Runnin', runnin' and runnin', runnin'

Hey everybody, hope you’ve all had a great first week of 2012. If the Mayans were right, it’s all downhill from here, so enjoy it while you can. For my first week back into fitness training, I decided not to go too overboard, and stuck to one simple form of exercise – the humble treadmill. Now, Treaddy Freddy and I have had our differences – mostly due to the fact that I find the treadmill INCREDIBLY BORING. In all honesty, if I had a party I would probably conveniently forget to invite it. This week, however, I had a secret weapon. One that I thought I would never, ever use. If you will allow me to digress for a moment; for Christmas, I received a Kindle.

I have always been the loudest anti-Kindle advocate, staunchly upholding the view that it will never replace books. Who would have thought that the ledge on the front of the treadmill appears magically to be precisely Kindle-sized? I took it with my on my first night and, being engrossed as I was in my book, before I knew it I had been going for an hour and had burnt 700 calories! (The kindle helpfully blocks the display with all the flashing numbers). Fancy that!
So every day this week, that has been my exercise. I haven’t drastically altered my eating patterns yet, one thing at a time. I did make a conscious effort to cut out sugar, and to eat smaller meals throughout the day instead of large infrequent ones. Now, drumroll please:

Weight: 119.8kg

Muscle percentage: 39.6%

Fat percentage: 34.1%

Goal progress: 19.8%

Aw yeah! What a great incentive my first week back – lost 2.4kg, and body fat is down by 8.4%. Now as you may be aware, the body fat calculator on the scales is always a bit dodgy, but hey it’s down, right? Earlier in the week, I did the thing you’re never supposed to do, which is weigh yourself every day. This will always end in tears, especially if you’ve never exercised before, or are coming back to it after a cessation. First, the scales will drop due to the dehydration you initially experience. Then, after the body rights itself and the numbers go up again, you can get upset and lose hope. My advice to anyone who’s trying to lose weight is to weigh oneself once a week on the same day, around the same time.

So guys, this week I’m going to keep reading away on the treadmill and see how far it gets me. I think for the first jolt back into it, that’ll be sufficient for now.