My Weight Loss Journey

A weekly updated blog, focusing on my weight loss journey. Ranging from my food intake to exercise and general results. Feel free to read my introduction if your curious.

[nathankt]

Day 11 - First Update (Results)

Kia ora Koutou,

Sorry for the late update, I’ve had Friends stay over the last weekend and never got around to updating, but better late then never right?

Before I get into my results for the week a quick run down of where I am and where I plan to be. My Weight as of Sunday (14/05/2019) was 150.5 kg. My goal weight by the end of all of this would be 110 kg, where I would then reassess my goals and look into either strengthening or losing more. Something to consider once I get there. My current daily calorie allotment is 2080 Calories with nutrition  goals being Carbs 260g / Fat 69g / Protein 104g.

So my Weight as of Yesterday (13/05/19) was 147.9 kg. Which is a 2.6 kg loss which I was pretty happy with considering I had a few cheats this week. With a Birthday lunch I had for my younger brother along with friends coming up to stay with us over the weekend, I did end up having a couple cheat meals but also made sure to temper these by eating less in general over the week. Details of my Performance this week as follows (This is going to be long so feel free to ignore this. From now on I plan on doing updates daily instead to avoid the end of week updates being so long):

Day 1:

Gym Session at 6:30am:

- 5 min Treadmill (9 intensity, 0 incline non-stop)

- 10 min Treadmill (9 intensity, 0 incline, 1 min on 30 sec off)

- 18 min Exercise Bike (13 intensity, non-stop)

Overall a short but vigorous workout burning roughly 330 calories in 35 minutes. I would like to have longer sessions in the morning but they are determined entirely on my ride. Will need to look into solutions to extend this for better results. Over all happy with performance.

Food (Nutrition):

-Three Pepper Chicken Wrap (548 Calories, Carbs 51g / Fat 26g / Protein 29g)

-Homemade Spinach Wrap Pizza (472 Calories, Carbs 42g / Fat 20g / Protein 31g)

-Baked Pea Crisps 48g (223 Calories, Carbs 21.7g / Fat 10.8g / Protein 7.5g)

-Banana Berry Smoothie (275 Calories, Carbs 44g / Fat 4g / Protein 14g)

Total Calories: 1518 calories, Carbs 159g / Fat 61g / Protein 81g

Overall a decent day of dieting. Was GOT night where the flat typically buys pizza but I managed to compromise by making a homemade healthy pizza using a spinach wrap as a base. Overall pretty happy with today's Nutrition.

Day 2:

Gym Session at 6:30am:

- 20 min Rowing Machine (Max intensity, 4.8km in 20 min)

- 13 min Treadmill (9 intensity, 1 min on 30 sec off)

Gym Session at 7:30am:

- 5 min Treadmill (9 intensity, non-stop)

- 40 min PT session. Consisted off:

5 min Lunges/sprints / 5 min sprint speed run / 5 min sprint/jog / 15 min weight relay, 10 kg weights, x5 runs back and forth / 10 min rowing machine sprints, 10 intensity

- 20 min walk home

Overall a very intense day of working out. Burning roughly 600 calories total. PT sessions can be pretty intensive but ultimately satisfying. Overall happy with today's performance.

Food (Nutrition):

-Roast Chicken Sand-which (Rough Estimation) (500 Calories, Carbs 42.2g / Fat 11.9g / Protein 23.8g)

-Garden Side Salad (Rough Estimation) (153 Calories, Carbs 8.4g / Fat 9.8g / Protein 9.3g)

-Chunky Beef Stew (533 Calories, Carbs 50g / Fat 15g / Protein 9.3g)

-Baked Pea Crisps Original (223 Calories, Carbs 21.7g / Fat 10.8g / Protein 7.5g)

-Banana Berry Smoothie (275 Calories, Carbs 44g / Fat 4g / Protein 14g)

Total Calories: 1684 calories, Carbs 167g / Fat 52g / Protein 102g

Overall happy with today’s nutrition. Cheated slightly with the roast chicken sand-which as I am trying to tone down my the carbs however am still happy regardless when tempered with my exercises for the day. Overall happy with nutrition today.

Day 3:

Gym session at 6:30am:

- 35 min Exercise Bike (13 intensity non-stop)

A simple exercise today. using only one machine. A endurance session to increase my long distance capacity. Burned roughly 300 calories today. Solid effort.

Food (Nutrition):

- Three Pepper Chicken Wrap (548 Calories, Carbs 51g / Fat 26g / Protein 29g)

-  Chunky Beef Stew (560 Calories, Carbs 70g / Fat 13g / Protein 42g)

-  Baked Pea Crisps Salt & Vinegar 48g (218 Calories, Carbs 20.8g / Fat 26g / Protein 7.3g)

- Banana Berry Smoothie (275 Calories, Carbs 44g / Fat 4g / Protein 102g)

Total Calories: 1601 Calories (Carbs 186g / Fat 53g / Protein 92g)

Happy with todays Nutrition. Stayed well under calorie limit & Consumed a decent amount of Protein compared to Fat. Will aim to decrease Carbs. Overall happy with my nutrition for today.

Day 4:

No gym session today as Thursdays will typically be my rest days. Give my today a rest before the Friday session and Saturday PT session.

Food (Nutrition):

- Pulled Pork Burger (Rough Estimation) (516 Calories, Carbs 73g / Fat 7.8g / Protein 33.5g)

- Fries (Rough Estimation) (220 Calories, Carbs 40g / Fat 6g / Protein 7.3g)

-  Baked Pea Crisps Salt & Vinegar 48g (218 Calories, Carbs 20.8g / Fat 26g / Protein 7.3g)

- Banana Berry Smoothie (275 Calories, Carbs 44g / Fat 4g / Protein 102g)

- Vege Crisps (Cassava) (44 Calories, Carbs 5.8g / Fat 2.2g / Protein 0g)

Total Calories: 1273 Calories, Carbs 184g / Fat 31g / Protein 59g)

Somewhat disappointed with today's nutrition. Took my younger brother out for lunch & I indulged in a pulled pork burger with fries. Trouble with going to restaurants to eat is that you cannot reliably track the nutritional value of the food so I will assume the worst just to be sure. I attempted to make up for this by only having a smoothie, and vege crisps for dinner. Remained relatively low in the calorie department but not happy with my nutrition. Could definitely be better.

Days 5/6/7:

These were wish washy days for me as these three days were the days I had friends come down from New Plymouth and from Christchurch so there was a fair bit of Drinking and Eating involved. Thankfully I was still able to stay under calories each day by staying away from snacking throughout the day or snacking whilst drinking. In regards to the drinks I kept to Coke Zero and Liquor which also helped in keeping my calories down. Also when we did go to restaurants I stayed away from heavy foods and kept to mainly salads or low calorie foods like the following: 

Thai Veal Salad^

Subway Three Pepper Chicken Wrap^

So although cheating did happen during this weekend, I was able to change my habits to avoid over eating or over cheating.

The exercise was Decent. Had another Gym session Friday morning and had another PT session on Sunday which was pretty decent. We went through weighted sled pushes (80kg) and weight relay runs (Carrying 10kg weights) which built up a decent sweat. Overall a decent effort all round.

Week Summary:

Overall I was pretty happy with this weeks performance. Although I did end up cheating in the weekend with friends down, I was able to tone down the type of cheating that I did. Instead of indulging in Fat fulled restaurant foods I was able to keep myself to more healthier Salads, and instead of snacking on chocolates or Potato chips, I kept top smoothies or Vege Crisps. Not to mention I had a pretty intensive week of Exercise and gym sessions which also helped balance the extra eating. And with losing 2.6 kilo even with the not stellar nutrition I’m pretty happy with this performance. Gives me more hope for the weeks to come.

A blog update is that I may change things up starting next Monday so that I update daily rather than weekly and every Sunday I’ll give a summary of the week. Just stops these posts from being so damn long and It’s easier to track what I’ve done If I record it when its still fresh in my memory. So that’ll be the plan from the 20th of May on wards I believe. 

Any questions about the dieting or the nutrition then feel free to hit me up and I’ll answer what I can. First week down, many more to go!

Ka kite ano!

[nathankt]

Introduction

Kia ora Koutou,

For all those that don’t know me, My name is Nathan King- Tabuteau, and as the title of this blog suggests, this is a blog that aims to explore my weight loss journey over the coming years. (This is going to be a bit of a novel so feel free to skim read)

First off, a little about myself. I’m a 24 year old New Zealander of Maori and European decent born in New Plymouth, Taranaki and currently residing in Wellington City. 

I studied History and Sociology at Victoria university and have now been working in a legal environment as a legal assistant for the past 2 years. In my free time I game, read and just generally hangout with my friends watching Netflix and exploring Aotearoa. Family and friends are a big part of my day to day life and have truly helped in shaping me into the person I am today. The relationships we’ve built and the support they’ve provided have been crucial to keeping me sane over the years and I couldn’t ask for a better group of individuals to help me in my growth. As a a result I hope to finally get a handle on my health so that I can contribute just as much back to them, to the fullest of my potential. Not only this but I also look forward to being able to Enjoy life to my fullest potential, something that weight can have a heavy (No pun intended) impact on.

So the reasoning's behind my want to lose weight can be somewhat long winded so I’ll try my best to summarize for you all. First and foremost , it’s for a concern of my own personal health. I’ve struggled with weight all my life, and although it gets in the way of me being able to do some outdoorsie activities it’s generally had little impact on my day to day life. Over the last couple of years however this has changed. I find I get sick more easily than I ever have before and health problems, including ‘Sleep Apnea’ have begun to pop up. These are things I’ve been told (and know) can simply be addressed by losing weight, so that’s the plan. Secondly it’s for my family and friends. When I say that my weight has impacted my abilities to do some outdoorsie activities, I primarily mean my ability to properly explore and hang out with my friends. Something as simple as a long walk can be quite tiresome for me so I will typically avoid these types of activities due to the stress they have on my body. In reality I would be more than keen to join them in there long hikes across Mt Taranaki or surf with them along Aotearoa’s beaches, however my weight greatly impacts my ability to do any of these things. 

Again this is something that losing weight would definitely help me in. As stated previously I also want to be able to contribute to my family at peak performance and for as long as I can, so that I can bring more happiness to their lives in the same way they’ve done to mine. So ultimately, weight loss will help me in achieving all of these goals, so weight loss it is!

Now after that novel of an intro, Here’s an explanation for why I’m starting this blog and what my goals are for it. One of the main reasons is that, assuming I fully embrace this and reach my end goal, I would like a week by week rundown of what I did leading to that day. Something that I can look back over and maybe even something that others can look over to get inspiration themselves. Give people a detailed example of some weight loss techniques that both worked and didn't work. Foods that helped or hindered, exercises that reaped good results or were to strenuous so on and so forth. The other reason is so I can maybe build up an audience that might help keep me accountable. One of my biggest issues with weight loss has been motivation and losing that motivation over a few months. Hopefully if people read these regularly and notice a drop off in my posting, or a lack in effort on my part they can call me out on it. Give me that little bit more of a push that I sometimes desperately need. So if you’re reading this and continue to read this, please feel free to comment and give me any advice you have, that would be much appreciated.

So my basic plan and goals for this blog are as follows. I plan on giving a rough summary of all that I did to contribute to my weight loss every week. That being the foods that I ate, the calories and nutritional value in each meal along with the exercises that I did as well. I want to go into as much detail as possible so that I am keeping an accurate record of all that I have done. Furthermore I plan on giving my own results of that week. Giving weight loss results, general body measurements and progress pictures over the weeks so that I have a simple record we can all look back on to track my progress. And lastly I’ll be giving my own evaluation of my performance each week. Giving my views on what worked and what didn’t, what I struggled with and what I found helpful along with answering any questions anyone might have. So in total, this blog will be a summary of my weight loss journey week by week, a record for future me and anyone else to look back on.

And that’s that! There’s a summary (A very long summary) of my plans, my reasoning behind them and my intentions for this blog. If this interests you at all please feel free to follow and feel free to comment any suggestions or feedback you may have that’ll help keep me on track. I’ll keep posting every week and look forward to posting again next Sunday. This has been kinda cathartic, It’s nice to finally put my goals and ambitions in writing. Anyway see you all next week!

Ka kite ano!