I’m two weeks into my November Challenge, and this is my Report Card.
I’d give myself a B+.

The challenge I set myself for the month of November was:
– A walk each day of no less than 45 mins.
– No added salt on my food.
– No processed sugar.

Pretty simple you might think, huh?
Well, actually, no.
It was damn hard.
Salt and sugar have been my two major addictions.
I’d put salt on everything.
Chocolate was my real weakness.

I needed a circuit breaker.
Hence, the November Challenge.

The stats are in the spreadsheet below, but basically last week Jennifer and I drove up to Avoca to attend the Coastal Surge International Film Festival, organised by Glenn Fraser and Amelia Foxton – which was great fun. Then onto Brisbane to see my mum, who’s 97 yrs old. A round trip of 2,200km in five days.

On four of those days I wasn’t able to exercise. What with the long days driving (sometimes 700km+ in a day, with very early starts and socialising at the festival and family get togethers and what-have-you, it simply wasn’t possible.

The good news is though that I’ve gone the full two weeks without adding salt to any of my meals. And I’ve not had any chocolate, no sweets, no ice-cream… except ~

I fell off the wagon twice. Both were social occasions. Once at a family dinner when my sister put out some dessert and it would have been rude of me to refuse!

The other was a dinner hosted by a Camino friend. She’d just come back from walking the Frances and she and her husband put on fabulous spread that included nougat (I’m a sucker for nougat!) and home-made ice-cream.

Did I say I fell off the wagon?
I did a high dive off a 25m platform!

Two times I had sugar. And I have to say each day after I felt nauseous. My body couldn’t handle the major sugar hit. It was very interesting.

With the walks, sometimes it wasn’t possible to walk so I did 45mins on the indoor bike. I’ve got a gym quality bike set up in our tv room so I’d watch a Liverpool Premier League game or the next episode of Disclaimer and cycle 45mins.

The bike’s good because I can push myself harder than if I was walking (because of my bung knee) – but there’s nothing better than getting out early on a crisp spring Mudgee morning and starting your day with a brisk walk.

Walking also strengthens tendons and muscles and ligaments that are activated by walking on uneven ground, or up and down hills. I’ve found that the walking has also strengthened my back muscles considerably. I have two metal plates screwed into my spine and I get fairly regular back pain. The walking has helped alleviate the pain.

Overall, the biggest benefit of the two weeks is that I’ve broken the addiction urges. I’ve discovered that having salt, eating sugar, is a choice.

Before this, it wasn’t a choice. I’d sit down to a meal, I’d immediately put salt on my food. Choice never entered into it. That’s just what I did.

Similarly, at night after dinner I’d sit down to watch telly with Jennifer and I’d break out a block of chocolate. Rarely did we finish the night’s viewing with any of that chocolate left.

We devoured it.
I devoured it.

That hasn’t happened this past fortnight.
I’ve kicked that habit.

I’m only halfway through so we’ll see how I go the next two weeks, but so far it’s been a very worthwhile exercise.

But really, it’s a bit sad I need to go to these extreme lengths, don’t you think?