Hey internets. I've been a bit slack with updating the last few days. I've been flat out doing activities and finding a spare moment has been difficult.

Desperate to go to bed so I can wake up bright and early for going back to work after a week's holidays also ;) - Seriously though, looking forward to being back to work as it's easier to diet and eat well when you have structure of the work day to help.

Day 27:

What I did:

RPM Class 50 mins + 5 mins on rowing machine for cardio fun fun

Walked: 2km

What I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4 C Sultana Bran, 4 spoons apple and rhubarb, 100ml skim milk 1500kj

Lunch: Meatball Sandwich at local café (2500kj) + 2 cups earl grey tea (300kj)

Dinner: Roast Salmon with Basil Pesto, Steamed Veggies 2000kj?

Mood: Busy.

Day 28:

What I did:

Cardio Session @ Gym 40mins

What I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4 C Sultana Bran, 4 spoons apple and rhubarb, 100ml skim milk 1500kj

Lunch: Sticky Pork Spare Ribs (Carefully cut fat off) with Steamed Veggies (everybody else had fried rice with it) (2000kj?) + 1/2 a slice of pavlova (1500kj?) + 1/2 a carrot cup cake with cream cheese icing (750kj?) (it was a birthday and seemed like poor form not to have some sweets)

Dinner: 15 rice crackers with sundried tomato dip (1200kj?), Small Portion Roast Salmon with Steamed Veggies (1500kj?)

Mood: I have cold knees. Too much time in front of computer.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Right. I'm dealing with the tail end of a stonker of a hangover. Embarrassing on a school night too. What am I, 18 again? Should know better etc etc.

Post will be brief so that I can go to bed and have a lie down. You'll have to figure out the kilojoules yourself as my brain hurts.

Day 25:

What I did:

Went to gym for Cardio Session 1 hour
Walked to and from gym via gf's work.

What I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4C of Sultana Bran, 4 spoons stewed apple & rhubarb, 100ml of skim milk.

Lunch: Tin of Tuna in spingwater (Had a silly day and was so busy I forgot to eat)

Afternoon Tea: 1 banana, 1 tin of tuna in springwater

Dinner. (*Deep inhalation of breath*) 2 salmon thingies on crispbread, 2 glasses of red wine. (Going well so far - then we all went out and it went downhill). Several Slices of Margherita Pizza, 1 slice of Tandoori Pizza, and 1 slice of Prawn Pizza. Many glasses of red wine.

Mood: Blurry.

Day 26:

What I did: Walked to car, drove everywhere else today. 1.7km.

What I ate:

Breakfast: Bowl of Granola + 2 cups of earl gray tea

Lunch: Cup of Hot water (my brain & stomach were basically in meltdown at this time) 1/2 of a chicken burger.

Afternoon Tea: Burger Rings (I know, disgusting)

Dinner: Tapas at a café - mixture of stuff generally not too unhealthy, Salmon Patties, bit of bread and dip, meatballs.

Mood: Sickish. Annoyed with a wasted day.

Posted by funnelbc at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I went to a thing with my designer nerd posse and got some compliments on loosing weight. I'd like to thank whomever paid them, that was lovely of you.

I tried a different bike today at the gym, I usually use the ones where you sit down (like a conventional chair) but this time I went for the one which is more like a regular bike. It's good to mix it up, and I got a good solid workout on it so I might give that a bash again later. Maybe once a week on the different bike would be a good idea. Having some extra time for a full hour workout is great. Will miss that when I'm back at work next week.

I had an unintentionally carbohydratey day and need some more fresh fruit and veg tomorrow.

Stuff I did today:

Walked to and from gym via GF's work and to and from seminar thingy 6km.

Gym: Weight Session 1 hour.

What I ate:

Breakfast: 1 up and go (last one left from my trip to Melbourne) 800kj

Breakfast 2: (After gym) 2 slices of home made toast with Leatherwood honey. (2000kj?)

Lunch: 2 slices of toast with ham and basil pesto (2000kj?)

Afternoon tea: 2 cups of Earl Grey Tea (300kj)

Dinner: 3 small meatball things @ design seminar (600kj?), 1/2 bowl of leek and potato soup (600kj?) and 1 garlic naan bread (1500kj)

Mood: Full of carbs.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These updates were written on my iPhone while I was roadtripping up to Melbourne. Diet wise, it hasn't been great, but I've showed a modicum of restraint, but eating really well while driving around for 4 days is a difficult task.

I've left these basically as written on my phone so if they're a bit brief or dodgily written, that's why. And I can't write.

Finally, I had a weigh in this morning, and I've only lost another half kilo, I put this down to eating inconsistently over the last few days. I will have to up my game to reach my target weight. Loss this week 0.5kg. Total lost so far 4.5kg.

Day 19

Drove up from Hobart to devonport. I think it will be hard to get to exercise while I am over in Melbourne.

Above: Carrot O'Clock in the car.

Top hint for spirit of Tasmania: bring sleeping tablets and ear plugs - trust me.

Went to gym 45 m cardio session

Ate:

Breakfast: fruche lite tub (550kj?) + 1 cup earl grey tea 154kj

Lunch: 1 carmens red muesli bar 763kj

Afternoon tea: 1 medium (chuckling) size carrot (300kj?)

Afternoon tea 2: a medium size pear

Dinner: green salad with ham and turkey (best of a bad lot of food)

Mood: dosed up on sleeping pills

Day 20

Above: Quadcam shot from Spirit of Tasmania.

Bit of a crappy eating day, had lots of folks to meet, and lots of time to kill - and so found myself eating quite a bit.

Excercise didn't really happen either.

What I ate:

Brakfast 1: 1 medium banana (400kj) + slightly sketchy up and go breakfast drink 800kj

Breakfast 2: granola with fruit & yoghurt (2000kj?)

Lunch: grill'd burger & 8 chips (no really). Skinny hot cocolate & 1 small almond biscuit

Afternoon tea: 2 scones with jam & cream

Dinner: 1 small pizza - thin base with BBQ chicken + 2 glasses red wine (3500kj?)

Day 21:

Bit of a travel day, supplies in car saved me from having to get a shady chico roll at one of those noxious servos that seem to have bain marees put in for mo good reason.

I was picking up a letterpress and some screen printing gear one which was on the far side of Melbourne and the other - you guessed it - on the other side of town. Spent most of the day in the car.

Above: My new Adana 8x5 letterpress. Yay!

What I ate:

Breakfast 2 pancakes with sugar & lemon (slightly larger than pikelet size) 2000 kj?

Lunch: red carmens bar (764kj) + a pear (400kj?)

Afternoon tea: 2 handfuls of macadamia & cashews salted (2500kj?)

Dinner: tandoori chicken salad (actually pretty lean) + 1 glass red wine (2500kj?)

Dessert: 1 ferrero rocher (500kj?)

Mood: on the road again... I can't wait to get on the road again...

Day 22

Headed back up to melbourne today, did a bit of shopping. I went to and old favourite of ours (Shanghai Dumpling Palace) for lunch. I decided some fried dumpling could be offset by a massive pile of Chinese broccoli and followed up by steamed red bean bun. Not exactly health food, but I haven't found anywhere in Hobart which can match it.

Anyway, all was going well until the red bean bun turned up and it was some deep fried monstrosity - you have to be quick and I didn't stop the waiter quick enough. Basically this happens every now and again when you eat there, and we generally eat the mystery food and broaden our horizons. I didn't eat all of it, but it had red bean in it, was super tasty, and by far the unhealthiest thing I have eaten in at least the last year.

I got bored with shopping and took the car down to where the sprit of tas is docked and commenced waiting.

I got bored and spotted a gym nearby and did a casual workout. My god the bathrooms were stinky and I missed my home gym. Really muggy in the gym and a bit unpleasant compared to what I'm used to. Worked up massive sweat and then couldn't shower and had to wait 2 hours before I could clean up

What I did: cardio @ gym 55 mins

What I ate:

Breakfast: 1 pear (400kj?) + red carmens bar (764kj)

Lunch (of mystery food ambush): 6 fried beef dumplings (1800kj) + huge pile of steamed chinese brocolli in oyster sauce (1300kj?) + mystery red bean fried thing (1 bajillon kj?)

Day 23

Today was another driving day. This time from Devonport back down to Hobart. I took sleeping pills to get proper sleep on the boat but they left my totally zonked on the drive.

I had to get food as I just felt lethargic and gross and was starting to feel pretty dodgy on the drive. I even had a powernap which is something I had only scoffed at on roadsigns in the past.

What I did:

I walked to the gym and back as well as diversion to gf's work 4km

Big welcome back to the house of pain cardio session at gym. 1 hour.

What I ate:

6am Breakfast: Large Up and Go (1100kj)

9am Breakfast 2: Toasted Mountain Bread with Chicken and Sweet Chilli and Cheese (made me feel rancid afterwards) don't know exact amount of kilojoules as it looked a lot healthier than it clearly was after eating it. (~2000kj)

Lunch: Bit of Hazelnut Slice and 600ml bottle of Diet Coke. This was when I was really fading and needed some caffiene and sugar. I'm not making excuses (I am a little bit) but just trying to explain.

Above: Quadcam shot #2 - Autumn In St David's Park in Hobart.

Afternoon Tea: Tub of Strawberry Fruché 550kj + Tin of Tuna in spring water (330kj)

Dinner: 200gm of smoked cajun style salmon (700kj?) + Bowl of Leek, Potato & Coriander Soup. (1500kj?) + 1 slice of apple and rhubarb pie (non sweet crust) 1000kj?

Mood: Happy to be at home in my ugg boots. More generally, I will have to pick up my game to get to my goal weight.

Posted by funnelbc at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was pretty big at work and I was just about to go to bed when I realised I hadn't written my blog post for the day. Thusly I will keep the editorial short.

I will have a bit of a funny time trying to blog over next few days as I will be on the road headed to Melbourne (driving) to pickup some printing gear so I will blog when I can.

I will be headed to the supermarket tomorrow morning to get supplies for the road to stop me eating crap while driving. I have noticed a significant reduction in body fat in the last few days so I'm equally determined to avoid the crap while traveling.

What I Did:

Walked to and from work 3.4km

Gym: Weights Session 40mins (snuck in an extra 5 cause it was going well)

What I ate:

Breakfast: Banana (400kj), Red Carmens Muesli Bar (764kj)
Lunch: Asian Chicken Salad sandwich with Coriander Pesto (1800kj?)
Afternoon Tea: Monster Carrot (450kj)
Dinner: Maharajah's Choice Jaipur Vegetables 1750kj + 1.5 crumpets 500kj (they were stale and it seemed like carbs for nothing so I left half a crumpet - What? Don't look at me like that).

Mood: Bone tired.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I managed to get to yoga for the second time in a week. That never happens, and probably has never happened for me. Was good to get there and was bloody hard yards. People think yoga is all laying around and going oooooom a lot. It's not. Especially Ashtanga which the flavour of Yoga I've been doing. It's a solid strength workout. Here's a wikipedia page about Ashtanga Yoga.

A coworker had her birthday today, and each person in the office has a turn making morning tea for the birthday person. The person making the morning tea made a pretty awesome chocolate mud cake with Crunchie in the icing, but also brought in carrots, capsicum, and celery and some hummus dip which pretty awesome and mighty considerate if you ask me. Just having something nice to eat as an alternative made it no dramas not eating the birthday cake.

Another pretty full on day at work too, didn't get everything done, but doing to the gym was an easy decision to make in the afternoon. I really look forward to going to the gym now which is a good development.

Stuff I did today:

Walked to and from work 3.4km + to yoga so maybe 4.4km all up.

Gym Cardio Session: 35 mins

Yoga Ashtanga 1h 30mins

Stuff I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4C Sultana Bran + 3 spoons stewed apple + 1 spoon stewed quince (2000kj?)
Morning Tea: Small handful of raw nuts (~800kj) + Some celery and carrot dipped in hummus (400kj?)
(Late) Lunch: Tin of Tuna in Spring Water (330kj) + Maharajah's Choice Vegetable Korma (1300kj)
Dinner: Bowl of Sweet Potato, Coriander & Ginger Soup (~1500kj)

Mood: Pretty tender. Long day + second yoga has worn me out.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Crazy day. Gym was late because work went slightly haywire and so I ate lunch before gym which was pretty unpleasant. Eating before exercise is definitely not a great idea. I had only really just got into the swing of things at the gym before I had to pack up and head back to work. Sucked.

A co-worker brought one of those groovy heart rate monitors to work and we all did our blood pressure and pulse. For anyone interested, my heart rate is 102 over 57 and my resting pulse was 51. After returning from gym my BP was about the same and my pulse was about 72 after walking back from the gym, and bouncing up the stairs (cos I like to run up steps).

At the gym today after despairing about no interesting things happening, a dude was drying his speedos (for non aussie vistors - swimming trunks I think johnny foreigner might call them?) using the hand dryer in the change rooms. Which was a bit uncomfortable as the urinals are next to them and I found it a bit off putting when I was trying to get ma wizz on. I'm sure he was as unsettled as I was, but it's a situation where you don't know where to look as you walk past the man drying his speedos. Odd experience.

Dinner was a bit odd too. We went out and used a Christmas voucher from my work and had fancy dinner out. My capacity to eat food is that much smaller now that even though I had a very small dinner and a fairly moderate dessert by my previous standards I feel bloody bloated. I ate as healthily as possible for my main course, I did enjoy a glass of red, and also dessert (which I have been avoiding pretty faithfully over the last weeks). It was special dessert though - turkish delight panna cotta with rosewater, pistachios and persian fairy floss. Which pretty much tops my list of things I would eat whenever humanly possible.

Tomorrow I am going for the tasty diet food as it doesn't leave me feeling bloated and gross. I am also gunning for double yoga this week with a session after work tomorrow as well. Lets see how that goes shall we?

What I did:

Walked to and from work 3.4km

Gym: Weights Session 35mins

Things I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4 Sultana Bran, 3 spoons quince 1 spoon stewed apple (2000kj?)
Morning Tea: Carmens Red Muesli Bar (760kj)
Lunch: Carrot and Lemongrass Soup 1 Cup. (800kj?) + 1/2 baguette with butter and herbs (1200kj?)
Afternoon Tea: 1 Banana (400kj)
(Big) Dinner: Grilled Ling with Tomato Relish, 1 small roast potato, Side of Garden Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing (2000kj?), 1 glass of Pinot Noir (335kj) Turkish delight panna cotta with rosewater, pistachios and persian fairy floss (2000kj?) 2 cups earl grey tea (125kj)

Mood: Bloated (again).

Posted by funnelbc at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I am going to talk about boring stuff again as the comedy hasn't really been happening at the gym. Things pass into routine quickly, and the front desk lady has decided that I'm a regular now and so our conversations are much more short and business like. Which sucks actually, it was really nice to carry on like a pork chop, and make a big production of it, but maybe I'm now into the grind of trying to loose weight. It was novel for me to eat carrots and go to the gym during the work day and now it's kinda not. Which is okay too. Just gives me less material for daily blogging.

So on with the boring stuff. I've noticed an substantial improvement in my flexibility and at yoga I noticed asanas or as we in the industry call them funky yoga shit - has improved markedly from last week and well, pretty much ever. I've been doing yoga for a while but today it was really good to feel like my gut wasn't in the way and that I was more in touch with my body. I'll spare you the pink crystals new age hippie shit, but I definitely felt better for it and was able to enjoy my yoga more. I'm no Stretch Armstrong, but a good solid range of improvement at Yoga wasn't something I expected 2 weeks in at all.

Today I had my 2nd weigh in, and I'm happy to report that I'm down to 78.5kg which means another 2kg loss and a total of 4kg so far. The likely hood of me maintaining this rate of loss is unlikely but it's a good start and has cheered me up and encouraged me heaps. I can certainly maintain this level of activity and eating as it's pretty enjoyable overall so things are looking good.

Objective for this week: I'm headed to Melbourne this weekend to pick up more ludicrous printmaking gear so my challenge is to eat as healthily as possible while away and try and sneak in a visit to a gym over there. I have to take the car over on the Spirit of Tasmania which is generally pretty ordinary so I will have to be on the eye out for excuse making and eating crap as that's not on. I'm not sure how that will work, but I'm willing to give it a crack. During this week I want to stay focused and really power it at the gym and try and slot in an extra yoga on Wednesday if at all possible.

What I did today:

Walked to and from the moon... I mean work. 3.4km

Gym: Cardio Session 35mins

Yoga: Ashtunga 1h 35mins.

What I ate:

Breakfast: 3/4 C of Sultana Bran 2 spoons stewed apple, 2 spoons stewed quince (2000kj?)
Morning tea: Small handful of raw nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: 2 Slices Homemade Bread (1800kj?) + Tin of Tuna in Springwater (330kj) + bit of Jono's Tomato Sauce for Flava-Flav.
Afternoon Tea: Banana (I can spell that now! Hurrah!) 550kj
Afternoon Tea 2: Tin of Tuna in Spingwater (330kj)
Dinner: Roast Chicken, Steamed Carrot & Broccoli. (2000kj?)

Mood: Suprisingly well adjusted for a Monday.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today marks two weeks. Tomorrow I have another weigh in. I don't know how I will fare. I know my belt has moved quite a bit, but beyond that I don't know. I was hoping for a big loss again this week but we'll see.

It's been a lazy day and I've got so much on at the moment but it was really good to have a bit more of chilled out day.

I got down to the gym which makes 7 days in a row which was a pretty good achievement. Getting to the gym at odd off-peak times is nice as it's a bit more of a low key kind of vibe. Peak time (just before and after work) is always a bit more of a business like vibe. All 4 tv's in the weights area had been retuned to the football by enterprising gym folks using those step up blocks. Crafty old blokes.

I also managed a completely alcohol free weekend which was good - several opportunities to enjoy a glass of wine slipped by and I kept my resolve. I'm headed up to Melbourne next weekend and I will try and keep it pretty low key, but it's good to know I was able to do this weekend without anything extra to drink (and hence no extra empty kilojoules for no particular reason).

We slept in a little this morning and made eggy breakfast/lunch which was nice. If I didn't know I had nothing to drink I would have characterised myself as hungover this morning. Just tired I guess.

Egg breakfast this morning wasn't terribly healthy I know, but the worst thing was the bacon, which I trimmed the fat off. Still felt bloated afterwards. I've noticed that since eating more healthily and working out, whenever I eat anything slightly dodgy I feel pretty average afterwards. Like yesterday's bratwurst. Normally I would eat something like that and not have a problem at all. I can tell my body is reacting a bit more to crappy food. Eating better quality food is a full time job and probably a lot more important than I realised. This would also demonstrate the value of recording what you eat faithfully each day as it helps you realise exactly what you are eating.

Stuff I did:

Walked around 5km (to shops and back and to gym and back)

Weights Session 35mins

Stuff I ate:

Breakfast/Lunch: 3 slices of fancy bread, 2 poached eggs, bacon and relish.
Afternoon Tea: Granny Smith Apple (200kj) + 2 cups of earl gray tea with milk (125kj)
Dinner: Lavosh Crackers and hand made Beetroot Dip (No nutrition info on beetroot dip, but maybe ~1500kj including the crackers) (I bloody love Lavosh crackers they're brilliant). Sweet Potato, Coriander & Ginger Soup (~1500kj)

Mood: Rested. For like the first time in weeks.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I missed Friday's blog post as well as Saturday's. Let me fill you in on what happened.

Friday was good. Went to gym before work, which was a good move because I knew the day was likely to be busy. Planning ahead is a big help if you're trying to get to exercise or eat properly. Committing mentally beforehand and knowing that's what you're planning to do helps heaps.

Oh one thing, for friday drinks and chips (which is an institution at my work), I had water instead of beer(s) and carrots dipped in light tzatziki much to my boss' horror and disgust.

I also went to a wedding on Saturday and managed to avoid drinking which was good. Feeling like that was a good thing to do. Even though I feel slightly hungover this morning and I didn't have anything to drink. Go figure.

Friday

What I did: Walked to and from work 3.4km

Gym: Cardio 35mins

What I ate: Crofton Apple (300kj) + Small Handful of Raw nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: 250 Cup of White Bean & Sausage Soup. (Sort of like ministrone but with a few bits of spicy sausage floating in it) 1/2 baguette with butter and olive spread on it. (Approx 2500kj?)
Afternoon Tea: Mandarin (100kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Carrots dipped in tzatziki (Approx 800kj maybe?)
Dinner: 1 small serve of zucchini slice (~750kj?) 3/4 bowl of home made leek and potato soup (750kj).

Saturday

What I did:

Walked approx 2km

Gym Cardio Session: 35mins

What I ate:

Breakfast: 2 slices home made toast with prickly box honey (~1800kj?)
Lunch: Bratwurst Sausage in Wholemeal Bun, Onion, Mustard and Sauce. (~2500kj?) - All of which made me feel a bit crook afterwards, but it was quite the powersnack after the gym let me tell you.
Dinner: Wedding Food. 1 bread bun with butter, Chicken Filo Entree, Steak with Veggies (left the mash on the plate), 1 very small slice of chocolate cake. All up? (~3500-4000kj) if i had to guess. I didn't drink any alcohol and had a glass of orange juice instead. Drank water all night.

Posted by funnelbc at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It got late so posting this is difficult and for the first time feels like a bit of a chore.

Integrating the gym into my day has been just as hard as eating properly I reckon as it's really hard to get away from work some days. Another boring non-amusing insight.

Amusing side note. Couldn't get out of the shower bay at gym as one bloke was blocking the entire area. Felt vaguely embarrassed to have to ask the guy to move as he was completely oblivious to me. Which I suppose is good, as if he did know I was there... Well, quite frankly, that's not good.

On the plus side, my cooking is having a bit of a resurgence and tonight I quickly whipped up a zucchini slice using what I had to hand, chewing gum and a pocket knife, MacGyver style.

It's really good and quick to make. Here's how I did it.

Grate 2 Zuccini, and squeeze out excess water with your hands.
Put Zuccini in bowl.
Put 1 cup of self raising flour, 4 medium or 6 small eggs, half a cup of grated parmesan, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 4 slices of finely chopped ham in the bowl.
Mix. Mix like the wind.
Chuck it in oven on about 180-200 for 20-30 mins.
Eat!

Although I cocked up and put it in the oven for 5 minutes before realising I hadn't stuck in the ham (I use ham instead of bacon cos it's lower fat).

What I did today:

Walked to and from work: 3.4km

Gym: Weight Session. I was hating the rowing machine when I first got back into it and now it's not too bad at all.

What I ate:

Breakfast: 2 Slices Home Made Toast with home made apple jelly jam (1600kj?)
Morning Tea: Small Handful of Raw Nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Turkey, Cranberry and Brie Salad Pita (2000kj?)
Afternoon Tea: Granny Smith Apple 220kj
Afternoon Tea 2: Regular non home grown fancy hippie cred carrot - not amusing at all. 300kj
Dinner: Slice of Zuccini Slice (1200kj?) small bowl of Potato and Leek Soup (1000kj)

Mood: Blank

Posted by funnelbc at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I will have to make today's entry quick as I've got a lot of stuff to do. Today I was having a pretty crappy day and by the time gym time rolled around I was pretty keen to go there and burn off some angry. It was a really decent session although I was feeling a bit unco.

I came back to work and was feeling really cruisy and zen. Just about nothing could dent it into the afternoon and I think that's got to be better than shaping up or weightloss. It's not an arbitrary thing when people speak about well-being in terms of health.

Sorry no punchline there just the thought that working out is demonstrably better for my disposition and mood is the whole thought.

Oh and a small milestone. I haven't been under 80 kilos for at least 2 years. So hurray to that! In the past I could never seem to break through that. I must say that it was late last year that I was nudging 88kg so I have had some slow weight loss before all this shenanigans started.

What I did today:

Walked to and from work: 3.4km

Gym: Angry Cardio Session. Really hit the rower hard today.

What I ate:

Breakfast: 1C Sultana Bran 812kj, 100ml Skim Milk (229kj), 1 kiwi fruit (200kj)
Morning Tea: Small Handful of Raw Nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Tin of Tuna in Spring Water (330kj) + Maharajah's Choice Vegetable Korma (1300kj)
Afternoon Tea: Granny Smith Apple 220kj
Afternoon Tea 2: Home grown carrots from a co-workers garden. We did a taste test in the studio and the Home grown carrots won out. 2 other people in the office have joined me at Carrot O'Clock which is a bit cool I reckon.
Dinner: Tin Tuna in Spring Water (330kj) + Bowl of Leek and Potato Soup (1500kj) (I made it myself cos I'm like Jamie Oliver only marginally less boring and quite a lot less British) + 2 Crumpets with Vegemite (800kj?)

Mood: Zen.

Posted by funnelbc at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a really full on day at work and I had to get the gym later than normal - 3.30. This time otherwise known as old guy o'clock at the gym. I wonder what makes it such a popular time for them? Presumably it's between re-runs of Matlock and MacGyver on foxtel maybe?

I checked, and as it turns out Foxtel's e-program guide is a flash monstrosity and it's bringing my browser to it's knees so I went elsewhere. Apparently if you head out to the gym at 3.30 you'll skip ALF & That 70's show but still see the Wonder Years before hand and be home in time to see Home Improvement (I used to love that show).

Still no closer to explaining the old guy 3.30 epidemic. They probably go there to get away from the sort of person who blogs about their day at the gym. HAHA! Jokes on you old guys!

In other news, there was a guy working out with his foot in a massive cast and he was absolutely smashing that machine where you stand into it and support yourself by your arms and back and your legs hang down (you look a bit like you're using a rocket pack), which was pretty cool to see. I kinda wonder how stinky that cast is going to be by the time he's out of it? Points for dedication though.

What I did today:

Walked to and from work: 3.4km

Gym: 35 minute weight session. Really concentrating in the weight session on technique and doing each rep so that the form is as good as possible. I'm probably not doing as heavy weight as I could be, but form is more important I reckon. I must add the Bosu ball pushups are great cause you see a rapid improvement - I went from only being able to manage 3 sets of 5 reps to 3 sets of 9 since I've started on this. Which is a nice improvement (for my level of fitness anyway, some fitness dudes may scoff at that, but I'm happy to be progressing)

What I ate:

Today's food sucked a little cause I really was short on time. Making time to get to the gym is just as important as making time to find/prepare/enjoy the right food. That's probably an actual serious thought that I hadn't had before.

Breakfast: 2 Slices homemade toast with prickly box honey. (1800kj?)
Morning Tea: Small handful of raw nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Tin of tuna in spring water 90gm net tin 350kj, 2 slices home made bread (800kj?) + Jonnos Tomato Sauce for a bit of flavour (100kj?)
Afternoon Tea: Dry Joke Cracking Carrot (300kj) + kiwi fruit (200kj)
Dinner: Roast Salmon Fillet 250gm + Steamed Broccoli, Carrot & Beans, with Sweet Chilli Sauce. (2000 kj?)

Mood: A bit groggy.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I would like to bring up an issue near and dear to my heart. Carrot price fluctuations. If you ever wanted to move from the shady world of profiteering on smuggled guns to something more dangerous and volatile you could get into the carrot business. Every day I get a carrot I pay a different price for it. Now it could be that I'm picking different size carrots but I'm more inclined to believe that it's because of some sort of carrot price fixing racket happening. I'm bloody suss I tell you what.

Carrot Price statistics.

60 cents. That's bloody outrageous!

But I assume you're not here to read about that. You want to know how I did on my monday morning weigh in. I did okay. I lost 2 kilos since starting last monday. Which is a good result. It would have been better if I hadn't had so much to drink on the weekend. Red wine is lovely though.

What I did today:

Walked to and from work. 3.4km.

Gym cardio session 35 mins. Today it was an early session and I really hit it hard, warm up on the rowing machine was a little bit slow, but I did 30 really full on mins of hill climb on the bike and I really hit it hard. So hard in fact that when I got to yoga...

Ashtunga Yoga 1h 30mins. Holy crapsauce I was weak - especially in the legs. Sometimes in yoga you just aren't in the spot and this time I worked hard but it was like my body was put together wrong. That has happened in the past so I reckon it's more just general stiffness rather than the hard cardio session this morning.

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Fruché (355kj) & Kiwi Fruit (200kj)
Morning Tea: Small handful of raw nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Tin of tuna in spring water 90gm net tin 350kj, 300ml potato and leek soup 1000kj
Afternoon Tea: Granny Smith Apple 220kj
Afternoon Tea 2: Comedy carrot with wildly fluctuating price 300kj
Dinner: Stir Fried Chicken (we fry in extra virgin olive oil, and we fly virgin airlines and when we stay in Melbourne we stay at... Oh sorry I thought I was on sale of the century) with bok choy, carrots and broccoli, sweet chilli, soy and 5 spice powder. 2000kj.

Mood: Worried about the GFCC (Global Financial Carrot Crisis)

Posted by funnelbc at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On the weekend I had a bit of a freerange extravaganza. I went to a design forum all day Saturday and then went out and got on the turps. It's a matter of personal pride that while everybody else was eating greasy fish and chips while huddled out of the wind and the rain, I had grilled fish and garden salad. A mighty victory I reckon. I'm not kidding myself that too many glasses of red was a good idea, but at least I didn't give up and hit the greasies.

On a similar note on Sunday, we went down to the gf's parents for mothers day, and I turned down cheesecake and I bloody love that stuff.

What I did on the weekend:

Not a great deal, walked both days a bit, but nothing substantial.

What I ate - lots of estimates here cause I ate out a lot this weekend.

Saturday:

Breakfast: Granola with 4 slices of quince, 150ml milk (2000kj ?)
Inbetweemas: 2 Mentos. (80kj ?)
Lunch: Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Potato fashioned into some sort of sandstone configuration, Small Selection of greens (3000kj ?)
Tea: Lots of red wine. If I had to guess maybe 9 glasses (3,300kj ?). I know I know. Grilled fish with garden salad (but a pretty fatty dressing) (2500kj ?)

Sunday:

Breakfast: 2 slices home made toast with vegemite (1600kj ?)
Lunch: Sunday roast, lamb, steamed veg, roast carrot, roast potato. (2500kj ?). 5 tablespoons of raspberries with 1 table spoon icing sugar 1200kj ?)
Dinner: Bowl of Mushroom Soup with fresh vegies and chicken (1500kj)

Posted by funnelbc at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I did have a sneaking suspicion that today would be difficult. I was up early working and by the time the day was in progress I knew it was going to be a bugger to eat properly, let alone get the gym.

The gym I managed later than normal, but I just pushed myself and there I was. Which was pretty cool actually - I felt a bizarre sense of accomplishment because I was pretty sure all the forces in the universe were lining up to at the very least - give me a valid excuse to skip the gym.

Today we had a dinner at work and although I didn't bury my face in a packet of chips (I ate carrot instead) I did have very decent serve of curry. I avoided eating too much rice, but I feel mega bloated for the experience. Still I normally would have eaten at least half again so that's something.

3 glasses of red wine that wouldn't of normally touched the sides have gone straight to my head, but it had been a very light food day before that.

Stuff I did today:

Walked to and from work 3.4k approx.

Weight Session 35mins. I got in late and it was a pretty weird vibe at the gym. Lots of old blokes at this time actually (Apologies to non-old blokes who were there). I did well on the rowing machine and am looking forward to seeing how that progresses after a day of recovery on the weekend (I reckon saturday will be recovery day) and getting back on it on Sunday. Seeing some good improvements there at least.

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1 cup Sultana Bran (812kj), 5 spoons Stewed Apple (~350kj), 2 spoons Stewed Quince (~200kj)
Morning Tea: Small Handful of Nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Medium banana (355kj) + Red Carmens Bar (760kj)
Afternoon Tea: Tin Tuna with generic red onion sauce (370kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Thigh slappingly hilarious Carrot (~330kj maybe?)
Dinner: Masses of curry - (sorry!) (~3000kj)
Dessert: 3 Glasses of Shiraz (849kj)

Mood: Bloated. Red wine & curry has compelled me to play video games.

Posted by funnelbc at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I will have to be brief tonight as I have stuff to do. One thing to note is that although I'm more physically tired, mentally I'm really alert. Which is useful. If you're a spy. Or going to be on Sale of the Century Midnight Edition. Or have to solve a sudoku.

Stuff I did today:

Walked to and from work with a brief diversion to meet jen @ her work. 4.2k approx.

Cardio session 35mins. Today I got a standing ovation from the front desk lady which means that clearly I had jumped the gun yesterday and I'm still some form of oddity. The truly sad thing was that I was actually a bit chuffed and happy for the positive feedback. It's simultaneously pleasing and upsetting thought to realise exactly how easy it is to make somebody else feed good by simply putting a bit of enthusiasm their way. Or it's a ploy by the front desk lady to make me want to sign up for boot camp. Doubtful as I don't think she's that sneaky?

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1 cup Sultana Bran (812kj), 5 spoons Stewed Apple (~350kj), 2 spoons Stewed Quince (~200kj)
Morning Tea: Small Handful of Nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: 3 Small slice of Toast (the fancy expensive shit, cause when I roll, I roll large.) (~1400k) + Tin Tuna in Springwater (330kj) + Tiny bit of Jono's Tomato Sauce to stop me from dying of boredom. Which is not to say healthy food isn't interesting, it's just that I'm immensely lazy
Afternoon Tea: Medium banana (355kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Thigh slappingly hilarious Carrot (~330kj maybe?)
Dinner: Lamb, Rosemary & Vegetable & Red Wine Soup (1470kj)
Dessert: Glass of Shiraz Rosé (283kj)

Mood: Ready to sing on the new King of Leon song - My Pecs are on Fire.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a bit weird as my plan for lunchtime gym got put out of action by going to the gym before work. I contemplated going back to the gym at lunch and getting on the slightly funky gym gear, but decided against it on grounds of good taste. I might be sweating like a pig when I'm done there, but getting on damp and smelly clothes is something I'm not quite ready to deal with.

Noticeably, my presence at the gym was not commented on by said front desk lady. Which goes to show how quickly you can fade from an oddity to business as usual. Either that or she was as dazed and confused as I was this morning.

Also noticeably (unfortunately), there was a dude wandering around the change room in the buff for longer than he could possibly have any justifiable reason to do so. And get this - just when I thought he was going to find a pair of undies, he gets out his mobile and proceeds to have a chat with (presumably) his secretary. Now I don't know about you, but something about that is just plain dirty. I have titled him Super Nude Guy(tm). I'd wait to reschedule your meeting till you find a pair of pants mate. Hopefully you won't be hearing any more of his exploits. *shudder*

Stuff I did today:

Walked to work and then to meeting on far side of town, and then home. I even knocked back the offer a lift, (or at least I thought that what was they were offering me, then I realised they wanted me to give them a lift. Ridiculous stuff. In hindsight I should have carried them home, physical challenge stylee) 1.7k to work, 2.3k to meeting, 2.2k to home. Total: 6.2km.

Todays visit to the gym was about weights and I revisited a few of my old friends such as Mr Bosu Ball. Those things are diabolical and doing push ups on them is fun on the bun. I recommend it to one and all. I'm not sure how sore I will be tomorrow as the aerobic stuff really hasn't caused me to feel really crappy yet the day after, so maybe some deeper muscle action will incapacitate me tomorrow. If so, expect whining tomorrow. Something to look forward to.

Food Diary:

I'm belting down the tuna & salmon at the moment - it's convenient way to get protein without resorting to manziers (technical terminology for protein powder). A coworker lost a stack of weight powering away on the fish so I'm planning to get a dose of mercury poisoning out of team solidarity.

Breakfast: Fruche (555kj) & Banana (300kj)
Morning Tea: Small Handful of Nuts (~800kj)
Lunch: Tasty Bites Jaipur Vegetables (1430k) + Tin Tuna in Springwater (330kj)
Afternoon Tea: Medium banana (355kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Moderately amusing Carrot (~300kj maybe?)
Dinner: Leftover Roast Salmon & Basil Pesto ~75gm (250kj ?) & Leek and Potato Soup (XXXX kj - I really have no idea what the energy value of it would be).
Dessert: Bupkis. I did have a cup of green tea, but that's roughly equivalent to air so I'm not documenting my green tea addiction.

Mood: A bit tired and emotional. In grave danger of watching the Princess Bride (if you don't agree that movie rocks I'll stab you in the face) if I stay up any longer.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm now officially the guy who buys a single carrot downstairs at the fruit market. It's only day 2, but I already know they're talking. Insinuating things they are. A coworker has pointed out that carrots and bannanas are very phallic and I should eat other things. I'm contemplating getting a couple of kiwi fruit and a banana (again with the spelling of that word - kills my brain) for tomorrow. Or perhaps not.

Stuff I did today:

Walked to & from work (1.7k each way) 3.4k. Same as yesterday. This component of taking about my day to day life is already boring me.

Went to gym for quick cardio session at lunchtime 30-35 minutes high intensity. Continuing the theme of surprised gym folks, the front desk lady congratulated me "on twice in two days, and well done". I congratulated me from pulling myself away from the desk instead of hanging out at work and dropping crumbs in my keyboard while making logos. A win all around I think. The rowing machine was really torturous today as I was pretty sore after weeks of inactivity. "Sucked in" @ my body.

Tomorrow I have to do weights even though I actually quite like cardio. I especially like the recumbent bike with the heart rate monitor, it gives me something more intellectually engaging to look at than the bold & the beautiful.

Food Diary:

Today was very similar to yesterday. I'm a creature of habit, but I will have to mix this up going forward as I won't be able to stick to it otherwise. Fish is a good option and I'm surprised that I'm not very hungry, but conversely looking at this list I feel like I've eaten a lot and so therefore shouldn't be.

Breakfast: 1 cup Sultana Bran (812kj), 100ml Skim Milk (229kj) & 4 spoons Stewed Apple (~250kj)
Morning Tea: Red Carmen's Muesli Bar (769kj)
Lunch: Toasted homemade bread with a bit of ham, relish and a tiny bit of parmesan.
Afternoon Tea: Medium banana (355kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Giant Comedy Carrot (Apparently it's the only kind you can buy) (~300kj maybe?) Today I got the carrot so I could start the myth of the carrot guy at the fruit market downstairs. Another coworker got one shortly afterwards. It is my goal to get the entire office to buy a single carrot spaced about 10 minutes apart.
Dinner: Smoked Salmon ~100gm (250kj ?) & roast salmon with broccoli and carrots. (I ate the top green bits of the carrot that jen left on the carrot as it seemed like fair game)
Dessert: Oh yeah you want me to have a Vienetta. We'll you're wrong bucko. I had a couple of slices of stewed quince (250kj ?), which by the way, is well worth the effort of cooking.

Mood: Salmony and Introspective. Should exercise be giving me gas? I wouldn't know, I try not to touch the stuff.

Posted by funnelbc at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've decided to loose my fat gut. It's not huge, but it's there and I don't think I've ever been less fit. I feel crap cause I'm so unfit and I've had enough. So my options are tuck into the sausage rolls and get morbidly obese or get on the treadmill. Gym and bakery are about equidistant from work, but I already have a gym membership so what the hey - it's to the gym for me.

Goal: Loose 10kg in 6 weeks.

Starting weight: 82.5kg

Stuff I did today:

Walked to & from work (1.7k each way) 3.4k. I do this pretty much every day so no real biggy there, but it's activity.

Went to gym for quick cardio session at lunchtime 30-35 minutes high intensity. Gym folks were surprised to see me I think. They had mentally painted a picture of me being removed from my house using a crane and a horse sling. Close but no cigar you bastards.

Followed up with Ashtunga yoga after work. Ashtunga is pretty brutal and I reckon I'm going to be in big pain tomorrow as both yoga and gym for the first time in ages is a pretty decent way to kick this off.

Objective for this week:

Get to the gym each work day, and see if I can fit in yoga #2 on wednesday after work also. Eat healthy. Avoid the open packet of mint slice biscuits downstairs. I can see it peering at me through tiny little dark chocolate eyes.

Food Diary:

You'll note that I'm not starving myself here. I'm just trying to eat healthy and try not to smash a few sly sausage rolls why nobody is looking. My big emphasis will be on cutting down to lighter meals at dinner time and more frequent, but healthier snacks during the day. Looking at it written down I see why the diet dudes recommend you do so. I had no idea I eat this much and this is me being good.

Breakfast: Sultana Bran (812kj), Skim Milk (229kj) & Stewed Apple (~250kj)
Morning Tea: Red Carmens Muesli Bar (769kj)
Lunch: Toasted homemade bread with a bit of ham, relish and a tiny bit of parmesan.
Afternoon Tea: Medium banana (goddamn I just cannot spell that word without resorting to spell checker) (355kj)
Afternoon Tea 2: Medium Carrot (great for munching and annoying co-workers) (~200kj) I got hungry at about 5pm and I knew I had to make it through yoga before I would get a chance to eat. So I eat.
Dinner: Tin of tuna in spring water (330kj) & bowl of homemade leek and potato soup.

So endeth the day 1.

Mood: Optimistic and full of soup.

Edited to add kj information where I have it. ~ indicates approximate figure based on my google doctorate foodology and guesswork.

Posted by funnelbc at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)