Monthly Archives: October 2013

My Rocking Routine

fitness, ,

old-worn-sneakers-13616441

There is a delicious irony in writing this post all about my usual routine, when it is half term and the routine has gone out of the window.  Hey ho!  But hopefully it will ensure that I am back on the routine as quickly as possible.

I am really enjoying this routine and the fact that I have kept it up for close to 2 months is a testament to that fact.  And as I am sure you don’t need me to tell you, if you are enjoying something you are likely to continue with it.

So currently I do this:

Monday: Body Pump

Tuesday: Run

Wednesday: Body conditioning, Zumba

Thursday: Run, aqua aerobics

Friday; Rest day

Saturday: Run

Sunday: Rest day (occasional run or gym)

I feel I have a nice variety.  Body Pump and Body Conditioning helps tone me, Zumba is a bit of fun and as it is straight after Body Conditioning I think it helps to build up my stamina, and Aqua Aerobics is fun and I like to think of as active recovery (oh technical term there!!), as by Thursday my legs are a little achey and the water certainly helps them.  The classes are very enjoyable and have brought a camaraderie  that I didn’t expect. And I am sure the classes are having a positive effect on my weight loss and running.  And most lovely of all, I am thoroughly enjoying them.

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

My Week

My Progress,

calendar

My week in numbers:

4 lb off

3 runs including 1 parkrun

1 body pump class

1 body conditioning class

1 zumba class

1 aqua aerobics class

 

My week in words:

How can I not be pleased as the weight loss seems to be catching up with how I feel?  Winning slimmer of the week was good too!  I do think the weight is affected by whether I run before or not, and from next week I’ll mark it (pre or post run) so I can keep track.  I am psyching myself up for next week and half term, a change to my routine and after that it’s full steam to Christmas, and trying to shift some more lard.

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

 

 

One Big Fat Run October

fitness, Running,

onebigfatrunoct2

Yes it’s that time again. Time for #Onebigfatrun.  If you missed August and September’s events and are not sure what this is all about check out The Fat Girl’s Guide to Running information page.

But here are some quick pointers:

  • Sign up on facebook
  • Encourage others to sign up
  • Choose your 5k route
  • Walk, jog or run your 5k on 27.10.13
  • Take a finishers picture
  • Upload a picture onto social media with your finishing time
  • Tell everyone you completed #onebigfatrun
  • Good luck and enjoy!

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

Dealing with half term

Family

family cycling

For many parents the words half term holiday will strike fear into them as their routines go out the window and children need to be amused for a whole week.  For what it’s worth I have always enjoyed having my children home, and not having to get up and out for school.  But what I am concerned about this half term is the break in routine.  Will I be able to fit in as much exercise as usual?  And how will my eating be affected? And I imagine that is the thinking for other parents who are trying to keep on healthy eating and exercise wagon.

 

There are several ways you can approach this change in routine.  You can keep your strict routine, not changing a thing.  You can adapt, realising that some days you may be able to squeeze in your exercise and keep to your healthy eating plan and on others you can’t. Or you can go off track completely.

Each three approaches have their merits.  What concerns me about the latter two is making sure you get back on the wagon as quickly as possible, or it could be a disastrous few weeks.

Remember you can involve your children in your healthy lifestyle.  A walk, bike ride or swim together is a great way of burning up calories and having quality time together.  A film night at home with healthy snacks can be a cheaper and a healthier alternative to a visit to the cinema.  One of our family favourites is baking day where we bake, bake, bake (I think our record is 5 different recipes!).  That can be healthy, and if not, well at least you know what goes in it. And if you do go out for a meal, there are good choices on the menu to be had. Don’t be afraid to ask for something different, such as dressings on the side.

So half term may not be falling off the wagon time.  Maybe you can even inspire your children too.  As for me…I’ll let you know how I get on!

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

My Week

My Progress,

calendar

 

My week in numbers:

1 ½ lb off

3 runs

1 bodypump class

1 aqua aerobics class

1 body conditioning class

1 zumba class

My week in words;

The lateness of this post is nothing to do with disappointment or anger like last week, but being busy taking the children to a swimming gala all weekend.  The weight loss: meh.  I am back to where I was two weeks ago despite all the effort and hard work I have put in.  Ho hum.  I am definitely taking the long game approach and keep telling myself that while I am doing the right things, good things will happen.  And I am going to try and focus on other marks of progress, such as looser clothes and increasing weights at Body Pump rather than a number on the scales.

Hope your week was good.

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

 

 

On and off the Wagon

healthy eating, Motivation, My Progress,

Fruit and veg

After Saturday’s weigh in disappointment , I knew I should shrug my shoulders and feel confident that as I was doing the right things the weight would come off this week.  Or read my musings on keeping on the wagon.  But I didn’t.  It was hard to keep motivation high when I didn’t feel I was achieving anything.  So I slipped off the wagon.

The saving grace was that it wasn’t a big fall.  To date (Thursday afternoon) I only slipped off on Saturday and got straight back on Sunday onwards.  And I ignored the three large bars of chocolate that my mother in law has bought for me and went straight for…mini bags of maltesers, cereal bars and iced gems!  Not good but not as bad as it could have been.

So this week if I have put on I will hold up my hands up and say I deserved it.  And if I have lost weight, I will admit being totally bemused by it all!

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

Guilty TV pleasures.

healthy eating, Motivation, ,

television

No I don’t mean Glee or repeats of The Golden Girls, but at the moment my guilty TV pleasures are the weight loss shows.  I find when I am “in the zone/on track/in control/in the groove” or whatever you want to call it I enjoy these programmes.  However when I am not-I don’t really want to know them!

The three (I can hear my husband’s THREE from here!) shows I am currently watching are Downsize Me, Fat (or Obese): A Year to Save my Life and Fat Families.  All have their merits as well as their weaknesses but the aim is pretty much the same: take an overweight person (or people in Fat Families case), show them what they are doing to their body, encourage them to change by improving their diet and increasing the amount they exercise and showcase the results.

And the results are generally quite good.  Especially for A Year to Save My Life, as they had, well, a year.  They are given a personal trainer for several hours a day and in FF and AYTSML several pieces of exercise kit.  They have access to dietician and diet sheets. As well as to the inspirational trainers that assists them.

One of the best things they do is really show what being overweight does to your body.  And Downsize Me goes further and invites a “Crash Test Dummy” or an ordinary, usually fairly fit person to live on the diet that the overweight person has existed on.  Some of the changes to their body are remarkable (although I do watch all these shows with a hefty dose of scepticism at times.)

What I would really like to see is if a year or two down the line have they maintained their weight loss?  Have they lost more or have they gone back to their unhealthy ways?  And there are the odd returning programme in FF and DM.  The results are mixed, no-one shown went back to being as large as they were, but some had put weight back on.  And some had done extraordinarily well.

So despite my cynicism and the flaws in the programmes, I do find some interesting points.  It’s a reminder of what being overweight is doing to your body and how shedding even a few pounds and getting more active can help.  I find it fascinating to see the causes of overeating tackled, and some people can pinpoint a reason.  I also love seeing how the coaches emphasise the mental side of things as that is an area I am finally realising its importance.  And most of all I just love watching other people’s successes (in the main) and take heart from them.

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

My week

My Progress

calendar

My week in numbers:

1 ½ lb ON!!!!

3 runs

1 body pump class

1 body conditioning class

1 zumba class

1 aqua aerobics class

 

My week in words:

The headline figure and the fact it has taken me a day to write this entry tells you all you need to know. Disappointment, annoyed, bemused are three of the emotions I have felt.  I feel like it’s a case of “Déjà vu all over again!”

Other than a meal at my mother in laws (and we are talking pie and chips and ice cream and meringue, not an enormous 5 course meal) I have been on track with exercise and diet.  I feel better.  I look better.  It’s just a shame when the scales say otherwise.  And it’s harder and harder to keep the positive mind set needed, as well as the long term view when every other week is a setback.  But I must, if I want to achieve a healthy, fitter body.  So let’s remind myself that:

path-to-success

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

 

A rant about the lack of plus size clothing

fitness, ,

rant face

 

I warn you, I am going to rant.  So if you are of a nervous disposition, you may want to look away now.

Picture this: we are all being encouraged to eat healthy.  You know that it’s the right thing to do.  You get yourself motivated-it’s a big step.  You’ve decided to eat healthily but when you come to look in the shops there is no healthy food.  At all.  There is a wide selection of food that is not healthy, there is food that will just about do, but it’s not the fresh smelling, fat busting healthy food that you have promised yourself.  Actually you are now a little dejected.  Maybe this healthy eating lark isn’t for you.  It’ll be much easier to stick to the unhealthy stuff.  After all it’s like the manufacturers don’t want you to be healthy.

Crazy, eh?

Shall we substitute in exercise gear for plus-sizes for healthy food, and it now becomes painfully true?  We are being encouraged to exercise and for people carrying a bit of padding it can be quite a scary proposition.  And the fact that there is very little technical clothing that fits plus sizers is so depressing.  We have as much right as slim exercisers to be kitted out in clothing that will be do a specific job.

Please would manufacturers realise that there are some people of ample proportions that like to exercise.  It is soul destroying to see all the wonderful clothes (often discounted) offered in small sizes and nothing in larger sizes. We would like to feel like ‘proper runners and exercisers’ with technical gear rather than finding anything that fits.  Not very encouraging really, and that to me is what hurts the most.  The fact that us plus sizers have put our head above the parapet, are trying our best, but sportswear manufacturers don’t appear to appreciate that. Imagine if one did…think of the custom.

Rant over.  Normal scheduling is now resumed!

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon

Choosing an exercise class

fitness, ,

old-worn-sneakers-13616441

 

The last few weeks I have been hitting the gym regularly.  Not the treadmill, cross trainer and weights part of the gym, but the exercise class part of the gym. And I have been loving it.

It can be intimidating to be with a group of fit people doing a class that often you have no idea of what is going on and how you do it.  Well that was what I thought.  But I blundered in nevertheless and just thought I’d give them a try. And unsurprisingly I found all the people warm, friendly and encouraging.

So how can you decide on what class to try? Is it for you?  Well these pointers might give you the confidence to try.

  • What do you want to achieve with your class?  Is it to improve your fitness level, lose weight, have fun, have an hour’s relaxation or tone your body?  Decide what you want from your class and then find a class that best matches it.  There should be a description of the class on a leaflet or poster or try googling it (I know, I know, when in doubt…)

 

  • Think about your likes and dislikes.  If you are petrified of the water, aqua aerobics is not for you.  If you have always enjoyed boxing, maybe body combat is.

 

  • Try to be realistic about your fitness level when matching to a class.  If you haven’t exercised in years going to “a killer abs session that is so tough your ironing board stomach will weep” might not be a good move.  It’ll put you off. Exercising and ironing.

 

  • If you are not tied to a gym then try a selection of class providers to find one that suits you.  Classes do have different atmospheres and it could be that you prefer the relaxed zumba class in the school hall to the more formal one at the health club.

 

  • Try a selection of classes.  Don’t be afraid to try new ones.  But I would suggest, unless you had a shocking experience, to give each a couple of weeks.  As you know I didn’t enjoy my second zumba class and was going to give it up, but tried it again and am now appreciating it.

 

  • If you find a class you like rebook it ASAP.  There is nothing like knowing it is all booked up for you.  No excuses then!  Classes and gyms vary but I love the fact that as I go for one class I can book my class for the next week.  After all it would be a hassle to ring up and cancel-may as well go to the class!

 

  • When you are in the classes, don’t forget to smile!  Seriously, a smile, nod or a laugh can help break the ice with many people.  It also helps to build up morale as well as seeing everyone’s human side. I promise you most people have them.

 

If you are going to take the plunge, good luck.  Honestly, I am really enjoying my classes, and at the end feel really satisfied and fulfilled by them.  With the running and healthy eating, it is making such a difference, and I am so pleased I plucked up courage to give them a try.

 

All the best,

Woodyrunning spoon