At 7:09am this morning, the scales threw up a surprise figure – 100.5kg.
I’ve not been paying too much attention to figures and tend not to get obsessed with weighty matters, but of late I’ve been feeling a lot heavier, at least more so than I did six months ago. It turns out that when you throw a focus on your nutrition, sleep and exercise out the window – it’s been a gradual decline over six months – that you can actually put on a few kilos and start to slow a bit. You think I’d know better by now.
According to AiLink, which pairs with the scale acquired when trialling Limbo for a few months August-October last year, I was tipping 92.5kg in November, but in the time since, I’ve added 8kg (roughly 17.6lbs) and I can tell you that very little of that is muscle growth. If I was stepping into the cage at UFC 303 this weekend I’d have gone up an entire weight class. I could be a heavyweight in the boxing world, or super heavyweight at the Olympic level. However, Jon Jones or Tyson Fury, I am not, and at just about 5’10” I think I’d need a much taller frame for distribution if nothing else.
So what does it mean?
As I look to improve my health, it’s got to be noted that improving my weight (by reducing the body fat / visceral fat being carried and improving my muscle mass) is only a small part of the puzzle. How I think, how I feel, how I look, how I function. This isn’t a weight loss journey, it’s a whole health journey but in my case I’m acutely aware that reducing the amount of weight I’m carrying around, will have a vast number of health benefits. For others, putting on weight could be a key factor to improving their health, but again it’s only going to be a part of the puzzle.
So I know what I weigh. I know that I’m overweight. I know where I’m starting so now I’ve got something to compare for progress. In this case, progress will be reducing that number gradually. Yes, I’ve got a target in mind in terms of weight, but more on that in another post.
As a man with a lifejacket that’s only rated for 95kg in the water, I’ve got a little bit of work to do over the next few weeks.
