As a PT in my 59th year, I feel its incumbent on me to set a good example and exude some authenticity. However, the last 12 months have taken their toll and like many, I have managed to put on a few pounds. In January it dawned on me that come March we would likely start emerging from lock down measures and some action was required to get back into a better state of fitness and frankly feel better about myself (Recon we have all had these moments!). I realised that February was critical and whilst the temptation was to diet, this would not achieve the best results and more importantly would become unrealistic to maintain. I decided on the following approach:
- Cut out the naughty stuff that had become “every day is a weekend” habit.
- Record my daily intake of food to understand what I was consuming versus what reasonable should look like.
- Maintain a daily level of exercise activity which needed to be sustainable and enjoyable!
On Feb 1st I stood on the scales with great trepidation…having not weighed myself for some time. The result was as I suspected and a little worse. I was running a good 9 pounds over where I wanted to be. Belly fat and love handles were showing a bit too much. Wretched Covid had done this to me…well actually I had!
Nearly 2 weeks in and things are going in the right direction.
Highlights:
Sleep was disrupted for the first week…I kept waking up multiple times during the night. Thankfully it has now improved.
Recording everything has been a pain and takes time…finding me regularly routing around the recycling bin, fridge and cupboards to check nutrition information.
The daily calorie count has been interesting. I don’t have a huge appetite and have always tried to eat sensibly and well…plenty of fish, salad and veg and no red meat for over 30 years. I discovered my daily intake was quite considerably under my target intake. This begs the question…am I eating enough? And remains work in progress. It does pose the question…do we really need to eat over 2000 calories per day and I guess it really depends what our typical day looks like.
I have avoided daily weight ins. But have managed to drop around 6 pounds so far and certainly have slimmed down around the waist.
Exercise wise, I have managed to maintain a good daily average. I run a couple of intense HIIT classes per week and have become somewhat addicted to a daily fast pace walk averaging around 5 miles in the local forest…this also makes me feel great no matter what the weather and there always something new to see.
Long and short of it: I honestly feel that change and weight loss are possibly ealiser than we realise…but we need to want it and approach it with a longer-term view otherwise we fall into yoyo syndrome and that’s not good for health or mind.
simon pt 