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| Shannon aged 5 on the left and her 'big' sister Mollie aged 8 in Marks and Spencers |
What has not been so good has been the continuance of the exercise and the weight management regimes... No, Mr Fat has been bad and let it all slip much to his detriment and it has, as I sit and type this, been a foolish mistake.
The weather here in the UK has been pretty good throughout the year. I have no idea if this is down to the climate change that every one goes on about, but it has been neither too hot nor too cold, nor too wet or too windy throughout the year, but whether it is down to my mild arthritis or not I found it a bit cold at the beginning of December and the first couple of weeks it seemed, or at least appeared to be, raining every time I was due for my walk and so I stopped going out, thinking that I would make up for it later. But, I never did and as I sit here after having been for my annual asthma inspection this morning I am feeling the worse for not maintaining my regime.
I did say in November that my target was to get down to just under 19 stone (266lbs) for Christmas, well, as they say, 'fat chance' of that happening. I got down to 19 stone 3 lbs but without the continued walking have gone back up to 19 stone 9 lbs and without the exercise my blood pressure, which apparently was fine in October is now too high as of this morning, again.
So, although it is still a few days to the New Year I have decided, although this is going to be difficult to accomplish, to stop being an idiot, how does one stop being an idiot (rhetorical) when one has been one for most of his life? It's a bit like the fags, been smoking since I was 11 and now 55. I know it is slowly killing me or at least hastening my demise and I have tried the gum, the lozenges, the patches, the inhalers and even hypnotherapy all to no avail. Apparently there is a pill on prescription that helps and have asked my doctor twice, who keeps giving me a hard time on the very infrequent occasions I actually see her, but she will not give it to me unless I have a couple of sessions with the surgeries 'stop smoking councillors' one of whom (don't know if the other one does or not) SMOKES LIKE A BLAST FURNACE CHIMNEY! If you don't practice what you preach why would you expect others do do as you say, or is that me just being idiotic again?
So, I am going to start going for my walks again and am looking to join a gym and guess what my New Years resolution is going to be again for the nth time, yes, to STOP SMOKING, again!
So the moral of this tale, if like me you are overweight and unfit, there are no free holiday periods, you have to keep going.
Of course being a a member of that burgeoning club called Twitter, I should know this as I follow a number of people some of whom, while not really my equal in terms of not being fit and unhealthy, are far more intelligent than I when it comes to staying in shape for the sake of both body and mental well being, and clearly as well as following them on Twitter I should be following their lead in terms of maintaining my fitness as they clearly have not taken time of for the festivities. so well done to:
Julia R Barrett aka @JuliaRBarrett
Penny Watson aka @PennyRomance
Michael R Hicks aka @MR_Hicks_Fans
Jan Hicks aka @JanHicks
Stephen Ames Berry aka @writerredux
Toby Field aka @FatCycleRider
Marie Kennedy aka @_MarieKennedy
and to all the others who unlike me have not stopped their fitness regimes. I shall try and match your standards in my future endeavours
Happy New Year to Everyone
early update, I so knew this was going to get me into trouble:
- Michael R. Hicks Okay, Mr. Fat, sounds like it's time for a New Year's challenge. Not resolution - challenge. How about 30 minutes of exercise every day, publicly proclaimed; missed days are open to scorn and humiliation! Let's set an achievable milestone of 30 days, starting 2 January. And you have to report if you smoke so I can humiliate you into giving it up (your pride will be a good motivator)! What say you? ;-)
55 minutes ago · 
Tom Stronach Well, I've started I've brought the local gym link up on the web and who new it was only a five minute walk from the front door, well She who knows everything did, been there since we moved in 20 yrs ago she says. AND OK challenge accepted
50 minutes ago ·
Michael R. Hicks I think Ishbel Stronach and Jan Hildenbrand Hicksshould set the stakes! :^D
2 minutes ago ·
What? Are we all down on ourselves? Either it's that time of year or just the struggles of this past year.
ReplyDeleteSo, next year will be better. Pinky-swear.
Thanks for the shout out! You are the best.
I'm with ya brother. I've maintained the weight, but I fell of the wagon again. Not smoking, but chewing tobacco. A remnant from my baseball days.
ReplyDeleteI quit three times in 2011 for a total of about six months. Better than nothing, but the book release stress didn't help much.
The most successful time this year was when I upped my exercise regime the same time I quit chewing. Whenever I had the urge, I'd go ride the bike for a good half hour.
Not sure the point of this comment, other than to let you know I feel for you. If I find some new secret to quitting I'll be sure to throw it your way.
My brother swears by the presription to quit, but I have a professor who swears they almost drove her crazy. Go figure.
So good luck in 2012 my friend. I wish you the best. May we both be a little bit skinnier, and a little less filled with nicotine!
Julia, I wasn't trying to sound down although reading it back it does seem like that. I actually felt quite good and I think the reason for that is that I h=have been consistent throughout the last couple of yeas in getting out every day, except for December.
ReplyDeleteCome the New Year I always hope for a better one than the year before although having a great wife, three great kids and 5 super grandchildren it's difficult to see (apart from a bit of spare cash) how my life could be any better.
The added bonus for me in 2011 was of course finding so many superbly Twitterlicious friends through the blog and Twitter like you and Kirkus MacGowan and Michael Hicks and tons of other people, who I hope will continue to be my friends in 2012.....
Kirkus, right back at ya.
ReplyDeleteFirst week over. haven't gone cold turkey but down from 40 to 10 a day and started the walking again. managed to do it every day so far and as I sit here cooling down from an 1 hr and 1/4 walk I am getting the buzz again.
Good luck with your fat and smoking fights my friend.
Of course psychologically I know it is bad for me but psychologically I enjoy it...........
Oh no! Didn't realize you were starting so fast. I need at least 2-3 weeks of psychological build up.
ReplyDeleteDo you typically go cold turkey? Or wean yourself off?
Weaning seems to work the best for me, but I've read studies that say cold turkey tends to have a higher success rate.
Hour and a 1/4? Wow, You're ahead of me. Of course I typically ride a bike, but not that long.
Do you listen to anything when you're out that long? Music? Audio books? I think audio books are eventually what will help me lose the rest of the weight.
Sounds like you're having a great start to 2012. And keep talking about it! The more I hear other people talk about their health, the more likely I am to pay attention to mine.
And sorry for the long comments. Darn writers anyway, haha.
My husband is using up all the bandwidth with his sports site. How's the non-smoking going?
ReplyDelete