I have come to the strange conclusion that the main thing wrong with Western society today can be summed up by the "dance like nobody's watching" attitude.
At first glance, the exhaltation sounds completely reasonable and fitting for our times. We spend too much time worrying what others think. We need to do what's right for us. Right here and right now. Don't worry about what others think. Do what you think is right. Do it now and do it like nobody's watching.
Dancing is a relatively neutral activity to use as the example to prove the efficacy of the theory. Even if you are a bad dancer, dancing badly rarely hurts another human being. It may offend some dance snobs, but no real damage. Maybe a bruised toe now and again or an elbow in the face...but nothing earth-shattering.
But extend the philosophy into the rest of life and something weird starts to happen...
Pick your nose like nobody's watching?
F*rt like nobody can smell it?
Kill all your political enemies like nobody's watching (they aren't...because you banned the BBC or the www)?
Where is the line?
And there's the problem. The philosophy relies on every individual setting their own limits of what is acceptable to do "like nobody's watching". And every individual sets different limits. One dances like nobody's watching, one picks their nose, and Mugabe does what he does...all of it justified by their own limits and moral codes (even the lack of a moral code is a moral code in itself).
What's this got to do with losing weight?
Eat cake like nobody's watching.
Skive off the gym like nobody's watching.
Drink a second beer in front of the TV (and go on, open the bag of crisps...nobody's watching).
Sound familiar? "Dance like nobody's watching" creeps into your life and takes over and makes just about everything acceptable as long as nobody's watching.
That's why blogging works. Somebody is watching. Or can watch at least.
So eat every mouthful as though millions are watching.
Exercise like millions are watching.
Blog like millions are reading.
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Pain is temporary...Ibuprofen is forever
Back. Ouch! In serious need of physio/osteopath.
Workout track of the day: "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon (Running, 154 beats per minute)
Shame I can't move, let alone work out...
Workout track of the day: "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon (Running, 154 beats per minute)
Shame I can't move, let alone work out...
Monday, 15 November 2010
Back again...does anyone care?
Amazing how the weeks can catch up on you. Sorry to all my millions of followers and readers that I wasn't around to post. Did anyone notice?
It has been a busy few weeks at work, with a lot of travelling, much stress...
But the training is keeping up reasonably well. Food not so good and the weight is basically stable to a little bit up.
I had a serious kick *ss Personal Training session today. I have managed to hurt my hip as a result but it was good anyway. And I have done some running and plenty of other exercise sessions, in both hemispheres and in numerous countries. Nobody could say I am not a well travelled moose...
I have no great insight on weight loss. Since I haven't blogged for 3 weeks, it's no surprise that there is no success to report and no insights to share. The PT measured the old fat content and was pleasantly surprised at my 28%...obviously I look like it should be more! I'm not entirely sure whether that's a good thing? I'm not actually as fat as people think I am when they look at me.
I guess it depends whether the reality or the perception is most important. When I was squeezed into a shirt too small for me last weekend at a company conference, the reality was I felt embarrassed and fat. The perception, so I was told, wasn't too bad. Today, on the treadmill doing 17kmh sprints with the whole machine shaking (or was it just the entire building?) with the impact, and looking into the mirror while doing it, my perception, the reality, and the eardrums of anyone within hearing distance all concurred...
It has been a busy few weeks at work, with a lot of travelling, much stress...
But the training is keeping up reasonably well. Food not so good and the weight is basically stable to a little bit up.
I had a serious kick *ss Personal Training session today. I have managed to hurt my hip as a result but it was good anyway. And I have done some running and plenty of other exercise sessions, in both hemispheres and in numerous countries. Nobody could say I am not a well travelled moose...
I have no great insight on weight loss. Since I haven't blogged for 3 weeks, it's no surprise that there is no success to report and no insights to share. The PT measured the old fat content and was pleasantly surprised at my 28%...obviously I look like it should be more! I'm not entirely sure whether that's a good thing? I'm not actually as fat as people think I am when they look at me.
I guess it depends whether the reality or the perception is most important. When I was squeezed into a shirt too small for me last weekend at a company conference, the reality was I felt embarrassed and fat. The perception, so I was told, wasn't too bad. Today, on the treadmill doing 17kmh sprints with the whole machine shaking (or was it just the entire building?) with the impact, and looking into the mirror while doing it, my perception, the reality, and the eardrums of anyone within hearing distance all concurred...
Thursday, 21 October 2010
In the groove...
Another fantastic run last night. I-pod fuelled, as usual, I just let the tunes flow and ran to the beat. Forty minutes and 5 km later (OK slow, I know, but I walk every other track, and I'm a fat b*st*rd)...I stopped.
That was it. It is so good to be free of calf strains, I feel like I'm floating when I run. The girl on the treadmill behind me didn't seem to think so as my hefty bulk pounded down in front of her (I don't think my rear view was ever my best...although, checking the mirror, maybe....). I'm not sure it was the noise, the treadmill ever so slowly edging back towards her or just the splashes of sweat (mmm, lovely) that drove her away in the end. Maybe I was just so in the groove and on there so long that she finished her meagrely short jog and disappeared to do some other exercise instead. I couldn't really see because she was quite small, and the combination of the angle in the mirror and my bulk kind of obscured her completely - a shame as the few glimpses I did catch, she was quite cute...
A colleague today suggested that speed dating in the gym should be made compulsory...I seem to remember Jack Sh*t blogging about gym chat up lines so I'd better get surfin' and revisin'. I think the cute beauty behind me last night will be the first target...if she ever darkens the door of the gym again after what must have been a frightening experience for her last night.
I do need some new tunes though. I am very tempted to try and load the old I-tunes onto my spare work laptop that I need to keep because it allows me access to all kinds of websites (like Blogger) that my new official, so tightly controlled you can often hear it squeak in a very high pitched mechanical whine, won't. I don't know for certain but I'm pretty sure i-tunes is one of them, but my old Belgian laptop lets me do just about anything. Not that I've tried bathing with it. Or kite-surfing. Or accessing anything REALLY naughty. My playlists are good but just a little stale and predictable and built for an old training programme I did years ago, not for the running I'm focussing on at the moment. I'm making do, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist in these things so it's never quite right. Maybe a good thing to play with this weekend with the house likely deserted of Mooselets...
That was it. It is so good to be free of calf strains, I feel like I'm floating when I run. The girl on the treadmill behind me didn't seem to think so as my hefty bulk pounded down in front of her (I don't think my rear view was ever my best...although, checking the mirror, maybe....). I'm not sure it was the noise, the treadmill ever so slowly edging back towards her or just the splashes of sweat (mmm, lovely) that drove her away in the end. Maybe I was just so in the groove and on there so long that she finished her meagrely short jog and disappeared to do some other exercise instead. I couldn't really see because she was quite small, and the combination of the angle in the mirror and my bulk kind of obscured her completely - a shame as the few glimpses I did catch, she was quite cute...
A colleague today suggested that speed dating in the gym should be made compulsory...I seem to remember Jack Sh*t blogging about gym chat up lines so I'd better get surfin' and revisin'. I think the cute beauty behind me last night will be the first target...if she ever darkens the door of the gym again after what must have been a frightening experience for her last night.
I do need some new tunes though. I am very tempted to try and load the old I-tunes onto my spare work laptop that I need to keep because it allows me access to all kinds of websites (like Blogger) that my new official, so tightly controlled you can often hear it squeak in a very high pitched mechanical whine, won't. I don't know for certain but I'm pretty sure i-tunes is one of them, but my old Belgian laptop lets me do just about anything. Not that I've tried bathing with it. Or kite-surfing. Or accessing anything REALLY naughty. My playlists are good but just a little stale and predictable and built for an old training programme I did years ago, not for the running I'm focussing on at the moment. I'm making do, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist in these things so it's never quite right. Maybe a good thing to play with this weekend with the house likely deserted of Mooselets...
Monday, 18 October 2010
Monday, Monday...
Monday morning, 8am.
Mondays are a real dilemma for me. Getting up at 4.30 am and leaving the house so early always fills me with the thought of going to the gym when I arrive at my destination, between two and a half and three hours drive later. The thought sometimes even turns into an intention.
But as we all know, and in the words of Chris Rea, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
OK, I guess somebody said it before CR put it into that song (fairly slow running pace on the i-pod)...
But then the drive and the available time not doing much sets my brain a-working. And my brain is an unbelieveably highly tuned device. Highly tuned at finding alternative plans, excuses, and reasons why not.
The usual Monday excuse relates to tiredness. You see, with the early start, it's touch and go whether I am too tired to take on the day properly, give it everything at work, get stuff done...or whether I meander through the day, blogging, killing time, drinking coffee and longing for a bed, any bed, for the night, hoping that a decent night's sleep will see me fitter for the Tuesday and the rest of the week. Margins are tight. Get to bed before 10pm on a Sunday night and my chances are reasonably good. Stay up to watch even just the Sunday matches on Match of the Day 2 and I've lost the Monday already, before it's started.
There was a time when my boss in Belgium would arrive on a Monday morning full of all the "great" ideas that had occurred to him over the weekend, and Mondays always seemed to turn into a huge post-mortem. A day filled with trying to find the pearl among the dross of his "great" ideas, persuading him that not all were indeed the pearls he believed them to be. Time spent steering him back towards the direction we had set over the previous weeks rather than "another" new direction that would be rejected by most people...not so much actively rejected but more passively, as they were convinced - usually correctly - that next week would see a new favourite flavour, a new beginning, a new direction. Pointless to follow this week's if it was going to change again next week. But that way, every week becomes the same week of waiting it out, keeping your head down, seeing things fail, thinking "I told you so" and vaguely looking forward (with a small level of interest rather than any desire or longing) to next week's offering.
I have learned over time to be very careful with Mondays. I never work very late on a Monday if I can help it...that kills the rest of the week. And gym sessions have to be handled very carefully.
That's the thought that always hits me on the long drive, usually as I'm speeding past Heathrow Airport (yes, I am normally there so early that I can speed past Heathrow on the M25...just ahead of the traffic build-up). Is it really wise to go training on a Monday morning? Tired already from an early wake-up call and long drive, should I really expect my body to cope with a workout?
And yet I know that, while being careful with Mondays is a wise thing to do, Monday is so incredibly important to set the tone for the week, that no workout on a Monday nearly always spells a bad workout week, while training on a Monday sets the tone, starts the week off with a good habit, and inevitably leads to much calorie buring over the whole week. But only as long as the other Monday rules are followed...otherwise disaster lurks.
Wary of that post-workout tiredness though, I decided this morning to stop for breakfast as well as the planned double espresso. That decided it finally. Well, at least it decided that I wouldn't train this morning. Whether I get to the gym at lunchtime, as the revised plan calls for me to do, remains to be seen...
There is a nagging doubt lingering at the back of my brain though. Was the change of plan really down to sensible protection of energy and a desire to be productive, or was the usual sinister self-sabotage kicking in, the smell of the bacon overpowering the lack of desire to stand in the long queue at Costa?
I guess that will only be answered at 1pm, and the reality of whether I am in the gym, or whether I am at the sandwich vending machine...
Weigh in at the weekend. 116.9kg. Down 1.4kg since the start of September, way behind my target and basically steady for the last 2 weeks...I did a calculation that always shocks me at the weekend...to turn maintenance into a 1kg per week loss, I am currently running at a deficit of over 1,200 calories per day. Yes, PER DAY!!! Ouch. My DirectLife monitor has me averaging 1,257 calories in October so far. Hitting my targets would get me 400 calories more, but that still leaves a whopping 800 calories I have to cut from my eating. From a normal eating base that might be doable, but from what I have convinced myself is a reduced, already-doing-pretty-well base it feels impossible. Yet I know that if I really analysed the recent calorie intake it wouldn't be as low as I've convinced myself.
And if I train a little bit more, then 110% of my calorie burn target is also possible. And that's another 170 calories a day. 170 calories I don't have to cut from food. So from today, that's the target...to get to 110% consistently and cut the food intake.
Mondays are a real dilemma for me. Getting up at 4.30 am and leaving the house so early always fills me with the thought of going to the gym when I arrive at my destination, between two and a half and three hours drive later. The thought sometimes even turns into an intention.
But as we all know, and in the words of Chris Rea, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
OK, I guess somebody said it before CR put it into that song (fairly slow running pace on the i-pod)...
But then the drive and the available time not doing much sets my brain a-working. And my brain is an unbelieveably highly tuned device. Highly tuned at finding alternative plans, excuses, and reasons why not.
The usual Monday excuse relates to tiredness. You see, with the early start, it's touch and go whether I am too tired to take on the day properly, give it everything at work, get stuff done...or whether I meander through the day, blogging, killing time, drinking coffee and longing for a bed, any bed, for the night, hoping that a decent night's sleep will see me fitter for the Tuesday and the rest of the week. Margins are tight. Get to bed before 10pm on a Sunday night and my chances are reasonably good. Stay up to watch even just the Sunday matches on Match of the Day 2 and I've lost the Monday already, before it's started.
There was a time when my boss in Belgium would arrive on a Monday morning full of all the "great" ideas that had occurred to him over the weekend, and Mondays always seemed to turn into a huge post-mortem. A day filled with trying to find the pearl among the dross of his "great" ideas, persuading him that not all were indeed the pearls he believed them to be. Time spent steering him back towards the direction we had set over the previous weeks rather than "another" new direction that would be rejected by most people...not so much actively rejected but more passively, as they were convinced - usually correctly - that next week would see a new favourite flavour, a new beginning, a new direction. Pointless to follow this week's if it was going to change again next week. But that way, every week becomes the same week of waiting it out, keeping your head down, seeing things fail, thinking "I told you so" and vaguely looking forward (with a small level of interest rather than any desire or longing) to next week's offering.
I have learned over time to be very careful with Mondays. I never work very late on a Monday if I can help it...that kills the rest of the week. And gym sessions have to be handled very carefully.
That's the thought that always hits me on the long drive, usually as I'm speeding past Heathrow Airport (yes, I am normally there so early that I can speed past Heathrow on the M25...just ahead of the traffic build-up). Is it really wise to go training on a Monday morning? Tired already from an early wake-up call and long drive, should I really expect my body to cope with a workout?
And yet I know that, while being careful with Mondays is a wise thing to do, Monday is so incredibly important to set the tone for the week, that no workout on a Monday nearly always spells a bad workout week, while training on a Monday sets the tone, starts the week off with a good habit, and inevitably leads to much calorie buring over the whole week. But only as long as the other Monday rules are followed...otherwise disaster lurks.
Wary of that post-workout tiredness though, I decided this morning to stop for breakfast as well as the planned double espresso. That decided it finally. Well, at least it decided that I wouldn't train this morning. Whether I get to the gym at lunchtime, as the revised plan calls for me to do, remains to be seen...
There is a nagging doubt lingering at the back of my brain though. Was the change of plan really down to sensible protection of energy and a desire to be productive, or was the usual sinister self-sabotage kicking in, the smell of the bacon overpowering the lack of desire to stand in the long queue at Costa?
I guess that will only be answered at 1pm, and the reality of whether I am in the gym, or whether I am at the sandwich vending machine...
Weigh in at the weekend. 116.9kg. Down 1.4kg since the start of September, way behind my target and basically steady for the last 2 weeks...I did a calculation that always shocks me at the weekend...to turn maintenance into a 1kg per week loss, I am currently running at a deficit of over 1,200 calories per day. Yes, PER DAY!!! Ouch. My DirectLife monitor has me averaging 1,257 calories in October so far. Hitting my targets would get me 400 calories more, but that still leaves a whopping 800 calories I have to cut from my eating. From a normal eating base that might be doable, but from what I have convinced myself is a reduced, already-doing-pretty-well base it feels impossible. Yet I know that if I really analysed the recent calorie intake it wouldn't be as low as I've convinced myself.
And if I train a little bit more, then 110% of my calorie burn target is also possible. And that's another 170 calories a day. 170 calories I don't have to cut from food. So from today, that's the target...to get to 110% consistently and cut the food intake.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Running again
Lunchtime run and did I feel good. 4kms and the time flew by, I was really in the zone, running at a steady 10km per hour and hardly feeling it. No calf pain. Just that tired fuzzy feeling afterwards.
Now all I have to do is stay awake on the 4 hour drive home!!! One more quick coffee before I leave...
Now all I have to do is stay awake on the 4 hour drive home!!! One more quick coffee before I leave...
Habits and self-sabotage
Another week where I get to Friday and I've managed to force my sorry ass to the gym only once. This always happens with a change of location and trying to get myself into a new pattern, a new lifestyle and a new way of being. I always seem to go down the path of least resistance...but that inevitably means I form BAD habits which then need breaking and replacing with GOOD habits.
I guess this comes back to self-sabotage. In the long run it would be easier and more effective if I just formed the GOOD habits first off. But I do so love to make things hard (or even impossible) for myself. It's just so comforting to know that there's nothing I can do, and I always have a ready excuse at hand. It takes away all accountability.
But that what the blogging is for - accountability.
So does fessing up on here to my tendency to self-sabotage (and I could go into long and boring details about the amount of it I've done, both professionally and personally...maybe for a later date) and to my bad habit forming help?
Blogging about it is of course going to help; because blogging is the silver bullet.
But blogging is just the start...I also need a plan of attack for forming the good habits next week.
1. I'm going to plan in my training sessions for the evenings and lunchtimes, spread across the week.
2. I'm going to the supermarket on Monday and buying 5 days supply of soup/secret October ingredient.
3. I'm going to bring 3 sets of training kit with me next week and my bum bag (funny how the small details like nowhere to put my hotel key or i-pod can deflect me and provide an excuse).
4. I'm going to go for a run or a walk each morning BEFORE breakfast (run or walk to fit in with my other training sessions) on at least 2 mornings.
I guess this comes back to self-sabotage. In the long run it would be easier and more effective if I just formed the GOOD habits first off. But I do so love to make things hard (or even impossible) for myself. It's just so comforting to know that there's nothing I can do, and I always have a ready excuse at hand. It takes away all accountability.
But that what the blogging is for - accountability.
So does fessing up on here to my tendency to self-sabotage (and I could go into long and boring details about the amount of it I've done, both professionally and personally...maybe for a later date) and to my bad habit forming help?
Blogging about it is of course going to help; because blogging is the silver bullet.
But blogging is just the start...I also need a plan of attack for forming the good habits next week.
1. I'm going to plan in my training sessions for the evenings and lunchtimes, spread across the week.
2. I'm going to the supermarket on Monday and buying 5 days supply of soup/secret October ingredient.
3. I'm going to bring 3 sets of training kit with me next week and my bum bag (funny how the small details like nowhere to put my hotel key or i-pod can deflect me and provide an excuse).
4. I'm going to go for a run or a walk each morning BEFORE breakfast (run or walk to fit in with my other training sessions) on at least 2 mornings.
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