A new start - exercise thinly disguised as torture

I've become lazy with my exercise program. I will make excuses why I can't possibly do that number of sit ups or push ups. I kid myself into thinking that no-one knows what my exercise program is, no-one is training with me, so no-one need know that I am not doing what I should be doing.

Who am I trying to kid?

You only have to catch site of me side on to know that I have become lazy with my food intake and the amount and intensity of the exercise that I do. Quite simply I don't do anywhere near enough exercise for the amount of fuel that I provide my body with. And make no mistake - food is fuel, and if we don't use it, we store it for use later....when there's a famine or the dinosaurs start terrorizing the high streets and we can't slope off down to the shops at lunch time for our daily fix of whatever naughtyness we have decided we need.

I think you get my point - few if any of us don't know where our next meal is coming from. Not only do we know, but we've planned the day around the food and the snacks that we want to eat.

1. Get up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, drink coffee, drive to work
2. Pick up takeaway coffee and a muffin for morning tea
3. Eat muffin as soon as you get to work with the cup of coffee. Make tea - because the last cup of coffee was a bit cold and the muffin is now lodged between your throat and stomach
4. Take antacids and paracetamol to take away the pain of the muffin and the after effects of the alcohol that you inhaled last night
5. Make more tea eat a couple of biscuits during the meeting you were late for and didn't want to attend anyway.
6. 2 hours of sitting in front of the computer and your stomach tells you it's lunch time.....

With schedules like this, is it any wonder we can add a couple of inches and kilos to our frames each and every year?

OK all facetiousness aside. I have become lazy, I might "go to the gym" twice a week, walk around at lunch time, occasionally add a longer walk in on the weekend and sometimes at night, but it's obviously not enough to cope with what i put into my mouth. I consume too much for the exercise that i do. Simple equation at the end of the day.

I happen to work with a gentleman who also teaches thai kick boxing and undertakes personal training - he was the guy who challenged me to run the city to surf. Well Andy managed it, in about 70 odd minutes - because of torn muscles I had to stop training about 5 weeks out, and just didn't have the time to get back to race distance before the day....excuse - no - it still pulls when I run, so now I jog.

So the other day I asked Andy if he would write me out a training plan - something I could do on my own - no-one to kick or spar with....and I said I would pay him in beer - a six pack for a six pack !! or something like that. Today I got a taste of what my new exercise regime will be like....

I've decided enough is enough, it's going to take me 3-6 months to lose the weight that I want to lose, but Andy says I should start to feel a difference within weeks with my clothes. This is a good thing, because at the moment I have to be careful not to wear baggy clothing for fear of being asked when the baby is due.

When are you going to decide enough is enough? When are you going to decide that the instant gratification of having that cake now will add days to your exercise program.

MMM1