The yo-yo-ing weight story

Just a bit of a background of myself.  I have probably spent most of adult life obese with a BMI greater than 30.  Since moving away from home to go to university 8 years prior I lived a quite an unhealthy lifestyle which resulted in obesity.

In the summer of 2010 at the age of 26, I weighed approximately 110 kg.   I didn’t think much of it until I was on a night out with some friends.  One of my friends who is in the military poked me in my belly and said, “you need to sort that out.”   That message became embedded into my head and the next day, I entered the Conwy half marathon.   The race was 4 or 5 months ahead and during that time I did not drink, any alcohol even touched a takeaway and avoided all sugary foods.  By the time of the Conwy half, I had dropped several waist sizes and a whopping 20 kg and managed to complete the course in 1hr47.  The following year, I have completed my first ever marathon (Snowdonia) in 4hrs.

Fast forward to 2012, I was thick in the writing up my PhD thesis.  My funding had finished and because I was technically still in full-time education I was not entitled to any benefits support.  Despite some short-term income I was living on fresh air and reliant on support from my parents.  My mental wellbeing was plummeting which rapidly and was completely consumed with severe anxiety.  The anxiety would often prevent from sleeping for consecutive days.  The cause of the anxiety was the impending deadline of my write up.  Anxiety also impedes any form of rational thinking and I began to slip into an unhealthy style of regularly drinking sugary energy drinks, eating convenience food and heavy drinking.  Over the number of months, I started to put on the weight and ended up back to near my pre-2010 weight.

Recently, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and mild ADHD (this is another story) but these make me a prime candidate for someone who suffers from anxiety.

In 2013, I was lucky enough to get a science research job overseas (all expenses paid).  I worked long hours and thought very little about getting back into a healthy lifestyle until after I returned to the UK and was introduced into parkrun.   In November 2013, I completed my first parkrun in 31 minutes.   This was the catalyst to get back into training to better my time each week.  I wrote a blog piece on my parkrun progress http://markcoop84.blogspot.com/2014/02/parkrun-time-improvements.html

I also starting to lose weight at a healthy rate of 2lb per week (see link for more details http://markcoop84.blogspot.com/2014/02/getting-slimmer.html )

Then this was all put on hold when I went overseas again to carry out more scientific research but this sandwiched a personal challenge of completing 10 half marathons within a calendar year with the final half being Conwy half (where it initially started) in a PB of 98 minutes.  I had also become quite savvy with my healthy eating particularly after reading Tim Ferris – 4-hour body.  I followed a slow carb diet which resulted in further weight loss without any obvious muscle wastage to approximately 77 kg.  see this blog post http://markcoop84.blogspot.com/2015/07/weight-loss-story-first-draft.html 

The following year, I ran a half marathon PB in Exeter just on the wrong side of sub-90.  I entered NSRRA and eventually finished as runner-up in a very competitive group.  I also ran three marathons that year including running a PB in Snowdonia.  The following year, I began training for London.  The training plan took my fitness levels increased to a whole new level running a new parkrun PB in 19:07.  Unfortunately, my marathon training became hindered when I work longer and more obscure hours.  I also, I went to my best mates wedding in Australia and on my return, a nasty chest infection meant that my London marathon dream had to be shelved until the next year.   I was a bit distraught and never really got back into serious regular training or competitive in NSRRA.  The following year I was still working in obscure hours in Manchester so rarely got into regular training routine although I managed to avoid slipping back into bad diet habits.  The following year, despite being undercooked in training, I ran the London marathon.  I loved the whole London experience, and this convinced me to change my job and move back to Stoke-On-Trent on a permanent basis.   I was started to up my training and bag PBs at both 5k and 10k distance and ultimately winning my NSRRA group on the final race of the season.

This now brings me to my current situation.  In the last months, I have completed my teacher training which has consumed all my time.  During term time, I was regularly working more 80 hrs per week which meant that my running has been put back on the back burner.  I also, unfortunately, slipped back onto unhealthy dietary habits resulting in a gain of three stone. 

I have set myself the target of dropping this recent weight gain and improve my fitness levels to run another parkrun PB.   I know this is going to be a challenge but the outcome will be well worth it.

Snowdonia Trail half marathon: 26/7/2015

http://snowdoniatrailmarathon.com/

So far in my short amateur running career I have completed 22 half marathons and the Snowdonia Trail half marathon was probably toughest but most enjoyable half marathon of all of them.  I originally signed up to do the full marathon but due to a busy schedule of races especially competing in NSRRA.  I decided to be sensible and only do the half marathon.

Left to Right: Fred, Me and Sam

I was running this race along with a couple of good friends Fred who also opted to do the half following a recovery from a recent illness and Sam who decided to still the run the full marathon distance.

Wet and windy conditions outside race HQ

In the few days before the race, I stayed at my parent’s caravan on the Llŷn Peninsula which is a 45 minute drive away from the start of the race.   The weather forecast for the race was windy, cold with persistent heavy rain.  On the day of the race the weather forecast was correct, I arrived in Llanberis to absolutely horrendous weather conditions.  I immediately got kitted up (waterproofs were definitely required) applied plenty of vasoline (runners know why) and I caught up with Fred and Sam.   One of the worst parts of race was the 10 – 15 minutes before the race.  All the runners were crammed in the starting pen located in the field next to Electric Mountain to listen to pre-race safety briefing.  There was a small tent to shelter 100’s of runners so most people were already cold and wet before the race had even began.

Fred and Sam had located themselves nearer to the front of the pen whilst I stayed towards the back.  The race had started we left the field crossed over the road then headed along the high street before heading up Capel-Coch road and onto Ceunant street.  The road steepens before passing the YMCA located part of the way.  When the road had steepened loads of people stopped running and started to power walk up the hill.  I found it really difficult to overtake due to the volume of runners at this stage of the race.  Weaving in and out I managed to continue running as the road became telegraph road.   The best way to describe telegraph road is a farmer’s track with lots of loose materials, definitely unsuitable for anything other than a tractor or an off-road 4 x 4.  It was still very cold and wet, I was feeling despite the cold conditions despite wearing water proof layers.   I managed to still overtake a few people who had started to walk.

Telegraph road climb

At top of telegraph road we were greeted with marshals at Cwm Brwynog.  This point marks the first bit of descent in the race after 5 miles of climbing, I stop for a quick toilet break before pegging downhill across boggy terrain with extensive cover of Juncus.  At the bottom of this descent is the Snowdon ranger’s path and the point where marathon runners separate from the half marathon runners.  Marathon veered right to do the additional miles before Snowdon whilst half marathon runners veered left up the Snowdon rangers path to the summit of Snowdon.    At this point, I had warmed up from the quick run-down hill and descent strip off the waterproof jacket.  Also after the split the number of runner were stretched as majority of runners were running the full distance marathon.  I continued running along the rangers track until I reached the steep zigzags.  It was this point I decided to put on my water proofs back on and join the masses that were power walking towards the summit.   The weather was quite bad at this stage with wind and rain not mention very poor visibility.  I glance down at my watch to find it read 25 m/m so it was definitely a slow final ascent towards the summit.  

Once I reached or the finger stone which is technically not quite the summit, I gotten quite cold.  Now that I am starting to descend again I tried to start running again.  A few paces was required for me to get going again.  I briefly spoke to a fellow runner on the top as I gradually built up speed on the descent of the Llanberis path.  The first part of is really steep and I lacked to the confidence to run down at speed and I found myself clambering down periodically using the fence for support.  Once I had gotten pass this section I had the confidence to hammer the quads and run down at speed.   I glance down at my watch to see that on average I was 7:00 m/m downhill and even sneaked under 7 a couple of times basically my pace was 4 times faster down hill than the final stages of the up hill.   Just before the halfway café I had caught up with 4 runners I ran with them for a moment before flying pass them.  Just a bit further on I had a brief chat with another runner from Ireland before shooting off.  At this point many hikers had realised that there was a race going on.  Most of them moved to the side and cheered as I went past.   At the bottom of the Llanberis path is a tarmac section, this was probably the worse bit as running on tarmac in trail shoes is not very comfortable.  Any the tarmac section was shortened as the route was diverted through a forest trail just after the Penceunant Tea Rooms.   This trail was quite boggy corresponding to the volume of rain and numerous exposed roots provided plenty of trip hazards. 

The final 3 miles was a bit of a nasty surprise.  At 10 miles I had arrived back into Llanberis but to make it up to half marathon distance there was a loop of the Dinorwig slate quarries.  The ascent was sharp and steep, once again I was reduced power walking in parts.  Some of the exposed slate was also quite slippy due to the wet weather conditions.  The route zig zag past some of the old historic workings during the ascent 3 or 4 people passed me.   However once I had reached the top I was able to descend again at speed overtaking the runners that had passed on the way up and also passing a couple more people.   At the bottom of the quarries a friend of mine was marshalling and gave me a shout.  I know that I was home and dry (not really that dry), I was able to conjure up a sprint finish overtaking one final runner before crossing the finishing line in a gun time of 2:38:14 and a chip time of 2:37:29.  I finished in 40^th place out of 278 runners which was quite satisfying.  Fred had finished in 4^th place and a good 30 mins before me.  I went to see the sport therapist and got massage, I also got myself a pizza and cheered the others that crossed the finishing line.

finishing medal

The Snowdonia trail half marathon was the most gruelling half marathon I have ever ran.  The weather was absolutely shocking and I loved every second of it.  Even though as I write this blog post 4 days on I find the stairs to be a painful experience, I really looking forward to running it again next year.

Things that I have learnt:

• Fell running is more technically challenging than road running
• Fell running is more fun than road running
• Fell running is better than road running
• I want to run more fell and less road in the future

Race split times for each mile

Weight Loss Story (first draft)

If you want to shred an extra weight, you can apply the simple equation if you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight.  On the other hand, consuming more calories than what you burn off leads to weight gains.   So basically if you eat and exercise more you will lose weight, however, calorie restricted diets are not sustainable and exercise alone is a very difficult way of creating a calorie deficit.  Furthermore, combining restricted calorie restricted diets and increased exercise lead may lead to reduced performance, becoming more lethargic and reduced immune system making you more prone to illness.  This latter approach is definitely not sustainable for long periods of time.

These are often short-term approaches that lead to initial weight loss but the weight is gained once you completed this ‘fad’ diet and returned to your usual lifestyle.   The only option is a complete lifestyle change.   This blog is focused on how I managed to shift more 70 lbs, lowering my waist size from 38” to 32” and still maintain a good level of exercise without feeling lethargic or drained.  Some of my ideas were taken from Tim Ferriss – the four-hour body.  

If you are overweight then unless you have a medical issue (e.g. thyroids) then the chances are you have some bad lifestyle habits.  For me, I was a sucker for sugary energy drinks, alcohol, rubbish junk food and take-aways.  When I was at my biggest I weighed 110 kg or 243 lbs (17 stone).

If you can identify what aspect of your diet has resulted in your extra weight gain then you have already made great process.   Probably worth writing a list of things that you consume and if it contains plenty of sugar then it is a likely cause of being weight gain.  Stopping abruptly of these sugary foods can be difficult especially as sugary foods are addictive.  My advice would be to make a slow transgression you know that you might struggle.  I started my replacing sugary energy drinks with diet cokes for example.  I also went through a period of having limited money so that helped me to cut out eating out all the time.  

The next thing to do highlight some short-term realistic targets.  For me every weekend I was determined to better the previous weekend’s PB.   By the training and losing a little bit of weight, I was able to improve my course PB on almost a weekly basis. 

Also, at this stage by avoiding eating crap food and alcohol and increasing running to three times a week.  I also made sure I never skipped breakfast and now religiously I had 2 Weetabix biscuits with either skimmed or semi-skimmed milk.  I also targeted my daily calorie intake to 2000. Almost, immediately, the weight began to drop off me.  I weighed myself once a week on the same day at the same time.  It important to do this as your body weight can fluctuate depending on how hydrated you are (a couple of kgs is possible).   Therefore, if you keeping a record then it important to keep the conditions the same in order to gauge any differences in mass more accurately.  For me, I weigh myself first thing in the morning on a Thursday before breakfast and after a toilet visit.  Anyway, by sticking to 2000 calories per day (probably 1800 calories would be a good target for females), I started to get lighter.   The lighter I got the easier I found running got easier and my parkrun times drastically improved.  I have been losing weight at a consistent rate of 1-2 lb per week.  After a period of time, I finally lost > 40 lbs dropping a couple of waist sizes in the process.

However, my progress was postponed when I went away to Northern Canada on fieldwork for 4 months of the summer.  I returned to the UK in October and ran the Robin half marathon in Nottingham.  During this race, I picked up an injury, common runner injury of ITB giving me pain around my knee.  I also persevered through the Congleton half and Great South West run with this injury.  After I decided to take a complete month off from running.  I made a return at the Conwy Half a month later to bag a new PB.  Then in December I went away to San Francisco and came back in time for Christmas.  Anyway before going off too much of a tangent in this period between October and December exercise was sporadic and I didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating.   It was only in January with the Stoke FIT Awesome by April that I decided to pay attention to my lifestyle.

However, I have recently been reading the 4-hour body by Tim Ferriss.   There are lots of interesting stuff written in this book I got particularly interested in the chapter on subtracting fat.  In this particular chapter, Tim recommends eating simple meals that comprise a combination of proteins, legumes and vegetables (see lists below).  If you are feeling hungry eat the same food again.

Proteins:

·         Egg whites with one whole egg for flavour

·         Chicken (no skin)

·         Beef

·         Pork

·         Fish

Legumes:

·         Lentils

·         Black beans

·         Butter beans

·         Pinto beans

Vegetables:

·         Spinach

·         Asparagus

·         Broccoli

·         Peas

·         kale

·         Mixed vegetables

So for lunch and evening meals, this is pretty what I ate.   My favourite was black beans, lentils or a combination with kale.   From the protein list, I would ribeye steak after a tough training session and chicken, salmon or tuna for other meals.   I would eat for 6 days a week giving myself a cheat day at the weekend.   However, Tim recommends this type of meal for breakfast but I decided to stick to a bowl of muesli.  Despite eating these meals I was still able to train hard including running up to 20 miles for the Stafford 20 and training for potteries marathon.

In the first week of January, I weighed 189 lbs.  I stuck to this diet all the way through to April and dropped a further 20 lbs.   I never felt lethargic or hungry during this time.  I was also able to put in some intense speed training and some long distance running without any negative impacts related to my diet.   I also started to go to the gym before work mainly because I am an early person and I didn’t want to start work too early.  In the gym, I did a bit work with weights and kettlebells which might have contributed to my weight loss along with the diet.  On my cheat days, I would consume a huge packet of crisps, eat curry and drink loads of beer.  In his book, Tim Ferriss recommends having a cheat day once a week to help reset a slowing metabolism.  It is also good to reward yourself for eating healthy for 6 days too.

Losing the weight I have seen substantial improvements in performance.  I have seen my parkrun times improve from 31:17 to 20:01.  I have seen my 10K race times improve from 55 mins to 41 mins and my half marathon times improve from 2:21 to 1:33.    I am currently running in good form but this is all down to losing the equivalent of 35 bags of sugar.  I really don't think I could run with that weight in a backpack.  Also, there is a similar story with Graham McLachlan from the Michelin running he has lost a quite a bit of weight and is now smashing all of his course times by big margins.