Another good question.

Simply put, I’m running at least 2 miles a day, every day, making sure I complete 8,000 steps each day which include my run and changing my diet.

Why have I chosen to take these steps?

I’m unhappy with being unhealthy and over weight, I’ve caught myself gaining weight again and I want to put a stop to that now and I’ve learnt that I respond to a challenge while doing something a little out of the ordinary.

But 2 miles a day?

My beloved as he shall be known is a runner and a geek, these things have helped bring me to my current plan.

Over the last month or so he has mentioned to me a couple of times a chap who in his advanced years still ran at least a mile every day and how much he should be emulating him. That struck me as a great achievement, I seem to respond to a challenge and the regularity would hopefully stick and ensure I maintain my weight. One mile felt like I wouldn’t be stretching myself, two miles seemed a bit more of a commitment but still doable. Goals are no good if you have no hope of achieving them.

Why add in the 8,000 step count?

One of my birthday gifts this year from my beloved was a mi band, I’m still getting use to wearing it (I confess I wasn’t impressed when I unwrapped it) but I have found that even before I started this self-imposed challenge the step counter had an effect on my activity levels. The band came with a standard goal of 8,000 steps a day. I found myself leaving the car after the school run and walking to and from the shop instead of driving, in order to keep up my step count. I haven’t worked out how many steps I do in a two-mile run but I think it’s around 3,000 so I still need to put in the effort to keep moving to reach 8,000 steps, which will help me keep limber after running. There is a very high likely hood that without the additional step count I’d not do enough stretching and moving to stop me from seizing up, I’ve learnt that I can be lazy.

What about your diet?

I have been a lot larger than I am at the beginning of this challenge. I’m pretty sure at one point I weight around 16 stone. I lost that weight by changing my diet almost alone, I was walking a bit more but not much. I started with cutting out carbs in the evening, I’d have extra vegetables, salads and things like grated carrots to fill my plate instead of pasta, rice or bread. I still had a sandwich or some such at lunch time, so I hadn’t cut carbs from my diet completely. I had noticed that the morning after having, say, a large plate of spaghetti Bolognese I would feel incredibly bloated and, honestly, going to the bathroom would make me feel I was about to pass out. After a plate of Bolognese sauce, no pasta but salad and still with cheese on top (I love cheese, it’s one of my food groups) I would feel comfortable, even hungry in the morning, it feels as though the food is moving through my system instead of sitting there, one great mass clogging everything up until I attempt to pass the great stodgy lump.

I’ve fallen off my good eating diet. White bread, rice, pasta and sweet treats, not as a treats but far to regularly, have been sneaking back in, but no more. I’m going back to treats as a treat, to be savoured once in a while and extra veg, I’m putting the brakes on this weight gaining train.