Cutting Down (Again)
Posted: Mon 6 October, 2014 Filed under: Diet Coke, Domestic, Food, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »While I’m off and job-hunting, one of my little side-projects is to (yet again) cut down on my intake of Diet Coke. It seems it’s a regular(ish) cycle with me, although I have cut it down significantly anyway from where it all was a few years ago.
As it is, I’m down to one 500ml bottle a day. It’ll vary again over time, but I’m quite happy with where it stands.
10km
Posted: Mon 15 September, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, People, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I took part in a 10km (6 mile) walk to raise funds for Marie Curie cancer care. They’d done it as an evening thing, round a local(ish) stately home. In my case, that meant Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire.
As it was, I just fancied doing it – it seemed like a fun alternative to the whole ‘fun run’ (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) and just something I wanted to do, so I signed up ages back, and did some (very minimal) fundraising with friends via Facebook. I raised enough to be able to do the walk, so there we go.
In the meantime, life conspired to make sure I had no practice or ‘training’ whatsoever – with the icing on the cake being the fact that my decent walking boots fell apart the night before the walk. Ain’t life grand? Still, it wasn’t a major issue – I walk everywhere in boots anyway, so sod it, just use my everyday ones. At least I know I won’t get blisters!
Fortunately, Saturday evening was dry – the limit of my preparation was a vaguely waterproof jacket (well, more fleece than anything) but by halfway round I was sweating like a perv in a playground, so it got taken off and carried the rest of the way.
I wasn’t really in the mood to be sociable, so didn’t actually speak to anyone else on the walk. Chatted briefly to some of the marshals, but nothing else. I was doing it more for the walk, the fundraising, and just to be doing it – plus plenty of time for thinking/planning, of which more another time. I could’ve strangled a few people – particularly the dog-walkers, with their extendy-leads that conspire to try and trip people at every opportunity – but for once I was fairly mellow. Mind you, one of ’em nearly ended up with a boot up the arse.
All told, I did the 10km in 1hr 50 mins, which I was really quite pleased with. It wasn’t super-quick, but at the same time I was also surprised by how many people took a lot longer to do it. It wasn’t competitive: no names, numbers, or times, but it was still interesting. I didn’t set out to be first, or to do a blistering time, but managed to end up in the first third of finishers, if not the first quarter. Which surprised me, but anyway.
And then just the drive home. I could’ve stayed for some kind of concert and fireworks, but again, I wasn’t really in the mood.
More importantly, I was quite chuffed that I’d done it, and while my feet were sore afterwards there’s been no lasting pain, blisters, or anything. All told – and bearing in mind how little preparation I’d managed to do – it went pretty damn well.
Who knows, I might even do it again next year. After all, I’ve a time (and financial) target to beat now…
Stone Down
Posted: Fri 11 July, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In other news, I’ve now lost a stone in weight this year.
That puts me on a weirdly OCD number (ending with two zeroes) although still at the high-end of “Functioning fat fucker”, with a way to go.
I’m happy with the progress though. I’d like it to be quicker (wouldn’t we all?) but at least it’s progress.
Slow Progress
Posted: Sun 20 April, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Project 42, Weigh Less 4 Comments »This year, as I’ve said before (and on many occasions) I’ve been working at getting more exercise, with an aim of losing some weight, improving health, and all that standard crap. At the same time I’ve been keeping track of food intake and so on, which has been interesting rather than overly useful.
I’ve been doing fairly well for a start- I’m tending to average walking about 3-4 miles a day, including at least a mile round the village every day. I started off just making sure I did it even on days when I wasn’t in the mood, or when the weather was vile (and lord knows we’ve had plenty of those so far this year) so that I could establish it as routine, and thus have even less excuse when the weather was good.
It’s slow-going though – which I’m not happy about. I’m eating less than the ‘recommended’ calorie count, and I’m doing more exercise. But weight has stayed fairly stable. As it is, I’ve lost half a stone this year – which is better than it could be, but it’s still hard to monitor when it takes so sodding long.
This week has been different, because of stuffing my back last weekend (which is improving, but still insanely sore in the morning) I made the decision to lay off the walking etc. as much. It’s about halved from the usual, and I’ll actually be glad to get back to it.
Anyway, there’s been progress, it’s just been ridiculously slow. Next step, once I’m back to not hurting (pardon the pun) will be to get back on my bike again and do more work on that score as well. Maybe that’ll help things progress. We’ll see.
Fitbit Flex – Taking Steps
Posted: Wed 19 February, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Project 42, Reviews(ish), Technology, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It’s now been a couple of months since I got the Fitbit Flex, and it’s been pretty interesting. I didn’t buy it to boost my fitness, or any of that other rot – I just wanted to see how much I do walk on any given day, keep track of it, and also to look at how I sleep. (which I’ve written about before)
The sleep monitoring is quite useful – although I do wonder about how it affects me subliminally. (of which more later in the week)
For the walking / pedometer, it shows I’m currently walking about 3 miles a day. Not brilliant – but equally, not at all bad. I started this year with the intention of getting out and walking more, and getting into a routine of doing so. (This actually started back in November-ish, but has been more fixed since January) I try to make sure I walk around the village (a decent mile loop) most days – although I still sometimes fail to do so when the weather is truly vile – as well as walking more when I go to the local cinema etc.
The Flex helps me keep track of that, and it’s been useful. There is a certain satisfaction when it buzzes away on my wrist, letting me know that the daily target (currently set at 5,000 steps a day, approx 2.5 miles) has been achieved. And weirdly it does get into your head – I find myself thinking “Oh, well if I park there, it’s a longer distance to get to the shop/cinema/whatever, I’ll be closer to that target” and similar.
If nothing else, it’s a useful tool for just keeping track of exercise through the days and weeks – but also as a minor kick-up-the-arse for actually getting out and walking more.
2013 Phase 3 : One week in
Posted: Mon 16 September, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less 6 Comments »So, as I wrote a week ago, I made some minor(ish) changes to lifestyle last Monday. Obviously it’s only a week in, but I thought I’d write a wee bit about what’s happened in that week. I’m trying to get back into routines and patterns on these things, so I know that a week is kind of short, but if I’ve done it for one, I can do it for more.
The changes were
- Cutting out bread completely
- Eating better while at work (i.e. no sandwiches, in particular)
- Walking/cycling more
And so far things have been OK, I’m pleased to say.
I’ve had no bread at all – although I’ve not cut out pasta or other wheaty products as such – and honestly I’ve felt no change, and seen no changes or results. I’m going to keep on with it for a while more though.
I’ve certainly eaten better at work, mainly through getting back to eating stuff I’ve made at home and taking that in, rather than paying for it on a daily basis. I do need to find a balance here still, because as a contractor, it’s better for tax purposes (don’t ask) to buy something each day.
Exercise has been the big one. I’ve been out on the bike five times, and covered fifteen miles, there being a rather nice little three-mile circuit from home that works well for me. My times have dropped noticeably already – I’m using the Strava app on the phone to track things – and we’ll see how it goes. My leg muscles in particular hurt like buggery on a couple of occasions, which isn’t surprising considering that the last time I was cycling properly was in 2005 when I worked at CrapCo. But I’ll get better, get fitter, get faster. That’s the plan, anyway.
More importantly though, I’m quite enjoying it at the moment. I’m hoping to get into the routine before the nights draw in and the weather gets worse, so that then I’ll have even fewer excuses for not going. I have missed a couple of days this week- one through vile weather, another through being busy doing other stuff – but I can live with a five-out-of-seven plan for the moment.
All told, it’s all looking fairly positive.