#btbol

I’ve not been posting a lot because I’m extremely busy at work.  The all dreaded audit busy season.  Not only is it difficult to train in the mornings, the most difficult part for me is getting home early enough to go to sleep at 10PM so I can get my 8 hours sleep.  I’ve been managing to keep to my diet though which is good.

I’m off for my third run of the week.  This one is 25 min (longest so far).  I’m really tired cause I only got about 6 hours sleep so I think this one is going to be super difficult.

So week 1 went pretty well I think.  Here are the stats:

Weight loss - Down 2.9kg (6.4lb)

KM’s run - 6.4km (4miles)

Training sessions - 5

Of which are runs - 3

I admit 6.4km is not a lot, but for me with my limited fitness, I’m pretty happy.  I had my first run of the week yesterday (Monday) as well.  This week the intervals switch from 1 min run/1 min walk to 2 min run/1 min walk.  It was tougher than I expected, maybe because I didn’t take the rest day between runs like I was meant to.  So today I just did some meditation instead and tomorrow will be back at the gym for the next run.

Work is really picking up, with two client reporting deadlines next week so I’m finding it difficult to fit in personal life.  When I mentioned that I’d be going home after my 9h work day (plus an extra two hours travel) it was met with unsavory looks... (how dare I right?)  So I stayed an extra hour and got home just in time to play a bit of piano and go to bed so that I can get my 8 hours sleep.  

This last year or so I’ve fallen into a terrible habit of staying up real late watching Youtube videos or scouring Instagram.  Also the first thing I do in the morning is reach for my phone and check social media.  This leads to about three plus hours wasted at night and sometimes an extra hour in the mornings.

Because I don’t go to sleep at the right time, I frequently struggle to wake up in the mornings, meaning I’m always late and never get enough sleep.  So part of Balancing the Books means to get back into a healthy sleep routine and stop wasting my time on unnecessary, unfulfilling habits.  

The best thing I think I’ve done this week has been to charge my phone on the other side of the room.  That means when I’m preparing for bed, I put my phone on charge and switch off from social media.  It also forces me to get up immediately when my alarm goes off at 6 o’clock instead of snoozing for hours.  At the risk of sounding crass, I’ve also decided to no longer take my phone into the bathroom with me, which has cut down my morning routine even further. ;D

I realise, however, the most important thing is for me to get into a routine.  I’ve been reading a book about habits and routines (The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg) and they mentioned something that I had heard before about your brain forming new synapses.  Literally changing the way your brain works and the layout of your mind until something becomes embedded and becomes second nature.

A lot of firsts.  So part of why I chose my apartment is because it has a really nice gym (which I’ve come to discover is quite expensive here in the UK).  Although I was really excited about the gym I’ve only visited it about three times since moving here in October.

So since my 5k plan has me resting between runs, I went to the gym yesterday and did free weights for the first time.  Usually when I’ve joined a gym I only did cardio, but I know it’s important for me to start weight training also.  The main reason why I’ve never done it is because I feel extremely self conscious.  I don’t know how to do it and I’m also deceptively weak.  I can’t lift heavy weights at all, but because I’m 6ft 2 and have fat where biceps are meant to be, people always assume I’m strong.  This has been the case my whole life.  I remember at school that everyone always wanted me to do shotput and the teachers would give me an extra try at try-outs because they always thought it came down to bad technique...  My dad even bought me a shotput ball once... I really think I just wasn’t strong enough.

I’ve had two friends in the last couple of months saying we should gym together.  “With your build, once you start lifting you’ll be a machine!”  Although it would be super useful getting advice from someone who knows what they’re doing I’ve always steered clear out of fear that I won’t be able to lift the smallest weight... We’ll see.  Either I’ll build up a little bit of strength before asking them for help, or even better, maybe I’ll gain some confidence.

I’ve always wanted to get into running races.  I’ve done a colour fun run before, but no real races.  My personality is the type that likes a sense of achievement but I also work well under pressure so I’ve decided to enter a 5k for the first week of Feb so that I have something to work towards.  For this reason, I’m also using a plan to run 5k within 4 weeks.  My only goal for this first race is to complete it without having to walk.  I don’t care how long it takes, as long as I end up not having to walk.  Right now, I’m running extremely slowly, but still have to stop to walk every few minutes.  So, I’ve got four weeks to get my fitness up.  

As mentioned previously, I used to have some ‘almost’ proper gym routines where I’d go to the gym three times a week.At my peak, however, the best I could do is run on the treadmill for 20 min without stopping.  

Over the past year, I’ve gone running a couple of times.  Each time starting from scratch I would run for a minute and a half and then walk for a minute.  I would do this for 20 min at a time.  

Do to my running experience, although very limited, I wasn’t expecting today’s first run to be all too taxing.  Boy was  I wrong.  Maybe since I put on a lot of weight very recently and I haven’t run for two months, but it was really tough, especially on my shins.  My new running plan said I should start out real easy with a 10 min run, alternating walking and running every minute.  At first I thought this is way too easy, but I guess I was wrong.  It shames me to say it.

Another part of why it was tough, is because I’m in a new area, having recently moved, and don’t quite know where to go running.  I felt extremely shy thinking that everyone is judging me and knowing that I’m one of the ‘new year new me’ wannabe’s (which, lets face it, I am... At least until this whole thing turns into a success story).

The cold also didn’t help...

I live in London, UK, so today was pretty cold.  

As today marks the start of my weight-loss journey, I’ve made sure to take pictures and measurements.  I will take measurements every two weeks from this date and provide updates.  

Though I put on weight steadily over the past two years or so, I put on quite a bit of it in the past three months or so due to some terrible binge eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle.  Due to me employing an ostrich, head-in-the-sand, mindset, I hadn’t quite grasped how bad things had become.  Looking at the photos I took I feel so ashamed that I don’t even want to post them on here yet, even though I know I currently have no followers yet.  I’ll still consider adding them soon, but think I’ll probably only show them when there are some progress pictures to add..