New Fitness campaign – Day One

With my GFC (great fitness campaign) having become a Covid-19 pandemic victim last summer – since when, apart from occasional long walks, I have failed to indulge in any serious bout of exercise-taking – my plan from today is to gradually crank up my general state of fitness until I have lost at least 10 pounds in weight.

Having taken this decision a fortnight ago I have been surprised and encouraged my my inner conviction that (by nature) I am a much lighter and fitter  than the person that I see looking back at me from the full length mirror in my bathroom.

I once read somewhere that the great painter/sculptor Michelangelo either claimed – or at least seemed to others to take the attitude – that, when chipping away at a block of marble, (in his mind) he was simply “releasing” the subject of his sculpture from its surroundings.

You can see what the Renaissance master was getting at when you set eyes on some of his unfinished works [see right for an example].

It occurred to me that I have a connection to Michelangelo even despite us living five hundred years apart.

Looking at the folds of flesh currently attached to my decidedly barrel-like Dad-bod, I can kid myself there’s a young(ish) Adonis inside waiting to emerge.

Great minds think alike.

These days, of course, fitness regimes need to be accompanied by attention to one’s nutritional intake.

Out go stuff like bread and pasta and in come salads and other rabbit food. Out goes alcohol.

And in comes drinking plenty of still water, which is apparently very good for you though personally I’m not a particular fan – I like the tickling, thirst-quenching, effect of bubbles on the back of the throat.

There I was, early this morning, all “good to go” with my first plan – being a thrifty sort who doesn’t like wasting anything – that I’d have breakfasts of fried eggs and bacon today through Wednesday, just to get rid of the “bad things” in my fridge.

That was until I read this piece by Milly Vincent overnight containing some unwelcome news.

I was planning to have four rashers of bacon per day this week  – that was, until I read this on the website of the – DAILY MAIL