Late Week 3 and 4 results.

Results for weeks 3-4.
Previous weight: 89.10
Current weight: 88.00
Difference = -1.10 kgs

I had a massive blow out in Wellington and I loved it. I had beer, burgers and Korean food. I had a wonderful time with wonderful people and it was good having the physiological release valve because clean eating can get boring. Chocolate is delicious, beer is amazing and ice cream makes me inner fat child dance with glee but we all know that too much of a good thing is bad. Moderation is the key and I think a lot of strict caloric dieters fail because they restrict themselves to 700, 600 and even 500 calories a day. The downfall of restricting your caloric intake to a low number is that your body suddenly realizes that you need to store food as fat whenever you get a meal inside you that isn’t dust, dirt and small thoughts. And when you are told you can’t have something for long enough, sooner or later that dam is going to burst and you will gorge like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. But you don’t realize that your metabolism slows down and your body enters ‘starvation mode’ in which you will turn everything to fat, suppress muscle development and feel nasty. Also your thyroid’s conversion rate of T4 to T3 gets messed up and you will most likely put on more weight then before. Cheat days (and binge eating) will help reset your metabolism and get it back to a healthy, roaring inferno rather than a piss weak Mt Tongariro explosion.

For those interested in the science of thyroid conversion here it is. If not, skip the following paragraph: Thyroid cells combine iodine and the amino acid tyrosine to make tyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). T3 and T4 are then released into the blood stream and transported throughout the body where they control metabolism (conversion of oxygen and calories into energy). Ever cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism. The normal thyroid glad produces about 80% T4 and about 20% T3, however, T3 posses about four times the hormone ‘strength’ as T4.

So, do I feel bad that over 2 weeks I only lost 1.1kgs? No, because once you get off the path and know how it feels to get lost, you have a new appreciation about being on the path and moving forward. I ate and drank and now I feel better about eating clean and drinking clean. Be naughty once in a while and reward yourself for good efforts. It makes the journey that much better (and sweeter).

Work outs for Week 3 were the same as previous but Week 4 has seen a move from a 16kg Kettlebell to a 20kg Kettlebell. Reps will start out at 2.5 and build up another .5 every week (in the same way the swings have increased per week). Once I have gotten to 10 mins of swings 3 times a week, the week after I’ll move to a heavier weight and start again at 5, moving up 1 rep every week. Since the weight has changed, I am expecting fat loss to decrease and muscle mass increase (I’ll also add protein shakes into the diet after a workout) so I predict the scales to be up and down over the coming weeks. But even though it says I have only lost 1.1 in 2 weeks, I feel my body fat percentage has decreased and this was sadly seen last night after my shower. Normally as a chunky man, the body fat around my tummy, coupled with a bad snails trail, meant I could push the sides of my stomach in towards my belly button and make it look like a hairy bum. But now, the bum is getting smaller and smaller. Once it was a glorious Kim Kardashian booty but now sadly it is turning into something similar to the backside of Calista Flockhart. I’ll miss those early morning giggles. Sorry that this has taken a while to get up but I have been rather busy with work and other projects.

Keep you posted!