And other unrealistic nonsense. It is Saturday 28th December, The Loopy was rammed so I have taken refuge in Monty's, a Wetherspoons, cheap beer and free wi-fi and an unusual 'Spoons as it actually plays music and has 'discos' on the weekends. Yes, it is horrific. Really horrific. I just went to adjust my right contact lens and it is not actually in my eye, meaning it is probably in my bathroom sink drying out nicely, it is is also my close up vision one, so I am more blind than usual, joyous. Lots of squiggly red lines in this draft coming up and a full re-read with new reading glasses before publishing. The new glasses, have I mentioned those? I have been a glasses wearer (that bloody Specsavers radio advert with Rob Brydon springs to mind) since1999. I have stigmatisms, no I don't bleed from my feet, hands, head or near my heart, that's stigmata, you are better than that dear reader, come on. Long story short on this tangent, I know, I can hear you, 'hurry up man', I am getting there, bear with. I needed glasses for TV, cinema, night time driving etc, but it was so annoying to keep taking them on and off, I left them on and my eyes adjusted. I soon needed them for everything.
I now need varifocals, but they are horrible and take a lot of adjusting to and professionally I go to a lot of badly damaged properties and my ability to see where I am stepping is quite key to not dying, something I am keen to keep achieving. So instead I have contact lenses that mimic varifocals, one distance lens, one close up, the brain does the rest, unless like now, where I only have one lens in, ffs. I also now have two pairs of glasses, a reading pair and a distance pair.
My TV is too far away for the reading glasses and my arms are not long enough to see my phone with the distance ones.
Getting texts whilst watching TV is a whole new ball game of switching glasses. If I don't reply to you in a timely manner, this is probably why.
This is also what being the wrong side of fifty is all about.
Yes D, I can hear you, 'I was told I am too young for varifocals', ha ha, laugh it up.
Christmas 2024 is done, back to work Monday, a midweek day off for the first bank holiday of 2025, New Years Day and that's it, carry on normal jogging (military term).
I did as I predicted and spent December wallowing in the depth of my undiagnosed but clearly present Seasonal Affective Disorder, which in fairness is an improvement as the mood normally starts to darken at the end of September with the imminent arrival of winter, this year it didn't. Even more of a result when I feel that 2024 has been a very weird year as I have written about here, https://www.my11yearplan.com/post/2024-can-f-cking-f-ck-off
and here
I keep a spreadsheet logging my gym workouts and it is safe to say that the December tab is quite fallow especially for someone who has developed a real gym habit and desire to go on the regular. We can all blame the festive period and over indulging and, in fairness, the majority of the best influential personal trainers agree that is no bad thing and I agree, it is when the habit is fully broken that the mind needs a reset. I indulged, and then some. I am not getting anywhere near a scale!
Joke, I rarely weigh myself, it is a sad step and not a true reflection of progress, for many reasons, not least how hydrated you are. The increases in weights you are lifting for more reps, your 5K time, hitting 5K, the number of lengths you do in the pool and the mirror are a much better reflection. Although I have apparently developed body dysmorphia as the weights are increasing but the mirror is not my friend. Any break has a natural deficit on your progress and despite training hard when in the US in 2023, I didn't go near a gym for that two week trip of 2024. I came home and went back to the gym, selected the weights I had been using for dumbbell chest press before the holiday, set them down, got into position, lifted them once'ish, put them back on the rack and went down 2kg. Wake up call. I am in for a fucking shock on Monday when I get my arse back to the weights. I am a little scared, because I am going to be disappointed in myself, I am going to be annoyed.
Not a bad thing, what a way to spur yourself on. I saw a brilliant TikTok recently, yes, yes I have become one of the sheep and I have joined it. I know, I know, pipe down. It draws you in, I put a six second post of me on the train going to a gig and it has over 80,000 views and some weird comments... Apparently I am Bee Keeper Age, yep I had to Google it too. The post is about the current trend of male teenagers hairstyles, something I like to call broccoli hair, a messy long fringe that looks like a head of broccoli stuck on their forehead, yes, I might be jealous that they can grow that and I am slightly more challenged follicle wise. Here it is. https://www.tiktok.com/@emmsey49/video/7439727130579193121?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7403259860555712032 So true, ha ha. My gym is full of these lads and they spend more time preening in the mirrors and looking at their phones than they do training, I actually asked one, sitting on a bench I wanted to use, 'how many more texts have you got left mate'? He moved quite quickly.
In fairness a couple of them do come and work and I have seen changes in them this last year, I hope they stick at it.
I am King of being faddy, I have tried so many things over the years, I started to list them in my mind on a long drive one day and got bored. Of course some things have remained a constant, my mountain biking, my paddleboarding and now the gym.
Although in 2024 only the gym has been the one thing of those I have done on the regular.
My training is now a habit and the general consensus is that it takes a minimum of sixty days for a change to become normal behaviour or a habit, you have to commit and you have to be disciplined and that is not easy.
That is also why New Year Resolutions never work. Ever.
The social medias are currently awash with the next diet, the next workout, advice from people who live a strict regime year round, have good lighting and editing skills and make you believe that you can look like them if you eat the way a caveman allegedly did and walk a few thousand steps a day. You won't, you just won't, unless you live like they do and that is so far different to what they are peddling. If any 'professional' tells you to eat what they eat, they are a charlatan who wants to sell you something, plain and simple. I am currently, give or take, 206lbs, 93kg or in old money 14 stone 7. I am not a big man, I am lucky if the tape measure reads 5ft 9in, I have a trim(ish) waist and I am told a good frame for my age. 'Ow Mick, Nice Frame, you been working out'? (tell me the reference) Unless you are training the same as me, want the same goals as me, weigh the same and have the same build as me, what point is there in eating the same that I do. There isn't. It won't work for you as it is me. No faddy diets or 'cool' workout routines work.
Keto Weight Watchers Atkins
Intermittent Fasting (I really hate this one) Jane Plan Juice Diet (I really fucking hate this one) Zumba That one where ladies fly around a room in harnesses, what the fuck is that shit? The one where you drum a fucking gym ball and kick your legs up behind you, maybe do the odd twirl, what the fucking fuck is that is that all about? Is it an excuse to not actually train? Dry January. What a crock of shite. Ha ha, all we will see is people bragging about it and feeling all righteous about ordering a lemonade and then we get to January 31st and they will be, 'I am getting pissed tomorrow, cannot wait' well, what was the fucking point? They don't fucking work, none of them, they are simply trying to get you to relieve yourself of the precious dollar in your pocket to line their own. OK that's not fair, they do work, whilst you are on the diet and you stick at it, strictly, as soon as you stop, you will regain the weight and maybe more, it is proven. I have those t-shirts. You will revert to what you ate before and your sedentary lifestyle because faddy diets and faddy workouts are not habit forming, they are restrictive and fucking boring. They drive the wrong behaviours. Why should you stop something you enjoy? A glass of wine on a Friday, a takeaway on a Saturday, stuffing a massive roast down you on a Sunday. You shouldn't. Just don't do those everyday. All of these diets put you in a calorie deficit and that is key, that is all that needs to happen for weight loss, burn more than you consume. You don't need a faddy diet plan to do that, we are all on a diet, constantly, what we eat is our diet. Lifting weights, getting the step count in, calisthenics may be your thing, running, swimming, whatever, but you need to eat to fuel that training and that is where the balance comes in.
Find your BMR, there are very good calculators for that online, but be honest with them, lie to them and you are only lying to yourself. Set achievable goal points and measure your progress, not by the number on the scale, measure your body, get your protein in, it is key, balance the macros and watch the results, honest. New Year, New Me and resolutions, Nonsense. Small changes, one or two at a time is key. If you really think you can give up drink, fast food, chocolate, start walking 10,000 steps a day and go to the gym and start all of that on one day, well I have a bridge, diet and a training plan I'd like to sell you. You will also hate yourself when they all fail and you possibly go deeper in on some of those 'bad' habits. They aren't bad habits, they just need moderation. I know this, I have a wine on the go and more planned, I know what I need to moderate and I have that in plan. It is all too much at one time, do one or two of those, make them habitual and then change another, you will fail on some of them and that is ok, find a balance. Oosh. I was raving. Gracious me. I am quite mad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SnuM7cRwww I have used this clip before, it is stunning and an amazing film. I said in a previous post that I need to return to the light hearted posts. I do and I will.
Honest.
Maybe I need a resolution...
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