Like many, I put on a fair bit of weight during the “soft” lockdown period of April and May (known as State of Emergency in Japan) so once work resumed on June 1st it was time to get back into some sort of better shape via a diet and some daily exercise workouts at home.

It all began with the aim of just doing a week and then taking it from there. After seeing this (below) in one of our books I decided to (initially) make it a 30 day challenge as that is seemingly the magic number (according to psychologists) for being able to continue with it all as it’s ingrained in your routine by that stage.

It’s been a few years since I did regular press-ups so I wanted to get back into that. I started by doing 80 per day for the first week and then increased them by ten each week up till a maximum of 150. That began in June but I was noticing that I still had a bit of a gut so from July I had to up the ante and began to do 80-100 daily sit-ups. There aren’t gonna be any before-and-after shots here, and for many people I probably look the same but I certainly feel fitter and healthier.

I recall a few friends doing a 25-press-ups-for-25-days video challenge on Facebook during the last couple of months. Worthy of the cause and awareness that such a challenge was supposed to achieve but oh how I could look down on them doing something that seemed so easy to me by the time that all took off!

The other daily exercise I did was planking (and yes I did say planking!) every night. I thought I was doing pretty well to be able to hold myself in the position for 90 seconds so early on but then I read that two minutes should be quite easily doable for most adults…unless they’re wimps! Oh! I managed to struggle through two minutes each day thereafter which was never easy until I started to check stuff on my phone whilst in position. That proved to be a good way of forgetting about the actual exercise.

Ironically I did only a few runs and far less cycling than usual during the 69 days due to the never-ending rainy season making it difficult to get out so much. Not ideal with the former as I was really hoping to be able to cycle to work more to save going on the busy trains, and to help repay the cost of the bike by way of travel expenses saved.

As much as I hate wearing a mask I was quite grateful for it when I returned to work as it hid some of my excess weight. As nice as they are, Japanese people have no qualms about telling you “you got fat” just because you’ve gained a couple of kilos. On the other hand, I didn’t get a single comment for losing about five kilos!

The biggest change was probably not eating at all after getting home at 9:30-10 pm every night. Even though I get home at that time I’ve actually been going to bed at 11pm which doesn’t allow for too much chill time at all. As for the rest of my eating habits, there was no chocolate, cake, crisps, ice cream, fried food, cola or alcohol during that 69 detox period leading up to my birthday last weekend. The pizza (below) was my first junk food since May!

I’m still yet to consume some of those treats and may do without alcohol for another month to make it 100 days. The diet though has now come to an end but I am very keen to continue with all the daily exercises whilst eating some of the bad stuff in moderation. Let’s see how long that lasts!!

Click here to read ‘Water Fasting For 75 Hours! (No Food, Only Water)’ 

Click here to read ‘A (Slightly) Healthier Lifestyle’

Click here to read ‘Sauna Belts – A Good Idea Or A Waist Of Time?’

Click here to read ‘A Lot Of Dieting Is Wishful Shrinking!!’