I am now less than a week away from being 39 years old.
As those of you my age, or older, may already know, the passing of time comes as quite a shock every now and again. There are moments in each of our lives where we think: "Where the fuck did that go?!"
Well, go it did.
I am still in the throes of some severe back pain, which, I will admit, hasn't been helped by my own actions. I am convinced that my prolapsed discs and the associated pain that I have suffered are entirely linked to the fact that in the last few years I have become as large as I have ever been.
I recently topped out at 18 st 12 lbs (263 lbs/119.2 kg). Looking down, I no longer see feet. I see 42" waist jeans.
It's safe to say that depression was slowly creeping in and adding to my pain-fueled lethargy. As is often the case with weight gain and depression, people comfort eat. A lot. Which only adds to your weight gain and thus begins the sprial where a lot of people's health starts to circle the drain.
Not for me - I was eating some comfort foods, but complete inactivity was what was putting pounds on me.
After one very nice Chinese take away meal with the missus, I felt like my heart was going to seize. The food tasted great, but the enjoyment from the meal was completely gone.
And that was my moment. My 'enough is enough' moment. When something like that stops being enjoyable, then the incentive to change it becomes the only other thing left.
Thankfully, I have a very understanding and caring missus who is happy with the idea of shedding a few pounds herself.
Her sister is on a massive health kick and had been extolling the virtues of a diet she had found that was doing all the right things for her - the Keto diet. For those of you that don't know what that is, here's the general gist of it.
The Keto diet works on the principle that if you remove carbs and sugar from your diet, then your body has zero choice in burning fat for energy. The state of 'ketosis' is what you're aiming for and when you hit it, that's when your body is burning the fat off you at an optimal rate.
It works too. I lost over half a stone in the first 10 days. So did the missus.
Sadly, that was where it peaked for me. I don't know if my body just got used to it and plateaued too quickly or if I was doing it wrong, but that was the end of my weight loss.
I stuck it out, from mid-February this year, until about a week ago. That was when I decided that maybe it was time to get back to simple science. I, like the vast majority of you out there, am fully aware that if you burn more calories than you consume, then you will lose weight.
It's not rocket surgery.
My problem is that, after a few years of detrimental office jobs and the compounded effects of inertia on my body, going for a run isn't an option. Actually - a 'health kick' was what prolapsed the discs in my spine so badly last May anyway! I did three 10km jogs in a week and had been trying to jog through the pain, which I mistook as nothing more than a lack of conditioning.
I was wrong, to my great cost. Those 3 jogs have cost me that last year of work and have seen me needing MRIs, physio, spinal injections, untold sleepless nights due to severe pain, a ridiculous array of ineffective painkillers and, of course, yet more weight gain.
Okay - so now you're about up to speed. What I have gotten back is determination. Not sure if this speaks to anything about my character or if it had just gotten to the stage where it was this or the downward spiral was about to accelerate and my subconscious kicked in to arrest it. Who knows?
I was training a few years back and managed to lose 25 lbs in 5 weeks. This was strict calorie controlled eating combined with a decent gym membership. I really went at it hard. However, my running attempts last year have hammered it home that I am not able to do this right now.
When I was training, I found it very useful to use a website called www.myfitnesspal.com. It's a great site that allows you to set goals, track each and every calorie you eat (as long as you can be arsed measuring everything you consume!) and also adjusts your daily food intake/goals when you log exercise.
Since I am now part of the smart phone generation, there is, of course, an app for that. I also found a sister website/app called MapMyFitness, which utilises the GPS features of my iPhone 6 and saves me having to log my training routes manually.
This time round, I have decided not to be such a Muppet about things. My training consists of long walks. These I can manage, but not without considerable pain at times. The way I see it, if I am walking the 10k jogging route from before, then those calories burned will lead to weight loss; will lead to muscle conditioning; will lead to the ability to (eventually) jog or run the same route.
Today is Day 4 of the new training regime. I am happy with my progress, despite twinges in my lower back, and the missus is happy with it too (despite her fatigue!)
I always come on here and promise to be a more prolific blogger and, somehow, it never works out that way. So... I will make this promise: I will try to keep this as up-to-date as I can.
On that note... it's almost time to wake sleeping beauty and drag her out for another long walk. Thank God we don't ever tire of each other's chat!
