I have been doing stuff honest!

For some reason, I've not been feeling much like blogging this week - feeling a bit drained due to work & some other stuff - but not too drained to exercise which is much more important than writing about it!

Tuesday: Very pleasant walk with A - the dark streets of our Victorian railway town (the last one to be built apparently) made enjoyable by a good natter. We kept up a reasonable pace & kept going for an hour. We discussed possible goals - doing the Race for Life in less than 30 mmins is the current favourite.

Wednesday: Body Combat - yay! Current routine includes some wonderfully tacky music - I'm sure Kurt Cobain would rolling around in his grave if he heard the version of smells like teen spirit. And there was a skate punk bit!

Thursday: Swimming with Husband. My shoulders were a bit achey after BC on Wed, but I think it was good to move the muscles around.

And back to normal....

Gym twice last week - Tuesday & Friday. Tuesday was just a quick blast on the x trainer but added a 20 minute jog on Friday. I think my big goal may be to do race for life in sub 30 mins...

Bike ride on Sunday - 18.5 miles with Husband & A. Fab route - forest tracks then a bit of off-national-park bridle way, a ford, some mud then back on the forest tracks - the concrete bits that were used for planes in WW2.

Have agreed with A that we will aim to do something exercise-wise on Tuesday evenings - prob walking - it'll be great to be able to combine calorie burning & a good natter again!

And back on the Big D today - boo hiss - and had some birthday cake so I can't eat much this evening!

Paved with Good Intentions

I did mean to blog wholst on hols - honest!

Anyhow, a summary:

• 3 jeeps
• Desert
• 2 bike rides
• Hoodoos
• Umpteen mini hikes
• Humungous portions
• A natural water slide
• More Desert
• Chipmunks, mule deer, turkey vultures, wild turkeys & lots of flowers I'm yet to identify
• And Desert

Vegas

Counts as exercise coz we walked alot & I was the only person in the city going up steps when there was an escalator alternative! Liked our hotel (NYNY) mostly coz it didn't involve too much walking though...
Like it, but so glad to be out of there. The noise just got to me on day 2 - there is no quiet anywhere - and the slot machine noise just drove me out of casinos!
It's an impressive showcase though - everything is done well whether its the roller coaster around our hotel (bigger thrill than we expected) or the sphinxes at Luxor or the stoned grand canal inside & upstairs at the venetian.
Pics later....

Mourning my gold card!

Gym on Wed night - 40 mins on the x trainer.

Now in the Virgin Lounge at Gatwick - champagne, bacon roll, cut & blow dry...... I'm going to miss my gold card when it gets relegated to a red at the end of the month!

Not a great weekend for calorie burning

I seemed to be rushing around all weekend without getting to do any exercise! That's unless you count emptying my Watford flat of its bed and stuff and transferring it to G's new house - I guess there was lifting & stairs.....

Anyhow, gym last night - 45 mins on the cross trainer & some time on the leg press. Just bear with me until next week when I will have pretty pics & much more interesting activity to record!

Buffy Aerobics - at last!

Very happy coz I got to do Body Combat for the first time in getting on for a year - and it's still great! Music is still as cheesey (Pink's "Trouble" and Europe's "Final Countdown" both featured tonight), Juliana is still terriffic, I still get left & right mixed up - and as for flying kicks, the less said the better. It gives me more of an exercise high than any other class I've tried and I'm so glad I'll be able to go more often - but not next week coz I'll be at the dentist and the 2 Wednesdays after that, I'll be in the states - but hey - more often than once a year!

Water water everywhere....and cross trainers

Gym on Friday evening (guess what - more cross trainer!) & then went swimming on Saturday at the gym and again on Sunday at a spa. Spa day would have been great but C was very unwell - kind of defeated the objective of a nice relaxing day for her - poor thing.
Tonight we went to the gym again - yet more cross trainer - my excuse being that my chest is a little sore after boogying on Saturday night (not blogging the details!) so impact is a bad idea atm.

New Photo

Taken by Husband today....
and taken by him back in May...

As Wednesday

Ditto!

Really should review my training schedule.....

Gym - back at the Hampshire

40 mins on the x trainer & some weights. Dull TV!

Dog Walking

I couldn't cycle on Monday as my face was still tender & swollen from the bone graft. So instead, I hitched a lift with Husband who was meeting J&B and A&M for a bike ride in the Forest. Whilst they pedalled over the horizon, I took J's corgi Sally for a walk. Horrendous traffic - we should know better by now than to attempt the Forest on a bank holiday!

2 and a half hours later, came back to car park with slightly tired looking corgi. She was very tolerant of being dragged around by me, posed for some pics and was very well behaved but she seemed very pleased to see J afterwards!

Very grateful to Sally that I didn't have to bag up any dog poo en route as I think that falls into the category of life skills I don't intend to acquire (along with changing nappies and changing tyres).

J did incredibly well - cycling 19.7 miles, almost all off road, despite not having cycled at all for at least a year. A was also chuffed as she could remember doing the same route just a few weks ago & finding it so much easier this time.

Rounded off the day nicely with a drink & meal in Burley.

Walking

Half an hour yesterday to walk to the dentist - which will be about all the exercise I will do fora couple of days as post dentist, I look like a lopsided bloodhound & it's all quite tender if not too painful!

Big D - what works for me whitter

Food that's really helped me so far with the Big D:

• Rice cakes - weirdly nice - I like the plain ones with low fat soft cheese but also love caramel snack-a-jacks.
• Big punnets of cherry tomatoes - I've been getting through 275-450g per day, snacking whilst I work. High fill factor & I feel as if I am eating lots of food.
• M&S ready meals - way too many of these recently but I love the Steam range that manages to taste good as opposed to just being virtuous.
• Parmesan cheese & high cocoa solid dark chocolate - loads of flavour in not very much volume.
• Smoked trout, smoked haddock, smoked salmon - again, oodles of flavour.
• Microwave porridge for breakfast - quick, satisfying & keeps me full til lunchtime.
• Cereal bars - esp alpen light - v.useful for breakfast in the car.
• Courgettes at barbecues this summer - I can have a plateful of food without blowing out big D.
• Solero ice lollies - much more satisfying than a low fat yoghurt!

Food that really doesn't work for me:

• Low fat yoghurts - no fill factor & often taste bad...
• Fruit juice - loads of calories for no fill factor & not as good for me as eating the fruit instead...
• Diet ready meals that are only a tad under the calorie level of tastier options.
• Boring cereal bars which appear to be nought but puffed rice.

Last ever visit to Esporta in Hemel

40 mins on the x trainer, 30 on the bike. I thought about jogging but my knee was a tad achey so cycled instead.

Unwanted consequence of being more active...

My wedding ring doesn't fit me anymore - I have weirdly knuckle-less fingers & my ring was secured solely by flab. It's been loose for a while but when it fell off whilst we were packing bags at the supermarket on Sunday, I decided to switch to my spare - which isn't quite so loose and is nowhere near as valuable if it does fall off! I think I will leave off deciding what action to take on adjusting the ring for a few months - see what happens with my weight....

Belated Birthday Celebration

Saturday was good - even the weather behaved - surprising as there were many heavy showers, but none that hit us whilst outside!

14.5 mile bike ride - even better as it was from the house so no funny business with bike carriers involved. We skirted north of Bishopstoke Woods then took a tree root infested lane up to Owslebury. Climbed even higher onto teh chalk downs followed by a speedy descent, mostly on quiet & pretty lanes. I can't believe how much stronger A is now on her bike. M, Husband & MS did over 16 miles as they can't read maps....

In the evening, got drunk at Mudeford beach in great company. I'm not going to reel off a list of initials but G will be miffed if not mentioned (only coz she reckons she's not been referred to so far in this blog!) - it was brilliant to see her & everybody else. It wasn't warm, but it was mostly dry. Played swingball, boules & rounders & ended up bringing vast quantities of sand into the house. Grateful to M & A for driving.

Sunday was active too - dug up potatoes at the allotment and then spent time sorting out the debris at the side of the house - it almost looks tidy now! This did entail evicting a large hedgehog so we are hoping that he finds another home in our garden soon....

Gym - just for a change

Another good interval jog on the treadmill:
8 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9.5kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9.5kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 1 mins 9.5kmph.
Plus 15 mins on the x trainer, 15 mins on the bike & some weights.

I think I'll only be going to Esporta at Hemel a couple more times before leaving Watford. The lack of TV channels has been a bit frustrating (Music/Sky Sports/Sky News/random terrestrial) but apart from that, I've enjoyed using the gym - there's always equipment available and the changing rooms are a little nicer than the Hampshire's.

Smug!

This morning I am wearing a size 18 Boden skirt - 3 months ago, my size 20 Boden skirts were a tad snug. I am also wearing a size 18 M&S blouse - previously was wearing size 22 M&S shirts. Last night, established that my new size 18 Monsoon skirt fits me - 3 months ago, was in size 22 Monsoon skirts (admittedly, they were on the loose side even then!).

So I figure that in the eyes of M&S, Boden & Monsoon, I can declare myself mostly a size 18 (my size 20 Boden shirts are still not baggy though).

Feeling smug - get me (to quote Baby Sister)! Apologies for the gloat!

Gym last night

Treadmill to wam up followed by 25 min treadmill jog, finishing with 25 mins on the x trainer. Pleased with my jog - 8 mins at 7.5kmph then did the rest as 2 min intervals between 9 and 7.5.

Yesterday was a challenge for the Big D - I bought cakes at lunchtime for the office to commemorate my birthday at the weekend & had lots of calories sat on my desk for most of the afternoon. Gave in to 1 M&S mini-mini roll.... Still got quite a bit left today so more will power required!