Health and fitness update

Long term readers of my blog will know that I’m really big on prioritising my health, well being and fitness. Of course, we can’t control our health fully – we will always have certain susceptibilities, but I believe what we do now can have a huge impact on our future, for better or worse. I’m definitely someone who cares (not obsesses) about the numbers on the scales, but the main reasons I try to lead a healthy lifestyle are:

1. There are so many places I want to go in the world which means I need be fit and healthy for as long as possible. I want to be skiing with my children at 60, not left behind.

2. I want to have a good go at fulfilling my potential.

3. I want to avoid illnesses; particularly additional aches and pains as I get older.

4. I want to set a good example to my children.

Before you get the wrong impression, I am by no means perfect. I can be so up and down, and it’s frustrating. Up until the beginning of March this year I was exercising a couple of times a week and eating far more chocolate than I should have been. I’m a very all or nothing can person and am very good at justifying myself: “…but I’ve already eaten a bun, so I may as well write the day off” or “…we’ve got a wedding at the weekend, so I may as well eat what I want until then”. These are the thought processes I am really trying to change. I don’t want to be an all or nothing person, I want to be a balanced one that tries again, even if she fails.

Over Easter I got chatting to one of my cousins and she told me that she goes to the gym 4 or 5 mornings a week at 5am. Yes 5am! She has four children between the ages of 2 and 15, and she runs a busy ad agency with her husband. Granted she goes to bed at 9pm every night, but I was so inspired. I on the other hand have been ‘thinking about’ attending early morning classes for months, but have never actually bothered to get out of bed to go to one. I felt totally ridiculous. Thankfully, my gym doesn’t open until 6:30am, so I told her I would book myself in that very same week. I did…and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

That was a month ago now and things are still going really well. I’ve started to have some personal training sessions too as I felt I’d reached a plateau. My personal trainer has found that my front muscles (quads and abs) are much stronger than my posterior muscles (glutes, hamstrings and back muscles), so we’re working on evening them up. He’s putting a programme together that I should be able to alone in a few weeks times. I’ve also been very inspired by Keri-Anne’s fitness updates.

I’m regretting signing up for a half marathon in June as it’s interfering with gym work. I know I’m fit enough to complete it, but I’m not going to focus on time at all. I’ve decided to accept that I don’t enjoy running further than about 6/7 miles, and that’s fine. Kerri-Anne sent me the 22 minute sprint session she does on the treadmill and it makes me feel absolutely amazing afterwards!

Food wise I’ve eaten sugar twice in the last month. Deliciously Ella‘s book has been making it bearable and has really reduced my cravings. The important thing is that I ate sugar once and then I didn’t the day after – that is a mini breakthrough for me. I find it so hard to get back on track after a slip up, but I managed it. My energy is so much better when I cut sugar out and it gives my body chance to recalibrate. I want to do another strict couple of months and then see what happens.

The (sort of) bad news is that I’ve put on 4 lbs! Not ideal. I’ve never eaten this healthily or exercised this much in my life, but I’m assured that it is completely normal to put on 3-6lbs when you start exercising a lot more than usual. My clothes still fit ok, so I’m not too worried – just a little disappointed.

If you’re interested in reading other posts I’ve written about health and well being then look here:

– My journey with clean eating

– Why you (yes you) should get a massage

– November 2014 – Fitness update

– July 2014 – Health and fitness update

– March 2014 – Gymming it 

– How much sugar does a child need?

E xx