As anyone who has visited Scotland's capital city during August will know, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are rather jolly and social affairs.
Not only is it the perfect opportunity to see live comedy, theatre, concerts and art exhibitions - but it's also a great excuse to catch-up with friends. Certainly for me it's one of the main times of the year when visiting out-of-town acquaintances contact me and suggest meeting-up for a drink.
In the past I've never really thought about the effect that all this merriment has on my body. However this year is different.
Last Thursday I sat down with Luke at Luke Bremner Fitness to go through my diet sheets, home workouts, and for him to take my monthly measurements. The results were very revealing.
I'd already highlighted to Luke - through the colour-coding of my diet sheets - that I'd dined-out a lot more over the past month and consumed more alcohol than usual. This translated into less body fat loss than we had scheduled for, only 0.4% - from 18.4% to 18%. I know it's a loss, which I'm happy about, but it wasn't the full 1% target I'd originally set myself.
In fact all my body stats over the past month have only had minor improvements. Although my chest and waist measurements have significantly decreased since I started my fitness regime in April - it is now my waistline that is decreasing less rapidly.
As Luke explained to me there were two reasons - in addition to my recent excessive drinking and eating out - that were the cause of this.
The first was lack of sleep. On average I was sleeping for six to six and a half hours per night. No where near the eight hours sleep that we require. As Luke said to me "Sleep is the body's reset button." There was no real reason why my alarm was set for 06.30, so Luke suggested I push it back a bit. In addition he suggested no 'blue light' for at least half an hour before bed. So for me that means no iPad, iPhone, laptop or TV. Time for me to reconnect with books and magazines again.
The second reason why my waistline measurement isn't shrinking as fast as others is because, as Luke explained, I was failing to eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up. In fact, some mornings it was almost two hours between waking and eating*. As we all require nourishment after sleep, which trigger certain fat-burning chemicals, Mr Bremner's recommendation was that I make a concerted effort to keep to the 30 minute rule.
So far, so good. Apart from last Saturday evening - which included more Festival activities - I've managed to sleep for eight hours each night, and am already feeling the benefit. In addition I've altered my morning routine and now shower after breakfast instead of before it. This enables me to breakfast sooner, although I'm still finding it challenging to actually eat within 30 minutes from waking. Often it's more like 40 minutes.
However I'm interested to see how my monthly stats look the next time, especially when combined with the tougher exercises Luke has introduced me to recently. As always I'll report back on my progress. In the meantime, happy slumbers!
*A consequence of keeping very detailed diet sheets
The second reason why my waistline measurement isn't shrinking as fast as others is because, as Luke explained, I was failing to eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up. In fact, some mornings it was almost two hours between waking and eating*. As we all require nourishment after sleep, which trigger certain fat-burning chemicals, Mr Bremner's recommendation was that I make a concerted effort to keep to the 30 minute rule.
So far, so good. Apart from last Saturday evening - which included more Festival activities - I've managed to sleep for eight hours each night, and am already feeling the benefit. In addition I've altered my morning routine and now shower after breakfast instead of before it. This enables me to breakfast sooner, although I'm still finding it challenging to actually eat within 30 minutes from waking. Often it's more like 40 minutes.
However I'm interested to see how my monthly stats look the next time, especially when combined with the tougher exercises Luke has introduced me to recently. As always I'll report back on my progress. In the meantime, happy slumbers!
*A consequence of keeping very detailed diet sheets
