I gained

1.5kg

0.1 BMI

But lost 

2 TI

6.3 Body Fat

Overall I lost

5.5 kg

8 TI

2.1 BMI

SCD Week 3

This week I lost

3 TI
0.3 BMI
2.2 kg

I gained 7.6% body fat!!!! - after some googling apparently those machines can be really random - so I'm not going to set any store by that

Overall I've lost

6 TI
2.2 BMI
7 kg (15.3lbs)

I think my face is getting a little thinner

I'm delaying my cheat day till Sunday so I can have a birthday meal with the family.

SCD Week 2

This week I lost 

1.8 kg

0.6 BMI

I gained

3 TI (I think this was more a result of erratic measurement)

In two weeks I've lost

4.8 kg

1.9 BMI

3 TI

Due to illness I missed one running day and ate little more than soup for two days.

SCD Week 1 - Things I Learned/Things I Lost

Drum roll...

In week 1 I lost 

6 TI

0.3 BMI

2kg

My new 'doggie bowl'

Dinner out at a Weatherspoons - swopped the sausage and chips for an egg and side salad.

Things I learned

There are so many foods I couldn't contemplate eating without sauces. I've realised that if you're putting sauce on, say, schnitzel, you're not eating schnitzel, you're eating tomato ketchup with the consistency of schnitzel. 

I honestly feel like I'm tasting some foods for the first time

So much of my eating is just having something to do with my hands. Like when watching films. I've put together a file of things to practice on the guitar while watching and that helps some. I can nearly play the solo from Stairway To Heaven. 

One unintended side effect of a cheat day is you really become aware of what different food does to your body. My dodgy stomach has been better than average all week. The day after cheat day it's worse than average.

Update - I got really ill after this. Possible causes A) a bad cold that had been lurking hit me - then I can't sleep - no sleep leads to a bad stomach B) my body went into sugar/carb shock C) a bit of both.

Case in point. MGLW accidentally put 4 times the right amount of tandoori paste on a meal this week  to the point that eating it was physically painful. In the last few years consuming any food stronger than 'mildly spicy' would result in what Malcolm Tucker picturesquely called "arse-spraying mayhem'. This time - nothing. And I mean nothing. The difference? Gotta be carbs.

And veg and beans twice a day? Gotta make things 'looser' and ... erm ... 'breezier' right. Nope. 

Overall I've felt fuller, but not bloated. 

Just gotta stop eating so late.

Oh and cold showers make you scream like a girl and feel more alive.