I took my measurements this morning ready!  Eek

So - I'm starting at 13 stone 13lbs

Wrist - 17cm - forearm 27cm - bicep 34.5cm

Above bust - 93cm - bust 105cm - under bust 93cm

Waist - 93cm - fattest belly 97cm - across belly button 101cm

Fattest bottom 108cm - under bottom 100cm

Seated fattest thigh 63cm - mid thigh 54cm - fattest calf 39cm - ankle 23cm - above knee 43.5cm

I'm going to use the rules for Precision Nutrition but also calorie count/carb count.

I'm going to use 1250-1500 calories per day and 50-100g carbs per day.

I LOVE the food rules for precision nutrition - simple but effective:

So here are the 10 rules:

 1. Eat every 2-3 hours.

Are you doing this – no matter what? Now, you don’t need to eat a full meal
every 2-3 hours but you do need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that conform to the
other rules below.

 
2. Eat complete, lean protein each time you eat.

Are you eating something that was an animal or comes from an animal – every
time you feed yourself? If not, make the change. Note: If you’re a vegetarian, this
rule still applies – you need complete protein and need to find non-animal
sources.

 
3. Eat vegetables every time you eat.

That’s right, in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some
vegetables every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right?). You can toss in a piece of
fruit here and there as well. But don’t skip the veggies.

 
4. Eat carbs only when you deserve to.


Well, not ALL carbs – eat fruits and veggies whenever you want. And if want to
eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or a vegetable (this includes things like
simple sugars, rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, etc), you can – but you’ll need to save
it until after you’ve exercised. Yes, these often heavily processed grains are
dietary staples in North America, but heart disease, diabetes and cancer are
medical staples – and there’s a relationship between the two! To stop heading
down the heart disease highway, reward yourself for a good workout with a
good carbohydrate meal right after (your body best tolerates these carbohydrates
after exercise). For the rest of the day, eat your lean protein and a delicious
selection of fruits and veggies.

 
5. Learn to love healthy fats.

There are 3 types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated.
Forget about that old “eating fat makes you fat” maxim. Eating all three kinds of
fat in a healthy balance (about equal parts of each) can dramatically improve
your health, and even help you lose fat. Your saturated fat should come from
your animal products and you can even toss in some butter or coconut oil for
cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and
olive oil. And your polyunsaturated fat should from flaxseed oil, fish oil, and
mixed nuts.

6. Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice).

In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing beverages.
Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks, and sodas – these are all to be removed from your
daily fare. Your best choices are water and green tea.

7. Focus on whole foods.

Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There are a few
times where supplement drinks and shakes are useful. But most of the time,
you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods.

8. Have 10% foods.

I know you cringed at a few of the rules above. But here’s the thing: 100%
nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress. The difference, in
results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition program and 100% adherence
is negligible. So you can allow yourself “10% foods” – foods that break rules, but
which you’ll allow yourself to eat (or drink, if it’s a beverage) 10% of the time.
Just make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really
means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week –
that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 is about 4. Therefore you’re allowed to “break the
rules” on about 4 meals each week.


9. Develop food preparation strategies.

The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow the 8 rules
above consistently. And this is where preparation comes in. You might know
what to eat, but if isn’t available, you’ll blow it when it’s time for a meal.

10. Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.

Let’s face it, when you’re busy during the week, you’re not going to be spending
a ton of time whipping up gourmet meals. During these times you’re going to
need a set of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out.
However, once every day or a few times a week, you need to eat something
different, something unique and tasty to stave off boredom and stagnation.

Useful article on Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates (carbs): Carbs are the first of the two "energy" nutrients. Each gram of carbs provide 4 calories. The main function of carbs in the body is to provide a quick source of fuel for physical and mental work. It can be stored in any of the three main storage units of the body: in the muscle and liver as glycogen but also as body fat.

Carbs are the body's preferred energy source under most circumstances, so if sufficient amounts of carbs are present in the diet, it's hard to "force" the body to use fat for fuel. In other words, if you eat a lot of carbs, your blubber will likely stay right where it is.

Carbs also cause the greatest insulin spike of all three main macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat). In fact, the elevation of blood sugar levels (carbs are sugar) is the main stimulus for insulin release. This is both a pro and a con: insulin, you recall, can help drive protein and carbs into the muscle (a Good Thing) but it can also stimulate fat storage (a Bad Thing). Furthermore, as long as insulin levels are elevated, it's next to impossible under normal circumstances to stimulate the release of fatty acids from the fat stores. This means that as long as insulin levels are high, fat loss is almost impossible. Remember also that when insulin levels are elevated it puts your body into "storage" mode.

So under certain circumstances elevated insulin is a good thing (when you need to shuttle in nutrients to your muscles ASAP) but most of the time it's not. The only two times you should have a lot of carbs (and thus spike insulin) are at breakfast, and right after a workout.

After you wake up, the breakfast insulin spike will help halt the catabolic (muscle wasting) state brought on by eight or more hours of fasting ("breakfast," of course, means "breaking the fast"). After a workout, the insulin spike will rapidly deliver the nutrients to the muscle. This will initiate the recovery and building process immediately, while countering the actions of cortisol. Keep in mind, however, that the amount of carbs you should have at these times will vary greatly depending on your goal and degree of leanness.

Any other time is not a good time to consume a significant amount of carbs, as the insulin elevation will have a negative impact on body composition. Your insulin level remains elevated for up to 4 or 5 hours after a carb-rich meal, which can bring fat loss to a standstill for this period of time. In other words, a high sugar meal will not only directly add fat to your body, it will also prevent fat use effectively, turning you into a fat storing machine.

Although carbs are your body's preferred fuel source, carbohydrates aren't essential the way many amino acids and fatty acids are essential. This means that you could function properly even on a diet of zerocarbs: the body would adapt to other fuel sources and you'd do just fine.

Carbohydrates come in many varieties. Without going into too much detail, every carbohydrate from pure sugar to whole wheat is turned into glucose in the body. The main difference is the speed at which it's turned into glucose. The faster it turns into glucose, the greater the insulin spike will be (because more glucose will enter the blood stream at once). The speed at which a carbohydrate (or any food, for that matter) elevates blood sugar is measured by the glycemic index (GI). Every food is given a specific GI number, and the higher the number is, the faster it elevates blood sugar levels. While not always perfectly accurate, it does give us a clue as to how much a food will affect insulin production.

But no need to be super scientific about it. If your goal is body composition in general, the following rule applies:

Must-have carb sources: green veggies (broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, celery, asparagus, etc.)

Can-have carb sources: other veggies (except potatoes), berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.)

Occasional carb sources: Other fruits

Rare carb sources: brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, cream of wheat, potatoes, yams

Should-avoid carb sources: white bread, white pasta, oatmeal

Must-avoid carb source: pastries, cookies, candy and any other junk sugary food

Hello New Year!

I've changed my blog to be ala military style as I'll be kicking off the New Year in true Maddy style with a bootcamp type fitness challenge.

I'm starting on Sunday = just enough time to finish off any crap food I have in the house, kick off the remainder of this nasty cold and cough bug I've had all over Christmas (thanks for that whoever gave it me) and to plan, plan and plan.  You all know how I like to plan (probably better than I like to do ~ one of my problems I know)

So I need to combine:-

healthy eating with resistance training with HIIT

Doesn't sound like fun but then the results should make it worthwhile.  Oh Joy!

I'll be back tomorrow with my Comeback Plan for 2008!

In the meantime........ did I finish that trifle?

To come and visit my temporary new home

From now until Christmas - new leaf - new plan - here:-

http://19weekstoanewme.blogspot.com/

I had a mixed day yesterday.

I walked for 90 minutes before breakfast - walked another half an hour after

Food:-  large salad with 3 tablespoons vinegar; chicken "wrapped" in lettuce; another large salad dressed with a spoonful of olive oil and some more vinegar; 2 packets of hula hoop crisps and a glass of beer (I know, I know); 3 scoops chocolate protein powder; frozen berries and water with psyllium.

So I got in my protein almost - 80g - my carbs were at 42g - and fibre 17g

Could do better - calories 1,114 but I burned quite a few too!

Day 2 and I'm down 2lbs and AF is here!  Can't be bad.

I did eat too many carbs yesterday with some wholegrain bread, wholegrain pasta and some potato crisps, tut tut!  But whenever I am due for AF I have a huge appetite.

I always worked really hard and burned a huge amount of calories yesterday - a long walk before breakfast and hours spent painting and decorating my stairs - and this is supposed to be my fortnight off work, lol!  I ache everywhere below the waist today - if it's not period pains it's from all the activity yesterday.

Still I burned a lot of calories and jumpstarted my aim to lose 10lbs.  At this rate I'll be losing it a lot quicker than I thought

Okay - so I stopped dieting for a few months and what happens?  AF goes missing.  this is the 3rd month with no sign.  I should realise by now it's not just a weight issue *sigh* it's my life!

I have felt like I have been due for AF for three weeks now and it is three weeks overdue.  I have to pull out all the stops to get her visiting or I'm going to go mad with continued PMS.

So, my calorie count may suffer as a result but I'm going to crank up the fats for a few days - hopefully it'll work.

I'm still aiming for another 10lb loss though - I'm aiming for 10lbs down in the next 6 weeks.

Okay.  So I've decided to reset all my counters and start a new "round" - aiming to lose another 10lbs.

I have more than 10lbs to lose but I think I need to attack it in chunks

So 10lbs = 35,000 calories.  So that's new my deficit goal.  I'll weigh in when I get there and see if the reality matches the science

I've been missing in action again. 

I have had worries over my son's health this year - it turned out to be nothing (thank GOD not the C word) and since then I've taken in another teenager who had been having problems at home.

I am awful at keeping a diet and exercise regime going during times of stress and I've had a lot of those lately - including problems at work!

But this is my life.  PCOS is a part of my life and whether I shelve it for a bit or sideline it for a while it isn't going to magically disappear.  I have regained some weight so I need to get back in the saddle and address my PCOS issues again.

Ding Ding!  Round 4 (or 5, 6, 7 or even 107)