The end is nigh!

It's not as bad as it seems, but suddenly I'm going to be 50 years old. End of the month and that's the end of my 40s. It's been a roller coaster, but the biggest change this decade has been in coming to terms with some home truths, that I'd like to share.

I spent too long in the company of people who hold facts in disdain. The scales, tape measures and stopwatches don't lie, you can kid yourself on if you like, but eventually things stack up and you'll know you were the architect of your own downfall.

1. Just because England's world cup forwards were all technically obese doesn't mean you can discount the notion of BMI. I'm not saying it should be your be all and end all, but if you can't match the beep test scores of those guys, you shouldn't be referencing their weights in relation to yours.

2. The waist size of the jeans that you can squeeze into and hang around your hips isn't actually your waist size. Get a tape measure out and do it properly :

• Start at the top of your hip bone, then bring the tape measure all the way around your body, level with your belly button.
• Make sure it's not too tight and that it's straight, even at the back. Don't hold your breath while measuring.
• Check the number on the tape measure right after you exhale.

If you are a man and it's over 40" in old money or 101cm - best you do something about that starting  today and keep on doing something about it until it's right back under control. It will take time, you weren't born with a 40" waist, but you certainly could end up dying with one if you don't deal with it.

3. Alcohol - I love alcohol, but it's very easy to slip into some seriously bad habits. Make sure you have more Alcohol Free Days (AFD) than drinking days in a week. 

• Try not to drink 2 days consecutively
• Try not to get involved in drinking in rounds
• Try doing frequent periods of abstention to know that you can go without any time you need to
• Do dry months
• Melvin Bragg used to have a great rule not to drink in the first 10 days of any month, I like that. It's simple.

4. Cycling - get a bike! You won't believe what you can see from a bike or how far you can go, but be seen and be safe.

5. Doctors - get to know your doctor and go over stupid things that bother you with them. Unless you're a doctor yourself, you've no idea how daft wee symptoms can build a story that might help them identify potentially bigger issues - like life-threatening blood clots, for example.

6. Vanity - It's not a bad thing to want to look good. There's a pretty natural reason why fit and healthy bodies are attractive. If that's your motivation, don't be afraid to use it. Get buff!

Comfort Zone

I had apple crumble last night. Not just any apple crumble, but a particularly stupendously delicious home made apple crumble. It was created in the kitchen of one of the other mothers from my wife's ante-natal group with apples from her garden. I had it with Ambrosia Devon cream custard and it was superb. The thing is though, that sort of thing should really just be a wee treat, or even a reward for some other achievement, but it wasn't. It was just there in the fridge and I fancied some, so I had some. I don't regret it for an instant, but what it tells me is that I'm clearly operating in my comfort zone. For 2 weeks I worked tremendously hard and lost 2kg. It was hard to start, but once the losses came it was very rewarding. Since then I've been treading water and maintained the loss - that's a good thing I suppose! I've been going to the gym most lunchtimes and I am completely avoiding crisps and chips - tellingly not chocolate or apple crumble though!
It's clear though, if you want to lose weight, you need to move out of that comfort zone, forego the apple crumble, do some more serious cardio and weights work and shift the lard. Do it in short bursts, then try to maintain the loss is one possible approach - By default it's the one I've been taking anyway.
Next week I'm away to France for a week with work, then I'm going to play golf with some old friends at the weekend. That's not a good time to start a more serious burst of activity, but the week after certainly is. It's time to get out of the comfort zone and back to the grind for a bit.

Going backwards...

It's been a terrible period for my fitness campaign. The calf tear stopped all the serious cardio work and now I've got a stinker of a cold. Had it for just over a week now and although I seem to have gotten over it mostly, I still can't see me training before the weekend. Haven't even bothered to weigh myself...

What it reinforces though is that fitness can't just be a wee fad. It can't just be something that you do for 6 weeks or so aiming for a specific event. It has to be an everyday part of your lifestyle and the big events are something that you should ramp up for. I feel like I've gone backwards, just by standing still and I think that's probably due to the low level of my base fitness. The 2 weeks of gain are probably lost, but I need to use this as motivation to maintain a better lifestyle...

A few setbacks, but still progressing

Didn't do any exercise earlier in the week - had a sore throat, which felt like an infection that might be heading into my ears. Was a bit disappointed not to be able to train (Good sign!) but willingness not to train could have been an indication of a waning in motivation. Fortunately, this program has a longer term goal with a very specific target in mind, so there's no way I could allow it to slip for more than a few days. Went to the gym for a sauna, just to ensure the habit of going there didn't slip back into one of heading into the town centre with my colleagues at lunch time. Think that was a good idea!

Did my cardio class last night and went pretty hard for an hour, but pulled up with what I thought was cramps in my calf towards the end - now regret not icing that as it's still a bit tender.

Used the lower leg inactivity as an excuse to concentrate on upper body in the weights room today and after some chest & back exercises, went all out on the show-pony triceps and biceps (too vain for words!). Still shit-house at the pull-ups but much better performance on the dips (3 sets of 10 no bother! which is great progress).

Food wise I also had a wee slip up, succumbing to the temptations of a Cornish pasty. Beautiful meat filling right enough, but the pastry, the pastry - delicious but full of fat. On the other hand we had roast Chicken on Sunday and I made my own stock (Chicken carcase, an onion and a carrot in the pot for a few hours - skim the fat away in the pot of you can, but I cheat and once it's strained, put it in the fridge to remove the top layer after it has solidified). Made a sublime lentil broth with the stock, using Scotch-broth mix soaked overnight, an onion sauted in butter (I know! I know!) and the stock. Really chuffed with it, even if I do say so myself.

Net result? I know you're waiting for this bit on tenterhooks. Weighed in at 86.5kg, exactly 2kg lighter than 2 weeks and 1 day ago. That's 4.4lb in old money and pretty much what the health professionals would suggest was a healthy amount of weight loss over the period. Just got to keep it going, as I think those first few kgs were really the low hanging fruit, ripe for falling off.

A little bit of resolve...

Well, the weekend started well enough with a very easy jog round pollok park. 40 minutes at a real slow pace and no real problems, other than a slight stiffness in the groin, which is an age old problem.
Alas it all went downhill from there. A wee glass of wine on Saturday night became a couple of glasses of wine. Sunday was a rest day, but the family came around, we had a big buffet dinner and I clambered into a couple of bottles of Red...
Don't feel too bad today, other than a slight pang of regret that I'm not sitting here having completed the 1st weekend without sauce ;-(
Lunchtime will be a spot of stretching a Swim and a sauna. Fitness test tomorrow.

Friday on my mind

Friday's are going to be a tough challenge in this quest for improvement.
I've been in the habit of enjoying a roll with tattie-scone and lorne sausage on a Friday morning for some years now. Last year I started going for Friday pub lunches with a colleague, and they are magic! Great value too! but normally accompanied by chips. Indeed the menu is Fish & Chips, Gammon Steak and Chip, Beefburger & Chips, Sausage & Mash or a Caesar salad. On a good day we might go for a pint or 2 between work and home.

Clearly the Roll & Lorne have to go ;-(
For lunch, I'm still going to have my pub lunch, but I'll forgo the pint of Best that washes it down. There won't be any stopping off at the pub on the way home, the money saved will go on a Euro-millions ticket instead.

Result:
========
Gammon Steak, runny Egg and chips with Mayo and Tomato Ketchup.
Pint of Soda & Lime!
Very delicious, but a wee bit naughty...

Motivation

I remember reading a story about Jim Telfer and his attitude to training. He'd convinced himself if he couldn't be the best number 8 in Scotland, he could certainly be the fittest, so he devised a running plan which involved steep hills, running up burns and humping rocks about when in the burns. What really got me about the story though was that he used to pray for bad weather, because he knew that while he had no compunction about going out to train in the sleet or snow or on Christmas day, he didn't think that his rivals would be out there training and so he felt that was when he benefited most. Quite frightening really! Anyway, I'm not going to pray for bad weather, but I might send some of my mum's shortbread up to Fife!

The other guy who has something of a pedigree in success is Sir Steve Redgrave. He was explaining to a journalist about the monotony of training to reach the levels that he did, but his motivation was that if you didn't train today, then you'd lost that opportunity forever. You can't make it up by training harder tomorrow. Tomorrow you should be doing tomorrow's training.

That reminds me that in my current state I really have to take it easy and build up gently through a period of acclimatisation. The last thing I want is to start getting inflamed tendons or skeletal problems from going to hard too early. This is about a lifestyle change more than anything, but remembering what Steve Redgrave said I'll try to do a little every day and Jim Telfer's words will hopefully keep me from straying from the path, wouldn't want to make life too easy for my rivals ;-)