Face the Fat FACTS!

I'm sure it is better to get back on track asap rather than put my head in the sand for another few weeks of the winter and let the chub build up to epic proportions! .....

so today I braved myself to get back on the scales, and as I feared ..... 12st 7lbs!

I think an honest reflection on why this has happened will help me to sort out what to do ... so here's my december review.

It IS partly cos of my treament, but I cannot let that stnad as the whole story, cos that would be to ignore these other facts, so here it is ...

Puddings: several consumed, lemon tart with icecream, xmas type with brandy butter .. hmm

Christmas cake: not huge amounts, but the wife eats more of it and she has put on 9 pounds so that's a clue!

General portion size: neglected altogether where scrupulopus care is needed on carbs and BUTTER!

Eating out: far too often and choosing things that don't really fit in the programme,.

Cheese: I am going to stop buying this again, I eat it when I get out of hospital when my taste buds are all askew and I feel really sick, but I need to find something with less calories to fill that need.

Drinks: - I still dont touch alcohol, but think the sugar in the cordials I've been getting is probably an easy thing to cut out again.

Sweets and chocs: far fewer than most years, which makes me think I ususally put on more than 1/2 a stone in December!

Meat: far more than usual, immediately bumps both calories in itself compared to a veg-based meal, and seems to encourage more fatty accesories ..

post-chemo cycling stats

Nov 30th - first ride out on my own, along canal to Etrutria museum
Weather: blue sky, might have collected some vitamin D!
stats:
9.78 miles, ave speed: 10.6, max: 19.9, time: 55 minutes.

Weds 2nd Dec. along to cousin Poe's, across rough track to Fenton, bobbed into college, down to canal and home. Sunny again! Whoo, nearly took my gloves off (but resisted)
11.16 miles, ave speed: 9.3, max: 20.6, time: 1hr 12 mins.
Feel great.
----------------

Tues 8th Dec. Due to domestic-fire-drama we didn't cycle together at the weekend, but I resolved to go to the hospital for blood test on bike today. Worked out really well.
Took direct route down Leek Rd, through Stoke and up Clayton Lane to the hospital, but chose a great scenic route back. Down through the lane to Trentham, across A34 to the cycle path they've made which joins to the Canal .. along the canal to the station, then a bit on Leek Rd before diving off on the urban park and lanes from Joiner Square to Berryhill. I hope to do this every time I'm going for blood tests . . . it was really lovely.

16.6 miles, ave speed: 10.6, max: 25.1, time: 1hr 33 minutes.

---------------------------

walking wellie-count

Slight variation on usual style, am going to keep editing this thread to tally up my stepper for a month .. then do one a month during the treatment ...

Went in for first chemo treatment from Tues - Thursday 24th 26th Nov

Number of walks round lake since operation = 4
1. on me own, b4 chemo Mon 23rd Nov.
2. with Mand on Friday, 27th Nov.
3. with B, Sunday, 29th Nov.
4. on me own, Tuesday, 1st Dec.
(I thought it was going to be icy, but by time I got out, could really have gone on bike: no ice left! but had eye on Christmas shopping too!)

Have got a battery and resurrected the stepper - ridiculously low score, cos I didn't really go out, Thursday 3rd Dec .. 3,300 ... need to do better than that!

Friday 4th Dec: 10, 800.First walk around lake with stepper on ... Not bad but thought it would be more!

Sat 5th Dec: 6,500

Sun 6th Dec: 4, 200

Monday 7th Dec: 7,200 - good considering I didn't go out!

Tuesday's score went over 14,000 - but that wasn't really walking, cos I was on the bike .. so the count is unreliable, sometimes pedal strokes count, and sometimes they dont -- hmm, might work better with counter on sock instead of waist-band ... ?

Wednesday 9th Dec: 10,700 - pretty good, amassed in car parks of various shops and around town.

Thursday 10th Dec: only 3,500 -- but I was very low-key cos the last two days and the 2nd swine flu jab really wore me out, and I needed to rest today.

Friday 11th Dec: 10,700 -pretty good, and goes to show how much walking I do when I pop up town.

Sat 12th Dec: 9,200 - this included a delightful little climb up on the Roaches, such a bright sunny day, and with lovely friends too.

Sunday 13th Dec: 12,300 - round the Italian gardens and 1/2 the lake today. More sun and more great fun with the two jays.

Monday 14th Dec: 7,500

Tues 15th Dec: 4,300 - in hospital, dunno how it got so high?

Weds 16th Dec: 1,200 - in hospital, in bed mostly!

Thurs 17th Dec: c. 3000? can't remember, but we did walk a bit when I got out of hospital

Fri 18th Dec: 7,100 ... seems low considering Mand and I went round the gardens and the lake and the shops today, at Trentham!

Sat 19th Dec: 10,200. Good walk up the back to Thursfield's Garden Centre, to get replacement mistletoe. Lovely walk with bits of snow and ice on the roadside, but not too treacherous underfoot.

Sun 20th Dec: 9,700 another good walk up the lane and yomping over the moors in the snow. A big YAY for ski pants! They almost looked at home with snow on them!

Mon 21st Dec: 3, 300. Paltry, was quite tired again today

Tues 22nd Dec: 9,100. Mainly accumulated doing our "big shop" in Sainsbo's!

Weds 23rd Dec: 6,800

Thurs 24th Dec:

Fri 25th Dec:

Back on The Bike

Yay - not quite 6 weeks since the operation, but thought it was OK since we were only going on the flat ..

We drove out to Okeover and did ten miles up the Tissington Trail ... took about an hour and there were very few other people about.

We had lunch at the Okeover Arms, a great pub with a lovely landlord and landlady if you are ever near Ashbourne, their food is excellent.

This week my weight was still 11st 12, which is GOOD.

I celebrated this with cheese and bacon oatcake for breakfast and panini and chips for lunch at the pub!

.. oh well, I wont be eating much this week when I am in hospital for nearly three days!

Other major news this week is that I drove myself out to Trentham and walked all around the lake, proving to myself that I CAN go all around very easily AS WELL AS the great issue of getting myself out on my own too .. so YAY!

A good week ...

progress

Five weeks since the operation.

Pleased to note that I am still under 12 stone and not piling weight on due to inactivity .. it's hard when you're at home all day not to snack a lot .. I keep saying I'm going to eat fruit if I want to snack ... hmmm

My target weight is 11 stones and I really would like to get there, it's important when you're losing weight to have a goal, and that is mine... even though progress has been slowed right down the past three months or so, it is still going down, bit at a time.

We walked a fair bit in Llandudno this weekend, several times up and down the promenade, and one long haul up the gardens (Happy Valley, is it really called that!?) and along the top of the Orme to the very summit ... it's not exactly Mont Ventoux, but it is quite steep, in parts and I enjoyed the climb. Even better: it was sunny and we didn't need the ski pants!

What is amazing about eating out is the way menus conceal huge amounts of calories. OK - you expect cream if you order a pudding but when you order salmon and cabbage you dont expect the cabbage bit to be more bacon and cream than cabbage, do you? Well I didn't .. on reflection it did say "creamed" cabbage on the menu, but literally two spoons of shredded cabbage and three spoons of cream ...

on the other hand it was delicious and went amazingly well with the fish!

:)

moving

OK - it's not much on the great scale of things, but I am determined to keep moving more through this lot of treatment than I did last time, for all sorts of reasons.

To this end I need to go out on my own and walk, and when I am fit enough to ride again, to ride on my own.

I managed to do get out and walk on Monday and again today. This is a massive achievement because getting myself up and out on my own is hard for me. I feel VERY GOOD!

I try to kid myself it's cos I am sociable and like a companion for my activity, but I think the truth is that I quickly revert to lazy when I am on my own without someone encouraging me to move!

haha ...

CANCER

dja know, I never really swear in these blogs -- family audience and all ..

but seriously






FUCK, FUCK, FUCKITY FUCK



I was SO sure I was ok --- so sure, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong.

Anyrate - lance wasn't the only one who could cycle up hills with mets on his lungs .. I have mets on my lungs, one on either side. Neat, symmetrical and seriously bad news.

And a "mini-muffin" sized tumour on my bowel has already been chopped out .. so I can hardly walk atm, never mind get on my bike.

The good news is my surgeon said I was a "dream to operate on" (great muscle tone, low resting pulse, low blood pressure etc) so the fitness regime has certainly helped.

In the back on my mind this 66% possibility of dealing with secondaries was always part of what the whole fitness thing was about ..


but still




FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK, eh?

more sportifs

I sort of feel like I'm getting bit by a cycling bug .. and want to do more organised rides .. There is a not too long one next month, which I reckon I can do - organised by Rourke's bike shop .. called the Cat and Fiddle.

Went out to look at the Cat and Fiddle climb this weekend .. it is lovely out there .. did 30 miles with two long climbs in it .. and tbh the c&f is not a hard climb, just a bit long and gentle, which suits me! Lovely views out as well.

I had my new (look) pedals and shoes on today - new pedals are a bit of a trick when starting off up-hill -- but I guess I'll get used to the technique of spinning it round to click in .. they feel great when I an actually peddling .. rock solid!

first sportif

we just did the 70km ride as part of a charity thing on the route they will use near here for the Tour of Britain ...

marvellous ..

http://www.tourride.co.uk/

mont ventoux - done

Aubergine and spinach recipes

Aubergine slices -
this is from a book called Vegetarian Express .. it's SO quick and easy to make!

in a shallow bowl mix:
spoon runny honey
spoon balsamic vinegar
spoon soy sauce
spoon sesame seed oil

(they said tablesppon, but it was more than I needed for one aubergine, so a big teaspoon might be enough)


Slice an auberinge in about 1/2 inch slices
dip them in the marinade

put them under the grill, again they said pre-heated but the sauce is prone to burn so I suggest a low heat to ensure the slices go soft.

grill on both sides - just a few minutes each - the slices do soften quite well - but since mine had got a bit too brown a bit too quickly I actually finshed them in the micro!

when nearly ready to serve, sprinkle a few sesame seeds on each slice ..

Their tip was to slap into pitta bread with a bit of hummous, which would obviously be very nice

we had it with pitta and spinach salad:

Spinach Salad
This is a Turkish recipe: Borani Esfanaj

1 finely chopped onion
tbsp ghee (worth using this - makes the flavour really good but olive oil would do)

4 cloves garlic

tsp turmeric
tsp cumin
tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardomom if you have it in
(a good curry powder / garam masala would stand in for this list of spicse, tbh!)

small squirt of chilli paste or tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper for a hint of hotness

big bag of spinch - washed and roughly chopped

small pot natural yogurt (greek would be best!)


Method
Fry onion in ghee without browning
Add garlic and fry a bit more
Add spices and fry a bit more
Add spinach and cook until wilted and softened
Add the yogurt - no need to cook that much,just stir in.

Add salt to taste - is good served luke warm or cold.

These are two of my favourite dishes just now - kind of BBQ-y and salad-y as though it were the summer and the sun was actually shining!

june - one year on

Woo - it is now a year since my reversal operation - and thus a whole year since I last had a drop of alcohol .. cool ..

My weight loss has pretty much stalled -- a little over 4 stones -- I'd still like to lose another stone or two -- but hey, it's good and it'll be ok eitehr way ..

I've also been getting very strong on the bike - and my new target is to do Alpe d'huez and Mont Ventoux in France this year ... I think this is really possible cos I have been training at accelerating up hills to build my stamina .. on hills that B tells me are the same sort of gradient .. only you have to do it for two solid hours! LOL

I've never actually cycled an alpine climb b4 - tho I've done the foothills of mont ventoux and seen them all in the car - domestique-ing for brigid .. well now she'll have to peel the bananas for me!

end of march

It is nearly ten months since my reversal operation, and I've been keeping to a good healthy eating regime the whole time since ...

My rate of weight loss has slowed, but this weekend I clocked in four stone lighter than I was at the start of June ...

I am pleaed with this progress and can't quite belive that I'm still finding it relatively easy to stick with it

:)

Another soup

I made this from just what I happened to have in, looking a bit worn out and sorry for themselves really - but it turned out to be a good sweet combo for a mildly spicy soup tha I'll probably do again:

This makes four massive portions

two onions
tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cardomom
ghee or veg oil

three or four parsnips
1/2 celeriac
two carrots
one sweet potato

1.5 litres chicken stock

Fry the onion in some ghee until starting to brown, add the spices and warm them through, but be careful not to over-heat

Add the stock and the other veg, which need to to be chopped.

Cook until tender, upto 1/2 an hour depending on toughness and age of the roots!

Puree - reheat if necessary

Check seasoning

serve with a little melt of ghee or butter and some broken walnut pieces sprinked on the top ...

:)

more 1/2 term

Well, me n the missis went back to strict "health farm" with healthy food and cycling on five consecutive days .. but I still don't seem to have lost anything this is a bit of a surprise. Maybe there were just too many pub-lunches and hidden extras that made a difference ..

Or it could be the old "muscle weighs more than fat" thingy! My legs are certainly very strong now after all the hill work I've been able to do .. including up to Lask Edge from Rudyard and up to AXE EDGE from Longnor -- that is such a fun ride .. reall slog up then a brilliant descent on another road back to the village!

I bought myself a jacket in TKMaxx and a couple of tops to snap up my wardrobe into a slightly more funky look, size 16, which feels a lot better than size 22! I don't want to spend much on clothes that wont be around for long, but need the encouragement of actually looking better .. TKMaxx is great for that!

1/2 term

I've lost three and 1/2 stones since my operation in June last year, which has been a good steady loss of about 2 pounds a week, most weeks.

This has been going good, but last week I had a blip, with no loss at all, mainly induced by too much snacking on sweet treats at work. I was glad to get to half term, cos my missis will keep a good eye on me and get me back on track.

To this end we are being very busy, gardening on Saturday, a few miles up and down the Tissington trail on Sunday and a staggering 25 miles today .. well I was staggering by the time we got back .. we were out for nearly three hours, non-stop and the reason it was a fairly low average speed is cos we did some good hills. In particular I stayed on for most of the climb up to Lask Edge from Rudyard ... not an easy climb. It was worth it though, the views from there are really good, you can see out all around across past Mow Cop into Cheshire on one side, and across to Morridge on the other side, and the Cloud behind . lovely.. especially as the weather was kind to us, no rain and quite bright mlost of the time we were out, really.

We had tomato soup and homemade bread for lunch when we got back, very tasty. Then we had jacket spud and a sort of waldorf salad with radishes and no mayo... it is really nice. If I carry on being this strict I reckon I'l be back on target at the next weigh in.

cauli curry

half a sweet potato - cubed
small cauliflower - small florets

large onion finely sliced
tin of tomatoes

ghee or veg oil (small as you can)
four cloves garlic
slice of ginger - finely chopped together

tsp ground coriander
tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp turmeric

boil the sweet spud for about ten minutes, when starting to soften add the cauli and boil both till soft

meanwhile fry garlic and ginger till soft
add spices and fry a bit more
add tinned tomatoes and mix well .. might need a drop of water as well

when veg are soft drain them and add to tomatoe sauce ... at this point you could serve straight away, but I put it in the oven on gas 4 to blend more and soften so the cauli was a soft as butter .. and really good to eat

served this with spinach and a left over jacket pototo which I cut into small cubes and cooked together with a bit more ghee and some chilli, fennel seeds and a pinch of powdered cardomom .....

this is an inspired spice combo, suggested to me from a diferent Madhur Jaffries recipe

christmas 2008 - lanzarote 4

Christmas lunch - well lunch nearly every day, crackers and mojo sauce! See the atlantic in the background? The waves were rolling in on the cliffs below us here, and there wasn't another soul in sight.

christmas 2008 - lanzarote 3

These three pics are all in the side of the volcano that rises above Papagayo beaches. We peddled out here on Christmas day, totally empty, and sort of beautiful in its own desolate way. The blue sky and crashing waves made it better than it looks here!

christmas 2008 - lanzarote 2

christmas 2008 - lanzarote

Christmas 2008 - Lanzarote lunch

We kept right fit-farm on this holiday .. what with cycling about on rough tracks alongside volcanoes, and other beaches and eating minimal lunches. Here I am getting excited about jumbo pizza, on the rare day we didn't have crackers for lunch!

It paid off, cos this MUST be the first xmas in my life when I haven't put on weight!