Tuesday 26 January 2010

's not fair

I was 250kcals under maintenance overall last week, but I'm a kg heavier. I know I said I wasn't going to beat myself up about it, but this plain isn't fair! Where did an extra 7,000kcals to create a kg of weight -come- from if I was 250kcals -under-?

So, if it's not real weight gain, what is it? Water retention? Unlikely, given the amount of water I've been drinking in the last 24 hours. Transit? Mmm, possibly. Actual fat? Very unlikely in that time period plus there weren't enough kcals to make that much fat without me sleeping through the whole weekend and not moving at all. It's gotta come from somewhere though! Meh. Anyway.

Leg rehabilitation is underway; after a week of using lifts rather than stairs, not walking/running up escalators, no gym, no running, no cycling, no swimming and some deep-tissue massage. I made sure to do a gentle warm up on the rower, taking it gently for the first 500m then a bit harder for the last 500m and then going gently for 5 minutes on the cross-trainer to see how it felt before going quite a bit harder for 12.5 minutes, gently again for 2.5 minutes then 2 minutes cool down and some actual stretching for once. It feels OK; a bit "scratchy' on the inside as if the middle was having rough wool rubbed on it, but no pain at all and no straining feeling. So, I think I'll try some gentle resistance training on it tomorrow, with lighter weights than usual and a slow build up rather than straight into working weight.

Brekkie was my usual greek yogurt creation, with a scoop of whey, fruit compote and some flaked almonds:-


I had a banana before today's little trial gym trip and a protein shake afterwards to fuel up those poor neglected muscles.

Lunch is getting a bit standard, spinach, capers, a few walnuts, tomato (usually sweet peppers) and chicken. Tomorrow it'll be eggs instead :o)


I had a pear and some carrots and houmous to keep me going through the afternoon without killing people or chewing my own arm off. I do so -love- houmous and I even actually seem to like raw carrots now. Me! Raw carrots!

There were a few veggies to use up after Burns Night dinner last night, so I boiled 'em up and mashed 'em to go with some beef chilli:-


And I just -had- to try some of the Stilton which was part of our Christmas hamper at the weekend, and how better to serve it than on top of some toasted, fruity, home-made malt loaf with a big mug of tea:-


Exercise - 1km warm up on the rower; 3 sets of - plank (60s), pulsed side planks (10) and press-ups (5); followed by 22 minutes on the cross-trainer.

Calories (kcal)
[kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)
1828
2131
Protein (g) 152.8 (34%)
Carbohydrate (g) 191.0 (39.9%)
Fat (g) 51.1 (25.6%)
Fruit & Veg 14.6

6 comments:

  1. For avoiding weekly weigh in shocks I would probably recommend daily weigh-ins a la Hacker's Diet and watching the trend or moving average instead of actual daily numbers. (possibly with adjustment to trend calculations for any regular monthly weigh gains).
    Interestingly enough, despite big daily fluctuations since I started losing again in August last, my chart of Fridays-only is remarkably stable downwards. Not what I expected.

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  2. That's exactly what I do; and use True Weight to get the moving average. I'm back down to where I was on Friday now, but True Weight says I've over-eaten by 500kcals per day for the last week still ;o)

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  3. Lord alive that all looks like a lot of numbers and calculations. I find myself wondering how you are so accurate with the cals?

    And can we have the home made malt loaf recipe - I'm hooked on the stuff but would like it slightly less sticky.

    Hope the leg reacts well to getting back into the swing of things.

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  4. Could be where you're at in your monthly cycle, or the amount of alcohol you consumed at the weekend and champagne 'do'.

    Try not to panic too much or to become totally obsessed with the numbers.

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  5. Paul - I use a web site that does all the calculations for me :o)

    The malt loaf rescipe is one for a bread maker, if that works for you?

    * 15g (1 tbsp) Sugar
    * 100g Raisins (or any mix of dried fruits)
    * 200g Strong White Flour
    * 2g (1 tsp) Dried Yeast
    * 200g Strong Wholemeal Flour
    * 70g (2 tbsp) Malt Extract (Holland and Barratt)
    * 15g (1 tbsp) Milk Powder
    * 15ml (1 tbsp) Olive Oil

    Stick it all in the bread maker, except the dried fruit which goes in the nut dispenser (or wait for the nut/raisin beep) and set it to "raisin bake" mode or equivalent. You can add chopped banana in with the dried fruit and it seems to work quite well, though be careful the dispenser flap doesn't get all sticky and stuck closed, thus not dropping in the fruit into the mix (voice of experience!)

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  6. Argh! forgot the water! 290ml water as well! And the usual rule of making sure none of the wet ingredients touch the yeast when you first put them all in.

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