How to Lose a Belly When You're 42 (part 22)

Monday
10st 9lbs
Once again, I was very disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that I hadn't lost any weight last week. On Saturday morning I was down to 10st 7lbs, but my hedonistic weekend soon ruined any progress I'd made. Oh well, I'll keep going for a while longer but if I don't see results soon then the fun weekends will have to stop.
Today, I cycled in to work on the mountain bike because the brakes on the Raleigh are so bad. On the ride home, I got absolutely soaked - I really wish my mountain bike had mudguards!  After a quick change, I was back out in the rain for this week's 10K run.
This time, I'd smothered my right leg in Deep Heat and remembered to stretch before I left the house. I was wearing three layers against the cold so I felt prepared. Unfortunately, the leg was pretty bad early on - at one point my foot started to go numb! Still, I kept going and found that it had eased up after a couple of miles. By the time I got back home, over an hour later, I was very cold and aching everywhere. The strange thing is that I wasn't out of breath. Maybe my fitness is okay, it's just my puny leg muscles that let me down? The good thing is that it was my fastest 10K so far this year.
I cooked dinner for the family but couldn't resist a couple of ales tonight. Somehow, I felt I had earned them running around in the rain for an hour.

Exercise
Cycled to work and back
10 kilometre run: 63 minutes, 26 seconds.

Food
2 cups of tea
Juice
2 crumpets with 100% peanut butter
Chicken salad sandwiches on wholemeal bread (prepared at home)
Banana
Orange
Mexican scrambled eggs (with peppers, onion, tomatoes, mushroom and tortilla) served with homemade potato wedges.

Alcohol
2 ales

Tuesday
The karate lesson was once again taken by Sensei Julian Cunningham. The emphasis was on the correct kumite technique and partner work. I was lucky enough to partner Sensei Cunningham for a few minutes while we were practising ushiro geri. Even though he was taking it very, very lightly, let me tell you: his kick felt what it must be like to be thumped in the stomach with a concrete post!

Exercise
Cycled to work and back
One hour of karate training

Food
Toast with peanut butter
Tea
Juice
Chicken salad sandwich on wholemeal bread
Two plaice fillets with green beans 

Alcohol
None

Wednesday
No junkfood, no booze, no exercise

Exercise
None

Food
Tea
Toast and peanut butter
Juice
Banana
Apple
Ham and salad sandwiches on wholemeal bread
Homemade bolognese with wholewheat spaghetti

Alcohol
None

Thursday
This afternoon, I worked hard with my sports group as we put ourselves through a hard warm-up. I joined in with the football too - as usual I was hopeless but I enjoyed myself.

Working hard with the Sports Group.

Back at home, after dropping off my RPG players, I picked up the weights at 10pm for an hour long session.. I lifted the heaviest I've managed so far this year.

Exercise
Cycled to work and back
100 push ups
100 triceps dips
100 leg raises
Front raise (8kg): 5 sets of 5 repetitions
Squats (40kg): 5x5
Curls (39kg): 5x5
Dumbbell curls (17kg): 5x5
Side raise (6.5kg): 5x5
OHP (29kg): 5x5

Food
Tea
Juice 
Toast with peanut butter
Ham and salad sandwich on wholemeal bread 
Leftover homemade bolognese with wholewheat pasta
Cornflakes and semi-skimmed milk (after lifting!)

Alcohol
None

Friday
A meeting at Digbeth after lessons at Hall Green meant a total of 14 miles riding today. I used the Specialized and marvelled at how fast it is compared to the Raleigh and he mountain bike.
The dojo was packed tonight, with Sensei Mark and Sensei Russell making good use of what little room they had to work with. The good news is that there will be an additional lesson added on to Friday nights from now on - just for brown and black belts! I can't wait!
No booze, no junkfood.

Exercise
Cycled to work and back
One hour of martial arts training

Food 
Tea and toast with peanut butter
Juice
3 vegetable burgers (with actual vegetables in them) with green beans and noodles

Alcohol
None


Saturday
Up early to collect the stuff I need for the pub quiz on Sunday from work (I'd forgotten to bring it home last night.) Then on to Lichfield to help a mate move house. He seemed to have picked the heaviest items he owned so it was a real test of strength. Ever tried carrying a cross-trainer down a flight of steps? My forearms felt like they were on fire. How do you train forearms?
We rewarded ourselves with a pub lunch including a pint and a half of ale.
The afternoon was spent at the Arden club watching England defeat Wales in the rugby. I saw Nigel and Young Chris and was introduced to another cyclist called Andy (he will be known as Bald Andy.)
At home, Lucy had prepared an awesomely healthy, slow-cooked chicken curry - the meat was so tender it was falling apart!
To bed after one last beer in front of the TV (Taboo with Tom Hardy.)
Unfortunately, there was little time to do any exercise today.

Exercise
None

Food
Tea and toast with peanut butter
Juice
Beef chili with rice.
Homemade chicken curry with white rice.

Alcohol
2 and a half pints of ale
1 pint of Guinness
1 small whisky
1 bottle of ale

Sunday
Another super busy day!
Up early to run our tabletop sale with Jane and Mouse. Lucy had prepared homemade sponge cake and there was no way to resist...
After making a bit more money for Mouse's Ecuador challenge, I went home to finish off the curry from last night. I then went along to dojo and was very happy to discover that Sensei Ronnie Christopher was taking the class. He was a last minute replacement for Sensei Gary (who was at a competition in Wales.) He turned up in a track suit and reassured the beginners, who had no idea who he was, that he had trained before!
Sensei had me teaching for some of the lesson. At then end, I explained to the beginners that Sensei was a double world champion and a 6th dan black belt!
After dojo, I picked up Martha from a date and dropped her new boyfriend home too. After this, I prepared for a pub quiz I was running in aid of the Ecuador challenge. The quiz went well apart from the fact that we only had two teams turn up. I don't feel like doing it again.
I went home to drink beer in front of the TV until midnight.

Exercise
One hour of martial arts training

Food
Crumpets with peanut butter
Tea
Juice
CAKE!
Chocolate covered Brazil nuts
Homemade curry with white rice.

Alcohol
1 bottle of ale
1 pint of Guinness
1 bottle of stout