Tag Archives: Calves

Sunday – day of rest!

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Today, I think I will take it easy! Been watching my calories and getting some exercise since the 1st, but by yesterday my legs were definately starting to feel the strain. My calf muscles (especially the smaller left one) have had a good workout this week with plenty of step training and quite decent length walks.

I got a pedometer a couple of days back, which tracks how far you’ve walked and approximately how many calories it will have burned. The heavier you are, the more calories you burn from walking, as you have more weight to carry round with you! According to this device, I burnt 650 kcal just from walking yesterday – but this did not help my aching calves. From my (limited) knowledge of exercise/training/sports, I appreciate there is no gain without pain, but I am also aware that the idea is to work your muscles and then give them time to recover – and I haven’t done the recovery yet. Leaving your body in a permanent state of injury is not the best way to get healthy!

So today, I’m going to take a little break. I will continue watching my calories, but will not be running up any hills!

Fatter than you think you are…

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I thought as well as tracking my weight, I should take some measurements to see how weight change affects the general shape of my body. I figured the best places to measure would be my upper arms (NOT biceps – that’s an entirely different measurement, and I’m not getting in to that here), my chest (flat and inflated), my waist, thighs and calves.

Now, my left calf looks considerably smaller than the right – and it is according to the tape too! The reason for this is that 11 months ago I took a dive down a flight of stairs on to a concrete floor, breaking the 5th metatarsal in my right foot and at least 3 bones in my left foot. Due to this, both legs were in plaster for several weeks, the left for far longer than the right. During this time the muscle atrophied, and hasn’t fully come back yet – and it’s not helped by my left foot constantly causing me grief, a twinge here, a crunch there. Probably won’t ever be right, but I’m not here to complain – just to explain why I’m lopsided!!

Something that caught me by surprise was my waist measurement – if there are any pros out there who want to say I’ve measured it incorrectly, well, fine – but I’m going to keep measuring in the same place so I can have an accurate comparison. I measured all the way round, passing straight over my belly button – it’s as good a marker as any! My trousers are normally 38″ waist, very occasionally 36″, but that feels tight. I wear my trousers so they sit under my belly, which means my actual waist is bigger. Much bigger. Oh my. Much much bigger.

So here are the stats, as measured on January 2nd 2009:

Waist :45″

Chest : 44″/46″

Arms : (L/R) : 12″/13″

Thighs (L/R) : 25″/23″

Calves (L/R) : 15″/17″

I did expect a difference between the two sides of my body, as I am naturally right handed so the muscles would have different work to do. Not sure why my right arm is larger but my left thigh is larger…maybe because of carrying the weight of the plaster cast around!!