Well it’s been a tough year to be a hiker in Australia.

The drought lead to horrifying fires at the end of 2019 that closed many national parks and the coronavirus pandemic has stunted travel throughout 2020. I had kidney stones at the start of the year too that sapped me of energy.

So I spent my time sitting at home, eating. Working from home, although generally fantastic, has led to two twenty minute walks deleted out of my routine from every work day. All this together and I am starting to become quite unhealthy.

My healthy weight should be somewhere under 80kg. I was 73kg only ten years ago, before kids. I grew to 85 then 90 then peaked at 93kg. Too much. I’ve also had my blood pressure checked and it is way too high. I get out of breath doing basic tasks around the house and I’m getting moody. I’m unhealthy.

I’ve tried to lose weight by changing diet but it’s really hard to sustain. I have a reminder in my phone to stop eating at 9pm, which I promptly ignore with a bag of crisps followed by a cheese sandwich and whatever else will fit. I completely understand people who are overweight and cannot seem to make a difference. It’s not simple. It’s not easy to make a lasting change. I don’t want to get any bigger or anymore unhealthy than I am.

The blood pressure reading has scared me a little so I need to do something about it.

I picked up a magnetic bearing exercise bike off the street during council cleanup and have fixed it up. So I’m going to force myself to use it everyday. My dad gave me an old mountain bike that I’ve been fixing up so I’m going to use it too.

I’m going to try to hike more. I am surrounded by national parks so I should be out more. I do go on smaller adventures with the kids that don’t make it to the blog but I can’t say it’s much of a workout.

So I’m going to commit to doing one long walk a week. Working from home I should be able to get up early and do one of the many firetrails I’ve written about in this blog. I also want to resume my monthly bushwalk, without excuse, of a quality suitable for blogging. I think both the excerise and well-being benefits of this will make a difference. I’ll need to build up to a 30km-er though. Baby steps.

Wish me luck. I’m posting this on my blog to hold myself accountable. I hope to be able to report a much improved weight and a better blood pressure reading by the end of this year.

I’m going to have to start paying attention to that 9pm notification!