A very minor drop of 0.1 kg to 77.6 kg today. I had a fairly big meal to finish to day and I imagine that’s still in the system.
According to Garmin Connect and MyFitnessPal:
Calories Burned – 2,781 (just the afternoon walk)
Calories Consumed – 1,785
Net Deficit – 996
Viciously hungry in the morning and a calorie heavy evening meal bumped numbers out, Macros were a bit better balanced today:
Carbs – 34 grams (including 25 grams of fibre, so 9 net grams)
Fat – 129 grams
Protein – 114 grams
I’ve got concerns about how the alcohol sugar sweeters in things like the low sugar Atkins bars are counted as carbohydrates in MyFitnessPal and how they affect the net carbs. I have been trying to cut down on manufactured foods like these, and looking around there’s some debate about the effect of the sweeteners used in these bars.
I got home from work to another hot afternoon and, grudgingly accepting I needed to get out and run, decided to wait until it cooled off a little, finally getting out around 4 pm at Pooh Corner.
I intended to go a bit longer today but the legs were still dead and it was apparently generating pace wasn’t an option. It was apparent pretty quickly I was actually running on fat stores and yeah, it’s hard going initially especially when it’s hotter (low 30’s celsius…oh, and a bit of wind).
I managed to push out 7.40 km in 38:08 at 5:09 mins per km. Heart rate was edging to 170 at the finish despite the slow pace. The moment I stopped running I got the familiar ache in the arms I get when I’m running on fat stores – anyone who’s run a marathon and gone full glycogen depletion will know the feeling.
So, that’s happening. The weekend should be interesting. From last time’s experience, it’s an uncomfortable week or so until the body burns fat as a fuel a bit more efficiently but once adapted you can get a pretty steady roll on, plus you get some good body fat reduction. I had a bit of a feeling it had been starting on the bike on Saturday but the run on Sunday suggested otherwise.
A very minor drop of 0.1 kg to 77.7 kg today. We’ve been close to stable since Jan 6 which was 78.1 kg. I can see changes around my waist and torso so stuff is going on.
I’ve included a 7 day average in my Weight and Calorie Tracker as this is usually a more reliable indicator of trends.
According to Garmin Connect and MyFitnessPal:
Calories Burned – 2,692 (just the afternoon walk)
Calories Consumed – 1,170
Net Deficit – 1,522
Macros were a bit better balanced today:
Carbs – 41 grams (including 14 grams of fibre, so 27 net grams)
Fat – 72 grams
Protein – 97 grams
Got the balance a little protein strong, and the carb number’s a bit odd – there’s some strange stuff with net carb reporting that I’m finding strange.
I have to confess I did break fasting this morning as I was hungry to the point of it being painful and had two of my keto ‘muffins’ and had my day time meal an hour earlier than normal. I’ve had a fairly large evening meal and am expecting a mid 77 weight tomorrow morning.
A combination of heat, smoke haze and fatigue saw me ditch my proposed run when I got home after work. Temp was mid 30 degrees Celsius (edging close to 100 degrees F for our Imperial friends) and the prospect of running in that temperature in smoky conditions seemed like a ticket for trouble.
I had a nap after I got home and headed out for my middle distance walk, around 5.7 km with some reasonable elevation changes, knocking it over in a little over 52 minutes. It did underline why I no longer run, and indeed rarely walk around my local area due the camber of the local footpaths. I felt fairly dead-legged.
I have a feeling I did a little too much over the weekend and Monday, which combined with the transition to fat-burning has lead to some adjustment fatigue. I have packed running gear for the morning, so we’ll see how that goes. I managed to get to the 11 am window for my fasting. Sleep was a bit better last night and breathing feels more settled as well.
Finally, a rebound. A day with no additional activity saw my weight pop up 500 grams, from 77.3 kg to 77.8 so we’re starting to see the loss curve start to normalise. From my previous keto run through I would often see a pattern of two to four days of loss, some stabilising, and then another run of losses.
According to Garmin Connect and MyFitnessPal:
Calories Burned – 2,474 (reflecting no additional activities)
Calories Consumed – 1,172
Net Deficit – 1,302
Macros were a bit better balanced today:
Carbs – 27 grams (including 9 grams of fibre, so 18 net grams)
Fat – 58 grams
Protein – 87 grams
Haven’t eaten this morning (it’s only just after 5 am here) but will have my first meal around 11 am as per normal, not counting a few black coffees!
I’ve ended up doing no additional exercise. Work ended up going into overtime and to be frank I’m feeling it a bit after some pretty strong efforts over the last few days. Sleep’s a bit disrupted so I think we’ve got some adaptation thing going on.
I’ll probably go for a brief walk after dinner to clear the mind, turn the legs over a bit and get my steps up to my target of 12,000 – I’m sitting just under 10,000 as I write this just after 6 pm
At the risk of being repetitive, another solid drop today, 0.8 kg to go from 78.1 to 77.3, a total loss of 4.4 kg since New Year’s Day. This is about where an average of a kilo a week loss would have put me at the start of February.
According to Garmin Connect and MyFitnessPal:
Calories Burned – 3,188
Calories Consumed – 1,102
Net Deficit – 2,086
Macros were a bit protein heavy as I finished off some chicken in the fridge when I realised how low my calorie intake was :
Carbs – 18grams (including 11 grams of fibre, so 7 net grams)
Fat – 58 grams
Protein – 115 grams
Ate at 11 this morning, which was a bit inside the 16 hour window as we ate quite late last night after pilates.
Pulled up a little sore from the race plus work yesterday, but nothing beyond DOMS so no particular concerns. Outside of the calves and some glutes stuff stood out.
I had a Rostered Day Off today, so ran some admin and household chores before hitting the gym mid-morning doing my Abs, Back and (some) Shoulders session. I had vague intentions of doing both of my sessions but was pretty over it by the end and left it at that.
I felt like I’d loosened up a bit and after waiting until 11 am to eat, felt pretty good and actually wanted to get out for a short run, which I did at about 1 pm around a little local wildlife sanctuary called Pooh Corner (note: not the bear).
The gravel track is around 3.9 km. There are some gentle rolling elevation changes but the track itself is level so I’ve been doing build up mileage here to protect my calves. I’d love to run from home but the footpaths have quite a bit of side camber on them which I’m sure is not helping with calf, ITB and back issues. Actually, thinking on it, since I’ve stopped running from home these issues have been much better.
I just did a single lap at about 4:58 min/km pace. I’ve been dabbling with low lift shoes for these shorter runs to strengthen my calves and work on technique, using a pair of New Balance Minimus trail shoes, and this seems to be going okay. Last kilometre felt like hard work (it was pretty hot) but we got there.
Finished the day with the usual remedial pilates session at Q Pilates at Jindalee. I’ve been attending these sessions with my wife for a few years now. The sessions involve a group of up to five people with personalised programs and are supervised by a physiotherapist. I’ve been getting quite a bit out of them, thinking about body position and getting my glutes going.
The decline in weight continues, with my weight-in this morning giving 78.1 kg, down from 78.7 kg yesterday. It will be interesting to see when it starts to smooth out as an average of 0.8 kg per day for 5.6 kg a week’s obviously not going to continue. I thought I might have been dehydrated but having had a cup of coffee and a little water it seems not.
According to Garmin Connect and MyFitnessPal:
Calories Burned – 3,258
Calories Consumed – 991
Net Deficit – 2,267
I’m dubious on that Calories Consumed number from MyFitnessPal. I think it undercounted the calories for the recipe for last night’s dinner by 100 to 200 calories.
Calories, fat and protein numbers were pretty much spot on, subject to the above comment. Macros were :
Carbs – 20 grams (including 12 grams of fibre, so 8 net grams)
Fat – 63 grams
Protein – 62 grams
As per normal, managed to observe the 16/8 rule, again over 17 hours by the time I got around to first eating.
Started Sunday with the first road running race I’ve done in a few years.
I rejoined the Brisbane Road Runners on Saturday afternoon which was probably asking a bit much of their membership system ahead of the first race of the year on Sunday. So I ran with the field, but didn’t really take part in the race as such – it was a “no watches” race so that meant I could run with a watch with a clear conscience. I of course had not brought a HRM, but the wrist based HRM’s okay for running. Cycling or gym, not so much.
The BRRC course is a flattish 5 km out and back along Riverside Drive in West End. The club is somewhat marathon focused (it was formerly the Queensland Marathon and Road Runners Club) with the ramp up in race distances forming a ramp up to the Gold Coast Marathon in July and the Brisbane Marathon which is now in June apparently, vs August when I ran it in 2012. I used this series extensively through the lead up to that event, particularly the 35 km which makes for an excellent race rehearsal.
I was a little nervous about this run. It’s been a long time since I’ve raced, and having been maintaining substantial calorie deficits and only fairly recently attaining the distance it felt like there might be some risk. Temperature was 22.5 degrees C @ 75% humidity with little wind.
I started gently, keeping in mind the downhill section a few hundred metres past the start that can sucker you into heading out too fast. There wasn’t too much else to report. I judged the pace pretty well, sitting at a consistent 4:50 or so with the heart rate showing a gentle consistent rise through to until around 8 1/2 km or so when it notched up 10 to 15 bpm. I’m pretty confident I transitioned to full fat burning at this point as I felt my body temperature increase and I was quite conscious of being hungry.
I was able to hold on and put on a surge of pace to pass one gent before the line, giving a finish time of 48:22, which is around 4:50 min/km pace.
Your correspondent (in sunglasses) makes a decisive move at the finish for a place gain that is literally meaningless
If I’d been asked to nominate a time before starting it would have probably been around 49 flat, but I’m not overly concerned about the time, more pleased with the consistent effort through the distance. I know I have more work to fat adapt. The time does give some ideas about potential targets as distances increased.
I would have liked to stay and chat but I had to up stumps and head immediately into the city for work.
2020 Hindsight 