Two weeks ago I was soaking up the sun in Tenerife. Yesterday I took on the wind and rain courtesy of Storm Hannah. The motorway trip to pick my son up at the end of the University term was very blustery as was the walk in the park trying to elicit a loss of body fat from my dog. The latter was certainly the most challenging.

My dog is overweight. Well he is actually obese. He has to lose 20% of his body weight if he is to avoid all those chronic conditions associated with an excess of body fat. But he has no willpower. I know how he feels. But I don’t growl and get into a strop when a week old baguette is removed from my mouth.

The last couple of months has taken its toll on my body fat. I have put on nearly half a stone since the middle of January. Half of this weight gain was muscle. I have been persistent and consistent with my training. So very happy with this weight gain. But the other half is fat. Not good. The stresses of a bereavement and a rather indulgent few days away in the sun has put my aspirations to get to 32% body fat by my 60th birthday a little out of reach. 

I started my 60th year with a body fat percentage of  37.5. I got this down to  34.63. Still a way to go but it was going in the right direction. I’m now back at 35.33. So I now have to brush myself down and get back on track. Calorie deficit to blast the fat and strength training and adequate protein to protect my muscles. I don’t want to lose my muscle definition and strength gains just to reduce the number on the scales. It is about fat not weight loss which is why I remain opposed to any programme that only focuses on the latter.

So the body fat won’t be blasted in the next three weeks but I have achieved a couple of ticks on my list.

A strength goal was to deadlift 105kg which is 1.5 times my body weight. A week ago I lifted 107.5 kg. My personal trainer was confident (or she may just be deluded) that I’d do a 110kg lift but that weight remained firmly attached to the floor. But I feel that I can get to that nice round number in the next three weeks.

I also achieved a PB for my back squat of 65kg although my form wasn’t 100%. At 62.5kg I got my hips at a right angle to my knees. What really helped was doing more of a ballet plié than a squat. It is great to have a personal trainer that is so on the ball and up to date on what works. I went from 50kg to over 60kg just by a change in movement. A few more weeks I will be squatting my body weight.

But the biggest tick has to go to success in my final assessment in professional coaching. I can now call myself an Approved International Coaching Federation (ICF) Coach.

So three weeks left until I enter my seventh decade and can enjoy free London travel and free prescriptions. It is a birthday that keeps on giving. I have 44 ticks on my 60 for 60 (see about) but it is not looking as if I am going to get to tick everything off in time. So I am going to be kind to myself. I’m going allow myself a few more weeks to complete this list before I set up a bucket list for my seventh decade. 

Having my 60 for 60 list has been great in getting me to do things that I may have steered away from. You never regret (most of the time) the things you do only the things you don’t do (most of the time). One of the last things I will be doing next week is The Sranglers in concert. Now that is a blast from my past which I probably would not have agree to this time last year. Hopefully I won’t regret it.

But there are times  when I just want to catch my breath and watch a murder mystery on ITV 3 which may account for my tick deficit. It is about balance. A word that is overused in the world of health and wellness. Often as an excuse for not doing something so I am using it in its common usage.

Now where is my protein smoothie and the dog’s lead.