[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by SDP

New mid-year resolutions:
1. No facebook from Monday to Friday. -> Pulled this off without any issues.
2. TBHP not more than 30-45 minutes per day. -> This one is really tough. In fact, my wife said that after giving up FB on weekdays, I am utilizing that time (and some more ) for TBHP

Co-incidentally I am celebrating my first anniversary of having deleted my FB account, same day last year. I don't think I have lost contact with any of my friends/relatives after having opted out of FB. I was personally never a fan of FB but out of sheer compulsion from loved ones around I made my way into FB, but then my stay didnt last for more than 4years.

TBHP - not possible to keep myself away from. But on the other hand, I have cheekly managed to make use of the Technical section of TBHP for my work. Although not 100% match but sure I learn a thing or two every day and use some desi jugaad to reapply it into my field.

Workout:
Mon - Fri: 6kms of Cycling (if its not raining) if its raining - 6kms of walk

Weekends: 3-4hours of hard, fast, energetic cricket(yes, cricketing in Germany - its a chick magnet game here! a head turner for sure. We play with stumps and tennis ball and good pitch made, so we manage to assemble lots of audience. ), planning to restart with basketball once Autumn/winter sets in.

Cannot run too much as I am still yet to recover from my ankle injury which I incured during one of my district matches in India(2006).(basketball)
As of now I am somehow managing to stay under that 80 Kg mark (78 kgs to be precise) which according to Indian Army standards acceptable for my height.

Having a NCC background, I prefer to rate myself in the fauji standards, hence my regime might be too harsh for some here. But nevertheless its fulfilling once successfully completed. I have reduced a lot of my physical activities due to the ankle injury.

Thats one big advantage of being abroad and not having a four wheeler to commute - you tend to walk or cycle a lot. A natural phenomenon to keep oneself fit.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

...
Workout:
Mon - Fri: 6kms of Cycling (if its not raining) if its raining - 6kms of walk

Weekends: 3-4hours of hard, fast, energetic cricket(yes, cricketing in Germany - its a chick magnet game here! a head turner for sure. We play with stumps and tennis ball and good pitch made, so we manage to assemble lots of audience. ), planning to restart with basketball once Autumn/winter sets in.
...
As of now I am somehow managing to stay under that 80 Kg mark (78 kgs to be precise) which according to Indian Army standards acceptable for my height.
...

AlphaKilo, that's quite a regime you follow for exercise.
Assuming your height to be around 6 feet, 78KG is good weight to have!

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This week's update is late by a day (was travelling yesterday).

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Going through 7 habits again.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. Much better weak. Spent more than 10 hours on something concrete, which is going to help me manage better.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Less than an hour spent across the week on neat-clean-tidy.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by SDP

AlphaKilo, that's quite a regime you follow for exercise.
Assuming your height to be around 6 feet, 78KG is good weight to have!

I am 183 cms tall.

- The usual cycling continued for the last week but just 4 days since 15th was a holiday here.(Ya Germany was celebrating Indian Independence )

- Friday evening was 4hours of highly energy consuming sport

- Weekend was quite tough. Had done a hiking/trekking trip in the lower Alps. Walking up-hill/uneven plains/forest/downhill for over 15kms with a backpack load of around 7 kgs.

- I don't have the habit of reading since childhood. I have tried myself into it, but I never cross 4 pages, either I fall asleep or get bored. The only book I have so far managed to read through is "Mein Kampf - My Struggle" by well you all know who!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

...- Friday evening was 4hours of highly energy consuming sport

- Weekend was quite tough. Had done a hiking/trekking trip in the lower Alps. Walking up-hill/uneven plains/forest/downhill for over 15kms with a backpack load of around 7 kgs.

- I don't have the habit of reading since childhood. I have tried myself into it, but I never cross 4 pages, either I fall asleep or get bored. The only book I have so far managed to read through is "Mein Kampf - My Struggle" by well you all know who!

Thanks for the update.
Try audiobooks, has worked for me.

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Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 8 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Going through 7 habits again. Very little progress this week.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 5 hours of core work.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Less than an hour spent across the week on neat-clean-tidy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Need to jump-start some of these all over again.

[AlphaKilo]

The week last week!

Well, Regular cycling, but now increased the firmness levels a bit more and started to drive bit more faster on higher gears.(more rolling resistance to overcome due to high gears). Weekend was eventless, as it was raining.
Stayed back home relaxed and room cleaning was a part of a calm weekend. Inquired in the near-by fitness centre for suitable timings, yet to decide on it.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

The week last week!

Well, Regular cycling, but now increased the firmness levels a bit more and started to drive bit more faster on higher gears.(more rolling resistance to overcome due to high gears). Weekend was eventless, as it was raining.
Stayed back home relaxed and room cleaning was a part of a calm weekend. Inquired in the near-by fitness centre for suitable timings, yet to decide on it.

With your cycling and trecking regime, you planning to join a fitness-center as well is commendable.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk on 6 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Completed 7 habits one more time. Partially completed 4 disciplines of execution.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 5 hours of core work.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Less than an hour spent across the week on neat-clean-tidy.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by SDP

With your cycling and trecking regime, you planning to join a fitness-center as well is commendable.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

thanks. Told you already that my schedule will be bit streneous.

So my schedule past week:

4 Days of Cycling 6 kms each day.

one day of total 6 km walk (raining - no cycle!!)

Weekend - saturday - 5kms stroll/park visit

sunday - trekking 10 kms total.

well, the main point behind all this regime is to reduce the single happy family pack that I have put on due to lack of tough physical activity over a year or two.

[SDP]

Critical evaluation after first year

I started on this 'reclaiming' journey on 1st Sep 2011. Its been a year. Here's where I stand as of today:

#1 Weight-Control
Start Date: 1st Sep 2011.
Target: At least 20 minutes per day brisk-walk/jog. 6 days per week.
Results: Managed 6day/week for about 45 weeks. For the remaining 6-7, it has been 5 days. Never below 5. Starting weight -> 76-76.5KG. Current weight -> 72KG

Overall Score: 8/10.


#2 Reading
Start Date: 27th Dec 2011
Target: At least 15 minutes everyday, at least 5 days a week
Results: Finished Atlas Shrugged in record time. Finished most of the Steven R Covey literature including 7 habits of highly effective people (read 7 times), 4 disciplines of execution, Principal centered leadership, the 8th habit and 7 habits for highly effective families.

Overall Score: 7/10


#3 Planned 'core' work
Start Date: 23 Jan 2012
Target: Minimum 1 hour per day to start with. Eventually 20-25 hours per week of core meaningful work.
Results: Struggling with this often. There are some good weeks and then it goes for a toss for a few. Lack of strong will-power and discipline is evident. Procrastination (popularly known as 'later') has been a big issue.

Overall Score: 4/10


#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
Start Date: 1 Mar 2012
Target: Minimum 10 minutes of personal effort daily for at least 5 days a week and spend an hour over the weekend in maintaining the home.
Results: After a fantastic start, getting a new vehicle got me distracted and things have gone down the drain from July onwards. The home is as untidy as ever.

Overall Score: 1/10

[SDP]

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk on 6 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 8 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Started and finished half-way through a sci-fi book by the name "Ender's Game"

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 3-4 hours of core work.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. (Re-)Started this with some seriousness over the weekend.

[AlphaKilo]

Hey SDP, your one year update seems promising. I am sure if we manage to stick to our schedules we can achieve lot more.

Usual cycling monday - friday. Weekend, Friday evening 3 hours of energetic game. Saturday 5 kms walk/stroll and sunday 12 kms stroll(with a 5 kg back pack).

Otherwise, rest was usual, since nearing the end of my work, I am more into writing reports, streneous times ahead.

Planning to shift house soon, so now the train journey will be cut to just mere 6 kms of cycling. Well not yet decided! Lets see!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

...
Usual cycling monday - friday. Weekend, Friday evening 3 hours of energetic game. Saturday 5 kms walk/stroll and sunday 12 kms stroll(with a 5 kg back pack).

Otherwise, rest was usual, since nearing the end of my work, I am more into writing reports, streneous times ahead.

Planning to shift house soon, so now the train journey will be cut to just mere 6 kms of cycling. Well not yet decided! Lets see!

Thanks for the update. Its important to stay motivated and weave exercise into your daily routine so that slacking-off is not a option. When I was trying to setup a alarm in the morning for going to the gym, the temptation to silence the alarm and go back to sleep was just too much. Either the motivation-level or the shame would drag me out of bed on some instances, but those instances were far in between.
Now I go for the brisk-walk immediately after dropping my kids to bus-stop. Since dropping my kids to the bus-stop is not optional, and by that time I am already wide awake and warmed-up, I now miss the marning-walk very rarely.

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Hey SDP, your one year update seems promising. I am sure if we manage to stick to our schedules we can achieve lot more.
...

Hey, thanks. I think I did well on first 2, OKish on 3rd and absolutely sucked on the last one . But, at least, I am aware where I stand and that's a good starting point for any improvement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk on 6 days during the week.
2. One day it was absolutely pouring in Mumbai during my morning walk. Still went for the walk. Although I had my raincoat on, came back drenched in rain. One of the best morning-walk ever. Thoroughly enjoyed the rain.
Mental note to self: Leave the blackberry at home on such days. Apparently Blackberries don't like rain.
3. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Finished the sci-fi book "Ender's Game". Interesting twist around 80% into the storyline. The ending is almost spiritual.
2. Finished "Dilbert's Future" in one day. Really interesting book. Its funny and accurate at the same time.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 3-4 hours of core work.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. The house is more tidy this week. Taking concrete steps to dispose off a few items that have been lying around the house for quite some months now.

[AlphaKilo]

My (last)week:

Since it has started to get colder here, the early morning rush to office seems like one hell of a job. But still, somehow managed to cycle to office daily. Weekend was normal, but luckily, sun god gave us some sunny, warm evening, which helped me in sweating out a bit by playing for about 4 hours.

time spent in doing something useful : Yes, report work and some analysis. There is something very interesting come up(about which I am not allowed to discuss in public forums), I am sure this interesting this is going to keep me occupied for sometime and tickle my intelligence part of the brain a lot!

[SDP]

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 3 days during the week. No excuse but my travel plans during the week created issues with the morning walk. Will catch up this week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 5 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Deep into 'Fountainhead' and loving it. Have read the paper version ages back, but Roark still seems to be the man one should aspire to become.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Did OKish. Need more consistent effort.

[AlphaKilo]

Thats still good SDP! Keeping in mind your family responsibilities, I say, you are doing really well.

As for me, my cycling was the same, with weekend saw about 6kms of walk around the beerfest park(not drunk - I don't drink )

Reading - Reports and some journals - proved useful in my work

House cleaning finally happened - took about 4 hours - now looks spic - span - brand new. Boy clean looks neat Off late I havent been myself, I am a cleanliness freak, but tight work schedule has kept me away from it though. Finally like Bhajji, i feel I am back!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Thats still good SDP! Keeping in mind your family responsibilities, I say, you are doing really well.

As for me, my cycling was the same, with weekend saw about 6kms of walk around the beerfest park(not drunk - I don't drink )

Reading - Reports and some journals - proved useful in my work

House cleaning finally happened - took about 4 hours - now looks spic - span - brand new. Boy clean looks neat Off late I havent been myself, I am a cleanliness freak, but tight work schedule has kept me away from it though. Finally like Bhajji, i feel I am back!

Good update AlphaKilo! Keep it up!

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Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 8 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. 'Fountainhead' continued. Almost 1/3rd done.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. Still lot of wastage. Need significantly more focus.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Did better than last week. Having a b'day function at home is a good motivation for cleaning up.