Well, things went pear shaped. Woke up on July 20th with a scratchy throat, which then progressed to a head cold which then progressed to bronchitis for the rest of the month.

Sickness in chest means zero exercise and also put an end to the diet - I didn’t gain weight, but without exercise it’s far too hard to maintain a significant calorie deficit.

Off to Malaysia in a couple of days, so will resume once I’m home.

Diet wasn’t too bad this week. Most days were good, apart from Friday when I was out for lunch, afternoon beers, then dinner and staying up late watching the Tour de France. Not conducive to watching food consumption.

Still got work to do on the snacking front too.

Exercise

• Bike: 133km
• Walk: 7km
• Weights: 45m

Better this week. Got in all the riding I had planned, though Monday’s ride was a bit short. Weights is going well - easy & quick at the moment, but will load up in due course and the rests between sets will need to increase.

So, I’m on a diet.

General laziness and aimlessness over the last few years had seen me gain weight in discrete steps, but a recent MTB crash and attendant enforced restrictions on exercise saw what little fitness I had plummet and my weight peak at 95.5kg.

To put that in perspective, 25yrs ago when I had finished Uni and was still swimming competitively, my weight was around 76kg and as recently as 5 years ago when I was cycling regularly it was around 86kg, so I’m currently almost 10kg over my “doing some exercise but eating what I like” weight.

Time to address the metaphorical elephant in the room.

The “diet” at this stage is just eating decent food with normal portion sizes, minimizing useless snacks like biscuits and trying to get some consistent exercise going again.

Tracking is this attached to the fridge. Columns for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks and Exercise. Green = good, Red = bad, Orange = not crap, but could be improved. Week 1 done and it’s clear breakfast and lunch are under control, but dinner and snacks need some work.

We’re off to Malaysia on holidays at the beginning of August, so I’ll keep this approach going until then to see what happens. If there’s no significant change in weight by then, I’ll tighten things up when I get back from Malaysia.

Exercise

• Bike: 101km
• Walk: 11km
• Weights: 30m

Not too bad given I’m basically starting from zero and have no fitness. Was aiming to get a longer ride in yesterday (Sunday) but wind was too strong/gusty so went for a walk and did weights instead.

Things finally returned to normal this week. Chest had cleared up by Monday, so decided I’d start back training this week. Not doing much mind you, but starting the process of actual exercise again.

30min eBike and bodyweight strength stuff on Monday, just a walk on Tuesday as work was hectic and I didn’t have time for anything else, then another 30min on the normal bike on Wednesday. That, plus work stress was enough to see a downward trend on morning HRV, so yesterday was an easy day (short walk, short, easy eBike) and then today was the first day since getting Covid that my HRV was back in my normal range, at 71.

I’ll aim to get another short bike ride today and tomorrow, plus another bodyweight session and see how that works out.

Good to be finally 🤞🏻over Covid!

Went for my first bike ride in weeks yesterday. Probably should have waited a couple of more days, but the forecast wasn’t great and the weather was perfect, so figured what the hell.

Did 30 minutes nice and easy, though got my HR up quite a bit higher than intended on all of the small rises around the place, culminating in 160+ atop the small rise to my house. That’s quite a bit more intensity than I wanted right now.

Woke up this morning and HRV took another dive, so probably not ideal, though work’s a bit hectic at the moment which doesn’t help either.

I took the eBike out instead for a longer ride today. I can cruise along on the flats doing a little work at 100-110bpm which is perfect, and then bump up the assistance on any climb to prevent HR spikes. That went well, so I think I’ll do a bit more of that as a more gentle introduction to exercise again.

Feeling almost OK now, so opted to do some v. basic bodyweight exercise this afternoon, after going for a short walk. Will see how I feel tomorrow.

Would be nice to be able to get outside on the bike again this weekend 🤞🏻

Went for a 40min walk this morning, then later took the e-bike out to do groceries, then came home and mowed the front lawn (15mins). Tired now!

Definitely still feeling the effects and notice the congestion in my chest, even though I’m not doing much and everything I did do was at pretty low intensity.

I guess it’s still only 2 weeks since I tested positive, but I’m impatient to start doing some exercise again. Looks like another week of only walks ahead though.

Feels like a bit of a setback today. Head congestion has cleared up over the last couple of days, but congestion is going deeper into my chest.

Woke up this morning and my HRV scores were in the toilet again, dropping to 15, which is tied for lowest ever score with the day I actually got Covid. For reference, “normal” for me is in the 70-80 range and if I woke up one morning with a score under 40 then that would be a day I’d skip any training I had planned.

Over the last week, scores have been improving into the high-40s and I’ve slowly been feeling better. Yesterday I was even thinking I’d try a short bike ride this weekend. Today, not so much. A few more really easy days on the cards yet.

Slowly getting better, but still a bit congested.

After doing two walks on Monday without issue, I took the e-bike out yesterday morning for a 10km ride visa the coffee shop. Felt good this morning, so no issues as a result of that either.

I’ll still stick to the plan of no proper exercise this week, though might do a normal bike ride at the weekend if improvement continues.