I am putting on weight. It’s not happened quickly but it’s been steady and pretty unrelenting. I put it down to several things. Firstly, contentment. It's a pretty well known fact that that happy and contented people can put on a few pounds. I am pretty happy in my life, albeit there have been some major stresses and strains this year that have affected my wellbeing. Stress is another factor for putting on weight. For nearly four years now, I have been out of a daily routine. Work is forthcoming, but my hours are far from routine and I get very angsty about combining a work/life equilibrium.
Anyway, the upshot of this is that I need to seriously consider re-jigging something in my life to make this work. I adored running. Absolutely loved the ease and the freedom of it. Sadly, it didn’t love me. The strain on one of my big ‘ole flat feet was too much and I have been trying to nurture them back to working order for the last 6 months. The podiatrist has suggested that I don’t take up running again very soon.
My go-to cardio exercise has always been swimming, which I still do as much as my time/energy levels will allow. I’m still a 2k in 40mins swimmer, which isn't bad. A decent pool is hard to find however and while Epsom has a great gym, its pool is poorly managed. I get a better swim at Wimbledon but of course, that adds 10k to my commute to work. Cycling is a decent cardio exercise of course, but I’m no racer and get a bit stressed cycling in torrential rain or wind - it’s an age/confidence thing, I think. Also, even on a good day, packing an inordinate number of clothes when I leave the house. For example, if I am at work and have a play in the evening, I may have to pack a gym or swim kit, a formal shirt and tie for work, a casual shirt and trousers for the theatre and possibly an extra pair of shoes/trainers, depending on the weather. Apart from anything else, the forward planning can become pretty draining.
Age is also an important factor and at 52, it’s not going to get easier to loose weight.
Anyway, I need to shake things up a bit and I’ve got a few days ‘off’ coming up. Needless to say I have a writing deadline in that mix, but hopefully things will be a bit clearer. The reason I am writing this post is to help me try and identify the changes that have happened in my life in the last four years that have affected my weight. Oddly the big things that have happened include: a personal trainer, regular sports massages, increasing my swimming/gym membership, the increased use of apps and the addition of an activity tracker. It’s almost as if that since I started to invest in my fitness, I started putting on weight. I wonder if this is a common occurrence?
When I first met Sean, I had put on quite a bit of weight, which may well have been related to giving up smoking. I then proceeded to go on my most successful diet ever, loosing approximately 23 kilos or so over the period of about a year. I don’t need to do that again, obviously but I do need to find the sort of routine and commitment that I once had. I got down to about 85 kilos and I guess, I’d be happy now at with being under 90 kilos. If I get under 90 kilos, I might be able to - carefully - start running again.
I guess that I am looking at loosing about 15 kilos over the next 12 months. It seems doable on paper, but there again, I’ve been trying to do it for four years and progressively failing. Lets see how I get on over the next week or so. Autumn/winter is never the best time to diet - I think my body naturally craves pies, stews and dumplings through this season. But there's also Stop-tober, which I should aim for - drinking is not just shite for calories, it also encourages bad food choices. Let's see what I can put in place over the next week or so to begin with.
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