Chores Day

Hi all, what a day I have had. When we arrived home last night I remarked to my partner how great it was that we had cleaned the house before we left for our holiday. I foolishly thought that meant that there wasn't that much that I would have to do today. How wrong I was!

Today has been spent washing, drying, folding, wiping, vacumming, storing...you name it I have had to do it today. No time even for the gym today. I have been out making the most of our time with the car, which I have to return tomorrow. I have been to shopping malls taking clothes in that need dry cleaning and repair. It has been full on, and later my partner and I are heading out for some late night shopping that needs to be done. We are making the most of the vehicle, and it will be sad to see it go. It wont be sad to have to fill the tank with gas however!

I'll be back into it tomorrow after I have taken the car back. I think I will head to the gym after that, the drive and delivery of the car is likely to take some time. It might also take a wee while to get back home, but an afternoon cardio session will go well. The weekend will be spent working out both days as well of course. So, hopefully there will be some progress to report tomorrow for the weigh in! Might be expecting a bit much after a holiday, but you never know!

Last Day In Dubbo

The mercury is about to shatter the thermometer here in Dubbo on our last day in central New South Wales. It was 40 the day before yesterday, 38 yesterday, and I reckon it is going to be even hotter today. I started the day well with 3 espressos in the best cafe I have been able to find in town, and even got some take home beans for the coming week. Looking forward to trying them at home as even though they sold a lot of different kinds of beans, in the cafe you had to have the house blend in all drinks. Anyroad, I got mostly organic coffee and am looking forward to tasting some of them in Sydney.

My partner is out at the zoo on the last morning of her course. I have to pick her up in about half an hour so I am killing time in the thriving cosmopolitan metropolis that is Dubbo. Home of Australia's best meat pie (2003 and 2005). I tried one yesterday for the novelty and it was the best pie I have had in Australia. This was mostly because it tasted like real meat had been used, and the gravy was a bit thicker than the others I had tried so it didn't run all over the plate. It was nice, but it is too hot for that sort of thing and there is no way I am going to go back for seconds.

Not much else to report, a long drive back to Sydney - should take about 6 hours or so. The Blue Mountain stretch will be interesting as there are fires there at the moment. The central city was on the news this morning, covered in a haze of smoke from the bush fires so it could be fairly slow going. Also, when we arrive in Sydney it will be rush hour so we will probably stop somewhere along the way to time our run into Sydney after the rush hour traffic has gone. We're hoping to stop at our favourite Lebanese restaurant on the way too for some great felafels, hommus, and of course their famous chilli chicken and lamb. Delicious. Then back to the grindstone again as of tomorrow! It has been a great holiday so far, the zoo was a highlight as were some of the vinyards. Check back tomorrow for my return to Sydney post!

Still on the Road

Hi All, we're still in Dubbo and I went back to the zoo today. When you buy a ticket, it gets you entry to teh zoo for two days as it is pretty large, and the hot weather and flies make it difficult to do the entire thing in one day. Today instead of driving around the zoo I decided to walk, setting off from the car park at just after 9:00 a.m. It was great to be there nice and early, the animals that were a bit hot yesterday were out and in the open, I think I have managed to get some nice shots on the camera and will be looking to post those at the end of this week.

Walking around the zoo does get a bit tiring, mostly due to the heat and the constant presence of annoying flies. It is an upper body workout as you have to spend most of the time you are walking shooing flies off your face and body. This was especially the case at the hippo pen, the flies must come out at feeding time just like the hippos. It is worth it though, the zoo is special. I walked all told about 6km around the zoo and did get a sweat on. I think that will do for the workout today, although I may take a swim at the hotel later on. Tomorrow is our last day in Dubbo, we head back to Sydney in the afternoon and expect to arrive home about 8 tomorrow night. It'll be nice to get home, it has been a great trip but I miss my hard bed at home, the soft one in the motel room has been giving my back a bit of a hard time but a good night last night has put paid to that.

Well, that is about it for today, I am off to the shelter of the air conditioned room to enjoy some cable tv before I venture out again this afternoon for a bit more of a look around this part of the world. Check back on Thursday for my next update.

Post From On the Road

Well, as the ashes test match (cricket) finished early due to England slumping to a 277 odd run defeat earlier today, I have ventured out into the heat, and into a dodgy internet cafe in Dubbo, to make this post on the run. We've been having a great time away so far, our trip to Mudgee was a bit of a highlight and we've taken lots of photos to put up on the blog when we do get back home. No way to upload them on the road so you will all have to wait until Thursday or Friday of next week when I get back home and can post the photos for you to have a look at.

As I was saying, Mudgee was the highlight of the trip so far. It is an old gold mining town and has some magnificent old buildings in it, most dating back to the early 1800's, which is pretty impressive for this part of the world. The old colonial style houses are still around, and the area seems to be going through a bit of resurgence as it becomes a weekend destination for sity dwellers like ourselves - bringing with them the city dollars. We stayed above a pub in Mudgee and that was both cheap and nice. It had air conditioning and we were very glad for that - it got up to at least 40 degrees the day that we were there.

There is a lot of wine being made in Mudgee now and we toured about five vinyards. My partner did the tasting as I was driving, although I did manage to sample a nice semillion and a couple of decent reds. We did buy some wine to bring back with us, a case and about four other mixed bottles, so the cellar at home will be in good shape for the summer. I even had a couple of beers on Saturday as it was so hot that I needed some liquid, and given that the cricket was on tv, and we were staying in a pub, it just felt right to have beer! It was nice, hit the spot.

Mudgee is also a foodie town, there are at least a dozen places of interest to stop in. After the first couple of places we decided that was enough, it was all just a bit too tempting. Butterscotch sauce, wicked chocolate sauce, belgian chocolate and all sorts of sweet stuff was on offer, and studioualy avoided - bar the occaisional small tasting sample of things. There were also some fine cheeses to try, the pesto infused feta was the highlight and we have some of that to bring home.

Dubbo is not quite as impresive as Mudgee. It is bigger, but there is less of the historical side to this town. We are staying in a hotel and it isn't really up to the standard that we were expecting. The best thing about it is that it has cable tv. We did get out for a few hits at tennis, but after about 15 minutes max we were completely shagged as it was 35 degrees, there was a hot wind, and there were about a million flies trying to join in our game! No good, and once you inhale some of those little buggers it really puts you off. We got in the pool after that and I did a few laps to get a bit of a work out. Today we have been to the zoo, and we've got some good shots of that which I will write about next week. It is an impressive zoo, they had a lot more animals than I was expecting as well having a great space for it. We saw the usual local animals - koalas, kangaroos, wallabies (all sorts), camels, emu - as well as tigers, lions, buffalo, zebras, giraffe, ostrich, elephants...and the list goes on. We've got some nice shots of some of them which I hope will look good once I upload them to the net.

All in all this is a good holiday, feels nice to be out of the city and somewhere different. We're here for another couple of days and then it is back to sin city. I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym, I just aint used to training in heat like this. I am a city boy, I need my air conditioned gym to work out properly - no bush background for me as they say! Check back in a couple of days for the next update.

Loss Achieved, but Smallest To Date

Well, it is great to see the "to go" section of the above tracker progressively getting smaller than the "lost" side of the tracker. However, it is a mixed result this week - good to still be going down, but not so good that it was only 200 grams. I guess the weekend away made a difference, I was eating the same food as everyone else and not really watching what I was doing, and I guess looking at it from that point of view it is good to still be losing weight. We are off to Dubbo for another few days away from home and I am hoping this time to use the break as an opportunity to do some quality training away from the usual gym. Might be nice to get a break from there too. Just a bit of a change, however I think the few days away from the gym at the weekend have lead to the downturn in result this week. Most important thing for me though is to keep going down, and just keep at it. Negative thoughts and feelings about not having lost enough wont help me at all.

My totals for today were 62 minutes, 8.35km and 1051 calories. Not a bad effort, took a bit longer than usual to reach the calorie goal, but I got there, and the goal was attained. The progress chart on the web site has been updated so check it out if you'd like to.

Not much else to report at this stage. I had the usual workout this morning at the gym and am back at home, about to head out to get our rental car for the weekend. My partner has a half day today so she and I are off to do some shopping before we take off, and make full use of having some wheels. We take off tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to it. Have a great weekend all, and all the best for your own fight against fat if you have joined me.

Daily Grind Ground Out!

Back into the gym this morning, and again it is a very hot day. Yesterday afternoon was particularly bad, we had the hot air coming from the desert so when you were outside it was like being in a fan forced over. About 38 degrees at worst I think, not pleasant at all and it looks like we are in for another sweltering day today. At least I have been out now and may not have to go out again for the rest of the day with any luck.

I stuck with the usual two 25 minute sessions on the treadmill, and then moved to the calorie goal session on the cross trainer. I went hard and managed to knock off the 200 calorie goal in a record 10 minutes. I was pretty stoked by that. My totals for the day were 60 minutes, 8.36 kms, and 1050 calories in all. A good day at the office.

Not much else to report. I am cooking dinner tonight so will get something nice together featuring chicken. Our trip to Dubbo is on this weekend - I will be driving for the first time in a while on Friday - right in the heart of Sydney! That should be entertaining, out of practise so I want to pick up the car and get back here as quickly as possible. We have a party to go to on Friday night that is being thrown for the people who work in the same position as my partner. It should be fun, apparently if everyone turns up the house wont be large enough and we'll have to move to the bar next door! Sounds promising, but obviously I will be staying away from the demon drink - I have to drive the following day but my partner will be able to tear into it! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Difficult Cardio Workout Today

I made it through my usual routine today, however I found it a bit harder than usual for some reason. I am not sure if it was the day off yesterday or if it is the hot and humid weather, but whatever the reason is, I wasn't as into the cardio today as usual. My totals for the day were 65.1 minutes, 8.5km, and 1,051.1 calories. Not a bad effort, but it took me longer on the cross trainer to reach my 200 calorie goal than it usually does. Never mind, there is always tomorrow to put in a big effort, and I am sure that I will return to my normal enthusiastic self. Maybe I need to jazz up the workouts a bit, try different equipment to inject a bit of variety into things.

I watched a pretty good film the other day called "Touching the Void". It was about a couple of mountain climbers who embark on a climb of a previously unclimbed mountain face in the Andes. It is a tale of disaster and difficulties that at times defy all belief, but is based on a true story. It was interesting to listen to the characters as they went through such a terrible ordeal, and I was always thinking "I am really glad that didn't happen to me"! I'd reccomend watching it if you are at all interested in what the human body can withstand and what people are capable of doing.

Aside from that, not much to report. It is hot and sticky here today. It is supposed to get up to 38 degrees here today. To top that off there are bushfires burning out in the Blue Mountains and they are starting to threaten homes in the area, a real shame. The hot desert wind is not helping the efforts to put out the fires at all. I feel for the people out there.

In other news Thorpe, Aussie mega star swimmer anounced his retirement. This is getting a lot of press right now as you would expect. The Ashes (a series of cricket test matches between Australia and England) start tomorrow morning and the country is practically on a war footing to win those back after losing them last year for the first time in 17 or 18 years or something. It should be a good series. Well, check back tomorrow when hopefully I will have a report emphasising how mucyh more intense my morning workout was than today!

Apologies For Lack of Post

Hi all, apologies for the lack of a post today. I have been flat out all day, jetting into town and taking care of some urgent business that we needed done. So, no gym for me today but at least all the work is done and I can hit it hard tomorrow morning. I am quite looking forward to it, I actually missed the gym today, but can't be helped.

We're organising ourselves for our trip to Dubbo this weekend. We are renting a car and we pick it up on Friday night. We're taking off the following morning and return to Sydney on Wednesday. We're spending one night in Mudgee on the way there, and will take our time on the way back so we avoid hitting Sydney at rush hour on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to some time away, it'll be nice for my partner and I as last weekend wasn't that restful - there were too many other people there all wanting to debate every little thing that we were going to do. This time we will be in charge of ourselves and can organise to do things we want to do.

Not much else to report, very hot in Sydney today. I have been sweating all day and seem to have managed to get dehydrated. The eating has been going well, no dropping off in that regard since the trainer and I parted ways. I am hopeful that I will be able to return to see her, but I think it is most likely this will happen in the New Year, as opposed to a return in the near future. Again, apologies for the delay in posting, and for the still as yet to be posted holiday snaps! I will post these tomorrow.

What A Weekend

Wow, that was a full on weekend away at a beach called Bendalong. It was very nice, near to a better known area called Jarvis Bay where they claim to have the whitest sand in the world. I am not a worl expert, so I can't really say yay or nay on that one, but it was white, that is for sure, and it made a very interesting squeaking sound when you walked on it that most people seemed to enjoy. Yes, I did get some pictures and I will post them, along with tales of my weekend probably tomorrow afternoon, a bit pressed for time today. What I can say is that I have a bit of sunburn lingering today that I really ought to have avoided, and when you go on holiday with nine people, there is a fair bit of frustration that goes with it. It was good to get away and see a bit more of the state, and I am looking forward to our next holiday this weekend at Dubbo in central New South Wales.

I did get to the gym this morning, there was a bit of exercise required to address the holiday atmosphere and it was good to get back into it. I went on the treadmill for two 25 minute sessions, and I then did 200 calories on the treadmill. Having a calorie goal is good as it encourages you to work harder to reach the goal faster. With time and effort already set out under the program I usually work to, it doesn't matter - everything is set down for you. But if you have a calorie goal only, you can work harder to reach it faster. I quite enjoyed that aspect of the final stage of the workout this morning. I also did three sets of 20 situps on the Swiss Ball, as well as three set of 20 leg raises on the floor. It was a good workout, I know because my workout shirt was absolutely soaking wet by the time I headed home.

My totals for today were 62.5 minutes, 8.36km, and 1,046.3 calories. I felt great on the initial phase of the treadmill and went quite hard. I think that some of the sand dune walking and swimming of the weekend took a bit of a toll on my feet as they were a bit painful during some of the running. However, I pushed on and did well. I'm looking forward to getting back in there tomorrow. My apologies for the brief post today, there will be more tomorrow afternoon I am sure. I hope that you all had the same great weekend that I did.

Half Way Point Reached!

Great news, I have finally gotten past the half way point in my quest to lose 45kg (99lbs) of fat. I feel great having finally reached it, and it has been getting progressively more difficult to maintain high levels of weight loss each week. My rate of weight loss has come down, but I feel good about this because it isn't such a struggle and I know that I wont be going to back to the old ways anytime soon. Obviously if it would fall off that would be great, but I have to make changes to the way that I eat, and they have to be changes that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Slowly but surely is definitely the best way to go here. I am stoked, only 22kg to go to my overall long term goal! 2kg to go to reach my next short term goal.

I hit the gym hard this morning. I had a slightly larger than usual serving of dinner last night, I must have needed it as this morning I felt a bit sore and tired, but once I got moving I felt good. I think I did the walk to the gym in record time this morning, and once I got on the treadmill I couldn't help but go faster than usual. As this doesn't happen too often I made the most of it. My totals for today were 61.47 minutes, 8.49km, and 1072.6 calories. So, much faster than usual, and about the same distance and calories as the other workouts this week. Not too shabby for me.

We're heading off to the beach this weekend. I am being collected in the not too distant future and have been put in charge of packing up for the trip so I will have to get stuck into that. The achievement of this morning has made a bit of difference to my mood, I am really looking forward to spending a couple of days away from it all, near and in the water. My partner and I are planning a few marathon walks for our time away so that we get to see a huge amount of the the area that we will be in. I'll be taking photos, so look out for those on Monday. Have a great weekend all, and keep it up for your fight against fat.

Attitude Issues Solved by Phone Call

Well, it is a wet, windy, and miserable day here. I was really tired this morning, and a bit sore from the workout yesterday evening...so I can only conclude that it was a good one! My legs are sore from the lunges and I was sitting at the pc looking out the window and I couldn't imagine a less inviting scene to get my active and going to the gym. Just then the phone range and my father was calling for a chat and a bit of a general catch up. We had a chat for just over 1/2 an hour and it was really good to hear from him and chew the fat. Anyway, his call put me in a good mood and I decided to overcome the adverse elements and venture out into the tempest for my cardio session. I was glad for the phone call.

I was a bit later than usual, but was determined to do a proper workout and get through my regulation 1000 calorie goal. I toyed with the idea of getting on the rowing machine and some other machines that wouldn't hurt my foot, but in the end I went for 3 sessions on the treadmill. I was glad that I took this option as once I got going I really enjoyed the running. It was good, I felt good running and moving at pace. I even upped the speed during the first two sessions at various stages to get to goals I set for myself during the run. It worked well. My totals for today were 69:47 minutes, 9.11km, and 1131.6 calories.

The reason that the time is out is that for my last session on the treadmill I set a calorie goal of 250 and worked to that. Once you reach the goal, the machine gives you a five minute warm down period. So, in 14:47 I burned 250 calories, which wasn't too bad. I think I was running ahead of what I normally do on that session. It was good to have a goal like that, although kind of demoralising at the start when it seems that you have so far to go! They soon add up and after a while you relish watching them click over so quickly, getting closer and closer to your goal. Next time I think I will make it 300.

After that I went to the stretching area and did some leg raises on the floor holding the base of the stretch bar. These were quite good, and my back felt pretty good afterwards. I think that I really need to build some strength in my abs as they lag behind the rest of me now. I also did some sit ups on the floor - all of the Swiss Balls were being used which gutted me. To finish off I did some hamstring and back stretches. When I finished I ran into the trainer, she was happy to see me at the gym and was very encouraging. She told me to go hard because when I go back to her she will "kill me"! A good incentive to keep going with my own weight regime because when I do go back to her (I will when I can afford it) I don't want to suffer that much.

And that is about all the news that is fit to print. No evening workout today. I have the rest of the day at home to recover and tomorrow will be another two workout day. That will be a real test as I am tired in the legs already. Hopefully that will have gone, but probably what I will do on Friday is a workout that is different from what she used to have me do - I will keep all of the exercises that I felt worked best, but may not be able to do them the same way that she used to help me do - that was very difficult on my own as other people would come and grab the equipment while I was using something else. Never mind, I am sure that I will get on top of it.

First Solo Workout Completed

Well, I'm back. I managed to complete my first solo workout, and I wont pretend that I enjoyed it, it was really hard today. Most important was there was no one to talk with, no one to help with the weights, and no one to look after the equipment while I took off to do lunges somewhere else in the gym. I did miss the trainer today, but not as much as I would have missed the money I would have eventually had to pay her I'm afraid. That is the reality, and I will have to adapt to the difficulties that the new situation presents. I may ask if the gym arranges training partners as that would make a real difference for me.

Anyway, I got through the workout. It is amazing how different it is when you are in charge of the exercises that you are going to do. It is just that much more difficult working out when you have to think about it as well! I think that I went about as hard as I used to, but I don't think it was quite as good overall as the workouts used to be. I think it is a confidence thing, and an experience thing. It has been a while now since I was last in charge of my workouts and it will take a while before I am in the swing of it.

I did lunges, flys and situps on the Swiss Ball, press ups on the Bosu, and then squats on the Bosu. That was the first part of the routine and took me about 40 minutes to do 3 sets. I then went and did some dumbell work on my back, followed by some chest press on the machine to finish off. I worked quite quickly and had a good sweat on by the end of the workout. I reckon that the intensity was there because I almost threw up at the end, although I think that was mostly because I forgot to take my water bottle with me to the gym and my mouth was really dry!

Anyway, that is the first day containing two workouts in the new timetable done. I feel a bit tired, and it was hard, but I think that it should be manageable. Some news came in today, my partner and I may be getting away this weekend to the beach. One of her cousins is in town and they are renting a beach house just south of Woolongong and have invited a few family members down for the weekend and we may be able to tag along. I really hope so, it'd be nice to get away and get amongst the surf down south. I'll let you know how the plans go, but obviously that will have a bit of an impact on the timetable! I'll have to put it in storage for the weekend! Wont matter, there will be plenty of exercise over the weekend at the beach - swimming and walking are foremost in my mind...

First Step on New Plan Taken

Well, I have my cardio workout of this morning out of the way, I have just arrived back from the gym now and it was quite an interesting one today. I had a sore foot yesterday and I think that happened as I ran a bit harder than usual on the treadmill. In particular, during the machine's warm down cycle, I kept running at the pace the machine determined, rather than actually warming down and following the guidelines given by the trainer. I was hobbling around a bit yesterday afternoon, and while the pain had subsided this morning I decided to give the treadmill a miss and inject some variation in the routine this morning, as well as avoid doing any further damage to the foot.

I decided to start on the bike as there was no chance of hurting my foot pedalling on a stationary bike. I jumped on the thing to find that there were a vast array of programs to choose from, but none of them were called "calorie goal" or even "distance goal" which surprised me. I had a look and chose something called weight loss and gave it a shot. It wasn't too bad, and quickly after starting I found out that the bike has a 30 minute time limit, not the 20 minutes that applies to the treadmills. Of course there was, I assumed the usual 5 minute warmdown at the end, and I was pretty much correct. For some reason it stopped at the bizzare time of 34:25, but that was long enough. My butt was sore by then anyway. I got through 420 calories which wasn't too bad by my reckoning. I had thought that it would be a lot less.

From the bike I got on the cross trainer proper and had a blast on that for the usual 25 minutes. It was good to get on this machine again, as I hadn't been on it for ages. I found, to my surprise, that you can burn just as many calories on this as you can on the treadmill running. I was quite impressed with my 425 calories and 3.24km from that session. After that I got on the cross ramp and again was surprised to find that I did 419.8 calories and 3.22km. Today's totals came in at 84 minutes, 21.96km, and 1264.8 calories (note on the bike I got in over 15km). To check the spreadsheet of my stats click here.

I feel tired, but pretty good. I stuffed down breakfast as soon as I got in the door because I will need to have lunch out of the way by 1:00 this afternoon so I will have two hours to digest prior to my 3:00 workout. I am a little apprehensive about this workout, it is the first of the workouts that I have designed to do myself and it will be interesting to see what the gym is like at that time of day, and how I get on with hogging a lot of equipment to myself while also doing cardio in between sets as the trainer used to have me do...at least when she was there she could watch over the weights and keep the nosy scavengers at bay. I'll be sure to let you know how I get on, so check back later for my updated post this afternoon.

New Timetable Underway, New Cardio Fitness Tracker Working

Hi all, I have been outrageously busy, yesterday evening we got a nasty surprise that threatened our already slightly dubious financial position in the form of a water bill for $200.00. This was a surprise to say the least, and as it didn't arrive until after 5:30 p.m. yesterday we weren't able to follow it up with the water department straight away. My poor partner was racked with worry about this bill as it threatened to really put a damper on our Xmas holidays, and our trip to Dubbo in about two weekends time. Suffice to say that I have beena ble to sort it out this morning and it looks like we don't have to pay the account, but I have to make sure it gets to the agent so that it can be paid or else our entire complex will be without water! Hope we can avoid that, just waiting for the agent to call and find out where to send the bills.

My partner had been contacted by the gym during the day about her 3 half hour personal training sessions at the gym that she got as part of the deal I signed her up under. She set one of them down for last night at 7:30p.m. so once I heard this I decided that my twice a day routine might as well start right then, and I went along with her. I decided to start with something a bit light to get used to it and did a workout on my biceps and triceps. It was quite difficult to workout at 7:30 as the gym was enormously packed. My partner and I decided that we wont be going back at that time, and I will use the afternoon for my workouts instead of the evenings. I think this should work okay for me - there will be enough time to recover from the cardio workout and still put in a decent effort.

I did manage to do a reasonable arms workout, and I was glad that I had chosen a small muscle group to work out. It took ages to get any of the weights to use because of the large number of people there, most of whom were young guys hogging a huge number of massive dumbells that they weren't even using most of the time. In any event, I did alternate dumbell curls, tricep pushdowns, ezcurl barbells curls, tricep dumbell extensions, and finally some standing pulley curls to finish off. My arms really felt it by the end of the 1/2 hour, and I did notice that there was some stress in my back so I will have to be careful about this. However, I felt good and it was good to get through the first workout. In future I think that the muscle and strength building workout that I do will only involve my arms and my back. The rest of my body will make do with workouts modelled on what the trainer used to have me do.

So, last night I finally finished off what I am calling my Xmas timetable, a daily plan that sets out what I do, and when I am supposed to do it. This should have me fighting fit by the time I head off on holiday and aside from the 5 day trip to Dubbo from 25-30 of this month, I think it should be fine for me to stick to it. If any one wants to have a look at my proposed timetable, they can download it by clicking here, or from the spreadsheets page of the web site directly of course.

I have also redesigned my cardio tracking spreadsheet so that it has a couple of features that are improved over the earlier versions. First and foremost it calculates totals for all of the data that you enter into it. Also, the graphs work a bit better now, and they look a whole lot better. You can download the spreadsheet that I am using by clicking here, or directly from the spreadsheets page of the web site.

This morning I got into the gym as planned and according to the tiemtable. I did, in the end, 3 25 minutes sessions on the treadmill. At the end of the usual two I saw that I needed just over 200 calories to get to the 1000 calorie mark so I figured I would grind them out on the treadmill rather than transfer to the cross trainer or the cross ramp as I did have a slight pain in one knee and the trainer had suggested not using those machines if that ever happened. By the end of the workout I had done 75 minutes, 9.52kms, and 1166.9 calories. Not a bad effort considering it was backing up from last night, and I felt really good at the end.

I decided to do some ab work as I think they are the cause of the slight trouble my back is giving me. I did 3 sets of 20 situps on the Swiss Ball followed by 3 sets of 20 leg raises on the bench. I felt pretty good at the end of these exercises, but I thought that would do for the first day. I have all of that to do again tomorrow morning, along with my first workout tomorrow afternoon where I will be trying to emulate what the trainer had me do. I'm looking forward to it, and will be designing the workout this afternoon. I have a good idea of what to do, it hasn't been that long since I last saw the trainer.

I also spoke with the trainer yesterday afternoon. She was really good about it, and even offered to train me 2 times per week on what amounted to a credit system - meaning I would pay her when I could. She said that she thought of me as more than a client, and she was very sad to hear that I couldn't afford to see her anymore, but she understood. I thought about her offer quite seriously, but as I can't be sure when I will be in a position to pay her I can't really incurr any credit as I hate not being able to pay people and it could turn sour. She says she'll be happy to answer any questions that I might have and she'll still see me at the spin classes on Saturday mornings. It was sad talking with her and ending an 'era' for want of a better expression. I feel a bit of doubt about what lies ahead, but I am also determined to continue on with losing weight.

Good Start To The Week

I started well this morning, 25 minutes on treadmill for 3.07km and 366.6 calories. I backed that up with another session of 25 minutes for 3.23km and 391.3 calories. I then went on a machine I haven't tried before which was like a cross trainer, but without the handles that your arms move back and forth. I think it was called a crossramp machine - it is one of those precor elliptical training machines. I was surprised at how tough it was, and played around with the buttons to see what changes they made. It was a good workout and I may use it a bit more, although my hamstrings are a bit tight after using it. It does seem to targe them well, however after pump yesterday I didn't really need that on the hamstring. They were sore last night.

Anyways, on the crossramp machine I got through 15 minutes for 1.89km and 240 calories. Unfortunately my mathematic skills are not what they should be and I had hoped that this would get me across my new goal of 1000 calories of aerobic exercise every day. I think the total is in fact 997.9 calories. Bummer, but I guess with the walk to and from the gym that would take me over the 1000 mark. However tomorrow I will make sure that I do the whole lot. I also did a total of 8.19km this morning which isn't too bad really. I feel good about it, that is for sure. After the cardio workout I did some situps on the Swiss Ball and a couple of the instructors that were roving around the gym mentioned to me that they had noticed how much weight I have lost. Always feels good hearing people say that, but I must say I find it hard to take a compliment like that. Not sure why, I always feel obliged to say something like "Yeah mate, but there is still a lot more to lose" or something like that. Not sure why, and it seems like a negative response. I suppose I should say something like "Yeah thanks for mentioning it, that really helps. It has been a lot of hard work, but I feel much better for it".

I wont be in the gym for the second workout today. After the pump class I need a bit of recovery time, and also I think some stretching at home will be enough to keep me going for today. Tomorrow will be the first two workouts in one day under the new regime and I have the rest of today to fine tune the workout that I will be doing in the afternoon. I was thinking this morning about the changes that I am making to the workouts that I am doing and I am feeling pretty positive about it all.

My partner and I have finished our budget and the trainer will have to go due to financial constraints. It is a shame that we couldn't juggle things to allow me to keep going but it just wont fit in and so my new plan takes on added significance now that I can't rely on the trainer to keep me going to the gym and keep me training hard. Now I will have to do that myself, but I feel that the time is right to make this move, and it may even help me to be in charge of my entire workout, anything that goes wrong will be down to me exclusively! I will call her later on today, and I am hoping that she understands and that she will still see me at the spin classes that I am hoping to keep going to.

Well, I will post my new cardio spreadsheet soon, and I will also post my timetable for working out, and my workout plans once I have them. I will be doing a couple of run throughs before I sort out the correct weight levels and what have you, but I have a pretty good idea of where I am at, although it was hard to pay attention with the trainer as I was always so tired while working out I just had to concentrate on what I was doing to get through it. I think I will keep some of the cardio and weight mix she gave me, but I must remember that towards the end her workouts were so tough I couldn't do them and a cardio workout as I had been able to do at the start of my time with her.

A new challenge on the horizon, and one that I am looking forward to actually. This will be a good experiment - a bit like the one I went on this weekend. I decided to shun all caffeine this weekend, and I think I have suffered a little because of it. I have had headaches - fortunately they could be treated with panadol, and felt a little jittery at times, but this morning I feel fine. Four days without coffee! It wont last, but I just wanted to see what it was like....and I think drinking coffee is better and easier! Love the stuff, and it wont do me as much harm as what I used to drink in large quantities I am sure!

Good Weekend

I've just arrived home from Body Pump class and am feeling good. Workout went well, and I think that this class will be a regular event for the three of us (myself, my partner and her cousin). It was a tougher workout than usual today, the music was different and the exercises seemed just that little bit tougher. I enjoyed it, and pushed through, but I could see that many of the regulars were struggling today.

It was interesting watching some people in the class today. The form that some people use on exercises had me worried for their safety, however the instructor didn't see any reason to help them out by suggesting that they change what they were doing. I know my own form isn't always text book perfect, but I don't do squats like good mornings - one woman at the front of the class did hurt her back during the warm up, but soldiered on without changing her technique at all. I think I will have to be careful doing this class as clearly I wont be able to rely on the instructor correcting my form if it isn't right. It is a worry, but I don't think that classes will be featuring too highly on my workout plans for the coming month.

I mention a month as by that time, 14 December 2006, I will be on holiday for the Xmas period. I do not expect to remain losing weight during that time - only a fool would diet over Xmas. I intend to have a good time, eat some nice food, drink some nice wine and beer, celebrate the New Year with some old friends, and not let dieting and exercise get in the way. Of course, that doesn't mean just going off and eating heaps and drinking even more, it means doing exercise and keeping up with that side of things, while not concentrating on the diet as much as I have been. It will be interesting to see how it goes, but one thing is for sure - I just don't think that I can eat as much as I used to anyway so that will help me.

I'm looking forward to hitting the next month from tomorrow quite hard as I have a goal in mind - the Xmas holiday period and getting down as far as I can before that starts will be important. I'll be catching up with some good friends of mine over the Xmas break and will also be working out with at least one of them. Last time I saw him I was at my heaviest and we did some boxing training. I'll be looking forward to doing some of that again but this time doing a bit better -a long with doing some running and that sort of thing. It'll be good fun and we may even be able to get out to the west coast for some swimming in the big surf. Sweet.

Well, I hope that all your weekends are going well and that you are all set for the coming week. Should be a good one and I will be letting you all know soon what my hard out month of exercise and eating entails. Cheers!

Half Way Mark Remains Elusive

Well, I have been to the gym, done my usual cardio workout and had my weigh in. The 22.5kg (49.5lbs) half way point still eludes me. I had hoped to reach that mark this week, but it wasn't to be. I am at least pleased that the downward trend continues, even while the workouts are not as intense as they used to be. I think I am still carrying some of the effects of the sore knee I suffered during the massive walk half marathon I did two weeks ago now. My knee is now performing like it used to, but an injury like that does slow you down a bit while you have it, and then there is a period where you come back from it. I am happy to say that this morning on the treadmill I felt good (yes, it is sunny today too so that really helped me!) and am back to normal running now. Feels good and I know that I can use this to reach the next goal of getting over the half way mark (next week I reckon), and then on to the next short term goal of 120kgs (264lbs).

My session with the trainer this morning went well, however I am now fully conversant with the plan of our workouts together and they are not as taxing for me as they used to be. I still get tired, I still go as hard as I can, but by virtue of knowing what is coming next, I find the workouts are easier to get through because of this. As they don't come cheap I am thinking about whether or not I should continue seeing her as I really could use the money at this time. This is not a decision to be made lightly, however my partner and I have identified that we need to make some adjustments to our budget and this is one area that stands out as being a possible area to cut back. I think that now I could design and do my own workouts that would not be entirely dissimilar to the ones she has me do. Perhaps when our financial position improves I will be able to afford to go back to her. At this point it is likely that I will have to do this, but my partner and I are going to discuss it further tonight.

Not much else to report. The diet has been going well. It is getting a bit repetitive, however we recently were able to get our hands on some really hot chillies and we have been using these to spice up the normal stir fries, and add a bit of go to things generally. Our veggies boxes have helped to keep things a bit more interesting as we are not in control of what veggies are put in the box when we get it. So, this forces us to be a bit more inventive with recipes and what have you. It is working out well, and we are definitely eating more veggies, and saving money on our weekly shop. The last box we ordered has lasted us two weeks so we are doing well out of that one.

Well, this is definitely moving into a crucial time for me, and I am looking forward to it. Taking responsibility for more of my exercise seems like a good idea to me at this point, and could be just what I am looking for now that I feel I can do more working out than I used to. I used to be so tired it was hard just to do things around the house after a workout in the morning. Now I feel like I could head to the gym and lift some weights in the afternoon and this might be exercise model that I move too soon. I'll keep you all posted, and I wont be giving up in this fight against phat, of that you can be sure!

Cardio Session Done

Hi all, got into the gym this morning for my usual cardio session. 50 minutes on the treadmill and a walk to and from the gym. I cranked up the incline on some parts of the workout routine today to add a bit of extra grunt to the session. Worked well, and a few extra calories were burned by me. I have found that my knee is now more or less completely back to normal and is not giving me any trouble to speak of.

It is raining outside again today, been cloudy and bit off for most of the last week now. Not the best sort of weather for getting out and hitting the gym, it is always a little bit more difficult to keep motivated when the sun isn't shining I find. Not sure why, I mean I work out inside I just find it less inviting to get outside to walk to the gym I guess. The MP3 player is a real help on the treadmill on days like today, if you let the music move you.

I am pretty sure that I am not the only one that feels like this as the gym was nearly empty when I went down there today. There must've been less than 20 other people there with me today, well down on the usual 50-75 people that usually cram the place in the mornings. Long may that last, I much prefer it there when there is plenty of room to go around, and no one cramming the machines or even worse, having to get in a line to get on exercise equipment.

I'll be developing a new timetable for myself in the next day or two and will publish that on the site if anyone is interested in having a look at what I propose to do. I will also be recording my weights workouts from now on as it is crucial that I track my progress in this area also as part of my fight against fat.

Exercise and Movies

Hi All, apologies for the lack of a post yesterday - after I went to the gym in the morning I took the rest of the afternoon to head into town and have a look around. I went for quite a large walk in town, from Kings Cross back to the city. As it was the afternoon by the time I got there, my partner asked me to wait in town and meet her there after she finished work. I decided that I may as well take in a film to kill some time, and afterwards we had a light Chinese meal for dinner and so we weren't home until late.

I went to see "Flags of Our Fathers". I was expecting quite a good film, having heard a lot of good reviews. I was a bit dissappointed by the film in the end - I found that it was disjointed, very poorly directed, often quite confusing, and the temporal connection between scenes was changed too often to follow accurately what happened during the battle. The whole "I don't want to be called a hero" side of the film was overplayed and stated too often to really develop into a theme of any consequence. The main problem is that the photo is a remarkable image of struggle and success, regardless of how it actually came to be taken and does capture the imagination of most people who see it.

Some of the action sequences were very good, but overall I was disappointed by what I considered to be a very poor retelling of monumental struggle in the face of adversity pitching tenacious defence against the projection of massive military power. By constantly juxtaposing the battle scenes of the past against the present of the film, the temporal nexus of the battle is destroyed and it is often difficult to place where and when scenes on the island are supposed to take place. In addition, the bits of the film about the fund raising tour that the heroes go on fall flat and the movie at times becomes overly laboured on the points of alcoholism, the effect of the battle on the men, and the public interest in identifying heroes to worship in difficult times. Eastwood has done much better than this, and hopefully will again. Mediocre at best.

I have been to the gym this morning, another cardio workout on the treadmill. Nothing of any great consequence arose this morning. I have been considering whether or not I should continue with the trainer and will make a decision today and call her about it. In the end, I think it will come down to finance as I don't think that I can really afford to continue to see her anymore. I would like to return to seeing her when I can, but for the meantime it may have to go on hold. I feel confident that I can keep up the good work on my own now, and perhaps even start to do more if I take over control on my own. I will let you all know what decision I make in the end.

Drizzle Continues

After a damp weekend, the rain continues for the third day...feels like it has been raining for a month! Had a good weekend, got to the gym yesterday morning for a pump class and did quite well. The weights that I was training with were a bit heavier than the first time I went through. I coped well, but did struggle with the squat part of the routine - I think that the weight was not assisting my knee much at all and I did have minor pain during the workout from the left knee. I am sure that it will come right however.

I have decided to take today off from the gym, I can feel that the muscles are a bit sore from the workouts I have done for the last few consecutive days and so some rest is in order. I am looking forward to getting into the gym again tomorrow morning and get back on that treadmill. Should be fun.

Today I was going to venture into town, but with the weather the way that is has been there isn't much point. I will probably postpone the trip until tomorrow and may some photos for you all to have a look at. I'll be trying to sample a few great coffees while I am out and take a look at some of the sights around Sydney. Of course, this will be after the morning's exercise which I will get out of the way fairly early I think. Not much else to report today, looking forward to a good sweat session on the treadmill tomorrow.

No Class Today, Cardio Workout on Treadmill Done

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the trainer told me not to go to the spin class this morning. Apparently the usual instructor is on leave this weekend and she reckons the replacement is nowhere near as good. Consequently she suggested that I not go to the class and we are set to go next weekend instead. I am looking forward to going back to that class, the trainer said that I did very well last time I went to the class. I am, however, also grateful for the fact that my knee will have an additional week to heal and I can get some cardio under my belt before I go back.

So, in order to make some progress I went into the gym this morning with my partner and her cousin. They decided to do a body balance class - a mixture of yoga, pilates, and tai chi. That is a bit too slow for me and so I got on the treadmill and went for a decent walk. Felt good too, 50 minutes at pace, although I stayed away from doing any running. I finished off with an abs session, I need plenty of work on that part of the body and a few sit ups on the Swiss ball was a good way to finish off - I find that working out my abs on the Swiss Ball also has an effect on my back - seems to tighten things up and help my posture a bit. It does need some work.

Not much else to report, tomorrow morning the three of us are heading into the gym for the 10:30 body pump class. This should be good, a nice way to work out all the muscle groups in the body without going too far. I'm looking forward to it, and I think I will try and keep the weights fairly light as a lot of the exercises will test how far my knee has come in terms of being fully repaired. I'll let you know how I get on, and of course I will let you all know what the outcome of our determinations on finance are this weekend.

Another Half Kilo Loss!

Well, it has been a pretty unusual week for me this week. The sore knee has been the focus and getting right has taken a bit of the sting out of my usual workouts. However, I have still managed to drop half a kilo again, and I am heading down towards the goals that I have set for myself. I am really pleased with my result this week as I was a bit worried that the lack of cardio exercise might have had an adverse impact on the result for this week. I have kept eating fairly normally, however I guess that mighty walk must have done me some good! I am now closing in on the half way mark, and that feels really good.

I had a workout with the trainer this morning and it was back to normal really. There weren't any lunges, but aside from that it was business as usual. I felt that I did pretty well considering, and when she got me to do bench press I pulled out all the stops and went as hard as I used to back when I was lifting a lot of kilos on the press. I could tell that she was surprised by how much I could lift, but as I said to her my back needs work to catch up. She agreed and gave me a couple of back exercises to finish off with. Yay - that'll teach me.

Not much else to report. It is raining here today - undoubtedly everywhere but the catchment areas. Everyone is most concerned about rain here, except me. I love the sunshine and hate it when it is wet and miserable. Apparently we are supposed to get some of the mighty desert storms coming through this weekend, so that could get exciting.

Aside from that, I don't think that we will be up to much this weekend. Trying to save some dosh, and my partner and I will have to sit down at the weekend and see what the budget is looking like as we have a couple of holidays coming up. Yes, a very exciting time at our house this weekend! Never mind, not much chance of coming off the diet doing things like this! Hope you all enjoy your weekend and have the upper in hand in your own fight with phat.

Knee Getting Much Better

My knee is well on the road to recovery after a decent walk on the treadmill this morning. I initially sought advice from the trainer as to the appropriateness of walking on the treadmil considering the injury, however as I hadn't heard from her and I was feeling pretty good I decided to head in to the gym and give it a crack.

The knee went well, I walked for 50 minutes on 6 km/ph and did not have any trouble at all from the knee. It has started to get a bit tight, I think mainly from the muslces not having moved for a few days. I think that by tomorrow I should be back on track and able to do a proper workout with the trainer again. On Saturday morning it is my intention to go back to the spin class and give it another go, seems like my knee will be up for it. Good news!

So, even though it was just a walk I was able to get through 550 calories which was quite good. It is important to keep going in and getting some exercise done. I am looking forward to getting back into the running, it is hard to just keep walking when I know I can do so much more. Important not to rush things and hinder my progress any more than the injury has done already. The other good news was that an NFL game was on tv while I was there, so I got to watch Cincinatti take on Atlanta for the first quarter of the game (there was a great documentary on running backs before the game started too). I like American Football, a more technical and strategic game than the rugby union that is my first game. It was good to be able to watch some of the game, and I must say that it is the best presented football game in the world that I have ever seen.

It wasn't until after my workout that I got advice from the trainer to rest my knee for today! Oh well, never mind, it feels fine and I feel good for having gone into the gym and done a light workout.

My trip to Kings Cross yesterday went quite well. I visited Cafe Hernandez (pictured), one of the oldest espresso bars in town along with selling roasted and blended espresso beans to take home. It was a great experience, and Kings Cross is certainly one of the more interesting parts of Sydney. It was a bit tame, being the middle of the day and all, however there were still a few players around even though the sun was shining. Entertaining to say the least. My knee was a bit sore so I came home around 4 in the afternoon, but I knew that it would be okay. A good afternoon checking out shops and espresso houses. Good fun, and staying within the rules of my fight against phat.

New Workout With Trainer

The trainer called me last night to set up the appointment for this morning and we had a discussion about whether or not the session should go ahead in view of my sore knee. She said that she would do a session with me that didn't work the legs out and should leave the knee alone to recover. I agreed and we set the time for 8 this morning. I have just returned and it was an interesting experience.

Instead of running or stepping up onto a bench to get my heart rate up, she had me row on the rowing machine. This worked the knee but didn't put any pressure on it. It felt a bit tight, but I could tell that nothing bad was happening to it. So first up she had me row for 5 minutes, then it was 20 press ups with a hand slap in between each one, shoulder press on the swiss ball, bent over barbell rows, and finally sit ups. I did four sessions of this and I was very tired by the end of it. The rowing really took it out of me and I have decided to work this into my normal routine for cardio.

To end the session for the morning I was told to do pull down followed by tricep pushdowns on the lat pulldown machine. These were pretty tough, but I have started to enjoy working out my back - it is weak but the strength is starting to improve and it wont be long until my back catches up with my chest. I also need to work on my arms and may start doing additional work on my arms other than when I am with the trainer.

The trainer said that she was very pleased with my weight loss again last week - I had forgotten to text message her with the weight so we discussed it today. She also said that she was mightily impressed with the walk on Sunday after the workout session the day before. She wants me to carry on with the spin classes on Saturday mornings to get used to it. I think it is a good idea as the class is pretty tough and it is a great start to the weekend - normally such a tempting time to go off the diet, or stay at home and take a day off. Anyway, I will be there this Saturday depending on how the knee feels - at this stage I reckon it should be okay.

I've decided to take a day out in town for the rest of today. My partner is off at spanish class tonight so I am home alone fending for myself. I figure that I might as well take some time to see a part of the city that I haven't been too - Kings Cross. Should be interesting, there are a couple of reputable coffee houses that I want to try out in that area. I'll get some take home beans as well while I am there. I'll take the camera and should be able to get some shots today which I will post for you all tomorrow. Until then, take care.