31days

The morning of Day 10 out of 31, and that there was no report on Day 9 is only because I forgot, which might be partly due to how the present state of affairs -- free of alcohol, virtually free of caffeine, and well-exercised on a daily basis -- has slipped into the 'normal' state, never mind how abnormal it might have been just ten days or so ago.

Today will be the tenth straight day that I have been to the gym. Yesterday I laid off the cardio for the early part of the gym time, concentrating on upper body weights and several different abdomen and stomach exercises, but I finished up with nearly 30 minutes on the treadmill, which got the blood flowing nicely enough.

My weight sticks stubbornly at exactly 80kg, but it is how it is distributed that really matters at the moment. Posture is definitely improving, and what needs concentrated on now is the abdomen. Years of neglect mean my stomach muscles are stretched, and need to be worked very hard if I'm going to get anything like a 'flat' abdomen (face it, at my age it ain't gonna happen, but I'll settle for something less rounded).

And I continue to sleep well, my complexion is improved already, my face is losing some of the beery puffiness suffered of late, and all, my friends, is well with the world. Best March in living memory? I'd say so, so far at least. Onward!

31days

Four eights make thirty-two, which means that today I passed the quarter-way mark in my quest to achieve 31 days free of grog and punctuated by daily bouts of exercise. And today I managed to get by on one solitary latte at a coffee shop near the gym where I made it for my eighth daily session in a row, and subjected my tired frame to a solid 40 minutes on the cross-trainer before doing a few weights and stomach exercises.

Boring and predictable, but still good. Infuriatingly, my weight is precisely the same as it was last Saturday when I started out, but that is excused/mitigated by a distinct and noticeable improvement in both fitness and strength.

The notion for a cold beer is definitely there, but is not in the least pressing. Hell, I was in bars (playing music) three nights in a row this week without a hint of a relapse, and I might yet go to the local blues venue tonight for a lemon soda.

As I keep saying, so far so good. Now, if I can just get the waistline a bit more trim and the weight down by a perceptible amount. Still, one week into the challenge, and things are just dandy.

31days

It is the evening of Day Seven, and the conditions of the exercise continue to be met. Not even one cup of coffee today -- which might account for how knackered I felt in mid-afternoon. So knackered that I contemplated making do with a stiff walk for my daily exercise, but I managed to get self to gym, even if I did not do the cross-trainer thing. But I did use weights and do a variety of upper body working out for about 45 minutes. Job done.

That's almost a week gone already. The temptation to slide backwards and have a beer is certainly there, but it is easily overshadowed by the determination not to give up -- and also by the benefits of the abstention and the exercise. Weight is still the same, but I don't expect that to really change in only a week -- plus there is the easy excuse, and not an unreasonable one, that all the pumping of iron is quite probably putting on some muscle, albeit in small quantities, but enough to prevent weight from dropping.

This evening 'Management' looked across the dinner table and paid me a compliment. 'Your face looks much better than it did just a week ago,' she said. Praise indeed, and just what I needed to hear. Onward!

31days

Day Seven today, and never mind that I didn't show up to write a blog entry yesterday, because I did still make it to the gym on Day Six, even though I most certainly didn't feel like going -- and I battered away at the cross trainer for a solid 40 minutes.

onward!

This is getting predictable, in that it continues to be easy, and I continue to derive a real, and even growing sense of reward from staying away from alcohol and caffeine. Again today I had one delicious cup of latte -- and loved every drop. But the temptation to have another wasn't there; nor was there any real notion for a beer, never mind that I live in a hot Eastern city that's as dry as an arab's sandal most of the time.

And I made it to the gym once more, which makes it five days in a row, and like yesterday, the time flew in, and the work was perceptibly easier than in the earliest days in this experiment. My weight stays almost exactly the same as when I started out, but that is not unexpected. It takes time for fat to burn off, and in the meantime I can be content that fitness, strength and posture are all definitely improving.

More importantly, I feel great. Onward!

Getting self to gym today took a wee bit more willpower than it did the first three days of this quest, but once I got there, to my surprise I found I had turned a small corner. Before starting on Saturday, I had gone a couple of months with only an average of one, or at most two visits to the gym per week. But that must have meant I was in less than terrible shape, because today I really felt the benefit of the slog over the last three days, and worked out harder and longer on the cross-trainer, without negative effect.

And I did all that without a drop of alcohol since last Friday, with a much-improved diet over these few days, and with only one - delicious! - cup of coffee in the last 48 hours.

Feeling good, carrying myself a little better, strength rising on the weights machines -- everything is positive, so far.

Tonight I face a challenge -- attending my 'local' pub for a blues jam session that I love participating in, but which, up until tonight, always meant beer being consumed. But it's lime soda for me tonight. That'll make some jaws drop, and probably impress far more people than were ever impressed by my harmonica skills.

31days

No, I'm not bored with the new regime, but anyone reading this must be thinking that watching paint dry would be more intriguing.

Notch up day three without alcohol, without even one cup of coffee -- and with another solid work-out at the gym, including 35 minutes on the cross-trainer and a short session on the weights machines.

I feel good, the posture is improving a little every day, and whatsmore, at the moment I miss neither alcohol nor caffeine. That could change, of course, but hey, live for the moment.

A big nod of appreciation to Magnus, who helped inspire this sane experiment. He helped by getting me trashed on Guinness last Friday, and it was during drunken discussions that evening that I admitted I was thinking about having a 'dry' March -- and he encouraged me to go for it. The bastard!

31days

So far so just fine.

Dinner with wife and niece at a fine little Japanese-style Korean restaurant last evening was a treat, and not in the least a trial. I had a syrupy lemon juice drink that got better the longer the ice diluted it down and the more water was added.

The anticipated mini-test of the blues jam was taken away by the bar being closed, which only bothered me because I wanted to take part in the jam. Ah well....

More stomach exercises at home over the evening helped the posture a little more, and the overnight sleep was the stuff of dreams. That is, full of dreams and wonderfully refreshing. I only wonder why I can't do this more often. The answers to which are, I know, obvious.

Abstained from the instant coffee muck this morning, and haven't actually missed it.

Onward, onward!

As I keep thinking, 'so far so good'. Only one nice cup of latte today, no junk food whatsoever, plus an hour at the gym, where already (and I know this sounds ridiculous, but it's true) I feel the benefit of oh, about 40 hours without even a single drink. 35 hard minutes on the cross-trainer was, ahem, hard, but not such a grind as 30 minutes was yesterday, if youknowwha'ahmsayin'.

It is even more ridiculous to weigh myself only 24 hours since I last did so, but I was gratified to see that weight had definitely not increased, and could even have dropped by a third of a kg -- a possibility, considering the extra exercise and the absence of toxins and carbohydrates compared to recent weeks.

I also did some more upper body stuff -- taking that very easy, since I know from bitter experience how easy it is to over-do that work and find myself with two barely-functional arms for a few weeks. And I did some more stomach exercise work. The instant gratification factor of finally getting around to working on the stomach muscles is delusional in the most welcome way. The slightest improvement in tone of stomach muscles makes for a giant perceived improvement in posture. I love it.

Two days in (nearly), two days that follow the new regime conditions admirably. Tonight will be a bit of a test, but not one that daunts me. Dining out is always accompanied by a beer or three, but not tonight. And later, I go to my regular bar haunt to play in the blues jam -- and that should be a bigger test of willpower. Onward, onward.

March 2nd means it is Day 2. A quiet evening last night at home with the television for company made it relatively easy to stick to my no-alcohol pledge, and in fact the time went in pleasantly and comfortably, with some soda water and orange to beat the thirst.

As usual when there is no grog in the system, I slept like the proverbial log, except a log that dreams complex, technicolor productions that are endlessly entertaining. Another benefit of an alcohol-free existence is the quality of sleep achieved, and the fresh state in which I wake up in the morning -- even if I slept quite late (again; it is Sunday, however).

At the gym yesterday I did some stomach exercises, and during the evening I did two sets of thirty stomach crunches with relative ease. Got to keep that up!