Day 164: 4 days in a row

Good effort for me, 4 days exercise in a row. Just walked the hill with my backpack for the first time in a long time - it certainly makes it harder. I'll be loading it up with stuff gradually over the next month as I prepare for Milford.

Day 163: Back into it

Well, I've walked 3 days in a row now. Going to walk tomorrow, hopefully.

Watching a nice glass of wine on the TV just now. I could just take a nice big gulp of it.

Thinking about cooking some thai for a change. Diet has been Italian largely recently but a bit bored of it.

Day 161: 23 weeks

Wow 23 weeks. 3 weeks till half way.

Fuck me time passes. That's the one thing we can all be sure of. Blink, and fucking time passes.

Months of it.

Years of it.

Which is great if you are trying to make a change. Not so great if you are watching your life slip away.

I didn't end up walking yesterday. I did today though, so three cheers for me. And no piss for 161 days, thanks very much. I could hardly be bothered counting to 161 days, let alone not drinking for that period.

I have thought of grog a couple of times this weekend to be honest. I bought some wine for cooking yesterday, and I thought about it in the bottle shop. And today on my walk I thought about it.

Tell you what, I could get back on it quicker than you could say pissed as a fart. The first 5 schooners would not hit the sides, and within 3 weeks you wouldn't know I was ever off it.

Anyway, main thing is I went for my walk today, and haven't been eating shit this weekend. So let's try keeping that up in this, my 24th week off the grog.

Day 160: Stunning day

What an absolutely stunning day. We have had a shitload of rain this last week, but it has cleared and we now have beautiful sunshine with the wind blowing the trees back and forth. Jacaranda leaves are everywhere in little purple patches on the ground.

Have to go for a walk around the mountain later in the day.

I'm also going to make a new healthy food push for the next 5 weeks, along with the exercise push. No more crap! I also want Saturday to be seafood day.

To this end I'm about to go off to the rocklea markets. Fresh produce including seafood. I'm going to see if I can find some scallops.

Day 158: Funny in the head

I think I've been a bit distressed again from the exercise. I went around the hill again this morning, with my new boots, but I was a bit mentally distressed during the day. I ate poorly, and was quite agitated. I think it is just part of my getting back into exercise. It goes, I think, if I keep the exercise up.

I'm off to NZ in 5 weeks, and walking Milford in 6. Exciting eh.

Going to try and ramp things up for that.

I dreamt I had a beer last night or the night before. I felt guilty.

Day 157?: Have boots; around the hill

Well, I went back out around the hill again yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Hororah for that.

Still off the piss.

Speaking of piss, I still google it to see if what I am doing is insane. I found an article which I think is the best I have read. So many people, and articles, take an evangelical view of drinking or not drinking. I know when I drank I spent a lot of time educating people about the joys of alcohol, beer in particular, and introducing them to tastes and experiences that they have not come across before. I was a beer evangelist. Now that I am off the turps for 12 months - at least - I have to had to fight to not become judgmental or to lecture people about their drinking. Very difficult to do when you are in a room full of drunks. Where possible though, I have tried to put out the message that there is no right or wrong answer, and drinking or not drinking is a very personal thing.

Anyway, this is the article:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/alcohol-full-story/index.html

Almost makes you want to have a (moderate) drink eh? But I guess that is the real question. Can you stop at just one, especially over time. Or would you descend into drinking perhaps more than is good for you, affecting your sleep, exercise, days after, mental health, liver etc.

Anyway, they say the benefits, health wise, are more important etc at 60 than 35, so I don't have to consider it yet. They also point out that you should only consider moderate drinking if you are thin, and so I have a way to go on that front as well.

My focus now is to get back on the horse, exercise wise. Glad to walk the hill yesterday as I said. I did it with my new hiking boots I bought on the internet from America. Thankfully they fit, which is a bit of miracle. I just have to get up to the level of fitness I had a month ago in the next month or so, and also start using my backpack to get used to that.

Making a beet salad today with beets I baked last night, and am baking an eggplant as I type. I think eating lots of delicious veges is important for this whole healthy living business.

Day 151: Need to regroup

I'm back, and I'm still off the grog.

Exercise has fallen away. Out of the routine. Food slipping.

Going to worry about getting back into the groove before weighing myself.

Happened due to mild illness, and then just not being bothered to exercise.

It is very, very easy to do. You have a legitimate reason for not behaving (exhaustion, illness, injury or perhaps one blowout/relapse) and then you use the excuse to stop the whole campaign.

You have to get back on the horse. Slowly if necessary, to rebuild the routine. I started by going on a small walk yesterday. Want to go again this afternoon. Back into Cootha routine next week.