Time is up!

And so the time is up. Birthday was celebrated successfully, in a nostalgic fashion, and the deadline for the challenge has been reached.

"So what is the verdict?", you may ask.

I was also curious, thus I stepped on the scales on the morning of the 26th to see the following number:

108 kg

One could think I was disappointed - but to be honest, it went according to my expectations.
There is one quote I have adapted from Paul Arden, when it comes to the topic of personal goals:

"Aim for the stars and you may end up on a hill."

Most motivationalists will tell you something like this. In order to achieve something, you have to dream big. So even though losing 45 kg would be amazing within 7 months, I am not disappointed with it being 37 - considering the efforts and how little I actually had to change throughout this time.

To put it into perspective - what do 37 kg actually mean when your weight is 100+?


T-shirt:
XXL, tight fit   - >   XL, comfortable fit (L, tight fit)

Shirt: 
Size 18.5 neck   - >   Size 17 neck

Pants:
44  (tight fit)  - >   38 (comfortable fit) - 36 (tight fit)


With these numbers, I am down to the weight I was before I left for Ireland for the first time in 2007. Those of you who remember me in high school, this is my size once again. But a somewhat more fit shape.





Thus, it means I got another present - my old wardrobe of clothes that have not fit for a few years!
As well as this makes shopping a lot more fun nowadays, as most shops now have more items in my size. :D :D

 Let the shopping spree begin!

But this is no way to say that it is over, just because the target time has passed...
More on this once I am back from Oslo.

Catching up

Wow, time flies when you're having fun....and now, I have been having a lot of fun.

I sure hope it is because of the fun, would be scary to think otherwise.

So I guess it is time to break the silence and share a few details (for those of you who aren't following me on FB/G+ ;) of what I have been up to in the recent months.

Travels and adventure!

It all started off with Malta, as mentioned in a previous post, where we went to get our diving certificates. A lot of fun, adrenaline rushes and kicks were had.

Ever tried being 18 meters below the surface, inside the wreck of a sunken ship? No?

It should be tried, it is a very unique experience.

 I'm not claustrophobic, but let's say it did get me on my toes.

But in the end we have been certified to dive down to 18 meters!

Next step would be the advanced course and certification for 40 meters.

A much more detailed version, with pictures, can be found here, in the diving post conveniently hidden in the past.

The return to Ireland ended up being quite short. A few days in Dublin and a few days spent in Cork - and then it took off to Amsterdam and the festival that is Sensation White.
This was only topped by the fact that my family decided to make a spontaneous surprise road trip down to Amsterdam.

"So now you know why I like doing things on a whim!"

Sights were seen, tours were taken and pancakes of different kinds were eaten!
We did also to visit Madame Tussaud's while in Amsterdam. I must say, it was not as impressive as some people may think it is. For me, it only gave a realization of how short famous people actually are.
I don't know why, but it did surprise me that people were actually taking pictures with the wax statues of celebrities.

"I mean, I can understand if it was Lenin, Churchill or Rembrandt....but Robbie Williams and Victoria Beckham?"

Though...at one point I realized that even I had to take a picture. The internet made me do it!

End of June update!

Things keep on happening and life keeps on moving.
I have so much I wish to write about but I just have not had time, between all the events.
Then once again, I find myself in a place where there's a flight waiting to take me to Amsterdam - and with it, Sensation White, for which I am bringing my amazing prop - the horse.

But before I go,  I just quickly need to post an update on my progress.

The new weight total for end of June was on the stunning 116 kg!

See, tracker is already updated! ->

As you know, I have been vacationing throughout June. This time it was also a lot of workout, as well as relaxation - to the point where I though I might not have gone down at all. But I did! :D

There's a food and workout log waiting to be posted, but that has to wait for when I return, as now I got to run and catch a flight!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Anchor Bay - dive three

The sun was still shining bright in the sky as we made our final descent into the waters of Anchor Bay.

This time, the exercise was to perform an emergency ascent.

"You know, for those situations, should you run out of air."

This, I must say was trickier than it sounds.

Task:

• Ascend to the surface.
• Exhale while swimming up.
• Blow up your BCD vest manually once on the surface.
• Perform during a medium current.

First, I didn't actually realize how long time it takes to swim up, even if this was only at 11 meters. Then on top of this, you have to keep exhaling on your way up, at a pace that is fast enough to ensure your lungs don't get ruptured by the expanding air, but at the same time slow enough for the air to last you all the way up.
I must admit, even though I thought it would be easy, I had to try it a few times to get it right.

First attempt, I ended up accidentally inhaling a bit of water - struck by a minor panic and grabbed for the instructor's spare regulator.

"Alright, safe, nerves are back under control - let's go again!"

This time, I made it up. But - completely out of air. Exhaled a bit too fast. Ending up hitting the surface, grasping for air - getting some in but due to the waves, a bit of water as well.

"Two seconds, three - stability. I keep afloat."

"Next step, get more air and inflate the BCD. But remember not to inhale any of the air that may possibly be in there!"

Taking a few breaths, I managed to get it inflated and finally floating in the water. Now was the first time I could breathe properly, without having to worry about water.

This whole scenario took perhaps about 10-20 seconds - but it felt waaaay longer. You start reacting very instinctively when you're out of air...and instinctive may not always be the best way.

"Good thing it was a part of the exercise, as next time the reactions and feelings were different!"

Once all was said and done, we continued our exploration of the bottom - just to make a stop at a small rock formation.

I thought to myself, what is this?

That's when our instructor moved one of the stones and two tiny eyes stuck up through the hole. Just looking at us. Turning from one person to the other.

Then suddenly - a tentacle comes out and grabs the stone that was moved. Holds it and pulls it back to the rock formation.

At this point, I could imagine there being a speech bubble saying: "This one is mine, thank you!"

I may dare to say that it even looked - cute.

"Yeah, I went there!"

 

Yeah, it was a small octopus who took shelter during the sunlight, waiting for the sun to set and the water turn darker.

We decided to leave it alone to rest. After all, we were there to watch, not to disrupt the marine life.

Following this incident, I decided to pay even more attention to the bottom. That's when the crazy fishes seemed to appear. Some were moving along the bottom. Some were flat, manta-style while others were apparently sliding along the bottom on their side.

"To be honest, I'm just intrigued as you as to why they would do that! :o"

 Fishes that really didn't care about us.

Jellyfish in various colours.

Then we also stumbled upon this amazing thing.

It is awesome because of the way it looks.

A small shell, moving slowly along the bottom of the sea. The instructor picked it up, just as he did, we could see the pincers disappearing into the shell.

After holding it for a moment, we could see the pincers come back out and so did the head. Was incredible to see something like this up close, in reality, instead of an aquarium.

After putting the shell back on the bottom, we kept looking at it for a few minutes - seeing what would happen - and it did happen!

The crab got the legs out and - with speed unexpected from such a small creature, in water to boot - it ran off, stirring up a small cloud of sand behind it.

I chuckled to myself and we continued swimming.

Then I saw it, there it was! Just looking at me, poking for my attention. A white and red sea shell, reflecting the light through the water. As if it was calling me in, like a siren's song.

"I'll take that, it will be my souvenir from this!"

Once again, we came out to the streamy part and we had to cross the current to get back to the jetty.

I don't know if it was the tiredness, the CO2 build-up from three consecutive dives or just my eyes, but I could swear that the bottom was moving back and forth beneath me, not that we were moving forward. Think "corky house" attraction in a theme park. (Lustiga huset in Swedish)

But in the end - we made it back.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what an OWD-certified diver may look like!

Anchor Bay dives one and two

Dive one:

Gear up, weights on and take a giant stride from the jetty, into the water. Even directly at the jetty, it was already three meters deep and there was no risk of hitting bottom when jumping in - even with the 25kg extra that I was wearing.
After a few basic exercises, we decided to take a swim around the bay, where we found out where the name comes from. Quite simply, at the bottom of the bay, there is a 2x2 meter anchor which has over the years been overgrown with vegetation and now hosts a bit of marine life.

After a short swim, we returned back to the jetty, climbed up and changed our tanks.
No rest, underwater exploration awaited!


Dive two:

Gear on, buddy check done and another stride into the water!
This time we performed basic compass navigation exercises and go around the bay area along the bottom.
A this time, it had gotten windy, causing waves and additional streams. It made it slightly more challenging to swim but at the same time it was good to experience and to learn how to properly move in streamy waters.
Before it could get any worse, we decided to dive into one of the underwater caves, just so that we could experience it.

"Oh boy, was that an experience, alright!"

We saw the cave entrance. It was dark, as if the darkness from inside was slowly trying to reach out and swallow all the light.
We swam towards it. Into the darkness.
The further inside we got, I could notice how the light quickly faded. Even just moving 10-20 centimeters made the lack of light very noticable. But we continued and it gradually became darker.
A few seconds later, I could barely see my instructor in front of me. He was less than a meter ahead.

All I could see was the instructor's tank. That little bit of silvery surface upon which light from outside the cave entrance was reflected.
The tank looked as if it had stopped, then it started to ascend.

"I followed - keeping my hands right above my head, bracing for impact from any ceiling I might hit."

That's when I hit it - the surface.
We had come up inside an air pocket in the cave. It was pitch black all around me, but I still looked around - hoping to see any small source of light - and I found it. A little bit of light was still shining in through the cave entrance behind me. I could see the colours out there, a few colours a the bottom - but inside the cave, it was completely dark.

I heard my instructor say something about regulators, but not exactly what it was. General assumption being that you can take it out and breath normally, I decided to do so.

Mistaaaaaaaaaaaaake!

The air was thick, humid, but somehow it was also very, very dry at the same time. It hit me that this air has most likely been in this cave for several months - if not years.

"Quickly, regulator back into mouth and start breathing tank air again!"

I looked around the cave once again and I could see a light. It was coming closer. Then suddenly, it hit the surface approximately 5 meters away from me and illuminated the whole chamber. 

The light was a group of more experienced divers who had been further inside the cave, apparently entered from the other side - but it was a 5-10 minute swim through it and thus nothing we should be doing at this point as we had already used half our air at this point.

It was not a very big chamber we were in, perhaps 2 meters between surface and ceiling, but it still looked incredible because of the natural stone formations and the fact that there was normally no light here. 

Having never been in an underwater cave before, I decided to class this experience as very cool due to the initial excitement and the way the light just seemed to disappear.

Swimming out of the cave, I felt a bit of relief. It was nice to see the light again and be able to use your eyes properly.

On our way back, the current had gotten stronger. We had to cross the stream completely and swim back on the other side of the bay, otherwise it would have taken a lot longer time to get back - or a lot more effort. But in the end, we made it back!

Continue reading - dive three.

Diving!

As mentioned in my previous post, I've been down here in the middle of the Mediterranean sea - on a small island known as Malta.
The island isn't very big and you can go around it all within a day.
However, there is lots and lots of heat, water and diving sites!

So, what's the story so far?









This is what we woke up to - every day!

 

But apart from that, we have been diving.

The week started off with a few hours of theory to get to know the gear and the safety, which then quickly turned into practice on the second day!

The first few dives were in a quite confined environment, despite being in the ocean. The area just outside that stone wall is considered shallow, 6 meters - which is still deeper than most indoor swimming pools, where no boat traffic is allowed.

For our second day, we decided to head out to the north-western part of Malta - a little place called Anchor Bay.

As you can see to the left, there is a stone jetty shooting out from the shore to break the waves and keep the bay calm.

You can also see that it has been destroyed on several locations. This picture is only showing half of it.

Parts of the jetty is also sloping into the sea.

Why is that necessary? 

Well, I'm glad you asked!

This is the inside of the jetty.

The houses on the other side of the bay are a part of the Popeye Village.

This is the set that was made for the recording of the 1980s live-action Popeye movie!

"Yeah, a bit before my time, but still!"

Once the movie was finished, it was decided that there was no need to destroy the village. It was better left as it is and turned into a tourist attraction.

Now that you know the area, let's talk diving!

Dive one and two

Dive three

On the horizon – vacation!

Yes, it is vacation time again. This time, it has taken me down to the salty Mediterranean sea and the sunny island of Malta.

It was a very randomly selected trip.

“Just the way I like it!”

To be honest, I had no plans of going here until I met up with some old school friends on my last trip to Sweden. So we got this crazy idea of going down to Malta and get ourselves the diving certificates (Open Water Diving) sorted. After all, this is something you can build upon over time – and seeing the underwater world with your own eyes is something very special.

Aside from the obvious workout that scuba diving brings ("apparently it’s around 800 calories per hour") there will be another challenge: Food.

Once again, I find myself at a touristy location, where I would love to taste the good restaurant food and the Maltese cuisine. I would also hate to give up the social factor and ditch my mates when it comes to food. Thus, a solution has to be found, a solution to sustain the low calorie intake, without giving up too much of the good life.

On the bright side, it seems that I managed to do this so far. I do not feel heavier, apart from when I am wearing 25kg extra, during a dive. :p


I have kept a small food log, together with the exercise that I have been performing. Once I am back and it is time to do the hindsight again, I will publish the food of this vacation and we shall see what the effects of it has been. ^^

You can expect the next post to be a bit more in-depth about the visit, as I am currently on a very...ehm, improvised internet setup. :D

Changes, changes - challenges!

What would a new month be without any additional challenges, without something that blindsides you at 2 o'clock on a saturday afternoon?

"My guess would be: still, or perhaps even: boring."

As of recent, I have had another major change happening in my life, aside from what can be associated with this challenge.
A few months back, I decided to leave the job I had in order to seek something new and develop myself further.

"What's better for that than jumping in, head first into something unknown? ^^"

On top of that, I also decided to leave Cork and move on to a bigger city that would still hold opportunities, both professionally and socially - Dublin.
With such a move, come a lot of changes.
One of them is that I had to quit the gym, which I had gotten quite accustomed to. I knew which quirk the different machines had and which times I should go in order to avoid the waiting times.
Switching gyms can be such a hassle, but as much as I am a fan of comfort, 2½ hours travel is perhaps counter-productive if you just want to visit the gym. :p
Thus, my next goal up here will be to locate a decent gym that is close enough, in order to pick up my regular workouts again.

"I mean, I am already starting to feel how some muscles are starting to relax. 

But, but, but....I want to keep the shape!!!!"

On the bright side, I have managed to find myself a nice band-aid-solution for the time being.
While walking around the area here, I found that there was a park nearby. Yeah, a real park with cut grass, playgrounds and a pond with swans. In addition, they also have some outdoor workout stations where you work with your own body weight as counters, so nothing too heavy. It's also about the same size as the Fitzgerald Park down in Cork, so it's excellent for running in.
Yeah, you got that right, I picked up jogging.


I'm a little surprised at how good it feels and how tiring it is. I thought that my hard workouts on the cross-step would prepare me for the running - but oh how I was wrong. Even though both exercises focus on your legs, different muscles are being used in a different motion. Weight is distributed differently.
So far, I have been out running for 4 days, each time lasting around an hour. (Including the stops at the various outdoor work-out stations for 5-10 minutes to change the rhythm and catch my breath.)

So far it feels good and productive. I feel that my legs are getting the workout they need - and surprisingly enough - my stomach. (Due to the workout stations and the posture when running)
It is good stuff!!


(But don't ask me how far or how fast I run, so far it has just been in a jogging tempo, but once I can do the whole round without feeling exhausted, it will be time to step it up.)

The returning!

Wow, it seems that a lot has happened in the past months and the time to write something has just passed me by. It has been really crazy with all the travels and the moving. Feels like my mini-challenge for this month will be to keep up the writing while on vacation. ^^
Though, the good news is that I have not given up on it! Not yet. It's not over yet!

So to quickly bring you guys up to speed, this is the current situation:

End of April: 127 kg

It did stop there for a while during April because of the vacation time.
When you're in a tourist resort, healthy food is not always readily available, so it turned out to be a lot more bread during that month.
At the same time, the appetite increased due to the heavy exercise, that is Snowboarding.
Then also, at the same time, I must admit that I did give into some of the sweeter things in life, as I did visit home - where all the memories took over and I gave in to nostalgia as it was a short trip.
More details will be added retrospectively, as I had some posts written up but not yet published.

End of May:  121 kg

 In May, I returned to Ireland, to an apartement of a friend where I was temporarily staying.

With this, I also returned to my gym routine.

Though at this point, I decided to make a small alternation to my diet - just to see where that would take me.

I started looking into how much calories I eat per day.

Sure, it may make it slightly less fun - but at the same time I decided to loosen the rules on carbs and sugars.

Thus, for the whole month, I chose to count calories and see how I would feel by that. It was normally not a problem to keep the numbers under 2000. Coupled up with the workout, this seems to have gotten very effective.

Though more details on this will also appear in an upcoming post over the next few days. ^^

In the end, this is looking quite good so far. According to my calculations, I was supposed to be at 120.5 kg at the end of may. Being 0.5 kg off from the target makes me feel good about the mission, but it's not over yet. 

Never give up.

Never give in. 

It's not over yet.

Back online!

Woah, woah, woah.
Seems like I have been gone from this blog quite some time now. That is crazy! This was never intended. :o
Things just seemed to happen, one after the other and then "booom", I find myself in Austria going down the mountain on a board. But more on that in the coming days. :)

It appears that I am missing a monthly hindsight here, over March that just passed. Many things have happened and progress has been made. I know you are eager to find out how much and what happened - so I shall keep it short:

129 kg!

Yeah, this was my weight at the end of March, start of April.
It means that I am yet again ahead of my initial projection, which is something that I am really, really happy about! :D
A total of -16 kg down from my initial weight. \o/

The coming month will prove to be a challenge in itself. After all, it is my vacation month and I will be in many different places, without a gym. Best to work out a good routine for home performance. Then also try to keep up the diet - even though that will be hard with so many good things offered here! :o

Well, I shall keep you updated on what comes. Now it is time for another day of boarding!

March, march take me there!

March is well underway and I am very happy with the current progress, in all areas.

 "Including the gold - even though I have not mentioned it very much."

However, this just means that I am ready to step it up further - to do more.


I have been thinking about this for some time, because more workout = more muscles. This, in turn, may make the weight loss effect seem diminished due to muscles weighing more than fat.
But in the end, I think it is an overall good idea to increase the work-out slightly.

So here is what I think, for now:

                     Cross Trainer      

Time (Minutes):      20 -> 20

Strides per minute:     170 -> 180

Calories:                     240 -> 250

                     Shoulders

Weight (kg): 40 -> 45

Repetitions: 3 x 10 -> 3x10

                     Chest Press

Weight (kg): 60 -> 70

Repetitions: 3 x 10 -> 3x10

                     Butterfly

Weight (kg): 40 -> 45

Repetitions: 3 x 10 -> 3x10

                      Back

Weight (kg): 55 -> 60

Repetitions: 3 x 10 -> 3x10

                      Lats

Weight (kg): 75 -> 80

Repetitions: 3 x 10 -> 3x10

                      HIIT 

Time (Minutes):      10 -> 10 

Intervals:            5 -> 5

Strides per minute:     170 -> 180

Calories:                     110 -> 120

 

It is a basic weight increase, for now. I say "for now" because thinking about it got me interested in the difference between increasing weight and increasing reps.
More research will be conducted and I will keep you updated!

Hindsight - numbers! \o/

To be honest:

Words are very

Unnecessary

It is said that a picture says more than a thousand words!

Yup, that's right.

I started at 145 - After one month, 137 kilos was my weight.

This means that the target for the end of March should be 130.5 kg, if going by the average that I originally set up.

Doable?

"Hell yeah!"

"Also, I should really think of perhaps setting up a chart for this."

Hindsight - part 2

For this second part, I want to look back at what I have actually eaten throughout the month.
To just get a general overview of what I have given up and what has been an improvement.

As mentioned at the start, the diet is a major part of the challenge - and let me tell you this:

"It has not been easy!"

 The original plan was to cut down on carbohydrates. To achieve this, I had to minimize the intake of:

• Pasta
• Bread
• Rice
• Potatoes/fries
• Sugar

As big of a deal as this seems to be, it was actually not too bad. From day one, I managed to replace my breakfasts with meat/vegetable wrap and coffee.

"Yeah, wraps are bread and do contain carbs, but very little. Like I mentioned in the start:

 I am not going overboard with this - but rather gradually adding changes"

For lunch, I started havin chicken salads. It consists of vegetables, chicken and cajun sauce.

"Alright, good one - perhaps the cajun sauce may be a bad choice as it is slightly sweet."

For the evenings, I began eating something small, if anything at all. During most days, I was tired enough to just come home and fall asleep. But when I did eat - it came down to slices of meat or some woked vegetables.

"Seriously, though - the wok has got to be my new best kitchen friend during this time!"

Alright, so far so good, but this is a working week. Weekends, on the other hand, have proven to be the main challenge.

Why? 

Because of the lack of distractions.

You see, during the normal days work is keeping your mind busy. When you are at home, you got the computer and some games or movies. For me, it felt like something was missing and I actually did find myself scouring the kitchen for some snacks during the weekends.
It really is as my friend Bokkle told me - you go to the fridge when you're bored.


To handle the weekends, I had to come up with a way to vary things.
Thus, I started to make some different kinds of foods, even though not optimal, I can allow a bit of carbs during weekends.

• Steak & salad
• Asian stir fry wok & chicken
• Wholewheat pasta & turkey sausages
• Meat Canelloni
• Tomato and Basil soup
• Spicy noodle soup - you know, that kind that students live off.

It does bring a bit of a change and I can still enjoy the foods I like, with just some small alternations to the side orders.
But it has not been perfect, mistakes were made - where I caved to the needs that are so common nowadays. But that's a whole other story.

So far this has worked out well and I have been able to slowly adjust my lifestyle over this past month. I am really happy this is working out and the motivation is still there. 

Now, with all this talk of progress - isn't it time to show some of it?

I think it is!

The month in hindsight

Woooh! Finally. It is done!

"Well, the first month at least!"

Really, I have been waiting for this week with such great anticipation.

It has really gone a month since I started this blog - and with it, this challenge!

So with no further delay, it is time to look back and see what this all has lead to.

At the moment it definitely feels like this month, even just the month itself, has brought some major changes. Changes that I can feel and effects that I can see and measure.

"What would those be?", you may ask.

The first and major difference is that I can start seeing the muscles coming back. They can actually be seen and felt.

My natural contours in my face are starting to show up a lot clearer and my face actually looks less like a stone, while the eyes are no longer as heavy. 

 "Hell, even smiling is way easier and happens way more often!" :D

Then of course, there has been a noticable increase in my performance, stamina and energy levels.

I have actually started taking pictures, just to be able to see the difference as I go on with this. I can say that I can definitely see the difference. Yet, I think it is a bit early to publish these pictures.

"Why?", you may ask.

 To be honest -

Because it takes 4 weeks for you to notice the difference.

It takes 8 weeks for the people close to you to notice the difference.

But it takes around 12 weeks before everyone else does!

You guessed it, this is just part one. More details are to come!

Stepping it up!

After that very cold night, I really thought about it and I think it would be perfect timing to step things up a bit in the cardio department.

I think it is time to introduce some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into my program.
This is a concept that I was taught very early during my phys ed classes during school; push, push, give it all you got for a minute - then relax and wind down for a minute. Then do it all over again, 10 more times.

"So why do this, what are the benefits?", you may want to ask.

The main objective of this exercise is to train your heart. Training your heart to pump out more blood in less beats. Effectively, lowering your pulse a bit, but not the effect.
It is also good because it will allow your body to react much better in "explosive" situations, for example when you need to make that small sprint to get across the road or catch the bus.

"You know what I mean, we've all felt tired at one point when we suddenly had to push our bodies to the limit for that short amount of time."

Another very good effect of this is the boost to your metabolism. Specifically the body's regulation of blood sugar, particularly after meals. This is something that appears to be confirmed by studies as well as by the Men's Health Magazine.

One of the studies was recently published in the New York Times blog the other week.

Yup, this goes in the bag! But let's not go overboard.

I will be adding this as a small 10 minute exercise - which gives me 5 intensive minutes and 5 minutes of rest - on the cross trainer, in addition to my current 20.

Shivers :o

Yes, this day has been really, really cold - and most people who know me, would not say that I'm a person that reacts to cold.
So therefore, it must be something else!
If we're to believe my mother; shivers and chills are some of the first sign of your body reacting to weight loss.

"And I do belive my mother. ^^"

So I guess we might actually make a mini hindsight out of this.
The blog has been up for approximately two weeks and I can definitely feel the changes. Specially in my arms, shoulders and the flanks.

Let's take the healthy aspect first. So far, my diet has been:

• Sandwich and sugarfree vanilla latte in the morning
• Chicken salad
• Piece of meat or chicken, only addition being herbs
• Boiled vegetables

So far, I have been sticking to this quite strictly.  

"Yes, I know that lattes are still bad but it wouln't be 

an experiment or progressive goal if I did everything right from the start!"

I must say though, the weekends have got to be the worst days to do a diet. When you're not working or busy somewhere, it is very, very easy to get back into the thought patterns of hunger. At least I felt a lot hungrier.
Think I should drink more water during the weekends.

The workout has been kept up as well.
For the past two weeks I have had 8 successful gym sessions and 2 days of prolonged walking at a high pace.
A total of 10 days of exercise and only 4 days of rest.

"Awesome, more than expected but no feeling of burning out yet!"

Perhaps it is time to step up the workout a bit. At least the cardio.

But no definite numbers on the weight yet - even though it has gone down - I leave for the monthly hindsight!


As for the gold, well, I just started to write about the theory in my last post, but I can say that my amount has been increased by at least 50% since the start - which is not too bad for two weeks.

"And the Ashes of Al'ar to boot!"

I wonder what would happen if I tried to increase this to two servers... :D

Again, no definite numbers yet, leaving that for when a month has passed!
But here's a snapshot of a day during the past week. :)

On the other side of the computer screen

So there has been a lot of focus on the health aspect so far.
Granted, it is the more interesting part of the challenge. But I think it is time we talk about money, virtual money and the ways to make it.

For a bit of backstory; this is something I felt I wanted to do "just because" - I am a completionist and I have always liked achieving things that are not very easy nor commonly done.
Thus, hitting the gold cap - obtaining the maximum amount of gold that a character can carry - is something that naturally fell into that category.

But when it comes to achieving it, there are two main ways how to do it in WoW:

• Grinding/farming
• Trading / Auction House

Both are very effective methods and work very well. There is even a viable middle ground between these. But the main difference between these methods is the amount of time you have to invest in order to succeed.

Grinding/farming for gold is one of the oldest ways to get money. It is what it sounds like; you take your character, go to a place were you felt that you had a lot of gold or sellable material dropping for you and then you "set up camp" there, basically killing the monsters in the area. Over - and over - and over - and over - and over again. Once this is done, you start the cycle again at "over".
However, grinding/farming is something where you have to be constantly present and keep performing various actions. Thus the time you invest into it is huge for the profit you get, I would even say that the investment is greater than the profit in this case.

Another way is of course to combine the options - a good example is when you run older content, for the sake of money, rare drops, transmogrification items or simply for the vendor value of the items.

"Yeah, I have actually ran through things like Molten Core and Upper Blackrock Spire, killing everything - yes EVERY..ehm..ONE - and filled up my bags with the loot. Believe me, bagspace will be your friend here"

When doing this, you will of course gain quite a lot by simply selling the items off to a vendor - but you can also make quite a lot by placing a lot of the drops on the Auction House, for example cloth and other crafting material.
Again, on the question of time, this is still quite time consuming as you got to run the instances, but you get a nice bonus when you combine this.

Then you also have trading, where you need substantially less activity due to the ability of sales occurring whenever you are offline. This is something quite effective and can hold a lot of opportunities if done correctly.
That said, the auction house itself will not make you rich, not from scratch. Don't get me wrong, the Auction House is ultimately going to be the main actor in your stride to wealth, but there are a lot of underlying streams that you have to learn to understand.
The first - and most important - thing to understand is that certain actions and strategies can only be performed when you already have a lot of money.

"Spend money to make money, right?"

"This is where it gets interesting."

Workout!

Today, I wanted to talk a bit about the workout and what the gym sessions consisting of.
So far, my gym sessions have been broken down in the following way:

Warm-up: Every time

15 minute walk to the gym.

Cardio: Every time

20 minutes on the cross trainer machine.
160 strides per minute and alternating "terrain".

Strength: Alternating chest and back.
72 hours of rest before engaging the same muscle group again.

Shoulder press - 40 kg, 

Chest - seated press - 60 kg

Chest - Butterfly - 40 kg

Back - seated pulls - 50 kg

Lats - seated pulls - 60 kg

"Yeah, this may seem like a small amount for my size and it is less than I used to do, but I decided to go with easier weights to get my body used to physical workout."

As you can see, I have not been including anything for legs nor arms - and there are reasons for it. 

Right now, I exercise my legs enough due to the amounts of walking I do and it doesn't feel like I need more muscles there, not yet at least.

Arms are a different matter though. One of the first things I was taught about muscles is that the arm muscles are not very useful.  

"However, ladies, I do know that you like to look at arms. That has not slipped me by. ;)"

Think about it, if you are ever lifting something or carrying something, how often do you only use your arms? The answer is; very, very seldom.

Now you might think back of some incident where you remember your arms being so tired that you could barely lift them. Remember that moment again and this time ask yourself; could you have done it differently? 

"In most cases, the answer will be; yes."

Thus, for the moment, arms do not have priority in my workout, but in time, I know I will need to add them as well - if nothing else, then at least for the sake of proportions. ^^

This is the plan for Jan/Feb and at the end of February, I will look over this again and see if anything can be increased or needs to be changed.

A wild manifesto appears!

Right,  to make this work, I will need a plan - a manifesto according to which I shall be making the changes, an agreement between you, readers, and myself!

This is something I have been thinking about and it has come down to these two main items which affect weight, that I will be focusing on;

• Food intake

A lot of the sources that you will find on this subject will say that the diet and your eating habits are the main players when it comes to weight loss. Something that really caught my eye in this matter was the article on Exercise and Eating on the popular E-zine AskMen.com.
They do also mention that society today is pretty much designed to make us gain weight.

"Let's fight the system! Too soon? Oh."

• Exercise

Common sense has taught us that exercise is supposed to make you lose weight, because you are sweating, you are using the energy you have and when you run out - you use what you have stored. After doing some research, I have started to doubt that this has as much effect as I initially thought. But having said that, is is still very effective because it:


a) Builds muscle and gives your body shape once you start losing the fat.
"When you lose fat, there will, all of a sudden, be space where the fat used to be. As my intentions are not to end up scarwny, I'd love to see some more manly shapes."

b) It helps to regulate your apetite, reducing the constant desire for food.
"It wasn't only until a friend mentioned in a chat we had after his amazing comment, that I realized I was doing the same; Going to the fridge when I am bored."

Of course it has a lot of other benefits as well, but rather than listing them, it is better if you check out the second part of the Eating and Exercise Connection yourselves.

_______________________________________________________________________

Before I digress too much, to the plan!
The plan is ultimately to change up my diet to the point that it will result in weight loss, while not giving up everything that I like about food.
I don't want this to be some kind of "drop your lifestyle for another while achieving your goals", I actually want the changes to matter and to not feel forced.
"We all know that when we're forced to something, it's all of a sudden not as enjoyable anymore."

On the diet side, I shall, for the first month:

• Have two-three meals each day. (Due to working hours, 3 may not be feasible at all times)
• Cut out a lot of carbs from the food. "This is a subject that has been discussed on and off, more on this later."
• Greatly reduce intake of carbonated drinks, as well as sugar.

On the exercise side, I shall:

• Go to the gym, at least 3 times per week.
• At least one day, in addition to the gym, where the exercise consists of an hour walk.
• Power-walk on my way from work.

Alright, this is looking good. I can do this. More updates to follow!

Readers, anything I missed?