I’ve been in Zug for the past couple of days on a work trip. I put on my jeans on Thursday and discovered that I’d lost a bit of girth. It was very pleasing. Also I managed to eat low-carb for the whole trip. I relied on McDonalds burgers without buns for lunch and a steak restaurant in the evening.

Let’s have a quick review of what I set out to do:

1. No alcohol until February

I have not had an alcoholic drink since January 4th. I managed to go out to dinner and not drink. I managed to have a dinner party and not drink. The guests didn’t drink in solidarity. The only alcohol I used was for gravy and that would have been burnt off. So this is a success.

Generally I’m feeling more awake and I procrastinate less as a result. But I can’t say I feel amazing. In fact, I’ve had a bit of fatigue and some headaches, particularly in the second and third week. The last weeks of January were better.

I will be having a drink on Sunday 1st February. For sure.

2. Low-carb diet with cheat day. Avoid takeaways.

I also managed to follow the diet, pretty much to the letter. McDonalds decided to put a bit of ketchup on my bunless burgers despite asking them not to. But that’s not the end of the world.

Today I have avoided carbs mostly, but had porridge to fuel my workout. This evening, I will probably break the diet with a soup containing potato, but the soup will be excellent.

I avoided takeaways in that I didn’t order anything to the house at all. I went out for Fish and Chips with family one evening, and I ate in restaurants occasionally. But it was all low-carb and never taken away.

My weight and fat numbers haven’t declined as much as I like though. I’m living a nomadic life this week so I haven’t been able to take a weight measurement. I’m comfortable in my clothes though, which I wasn’t two weeks ago.

3. Gym 3 times a week. Exercise bike 3-4 times a week.

Despite something knocking me for six in the third week of January, I managed to go to the gym 3 times a week. I postponed a session but managed to catch up. I’m making visible progress despite the numbers not showing it. I need to stick at it.

I also got on the exercise bike 4 times a week (check), starting with 30 minutes and moving up to 35 minutes. I find this boring until the 20th minute or so. I try to do other things like reading newspapers but this distracts me from working hard on the bike.

I’m sleeping well, but my dogs are waking me up more often and this is breaking my sleep patterns. One of them is ill and it isn’t her fault, so I just have to manage this.

4. No unnecessary purchases

More or less. If I broke a rule, it was probably this one. I was in TK Max with my girlfriend looking at clothes. And I bought some stationery that was on sale. Whoops.

Usually when I restrict my purchases, I buy one or two things on the first of the month or around pay day. I bought 3 records, a beard trimmer and a briefcase. I did this a bit earlier than I should have done.

I also bought “Number Go Up” because I finished a book in Zug and needed something else to read. I’m reading a lot more because I’m not drinking and I’m less tired in the evening.

But generally, I was not out every day buying lots of unnecessary rubbish.

5. Writing and studying

Here I could have done a lot more. I did do some study for the AWS Networking Specialty exam, but not enough. If I did nothing else outside of work, I could take the exam in February, but it isn’t going to happen.

I practiced bass guitar - Back in Black, Badge and Iron Man.

I did some writing, but it was mainly for this blog and releasing a new edition of Learning Russian Verbs.

I did very minimal work on my new book and I should have done better. The problem is of course focus. I should really be doing that and nothing else, but variety is the spice of life.

Conclusion

So all in all a successful start to the year for diet and fitness. I’m making visible progress in the gym. If I’m failing, it is setting myself too many things to do outside of work. I need to focus on one thing at a time.