As A Fiddle

Hello, dear reader!

Back to normality.

Yes, the big birthday (50th), and the week of indulgence that followed it are now nothing but a distant, shining memory. It’s back to behaving (apparently behaving badly doesn’t count).

It’s back to trying to be somewhat healthy.

Losing It
I set myself a little ambition at the start of the year. Not a resolution, or a goal (those can be so easily missed), just something I would like to achieve. To lose a little weight and get a little healthier.

To be fit at fifty, not fat at fifty.

And the results are…?

I’m afraid I can’t claim total success. As I glance down my aged torso, there’s still a belly bulging out over my waist band. An unlovely mix of visceral and subcutaneous fat. Tina, my ever exemplary wife, claims it’s something I should pay no heed to. She says it doesn’t spoil my masculine beauty or physical attractiveness. She is of course blinded by love, and possibly in need of a visit to Specsavers.

Because I see the belly. I see it, and I resent it.

 
Back On It
It’s true the last week will not have done my generous waistline any favours. After all, it started with an all day drinking session, and devolved into a quest to eat as much take-out food as the bank balance would allow (Fried chicken, pizza, kebab meat, a burger, and no less than two all day breakfasts. Not all in the same sitting you understand). There may be a bit of bloating, There might be a few extra calories.

The week of living unhealthily cannot take the whole of the blame, however, and despite my appearance being commented on in a positive manner by my sainted mother (prior to the pig out), there was and is still work to be done.

So, class this as a recommitment to my ambition. So far this week I have resumed my daily ‘trundles’ (you can’t really class them as walks when you’re a wheelchair user),using Strava to track my distance covered, and today I had a salad for lunch!

I’ve also reinstated a habit of intermittent fasting (basically skipping breakfast three or four times a week and therefore withholding calorie consumption from 8pm until 12pm the next day. It’s easier than you might think)

As You Mean To Go On
But starting, as I’ve discovered, is the easy part. Lines can be drawn in the sand and plans made, but it’s the follow through that matters (no, not that kind. Get your mind out the gutter!). It’s having the commitment, especially as the weather cools and the rain falls, to maintain the routine. It’s having the foresight and planning (doesn’t sound like me) to get some decent gloves and a warm, waterproof jacket. It’s possibly finding indoor alternatives that will do the same job.

For now, though, it's about resisting temptation, taking responsibility for my own decision, and turning the good start into an ongoing habit. It’s also not making progress and then immediately dropping the ball. Something I may well be guilty of.

The joint fiftieth party to celebrate Tina and I truly joining the ranks of the middle-aged is less than two months away. It would be unrealistic to set any kind of target to meet by that date (plus I’m not measuring my weight. Balancing on scales is tricky at the best of times and occasionally comedic). It would be nice to be feeling and perhaps looking just a tad better though.

Now, what’s for tea again?


Until next time.

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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think.


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations