Fat Loss Training - Week Three

Monday

I woke up feeling particularly tired and groggy after a rubbish night's sleep. Drinking on a school night...

I drank my pint of water and then trudged downstairs for toast and coffee. I cycled in to work with a lovely tailwind behind me. 

Today was the first day of teaching. It was a bit stressful because of some communication problems and the staff room was a little disheartened. However, by the end of the day, there were 15 young men in my classroom and we found ourselves getting some stuff done and having a bit of a laugh. I left work in a good mood. I cycled home to make dinner (homemade bolognese) and then started a weight training hour. I'm pleased to find that I improved a little bit and managed more reps than last week. Always moving forward!

I got on the scales today. I was deeply shocked to see that I had reached my weight loss goal for the second week! I honestly thought I'd ruined my chances because of the amount of days I drank alcohol last week. I'm determined to be more sober this week!

After dinner, I did the washing up and drank water!

No alcohol, weight training, no junkfood

Tuesday

6:10 alarm, pint of water, up for breakfast. I cycled in to work on the road bike.

Today I taught a group of teenagers studying on our Care course. It was good fun and the morning was over in a flash. This afternoon I was shuffling papers and building spreadsheets.

I cycled home on the road bike but took an extra detour into the country lanes. I eventually covered 15.1 miles at 14.4mph. I got home a bit sweaty. That was 19.7 miles of cycling for the day.

This evening, I took Martha to a hospital appointment while Lucy prepared dinner. We got home to enjoy chicken stir fry with loads of rice.

I drank water!

No alcohol, no junkfood, cycling.

Wednesday

Alarm, water, breakfast. It was a struggle just to open my eyes this morning...

It was a very wet morning and I didn't take much convincing to jump in to the car with Lucy. I didn't fancy cycling home later in soaking wet clothes (and shoes). 

I volunteered to take the Construction group this morning. We had some fun stacking timber and drilling holes, while wearing second-hand safety boots and hi-vis vests.

In the afternoon - a short GCSE maths meeting. Then at 4, I met James in the gym for our weekly one-hour workout. I'm pleased to report that James is still taking it seriously and going hard at it. It's good to see. I hope I'm still doing that in ten years time.

I did my raises and rowing and push ups and pull downs and incline presses. And then it was time for the bench press! I'm still trying to match my personal record which I set in June. I hate the feeling of going backwards and not progressing. Today, I was only two reps off my PR at the heaviest weight I've ever lifted. Happily, James was spotting me when I went for the record. When I failed, he had to take some weight off the bar before I could push it off my chest to escape!

Lucy and I went home, and I made a chicken and mushroom stir-fry and drank water.

No alcohol, no junkfood, weight training

Thursday

In the car again for work. After college, Lucy and I did a big shop at Tesco. Back at home, I set up my free weights for an hour of weight training.

Tonight, I managed to improve a little bit on Monday's effort and I got all the exercises done in well under an hour too. This was all while listening to the TMS team as England struggled against South Africa in the second ODI of the series. After I put the last weight down, I quickly retired to the couch, put Sky Sports on the TV and cracked open a beer.

England lost.

3 beers, no junkfood, weight training.

Friday

I struggled this morning, but I still drank my pint of water before clambering out of bed for a huge bowl of muesli. I jumped on the bike and was at work by 8am.

Today was intense. I have so much planning, enroling and marking to do that it was actually impossible to do it all. I managed to keep calm and just stuck with my plan of doing as much as I can in the time I have to do it. Anything else is just panic that doesn't help.

I cycled home with a rucksack of unmarked assessments.

The Karate dojo was great fun tonight. Lots of young people training hard, laughing with friends, developing their confidence and making lots of noise. I was glad to be a part of it.

Tonight, Lucy did a brilliant job of having my dinner ready as soon as walked in the door! I decided to drink milk instead of beer tonight.

no alcohol, no junkfood, Karate

Saturday

This afternoon's Karate session was the last one for my students before their grading next week. Sensei Gary took charge and I helped him to prepare them for kihon combinations, kata and sparring techniques. I even got to join in for the kumite and got a bit sweaty!

As soon as I got back home, I got changed and Lucy and I drove off to meet Mark, Jonnie and Sally at James' place for a barbeque! It was a very pleasant evening with lots of banter, great food and drink and a lovely warm evening. Most importantly, we got to meet James' daughter and grandson for the first time!

As the designated driver, I drove the gang home at about 10pm, and then went straight to bed!

No alcohol, no junkfood, Karate

Sunday

Up at 7:00 for tomatoes, bacon and eggs. The tomatoes were fresh form Lucy's greenhouse! A large coffee, a quick service of the bike (tyres and lubricant) and then I was off into the lanes with James, Jonnie and Mark. As we agreed yesterday, we set off on our relatively new Scarface route which takes us down Weatheroak Hill, up Scarfield hill, up the Astwood Bank climb and then though some lovely lanes until we join up with our original Coughton Route. Today I was feeling very spritely and injury-free so I enjoyed throwing myself up the climbs. We then took a shortcut up to the Billesley Wall and then to Wilmcote for wonderful coffee cake.

It had just started to rain when we got there. 

Jane had a job for me: I had to empty two rather heavy garden pots. Happily, Mark volunteered to help me - I couldn't have done it on my own! While we were enjoying our coffee and cake, Lucy and Martha turned up. We all had a good chat and then the boys and I set off home. Or rather, we tried to - Mark had some trouble with his chain getting caught under the chain guard, and this took us a little while to sort out. Eventually we got going for the last push home.

Here comes the rain!

The roads were wet but we managed to get almost home before the real downpour started! We all got rather soggy and were rather amused to notice that when we got back to Jonnie's place, it stopped raining!

After an afternoon of ironing (while watching Three Body Problem - highly recommended to fellow sci-fi nerds) I drove over to pick up Lily and then came back to collect Martha, Mouse and Lucy. We headed off for dinner at The Drum and Monkey in Dorridge. It was a nice enough place with decent service and nice grub. I had my first ever alcohol-free beer. It was okay, a bit like a bitter but without any sharpness at all. The only strange thing about the experience was that the waitress would talk to and prioritise Lucy and the girls, and seemed to address me only as an afterthought or an obligation. 

Anyway, it was very pleasant and we all went home for pudding, except Martha and I were the only ones having pudding!

I dropped Lily back home and then tumbled into bed with a cup of tea.

No alcohol, cake and pudding, 45 miles on the bicycle.

In summary, a much better week than last week: I exercised every day, I only had junkfood on Sunday, and I had six sober days. If I keep this up, I'll be able to fit into my suit before Christmas!