Tuesday 19 April 2022

Pacing Myself

Last week marked both my birthday and a year since we retired. I set myself a goal of walking 10k paces a day, and at least 1000 miles in that year. Using my Fitbit I've been able to keep a record of my progress. I'm pleased to say that I passed the 1000miles on December 31st. My overall results, birthday to birthday are [ drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁] 
1400 miles in a year, and 11000 paces per day
As you can imagine, I'm very happy about that. 
But I'm looking again at my goals. For my 68th year, I'm aiming for 
12000 paces per day*
The 10k idea was an arbitrary figure dreamed up by a pedometer manufacturer just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Recent research seems to suggest that perhaps 12k is a better figure if someone is aiming to improve fitness and lose weight. I'm not sure I shall manage it. But I'm certainly going to try. 
I should say that I work on weekly averages - if I spend half the day travelling by car or train, I know my step count will be down, so I try to walk more on another day that week. 
I left Dorset weighing 163lb, now I am 147lb. That's just over a stone - I lost that between October and Christmas and have kept it off for 3 months. I'm now a UK size 12 in clothes. I'd like to lose a little more, and get back to being a UK 10.
My BMI [according to NHS website calculator] is 29.6 and I'm “over we weight “[at least I'm no longer "obese"] The NHS reckons I should aim for a "healthy" weight of between 92 and 124lbs.
92lbs is 6stone8. When I was 18 I weighed exactly 100lbs, and they would not let me be a blood donor because I was underweight and therefore "unhealthy". Make up your minds, medics... I'll try to eat less, walk more, and see what happens 
*it's over a week since my birthday and I've managed to keep my average step count over the 12K target thus far

22 comments:

  1. Well done on walking so much abd achieving your aims! Very impressive! Also impressed that you're workung

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  2. ....working on a new target that feels healthier to you!
    What about Bob? How's he doing with the weight loss etc?

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    1. Thank you Kezzie for the encouragement. We both ate rather well over the Easter break - family meals, and birthday treats, and chocolate, but we're getting back on trac now.

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  3. Well done.
    Did you know that Christian Aid are doing a 300,000 steps in May Challenge? See their website for details.
    Keep walking 🚶‍♀️

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    1. Thanks for the link Pauline. You'd love some of the walks we do in the countryside round here!

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  4. Belated good wishes fr your birthday! Many people when they retire go in the opposite direction so you are doing rather well. But from what I can tell< I can't image you leading a sedentary life you can help it.

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    1. Thanks Philip. I think that there is quite a lot of walking involved in gardening too, which helps with the daily step count!

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  5. Félicitations pour votre perte de poids.
    C'est dur de suivre votre exemple et dans bien des domaines !
    Vous nous montrez la voie à suivre .

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    1. Merci Véro. C'est quand même un dur labeur certains jours...

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  6. Wow you are doing really well with your steps, and well done on losing and keeping off the weight. I need to do something about my weight, as now that I'm shorter my BMI is higher and looks really bad.

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    1. The Michael Mosley Blood Sugar diet helped us - but may not suit everyone

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  7. Oh, and Happy Belated Birthday, there's a lot of us born in April ... it's a good month :-)

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    1. A very good month - lots of us celebrating, including Her Majesty

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  8. You are certainly on the right track and you look great in the photos. I firmly believe that as we age, it is time to be especially careful with health, apart from some treats at times. I'm much older than you and I know that I can't get away with as much now if I want to keep going, so diet and exercise are something that we can try to manage, even if there are other factors that may be out of our control. But I wish I was doing as well as you on the exercise scene!

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    1. I am not sure how long I can keep this up! Some days it is hard - the warmer weather helps, I may struggle when wet, windy autumn arrives

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  9. I'm impressed. It's amazing that you've done so well. I think they recommend that you take a steady approach as that is the best way to keep the benefits. You are being absolutely awesome.

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    1. Reading my comment back, I don't think I got it right - I have a lot of respect for the hard work that took, and I'm taking it as an inspiration

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  10. That is an impressive step count, Angela and well done on keeping it up and even increasing it for next year! Well done on the weight loss, too!

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    1. Thanks Bless. Saying it "out loud" on the blog means I feel obliged to keep it up

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  11. That is very impressive - congratulations!

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