I try but I end up staring at things I cant afford on SNA an then it's bloody 10 pm or something!!

 

Sigh.

I started drinking sparkling mineral water with wine a few years back (as in a glass of water and a glass of red wine).  Regular wine buddies were 'huh??'.  Now its what we all do.  Stick with it mate - habits form.

I have been doing that too. It just breaks up the routine and if you are drinking water then you are less inclined to over imbibe on alcohol. Just common sense really

I have been doing that too. It just breaks up the routine and if you are drinking water then you are less inclined to over imbibe on alcohol. Just common sense really

 

its also a great idea as alcohol dehydrates you big time...mainly why have hangover when get up after a big night. drinking equal quantities of water is a great idea and will pretty much ensure no heavy head and dehydration from the alcohol

Gotta say, good on you guys with the alcohol. I've noticed I'm drinking more on weekends these days. Mostly the vino. Not a good habit to cultivate. Weekends are a bit of an excuse to relax and grab a bottle.

Can 't call on weight loss as a motivation. Already dealt with that last year and sugar was virtually eliminated the year before that ( apart from the vino). By my mid 40s I had got to 95 kgs before I decided it was too high despite being over 6 ft. I'm now 82kgs with no additional exercise, although I always liked a decent excercise focused walk of about 3 kms a day ( it didn't stop weight gain).To be honest, the weight loss was easy and I have terrible willpower.

Apart from dining out I just deleted rice, pasta and potatoes from my evening meal. Adults don't need the amount of carbs that we habitually eat. Replaced it with eggplant, pumpkin and carrots, which I like anyway. Fat don't make ya fat so I switched back to full cream milk and butter, but just used a little moderation. I'm now heathy weight, but not particularly fit really.

I like the idea of this water rowing thing mentioned earlier. I think I might use improved fitness as my motivation to cut right back on my weekend "relaxation"

You have inspired me. Thanks guys.

Edited March 2, 201511 yr by Briz Vegas

If you really want to get into indoor rowing I'd highly recommend a concept 2 rower - expensive but well worth the investment

@@Briz Vegas if you find weight loss easy, you may require this product-

http://www.combantrin.com.au/

I just lost 5kg in Feb. Need to reset my goals it was coming off so easy.

Jake. Combantrin.

:-). Jake, chopping off that arm was cheating, you cant do that every month.

Everyone is different. ...and they ain't worms, they are my little helpers. I also had help at work in that other oridinary people were doing it ( because of doctors warnings admittedly ) That 5 2 diet thing was too hard but simple substitution was easy.

I've tried to be helpful to friends that are at the gym regularly but are going backwards with weight. Thing is they will not consider dropping all the white stuff, even for one meal a day. I'm a bit of a bastard because i think " you are not even trying " but then again they are at the gym and i am not. A new toy like the rower may help.

I bet i will find reducing my alcohol consumption harder. Whats cheese without the wine.

Whats cheese without the wine.

 

Cheese.

All depends on intensity Al. Keep within "aerobic" intensity and your body can supply fat as fuel to supplement the energy you have eaten. I know from experience of doing long rides in the mountains I need to eat something small once an hour and drink 1 bidon of water/electrolyes or risk bonking, it's happened to me and it's not nice, you can be cruising along feeling fine and then bang, 5 minutes later you are doing 7-8kph up a gentle climb in struggle town.

 

Absolutely depends on intensity. 

 

I did a marathon kayaking race (nearly 10 years ago when I was much fitter and 15kg lighter) ... 42km along the Fitzroy (flat still fresh water, no run in the river, barrage was closed) ... a lady who was going to world champs that year came up and wanted a good training run when I had been studying full time and slacked off on the training for the few months prior. Anyway, we set off doing ~5min leads each - I looked at my HR monitor afterward and you could see the HR go from high 170s to high 160s when leading or drafting/wash riding. I didn't feel like the intensity was too high but didn't look at my HR while racing, really should have taken a peak at it though in hindsight. After 2hr 45min I pulled out to go for a lead and just had nothing at all and started falling back. Still had 8km to go. Slowest 8km of my life. Was totally wrecked for a day and a bit after that.

 

 

First weekend without grog wasn't easy. Pretty keen to drop some of this weight and fix my back issues up and get that kayak back on the water again soon!

Everyone is different. .. friends that are at the gym regularly but are going backwards with weight. I'm a bit of a bastard because i think " you are not even trying " but then again they are at the gym and i am not. A new toy like the rower may help.

I bet i will find reducing my alcohol consumption harder.

 

Fact is that the motivations and tenacities inherent in those motivations vary from person to person. My experience is that until that one particular frame of mind arrives no amount of logical argument or acknowledgement of the facts will get me going down that particular path. Once I'm on it though it takes a lot to make me deviate from it, a steely will takes over that cannot be denied. History shows me that long term it does eventually weaken over time, fed mostly by boredom with the diet, which is again driven by my personality, I tend to create a comfortable rut that, for me at least, is easily lived with until one day down the track I'm over the the lack of variety and then the rot sets in.

 

Learn from my mistakes here people.

90.9kgs this morning. So basically no change. I readily admit to having more naughty meals and snacks this week than I normally would so not all together unexpected.

 

I know feel like the drinking habit has been largely broken, to the point it this thread reminding me, so from now on, I'll use this thread to talk about weight issues more than drinking, but still happy to offer encouragement to others.

@@JukKluk2 , I resemble that post.

Absolutely depends on intensity. 

 

I did a marathon kayaking race (nearly 10 years ago when I was much fitter and 15kg lighter) ... 42km along the Fitzroy (flat still fresh water, no run in the river, barrage was closed) ... a lady who was going to world champs that year came up and wanted a good training run when I had been studying full time and slacked off on the training for the few months prior. Anyway, we set off doing ~5min leads each - I looked at my HR monitor afterward and you could see the HR go from high 170s to high 160s when leading or drafting/wash riding. I didn't feel like the intensity was too high but didn't look at my HR while racing, really should have taken a peak at it though in hindsight. After 2hr 45min I pulled out to go for a lead and just had nothing at all and started falling back. Still had 8km to go. Slowest 8km of my life. Was totally wrecked for a day and a bit after that.

 

 

Funny the way different sports use different terms for basically the same thing. What you call a lead, in cycling is called a turn in Oz and a pull in Europe :ph34r: as you are pulling the peloton along. What happened to you we call bonking or a hunger flat (I didn't make up the terms) and I can only assume it's what runners call hitting the wall... Cadel Evans would of won the Giro Italia in his first year of road cycling if not for bonking on the penultimate stage, he was wearing the leaders jersey and lost about 20 minutes in time in the last 6kms because he didn't eat enough and tells of hallucinations and being totally incoherent at the finish line. 

Sometimes you don't need a finishing line to be hallucinating after you've been bonked.

Just back from the GF's, Tue night I get a lovely dinner made for me and this is the second 'Tue night dinner' we haven't had a drink. So, am on course for another 6-pack week. Looking forward to Sunday nights weigh in actually. Had a good STG walk the last two mornings instead of sleeping in like an old alco Monday morning. Will rest tomorrow morning and then STG (smash the gut) walks thu and fri morning.

Also, am out of the office tomorrow and fri. I tend to not get bored and eat when I am on the move for the day.

Myfitnesspal still being an excellent tool, thanks for that one guys.

How is the rest of the group going?

@@Jake
@@Pops110
@@shaky

@@Marc ?? Got the half pack of durries on top of the fridge yet?? Dirty feeelthy things.

Edited March 3, 201511 yr by Darren69

I usually wouldn't have any sports drink on a 105 minute ride but I was feeling a bit flat after a late night at the Foo'ies. I only have sports drinks when exercising anyway and I usually would have 1 plain water bidon and 1 with just electrolytes and alternate them.

 

I'd suggest Rob De Castella is dreaming, that would equate to about 3-400 calories for 3-4 hours running for mere mortals, just plain stupid. Yes you could do it but you would risk what cyclists refer to as bonking (hitting the wall) or worse still, muscle melt, the longer the event, the higher the risk if you don't keep fluids and glucose up. A friend had muscle melt last year on a big mountainous ride because he didn't eat enough. You can die from it. Basically your body starts eating itself, using muscle tissue as an energy source once your glycogen stores have run out. Doesn't matter if you are carrying excess weight as I understand it as the body won't use fat stores once your effort is above a certain point.

And then there a folk who do this:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/91710-limits-of-the-body/

I ain't one of them.

Going great guns @@Darren69. Good work. Bet you're feeling better for it already.

As for me, I sort of have been hoping to be the quiet achiever here. Seems I've been very busy the last week so really limited time to myself. No visits to the local shop afterwork for food stuffs (this shop also has the cheapest booze east of the CBD) has reduced some of the temptation and purchase opportunities. No detours to Dans either has helped too. But I still have that small selection of whisky that may have had one visit in the last week. :-( Not too bad though. I've got my birthday coming up in the next few weeks so the missus is on me to get out and celebrate. That one might be interesting. But we'll see.

As far as the fad diet thing (which I guess goes hand in hand here as part of a life changing, and better habit forming, exercise) I reckon I am visibly thinner. Haven't weighed myself for some time but know that last time I did I'd lost 7kg. That was probably over 4-5 weeks. Might get on the scales in the next few days and see where I'm at.

Yes and Matt also has stayed off the grog and staying off, you guys have helped immeasurably even though you may not know it.

Take care.

Regards. 

Well done all, Keep going.

Matt/Timbo, fantastic news.

 

As you know now, I am not 'off the grog' but I find I feel great through the week and enjoy the 6-pack of whatever rocket fuel from Dans over the weekend a lot more than I used to enjoy a whole carton. Can also buy big $$ grog yet it is still cheaper than the whole carton so will be trying a lot of beers that maybe I wouldn't have before.

 

But, again, getting that exercise in on Monday morning when I would have been feeling crap is a good thing.

 

Am also handling pressure/stress at work a lot better now as well.

 

Reading your posts and others like it helps me to keep the momentum very much. Thanks lads.

I find it pretty easy to be off the booze. Once I make the decision then it's just like flicking a light switch. So not a drop for me since signing up here. I have also started fasting 1 day a week. I tried two days running but I completely ran out of energy on the 2nd day and had many family duties so had to eat something.

Still, 5.2kg lost in Feb is great. Admittedly I started the fasting before the alcohol abstinence so had a head start on you guys.

I intend to lose another 5 and get down to 82! Guess I won't be drinking till then.

@@Jake , knocking off the evening meal down to hardly anything may do you a lot better than fasting for day/s. Have a good breakfast morning tea and lunch though   keep up the energy.

I hate breakfast.