SO! A month has now passed. I’d lost count of all those times I told myself I should start to get fit again, Like every new year, every birthday and every time I saw someone else who looked good after starting a fitness regime….. Each time I think back to the last time I’d said it and think the same thing…. “If only I’d started back then, how fit would I be now…” I am without doubt my own worst enemy…. but, one month ago something snapped, I was finally sick of it, again….

At 37 and ticking I’m in danger of becoming the type of person I said I never would. Last year a friend started a “50 things to do before 50” and anounced the occassional event she was taking part in on Facebook, another lost an incredable amount of weight by going public with his fitness regime. There seems to be a little extra drive to achieve your goal when theres a risk that everyone will find you out if you end up failing! Time isn’t exactly on my side, I feel like I’m cruising quickly towards 40 and I have no intention of getting there In my current state. A month ago I couldn’t even run round a field with my five year old, I actually pretended half the time I wasn’t interested in playing because I was more concerned about the comic show I was displaying for everyone by being a fat bloke running around a field. Shameful….

The dreaded diet

Every fibre of my being hates to watch how much I eat.  I start a diet, lose weight, Still get out of breath on the stairs and I eventually give up. mainly after a couple of weeks and mainly because I decide its time to “treat” myself for being good at dieting. When you crack up half way through a diet though it’s so much harder to see any result from the work put in so far and twice as hard to try and gain the same momentum afterwards. Yeah I’m not a fan…. Still, a diet is more than eating less or avoiding carbs. If the end result is that you eat more healthily and enjoy the recipes contained in them then it’s no bad thing. Theres one diet I tried that I can say I’ve stuck with some of the meal plans just because I like the food. The kids like the food too which is a major hurdle! It’s all from raw/fresh ingredients so you get the satisfaction of knowing your food is freshly prepared, no pre-pack garbage. It’s the Anna Richardson body blitz and we’ve bought two of her books. The layout is no nonsense and full of recipes suiting those who really have little time to mess about being all cullenary in the kitchen. So I can follow the book, do some excersise, and occassionally treat myself for being good at dieting.

The Start, My first foot forward….

I started this journey on the 16th January 2012 by taking my first steps outside. Running has always been instant weight loss to me and when you consider a 5 mile run can burn 700 cals it’s not hard to see why. At the time of starting I was calling each outing a “run” but it was in fact just a matter of getting out and covering the distance. So i chose a relatively quiet stretch of road and a little “goal” that I could work towards. I set goals for the distance I had to run before I could stop and walk a little and I tried my best to go out every day with a rest every third/fourth day. Every day is a good idea. Stretching inbetween is too. I had excrusiating pain in my lower legs and only stretching, ibuprophen and continuous use brought it under control. I remember having this pain when I last did the great north run and really didn’t look forward to it returning but when it did I was ready. standing on the edge of a step with my toes and lowering my heels, doing this as often as I remembered to give the legs a good stretch and has really made a difference. That’s what happens when you tell the body it has to start earning it’s living. It screams back at you occassionally. I noticed the pain was linked to the way i ran. I was plodding. I lengthened my stride a little and softened the blow as each foot landed. trying not to “plod” after the first few weeks became easier and I suppose it was just a case of waiting for the muscles to catch up.

So here’s what I managed.

1. 16th january 2.94km
2. 17th January 3.79km
3. 18th January 3.00km
4. 20th January 3.91km
5. 21st January 3.96km (I think this was the first point I ran the whole way. After this I refused to stop on any other run.)
6. 22nd January 3.00km
7. 25th January 5.54km
8. 26th January 8.28km
9. 27th January 7.93km
10. 30th January 2.45km
11. 31th January 5.90km
12. 1st February 4.64km
13. 2nd February 1.61km
14. 3rd February 4.27km
15. 6th February 8.37km
16. 8th February 9.84km
17. 13th February 11.3km
18. 15th February 6.00km (approx, Nike+GPS didn’t record the first part of the run)

How much weight did I lose? don’t know. I’m gaining a little muscle as I go so there’s no point stepping on the scales, I read somewhere a soap bar of muscle weighs as much as a football of fat so the legs firm up a little thats a lot of belly has to go to show on the scales. I’ve dropped a hole on my belt and a couple of people have noticed a change, Thats good enough for me! Haven’t touched the bike yet though….

This blog: Tony Hemans and Glen Eccles will be cycling the Camino Frances from St jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela covering 800km in 6 days in October 2012. Tony hopes to raise a little for charity along the way as he prepares for the journey. His charities are; SANDS – Stillbirth and neonatal death charity, website: http://www.uk-sands.org/About-Sands.html and; CLIC sargent – for children with cancer, website: http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Aboutus I’m not just bothering people for charity either so if you are trying to get fit, planning an adventure, long distance cyclist or just curious about my mid-life crisis then subscribe and share!