It looks like I will be pushing off my micro-goal of creating a truckload of desserts for another month or two. I am dedicating the month of June to cooking at least 20 Italian dishes, at least half of which I want to be new and original recipes.

Obviously, with Italian food there is going to be a lot of pasta involved and with that in mind, all of the pasta I create will be fresh and made by hand to be as authentic as possible. I am staying with a family right now that has a strong Italian heritage so the matriarch of the family will be showing me many of her cooking tricks, which I am really looking forward too.

Again, I am not working from a pre-determined meal plan, deciding on the day what I will be cooking for lunch or dinner. I will pick up any ingredients I need in the morning on the way to the office, and then begin cooking at around 5PM in the kitchen there.

This time I will be experimenting with photographing the food as it is prepared and once more when the dish is finished, as I would like to start compiling my recipes in to something more presentable and usable than a Microsoft OneNote notebook. Who knows, maybe one day I will release a cookbook of my original recipes.

So twenty fresh and exciting Italian meals, hand-made pasta, nothing out of a packet or a box as far as I can manage it, only the freshest and best organic ingredients I can purchase and a varied menu, that is the goal, so let’s see how closely I can stick to it.

It should prove to be an interesting journey. I am just glad I am back working at my treadmill desk so that I will be losing weight as fast as I am gaining it (hopefully). I will of course be continuing with my treadmill desk “improvement sprint” for the foreseeable future, or at least, until one of our clients has a crisis project that needs to be saved.

I will post regular weekly updates on the more noteworthy meals I cook, along with any new tricks I have picked up.

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Now that I am all set up on my treadmill desk, I am off to a great start.

No weight loss to speak of yet, but that is what I was expecting. Every log I have of weight loss for exercising on the treadmill desk shows improvement after the first month rather than in the first month. When I first set up a treadmill desk, almost a decade ago, the improvements in health came in spurts as I reached each new plateau and that is what I expect to see again after a year away from regular use.

Right now, I am intending to keep the speed below my usual treadmill desk walking speed of 3.5MPH and aiming low on the hours too. I have been keeping a regularly consistent 2MPH for two hours a day, and I will continue with this programme until I have gotten back into my groove. I am not expecting to see any dramatic weight loss until my speed and endurance begins to creep up in month two.

I am expecting to keep my current speed and duration for at least another two weeks, and I am keeping my hands well away from the “increase incline” button for at least two months. I want my legs to survive, and I can already feel the new exercise working on my knees and ankles when I go to bed each night with them slightly aching and tired, but I am oh so satisfied with myself.

I played World of Warcraft for two hours the other day, playing healer and hunter in a quick Nexus dungeon run, and did pretty well with it. I will get back to five manning the place on a multi-boxing setup sometime next week when I have the time to practice. Five months away from World of Warcraft and multi-boxing, and a year away from the treadmill desk has made me rusty.

Overall, my weight has remained almost constant, and any weight loss I can attribute to water loss rather than burning off fat.

Since getting back on my treadmill desk, I have walked a total of 58 miles in 32 hours, burnt almost 7,000 calories and jogged my way through three dungeons. This is my treadmill desk log for up to the 20th of May.

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