Makey-uppy

I ran out of routine again so had to cobble something together.  I can't really afford to have two trainers at the moment and while I'm trying out a swimming coach I can't therefore have a gym trainer too.

• warm up on the cross-trainer
• weighted Bulgarian split squats
• kettlebell swings - superset A
• pressups - superset A
• jerks - superset B
• leg raises and lowers - superset B
• assisted pull-ups - 3 grips; wide over, narrow under, ring
• squats

My arms and shoulders are pretty knackered, so I'm expecting some  good ol' DOMS tomorrow.

I really wanted to do one of those Bodyrock.tv routines, but they look rather like I would want to try them somewhere private once or twice before prancing about in public...

Fun with Geoff

Injured and not really feeling up for it, I pootled gently to the gym on my bike and had a little, gentle warm up on the cross-trainer until my session was due to start. And Geoff was keen to make sure my knee was OK with everything we did today so asked straight off the bat if rowing was going to be fine, then he did this to me...

• 4x500m row; 02:10, 02:05, 02:00 and 01:55
• 3x10 pull ups (no rest); wide over, narrow under, side (45kg assist)
• 3x5 pull ups (no rest); wide over, narrow under, side (40kg assist)
• 2x10 dips (40kg assist)
• 1x5 dips (35kg assist)
• 3x20 bar-bell core rotations*- bare bar, bar with 2.5kg, bar with 5kg
• 2x20 bar-bell core rotations* - elbow locked in and bar with 5kg
• 2x20 one-arm presses with bar-bell*- bar with 5kg
• 3x10 cleans; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg
• 3x10 jerks; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg
• 3x10 quick drops; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg#
• 1x20 fast presses; bare Olympic bar

* - one end of the bar on the floor, pivoting on that.
# - I didn't manage the 10kg ones as I had a mental block on jumping about with a bar with weights on it behind my neck

And it was good and I felt great. It wasn't the routine Geoff had originally planned, but it was fun nonetheless and kept the impact and stress off my duff knee. A nice little pootle home in the sun to watch some cycling and then the boat race.

Success!

I gymmed!  And only had to drop the squat and swing with dumbbell from the routine as that requires too much grip from the thumbs and could have resulted in either a dumbbell flying across the gym or the tip of my thumb opening up. Neither of which was an attractive prospect.

And this is what I did:-

• Squats with 70kg (counter-weighted Olympic bar with 2x 20kg, 2x 5kg and 2x 2.5kg on it) - 3x10
• Core pendulum swings (lying on the floor, legs up, swing legs/rotate hips) - 3x10 each side SUPERSET A
• Lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee (same side arm and leg working) 8kg dumbbell - 3x10 each side SUPERSET A
• Clean and press 35kg barbell - 1x3 then fail
• Clean and press 32.5kg (Olympic bar with 2x 5kg and 2x 1.25kg on it) - 2x10
• Reverse lunge with row (cable machine) 15kg - 3x10 SUPERSET B
• Side plank with row (8kg) hold plank throughout each set - 3x2x10 SUPERSET B
• Leg raise with press - 20kg ViPR - 3x15

*pleased*

I almost called this a rest day...

Cycling to work has become so normal already that I almost entitled this post something related to having a rest day. But hey, I cycled 30km. I didn't go to the gym, but I did cycle 30km. It is a taper week, so I don't feel -so- bad about not doing any weight training, but I'll maybe give in and go tomorrow. It depends if I can fit it in.

Today, I still have that background nausea I get with throat infections, but no sign of an actual infection. Yes my throat is sore (less sore than yesterday, thankfully) and my eyes and ears feel hot (and I have a temperature that's about 0.8C higher than my usual), but there are no typical white sores on my throat, so...

Dinner tonight was my first foray into using quinoa (and yes, that's a slightly exploded poached egg on top of the salmon in the photo *ahem*). I can't say I'm all that impressed. It takes ages to cook, so is less convenient than couscous. It's not easy to cook - you need to simmer it until it absorbs all of the water, the same way you do with some styles of rice and is also a method for couscous on the hob, but it takes 20 minutes! It doesn't even taste great. It's not horrible, but there's none of the nuttiness of couscous. Yeah, I keep comparing it with couscous, but that's where I'm coming from as an alternative. Hey ho. Maybe it'll be good in stews when it gets cold.

New Routine!

Sunday was another rest day after being a tiny bit tired out on Saturday.  Lots of sport on the telly and I napped through at least some of it; just crashed out on the sofa after my yummy ham, lettuce and Philadelphia wrap (looks so clean and simple and it is!).  Then it was lots of cooking... a big batch of chilli to last a couple of weeks of quick dinners when it's too much like faff to cook something long; a roast chicken for Sunday dinner; and a batch of fruit, nut and seed bars.  This was iteration number 4 of the fruity ones and the latest recipe has cherries and cranberries in it.  It's less proteiney and fibrey than the last iteration and I think that's because there's less peanut butter in this one.  And they certainly turned out a lot thinner and darker than the last lot but that's probably because I have a new baking tin that's actually metal this time instead of the ceramic dish I was using before.  So, I may need to drop the temperature and keep the cooking time the same.

Ingredients

• 50g Oats
• 100g Pure Clear Honey
• 80g Crunchy Peanut Butter
• 30g Soft Dried Pitted Dates
• 40g Wholegrain Brown Puffed Rice
• 40g Raisins
• 40g Natural Cashew Butter
• 40g Walnut Pieces
• 40g Pecan Nuts
• 15g Pumpkin Seeds
• 25g Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• 25g Dried Cherries, Dried
• 25g Dried Cranberries

Method

Pre-heat oven to 140-150C and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper.

Weigh oats and rice into a bowl. Weigh and chop fruit and nuts into the bowl and add in the seeds.

Weigh nut butters and honey into a separate bowl. Microwave for 30s, stir and microwave for a further 15s.

Mix all of it together thoroughly and dollop into the baking tin. Press down very firmly (use the back of a spoon or a bit of greaseproof paper and your hands which I find easier).

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool until hard - press it down again as soon as it come out of the oven if the dried fruit has swollen up and pushed the mix apart a bit. Then turn out and chop with a sharp knife into portions.

Nutrition Data Per Serving
Calories (kcal)	209.4
Carbohydrate (g)	21.9
Protein (g)	4.9
Fat (g)	11.5
Fibre (g)	2.3
Fruit & Veg	0.1

So, today I can has new routine!  And it's a leg-thrasher :oD

• Warm up on the cross-trainer or rower for 4-5 minutes
• One leg squats (pretty much ATG) - 10x2 at 20kg
• Hamstring curl on the Swiss Ball - 15x2 with bodyweight
• Leg extensions with slow negative motion - 10x2 at 35kg
• Superset - Leg raise with press using Vipr - 15x2 at 10kg
• Superset - Walking lunges with side-swipe with Vipr - 10x2x2 at 10kg
• Reverse lunges with row using Kinesis α - 20x2 at L4
• Crunches with leg cycles using Kinesis δ - 10x2x2 at L2
• Intervals on the rower - 4x30s with 60s recovery at L5
• Cool down and stretch

I'm not sure what to substitute in for the Kinesis δ jobbie in my local gym to home, but I'm sure I'll think of something for that one.  It's only a 3 week routine and today counted even though I did only one set of everything.  Obviously I'll try to up the sets to 3 across the board as my first progression before thinking of upping the weights (apart from the Vipr which felt really rather light).

Low kcal burn at the gym today so slightly lightish foods...

B - greek yogurt with Yeo Valley fruit compote, 1 scoop MP Max and flaked almonds
S - cottage cheese spread on a Dr Karg crisp bread
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; leftover roast chicken, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery, beetroot and lettuce
S - greek yogurt with strawberries
S - carrots and houmous
D - stir-fried roast chicken, chorizo, wholegrain rice, baby corn and peas

Actual leftovers dinner tonight with the roast chicken pan fried up with chorizo, wholegrain rice and some veggies... looks quite pretty I think :o)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1565 2077]
Protein (g)	128.8 (32.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	148.9 (37.3%)
Fat (g)	52.3 (30%)
Fibre (g)	21.4
Fruit & Veg	10.6

Whacked out

But back on track for the week, unintentionally too which was nice.  We cycled into town to the gym I got to near work, did a full weights session and then cycled home again via a more scenic route through Parliament Square.  Having had only 320kcals for breakfast and a 190kcal protein shake after gymming, I ran out of energy a bit on the way home I think, but also my legs were a little bit knackered too.  Given the heat today it was a bit tricky and dry on the way home and Mr TOTKat did offer several times to stop off at a pub, but I declined.  Even a little stop for a fizzy water would have meant that I didn't want to get back on my bike again, my butt was really rather battered by the potholes in the roads.  2 pints of squash later after we got in and I felt a lot better!  Nice little 19.7 miles of cycling felt good.

1550kcals of exercise earned a lot of extra eating today, but I've only had half of them so I can claw back the little oops on Thursday night and be on track for the week.  I had a lovely frappuccino after lunch, made with a really good quality chocolate ice-cream (dark chocolate, milk, cream, egg yolk and sugar), milk, ice-cubes, a bit of coffee and fruit compote.  Deeelicious and creamy! And made me fall asleep right afterwards so I slept through the end of the F1 qualifying and the interviews afterwards.  Later this evening we had a fabulous salad: chicken breast, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, baby new potatoes and mayonnaise.  625kcals of heaven!  (all layered up here, so you can't really see much bacon or tomato)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, Yeo Valley fruit compote, Dorset Cereals muesli
*exercise*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in semi-skimmed milk
L - ham, Philadelphia Extra Light and lettuce on granary bread
S - frappuccino; chocolate ice-cream, coffee, Yeo Valley fruit compote, semi-skimmed milk, ice
D - salad; lettuce, tomato, new potatoes, bacon, avocado, chicken and mayonnaise

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1879 3132]
Protein (g)	159.4 (34.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	165.4 (33.5%)
Fat (g)	65.8 (32%)
Fibre (g)	16.5
Fruit & Veg	5.8

Omnomnomnom!

Good gym today.  I upped the reps on my clean and press to 3x12 with the 25kg bar-bell, which was pleasing for my final run through that routine.  I wanted to get to 3x8 with 30kg but I've just missed that target I think.  Not down about it at all though, I've made some great progress with this routine and it's time for a new one.

Favourite home-alone dinner tonight, even though I'm not home alone :o)  I'm trying to shift a bit more fat %, get it down a bit lower so I'm on a lower calorie intake drive for a little bit and that means Prawnychilligarliclimething!  It does exactly what it says on the tin; it's strongly flavoured, packed full of great nutrition, is wonderfully filling and warming, and takes almost no time at all to make.

God, I love this stuff and I love it with enough chilli to make my nose run and my eyes water and make me a bit sweaty :o)  So, here's the recipe... (serves 1):

• 200g large, cooked, peeled prawns
• 50g dry couscous
• 5ml good olive oil
• 1 decent chilli, with the seeds
• 300g-350g fresh plum tomatoes
• 45ml lime juice
• 2-3 large cloves of garlic

Finely chop the chilli pepper, peel and crush garlic and add both to the heated oil in a non-stick pan.

While that's fizzling, chop the tomatoes into small chunks then add those to the pan with a little bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a sizzling point, add the lime juice and bring to a fierce bubble. Leave bubbling for 7-10 minutes, then add the prawns for another 4-5 minutes until the prawns are well heated through and the tomato mix has gone very soft. Serve with the couscous (cooked as per instructions on the packet - I usually sit 50g of couscous with a bit of seasoning in 120ml boiling water with a plate covering it for about 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork).

Calories (kcal)	433.5
Carbohydrate (g)	52.8
Protein (g)	38.3
Fat (g)	7.8
Fibre (g)	6.1
Fruit & Veg	4.8

And today went like this:-

B - greek yogurt with fruit compote, flaked almonds and 1 scoop MP Max
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L -chicken salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet pepper and roasted chicken breast
S - Frijomole (cannelini beans and chick peas mushed with chilli, coriander and mayonnaise) with Ryvita Thins
S - Fruit, nut and seed bar
D - Prawnychilligarliclimething with couscous

Exercise - 60 minutes gym (573kcals before background tax)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1578 2292]
Protein (g)	147.3 (38.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	157.2 (38.2%)
Fat (g)	40.6 (23.7%)
Fibre (g)	21.0
Fruit & Veg	11.0

Think I'm back on track

Lovely gym on Friday.  I did try to use the 30kg bar-bell for my clean and press now that I'm nearly comfortably doing 10x3 with 25kg but, well, it didn't work very well.  Not even one :oD  Maybe Monday!

Today I had a reasonable cardio/intervals session with a teensy bit of core work, plus having a go at pull-ups on the easier (where I can get my hands closer together) apparatus and if I jump into it a bit so I'm not starting from completely hanging down, I can actually do it.  Nearly there!

Nice foodz and dinner on its way:- rose veal escalope in garlic and lemon sauce with roasted sweet potato wedges and mushrooms.

Rest day tomorrow I think; my shoulders are saying Hello! quite a bit still from yesterday.  Hope youse are all having a great weekend, lots of (interesting) sport on now with Wimbledon and Le Tour :o)  Who's following and who do you want to win?  I'm rooting for Bradders (Wiggins) for sure!

Not feeling great

Will attempt a proper update later.  Yesterday I gymmed after the 5 day long weekend off and it was tough.  Given how I feel today, I don't think I'd recoverd from whatever happened on Sunday that made me feel terrible.  It was alcohol related but given that I did exactly the same thing on Saturday and felt fine...  I hit the weights with the same intensity as my last routine last Wednesday and it was horrible, but I managed the whole routine, including the intervals at the end.

Maybe more later with weekend photos.  Rest day today.

Short break

Swimming intervals yesterday and a good nutrition day.  Hard gym today, increased my side-planks with rows to 7kg and still managed 3x10 each side.  AND managed 3x10 with the clean and press at 25kg.  Very pleased with that.  Good food again today, but as I'm slipping into the holiday zone... wiiiine!

Won't be updating until we're back from THE VALENCIA GRAND PRIX :oD  But I should have lots of photos to share.

Keep it healthy and fit guys!

Wobbly DOMS

By the time I got to today's gymming, I still had DOMS all through my core from Sunday's session.  This makes press-ups, rowing, pull-ups etc. a bit difficult and I got really quite wobbly a bit earlier in the press-ups than last time.

This morning, I decided to try a porridge experiment (mostly because there were no flaked almonds left and I like them with my yogurt a lot more than not having them in it) involving soaking the oats overnight in the fridge.  So, oats, water, raisins, honey and a spoon of mascarpone went into a bowl in the fridge overnight.  Vile, vomitous-looking mix came out in the morning, I must say, as the mascarpone just sat there in little chunks.  Still, I mixed it, microwaved it for 2 minutes, mixed it some more and microwaved for another minute and out came a beautiful, creamy, thick porridge; to which I added some chopped strawberries.  And it was nice, though the strawberries that didn't sink and get heated up didn't really go very well with the porridge - too acidic - the heated up ones went a bit mushy and much nicer.  So.  Score for the porridge.

I was gymming today so lots of snacks and gymmage went OK apart from the wobbliness; I'm going to up the dumbbells in the side planks with rows as the 6kgs are getting a bit easy now.  I'm still on 6kg with 3x8 each side on the lunges with cross-over arm raise things, my triceps really feel it especially on the left.  I'll try to hit 10 each set next time, but it'll be quite a struggle.  And another 8, 8, 10 with 25kg barbell on the clean and press which I'm still quite chuffed with, but I want to make it to 3x8 with 30kg by the end of next week when I'll see my trainer again.

When I got home today, apart from the mysterious half-eaten sausage on the lounge floor with one kitteh sat on his bed ignoring it and the other one AWOL (I would love to know where it came from and how, 'cause we don't have any sausages in the house, never mind cooked ones like the one I found), I found my chilli plant has finally got a ripening chilli on it - and it's pretty!  I was starting to worry that they weren't ripening, but it looks like the warmer temperatures now are setting it off; which is great.  Very pleased :o)

So pleased, that I heated up a frozen goat vindaloo for dinner with a couple of toasted wholemeal pitta breads to mop it up (I really couldn't be bothered to cook up any rice) and ohhhhh....

As with chilli con carne, bolognese sauce and curries in general, the goat curry had really improved with freezing and re-heating and it was really really nice.  There's one portion left and it miiiiight still be there when Mr TOTKat gets home for him to eat, but I might get the munchies before then ;o)

B - porridge with honey, mascarpone, raisins and strawberries
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, celery, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, beetroot and chicken breast
S - smoked almonds and a nectarine
S - cottage cheese with 2x seeded Ryvita Thins
D - goat vindaloo with 2x Waitrose wholemeal pitta breads

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1879 2224]
Protein (g)	139.4 (30.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	233.1 (48.1%)
Fat (g)	42.9 (21.2%)
Fibre (g)	25.4
Fruit & Veg	12.3

Great day; really great day

Gorgeous brekkie today of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted wholemeal, seeded bagel with lashings of tea.  Bit of mooching about the house and getting ready, along with a banana just before gymming.  And a very pleasing gym session it was too.  Mr TOTKat was with his trainer, so I had a bit over an hour to fill with my current routine plus a bit extra.  I added in some tricep pull-downs and bicep curls at the end after my intervals on the cross-trainer and I can really feel the burn in my arms now!  I also managed to squeeze out 8, 8, 10 with the 25kg barbell with the clean and press, so that's more progress.

Mr TOTKat's trainer was really positive about my "negatives" (negative motion pull-ups), which was nice.  He did think I should be able to do a full positive pull-up if I'm doing 12-15 4s negative ones.  I just never think to try a positive one until I've already done 10 of the negatives, so I have no juice left!

What really made me pleased today was trying on a couple of shirts that were too tight last time I tried them (about a month ago).  And they fit -exactly- now!  The last time they fitted like that, I was 3kg lighter than I am now.  Which just goes to show you that the scales are -definitely- not the only or best measure.  I have dropped 0.3% body fat over the last 2 weeks, despite being well over maintenance last week and only just 500kcals under it this week.  On average across the 2 weeks, I was 90kcals over maintenance, so I shouldn't have lost any weight, but I have definitely done so even according to the scales.  So it looks like I am actually gaining muscle somewhere as well as losing body fat.  My BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is for sure higher than WLR thinks it is for my lifestyle setting of "moderately sedentry" (i.e. I do walk about a bit, but my job is mostly sitting about all day and I log proper exercise separately).

Off now to have a warmed sultana scone with cherry jam and mascarpone with lots more tea!   (and dinner is going to be kangaroo steak with couscous, peas and sweetcorn *dribble*)

Feeel the warmth!

I have a warmth in my shoulders.  This is because I increased the weights on my clean and press up to 25kg (from 20kg!).  It was really hard, but I managed to get 3x8 out though the last 2 of each set were really difficult to get to the top and I had to restart a couple of them from the floor again.  But I did it.  And my shoulders are all warm from that, plus the new 6kg lunges with cross over things.  Good hard burn of 520kcals out of today's session :o)

So the routine is now:-

• warm up - 1km on the rower at L7
• squat and swing with 14kg dumbbell - 3x10 (superset A)
• pendulum swings - bodyweight - 3x10 each leg (superset A)
• lunges with cable rows - 12.5kg - 3x10 each arm (superset B)
• side planks with rows - 6kg dumbbell - 3x10 each side (superset B)
• lunges with cross arm to opposite knee from vertical - 6kg dumbbell - 3x10 each side (superset C)
• planks - bodyweight - 3x60s (superset C)
• clean and press - 25kg barbell - 3x8
• sprint intervals on the cross-trainer - 30s sprint, 60s rest - x3
• cool down and stretch

Very tired today and it's making me feel a bit queasy, which is annoying in a background kind of way.  Constant nibbling on snacks does help a bit, but having thoughts of pie and mash... that'd really help.  I don't remember the last time I had actual pie.  It may have to be worked into a cheat at some point soon, I think.

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - nut and seed bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, celeery, peppers, beetroot, chicken breast
S -greek yogurt with mixed seeds and raisins
S - banana
D - salad; lettuce, sweet peppers, new potatoes, boiled eggs, bacon and a honey, mustard and vinegar dressing

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1679 2240]
Protein (g)	154.6 (37.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	132.8 (29.9%)
Fat (g)	60.7 (32.9%)
Fibre (g)	18.2
Fruit & Veg	7.9

Tuesday

Lots of packed snacks again today (like the cottage cheese with tinned pineapple here) and back into the gym.  Cottage cheese on plain rice cakes isn't great; I think it needs something like Marmite mixed in for flavour.  Increased the weights on the side planks with rows and lunges with cross-arm-to-opposite-knee to 6kg but, really really annoyingly I forgot my heart rate monitor watch so had to estimate the overall burn.

Another really nice bit of progress was in my negative motion pull-ups which I actually managed 2 sets of 5 at 4 seconds for the lowering.  A great improvement, so maybe 3 whole days off was a good bit of recovery and muscle re-building :o)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - cottage cheese with tinned pineapple in juice
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, celery, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, falafel and mint
S - carrot and houmous
S - cottage cheese on plain rice cakes
D -Waitrose buttered onion and mustard sausages with mashed butternut squash

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1710 2230]
Protein (g)	140.7 (33.3%)
Carbohydrate (g)	155.1 (34.4%)
Fat (g)	60.8 (32.4%)
Fibre (g)	24.2
Fruit & Veg	12.9

Premature peaking!

I've been working towards an exercise milestone; 100,000 kcals burned in recorded exercise since I bought my heart rate monitor and started to use it on 15th June last year.  I had intended to hit that 100,000 mark tomorrow, but I got my sums wrong and instead of needing to stay under 521kcals today, it should have been 511.  So, when I reached 514kcals and stopped today... oops.  All-time total; 100,003kcals.  Argh!  I missed it!

Still, I increased the weights on the lunges with cross arm to opposite knee to 5kg and still 3x10.  Which was a struggle, but I managed it :o)

Lunch today was a real treat!  I had leftover beef chilli with roasted tomatoes and red peppers and it was -gorgeous-!  Really tasty, a lovely change from salad and kept me full for absolutely ages this afternoon.  Having worked out that it costs £1.90 per portion of beef chilli that we make, I think I'll be having it for lunch again.  Oh.  Yes.

And having had chilli for lunch, salad for dinner wasn't boring at all :o) It being a chicken and avocado one helped even more! I was tempted to add bacon, but the fat % for today was already a bit high and even very trimmed bacon comes up quite high on the fat content on average.  (So how come ham is so lean?  Same animal!  And bacon is so very trimmed these days, you just try to get any -with- rind in a supermarket *mutter*)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - fruit and nut bar (I'll take a photo of one of these before they all vanish!)
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - beef chilli with roasted cherry tomatoes and red peppers
S - cottage cheese with Dr Karg crisp-bread
S - greek yogurt with fresh mango and chopped mint
D - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, baby new potatoes, avocado, chicken breast and a honey, mustard and cider vinegar dressing

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1779 2237
Protein (g)	161.1 (36.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	161.6 (34.6%)
Fat (g)	55.4 (28.5%)
Fibre (g)	23.2
Fruit & Veg	11.4

Work-day packed foodz

I pack lots of food when I go to work, to keep me going throughout the day; alongside a big plastic box with dry munchies like beef jerky and pistachios which lives in my desk drawer. I eat -lots- throughout the day and it all needs planning, packing and keeping from leaking, breaking, stinking or making a big mess in general.  So here's today's haul.  You can see a a pot with 3x hard-boiled quail's eggs in it, wrapped in kitchen towel to protect them; a Dr Karg crisp-bread that miraculously didn't break; 2x carrots, one Dorset Cereals berries and cherries bar; one tub of cottage cheese to go on the crisp-bread; one tub of Waitrose houmous with about 1/3rd left in it to go with the carrots; and a box of salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, roasted chicken and Food Doctor Herb Boost.  What you can't see is the shaker with whey protein powder in it for after my weights session.  Good haul, eh?

My gym session today was slightly awesome!  Someone was using the only pair of 12kg dumbbells (oddly, there are multiple sets of every other even numbered weight except for the 12s), so I had to use a 14kg one for my squat with swing.  Then I decided that my side-planks with rows needed a bit of a boost, so I used a 5kg dumbbell for that instead of the usual 4kg one.  And I pushed out 3x10 on the clean and press as well as 2x 5 negative movement pull-ups (OK they were definitely not all 4 seconds long, ohhh no, but still I tried!).  Adding in those pull-ups tips the balance on the timing so I've cut the cool-down on the cross trainer to only 2 minutes instead of 5 or so at the end but still managed the usual stretching on the power plate.  Good session!

I (and my team) moved desks in the office today, right down to the other end of the building, so... there were cakes. So I had a tiny one; a Thornton's Caramel Shortbread thing which was all sticky in the warmth and really really sweet. Thankfully, dinner was quite light: chicken breast wrapped in 2 slices of chorizo and on a bed of mashed butternut squash.  I overcooked the squash a bit so it was really soft and gooey when it got mashed :o)  Lotsa black pepper on top and scoffage ensued!

Slight oopsage in that when I got home I fancied wine.  So I'm sipping wine right now, and it is nice.  We'll see how much I end up having, it depends on how I feel and how nice it is (and it is nice!).

OK, so if I drink wine today I won't lose as much fat as I wanted to this week, but hey, I feel good at the moment and I'm not -too- fussed about losing fat really quickly.  Of course I have to look fabulous at a couple of weddings later in the summer, but that's only the icing on the cake of being fit and feeling stronger than I have ever felt in my life.  I think I might have got the muscle back now that I lost while losing loads of weight 4 years ago.  It's taken a year, but it's back and I feel great!

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - cottage cheese on a Dr Karg cheese and pumpkin seed crisp-bread
L -salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, Food Doctor Herb Boost, chicken breast, quail's eggs
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
S - carrot and houmous
S - Thorntons caramel shortbread biscuit, Dorset Cereals bar - cherries and berries
D - mashed butternut squash with a chicken breast wrapped in chorizo slices

Exercise - 55 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1910 2239]
Protein (g)	157.5 (34.4%)
Carbohydrate (g)	155.0 (31.7%)
Fat (g)	44.7 (12.9%)
Fibre (g)	22.6
Fruit & Veg	10.4

Weird mix

Monday was excessive.  Really.  The race was good and then we went out for Mr TOTKat's birthday celebrations and I had far too much beer.  And ate my own body-weight in pistachio nuts at the pub.

So.  Yesterday I felt horrible all afternoon and evening.  Totally my own fault.  And, of course, the only way to fix feeling that kind of horrible was to eat lots of bad things, like takeaway pizza.  The result being that this morning I weighed the same as a walrus.  Yes yes about half of it is just transit pizza and will go away again, but the weekend was just over the top in general and I'm going to have to pay the price for that now.

This morning I felt better but still not great.  2kg up vs. Friday morning and feeling rough.  11am gym seemed like a ridiculous joke as it approached, but I went and did it anyway; tanked in a really good warm-up row, upped the clean and press from 3x10 17.5kg to 8, 8, 10 at 20kg.  And it was good :o)  And my trainer was around so I told him about the great triathlon result and the fact I'd upped the clean and press, and that I've hit the point on the assisted pull-up machine where the assist doesn't work any more and the platform just drops away, so he showed me an extra exercise to add in at the end of my current routine; 2x5 4 second negative motion pull-ups.  I reckon after a few goes at that I might actually be able to do a whole pull-up unassisted now.  *beam*

So now I feel a weird mix of great and rough, though the rough is starting to win again.

• warm up - 1km L7 on the rower
• squat and swing - 12kg dumbbell - 3x10 SUPERSET A
• pendulum swings - bodyweight - 3x10 x2 SUPERSET A
• lunge with cable row - 12.5kg - 3x10 x2 SUPERSET B
• side plank with row - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10 x2 SUPERSET B
• lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10 x2 SUPERSET C
• planks - 3x 60s - SUPERSET C
• clean and press - 20kg bar bell - 8, 8, 10
• negative motion pull-up - bodyweight - 2x5 at 4s count for the drop
• 3x 30s sprints - cross-trainer L6
• cool down on the cross-trainer and stretch

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; chicken, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, celery, beetroot, sweet peppers
S - carrot and houmous
D - salad; chicken, eggs, new potatoes, lettuce, sweet peppers, grapes and cherry tomatoes with honey, mustard & cider vinegar dressing

Exercise - 53 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1531 2259]
Protein (g)	158.4 (42.0%)
Carbohydrate (g)	144.3 (35.9%)
Fat (g)	37.1 (22.1%)
Fibre (g)	24.8
Fruit & Veg	14.0

Cor!

Good gymmage today!  I upped my clean and press to 17.5kg and cleared all 3x 10 reps. :o) I was feeling so good after the routine I thought I'd try an assisted pull-up and managed one with only 10kg assist which is far and away the best performance ever.  I reckon had I tried it at the start, I would probably have managed one with no assist, through sheer bloody-mindedness.

The routine is now:-

• 1km warm up on the rower at L7
• squat and swing - 12kg dumbbell - 3x10 SUPERSET A
• pendulum swings - bodyweight - 3x10x2 SUPERSET A
• lunge with cable rows - 12.5kg - 3x10 SUPERSET B
• side plank with rows - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10x2 SUPERSET B
• lunge with crossed-arm raise/swing to knee - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10x2
• clean and press - 17.5kg bar bell - 3x10
• planks - 3x60s (60s recovery)
• 3x 30s sprints (>200rpm on L6 on the cross trainer) with 60s recovery
• 5 minutes cool-down and stretch

So, yay!  Good gym!  Feeling good and strong and almost ready for Monday's race (start postion #17!  *wibble*)

I also tried the Nakd Pecan Pie bar today and that was pretty much as nice as the Cashew Cookie, so both are very much recommended and fill a little afternoon snack place in the overall scheduling quite nicely.  So thanks loads to Laura for those!

Kangaroo steak for dinner..

Very mild flavour, probably because it is sooooo lean.  Juicy, cooked rare like this.  Very nice.  Will eat again :o)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - banana
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet peppers, pomegranate seeds, cucumber, chicken breast
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
S - MP beef jerky
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
D - kangaroo steak, roasted sweet peppers, couscous, peas and sweetcorn

Exercise 53 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1689 2203]
Protein (g)	173.9 (42.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	162.3 (36.9%)
Fat (g)	38.4 (21.0%)
Fruit & Veg	10.9

Midweek and it's dragging

I tried the Nakd Cashew Cookie bar today and it was absolutely gorgeous!  Slightly malty tasting and the only ingredients are "dates and cashew nuts".  It came out of the wrapper a bit oily-feeling but that's probably just a bit of juice from the dates.  Really tasty, would definitely get them in the weekly shop if Ocado sold them!

For a mid-week slump day, I did pretty well in the gym; increased the weight on the squat and swing to 12kg which was quite hard towards the last couple of reps so was probably due as the 10kg was getting a touch easy.  Next point of attack will be the cross swing lunge thing and upping the dumbbell weight to 5kg on that now that my left arm is playing ball a bit better.  Rest day tomorrow and then winding it down at the weekend in time for Monday's triathlon.

Also, almost all of that extra kg is gone so I'll be ready to carb load on Sunday and put it all back on again in glycogen and water :o)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - Virgin Active mango and soya milk protein shake
L - salad; lettuce, celery, peppers, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, Food Doctor herb boost, chicken breast
S - Dr Karg cheese and pumpkin seed crisp bread with cottage cheese
S - Nakd Bar - Cashew Cookie
D - beef chilli with courgette, onion and pine nuts
S - Pie D'Angloys cheese with chutney and wine

Exercise - 50 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2234 2202]
Protein (g)	186.2 (35.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	162.9 (28.7%)
Fat (g)	57.8 (24.4%)
Fruit & Veg	14.9

Rocked the routine!

I had planned to rest today, do 2x weights this week and 1x cardio but this morning I just felt good on the way out of the front door, so grabbed some freshly washed gym kit that was over the radiator and stuffed it into my bag and off to work.

So. This time I did every exercise on the routine to a full 3x10 without failure. Oh boy did it feel good! My shoulders looked amazing in the mirror when I was doing the clean and press and I managed all 30 of those which is way better than last time. I went really hard at the 3x 30s sprints on the cross-trainer at the end, so hard I felt more than a bit sick :o) Very very pumped and psyched after I got back to the office. All raaaarrrr! I'm so pleased to have improved so much since the last session.

Oh!  And my prize from Laura arrived today:-

The tubes of pampering smell soooo nice and I can't wait to crack into those nakd bars; cashew cookie is top of my list!  *dribble*

Speaking of food, breakfast salad again for dinner today :o):-

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - Dorset Cereals bar; berries and cherries
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, chicken breast, Food Doctor herb boost, celery
S - Dr Karg cheese and pumpkin seed crisp-bread with cottage cheese
S - MP Max beef jerky
D - salad; lettuce, new potatoes, boiled eggs, chorizo-style sausage, honey, wholegrain mustard, vinegar

Exercise - 50 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1708 2197]
Protein (g)	168.4 (40.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	117.3 (26.3%)
Fat (g)	62.2 (33.5%)
Fruit & Veg	6.0