From the Darkness of His Castle, He Returns..

Blahh! I am the Count and I love to count! Thats right, the Count he returns, the calorie count that is. After a successful weight loss journey in Japan I need to take this to the next level and the counting cals has worked well for me before. I don't like the term "counting calories", mainly due to the emphasis and stigma placed on it by the media, but nonetheless it has worked well for me in the past.

Today another step forward in the controlling and monitoring of my mind to stop binge eating. I got massive cravings after having a small serve of sweets from my gut telling me "just have some more it'll be alright your hungry". I caught the thought in my mind and reasoned it. I responded with "come on mate, you can't be hungry you've just had your afternoon snack, your just bullshitting me, come on" This is great success and is a massive step forward in my thinking.

A relaxing day at home where I got a lot done, followed my calorie level very well potentially on the side of too small. I then topped this off with cycling for 1.5 hours to/from Oztag along with the Oztag itself. All in all a very positive day, lets avoid the dip, Alpha and Out!

Back Home : So Close

A great trip to Japan has been capped off by a long day of travelling. A great trip with many train trips to relax and ponder rebuilding my life and specifically working towards my health and fitness goals.

I finished the trip weighing 95.4kg, 400 grams off my goal of 5kg. I am happy with that as it gives me a great base to work off. I will update you all with my scribblings and really nutted out my weight-loss and fitness goals. A short one tonight with more to follow. Alpha and Out!

3.5 Down; 1.5+ To Go

A weekend of trains, buses, cable cars and a buffet breakfast have slowed my weightloss but on the positive has done no damage. I am still sitting on 96.50kg's and content with that so far. The final 1.5kg's should melt off now that I'm back to walking and catching trains.

The weekend was spent up in the Japanese Alps. We checked out a folk village, tried the onsen (a mineral spa), cable cars and the general town. Now I'm back in Nagoya I can get into a routine of running, eating small and walking everywhere to melt off as much as possible. Alpha and Out!

Running

Embarked on my first run in Japan this afternoon. Went for a 30 minute jog around our accommodation in Nagoya. Despite the similarity in temperatures between Japan and Atlanta were I have both gone for runs the feeling in my lungs was quite different. In Atlanta the cold sucked in and strangled my lungs making breathing quite uncomfortable. However in Japan it was easy too breathe and I experienced no such discomfort. The only difference I can think of is pollution levels. With Atlanta recently being named America's most polluted city compared to Japan's outrageous hygienic culture it is quite possibly the answer.

Had a quiet day today but made up for it with the afternoon run. Heading up to the snow tomorrow which means colder weather which means more calories burnt just to keep warm plus skiing and walking. All up and up, Alpha and Out!

People, People Everywhere

Almost a week in Japan and the sheer amount of people especially on trains is amazing. I'm not even in Tokyo anymore but still people everywhere. If you are tired and/or hungry it can be quite frustrating at times. Other then those times it blends in as normal life.

I am still working my way to going for runs in the morning. The cold weather is keeping me asleep until 7:30-8am and we usually do not head out until 10am. Living with Mum eating Western size meals is also most likely slowing down my weight loss goal, all the more reason to start running I guess. Lets see if I can work my way to it. Alpha and Out!

Turning Japaneseer...

No snow but very chilly temperatures have stuck with us in Japan. A trip down the shinkansen, the bullet train has moved us onto Nagoya.

Weight loss Japan tourist-style is progressing nicely. The food in general over hear is very small in portion size. Although it is largely a carb based diet the small portion sizes negate most of the carb related weight gain. Despite the small serving you generally finish full but not bloated or heavy.

The tourist lifestyle of walking around taking in the sights is also great for torching those carbs. I estimate that since we got here we have been walking on average at least 5hrs a day with only short food stops providing relief. Accompying this once I get settled into Nagoya I will start running and body weight exercise. Knocking off 5kgs will be a cinch. Alpha and Out!

Meanwhile in Japan

Ah yes, internet access has returned and I find myself in a hotel in Japan. After a rough 24 hours to get to Tokyo which included a midnight 1 hour drive to Cabolture the night before a 7am morning flight and then a volcano in Japan causing light delay (thought it was going to be much worse!). Arrived in Tokyo in heavy snow, checked-in then went for a stroll around Ikebukuro in the snow. A big day yesterday in central Tokyo.

Ok other than a travel report I am using this 2 weeks in Japan as a "slate wiper". I will use it to reposition all the crap from the past 2 years into the past and begin the transformation into the Alpha. I also will start my weight loss again with help from cold weather, tourist daily walks and the generally small healthy servings of Japanese food. I reckon a loss of 5 kg's is a decent goal for the two week period. That will be a solid foundation for when I return so I can hit the ground running. Alpha and Out!

From the Archives:

Friday 4th February

Avoid the Crash, Avoid the Crash...

Avoid the Cr........ash! That was my mantra Monday night. After my usually full on and successful Monday in terms of exercise and diet I was feeling good and was happy to take out my contact lenses knowing my work was done for the day. However after a slight sleep in I still managed to get a dog walk in on Tuesday morning. However soon after a number of factors smashed me one after the other. Stress sent my cortisol through the roof. Combine this with not eating my planned snacks and lunch etc and the whole day imploded. A late night of TV escapism caused a complete meltdown on Wednesday. Thursday I made it until lunch time before again being rendered useless. Today however I have picked myself up and really pushed me through some work-related tasks.

Stress. It has severely affected my weight loss goal and sent my weight from a 90kg low in mid 2010 to a 100kg for most of December until now. While I have a lot to stress about, it all can be managed better. At this stage I have conditioned responses to stress (thank you psychology subjects) which involve snacking on bad food and escapism to television. However I need to approach why I am getting stressed and minimalising those messages. Looking back it is all the negative self talk in my head more than anything, corrupting my thoughts and poisoning my mind. It is time to employ a strategy to manage this as it is holding back all of my goals in the pursuit of the Alpha lifestyle. Let’s try the following for a week;

Strategy - “The Antidote”

Whenever I realise through introspection that my thoughts have gone negative I will snap a rubber band on my wrist and repeat the following -

“That is not true! You are the Alpha! Ain’t Nothing Gonna Bring You Down!”

Lets see how this treats me for a week. I can do it, Alpha and Out!

Communication Breakdown!

Unfortunately my circumstances have cut my access to the internet for the foreseeable future explaining the lack of new blogs. I have been trying to at least type them up on a daily basis but I only have a few so far (posted below). Things are quite hectic at the moment and my head is all over the place. In the next week or so I will endeavour to begin regular posting once more, Alpha and Out!

Monday 10th Jan

Title: Revamped

After the christmas- new years hangover period I have finally organised myself for another tilt on my weight-loss journey. I have revamped my training diary based on how I used my previous one. This meant having a section in the diet to write down any changes to my diet plan if I don’t have the correct food stuffs and a time based exercise bar in comparison to a planned exercise schedule. This will allow me to focus more on time spent exercising which is what I need at the moment in opposition to the type of exercising. I have also narrowed it down to a 4 week period. This will allow me to focus more on the blocks of time towards my goal in March rather then trying to keep focus on the whole 9-10 weeks.

This 4 week block will focus purely on fat loss and weight reduction. This means lots and lots of cardio while downsizing the time spent on weights.

Briefly I want to elaborate on my confidence, another crucial armament as Alpha. Last night I was out with my mates and we started to try and work on approaching people to start conversations. We managed to strike up one mainly due to the help from my mate. I felt no fear, nothing bad at all however for the rest of the night I just couldn’t approach anyone at all. This is all to do with confidence. While my confidence is returning it is still a small slice of what it was two years ago. Your confidence will always fluctuate on a day to day basis but at the end of the day it is a choice whether you pull it up or put it down. It’s all on You! I have got to work on pumping it up and removing the negativity that has sunk in over the past two years. Here we go again, Alpha and Out!

Sunday 23rd Jan

Better Tighten My Belt Before the Start

A week of reflection and reading has refocused me and has set me up for another tilt at the Alpha journey. Looking back, I was most fit when I had a performance goal to achieve as a triathlete. I have struggled throughout this year training for health and admittedly vanity however when I was training for triathlons I was jumping out of bed, gunning through the sessions and really enjoying life. In fact the main factor things began to unfold was that I was not making my training sessions. Now a large reason I had so much success was the tri-club around me, like minded people cheering me on, however at this stage aside from the financial limitation, my current fitness would see me at the bottom of the pack and could potentially do more damage so for now it is up to me and my trusty training manual purchased two years ago. In all aspects of my life I find things go smoothly when I have thoroughly planned them out.

Now to the belt tightening. As January draws to a close, the brief reprieve from my lack of funds due to credit cards and birthday money is also dimming over the horizon. This will limit my ability to follow a strict diet. However it also gives me the opportunity to practice the simplicity of dieting, portion control and luckily this aspect is where I am most lacking. I will for the next couple of months have to live off my grandparents and to ensure that I continue to lose weight this means portion control, portion control, wait-for-it......yes, portion control. My dietary focuses for the next 2 weeks before I go to Japan will be small, regular portions and attempting to stay away from sugar as much as possible. Lets do it. Alpha and Out!