This evening I tested out the CardioTrainer on my new Google phone. It worked a treat. My journey home was a damp one today - it rained all the way. My coat turned out to be only semi-waterproof. The hood, shoulder and back remained dry, but my arms go soaked. Also the front pockets were not waterproof. To protect my G1 I put it in an inside pocket, but the GPS still worked.

I did not really know what to expect from the CardioTrainer, and was surprised when I heard a voice tell me that I had been walking for one minute. All the way home a little man inside the G1 Android phone was updating me on my progress, which was very reassuring as I did not think that the GPS would function with the phone in an inside pocket, under half an inch of fleece lining. But it did. Here are the results of my first outing using my Google phone, GPS and CardioTrainer all together:

Once I got home I logged on to CardioTrainer.com (after undressing and drying off) and was pleased to see that my data was already uploaded to the site.

On reading up on the application, I can change most settings. So now I will only be verbally updated on progress every 5 minutes. Now that I know exactly how far and for how long I have walked, I can start to challenge myself.

Well, I at least managed to eat a healthy salad for lunch today, however I fear that I spoiled things by having a caramel slice with my coffee in Nero afterwards. For breakfast I had a sausage sandwich, whiich although is not healthy, was at least fewer calories than a full English.

I will be walking home tonight. I was hoping to give CardioTrainer a test, but fear that my battery will not last the whole day. Need to rethink how I use my Google phone as it is very energy hungry.

It may be too early to say, but I think that this really is going to prove to be a successful new start. Salad, walking home, fewer calories - all positive moves in the right direction.

OK, as far as my fitness training and weight loss is concerned, things have not been going so well since Christmas. I used Christmas as an excuse to take a break for a while, which resulted in gaining a few pounds. In the new year I picked up some colds and flu, which meant no exercise and lots of comfort eating, The result is that my weight has crept up to 93kg again, which is a gain of almost 10kg since my. 2008 low. Not good.

So, what has G1 got to do with it? Well, on Friday I treated myself to a new phone, the Google Android G1. It is pretty flash and has several applications to help lose weight and get fit. I have installed CardioTrainer which uses the GPS to track running/walking. Plan to make the most of that from now on. OK, arriving at Liverpool Street station, time for work.

Been a funny day. Had a first chat with career advisor that has come to my company, to help in the "transition" from being happily employed to unemployed. He seems geniune enough, and hopefully will be able to help me cope with this transition.
 
Got home from work eary as my wife picked me up from the railway station. Saved me a walk home. I am supposed to be walking home to help me stay in shape, but the paths are treacherous.
 
I was so tired when I got in, that after bathing my son, I got in to bed. That was probably about 8pm. I slept until 11.30pm, and was actually woken by the joke that I told myself in my dream. I do not do jokes. But yet I made one up in a dream, and told my dreamland colleagues, and they laughed. So maybe it is funny. Maybe not. The joke:
 
The US government has decided to slacken street advertising rules, now allowing anyone to advertise anywhere for free. Bill Posters has been informed that he will not be prosecuted after all, and the trial has been cancelled.
 
See, it is awful. I did warn you, that I do not do jokes. And this was a dream joke, so probably worse than if I conciously decided to write one. I wonder if professional comedians write jokes while asleep. Seems an easy job if they do!
 
OK, so now. I have been faffing on the computer since I woke up. I think that I have a virus, as least some odd requests from ZoneAlarm that resulted in my PC rebooting. Never a good sign. Attempted to investigate and got nowhere. Thinking of reinstalling the operating system, but this seems like a real chore. Maybe all is ok. Backed up data anyway, just incase.
 

Today started as a normal day would. The milkman arrived early, when it was still dark, in his electronic, low powered, small wheeled milk float. I woke up at about 6.45am, looked out the window, and saw that we had had a lot of snow, just like the weather people had predicted.

My family got ready for work and nursery, and just as we were about the leave the house, the nursery called to say that they were forced to close for the day, duet to bad weather. Not many staff had made it in. Great. So my wife and I then had a discussion about who would stay home with our son, and who would go to work. We decided that as I have further to travel, and that it is month end with my wife's business at the moment, and my work is really slow (global economic meltdown in the City) that I would stay at home.

I called in to work, no answer. Eventually got hold of my boss on his mobile - he was still at home. Put the tele on, and half the south east of the UK had ground to a halt. The A12 was at a standstill as lorries got stuck on an icy hill. The M25 had a 32 mile tailback in the morning, which increased to 42 miles then 54 miles by lunchtime (although some reporters did appear to be making it up). What a disaster! The country is at a standstill due to unprecedented snow. More snow than in 18 years. More snow than in over two decades. Soon to be more snow than in living memory. Probably by the 10pm news it will be more snow since records began.

So, I have a question. How did my milkman manage to get to my house, via the milk shed, in his little milk float, at 6am when it was still dark? Either he is a superhuman, or everyone else are just bone idle.

Well, my whole health and fitness lifestyle has taken a major nosedive. I let myself go over Christmas, with the idea that I would start the new year afresh and get back into my diet and exercise regime. However, last Saturday I started to feel a bit poorly, and by Sunday I was in a right state. Been off all week. Aching legs, aching back, swollen neck, sore throat, thumping headaches, extreme tiredness, coughing up lumps of bloody green phlegm, and generally feeling pretty down.

Last Sunday I slept from 9pm through to 2.30pm on Monday. I have been sleeping a lot all week, mostly have afternoon sleeps. Today I slept from about 11am through to 4.30pm, and had the worse headache when I woke up. Took 2 paracetamol and 2 ibuprofen, and still the headache did not clear. Tomorrow will be a full week.

The last time I had flu was in 1995, and I remember being off work for a few days and generally feeling run down, but now I feel like the whole world is about to end.

Anyway, some good news. I recently built a new website for my kung-fu instructor (5-elements.co.uk and in return I will be getting lessons. So the credit crunch has failed to stop me training in kung-fu!

Bad news - my company announced a few weeks ago that I will be getting made redundant this year. No idea when, could be in 3 months, or could be in 11 months. But it will happen, as my job is moving to Scotland.

Wife and son are well, so that is good. Just me that is a wreck at the moment.

This entry is entitled, Here - The Starting Point, but I'm not altogether sure where Here is. I can look back and see where I've been; the trail is littered with diets (lots) and fitness campaigns (not so many).

Physically, right now. I'm lying on my bed flat on my back with the lap top balanced against my knees which are raised to offer a tressle. It's very comfortable here, exercising my fingers and my brain. Actually, anything more than that is really out of my comfort zone and that's a fundamental problem.

I'm fifty three. I like life a lot. I enjoy working and am very fulfilled. I don't want my life to end too soon but my choices don't reflect that desire. I'm overweight, fairly unfit and getting more so as the years pass. I have high blood pressure kept under some control with medication and am probably insulin resistant. All of this is some of Here.

I would like to go There, only I don't know where There is either. I'm a bit anxious about identifying where There is because, as soon as I do, I feel Failure starting to rub her hands together with glee as she savours the prospect of me falling flat on my face once again.

So, I'm going to stay Here a little longer and ponder where There might be. I'm not in any hurry to identify where exactly There might be, I'm just going to explore a little more of how I got Here on the basis of knowing that those who forget their past are condemned to repeat it.

i have just started jogging
can someone suggest me some good procedures for effective jogging.
food and liquid diet which i have to take.
please advice me

This evening I decided that it was time to start weight training again. I cannot remember the last time I did some weight training - according to this journal it was in April, just over 8 months ago. A shockingly long rest period!

Anyway, I headed off to the garage about an hour ago, and spent the first half hour attempting to make some room for training. Where as before my garage was kept clear of junk, over the last 8 months anything and everything seems to have been tipped in there. Boxes, dining chairs, garden chairs, an old kettle, carpet, carpet underlay, an old CRT monitor, some boxed of old toys, and even the box that the kitchen sink came in. I kid you not. The old sink was fortunately taken to the tip in the summer!

Once I had tidied, I prepared to get to work. That is when disaster struck. I had forgotten how much weight the bar could hold before tipping over. I removed 20kg from the right side, placed it on the floor, and then watched as the 7 foot bar tipped up, and the left end slide along before crashing through a shelf and breaking about 4 old Stella glasses (kept for parties) in the process. I did not inspect the damage any further for fear of what else I would find.

Also tonight, I realized that I have gotten weak. I am no longer at all strong. I am an utter wimp. I just want to make that clear before posting my workout, so that you do not have to!

After reading the various celeb workouts over on the main part of this website, I decided to try to follow one. However, me being me, I could not decide, so I did my usual routine. I was going to do the Bond workout, then I decided that the Batman workout would be better, but in the end I opted for a random assortment of exercises, and even made a couple up! I'll come to that in a moment.

My workout this evening:

Seated Shoulder Press:
20*10kg warmup
10*20kg
8*30kg
6*30kg

OK, so how am I doing? Once again I have hit some stumbling blocks. I managed to catch another bad cold, and that stopped me doing my new circuit training. I also spent a long weekend stuffing my face with chicken soup and chocolate to make myself better. The chocolate was purely to aid mental recovery!

I am still walking home from the railway station everyday as part of my Credit Crunch Fitness Plan. Total savings are about £200 each month (no bus, no morning coffee, cheaper breakfast, cheaper lunches, no kung-fu, less petrol). All adds up.

But there is good news! Yesterday I hopped on the scales after my wife decided to weigh herself, and I was surprised - actually shocked - to see that I had lost more weight. Not sure what the cause is though. I weighed myself again today, to make sure that last night was not just a freaky glitch, and I still weigh 95.2kg.

I think that the reason maybe a combination of diet and walking. As said, I am still walking about 45 minutes everyday working day. But also, I am on a wheat free diet. I spoke to a doc the other week, and he thinks that I have a wheat intolerance, so advised me to give up wheat to SIX MONTHS!!! I happen to think that that is a bit excessive. This means no bread, no pizza, no doughnuts, no cakes, no biscuits. Practically nothing. So my new daily eating regime is more or less:

Breakfast - porridge with raisins and honey / maple syrup
Lunch - jacket potato with some sort of chicken/meat stew on top
Supper - soup
Snacks - lots of chocolate "energy bars".