The Low Down Skinny

Day 368 – 93.6 KGs

Justin Harrison — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:48:42 +0000

Thankfully this past week I managed to loose 1.9KGs – mainly I think because I managed my eating much better than the week before.

I am also getting closer to my first open water race of the season so it goes without saying that I have picked up the intensity of my training a little which I am sure has also helped a great deal.

I dont have a pic this week because I am sorting out my iPhone and iMac and somehow royally screwed up my phone – so hopefully next week I will have a pic to post.

Day 361 – 95.5 KGs

Justin Harrison — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:39:50 +0000

I am not sure what happen this last week, but somehow I managed to put on 1.3KGs and this despite me training like a Trojan. I have resided myself to the idea that maybe I have added some muscle, because I know for a fact there is no way I could have put on that much weight any other way.

Anyway here is this weeks pic. 15.5 KG’s top go…

354 – 94.2KG’s

Justin Harrison — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:54:51 +0000

So 300 grams off might not be the best result for this weeks effort, but hey I’ll take it. Right now the most important thing is that I have my midset in the right direction which is getting me out of bed (even on a rainy morning) and going for a walk around the block and getting me into the pool daily to do my training for the up and coming open water swimming season.

So this past week I see as building blocks, I have myself back into a routine, I am eating with more conscious thought and I have my race calander just about sorted out, so hopefully the body will start to follow the mind REAL SOON.

Here is this weeks pic… and yes I cropped the pic because ummm my package was showing

Day 347 – 94.5 Kilos

Justin Harrison — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:28:01 +0000

Last week was a really bad week for me, despite the best intentions I skipped out on training twice and I also over indulged in my snacking more than I would have cared to, however I keep saying that these things need to be used as lessons, and again I am trying to find that happy balance between listening to my body and being tricked by my mind into being lazy… oddly enough this week my motivation has come from a very special place.

Over the weekend I was in the company of someone that is paralyzed from the chest down and for the last 11 years has been fighting to regain movement and is fixated on the idea of walking again… lets just say it was humbling and made me realize even on my worst, laziest excuse filled day… I have no reason to skip out on the privilege of getting my body back into shape… enough said.

14.5 Kilos to go…

Day 340 – EISH

Justin Harrison — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:31:35 +0000

After what can only be described as the coldest winter I have ever experienced, sickness after sickness and an extended layoff, I am finally back into the swing of things are ready to tackle the last hurdle of my weight loss. Did I think it would take me 340 days to get just over half way… surely not, but then again I have chosen to do this for the long term, a lifestyle adjustment as apposed to the quick fix instant crash diet methods we’ve all become accustomed to.

During my layoff in winter I have packed on a few Kilos, not surprising since I took the last three months off completely. However I do take some lessons and positives away from the experience.

Firstly I will never ever try to keep swimming in winter ever again and next season I will migrate to free weight training in winter as part of my preparation for the summer swimming season… yes I know we have heated pools, but psychologically I intend to work with my body rather than against it.

Secondly, when winter comes or any change of season I intend to slow down on my training as I heave learnt that this is when the my bodies immune system is at it lowest and I am most likely to fall ill.

Last but not least, I have learnt I need a winter training wardrobe because honestly I was just totally unprepared for what winter threw at me this year.

Going Forward

My current weight after winter in 95K’s, which means I have 15 Kilos to loose over above the net 10 Kilos I am down already and since I have been in the pool for a full week already and my eating habits should fall back in line soon I am looking forward to shedding those last few kilo’s soon.

Here is my latest pic (day 340) – eish lots of work to do.

Your Bodies Natural Biorhythms

Justin Harrison — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 16:31:33 +0000

Over the years I’ve discovered that working against the natural flow of something is not always the most logical route to go, one of my sports coaches had a brilliant expression which is so relevant to this point, which is “never put a left handed person in to bat right handed” and this leads me to our body’s natural rhythms or the practice of Chronotherapy.

I’ve given a great deal of thought to this subject lately and as such have been researching my rear end off, especially since I have really been battling my motivation to get into gym during winter, not that I don’t want to train but psychologically getting up in the dark cold of the early morning holds about as much appeal to me as shoving my testicles in a blender.

And it seems there is a good reason for my feelings… its called Chronotherapy and this is the study of how our body’s natural rhythms’ impact our ability to process medications, react to situations and most of all adapt to training and weight loss.

Patterns like sleeping, menstrual cycles, even our physical response to the changing seasons, are different for everyone. In the old days we called these biorhythms. Today, doctors are finding that understanding a patient’s biorhythms, and coordinating the timing of their treatments and training to these biorhythms, can profoundly affect the outcome.

I can go into great detail about how this all works, but I think the best way to sum it up is as follows. Learn to work with your body and not against it. So here is an example in my case:

In summer I am up early and almost delighted to be out of the house and training as the sun rises, so its safe to say this is a good time to workout because my bodies natural biorhythm is in sync with what I am doing.

However I have found that in winter as much as I am a morning person in summer I am the total opposite in winter. In other words I hate getting our of bed early and far prefer to work and exercise later in the day. So even trying to work out early, even when I force myself is completely futile, because deep down my bodies biorhythm is just out of wack and that means my results are just crap.

So give some thought to what you’re doing and take the time to listen to your body, its the small things that count. Then work your schedule around that, because at a cellular level you just cant fool your body.

If you have questions please feel free to post them below, because I think after reading more than 3,000 pages on the subject including how the Chinese have used this in acupuncture I have some interesting insights to share.

Day 230 – Back From The Dead

Justin Harrison — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:27:48 +0000

After 28 days of umm **cough** rest, I feel like I am back from the dead or at least a very long dark coma. So besides not going to gym and really discovering how much I hate winter, I am glad to report that I have only put on half a kilogram and more than anything I’ve learnt a few important lessons about excess and body rhythms.

Its amazing, just when I think I have got a handle on this weight loss journey (you’d think I knew what I was doing after loosing 15 Kg’s without a diet or starvation) I learn time and time again that every kilo lost presents a new lesson about myself and about how our bodies really work.

So after countless spates of flue and some other rather weird illnesses this year I decided to enlist some professional help from a GP, and the tests revealed that I had zero immune system mostly attributed to over training. Seems my friends where right, and I have notched yet another valuable lesson.

So going forward I ill only be training every second day allowing a day of recovery in between every training session, its going to be tough, but I’ve learnt my lesson.

I’ve also taken the time time to start studying and reading stuff about the bodies natural biorhythms, and I have adjusted my training times in winter to midday because of my findings (I will post more of this in time to come).

Last but not least I am working on some new formats for my blog to allow for my hectic end of year schedule that’s coming up and I’ll keep you guys posted.

Day 200 – Fitness Test Results

Justin Harrison — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:31:43 +0000

So yesterday I had a fitness test with my local Biokinetist including a range of body measurements, which is the first test I have done since I started this weight loss journey 200 days ago and there are some amazing results.

On the fitness and conditioning side:

I did 67 pushups in a minute compared to 36 last time
I did 63 situps in a minute compared to 38 last time
My flexibility improved by 32%
My heart rate recovery improved by 196% (measure of fitness)

On the body stats and measurement side:

My body fat on my back and arms has fallen from 26% to 11%
My body fat on my belly and hips has fallen from 29% to 18%
My waist size has gone from 109 CM to 92cm
My wieght has dropped from 105 KG’s to 90.8Kg’s

All in all I am pretty happy, the only thing is now for the umpteenth time I YET AGAIN seem to be getting flue, which means I wont be able to swim my race this weekend and worse still is that I have to go through the same uncomfortable flue infected routine again – but then again things could be worse, I could be FAT!

Day 193 – ITS COLD

Justin Harrison — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:14:04 +0000

On my way to swimming the morning at 5am the outside temperature was a staggering 9 degrees centigrade and it took some serious will power to get in and do my 60 laps, but thankfully I did and I went right onto a 45 minute spinning session. So so far the pan to get my training our of the way early is working.

But all this cold weather got me thinking to one of the major factors of The Gabriel Method program and how certain conditions activate your fat programs, umm like fricken cold weather, so I visited the site again and picked up a great video I thought I should share, check it out.

Day 191 – Dilemma

Justin Harrison — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:25:41 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that getting up to train early in the mornings in winter is a real challenge for me, but now I have come across another problem and it seems the only solution is to wake up even earlier in the mornings now!

I basically have two sets of training to do each day, spinning, abs and cardio in the morning and swimming in the afternoons. But because of winter and especially the shorter days (daylight hours) and the low temperatures in the early morning and late afternoon it has a huge physiological affect on me and truthfully sometimes I really don’t feel like training at all.

I kind of thought I had got around this by having a 6am start in the gym instead of 5 am for my morning session and moving my afternoon swimming session to 4pm from 5pm, but the problem is that I have sometimes missed my evening swimming session because I have been working past 5pm and then when it comes to getting myself to the pool, its dark outside and cold and truthfully I just don’t feel like it no matter how much I try to will myself ahead.

So this morning I forced myself out of bed at 5am to hit the pool and then went straight on to my morning cardio session – the first day was not so bad, lets just see if I can keep this up.