This is an unusual post for me, but it’s not completely out of character for my blog. After all, my tagline is: “A Nova Scotian living and writing in New Zealand”. This allows me to address lifestyle topics outside of books and writing such as minimalism, mountain biking, and even personal health.

Writing this post also gives me an opportunity to explain why I’ve been less active in my writing life over the past few months.

And, despite the click-bait title, I want to talk about more than just weight loss, as that goal by itself can be mis-leading and even detrimental to personal well-being. I’m excited to share how I have overcome several health issues. But please consider this a description of how I have done this, rather than a prescription for others. I’m no health expert!

Still, here’s what I’ve done to achieve my own breakthroughs:

1. Deciding to address my overall health issues

Last August, I made a decision to address several health issues, including: a nagging lower back; an achilles injury; anxiety; and an inner ear malfunction variously diagnosed as viral labyrinthitis or possibly Meniere’s Disease. This last one caused me bouts of dizziness, exacerbated by consumption of alcohol, caffeine, or chocolate when combined with stress. I had cut back on consumption, but stress is difficult to avoid. I was missing days from work during dizziness attacks and was generally feeling older than my 46 years, resigning myself to a sedentary lifestyle.

My inspiration usually comes from books, music or movies. I look to these to encourage me in my writing. However, this time inspiration came from youthful, more physically energetic sources like Conor McGregor (before he started lobbing trolleys through bus windows) and Logan Paul (before he started filming bodies in forests). Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid with these two and, for better or for worse, was drawn to their YouTube clips which stirred me out of my melancholy and prompted me to aim higher in terms of my overall well-being. In other words, despite the fact that my job was going well, my writing was progressing, my family life was nurturing, I knew if I was to maintain these and continue to grow, I needed to deal to my physical and emotional health. This doesn’t mean I’m part of the Logang – though I do consider myself a maverick in my own way. All independent authors can claim that title!

So I started by doing two things: I visited my doctor and I joined the gym. However, neither really worked at that time. Long story short – I still could not find a solution for the dizziness, and the dizziness kept me away from the gym. My membership lapsed and I struggled on until December. Still, a decision delayed was still a decision made.

2. Nutrition, Medication, and Supplements

For teachers, the summer break is an opportunity to get on top of all sorts of things nagging at us about our lifestyle. We’re blessed by this. Before Christmas, I revisited my doctor and developed a better plan. We sorted alternative medication, I made improvements to my nutrition, cutting out alcohol, caffeine, and chocolate altogether, and I prepared to enter a less stressful six weeks.

The changes worked. Along with a renewed focus on nutrient-dense vegetable and fruit as the core of my diet, detoxing from sugar-rich food, I started taking daily vitamin supplements of carbonyl iron, magnesium, and a vitamin B combination. From that point on, I experienced much less stress and greatly reduced dizziness.

All this gave me a fighting chance with which I could begin excercising.

3. Physical Activity

But what was I to start with? I had already wasted money with the gym. I used to run, but didn’t want to risk re-injuring my achilles. I was worried about weight-lifting with my bad back. Walking always seemed so boring and took so long.

But a new option appeared. My wife and I enjoy visiting the “dump shop” at the Transfer Station here in Taumarunui. We’ve donated many items to it in our minimalistic purges, and we’ve often acquired rare, fun treats there, including a print of the Mona Lisa and various shelves, books, and ornaments. Before Christmas, we took home a set of DVDs for the Kettleworx workout programme. I had never used kettlebells before, but on our next trip out of town, we purchased a cheap set. With my newfound optimism, coupled with a New Year’s Resolution, I started working out at home with this series.

It was bloody hard work. My wife, in her wisdom, recommended I slow down and follow along with the lightest weight and at my own pace. That was much better. The workouts were fun and short enough to allow me to continue with other summer writing activities. My wife and I also started walking together in the evening, and I wondered how else I might progress more seriously.

4. Technology

A few years ago, I had experimented with counting calories using MyFitnessPal.  I had also seen friends on Facebook sharing maps of their runs using MapMyRun. I revisited these apps only to discover I already possessed a wonderful aide at my finger tips. My phone has the Samsung Health app automatically installed. Not only could I sync it with the more comprehensive calorie counter in MyFitnessPal, I could map our walks using GPS and even count steps with the phone’s built-in pedometer.

There’s a host of other things the app does for me, but the main thing it has helped with is setting goals for weight loss and caloric deficits. Early in January, I set my weight loss target on extreme, meaning I determined to lose 1kg per week, and the app automatically set my daily caloric deficit (meaning I aimed to burn about 1100 calories more than I consumed each day). I recorded everything I ate and kept my phone on me at almost all times to get “credit” for all the steps I took during a day. I mapped my walks with and without my wife, and found I enjoyed them more knowing they counted towards my targets. It was a game to me, really, trying to eat and move in such a way that I met my target each day.

The added psychological bonus of this was that, even if the scale wasn’t moving, I was confident I was losing weight. If I was operating in a caloric deficit, I reasoned, then I must be progressing, even on days the scale didn’t reflect this.

5. Investment in gear

Beyond the DVDs (which were free), the kettlebells (which were cheap), and my phone (which I already owned), the only other gear I invested in was a new pair of walking shoes. Again, my wife encouraged me to purchase these. I love them (and her!).

During January, I became obsessed with moving each day. It didn’t matter what I did – walking, mowing the lawn, working out with kettlebells – as long as I did something active each day to burn calories. This was new to me. In the past, I’ve immersed myself in a programme around one activity: running, swimming, weight-training, etc., and become uptight when something interfered with my schedule. Not this time. If I had planned to complete a workout, but the lawn needed mowing, I mowed the lawn and worked out the following day. If I had planned to go for a run in the bush, but my wife wanted to go cycling together, we went cycling. As long as I was active, off the couch, burning calories. I didn’t need much gear – or a gym – for that.

6. Adaptation

This openness to adaptation helped me as I re-entered work life at the start of the school year in February. It’s a tricky thing to carry on with idealistic goals when the real world beckons you back.

My first aim was to walk to and from the school, politely declining offers of transport from my kind colleagues who had often picked me up last year. I mapped these walks too, racking up steps and tracking calories burnt. The long evenings enabled me and my wife to continue our walks, and I completed Kettlebell workouts on the nights she didn’t want to go out. For several weeks, she fell ill, but I continued with my activity, soon adding faster and longer runs to the mix. I was ecstatic the night I ran 5km for the first time, overjoyed at the freedom and invigoration I felt from a longer run.

One challenge I’ve had with all this is making time to write and to read. I decided that writing would need to take a back seat to my health, my work and family life. I would return to it once I balanced things better. But, again, technology has helped as I now listen to audio books when I walk alone.

At the start of January, I weighed over 84kg. The weight has dropped off at a rate of 4kg per month. As I neared my goal of 72.5 kg, I adjusted my caloric deficit, reducing it to 800 calories, then 500, then 300, enabling me to eat more as I neared the goal while still remaining active and losing weight at a healthy pace.

7. Routines and Staples

Over these three months, adaptation also led to establishing nutrition routines, built from a list of staple foods I enjoy and understand. I’ve always been a simple eater. I don’t need fancy meals and once I find what I like, I am happy to stick with it.

In order to balance nutrient needs, I alternate breakfasts between oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I eat a tomato with my eggs. I eat toast and an orange every morning, finishing with a cup of green tea. On weekends, I drink coffee with my wife, but I have replaced calorie-heavy cappuccinos with zero-calorie long blacks or Americanos.

On the days I eat eggs for breakfast, I make a peanut butter and jam sandwich for lunch (been eating these my whole life!). On the days I eat oatmeal for breakfast, I later eat a can of flavoured tuna. Again, this is to balance out protein and carbs in my overall day. Every lunch consists of vegetables (spinach/lettuce, carrot, cucumber, capsicum), an apple, yoghurt, and vita wheat crackers.

For supper, I eat whatever my wife and I decide to eat together. I don’t stress about this meal, but simply enjoy what we make (or order!) and add the calories to my counter. If it is a high calorie meal, I work it off or eat less for the rest of the evening,

In the evenings, I select from more of my staples according to whatever keeps me within my daily calorie target or fulfills my nutrient needs. These include plain almonds, vita wheat crackers, yoghurt, or a banana.

8. Celebrating Results and Setting New Goals

Now that I’ve reached my weight goal (and surpassed it), I am in a precarious position. I can no longer use the scale as the measure of my success. Any further weight loss risks losing muscle which I am utilising for workouts as I grow stronger. I am eating at a maintenance calorie level with a focus on protein and fibre. My new goals are now around strength and endurance results. I may explore further weight training, perhaps using my high school’s facilities.

Overall, I feel 10 years younger. That’s no exaggeration. I feel like I’m in my 30s again and need to remind myself of my age when I push myself, my achilles, my back, or my knees that little bit too far. Still, my achilles is fine, and I no longer experience back or knee pain. I can keep pace with all the Kettleworx workouts with a heavier weight.

I have not had a dizzy spell all year. I have not taken a single sick day from work. I still deal with anxiety, but my self-confidence has grown. I continue to explore new ways to address this. Morning prayer and routine is essential for me. As is the encouragement I receive from my wife (as you might tell from my numerous mentions of her in this post!).

And now, with this blog post, I can say I am back to my writing. I’ve never really left it, of course. If you’d like to know more about that, please sign up for my newsletter here. I’m sending out my third edition soon, recapping what’s happened in the past three months in my writing life, as well as what’s happening, and what’s next.

And I would enjoy hearing from you if you have found this post interesting or even inspiring. As I said, this is just how things have worked for me in this one area of my life.

Now, on to the next goals I have set …

Antony Millen is a Nova Scotian living and writing in Taumarunui, New Zealand. He is the author of three novels: Redeeming Brother Murrihy, Te Kauhanga and The Chain.

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