Feb 13th: lucky for some and the day before Valentine’s Day…
Also Day 1 of whatever regime Britt has lined up for me, the first day towards the ultimate goal of running a marathon, and a day that will surely make me more nervous as it approaches.
Initially we’d planned to start this Monday (Jan 23rd) – it coincides with the start of the new series of Biggest Loser in Australia. It also gave me very little time to stop and think about what I’ve got myself into! Now I’ve got 3 full weeks in which to prepare, and to exercise my mind a little through keeping niggling doubts at bay.
starting as i mean to go on
I’m actually sort of starting this Monday in any case; I’ll be watching my food intake more closely, keeping away from crap, trying to establish healthier eating habits. Evening meals won’t be an issue, they are generally good healthy, low fat meals. It’s the lunchtime lure of fast food snacks and so on that will have to change.
I haven’t yet discussed details of the program with Britt – in any case I think it will be a wise move to start a routine next week that includes a morning walk. It can only do good, and marking out that time of day as one for exercise is going to establish a useful habit.
current state of play
Probably worth documenting the situation at the start of all this – will be interesting to look back at some point in the future and realise how far things have gone:
Height: Roughly six foot six, may have shrunk a little over time, apparently that happens. No real goal to change height 🙂
Weight: Don’t know, don’t particularly care about specific numbers. Based on past history I’d estimate around 35 to 45Kg overweight.
Waist: Current wearing 46 inch jeans and trousers, always in loose fit style and plenty of beer gut to cast a shadow over the waistline.
Chest: Approximately 52 inches of deeply relaxed muscle…
Neck: About 18.5 to 19 inches based on the shirts I wear and the increasingly difficult problem of doing up the top button.
Fitness: Zero. I managed to cycle 7.5 kms just before Christmas, took me about an hour (and similar coming back). I was then totally shagged for the following week. I ache for days after spending an hour with my boy at “Grasshopper Soccer”. It’s a little bit of “chase” and a few kicks of the ball, nothing else!
Stamina: Very low. I did manage to level the pool area, shifting a LOT of sand by hand. I think I was going to a gym at the time though. That job had to be done and I stuck to it until it was done. The guy was coming to pour the limestone, so I had no choice. When we had some more paving done recently, we paid extra to have the preparation work done. Generally speaking i take the easy option.
some broad physical goals
Weight: Would like to get under the 100Kg mark for the first time since I don’t know when. That’s a key weight for a tandem skydive, which is something I’ve fancied doing for a long time
Waist: At 6 foot 6 I’d look like a pipe-cleaner with a 28 inch waist. Would be nice to get down to mid-30s again though, so at least 10 inches to come off the waistline. Plus that needs to be an accurate measurement and not just the measurement underneath the overhang!
Chest: I’d like at least to drop a couple of bra sizes for my man-boobs (nah, seriously, I don’t really wear bras ok?)
Fitness and stamina: I’ll be more than happy to get to the point where my physical fitness, endurance and mental toughness are up to the task of running a marathon. I’d be happy with something less on the scale of things, however that would not adequately prove the idea that you can achieve anything if you believe you can. In a weird way, lesser goals would also be easier to make excuses for and slowly slip off track.
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