(If anyone is still out there.)
I haven’t logged in or posted properly in a while, and today I felt like I needed a place to write down some thoughts, so I thought - why not here?
As with the rest of the world, here in South Africa we’ve been in lockdown since 26 March 2020. We were in hard lockdown (level 5) until the end of April, during which the only way you could leave your house is to go to work (but only if you were an essential worker) or to go purchase essential items (groceries, medicine). On 1 May, we moved to level 4, and we could finally exercise again (but only between 6am and 9am. At the beginning of June, we moved to level 3, which has alleviated some of the restrictions some more, but not a lot. The sale of alcohol and cigarettes have been banned from 26 March (except for a few weeks in June (I think?)).
I am living on my own now, and the beginning stages of lockdown has been quite (read: extremely) difficult. Being by myself during a pandemic has not been good for my mental health. It has gotten better since I started seeing people again. But, essentially, I haven’t even received or given a hug since the end of March.
With all of this, I started thinking seriously about my health again. I let myself go completely - at my highest at the beginning of the year I was around 127kgs - and I think I just realised again the importance of looking after myself. Now, with hiking or exercising one of the only ways I get to see people - I’ve become more active than I’ve been in years. Like, this morning for example. I never thought I’ll be someone getting up at 6am on a Sunday to go hiking, but here I am. Granted, we try to start hiking as soon as a place open up to avoid crowds. But still.
My best friend and I are doing some outdoor exercising about three times a week. My other best friend and I walk at least twice a week. I feel like there has been an entire culture shift in how we socialise - I mean, restaurants have only opened up recently and I’m still not comfortable enough to go. Bars are closed. Cinemas are closed. I feel like everything I used to do is not longer accessible so you adapt, I guess.
So, with being more serious about my health, I signed up for a 10-week eating and fitness programme. I’m just about to finish week seven and, in the seven weeks, I’ve lost about 5.4kg’s (now at 117.4kgs) and about 31cm. I have more energy. I feel better about myself. I’m still not sleeping well but that’s probably because of the PANDEMIC. My blood pressure has gone down a bit.
Anyway, this is a long ramble or stream of thoughts, but I really want to start keeping track of things on here again. I’ll start weighing in again, posting pictures and so on, and see how this goes!
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