The Starplex forum

Thought I would share my progress since I decided to try and get my old fitness levels back from around 8-9 years ago....

Back in June of last year, I was clinically obese with a BMI of 30.1, borderline high blood pressure, resting heart rate was in the 80`s. 3 Stones overweight. Physically this was the worst I have ever been in my entire life.

Just to give you an idea of what I then did. Quit smoking. Gave up alcohol. Completely overhauled my diet, cutting out all the junk food, no red meat, minimal dairy. Go back to the gym, working out between 5-10 times per week.


Here is me when I started back at the gym, first day... (to say I am ashamed of myself at this point is a severe understatement)


This photo was taken a couple of days ago...


I have lost 3 Stones in weight, my BMI is now around 24, in the healthy range. My blood pressure is on the low side of normal. Resting heart rate is 55 bpm. I have recently gone vegan. Still not smoking or drinking alcohol. Feeling fitter than I have for many years.

I feel I am 85% there with my physique. But my ultimate goal is to run another marathon this year and beat my previous time of 3:33

Ultimately, I would like to have my physique similar to this...



Hey! a man can dream can't he?

When did you start smoking? You never used to!

Started again while under a lot of stress when I was still at Interdart. Home stress, not work stress was the cause. I had previously stopped for about 15 years... Dumb move starting again. Probably ended up smoking for about six years and stopped end of June last year.

This vegan thing can be a bit tough! But it seems to be physically agreeing with me.

Today, after almost exactly 7 months since I started my training, I have pretty much hit my target weight... Have lost 44 Pounds since I started and am now precisely 140 Pounds or 10 Stone or 63.5Kg. For those who don't want to add up, I was 184 Pounds or 13 Stone 2 Pounds or 83.5Kg when I started out.

Here is a photo to go with, taken the same day.


All I have to do now?
Work on lowering my body fat to get it to 10%, currently stands at 18%. But without losing any more weight. So I need to make sure that I gain some muscle mass at the same time.

The great thing is that my visceral fat, that which surrounds your organs, is at 8% which is really a good level.

Currently
Body fat 18%, Muscle mass 40%, visceral fat 8%

Maybe by the Summer, I will have my beach body!!!

Had an NHS check done today. This is a very basic health test for men and women over the age of 40.

You get a blood test which measures your cholesterol levels, weight and height are taken to give you your BMI score, blood pressure is taken.
They also ask a series of lifestyle questions which all together are used to give an indicator of your likelihood of developing Type 2 Diabetes or cardiovascular disease over the next ten years.

My results?

Serum Cholesterol level: 3.35 mmol/L (7.0 is highest safe level)
Serum HDL Cholesterol level: 1.40 mmol/L (This is good, but a bit higher would be even better, say 1.6)
Serum Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 2.4 (4.5 is highest safe level)

Blood pressure: 120/76 mmHg

Type 2 diabetes 10 year risk: 3.9%
Cardiovascular disease 10 year risk: 3.3%

You're over 40 now?

Today's news...

Weight: 9 stone 13 pounds
Body fat: 16.6% (only 6.6% to go)
BMI: 23.8
Muscle mass: 40.2%
Visceral fat: 8%

Body fat percentage calculator

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat- ... ormula.php

Minor achievement last night at the gym on the treadmill. Managed my fastest 1 mile run for about the last ten years.

6 minutes, 35 seconds which is around 9.1 mph

Next attempt, I will go for sub 6.5 minutes!