It's better to be angry.

This week's blog music is Brought to the Water by Deafheaven.  Certainly not everyone's taste but I'm going to see them this week and they also sum up my mood lately.

So it's been a couple of weeks since the last blog and I was all full of passion and eager to get stuck back in with gusto, well things haven't exactly gone to plan.  The thumb injury I complained of a few blog back is still playing up (must go to a doctor) my gammy old achilles tendons the same which has made things a pain in the arse to exercise efficiently and then the old black cloud of depression settled in again, and while it wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be back in the day it did take me by surprise.  The healthier lifestyle and all the exercise have really done wonders for improving my mood this last 10 months but every now and then it just kicks in and couple of weeks ago it kicked in harder than it had for a some time.  No rhyme or reason for it as far as I could tell, life was great, just an overall feeling of worthlessness and a bleak empty hole where there's no point to anything where the enthusiasm used to be, fun eh!?

Luckily Diana and I had a short holiday booked and we headed to Amsterdam to see our joint favourite band Coheed & Cambria play and enjoy a few days sitting in the sun drinking Heineken by the canals.  Bliss!  Apart from the fact the it absolutely pissed down the entire time we were there, old Dan was more than a little disappointed.  Coheed were awesome though and regardless of the rain we still had fun.  A break is a break even if it's not ideal a few quality days with my girl, awesome pancakes and some very fine dutch weed and coffee and was good for the old brain box and I came home feeling much better even after not being in the gym for a whole 10 days.  10 days is an eternity, I'm usually in there 5 days a week.  My mental health is so often ties up with how clean I'm keeping my diet and how much I'm getting in the gym it was actually quite nice to focus on one without the other, even if I've probably got a bit fat as a result.

Me and Di and Coheed & Cambria.

Who were awesome.

So I'm back home and while still not 100% I'm getting there.  Things don't help, things like the heat and humidity leading to poor sleep, things like getting to the gym at 7am on a Monday morning in the rain only to remember too late that it's shut because the trainer's in Cyprus getting married (congratulations Daniel & Faye!), things like missing more workouts than I'd like due to other commitments and tube strikes and most most all things like going to FUCKING IKEA on a Sunday!  This was the first (and last) time I'd ever done this and Jesus Christ what are people thinking? What an absolute crush of humanity.  But the thing is, getting pissed off at crowds and long queues and screaming kids is a healthy response to those things, depressed Dan would have just been crushed by it, pissed off is good, it means I'm happier.  Next week we've got another few days away with friends in the countryside so that should help and I'll squeeze a few workouts in between then and now. The next blog should hopefully be back to feeling fit and healthy and eating a loads of healthy food and being super-motivated to improve my fitness again so I can write about that rather than all the reasons I've not been writing about that.  One step at a time, there's always bumps along the road and I'm glad that these days I can recognise them as only that.

Amsterdam in summer.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a grizzly bear rolling down a hill and the latest cutest thing ever, baby Tasmanian Devils

Amsterdam is great for the mind, not so much the waistline.

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How to lose 9lbs in 10 days.

This weeks blog music is 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts which is not only a wicked, upbeat slice of snarling guitar-pop it's also the walk-out music for UFC Bantanweight champion Ronda Rousey who fought again this past weekend, winning by knockout in 34 seconds flat.  I'm a huge MMA fan and Ronda is amazing, history in the making level stuff.

Healthy eating is awesome. Look at that feckin' steak!

The weekend before last we had the inaugural 12 Rounds Sports Day on Clapham Common.  We had a good turn out and games of rounders, egg & spoon race, sack race, picnic blankets, Pimms (quite a bit of Pimms actually) and then all off to the pub for more games and encroaching drunkenness, I don't really drink a lot these days and felt decidedly pissed after a day in the sun and a few pints. All very British, all very charming, very silly and a good day all around, even old Dan's crippling social anxiety seems to be firmly on the back foot these days, who'd have thought being healthier could do so much for your mental health eh? (Loads of people as it turns out).  But Sports Day was the bold line under my little break and getting back to business.

So I lost 9lbs in the 10 days since, impressive eh?  Wanna know my special secret?  Well the main part of it is to put on 9lbs in the previous 10 days, and if you then get your arse back in the gym and clean the diet right up it all just falls right back off, I think my metabolism actually reacted well to having to deal with ingesting a load of crap for a little while, keep it on it's toes y'know?  So I effectively maintained the same weight for in 20 days - probably not a dieting plan I could sell to the masses but a good lesson in why you shouldn't believe amazing headlines like the one above. It's true, but it's not all the way true.  Also as I've talked about before the scale hardly tells the whole story anyway, I've fit into clothes this week that have been hanging in my wardrobe for ages without me every being close to being able to fit into before, so my body's changing even what the scale isn't and that feels like much more of an accomplishment. There's no secrets, quick fixes or magic tricks to losing fat and getting healthier:

Eat lots of green stuff.

Don't eat things made in factories.

Move around more.

Do the above consistently and long-term.

That's a gross Dan shaped sweat puddle in the ring.  One of these days
I'm going to weigh myself before and after a hard session.

I've really the been enjoying the moving around more part as much as ever, I think the break did me good.  More sparring at 12 Rounds at the weekend and although I got pretty thoroughly battered I feel like I'm starting to understand what I need to do.  I'm pretty confident hitting the bags or pads or working movement drills in the gym and I can see the theory of what I need to do playing out in front of me, the next stage is just putting it together in the live situation - piece of cake I'm sure.  A bit like the diet really, it's one thing to know the theory, that you should avoid the pizza and eat the salad, it's something else to do that while being repeatedly punched in the face, head and ribs.  Yep - I'm pretty happy with that metaphor and am sure I have suffered no ill effects from sparring.

Myself, Hollie and Jo from our 12 Rounds Facebook nutrition/support group.
This photo was taken at 7.30am on a Monday and we are SMILING.  Exercise is like witchcraft.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a pomeranian doing the greatest sneeze in the history of dogdom and a baby elephant chasing birds.

Follow me on Instagram for fitness and food based posts.
Befriend me on My Fitness Pal to share your fitness journey and keep tabs on mine.
Or follow me on twitter for geekdom and more cute animals.

Check out the 12 Rounds Boxing website here
12 Rounds Facebook page
Twitter @12_roundsboxing