2020++ - smiling and waving and looking so fine

alt80

All looking good mate. 

Hows the weight still maintaining? If I recall correctly you've lost a lot of weight - how much total? 

To my mind much better to clear the card and play the 0% game - buys you time but appreciate you might not need to.

mark55man

I lost about 30 kilos since start of 2020, the last 6 months have been a bit up and down but now about 3kilos up  since January

CC3 is 0% but on spending (till 2022) now got about £4K left - with about £3.5K saved by the end of this month.  So if I find some magic money from somewhere I might be able to do it, but if not then it will probably be September.

alt80

That's epic mate well done. Sounds like you just need to know what your maintenance calories are and go with it - if you track properly for a couple of months you'll have a good idea of what you can eat in a day to stay at the same weight given a certain amount of activity. Baseline calcs will give you a good idea but don't over estimate your activity levels - lot of people do and sets you up for failure. 

Situation with CC3 makes more sense now.

savingholmes

Well done on the steps. I managed a record for this year and hit over 10,000 steps yesterday. See you're a good influence. Mine was due to going shopping though LOL and parking at a free car park being proper MSE... and having to walk part way into town

mark55man

@savingholmes lol + very well done - I agree the best way to get to 10000 is to do 1000 steps 10 times during the day, rather than 10000 once. or more generally just keep busy all day and finish off later if you need a top up

mark55man

So despite my analysis above today I did my 10,000 steps in one big (treadmill) run.  6.5km in an hour as intervals so I should be able to do my next steady pace run a bit quicker still (can you tell I love numbers). so that's 18/21 in August and my 28 day average is exactly 10,000 so I'm tempted not to move again until midnight but I suspect my OH may have something to say about that.

In other good news we saw DD1 today who was visiting friends our way and stopped off for the morning.  Even better she took a car full of her stuff back to her house, which we have always said she was free to do whenever she wanted - it turns out it was today!!!  We were trying to get the declutter / decoration started anyway, so that was a boost - but I suspect some of my targets for this year will bleed into next year.  

DD2 went into her office for the first time last week, and was delighted to find everyone was as nice in real life as they were on Zoom 

Looking forward to have a good play around with my financial spreadsheets at the end of the month, I have been resisting it at the moment as you can have too much spreadsheet in your life

alt80

Interval training will definitely serve you well for building speed. You have inspired me to take a look at my health app on my phone - av just over 12k steps per day this week not very consistent though either lots of steps or next to none - I like you're challenge and going to set myself an informal one of 10k/d over the next week and get into the gym at least three times too. 

I assume your daughter started a job over Covid lockdown - been a nightmare for the young kids wanting to train in industry. I've just taken a graduate but none last year.

Will keep that one in mind re can have too much spreadsheet in your life haha.

mark55man

well done @alt80 on taking a graduate on, those cohorts leaving over the last couple of years are going to be significantly disadvantaged IMHO. 

Back in the day I did a serious amount of training on the indoor rowing machine, so I know the theory of training cycles - just trying to apply it to running for a bit (will maybe go back to the rower next month), and trying to compensate for being a lot older

only you know how you can fit a daily challenge into your day - I would say 12000 steps average is plenty, it has been a struggle doing it literally everyday when trying to deal with life, work  and family.  So I would focus on the average, but as a bit of structure (or an excuse to get out)  a daily target can be good.

alt80

Thanks mate. I agree with you - this lad had been doing a bit of work exp but been !!!!!! hard for any young grads this year and I feel for them tbh, that age I know I just wanted to get on. Have another student I've agreed to mentor and had a few come up through the ranks. Enjoy it tbh, amazing reward when one goes from new grad to gaining confidence and their professional quals, get a real sense of achievement from that, I might be a !!!!!! but I'm not an entire !!!!!!. 

You're right it'll be broadly similar. My Mrs knows a lot more about it than I do tbf.

Not going to get hung up on the daily target but just something to watch for, remind myself to take a little walk every couple of hours won't be bad, I like 10 mins out here and there. 

mark55man

Ten minutes every couple of hours and a medium walk at some point will get you most of the way there

I walked to town the long way round to pick up some pastries for our Sunday coffee in the garden, only to discover they were YS to half price.  I nearly bought 2 packs, but we are trying to do another full on attempt at the diet to slim down for XMAS.

Will be heading to the tip this afternoon - got most of the rubbish outside already, just need to get the last few things for a full car. Rest of the day doing online admin and chilling a bit, as next week will be hard work  

So I am now 19/22 for 10K Steps in August, 28 day average 11,200 (includes some days in July, but also a monster walk in London so average is about right)