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Which Exercise Plans Actually Work?

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I’m very conscious of my own limitations and I know that if I’d tried to change my diet AND start doing a lot of exercise at the same time it would have been a disaster.

Exercise machines (284617740)

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So, I’m now eight days into my diet. I’m eating better and more systematically ie. I’m actually having breakfast every morning and I’m eating a couple of reasonable meals every single day.

Now the big challenge is exercise.

Walking appeals to me, as I used to walk quite a bit when I was younger.

Cycling could also be an option, though I haven’t cycled regularly since I left college in Limerick back in 1999 (there’s an interesting story there, but I’d probably be sued if I published it without changing some of the details!)

Swimming is another activity that I used to really enjoy, but I haven’t been swimming regularly for years.

Doing any of the above is a “nice idea”, but unless I have a proper structure to my exercise regime I suspect I will fail.

So I’ve been looking into exercise plans and systems.

Which of them actually work for people and, more importantly, why?

Are any of the “couch to X” type programs worthwhile? Or, put another way, are they suitable for someone as lazy as me? (Obviously the idea being that I’d be able to get past the lazy part .. )

Pitta Bread With Tuna and Mozarella

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Pitta bread is incredibly versatile. You can stuff it with a whole range of different things and make really tasty meals.

I made this for a late lunch today and simply doubled the quantities from the original recipe I had and also added some other bits and pieces to it.

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Pitta Bread With Tuna and Mozarella

Pitta bread stuffed with tuna, tomato and onion with mozzarella
Course Main Course
Cuisine International
Keyword cheese, tuna
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 1 mozzarella ball
  • 3 - 4 to matoes
  • 4 pitta bread
  • 1 onion sliced or diced
  • 1 small can of tuna in brine
  • 1 tbsp Italian herbs to taste
  • 1 tsp Black pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to around 180 degrees C
  2. Slice the mozzarella and put the slices to one side
  3. Drain the tuna
  4. Slice and dice the tomatoes and onion and mix with the tuna and herbs.
  5. Split the pitta bread (if it isn't already split) and fill with the mix of ingredients
  6. Top each pitta with a slice or two of mozzarella
  7. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has melted fully

Recipe Notes

If you don't have Italian herbs then mixed herbs or oregano with some black pepper would do as a good substitute

 

How Much Are You Actually Eating?

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Pasta all'uovo (egg pasta)

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Food is odd. You put a cup of rice into water and it magically expands into this wonderful food that can feed several people.

Great, isn’t it?

Problem is that you probably don’t really notice how much of this wonderful food stuff you’re actually eating.

Until I started religiously following this diet (probably about the only religious thing I’ve done in a while!) I never really paid attention to quantities.

Cooking pasta? Ah just chuck enough in and it’ll be fine.. Oh wait, there’s way more than I really need .. Ooops!

When you’re weighing out portions of pasta and other ingredients very carefully you begin to notice how much you are eating and how much you were probably eating before. The digital scales I bought just over a week ago has been getting plenty of use and the bowl that came without has held the ingredients of pretty much every single meal of the day. Weighing out the portions of breakfast cereal is a new experience and is an eye opener!

A typical pasta recipe (on my diet plan) has between 60g and 100g of uncooked pasta. Putting that in one of my pasta bowls it looks like I’m missing quite a bit from the plate, but when it’s cooked and you add the sauce and other ingredients you end up with a very tasty meal that won’t leave you hungry.

Controlling the quantities carefully and checking the calories when I “clock in” is making me more conscious of what I have been eating and what I am now eating.

Eating less and probably eating better ie. more fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy products, I’m actually feeling pretty good. I’m not hungry, though I still have a very healthy appetite.

Of course, so far it’s been relatively easy. I’ve managed to avoid eating out completely. Temptation in the way of tasty treats that I actually cherish has been avoided. I’m not phased by seeing Cadbury’s, as I don’t particularly like that type of chocolate. I suspect, however, that I will have issues resisting Green & Black when I’m in a supermarket over the weekend laying in provisions for the week. But I digress ..

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Getting My Blood Test

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Blood Sweat and Tears. Number 2When I was in with the doctor earlier this week he took my blood pressure. Unfortunately he couldn’t do a blood test on me there and then as I hadn’t been “fasting” prior to the appointment.

So this morning after “fasting” since last night I was able to have a blood test. I wouldn’t consider it real “fasting” as it simply meant not eating from around 10pm last night, which isn’t exactly hard work.

I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait to get the results of the blood test, though I suspect it will be a few days.

Am I worried about the results?

Not really. I’d prefer to know if there’s a problem than not know about it. If there is a problem I wasn’t worrying about it before now, so why on earth would I worry now?

As for the blood test itself. I’d love to say it was “painless”, but when someone puts a sharp needle into your arm it does hurt. But it didn’t hurt much. So let’s just say it was “relatively painless”! The entire operation took less than 5 minutes and the nurse was very charming and friendly. Seemingly guys have a tendency of passing out more than girls!

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Overdosing On Fruit

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photo : Utilisateur:Wilrondeau

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I’ve always known that fruit was good for me and that I should eat a certain amount per day. While living in Spain and Italy I was able to eat fresh fruit quite regularly, though I never consciously checked how many items of fruit I was eating per day.

As part of my diet, however, I am being “told” what to eat and how much of it. Fruit plays an important part of the diet.

But I honestly don’t think I could actually eat much more fruit after the last few days. I’ve been eating apples and bananas and adding various other fruit to a range of cereals. It’s been great, but I think there’s a limit on the number of bananas you can eat in a single day.

You probably can’t overdose on fruit, but varying the fruits more can go a long way to making it all a lot less repetitive (obviously!)

Wholewheat Pasta With Light Cream Cheese In Tomato Sauce

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Tonight’s dinner was meant to be a pasta sauce with ricotta, but I couldn’t find any in the supermarket when I laid in this week’s healthy provisions. I’ve been cooking pasta (and eating it) for as long as I can remember, so tweaking a pasta based recipe isn’t that much of a challenge.

I also found that the quantities in the recipe were going to render it incredibly dry (1 tomato with a bit of tomato puree doesn’t go very far), so I added a bit more to it.

The end result was incredibly tasty and remarkably low in calories.

If this is the kind of food I need to eat to lose weight and improve my health, then this diet isn’t going to be that much hard work!

Here’s the recipe incorporating my tweaks 🙂

 

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Wholewheat Pasta With Light Cream Cheese In Tomato Sauce

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword pasta
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 100 g. of onion chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/2 pepper
  • 150 g. of lean minced beef
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp of tomato puree
  • 1 pinch of oregano
  • 1 pinch of mixed herbs
  • 63 g. of wholewheat pasta uncooked weight
  • 50 g. of light philadelphia cream cheese
  • 1 tbs of grated Parmesan cheese
  • Black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and cook the onion, garlic and pepper until slightly softened.
  2. Add the minced beef, turn up the heat and continue to cook until the beef is browned through. Add the diced tomato, tomato puree and herbs and simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Meantime, prepare the pasta following package directions, omitting any suggested fat or salt.
  4. Stir the philadelphia cheese into the beef mix and serve this with the pasta, sprinkling with Parmesan cheese.

 

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Getting A Checkup With A Doctor And Advice On Losing Weight

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English: Back cover of Barbie booklet about ho...

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I’m not afraid of doctors or dentists. I don’t mind being jabbed with needles (as long as I’m not looking), but I still don’t go to doctors that often. Ok, let’s be really honest – I hadn’t been to a doctor for several years up until very recently.

In some respects that’s probably not a bad thing, in others it’s not such a good thing.

So as part of my big plan to lose weight and change my lifestyle I scheduled an appointment with a local GP this morning. The funny thing is that we ended up spending the first 20 minutes talking about the doctor’s website and email, but it’s kind of hard to avoid my dayjob at the best of times 🙂

There wasn’t anything specifically wrong with me, but I wanted to talk to a health professional about losing weight etc., and also to see what, if any, advice I could get.

We had a nice chat about losing weight and he gave me some good advice that I’ll be trying to apply.

Basics are pretty obvious. If you consume 3000 calories and only burn off 2500 you will put on weight. If you consume 2000 and burn 2500 then you will lose weight. Nothing new there.

What was interesting, however, was that he explained how breakfast actually works ie. how it helps your metabolism to “get working”.

I’ll have to go back again later this week to get some blood tests done to check sugar levels, cholesterol and all those “fun” things, but my blood pressure was very healthy, so at least one thing is right!

Other takeaways …

A diet should involve food that I actually enjoy, so avoiding peanut butter isn’t a bad thing!

Getting exercise would be a good thing, but again it shouldn’t be forced, so walking would be fine. So I guess I won’t be doing the marathon this year!

What was interesting, for me at least, was that the doctor put a very strong emphasis on keeping regular records. While the Tesco Diet I’m currently following is pretty meticulous about recording my calorie intake they only want a weekly “weigh in”, whereas the doctor was very much in favour of doing it every single day. So maybe I could find a use for the WiThings after all, or at least a justification..

 

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