Week 3 walking progress

Progress:

Total for week 3 = 39 miles
Average per day for this week (39 / 7) = 5.57
Running total = 46 + 39 = 85 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 85) = 965

I’m pleased I managed to walk 39 miles this week which is quite a psychological boost as it has given me a few miles in the bag towards my target. As well as 2 x 5 or 6 mile treks in Portugal on Monday and Tuesday, I did two walks at the weekend; an 8.5 mile local trek with a group of friends (in the rain) and a 10.5 mile trek with a local walking club (in the snow).

Week 2 walking progress

Rather than listing every time I walk anywhere I have been keeping a separate record and will just update the progress in order to keep track.

Progress:

Total for week 2 = 21 miles
Average per day for this week (21 / 7) = 3
Running total = 25 + 21 = 46 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 46) = 1004

Keeping such a record and being conscious of this challenge has had quite an impact on my motivation to achieve this. I am constantly looking for opportunities to clock up these miles which is having a positive impact on my resolve to get fitter!

For example, offering to accompany my father when he took his dog for a walk every morning in Portugal recently and making a point of refusing lifts to and from the station from my husband!

A winter break in the Algarve

My first trip of 2018 was a short break to visit my Dad and Step-Mum who retired in Lagos, a historic yet buzzing town in Portugal’s Algarve.

I’m currently compiling two fuller blog posts for our main travel blog, one on the stunning coastal trekking available along this dramatic coast line and one more general post about some of the attractions in this area.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather; it was constantly sunny and the temperature reached about 17 degrees in the afternoons. This isn’t always the case… when my children were at school I used to take them down to Lagos during the February half term holiday to see their grand-parents. Most years the weather was indeed warm and sunny although one year we did have a week of cloud and rain!

Anyway… it was lovely to spend time with my parents on this short trip. They are both in their early 70’s and without wishing to sound morbid, I have become more conscious throughout the last couple of years (since our life changing 2016 global trip) that a) things can change in an instant; and b) parents don’t last forever.

As mentioned, this is my first trip of 2018… I have a few planned as I am determined to make the most of this year. As I scan through my 50@50 list I have started to wonder if I have been too ambitious and whether I will actually be able to afford to do everything I’ve set out to achieve… some of the trips have been paid for and others thankfully are not too expensive.

Over the years I have also found that travel doesn’t have to be unaffordable either, so in a bid to demonstrate this, I will publish the costs of all of my 2018 trips and total the overall cost of them at the end of the year.

4 days short stay airport carpark: £25 (£50 / 2)
Ryanair flight to Faro: £50 (each)
4 days hire car with Budget Rental cars: £25 (£50 / 2)
Accommodation: *free
Meals and spend: £100 (per person)

Approximate total cost per person: £200

*free accommodation although we took my parents out for a meal as a ‘thank you’ for putting us up… (or should that be ‘putting up with us’…)

There are so many lovely coastal walks in the area that you don’t need much spending money to keep yourself entertained. Meals are also reasonably priced too, particularly if you avoid the main touristy areas and find lovely little typical Portuguese restaurants.

Detox results!

Weight today: 9 st 6 lb

I’ve now completed my first 50@50 challenge by sticking to my detox for a week! And with a bonus of losing 4 lb this week too… yay!

This has meant:

No alcohol for 7 days – achieved!
No processed food – achieved!
No sugary food – achieved!
No ‘bad’ carbs (white bread, cakes, biscuits, pastries etc) – achieved!
Lots of vegetables and fruit – achieved!

I did manage to keep to around 1150 calories on average which wasn’t too difficult and combined this with quite a lot of exercise:

Swimming
2 x gym sessions
10 mile walk on Sunday
2 x 5 mile walks
1 x 3 mile walk

I generally prefer to eat healthy food rather than junk food. But making this extra effort has definitely motivated me to continue with the whole package of more exercise, better quality food and an overall healthier lifestyle on my countdown to 50!

I would recommend a week of focussing on a healthy detox and I am planning to continue eating as well as I can in order to continue to tackle my “bordering high” cholesterol levels. However I must say I’m looking forward to a glass of red tonight! I’m in the ‘red wine is good for you‘ club and not planning on an alcohol-free lifestyle any time soon…

Week 1 walking progress

This is a newly added challenge… as I enjoy walking and trekking I decided to add a walking challenge for this year!

A personalised walking challenge…

Many people pledge to ‘Walk 1000 miles in a year‘ for various reasons but probably mainly for the excellent health and wellbeing benefits you achieve by regular walking. These include:

Burns extra calories
Builds stamina
Strengthens your heart
Reduces the likelihood of many serious diseases
Keeps you active
Improves your mood
Its free

My spin on this is to walk 1050 miles this year… an extra 50 in my year of turning 50…

This is an average of 2.88 miles a day or 20.16 miles a week

I don’t have a fit bit or app or anything to calculate this accurately so I will just estimate the extra walking i.e. where I have chosen to walk rather than drive or take public transport or any specific walking or trekking I undertake.

For example, week 1:

Mon: (New Years Day = couch potato = 0)
Tue: walk to and from train stations (work journey) = 5 miles
Wed: walk to swimming pool and back = 1 mile
Thu: walk to town centre and back = 2 miles
Fri: walk to and from stations = 5 miles
Sat: walk to town centre and back = 2 miles
Sun: organised walking club walk = 10 miles

Progress:

Total for week 1 = 25 miles
Average per day for this week (25 / 7) = 3.57
Running total = 25 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 25) = 1025

Detox update…

A quick update…

Following the tweak on Day 1 where I decided 800 calories is too low and I also found the effects of cutting out coffee were worse than just drinking it (when coffee is almost the new super food…) things have gone well so far…

I’ve been eating super healthy food and so far have consumed no alcohol, processed food or junk food since Wednesday. I am genuinely starting to feel more energetic, positive and healthy… all good stuff!

My diet today (Saturday: Day 4):

Breakfast: smoked salmon and fried egg (I’m rubbish at poaching so fried the egg in a tiny bit of olive oil)
Snack: handful of blueberries
Lunch: avocado, hummus, tomatoes, rocket, red pepper, raw carrot with a dressing of balsamic vinegar
Dinner: home made broccoli and stilton soup (we’re having a bit of a craving on this at the moment…)
Snack: handful of unsalted nuts (walnuts, cashews and macadamias)

Estimated at around 1100 calories

Just 3 more days to go…

First week at the gym

Yeah!

I did my two gym sessions this week!

As mentioned in challenge 3 I joined the gym at work about a month ago and started a gym routine before Christmas. As I didn’t go into work during Christmas I had a break of about 10 days (but went swimming and did a 12 mile walk during the Christmas break).

I got straight back into the gym this week and did my two sessions. OK, this isn’t a big deal for many people but I’m hoping that posting updates from time to time will keep me motivated…

The main reason for limiting my gym sessions to two per week is because I work from home a couple of days a week so I’m often only in work for 2 – 3 days. On my work at home days I’ve taken up swimming at lunchtime as otherwise I spend 8 hours sitting in the same spot and barely moving (and feeling like a cross between a wallowing hippo and a sloth…)

At the moment my gym routine is fairly basic:

Rowing machine: 10 minutes
Cross trainer: 10 minutes
Cycle: 5 minutes
Weight exercises: 20 minutes
Treadmill: 15 minutes

A cardio warm up at the beginning, followed by a weight session and ending with a warm down. Mixing several exercise machines throughout the session stops me from getting bored and also exercises different muscle groups.

My swimming routine:

Fast walk to the pool: 15 minutes
Swimming (a mix of breast stroke and back stroke): 30 minutes
Fast walk back from the pool: 15 minutes

Rather than take the car and swim for an hour, again so I don’t get bored with the monotonous up and down the pool swimming lengths I prefer to gain the full hour of exercise from a combination of fast walking and swimming!

I hope I can keep this up throughout 2018… I am certainly feeling much more energetic even after 4 weeks!

Detox Day 1

Weight: 9 st 10 lb

So this morning I started my one week 800 calorie detox!

I set out with an ambitious menu plan for the next 3 days (as devised by me… I am not a dietician or nutritionalist and it might not be the healthiest…)

Day 1: Wednesday

2 x scrambled eggs and a handful of blueberries (250 calories)

Raw organic peppers with hummus (200 calories)

Home made broccoli and Stilton soup (350 calories)

Added 2 squares of dark chocolate, a handful of unsalted nuts and a vegetarian (mushroom based) sausage to bring the calories to 1150… (see below)

Day 2: Thursday

Plain porridge with raspberries and blueberries (200 calories)

Plain yogurt and a handful of mixed nuts (200 calories)

Home made sweet potato curry (400 calories)

+ 350 calories!

Day 3: Friday

2 x hard boiled eggs (200)

Pret salad (250)

Tuna steak and roasted vegetables (350)

+ 350 calories!

Saturday to Tuesday TBC…

Day 1 (Wednesday) review:

Today began well and, even though I felt hungry, I religiously stuck to the scrambled eggs for breakfast and hummus for lunch with just water and organic fruit tea to drink.

I went swimming at lunchtime but by about 3 pm with zero coffee and zero carbs I had an awful crashing headache and started to question why I am putting myself on an 800 calorie per day detox???

I’ve successfully lost 7 lb in the last month with increased exercise and improved eating. I am pleased to have lost this weight particularly as the last month included Christmas with the usual festive temptations. I’ve therefore decided already that cutting down to 800 calories, even for a week, is too low for me. I’m not sure how people on the 8 week blood sugar diet can manage this for 8 weeks! I am hoping I can continue to lose weight and achieve my goal of 9 stone without taking drastic measures.

In addition, the main purpose of this detox week is to give my body a break from alcohol and chemicals (such as those found in processed food) and to give myself a healthy start to 2018 and my approach towards turning 50…

I’ve read several articles recently which have linked drinking coffee to a longer life expectancy. I suspected that having no coffee today may have contributed to my afternoon headache and sure enough, as soon as I had a cup of coffee, the headache disappeared about 20 minutes later.

I’ve therefore tweaked my January detox by now including 2 cups of coffee each day and increasing the calorie count to 1150. Everything else will remain the same… and most importantly I am aiming for zero alcohol for a week!

Preparing for the Detox…

Why?

Good question… why do I want to detox? I am hoping a week or so of giving up all nasties from my diet will continue to motivate me towards a healthier future. I’ve read conflicting articles to suggest either the liver and kidneys are super efficient organs which don’t need detoxing or others which strongly recommend regular strict detoxing plans with weird drinks and things to ‘clear and refresh your gut’.

As with many health ideas there is never any conclusive evidence of what is right and what is wrong however if nothing else, surely giving up alcohol and adopting a super healthy diet for a week must be a positive thing?

When?

Hmmm… another good question… I can’t start today, 1st January as I’ve already had two coffees (which are probably to be avoided). And you do need to think about and plan these things to ensure you have the necessary food in stock. You also need to consider how to manage your social life during the detox week… We have a shopping delivery tomorrow night so maybe 3rd January would be a good day?

Which one?

Following a recommendation from a work colleague before Christmas, this morning I eagerly downloaded the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet book by Michael Mosley. Essentially this is a very low 800 calorie diet for 8 weeks which claims to reverse the negative effects of a high sugar western diet and lower one’s blood sugar levels. Apparently there is evidence to suggest that surviving on 800 calories a day is now a health benefit! I had previously understood this to be a damaging way to lose weight but the book says that as long as you follow some basic rules about eating more protein and less carbs, you will burn fat…

However after scrolling through and reviewing some of the recipes, I don’t think I can follow the suggested menu plans… firstly, they contain food items I don’t tend to eat (red meat being one) and secondly I would need a huge shopping order for all of the different ingredients and would either end up throwing most of it away or eating the same thing for 3 days running (and thus not being able to follow the different recipes for each day).

On balance with the suggestion by many that detoxing doesn’t make any difference and given I don’t want this to be all too time and life consuming I have decided to try a combination of both this diet and Juliette’s Weight Loss Resources 7 day detox plan.

I am hoping the combination of the low carb/800 calorie blood sugar plan with some of the sensible ideas of Juliettes plan will result in a healthy start to 2018. (And hopefully an additional couple of lb’s being shed this week…)

Personalised detox

So… here is my one week detox plan:

Allowed

Lots of vegetables and salads of any kind
Home made soups
Low sugar fruit (blueberries, raspberries etc)
Smoothies (small ones)
Oily fish (tuna, salmon etc)
Quorn
Free range chicken
Free range eggs
Beans and lentils (kidney beans, chick peas etc)
Unprocessed natural oats
Unsalted nuts
Dark chocolate (small amounts)
Natural yogurt
Occasional small amounts of wholewheat pasta
Herbal or fruit teas
Water

Banned

No alcohol, ~~coffee or tea~~ update: will permit myself two coffees a day!
No sugary drinks
No processed food
No high sugar or dried fruit (bananas, raisins etc)
No breadcrumbed or battered food
No pastries, cakes, biscuits or sweets
No bread, white rice or white pasta

Organic where possible and with an attempted limit of ~~800~~ 1150 calories a day… (800 is just too low for me…)

Looking forward to Portugal

1493420_10202767914857148_1379581041_o — Lagos

Travelling is the greatest passion of my life so many of my 50 challenges and experiences this year will be travel related. The first one is to Portugal’s Algarve for a few days with Chris, my husband.

My Dad and step-mum retired to the Algarve a few years back and live in a lovely spacious apartment in Lagos. I’ve been to see them several times and January is often a great time of the year to visit. If we’re lucky we will experience a little slice of warmth and sunshine and an escape from the usual cold grey English weather. (Although even if it is cloudy, January in the Algarve will be at least 10 degrees warmer…)

Compared with the busy summer months, January is also lovely and quiet with few tourists. The beaches west of Lagos are breathtaking with wild sweeping sandy bays and spectacular rock formations.