Diet and Exercise

Exercise
Really this all started because I was waking up at 6am every morning to take hubby to the station. After 3 years of doing this I looked in the mirror one day and saw puffy eyes, a wrinkly face and an unhealthy pallor. I was also getting grumpy - I love my sleep. So one day, back in March, I had the conversation with hubby about me getting another hours sleep, him taking the car to the station himself and me walking the roughly 1.3 miles to get it each day. This way not only did I get a bit more sleep but I got a bit of exercise too, something I had not done for a long, long time. So, at 7.15am on the 8th March 2011, I quick march walked to the station. It took me 25 minutes to do it and it felt good! We continued to the end of the week so we could review the situation, after all, it had to work out well for hubby too. He found it was no problem for him and I wanted to carry on, so that's what i have been doing ever since. At first I used the clock on my phone to time myself then discovered there was a stopwatch on it so used that, then, whilst on Twitter, I discovered the runkeeper app.

Runkeeper is really good because you can use it to track all sorts of sports. It measures your distance, speed, calories used and tracks your route with GPS so, if you wanted, you could hook up with others in your area that may use the same route. I first used this app on April 18th and have been using it ever since. I love looking on the computer at all the miles I have covered and the calories I have burned. At this point  (August 1st) it's 171.49 miles burning 20,638 calories!

Also, while on Twitter, I kept seeing people referring to completing weeks and days on C25K and I couldn't work out what they were on about. It intrigued me because people were so excited about their achievements on it, I had to investigate further, this led me to the getrunning site. Now, I cant express myself more clearly when I say I LOVE this app!! If I didn't discover this to take me to the next level I think I would definitely be bored of the station walk by now and would be struggling to see any change in my weight or fitness levels. This programme gets you from nothing to running for 30 minutes non stop in 9 weeks. Sounds impossible? Let me tell you it is not! You can run at your own pace, mine is a slow plod-jog.
I started this on April 25th. Week 1 starts you off after a 5 minute walk, to a jog for 1 minute, then a walk for 1 1/2 minutes and repeat 5 more times, then finish with a 5 minute walk. It slowly builds you up week after week with each session only about 30 minutes long 3 times a week, so it easily fits into any schedule. Got kids? Take them with you! Take the dog, go with friends. I struggled in the 1st week but I am now in week 7 and have done two lots of 25 minute non-stop runs!!!!!
My only worry now is what I'm going to do when I finish my last run on week 9. I shall certainly feel bereft!
Footnote. I have now completed the programme and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is scared of taking up running. It's made me into a new woman!!

Food

Whilst exercise is very good for fat burning and fitness levels, you cannot lose weight without cutting back on the calories you consume. I saw this on the runnersworld website and use this as my mantra, 

"Running is for fitness, eating is for weight loss".

After a few weeks of exercise I decided I now needed to address my food intake. I started this blog on Monday 25th April, really for myself to track my exercise, food intake and then, hopefully weight loss. I started tracking the food I eat normally so I could see where I should get a grip on things. The1st thing I noticed was that every afternoon about 3 or 4pm I ate sweet sugary things, cakes, biscuits, chocolate. I clearly needed a sugar fix around this time so that had to be addressed. The 2nd thing was that I became quickly aware that I wasn't "remembering" everything I ate which, to me, means I was eating without thinking, worse still, without actually needing it. A funny thing happens when you start exercising in earnest is that you start seeing food as something your body needs rather than what you want.

So I looked around for something to help me keep proper track of my calories and to help me with how many calories I should be consuming. That's when I found mynetdiary. I have it on my iPhone and my pc at home. It's great on the iPhone because you can check the cappuccino at Costa coffee and the lunch at Carluccios or that glass of wine at the bar before you forget. They started me out on 1632 cals a day, I must say I found it a struggle to get up to that amount so I changed it to 1500 a day. Although as you lose weight mynetdiary reduces your calorie allowance too. I eat pretty much what I usually eat but less of it. Because I am keeping track of the calories, I find I am choosing not to have dessert or another glass of wine or another biscuit and it works!

Many diets I have followed before have been unusable in the long term, mainly because they involve expensive ingredients, a change in my eating patterns, making meals I or my hubby would not normally eat (and quite often didnt like), so generally not very user friendly. I lost 35lbs (2 1/2 stone) back in my late 20's by counting calories and exercising. That was the most successful way I found of doing it because I incorporated it into my normal eating pattern and foods I like to eat. Yes, I put that and more back on, but I got married, got older, stopped dancing all night in night clubs and have more "disposable income" so eat out more. But all that is about to change - apart from the married and getting older part!


Healthy Eating
Basically, unless you've been locked in a room with no means to the outside world since you were born, everyone knows that fruit is a healthier after dinner or snack alternative to doughnuts or bars of chocolate. Everyone knows that wholegrains are better for your heart than white processed foods. Everyone knows too much salt and fat is not good for your body and everyone knows that alcohol is full of empty calories. But eating healthily does not mean you have to ban this kind of stuff, it just means that you would eat it once a week instead of everyday. I still have a glass or two of wine and the odd dessert, and the odd piece of chocolate but because it goes into my calorie count it means I am aware of it and don't continue eating and drinking into oblivion. What's more is that once you see how many calories are in a small sugary or fatty snack you would rather make a sandwich or a banana or just wait until its meal time.


There are many ways to help you consume less calories. Tracking what you actually eat and when you eat it for a couple of weeks really helps to pin point the weak areas. Then try out a few different strategies, Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley, Jenny Craig to name but a few. Or do as I have done, tell everyone, and DO IT!

Whatever you choose to do I hope this helps you in your journey to losing weight and getting fit, getting healthy and ultimately getting very, very happy. xxx