Woe is me (aka another of my boring moans about diet and fitness)

There’s been little movement in my weight since I started my Lent fast, minor fluctuations up and down. This week I shaded just under 111kg, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m a little over next week. I’ve stuck to the no chocolate commitment but I suspect I don’t eat enough of the stuff anymore for it to make a significant impact on my calorific intake. The focus probably needs to be on ‘extras’ like the cup of peanuts I have on Friday and/or Saturday, or the odd piece of cake. Lately I’ve found myself plugging the gap between lunch and dinner with a few crackers or a piece of bread when I get home from work, an apple would be better, although the calorie reduction is probably marginal.

The occasional days when I consume more calorific food and (alcoholic) drink may be more relevant, such as Saturday 4^th March when to watch London Skolars versus Toronto Wolfpack. Great day out, but whilst hardly a binge, the presence of a real ale bar and a mixed grill down the pub afterwards involved significantly more calories than typical. Even then the weekly change in my weight was less than half a kilo which reversed itself without significant effort.

It probably hasn’t helped that I’ve had a few minor, sporadic flare ups of gout over the last couple of weeks, not majorly painful, but enough to cause noticeable discomfort on my daily walks. I treated with Colchicine last week and it seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, the persistent heel pain I’ve suffered over the last few years is also quite bad, it’s been worse, but is definitely on the upward curve again. I’m not sure if it is plantar fasciitis or something else, either way given my age and weight it’s hardly a surprise. I did raise it with the GP nearly two years ago, the same time as my vasectomy referral, but as it’s small beer compared to the gout attacks I chose not to pursue the issue. With the weather (intermittently) getting better and the days getting longer I really want to be pain free so I can try jogging again, the same old problems of finding time remain, but I’ve got about six weeks to lose another two kilos and something needs to give.

But putting aside my narcissistic whinging about foot pain and weight struggles I have made a couple of attempts at doing something constructive that isn’t all about me. I’ve signed up to the Disability Support Network at work and I’ve also pre-registered for Kidney Research UK’s London bridges fund raising walk in July. The former is something I’ve been considering for a while but have been in two minds about because I don’t consider my CKD to be a disability right now, but I recognise it probably will be one day. The latter will be my first foray into actually raising funds to support treatment for CKD. I’ve added both to the growing list of topics I plan to write more about but may never find the time for!