Ok, so I turn 60 on Friday and leaving the Saturday and Sunday to recover from what will probably be a messy occasion brings us nicely to Monday the 9th, exactly one calendar month since the DNF in the Trek13.
So beginning at 00.01on the 9th I shall be undertaking a personal endeavour. The premise is quite simple, burn 6,000 calories a day for 10 weeks whilst only consuming the calories that cover my Basal Metabolic Rate.
The BMR calorie rate will be recalculated each week as it is dependent upon my body weight.
I shall use the same BMR calculator, the same Fitness Pal app and the same Fit Bit Versa to calculate, calories required to fuel, calories consumed and calories burned. That way even if there are inaccuracies the results and figures will be consistent.
I usually burn about 3,200 calories a day just doing nothing so whilst the figures may look daunting I think it will equate to about 4 or 5 hours a day of activity. Obviously as I lose any weight, the need to do more increases as the calories burned doing nothing decreases. Although I have options such as wearing a weighted vest whilst performing activities, increasing the intensity or simply exercising for longer.
What am I hoping for? That's a good question, there are the obvious benefits to health by increased energy expenditure through both improved cardio vascular and strength performance. The accompanying weight loss can only be good for the heart, lungs and joints, whilst increased endurance is always a positive.
The biggest thing though I feel will be the creation of good habits, especially the discipline required to stay with a fairly strict regimen and not allowing myself to take an easy option when one appears. This applies particularly to exercise and diet, the two things where I find I am disordered.
The exercise will be a mixture of just moving more (walk don't drive), gym work, (weights, cardio and functional), swimming, hiking and spinning/stationary bike. It will also allow me to get back to the Route 66 challenge which will be interesting as I'm about 2 and a half months behind on that.
The diet will be based solely on calorie intake, whether they be fluids or solids. There will be nothing disallowed, but at least 50% of the carb, fats and protein split, will be protein, with a minimum of 175g per day across feedings. The only rule is NO food after 10pm although a protein shake is allowed if a late night or early morning gym session has been done
That aside, diet wise I'm going to be flexible. I'm quite prepared to switch across eating habits if I feel that that's what my body wants. So 16/8, 14/10, Keto, Paleo etc.
Finally, the 10 weeks brings me to Dec 18th. Yes just one week short of Christmas and the hope is that if I enter silly season with my diet sorted, exercise going well and a few kilos lighter, then I will feel less inclined to emerge the other side of New Year with my customary stone plus weight gain.
So there it is, I shall update on here because I need to be accountable and you guys keep me honest, it keeps forum traffic moving and there's bound to be a few dramas to recount.
Right then, speak in a week when the first days info will be posted for your amusement.
As usual, live, love, laugh. Stay safe, stay sane.
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Comments
Yikes. VBOL, I'm sure you can do it. Be careful though.
@TheEdge949
I know this is the wrong thread but I was not sure where else I could put it. I thought this might interest you, given your expertise & experience in this area.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66923084
In my experience many door supervisors are not adequately prepared for their roles, are woefully undertrained, lack the ability to perform at the sharp end and are a liability to themselves, the public and their collegues.
In the industry we called them "Shirt fillers", people simply there to fulfil the staffing requirements.
Venues don't care, they are all for reducing costs and as long as the minimum staff levels are met and they comply with the legal and insurance requirements that's all they are bothered about.
Poor wages, bad employers, misconceptions about the job and the actual reality of confrontation and conflict, mean that there is always a shortfall in numbers. Training organisations are taking advantage to make a quick profit especially as many of the places on these courses are funded by DWP or Jobcentre grants.
The SIA licensing has been successful in removing almost all of the predators and violence for kicks types from the industry, unfortunately it's also introduced unrealistic expectations, attitudes and woeful training.
Starting weight 23 stone 6 pounds. Blooming heck I've let myself go since the Trek13. Anyway on with the numbers
Week 1 BMR fueling requirements 2,360 Kcals per day. That is the figure required to lose 1 pound a week if I did no exercise at all.
Day 1 09/10/23
Kcals consumed 2033
Kcals burned 4,692
Calorie deficit 2659
Straight from the gate, it's apparent just how high the target of burning 6,000Kcals a day is going to be. spoke to my PT at the gym who reckons if I hit it 6 times during the 10 weeks that will be very good.
Ok, so a good deficit to start with, 2 gym sessions and more active than usual 12,000 steps and nearly 6 miles and a max heart rate today of 141.
Speak tomorrow.
GL with this Mark.
Maybe adjust that daily burn target down to 5,000Kcals? Otherwise, you are going to miss it most days, & that may lead to disenchantment. Targets NEED to be stiff, 100% agree, but realistic too.
PS - who wants to guess what date Mark will hit 20 stone? (Currently 23st 6lbs).
@Tikay10
PS - who wants to guess what date Mark will hit 20 stone? (Currently 23st 6lbs).
Sounds like a forum comp to me ?
Kcals Consumed 1,819
Kcals Burned 4,425
Kcals Deficit 2,606
Another decent deficit there although consuming food was quite difficult. I wasn't particularly hungry and ate more to keep the body fueled than because I was hungry.
Exercise wise, I have noticed that the best minutes/Kcals burned is the spin bike where 45 minutes returns a 600 Cal usage, so I'm hoping that if I can extend that to an hour at a time over 2 sessions then that's another 400 kcals found.
Running would burn more, but at the moment neither knees or back will allow that although some treadmill walks may replicate similar results.
I certainly think that the upper 5 thousands are achievable once the body has gotten used to the uptick in energy expenditure.
Steps today were 10,255 with 5.1 miles and max HR on the bike of 144
Day 3 has 3 sessions planned so it's looking good.
Ok speak tomorrow.
Kcals consumed 2,159
Kcals burned 4,519
Calorie Deficit 2,360
Steps 11,217 with 5.32 miles and max HR at 142
This is harder than you might think. Am I off my head ? Probably. Am I going to ease up ? Ha ha, clearly you don't know me.
See you tomorrow.
P.S. Received a postcard from the Route 66 challenge as I'm using this to complete that.
Apparently I'm in Tulsa.
Welcome to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the very birthplace of Route 66 and home of the one and only Route 66 Village. It takes its name from the name for 'old town' - Tallasi - in the language of the Lochapoka and Creek tribes who officially settled here in 1836 and were part of the so-called 'Five Civilised Tribes'. Descendants of the Mississippian culture societies were largely farming and agricultural communities. They appropriated many aspects of the colonising and displacing pioneers - although the absorption wasn't always peaceful or welcome.
Oklahoma still wasn't a state by the time of the American Civil War, but that didn't stop Tulsa from seeing its fair share of skirmishes and, later on, some of the more notorious outlaws of the Wild West, not least the Wild Bunch, and the Dalton Gang. In the 20th century, oil protected Tulsa from the worst of the Great Depression. The city's Greenwood neighbourhood was the home of what was termed 'Black Wall Street' - a highly successful and wealthy black community. Horrifying race riots - sparked by an alleged assault on a white 17-year-old girl - in 1921 led to the shameful massacre of hundreds of black residents; the neighbourhood was razed to the ground in the space of just a few hours. Those who survived and chose to stay rebuilt Greenwood, and it thrived. The massacre was rarely mentioned in history books or classrooms, and not in the press.
When Cyrus Avery, a local businessman, had the idea for a Chicago to Los Angeles road in 1925, little did he know that Route 66 would become world-famous. The Route 66 Village in Tulsa is a must-see transportation museum, complete with rail cars and other memorabilia from the town's early days.
Kcals Consumed 1,228 - TOO LITTLE
Kcals Burned 4,038
Calorie Deficit 2,810
A few notes on the numbers.
Firstly, the Cals consumed were crazy low. In fact MyFitnessPal wont let you record less than 1,200 as it refuses to support very low calorie diets. Consequently I am breaking my no food after 10pm rule by munching down a 133Kcal bag of crisps at 11.40pm just to get the total to a recordable level, and yes they were blooming great..
The lack of Calories wasn't as a result of me not eating, just not eating enough and that led to the low number of calories burned. I did everything as usual, but there just wasn't anything in the tank when it came to the hard grind. Calorie expenditure was just not happening and that was probably a result of low fueling and general tiredness.
That aside I am knackered at the minute. Sleep which normally comes easy to me, is disturbed and restless and I feel drained so I might take my food intake to the limit tomorrow and change the training to strength and resistance.
So Friday, day 5, may well see a smaller deficit than usual, it all depends on how I feel. I have a personal trainer session at 10.30 so I'll see what she advises.
See you tomorrow.
Been a solid start though Mark, & the start is always the hardest part imo.
Before the figures, let's see what my P.T. had to say.
Well, one could call it constructive but that would just be sugar coating a grade 1 bo11ocking of the highest order. She used words like unnecessary, unrealistic, unsustainable, unprepared, unplanned and unwise. Pretty much the entire un dictionary I thought.
What I heard was "Mark, you are a moron of the highest order and there are easier ways to kill yourself".
She pointed out that without a more considered approach to the whole thing I was on a course to physically break down at best or bring about some serious dietry issues causing physiological issues at worst and that I was like a car speeding headlong into thick fog. At some point there's going to be a huge crash with massive consequences.
So the advice is as follows.
keep the daily expenditure to between 4,200 and 5,000 max
Keep the consumption at between 1,850 and BMR max
Have 1 recovery day every 5th day where I consume all my BMR calories and expend no more than 4,000 max
So Fridays recovery day looked like this.
Kcals Consumed 2,283
Kcals Burned 3,623
Calorie Deficit 1,339.
It was actually good to get some perspective on what I'm doing as I often get tunnel vision when it comes to stuff like this. It's also why I have Lizzie as my P.T.. She brings out the best in me during our sessions but she's not afraid of calling it how it is unlike, many other P.Ts who just massage clients egos.
Ok, I'm otta here, things to do, people to see.
See ya tomorrow.
Seems to me you have a top class P.T.
Kcals burned 4,175
Kcals Consumed 2,187
Calorie Deficit 1,988
Ate a lot, moved a bit, on to the next one.
Speak Tomorrow with the full week totals.
2 of the clients went to the Times newspaper (without my knowledge) and the Paper did a big feature on it. They quoted large parts of my letters without referring to me at all in the article, which did not bother me in the slightest.
The only slightly annoying thing is they did not quote my favourite line in the correspondence:-
"There appears to be no Methodist in your madness"
Day 7 15/10/23
Kcals Burned 4,092
Kcals Consumed 2,215
Calorie Deficit 1,877
So after 1 week the totals are as follows,-
Kcals Burned 29,564
Kcals Consumed 13,925
Calorie Deficit 15,639
Starting weight 23st 06lb
Current weight 22st 13lb
Weekly total -7lb
Running total - 7lb
New BMR Calories for week 2 = 2,195.
So there we are, half a stone gone in 7 days. Now let's be honest that's going to be pretty unsustainable but now I have a good understanding of how to better fuel my body for the coming week.
Also other things to note are that the "trial and error" approach to week 1's effort will give way to a more considered set of parameters with more thought given to training and eating.
So into week 2 we go and the max Calories I can consume on a daily basis has reduced and the new weight means I will have to work slightly harder for that energy expenditure. At no point during the whole thing does this get easier, but if it did it wouldn't be a challenge would it ?.
Ok, that's it I'm outta here.
Speak tomorrow.
7lbs is an excellent start, well done.