Ok im not the most tidy guy in the world but this demonstrates that I do drink my 2L of water a day. Its sparkling water but it is just water. Adding your tea, coffee, juice or whatever to your water intake does not count in my book. I usually carry about 30L in the car (which is my place of work) so I never run short. People do look at me a little funny buying 15-20 2L bottles of water at the supermarket but I dont mind.

So im really unmotivated to exercise atm due to the snow and general coldness of outside. Work hasnt got back into a routine either which doesnt help. but i still have a goal to achieve….

So im keeping the diet going and due to the lack of activity i have dropped the calories down even lower. I usually aim for between 1900-2100 Kcal per day when working out 6 times a week. One day a week i will eat whatever i want, usually adding up to 3000-4000 Kcal. I tend to go a bit overboard so im trying to control that this year.

The last 2 weeks i have been keeping the calories at between 1500-1900 Kcal and one free meal with beer so around 3500 Kcal one day. This is still giving me a slight drop in weight which is good. So when i add the activity back in its not starting from stratch. So atm Im generally eating:

2 protein shakes a day @ 383Kcal per shake, one bit of meat (Chicken breast or pork chop) around 300-350Kcal and as much veg as i can fit on my plate, about 300Kcal, gravy 100Kcal. As always i am trying to drink 2L of water a day and that is just water. Tea and coffee make up around 100Kcal per day if im at home or in the office.

The bad thing is i am getting weaker and more unfit by the day. It is a downward spiral as the more unfit i get the more unmotivated i become.

I am hoping once the temperatures increase so will my motivation. Now i have the cross trainer in the house i will use that for 10-15 mins at the time to slowly get myself back in the game. Gona get a weights session in at the gym before my membership runs out this weekend.

So my goal was to hit 75kg i weight while maintaining muscle as best i could. I started January 2013 after a fat christmas at around 85kgs. I get the usual big drop in the first few week so that has got me down to 82.5kg now near the end of Jan 2013. But i will plateau unless i kick myself into gear and exercise 6 times a week; 3 x 30 min cardio and 3 x 1 hour weights sessions.

I will go into more examples of what im eating in another post. I go through phases of eating the same thing over and over untill i get bored.

As it is freezing outside and i dont have a gym membership anymore (well i have one week left but i am really unmotivated atm!) i have swiped this off ebay for £30 *see photo*.

Stuck in the living room atm as i have not built the gym roof yet. but once the roof is built this will be stationed outside.

I will do 5-10 mins on this before my weights as a warm up.

On cardio days when i do not want to go running outside i will use this. My normal cardio workout is on 20-30mins so i can put a program on or some music and be done in no time.

The biggest help on diet is a food log, it really does work.

Cass says that if she is writing it down on our shared spreadsheet she is less likely to cheat because other people can see it. Or she’d have to lie and that’s just plain wrong! 🙂

I like it even if no one can see coz i still feel im less likely to cheat as i feel guilty even if no one else knows, sad isnt it.

But aside from that the calorie counting and logging the data is a must. I have tried to just keep a note of the food and the calories over a 12 week program and it was great. I could see the calories deficit racking up and just thinking how much fat loss that is was really satisfying.  I could also work out how much i could treat myself with and still keep a good calorie deficit. Some times you really do need more and if you don’t bend a little you will fall off the wagon, the next thing you know you’ve driven a round trip via KFC, BK & Mcdonalds and you’re passed out on the sofa in major food coma covered in greasy wrappers and ketchup. Not that iv done that or anything 😉

Anyhoo, after that food log i extended it and tried to record all the fat, carbs, protein and alcohol in grams. This was no small task. I did it for a while, it helped that i generally eat the same thing every day. but it was too much work in the end and i did not see any benefit. If i had done more research and knew how many grams i was aiming for it might be useful, but the amount of time needed to look everything up meant it was easy to get lost and quit.

I build spreadsheets for the food log and that was fine. But now i have a fitbit (Thanks Bro) and that records your activity and then i enter my food into the website profile and its all in one place. (I will write a separate post about the fitbit in technology) Half the time i can find my food in the company’s list and half i have to add myself. I dont mind if the description is slightly wrong as long as the calories are right.

So, if you dont keep a log, you will find it very difficult to reach your goals as you will have no idea how many calories in and out, and thats whats its all about!

Over 2012 i knew there were going to be ups and downs on the fitness quest and using past experience i knew i could lose weight ok, but not keep it off.

In 2011 I started at 90kgs, got down to 82kg and by the end of the year was back up to 90 kgs. I did not want to repeat that again.

So in 2012 i aimed for under 80kg as my goal lowest weight but allowed myself half that gain back. This is always going to happen due to xmas, holidays and as i experienced; injuries causing me to lose focus. a 10kg loss and a 5kg gain over one year. That would give me a good starting point for 2013 so i can do the same again until i reach my overall goal of under 75kgs.

Once at this goal i will then have to relearn a lifestyle that maintains to a comfortable weight plus or minus 2kgs.

It is now Jan 2013, i am at 84kg. 1kg under my target so i see 2012 as an overall success.

This was only achieved by the combined efforts of my cardio, weights and diet plans. lose one of these three and i would either not lose weight (actually i should start using the word fat there instead of weight), not maintain muscle or i would just gain a load of fat as well as muscle.

I wanted an olympic setup at that is what i have used in the gym for the past few years. it is the most expensive but the best equipment.

I have got an Olympic barbell for about £60. This is 20kg on its own with 2 inch/5cm diameter ends for the weights.

Olympic barbell weights cost me £180 but i got a good deal off ebay (All 2inch/5cm holes). Some guy who had his own commercial gym was selling off some old weights. they were of random type (Some rubber, some tall, some solid, some not. But i managed to get 2 x 25ks, 4 x 15kg, 2 x 10kg, 8 x 5kg, 10 x 2.5kg, 10 x 1,25kg. The 2 x 25kg would have set me back £100 on their own.

As i got so many small weights i picked up two olympic dumbells for £50.

I also managed to get a basic bench with a plastic barbell and weights set up for £30 off ebay. this will be good for doing warm ups and special work out routines like BodyRock. I got Cass a BodyRock sandbag thing for xmas too which is a good weight tool.

The main bit of kit i need at home is the squat rack/power cage.

These can be very expensive. A full power cage could cost up to £500. Plus there is the problem of transport. The cheapest squat rack  i found new on ebay was £130 that could be delivered. it was only a basic rack but a good starter.

I was going to build a cage rack out of scaffolding as i had seen a number of them on youtube. all you need is the tubes and connectors and a way to cut or order them to the correct length. The design was going to be based on the instructions from Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength book. I recommend this book and the videos for weight lifting info.

I was all ready to go look for scaffolding when a rack came up on gumtree for £50. half a days drive round trip and £50 later i had it home. Again its a basic one but it will do for starters. see photo below.

OK, so i pay £500 a year for a gym. I go to the gym and use half a dozen bits of kit. i do not use the expensive things like the pool. Why cant i have this at home???

I travel the country during the week and live out of hotels that dont have gyms. with my gym membership i can go to any gym round the UK. So a home gym isnt gona help me out and about. but half my gym sessions are cardio and i can run outside for free. I will just have to modify my exercise routine.

For the weights sessions at the gym i have to queue for the barbell rack and constantly feel like i have to hurry coz there are so many people wanting to use them. Most of last year (2012) i went to the gym at 9pm to avoid the busy times. but this is annoying for me. If i can build a home gym i can work out at my leisure.

*see my work out blog for more info on my constantly updating fitness program*

So i want to invest a years gym money and see what i can build. My girlfriend will also donate a years membership so i have £1000 at my disposal. This will have to be used for the gym equipment, flooring and roof.

where to begin……..