Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Before and Midway - 13 Months and Counting

In December of 2010, I started on a series of lifestyle changes, attempting to make good on my previous failed efforts.  This time, for whatever reason, it finally stuck for more than a month or two.

I began exercising more (and more regularly) and, by spring, I finally started to whip my diet into shape.  I began counting calories on myfitnesspal.com (a really great site).  Then I started cycle commuting.  Since I bought my bike in April, I've put roughly 1400 miles on it.  In addition to this, I even started running.  Well, lumbering quickly, at least.  After years of joking about the people in my neighbourhood running for no good reason (no one was even chasing them), I kind of joined them.  It took a while to make the change but I started walking less and running more.  Now, I can go out and run for 3 1/2 miles without slowing.  In October, I did the CN Tower climb in a respectable 23:57.  That's 1776 steps.  Last year, I would have been gasping for breath after a few flights.

There is no great secret to what I did.  It all boils down to four words - eat less, move more.
 
The November before I started, I went to Vegas.  Though I didn't quite realize it then, I came back with a number of not terribly flattering 'before' pics.

For instance, in November of 2010, I looked like this:


Yup.  Even trying for a more flattering angle just couldn't hide the fact that I was, uh, big.

Last Saturday, I looked like this:


That's me getting ready for my first 5k run.  I'm already signed up for my next one (St. Patrick's Day) and am eyeing up a 10k run for the summer.  I think I like it better this way.  It's sweatier but more fun.