Marginal gains

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.

Weight 81.8 (Down 0.5Kg)
Bodyfat 23% (Down 0.2%)

Injuires
Knee has been good sore after training but not pain while trainings. Still doing lots of stretching on it.

Running
3 good sessions this week. May try and sneak in a 4th session this week if I can.

Eating
All went well, had a dinner at a friends on Saturday which wasn't a problem other then eating very late which caused me to weigh in heavy on Sunday. So that messed my average up a bit. But will come right this week.

Mental
Managed to use my time really well this week. Only bummer was that I lost my step tracker while messing around playing knee rugby with my two little ones between matches at the biggest ones tournament. Not a big deal really, as I have a routine that guarantees 10K steps a day. Just a bummer as I am pretty sure I could have gone back and found it. But the place is an hour away even when the traffic is good.

[mooshld]

Early morning recovery run. Knees are cut to shit from the crappy 4G pitch we play rugby on. Why we can't have grass I will never know.

Anyway 8.8km 45 minutes this morning forgot about day light saving so it was really dark in the forest. Will need to remember my headlamp for next week.

[mooshld]

Missed last nights club session had to deal with some family stuff. So went his morning at 6 did the same loop

8.8km 42 minutes Was a bit pissed off hence the faster time.

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.

Weight 81.0 (Down 0.8Kg, 2kg since start )
Bodyfat 22.7% (Down 0.3%)

Injuires
No change in the knee. Massive bruise on my calf from rugby and elbows and knees torn up pretty bad. 4G pitches suck soo bad.

Running
3 sessions by myself this week. Had to supplement with some mountain biking in the forest as after rugby legs got a bit beat up. Fun for a change and will get back to the running this week. Looking to push those distances out a little.

Rugby
Match on the weekend. Played at 7 and had a decent game we lost by 7 but not really that important at this level. Still fun tackling and getting steals. The range of abilities can be quite frustrating but remind myself we are all old as shit and living vicariously though our past endeavours.

Eating
All back on track. Had a low point on Sunday with sugar cravings but just took myself away from any options.

Mental
Time management not great this week. Youngest kid causing a lot of stress terrible twos have arrived with a vengeance. So not much sleep either. Also a bit of family stuff going on that needs to be sorted to get back to my happy place.

[mooshld]

Early morning run again 8.8km 44 minutes. Won't make the club sessions this week so need to go again early on Friday and Sunday.

Really enjoying the early morning runs. Much more then when I did after work ones.

[MajorRage]

@mooshld said in Marginal gains:

Early morning run again 8.8km 44 minutes. Won't make the club sessions this week so need to go again early on Friday and Sunday.

Really enjoying the early morning runs. Much more then when I did after work ones.

Nice one. Having just moved to summer time, I'm currently enjoying the evening runs, but I'll look to do some morning ones soon too. Really sets the day up nicely.

Smashed out 6km in under 30 mins yesterday, which is similar pace to your 8.8 in 44. At the moment no way I could do an extra 2.8k at same pace though. Small goals!

How flat is your loop? I think I need to bring some hills / ascents / descents but its not really motivating too as I really enjoy my loop.

[mooshld]

@MajorRage said in Marginal gains:

@mooshld said in Marginal gains:

Early morning run again 8.8km 44 minutes. Won't make the club sessions this week so need to go again early on Friday and Sunday.

Really enjoying the early morning runs. Much more then when I did after work ones.

Nice one. Having just moved to summer time, I'm currently enjoying the evening runs, but I'll look to do some morning ones soon too. Really sets the day up nicely.

Smashed out 6km in under 30 mins yesterday, which is similar pace to your 8.8 in 44. At the moment no way I could do an extra 2.8k at same pace though. Small goals!

How flat is your loop? I think I need to bring some hills / ascents / descents but its not really motivating too as I really enjoy my loop.

I'm in Paris so yeah summer time here as well. My loop is undulating in the forest but no real hills. I think its about 50m or something of accent. I find hill running great for the lungs but rubbish for speed. Your mileage may vary

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.
Weight 80.2 (Down 0.8Kg, 2.8kg since start )
Bodyfat 22.3% (Down 0.7%)

Injuires
Not in great shape nursing a cold and one of those 4G pitch burns is infected. The bruise on my calf has spread and my whole shin is agony. If this keeps up I need to get it checked my the doc.

Running
1 session this week in agony due to my messed up calf muscle

Eating
Kiled it this week. Need to put in another week like this and smash through 80kg

Mental
Total shit, between some family stuff, the baby refusing to do anything I need and having a massive argument with my wife its been a really low week. Only high point was taking the eldest to the rugby and baking some treats for the week with the middle boy.

[mooshld]

Fuckin injuries.

So that bruise on my calf now has my whole calf blown up like a freakin hippos leg.

Do says its healing weird but no clot. Can barely move it constantly icing it and on a diet of ibuprofen.

So no exercise at all this week. It sucks just when you are getting back into it something like this knocks you back. Really pissed and thinking vets rugby is just not worth it.

[Paekakboyz]

@mooshld that is stink news bro. It does suck when that decision about playing on versus focusing on other training arrives. I decided I'd rather stop a year too early than late. Still didn't dodge rugby related niggles that I'll have for life. But I know some guys that played well into their 40s without any issues.

You know your body, but it can be hard to listen to it!!
Hope the rehab goes well.

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.
Weight 80.1 (Down 0.1Kg, 2.9kg since start )
Bodyfat 21.9% (Down 0.4%)

Injuires
Leg is coming good still getting occasional twangs but I think its going in the right direction.

Running
Managed to squeeze in 4, 5km runs times were so so with the last 2 being around the 23 minute mark. Working pretty hard to get there.

Eating
Had a really off work after easter. But tamed it after that. Last week was good and this week has started well. So the low weight loss this week is making up for the bad week I guess so I hope to do better next week.

Mental
On the up the week off after easter seemed to do the trick. Looking foward to the summer now.

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.
Weight 79.8 (Down 0.3Kg, 3.2kg since start )
Bodyfat 21.9% (No change, scales have been bouncing around all week on this)

Injuires
Nothing new or noteworthy

Running
Managed to squeeze in 4 runs again. Starting to get the distance up. Totalled 33.6Km this week. Kept the pace up for the longer runs. The after work runs were not so flash. 30Km needs to be my baseline now.

Eating
Been good again but not as strict as I should be. This week need to tighten the straps and hit it hard. Goal is for a .5Kg week.

Mental
Again seems all good. Probably has a lot to do with the weather and with the injuries starting to come right. Managed a bonus bike ride with my two big boys on the weekend. Great fun in the forest and while not working very hard always nice to do extra.

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.
Weight 79.2 (Down 0.6Kg, 3.8kg since start )
Bodyfat 21.7% (Down 0.2%)

Injuires
Few aches and pains from Rugby on Friday night. But nothing to keep me from exercising this week.

Running
Ended up missing a run this week with kid stuff. So had to squeeze 30km into 3 runs. Managed it all right with a good fast one on Thursday. Sunday was a lot slower but was still pretty stiff after rugby. Same goal of 30 at least this week. But want to get in 4 runs this time.

Eating
Canned it last week 0.6Kg so beat my goal. Hoping to do that again this week. Really only eating lunch and a snack in the evenings at the moment. Feel fine though so no complaints. Good meal prep sorted and loving the zero app for fast tracking.

Mental
OK at the moment, not super flash. Got a few admin things that are running on and getting on my wick a bit. Trying to get them closed off. But can't do much till people decide to do their jobs.

[mooshld]

Monday Weigh in.
Weight 78.9 (Down 0.3Kg, 4.1kg since start )
Bodyfat 21.5% (Down 0.2%)

Injuires
Nothing to mention knee still fucked when I bend it in odd ways so trying not to do that too much. Don't feel like its holding me back much anyway

Running
34.4Km this week, but again only 3 runs. Managed a 17k on the weekend so that was nice. But need to get that 4th day in somehow to keep the wheels turning. Going to be hard this week as I am off to the Cricket on the weekend so need to work hard during the week. Over all the pace is okay. Will try and do a speed work out this week. If I am going to ditch the club I need to be disciplined in these kind of workouts.

Eating
Was doing awesome all week then decided that we would have a family cheat day on the Saturday. Was middle ones school show then a fair at the school afterwards. Didn't go crazy. But its the first bread and sugar I have had in a while and the body rebelled badly the next two days messing up my progress. Still 0.3Kg is not to be sneezed at.

Mental
Weird one this week. I have felt pretty good but the misses says I have been very quiet and a bit hard on the kids. Got a boys weekend this week so can recharge a bit. Had a great time at the weekend with the kids at the school fair.

[mooshld]

Seeing as I have broken my self imposed isolation from the fern to bitch out all things Foster. I may as well jump in with both boots.

Embarrassed to say fitness totally fucked since COVID. Got a rugby tour with my old team on the weekend then the real work begins watch this space.

[Catogrande]

@mooshld Good luck mate

[mooshld]

So what's been going on.

Well after years of being in a pretty good place with my health and my weight. I have had a rough few years and things have started to slip. While COVID is the catalyst for my issues the reality is that I have probably lost focus slowly over time.

So the stats I am now 10Kg heavier than where I want to be. 88Kg at last weigh in, and I have been there for nearly a year. While in the past I was able to just hit a hard calorie deficit for a few months. Something has changed, maybe its getting older, maybe its working from home 100% now but the self control is gone and I haven't been able to get it back. I can put in a few weeks then one bad day and its a shit show. I just go nuts.

The level of activity is good I am still running a lot, and I even put in a home gym and get out to it a couple of times a week.

That's the physical side on the mental side it has absolutely wrecked me. Its bought up a lot of stuff from my past even going back to being a kid. Self confidence is gone, self worth the works.

So what's the plan.

• Well I have started to see a psychologist as I am exhibiting classic binge eating disorder behaviour, and my doctor is worried it will go further if unchecked.
• After years of avoiding it I now have a proper strength plan in place to try and build some muscle.
• I have set some running goals, achievable ones, though as I was getting injured trying to keep up with my younger self.
• I am trying to put in place multiple support networks, where as in the past I have always gone it alone.
• With eating I am restricting calories but not as harshly as I have in the past. I don't need to get this fixed in 6 weeks. Its fine if it takes 6 months as long as I am moving in the right direction.

Friday I will do a week recap on here to say what I have done and what goals were hit. But at the moment the plan is simple 4 Strength workouts, 3 Runs, log all my food and keep it around 1800, journal daily, with an emphasis on trying to be a bit kinder to myself.

[Rancid Schnitzel]

@mooshld said in Marginal gains:

So what's been going on.

Well after years of being in a pretty good place with my health and my weight. I have had a rough few years and things have started to slip. While COVID is the catalyst for my issues the reality is that I have probably lost focus slowly over time.

So the stats I am now 10Kg heavier than where I want to be. 88Kg at last weigh in, and I have been there for nearly a year. While in the past I was able to just hit a hard calorie deficit for a few months. Something has changed, maybe its getting older, maybe its working from home 100% now but the self control is gone and I haven't been able to get it back. I can put in a few weeks then one bad day and its a shit show. I just go nuts.

The level of activity is good I am still running a lot, and I even put in a home gym and get out to it a couple of times a week.

That's the physical side on the mental side it has absolutely wrecked me. Its bought up a lot of stuff from my past even going back to being a kid. Self confidence is gone, self worth the works.

So what's the plan.

• Well I have started to see a psychologist as I am exhibiting classic binge eating disorder behaviour, and my doctor is worried it will go further if unchecked.
• After years of avoiding it I now have a proper strength plan in place to try and build some muscle.
• I have set some running goals, achievable ones, though as I was getting injured trying to keep up with my younger self.
• I am trying to put in place multiple support networks, where as in the past I have always gone it alone.
• With eating I am restricting calories but not as harshly as I have in the past. I don't need to get this fixed in 6 weeks. Its fine if it takes 6 months as long as I am moving in the right direction.

Friday I will do a week recap on here to say what I have done and what goals were hit. But at the moment the plan is simple 4 Strength workouts, 3 Runs, log all my food and keep it around 1800, journal daily, with an emphasis on trying to be a bit kinder to myself.

It's awesome you're doing this and have steps in place. Now, please tell me to eff off if I'm out of line, but are you being kind to yourself here? This appears to be more a programme for a cut rather than long-term change. With 7 sessions and 1800 cals you'll definitely lose weight but you'll be starving much of the time. My worry (and this is probably projection) is that when you finally do reward yourself, those pleasure receptors will go completely nuts again. Just thinking long term, maybe up those cals a wee bit?

Again, just want you to succeed long-term 👊

[MajorRage]

@mooshld said in Marginal gains:

So what's been going on.

Well after years of being in a pretty good place with my health and my weight. I have had a rough few years and things have started to slip. While COVID is the catalyst for my issues the reality is that I have probably lost focus slowly over time.

So the stats I am now 10Kg heavier than where I want to be. 88Kg at last weigh in, and I have been there for nearly a year. While in the past I was able to just hit a hard calorie deficit for a few months. Something has changed, maybe its getting older, maybe its working from home 100% now but the self control is gone and I haven't been able to get it back. I can put in a few weeks then one bad day and its a shit show. I just go nuts.

The level of activity is good I am still running a lot, and I even put in a home gym and get out to it a couple of times a week.

That's the physical side on the mental side it has absolutely wrecked me. Its bought up a lot of stuff from my past even going back to being a kid. Self confidence is gone, self worth the works.

So what's the plan.

• Well I have started to see a psychologist as I am exhibiting classic binge eating disorder behaviour, and my doctor is worried it will go further if unchecked.
• After years of avoiding it I now have a proper strength plan in place to try and build some muscle.
• I have set some running goals, achievable ones, though as I was getting injured trying to keep up with my younger self.
• I am trying to put in place multiple support networks, where as in the past I have always gone it alone.
• With eating I am restricting calories but not as harshly as I have in the past. I don't need to get this fixed in 6 weeks. Its fine if it takes 6 months as long as I am moving in the right direction.

Friday I will do a week recap on here to say what I have done and what goals were hit. But at the moment the plan is simple 4 Strength workouts, 3 Runs, log all my food and keep it around 1800, journal daily, with an emphasis on trying to be a bit kinder to myself.

TSF has always been quite good here for this. The more you post, the more you get back.

I can relate to almost this entire post ... do your best, look forwards to your logging.

[mooshld]

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Marginal gains:

It's awesome you're doing this and have steps in place. Now, please tell me to eff off if I'm out of line, but are you being kind to yourself here? This appears to be more a programme for a cut rather than long-term change. With 7 sessions and 1800 cals you'll definitely lose weight but you'll be starving much of the time. My worry (and this is probably projection) is that when you finally do reward yourself, those pleasure receptors will go completely nuts again. Just thinking long term, maybe up those cals a wee bit?

Again, just want you to succeed long-term 👊

Firstly, absolutely no offence. One of the reasons I decided to post back here is I am happy for the advice and discord with others who have battled a bit in the past.

So the thing with the training is I have been doing 7 sessions, with a miss here or there, for around 15 years now. It started in my 30s and was all just running. After COVID I picked up a decent lifting setup for cheap, form a bodybuilder who was happy to have the space back. Noodled around with it on and off but didn't commit to any kind of program.

So the only real difference is I am not running as much and am doing 4 weights sessions a week. Its a basic strength building program focuses on Squat, OHP, Bench and Deadlift. Not too complicated and I get it all done in about 45 minutes. So its more of a recalibration then an upping of my workload.

With the cals, I am not sure if you know my history but I dropped from 109kg to 78kg by eating 1300 a day for 9 months. I can't do that any more. I just crack after 2 weeks and end up hating myself. My problem is that I seem to have a very slow metabolism. Probably due to my very sedentary job. If I go above 2200 I am putting weight on. So giving myself that upper ceiling of 1800 is maybe not as unreasonable as it seems.

You are spot on though about rewarding myself and going nuts. One of the things the doc is working on with me is to help me find none food based rewards. To treat food as a necessity and less as a source of pleasure or reward.

Anyway 3 days in but taking it 1 day at a time.