Paul Makepeace ;-)

May 7, 2007

I'm a lightweight (rower)

Posted in: Sport

This time last year I was the heaviest I've ever been and now, thirteen months later, the lightest I've been as an adult. In a year I've lost at least 10kg (22lbs, 1st8lbs). The significance of today however is that I weigh pretty much exactly 75.0kg which is the qualifying weight for Lightweight Rowing AND I did a benchmark 2,000m row. It wasn't very fast, 7:06, but then I am recovering from a sore throat and have a lung full of phlegm, not to mention still being on a calorie restricted diet (ergh).

According to my fancy Tanita scales I'm currently at 8.3% body fat. Which is pretty damn low; not quite "walking anatomy lesson" but certainly on the way. For comparison, male athletes vary between 6% and 12%; more here.

So, how did I lose 10kg? After hours of reading and assimilating scholarly nutritional texts, womens' magazines, physiologists' deepest secrets, and all the while studiously avoiding the fridge's whispered promises, I put together the following plan. My Magic Formula For Losing Weight is...


...eat less and exercise more.

So that's basically what I did for a year.

In some future blog I'll write more detail about what I did and ate. In the meantime I will say engaging in aerobic and anaerobic exercise was key, so if you're casting about for more on weight loss there's something I wrote a long time ago, how to get, and stay, motivated.

As a final aside, to row Lightweights at Cambridge University means being not more than 72.5kg. If I were to weigh that my body fat percentage, assuming I miraculously didn't lose any muscle mass, would be 5%(!) Another reason I'm happy not to be in university...

Posted by Paul Makepeace at May 7, 2007 02:07 | TrackBack
Comments

I came across this the other day - http://www.bodybuildingfanatic.com/coloradoexperiment.htm - looks pretty radical, but has it been debunked?

Posted by: Nik Makepeace at May 7, 2007 13:13

Paul is not only mobile. He walks over Cliffs of Mohar - Irrish Hills, dances like a machine and he is pretty taff little surfer boy... You can not see that he had a such a terrible surgery until he shows you his feet.

Posted by: moonweaver at June 27, 2007 21:19

Paul is not only mobile. He walks over Cliffs of Mohar - Irrish Hills, dances like a machine and he is little surfer boy... You can not see that he had a such a terrible surgery until he shows you his feet.

Posted by: moonweaver at June 27, 2007 21:19

As a super-casual rower only, anything under 8 minutes for 2K is fast to me!

Posted by: Phil Wilson at May 7, 2008 10:48

im so confussed with light weight limits they seem to change depending on who you talk to im 70.6kg but im 15 and growing im also 6 foot so if i dont get any taller my only hope is to stay leightweight im currently 6:52 2k n wondering if differnt comps have different weight limits ? any ideas?

Posted by: connor at December 30, 2009 16:59
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