Starting out (again)

Good Morning and welcome to my newest blog that tracks my attempts to go from an unfit pile of lard to the cover of mens health, well maybe not the cover of men's health but certainly trim and healthy.

About Me

My name is Matthew Milne, I am 28 years old from Edinburgh and have had problems with my weight as far back as I can remember.. I think the reason for this was the poor diet I was brought up on as a kid.. processed food chicken nuggets,chips,pizza,pies,burgers coming from a less than privileged background these kinda foods were the norm for a single mum feeding her family on a tight budget.

I realise now as an adult this is not an excuse however it gives you an idea of the foods I have always craved and as soon as they are taken away my want for them increases really badly.

This is not the first diet and exercise routine I have embarked upon.. This year I have tried and failed 3/4 times with the usual excuses however I have succeeded in the past. A new years resolution in 2009 saw me succeed in losing 82lbs (5 stone 12oz) in 10 months and end up at 14 stone  my lowest ever registered weight as an adult and ultimately less than the NHS standard for what is classed as obese.

A pic of me at my from summer 2010 where I weighed approximately 196lbs

Life itself though gets in the way.. my wife and I conceived our first child in January of 2010 and unfortunately my towards the end of the pregnancy she spent alot of that in hospital this meant a huge change to my lifestyle quick meals from take aways were so much easier on the way home, exercise was an afterthought and this continued to when the baby was born.. with little sleep and a wealth of responsibility healthy eating and exercise fell by the wayside and ultimately I ended up having to give up my one staple exercise routine which was weekly Ice Hockey due to the training being at 23:00 on at Thursday night. 

So doing not alot and eating crap saw me put pretty much everything back on and I stand today at 264lbs 18 stone 12lbs. Not exactly ideal by any means and very far up the NHS obesity chart.

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What Am I doing about it?

I am lucky in the fact that with my amazing weight loss 3 years ago I did a ton of research into diet an exercise and know exactly what guidelines to follow.. more protein / less carbs etc etc

So for this change of lifestyle I am going to be doing the following

Diet:

I am starting off trialling the 16/8 Intermittent Fasting strategy (explanation here: http://www.leangains.com/) where basically I have an 8 hour window to eat and eat nothing for 16 hours.

When i'm dieting I am pretty strict and lunch generally consists of either Chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves (roll substitute) or Chicken Salad

Dinner is usually Chicken / Pork / Steak / Beef with a variety of different seasonings and sauces.. with a side of veg and the occasional potato based product.

On training days I will eat pasta pre-workout with a decent portion of protein from meat..

Snacks include Greek Yoghurt with honey and banana / Beef jerky /berries 

Whilst not a complete list gives a decent overview

Training:

As I touched on earlier I play Ice Hockey so training for this is every Thursday night with games on a Sunday night.. When there are no games one of our coaches organizes off ice training which can range from circuits to sports like flooball/basketball/tennis. That covers 2 cardio workouts a week.

For weights I intend to follow the below schedule twice a week it does have a tiny bit of cardio added but is mainly weights driven

CIRCUIT  A. (30s on/20s off 3 times through)

• Rowing warm up for 5 mins at about 75% intensity then do 5 mins where u sprint for 20 seconds then go easy for 20 seconds

• Dumbell clean and press.  (Use 1 hand and swap after each rep.)
• Dumbell swings.  (Like kettle bell swings)
• Push ups.  (either go from the knees when u get tired or put your hands on a step)
• Lunges.  (with or with out weights)
• Bent over row.  (Don't go for all out speed with this one)
• Goblet squat
• Burpees
• Plank

To warm down mobilise all your joints and muscles and get a good stretch off

CIRCUIT  B.  (30s on/20s off 3 times through)

• Cycling warm up for 5 mins at about 75% intencity then do 5 mins where u sprint for 20 seconds then go easy for 20 seconds.  If they have spin bikes use that and crank up the resistance when u sprint.

• Dumbell snatch (u should watch this one on 'you tube' to learn how)
• Overhead Lunges (hold weights with straight arms over your head)
• Weighted twists (hold a weight plate and whilst standing, engage your core and twist side to side.  The workout comes from countering your momentum)
• T-Push ups (Push up then rotate over and reach for the roof, use dumbells if possible)
• Medicine ball slams (just chuck it at the floor as hard as you can)
• Step ups (make sure your stepping up with both feet rather than always favouring left or right)
• Dumbell curl and press (bicep curl then extend the weight overhead)
• Bicycle crunches

To warm down mobilize all your joints and muscles and get a good stretch off

 
Goals and stats

To get any sort of stats out we need to start with a baseline and mines is as follows:

  
Left Arm    15"
Right Arm    15"
Chest    45"
Neck    15"
Waist    46"
Left Leg    24"
Right Leg    24"
Right Calf    16"
Left Calf    16"
   
   
Weight lbs    264
Weight Stone    18stone 12lbs

I am looking to lose 2lbs per week with an end weight of 14 stone, that is a weight loss target of 68lbs and an expected date of completion set at 34 weeks from now Monday 8th April 2013.

When I get round to it i'll add some funky graphs to track my progress. I plan to blog every two weeks with what I have been doing, what I find hard and what goals i've met also any changes to diet and routine.

I have put this up as another tool of motivation and I am looking forward to getting going.