Background

On the 4th of January, I posted my New Year’s Resolutions for 2023. Here is my fifth short update (check out update one here, update two here, update three here and update four here).

I need to lose 50lbs. Simple as that. During Covid, I became the fattest I’ve ever been. Not acceptable. Current weight: 17st 12lb (250lb). Goal weight by Summer: 14st 5lb (201lb).ME (04/01/2023)

Well, a consistent regimes of (1) jogging every day, and (2) junk food portion control, mean my current weight is now 15st 9lb (219lb). That is solid progress. Let’s keep it up!

Holiday break (April)

I’ve always had a problem with routines. I’m all or nothing. If I take a break from a project for a few days, for whatever reason, I find it very hard to get back into the rhythm. I don’t know why. It’s a real weakness.

I went on holiday on the 1st of April and got back after two weeks. So I was really scared that I was going to go off the rails. As it happens, though, I only put on 1-2 lbs and got right back into the swing of exercise.

Progress is not linear

I got my weight down to 15st 2lb (212lb) in the period April – May. Then over June – July I put a bit of weight back on, going up to 15st 12lb (222lb). I then knuckled back down and got down to 15st 7lb (217lb) by 13th August.

Change of gears required?

I think I have more-or-less reached the maximum gains that only running can bring. I even ran five half-marathons in a ten day period, and still I struggle to get below this weight of 15st to 15st 7lb. I have decided I need to add weight training back into it. Or, at the very least, start adding push ups, crunches, lunges, dips, and so on, back into it. Muscles are fat-burning engines. I need a new engine! I need some more muscles!

Muscles are fat-burning engines. I need a new engine! I need some more muscles!

Holiday break (August)

I’m not a playboy, honestly! Trying to make up for two years of COVID and a severe medical issue, I decided to go on holiday for two weeks again. I deserve it, bluntly. This time I thought I would just enjoy myself, not worry about the weight, and just smash it when I got home. I went from 15st 7lb to 16st 0.75lb during my trip, breaking back into the, for me, psychologically fraught area of sixteen plus stone. Since getting back I have run every day and have already got back under sixteen stone.

Half way there

I am about half way on my weight-loss journey. At least, until I meet my target goal weight. But I am only at the beginning of my life-long health journey. I may not have hit my target weight by my target time, but it’s okay. I have a new-found focus, drive and, most crucial of all, self-belief at the moment.

I am confident that over the next few weeks or months, I will get back down to my May 2023 heights of 15st 2lb, and then smash through into the 14 stones. I just need to tighten up my diet again, re-regularise my running regime (=waking up early) and add weights and / or bodyweight exercises into it.

Other stuff

I had other new year’s resolutions, too. Perhaps I will begin to talk about them in a future post.

© 2023 Bryan A. J. Parry