Week 16 walking progress

Week 16 walking progress:

Total for week 16 = 44 miles
Average per day for this week (44 / 7) = 6.29
Running total = 494 + 44 = 538 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 538) = 512

A milestone in week 16… yes, I’ve completed over half of the 1050 miles I had pledged to walk in 2018 already 🙂

Some of these miles were walked in and around Oslo city centre. On Saturday my daughter and I clocked up 9 miles and a further 8 on Sunday. It’s surprising how many miles you can walk by spending a day in a city!

Weeks 14 & 15 walking progress

Week 14 walking progress:

Total for week 14 = 43 miles
Average per day for this week (43 / 7) = 6.14
Running total = 408 + 43 = 451 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 451) = 599

Another super effort! 10.5 tough miles were achieved by climbing to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn, the second highest mountain in Wales. And on Easter Monday I did a 15 mile walk in the Chilterns which boosted this weeks’ total.

Week 15 walking progress:

Total for week 15 = 43 miles
Average per day for this week (43 / 7) = 6.14
Running total = 451 + 43 = 494 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 494) = 556

Oddly the same total for weeks’ 14 and 15 but very different miles walked! Most of week 15’s miles were walked in and around my local town including a walk that Chris and I did to a local village pub and back… it took slightly longer to walk back…

50 things I am grateful for…

I nearly changed this challenge in case it seemed a little ‘fluffy’. However, as I was preparing for this, it forced me think carefully and put many things into perspective. Having reached the age of 50 and having seen how incredibly hard so many people’s lives are in terms of poor health or simply their life circumstances I do feel immensely lucky to have an abundance of things to be grateful for. I also realise that life can change in an instant so I try to make the most of it and try never to take anything for granted.

Psychology studies have shown that people who feel and express gratitude are consistently happier, are more able to deal with adversity and are less likely to suffer from depression.

And FaceBook CEO Mark Zuckerburg had a resolution in 2014 to write a thank you note every day in a bid to counteract his critical nature and express more gratitude.

So, (being very diplomatic here) in no particular order…

My husband: Chris, the person who shares my life. I am grateful that he chose me as his wife and we continue to build on our companionship, experiences and joy as we travel through our combined life journeys together.
My children: I am incredibly lucky to have a son and a daughter, both now in their twenties. Nothing can beat the feelings of love, awe and protection I have felt since they were both born…
My parents: who, lets face it, if it were not for them, I wouldn’t be here! My parents who brought me up, taught me right from wrong, gave me a warm and happy home and guided me from the very beginning of my life. They are all (including my two step parents) very different and I have learned a lot from each of them in different ways.
My brother and wider family: including all of my relations such as my lovely step daughters, parents-in-law, nephew and niece and all of the others, all of whom I enjoy spending time with and who enhance my life in one way or another.
My physical health: I’ve got to the age of 50 and thankfully have good physical health which enables me to lead an active lifestyle. I am now determined to do what I can to maintain my health in order to maximise my chances of a healthy old age. Until recently I put an average effort into keeping fit and healthy but as the weight crept on and I found my cholesterol levels had increased I gave myself a sharp nudge to focus on my health as a priority.
Freedom: thankful I live in a country that allows a fairly decent amount of freedom. In the UK we generally have the freedom to make choices about our lifestyles irrespective of our age, gender or background. We can wear what we want, eat what we want, work and travel when we want and don’t have too many restrictions.
Holidays: In relative terms holidays have gradually become cheaper throughout the last 30 or 40 years which means many people in the Western world can enjoy several holidays and trips away each year. I am therefore grateful that I live in a time to be able to do this. Even 30 years ago, most people only had one holiday a year. And even less in previous generations.
Budget airlines: the likes of EasyJet and RyanAir have enabled me to see a fair amount of Europe, something which would have been more difficult and expensive in the past.
My best friend: we’ve been friends for over 35 years and she is the one person who has always been there as someone to confide in and share my highs and lows.
My friends: nothing beats having warm and lovely people to share experiences and good times with. I am particularly grateful that some of our friends have navigation and outdoor skills which enables me to join them for amazing trekking adventures.
My work colleagues: these guys make my work life so much happier!
My job: which provides a decent income which allows me to lead a comfortable life. I’m lucky that it is so flexible which means I can work at home sometimes, vary my start and finish times and build up hours to take additional ‘flexi’ days.
My annual leave allowance: I am thankful I have 32 days of annual leave each year which enables me to take several annual trips away.
My home: working in London, I constantly see homeless people sleeping rough on the streets. This always makes me feel grateful that I have a home to go to. We live in an apartment so it isn’t huge but its warm, comfortable and we have a roof over our heads.
Hot water: and a lovely hot shower each morning.
Clean water: to have taps with clean running water is a luxury compared with many countries around the world.
Central heating: as a teenager living in a 400 year old cottage, I remember waking up with ice inside my windows in the winter! I don’t have this in my warm cozy flat. Again, central heating is a relatively modern luxury which wasn’t available for past generations.
Dishwasher: I always appreciate not having to wash up the dishes… a) because I find washing dishes is a boring chore and b) because I have ezcema and the washing liquid makes my hands sore and itchy…
Washing machine: I also appreciate not having to hand wash clothes!
My comfortable bed: having slept in a range of uncomfortable beds while travelling the world in 2016, I am always grateful I have a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in. We brought a new bed last year and paid a bit extra for Egyptian cotton covers and a soft comfy mattress cover.
An abundance of fresh food: always at our fingertips.
My laptop: one relatively small device which can do so much: store photos, produce documents, send and receive emails, use of Google to research and plan trips and for the vast amount of knowledge available at your fingertips and countless other tasks. Sad, but I love my laptop!
Fast Internet access: essential in this day and age. Surprisingly one of the worst places for Internet access during our 2016 travels was Australia!
Books: as well as something to relax with at the end of the day, books provide a massive source of inspiration and knowledge.
Music: can be incredibly uplifting although this depends on the type of music you listen to! This is why I prefer upbeat music.
Nature: beautiful sunsets, sunrises, flowers, forests, animals, trees, beaches, hills, oceans…
Red wine: one of life’s little pleasures!
Dark chocolate: another little pleasure… nice dark chocolate straight from the fridge
Coffee: necessary throughout the day and particularly first thing in the morning… I’m grateful for that little quiet time when there’s just me, coffee and my laptop… personal laptop that is… not the ‘w’ one…
My car: I’m using it much less for local journeys particularly now that I have a 1050 mile walking challenge to meet this year, but having a car gives me the freedom to more or less go where I want, when I want.
Lack of stress: something I have learned much better to deal with as I’ve got older. Its important to rise above minor stresses and irritants and to stop wasting time and energy getting stressed over them.
Lack of debt: only a recent thing… I’ve relied on credit cards far too much throughout most of my adult life… now the feeling is good that the only debt I have is my mortgage.
Meals with family and friends: priceless! I love spending meal times with these special people 🙂
My drive and determination: this helped me to push through and achieve my academic and career aspirations. It also helped to ensure we achieved our year long 2016 career break.
My sense of adventure: just makes life more interesting…
My positive attitude: life is to be enjoyed and not endured and having a positive attitude helps me to swiftly get through tough times.
My mental health: thankfully I think my positive attitude helps to maintain good mental health. I’ve never suffered from depression or anxiety or any other mental health condition. I hope this continues!
My open mind: while I have listed many modern day conveniences I am flexible and desire a simple life. I would be as happy with the adventure you experience while camping as with the luxury of staying in a 5 star hotel. My open mind enables me to try new things, new foods and new experiences with enthusiasm.
My sense of humour: OK, so I’m not the wittiest person around but I believe its important not to take life too seriously and to see the funny side of things where possible.
Knowing when to let go: essential… nobody’s perfect and you need to drop things that start to impact on your own wellbeing and happiness. I try to let go of the following: perfection (its too stressful and being perfect mostly doesn’t matter anyway); baggage (sometimes difficult but if you don’t let go, it drags you down); worrying (doesn’t change the outcome); other peoples opinions (OK to listen but always best to do your own thing).
My minimalist values: maybe having an open mind has helped me to value experiences over things. Rather than spending money on material things including cars, houses, designer clothes and suchlike, I value living my life to the full with weekends spent walking in the countryside, weekends visiting a new place in Europe and holidays at every opportunity.
Beaches and the sea: I don’t enjoy laying by the beach on a sun bed but I do love beaches and the sea. That is snorkelling, swimming, walking along the beach, watching the waves crashing and soaking up the beach atmosphere.
Mountains: I am grateful that I’ve been able to climb a few hills and mountains and experience the sense of achievement and also the solitude this brings. Not everyone is able to do this and I’m keen to continue climbing hills and mountains while I am can. The feeling of standing at the top of a mountain and being awarded with incredible views is exhilarating.
Trekking: again, trekking around the countryside and particularly in scenic places such as hills and mountains in national parks or along the coast and the feeling of freedom you experience.
Restaurant choices: we are lucky to have a vast number of restaurant choices which enable us to sample fantastic food from every corner of the globe. This wasn’t something as common 50 years ago.
Laser eye treatment: brilliant! I had laser eye treatment when I was 40 years old so have spent the last 10 years being free from glasses or contact lenses.
Laser hair treatment: oh yes… permanently getting rid of pesky unwanted body hair about 4 or 5 years ago was awesome. It was great that during our 2016 travels I had the freedom of not having to shave my legs or carry a lady shave around.
Improved ezcema: I’ve suffered with ezcema since I was a baby and have had times when it has been so bad it has affected my entire body. Sore, inflammed and incredibly itchy skin… thankfully it seems to have improved as I’ve got older and got better at managing it. It hasn’t gone and it’s left its mark with scars and damaged skin but it’s under control at last!
My safety: in the UK we enjoy relative safety. Sadly there has been a number of terrorist incidents within the last few years but in reality, the chances of one getting involved is quite minimal. Compared with many countries and within reason and with normal precautions you are safe to go about your daily life without fear of being mugged or murdered.
My life: and hopefully many more years to come! You never know what life has in store for you and I am firmly committed to making the most of the journey through my life…

Week 13 walking progress

Week 13 walking progress:

Total for week 13 = 40 miles
Average per day for this week (40 / 7) = 5.71
Running total = 368 + 40 = 408 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 408) = 642

So, the first three months, or 25% of 2018 has gone already and I’ve achieved over 50% of my target for the year. This means I have been walking over twice as many miles on average each day to meet my target of 1050 miles.

I seem to be walking more and more miles each week which I think is partly because I am recording them in this blog. Counting them up and putting updates on here is inspiring me to walk even more…

I’ve got a big 16 miler coming up tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday, with a semi-local walking club that I haven’t walked with before. I’ll be exploring the rolling hills of the Chilterns with 20 other people I haven’t met. It’s like a mini, or micro adventure!

The great thing about these walking groups is that you also get to meet loads of interesting people and even though the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow, walking 16 miles with random strangers is better than sitting on the sofa!

April weigh-in

Starting weight: 10 st 7 lb

January weight: 9 st 10 lb

February weight: 9 st 0 lb (weight on 1st Feb would have been around 9 st 4 lb)

March weight: 8 st 12 lb

April weight: 8 st 7 lb (119 lbs or 54 kg)

Total weight loss: 28 lbs

I’ve gone quite a bit under my original 2018 target weight of 9 stones! The recommended weight for a 50 year old medium build 5′ 3″ woman is actually 8 st 10 lb so I’m slightly under the ‘normal’ weight for my height. I’m happy with this and would like to be able to keep my weight at around 8 st 7 lb rather than 9 st. The reason I originally set my target at 9 st was because I didn’t think I would be able to get below that weight!

Yesterday I sorted through my clothes and was delighted to find a size 10 holiday skirt which fitted beautifully! I haven’t been able to wear this for a few years and thankfully its one that never really goes out of fashion.

I’m consuming around 1200 – 1300 calories a day and still doing a huge amount of exercise most days. I’m anxious not to regain any of this weight and concerned that if I indulge in chocolate or cakes that I will lose my focus and the weight will pile on again…

A typical week of exercise for me at the moment is:

Mon: walk 5.25 miles to the station and back; spend an hour at the gym (700 calories burned)
Tue: work at home and go swimming at lunchtime (400 calories burned)
Wed: work at home and go swimming at lunchtime (400 calories burned)
Thu: walk to and from station and hour at gym (700 calories)
Fri: as above (700 calories)
Sat: walk around my local town (300 calories)
Sun: walk with a local walking club (750 calories)

This is more exercise than I’ve ever done so I’m probably fitter now than I was 10 or even 20 years ago!

A typical day of eating goes something like this:

Breakfast: a small bowl of bircher muesli with oat milk (300 calories)
Snack: banana (100 calories)
Lunch: Vegetarian soup from Pret (200 calories)
Snack: grapes/mixed nuts (200 calories)
Dinner: Sweet potato curry (400 calories)
Coffee: (100 calories)

The calories are estimated and rounded to the nearest 100!

Having received some helpful advice from my best friend (who is the same height as me and has had a similar yo-yo diet pattern over the years), in order to try and maintain my current weight I am going to do the following:

Stick to around 1200 calories a day during weekdays
Continue doing lots of exercise each day
Have treats and eat more at the weekends

And monitor my weight each week to keep a check and ensure it doesn’t start creeping upwards again!

Today I start my vegan month…

First step: getting rid of unwanted clothes

Its Easter Saturday today which means a long four day weekend and the perfect time to start making some progress towards a capsule wardrobe!

Wikipedia explains the official term capsule wardrobe was coined in the 1970’s by somebody called Susie Faux with the idea being you create a wardrobe with a few essential pieces of key clothing that don’t go out of fashion.

Like most things, you can take this type of phrase and adapt it as you wish. My reasons for creating a capsule wardrobe are as follows:

Reduce the stress of too much clothing clutter
Create more space in my wardrobe
Only keep clothes I actually wear

With reference to the third point above it has been said that the 80:20 rule often applies to clothes and I found several web articles on this. The idea is “many people wear only 20% of their clothes for 80% of the time”. I think this is a fairly accurate description of the frequency of the clothes I wear!

I’ve made the initial attempt at de-cluttering my wardrobe… I think I still have a few more things to reduce before I can official say I have a ‘capsule wardrobe’ but I’m pleased I’ve made a start today!

These were the basic rules I applied to my clothing de-clutter:

Get rid of anything that is too big – now that I’ve lost nearly 2 stones since 4th December 2017 I don’t want to keep anything that is too big ‘just in case’. I need to get it into my head that my current size is my size and that it is a permanent thing and not a temporary state. So after trying multiple things on I’ve sifted out various items of larger clothing that now look ridiculously baggy.
Get rid of old and tired looking clothes – and faded and generally clothes that are past their best. Some of these items of clothing have hung around in my wardrobe for a couple of years and are just taking up space.
Just keep a small number of ‘indoor’ clothes – like the old pair of jeans that you wouldn’t want to wear if you are going out but are OK to wear around the home. You only need one such pair! And maybe a couple of tops…
Get rid of clothes I haven’t worn in a while – I don’t want to put a time limit on these as some only get worn on certain types of occasion. For example, I may not have worn my strappy sandals for 12 months but that doesn’t mean I won’t wear them in the summer. I think this just needs a bit of common sense and maybe re-phrasing to ‘get rid of clothes I am not intending to wear ever again’…

So I still have my shoes and underwear to go through but already I have a nice big chunk of space in my wardrobe!

And I need to start thinking more carefully about how I’m going to apply the idea of a capsule wardrobe which I think is something more than just getting rid of a few clothes…

Vegapril starts tomorrow

“The number of vegans in Britain has risen by 360% in 10 years” says the Daily Telegraph.

This means that over half a million people or over 1% of the UK population has turned to a vegan diet, a choice more popular with the younger generation. The Telegraph suggests the main factors driving this trend are healthy eating and a growing awareness about the way animals are farmed.

My month as a vegan is starting tomorrow, 1st April which also happens to be Easter Sunday. And happens to coincide with a visit to my elderly parents-in-law.

My in-laws live in Norfolk which is a two hour drive and means we don’t get to see them as often as we would if they lived closer. So when we visit they usually book up a restaurant and the four of us go out for dinner which saves them any work and we can maximise the time we have with them.

Unfortunately my father-in-law hasn’t been too well and isn’t feeling up to going out so my mother-in-law is going to cook for us. She has kindly offered to cook a chickpea and aubergine curry which sounds delicious. However, with my father-in-law being unwell I don’t want to give her anything else to have to think about. So I haven’t actually told her that I am starting a vegan month…

Similar to my thoughts as mentioned when I started my March vegetarian month, I don’t like to put people to any trouble, particularly as she is elderly and cooking for us and looking after my father-in-law.

Lets see how things go tomorrow…

In addition, I’ve just checked on the wine situation for vegans. Apparently most wine does contain small amounts of animal by-products. I’m not sure I want to give up wine as well for a month so on the basis I only usually have about 3 – 4 glasses of red wine a week, I’ll continue to drink the odd glass of wine on my vegan month but will make a point of seeking out vegan wine.

I’ve been having oat milk on my breakfast cereal for over a year and I now prefer this to cows milk. The only milk I do have is in coffee which means I’ll need to drink black coffee from tomorrow. I think I’ll miss having milk in my coffee…

I’m going to try my best to follow a vegan diet by removing all meat, fish, dairy and eggs and will try to substitute these for healthy options where possible. And the odd glass of wine…

And I’ve discovered that vegans eat dark chocolate! Hurrah!

Conclusion on a vegetarian lifestyle

Today is the final day of my month as a vegetarian and tomorrow I switch to vegan.

I’ve spent the whole of March on a diet which has excluded all meat and fish products which according to the Vegetarian Society is a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. This is the term used for vegetarians who eat dairy products and is the most common type of vegetarian.

Firstly I can say I found it very easy to lead a vegetarian lifestyle which is probably because my husband has been a pescatarian for a number of years, that is, someone who doesn’t eat meat but who does eat fish. He also occasionally has chicken but it has to be free-range organic chicken.

Rather than cooking separate meals, I’ve also tended to follow this diet too. So the main difference has been the lack of fish or chicken for a month.

As I mentioned in the previous ‘mid month‘ update, our dinners have contained meat substitutes such as Quorn which I still have mixed feelings about due to it being processed. Also, if you substitute lean meat such as chicken or turkey for say a cheese flan or cheese pasty, this has to be the more unhealthy choice too.

My conclusion?

In my view a vegetarian diet is easy to follow although, unless you limit the processed meat substitutes, cheese and pastry, I can’t really see the health benefits.

In addition, I would think there is greater suffering for cows if you consume larger amounts of cheese and milk. Rather than being slaughtered at a young age, cows have to go through multiple pregnancies throughout their lives to meet the demand for human consumption of their milk. So which is worse?

As mentioned, I’m starting ‘Vegapril’ (instead of Veganuary) tomorrow to experience a month as a vegan. Although the increase in people choosing a vegan lifestyle is rapidly increasing, I’m anticipating a few more challenges…

Meditation course booked!

Now that I’ve reached 50 years of age I’m working hard on improving my physical health however I do realise its just as important to consider the health of your mind too.

I’ve read the odd book on mindfulness and spirituality including the brilliant ‘The Power of Now‘ by Eckhart Tolle, a book I had to read more than once just to get my head around it. Tolle explains the only way to live your life is in the present moment rather than worrying about the past (which has gone) or the future (which isn’t here yet). This makes perfect sense although is sometimes easier said than done!

Especially the future bit… your future is to a certain extent determined by what and how you plan for today… if you drift through your life and don’t plan anything, things tend not to happen. Nobody knocks on your door and produces a life for you and I’m a firm believer that you create your own luck and create your own happiness in life. Which requires thinking about the future…

Anyway… back to the point before I start over-thinking… I did experience a touch of mind calming and a couple of minutes of meditation while doing yoga classes recently in the Maldives but have never participated in ‘proper’ meditation sessions…

Well… Chris (my husband) and I have just booked a 6 week course of weekly beginners meditation sessions to start after Easter! I’m quite intrigued as I’m not really sure what to expect…

I’ll post updates in due course…

UPDATE: Sadly the meditation course was cancelled due to lack of participants… will search for another one…

Week 12 walking progress

Week 12 walking progress:

Total for week 12 = 52 miles
Average per day for this week (52 / 7) = 7.43
Running total = 316 + 52 = 368 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 368) = 682

Wow! Massive effort this week! Am I becoming obsessed? I’ve been in the office 4 times this week which, given that I walk over 5 miles a day (to and from stations as the walking element of my commute) every time I go into London to work, this has pushed things up a it.

In addition, I decided to walk through Central London instead of getting the tube during the working day (on top of the daily London trek from and to the station). For example its nearly 2 miles from one of our Central London offices to another one. And meeting my daughter in the West End after work racked up another couple of miles. So one day I actually walked 14 miles just by not taking the tube! (And burned off a huge 1200 extra calories too)

And on Sunday I did 12 miles with my local walking club…

Posting these updates every week or two is certainly helping to keep me motivated and look for ways of walking extra miles!