I can’t believe it’s Fitness Friday again! Erm, hello everyone!
I hope you’re all enjoying success working towards your goals.
Name: Lesley
Twitter: @la_harrison / @geeks_in_gis
Starting Weight: 46KG (Doctors scales say 42KG – quite a difference from home scales but I’ll work with home ones for consistency!)
Target Weight: Stay under 48KG
Dress size: UK 6
Target dress size: UK 6
Why I’m doing this: I’m a weight class athlete. I hate trying to lose weight for weigh-ins because at the amateur level you have to weigh in on the morning of the competition, rather than the day before. This doesn’t give you enough time to rehydrate. I’d rather walk around at the right weight for competition.
Changes to my fitness plan: Last year I upped my protein intake and this really helped me gain strength. I’ve bought some bodyfat calipers and a scale that can measure bodyfat too. Interestingly enough the scales and the calipers measure to within 1% of each other (13.3% on the scale, 14.1% with calipers).
This year, I’ve resolved to eat fewer ready meals. I was good about calories, but my calorie breakdown wasn’t good enough – I wasn’t getting enough protein or healthy fat (no surprise considering I’m vegetarian!).
I weigh myself once a week and my weight is stable so far. My energy levels are a lot higher now that I’m eating “real food”. Can’t comment on my lifts yet though – we’ve had to move all the heavy weights upstairs to weigh the punch bag stand down, so I can’t lift properly again until our Olympic bar gets delivered.
How I feel this week went: The week isn’t over yet! I have a Karate session in a few hours. I can’t wait for that! Now that I have scales of my own I know that my weight is stable – I just can’t believe that there’s a 4KG range between Doctor, Shopping Mall and Bathroom scales! But, over the course of three weeks my bathroom scales are showing only 100g fluctuations in weight.
I feel good and motivated though. This is the week that all the Karate classes re-open (most of the venues were shut until 12th Jan), so I’m hoping to finish the month on a high. I’ve been doing a lot of heavy bag work this month, instead of weight traning (we had to use the bulk of our weights to weigh the new heavy bag stand down. We’ve ordered a new Olympic bar and a set of weights for it, but until that arrives I’m stuck with low weight, high reps, and tabatta. I guess this month is my deload month.
Tips I would like to share: Probably the best tool for fitness and weight control / loss is Fitday.com – the basic account is free, and it’s invaluable for tracking what you eat and how many calories you burn. Even if you think you’ve got your calories under control, it’s amazing what you can learn by spending a few days tracking yourself on there.
I don’t use it every day (I’d get sick of it if I did that), but I do spend a day every couple of weeks tracking everything. I’m pretty consistent with my diet, so that’s enough to provide me with an idea of what I consume. It’s revealing to see a chart breaking down the nutrients in the things you eat. Even if you already know what’s calorie dense and what isn’t, seeing it on the screen really hammers it home!
I can’t believe it’s Fitness Friday again! Erm, hello everyone!
I hope you’re all enjoying success working towards your goals.
Name: Lesley
Twitter: @la_harrison / @geeks_in_gis
Starting Weight: 46KG (Doctors scales say 42KG – quite a difference from home scales but I’ll work with home ones for consistency!)
Target Weight: Stay under 48KG
Dress size: UK 6
Target dress size: UK 6
Why I’m doing this: I’m a weight class athlete. I hate trying to lose weight for weigh-ins because at the amateur level you have to weigh in on the morning of the competition, rather than the day before. This doesn’t give you enough time to rehydrate. I’d rather walk around at the right weight for competition.
Changes to my fitness plan: Last year I upped my protein intake and this really helped me gain strength. I’ve bought some bodyfat calipers and a scale that can measure bodyfat too. Interestingly enough the scales and the calipers measure to within 1% of each other (13.3% on the scale, 14.1% with calipers).
This year, I’ve resolved to eat fewer ready meals. I was good about calories, but my calorie breakdown wasn’t good enough – I wasn’t getting enough protein or healthy fat (no surprise considering I’m vegetarian!).
I weigh myself once a week and my weight is stable so far. My energy levels are a lot higher now that I’m eating “real food”. Can’t comment on my lifts yet though – we’ve had to move all the heavy weights upstairs to weigh the punch bag stand down, so I can’t lift properly again until our Olympic bar gets delivered.
How I feel this week went: The week isn’t over yet! I have a Karate session in a few hours. I can’t wait for that! Now that I have scales of my own I know that my weight is stable – I just can’t believe that there’s a 4KG range between Doctor, Shopping Mall and Bathroom scales! But, over the course of three weeks my bathroom scales are showing only 100g fluctuations in weight.
I feel good and motivated though. This is the week that all the Karate classes re-open (most of the venues were shut until 12th Jan), so I’m hoping to finish the month on a high. I’ve been doing a lot of heavy bag work this month, instead of weight traning (we had to use the bulk of our weights to weigh the new heavy bag stand down. We’ve ordered a new Olympic bar and a set of weights for it, but until that arrives I’m stuck with low weight, high reps, and tabatta. I guess this month is my deload month.
Tips I would like to share: Probably the best tool for fitness and weight control / loss is Fitday.com – the basic account is free, and it’s invaluable for tracking what you eat and how many calories you burn. Even if you think you’ve got your calories under control, it’s amazing what you can learn by spending a few days tracking yourself on there.
I don’t use it every day (I’d get sick of it if I did that), but I do spend a day every couple of weeks tracking everything. I’m pretty consistent with my diet, so that’s enough to provide me with an idea of what I consume. It’s revealing to see a chart breaking down the nutrients in the things you eat. Even if you already know what’s calorie dense and what isn’t, seeing it on the screen really hammers it home!