Today I got up at 5am to drive back to Wiltshire. On arriving I went straight to the gym and did half an hour on the cross trainer at a decent level. Over 500 cals burned according to the reading.

Two days into the month, and two workouts. Tomorrow will be a test as I am working in the evening and so won’t be able to do anything. I am also driving to work so cannot walk to and from the office during the day. That just leaves the morning and I am *very tired* right now so getting up may be an issue. We shall see but the plan is to get up about quarter to seven and go for a run on my usual course. That should set me up for the day.

Moreso than anything tomorrow however, I want to eat in a more sensible manner. I may well get a meal before work in the evening (as I can get it fo’ cheap, well, free) but I shall get one of the lower fat things on the menu and also avoid a desert. When I am at work I shall avoid a chocolate bar and maybe take a piece of fruit and just drink coffee instead. Not organic coffee mind, but made with organic milk, and this ain’t going to happen overnight.

I will also try and get eight hours sleep tonight as I definitely need it after the weekend I’ve had.

I return! Over six months on from my last entry but with a renewed sense of viguor. During this time I have been on and off at the gym and even had good spells mixed in with the bad in terms of overall fitness.

I need this blog to re-focus my energies though and maybe a change in template to a Twitter-themed one, which I love, may help.

I ran today (Cheat, I am writing this on the 2nd, OMG) and even got most of the way up the hill by my old school which made me feel good. I decided March was a month where I was going to get back on track properly and getting up for a run on a Sunday morning before eating, in the cold, is surely a sign of dedication.

I ate loads in the day, including a lot of chocolate and sweets (I was at an amazing restaurant and it was not only free but a buffet nonetheless) but the mentality is there again.

Main aims for the month are not to have a cigarette (which I accomplished for like five weeks at the start of the year) or smoke at all which I think will be easy enough.

Do some sort of exercise each and every day. Even if it’s only a long walk on days when I’m really tired.

Keep my diet at a medium. I used to find this so easy but it’s got out of hand. The secret is that I seem to gorge when going back to London and eat normally in Wiltshire. This then got to the stage where I would eat in a below average way in the SW and then still go overboard back in the capital. This must change. I think planning my meals for the week and only buying stuff accordingly would help, in Wiltshire at least.

Bit of bike.
Bike of ski machine.
Some stomach exercises.

Poor day on what’s been an awful month for working out.  I’ve been smoking a lot and eating awfully.  I’m actually beginning to notice my body revert back to a shape I dislike.  I must work to improve.  Every day to the end of the month and I’ll be back on course for the last third of the year.

although again, no idea.

Can’t remember what though.

I had a really good weights session today. It was the second part of the StrongLifts.com 5×5 routine I’ve been trying to follow.

Squat
Cleans
Deadlifts
Chin ups

In between each set though I inserted a different sit up variation or lower back work.

I felt great after this but, writing this as I am on Saturday, I’ve smoked a lot in the two days since. I’ll take Sunday off too (I’m not eating too badly) and try to get a good session in on Monday. It may be hard to fit in time wise given where I’m working but even so I’ll at least attempt to get a morning run in.

Is that the right word? Hope so.

I just noticed that according the calendar on the side, today is the tenth day this month that I’ve done some exercise that I consider worthwhile. There are nine left and I want to do the same on at least five of them. That will be 1/2 for the month and leave me feelling quite satisfied.

I went to gym for 8.30am this morning and did around fifty minutes of good cardio, much better than I’ve done in around two or more weeks I would imagine.

- Very brief run, prematurely postponed as headphones kept falling out of my ears
- Ten minutes on the bike, at resistance 10/25. I maintained a better pace than I normall do though.
- Ten minutes on the arm bike at resistance level 6/12. Again, did more than I normall do.
- Ski machine: 3 mins @ 15/25, 4 mins @ 20/25, 3 mins @ 25/25.
- Cross trainer, ten mins at 10/25 but at a better intensity.
- Rowing machine, 2km @ 10/10 resistance. I’m not sure how I managed 10km the other week. Maybe it just proves what you are capable of when the mentality is right.

So far I’ve eaten an admittedly large bowl of weetabix/banana/bran flakes which I think was a major reason in why I had so much energy. Since getting back I’ve had a protein shake and an apple. I’ll have a salad for lunch (already prepared) and I belive a steak tonight. I’ll get in the gym tomorrow to do another weights session.

I got into the gym during the afternoon as I planned to. I had an awful week prior in terms of eating so yesterday was a good kick-start to aims of being consistently healthy rather than on certain weeks. Choosing to be healthy should be an automatic lifestyle rather than having to force yourself to be disciplined.

There are too many distractions in the world at the moment, this topic is especially fresh in my mind having just read about the deprocrastinators club, and at the moment I feel all I need to is step back and look objectively to realise what is good for you and what isn’t. I turned down the offer of a sweet on Friday, and in hindsight I was a little rude as that M&M wasn’t going to affect me as much as the copious levels of food I consumed on Saturday (toggled with booze) undoubtedly did.

Monday though, got in the gym to do a passable weights workout and ate healthily all day. I avoided bread (bar a pitta with dinner) and although I perhaps ate too much towards the end of the day it was all whole foods (again, bar the pitta) so I feel pretty good in that regard.

I had exams this week so couldn’t get in the gym as much. I had a cardio session though and it was much harder than normal due to the smoking I did while revising. I felt good afterwards.

I am writing this on Monday 21st and had a bad weekend nutrition wise and didn’t work out on either day. Like, really bad. It was as poor a seven days as the previous ones were really effective. Of course a bad week outdoes more than the good work of a healthy week and I feel fatter than I did before.

I’m going to get in the gym today and get back on the road to recovery. I smoked loads though on Saturday so I imagine I won’t be able to do loads but I shall have to push through it and punish myself for the excesses of the weekend.