Slowly but surely and the importance of body fat

Well, like most people in the Western world, I am trying to loose weight or at best not put on any more.  Word to the wise, it's easier not to put it on in the first place.  I'm not following any particular diet regime, except that I'm trying to eat a little less and move a little more.

At one point, I had got quite obsessed, weighing myself every day but as too much of anything is no good thing, have since eased that urge to constantly check, which was not easy.  Weighing yourself in the morning, generally gets a lighter reading than say in the morning as your weight can fluctuate during the course of a day, so it's important to try and weigh yourself at the same time.

Unfortunately, there have been times when I have not been happy with the readings on the scales and this sadly, has then had a knock on effect on my day.  It seems my body likes to hold onto calories, in one sense this is good for building muscle in the gym but not for loosing weight or shrinking waist lines...

Then I tried something different, I used the scales in the chemist that also measure your body fat, to my initial confusion I found that although my overall weight was not going down as quick as I'd hoped, my body fat weight was.  In other words, I was building muscle which is by nature much more denser than fat.  Since then I have tried to take this reading every 3 months.  My results are below and although I've only lost 3.6 K.g over all, I have actually lost 4.8 kg of body fat; suggesting to me (and please correct me if I am wrong) that I am not loosing any muscle mass that is so often the risk with not eating enough and in fact am loosing body fat, and in some cases building more muscle which should then in turn burn more calories?  Still feels like a long way from 100kg and below though....

I welcome any constructive comments.
Thanks for reading my blog and if like me you were getting disheartened about not loosing weight fast enough, check out your body fat.  Cheers!

Date	Time	Weight (KG)	Height	BMI	Body Fat	Body Fat
			(m)		Mass (KG)	%
27-Apr-12	15:06	116.1	1.89	32.5	32.7	28.2%
31-Jul-12	14:13	114.9	1.89	32.2	29.5	25.7%
25-Oct-12	11:07	112.5	1.89	31.5	27.9	24.8%

My 1st Marathon - Wolverhampton Marathon 2012

Wolverhampton Marathon Sunday 2nd September 2012

Well, let me tell you, this was some way to end the summer holidays!  If I told you that I entered this marathon as little as 6 weeks before, you'll probably think me mad, I probably am (a little!)  Never-the-less I did it and now nearly 2 months later, I feel compelled to write this blog about it.  Can I say, only do what you think your body can handle, I in no way aim to promote how I went about training for this marathon, this blog is simply there to entertain and share my ideas.  There is more than one way to cook an egg...

Below is an outline of how I trained in August, I have also included what how I trained for July. 15th July was my 1st Olympic distance triathlon (City of Birmingham, just over 3hours);

Date	Activity	Distance (Miles)
01 July 2012	RUN	3.33
02 July 2012	BIKE	20.25
03 July 2012	RUN	3.2
04 July 2012	WALK	4.5
05 July 2012	REST
06 July 2012	BIKE	24.86
06 July 2012	RUN	6.21
07 July 2012	REST
08 July 2012	REST
09 July 2012	RUN	4
10 July 2012	REST
11 July 2012	BIKE	9.6
12 July 2012	REST
13 July 2012	REST
14 July 2012	REST
15 July 2012	SWIM	0.93
15 July 2012	BIKE	24.85
15 July 2012	RUN	6.21
16 July 2012	REST
17 July 2012	REST
18 July 2012	REST
19 July 2012	REST
20 July 2012	REST
21 July 2012	RUN	14
22 July 2012	BIKE	26
22 July 2012	X-TRAIN	0
23 July 2012	RUN	3.3
23 July 2012	SWIM	1.25
23 July 2012	X-TRAIN
24 July 2012	BIKE	51
24 July 2012	RUN	6.22
25 July 2012	RUN	3.4
25 July 2012	SWIM	1.56
25 July 2012	RUN	3.4
26 July 2012	REST
27 July 2012	BIKE	14
28 July 2012	REST
29 July 2012	BIKE	15.42
29 July 2012	RUN	5
30 July 2012	WALK	12
30 July 2012	RUN	12
31 July 2012	WEIGHTS
01 August 2012	SWIM	0.62
02 August 2012	SWIM	1.59
03 August 2012	RUN	3.1
04 August 2012	BIKE	37
05 August 2012	WEIGHTS
06 August 2012	WALK	2.7
07 August 2012	WALK	2.3
08 August 2012	REST
09 August 2012	BIKE	17.4
09 August 2012	BIKE	16.4
10 August 2012	WEIGHTS
11 August 2012	TURBO	5.4
11 August 2012	WALK	3.2
12 August 2012	BIKE	65
13 August 2012	REST
14 August 2012	REST
15 August 2012	REST
16 August 2012	REST
17 August 2012	SWIM	0.25
18 August 2012	REST
19 August 2012	REST
20 August 2012	RUN	7.41
21 August 2012	REST
22 August 2012	REST
23 August 2012	REST
24 August 2012	SWIM	0.32
25 August 2012	REST
26 August 2012	REST
27 August 2012	REST
28 August 2012	WALK	4.9
29 August 2012	REST
30 August 2012	REST
31 August 2012	RUN	3.2
01 September 2012	RUN	2
02 September 2012	RUN	26.2

As you can see, I didn't run large distances but aimed to train pretty much every day however towards the end, I did rest more.  I would also like to let you know that I don't really have a runners build, at 6'3" on race day I weighed 18 stone 4 Lb.  As a larger guy, my concerns were aimed at staying hydrated and not too hungry! I ran in a race belt, with 9 high-5 banana flavoured gels that I rationed throughout the run.  For breakfast, I had a 2-egg scrambled egg on 4 pieces of toast and half hour before the start of the run I ate a banana and had some high-5 zero drink.

I set my watch to count down 9:45 on repeat and this was my target time to try and cross each mile marker before the beep; I did this fairly steadily for the first 10miles, went through 10km in 57 mins but from 10 miles onwards, the belly began to rumble and I was hungry!  I drank at most water stations and had two pee stops over the marathon distance however a blister began brewing from mile 4.  Mile 11 was the first mile over 10min/mile pace and I went through the half marathon in 2:12.  Now Wolverhampton marathon is a 2 -lap course, I can not tell you how easy it would have been to peel off after that 1st lap and head to my car but I didn't.  Miles 14-18 were the worst, and I've never been so grateful to receive a jelly baby off a passing runner in my life!  I contemplated going into corner shops and trying to get mars bars on credit but kept going one foot in front of the other.  Then something happened.  I felt lighter, was this the wall?  Had I gone through it?

A group of lads handing out cartons of orange juice who at first riding towards me caused me to hestitate turned into my saviours and I kept going and going.  I even caught up a few of the runners who had over took me earlier. 

The race got hard again in the 20 miles, I missed a mile marker and began to doubt that I was moving.  The blister began talking.  Soon I recognised the park edge where the race finishes, I caught up another runner and as I crossed the finish line I became over whelmed but my legs would not stop!  I was very grateful that someone could take off the timing chip!  I was doubly grateful for a dip in the local swimming pool on my way back to the car! 

I'd done it!  Marathon goal truely ticked off in a time of 5hours 1minute 13 seconds.  My goal all along had been to go around 5 hours, I 'd predicted 4:50 and although I just missed 5 hours I was and am so happy with my achievement.   The blister was the size of two 50 pence pieces side by side. A word to the wise though, marathons are hard, I advise you train!  Mental toughness is a must!

Needless to say the following week I came down with a cold.  I've ran a few times since but strangely I've felt a little down. I need to sort out the next challenge but I'm rather disillusioned by entry fees. Until then, I've joined a masters swimming club in a new attempt to reduce my waist line.  Also considering growing a mo for movember and doing #turbovember twitter challenge.
Thanks for reading.