Facebook Posts January 2022

 1st Jan

January 1st 2022. If previous years are anything to go by, and ignoring the viral push to be frightened of leaving the house, gym attendances will be up this month. Booze will also be capped and hidden away, or given away or discarded. Last cigarettes will have been stubbed out. Waistlines will be inspected, diet sites visited and promises made will be looming. As much as it is sneered at by many, the transition to a new year is a watershed and resolutions are a thing.
Have you made any resolutions, and dare you write them down?

2nd Jan

I've felt I've been getting slack on the writing front lately what with a lack of self-motivation and other factors. Yesterday (a day of sloth watching The Witcher) I decided it time to enact the physical impossibility of kicking myself up the arse. Reading science articles, learning Greek, reading a book and gym time went on hold today. I got up, showered and dressed, made a cup of coffee and went straight to my desk. I'm now out the other side of eight hours working on the book and feeling pleased with myself, though with neck ache and gritty eyes. Same again tomorrow.

 

4th Jan

A bit of sleety snow coming down earlier, which seems appropriate weather what with me feeling as rough as a pineapple today. I suspect 11 days of keto, plus going to the gym for an hour most days, lowered my immune system. As all colds seem to start with me, it's entry point was my left eye, making that sore and gummy with sneezes and snottiness ensuing. This does make me wonder about 'ketogenic diet benefits' since it's been all negative thus far and I should be getting through the worst of it by now. I'll see how I feel after this cold has passed (usually gone in a day or two but with eye gumminess lasting longer). If I'm not seeing benefits soon I suspect I'll be falling headfirst into a packet of crumpets and a malt loaf.

6th Jan

Toy purchased. Now why is it that when my brother Bob visits I often end up spending money?

7th Jan

Ah that's better. Sometimes you need to get proactive to blow the dregs of a bug out of the system. 20 minutes HIIT on the cross-trainer followed by 40 minutes sweating with weights. Feeling good now. Cup of tea time.

7th Jan

Damn, after using my old Ipad then having to resort to a Samsung tablet for some things no longer supported on it, it’s a pleasure using this new one! But what the hell do you do with an old Ipad? Put a hammer through it and bin it?

10th Jan

Meh, continuing dodgy throat, runny nose etc. I suspect I went back to the gym too early. But Paracetamol and Ibuprofen do the job and, as far as colds go, I’ve had worse.

11th Jan

Yay! The postwoman found me! (FB Memory)

Okay, my cold has diminished and suddenly I’m finding energy to clear out cupboards, tidy stuff up and even a shopping trip. But I must resist the temptation to hit the gym and go buggering myself up again. Steak, eggs and vegetables today - at least I managed to stay strict keto despite the urge for comforting carbs - and continued relaxation.
How is your day going?

13th Jan

Medical profession and Big Pharma still want to capture ecigs, while idiot bansturbators want to be rid of them and to continue with methods of smoking cessation long proven to fail.

14th Jan

Buggeration. I’ve been a bit bollixed over a couple of weeks and am only kinda out of it now. It started as a cold whose method of entry (as usual for me) was through my left eye. I felt a bit rough for a day or so, it then seemed to go away so I did some weight training over two days. It came back with feverishness, sore throat and a runny nose. I took it easy and now it’s past. What variety of virus it was I’ve no idea.
Today started with my second covid jab whereupon I returned anxious to get on with some work. I have page proofs of Weaponized to go through, which I thought needed to be done by the end of the month. I was wrong as the email said ‘early this month’. I started looking at these and things hit me in the eye right away. I don’t know whether it’s my state of mind or what but I want to make lots of alterations. I now need more time for these or, as advised by Bella Pagan (Macmillan), to wait until my mind is firing on all cylinders.
I really should trust my past self, who has been through this manuscript a number of times, but I don’t - that guy is a dodgy bugger.

19th Jan

Damn, time for a dirty fast transitioning into a clean fast to give me a boost towards weight loss. With one or two lapses I’ve been eating keto in a narrow eating window but my weight has gone up. This is probably due to weight training because I am taking on the physical characteristics of a brick shithouse. But sadly none of the fat is going away. Lesson learned: a fat adapted keto diet is not the answer for me.

21st Jan

Ooh shiny.

22nd Jan

The ‘plant based’ fashion and virtue signal eh? Meanwhile one must remember that sugar, white flour and seed oils are plant based.

25th Jan

Bits of me aching and sore since this is the second morning I’ve pushed myself to go on a 7 - 8 mile walk. Yesterday, after doing this, I followed up with 2,000 words written, an hour of Greek, an hour in the gym and cleaning and tidying in the house. It’s a reality that when you push yourself to do more you find yourself inclined to do more besides that. It is also a reality that sloth is a downward spiral leading to ‘what happened?’ days at the end of which you find you’ve done bugger all. I now resolve to get things done that have dropped by the wayside during a crappy January.
How’s this month been going for you?

26th Jan

And if kids were taught how the tax system works, fewer would go through the socialist delusional phase of life, or grow out of it more quickly.

At last: a combination of eating keto previously and, each day over the last two, walking 7 miles and spending an hour in the gym, and now 36 hours fasting has put me firmly into ketosis. The strips are into the purple, the breath meter is reading 3.7mmol/L and I’ve dumped 6lb of water weight. Bit of advice here for those who want to try fasting: do it clean. Even a bit of milk in tea is enough to kick in hunger pangs and lead to failure. Been doing this for years and I still need that fact tattooed on my forehead.

I’ve not really been following this but what is the situation regarding Putin and the Ukraine? I got the impression that he was getting tetchy a while back because of US armament/missiles there. If this is the case then all the sabre rattling in Europe and the US at present is hypocritical, since his response precisely mirrors US tetchiness about Cuba 60 years ago.
What do you think?

27th Jan

Just past 60 hours fasting and laughing at the red screen on my ketone breath meter. It’s evident it was manufactured on the basis of medical opinion sans any knowledge of nutritional ketosis - the myth that ketone level can be equated with ‘ketoacidosis’ while leaving insulin out of the equation. Now I’ll go for a 7.6 mile walk to burn off more of my waistline fat roll, in the firm knowledge I could live off my body fat for months without harm and with great benefit.

29th Jan

Excellent stuff. I fasted for 72 hours while walking and weight training each day. Keto stick went to it’s darkest while the breath meter reached 8.3mmol/L at one point. On the evening when I stopped I ate a load of nuts, cheese, meat and raw veg and ketosis continued just below 7.0. The next day I ate two meals: sausages, veg and mushrooms, and meat, cheese and raw veg. Ketosis still stuck at between 6.0 and 7.0. Now this morning it’s still in the ‘red zone’ between 5.0 and 6.0. I’ve dropped about 5lbs (not water because I’m now in a fed state). I may continue today. Certainly I’ll get another walk in and a gym visit.

Just appeared on Twitter. Seven years and eight books ago!