I thought that by aggressively exercising and by being more careful in what I ate, I could drop 35kg by the end of 2014. I weighed in at just a smidgen under 120kg. I set my target weight myself as something that I thought would be suitable, sensible and achievable. Even if I succeeded I would still be technically overweight.
The plan was to continue with my badminton on Mondays and Thursdays, go to the gym after work on Wednesday. Tuesdays would be a local cycle at lunchtime since I work from home that day. Friday was my spice day. If I was in the office i would go to the gym but if I was working from home then i would go on a lunchtime cycle. At the weekends we were supposed to go out and exercise instead of going for Chinese food.
To keep me motivated I decided to post updates here, plus I planned to thrive on feedback from those people around me.
So, at the start of 2014, how did I do?
I didn't hit my target weight, so, from a pass/fail point of view, its a fail.
But...
- I lost 19kg by Christmas. I actually lost more than this in gross but had put some back on over the summer holidays and got it back off, so the 19kg represents the net loss over the year. Slipped a little over the holiday but I am only human, and I like mince pies.
- Reduced my neck measurement by 1.5 inches and my trouser size by over 3 inches. That 3 inches is a real pain as I'm between trouser sizes which means I have to keep pulling my jeans back up. But it also means I've thrown out a lot of clothes.
- I really kicked up my levels of exercise.
- Logged over 140 hours of exercise in 176 workouts, covering 1856km - that's 1000 miles. This doesn't count the badminton twice most weeks.
- Completed 75 lunchtime cycles. Though this was improved by my being on gardening leave.
- I have increased my fitness level. Not on paper (according to the gym my fitness score has decreased despite my weight loss due to my changing hip to waist ratio ) but in a visible annoying the opposition on the badminton court by being able to get to those shots now.
- I have reduced the junk i regularly eat, but not eliminated it. That would be a step too far.
- I have gone out on my bike on days when I wouldn't naturally have wanted to go out, in gale force winds and icy rain.
- Plucked up the courage to post my actual weight after only 6 months.
- I have pushed myself to go faster or further out of pure geekiness since I log all this on MapMyRun and here.
Not a bad list and I am pleased with what I have done. Most pleased with the compliments I've been getting about my reduced size.
There were a lot of reasons for this campaign. The most obvious are the health ones. I was too big and it was only going to get worse.
However, the main reason why 2013 was the year to get lean was work related. I had not been happy at work for a long time but it was never the right time to leave as there were always changes afoot which would make things better. Incidents at the end of 2012 convinced me that things would never improve while certain factions were still in place.
So, my plan was to get myself into interview trim during 2013. Then, once I had celebrated my 21 years service, I would actively start looking for a new job. That decision was probably my main motivating factor. An incident in February confirmed for me that I needed to get away and cemented my resolve.I came in early on this one though. I was approached by one of my customers and offered a position, doing all the things I wanted to do where I was but was being prevented.
I accepted the new job. And so far have been quite happy.
This year I need to find a new motivation otherwise I suspect I will slip back into bad habits.
Plus the new job has more travel, more hotel meals and less time for exercise.
In fact exercise has already suffered - only 3 workouts in December versus over 20 in November.
What will 2014 look like?
So far I have managed to reverse the Christmas bulge and resume the decline of my mass.
The cycle path was 'passable with extreme care' earlier this week after the new year floods. Still haven't managed a long cycle but then we haven't been well. Plus its been holidays.
The resolve is still there mostly because now I curious to see how far I can get to my initial target.
