Calso Cooks from the Sustainable Larder: April 2012

The First week of my new fitness regime is over and I can honestly say I am feeling great. Training has been tough but thoroughly enjoyable. I can feel it working already and along with eating healthily I have more energy and am sleeping like a baby!

So I weighed in this morning and am weighing 2.7KG less than I did 8 days ago, that's nearing half a stone so I am well pleased with that. Now I do know that the first bit is easiest to shift as its mostly water retention but at least I'm on the right path.

I am still working on and experimenting with new healthy recipes which will be along soon.. lots of grilling, steaming... salads, stir fries, pasta dishes etc along with protein packed meals and snacks for recovery for those of you that exercise. So stay tuned...

It's A New Dawn, It's A new Day, It's A new Life For Me... And I'm Feeling Good!

For just over a year now I have been food blogging, and while it has been a fantastic experience and wonderful to be experimenting with a world of ingredients, it hasn't been kind to the waist line. Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of my recipes are healthy and everything in moderation and all that... but when you are thinking, living and breathing food 24/7 its gonna catch up with you.

So my new venture is simple... continue food blogging, cooking and experimenting but to also get fit... get into the shape of my life. With a strict but manageable workout routine which I have devised for myself and a host of new recipes coming your way... recipes that will be great for weight loss, to deter hunger pangs and for recovery from training. 'Simple he says... ha!'

Now I have dabbled with running on and off for 6 years now, completed 1 marathon and 3 half marathons along with 10k runs here and there, but it has all come in waves, 5 months here 3 months there etc. When I'm training I feel great, bursting with energy and ready to take on the world but then laziness kicks in, I complete a goal and I become complacent and lazy, lazy and some more lazy!

When I ran my own Plastering business I could eat anything I wanted and my 32 inch waist never faltered, now that was a mix of being in my twenties and burning about 3000 calories a day along with playing football 2 nights a week and again at the weekend. But unfortunately the plastering come to an abrupt end and so did my twenties so my 32 inch waist 'relaxed' a bit, then another bit and then some more.

Now I'm not in too bad of nick to be honest but when I'm running now I'm carrying an extra stone and a half more than I need to, that's like carrying 9 and a half bags of sugar with me while out for a jog... I could certainly do without that. So that is one of the targets, cut my weight down from 14 stone (88.90KG) to a trim 12.5 stone (79.37). Is it possible?? Yes, anything is possible! There are 1 or 2 draw backs though... My Father God rest him leaving me his bad back in the will along with 11 years abuse, of said back, while plastering has left it that it can go into spasm at any given moment so some of my workouts are limited. Heavy lifting is out of the question along with sit-ups, dead lifts, weighted squats etc.. But I will carry on with what I know my limits are. I have my first 8 week plan made, them will work on a different one to start after.

Ok so the embarrassing vital statistics at the moment are as follows:

Height: 5'10

Weight: 14 stone (88.90kg)

Neck: 17 Inches

Chest: 44 Inches

Waist: 37 Inches

Target Statistics:

Height: 6'3 (I joke, I joke... of course it won't change!!)

Weight: 12.5 stone (79.37kg)

Neck: 16 Inches

Chest: 40-41 Inches

Waist: 33 Inches

My workout plan for the next 8 weeks to strip fat:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday

Week 1	Weights day 1	Interval 4 mile run	Weights day 2	Interval sprints 200m x 8	Weights day 3	REST	Steady run 6 mile
Week 2	Weights day 1	Interval sprints 200m x 8	Weights day 3	Interval 4 mile run	REST	Weights day 2	Slow run 7 mile
Week 3	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 200m x 8	Rest	Weights day 1	Interval 5 mile run	Weights day 2 and interval sprints 200m x 4	REST	Steady run 7 mile
Week 4	Weights day 1	Interval 5 mile run	REST	Weights day 2	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 200m x 10	REST	Slow run 8 mile
Week 5	Steady run 5 mile	Weights day 2	Interval run: half mile slow- half mile fast x 4	REST	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 800m x 4	Weights day 1	Steady run 8 mile
Week 6	Weights day 2	Interval sprints 200m x 10	Weights day 3	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 1 and interval sprints 200m x 8	REST	REST
Week 7	REST	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 2	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 3	Interval 4 mile run	Slow run 9 mile
Week 8	Weights day 1	Rest	Weights day 2 and interval sprints200m x 12	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 3	REST or slow run 2 mile	Slow run 10 mile

Weights Day 1: Back: Reverse fly's- 4 sets of 10 reps

Bent over 1 armed rows- 4 sets of 10 reps

Chest: Wide grip bench press- 4 sets of 20

Close grip bench press- 4 sets of 15

Fly's- 4 sets of 10

Lats: Pull ups 4 sets of 10

Punch bag workout- 4- 2 min rounds

Weights Day 2: Biceps: Wide grip barbell curls- 2 sets of 15

Close grip barbell curls- 2 sets of 15

Dumbell hammer curls- 3 sets of 30 (15 each arm alternation)

Legs: Body weight squats- 4 sets of 20

Body weight lunges- 4 sets of 20

Body weight calf raises- 4 sets of 20

Punch bag workout- 3- 3 min rounds

Weights day 3: Triceps: Body weight dips- 4 sets of 15

Skull crushers- 4 sets of 10

Kick backs- 4 sets of 12

Shoulders: Upright rows 4 sets of 15

Shrugs- 4 sets of 20

Kettle bell forward raises- 4 sets of 8 on each arm

Punch bag workout- 6- 1 min rounds.

So every week I will do a weigh in and measurement check and put it up for the anyone to see, this will help my motivation to keep on track... well that's the plan anyway!! And after the first 8 weeks I will put up my before and after pictures to show my progress.