zaza_gabor's Journal

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17 August 2020

Weigh-in: 269.0 lb

lost so far: 0 lb

still to go: 125.7 lb

Diet followed reasonably well

(2 comments) gaining 0.2 lb a week

24 May 2017

Hello all,

I have been absent here and elsewhere online for that matter, for a long time. Recording my calorie intake and the time spent burning calories was time-consuming and I have to admit I got fed up with it... While I was away from FS, I nonetheless kept on my exercise regimen: I run once every two days now and, although I haven't weighed myself for a long time, my physical appearance has changed... And I have been discovering other places to explore and enjoy on my runs.

I am not going to the gym and swimming pool anymore, as they would close the pool for long periods of times without ANY warning: I and others would turn up only to find a sign saying the swimming pool would be closed for a month or so, without any explanation or apologies. And during the summer months, the pool would be practically monopolized by kids and their parents: other adults would be pretty much barred from accessing it. At least, the gym itself was open so I used it but, I was more interested in swimming as well for the same price. That leisure centre was handy because it was a short walk away from home too: I would pop out and be straight back in and resume my work. Oh well, jogging is adequate for the time being but if I want to swim, I will have to go to the swimming pool in town.

I also started limiting my calorie intake to about 500 for one day in the week to see what it does. This is my second week and it is far too early to say but I do feel good sticking to fruits and vegs for a day. I still have to cook normal meals for my partner as I don't expect him to fast with me and it does make things kind of difficult as I feel tempted. I don't know if I will be able to stick to this in the long run but it goes give the body a rest from digesting more complex food that is higher in calories.

(3 comments)

19 April 2016

I have been running to the 'Stepping Stone' podcast by the NHS and, today was the first time I managed to stick to the various tempos throughout the session, without having to drag myself, completely exhausted, over the last 10 minutes. I shouldn't be surprised by progress: if you stick at something, you fatally improve, not matter how hard it actually feels initially. But it was another hurdle I thought I wouldn't overcome. I will just carry on running to the 'Stepping Stone' podcast a few more times before moving on to the others: I have the choice between 'Stamina' and 'Speed' now. I read online these podcasts are 'tough' but 'tough' isn't synonymous with 'insurmountable'... if there is something I've learnt on this journey, it's definitely to take things as they come without expectations or apprehension and to just carry on.

I am wondering sometimes if I am doing the right thing in sharing these triumphant moments. I normally keep things to myself and don't dwell on them: I wouldn't dream of posting this on FB for example... Apart from my partner, nobody knows I am exercising and cutting on calories. Neighbours have seen me running on the street but the topic has never been raised and I never encouraged it to be raised. The few times people tried to make fun of me when they saw me running, they were ignored... The same treatment is meted out to those who think they can give me 'advice' or exhort me to carry on when the session is over and I slow down to a walk, instead of running. To tell them explicitly I pretty much sh*t on them and their f*cking advice and would like nothing better than to print their worthless opinion on toilet paper just to wipe my *rse with it, would be a waste of time and energy. So, on the same token, what makes it right to share the sense of elation and victory felt for completing a running session? Emotions, good or bad, are just fleeting moments and don't really count in the long run (no pun intended). Aren't we all sharing too much online, even with some degree of anonymity? What do you think?

(5 comments)

13 April 2016

I am using the scale all the time now :) to weigh portions and it is much easier to keep track of the amount of calories I eat. So much for thinking I could determine quantities on sight alone. I could actually see this morning that one banana weighing 239g with the skin on, only weighs 134g once peeled. Just in case you might wonder, I don't eat bananas with their skins: I only thought the difference was striking enough to be reported here :)

I went to the swimming pool at the end of the morning and swam lengths for an hour. The pool had been allocated to women with toddlers before 11:00 AM, to be taught to swim, so the water was littered with foam tubes and boards as well as inflatables, among which a ball. There was one woman with a baby sitting on some kind of inflatable seat, as well as myself in the deep end, the toddlers being mercifully kept in a shallow pool, separated from the main one by a wall and taught to swim there.

Assuming all the props belonged to the swimming pool and as it doesn't take much for my playing instinct to surface, I almost immediately took possession of the ball, pushing it and chasing it in the water as well as throwing it in the air and leaning on it, trying to push it underwater as the woman with the baby on the inflatable looked on. But she didn't say anything to me or made any gesture to get the ball and simply kept on playing with her child. Her dismay was palpable however when she saw me leaning on it and I thought that I was possibly playing too rough with the ball and she was probably worried I might damage it and thus deprive the kids being taught to swim of a much needed tool? Ruining something that didn't actually belong to me being the last thing I wanted, I just kept pushing the ball gently in front of me as I swam and did so for about twenty minutes, which was fun.

As I pushed the ball next to the wall separating the toddlers' section from the main pool, she gently told me she wanted her ball back! Surprised and then very embarrassed, I apologised and told her that I had thought the ball belonged to the swimming pool but she replied with a smile not to worry. The ball was hers but she never said anything while I was playing with it!

After the toddlers, the teacher cleared the props and then got back in the water with a middle-aged lady and taught her to swim in the main pool. I kept on doing lengths but gave them a wide berth: the lady being taught to swim had foam tubes folded around her, which gave a strong indication she was very new to this and taking it very slowly, with the teacher standing near her and accompanying her. I didn't want to spook her or otherwise destabilise her by swimming too close.

Having completed an hour worth of swimming and the pool being due to close soon, I regained the locker room and got changed. I didn't even bother taking off my swimming costume and having a shower, as I live close by and just put my t-shirt and trousers back on top of it. The result looked dripping wet and a bit messy but I didn't want to change in full view of everybody else. There are just two individual changing cabins but they were both being used at the time.

The lady who was being taught to swim earlier, came out of the one of the changing cabins and I was mildly surprised to hear her thanking me for not swimming too close. Not interfering with a learner by splashing about near them is common courtesy in my view but not everybody's it seems... She explained she's never learned to swim and, having witnessed her sister-in-law drowning(!) a few years back, she has been scared stiff of water ever since... She is now getting lessons to get over her phobia and me not invading her space and hence not adding to her fear and apprehension, was very much appreciated.

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12 April 2016

I haven't had time lately to write in my journal... I still go and run for half-an-hour once every two days but nothing much happens that is worth reporting here in writing.

Yesterday, I went to the town centre and acquired a kitchen scale, combined with a plastic jug, to measure exactly the quantity of food I eat. The scale is very precise, with a minimum increment of 1g. I put it to the test this morning to weigh my cereals and realized, with a mixture of horror and amazement, that the portions I had been having so far, since going on a diet, were nothing, but NOTHING, like the portions I thought I had greatly reduced.
In other words, I had been grossly underestimating the quantities of food I ate all that time! and I had been having two to three times more than the portions I thought I was ingesting. And this is just for the morning cereals... What I thought was 30g of cornflakes for example turned out to be 80g!

It's a miracle I lost weight *at all* given I completely miscalculated the amounts. And to think I used to have even more food before I decided to go on a diet, added to my shock and confusion.

(5 comments)

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