Did 150 pressups yesterday in groups of 25 initially, then 20, then 15 and 10 – or whatever number of reps I could manage in between scanning documents. I made sure to maintain strict form, and boy, do my pecs, front delts and triceps ache! In between all that I managed to sneak peeks at my Runner’s World magazine which I’d got on Monday evening, where Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who did the 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents, describes Singapore, with temperatures reaching up to 36 degrees Celsius with 90% humidity, as “hell on earth”. Haha.

I’ve eaten quite healthily today – the only fat coming from margarine on toast, and minimal fat from all else – so I’m treating myself to a bag of crisps tonight.

One thing that peeves me a lot is that in the UK, the recommended daily allowance of fat for a man consuming 2500 calories is 95g. To me, that is unbelievably high. One gram of fat accounts for 9 calories, so to eat a 2500 calorie diet with 855 calories from fat is to consume a diet where fat makes up nearly one third of calories. At this rate, a person’s going to be obese. Do the maths – how can anyone hope to get a relatively health bodyfat percentage of, say, 15%, from eating 33% fat daily?

Another thing that annoys me is how food products are advertised misleadingly. 99% fat free and all that business. Let’s just get the facts sorted out first – a gram of carbs and protein each yields 4 calories; a gram of fat yields 9 calories.

Let’s take an example - say Flora margarine, which contains 531 calories per 100g (mainly from 59g of fat and trace amounts of carbs and protein). 59g of fat x calories per gram gives you the 531 calories.

To me – and I hope to anyone with common sense – all the calories that come from the product are from fat. This product is 100% fat. It should not be advertised as “59% vegetable fat”. That’s manipulating the stats, advertising it by fat per 100g, instead of percentage of calories from fat.

Common sense - if I take the margarine, dilute it with loads of water, and then sell the whole thing (which will inevitably be heavier due to the water), can I say it’s less than 59% fat? By weight, yes. But all the calories in the resultant product are still going to be entirely from fat.

Comments, anyone?

On an entirely work-related issue, the new school I’m part-timing at has said they might have more hours for me, which is good news.

Training for the next few days – biceps and crunches today, pressups tomorrow. On Friday when I’ve some free periods at the school I can curl my briefcase.