Good morning !

Day 2 !

Just as well I went to bed early last night (22.30pm), because I found it very hard to wake up and get out of bed this morning.  The whole pub seemed to be taking things slowly.  Even the miners were quiet - and that lot sound like a herd of stampeding elephants at 5am every morning.

I found my windscreen was iced over yesterday, which made it very difficult to drive to the gym.  Well last night I was a bit clever - I put an old bath towel over the windscreen.  This morning I removed it in triumph; it's crystalline exterior sparkling beautifully in the stark moonlight.  My windscreen was clear !  Well, not for long.  It fogged up 50 metres down the road - no exaggeration - and then I made my mistake...  Yes, I used the windscreen washers.  Instantly my windscreen was totally frosted over.  I should have known better.

Workout at the gym went well.  I was feeling a little stiff & a tiny bit tender, but I was expecting this.
Warm up - walking 10 minutes
Gentle jog - 20 minutes
Cool down - walking 10 minutes

Calories expended - 562.

Feeling Before - a little tired & stiff (as expected).
Feeling During - Good
Feeling after - a little bit more tired & stiff (as expected)

Comment
The hardest bit will be the first few weeks.  I must exercise carefully, not too hard at the start, but ensure I keep going and going and going.  No excuses.  If I get too sore, I'll hit the bike or pool instead. 

Feelin' Groovy . . .

Well, I'm baaaaack !  And feeling pretty darn fantastic.  I got a real surprise when I walked outside the pub this morning - ICE !  I gripped the hand rail and gingerly stepped down the steep staircase down from my room in the dark and - brrrrrr - I had the chilly white stuff all over my hand at the bottom of the stairs.  When I got to my car, I found that the windscreen was covered with ice.  It was then I remembered that I was living in the Central West in winter . . .  I had wondered why all three batteries were dead in my camera the other day - I'd left it in the car overnight.

Workout No.1, Week 1.
Walked 10 minutes, jogged 25 minutes easy pace, cool down walk 10 minutes.
Workout Time - 45 mins
Cals expended - 580
Feeling before - cold !
Feeling afterwards - Fantastic. 

And so it begins . . .

Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go !

It's just after 5 am, I'm up, in my gym clothes and feeling a bit tired.  Thank goodness I went to bed at 9.30 pm last night because I am feeling pretty darn yuck at the moment.  But I'm up early for a reason - to change my life, so I'm off to the gym right now, on a journey that is just beginning; I am about to start to change my habits and be the person that I want to be.  I want that more than ever right now.  LETS GO !

Talk to you again soon. 

G 

Moving Mountains

Tomorrow my mountain moving begins !  I checked out the local gym's operating hours and they are open 5.30am - 8.00pm Monday to Friday, 10 am - 5pm Sat and 10 am - 3pm Sunday.  Costs $6 for a casual visit to the weight room or $5.50 for a casual visit to the pool.

No excuses.  Got to be asleep early tonight for my journey is now officially underway.  No junk food, no alcohol, just healthy living, exercise and reflection. 

Watch out world, here I come.  Follow along with me here if you dare.

Walking before I start running marathons . . .

Well, I have decided that I should make massive, epoch-shifting changes in my life the same way that I would move a mountain - one armful of rocks at a time. . .

This Weeks Change

I will be in bed asleep by 22:30 pm each night from now on. 

My Excuses and Their Solutions
Internal Excuses
1. Too tired after coming home from work late due to;
     i. Working back to impress boss.
     ii. Commute home takes ~1hr driving.
2. Too tired to get up early to exercise.
3. Going to be too sore after exercise because have strenuous day lined up blah, blah, blah.
 
Solutions
1. Simple - Knock off work earlier by getting to work earlier.
     i. Must remember that my work will still be there tomorrow - I must pay more attention to the fact that I work to support my lifestyle, NOT living to support my work. . .
     ii. Change jobs, or maybe move closer to work ???
2. This is directly correlated to not getting to bed early enough. Simple to change. Get home earlier, turn computer off earlier, go to bed earlier !
3. I know that I will be sore for the first couple of days of restarting my exercise regime. This will fade pretty quickly (a week or two of discomfort is not much of a price to pay for being much healthier) and the wonders of exercise "high" will replace it pretty quickly. I will also ensure that I take things more gently at the start to minimise muscular soreness.

External Excuses Within My Control
1. Weather - rain/snow may make things hard to train outdoors.
2. I may get stale doing the same exercise if I do it for too long, or my results may plateau.
3. Because this job involves a lot of travel it may be difficult to find somewhere suitable or safe to train of an evening.

Solutions
1. Gee, go to a gym - (in best pirate voice) thar be treadmills ! ! ! Aye ! ! !
2. Gee what a problem. Change to cycling, swimming or the cross trainer ? ? ?
3. The gym might be the solution - most areas I'll be when working away from home have good gyms not far away. . . Sounds pretty suitable & safe. Maybe schedule workout for early morning when safer ?
 
External Excuses Outside My Control

1. Might get injured.
2. Might get sick.
3. Might have a work or family emergency . . . . .

Solutions

1.  Life happens. Deal with it if the worst happens and do another exercise, or just continue on as per normal if I miss a workout or two. Missing one or two sessions won't put me back to square one, but a few weeks to a month might make progress less rapid than I would like.
2. As above - life happens. Look after myself to the best of my ability and return to it as soon as I realistically can. I might need to ensure I'm not pushing too hard at the beginning as this is usually what stops me - I go reallllly well, makes stacks of progress and get the flu and can't exercise for three or four weeks. Ensure I keep my flu shot current would be a smart thing too I think . . .
3. As per 1st two points, deal with it as best as I am able. This weight loss effort is personal - between me and myself - nobody else. I have to make it work. Not "try my best" but REALLY try my VERY BEST. There may be set-backs from time to time, but I am going to have to show some character and overcome them as best I am able, should they be cheeky enough to get in my way.

And so it begins . . .

Yes, that's one of my favourite lines from Babylon 5 . . .

I spent the day in a very important phase - PLANNING.  I have spent probably 4 hours sitting at a table in the pub where I am staying, just thinking about what is important to me, what matters and where I would like to be and have accomplished in the next 12 months.  I have written it down, and a lot of it is too intensely personal to publish in detail here, but I will certainly state my intentions out loud.

The Short list

1. Complete the 12WBT challenge that I have started.  My current weight is 112 kg's.  I am going to be under 100kgs by Christmas 2010. 
2. Personal Stuff - I have really thought hard about my personal life, and where I would like to be.  South Australia, I'll be there by Christmas, unless a better opportunity for Lndr arises in Newcastle. . .  I want happiness and to start our family more than anything. 
3. Financially I have set some incredibly important goals.
4. Adventures - I have written down what adventures I would like to experience over the next 12 months.
5. Toys - I want to buy some really cool stuff in the next 12 months !  Can't be all struggle & no fun.
6.  Diving - I have set myself the goal of logging 20 dives by Christmas 2010 and a range of courses to allow me to make the best of PNG or a Liveaboard.
7. Writing - I will submit two articles for publication and make serious progress on my books by Christmas 2010. 

Welcome !

Why?
I need to make some rather large changes in my life and this blog is a tool to support me on that journey.  I need to risk embarrassing myself publicly to ensure that my goals are met !