Wandle Trail, London Loop and Thames Path.
Cheers! I will defo keep an eye out, great idea.
... some nice countryside to the south - good to have a bit of variation to keep things interesting.
... I cracked my knee against a rock on Tuesday ...
I have definitely had to explore a bit to change things up a little, thankfully I can handle a lot of repetition and I slip into routines pretty easily. For example 90% of my wardrobe is identical and I've eaten basically the same salad for one of my meals every day for over a year; I suspect I'm a little bit odd.
How is your knee now. I hope you're fixed up and back out there?!
Currently have the opposite issue to you, in that i struggle to maintain my weight now at 66kg, having had my stomach removed due to cancer at 48 - a big shock to a fighting fit energiser bunny i can tell you.
... He has his MBA graduation photograph on his wall from his earlier days to inspire him ...
Damn that sounds incredibly tough to go through. Do you force extra calories into your system like with cheese and mayonnaise to try and counteract the reduction in absorption? I guess there's a lot more to it than that trying to get everything you need.
As for the picture I have a perfect embarrassing photo from a friend's wedding which I have photoshopped into a faux t-shirt design. I'm pretty sure that's going to be my motivational picture.
It's scorching hot in London at the moment, so don't feel bad about not doing long walks right now - they say 34 degrees today, so I am not venturing further than the shady spot in the garden!
There are a surprising number of nice walks through green spaces not far from you; I did some of the southern sections of the Capital Ring when I first moved here, and found them more peaceful and pleasant than I expected. Or if you like the idea of getting out of town, maybe look up the Saturday Walkers Club; they do informal group walks if you want company, and also have a very helpful website and book with detailed routes if you prefer doing the walks alone.
You're telling me the weather has been amazing but it does certainly take a toll! Thankfully I have a portable air conditioning unit in the bedroom which I can at least retreat to after a walk and cool myself down.
The club sounds like a truly brilliant suggestion, I would love to make friends locally. Whilst I thoroughly enjoy walking by myself I have found the occasional interactions with strangers to be rewarding; I can imagine it being even more enjoyable to meet up and be around other people who are passionate for this. I'll be sure to check them out!
Are you still in the area etc?
I started out getting fit on this forum at over 23 stone. Lost nearly all the weight but put 40 lbs back on recently after I injured myself on a 30K run. Back running again now, but I've got to build the distance up again, slowly.
So many great points in your post, it's a lot to reply to all considered but I've tried to take your advice on board, thank you.
Best of luck getting back on track, sorry to hear about your injury, but must say you've been doing impressively. Thank you for the inspiration. It's one thing to be impressed by people who started out skinny but when a fat person achieves it then that obviously resonates with me a lot harder. I have some idea of just how much work it really is. I'm just glad I haven't yet died from the neglect and abuse I put my body through and have a chance to right some of those wrongs.
I'm curious if people treat you differently when you're in shape verses when you were big?
I also think that when the aim is to get fit and/or to lose weight, contenting oneself with gentle ambles isn't going to get you very far. A programme of gradual improvement - carefully done, with aims and targets, with perseverance and patience, while 'listening' to your body will (IMHO!) be a lot more effective.
This has been a significant cause of concern for me, I've been so incredibly stubborn, I wholeheartedly wish to make continued progress and as a result I've been ignoring sensible advice - until now.
I'm starting to understand myself a bit better while trying to balance the pushing and resting and goals. I feel less guilt now about resting. I'm also unable to understand what I can sensibly achieve without damaging myself severely. Each day I seem to be learning a bit more. That said I fully agree that it would be easy to make excuses which harm improvement and allow for laziness. Thankfully I thoroughly enjoy getting out and moving my body so the motivation is usually pretty easy. I much rather be out there than stuck in doors.
The essential part to all of this though, is that I have my food intake under proper control now, I have and would be able to continue to lose weight with zero exercise. I don't starve myself, nor do i get the desire to binge anymore, and when my exertion causes my body to need fuel to repair itself I can react to it without shoveling in tons of extra unnecessary calories.
All of that said I'm still learning and all the advice I'm receiving is helping me to question my actions and understand more of what's going on.
Disagree gentle ambles are pointless for heavy people though, when you're very obese gentle ambles are hard and also burn lots of calories.
This is a key point to all of this.
According to a calculator based on average speed, weight, height and age, I burned 450 kcal in 73 minutes on one of my more recent walks.
Dont worry about the distance at the moment, you walked further than me today!
That helps because I slip easily into feeling guilty some days when I felt like I let myself down, it's nice to be reminded that it's okay and that some days will be a bit harder than others. I hope youre doing well.
Rest periods are where the magic happens, the damage you inflict on yourself exercising is repaired and you are rebuilt stronger than before.
I'm starting to appreciate this, it's weird to imagine that doing basically nothing, is somehow doing something useful.