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500 Days of Slimmer - and Some Other Crap Too...

Started by Buttonman, 18 November, 2019, 09:40:35 AM

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Buttonman

As of today, November 18th 2019 I am exactly 500 days away from turning 50 years old on April 1st 2021.



With this in mind I thought it was a good time to take stock and plan ahead for the big day. Of course it wouldn't be me to do something worthwhile or philanthropic so let's get into the minutiae of my exciting life.

I accept this is very self indulgent and you are of course more than welcome to ignore this thread. It would be fun though if anyone fancied joining me in this journey of self improvement and posted their progress also.

What are the challenges? Glad you asked...

Lose Weight : I bored people before about my yo-yo dieting but I need to be slim for my 50th portrait. The BMI calculator tells me that as a 5ft 10 inch male I should be 12 and a half stone or 175 lbs. I'm presently 16 stone or 224 lbs so that's 49 lbs to lose before 50. This is well within my abilities as I previously went from 17st 8lbs to 12st 10 lbs which was a 68lb loss and I did that in about a year. This target will be attained through diet and exercise and possibly an amputation or two.

Update Blogs regularly : get The W Movie Blog  to 350 (presently 261) and THE Definite Article Movie Blog to 250 (presently 135) : Who doesn't like reading ill informed and badly written blogs about films that start with a 'W' or with a 'The'? Most people, but never mind that. I have found myself spending a lot of time rewatching old sitcoms so this challenge will encourage me to watch crappy films instead. The targets demand 204 entries across both blogs. Can it be done? Well my planner and hard drive have enough films, so it's just the time it takes to watch and write them up that will be the issue.

Update the Lettersentertainyou thread for each letters publication event : Another self indulgent one (aren't they all?) but what the hell I like going into forensic detail on all matters Letters, and making poor puns about people's names. Demanded by none and read by fewer this is the one for the masochists only!

Average 12,500 steps a day : easy one to monitor on the Fitbit, this one will be hard to fudge and it's constant too. This will tie into challenge one - the more you walk the more weight you lose. Unless you are walking to the chippy. Working days will be tough but a few 30k hikes over the weekends will up the average.

Current total is 10,331 per day.



Get 105 Letters Printed - I've been sat on 99 for too long. One every 83 days should be doable, especially as I plan to write in after every issue. My best year amounted to 14 printed, so this should be a shoo in.

Pass ACII : I restarted my insurance exams last year when the work introduced pay bumps for passing. I had left my efforts to gather dust for 25 years but managed to get the Diploma in a year after my past credits were allowed. I need 95 points to get the ACII and that needs 4 subjects or 11 papers. This timescale will be tight as our learning support people take a month to get the books out to you.

Get on TV Again : Everyone remembers my great appearances of 'First Class', 'Weakest Link', '15-1' and '!mpossible'. Now whenever I meet anyone after time apart they ask 'When are you going to be on TV again?'. Time to nail this ghost to the coffin. I will apply to a game show a month until I get on one.

Bag 50 Munros in total. Munros are Scottish mountains over 3000ft - about 1000m. There are 282 of them and I have climbed 39. This gets harder as I have done most in the Central belt and that means travelling further afield. My regular walking companion has also gone AWOL so I may have to cultivate new friends. 11 in 500 days should be doable - some folk mange that in a couple of outings!

So there you are - 8 steps to a full and wasted life! Anyone want to sign up to do something similar? I appreciate doing it privately has more dignity and leaves one open to less embarrassment and ridicule, but if you don't make it public it's too easy to let it drift.

I'll update once a month as close the the 1st as possible so that's only 17 scroll bys to go!


Frank

Quote from: Buttonman on 18 November, 2019, 09:40:35 AM
Bag 50 Munros in total ... some folk mange that in a couple of outings!

I know you like your scran, but this isn't going to help your weightloss challenge.



Trooper McFad

Good luck Buttonman👍🏻, I look forward to reading your updates. I too turn 50 in 2021 but don't have inclination to make a wish list I'll just keep wishing my list gets smaller before I pop ma clogs - so probably get very little done 🙄
Citizens are Perps who haven't been caught ... yet!

sheridan

Quote from: Buttonman on 18 November, 2019, 09:40:35 AM
As of today, November 18th 2019 I am exactly 500 days away from turning 50 years old on April 1st 2021.

Uh, so you were born on the 1st of April?  I'll resist making any comment ;)

I'll just nick (and modify) your goals for myself, unless I think of anything original.  I don't have any significant birthdays coming up in the near future, so I'll just do general goals.

Lose Weight : I think a good proportion of the readers of 2000AD nowadays have that challenge - the demographics mainly being people in middle age or fast approaching... 

The NHS tells me this:
Healthy weight range for your height: 10st 4lb - 13st 13lb
Your health would really benefit from gradually losing just 5% of your current weight. The best way to lose weight is through a combination of diet and exercise.  Aim to lose 11lbs
Recommended daily calorie intake: 2051 - 2637 kcal.  To lose 1-2lbs a week stick to the lower end of the range.

Update Blogs regularly : as luck would have it, I also have a blog that I need to keep updating regularly.
prog slog hack and prog slog hack forum thread

Get a Letter Printed - I've not had anything published yet (I think I've sent in a total of about 10 letters and/or emails over the past 35 years) so if I send a letter a week perhaps the constant drip, drip, drip will force Tharg to print one just to shut me up?

My original one: Draw or write something at least once a week : doing a blog commenting on other people's creativity makes me want to spend some time creating things of my own.  Especially when I see the clumsy world-building and art from some early appearances - they might be world-class creators now, but they leant by doing - and in the case of some people all the learning was on public display (I won't mention names, other than what I've already done in my blog).

sheridan

Quote from: sheridan on 18 November, 2019, 08:19:42 PM
My original one: Draw or write something at least once a week :

I'll actually be aiming at every day or two, but knowing that life gets in the way, once a week means that I won't be totally dispirited if I don't manage anything during the work week.  I'll just have to be more on the ball at the weekends.

Buttonman

Quote from: sheridan on 18 November, 2019, 08:21:08 PM
Get a Letter Printed - I've not had anything published yet (I think I've sent in a total of about 10 letters and/or emails over the past 35 years) so if I send a letter a week perhaps the constant drip, drip, drip will force Tharg to print one just to shut me up?


What a wonderful dream Stick with me and we can make it happen.

Tip #1 Say Stuff is great
Tip#2 Draw a childish picture of a Dredd/Middenface mash up and dine out on it for 35 years.

Funt Solo

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Buttonman

Quote from: Funt Solo on 18 November, 2019, 10:21:11 PM
Ben Wyvis is an easy one.

This is my Munro map here - nothing north of Fort William. Good call there through looks findable and navigable which are the two main things I look for!


Proudhuff

Quote from: Funt Solo on 18 November, 2019, 10:21:11 PM
Ben Wyvis is an easy one.

Not if the newbies you're with decide to i) just go onto that next hill, ii) get off the hill by 'just going down there it will be quicker' totally against your recommendations and years of experience...


on the plus side there are a lot of dotterels up there.
DDT did a job on me

Proudhuff

Good luck with the rest of it Butt'man, you could at least TRY and get a drawing in the Prog...
DDT did a job on me

Funt Solo

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Buttonman

Quote from: Funt Solo on 19 November, 2019, 06:41:16 PM
Now, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich on the other hand...



Ha ha - suicide was not on the list!

How many on your completed list Funt?

Tiplodocus

I tend to have to hit about 18k steps per day if I want to lose weight while still eating and drinking relatively well.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

sheridan

I've come up with a fifth one Read all the undread comics and graphic novels I've got lying around.  In my defence, I've moved house a few times in the last couple of decades, and some issues have got misplaced with all the moves.  I'd hate to read the next issue without having read the preceding one.  It's only this year that I've managed to get all my reading material in one place and been able to start organising it.  Along with runs which are partially read I have three boxes of comics to read through...  I've made a start with Sandman: Overture, which had had a few issues in one place, one somewhere else and the rest in a third place since it was completed... er... four years ago!

sheridan

Quote from: sheridan on 22 November, 2019, 09:46:56 PM
I've come up with a fifth one Read all the undread comics and graphic novels I've got lying around.  In my defence, I've moved house a few times in the last couple of decades, and some issues have got misplaced with all the moves.  I'd hate to read the next issue without having read the preceding one.  It's only this year that I've managed to get all my reading material in one place and been able to start organising it.  Along with runs which are partially read I have three boxes of comics to read through...  I've made a start with Sandman: Overture, which had had a few issues in one place, one somewhere else and the rest in a third place since it was completed... er... four years ago!

Next up - take it Indie with Redfox and/or Saga of the Man-Elf (think Jerry Cornelius).