And I’ve passed the half way mark. While I’m still ungainly and cumbersome in the gym and with my movements, I feel the progress I’m making. Each time I’m a little bit better, remember the routines a little longer, put more effort into each punch or squat or technique.

My “Lazy Brain” has not been so vocal with all the reasons to stay in bed in the mornings this last week. The routine of toting gear to the gym for work later has become an exercise of efficiency and regularity. People at work have stopped being surprised at my raspberry-coloured face and sweat-slick hair after morning boxfit sessions.

I’ve also become very keen on closing my Apple health rings every day. Making sure I stand every hour, select a workout before each session and walk lots on campus during the week.

I’m loving the changes I’ve made in my food too. Cutting out bread as one of the main vehicles of fats into my body (toast and butter) has been an easy transition to make than I would have guessed. Making sure I eat protein during the day really helps, so do the snacks mid morning and mid afternoon. Who knew that eating more food was gonna be the key to me enjoying exercise??

Today I had smoked salmon on fat slices of tomato with a smear of buffalo curd - a flavour explosion that satisfies everything!

My weekends have been a bit loose over the first half of this Move It! challenge, but now I feel like I want to move. Going for a walk or popping down to the gym or picking up an extra class is a lot easier nowadays. I have miles to go but I’m just loving this project so far.

For the first time in my life I have set a weight loss goal.

In the past I’d say something like “It’d be nice if I lost 5 kilos before this time next month…” and then did nothing really very much to work towards that goal. Yesterday I decided to commit to a weight-loss goal of “cracking the ton” which means to drop below 100 kilos by Christmas.

That’s four weeks away in case you didn’t know.

It’s a goal that I’m going to have to work at to achieve. It’s not going to be attached to any “organic” weight-loss, it’s going to take a bit of extra work to get to.

My other goal is to do one chin up. And right now, that looks like pure fantasy!

One of the reasons I decided to do this 8 week long Move It! challenge was to break the back of my fitness. To jam into that 8 weeks so much movement and exercise that I developed a level of fitness that would take the edge off working out regularly. To develop the habit, to learn the form and types of exercise that I like doing, and to keep going.

This is one of the best things I’ve ever decided to do. I feel fantastic.

Charcoal ciabatta, buffalo curd, smoked salmon, tomatoes and pasteis de nata.