Day 52: walk 4 of 4 this week

Well, I'm waiting for my terminator mother to arrive, so we can walk off in the freezing, possibly wet dark for a 1.5+ hour walk up and down hills in the bush.

Bloody cat woke me up at 3 and I haven't been able to get back to sleep. Fucking animal.

Just feel like falling asleep for 10 hours. Pity it doesn't work like that.

Trying to track how many walks i'm doing in a week (Cootha). If I go today (in a couple of minutes) it will be 4/4 days in this week (now measuring from a Sunday as Sunday is 'weigh day').

Best go. She normally arrives about now.

Day 51: Unofficially cracked the 10

Weigh day isn't till monday, but like all good would be slimmers I jumped on and I had cracked the 10k. Horray for me. What I want to do is crack the 15 now. Preferably by the end of week 10, which is not that far away (only 3 weeks).

But a good goal to have.

Went for walk today. Wore jumper for the first bit this time.

Day 50: Day 50!

Do I get a prize for getting to Day 50? I guess the 9kg is my prize.

Trudged around the hill again this morning. Didn't eat any crap today, although I ate very well. That's what I'm going to keep doing. Trudge around the hill, not eat any crap, not drink any piss.

Simple really.

One thing I'd like to ramp up is going for a second walk after work. That would really sort me out. Just an hour around the river. If I do Cootha 6 days, and can walk around the river after work for 4 days, then that would be unassailable.

Day 49: Part II

Only went for short walk (still 1.75 hours around the hill). I'm fine with that. Want to do it 6 times this week (measuring from today so can report back next Sunday).

Also want to work with what I know on the food, making sure i always have something good to eat and don't have to eat crap. eg minestrone, lamb stew.

Might try and eat some seafood tonight. i'd love to eat it twice a week.

Day 49: 7 weeks (9kg)

Well, 7 weeks ago I was hungover at my brother's house, not speaking all that much, certainly not wanting to exercise. Instead I wanted to get home after having a beer or two (or 10) at the bonfire party the prior night.

Since then I have:

1) not had a drink;

2) tried to ramp up the exercise around Mt Cootha;

3) tried to improve the food but haven't ever gone hungry and still have a long way to go in improving food quality and perhaps volume.

I just weighed myself. Even though I feel heavy from having eaten too much these last few days, I'm still 9kg down from where I was 7 weeks ago.

I'm pretty fucking pleased about that. The insurmountable doesn't appear so depressing when you make progress like that. I just need to keep this fucking thing up, and continue to improve on it. I've got the fitness. I know good food from bad. I seem to have made the grog choice.

I just need to keep doing it. And keep getting better.

Well, what's my goal. I think it is just to continue to lose 1kg a week. I think that is all you can ask really. Any more is a bonus, and the time goes quickly enough. You moan that it will take too long at that rate to undo what has been done, but as I said, the time goes quickly enough. Before I know it 3 more months will have passed, and if I keep this up I'll be over 20kg down.

I guess that's what I really want to do next: knock the last kilo off this week, and then focus on the next chunk. I'll think about that chunk after I've lost the last kilo of the first 10. I think 10kg is a good goal and metric to focus on.

Go me. I've just had 2 days off the hill and haven't been eating well. I want to make up for that with a "big" hill walk. It takes almost 4 hours. I think I've mentioned it a few times in this blog, but I don't think I've ever done it during the time the blog has been going. Perhaps once.

Well I've got a kilo to knock off this week. So I'd better get out there.

Day 48 Part I: Day of rest

I ended up having Friday off. It was after 4 days around the hill, so I think that's fine. Had a big boozy day (well, those around me did). I was at an end of year financial lunch at a fine place, and did feel a pang let me tell you, others were on the piss from 12.30 to 4.30, then we had to go to work drinks at 5.00 back in the office, where even more people were drinking even more piss into the night.

Let me tell you, piss is everywhere in our culture. Absolutely everywhere. All the time.

It certainly is a different perspective sober. I mean, the culture of professional people working all day, solving difficult problems, and then being encouraged by their employer to gather as a group in a particular spot and get pissed, drinking a drug, together - it's just mad isn't it. Imagine if some hunters and gatherers did the same but getting off on some poisonous berries. We'd think they were savages wouldn't we, and certainly wouldn't tolerate it if we employed them and they whipped out the berries after work and started acting intoxicated. Or gave them to clients!

Strange how our ancient rituals have become normalised even though they are pretty weird. Like drinking cows milk. How casually do we do that - drink liquid that comes from another animal's body (not even our own species - we consider that gross). We don't think about it. Other animals don't even do it. If we saw a monkey drinking from a cow we would think he was bonkers. I've got liters of the stuff in my fridge!!

Anyway, enough self reflection. The important thing is I didn't get on the drink. I did have a client contact me though and tell me they wanted me to visit them as an alcohol "celebrity".

I had to remind them I was off the drink, although I could run though a tasting if they wished.

Anyway, I ate too much food yesterday. Felt a bit crook during the night (I get a bit of reflux if eat a lot of rich or crap food). I want to do my walk today - preferably the big one. Will report back on that one.

Day 46: So far so good

Didn't feel like walking last night. All good today though. Mum is having tomorrow off (doing weights) so I'll have to do myself.

Just got to keep the fucker up.

Looks like Rudd is getting rolled today. Lesson there for us all.

Day 45: Feeling slimmer

Felt slimmer in the face this morning. A good feeling.

Went around the hill. Felt good. Plan (again) is to get into a routine with this - I think perhaps till week 10 (currently in week 6) and then start walking each day after work for an hour as well.

That will be guru exercise.

New scales have arrived at work. Will weigh on monday and start weekly weigh in to measure progress weight wise.

I hope to get into a routine of a kilo a week. It doesn't really matter how things have gone over the last 6 weeks - the whole idea was to get into the unlikely routine of not drinking and exercising every day. Now that I'm doing that, I want to get into the weight loss routine of a kilo a week.

Having said that I'm curious. I would love to have lost 6 or more kilos in the time I've had so far. But, it ain't easy, and it ain't quick. I'm in it for the long haul.

It's only day 45 out of 365, after all.

Day 44: Feeling good

Around the hill again this morning. Not the fastest effort - it felt workmanlike.

I'm feeling good today. Thinner. Healthier. Legs a bit sore, but in a good way.

Ate a little more for lunch, but it wasn't complete crap, like yesterday. That's cool.

Goal for the next 4 weeks really is to get into a 6 day per week habit. Then I can ram it out over the 10 weeks following this, improving food more if necessary.

All good.

Day 43: Bright eyes

Well, trudged off into the pitch black darkness this morning with my new head torch.

As I walked up the hill I noticed a little fluorescent light off the path. It was very small. I was intrigued. I have come across little bugs and flies that glow, so I poked around with my finger in the bush floor to see what was there. I ended up poking a spider in the eye. It was reflecting the light from my head torch.

I probably saw about 20 either spider eyes reflecting as I walked up the hill. Quite an experience!

I ate some crap today. A meat pie. A Jap curry. Sandwiches.

I think my body is still in shock a little from ramping up the walk to a daily thing. I know I will work through this though. Get the daily exercise routine right and then sort the rest of the food out.

Mum's coming again tomorrow morning at 5.10. Every day this week.

Cooked with marsalla tonight. When I smelt it I wanted to drink the whole damn glass. 6 weeks is a long time to go without a drink. Too fucking long. But I'm doing it for my broader health.

Day 42 Part II: 6 weeks

Well 6 weeks today. Or to be honest 6 weeks yesterday since I had a drink. Standing drunkenly around a bonfire, with coals settling in my hair and alarmed family running over to make sure that it didn't catch on fire. Not that I had a problem...

All going to plan. Better than expected really. Making progress. Excited about the future. Much fitter. Thinner, although it is just a start.

Day off today, but want to smash 6 days around the hill in the next week.

Have ordered scales again. Will arrive next week. Will start taking weekly measurements. Fuck it, why not. It is one metric of many, true, but one that is pretty fucking relevant.

My belt is pretty fucking relevant too. It has been moving in the right direction.

Just need to keep the bastard up. I think I'll really notice a difference if I smash it out for the next 3 months.

Day 42: Rest day

Well, ironically enough after yesterday's post I'm going to have today off from walking around the hill. I think I'll go for a walk on the flat somewhere, or even skip it altogether.

Today will be a rest day.

You have to listen to yourself. Going up those hills is a bit like doing weights for your legs - at least when you are carrying my body, and so I think there is no way you can do that every day on an ongoing basis. You need a day off every now and then to come back stronger.

I spotted a very athletic person's training diary once and it had rest days all over the place. He had been at the AIS among other places (Australian Institute of Sport) and I think that smart people have them.

I think part of the reason my food started going a bit haywire was that I was a bit distressed from all the exercise.

Anyway, been a corker week really. I'll have a day off and then have another corker week.

I want to make another vegetable soup today. And perhaps have fish for dinner of some sort.

Day 41: Kicking it with the exercise

Well, I went again this morning with my sister.

That's 6 walks out of 8 days.

Want to do it again tomorrow. I think I'm getting in, or near, "the groove" for exercise - that place you reach where there is absolutely no chance you won't do your exercise tomorrow, where you look forward to it, and you're able to grind it out, week after week, getting fitter, enjoying it more and more.

A long road but I think I could be close to a routine.

That would absolutely kick arse from a fitness/weight perspective. There is no way on this earth that your body can ignore walking around hills for 1.75 hours a day, day in, day out, especially off the piss.

My body hasn't gotten to this without a fight though. I had a food spac out last night, and ate a packet of jatz. A whole packet. I wasn't even hungry. I'd just eaten a fabulous meal I'd cooked myself. I think that this is just a little rebellion because it doesn't know what the fuck is going on with all the exercise.

It will get over it. A month into the "groove" and I will be a cootha machine.

That's my goal. I've been 6 weeks tomorrow. My new plan is to smash out the exercise until 10 weeks, then reassess with a weigh in to see how the first, routine establishing 10 weeks, have been for me.

Day 40: Breakthrough

Well, I trudged off into the pitch black myself at 5.10 this morning!!!!

I can't tell you how difficult (impossible actually) this has been in the past.

So I guess my body is ready for it, and wants to do it.

This means I have walked around Mt Cootha for what is a 1.75 hour walk 5 times out of the last 7 days.

Cracker.

My goal now is to walk 6 times next week. I think I can do it.

Day 39: Some regret

Got some good news yesterday. Something I guess I've been working for for 15 years happened. Part of me wanted to celebrate with a drink. I guess that's not unusual in our culture.

Instead I watched the footie, and ate some chocolate I found in my parents' house.

Didn't walk yesterday as I was feeling a bit funny after walking 3 days in 4 (it is a difficult walk around hills). I'm waiting now for my mother to arrive so I can trudge off into the darkness. Although it isn't as dark as it was as my sister has given me a cap that has a little bulb in it. It used to have 3 but 2 have broken.

It works a treat. I'm fond of light for night walks now.

Ate some left over minestrone soup last night as a first course. That stuff is gold. Delicious and filling.

Feeling as I'm moving in the right direction again belt wise.

Day 37: Walk but crap

Did walk around mt cootha this morning in the dark. That's 3 in 4 days. Pretty good. Ate a little crap at lunch though. Tired. Going to not walk tomorrow morning but back on thur.

Day 36: 5 weeks

Missed a day. Day 35. First day.

No walk yesterday (mate cancelled and I didn't leap out of bed), but no grog either. Had some people over for dinner. One was drinking wine like water (i mean in a large water glass not a wine glass). Ended up messily in the wee hours.

I didn't.

Instead I got up today and did my shorter Cootha walk. It's still 1 hour 45 minutes or so. I felt great. Relatively fit. I ran little bits. I even, amazingly, started running at the command of my subconscious once or twice and noticed after the event. That isn't normal for me!

Felt pretty good about it.

Going to cook a vegetable soup today. Also making chicken stock for more vege soups. Might as well take advantage of the cold weather.

Made sure we had eggplant and a salad for the barbie last night.

going to buy scales this week.

UPDATE: Been 5 weeks. Dead keen to hit 8 as I got to 8 weeks last time a few years ago then went back on. If I can crack 13 then I've been off the grog for the longest period since I started drinking.

Day 34: Back walking

Nice 1 hour 45 min walk around Mt Cootha. Plan on doing the 4 hour walk tomorrow if I can. Didn't end up doing it last week as the bloke I was walking with wasn't up to it. But he might be tomorrow.

Couple of people have said nice things about me the last couple of days: looking good, skin looking better (i don't ever notice that). But I can tell myself that the roll I was on 1 week ago slowed or reversed without the exercise. That's crucial to my progress as I've not gone hard on the food.

Anyway, today was a good start. Back on track.

Day 33: Ho hum

Well, got another lunch today. Will be the second this week. Pretty used to the grog thing now. But I've stopped getting thinner without the exercise, and with a dose of crap food. You can feel it. The belt is suggesting movement in one direction rather than the other.

So for me the walking starts again tomorrow (Sat). Plus I need to get those fucking scales.

Day 32: Feeling unfit

Well I haven't walked since Sunday and feel like a sack of shit as a result. I think I'll wait till Saturday, do the shorter walk, and then smash into the bigger walk on Sunday to get things going.

Had lunch at a nice restaurant yesterday. The girl enjoyed her wine and told me how much she enjoyed it. But I didn't care about that, because she told me I was looking slimmer.

What's that worth!

She also spoke of her dad, who enjoyed a drink every night, life of the party and so on, till he had a heart attack and was told by his doctor to stop drinking and lose weight or he would be dead within 12 months.

Four years on and he is a new man. Slim, fit, energetic. Looks completely different.

Still full of life, if not the (drunken) life of the party.

Day 31: One Month

Well one month it is. Won't have exercised in three days at the end of today, but one month it is.

No booze for a month. No tipple, no turps, no piss, no bender, no one or two, no quieties, no roadies, no travellers, no beautiful wine with lunch, no complex beer by a fire or refreshing schooner by a surf club. No drunken sex, no wild bourbons with drunken women looking for trouble (and finding it).

Nope. None of that. None for me.

I did dream I had a drink last night. It is on my mind still. It was a swig of wine. Just one. It was wonderful, although it was followed by guilt as I wasn't meant to be drinking it.

So am I still glad I'm doing it? Absolutely. I'm getting thinner. No question, even though my scales are broken. I'm sleeping better. I'm exercising more and stronger. I'm eating better, and the amount of shit I put in my mouth is getting less and less.

The beautiful, spiritual, social, enabling, rewarding, relaxing side of alcohol that I am missing out on - and missing out on it I am - is just collateral damage in the broader war of me resetting my body and looking like the fit guy.

I don't really give a shit about any of the associated health problems - I don't think I drank enough for that. Life is too short, and people who drink a little live longer and are healthier than those who do not. End of story. But, for me, the path to looking like a fit guy has to involve no piss.

I'm sure of that.

So I will persist. One month down, 11 to go.

Just need to buy another damn pair of scales so I can confirm I'm heading in the right direction. And get rid of this fucking wog so I can get back to exercise.

Day 30: Bronchitis

The doc prodded and poked and I've got mild bronchitis. I felt a bit funny yesterday. I'm taking 2 days off from my exercise and going to try and get back into it tomorrow.

I spoke to the doc about my health plans/being off the grog. He said it was great to be doing something. My blood pressure was a little high, and if my cholesterol was up (he didn't check) then that was a worry. But if I lost weight then the blood pressure would be down, and there is a chance the cholesterol would be too.

I like this guy. He's lost 26k over 5 years. Claimed he didn't feel any better (he is still pudgy). He lost his by cutting down on bread.

He tried to get me back on the diet coke! I said that I'm trying to eat real food and this goes against my whole health philosophy. He said fine water was even better.

Did I tell you I'm sleeping much better off the grog?

Day 29: Crook

Well coughed up some green crap this morning. I'm not coughing and wheezing all the time or anything, but I'm going to try and go to the docs this afternoon and get some antibiotics to knock the bastard on the head.

Always the way hey.

In the meantime, going to make a real effort to bring my own food to work this week: NO CRAP.

Day 28: Four weeks

Four weeks alcohol free, although I had a dream about having a little last night and being in a panic. Must be on my mind for some reason.....

I'm keen for results now. I'm about to go on the big Cootha walk again, which will mean I have done it 4 times this week, which is great. That will be about 9 hours around hills in 7 days.

I'm a little worried I'm getting sick. That always happens doesn't it, just when you think you are reaching your stride. Still, I'm not sure of that yet.

But back to results. Like most people on a health drive, I want it now, I want it now, I want it now. Of course, it doesn't work like that. Just because Fat Albert lays of the paddle pops for a few weeks doesn't mean that he looks like the skinny guy.

No, Fat Albert has to exercise his arse off for years for that.

One clear area I can improve is the food. I just need to make my own lunch more. It is food from other people (including take away shops....) rather than food from me, which is doing me damage I think.

I can taste it when I've eaten 'bad fats' the day before. I wake up feeling a bit disgusting. That's how I felt this morning after going to an 80th birthday yesterday and dinner at night.

Christ, they were on the piss at the 80th let me tell you. Shabby food. But buckloads of piss.

Even the dog was named after a brand of rum, which the adults were drinking out of pint glasses by the way. And the kids were all drinking their flavourless, Carona clone crappy beers with a durry out of the side of their mouths.

Pretty disgusting all round.

What does it say about me that I got on better with the 79 year old bloke than I did with the 19 year old?

Anyway, this week:

1. real food, preferably prepared by me;
2. ramp cootha up from 4 to 5 times in the week.

I'd like to see Cootha get to 6 in the next 2 weeks. You can't fuck with that, as I've said. Progress is guaranteed.

Day 27: Clothes fit that didn't

I had a good moment yesterday in that I was poking around looking for something to wear after work, and tried some shorts, shirt and a jacket that I've worn (or tried to wear) before. They all fitted fine. I could do the jacket up. I swear a month ago I wouldn't have been able to fit in the shorts, and the jacket would not have been able to be done up.

I'm not kidding myself that I'm a normal weight, or look anything but unfit, but that's the sort of tangible progress and results that motivates you to keep on the straight and narrow.

To continue to stay off the grog.

To continue to exercise, and to keep building on it.

To continue to improve the quality of the food I eat.

I had an egg on a nice salad and toasted turkish bread last night. The egg was poached in olive oil, the salad was dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt. The turkish bread was toasted under the grill with olive oil and a little salt. I was a little peckish later on so I had two slices of bruschetta wiped with garlic and topped with finely chopped rosemary, salt and olive oil.

Very nice, and certainly not low fat. The 'diet' I'm trying to follow in my life is just to eat real food and avoid crap eg the hot chips I had for lunch yesterday. That combined with exercise and no piss, allows me to live like a king while eating beautiful real food and making progress (I know I'm making progress - the clothes, and I should say, belt, do not lie).

One thing I'm trying to do is ramp up the veges. I roasted an eggplant the other day and it was a cracker. Just sliced, salted for a few minutes, then baked at 200 degrees for about half an hour tossed with olive oil. I'd like to have a single vege as the main or at least significant part of my meal every night eg eggplant one night, cauliflower another, broccoli another, and so on.

Nothing fancy, but certainly delicious.

Certainly not steamed, low fat crap.

No, fat and salt is what is needed to make vegetables tasty. Just ask any traditional food culture.

Do not make the mistake of asking a nutritionalist.

I'd also like to eat more fish. I'm thinking about making Saturday night fish night. It isn't something I eat much of. It's hard - or at least I think it's hard - for me to source the good stuff. But I'm going to try.

Today, in an hour or so, I want to walk around Cootha - long or short it does not matter. Tomorrow I want to do the long walk though. I think it's really important I do that. I reckon I lose half a kilo whenever I do it (although I haven't measured). The longer walk is almost 4 hours up and down hills.

Your body can't ignore that no matter how stubborn it is.

Day 26: Bad food

Ate crap for lunch. Why? Stressed.

No walk today.

Will try for Cootha tomorrow.

Day 25: Cootha

Walked Cootha for 1 hour 50 mins this morning. Over 1 hour in the dark. Was rewarded with a stick scratching my leg.

Legs were hurting like a bastard yesterday, from the walking I think.

All good now.

Day 24: Must improve food

I'm not doing Cootha today. I'm just not sure it's clever because I think the body needs to rest after doing something difficult. At the moment, I think 3 or 4 times a week is enough. That isn't to say I shouldn't try and walk on the flat on the other days. I'll try and do that this afternoon.

Need to get back into making my lunches. I had work served food crap sandwiches today - toasted - and what a nightmare they are.

Got someone visiting in 6 weeks so want to try and knock some weight off between now and then. Haven't seen them in 10 years.

Day 23: Feeling skinnier

You know how you feel when you're getting smaller? That's how I feel today. You wake up, certain that you're moving in the right direction, and, invariably, you are.

I haven't felt that way for years.

I walked off with my mother in the dark at 5.10. Our walk took 1 hour and 50 minutes. Around the mountain. The sun didn't rise for an hour or more, but the moonlight was strong and it wasn't too cold.

Very enjoyable, and now I feel as though I'm on even more of a roll.

I want to do it again tomorrow morning by myself for the first time.

I'm also going to buy some batteries for the scales in the hope that's the problem.