July 2013 Update

There’s something of an unwritten rule among casual 5-a-side footballers that you don’t play on the eve of a holiday, because Murphy’s Law dictates that you will get injured.

And that’s exactly what happened. I had elected to play 7s the night before I flew out to Benidorm for my friend David’s stag do, and lo and behold, about half way through the game, the ball, the dry astroturf, friction, gravity and I got in a fankle, and I ended up banging my knee against the hard surface with some force.

I played on, stupidly enough, and I was still fit enough to make the flight to Spain. On my return to the UK however, I arranged to see my GP. He suspected that I’d sprained the knee, but it would heal itself given enough rest.

While I was relieved I hadn’t done any serious damage, I was still slightly concerned about the impact this would have/will have on my participation on the cycle ride to Edinburgh in September, and the 10k Road Race, two weeks’ earlier.

My fitness regime has already taken something of a kicking, with two colds (in April and June), a college assignment to complete, and a period of malaise following a misdiagnosed dental problem. I have played football once in six weeks (a perhaps ill-advised early comeback from the knee injury two weeks ago). I haven’t been to the gym, swam or cycled in months. I anticipate that’ll change in August, and it’ll have to if I’m going to do any sort of running in the 10k.

On the positive side, my weight’s remained pretty stable, even allowing for the fact I’m not using the meal diary any longer. I’ve bought two new suits and several new shirts to reflect my new body shape, and I’m feeling a lot more confident about myself, and that’s all I could have asked for this time last year.

One Year On

Well, that’s a year, give or take a few days. A year since I decided to start a blog documenting my attempts to recover from a knee injury and to try and get fit.

The purpose of this blog was to track my rehab, as I attempted to reach a plateau of fitness that would allow me to take part in a 10k run. At first, the notion of losing weight didn’t cross my mind, but it lurked in the background, like the nuclear threat. At some point I would have to address it.

In May 2012 I weighed 17 stone and 4lbs. My BMI was 31.12 and my body fat content was around 34%. By the NHS’s BMI tool’s reckoning, I was obese, and while I was playing five-a-side football once a week, I was struggling with shin, back and particularly a knee problem.

I didn’t set out intending to lose weight, because I’d tried to watch what I ate in the past, but it never seemed to have much effect. I stumbled into the weight loss programme I’m currently using, almost by accident, when I started using a pedometer to track my steps each day, and realised I was burning calories.

I had always known that calories provided the body with energy, but for some reason I hadn’t realised the average human being needed to consume around 2000kcal per day just to keep their motor running. That’s 14000kcal per week, and 1lb of fat is equal to 3500kcal. As soon as I realised I could measure my calorie intake using a meal diary, and create a small surfeit, the weight began to drop off. The table below shows the difference between my vital statistics a year ago, and today.

	1 Year Ago		Now
	Metric	Imperial	Metric	Imperial
Weight	110kg	17st 4lbs	84.6kg	13st 4lbs
BMI	31.1	Obese	23.9	Normal
Fat	~33.6%		20.50%
Waist	107cm	42"	88cm	34.6"
Hip	108cm	42.5"	96.5cm	38"
Chest	114cm	44.8"	104.5cm	41"

Because the weight loss has been a slow and gradual process, my friends, workmates and I haven’t really noticed a great difference. Physically, I do feel a bit better about myself, although perversely I think I was actually fitter last year; I was playing football regularly then.

I won’t lie, I’m still experiencing some problems with my knee, although the wonderful Shona at Achilles Heel in Glasgow has assured me that this is within tolerance, and by all standards the joint is in decent condition.

As a result, using this blog and my Twitter archive has been useful to let me track my progress more objectively, by reminding me how frustrated I felt eight, ten, twelve months ago. I know that using the words ‘objectively’ and ‘feel’ in the same sentence seems counter-intuitive, but as my friend pointed out, sometimes you forget how down you were, or how much progress you’ve made. Having a record of the change, or otherwise in your mental outlook allows you to look back with more clarity.

Looking through my tweets, I first started experiencing this problem with my knee in August 2011, and I had my first hospital  appointment in January 2012. Having since had three separate physios manipulate and investigate the joint, I’ve had three or four different diagnoses. Bursitis, tight quads/weak hamstrings, ligament damage, scar tissue; all have been suggested as reasons why I occasionally experience pain and swelling after exercise.

As I continued with my weight loss, I took up Pilates (which I’m still doing on a regular basis), and karate (which I gave up after achieving my red belt, for non-physical reasons), but I still felt that my knee wasn’t quite right. Four or five sessions with Shona helped me immensely, as she assured me my knee was strong enough to do what I wanted it to, I just had to regain confidence in it.

I started going to spin classes at the leisure centre again. And I bought a pair of £100 running shoes, with support designed to counter-act my feet’s tendency to over-pronate. I’ve started running once a week, using the iPhone app I mentioned in my original blog post, building up the distance I run each week. I’m currently doing ~4k in half an hour. That’s a slow pace, but the programme is currently divided up into blocks of walking and running, each week getting closer to running flat our for 30 minutes.

I got my bike serviced as well, after having nearly killed it trying to adjust the brakes myself. In the last few weeks I’ve done a 20km and 30km cycle, and I’m hoping this will be a weekly occurrence as we progress towards the 47-mile Pedal for Scotland challenge in September, which I’ve signed up for. I’ve also booked my place in the Paisley Vision 10k in August, which was one of my goals set out in last year’s manifesto. If I’m being honest, I don’t expect I’ll be able to run more than half of it, but even that is progress.

And most excitingly, for me anyway, is that last Thursday night I made my football comeback, playing a game of 5-a-side for the first time since last September. I felt okay and reasonably fit during the game, as I had been running and cycling. The next day I felt as if my bone marrow had been replaced with adamantium, but a couple of days further on, I’m feeling okay.

So what are my goals for the next 12 month period? I intend to stay at this weight for a start, around 13 1/4 stone. I’ve changed my eating habits dramatically, but gradually over the course of the year, so I think it’s unlikely I’ll ever put on as much beef as I did again.

I want to keep running and cycling, and I’m considering once more the notion of entering a novice triathlon. The cycling and running distances wouldn’t be an issue, but I’d need to improve my swimming technique, but I don’t think it’s the pipe dream it once was.

Has the last 12 months of obsessively tracking what I ate, going to the gym, karate, running and cycling been worth it? I’d have to say yes. I’m feeling a lot happier about myself.

March 2013 Update

Yes, yes I know. Like everyone else that writes a blog, I swear that I will update the journal on a regular basis…and then I don’t. That said, updating every week when there’s nothing to say would arguably be worse. Anyway, it’s been around three months since my last post, so without further ado…

In terms of weight loss, from being 110kg, or over 17 stone in May of 2012, as of this morning (the 3rd March 2013), I’m now 89.8kg, or 14 stone 2lbs. As far as BMI goes, I’m still apparently slightly overweight, so I’m going to continue with my calorie deficit eating plan for now. Since the new year, people seem to have been commenting on my weight loss, observing that I look different, and that I look good, in some examples. However, a few people I know what perhaps suggested I don’t need to consider losing any more weight. They may be right. I think it is certainly a case of being happy with the way you are, and I am, to an extent. But having lost three stone in ten months after ten years of slowly putting it on, and not knowing how to do anything about it, I’ve got the bit between my teeth now. I want to push on, to see how far I can take it, to be able to say that for at least a year or two of my life, I had the body of an underwear model. Hey, every man has his dream, right?

On a more practical note, I think my knee problem was exacerbated by the extra weight I was carrying for so long. I had my final physiotherapy session with Shona in January, and she was happy enough with the condition of the joint to suggest I didn’t need any further appointments. I still have grumbling pain in my knee, but it’s improved so far over the course of the last year, and a good deal of that was down to Shona helping me understand what was going on physically, and how to build up my confidence in using the knee again.

I am still progressing towards my goal of running a 5k, although I’m taking such a circuitous route about doing it, you’d be forgiven for thinking I’m doing nothing at all. I’ve signed up for Pedal for Scotland in September (it’s a long story), and so I’ve been taking a couple of spin classes a week, as well as the old faithful Saturday Pilates session, and fitting in a visit to the gym whenever I can. I had a programme update at the leisure centre this morning, having not done so in far too long. The difference in how I felt immediately afterwards was noticeable; I hadn’t been shocking my body enough recently for my workouts to have as much effect as they should have. And, for the next four weeks at least, I’m going to be going to a circuit training class run by my sister’s friend.

It hasn’t all been positive though. I’ve stopped going to karate. I did enjoy it to an extent, but it was taking up too much time and money, and as a result of a difference of opinion I had with a classmate, I found I was spending all day Tuesday and Thursday worrying about that evening’s class. I have something of a history of grinding my teeth when something is preying on my mind, and inevitably, my teeth began to start acting up. When this happens, it’s a sensation I find particularly abhorrent, so I made the decision to take a sojourn. And the teeth feel much better.

I’m still weighing up the pros and cons of buying those £100 running shoes, so the 5k and a return to football is still very much a target, but I feel like I’m slowly getting closer to it.

Week 28 Update

I should probably start by apologising for the lack of updates. This blog was supposed to track my progress as I attempted to transform myself into an athlete of some sort…

Life has been slightly hectic over the last three months. I had just taken up karate at the time of the last entry, and since then I’ve been going twice a week, and attended my first, 9th Kyu grading. So, I’m now a red belt.

A large part of November was taken up by studying for my professional qualification exam, an associated assignment, and taking part in NaNoWriMo, a contest where participants attempt to draft a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This didn’t leave a great deal of time to get to the gym, unfortunately.

In my last post, I’d also mentioned I’d booked an appointment with a sports physio to get a second opinion on my troublesome knee. I’ve now had four sessions with Shona, and I think there’s been definite progression. Structurally, she thinks the knee is more or less okay for what I need it for, although she suspects there may be some damage to my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

However, Shona’s happy f0r (and actively encourages me) to continue building up the strength in my knee in the gym, cycling and going to karate. At our last session, last Sunday, we broached the subject of me starting to run again.

While I’d been feeling comfortable enough playing football, it just so happened that the Tuesday night game that had been a fixture of my week for five years seems to have reached a natural end; most of the other players appear to be old and injured as well! I did have the opportunity to play in a couple of other games, but Shona suggested it might be worthwhile to take a bit of a break while I worked on strengthening my quadriceps and hamstrings.

I downloaded an app a while ago, Get Running, that is designed to build you slowly up to running a 5k; I’ve been using it on the elliptical machine since I couldn’t run. Shona thinks it would be worthwhile giving it a go. So I paid a visit to the specialist running supplies shop and had my gait analysed, then tried on some different brands of shoe before we settled on the pair that were the most comfortable and offered the most support.

I didn’t buy them, mainly because they were £100. And I’m a little unsure about what to do, because I don’t want to start running if I’m not wearing the right shoes. I might just make things worse, and end up back at square one. So that’s something I have to mull over during the festive period.

Food will also weight heavily on my mind (and my hips) over the next four weeks. The knee rehab and running is only part of this blog; alongside my attempts to get fit, I’ve also been attempting to lose weight.

In my last entry, I declared I’d slimmed down from a peak of 110kg (over 17 stone) in June to 92kg (14st 7lbs) in September. This wasn’t quite accurate; a run-in with my sister’s Wii Fit led me to realise I was using my scales on carpet, they were therefore returning a false reading, and I was around a stone heavier than I thought I was.

However, as of yesterday, I’m now around 91.4kg (14st 5lbs), with a BMI of 25.86, very nearly normal. My body fat’s down to ~24%, and I’m the lithest I’ve been since I was in my mid 20s. I sill aim to lose maybe another stone, but I might leave that until January; I have at least four Christmas and one New Year’s meals ahead of me, so I appreciate my weight loss may slow slightly, but I’m okay with that as I feel much more comfortable in my skin.

Ideally I’ll be getting back to the gym and karate next week, but I’m more or less going into hibernation for the rest of the month. I’ll update again in January, full of hope and as-yet-unbroken resolutions.

Week 14 Update

So, it’s been 14 weeks, or 3 months, or 100 days since I bought my new scales, so it’s as good a time as any for a quick review of what (if anything I’ve managed to achieve).

But first, a quick update. I managed to drop my smartphone and crack its screen the day after my last post. I pretty much run my life using my phone’s various apps, including the meal diary one, so for a while after I sent it away to be mended I had to adapt to watching my calorie intake manually…at least until I remembered I could just update using the website. But it’s back now, good as new.

I’ve been maintaining a fairly high level of physical activity (for a desk jockey), so I thought it was time to change my Basal Harris-Benedict activity level from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lightly active’. This did mean that I would have to eat more calories per day, which I was worried about, but thankfully my reinvigorated metabolism appears to be up to the task.

I’ve started college again on Wednesday evenings, which has meant amending the timetable a little, to the following; Monday – Weights, Tuesday – 5-a-side, Wednesday – rest, Thursday – Spin, Friday – rest, Saturday – Weights, Pilates, Sunday – rest or a cycle.  I need to do a little research into how many activities I can fit in before it become counter-productive, although last Thursday I did fulfil something of a lifelong ambition by attending my first karate class.  While I realise that taking up a martial art may be hard work, I think the benefits I’ll get in regards to my balance and flexibility will be worth it.

However, I did have something of a setback regarding my knee. While the exercises and stretches I’ve been doing have by-and-large helped, I still think there may be some issue outwith what the physio diagnosed. I played 8-a-side last Friday night (against the Shadow Cabinet Secretary of Defence no less), and my knee became uncomfortably swollen for the rest of the week. As such, I’ve booked an appointment with a local running-specific physiotherapist for next Sunday, if only to get a second opinion.

While going through some paperwork earlier, I found a printout from one of those electronic height/weight/BMI scales you find in high street pharmacies. Dated the 30th August 2011, it noted my vital statistics as 189cm tall, 105.7kg heavy, and with a resultant BMI of 29.6. According to the NHS, that’s bordering on obese.

I weighed about the same (maybe slightly heavier) in May this year, before I started watching what I ate. I think I was slightly in denial about how overweight I actually was, perhaps because I was still able to disguise my paunch.

Three months of sensible eating and more exercise later, I find myself now weighing 92.2kg, or 14 st 7lbs, having lost about 2.5 stones. I’m feeling trimmer and more toned, and my self-confidence has improved somewhat. Even a wart I had on my hand has disappeared. I think both physically and mentally I’m in a much healthier place than I’ve been for the last seven years, but I need to keep it up. Ideally, I’d like to get down to a fighting weight of between 12.5 and 13 stones, but I’m aware I need to develop my knowledge of nutrition a little further.

Last week saw the running of the Paisley 10k, and the Great Scottish Run was today. Unfortunately it seems I’m still quite a long way from my goal of attempting a 10k, but all I can do is keep working towards it.

Week 10 Update

Three weeks on from my last post, I don’t have much to say. My ear infection has all but completely cleared up now, so I may be able to add swimming to my exercise regime in the near future.

During my third year at university, I used to train with a fellow student who aspired to join the Royal Marines. One weekend during the summer of 2003 I recall, we went interval training in the park. He worked me so hard I was nearly sick, but my fitness improved no end. Bearing this in mind, I decided to head down to the park last Sunday to do something similar, and maybe work in some knee exercises at the same time.

There are numerous trees in the park, planted roughly equal distances apart, making them ideal for what I had in mind. I was going to do some quick turns the way the physio had showed me, shuttling between two of the trees, hopefully building the strength back up in my knee. After a rest, I alternately sprinted and jogged between the same trees, and I repeated this arrangement a couple of times.

It seemed to have the desired effect, because on the cycle home I had to stop due to feeling nauseated, and at Tuesday night football I had the best game I’ve had in a while.

I didn’t go to the gym on Wednesday evening, being at The Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX instead, but the next day I attended my first spin class, which I plumped for rather than the awful Thursday afternoon 5-a-side game. I was a little apprehensive, but while it was hard work, it was not unbearable and I definitely felt the benefit.

After having indulged in a little too much food on Friday night, I was back at the gym on Saturday morning, and Pilates in the afternoon. I’m beginning to feel a lot more healthy, but as always with me, the question is how long can I keep this up? I’m starting to miss a few foods I don’t appear to have the calorific budget for anymore. Weight wise, I’m hovering around the 95kg mark (meaning my total loss is around 15kg), and I think I’m looking better for it. This appeals to my vanity, which I think may be the driving force in all this.

I mentioned the word ‘regime’ earlier, and I’m just trying to keep this one going. Currently I’m playing football on Tuesday, going to the gym on Wednesday, spin on Thursday, and gym and Pilates on Saturday. I think this is the perfect blend of intensities and rest days, but I still think I can work something in on Sundays.

The Olympics has inspired me to try a sport I’ve never tried before (I really fancy archery) or having another bash at one (golf, snowboarding, basketball), but I think it’s important I don’t get distracted from the goal that is the primary focus of the blog is to get to the stage where I can run a 10k. I think there’s a bit of work to be done yet.

Week 7 Update

This blog, like every other blog I’ve had in recent times, has gotten away from me somewhat the last four weeks. This has been due to a combination of completing a college assignment, and over the last week in particular, an outer ear infection that’s rendered me incapable of little more than howling at the moon.

Fitness wise, I’ve reached something of a plateau. 5-a-side football has barely been on over the last month because of players being away on holiday. I’ve visited the gym only twice (because of the assignment mentioned above) and I haven’t cycled at all. In terms of weight loss, after initially dropping from 106kg (16st 7lbs) to 98kg (15st 4lbs) over the course of four weeks, I appear to have bottomed out at around the 100kg mark, having put on a little. I suspect my diet requires further analysis and modification, and that’s something I plan to look at, as soon as my ear relinquishes control of my life back to me. A documentary aired last night on BBC1, suggesting that Sports drinks, such as the one I’ve favoured over the last two months, may not be as beneficial to your health as the manufacturers claim. This is certainly something else I need to consider, as well as deciding whether spending £26 on protein shake powder is worthwhile.

I plan on submitting the final draft of my assignment this evening, and that hopefully means I can get back to my healthy eating and exercise regime over the weekend. The right knee itself is holding up okay; I had a final appointment with the physio last week, and he thinks the improvement is enough that he doesn’t need to see me again. The main problem with the knee, apparently, was that five years of sitting at a desk all day had resulted in my hamstrings weakening. At the same time, my quadriceps had retained their strength, but had become tight. This imbalance was the root cause of the pain I was suffering whenever I climbed stairs.

I do feel a morsel of pride that the knee’s almost back to 100%, because I followed the physio’s advice and worked at strengthening the joint again. I’ve exercised (using the leg lifting machines at the gym), stretched, cycled, and I’ve even gone back to climbing the stairs at work, mostly from the lower ground floor to the second. I’d avoided the stairs, and started taking the lift, because the knee was so painful. This appears to have just made it weaker.

So for the latter part of the year, I need to look at new goals. I wish to lose a little more weight (the current target is 90kg, or just over 14st) which I hope will reduce stress on my joints and bones when running, and reduce my body fat. I want to get my knee back to 100% effectiveness, or as near as damnit. But my main goal is to try and get to the bottom of my shin splints-type pain. That’s the main obstacle standing between me and taking up running seriously.