So, it’s the end of June. How did I do against my weight and exercise targets as part of my plan to get my recently diagnosed diabetes under control?

Not well, I’m afraid.

Weight: Start point 16st 12lbs, target 16st 5lbs. This morning: 16st 10lbs, which is where I have been stuck for a few weeks now.

Exercise: 33 sessions, totalling 10,000 calories’ expenditure. As of last night: 25 sessions, 8,356 calories. (In reality, it’s actually 27 sessions totalling closer to 9,000 calories, as I did some exercise without my heart rate monitor on – either way, I fell short of my target.)

There are mitigating circumstances, insofar that for four of the eleven weeks of this programme we were either on holiday or had family staying with us, which was not always brilliant for the diet and restricted my exercise opportunities somewhat. The excessively hot weather we have enjoyed over the past few weeks hasn’t helped either, as most of my exercise involves taking long walks. However, all these don’t really work as valid excuses, as my health doesn’t accept sick-notes and pat me consolingly on the back – it will simply deteriorate if left unchecked.

It’s not all bad. I certainly feel much fitter and more energetic than I did before this, and my diet has definitely improved significantly through the almost total exclusion of sweets and chocolate, and cutting back judiciously in other areas. I still allow myself occasional ‘treats’ – probably a bit more than I ideally should – but my new diet does at least feel sustainable in the long-term, which is the most important thing.

I now need to re-focus, set myself some new three-month targets and not allow the fact that we are on holiday twice in the next couple of months to disrupt my schedule too much.

So, new targets. By the end of September:

Weight: Start point 16st 10lbs, target 16st 5lbs. Even more focus on my food intake, always a challenge in barbecue and ice cream weather! Much of my earlier weight loss was down to my diabetes symptoms, so I need to go back to doing it the hard way. (Sigh.)

Exercise: 39 sessions, totalling 13,650 calories (average of 350 per session). I really do need to step things up here, both in terms of frequency – three lots of exercise a week should be my minimum – and intensity. I was averaging around 330 calories per session over the last target period, so I want to step that up a bit. Ideally, by the end of September, I’d like to introduce a bit of gentle running into the mix too, but that would be a bonus. If I can achieve my numbers by means of ‘little and often’, that’s fine by me.

I’m due to go for more blood tests and another consultation in the next few weeks. My blood sugar levels are definitely down, but still not quite where they need to be. I suspect I may be unable to avoid going on to medication any longer, but we’ll see.

So, here we go again. Continued failure is not an option. Now, where did I put my trainers?