50 Consecutive Days

50 Consecutive Days

Two months ago I embarked on a diet along with extra exercise and today marked the end of the first two months. The Psoriasis is still there, although better and still improving but so far it has been a very well worth while thing to do.

Exactly 1 Stone in weight lost. 14lb. Which is just over 1lb per week.

Perhaps the most demanding and hardest part was the idea of walking at least 6 miles per day. The first week I managed to walk 6 miles every other day but after that yesterday marked 50 consecutive days of walking those 6 miles with today continuing that to become 51 days. The idea seemed hard but the reality has been the opposite. It's been easy to fit 2 hours in, whether it is first thing in the morning, during the day or even in the dark, come rain or shine.

There has been the odd day, at 7am, or when it is raining, when I haven't wanted to go out but it's like over coming anything, it's only a few minutes of not wanting to go but once you get outside that bit has been cracked. Once in a while, when legs are aching, half a mile in, the idea of another 5.5 miles doesn't sound fun but it doesn't take much to force yourself to the 3 mile point and then there is no way of failing as you have to finish.

I was already fairly fit, but pushing yourself harder is made all the easier when your weight is coming down. Not only does it easier as you get fitter week on week but it gets much easier when you weigh less each week, since there is simply less to carry around. It's almost the same a carrying 1 bag less of sugar each week and after 2 months it's the same as not carrying 6 bags of sugar compared to the first week. That's a lot of weight less!

In just 2 months I've lost over 8% of my body weight plus put on leg muscle but reading alsorts of web sites the ideal weight for a normal person of my height is between 110 and 140lb and I started this at 171lb. I can't see myself losing 30lb to get to the top of that range because the amount of exercise I do in normal life means I've probably got more muscle than average but it's clear that there is still more to come off. Perhaps another 7lb.

At the current rate of losing weight there is still another month to go. Will it be possible to go 80 days of consecutively walking 6 miles on top of my normal exercise?

The last 2 months have seen me average 20,000 steps per day on the pedometer, and my best month in the last 2 years before that was an average of 16,000. The average for the rest of the year is between 12,000 and 14,000 steps so the last 2 months have seen a big increase.