Week 4 walking progress

Progress:

Total for week 4 = 34 miles
Average per day for this week (34 / 7) = 4.86
Running total = 85 + 34 = 119 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 119) = 931

Another good week to finish off January! This week I’ve looked for additional opportunities to get a few more miles in; for example, rather than taking the car to the local supermarket yesterday I set off with my backpack (in the rain) and walked there and back which added another 3 miles to my total! My husband thought I was mad… and needless to say, he stayed at home!

I also did 10 miles today with a local walking club which is a good way to increase my mileage in a social way. This is a different walking club to my usual one but there are a few to choose from in my local area.

Preparing for my vegan month

Throughout our year of travels in 2016, my husband Chris and I got a real taste for vegan food. It can be difficult to stay healthy while on the road long term particularly as we mostly stayed in budget accommodations. Often breakfast would be a piece of cake and a coffee! We discovered many vegan restaurants, often in unlikely places, and always offering delicious healthy food!

For example, the above picture was of a delicious meal served in the vegan Cafe Vida in La Paz, Bolivia. As mentioned in our La Paz blog post, this delightful little cafe was, according to Trip Advisor, the then number 1 of 324 restaurants in La Paz! Incredible for a country well known for being large consumers of meat.

We found other amazing vegan cafes and restaurants in places such as Peru, Prague, Thailand and Cambodia. They were all able to create delicious vegan masterpieces without the need for a single animal to be involved.

So, while I already have a taste for lovely vegan food, I haven’t yet committed myself to trying a full month of being a vegan.

I’ve missed Veganuary, a concept which has a website with loads of information to help people to try a vegan lifestyle in January. There are recipes and a list of popular restaurant chains who offer vegan food as part of their menu which will be really helpful.

I’m planning to try a vegetarian month in March, then a vegan month in April. I’m really looking forward to both!

Roll on ‘Vegapril’

Pondering… why become a vegetarian for a month?

For the last few years I’ve gradually eaten less and less meat. The more I see awful videos of the abuse suffered by animals the more I’ve gravitated towards a semi vegetarian and vegan diet. I’ve also been influenced by my husband Chris, who has only eaten organic chicken (rarely) and fish since I’ve known him. And my daughter, Zoe, who became a vegan in 2016. Zoe has a point when she says “there are so many alternatives so why do you have to eat an animal?”

Many people become vegetarian for health benefits although as Harvard Health explains, you could eat a diet full of pizza, ice cream and cakes which is still technically vegetarian but not the healthiest!

So I have decided to try a vegetarian diet for the month of March just to see how things go and to consider whether this is right for me. Will I miss eating fish? Are there plenty of alternatives? Will I end up eating too much cheese and gain weight? Will I be sick of vegetable lasagne by 1st April? Will report back in due course…

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!

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!