Net Worth: Dec 2018

Another negative month, with my geared share portfolio and retirement savings balances each dropping by more than $20K, while our house price estimate stabilized. Still waiting (and hoping) that the global stock market 'correction' is over, but it appears that there may be further weakness ahead. The Australian economy is still growing quite well, so there may soon be a buying opportunity. Our Superannuation is already fully invested in growth, but my gearing is currently very low, so I could use my available margin loan facilities to invest in the local stock market when it seems to have reached the 'bottom'. However, as I am currently funding around $1,200 per month for my Financial Planning registration fees (without any clients so far) from my wage cash flow, I don't really want to add margin loan interest payments at this stage.

My goals for 2019 are:
- lose weight and exercise more (a perennial goal it seems) - I'm currently ~108kg and need to lose about 30-35kg! I also need to start using the Gym membership I took out in July...
- startup my financial planning business and get my first clients during 2019 (my target is 1 per month)
- complete the two 'specialisation' modules ('Self-Managed Superannuation Funds' and 'Margin Lending') that I enrolled in when I finished the Diploma of Financial Planning course in early December
- start and complete the Adavanced DFP course that I enrolled in recently
- complete the four courses for the Master of Financial Planning degree I've enrolled in for 2019 (1 per quarter).

So, it looks like I'll be quite busy during 2019 ;)

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Starting early on the New Year resolutions

My perennial self-promise has always been to loose weight and exercise more, and yet again this year I didn't manage to make any progress with either. So, as we were going to have a low-key Christmas anyway this year (as DS1 is away in Europe on a back-packing holiday before he starts uni at the end of February, and I won't be visiting my parents at the lake house until the New Year) I decided to eliminate the Christmas tradition of overeating and having lots of sweets, and instead get an early start on sticking to my diet plan. Nothing too onerous, just healthy breakfast, a modest lunch and healthy dinner, and a serious attempt to eliminate desserts and snacks from my diet. I also need to start tracking my daily step-count and make sure that I meet my target of at least 10,000 steps every day.

Aside from health and fitness, my others goals for next year are to complete the Diploma of Financial Planning course I'm doing via distance education, as well as a Six Sigma Green Belt certification I am doing at work. I've pretty much resigned myself to not re-enrolling in the MSc/PhD by research that I was doing part-time, as I can't see that I'll every get enough time for it while I'm working full-time, especially if I have any health issues such as during the past couple of years. I'm due to re-enrol by next July, so I'll wait and see if I my eczema improves significantly before then.

My other goal for 2018 is, of course, to keep my job as long as possible. Ideally I'd like to remain employed full-time for another 7+ years. But these days one could get retrenched at any time. And as DW has found out, it isn't easy to find a suitable full-time job when you're nearly sixty, despite the economy doing quite well at the moment.

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Diet & Exercise update - Weeks 38 & 39

Well, I haven't been doing too well with my diet and exercise since the last post. While I managed to cut back slightly on my consumption of confectionery, I haven't yet managed to eliminate it completely and stick to my daily diet plan, so my weight has been creeping up again. I usually start out well enough each day, sticking with my planned breakfast and lunch items, but I'll then have a 'snack' while shopping or preparing dinner, and then also browse on confectionery after dinner while watching TV. My 'plan' is always to only have some fruit after dinner as dessert, and then to avoid snacking until bed time. The trick is to work out how to stick to my plan! Since it is too hot and humid to go for a long walk at lunchtime, I need to start going for an evening walk after dinner. While I've been doing an hour or so of air pistol 'dry fire' training using my SCATT most evenings, I haven't started doing daily 5BX.

To make my SCATT training sessions more productive, I decided to try the 'kindergarten' training method outlined by Anatoliy Piddubnyy. I wrote out a 'script' for a single 1-minute 'shot' sequence, and dubbed the narration on top of a free classical track (Handel's 'Andante' from the 'Water Music'). Initially I was going to record the narration myself, but after getting poor recordings using a cheap USB microphone I decided to use a free online text-to-speech app to simply create a suitable MP3 file. Loading the two MP3 files into audacity was very simple, and it only took a few moments to edit out some unwanted parts of the narration and replicate it 10-times to create a recording for a 10-minute, 10-shot 'card', followed by a 3-minute rest, all accompanied by a loop of  3-minutes of Handel. I was initially going to create a 90-minute track for an entire 60-shot 'match' training session, but after trying out the 10-shot 'card' track I decided it was better to simply re-play that track for every 10-shot 'card'. That way it is a lot easier to take a break between 'cards', and to have amply time to get back into position and check my natural aim before starting each 10-shot sequence.

The first evening I tried using the 'kindergarten' method with my home-made sound track it seemed to work quite well - I got  nearly all 9s and 10s, and only had one 'wild' shot (an 8) out of my 40-shot training session. However, the second night I tried training with this track I tried being a bit 'flexible' about adhering to the exact timing of the commands, and ended up holding my aim too long and getting five bad shots out of 40 (4x8s and a 7). So, I'll probably have to create a modified version, as the timing of some parts of each shot isn't quite right. Once I get the sound track exactly the way I want it, I'll use it for daily SCATT training sessions for a couple of months and see if I can consistently shoot 95+ on every 'card'. Currently I'm shooting between 89-96 for each 'card' of ten shots while SCATT training at home, although I tend to not shoot as well at the club on Saturday's, or when at a competition. Hopefully with enough training my shot timing will become 'second nature' and I'll be able to consistently shoot as well at competitions as I do in training.

At the moment the SCATT traces are showing my natural AM (arc of movement) when I initially 'take aim' is a 'random walk' lying mostly within the '9-ring', and then tightens up as I commence my trigger release ('squeeze'). Using the sound track for training helps my shoot within 5-10 seconds of 'taking aim', rather than holding way too long waiting for my aim to be 'perfect'. Currently the SCATT results show that around 35%-40% of the final second of the trace before my shot fires is falling within the 10-ring, which matches with my result of getting slightly less than a 50:50 mix of 10s and 9s. I still need to avoid holding too long and trying to 'force' a bulls-eye - which sometimes works, but is almost as likely to result in a 'wild' shot of an 8 or a 7.

My initial training goals are:
1. Habituate a natural 'rhythm' for taking aim and releasing a 'surprise' shot within 5-10 seconds of taking aim. This should help eliminate any shots that are worse than a '9', and, based on my current AM, should result in a score of around 550-570 for a 60-shot match (averaging around 92-95 per card, and eliminate any 'card' scores below 90).
2. Add daily 5BX and light weight training (and loose more weight!) to improve my overall fitness, muscle tone and core strength. This should (hopefully) improve my natural AM ('arc of movement') over the next couple of months - ideally my SCATT traces should end up mostly lying with the 9.5 region. And should (theoretically) improve my 'card' average to around 94-97, and result in 'match' score of around 565-575. My SCATT traces should improve to around 50%-60% of the final second falling with the 10-ring.
3. Use mental rehersal and regular training to develop 'muscle memory' and make the shot timing 'second nature'. This should  enable me to reproduce my training session performance during club shoots and local competitions, and get my 'live fire' match scores up around 550-560. My last two weekend club shoots were both in the mid 530s, so I still have a way to go to translate my SCATT results into live scores of 540-550+.

Depending on how much I can improve my shooting through regular training and improved fitness, I'm hopeful that I *might* be able to get a competition score in the 'top ten' during 2017. To achieve that goal I'd need to shoot around 565-575 in a 'sanctioned' (nationally recognized) match, based on previous national 'top ten' scores:

Range of 'Top Ten' score in Mens 10m Air Pistol in recent years:
2016: 568 - 579
2015: 568 - 578
2014: 569 - 577

It is somewhat depressing to realize that these national 'top ten' scores generally would not even be good enough to make the final of an ISSF 'world cup' in Air Pistol! I guess that explains why Australian's only came 36th and 44th in Men's Air Pistol at the 2016 Rio Olympics (the cut-off to even make the final eight was 580). The targets of the best qualifier at the Rio Olympics are very impressive.

Anyhow, my 'dream' goals in shooting for 2017 are somewhat more modest (although probably still not realistic):
1. Shoot an 'A grade' score at a sanctioned competition (in Air Pistol, 'A grade' is 560+, and 'Masters grade' is 575+. I'm an 'A grade' shooter on the basis of having shot 560+ in a competition .... a *long* time ago). [If I achieve this goal I may 'reward' myself with a new Air Pistol, as my trusty old FWB model 100 is looking a bit anachronistic when I go to sanctioned competitions... the Steyr evo 10 looks nice]
2. Shoot a 'top ten' score at a sanctioned competition (Ie. around 569+)
3. Shoot a 'Masters' grade score at a competition (575+). [If I achieve this goal I'll definitely get a new pistol!]

If I'm serious about these goals I'll probably have to also radically cut back on the amount of 'diet coke' that I consume each day (~4+L/day!), as that amount of caffeine can't be doing my AM any good.

Anyhow, here is how my 'diet' has been going recently. Not looking too good ;(

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 34       50.9       63.7     21.4    115.6      3,353     94.2      9,071
Week 35       33.3       63.0     22.2    118.9      3,434     94.6      9,149
Week 36       36.7       60.2     24.3    129.9      3,578     95.2      9,592
Week 37       43.2       60.5     22.9    127.7      3,208     95.6      6,560
Week 38       36.1       59.4     25.7    118.8      3,187     95.8      6,602
Week 39       44.3       64.5     20.9    111.3      3,253     96.2      4,972

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Diet & Exercise update - Weeks 36 & 37

Another couple of weeks where I didn't manage to stick to my diet plan (too many after dinner snacks) or reach my exercise goals (too little walking at lunch time to reach my daily step count target). On a positive note I did manage to reduce the amount of snack food I ate last week, and seem to finally getting back into my diet routine. I've been doing some regular air pistol training with my SCATT apparatus, but although I can shoot well when using SCATT at home it hasn't yet resulted in any improvement in my scores when shooting at the club or at competitions. Hopefully that will come when I get conditioned by doing daily practice (and if I start doing daily 5BX aerobic fitness exercises).

The swimming pool had started to turn green once the weather warmed up in October (the pool pump had stopped running a few months ago), so I spend some time getting the pump working again and cleaning the salt chlorinator (so it doesn't keep triggering the 'no flow' warming and stopping the pump every 5 minutes!). After scooping out a whole lot of leaves and palm fronds from the bottom of the pool and 'super-chlorinating' it a week ago, the pool is now looking OK for swimming (DS2 had a quick dip yesterday), and I'll vacuum it and backwash the sand filter tonight. Now that the weather has warmed up and daylight savings time is in effect, I'll be able to start swimming some laps every day when I get home from work. A combination of walking 12,000 steps, swimming 50x8m laps, and doing 5BX and some weight and SCATT training every day should get me quite a bit fitter over the summer months, and help me shed some more kilos (if I can cut out the junk snack food!).


.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 32       35.8       58.5     27.1     96.3      3,223     93.2      7,746
Week 33       51.1       60.9     25.6    120.2      3,747     93.9      8,214
Week 34       50.9       63.7     21.4    115.6      3,353     94.2      9,071
Week 35       33.3       63.0     22.2    118.9      3,434     94.6      9,149
Week 36       36.7       60.2     24.3    129.9      3,578     95.2      9,592
Week 37       43.2       60.5     22.9    127.7      3,208     95.6      6,560

My main goals for this week are to stick to my diet plan, walk at least 10,000 steps/day, and start doing some daily swimming and 5BX. I should also keep up my daily SCATT training, and do some preparation work for resuming my Msc/PhD enrolment in the new year... lots to do!

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Diet & Exercise update - Weeks 34 & 35

I came down with the 'flu a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still getting over a persistent cough. So my daily step count was below my target for the past couple of weeks, and I also didn't go to the Thursday evening 'social' squash comp (the hour of squash with the family on Sunday was hard enough while having the 'flu). I also still haven't managed to completely eliminate 'junk' food from my diet, or avoid buying confectionery when I go grocery shopping. So not too much progress on the 'diet' side of things.

I've started going again to target shooting (air pistol) at my local club again on Saturday mornings (I hadn't been since the beginning of the year), and I entered a couple of local competitions during the past month. I scored around 515-520 at the club shoots and the state championship, so my initial goal is to get back to my old 'A grade' standard (of 20+ years ago) and I aim to be shooting around 540-560 by the end of this year.

I set up my old SCATT training system (fortunately I still have a desktop computer that has a serial port, and could install a more recent version of the SCATT software that still supports the old SCATT hardware) so I can do some regular 'dry fire' practice in the evenings. I will also need to start doing some conditioning training (5BX every evening would be a good start), and do some regular weight training with light weights and high reps to improve my AM (arc of movement). If I improve enough to be regularly shooting 550+ again at competitions (which would be good enough to get me into the 'finals' of most events), I'll think seriously about upgrading my air pistol next year. I'm currently still using the old Feinwerkbau model 100 that I bought in the early 1980s, so upgrading to a new Stery EVO 10 would make sense (and look less ridiculous at competitions) once my scores are back to 'A grade' standard. While the cost of a new target air pistol is fairly modest (~A$3400), it will be a hassle to get the required paperwork from the state firearms registry, and to fabricate a part to mount the SCATT sensor onto the new pistol. I also no idea how I will manage to find the time to resume working on my part-time PhD in 2017 and fit in daily target practice - but not watching any more TV in the evenings will be a good start!

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 30       39.2       53.2     31.7    119.6      3,499     91.6      9,685
Week 31       38.8       55.2     30.5    126.6      3,820     92.3      7,111
Week 32       35.8       58.5     27.1     96.3      3,223     93.2      7,746
Week 33       51.1       60.9     25.6    120.2      3,747     93.9      8,214
Week 34       50.9       63.7     21.4    115.6      3,353     94.2      9,071
Week 35       33.3       63.0     22.2    118.9      3,434     94.6      9,149

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 33

Another unsatisfactory week overall. I did manage to play a game of 'social' squash comp on Thursday night, as well as the usual hour of squash practice with my kids on Sunday afternoon, but I still haven't started doing 5BX as I'd planned, and I also didn't reach my daily step count goal (or even the recommended minimum of 10,000 steps/day). My weight has continued to creep back up, so I *really* need to get back into the habit of only eating per my diet plan, and not having any extra 'snack' foods in the house. Playing a 'hard' game of squash on Thursday left me with sore heels (plantar fasciatis?) for a couple of days, but the easier session of squash on Sunday didn't make it any worse.

I had an appointment with my allergy specialist last week. My IgA levels are almost down to 'normal', so my gluten-free diet seems to be working in terms of my Coeliac disease. Unfortunately it hasn't done anything to improve my eczema (and my IgE levels are still ridiculously high). The blood tests I got prior to the doctor's appointment also showed my cholesterol are within the 'normal' range, and my triglyceride levels have gone back down into the top of the 'normal' range (and should improve further with diet and exercise). My blood sugar levels are still fine, so I'm fortunate that being overweight for decades hasn't led to diabetes (yet!). The sooner I get down into the 'ideal' BMI range the better.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653
Week 28       38.7       52.0     32.4    109.5      3,281     91.9     10,911
Week 29       33.3       53.6     28.9    120.3      3,469     91.5     11,568
Week 30       39.2       53.2     31.7    119.6      3,499     91.6      9,685
Week 31       38.8       55.2     30.5    126.6      3,820     92.3      7,111
Week 32       35.8       58.5     27.1     96.3      3,223     93.2      7,746
Week 33       51.1       60.9     25.6    120.2      3,747     93.9      8,214

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 32

I didn't stick to my FMD plan over the weekend, but at least my average daily kcals for the past week weren't quite as excessive as the previous week. But I still gained some weight during the week, and I am still struggling to cut out confectionery entirely, especially in the evenings.

The weather is starting to warm up, so I need to service our pool pump and get the pool ready for the swimming season, so I can do some laps every day when I get home from work. The gym where I play squash with the kids on Sunday afternoons is starting a casual squash comp on Thursday evenings this month, so I might drop in while DS2 is at Cub Scouts and see if I can fit in a quick game every Thursday evening. I'll try it out this week and see how casual/competitive the squash is - I want to get a bit fitter, but not get an injury or have a heart attack!

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653
Week 28       38.7       52.0     32.4    109.5      3,281     91.9     10,911
Week 29       33.3       53.6     28.9    120.3      3,469     91.5     11,568
Week 30       39.2       53.2     31.7    119.6      3,499     91.6      9,685
Week 31       38.8       55.2     30.5    126.6      3,820     92.3      7,111

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 30

Another mediocre week of overeating and under-exercising. My average daily step-count didn't even reach my minimum goal of 10,000 steps/day, mostly due to skipping my usual lunchtime walk on several days due to rainy weather. So far this week has been even worse, so I need to take a deep breath and re-boot my diet and exercise plan.

I spent a bit of time over the past week doing several edX online courses in data science and Python programming, but still haven't started much serious work getting back 'up to speed' with my MSc/PhD tasks prior to recommencing my uni enrollment next month. Overall I'm not achieving any of my goals at the moment ;(

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653
Week 28       38.7       52.0     32.4    109.5      3,281     91.9     10,911
Week 29       33.3       53.6     28.9    120.3      3,469     91.5     11,568
Week 30       39.2       53.2     31.7    119.6      3,499     91.6       9,685

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 29

I was going reasonably well last week, until the weekend - when I ate too much and did too little study. Overall it was another week of too many kcals, no 5BX sessions, and no serious effort to prepare for recommencing my postgrad enrolment next month... So far this week I've had a bit more success eliminating junk food, and although I haven't crossed anything off my 'to do' list for my postgrad studies, I did spend some time working on a couple of EdX courses in data science.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653
Week 28       38.7       52.0     32.4    109.5      3,281     91.9     10,911
Week 29       33.3       53.6     28.9    120.3      3,469     91.5     11,568

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 28

I'm still struggling to eliminate junk food from my diet, but at least I've stopped putting on weight over the past month. One 'positive' thing is that the gluten-free bread and biscuits I've tried have generally been rather revolting, so I'm not particularly tempted to buy any more GF biscuits. My fat consumption for the past few weeks has been much higher than my normal 15-25% of total cals, due to buying some chocolate as snack food since I found out that most of the jelly-type sweets I normally buy contain gluten/wheat. So I have to stop buying any chocolate when I go grocery shopping.

My average daily step-count last week was lower than normal, because I didn't go much over my 12,000 daily target on the weekdays, and I also didn't go for a long walk after playing squash on Sunday. I haven't restarted doing regular 5BX exercise sessions either, so I'm not having much success with any of my short term goals at the moment.

I'm due to apply to recommence my enrollment as a part-time post-grad research student from 1 October, so I have to stop wasting time in the evenings 'relaxing' in front of the TV after dinner. That should make it easier to go for evenings walks and do my 5BX exercise sessions, as I'm more inclined to 'take a break' from processing data or reading research literature than I am from watching movie re-runs on TV.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653
Week 28       38.7       52.0     32.4    109.5      3,281     91.9     10,911

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 27

I'm still stuggling to get 'back on the wagon' and eliminate junk food, especially in the evenings when I tend to snack after dinner. The best I can say about last week is that although I didn't do any 5BX, I did reach my daily stepcount goals and played an hour squash on Sunday.

When I recently double-checked the ingedients on some of the confectionery I've been eating, I noticed that they have recently changed the listing - and it now shows that it includes some wheat-derived ingredients. I doubt that they have changed the actual composition, so it must just be a change in the labelling laws. At least that gives me another reason to not buy confectionery! So far this week I've still been eating too much junk food - so I'll have to make an extra effort to stick to my diet plan from now on.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424
Week 27       39.0       55.7     26.7    132.4      3,024     91.6     12,653

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 26

I managed to cut back on snack/junk food last week, but not eliminate it entirely. When I went to the Sydney Uni Open Day with DS1 on Saturday I took along a couple of ham sandwiches I made using Buergen Gluten Free bread with Sunflower Seeds and Chia (I got a free sample loaf from Coles), which was actually quite nice but quite high calorie. On Sunday I took DS2 to Camden aerodrome for his Cubs excursion to the Scout Flying Activity centre where they had a 25-minute joy flight in a Cesna-172, learned a bit of aviation theory and built a balsa rubber-band powered model plane. I was doing quite well diet-wise until we stopped on the way home for some McDonalds fries and some snack food.

At least I've stopped gaining weight, and so far this week I've been doing a bit better at sticking to my diet plan (more or less). I'm due to recommence my postgraduate MSc(Research) enrolment at Sydney Uni from 1 Oct, so I've started spending time in the evenings getting my computer system setup for my astrophysics research rather than watching TV. It's a lot easier to avoid eating junk food when I'm not sitting in front of the TV and playing games on my tablet... I still haven't resumed doing my regular '5BX' sessions.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955
Week 26       33.1       65.9     19.3    115.1      3,388     91.3     12,424

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 25

I didn't have much success eliminating junk food and snacks from my diet last week, although I've made some slight progress so far this week (I'm still not completely back on track, but my weight has stopped increasing). Next weekend I'll be busy on Saturday taking DS1 to a university open day, and then on Sunday taking DS2 on a Cub Scouts excursion to an airport to have a 'joy flight', take a tour of the maintenance facility, and build a model glider for his 'flight' badge. Hopefully I'll be too busy to buy any junk food while I'm out and about. Instead I'll prepare some apples and carrot sticks to take along as my 'snack food'. One of the downsides of Coeliac disease is that I can't pack traditional ham sandwiches for lunch (I've tried the gluten-free versions of 'bread', and I find them very dry and unappetizing). Instead I'll make 'sandwiches' using rice/corn thins, which taste quite nice but tend to fall to bits as you eat them.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417
Week 25       41.2       64.8     21.7    120.2      3,555     91.9     12,955

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 24

The boys and I completed the 14km 'City2Surf' event last Sunday without any problems, and we even went for our usual one hour squash session that same afternoon. We walked the course in 2 hrs 34 min ~48 sec. The winner ran the course in about 42 minutes! I "placed" 56,214th out of the 67,634 people who finished the race (there were 80,023 entrants, so about 15% of entrants didn't turn up or complete the race). And in the male 50-55 age group I placed 3,251st out of 3,754. So there is considerable room for improvement ;) If we enter again next year we'll try to improve our time by jogging on the downhill portions of the course.

Aside from successfully completing the City2Surf, last week was a bit of a diet disaster. I still didn't stop buying and eating junk food, so my average daily kcals were still way to high, resulting in a not-so-slow weight gain. I'm still meeting my daily goal of walking at least 12,000 steps/day, but haven't started to do 5BX sessions again as yet.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569
Week 19       36.2       70.0     16.7     99.0      3,075     88.7     14,720
Week 20       35.3       66.9     18.8    104.5      3,181     89.4     16,644
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421
Week 24       42.4       63.7     21.5    118.0      3,376     91.5     17,417

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 23

Yet another week has passed and I still haven't got 'back on track'. Although I exceeded my daily walking target on all but two days last week, I continued to buy junk food while shopping (and then eating it). I also haven't resumed doing '5BX' exercise sessions as yet, so the only aerobic exercise I did during the past week was a bit of squash with the kids on Sunday afternoon. Next Sunday is the City2Surf 14km walk, so I really need to resume doing my 5BX sessions asap, and also continue my daily walking routine (I'll take it easy the day before the race). My weight has been creeping back up during the past month, so I guess the answer is to completely eliminate the junk food once and for all...

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569
Week 19       36.2       70.0     16.7     99.0      3,075     88.7     14,720
Week 20       35.3       66.9     18.8    104.5      3,181     89.4     16,644
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545
Week 23       43.2       62.8     21.9    139.7      3,835     90.6     14,421

I had an appointment with my dermatologist last Friday, and he reviewed the upper GI biopsy results that had confirmed his Coeliac disease diagnosis. The latest blood test results (taken the previous week) were already showing some improvement since I eliminated wheat from my diet about six weeks ago. He expects I should see some significant improvement after being 'wheat free' for four months or so. One 'side effect' might be an increase in cholesterol levels as my upper GI absorption improves - my triglyceride levels are already higher than they should be, so that is another reason to ensure I get down to my 'ideal weight' range asap.

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 22

Another week of over-eating and under-exercising ;(.

I couldn't seem to get back into the 'routine' of healthy eating, instead I continued to buy snack/junk food when I went shopping. I also only managed to reach my daily 12,000 step target on two days last week, and haven't done a 5BX session since coming back from our ski trip. Basically I need to do all the good things this week that I resolved to start doing last week...

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569
Week 19       36.2       70.0     16.7     99.0      3,075     88.7     14,720
Week 20       35.3       66.9     18.8    104.5      3,181     89.4     16,644
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695
Week 22       34.8       66.0     19.7    112.0      3,425     90.1     11,545

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 21

A pretty bad week overall. All of Wednesday was spent driving 6.5 hrs (~500km) down to Jindabyne via Canberra, and then although Thursday morning was OK for our skiing lessons, it started raining in the afternoon (so DW and the boys retreated to the Skitube terminal cafeteria, while I tried one run down 'Pleasant Valley' in the rain before deciding to call it quits for the day). We were hoping that conditions would be better on Friday, but it was raining heavily at Blue Cow in the morning and none of the chair lifts were operating due to high winds. We collected our skis and took the skitube train down to Perisher, where the 11am lessons were being held. As we left the Perisher terminal DS2 was almost blown off his feet, so we decided it wouldn't be much point having a two-hour lesson in the rain if DW and the boys were probably going to get blown over all the time. After a detour back up to Blue Cow to return DS2's rental helmet even I decided not to bother getting wet trying to ski in the rain and wind (I'd have given it a go if we were staying that night, but having to drive back to Sydney in wet clothes didn't appeal). We therefore left the snowfields mid-afternoon and stopped in Canberra on the way home for a quick visit to the Mint and the National Museum. So, overall I didn't get much exercise skiing and spent two days sitting in the car and not getting much walking done.

On the weekend I ate several bars of chocolate, so I managed to compound a lack of exercise with a weekend of overeating ;( I also had a 'gluten free' pizza for dinner on Wednesday night. The end result was for my average weight last week to be back to where I was a month ago.

This week I'm trying to get back 'on the wagon' - sticking to my diet plan and resuming my daily walks. I also need to start doing 5BX sessions. Only a couple of weeks left until the 14km City2Surf 'fun run' with the boys (we'll be walking). An article in today's SMH was interesting - it reports medical research (on large sample of >1m adults) has found that sedentary lifestyles were as bad for public health outcomes as smoking, and were causing more deaths than obesity. So, my current routine of doing some stairs and a 10 minute walk every hour or so while in the office, in addition to my lunchtime and evening walks, seems to be a fairly good plan. Apparently sitting for eight hours a day in an office job could otherwise increase the risk of premature death by up to 60 per cent. An hour of brisk walking spread throughout the day seems to be sufficient to offset the danger of sitting for eight hours in the office. Currently around half of women and one-third of men fail to even get the 30-min/day exercise usually recommended.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569
Week 19       36.2       70.0     16.7     99.0      3,075     88.7     14,720
Week 20       35.3       66.9     18.8    104.5      3,181     89.4     16,644
Week 21       36.5       62.0     24.0    113.2      3,408     90.3     11,695

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 20

Another week of mixed results. I overate (my basic diet was correct, but I ate and consumed several packets of sweets over the weekend) resulting in a slight increase in my average daily weight for the week, despite doing lots of walking - I exceeded 16,000 steps/day on four days last week). The extra walking was mostly due to my car still being repaired, so the kids and I did quite a lot of extra walking on the weekend to get to their Judo lessons on Saturday and to our squash session on Sunday. We also did a bit of extra walking around on the weekend trying to play Pokemon Go on my tablet using only WiFi. Aside from catching the odd Pokemon at home, and very occasionally being able to access the PokeStop near our house when the GPS location wandered just within range, we spent a couple of hours using the free WiFi at the shopping centre to visit PokeStops within the centre and to catch some Pokemon. Overall, it is a very frustrating experience trying to play Pokemon Go on a tablet that only has WiFi and no 3G ;)

This week I'm taking the family down to the snow fields on Wednesday for a couple of days skiing, so my step count will probably be fairly low despite getting exercise skiing. If I can avoid eating any sweets during the 7-hour drive to and from the Snowy Mountains, and while skiing, I should be able to lose a bit of weight this week.

There's now only four weeks until the 14km 'City2Surf' event is on, and I'd really like to be under 88 kg by 'race day' (although we will be walking the 14km, and not jogging/running). There is a special offer of two weeks free use of AnytimeFitness gym for City2Surf entrants, so DS2 and myself might visit the local AnytimeFitness gym to do some weight training (fortunately this gym permits 16-17yo teens to also use the gym).

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 15       43.1       60.6     21.0    113.1      2,571     91.9     14,633
Week 16       40.0       64.8     19.3     98.5      2,765     91.4     13,900
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569
Week 19       36.2       70.0     16.7     99.0      3,075     88.7     14,720
Week 20       35.3       66.9     18.8    104.5      3,181     89.4     16,644

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 18

I managed to stick to my standard meal plan most days last week, only overeating on Tuesday and Wednesday. On the other days I actually found it quite easy to stick to my 'standard diet' and avoid any junk food, so I seem to be slowly developing the desired 'good habits'. I also managed to exceed my 12,000 step/day goal on most days last week (the only exception being Wednesday), and I compensated for that by doing an extra evening walk on Thursday (getting just over 20,000 steps that day). On Sunday I took my youngest son to a sports center that offers 'Family Sunday' discount rates ($25 per family), and he got to try out some indoor rock climbing. We also did half an hour of trying to 'shoot hoops' at basketball (we each only managed to get the ball in once or twice - his excuse is that he's only ten years old, my excuse...), and then we did half an hour hitting a ball around the squash court. And in the afternoon I had my usual weekly hour of squash with my eldest son, and went for an evening walk. I managed to do '5BX' session most days last week, and am now easily doing the A+ routine at the top of page 1. I'll stick at that level for a week or so, and then start at the bottom of the 'page 2' 5BX schedule. For my age the suggested goal is to get to the C+ level on page 2, but I should be able to handle the A+ level on page 2 (which is the goal for 45-49 year olds), as the exercises aren't very difficult once you get 'into shape'.

I'm having an endoscopy/biopsy done on Wednesday to confirm the Coeliac diagnosis (so far the diagnosis is based on fairly conclusive blood test results), and the required 'preparation' on Tuesday afternoon and fasting during most of Wednesday should help with my diet ;) As my private health insurance cover (through my employer) only started last December, I've had to submit a health report and documentation to show that the Coeliac disease wasn't a 'preexisting condition' (ie. symptoms were already apparent) - otherwise I won't be covered for most of the private hospital bills (I could have had the procedure done via Medicare at the public hospital, but the waiting list is usually 6-12 months, rather than less than two months required to schedule 'elective' surgery at the private hospital). The health fund was still chasing up additional information today for their 'assessment', so I'll probably have to initially pay the hospital bill myself and then claim from GUHealth and Medicare afterwards. Hopefully the various refunds will get processed before the charges come due on my credit card.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 13       35.6       64.5     18.8    102.5      2,789     93.9     12,589
Week 14       40.8       61.8     22.3     90.6      2,514     92.4      9,721 
Week 15       43.1       60.6     21.0    113.1      2,571     91.9     14,633
Week 16       40.0       64.8     19.3     98.5      2,765     91.4     13,900
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421
Week 18       44.4       59.6     21.7    114.2      2,721     89.6     13,569

A plot of my weight since 2000 (yes, I've tried to 'lose weight' many times, so I often kept track of my weight) shows that my current 'diet' attempt is going quite well so far - hopefully it will be a permanent lifestyle change this time around (ie.  a gluten-free, CRON-style diet, and increased level of daily activity). I'm 'on track' to get close to my 'high school' weight (78kg) by the end of this year, and my goal for next year will then be to maintain my fitness (daily 5BX and walking, and regular gym and squash sessions) and to stabilize my weight in the 'ideal' range (65-75 kg).

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Diet & Exercise update - Week 17

A fairly good week. Despite getting a sore throat on Thursday (which developed into a cold/cough over the weekend) I managed to exceed my 12,000 daily step goal every day but one, and overall my average daily step count was a record high (mostly due to spending all Sunday walking around town with the family as we visited three museums on their annual 'free entry' day - I clocked up just over 20,000 steps that day!). My average daily calorie intake was also OK, largely due to attempting a five-day 'fasting mimicking diet' stint on Wed-Sun. Aside from it being my own gluten-free and modified version of Dr Longo's proprietary FMD 'ProLon' diet (I only try to match the overall carbo/fat/protein/calorie values, not his weird Kale cracker and vegetable soup meal plan), and also not sticking to my diet plan on Friday and Saturday (I had some extra chocolate on those days, as I was finding it hard to stick to the FMD while suffering from a bad cold), the three days of FMD diet helped lower my average cals for the week. By being on the FMD for three days during the week, I suppose the overall effect was a bit like being on Dr Mosley's "5:2" diet.

This week I'll try to stick to my normal healthy eating plan (it's not really a traditional weight-loss "diet" as such, simply what I *should* normally be eating for a healthy CRON-style lifestyle - but due to being overweight and doing lots of walking, it does result in gradual weight loss and improved fitness). I'll also try to do my 5BX exercises every day - last week I managed to do it four times during the week, so it is slowly starting to become part of my daily routine. (Being at level A- on the first page of exercises it is rather easy to do - but it is already improving my core strength (the number of situps/pushups I can manage) and my aerobic fitness (although I am still not very fit)).

Next week I have to drop my car in to the smash repairer on Monday to fix a dinged front bumper bar and broken headlight, so a lot of my daily walking will happen naturally going to work by bus and/or train. I also have to go into hospital on Wednesday for an endoscopy to confirm my Coeliac diagnosis, so I'll have nothing to eat on Wednesday until the evening, and the 'preparation' for the endoscopy will also involve not eating much on Tuesday evening. While the surgery (and 'Picoprep' beforehand) won't be fun, at least it should provide a boost to my weight loss for the week ;)

Overall things are going pretty much according to 'plan' - I should be in good enough shape to enjoy a few days skiing with the family in late July, and then doing (walking) the 14km 'City2Surf' "fun run" with my boys on 14 August. In spring I'll take my kayak out for a few weekend trips, and we'll probably going for a few family hikes in the nearby national parks. I started cleaning our swimming pool last weekend, but it usually isn't warm enough for me to start swimming laps until October/November.

.             Fibre      Carbs    Fat     Protein    kCals     Avg Wt   Steps
              g/dy       %        %       g/dy       /dy       kg       /dy
Week 13       35.6       64.5     18.8    102.5      2,789     93.9     12,589
Week 14       40.8       61.8     22.3     90.6      2,514     92.4      9,721 
Week 15       43.1       60.6     21.0    113.1      2,571     91.9     14,633
Week 16       40.0       64.8     19.3     98.5      2,765     91.4     13,900
Week 17       42.5       60.3     26.5     78.0      2,418     90.3     15,421

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