Z is still here

This blog still exists, even if it's hardly ever updated.

Things go on much the same. I weighed myself yesterday on the bathroom scales - I put in my contact lens once I'm downstairs, so I have only the vaguest idea of what it reads, but I reckon I've lost a pound or two or three - certainly not gained, which is splendid news because I haven't actually been dieting.

I made various vows for the autumn a while ago, which I can't quite remember now (yeah, I'll reread sooner or later) but I know it included keeping up with the aquacise. Well, scrub that. I actually can't, it's not laziness. The exercises included a lot of balancing on one leg and then the other, and I can't balance on my right leg for long because the hip cracks and gives way, which isn't as bad as it sounds. And when you lean back into the long thin foam thingy, I can't do that because it hurts to stand up again. And it's too energetic overall. So pah to that.

I found my cycling limit back in September, when I went nearly 20 miles in an afternoon, and that was a shade too much. 15 would have been okay - I was okay of course; that is, I made it back, but my leg hurt for a few days after.

As to what I eat, still carrying on being sensible. As I said, I'm not really dieting, but the effort not to put weight on won't stop ever. Portion size is one major issue, and I suspect it is for a lot of people who think they eat the same as thinner friends. If you are eating with friends, or if the food is really tasty then you are tempted to clear your plate, even if three-quarters of what's on it is actually enough.

The other difficulty is the onset of colder weather. I've made sticky toffee pudding twice this month. Yes, everyone adores it - and actually, the pudding is not that bad, being simply cake with a whole lot of dates in, not too wicked at all. But the sauce, oh, that sauce. Butter, sugar and cream. All heated up with walnut and poured over. Just too delicious for words and a pound on the hips in every mouthful. I confess, I want proper puddings. Regularly. I've been craving stodgy sweetness for a week now and all the low fat plain yoghurt in the world ain't making it go away. I am telling myself I can justify it because my husband would be so thrilled and I'd only need eat a tiny bit - I lie. I will be a fool if I give in.

Anyway, I haven't made any such thing tonight. Though I have wanted food at odd hours. However, I've eaten several sticks of celery, two satsumas and a banana instead of biscuits and cake - not that there's any cake in the house. Instead of toast and jam, perhaps.

Much lighter, actually.

Which is nice.

Weighed myself at my mum's again this morning, sans coat and boots, and the scales said I was about 15 stone 5lbs, which is a lot less than I thought I was. In fact, I'm a bit blown away by that. 97.27 kilos. Haven't been this light for a while – not since training for my first half marathon, in fact. [Side note, by the end of that half marathon I was 14 stone 10lbs (about 206lbs, US Fat Fans), though a lot of that was fluid loss. That's the lightest I've been in years, and it's only 8lbs away from where I am now.]

I'm very, very happy this morning; and all this while still drinking beer. Hurrah!

Did you hear me at the back? I said HURRAH!

Lighter, again.

Yes, I am. My new new approach has worked, mwaaaahahahaaaaaaaa!

I got swine flu late in July, the day before I was due to go on holiday, as recorded here. Been walking the dog on a long walk every morning, and a medium one in the evening, and I have visibly lost weight. Not loads, but I'm certainly under 100 kilos again. I weighed myself this morning at my mum's while wearing a big waterproof coat, hiking boots and soggy jeans (the soggy bit is all-important…), and her scales said I was about 16 stone 4lbs, or 104 kilos. I'm pretty sure you can take off the four kilos in clothing… Can't you? Anyway, it certainly puts me under 16 stone, which makes me very happy indeed. Especially as, with work and time constraints, I've not been swimming for absolutely ages. Will hopefully start again on Thursday or Friday this week.

It's a gentle weight loss, but it's satisfying, and all the walking is changing my body shape a little, but not losing any strength, which is perfect. I couldn't lose my outrageously muscular legs – they are my beloved's favourite part of me (well, in the top five), so they have to stay.

When I get down to the gym this week, I'll use their scales and find out the good news more accurately.

I'm burbling. Offski.

A new approach

Well, I'm still a porkster. And as well as the running was going, when I ran over six miles, the grind started in my knee again, which was a bit upsetting.

So I changed the plan. I haven't run for a while, and I'm looking into a different style of running as an experiment. It's very, very different, and may or may not solve the knee trouble. But that's in the future.

Right now, I'm walking 6-10 miles every day, thanks to our beautiful new dog Milly. We go for a long walk in the morning, while everyone else sleeps, then we go for another longish walk in the evening. Some days, she gets another walk in the middle of the day too, but not usually by me.

So I'm putting the miles in, in a non-stressful way. And I've started swimming again, which is tough and I'm enjoying. The plan is to walk the dog early, work, make dinner, walk the hound again, then swim lengths late evening. It's a very relaxed way for me to take exercise, and it's working for me.

I'm tiring easily at the moment, and I doubt I could handle a workout or a game of tennis – I had flu last week, and with the number of cases of swine flu in the town, I'd be amazed if it wasn't the porcine variety. It sucked, and it's left me a little weak and easily tired, but I'm getting there. And it came at the shittest time – the day before I was due to go on holiday with WonderWife and crazy stepdaughter, in fact. So they got a week away, and I managed to join them for just a couple of days at the end of it.

Enough of my burble. I'm also easing back into work with the whole tiring easily thing, and should really have a go at getting something done today...

Z perseveres

It has struck me, in the past couple of weeks, that I'm finally getting a bit fitter. By the way I cycle, mainly. My bike only has 3 gears, which is quite complicated enough. But now I go up most hills in 2nd gear because 1st doesn't give enough resistance and I feel stronger generally. Still don't want to think about the bulging calf muscles, though at least I suppose muscles are better than fat.

Anyway, it's taken long enough. But it shows perseverance, don't you think?

35

Well, this might be the mid-point of life for me, if I'm lucky. Or the first third. Who knows? But 35 feels quite grown up in a way no birthday previously has before. And with it, the desire to change sweeps back through me, reminding me that it's very easy to get fatter and fatter.

I must start relying on my wonderful wife more – she doesn't need me to cook every meal for her, and I can sit and eat my own food with her and my lovely stepdaughter. Or I can go to the gym, then come back and eat and spend time with them.

Swimming is a recent discovery for me, and a great early-morning exercise. Combining that with a good diet, loads of veg, and evening exercise will be good for me. Because, let's face it, since I started contributing to this I've lost a total of about 6 kilos, which I then put back on in about ten days.

I duscussed this with WonderWife recently, and said to her that she must have noticed how quickly weight falls from me, and how quickly it can go back on. The 6 kilos came off and went back on in a total of about three weeks. It went back on because of beer, mainly.

Beer, as Alistair MacLean once said, is the key*. I know all this, yet I get nowhere. How I wish I had more time.



*I believe this was also made into a movie in the early 1970s.

Statistics

Much the same eaten today as yesterday so far - we can't be bothered with the details can we? I mean, how many pots of plain yoghurt and slices of dry bread can one read or write about.

Feeling that I'm a little neater around the waist, I measured it, but there's not any difference from the last time, when I weighed several pounds more. Just to see, I measured the rest of me - 35 1/2, 27, 37 1/2. The same as at the end of last year, but I have lost weight, so that means that the bits between must have gone down a bit. Such as the muffin-top area. Which, above all, is what I'd love to lose. Indeed, I'd say that I wouldn't mind at all if my bust/waist/hip measurements remain exactly the same, if I had thinner thighs, arms and midriff.

Certainly, I'd say that the cycling helps the bum and thighs. I don't want to think about the possible Girton calves I'm gaining.

I read back some way to find out my measurements last time I used a tape measure - I must say, Badge and I have talked some sound good sense on occasion. I should read our own archives more often, for inspiration.