Hitting the ground running (and swimming!)

I’m very excited to start 2026 with a bang!

Having lost over 12lbs in December, I took a bit of a break from my strict diet to enjoy Christmas and the New Year.

I did so entirely guilt-free, certain in the knowledge that I now have all the tools I need to get back on track.

As you can see from my Garmin Connect log, I rapidly got back to exercising on 29th December, and have been completely consistent, with either treadmill runs or pool swimming every day.

I’m also currently doing my first intermittent fast of 2026, which I started around 1 am last night when I finished my last celebratory New year’s Eve drink.

I’m over 21 hrs into a 36 hour day, and my intention is to do 3x36hr fasts each week for the next few weeks at least.

I had some of my best results with this kind of fasting schedule, but that was before I changed my diet to something genuinely healthy and diabetic friendly. And before I was consistently exercising.

So I’m genuinely expecting not just great results, but incredible results.

As I mentioned before I’m aiming to lose, on average, 2.56lbs (1.16kg) per week until I hit my target, which should be somewhere around June.

I’m currently way ahead of that, averaging 5.3lbs (2.42kg) per week.

Obviously I know that early weight loss tends to be more rapid and this will for sure drop, but the longer I maintain higher weight losses like these the easier it will be to maintain that, since it’s an average.

I know as I get closer to my target, I’ll likely experience plateaus, but because I’ve stacked my average early on that gives me room for fluctuations nearer the end.

And of course, the other variables won’t remain static, as I’ll be increasing my exercise steadily until I’m running 30 mins non stop on the treadmill. I’m currently running 4 mins, walking 1 minute for 5 repetitions, and every 3-4 weeks I’ll increase my running by 1 minute.

Generally speaking, when you get to 6 mins running, 1 mins waking there’s a definite shift as you’re walking much less, running much more, recruiting more muscle, and your aerobic system becomes much more efficient.

At that point my running will start to supercharge my weight loss. That will be around 6 to 8 weeks from now. 

Getting up to 3*10 mins intervals is another huge jump as the walking tails off. That will be around 12 to 14 weeks from now.

And if course it’s a mutually beneficial and virtuous cycle as losing weight makes it easier to progress, since there’s less of me to carry! 😁

I’m also going to increase my swimming alongside the running, gradually getting from 1km to 1.5km.

These are exciting times, and I’m genuinely feeling more confident and motivated than ever before.

The next step is my weigh in which will be tomorrow morning, and we can see how much my Christmas/New year’s celebrations have set me back. If at all! 💪🏼

Regardless, I’m sure I’ll be back on course soon with my current fasting/eating/exercise program!

More soon!