In the beginning...

This is a blog for friends and family to follow my progress as I try to go from casual exerciser with an extreme fondness for cookies, flapjacks and general junk to health and fitness supremo..

On and off I've been going through phases of being healthy and unhealthy and gaining pounds and losing pounds - but now it's time to change the bad lifestyle for good!!

The idea of the blog is to post everything I do - good and bad - and to do it completely honestly. If I sneak off and eat a kilo of chocolate I shall write it on here, hopefully by putting everything in a public forum my willpower will increase which inevitably will help to achieve my goals!

So, goals. I definitely need specific ones, and not just "get fit and eat less crap"..

As some of you know I am going to try to get fit enough to enter a triathlon this year, but the main problem with that right now is that I can't really swim. Well, I can swim, but I can't SWIM. I can splash about and get from one end of the pool to another, arriving in an out of breath manner.. but what I need to be doing is shooting like a torpedo. So..

1. Swim 400m comfortably. When I say "comfortably", I need to have enough left to bike and run after..

2. Stop drinking. I'm a very naughty drunk. I cause a lot of mischief and generally behave in a bad manner. Not only this but I get an irrestible urge to eat everything in sight. This is where I need the support of everyone, please don't encourage me to drink! Willpower is one thing but pier pressure...

3. Eat more fruit, eat way, way less cookies. Tesco and Sainsbury seem to always have some £1 deal on their triple chocolate cookies. Doesn't matter what the food is, if it's a pound, that makes me want to buy it. Most people would buy a pack of cookies and share them - I have usually eaten the whole pack before I get home. I'm a comfort eater, and it has to stop! I need to learn to find comfort in fruit and vegetables, which I actually do enjoy!

4. Break the 9 stone barrier - for good!! I know losing weight shouldn't be a priority, it should be about getting fit. But this whole thing is also about feeling good about myself. In the last couple of months I have managed to juuuust dip below 9 stone, for about an hour at a time. I'm currently sitting at 9 stone 7 after a week and a half of no exercise at all, on account of a bad case of bronchitus. I feel absolutely rubbish for it. This is why it's important to change the lifestyle and not just 'be on a diet'..

5. Run an 8 minute mile. Running is something I have never been good at. I was always at the back in school and even when I joined the Army I did the minimum possible to get through. Since joining a running club locally I've actually really started to enjoy it. I did my first race this year, a 5 miler. I managed it in 50:01, 10-minute miles, which I am absolutely chuffed with. However, this is about setting achievable goals and I think an 8 minute mile is a good one. Even if it's just one mile to start with!

Those 5 will be my goals for the time being, I'll come back to them often and check progress. There are so many others I have in my mind but if I set too many it will be overwhelming and easy to lose focus.

Obviously I will update as regularly as possible with what I've been up to and how I'm progressing. Generally all I want is to have a healthy, active lifestyle and stop the binge-eating and yo-yoing weight. Should be easy!