Eeeeeek!

So I got the guy out to finalise the plans for the house work and I've paid a deposit and I'm scared. It's a lot of money. But it's work that needs done and it'll add value to the house (not that I am looking to sell) and it'll make a world of difference when the dark and cold nights come this winter.

And once that's done, I'll need to turn my attention to the kitchen, which is another expensive job. Sigh. but, again, having a new, bigger kitchen will make life an awful lot better. 

Let's go!

The guy got back to me with an all-in-one quote for the work I wanted to get done and it's right on the limit of my completely arbitrary price point. I said I'd call him back in 24 hours, which has already passed but I have been super busy with work. I am going to call him and tell him to progress with my order when I get ten minutes to myself.

The work won't get done until next the end of the summer, but I'm OK with that - as long as it's done before the nights draw in and it gets colder. And that shouldn't be a problem as long as I do call the guy before the end of the week.

Tick.

I've been productive over the past few days, chalking off some tasks, hitting some personal goals and I'm feeling quite chuffed with myself.

My sleep continues to be awful.

But I'm due to meet with Nerdy Girl tonight for a walk. I'm looking forward to it because I've not seen her in weeks and the weather's great. While my foot injury is healed and I should make an attempt at our longer route, I'm more tempted by the shorter route and finishing at CB Pub for a drink and chat.

I can offset that by walking to and from CB Pub, just over a mile in each direction. 

Yeah. I'll do that. 

Bloody hell.

The last time I weighted myself was, I dunno, maybe early in the pandemic. If memory serves, then I was roughly 2.5 stone heavier than I'd like to be. And that's heavier than I perhaps should be.

Today, for the first time in years, I stepped onto my new scales. i bought them in Black Friday sales, with the plan originally to step on them at the start of January and see what my goals were going to be for this year.

Various illnesses and other life stuff has meant that I didn't get around to doing that until today... just now. And I am officially the heaviest I've ever been. I'm about 3 stone heavier than I'd like, but I'm a little surprised I'm not heavier given that I've been eating crap and pretty sedentary for the past year.

Next week, I got to finally have my foot looked after. I have to go private because I cannot get through to my GP, and I am lucky enough to have health insurance with my employer.

All the things I've done before are my plans for weight loss - exercise in the form of walking, cycling and yoga. I'll have to start calorie counting again, too, which I dislike a lot but is a necessary evil.

Let's see what I can do in the next three and a half months, and what the numbers are like at the end of June.

Fence-y that.

In the aftermath of last week's Storm Eowyn, my neighbour has need to replace our dividing fence. However, she didn't tell me that the contractor would require access to my garden and that there would be digging involved. That's a concern when you have buried oil pipes running from my oil talk to my boiler.

However, a quick chat with the contractor and there are no issues, and I've even asked him to get me a quote for some fencing that I want done. I'm feeling quite productive today, even if I do have that post-night out lethargy.

Looking good.

Whisper it quietly, but I think that I am only a few weeks away from the Plantar Fasciitis being pretty much healed. It's been significantly less painful over the past week or so. If that continues, then I should be in much better shape, post-Christmas (well, into the new year) to make a proper effort to undo the damage of this current year in terms of fitness and weight gain.

Let's dance.

As part of my plan to get out of the house more, I've bought tickets to a gig at the start of November. It's a band that I like, but I've kinda lost track of some of their newer stuff, so something to get back into.

Something to ponder.

For the first time since before Covid, work has announced a Christmas party. Usually, it's a good chance to dress up and "admire" co-workers. OK then, perv. Admittedly, it's been a good while since I've been to one. Maybe 2016? I remember one where I felt incredibly lonely after the table effectively emptied once the food was done, KfW2 disappearing, and just being really down.

I went home earlier that evening and haven't been back, I don't think.

I am a little tempted this year, but I'd need a new suit. I don't fit into my current suit because I have put on a lot of weight. I daren't step on the scales to see how bad the damage is.

There is something else to consider, but I'm in two minds about it and am reluctant to admit it publicly until I make a decision.

Stretch goals.

So, it's about six weeks since I restarted the yoga, and I have to say that, overall, I do feel better. I can't say that I've lost any weight, but that's not a short-term goal. Admittedly, I'm still not doing it daily and June's stats are averaging out at once every three days. I want to be doing it more frequently than that. Even with a couple of periods where discomfort in my back flared up, I should have maybe been looking at 1 workout in 2 days.

But, I can definitely feel the progress, and that's motivating me to keep going.

Let's go!

Back into yoga today. The foot is still a little troublesome, but it gives me no pain during the exercise. It's mainly a morning thing. Once I get moving, it drops off considerably. I'll continue doing this one specific session for a while. The goal here is to stretch and loosen up rather than anything else. Once I feel  a little more comfortable and flexible, then I'll move on to more challenging workouts and more frequently, too, to start working on the fitness levels and weight loss goals.

Yes!

So, yeah, I bit the bullet and fired up the yoga introductory session at lunchtime. In 30 mins, I supposedly burned 415 calories, though that seems high. Calorie burning isn't really the purpose of doing the yoga though - it's increasing core strength and stretching. I was also delighted to see that my heart rate monitor still worked.

I won't be able to do any tomorrow, but I am out of the house and will be more active than usual anyway. Maybe I need to see how my body reacts to the yoga before committing to anything further.

Anyhow, I felt great doing the exercises, though I wasn't engaged fully. It's a matter of practice/habit. If I don't fall apart tomorrow, I'll consider doing the intro a few more times and then move onto one of the proper sessions at the weekend or next week.

There was a slight twinge in my right shoulder and my wrists and knees were uncomfortable when on my hands and knees on the yoga mat. I might need to look at a thicker one or move my workout to my bedroom where its carpeted. And I can't do press ups for shit.

Afterwards, there was a slight bit of discomfort in my left hip and with my back, but it only lasted about 15 minutes.

At this stage, I don't see any reason why I can't do this again on Thursday. As is always the case, it's a matter of easing myself back in and doing it properly and building up a routine/habit.

But current status: pleased.

Walk it off.

Maybe just a little bit later than planned, but I did get a walk done at lunchtime, and at just under 1.7 miles, it's not a bad start. Bear in mind that my typical daily walk when doing the challenge from Random Internet Woman was about 1.2 miles.

Hopefully, I can keep this up for a couple of weeks, and then see where we are about moving on to Yoga or the CG workouts I've mentioned previously.

And the point of the walk was to post something for KfW2. It made me realise that I don't get enough personal stuff through the mail any more. It's all bills and junk mail. I did get the odd bit of mail from USHW and I got a postcard from Foreign Girl, which were greatly appreciated. It genuinely meant a lot that someone took the time to scribble some words and post them to me.

2024

Despite the trials and tribulations of the past year and my current fatigue, I have some goals for this year, something to perhaps look forward to. I've tended not to set any goals over the past few years, but this year is different, and I have some things I'd like to work on and achieve.

1. Get some work done to the house.
   
   There's building work, upgrades (heating and kitchen) and decorating that I want to get done. The kitchen work will be extremely expensive, but I have no idea how much. So while the ultimate goal is to have a new kitchen by the end of the year, the first step is to get a quote for the building work that I need done first. Then I can think about the finer details of the kitchen itself. CC also suggested that she'd help out/project manage the work. While I don't expect her to fully take charge, I'd really appreciate her help.
   
   
2. Be more social.
   
   As recently as this morning, I bemoaned not seeing KfW2 as often as I'd like. That goes for The Crowd, too. So, I'd like to see more of my friends this year. Sadly, I'm already the one making all of the effort, but I'll have to be more insistent and persuasive. Making some new friends might also be called for.
   
   
3. Exercise more.
   
   I really enjoyed the challenge that Random Internet Woman set down in November, and I was going to build upon that in December until the family stuff happened. So, I think I'll try a minor reset. I'm thinking about a two-week walking challenge, then move on to stretching and ultimately back into Yoga or maybe those Caroline Girvan workouts on YouTube.
   
   
4. Travel.
   
   This one's not likely to happen seeing as I'm likely to be spending a lot on some home improvements this year, but I'd like to travel again. I've blogged before about some of the places on my list, and New York is still really at the top of the list.

Additionally, E is coming home over the summer, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. I've not swapped any messages with RIW since the end of November. I did tell her I needed space to deal with stuff and I do mean to restart our conversation, but not for a little bit.

And there it is.

And with that, the challenge set down by Random Internet Woman is done. 30 days, 30 walks. I hit two out of my three goals which were walking every day, walking more than 30 miles over the month and a stretch goal of doing over 40 miles.

I fell just short of the 40 miles by clocking in around 38 miles. The cancelled walk with Nerdy Girl would have seen me easily cross that, but it would have put at risk the daily part of the challenge. All in all, I'm satisfied with how things went.

While it doesn't seem like an awful lot (we're talking roughly 20 minutes per day), it hasn't been easy. Motivation to leave the house has been, at times, tough. There was the leg pain/possible shin splints that seemed like it might be getting a little better. Is the walking just building up the strength in the leg meaning that while the pain does come, it feels like it's getting later into the walk? But, I did all 30 days, and I'm quietly proud of that.

I've been sleeping better and I might have lost some weight (I've not been tracking it, but it feels like it). my back pain has eased, though it is not totally gone. It's more difficult to quantify the mental health aspects. I'm not sure I'm in a better headspace as a direct result of the exercise, and things have been tough this month with work deadlines and family issues to contend with.

I don't know what I'm going to do next. I want to get back into yoga to get some stretching done to address the back pain. I guess, it'll be a combination of walking and yoga. If I walk, I won't do yoga, and vice versa and unless I get a real burst of energy, I'm unlikely to do both on the same day. But I want to continue doing something.

Forward thinking.

I was thinking about seeing if Nerdy Girl fancied a walk this week, but then I remembered that I have a habit of finishing our walks in a little pain and with blisters. And I wouldn't want that to put an end to my challenge with Randon Internet Woman seeing as that's currently going quite well, and there's just over a week to go.

I did send her a message to see if she wants a walk early next week. She suggested Tuesday which is pretty much ideal. And even if my feet do hurt and get blisters, I'll have more than done enough to achieve the secondary goal, which is to average more than a mile per day.

Now that I'm getting near the end of the challenge, it's time to think about what my next steps might be (no pun intended). My thoughts from earlier in the month were to try and keep up the walking. It's not a huge distance though it has been difficult at times to motivate myself into going out. But my back pain has eased and my sleep is better. And to build on what I have achieved, I thought maybe about getting back into my yoga. 

USHW, who sent an email just as I started typing this post, suggested easing into that with some stretching first. That's a good idea because while the yoga that I like does involve stretching, I have felt some tightness in my legs as well as some actual pain (shin splints I think) when I try to walk at my normal, natural pace. So maybe that's the plan for December, to start stretching with a view to progressing into my old yoga programme by the end of that month.

Challenge Accepted!

Tomorrow is meant to be the start of my "challenge" with Random Internet Woman. At least a mile a day, every day, for the entire month. That's a total of 30 miles. I think she's planning on running it, though I am only planning on walking it as I've been sedentary for so long, that I don't want to rush back into anything.

So my overall goal is to complete the challenge - walk a mile per day.

But that is extremely achievable, so I do want to add some bonuses to that:

• I want to do a lot more than the 30 miles, but I don't want to put a figure on it. I'll start off doing the mile per day, then if I feel up to it, I'll up the distance.
• If I do fall off the wagon or life gets in the way, I still want to do the distance, so if I have to do extra on some days to make up for what I miss, then I'll do that.

And if I get through that, I'll be happy, especially if the bonus kicks in. I hope that the small effort of the exercise, plus getting out of the house will motivate me to stay with it and possibly break out the yoga equipment to add to my exercise.

Something to ponder.

The random stranger on Reddit has proposed a challenge of sorts... to walk at least a mile per day in November. Apparently, she used to do something in October every year but has been a bit under the weather this month and hasn't gotten into the challenge this year.

So, I'm thinking that this might not be a bad idea. Gets me out of the house, fresh air and exercise. A mile's not a big thing. A 20-minute walk. Quicker if I push myself.

Let's go.

A while ago, I was talking to Nerdy Girl about trying to get fitter. I explained to her that I thought a lot of my problem was not motivation but more that I got overwhelmed with the amount of information that was available to me and an inability to filter it out or make it all less complex was off-putting.

She was supportive and gave it a name, but I can't remember the phrase that she used.

I did find this post/article on the web which really hits home.

I think I had a similar conversation with USHW years ago around the same thing.

It's not just fitness, though, it's pretty much anything.

I'm currently trying to plan some work on the house - an upgrade of my heating system. I need to get the gas supplier out to ensure I can get gas (I know that I can, but that's a box that needs ticking). I also need to engage with fitters, to get a quote. I need to engage with the council, to get approval. And then I need to get the work done. And I'm sat here, looking at about twelve different websites wondering where the fuck I actually start.

I've gone down this road before and given up because I could only get 1 company at a time to give me a quote, and by the time I could get a second company out, the quote from the first one had lapsed.

But I need to be proactive on this one. My current boiler is on its last legs, so I reckon I'll need a new boiler before the end of the year regardless of getting a fuel conversion done. But a fuel conversion will open up the ability to do more work to the house by reducing or changing the pipes.

I've emailed the council. Baby steps.

Yawn.

I don't know what it is, but I've been so tired over the past week or so. I suspect it might be at least partially linked to my unhappiness with work at the minute that's causing a little stress and anxiety. I've yet to sit down and decide what it is I want to do, and how to go about it.

"Please, sir..."

While reviewing my finances for last month I realised that I was a little bit poorer than I had expected. Sadly, it didn't take too long to figure out as the words "JustEat" were very prevalent on my bank statement. Admittedly, it's not all takeaways, but I had gotten into the habit of ordering a coffee/breakfast on a Monday and a Friday. It all soon adds up.

So, I have a short-term goal for this month to cut down on the number of takeaways I get in, including coffee, especially when I'm planning on buying a new PC which is not going to be cheap.