Battle of the Bulge - Week 5

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP - THE TIME IS 06.45, THE TEMPERATURE IS 5 DEGREES WITH SHOWERS, THE HEADLINES ARE...*
My alarm said, as it tends to do these mornings. My wife is 9 days away from giving birth to our first child, she wakes several times during the night and by the time my alarm shouts at me, she's so tired she can't hear it. I roll out of bed, throw on the tracksuit and a woolly hat, off I go for a 3 mile jog/walk.

I used to cal it a walk/jog, but recently I've noticed that once i'm warmed up, I can jog for longer than that dreaded first day when I struggled to run for more than 10 metres. The pain in my feet, the muscles around my shin burning and my mind asking me why am I not still in bed, tempting me to stop and say "I'll start tomorrow".

If you've battle(d) with the bulge you'll probably know what I mean. The physical battle is a tough one, you can only do what your body will allow you to do, but you can also do more than your mind tells your body it wants to do. Winning that battle when the mind tells you to stop, that's where you won the war. Looking up that hill or at the marker you set yourself, it's ten metres away and your mind says stop, but you keep going till you reach it, that's where you won the war.

Every time you tell yourself that you can't do it, you're right. Every time you tell yourself that you can do it, you're right. So which of these attitudes will get you the results you want?

My goal is to be able to get off the couch with minimum effort when my baby arrives into the world. I don't want to be struggling to reach him/her as they head for that coffee mug on the table, I want to be the dad who wants to play, who wants my child to have energy and a thirst for playful discovery. I want to be alive when my child is older, I want to be a part of their adult life.

The greatest gift I can give my wife, my child and myself, is to be healthy. Every morning that alarm goes off and I want to stay in bed, I just remember the goal, it becomes easier, it becomes enjoyable, it becomes routine. And, it works. I've lost 20lbs (just under 1.5 stone or almost 10 kilo) in five weeks.

Thanks to Paddy Cunningham www.ptpaddy.com for his expertise, encouragement and advice.