11th – 17th Jan 2021
I think this coming week is going to be the important one for my goals. Two full weeks into January.
Apparently 92% of all new year resolutions are broken after just 2 weeks. I saw a stat somewhere online, but don’t quote me on it.
This is certainly a marathon and not a sprint. I have a long long way to go.
The background
If you have landed on this blog and wondering what this is all about, check out my ‘Journey to 40: I don’t want to get old’ post.
In short, the thought of reaching 40 scares the hell out of me. This is all about my two year journey to 40 years old, and making some pretty big changes in my life along the way. I have put these changes into 4 big journey goals with the aim of reporting progress each week. These are:
healthy eating
Something I have struggled with for over a decade. A pretty big goal that I will break down into manageable chunks.
improve my Fitness
I'm not looking for perfection but really want to be fitter than my children. I wouldn't say no to a more defined body.
Drive my Professional development
I feel a little lost and need something to strive for in my work life.
Build an online presence
I have started this and would really like to dedicate some time to growing an online brand. Documenting my journey will help keep me on track as I reach that scary age milestone.
Come with me on my journey and I hope to inspire yours.
What has been going on this week?
So the second full week of the year is complete. It is already starting to feel like the Xmas break was months ago. The children are falling back into home schooling (for the younger two, remote learning for the older two). I’m trying to keep the focus up with my work. The new project I have is giving me some of that focus – more on that later.
why is my wifi so bad?
A bit of a random section. I just wanted an opportunity to rant about a technical problem I am having.
The heading is not strictly true. It’s either really good, for our area. Or it’s really bad. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between.
And what is more annoying, is when myself and the children are having video call during the day/week it generally holds up pretty well. When the kids have gone to bed and you want to stream something, it suddenly buffers.
Now before you say it, I am fairly technical so checked all of the usual things. I don’t actually think it is the broadband coming into the property. I bet if I connected a device via a cable to our router it wouldn’t drop. It’s the router’s WIFI capability. And not just the distance of a device from the router.
One of the task list next week to call the provider and see if there is anything else they suggest.
Right, let’s get onto progress around my goals.
Healthy eating
I would actually say it’s been another good week with this goal.
I’ve actually got right into this calorie tracking and so far keeping to it.
I have been very temped to have a little more than I should for lunch or sneak a snack in the evening. But I haven’t. So, really proud of myself.
Here is the results of this week.
Each day I am coming under my calorie target for each day. I’m actually not far from the standard recommended daily intake for men. 1900 calories.
Lets look at my stats
|
Stats |
Last Week |
This week |
| Weight | 108.4kg / 17st 1lb | 16st 13 lb / 107.4kg |
| Waist | 47.5in / 120.5cm | 47in / 119.5cm |
| Chest | 47in / 119.5cm | 46.5in / 118cm |
| Leg (thigh) | 24in / 61cm | 24.3in / 61.5cm |
| Arm (upper) | 15.8in / 40cm | Left bicep – 15.4in / 39cm Right bicep – 15.75in / 40cm |
I have lost another 1kg!!!
I am officially under 17st. I know it’s only a couple of lbs, but it doesn’t matter. It’s in the right direction and a very sensible weight loss pace.
I seem to have lost ½ an inch around the waist too. I say ‘seem to have lost’, because I am not sure on my measurements. I certainly don’t visibly see any difference in my appearance yet.
The chest, legs and arm measures I am still not sure are right or consistently measured in the right place/way. I am not taking too much notice of these at the moment. As the weight comes off I might seek some help with more focused toning/conditioning. Not yet though.
More of the same next week please.
improve my fitness
A ‘reasonably’ good week for exercise this week. Check out the plan and the output below.
| Day | Planned | Results/Comments |
| Mon | Toning Exercises | NO EXERCISE TODAY! |
| Tue | Run 1 | 1.64 miles | 17:34 | Av Pace 10:43 | Calories burned: 315 | Conditions: Dark, Dry, Cold |
| Wed | Toning Exercises | This was difficult. It was my first proper toning session. |
| Thu | Run 2 | 1.75 miles | 18:47 | Av Pace 10:45 | 336 Calories burned | Conditions: Dark, Dry, Cold |
| Fri | Toning Exercises | Workout on a Friday! |
| Sat | Run 3 | 1.63 miles | 16:44 | Av Pace 10:14 | Calories burned: 308 | Conditions: Day, Dry, Cold |
| Sun | Run or Toning Exercises | NO EXERCISE TODAY! |
So the distance I am running is not the longest in the world but for me it is still hard work. I spoke to my dad today and embarrassingly he is going out for 5-6 mile runs 3 days a week. His average pace is quicker than me too. Something to aim for over the coming weeks/months.
I do want to increase the distance a little more, so going to put in a slightly longer route this coming week. Somewhere around 1.75 – 1.8 miles I think. I hope to try and keep that pace I set on the Saturday.
I did get in a couple of the toning sessions this week. They are not very long, but still hard work and cause me to sweat. Sweating is not hard for me!
I do a 6 min warm up. Then what is supposed to be a 10 min toning workout (more like 20 mins), followed by a 5 min stretch. I might write a separate blog about these and the reps I am currently doing. The idea is getting used to all the exercises and increase the reps for each set, over time. I can also increase the resistance band weight if I need to.
Lots of scope for improvement. The problem areas for me are knees, shoulders and triceps. I really struggle with the reps here.
It’s just a case of more of the same and keeping it up each day. I am going to use Sunday as the rest day going forward though. My body does need to recover.
driving my Professional development
I think I have slipped back into that old habit again!
I didn’t complete my week 4 goal this week of focusing on more online learning. I lost a little focus during the working days too.
I was focusing a lot on the new project I have been given. It is good to get my teeth into something else, but I do need to make sure I am still spending a little time on that professional development piece.
A role has come up on our internal intranet that I am interested in. I can’t really hang around too much as these type of roles do get snapped up quick. I need to read into the role and decide if it’s something I really want to do. It would require a possible location change. While that isn’t an issue at the moment because the location would be my home office (aka, the bedroom), that will change. The challenge would then be travelling to a remote office. Something for me to think about.
So, next week….
I need to pick up that mini goal from the previous week and try to put together a bit of a professional development plan.
Building an online presence
You can see a theme coming along here.
If I recall, my goal for this week was to start putting together a bit of a plan around what building my online presence would look like.
That didn’t happen!
Looking back on the week I could have used some of my sitting around watching TV time. But I didn’t. It’s not that I don’t want to progress this, but I feel like if I do it will involve sneaking around.
So I have got to focus on this next week. I have given myself a few admin tasks to be getting on with now. Let’s see how I get on.
What are my week 5 tasks/mini-goals?
Ok, so I have set myself the following:
- More of the same on the calorie tracking
- See if I can follow a full week of fitness training following my schedule
- Put together a bit of a professional development plan
- Try to actually put together a plan around build my online presence
Speak soon everyone.
Title image created by myself
Data images – screenshots from apps I am using to track my progress. App include MapMyRun / Weight Loss from NHS