The FAT BURN Blog

Well Day 50 is here and I have to admit I have mixed feelings about my progress.

Okay … I have been achieving results as far as fat loss is concerned. In fact I have gone from 116.1 kg at the start of this 100 Day Mission to 111.6kg today. So that is a loss of 4.5kg (10 pounds) during the first half of the mission.

So from a fat loss point of view I am happy … though I am slightly behind on achieving my goal. My goal is to get to a bodyweight of 105kg by the end of the challenge. So I have to lose 6.6kg in the second half of the challenge. Not impossible and definitely a challenge

The reason I am having mixed feelings is that I have been failing in my committment to update my progress on a regular basis here at the blog.

For the most part I have been taking my pictures on a daily basis. I think I may have missed perhaps three days which is not to bad going. As far as keeping my food journal I have dropped off on this and need to get back to it.

I have failed in the past few weeks in my committment to update the blog and also to support my fellow Shredders in their journeys.

Whilst I am not into excuses, I have been feeling overwhelmed with life over the last few weeks. The renovations on our house in Geelong are taking more time than originally thought. In the next couple of weeks I will be spending a lot of time finishing off the renovations getting ready to move in. So during this time I will not have internet access.

Not much I can do about that for the next few weeks. I will do my best to keep as regular as possible in updating my progress, and also in supporting other shredders.

Ok … now that I have that off my chest

Today I went for a walk … started raining farily heavily and it was a liberating feeling not giving a damn about being totally soaked. Decided to run for a bit and discovered I was fitter than I had thought. Originally I was not going to start running until I was down to 105kg … maybe I will start to build it into my program earlier.

Here are my Day 50 pictures … half way there

Okay its Day 43 … Im back on track and focused.

Today instead of going to the gym to do my cardio I went for an hour and half walk. I enjoy walking and it gives me a good chance to clear my head and some thinking time. Very important when you have a busy life.

So one week to go until the midway point of the 100 Day Mission.

When I started on the 100 Day Mission I was at 116.1kg and my goal was to reach 105kg. This means that I had to lose 11.1kg during the 100 days. Therefore by Day 50 I needed to be at appx 110.5kg.

At this point in time I am a little behind. I have been hovering at just under 112kg for the last week. So the big question is can I burn 1.5kg of fat in 7 days? hhmmm its a big ask but I will be going for it.

I am planning on upping my cardio for the next week or two. Instead of only doing cardio 3 days a week I am now doing cardio for half an hour after my weight sessions 3 days a week, and then 3 days a week of additional cardio.

In addition to this I am tightening up on my food intake for the next week, dropping out some carbohydrates, and lowering my calories a little for the next week.

I will keep you posted on how this goes and if I am on track or off by the 50 Day mark.

Oh … something exciting happened this week.

Many years ago I read a book called “What To Say When You Talk To Yourself” by Shad Helmstetter. It is a book about how we program our minds through Self-Talk. I believe it is a really important concept especially for weight loss.

At the time when I read the book I started to experiment with creating my own Self Talk audio programs for weight loss and did lose quite a bit of weight listening to them.

Well this week I found some audio programs by Shad Helmstetter on Self Talk for weight loss. I have started listening to them and wow are they powerful for focusing your mind on your goal.

I will write an article on this concept in the next few days as I think it is an important one for anyone looking to lose weight.

Okay here are todays pictures:

Well I am back in the land of the living today after a few days laid up with a migraine. I don’t get them often but when I do … look out

I think I may have been pushing myself to hard lately which lead to the migraine. My wife and I are renovating two houses, getting ready to move and I have been going as hard as ever in the gym. So the combined effect lead me to requiring some rest. Amazing how the body gives you some not so subtle clues.

So I am back and feeling a lot better thankfully.

Day 42 … I really want to make some progress in the next week so that by Day 50 I am well and truly on track for my goals for the 100 days.

Here is todays picture:

Hey … just a quick note for today!

Have been suffering from a migraine for the last few days. So have had yesterday and today off from exercise and laying low.

Will update blog and progress tommorrow when feeling beter.

Day 40 is here. Things are going good.

My bodyweight for Day 40 is 111.9kg so I am still well on track to achieve my goal for Day 100 which is to get to 105kg.

In the next 10 days I really want to ramp up the weight loss so that by Day 50 I am slightly ahead of the curve

I have been absent for a few days. Been busy with renovations in Geelong. Apologies to my fellow Shredders for not having a chance to get around to your Blogs. Will do so soon.

Here is todays pic … my wife is away so taking pics myself:

Okay I admit … today I pigged out and I enjoyed it!

Well I guess I need to keep things in context …

When I say I pigged out it was nothing like the pig outs I used to have before commencing my fat loss journey.

My pig out was at lunch … I had a chicken burger with chips … hot chips … oh yum !!!

I think I was going a bit ratty on low calories and I have not really been taking my free meals that often. So today was the day to indulge a little.

Great thing is I am straight back to totally focused. For dinner I had chicken breast in a little satay sauce with lots of salad.

So my point is this … when you take a free meal keep your focus on the next meal and how you can make it a compliant meal. Get straight back to eating correctly. The sooner you get back on the horse the easier it is.

Having a free meal on occasion (especially when you are eating clean) is important for both your mindset, and also to let your body know that there is no famine and food is abundance.

Well back to protein shakes and oats

Here is todays pictures:

Day 34 and going strong.

Today was my cardio day and decided, as it was such a beautiful day, to go for a long walk instead of going to the gym. So walked around the block which takes me about 45 minutes.

On Thursday when it is my next cardio day I am planning on doing some HIIT work. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. My plan is go up to the local park and after a 5 minute warm up, sprint across the width of the park (high intensity) and then walk back to the starting point (interval). I will do this 5 to 8 times then do a cool down. So all up the workout will only take about 20 minutes and will get my heart rate right up.

I will keep you posted how I go with this.

I am really focused on getting below the 110kg mark at the moment. I am very close now and should happen in the next few weeks.

Here are todays pictures:

Today is day 32 … did not get a chance to post my results yesterday.

It was a beautiful day in Melbourne yesterday around 25 c and perfect blue skys. So my wife and I went for a walk from Brighton to St Kilda along the beach. Stopped at a little cafe for coffee overlooking the mariner half way. It was very pleasent.

One thing I have noticed is that when you live in a beautiful location such as by the beach there is a higher percentage of health conscious people who are active exercisers. At least that is the wat it seems.

So I got to thinking … is it health conscious people who are seeking out beautiful locations to live in so they can enjoy the exercise more … or is it the beautiful location that encourages people to become more health conscious?

Or is it me just delirious from the sun? hhhmmm not sure …

As we are selling our house we had a full on day of cleaning up in the yard after our beach walk. So I did about four hours of gardening and mowing lawns etc. So all up I had a very active day.

One thing I really need to watch is getting sunburnt. I have been a little slack this year as you will see in todays pictures and let myself get burnt. So I must stop this and make sure I apply more sun tan lotion in the future.

Here are todays pics:

Day 30 has arrived. My bodyweight today was 112.9kg. I had hoped to have been below 112 at this point so a little behind schedule.

One thing I noticed today while in the gym is the trend for more and more ladies to do weight training. It seems that the message is getting out there finally that resistance training with weights is the far superior way to burn fat, and shape and tone muscles.

It seemed like for many years that most females were to scared to do any weight training. Usually the reason given by most was that they didn’t want to get all big and bulky with lots of muscles.

I guess we have all seen the freakshow female bodybuilders who take mega doses of HGH, Steriods and other assorted drugs to enhance their muscle growth. Naturally the vast majority of women do not want to look like this.

So many women I believe have not ventured into weight training in the past for fear of getting to muscular and losing their feminity.

Well it looks like the truth is slowly but surely getting out there.

The average woman will never develop large muslces through weight training. It just simply can not happen.

Why not you ask?

Because significant muscle development requires the presence of testosterone in the body … something which the ladies are lacking.

Secondly … sadly most of us do not have the genetic make up to acquire large amounts of muscles mass easily … male or female.

So ladies you can rest easy … weight training is highly unlikley to turn you into a overly muscled freakshow.

What it will do though is increase slightly the amount of muslce and strenght you have. This will in turn elevate your metabolism.

In addition the metabolic disturbance effect of weight training will ensure your body burns more calories recovering from your training sessions than cardio or aerobic training will. The result? You burn more calories and therefore over time burn more fat.

Lean muscle is more easily shaped, toned and defined to give you the type of physique look that you after.

So ladies … great to see you training with weights! If you are a lady reading this and have not yet added weight training to your fat loss program then I highly recommend it.

Here are todays pics:

Hot … damn hot … 41 degrees in Melbourne today with more expecteed tommorrow. Great time to stay in under the air conditioning.

Well I did venture out in it for awhile today … went for a 45 minute walk this morning before it got above 32c. Decided I really felt like a walk today out in the fresh air rather than in the gym. I know that steady state cardio like walking is not so good for fat burning … but hey I enjoyed it

I think that is one of the keys to making lasting change … being flexible in your program and incorporating the things that you really enjoy. When my wife and I move down to Geelong I am going to get back into Surfing which is quite a good workout so I will build that into my program.

Also I discovered that there is a Beach Bootcamp program 3 nights a week on the Geelong Beach forshore so I think I will join that to vary up my cardio program a bit.

This is eastern beach near where Sue and I will be moving to when we finishing renovating the house there.

More exciting discoveries is that Eastern Beach is now host to an official Ironman qualifying event. It is a 1/2 Ironman … something to which I once aspired to do and who knows … may one day do yet.

The best I had done is a Gatorade Triatholon which was 600 metre Swim, 20 kilometre bike, and 6 kilometre run. I was in the part of the finishers that made most of the field look good haha … but at least I did it.

I also once did the half marathon in Melbourne in a time of about 2 hours and 24 minutes. Again I was a hack that had a crack … hhhmmm that might be largely an aussie expression so I best clarify. Had a crack means I had a go at it!

Well … Day 30 is up tommorrow. As I am tracking and measuring my progress each 10 days during the 100 day challenge I will be taking my measurements, and weight.

Here are todays progress pictures: