Having gone back to Pinnacle back in August 2017 after a two and a half year break although I was getting back into my training I really hadn’t thought too much about my nutrition. I was trying to eat well, but fell off the wagon on a regular basis. I have long working days, getting up at 5:15am and not getting back usually until around 7pm.
Following a challenge from a few friends to try and cycle the South Downs Way in one day, 100 miles off road, and a training ride over the Christmas period where I felt drained, I realised I needed to improve my eating habits as well as my training.
At this time Sam started publishing a few articles on the Pinnacle website and had advertised for volunteers to take part in a January weight loss competition. Essentially, the most weight and measurements over the course of the month won the competition
Just after Christmas 2017 I weighed in at 110kg.
Working with Sam initially through the challenge and then subsequently for a month he built a program of nutrition that worked around both my working lifestyle but also my training that I’m undertaking.
This allowed me to balance my meals, travel with food that could be eaten on the go as well as taken to the office. It was the variety and mixture of the meals that has really appealed, I have always enjoyed cooking, so this worked really well for me. It also exposed me to a few tricks and different things to help keep hunger at bay while eating healthily…
Constant feedback to Sam was key, initially I was quite slow with this element, on meals that were working or not and also when I was starting to get hungry and how to counter this during the working day.
Sam was able to adjust the nutrition elements to my tastes and what was required.
I have generally followed the meal plans closely, but after a good month it’s now coming easier for myself to alter diaries and eating whilst still staying within the general methods for balanced nutrition.
By mid-April I’ve dropped down to 93kg, the majority of my clothes don’t fit anymore and I’m having to buy a complete new wardrobe. But I feel good.
But it hasn’t all just been weight loss, I am stronger as well and have increased my power output cycling and training. I’ve recently completed my first 100mile road training ride, something that I wouldn’t have achieved 3 months ago.
I have set myself specific targets that I want to achieve as well as goals that I’m training for. This is allowing me to focus on what is driving me.
I do occasionally fall off the wagon slightly but feel that I can get back on quite quickly and focus on the right nutrients for me.
Some of the keys insights into why the advice has worked for me has been around the ability to pre-prepare food in batches and store for the week, while this results in a bulk of cooking on a Sunday or mid-week, it’s not really that difficult. Also, for me, I’m finding there is a healthy balance of food in my diet… not just chicken and salad….
I will continue to take Sam’s guidance forward as a healthy way to eat and combined with the training from Andy and Dan I’m still got plenty of room to improve, but I am feeling better all the time.
Chris Lincoln
