Weigh-in woes

Well the results are in for this week and I have loads of excuses in my head for not hitting my target.  As I mentioned earlier in the week, I was aiming to be under 120Kg today but I didn’t manage it.  I weighed in at 120.1Kg.  Not far off, so it is still a good achievement in 3 weeks, but still a little disappointing.  On the plus side, it does put me under 19 stone for the first time in a long time which I am happy about.

In other good news, I have got under the 31% fat barrier.  I am now 30.4% fat.  I still need to lose at least 10.5% to get me between the ideal 10 and 20% range.  I now aim to be under 30% fat in 3 weeks time.  And I also tried out some running in the gym today after my 30 minute walk on the treadmill (it increases and decreases the incline so it isn’t too easy) to see if I could manage to do 1.5 kilometers.  I managed it in what I think is a pretty good time of 4 minutes 55 seconds and though I was tired when I finished it, I had recovered by the time I wiped down the machine and walked to the weights section of the gym.  Not bad for someone who couldn’t run half a mile without getting a bad back and out of breath as little as 3 weeks ago.

So in light of my almost, but not quite, hitting my target my excuses are as follows: last week was somewhat of a break from the norm at the back-end of the week (I posted about that earlier in the week), I did extra weights yesterday so it is muscle growth from all that, my food is getting put out on the normal plates again, not the small ones (and that is going to change, I shall be having words), and I had my lunch 2 hours late today so it was still weighing me down.

There we have it, those are my rubbish excuses.  Time to move on…

…So after talking through my weight loss and body fat loss with a PT at the gym who took my readings, he said that what I had achieved in 3 weeks (see my weight tracker page) was something to be proud of, that I shouldn’t worry about missing out on my goal by such a narrow margin and that I am obviously doing something right.

Which leads nicely on to what I am doing to get these results:

• Cutting my sugar intake – I drink Pepsi Max instead of Coca-Cola, eat less chocolate, less sugary cereal, less cakes etc.
• Eating more fruit and veg – I used to take an apple and a banana to work, I now add an orange to that.  I have fruit juice in the morning with my breakfast, veg with evening meals every night and I will have grapes or raisins about an hour before bed.
• Drinking more water – I have about 2 liters when I am at the gym anyway, but on top of that I have 2 or 3 tall glasses a day with some Robinsons no added sugar cordial
• Instead of having butter on my toast on a morning, I use Philadelphia light spreadable cheese.  This is only 3% fat compared to around 80% for butter, and also provides me with some protein at the start of the day.
• switched from regular mayonnaise to the extra light variety, totally skipping the light one.  Same great taste.
• Go to the gym and work out for at least an hour Monday to Thursday – I’ll post my gym routine in a later post
• Play two hours of badminton on a Friday

Not only those above, but I also allow myself a treat every week so I am less tempted by things at other points in the week.

If I can make these changes, anyone can.

Protein shakes

As we work on losing weight, toning up, bulking up or generally changing our appearance and health, we often think about the different ways we can do this.  Some will stop eating, some will change what they eat, some will resort to slimming tables and some will add protein shakes to their diet.  This entry will look at protein shakes and highlight possible advantages and risks associated with them.

Firstly I’ll briefly explain what protein is and why it is needed.

Proteins are a combination of amino acids which are used by body cells to perform the functions the cell carries out.  As such they are used by our bodies for just about everything.  Protein is needed to keep our muscles and organs maintained, so it is essential for our health.  Muscle maintenance does include the repairing of muscle and the growth of muscle.  In fact, it is important in the development of our bodies in generally.

Going back to the muscle repairing and building point though, which is what people generally use protein shakes to help with.  The more protein that is available for the body to use the more it will use, especially when it comes to repairing muscle.  The more muscle mass the body has the more calories it can burn, which is why people losing weight may choose protein shakes as part of their diet.  Not only that but foods high in protein can keep you fuller for longer, so in consuming something high in protein there is a good possibility that cravings and hunger can be put off until the next meal time.  This in turn will reduce the total amount of calories consumed and help aid weight loss.

Not only is protein important for building muscle, but it is also important for maintaining it when you are losing weight.  When we undergo a weight loss program, our bodies can lose weight by breaking down muscle mass and bone mass.  It is essential to keep protein in your diet to ensure that most of the weight you lose is the unwanted fat mass.

And back to protein shakes.  Unlike many vitamins and minerals which come in tablet form, protein tends to come in the form of a dried powder which you make into a drink.  The best part about this is there are loads of flavours out there which gives you a large choice to choose from to suit your tastes.  If you have a chocolate craving, you can have a chocolate protein shake.  If you like strawberry or banana milkshakes, you can get those flavours.  All kinds are available to choose from.

Having looked around, and found a product I would be inclined to trust, I found that a Lucozade protein powder drink has 20g of protein per 250ml.  Working out how much protein you need is generally seen as simple as taking your body weight in pounds, dividing it by two and then subtracting 10.  As such, as 200lb person would need around 90g of protein per day.  To put that in perspective, that’s around 15 average boiled eggs per day.  It can be as easy as 300g of chicken breast per day, but that is still a lot to eat.

Too much protein in your diet, however, can have a number of problems.  Most seriously, possibly, is that too much protein can cause your kidneys to go into overdrive to remove the build up of toxic ketones in your system which can lead to dehydration.  I’ve written about diets and dehydration previously, so now is a good time for me to provide a track-back to it.  Protein is very much like any other nutrient our bodies consume in that too much of it and it will just get stored as fat.  There is also a risk that too much protein and not enough carbohydrates can lead to insufficient fibre in the diet potentially leading to constipation, which has some health risks of its own.

Not being a health professional, I can’t really say whether protein shakes are good or bad for you.  However my opinion, because I can give that, is that protein shakes, like everything else we consume, have their place and should be used as a dietary aid, and not overly relied on.  If you don’t have the time for a proper meal, then they may be the perfect substitute.  If you are starting a highly intense training program, looking to bulk up or don’t get enough protein from your regular diet, then they can help balance your diet.  They might even help you overcome your plateau.

Overall, they should be used as they are intended, as a supplement, not as a replacement for a balanced healthy diet.