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Jane February 20th, 2009

Well, it’s been a while since my last post, and plenty has happened since then.  I had to stop the boot camp sessions, because for some unknown reason they had a huge and alarming impact on the results of my blood tests (it’s taken until this week to re-stabilise).  I’ve had to recalibrate my eating, drinking and exercise, and I’m finally back within my “safe” range for blood results.

Obviously, I’ve thought a lot about this.  Why it might have happened, and what it means for me in the long term.  I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe – just maybe – intense exercise does me more harm than good, and I need to look for lower-impact ways to keep myself fit and healthy.  So arising from all of this drama and stress, I’ve tried to come up with a gentler, and more balanced approach.  Currently, I’m walking for just over an hour at a good pace, 3-4 times per week.  I’m also hoping to start doing a short pilates session (20-30 minutes) in the evenings – I find it relaxing and I need to work on my core!  But probably the most significant change has been to take a good, long look at my diet, and to start trying to eat more healthily and sustainably, and to cut back on sugars, fats and alcohol consumption.

Up until this point, I think I had a fantasy that by doing exercise, I could eat whatever I wanted.  That might be true if  I were running marathons, but for a time-poor, stressed individual like me, it just doesn’t work.  Having realised that I needed to cut back, I had to balance this with the fact that I love a good home-cooked dinner, a few drinks, ice-cream occasionally…  I haven’t found that balance just yet, but I’m working on it. I’m trying to eat lightly during the day, so that I can enjoy a good dinner at night.  I’m trying to avoid alcohol on weeknights, which has the side-effect of reducing how much I drink on the weekend.  I tell myself that if I can get through the day without snacking on the biscuits at work, I can have a couple of scoops of ice-cream after dinner – and half the time I don’t even end up having them.

I want to eat well, eat more natural foods and reduce the amount of processed food and chemicals in my diet.  Sure, that might mean eating food made with (gasp) real butter, sugar or cream (in moderation), but I don’t think that will hurt me in the long run.  I mean, 50 years ago, nobody would have even considered reduced-fat cream or cream alternatives in their cooking.  And yet the world’s population is unquestionably fatter now than it was then.  Surely it can’t be all bad?

I still have a very long way to go, and I definitely need to find the right eating pattern for me.  The exercise side of things is fine, though, and I’m pretty sure that I’m on the right track.  I know I’ve said it thousands of times before, but wish me luck…

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Jane December 1st, 2008

Well, much to my amazement, I survived my second session of bootcamp, although it was pretty painful!

I had my third session (week 2, session 1) this morning, and I’m sore all over again (especially my quads).  Surely I should be able to see some changes soon, with this much punishment?!  Although my eating seems to have gotten worse – I’m so much more hungry…

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Jane November 27th, 2008

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so here’s a quick update – I finished the Couch to 5K (yay me!) but along the way caused a few niggling injuries, so cut back on the running to reduce the impact on my joints and feet.

Since then, I’ve been looking for a new challenge, and made the decision to try out bootcamp-style training to see if it lives up to the hype.

A little bit nervously, I contacted Original Bootcamp and found out that there is one operating in the Brisbane CBD.  It’s 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) from 6am until 7.15am.  Great! I thought.  I’ll get my exercise out of the way before the day starts! I thought.

What I didn’t realise is that to make it into the city at that ungodly hour, I have to get out of bed around 4.30am, drive to the nearest bus terminal and catch a bus at 5.15.  What I also didn’t realise is how short the gap between sessions feels when you’re in PAIN.

I had my first session yesterday.  It was actually the second session of the month, so everyone else had already had one.  Against all expectations the instructor, Zac, is very nice, quite cute and not at all shouty.  However, that didn’t mean he let anyone slack off at all.

We started by jogging around him in a large circle.  A few laps at an easy jog, then it was running with knees-up, followed by butt-kicking, followed by side-stepping, for what felt like maybe 5 minutes.  At this point I was thinking I was doing OK, and relieved that thus far there hadn’t been anything I was incapable of doing.  Alas, it turned out this was just the warm-up.

Next, we lined up in two rows facing each other for the strength work.  The training pattern was to do 20 seconds of one exercise, followed by a 10 second rest, then 20 seconds of another, followed by a 10 second rest, for 4 sets.  First up was squats for 20 seconds, alternated with a static squat for 20 seconds.  Then it was the same with lunges.  Then sumo squats.  Then jumping squats alternated with jumping lunges, and finally just a full set of static squats.  When he said “you can go and get a drink”, I stumbled clumsily over to the water bottle, marvelling at how my legs appeared to have suddenly stopped working.

Then it was upper body.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not blessed with upper body strength.  First up was military push-ups, alternated with a plank at the top of the push-up, then star push-ups alternated with a plank at the bottom of a push-up.  Then it was something called a ‘hindu push-up’ – hard to explain and even harder to do, and suffice it to say I couldn’t manage a single one properly.

At long last, it was time for abs.  Again, not my strongest suit.  We did sit-ups alternated with planks, then reverse crunches alternated with double leg lifts.  And at the end, when everything felt like jelly, everyone had to get into a plank position.  The first person to drop out had to do 18 burpies (otherwise known as squat thrusts, I think), the next person 16, and so on.  I was the second, and had to do 16.  Not cool.

After all that, I made my way back through the city to work with some difficulty, and spent the rest of the day anticipating the pain to come.  And come it did… I woke up this morning feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, and I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

I’m dreading tomorrow morning’s session – it’s going to be hard getting out of bed, and even harder working out so intensely again when I’m so sore!  I have to keep telling myself that it will be worth it when I start seeing results…

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Jane October 28th, 2008

Well, I’m up to week 8 of the Couch to 5K, and am successfully running for 28 minutes straight per session.  Who would have thought it?!  7 weeks ago, I could barely manage 90 seconds at a time…

Of course, having to get into a wedding dress in a year or so’s time is a pretty good motivator.

What’s annoying me, though, is that after all this effort and time, I’m really not seeing much in the way of results.  I’m not eating more, or worse, and I’m definitely working a lot harder, so WHY WON’T I LOSE WEIGHT!?!?  grr.

On the other hand, I’m actually fairly proud of myself for sticking with it.  When I finish next week (and finish I shall), it will be the first time I’ve honestly seen an exercise program or challenge through to the end (the closest I ever came before was when I dropped out of a 12-week challenge at week 9).

My plan is this – now that I’ve got the exercise thing more or less under control, phase 2 is to make some changes to my eating and drinking habits.  Still determined to get there!

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Jane September 22nd, 2008

Steve and I are engaged! 

Click here to see the ring…or here 

Very exciting!

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Jane September 16th, 2008

Well, so far so good!  Although the Couch to 5K is only 3 days per week, I’ve still been getting in to work at the same time and going for a walk on the days I’m not running.   Sure, it’s only since last Friday (and I’m not doing much on weekends), but that’s still a pretty consistent effort for me, and I’m not finding it a particular struggle to get out at this time every day.

I’d run every day, but I don’t want to injure myself.  Slow and steady, and you never know, I might actually stick to it…

I still feel bad about giving up on the shred, but I think whatever I can do consistently has to be better than only doing it now and then, and feeling guilty the rest of the time.  For whatever reason, the morning running/walking seems to be working OK.

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Jane September 15th, 2008

A website I recently stumbled on and read (thanks to Miss G for the link!), and one which I thought was worth passing on… Que-Sarah-Sarah.  It’s not a long blog (sadly), but it’s a truly inspirational one.

Just a reminder to us all to appreciate each day we have, and not to take anything for granted. 

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Jane September 15th, 2008

It’s been almost a month since last I wrote.   A month of inactivity, followed by deep feelings of guilt about said inactivity.

No more.  I’m sick of excuses.  And I’m going to lose the flab, get fit and fabulous and stop feeling sorry for myself. 

I think I’ve finally discovered a time when I can regularly exercise, without having to get up too ridiculously early, get interrupted by work or have to do it when I get home, exhausted.  If I get up just 10 minutes earlier and catch the train before my usual one, I get in to work around 7 am.  I can then head out for a good 40-60 minutes, come back, shower and have breakfast - all before 8.30.

The thing is, I’m so lucky to be young and relatively healthy.  And I’m wasting it if I don’t take care of my health and fitness.   Being overweight and inactive are major risk factors for another clot, and I just can’t afford to ignore that – especially with a sedentary job.

I’ve started the Couch to 5K.  I jumped in at Week 2, and have done it twice now.  I’m doing OK (I was a bit sore over the weekend!) and I hope I’ll be able to keep it up and not let myself down…again… And theoretically at least, in another 8 or so weeks I should be able to run 5 kilometres!  Yay!

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Jane August 19th, 2008

more cat pictures

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Jane August 19th, 2008

…and looking at my blog for the last little while, it seems that there is a bit of a theme developing.  The “I have a plan”, followed by “oops I stuffed it up again” theme.

Clearly, I’m struggling with trying to keep up any diet and exercise program with any sort of consistency.  I’m not sure I understand why that is, except that perhaps I’m expecting too much of myself at the outset, then giving up when I can’t meet the high standards I’ve set.

Needless to say, the past 2 weeks have not been a success, diet and exercise-wise.  I haven’t been too bad with my eating, but then again I haven’t been consistent and I have definitely not managed to keep it all together so far as exercise is concerned.  I haven’t gained weight but I haven’t lost any either.

What now?  I don’t know.  I’m struggling a bit work-wise as well at the moment – I’m only 2 weeks back at the firm and have been thrown straight back into the deep end, with long days and a heavy workload.  I want to get back to the shred and Wii Fit, but when I get home, all I want to do is collapse on the couch with a glass of wine.  5am doesn’t work – I just ended up getting more and more exhausted through the week, and missing the only time of day I get to see Steve because I had to go to bed early.

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d appreciate them…

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