#28DayChallenge

Okay, I get it. You’re sick and tired of “new year, new me” posts. I hear ya. They can get a little grating, and studies show that just 8 percent of people go on to achieve their resolutions. This, however, is one of those posts — and a very long one at that — so if you hate this kind of thing, ignore and move on. Or say something flippant in the comments. You know who you are.

Still with me? Good, ’cause I’m probably gonna need your help. As said less than one in ten people achieve their resolutions. I aim to buck that trend. And I want to do it in a way that’s not going to be easy. I’ve long been a firm believer in the adage that it takes 28 days to form a habit. That is, if you do something very regularly (doesn’t necessarily have to be daily, although that helps) over four weeks it then becomes the norm and sticks. In my experience it’s usually a bit faster than 28 days when this happens — something like 21 or 22 days.

This works for good and bad habits. I have a few of the latter that I want rid of for the next 28 days. So I propose to undertake the following over the next four weeks. This 28 Day Challenge started today, and will end at midnight on January 29th, 2016, which is handy for reasons to come. I will then review my progress and decide how to move forward.

My overall goals are weight loss, improvement in fitness/strength and better diet. As a net benefit I’ve found that when I pursue these goals my mind sharpens considerably, too. Indeed, that’s the real prize. Your brain just doesn’t perform at its best when you neglect the rest of you. It can’t. For it to be sharp you need to be sharp.

(Or, as my grandmother used to say, “warped body, warped mind”. Not directly at me, I should add.)

Why am I telling you this on Medium? Because accountability is a huge part of anything like this. That’s everyone’s goal, really, when they make any kind of change announcement on the internet. I’m all for just getting on with it, but keeping these things to yourself means that there’s nobody to keep tabs on you. That has value, both from supporters and naysayers. Both can be motivational. But more importantly by putting something like this “out there” you’re challenging yourself in a public forum. And Facebook is the best place to reach friends, family and colleagues, all of whom will keep me on my toes/take the piss/try and force-feed me cakes over the next few weeks, which will work in my favour. I’ve even tagged a few people into this post who I know will never let me forget if I give up.

(Also, I know it’s cliché to do this in January. Horribly so. Forgive me.)

So, if you’ve made it this far, here’s what I’m going to be doing from today until January 29th. Note that these are all personal goals — I do have professional goals in 2016 but that’s a broader set of targets that doesn’t really work within this challenge.

(1) No Alcohol

Zero. Zip. Nada. In many ways this is the big one. And not because I have some massive problem with drinking — I don’t see it a a problem at all — but abstaining from alcohol makes everything else in this list SO much easier. Indeed, it would be nigh on impossible to do everything else over the next 28 days if booze was still being consumed. January is a dry month for many people anyway which makes things a little bit easier, and my next night out isn’t until January 30th, which is perfect. I’ve taken long periods off from alcohol several times in the past, including a two year abstinence between 2011 and 2013, so this won’t be difficult. The only real negative is that some meals are markedly improved with a nice slurp alongside (i.e., pasta), but I’ll cope. And as said without this part the rest would be folly.

(2) Getting Up At 5AM

Towards the end of last year I started getting up at 5:30am in the morning. It was something I found surprisingly easy. The secret, of course, is making sure you go to bed fairly early. I found if I wasn’t asleep by 11am it was tough to get up the next day, and ideally I needed to have dozed off by 10:30pm. So 5am isn’t much of a shift and I don’t think will be too bad. Why get up that early? I’ve found that the 90 minutes or so that I have before the kids need to get up for school is the most productive part of the entire day. I can get more done in that 90 minutes than I can in two or three times the amount in the office. And it’s not just work — that morning window is brilliant for thinking time (which is tremendously important), reading, etc.

Note: It’s a 5am rise Monday through Friday. On weekends I’ll grant myself the luxury of 7am.

(3) Hitting The Gym

I’ve been an on and off gym user for probably 25 years now. I go through periods of obsessing over it and then just lose all interest and quit completely. However, I really enjoy lifting weights and (as above) I find that it has number of benefits beyond getting fitter/stronger etc. It really helps the old brain cells. Indeed, one study showed that just 20 minutes of lifting weights can improve your long-term memory by about 10 percent. That’s huge. I might actually be able to find my spare car key.

I rejoined the gym last month and dabbled a bit, but I’m taking things up a notch in January. I’m going to hit the gym at least 20 times between now and January 29th. Basically five visits per week. I have a routine I’ve been using for years which gives great results and only takes about 40 minutes. It’s mostly compound lifts (squats, dead lift, rows, bench press, military press, plus pull-ups and push-ups) with some cardio at the end. All quite intense and focused. Low reps, short rest times. In, out, shake it all about and you’re done. Secret is adding weight to the bar every workout — five or ten pounds depending on the exercise. You start with just the bar and add more every workout. Forces you to make steady progress. The cardio part is a mini triathlon thing I do on the rowing machine, stationary bike and treadmill. I record the speed of each and challenge myself to beat those times (and the overall time) each workout. Keeps it interesting and makes you push when you don’t want to. You don’t always beat your times but it’s very rewarding when you do. And it’s amazing how much better you are a few weeks on. Track all the data and measure your results.

(4) Sort Out My Diet

Some of you know that I follow a (mostly) gluten free diet which works very well for me. I’m not coeliac (convinced I was but tests say otherwise) but wheat just does not do me any favours, and life is better without it. Same goes for dairy — I rarely have milk anyway (I use almond or soy milk when I do) but I do love cheese (and I mean love). But Christmas isn’t Christmas without large and repeat helpings of everything that’s bad for you and I now need to dial it right back in.

What’s worked for me very well in the past is being very strict from Sunday midday until Friday PM, and then having an almost anything goes approach from Friday PM until Monday AM. What this means is I’ll be gluten free and follow a (s)low carb, high protein/fat diet most of the time, and then have 2 or 3 “cheat” meals over the weekend. No starchy carbs after 2pm. Lots of water. Very little sugar. Ton of eggs. No crisps. Very little chocolate and cheese. Otherwise no dairy. Salad, lean meat, nuts. Black coffee, etc. It’s a little dull but it works.

(5) Lose Weight

The gym and no alcohol will take care of some of this, of course, but weight loss is and always will be predominately down to diet, and I’ve gotten sloppy the past few months. Hence the above. And all of my friends are so disgustingly thin. So, my goal is to have lost a stone by January 29th. That’s very doable — I’ve shifted 45 pounds over 12 weeks before, so it’s basically a third of that in a third of the time. And it’s just a start — I need to scrape more icing off the cake. But it gets the ball rolling, and all that. Again, accountability helps here — if you see me eating donuts at 7pm something has gone horribly wrong.

(Although if you see me at McDonald’s, that doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It’s far from ideal, but you can eat low carb at Ronald’s. So shut ya trap.)

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So, there you have it. That’s me for most of the next month. I won’t bore you with daily check-ins about what’s going on but will do a weekly update, if only to keep myself on point. Feel free to hit me up with any questions, encouragement, mockery, etc, as and when you desire. If you see me down the gym, say “hi”. I’m happy to meet you for a drink but it will be coffee (or sparkling water if it’s late — gotta protect that 5am start). And I’m sure that your homemade brownies are amazing, but unless they’re GF, I’m gonna have to say no.

Hopefully, at the end of this, some of these activities will stick. Become habits. Normal. Part of the everyday routine. Because, quite frankly, despite my youthful appearance and flowing mane, I’m not getting any younger. Something has to change. Might as well be me.