Hate To Exercise

Saturday, December 25, 2021

It’s the flipping biscuits again, I just can’t seem to wean myself off them. So my weight loss stalled, again. I mean I regained my pre-holiday weight from beginning of December, but losing the next few grams is challenging. Plus it’s Christmas.

I will not be defeated by Christmas though. No way.

Mentioning to my friends that I’m trying to get back being good with food and exercise between my holidays and Christmas their response is automatic. “Now? Why bother? Do it after Christmas.”

I realised a recently, that that’s exactly the problem with weight loss. We let things go when we’re on holidays, when it’s Christmas, it’s a birthday party, someone’s wedding, long weekend away, etc etc etc

The problem with that is, when you look at your social calendar, you’ll find so many days filled with something to do, when you are just not being mindful, not worrying about what you eat and how much, about going for that walk – that the weight creeps up, your muscles lose definition, your health suffers. Then there is the ever lasting message of – I’ll start the diet after Christmas; or when I come back from holidays, and so and so forth.

I’ve began to think, that is the wrong attitude toward keeping healthy, particularly when you are trying to lose weight. Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s good to let go, and not worry about what you put in your mouth from time to time; but if I did that in December, a month usually filled with meeting friends, restaurants, catch-ups, sometimes trips away and of course Christmas – I’d be back where I started in 2020. Even this year, through pandemic there have been opportunities to go out, go away, stuff my face.

Thus for a while now, the attitude I’ve been adopting is to be mindful of what I eat and how I eat, even during holidays and especially Christmas. Just because it’s a festive season and the kitchen is stuffed to the brim full of special treats and goodies – doesn’t mean that I have to eat them all at once. A little bit of everything, eat slowly, don’t go for seconds if you’re not really hungry – otherwise you’ll only regret it after Christmas.

Well, today is December 25th. Turkey is in the oven. Christmas cake on the kitchen table. About a dozen boxes of chocolates in the living room. And more bottles of alcohol on the counter.

I’ll tell you what happened after Christmas. For now, wish me luck. LOL

Sunday 19 – December 2021

I got lucky – very lucky I would say, and managed to escape the country for a few days of holidays in a sunshine. Actually having something resembling a normal life. That’s very hard to come by these days. Just before leaving for the winter sun, my weight was almost what it was in May 2021. Almost, I think I was about half a kilogram off. Got to say that made me very happy – it took hard work, but I knew I could do it. I did it before.

I was decided though, that whilst away I would not think about my weight, limit myself in my foods, think about the scales. What I would do – is enjoy my holiday, eat what I want, but absolutely ensure that unlike my last get away, I would tackle any weight gain immediately, and not make stupid excuses.

As it turns out – the food on holidays was amazing, and the danger of buffets is that you just keep going back for more. Which is what I kept on doing. That said, as a result of a considerably different relationship with food I have developed over the past year or so – I found that very quickly my body began to crave fruit, veg, healthy things. So whilst I kept going back to the buffet – the quality and diversity of my faire changed. I found that by the end of the week, I was eating much smaller portions and much healthier food. With one exception – a trip to McDonalds at the airport. Well, it’s the easiest thing sometime.

Upon my return to normality – the usual protocols ensued. A weigh in and then back to eating sensibly and not stuffing my face with unnecessary treats. I found that I only gained about 2-3lb on my hols; and as promised to myself immediately on day one I began be good with food and back to walking. Thus within a week, dropped back to almost my pre-holiday weight. I have a little bit more to go, but I’m nearly there, and determined that Christmas will not lead me astray.

I’ve been walking recently. A lot. Haven’t got back to running yet, because as seems to be a tradition recently, after every holiday I seem to get sick. Thankfully not with the fecking Covid. Still a chest infection is a chest infection and just as much of a pain to deal with. Until I’m fully operational I will not go running, but I can go walking. Depending on how I’m feeling it’s a toss-up between a 4km walk or a 9km walk. Tonight was a 10km and 2 Taemins. LOL.

After the walk this evening, I indulged in a little strength training. Losing weight and getting slimmer is one thing; but I also want to ensure I keep or regain some of my previous strength, and tone-up. Yesterday, it was some small weights for 1 Taemin. Today – it was planks for 2 Taemins. Well I tried for 2, but didn’t quite succeed.

Confused about Taemins? LOL Some exercises I don’t measure in numbers/repetitions or minutes. I measure in songs. Most songs last around 3 minutes, so trying to do anything for 2 songs, is roughly 6 minutes. Taemin just happens to be one of my favourite singers and it’s his songs I’m using at the moment to train. Well, tried doing a plank for 2 Taemins but it’s hard. I don’t possess the strength in my arms or my core, so just like many exercises before at the moment it’s just a hybrid attempt. With time I’ll get better.

Well, I think that’s it for today. Check-in post holiday completed. See you again soon.

I’ll start again after Christmas

After the escape