Experimentation…

As I said in a tweet this week;

So, Day one of a new fitness/Diet experiment. I’ll be measuring: 

Body Metrics, Exercise, Walking, Breathing/Cold Showers/Meditation, and Diet.

A little over a year ago, I decided to try out a more healthy way of living. I tweaked my diet, discovering that I was already on keto, so I was good to go with a few small things and BAM. I bought a 25kg bag of sand (sharp), put it in a new backpack, and went on 30 to 60-minute walks. When I got home, I would do some essential exercises, push-ups, Sit-ups, Dips, Squats and Planks. I had a skipping (Jump) rope that I would use while the kettle was boiling. I blended a whole lemon with some red berries every morning. In a few months, I had dropped a was its size.

As experiments go, it worked out well. I felt great most of the time, could get up early and had boundless energy all day. This was when I started Journaling.

All in all, I felt great in my body and Mind. And dare I say it, Spiritually (not in a God sense), I felt more connected to myself.

And so, of course, I stopped doing most of the above (my diet remained). I figured I had reached a better result than when I started, so I didn’t need to continue. I’d do the little things to help me maintain what I have…

Yeah, it didn’t go well. Soon I stopped doing that.

But now I have a chance to start again. I know I can do it because I already have, and this time, I’ll begin to measure what I do and how my body changes. This, I hope, Will allow me to make minor tweaks to hopefully make this more effortless;

“Do I need to walk 3 miles daily with a 25kg bag on my back?”

“Do I need to spend 1 hour exercising to maintain muscle mass? “

What is the least I can do to keep the fat away, preserve muscle, and remain fit, healthy, and flexible?

Did I mention that I’m a few months shy of being 46.

Change doesn’t come because you will so. It’s not something you can order online, even with Amazon Prime. Evolution, the good kind, comes from discomfort. By willingly putting yourself in a position you don’t want to be in, but if you hold on to it for a bit, then a bit longer, you’ll find that discomfort doesn’t bother you as much. And not just what you were doing to yourself, it’ll affect the rest of your life. With all those uncomfortable moments to come, you’ll be better prepared to deal with them because you will have trained your body not to react immediately.

Last year, while doing this, I found I had a great deal of calm and cool-headedness. Once I stopped, I reset back to ‘dickhead’ mode. Do you have to do this every day? Probably not, though if you’re starting out, it’s a good idea to crack on with it, get it done, and get a head start. Then pull it back to once every other day or just twice a week. Just do it.