Yesterday I had my annual health check up and on the whole things are pretty good. The doctor praised my diet and proclaimed that it was spot on. My blood was in good healthy condition and my cholesterol readings were all good. The negatives were that my blood pressure is still on the high side, obviously my weight is still not great and my heart efficiency is poor. All of this is within my own control so that is encouraging and if I keep doing what I am all these will improve. The surprise was that my body fat reading was 23.7% which is clearly a lot lower than I had previously thought. My reading using biometric scales is 27%. I know that biometric scales are not always that accurate and at some point in the next few months I will buy a pair of digital calipers and do the seven point pinch test to more accurately understand what the true reading is.

My weight has now dropped to 199lbs and my body fat is 27% so things are still heading in the right direction. I actually reached 199lbs on Saturday morning but somehow seemed to gain 3lbs overnight into Sunday. Very strange as the wasn’t anything significant about my diet. The fact that the weight has come off again so quickly suggests that a couple of things may have been at work or not as the case might be. A strong liklihood that I retained some water and possibly something to do with bowel movements or lack of could explain the situation. Any way the 14st mark is now in sight and hopefully by this time next week I will be there. I am considering pushing my fitness tomorrow with a walk around the Malvern Hills which should get my heart pumping!

A good week all round as my fitness is progressing and my weight/fat is going down. I am now up to 2/3’s of a mile running which is excellent progress. I should break through the 200lb barrier this coming weekend. To top all of that off Man Utd won the champions league last night. I will confess to having indulged in a couple of bottles of beer but as that is my only sin for the last three weeks I am not going to worry myself about it. I am a bit sore today as I did my chest workout on Tuesday but it is a good feeling as I know the hardwork will pay off.

Its the end of the week and I am looking forward to a weekend of rest and fun in the garden. I have made progress this week so far my weight today was 201.8lbs and 28% body fat. Official measurement day is monday so I am looking forward to seeing how well I have done after the weekend. I have been very strict with my diet. I am not the sort of person that can allow myself to cheat it is all or nothing. I start weight training again on Monday so that should be exciting after getting my running going this week.

Now I realise that to most people this small achievement would not normally warrant being the title of a post. So lets put this in context. Just over three years ago I seriously broke my leg and very nearly died from the complications. Up until recently my knee has reacted every time I have tried to run. So tonight is a real milestone for me and means I am 10% of the way to achieving my goal of being able to run 5 miles continuously by December this year 2008. For my details and my story of how I came to be where I am today read my About Me page.

Yes I have returned. A long absence mainly due to other health issues of which I will discuss over the coming days. So how did I do since November I here you ask? Well not too bad actually. My fitness has stayed pretty still and so has my weight thankfully. When I finished my last stint back in December I was at 208lbs today I am 205lbs after a week on my latest program. I actually started the week on the same weight that I finished on before Christmas. This is good because my weight has been maintained throughout this time and been steady. Now however is time to set myself some new goals. I am currently on an 8 week plan that should see me get down to 194lbs and 23% body fat. Lots more updates over the next few weeks and I will fill in the missing details from before. I will not make daily updates but they should be every two or three days so please check back on my progress.

My body and mind were very thankful for the rest yesterday. I felt refeshed as a result and managed to do my 40 mins of cardio this evening and am now very close to my modified goal of 45 mins cardio at 70 - 80% of my maximum heart rate. I can say I enjoy getting on the bike but I am getting it done