Ironman Mark

… I had better start losing weight.  Then ten minutes later eat something that is decidedly unhelpful?  Let’s just say more than once!

So, the plan is that I start tomorrow.  I say tomorrow as today is Boxing Day and I have a nice dinner planned.

But do be successful I am told I need a goal an outcome that is “SMART”.  But I am not sure if that is true as I quite like process goals.  So, my process goals are:

• To exercise consistently.
• To record everything I eat for at least the next month.  From this perspective, it doesn’t matter what I eat – just that I write it down.  I am going to try to use Myfitnesspal for that as it’s free, works on the web and also has an Android App.
• I can eat anything I want to.  Nothing is forbidden.
• But saying that, I am not going to eat chocolate (proper chocolate: bars, bags and boxes).  I have done well not eating these since August and so I want to continue that.
• Also, I spent a lot of time getting off of caffeine so I will continue to avoid that.
• I will do my best to stay out of Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Somerfields at work.  I find that I might go in for a bit of chicken and some fruit, but come out with a couple of pain aux raisins plus all sorts of other bits and pieces that aren’t healthy.  Don’t go in there, don’t buy the junk.  Easy
• Drink more water and squash.  When I exercise in the evening, I wake up feeling dehydrated.  Drink more stuff that does not come out of cans!  Drink before breakfast, drink before lunch, drink before dinner and just drink.
• No more nipping up to the cafe at work for a muffin (or a cake).  If I want something (it is probably a drink anyway), have a drink and buy some fruit.
• No eating after 9pm (except for fruit and veg).  I don’t think it makes much of a difference when I eat but I know that after I have done an hour on the wattbike, I’ll eat something.  Then something more.  Then just another.  And another.  I find it difficult to restrain my eating.  So hence this rule.  But it is more of a guideline.  If I am late back from work and I want to eat, then I eat.
• Avoid eating chips.  What purpose do they serve?
• Eat when I am hungry, don’t if I am not.  If I think I am hungry, check if I am not just thirsty.
• While I am at it, don’t go to the “cakes area” at work (or If I do, try for no cakes, just a sweet)
• If I really fancy some sweets, but a small packet, not a large one.
• When thinking about food that is not obviously healthy, ask myself the question “What has the food industry done to make me want to eat this?”  If the answer involves adding fat, sugar and/or salt then think twice about whether I want to eat it.
• So if I can’t go in to supermarkets at work what am I going to eat at lunch time?  Not sure but I can see stuff that I bring in to work (like fruit, chicken, fish, Ryveta, peanut butter) being eaten a lot!  It will be more hassle but it will be easier to eat healthily.

So if I listen to all these people who like SMART objectives, what would success look like?  Not a huge difference really?  A little more running speed would be good – so maybe 4kg off before the Reading half-marathon in three months.  It’s not a tough target.  The toughness is to make sure that I am consistent.  No two day wonder.   That’s the hard bit.

It’s now time for me to focus on doing stuff that is important for getting around Lanzarote. I have been doing too many half-hearted 30 minute runs, too easy 30 minute turbo sessions and I have forgotten where the pool is. I certainly haven’t forgotten where they sell cakes and croissants.

It’s actually not that bad. I have been training consistently but only to 75% focus, not 100%. Today I went to do a 90 minute run but only ended up doing 40 minutes. There were a number of reasons for this but the main one was the mental focus. It just wasn’t there. But I can do something about that. That has to be what I concentrate on.