Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Plant Powered Slogger: Four months on...
Plant Powered Slogger: Four months on...: So four months on and how has the plant powered athlete thing panned out? In short mixed. For the first month, I kept pretty close to ve...
Four months on...
So four months on and how has the plant powered athlete thing panned out?
In short mixed.
For the first month, I kept pretty close to vego. Its easy in summer cook some mushrooms or tofu on the barbie whist the other have steak or chicken.
I was also exercising quite heavily and I lost 4 kilograms, down to 81kgs from what expect was possibly 85 or over Kg's around Christmas.
Then February hit. We had two big celebrations, my 40th birthday and our wedding this meant a lot of eating and drinking but also a lot of stress. I was also enduring a bit of work stress and subsequently during Feb and afterward through March and into April I was fighting off colds and flu's which reduced the rate of exercise.
So. weight loss tick, but well being. Not so much but their were mitigating circumstances.
Another good note was the Canberra Half Marathon. I had being doing a program designed my a mate - long slower runs on the weekend (135-145 BPM max) and sprints mid week. This combined with my healthier diet, and in spite of the interruptions to training saw this marathon (my third in six years) beat last years' time by 22 minutes, but beat my time from 5-6 years' previous by 10 minutes.
For those keeping score at home I ran 2hrs 2 minutes.
This was a source of immense pride for me. I was bullied in High School, partly for not being good at sport. And here finally at the age of 40 I'd run a time in a major running event that was effectively 'par'. For those who don't know a 2 hr Half ad a 4 hour full 'should' be achievable for any reasonable fit and healthy individual with the right training and diet.
I know some people wouldn't be proud of 'par' but gee I was.
So where am I now? It's trick as Canberra Autumn gives way to winter it is proving harder to work out meals that convert easily to vego. Going vegetarian solo in a family unit is hard. And with colder recipes it's harder to modify a meat/no meat situation.
So I've settled on the two of four mid week meals I cook being vego and eating whatever my low carb/high protein dieting wife serves on her two nights. On the weekends I try to order vego meals if we eat out or get take away. My breakfasts, lunches and snacks are all vegetarian. So at best about 18-19 meals out of 21 are vego, Some weeks worse, some weeks better.
Weight wise after the celebrations of February and my intermittent illnesses I blew back out to 85 kgs again.
So what to conclude at this point?
In short mixed.
For the first month, I kept pretty close to vego. Its easy in summer cook some mushrooms or tofu on the barbie whist the other have steak or chicken.
I was also exercising quite heavily and I lost 4 kilograms, down to 81kgs from what expect was possibly 85 or over Kg's around Christmas.
Then February hit. We had two big celebrations, my 40th birthday and our wedding this meant a lot of eating and drinking but also a lot of stress. I was also enduring a bit of work stress and subsequently during Feb and afterward through March and into April I was fighting off colds and flu's which reduced the rate of exercise.
So. weight loss tick, but well being. Not so much but their were mitigating circumstances.
Another good note was the Canberra Half Marathon. I had being doing a program designed my a mate - long slower runs on the weekend (135-145 BPM max) and sprints mid week. This combined with my healthier diet, and in spite of the interruptions to training saw this marathon (my third in six years) beat last years' time by 22 minutes, but beat my time from 5-6 years' previous by 10 minutes.
For those keeping score at home I ran 2hrs 2 minutes.
This was a source of immense pride for me. I was bullied in High School, partly for not being good at sport. And here finally at the age of 40 I'd run a time in a major running event that was effectively 'par'. For those who don't know a 2 hr Half ad a 4 hour full 'should' be achievable for any reasonable fit and healthy individual with the right training and diet.
I know some people wouldn't be proud of 'par' but gee I was.
So where am I now? It's trick as Canberra Autumn gives way to winter it is proving harder to work out meals that convert easily to vego. Going vegetarian solo in a family unit is hard. And with colder recipes it's harder to modify a meat/no meat situation.
So I've settled on the two of four mid week meals I cook being vego and eating whatever my low carb/high protein dieting wife serves on her two nights. On the weekends I try to order vego meals if we eat out or get take away. My breakfasts, lunches and snacks are all vegetarian. So at best about 18-19 meals out of 21 are vego, Some weeks worse, some weeks better.
Weight wise after the celebrations of February and my intermittent illnesses I blew back out to 85 kgs again.
So what to conclude at this point?
- Weight is a lot easier to put on than to take off.
- Making a serious long term change in your life takes commitment and dedication, and there will be ups and downs.
- The slow run/sprint run program really works and I will adopt this method again for a 30km trail run in November beginning training for this in August once the harsh chill of Canberra's winter thaws out.
- I have seen no immediate health and lifestyle benefits yet. This is disappointing by propensity to get colds and flus, and migraines continues unabated. I still believe the science that says vego/vegan/pescetarian diets are healthier in the long term, I'm just yet to see it short term!
So where to now? I mentioned in the last post how I like beer a bit too much. This is a complex relationship and one that could fill a whole post on its own. Suffice to say I have committed to trying to make sure at least that Mon-Thurs each and every week are beer-free and seek to not replace it with other stuff just as harmful (diet softdrinks, softdrinks generally, etc).
Having successfully adopted if not a vegetarian diet but a low meat diet into my lifestyle, I am hoping my ability to stick to this beer-free pan for a few weeks will see this become the 'new' normal.
As for exercise, I will try and ride to work more as a commute on the weeks when our kids are now at their respective 'other' parents. The benefit of this will be three fold I'll burn good calories, maintain a fitness base and be able to actually get more sleep as my exercise will be my commute and vice versa.
If you read this and are pushing it uphill with your own fitness and diet goals. Don't get disheartened, set backs happen, just stay true to your long term goal and try to enjoy the journey.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)