The less of me - the more I write the less I am

Well.

Today I stood ont he scales. at 88.0kg or 194lbs, or 13 Stone 12lbs, all those things work.

Which is a long way from 105Kg, 231lbs, or 16 1/2 stones, which is where I started at 15 months ago

And so I continue to be on-track at a 1kg a month weight loss. My new goal was only 85kg by June

I've walked / jogged a total of 941 kms, or 585 miles so far.

I set myself only a 5km or 6km walk/run expectation, and 5 would be the minimum or most regular distance.

This year I did really push the boat out

• Went 8km in one burst,


• Went 5 minutes 01 seconds for a 1km stretch


• Went 8 minutes and 55 seconds for a whole mile


• Went 5km in total for 30 minutes and 10 seconds (my immediate goal is under 30:00

The downside to all this is that shirts are all baggy and ill-fitting.

Upside is joints don't ache, I sleep better, and of course eat better.

Eating better by way of less things like potato and meat. Eating more fruit and vegetables, and of course smaller portion and better portion control.

Does not stop me drinking beer at all, or having indulgences like chocolate and cheese.

Feeling ok about this .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spin Bike, the Garage and the Knee - And so it continues

Well

I have some minor health issues, Psoriasis related, but it meant I had to go get some further advice

You see Psoriatic Arthritis tends to get you down after a bit, and I have it in one knee and both ankles to a greater or lesser degree.

Having taken to exercise in the last year to combat weight gain I've been a bit up and down with pain management.

Result is that now I'm on some new meds that have some benefits and of course some side effects, but what started out as me wanting less meds has ended up with me on more.

One of the things I have been advised on is less impact exercise, so that's the running,  which means the spin bike will get a work out :-) about time too.

Also and more alarmingly, might have to drink less beers, or limit my beers to three days, Friday, Saturday and possibly sunday if I'm parched, because there is some liver side effect that the new meds might give me, and possibly it's a good thing to drink slightly less.

I'm sure this ends well, with better skin, less aches and pains, and less hobbling.

Stand by for spin bike updates......

Related articles

• The Spin Bike, the Garage and the Knee


• History


• Joint pain may signal psoriatic arthritis


• Frequently asked questions about psoriatic arthritis


• My GOD that's a big toe!

The Less of Me, December 2012 edition

13 runs for exactly 69 kilometres, I have no idea how it got the be an exact number but the OCD in me thinks this is a great success.

Weight did dip below 89kg, but sadly in celebration I had chips. Then of course we had christmas, then of course I have no will power.

I did run on the 24th, 25th took a day off for the 26th then ran 4 days straight, with another day off for NYE.

[caption id="attachment_5913" align="aligncenter" width="474"] The less of me - December 2013[/caption]

Beach Life – Summer 2013 – #9

I write this the day after the day before.

Yesterday, the weather was average, cold and a bit showery.  But I was made to go for some exercise with MrsPdubyah, as you can see it wasn't as flash as it could have been in the morning

We got to the beach, Matarangi, didn't have it to ourselves in the distance you can see another romantic couple braving the elements

Some of the locals are more hardy, these oyster catchers for instance

To be fair there were far more people on the beach than I'm making out, they're done the more built up area where all the beach houses are. Brave souls.

As reward I brought me two beers, one which was good the other was ok. They are local beers, so I am in a way supporting local artisans. I am not however convinced they are brewed locally, but brewed to a recipe, which isn't unusual. I'll need to do more 'research'.

And then to bring it all back down we opened a bottle (gifted) of Sauv Noir, a horrific mixture of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from Chile.  It's as bad as it sounds. It's not like that don't have a decent wine trade in New Zealand. As it was a bit mardy we had a Thai Red Curry for dinner which was outstanding, and the remains of the Focaccia bread. Which now reminds me that I was supposed to make some bread for lunch. 

Today, Which I think is Thursday the day has dawned much brighter. There are many more boats on the seas going fishing and gathering, and MrsPdubyah is talking about a walk around the point at Matarangi to the Harbour, and I can buy more beer :-)

Related articles

• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #10


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #7


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #5


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #3


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #2


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #1

• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #8 (pdubyah.com)

 

Beach Life – Summer 2013 – #6

Well here we are then. At the beach house. this is the view, well this is the view when you hold the camera up a bit higher than eye-line, but you get it.

The local Fauna are really really noisy. We have Tui, Fantails, and Califonian Quail, Pheasants, the local Kingfisher and sundry other things all chipping in.



This was yesterday afternoon when we arrived. You really can see the beach (in the red rectangle) the trees and bushes are all growing up and the glimpse is getting glimpser.



Annoyingly the automatic lighting thing on the barbecue still works, couple of clicks and it's away. We've had this thing for many years now, and it still keeps going. It doesn't get a lot of use when I'm not here though, the in-laws aren't that fussed on cooking on it, apart from the occasion smoked fish.

Because it's still a bit murky the Gentleman Fishing Club has been put on hold. I'm sure I'll get on this later.

Already had a beer, well last night had a beer. We've also, MrsPdubyah and me, been on a mooch down the end of the beach and back. It was a bit bracing. Saw some of the younger neighbours who'd been partying for at least an hour being clowns, I should go see how they are today.

Had a couple of exercise walks, yesterday afternoon after the drive here, and this morning. Lordy this morning everyone was out jogging/running/cycling/mooching. All adults mind, no teenagers, funny that. It was was however 8am and what do you expect?

Today then, well I've done some exercise, MrsPdubyah was leaving as I got back, and FIL has gone for a meander. MIL is in bed, having been up at 7am putting a load of washing on, probably onto her second, it's her thing.

Suddenly it'll be 10am, I'll have to make some bread, there will be coffee and then the house will settle for an hour before lunch.

It's all go!

Related articles

• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #4 (pdubyah.com)

Getting from A to B

Now there's a thing. In a calendar year I managed by one way or another to achieve over 700km of exercise.

Couple of off months when injury and inclement weather took over, but I did go 12 straight months and of each time I did at least 5km.

I have no ambition to 10.  I have no ambition to do a 1/2 marathon, or a whole marathon. None. Don't ask me. Actually I will get to 10km at least once, just because.

What progress in 12 months?



4th of January 2013. 5 Km. Wearing Nike Free shoes, because they are my shoe of choice at this point.



Wearing New Balance shoes , I make that 13 minutes faster over the same distance.

I've just about worn out the 2nd pair of Nike Free shoes, the blue ones they've got 284km on them and look a bit sad.  I retired the black ones at 268km.

I've got a just worn in 148k on some NB Minimus and only 62km on the Yellow NB shoes. Spread it around a little. It'll be a shame to see the Nike shoes move to the shelf and retire. Might invest in some new ones in the new year, I think the 2 pairs of NB shoes will carry me

I'd set a goal too of losing weight, I did start the year at nearer 105kg. I got down to 88.8 just before christmas and have been reminded why was 105kg,  overcoming my will power I've had far to much of the everything, and even a couple of kilo's makes me fret a little. Still 91 is better than 101, and better then 105.

I haven't given up as much of things as you'd think, aside from packets of snack crisps, a chips, pies. I still have cheese and crackers, I just got portion control in control. I still drink beer, more than is prudent, but I'd rather drink and be happy than gaunt and miserable.  I ear breakfast more times than I skip it, and I enjoy better lunches than I used to.

I still eat muffins with the coffee with MrsPdubyah when we're out, it's a thing.

To 2014. Well I can get to 88 briefly,  I can get to 85, which seems my next sensible goal I think. No point in being stupid about it.  I want to be happy and engaged with losing weight not a slave to the stupidity of points, shakes, fasting, caveman, et al. I'll do it my way. I may or may not seek advice from a nutritionist, probably will, and I might get some running coach input into my running action. Probably won't.

Without the Nike+ Sportswatch none of this would have happened by the way, no better motivator than passive aggressive watch nagging :-)

Probably will buy more Nike shoes, probably in Orange :)

The Spin Bike, the Garage and the Knee

Spent a couple of hours rearranging the garage. This so 'we' could install the newly purchased  Spin Bike into a place we can use it.

The garage door has developed an asthmatic wheeze, so I spent an hour on door remedy. That may not have worked. I used a lot of the WD-40, CRC556, and the special garage door lube. It's less asthmatic and creaky on the hinges, I could be forced to google a way to fix this.

I bet it involves Olive Oil.

Broke one of my re-fill bottles, the 750ml junior which I don't think I paid for anyway, disappointing though.

Did find some drinking glasses that I had stowed away for a later date. Couple of 250ml lager glasses, and a taller thinner Pint Glass rom the Bath Ales company who make a fine beer that I've been neglecting.  Beer I was drinking before I started to keep a list, and from the nice people at The Wine Circle in Kumeu, who I've also been neglecting.

Also found a heap of old soccer programs from when I used to go watch the mighty Eagles of Crystal Palace play,  and some newspaper cutting and stuff.  A whole set of posts in itself.

Threw out next to nothing. That could come back and haunt me.

Also reminded that I have an Ice-Cream machine, and a Tortilla press that I need to use again, but after I use the pasta machine, which was hidden behind the Paella pan, propped up by the the pestle and mortar.  I swear the cupboard is like the Tardis.

Also.... reminded but the 7 used field Hockey sticks about (i) how much we invested in Hockey sticks, and (ii) just how good MissPdubyah was at Hockey.

Also, I may have shoe problem, all the shoes on the stack-rack are mine.  3 Pairs running shoes - current, 2 pairs not used for running but I still wear, couple pairs of casual shoes, couple other pairs of casual shoes, and so it goes on. A lot of shoes.

Also, why do we have 3 stereos in the Garage. One of them has a mini-disc player! I should get that out and see how I can plug that back in again to the amp.

Moved things back to the garden shed that belong there, including a scarifying machine for the lawn that I brought, custom built by the last owner, what was I thinking?, and a weedeater, and a thing on a stick that I can't remember what it does, an edging tool thing.

Also, a bag of quick-dri concrete, and a bag of lawn feed.

Oh and a waterblaster.

Found the christmas tree and some 'lost' decorations, might be the last year for that. Should have been last year to be honest.

Found the outside  beanbag, that has gone  back on the patio near the BBQ, for which I found the rotisserie device :-)

But in all this I've managed to twist, wrench, or jar my knee, again, because this has been a long term thing since the 5-a-side football season, lateral pain on a sideways movement.

For which I found the only cure might be a beer :-)

The Less of me, still it goes on

 

This was the old me :  41:04 for 5Kms, back in March, and being lazy it was the first furthest back map I could find for the same 5Kms

 

This was today, same 'lap' in 33:23, which as I brag on about is about km faster

and worse than that I run in these

I'm also down to under 91kg for the first time since I went through 91 on the way to 105, and this has been since January.

Resting heart rate averages 61, which is good too.

You can tell of course I have my happyface on.

The less of me, the one with the heart

I'm not actually sure what I was thinking, but I have a Nike Sportswatch, and this allows me to track my exercise.

One of it's capabilities is to link to a suitable heart rate sensor. And being as how I had nothing better to spend more money on I invested in one.

Bit of a mistake really. Maybe.

It works ok, and gave me some readings, but having done no research the numbers it came up with were meaningless.  So I had to go investigate using the trusty Google and Wikipedias

What I found was a couple of interesting things, but I'm not sure if I'm nearer understanding or now just frightened.

Resting Heart Rate for MEN
Age	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	65+
Athlete	49-55	49-54	50-56	50-57	51-56	50-55
Excellent	56-61	55-61	57-62	58-63	57-61	56-61
Good	62-65	62-65	63-66	64-67	62-67	62-65
Above Average	66-69	66-70	67-70	68-71	68-71	66-69
Average	70-73	71-74	71-75	72-76	72-75	70-73
Below               Average	74-81	75-81	76-82	77-83	76-81	74-79
Poor	82+	82+	83+	84+	82+	80+

As can be seen on this chart, your resting heart rate can vary with your fitness level and with age. I'm wavering around Good to Excellent, according to this.

But then the point of a heart rate monitor is to show your heart under the stress of exercise. So I had to find that out. And I came up with this

• The most commonly used formula is to take       your age (in years) away from 220. For example, if you are 34, your predicted max heart rate is 186 bpm (220 - 34). The formula was derived from a range of maximum heart rate studies in 1970 by William Haskell and Samuel Fox.


• A study in 2001 with healthy adults found a more accurate formula of 208 - 0.7 x age (from Tanaka, H., Monahan, K.D., & Seals, D.R. (2001). Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol. Jan;37(1):153-6.)

So I can derive then that my maximum heart rate should be around 171 (I'm old).

And then I found a handy chart that shows me what that looks like in terms of exercise effort heart rate to Maximum heart rate

Table of heart rate at training intensities from 50-90%

age	50%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	90%
50	120	130	135	140	145	150	160
51	120	129	134	139	144	149	159
52	119	129	134	139	144	148	158
53	119	128	133	138	143	148	157
54	118	128	132	137	142	147	156

Going back to the data then,  I've had the heart rate monitor on for 3 exercise things and have rates between 146 and 152, somewhere between 75% and 90% (on average), and a range between 70 and 90% overall. Average being a good thing as looking at the data, it says 163 at one point on one of the three days (last night it topped at 158).

So why am I worried. Well 75%, or 80% or 90%  - how do you know that ?  They 'feel' the same to me. I'm pushing as hard as I feel I can on most days, some days I hear the music, others I don't.  I don't want to 'back-off' yet now, I'm conscious that there is a limit to how much I should push, and this is going to change the way I do things, even if I pretend to myself it isn't and that I'll just ignore it. I won't.

Wheck out here http://www.topendsports.com/testing/heart-rate.htm for where I took my data and advice from.

The less of me for May

The less of me for May- A moth where it ended in abruptly and in tragedy

• 8Runs - that's half of what I expected


• 42.06 kms kms in total


• 5.2kms average per walk-out


• Fastest 5km improves all the time 32:53  - remembering back that it was 44:03 in December when I really started to go for it.


• Weight  dropping slowly - now at 94 kg, but only because I ate to comfort myself in the last two weeks.


• New shoes - I brought some more New Balance shoes M1010, They're still in the box unworn.

So to recap then.

I hurt myself.

I'd got to 498 kms and wanted to get to 500 (in total), and I went out in the morning. I had a "tight" right calf, but stretching seemed to ease it, in my head. I'd got less than 500 meters where I stopped to stretch it again, and nearly gave up, but mistaking the pain as being similar to the pain that shins sometimes give me I pushed ahead.

Then at the furthest point from home I'd stopped to walk a bit, the calf was quite "knotted" and I thought I'd walk it off, but I came to a junction and then the gentle downhill bit that I really enjoy. So I ran accross the road, in the way you do to beat the truck that's coming up. and that's when the tears started :-(





The burning stabbing that indicates some part of your body has given up.  For those of you that know this is both painful, embarrassing and confusing.

So there I was in comparative agony  by the side of the road, unable to walk, and some kind passerby stopped and offered me a lift home, I was sweaty and grimacing but still they stopped. It was incredibly kind and thoughtful and I hope that i'd be as charitable if ever I had the chance.

Cold pads and hot water bottle's for a few hours, compress bandage and rest.

Oddly I had no problems standing on top toes had a full range of foot motion but I couldn't walk in any coherent way, and getting down stairs was pretty impossible for the first day.

In the week since, it's calmed down a lot, only aches if I've been sitting for a while, and doesn't like being cold. I massage it daily and use deep heat (you know that stuff that smells like locker rooms, the opposite of chick-magnet"

I'm really itching to get back and exercise, and will have a gentle walk tomorrow.

And there you have it - May done and dusted, some wins, a few set backs, a few compliments about how less fat I am becoming. It's all good.

The Less of me for April

The less of me for April - A moth where I had to push on

• 16 Runs


• 94.14kms in total


• 5.8kms average per walk-out


• Fastest 5km improves all the time 34:44  - remembering back that it was 44:03 in December when I really started to go for it.


• Weight  dropping slowy - now at 95 kg


• New shoes - New Balance Minimus

Finished the month off with a niggling injury of hamstrings that took a while to settle down, and it was disappointing not to finish at 100km.

The Less of me for March

March Update :

I tried again to get to 100kms, just falling short at the month end where I tailed away on the days I actually got out an did something. I changed to new shoes as well with a resulting really poor few days where I was struggling, but it came right.

• 16 Runs


• 95.65kms in total


• 5.98kms average per walk-out


• Fastest 5km was 35:54, when you consider back in January this was 47:39


• Weight 96 - 96.4kg

Although the chart above is wrong!, count the gree lines you'll see 16, I have no idea what one it thinks is missing.

Onwards and downwards.

The Thin me is trying - the less of me update for February

A bit of fun in February and by my own personally competitive nature I managed to crack a 100kms of exercise in the 4 week period, says my Nike+ SportsWatch GPS

My weight hasn't exactly plummeted, but from being 105Kg in November I'm back to 97kg, and having been on or at 100Kg for years and a while I'm inwardly smiling about gaining the extra notch on my belt back.

My goal is to lose about 1kg a month, by a combination of better eating, for instance the breakfast porridge, a lighter lunch and better dinners, and having cut out snack things like crisps/chips and chocolate (for the most part), and to be much healthier and thinner by next summer. And I've invested in a bit of gear so I have a motivation.

I'm also drinking less beer less often too, but I'm enjoying it more, and instead of the whole cheese I can now enjoy it 1/3 at a time over three days.

I've all but worn out my current  Nike shoes (around 250kms) and will move on the new ones I brought this weekend. MrsPdubyah says I should slow down and go further, I'm going to seek advice on what's the best way forward. I don't think I can walk any faster without getting into the whole speed walking gait and thing, and I probably look just a bit odd now, although I do manage to break into a run for a few hundred meters (he says kidding himself), which is more than I could in December. I think I'd be aiming for more jogging intervals than just walking fast. That would be plan A.

Stretching has helped, the massage stick has helped, I still have stiffness in the calf area, and now around the knees, although the latter might be the result of the worn out shoes. Touching your toes is quite the joy :-)

So far then Pdubyah world all is going to plan.

The one with the online shopping

I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not an online shopper.

But truth is I'm never comfortable with the online shopping thing. Sure I've done it.

Locally we have Trademe, which is like eBay buy for New Zealanders.

I've brought from Amazon in the UK, a phone case for the daughter, that was about NZ$14.00.

I brought some vinyl music from http://www.wowhd.co.nz The Elbow Definitive Vinyl, a couple of hundred NZ$, nights of angst!

Recently I brought shoes from http://www.shoes4u.co.nz This was a real interesting experience and driven by the fact that my current  excercise (walking) shoes have after just under 200kms are showing wear and tear, and if nothing else is important it's looking good and having the good shoes on the feet.

I prefer Nike Free. I've been a big fan of them since forever. Having seen some in a sale recently at NZ$150 I was kind of tempted, they are around that price too in the Nike Outlet place.  So I had a google, and found two sites, and chose the Shoes4U one, for the simple reason that they took a credit card transaction, and not a paypal thing.

So I ordered a pair, all up in US$ 77.95 including the shipping. That was Thursday 31st January. Get home Monday and there is a card from the couriers saying go pick up a package. Which we thought was some university documents, because clearly something from Hong Kong isn't going to get to Auckland in 4 days?

And the credit card hadn't been debited yet.

Wrong. There they were. Delivered. The Credit card got debited that day, But that's the first time the things have arrived before the card has been charged.

The Shoes4u.co.nz website is maddeningly difficult to navigate to log-on, check the shipment, give feedback and all that but they have a benchmark in service.

So here I sit a bit of this and a bit of that. I feel like I scored a real bargain, shoes for under NZ$100 saving me at least $50 in the colour I want to, not the run-out colours maybe in your style or not.

I also feel that I've let the local shops down too, it doesn't feel right that you can the same shoes freighted in, and even if you add the GST part they work out NZ$35 dollars cheaper than on sale. They retail normally around $190-$200.

I'm all for buy local where I can, and where it makes sense.  I understand how the local retailers find the online shopping opportunities a real threat to them.

As it turns out I'm a bit of an online shopper and my purchases from overseas appear to be increasing, for someone that like to swap money for immediate possession of goods the online purchase always provides days of fret and worry. And one day I'll get an import bill of some kind where they ping me for tax or something, Inevitable really. I've no doubt that you could get totally carried away and spend heaps of money buying all sorts of things, but I'd steer clear of laptops and tablets for now, because I'm not prepared to gamble money on things that may break, as opposed to shoes, for instance. And my purchases might never get above the $100, because like gambling that might be all I'm prepared to lose in one transaction.

January started with a hiss and a roar

It seems that January has  started with a hiss and roar.

New Years day morning (just after midnight) the Father taxi to recover Daughter from the Police Station where she is reporting a stolen purse. Which means having to deal with not only the trauma of being the victim of a crime, which is horrendous the first time, but the resulting tedium of replacing drivers licences, and bank cards, and student ID's.  Lucky though the phone wasn't stolen, I'm not sure what would have been the worse tragedy.

New Kitten. Having put it off for 4 months we finally succumbed to a new kitten. A gray thing, noisy boisterous and playful. Bit of a challenge for the older cat though. Comes complete with micro-chip technology and is de-sexed no more cute kittens will be possible from this one.

New Year resolutions: The exercise, I've started with good intentions. Still find myself over-stepping which mean sore shins. But I'm giving it a full on go, which breaks a sweat, and I'll be into jogging and interval soon. If only the weight would be as co-operative

	Kms	Miles	Time
4-Jan	5.14	3.17	0:45:34
7-Jan	5.28	3.26	0:46:52
9-Jan	4.68	2.89	0:51:01
10-Jan	5.11	3.15	0:48:28
14-Jan	5.72	3.53	0:48:11
16-Jan	5.52	3.40	0:47:59
19-Jan	6.92	4.27	0:58:41
20-Jan	6.6	4.07	1:00:18
21-Jan	1.05	0.65	0:09:23
21-Jan	5.48	3.38	0:49:21

The Birthday: It's MrsPdubyahs birthday, and after so many years I've run out of things to buy for her. It doesn't help that she works with ready access to perfumes and cosmetics, or that I work in IT. This means that overall we have all the gadgets and she has all the look nice things already. I've tried jewelry, but this year we've been selling some of it off as it's only ever seen the inside of a draw. I'm not bitter that she hates the things I buy her, and I'm sure I'm in for a surprise request any day soon. I will get a card and flowers (petrol station w/glitter sparkles).

Friends: We have a good friend who's decided it's time to move to Wellington. This means that should we care to continue to see each other that we would have to fly to Wellington. Which suits us, as we have some family there. Something to look forward to and something to miss.

Family: Son has brought himself a budgerigar. I think this was more his girlfriend than him. Not sure why. the challenge I guess.  Daughter is attending a summer paper at University for Chemistry, that she needs for her further studies, which she's getting closer on deciding, possibly Nutrition and Psychology, or sports science.

Still to come:

The birthday night out with MrsPdubyah, downtown at a venue TBA, it's no use me thinking up something, I'll play dumb and go along with it.

The beach party where we're expected to take a plate and matching drink "from around the world" so for example Sushi and Sake, if you were a bit lame. The challenge is coming up with something that looks flash and takes 5 minutes to throw together.

The Less of Me

There is this athletic me inside this hulking body that would like to get out. I've goaded myself by buying some trick gear that fascinates me, starting with the Nike+ GSP Sportswatch. It's essentially a GPS receiver device that tracks where you go. Tells you how far you been, how long it took, how fast you went and guesses some calorie usage.  You can also link it to a Nike Sensor thingy that either slips in your Nike+ Shoes or you can attach it with a little pouch thingy to your laces, Like a flash pedometer. Watch was on sale, Shoes c/- a generous employer who gives us a 'push/play' allowance yearly.

 



December 26th



December 27th



December 28th



December 29th



January 4th

The one with the dodgy kidney

I've been living with IgA nephropathy for since 1990 ish

I saw a medical man today, (5th November) Professor Ian Simpson, about it. It's been since 1998 since I've seen anyone, since I was discharged from the out care unit at Auckland Hospital, in factt. And so I've been doing this worrying about my kidneys since, and making sure I keep a regular check on them, and all that.

How did this come about, the referral all of a sudden, well that's a tale of two things. The second thing first.

My regular doctor changed buildings recently and as part of they hoof all all paper records to the new place, and in reviewing them when I went to see him last it came as a bit of a surprise to him that I had a "condition". So off I went with a referral.

Such a nice man, Professor Simpson, a conversational doctor, who told me by and by many things, gave me a bag of advice and a few warnings. I came away uplifted,

The kidneys, well I thought they'd been damaged by a virus thing, an upper respiratory infection, and ear ache of Brobdingnagian proportions and an sore throat is what I remember, it was long time ago 1990.

But! my kidneys are fine and dandy, everything I've been doing to look after them has been spot on, including the 6 monthly blood tests, and the medication.

All I have to do is lose about a gazillion kilograms and get a bit active. And he says I'll be on the right side of the longevity thing, uplifting or what!

In an update today it appears that Auckland DHB have lost my medical records including the slides or whatever of the biopsy that I had, but not to worry the general thing still stands that I'm in fine fettle, and need to focus a bit on me.

The upshot really though is that I've been living with a monkey on my back for a long time, a background nagging, but it appears that although I've been doing the wrong thing that I might not have been doing enough of the good things. So I can relax a bit about the state of the things, and move on.

The less of me - revisited

I started with the good intention, in June, the walking, for the weight loss, the general fitness, the sense of wellbeing and accomplishment , and all the good things that that brings.

Well I started, then I broke a toe, then life happened and that. So... some excuses later, and fast forward from June 14 to November 10, and I know you're thinking what-the-hey, thats like 5 months, and you'd be right there.  But life indeed was happening and sometimes that intrudes on your good intentions.

Summer is here and we're off again.

This time though I upgraded from the Nike+ Sportband to the Nike+ GPS watch. Which altogether appeals more to my sense of big brother wathching me.

And full of the enthusiasm I was faster today than the previous efforts, to be fair it is warmer, I'm wearing less clothes and I have new motivation.

Can I keep it up though. Only I can know and only I can let me down.

Less of me is more Day 7: 14th June, skip a day

Day 7: 14th June, skip a day

It's frosty as a frosty thing this morning. My knee is a shocker and is so sore that I can't bend to take my shoe off :-(

Day 3 of less of me

Day 3 of less of me, and it a faster mooch around the block and MrsPdubyah stays in bed citing not a morning person as an excuse. Still it's a 3-peat for me.