Andrew Garrett’s Outboard Brain

OK, after dietary changes (read: relaxation), and general gym slackness, I’ve had a couple of weeks of good solid plateauing.

Weight: 121.9kg
Body fat %: 30.9

Back on the dietary and gym-habit wagon-pair as of this morning. See you next week!

Andrew General

Weight: 121.7kg
Body fat %: 30.8

This represents a total loss of 11.8kg since 5 Jan 2009.

No longer using the embarrassingly named shake-and-bar program I was on as a measure of dietary control, now using a “all meals and snacks provided” plan to provide ~1500 calories a day. Seems to be getting better results without feeling like as much of an impact on my life. Meals for this are delivered on Thursdays, weigh in day has shifted to Wednesday.

Andrew General

Monday’s a holiday here, so my rhythm for posting is a bit off – thanks Thomas for the nudge.

+1KG. Mostly due to laziness and too much good food (there may have been donuts. Also, squid, scallops and rice. Maybe even chocolate and full-fat sprite. Perhaps, there were even strange little asian custard tart things. ) over the long weekend.

Back on the wagon again, back to the gym tomorrow.

See you again next week.

Andrew General

OK, so a couple of weeks off from reporting – one week started with my birthday (which ended with a significant amount of great japanese food, beer, and sake), and last week, well, I just plain forgot on Monday.

Thanks to those who nagged me about updates, it’s appreciated.

So, back into it from now.

Despite not being so great at the recording side of things for the last couple of weeks, I mostly managed to maintain diet and exercise plans. Mostly.

Weight: 124.7kg (down from 127.6 3 weeks ago)

Body fat %: 33.8 (34.4 previously).

Other notes – Ran (also, walked – but mostly ran) a 4km run yesterday, in around 33 minutes. That, at least, gives me a time to beat. It turns out that running in the world is harder than running on a treadmill… who’dathunkit?

Andrew General

Weight: 127.6kg (last week, 123.9)

Body fat %: 34.4 (last week, 31.2) equating to a total fat mass of 43.8kg (last week, 38.65).

A combination of a couple of heavier meals through the week (especially in the last couple of days), a partial lack of gym last week (a couple of sessions got skipped), and a certain amount of inadvertent storage of former-food(aka, constipation) have combined for a net gain this week. Which is disappointing, but educational.

Thanks to everyone who shared words of support and encouragement last week, it’s much appreciated.

Andrew General

Weight: 123.9kg (125.1 last week)

Body fat %: 31.2 (31.8 last week) which equates to 38.7 kg of fat ( 39.8 last week).

When I started this, I committed to 4 weeks, to give it a really solid attempt. These last 4 weeks have shown solid results, and I’m quite happy with them – happy enough that I’ll be continuing along the same lines.

I’m taking a couple of days off from the rigorous dietary control, to satisfy some of the cravings I’ve been having. My aim for this week is to not gain any weight.

My ultimate goal is to drop another 24.0kg (target weight, 99.9kg). In the last 4 weeks, I’ve dropped a total of 9.6kg. My fitness has notably increased, and I’m progressing (albeit, behind schedule) on the Couch to 5K running program.

Subsequent months, I don’t expect to be able to lose as much as quickly – I figure that around 5kg per month is probably a healthy and sustainable amount, but this will probably decrease as I get closer to my target weight. I’m considering timing of things, and will probably go to a program based on 3 weeks of rigorous control, followed by 1 week of comparatively relaxed diet – where relaxed doesn’t mean pizza every night, just a bit of relaxation on portion sizes, and the occasional bit of carbs or “treat” foods.

So, just by way of encouragement, and continued motivation – if you’re reading these updates, I’d love to hear from you – IM, or DM, or /msg, or comment or email – all of these are fine. The more of an audience I know I have, the more motivated I’ll be, and more motivation = more results.

Thanks!

Andrew General

Weight: 125.1kg (127.6 last week)

Body fat %: 31.8 (32.4 last week) which equates to 39.8 kg of fat ( 41.3 last week).

A bit more improvement this week – 2.5kg down. Kinda bored (to the point of mild nausea) with the diet as specified, so will be making changes to that after the end of week 4 – on the same theme, but fewer of the single-serve meal replacements, more measured protein+vege meals.

Andrew General

Weight: 127.6kg (128.4 last week)

Body fat %: 32.4 (32.8 last week) which equates to 41.3 kg of fat ( 42.1 last week).

.8kg lost last week, which seems a more realistic number (if lower than I’d like) than last Monday’s total. Possible measurement accuracy issue there, impossible to tell now.

The important thing is that the trend is in the right direction… and it is.

Andrew General

Weight: 128.4kg (133.5 last week)
Body fat %: 32.8 (35.3 last week) which equates to 42.1 kg of fat ( 47.1 last week). [Edit: corrected the order of this week's and last week's percentages. Thanks Mr Beagl!]

So, by those numbers, I dropped 5.1 kg, most of which was fat.

I’m not sure I believe that, 100%. While I’ve dropped some mass, I’m sure, that just seems too high. Next week’s numbers will be interesting, I’m sure.

Exercise: 3 days of week one of the Couch to 5k program, with some cross trainer to finish. 2 days of 45-60 minutes of cross trainer. 3 days also included weights work.

Diet: Following the “program” pretty much accurately – 1 shake, 1 soup, 1 snack bar, 1 vege based snack, 1 vege and protein based meal and 1 small piece of fruit.

Hunger: Most of the time. Ignoring it.

Energy levels: Normal to high. Mental focus seems stronger. Not sleeping well, but that may be due to the wee dog that’s temporarily in our lives (and our bedroom, at night).

That’s all for now – more next week.

Andrew General

So, late last year, I spent just over a week back in New Zealand.

While I know that New Zealand will always be home in the broadest of possible senses, I feel that we’ve made ourselves a new home here in Australia.

In many ways, Australia is the easiest of all possible “Leaving New Zealand” options – which probably goes some way towards explaining its popularity. It’s relatively cheap to get to, there are no hassles with work permits or immigration, no (real) language barrier (more on that later), and if there’s an urgent need to get back to NZ, it’s easy enough to do so.

So, after being here for a year, there are a few things we’ve noticed that are worth mentioning.

The Good:

• Warmer weather.
• Salary increases (in real terms) and income tax decreases (much higher thresholds). These two combined mean that we have more cash in the bank than we’ve had before, even after dealing with the moving and re-purchasing costs.
• Apartment with a great view, in a great location
• Career change opportunities not present in smaller cities.
• Roading systems. The amount of forethought is impressive.
• Ditto, public transport.
• Restaurants. These go some way towards explaining my expanding waistline.
• Convertible for commuting, and weather to take advantage of it.

The Bad:

• Australian accents. Generally not too bad, but sometimes, you hear someone who sounds like a bad parody, and it hurts. On the positive side, I’ve become rather good at parodying them, which seems to shut people up nicely, if they start in on the mockery.
• The downward drawl. Where New Zealand has the excruciating upwards inflection, Australia has the downward drawl from the same socioeconomic demographic. Both are equally slapworthy.
• Distance from friends and family. Easier for me than Marie, since I’m used to maintaining my friendships electronically, but still. At least it’s curbed my drinking markedly.

The Slightly Strange:

• Road rule differences. Vehicles turning left at an intersection have the right of way over those turning right, for one thing… and “hook” right turns. Both take a bit of getting used to, but make a certain amount of sense in this roading environment.
• Shop names are all different. Without local guides, I’d never have guessed that a Safeway was a supermarket, and a Big W was the equivalent of The Warehouse.

All in all, we’re happy here. There’s a much greater variety of things to do, more career options. I’m working at a job which, while far from perfect in many regards, has given me a lot of room for personal growth and learning, and could suck a lot more than it does. I’ve got income and enough free time to actively progress my photography, and there’s a large enough population here that it’s a far more viable career choice (once my skills and equipment are fully up to the task), and there’s a huge pool of potential photographic subjects.

Basically, my only real regret is not making this move 7 or 8 years ago. Of course, if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have brought a Marie with me…

Andrew General Announcement, Melbourne, thoughts