Newbie jogger / clean eater

Mink

Currently 5’ 7” & 10st 10lbs (with generous flab)
Would like to get down to about 9st, making sure to keep over 19 BMI, and also tone up considerably.

Quite unfit but have started jogging about 5 days a week for approx 30-40 mins. As I’m building up endurance, have to stop and walk a bit at certain points, but trying to build up to being able to run non-stop.
One day I week I go for an hour fast walk. I reckon I’m really going to need to get some resistance training in there somewhere. I need to check how heavy my weights are - they're adjustable & will then log that with reps & so on.
Definitely feel way better since starting the excercise a few weeks ago! I look forward to it now whereas first it was like medeival torture.

Diet wise, going for as clean as possible. This is the proposed diet. I’m not far off it at the moment but yesterday was first day really put in the clean eating thing.
Typical day would be muesli with low fat milk or else a protein shake with natural yogurt for brekkie, handful of mixed nuts/seeds/ dried fruit mid morning. Lunch would be fresh soup with either a few slices of McCambridges or Ryvita with un-processed turkey slices or low fat cheese, handful of mixed nuts (as above) mid afternoon. Dinner is chicken stir fry or salad. Sometimes handful of brown rice or baked potato.
When have lost the weight, will increase calories a bit to be able to maintain it but I really want to eat clean from here on out as I feel sh1te when eat processed crap! So this is hopefully a long term change for me

Cheat meal once a week is a Chinese or some pizza or some sh1t like that.
Once a day have a couple squares of dark choc to calm the sugar addict in me.
Crap at drinking water, trying to work up to 1 1/2ltrs a day to start with.
Usually 2-3 cups of tea or coffee a day.

Mink

Just over a week later. Down 1/2lb

Managed to jog the whole 35 mins last night without stopping! First time ever so I'm pretty proud of myself. Going to gradually increase distance and speed incremently.

Pretty much stuck to the diet above apart from 2 extra cheat meals!
Missed 3 nights running as it was lashing out of the heavens & when it's too wet then it wrecks the runners. However I got a Pilates DVD to do on nights when rain is too heavy.

Mink

Did another solid 35 mins jogging with no stopping, speeded it up ever so slightly. Thighs are a bit sore today so something's working again as haven't had sore muscles after running in about 2 weeks.
Down 1lb today but let's face it, that's water weight.

Going to go for 45 mins - hr on Sat & Sun jogging & try out the Pilates DVD :eek:

Mink

Down to 10st 8 1/4lbs. The 1/4lb is very important :rolleyes:

Have definitely increased the speed on the runs, shaved about 4 or 5 minutes off last night. Going to see about running farther tonight.

Did the Pilates DVD over the weekend, it's feckin's hard. Still aching in some places. I'm fairly dreadful at it as not very flexible & upper body not too strong but will keep at it.

Ger the man

Well done- keep it up!

Mink

Down to 10 7 1/4lbs. I'll be very glad to keep up a pound or 1/2 pound a week for a while.
Picking up speed on the running.
Have been working on longer stretch time afterwards - went to my chiro re bad lower back & he demonstrated how if your hamstrings are tight (you know if you can't touch your toes comfortably with your legs straight) then this can make you slump in your chair. I spend a horrific amount of time sitting at my desk daily & get very sore by the end of the day!
Plan on trying 4 miles non stop on Sat & Sun/Mon & also doing the Pilates DVD as well to help with strength/flexibility. I hope to get better at it as I must have looked insane trying to do it the other day

Mink

10st 7lbs - gotta love that 1/4lb going!

Legs are far more toned. Could probably snap a neck between my thighs now... but I won't.

Keeping up the excercise. Finding it hard to extend the run as I convince myself that I'm bollixd by the end of the 1/2hr or don't have time.

Tried to extend it on Sat but ended up having to stop for a minute a couple times. I find it really hard running in the sun!!

Going to really work on extending run this weekend & keep up the Pilates DVD (getting better at it, don't look as mental when I'm doing it apparently)

Mink

Was away/buried in work past few weeks but only missed about a week of excercise. Got well back into it past week & am down to 10st 6lbs. Definitely way more toned, stomach a lot flatter, feel better.

Have introduced more resistance training - nothing fancy. Just stomach crunches, press ups, some basic arm & leg stuff. Still doing 5k about 4 nights a week. Did Pilates Sat & Sun - still finding it very tough but it's good alright.

I also cut my calories a bit more over past week which has also aided dropping the pound I guess.

I'll be glad to get to 10st 5lbs as I've not gone under 10st 6lbs for about 6/7 years!

Mink

Woo hoo, 10st 5 1/2lbs this morning.
Running was hard last night as had bad stitches nearly the whole time. Can't understand it as had my dinner about 2 or 3 hours before!

Mink

10st 4lbs today. So that's 6lbs over 8 weeks. Slow but good as don't want to drop it too fast.

Haven't been running as much past week and half & when I've gone out the heavens open up & I have to sprint home 1/2 way through. So planning to get stuck back into the same regime from Mon on, 5k & some resistance training. Leg muscles still looking amazing though!

Mink

Got down to 10st 3 3/4lbs before weekend then was away & stuffed myself stupid all weekend. Went up 2 pounds but now dropped a pound. Past two nights when I've gone to the front door to go on jog it's been raining. Grrrrrrr!
Haven't had a run in over a week & feeling it. Have done Pilates past two nights instead & definitely getting stronger - the side plank (or whatever you call it) isn't as hard now.
Plan to get to 10st 2lbs in next week.

hopesprings41

Well done on the weight loss, and on the improved performance in the running.

Can you give us some examples of a typical full day's eating ... I like the idea of cheat meals, I will be stealing that one !!

superbad50

ensure your keeping hydrated , drink before , during and after exercise to get the most out of your sessions ,

long slow jogs over a longer duration combined with light weights and a healthy diet are the key to losing weight

congrats , tough going but you will reap the gains .

stay motivated

Mink

hopesprings41 wrote: »

Well done on the weight loss, and on the improved performance in the running.

Can you give us some examples of a typical full day's eating ... I like the idea of cheat meals, I will be stealing that one !!

Brekkie - Large bowl of Muesli with low fat milk (I get the Flavahans Hi-8 one) It's unsweetened & has lots of seeds & nuts. I love it

Lunch - Sambo on brown bread, no butter, either turkey, tuna or chicken, with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers & a little bit of coleslaw.
Or maybe sushi or sometimes niscoise salad (tuna, egg, baby potatoes, green beans, spinach etc etc)
I inevitably have a wee choccie bar after. You know the bags of mini bars you can get in Lidls or SQ, I have one of those.

Dinner - Protein shake. I use Spirutein as it's quite high in protein but not too sweet & it's got spirulina which is a type of algae which is good for you. I mix it with a a fair amount of OJ & 1/3 carton of low fat natural yogurt. I have to order Spirutein online as hard to get these days.

On the weekend days I'll have usual brekki, shake in afternoon & then dinner will sometimes be a cheat like Chinese, pizza, indian, chipper etc. & I'll inevitably have an ice cream & maybe pack of crisps while watching a movie or something. Then the other weekend night I'll make a big chicken stir fry or caesar salad.

I drink lots of water (well lots for me) & have a couple cups of tea & a coffee. I don't drink booze much, maybe couple glasses of wine once a month or every two months.

Bear in mind, I found this to work for me to create calorie deficit so that I can lose a pound a week or every two weeks while excercising. It suits me as I find I'm getting the nutrition I need & I feel fine on it. It may be too much or too little for someone else with a different weight & metab.

It's also about enough to sustain my running/excercise & if I don't have carbs or have too little food, I just can't do the run & I don't want to interfere with my fitness levels.

Mink

Ok it's a bit off target but down to 10st 2 1/4lbs today.
Got 5k run (approx 5k, could be doing a bit more) down to 30 mins from 34 last week.
I'd like to get to 10st before end of 1st week in August.

Mink

10st 1 3/4lbs today. I ate a lot of sh1te over the bank holiday weekend & the salt really bloated me out for a couple days as I'm so un-used to crap food now. The first few bites are gratifying & then just feel disgusting so avoiding that this weekend.

Still hoping to get to 10 by end of the weekend.

Mink

Made it to 10st today. So that's officially 10lbs gone.

Haven't run this week at all. Knees got swollen, I think cos of the weird weather, god I sound old. They're feeling better so will hit the road Monday

Mink

Between being away, illness twice & then fecked up back, excercise has been sporadic.
Feeling much better today so going to get cracking at it again.

I was pleased to see that I'm the same weight as over a month ago so I didn't have any problems maintaining my weight (still eating quite well with occasional treats).

Need to turn it up a notch as feel I was in plateau-land prior to illness & I would like to get to 9 1/2st in one month.

Wish me luck!