A slight blip

A fantastic trip to New York, my first visit there and what an amazing place. The Hotel had a gym so I managed some cycling but we walked pretty much the whole of Manhattan and also a couple of days hire of Bikes for a ride around Central Park. On one day, my wife Sophia had a rest and watched/listened to some Jazz in the Mall and I took the opportunity to have a proper ride around the park with the fit brigade. I held my own so can't complain. We ate well, and drank well so it's no surprise that I put some weight on. Only 0.7Kg and some of that is probably water retention from the alcohol so I'm not worried. It could also have been the New York Deli Sandwiches, kudos to Carnegie Deli.

Glad we shared this though!

Progress is good!

Another 1.5Kg and now weighing in 80.3Kg so 6Kg overall. Really pleased with this but expect next week to be a struggle, a week in New York with my wife for our 20th Anniversary. I expect a few hurdles on this path, this isnt a diet it's a lifestyle change so will try and be good but expect a blip from the food and drink on the trip.

Setting some goals

Over the last week I've eaten healthily and now track what I consume with the MyPlate app from Livestrong. That has made a real difference in the diet and I have started looking more at the food labels before I eat. Aiming to lose 0.5Kg a week now as a target and tracking all my activity with an Apple Watch the daily long walks with the dog and a few after work 10 mile cycle rides along the River Adur really have kick started the diet in an awesome way. I've lost 2.2Kg this week! Back to goal setting, looking at my BMI rating I was just under 30... obese, and to become "normal" I need to shed 16.4Kg or 11 Stone. So I have this down as my end target and divided my approach into half stone goals and colour coded my Excel tracker accordingly. Goal 7 is what my recommended weight should be, not sure it's a goal I want though seems way to skinny but 5 weeks in now and I've hit Goal 1.

Start of things to come

This morning my wife and two kids left me and my dog Mako (that's him on the left) to go camping for a week on Brownsea Island and seeing as I had the pleasure of a 5am wake up call as they banged around the house I decided to take the dog out for a long walk as it was such a nice morning. Now I've been doing various bits to try and stay in some form of shape but food, drink and work usually get in the way. A few weeks back I had a wake up call when my suit trousers were becoming very uncomfortable to wear and having to get a size 36" waist size and weighing in at 86.3Kg I decided it was time to lose a few Kg's.

As you can see on the right, that was my starting point according to the NHS but after weighing in this morning, I've shed 1.3Kg over the last 4 weeks but after this morning's 5 mile walk I've burnt 500 calories hit my Move and Exercise target on the Apple Watch and it's only 7am. Results of the last 4 weeks below, I've got some scales that track Muscle and Fat percentages so I can see where the weight comes from, hopefully fat not muscle. Either way, I'm not Obese already, just very overweight!

So what if I do this walk every morning.. more calories burned, weight shifts faster? Let's find out!