17/12/2024 - "40 McNuggets Please!"

The Blog

IMPORTANT: I am not trained to give any medical or nutritional advice... This is just me explaining what I do.

I once saw the meme below on Facebook and it hit home hard (in a funny kind of way). It was being shared within various veteran communities on social media and it hit home hard because I took had been there... and it was not that long ago actually!

As previously discussed, I think you would be mistaken if you thought that life in the Army teaches you to eat the various available food types in any moderation. Nor does life in the Army teach you to favour any of these food groups in order to achieve a particular fitness or health related goal such as fuelling to achieve the best performance. I mentioned in week 1 of this blog series, that I firmly believe that my poor food choices were already deep routed by the time that I had enlisted and my time in the Army only exacerbated a poor attitude towards food choices.

Before my injury, I undertook training for a Company (about 100 men per Company) level boxing competition. This was my first experience of boxing training and to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into. I had seen over the previous year, volunteers go off and train for the competition. Concluding their training by entering the ring and fighting in front of the whole Battalion who were dressed in their finest swagger. This was usually Mess Dress (Red Dinner Jackets etc for the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers) or number 2’s for the rest. Fight night was always guaranteed to be a great night with lots of alcohol, intense banter and the fiercest of rivalries! Those boxers who stepped into the ring were fantastic and at least for a short time revered by their Company... and I wanted to be a part of it!

If you don’t know much about boxing, it can be very technical. The main thing you need to know here is that boxers are paired according to weight. At the start of training, you were weighed and set an initial goal of trying to achieve a weight that would land you in the lightest category possible. At the time, of starting my boxing training, I weighed about 97kg and was set the goal of trying to achieve a weight of 92kg or less. A weight of <92kg would put me into the category of Heavyweight.

For the next 4 weeks, I was excused normal duties with the rest of the boxing team and undertook some of the most arduous training I had ever done. Meals were calorie restricted with those with the most to lose facing the harshest of restrictions. Every day had 3 PT sessions. A long but usually slow run in the morning (6-12 miles, where shorter runs had sprints or hill reps included) wearing sweat kit (t-shirt, binbag, hoody, hat and jogging bottoms), followed by circuit training at lunch time and finally... sparring in the evening. The Physical Training Instructors (PTI’s) had their work cut out trying to get us to lose weight, whilst simultaneously gaining strength and not leaving us completely broken and unable to perform. The Army chefs also had their work cut out for them. Meals were limited to steamed chicken breast, broccoli/veggies and other such delights. If you didn’t have much weight to lose, you were afforded a few extras but for the most part, the majority had a significant amount of weight to lose in a relatively short space of time. I always thought that the smell of steamed chicken was grim at best, and the thought of that smell still haunts me to this day. But these foods were great for their purpose. The steamed chicken offered a great source of protein with minimal fat and without any additional calories (or taste). The veggies offered a great sources of vitamins/minerals with minimal calories too (also deficient in taste). I once met an Army chef in Basra Palace who said to me (as he plated some food on to my cardboard plate) “the human body is an amazing thing, it can take all of the ingredients in this food and within 24 hours, convert it into sh*t… but did you know an Royal Logistics Corps Chef can turn these same ingredients into sh*t in the time it takes to cook it?” He said it better…

At the end of the boxing training, I had met my weight goal and was weighing in at 89kg. Unfortunately, my opportunity to box on behalf of the Company would never be. There was only one Heavyweight set of bouts to take place, and the slot went to a Fijian guy who was unquestionably far superior to me. In sparring (at about 80% effort), I was able to go all 3 rounds with him, but it was tough going. His power was immense, and it was evident on the night of the competition that at 100% you simply didn't stand a chance. Not one of his opposite numbers lasted more than 20 seconds in the ring with him, with each person being either out classed or knocked out. He was a literal beast, and despite the soreness of not being able to compete... I must confess that I quite enjoy my head being attached to my neck and shoulders! After the competition concluded, we all went back to regular duties, notably fitter than before.

When I left the Army in 2010, I recall the feeling of elation of not being forced to get up and go for an early morning run or do any kind of Physical Training for that matter. Truth be told, I think somewhere deep down I thought I was ever going to exercise again and we know how that part of this story ended! And so we've come full circle to the McNugget meme. I, like many of my veteran friends fall firmly into the category of veteran who could and would order 40 nuggets at the McDonalds drive thru – A far cry from the Arnold Schwarzenegger R Gerard Butler styled veteran you see in the movies... And that’s not to say that they don’t exist. I don't think I know any mind you. Fingers crossed if any veterans get called up to fight in World War 3, it’s to take the enemy on in a head-to-head nugget eating contest rather than a physical altercation! If wars of the future involve sitting down for long periods and playing X Box - then I might be ok.

Fast forward to the start of this training block and here I am trying to employ what I learnt from back when I was boxing into this training and diet regime. It was after all my most successful attempt at losing weight ever! However, it’s worth remembering that back then, I was removed from all other duties, had no family commitments to tend to and was being paid to do this! However, this method of training is simply impractical when we have such limited time to train and prepare food. Time is critical to the success or failure of this process. This lack of time will form part of next weeks Blog as it is such a critical component of a healthy lifestyle, and I think it is hugely overlooked by those in the health and fitness industry.

There is another phrase that is often banded around in the fitness industry that I want to share with you and that is “you can’t outrun a poor diet”… and I think there’s a lot of truth in this. The past 5 weeks or so I have maintained an average of 3 training sessions per week (up from zero), usually in the form of cardiovascular training either on a treadmill or at a Park Run event (minimum of 5km per session). However,  after identifying an area of weakness in my diet (namely portion control), I initially moved to using a subscription based meal service like Hello Fresh or Gusto to essentially deal with portion control. Some of these services have fantastic new customer deals (as much as 60% off with no commitment) and it can really help get your mind into the right place, easing you into a calorie restricted diet whilst ensuring you get a healthy variety of carbohydrates, proteins and your veggies. For me, this first step was a fantastic springboard into adopting the right mindset. The only set back was that after a few weeks, it became too expensive and time consuming for me to maintain. If you adopt this approach, make sure you keep the meal cards so you can make the meals you enjoyed later down the line.

When I started this training block, I weighed 125kg. At the start of this week, I weighed 117.5kg. Whilst not particularly obvious to me, the 7.5kg drop in weight has been noticed by friends, family and colleagues who have seen me more recently. I have admittedly noticed those running sessions getting slightly easier and even a notable change in my 5km running times setting a sub 30 minute Park Run (supported by a friend who runs on behalf of the local running club (Sphinx Athletic Club)) and averaging about 27:45 for 5km on the treadmill. As I didn’t get my letter off to Santa in time, I’ve saved him (or her) a job and purchased myself some new trainers to celebrate my progress!

As I’ve moved away from the subscription-based meals and started to concentrate on keeping myself feeling fuller for longer and fuelling my athletic performance, I have significantly increased the amount of protein I am eating. Aiming to consume 2.4g per kilogram of bodyweight. For context – the amount of protein required to promote muscle growth is between 1.2g and 2.4g of protein per kilogram of body mass. That’s 141grams to 282grams of protein per day for me at 117.5kg. Whilst not consuming 40 McNuggets, I have found myself eating a lot of chicken. I have landed in this ideal zone for protein consumption almost every day, but I am often falling well short of the desired top end figure of 282grams. As I don’t have a chicken farm at the bottom of the garden, an endless supply of money nor any desire to eat a whole cow – I am making full use of protein supplements with low carbohydrate values. This diet supplementing appears to be working well in meeting my objectives of staying fuller for longer and promoting muscle growth.

Hopefully this week’s blog has given you some food for thought… or helped spark a thought on how you might be able to apply any of this to your current diet/training/life. Good luck!

Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted with the progress! Remember to train safely out there… and don’t just starve yourself. It’s a process which must be endured!

And again... if anyone at Warrior sees this and want to send me some freebies... it would be greatly appreciated! 

Other useful links (to which I am not affiliated in anyway);

Sphinx Athletic Club - www.sphinx.org.uk

Park Run - www.parkrun.org.uk