Another good effort this week! Using MapMyWalk has been really helpful throughout the last week… I’ve now found that I’ve actually been under-estimating some of the distances! For example, each time I walk to our local swimming pool and back I am doing nearly 2 miles, not the one mile I had estimated! Never mind… the purpose behind all of this is to make a conscious effort to walk more, drive less and generally increase my fitness levels. Underestimating the odd mile here and there doesn’t really matter 🙂
In addition, one of the best forms of exercise is stair climbing! When I am in work, my office is on the 9th Floor. I have made a conscious effort to use the stairs rather than the lift and also to ensure I get away from my desk and go out each lunchtime. Climbing 9 flights of stairs on average 3 times a day is hard work, but getting easier the more I do it.
A couple of decent weeks of walking progress… the most exciting 16 of these miles were racked up in Switzerland on a last weeks’ hiking weekend! It was fantastic to hike in soft powdery pure white snow.
Little did I know that I would come back to snow in the UK… and have just completed a 9 mile hike in local snow this morning! It was melting so was muddy and slushy and I managed to fall over twice…
I’ve now actually started to use Map My Walk too rather than estimating my mileage using Google Maps… I downloaded this app to my phone a couple of years ago but have never bothered to use it… until now…
In addition, a quick check on annual progress towards target:
Monthly average for January and February 2018 (240 / 2) = 120 miles per month
Daily average for January and February (240 / 60) = 4 miles a day
Monthly average left for the next 10 months (810 / 10) = 81
Daily average left for the next 10 months (81 / 30) = 2.7
So if I keep up this rate of mileage (around 120 miles per month) I should reach my target to walk 1050 miles in 2018 some time in September! It will be interesting to see what happens and if I achieve this…
Tasty grilled shrimp salad from Jamies restaurant in Chur, Switzerland
As my February weigh-in was late, there has been a gap of just under 3 weeks rather than a month between these two weight check points… but never mind… here goes for my weight on 1st March 2018:
Weight on 4th December 2017 (when I began my fitness campaign): 10 st 7 lb
Weight on 9th February (last weigh in): 9 st 0 lb
Weight today: 8 st 12 lb (56 kg or 122 lbs)
Total weight loss in almost 3 months = 23 lbs (hurrah!)
Small milestones are keeping me motivated… I had to buy a new belt last week and it was fab to buy a ‘small’ size rather than the usual medium which was too big! Yay!
I’m still keeping to around 1200 calories a day, together with a lot of exercise. I am either going to the gym, swimming or hiking several miles at a time which is burning up a lot of calories.
Having just spent 4 days in Switzerland, my calorie intake did jump a bit to perhaps 2000 calories each day… I allowed myself a few treats such as some gorgeous Swiss chocolate and *lovely meals out each night but did so without going over-the-top. While enjoying the meals I stuck to one glass of wine and no dessert 🙂
*The healthy salad in the top picture was the first night… the following evening meal was a calorie busting home made pasta with oodles of Swiss cheese…
Thankfully I had the motivation to cut down as soon as we got home and I’m now back on 1200 daily calories…
The next dilemma now that I’ve reached my goal weight is how to stay there… I don’t want my life to be ruled by calorie counting (although I do only estimate this each day) but I really don’t want to regain any of this lost weight…
With February being a short month, this had kind of crept up on me! I realised earlier today that 1st March is actually tomorrow and this is the month I made a pledge to myself to eat only vegetarian food.
With my husband Chris being a pescatarian, i.e. he is a vegetarian who eats fish, I didn’t need to do too much food planning. We never eat red meat, as I have more or less adopted his diet in recent years.
I did however realise that if I am to be a vegetarian for a month, I wouldn’t be eating any fish either…
My first small challenge arose when my mum invited us for dinner next Saturday… she proudly told me she had organised a vegetarian option for Chris and a vegan option for Zoe (my daughter)… I had to tell her that I too will be a vegetarian throughout March. Thankfully on this occasion it was fairly easy given she had already planned veggie/vegan meals and said brightly “That’s fine, I’ll do a vegetarian option for you too”.
I do feel conscious that if people are kind enough to invite me for dinner, I don’t want to put them to any trouble… it will be interesting to see what happens throughout the rest of the month…
The last day of the month and I am pleased to report good progress throughout February. As in January I’ve completed a session at my work gym every time I’ve been into work so I’m still averaging at least two sessions a week.
I’m fortunate the work gym is never busy and even during peak times in the mornings, there is usually only a handful of other people. Going to the gym before I start work has a number of benefits and I’ve found puts me in a positive mood for the rest of the day.
After nearly 3 months of regular gym sessions, together with swimming and hiking I am noticing real differences in my fitness levels. It is great to be able to climb several flights of stairs or a steep hill without having to stop and catch my breath!
I haven’t had any personal trainer sessions and at the moment, my one hour routine is something like this:
10 minutes rowing
15 minutes cross trainer (alternating between fast/high intensity and slower/lower intensity)
15 minutes weights (mainly shoulders and arms)
20 minutes treadmill (5 mins running; 10 mins steep incline; 5 mins warm down)
This varied routine stops me from becoming bored and hopefully exercises most muscle groups!
And now, at home, I spend 5 minutes each day laying on the floor doing stomach exercises, those I learned during my Maldives yoga sessions…
A massive effort this week where I managed to walk an extra 50 miles… As always, these miles are in addition to the normal day-to-day steps one takes by walking around the house or office.
Significantly this week, yesterday I did a 17 mile walk through the scenic Goyt Valley in the Peak District. The link shows several short walks… a group of friends and I combined some of them into a big circular trek and spent 7 hours walking to and past some of these features.
Today I completed a 12 mile walk with a local walking group. Tonight I have aching muscles but a sense of achievement!
I haven’t made so much progress during weeks 5 and 6 and just as well I gave myself a head start the previous weeks! I’ve just been to the Maldives to celebrate my 50th birthday and, while I did have an active week of yoga, gym, swimming and cycling, there wasn’t too much walking involved!
I didn’t do any extra walking at all during the weekend of my birthday and basically spent the time getting ready for my party (Saturday) and recovering on the Sunday! I’m keen to get back to more walking next week…
Yoga became popular in the UK in the 80’s as a form of exercise although it has been around as a spiritual practice in India for hundreds of years.
I didn’t know much about yoga or what it entailed until last week. And, other than a few months or maybe even a year of weekly aerobic classes when I was 15 I haven’t taken ANY form of exercise class since then… Not a single one… I don’t know what Pilates is… I think Zumba is some kind of modern day aerobics and I had never been to yoga…
Well, this has now changed! A combination of a desire to try new things this year together with my attempts towards a fitter and healthier start to my new decade stirred an interest in trying yoga. Of course this is old news to many people… When discussing this at work just before Christmas it turned out that most of the people I work with have tried or still practice yoga. This conversation happened to take place after work in one of the outdoor bars along London’s South Bank which led to an impromptu and somewhat drunken display of yoga moves by one of my 6 ft male colleagues!
So with one of my 50@50’s being to try yoga, I took the opportunity while on holiday in the Maldives where our hotel offered a free 50 minute yoga session each morning! What a place to start doing yoga… I felt immediately relaxed in the serene environment as I sat on my yoga mat on the soft powdery sand with the sounds of the gently lapping sea in the background.
Each morning the instructor took the small group of 10 or so through the initial relaxation and breathing exercises before the more complex series of stretches. Stretching muscles that have possibly never been stretched before! Literally tying my upper body in knots with him giving my arms an extra pull just to make sure!
I can certainly say I felt incredibly relaxed at the end of each session and I’m keen to do more. Being strong, fit and supple throughout life and particularly as you get older is important.
Compared with others even though I am almost 50 I was pleased I am still fairly bendy and supple as, for example, I could diagonally interlock my hands behind back where many others couldn’t reach.
However my stomach muscles need toning big time! I was one of the worst of the group with the stomach moves. For example, laying on my back and lifting and holding my feet at 6 inches above the ground then at 75 degrees was tough! This is something I am keen to improve.
And also I found my balance is rubbish… I toppled over the most when we did standing up stretches… I’ve noticed problems with my balance when trekking along narrow ridges so I wonder if I practice each day if this would help my trekking too?
Having joined the gym we have at work on 4th December 2017, and having completed my induction on 5th December I have since then attended a gym session on each occasion that I’ve been into the office.
This has averaged at 2 x gym sessions per week although as I didn’t go into my main office during the third week of January (Mon – Wed I was in Portugal; Thu in a different office and Fri I worked at home) I had no choice other than to miss this week…
I did however compensate by walking an extra 39 miles so was able to maintain my programme of fitness and activity.
As I combine the gym with walking and swimming I tend to focus more on weight training while in the gym, particularly exercises for my upper arms and shoulders… as I approach 50 I need to try to prevent the appearance of the dreaded ‘bingo wings’… heaven forbid!
Incidentally… on the matter of bingo wings… I found this article which suggests that women who lack the male hormone testosterone are more prone to bingo wings! It says you can boost your testosterone levels by consuming more protein and less cakes and biscuits. This is a little worrying too… if you eat more protein you might reduce the likelihood of bingo wings… but does this mean you end up with a moustache? I’m not sure I like the idea of increased testosterone levels so will focus on exercise to combat the bingo wing effect…
Anyway… the good thing is that I have now been a gym member for just over two months. After about 6 or 7 weeks I began to notice a significant difference. I had a bit of a fitness breakthrough and found myself increasing all of the weights on each piece of equipment together with increasing the resistance levels on each of the cardio machines. This is incredibly motivating… I’m really starting to feel so much fitter and more energetic.
A little late for my February weigh-in as I’ve just returned from the Maldives, a special holiday to celebrate my 50th birthday which happens to be tomorrow! As I didn’t have any scales with me I was unable to weigh myself on 1st February, i.e. the first day of each month being my planned 2018 weigh check days.
Throughout January I remained highly focussed and committed to achieving my goal weight of 9 stone (57 kg or 126 pounds). I did extra exercise when possible and stuck to an average daily calorie intake of 1100 – 1200 calories. Some days I burned an estimated extra 600 – 700 calories, for example, by walking 5 miles in addition to spending an hour at the gym. On these days, rather than eating more I stuck to my 1100 – 1200 calorie regime which I think must have accelerated my weight loss.
Almost every day I either went swimming, went to the gym or walked for several miles. When I went out for meals I chose salads or low calorie dishes and mostly had either no wine or one glass of wine. Rather than drinking cappucino’s I now drink fruit flavoured tea when in coffee shops.
So a huge effort was exerted throughout January… I even managed to have a healthy holiday! Rather than a complete blow-out I went to the gym, did yoga, went snorkelling and swimming every day and was careful to eat healthily for example by sticking mainly to proteins, vegetables and lots of tropical fruit. I also had 6 alcohol-free days!
These are the results…
Weight on 1st January 2018: 9 stone 10 lb (62 kg)
Weight on 9th February 2018: 9 stone 0 lb (Hurrah! Bang on and just in time for my big 5-0 birthday tomorrow!)
Fifty at Fifty 