2024
The fact that this is my first post all year tells you all you need to know. It has been an absolutely dismal year fitness wise and it is largely due to two long blocks of not being able to exercise and a host of other causes that seem to take turns to impede. Here is the list in chronological order, mostly for my own records:
- Q1
- Moving to a temporary home while waiting for our new one to be renovated. The temporary place was roughly an hour’s drive away from work. 2 hours of commute daily, and solo with a toddler, was very draining. This stretched all the way to Q3.
- Bringing up a newborn child, and learning to parent two kids.
- Nurturing my very sick elderly pet cat back to full health. Thought he would not get past 14 years old, but he is now powering through 15.
- Driving and supervising renovation work including frequent site visits.
- Q2
- Planned cycling trip to Taiwan turns into a photography trip after a significant earthquake hit Hualien a week before the planned trip.
- Ear surgery to improve hearing. No physical activities allowed for 4 months as the implant is fragile. (A titanium implant measuring no more than 3 mm, held in place only by tension and blood.) Hearing is awesome now though!
- Q3
- Finishing up the final bits of renovation which meant a lot of site visits and getting the final details sorted.
- Moving into the new place. Exciting but very exhausting. Close to an entire month of getting new furniture and appliances delivered, set up and optimised. This is on top of packing up the temporary home and moving everything in. And, dealing with new home teething issues. Moving homes twice in a year is not recommended, especially with kids/newborn.
- Q4
- Flurry of last minute but urgent work projects.
- Younger child’s flu took a turn for the worst which meant a hospital stay. (He’s fine now.)
- Just as things were settling down, I had a fall down slippery sauna steps in Finland which resulted in a back injury. Spine was thankfully fine but muscle and nerve injuries meant a month out.
What a year it has been. Great in most aspects minus fitness.
But I actually met one of my goals and that was to lose weight. I dropped 4kg this year after focusing on it from Sep. I have since hit a wall and am unsure if I can push for the extra 2-3kg loss, but I’ll try. The only reason this worked was because weight loss is largely helped by dieting and not exercise.
2025
Going to keep it real simple. I don’t expect 2025 to be as dramatically challenging as 2024 was, but increased family and work responsibilities are here to stay.
- 3 work out sessions per week. Minimum 20 minutes per session.
- Get that final 2-3 kg of weight loss done.
Glad to have made it to my 8th “year in review” post and hopefully have something more positive to share in 12 months’ time. Happy holidays and looking forward to the new year!
