The accidental vegan
By · CommentsFirst things first, I’m NOT going vegan. I did, however, cook up a fantastic vegan chili on Saturday night which made enough to feed three adults, plus enough for lunch today and at least tomorrow for me. It wasn’t until after lunch today I realized my first two meals of the day had been completely vegan. For breakfast I have oats cooked in soy milk with dried cranberries and golden syrup.
For dinner we had some lovely vegetarian ravioli with a homemade tomato sauce. Ok, so I did deliberately avoid the cheese to keep my day entirely vegan so it wasn’t entirely accidental, but you know what? It was actually pretty good and I really enjoyed it. Could I be a vegan full time? No way, I like my meat and dairy far too much but I think I’ll make an effort to include one vegetarian or vegan meal in my week.
Some quick tips to achieve your weight loss goals
By · CommentsIt’s been a little over a year and 22kg since I decided to take hold of my diet and exercise and make some positive changes. Over that time I’ve tried quite a few different things and figured out a few simple things that anyone can do to improve their overall health.
- Avoid added sugar. This one is probably the most obvious but also the hardest to stick to. There are plenty of foods out there that contain naturally occurring sugars which are fine to eat, such as fruit or milk. Obviously you don’t want to over do it, but these foods are fine to eat. It’s the fizzy drinks and sweet treats that we need to cut back on, Coke Zero is a good starting point, but eventually water is where you want to go when thirsty. Unfortunately many of us don’t realize how addicted to sugar we are. I can also tell when I’ve avoided sugar for about four days because I have this overwhelming craving for it. A craving that Coke Zero or a banana won’t satisfy, that’s where will power is important.
- Eat whole grains. Here’s a nice easy one, switch that white toast to a nice whole grain bread. Swap the white rice for brown. White flour was originally a sign of status as it took considerably more labour to remove the husk and germ from the flour, but unfortunately your body burns it faster than whole grain, meaning it gives your body a burst of energy and is then gone.
- Cut down the portion size. There seems to have been a great deal of portion inflation over the years. What’s the right amount of meat or protein to eat for dinner? About 150-200g, yet many of us eat around double that. Your lamb chop or steak should be around the size of the palm of your hand, and don’t go back for seconds.
- Short term pain for long term gain. There are days when it’s tough, days when you’d just like to sit down with a packet of Tim Tams and a six pack of cream donuts but you need to remember what the long term goal is. The occasional slip up will happen and you shouldn’t chastise yourself too hard for it, but you need to get back into the routine as soon as possible. Remember your dietary sins and let them motivate you towards your goal.
- Remember, eating right is not a temporary solution. There is no such thing as a diet, there is only lifestyle change. If you go on a diet and lost 10kg over 10 weeks, then go back to your old bad habits, I almost guarantee you that you’ll gain 12kg in the next 10 weeks. There are plenty of wonderful tasty meals you can eat that are also good for you.
Finally, do not be tempted with any of these fad diets that promise “guaranteed results”, or “lose weight without diet and exercise” because there is no way to shed excess flab without hard work. Exercise is hard work, eating right is hard work, but the pay off is worth the sacrifice. I feel better than I’ve felt in 10 years, I’ve been able to handle two natural disasters, increased pressures at work and becoming a dad all with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. You can do it too, if only you put in the hard work.
I’ll leave you with the words of Lance Armstrong that often inspire me as I run that last km, finish that last heavy set or say no to my favourite comfort foods: “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.”
Quake mince
By · CommentsThey say that necessity is the mother of invention, and with the recent earthquake here in Christchurch I had to get a little creative with my cooking using what I had on hand to make a tasty and nutritious dinner that I labelled “quake mince”.
Ingredients
- 500g beef mince
- 2 cans of baked beans
- 250g frozen veggies
- 1 cup of rice
Brown mince, add baked beans and veggies, then leave to simmer for 20 minutes. During this time, cook the rice then add to pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
Tasty, healthy and made from items you’re likely to have around the house most of the time. Just try not to spill it during any aftershocks.
Slacking off
By · CommentsSo lately I’ve noticed that my workout routine has been anything but routine. In fact, my schedule has been all over the place with a laundry list of excuses. “I’m too tired”, “Don’t have time”, “Gotta cook dinner”, or the old classic, “I’ll do it later”.
Starting now, I’m back to my alternating regime of weights one day, cardio the next. I managed to get in a run last week, something I really enjoyed and hope to do more of. Not quite sure how I’m going to balance slow cardio with HIIT training yet, but I’ll figure something out.
One thing I’ve noticed lately is that I’ve lost a little bit of muscle tone. When I was working out every day last month my arms were noticeably firm, while they’re by no means soft, they’ve certainly gone backwards in a month. And that’s something that only hard work can fix.
Changing the routine
By · CommentsSo I’ve been doing largely the same routine with weights for over six weeks, so it’s time to change it up. After six weeks your muscles adapt to the movements you put them through and it’s when you are likely to hit a plateau, both in terms of fat loss and muscle gain.
I’ve been steadily increasing the amount of weight I use and am currently at 9kg on each dumbbell, but I’ve changed almost every exercise in my routine to avoid the plateau. With my calf healed up too, I’ve included some lower body moves and added in some compound moves as well.
- Lunging squat to military press – replaces flat chest press
- Kettlebell swing (12kg kettlebell) – replaces knee ups and back extensions
- Squat to bicep curl – replaces/supplements bicep curls
- Tricep kick back (2.5kg dumbbell) – replaces overhead tricep extension
- Upright row – only unchanged exercise, suggestions welcomed
- Reverse dumbbell flies (2.5kg dumbbell) – replaces bent over row
- Wrist extensions (2.5kg dumbbell) – new exercise
Overall I’m enjoying the new routine, it makes for a good change and with the compound movements, I work a lot of major muscle groups at the same time. I’m going to stick to this one every other day for the next six weeks, although I may replace the upright row with something else.
In terms of the way I look, I am now quite happy with how my arms and shoulders look, but my chest and stomach need a little more work. Actually, they don’t need that much work as I can feel there is some good muscle mass there, there’s just a layer of fat covering them that I need to burn off.
Surprisingly, rugby season isn’t that far around the corner so I’ll need to build a bit of an anaerobic base for that but I’m confident I’ll be in the best shape I’ve ever been in for a rugby season, hopefully that will help with my decision making on the field.
I’ve been a bit slack with my workouts this week just gone, mostly due to the fact that work’s been crazy and I just couldn’t find the motivation to workout after a hard day. It looks like that’s settled down now, so I can’t wait to get stuck in again this week.
In the deep end
By · CommentsOne of the most effective methods of training it to keep your body guessing, so today I changed up my cardio regime to an activity I haven’t done in over eight months: swimming.
My lovely wife gave me a new pair of togs for christmas so it seemed a good idea to try them out too.
When I used to swim, I would do 400m and often felt dreadful afterwards. Clearly I’m in better shape than I used to be because today I did 500m without too much trouble. In fact I would have gone further had it not been for aching triceps and lats.
Tomorrow I’m back on the weights, have added an extra kg to them and feel like I’m maybe a week away from adding another.
Mission complete
By · CommentsAfter my calf improved to the point where I could work out again, I set myself the goal of working out every day until Christmas. My routine took a little tweaking and did at one stage require a day off due to over training, but I made it.
The object of the exercise was to prove to myself that I could do it. When I was only running, I couldn’t run every day, I needed at least one day off in between to allow my joints a chance to recover. By mixing cardio with weights, I can allow my muscles to recover from weights while doing cardio, and allow my joints to recover from cardio while doing weights.
I’m still not back running yet, my physio tells me I’m about a week away from that, but I’ve been doing Tabata boxing sessions for my HIIT training, and cycling for my steady state cardio.
Very generously, I’m giving myself Christmas Day off working out, but after that it’s every day until New Year. Haven’t had a drink in four weeks tomorrow, and don’t intend to have anything until New Year’s Eve.
It’s always the simple things that get you
By · CommentsNo matter how well you prepare for something, it’s often something simple that will come unstuck for you. That’s what happened to me on Saturday afternoon.
Mum rang me up and asked if I was going for a bike ride, I told her that I was and we decided to go together. Since it was bright sunlight and very hot, I put on plenty of sunscreen. The ride itself was great fun, chatting away to Mum and riding for over two hours.
It wasn’t until after the ride I realized the mistake I’d made, you see I’d put on my sunscreen standing up and when wearing cycle shorts, they tend to ride up just a little when you sit down and peddle. Turns out it exposed about 2cm of skin that didn’t have any sunscreen, so I had some very nice burn marks on my legs.
The next simple thing that got me was today during my boxing session. As I was pounding away during a 20 second high intensity interval, the bag suddenly fell you the ground, leaving me a bit stunned as to what just happened. Turns out the hook the bag hangs from had sheared in half, looks like I hit a little harder than I thought.
Popped out and picked up a new, and stronger hook and rehung the bag tonight, hopefully it stays put better than the last one.
In terms of how my workouts have been going, I’ve been quite enjoying them, although my weights sessions either feel really good or make me feel like I’m going to die, but I think I’ve already built up a little extra muscle mass and I’ve gone in one more hole on my belt.
An open letter to the cyclists of Christchurch
By · CommentsDear fellow cyclists,
First of all, congratulations on getting out there and participating in a wonderful sport and for taking traffic off this road. Unfortunately for all of us, cycling can be a rather dangerous sport as recently a number of cyclists have been killed in traffic accidents.
Cyclist groups have been in the media pleading for respect from drivers, but from what I have witnessed in the past few weeks, I am here to suggest that this respect needs to go both ways.
Cycles are considered a vehicle under the Land Transport Act 1998 and as such are bound by the same rules as cars and trucks on the road, but there are far too many cyclists out there who seem to think that the rules do not apply to them.
On my ride home from work this afternoon I witnessed four cyclists run a red light, at a specialist cycle crossing no less, and perhaps scarily enough, a cyclist riding down a shared pedestrian cycle way with his helmet dangling from his handlebars while texting.
It is acts like these by cyclists which leads to an almost homicidal rage from some drivers who claim that we as cyclists have no right to be on the road as we do not pay road user charges, hold licences or have our bikes inspected. Now while these arguments are completely ridiculous, the animosity from drivers is very real.
In any cycle vs car accident, it is the cyclist who will always come off worse. It is for that reason that we as cyclists must exercise extreme caution while riding, but we must also extend some respect and courtesy to drivers if we are to “share the road”, as the slogan goes.
Almost every time I ride, a witness some complete lunacy from drivers, but I always make sure that I follow the road code and show respect for drivers. On my last long ride, I had to move across two lanes of traffic to make a right turn, one driver slowed to allow me to cross and I waved him a thanks. Later in the ride another driver started to make a U turn but stopped when he saw me, again I waved thanks to him.
So perhaps instead of pulling some of the crazy manoeuvres that cyclists do, or acting like the rules somehow do not apply to them, we cyclists need to be the first to extend the olive branch to drivers. If we stick to the rules and are polite, it is harder for drivers to see us as the enemy.
We cyclists have the most to lose from this conflict, and we cannot pretend that there are those among us whose behaviour contributes to the bad feelings from drivers. Obey the rules, be polite and perhaps the carnage on the roads can be a thing of the past.
Ride on.
HIIT Me With Your Best Shot
By · CommentsIn the seemingly unending quest for new ways to torture and punish my body, I have decided to try out HIIT. It stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and apparently the second “I” is silent, and it’s a highly effective strategy for cardio fitness which requires less time than steady state cardio such as running or cycling.
The general theory is that you work as hard as you possibly can for an interval, then switch to low intensity or rest for an interval, then back to high intensity.
On Sunday I tried a variation on this called the Tabata Method which is working as hard and fast as possible for 20 seconds, followed by a 10 second rest, then repeat for four minutes. My chosen exercise was going to be skipping but my calf isn’t quite up to it so instead I worked the heavy punching bag, throwing as many punches as possible in 20 seconds.
I should point out that there’s a five minute warm up and a two minute cool down either side of the longest four minutes of my life.
The word I continually used to describe this work out was: brutal. Honestly, I thought my arms were going to drop off and at the end of four minutes I was exhausted, and covered in sweat.
Today it’s back to the weights, which have been slightly improved by my personal trainer. I think the current plan is to do two days of weights, followed by a day of HIIT or steady state cardio, then back to the weights. That way I get four weight and three cardio sessions a week.
Here’s a little video to give you an idea of what a Tabata heavy bag session looks like. I may, at a later date, film myself doing much the same thing.