Au revoir gym membership, hello fitbit

Last time I sat down to write a post, I'd given up my gym membership, which was a very hard thing to do.  A different approach is necessary - small steps almost literally.

I've been working on getting to 10,000 steps every day.  It's tough in some respects because I'd prefer to be out on a track somewhere.  

My wife and I have taken our son out for his first couple of bushwalks.  These have been great - to spend time with family, introduce him to different parts of nature, and for me to take a stack of pictures.

It's not too difficult to get to 10,000 steps - except maybe for the awful weather we've had recently.  Between parking further away from work and taking a 20-30 minute detour to check my postbox, I've been getting close to or reaching 10,000.

I'm unfit though.  I've been able to do a few walks around the place.  They've been fairly short (8km - 11km) but it's been great to get out.  I've really missed it.

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Through gritted teeth, I stood on the scales and was surprised.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty bad.  There's a tonne of work to do.

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Early in 2015, I walked the 50km version of the Canberra 100 (blog post here).  I wasn't able to do the event in 2016, due to the car accident and the new addition to my family.  I was a bit sad to see the event isn't being run in 2017 - I love a challenge and was already looking forward to training for and completing the event (I've forgotten the sore feet from 2015).  Family comes first but I'll have to find a similar event...

Found reverse gear

Shoalhaven River, Bungonia State Conservation Area

Well, I've stumbled into reverse gear.  Or, more appropriately, eaten my way into it.  I was honoured to be a groomsman at a mate's wedding a week or so ago and had to be remeasured for the suit, and not in a good way.  There's been a couple of very stressful events since my last post, with the accompanying automatic resorting to compensatory junk food.

I don't want to know how much weight I've put on, but I can't live like this.

Tuggeranong from Rob Roy Nature Reserve

I'm starting to face up to things I can't change.  I want to walk long distances and run but I can't dedicate the time to exercising.  My family is my priority.

I'm managed to get a couple of bushwalks in, walking near Canberra and in the fabulous Bungonia State Conservation Area near Goulburn, good excuses for taking pictures. 

But, with a huge amount of reluctance, I gave up my gym membership - I wasn't using it so why spend the money? 

It has to be improving my diet, which is so damn hard for me.  Not sure going cold turkey is going to cut it.  Small incremental changes - less fast food breakfasts, more fruit, more water, less chocolate. Not relying on exercise but taking opportunities for exercise whenever possible - bushwalks, the treadmill, around the lake.

Lake Ginninderra, Belconnen - need to walk this more often (where possible!)

So I'm 40...

Parliament House

Ok...so it's not mission accomplished.  There is still a lot of work to do, but it's been such an amazing year, a staggering rollercoaster of emotions.  It really showed how food for me is a bit of an emotional crutch when I'm stressed.

Definitely not mission over, though.  It's so easy to get back into bad habits and really hard to break them.  But the thing I need to break is the nexus between a bad day and bad food.

It's a challenge to juggle family, commuting, work and exercise.  Obviously I'm not Robinson Crusoe there!  I love getting home to my family, but also need to get to the gym - did my first run on the treadmill for months this week and wow...great fun but oh so sore!

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Booroomba Rocks

My 40th was amazing and a day to remember.  I'd long planned to stand on a mountain somewhere but awful weather and dose of the flu limited options.  Ended up walking one of my favourite Canberra tracks, Square Rock, taking in the fabulous view briefly (it was so cold!).

My gorgeous wife arranged a day of wonderful surprises for my birthday, including a scenic helicopter flight over Canberra and the Namadgi National Park.  Thanks darling!

Panorama from Square Rock, Namadgi National Park

The year's gone quickly

Need more water, less iced coffee!

So I'm in the last fortnight of my thirties.  This sign pretty much sums up the situation at the moment.  Most, if not all, of my bad dietary habits have returned with a vengeance.  These could usually be counterbalanced (well, partly) with exercise but finding a balance recently has been difficult.  I'd rather be with my family.

Short of liposuction, I'm not going to meet my goal.  If I stay in this situation and maintain these bad habits, I may not be with my family as long as I want.  And that scares me.

But I have to concede this battle, but not the war.   

I've put some big changes in place already (though it's challenging to start when I've got the flu) but I post about them later.


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Scenery on the walk

I've have been able to get a couple of bushwalks in though.  One of them was a walk in Adelaide from Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty return.  I grew up in Adelaide but this was a new walk for me.  This walk itself is 8km long, but it was 12km including getting back to the nearest bus stop.

The scenery on the walk and at the summit was great.  It nearly killed me - more than 500 metres of climbing.  The walk reminded me of Mount Ainslie (lots of people) and Mount Tennent (steep climb, short distance).  

Can't wait to kick this flu and be out on a track again...even on Mount Tennent!

Adelaide from Mount Lofty

Nil Desperandum

Tidbinbilla River

I was stoked to be able to join a bushwalk with the Canberra Bushwalking Club.  The walk I joined was to an old European homestead near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, Nil Desperandum.  It was only 12 km long, a walk I could usually do easily, but I've lost so much fitness with everything that's gone on.

The walk started from the Tidbinbilla Visitors Centre, the usual launching pad for the fabulous Gibraltar Peak walk.  The path is well marked and took us up and across the Tidbinbilla River, a very pleasant part of the reserve.  It was great that the river was flowing well after the recent heatwave broke (thank goodness!).

From there, the walk followed fire trails over a ridge to go around the Tidbinbilla Station (private property), before arriving at Nil Desperandum.  The homestead was quite badly damaged by the 2003 bushfires but a great job has been done restoring the building.

Nil Desperandum

From there, we re-traced our steps back to the cars.  We finished by 1pm, a 12.8km walk with just under 400 metres in climbing.  

Nil Desperandum just one of the pleasant walks in Tidbinbilla (guide here) and I'm sure we'll be back here with bub to do some walks and check out the kangaroos, emus and other residents there.

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Nil Desperandum apparently means 'never despair' in Latin, and I think is pretty apt.  I wasn't really sure I could handle the walk, but it wasn't a problem. 

Not sure when my next bushwalk will be, but I'm enjoying walking around town with my wife, bub, and puppies, and taking the chance to practice photography.  

And this week, I get back to the gym :)

Autumn sunset

Wow...I'm a Dad :)

It's been another five weeks since I posted anything here - really need to be a bit more regular at posting here, but so much has happened.  I seemed to have crammed more big life events in the last two months than I've done in the last five years.  

In addition to the car accident I had in early January, I changed jobs and just over a week later, became a Dad.  My wife was hospitalised the Monday before bub was born, so priorities became supporting her and getting started at my new job.  Very little else mattered since then, including diet and exercise.

My wife sent me a link (language warning) suggesting to dad's "if you're a fitness fanatic, kiss that [stuff] goodbye for at least two months.  You have neither the time, nor the energy to work out, or eat well."  


These don't seem that important compared to looking after my wife and son.  As an aside, it's so good to have my son asleep in my arms (though I imagine every parent says that!).

Family and friends have given us cooked meals to freeze, for which we are deeply grateful.  Because of this, we've eaten a lot better than we otherwise could have.

Working out is a different story.  I'd like to get back to bushwalking, even if the walk is very short.  The walks I've looked at doing since bub was born I've pulled out of because, to be blunt, I'm stuffed, and it's been more important to be home.  I'm looking forward to sharing bushwalking with my son, and have an infant carrier on order to take him bushwalking when he's old enough.

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What does this mean for 40 by 40?  On the one hand, it's gone off the rails in a big way.  On the other, it's more important than ever.  I'm not just looking after myself, but also need to set an example for my son.   

I need to focus on other things to deal with stress, tiredness or a generally hectic life - being a Dad, walking, photography (particularly of storms), footy...I might even have to learn to cook (healthy stuff, of course!).

A second chance

Bimberi Peak from our camp

Oh...oops.  It's been more than three months since I put 'pen to paper' here.  And so much has happened (again).  In early January, I was given a second chance with a monumental piece of luck.  


I walked away from an accident where I rolled my car.

Snowy Mountains near Cabramurra

I won't go into the circumstances of the accident, except to say that a number of people have seen pictures of the car and said something to the effect that people generally don't walk away from such accidents.  I was lucky not only to survive the accident, but to have relatively minor injuries necessitating a couple of days in hospital.  I can't say enough how much I appreciated the support of my gorgeous wife, family, friends and colleagues.

All this was after being checked out in hospital for a possible heart attack in mid-December.

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Panorama from Bimberi Peak over Namadgi National Park

Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra

I was getting back into bushwalking and looking forward to getting back to the gym.  I did an overnight walk to the top of the ACT's highest mountain, which was great fun.  Over New Year, we'd been down to Kosciuszko National Park and I was reminded how fabulous it is there - will need to do some more walking down there.  When the march flies have gone.

I had enjoyed a 23km walk in Canberra (surprised myself by being able to walk that!) and was looking forward to heading back to the Snowies to do a walk around Kiandra before the accident.

I'm in a neck brace for a couple more weeks.  I'm really looking forward to getting the brace off and taking this second chance with both hands.  And holding our baby when he's born.