Best Intentions

There was no blog last week as I was away on a family trip to Eastbourne. It was a great trip and a welcomed break from work, but it came at a cost to my regime.

I knew I was going to be away for just over a week, but I wanted to keep to my routine as best as I could. This meant I found a gym nearby where we were staying and packed my kit.

The Intended Plan

I was under no illusion that I was going to veer off track slightly with regard to my diet and had discussed this with Tom (TRHF). He was really supportive of me having days where I don’t track my meals at all, so I can just enjoy family meals along with a beer or two. I was on board with this, but wanted to try my best not to fall off a cliff with my plan.

Reality Rollercoaster Sets In

We did the long drive down to Eastbourne on the Monday, so my diet took a hit immediately, in that I probably hadn’t eaten enough and not packed enough protein in for the day, but I knew this would be the case during a long journey.

On the Tuesday, we were immediately onto family visits which included an ice cream along the prom during a walk (at least I was walking!) I had no time to sort out my gym pass, so this was Wednesday’s task.

I was motivated on Wednesday and already feeling guilty for being off track. I know I shouldn’t have been feeling guilty cause I was on holiday after all, but I’d become so engrossed in my plan, that this felt like I was straying in a big way.

The gym session on Wednesday felt great! It was hot, but the small gym I’d picked had all the old school machines and weights I needed to put in a great upper body workout. Coming out of it I’d perked up again, it was just what I needed.

To make things better, I’d eaten well too and although we were going out for a family meal that evening, I had a steak which gave me more much needed protein. I had a couple of beers that evening, but didn’t feel guilty, cause I had had a good day and I knew I’d be working out again later in the week.

However, later in the week never came. I was getting slack with my tracking as it was becoming harder to stay on top of things and due to family plans I never got to go to the gym on Thursday or Friday.

Just to make things worse, I went and got badly sun burnt on Friday, which then meant I couldn’t train on Saturday and we were heading back on the Sunday.

By this point, I’d pretty much accepted that despite my good intentions, I had in fact slipped pretty bad. I know Tom had told me I shouldn’t feel guilty for essentially being human, but I couldn’t help it, I’d just been doing so well and had been so disciplined up to now, that this last week felt like a complete failure.

Onto a New Week

So, I’m back now but the strength camps don’t start up again until next week, so I’m having to try and fit additional solo workouts in place. I got in a good session yesterday, but soon after, when I got home I noticed that all over my chest, stomach and shoulders were blisters which I assume is a combination of the sun burn and a sweaty, intense workout!

Having done some reading up, it looks like I need these to settle before working out again to avoid the possibility of me picking up an infection. When it rains, it pours hey!

In Summary

It’s been a pretty poor week from a regime perspective, and I’m itching to get back to a full blown routine. I’m back on track with my eating and hopefully I’ll get another workout in before Sunday, providing all is well with the sun burn.

Obviously, there are no pictures this week as there’s no progress to track, but next week should be back to normal and will hopefully at least show no regression. In the meanwhile, the main picture in this post pretty much sums things up!

Thanks again for taking time to read and I hope you have a great week.

Oh, and don’t forget your sun cream!!

Zach