Me, morning I start, prior to product application.
I have baggy eyes, huge bags! and I’ve done an impulse buy of a product. I thought I would use this product on just one eye for a couple of weeks and take a pic every day.
I’m not going to say what the product is, or which eye I’m doing, thought it would be interesting to see if anyone notices any differences.
So, each evening I’m going to post a photo along with the photo in this blog, if you see one eye looking less baggy, please do comment, ‘right’ if right looks improved to you, ‘left’ if left looks improved to you, ‘none’ if you see no improvement.
So, my rules, photo in this blog, no product. Each morning and evening, apply product, each evening post blog and photos, evening photo will be prior to evening product application, note any issues on evening blog.
Today’s food and exercise has been good, not brilliant, but good.
Last night was a bad night again, but I didn’t stop drinking two hours before bed, so tonight I’m not having anymore water after 8.30pm, 42 minutes left!
I opened my box of chocs work got me, and I was happy to see the chocolate monster (my boss) had demolished it… almost! There were two chocs left, I had one and told him the last choc is for our other team mate!
I took cake in, a small 4 portion cake, only Peter and I were in, so I cut it into four and limited us to a portion each, and when Liz is in tomorrow, she and Peter can have the last two portions. I also took in cherry juice and pineapple juice, Peter and I had some cherry juice today, I had one glass, and Peter was taking the rest home (has to be fridged when open, and we don’t have a fridge). We’ll have pineapple juice tomorrow.
Paul and I are going to a steak house over the weekend, we rarely go out, I’m really looking forward to it, I doubt we’ll be that good! Just hoping we weigh on Saturday rather than Sunday, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things.
But to be honest, I am looking forward to being totally back on track, and working on increasing my exercises again!
Dinner – spag bol, sorry Italians, I know this is not at all authentic! 5% fat steak mince, garlic, garlic puree, mushrooms, onions, frozen peas, olives, dried oregano and sage, tin of chopped tomatoes. Wholewheat pasta. A few squirts of 1cal spray. I didn’t eat it all
Fluid – 200ml milk, 2 teas, 1 glass of cherry juice, 500ml water. I really do need to work on lowering my teas and upping my water!
Exercise – 11 minute cardio, followed by 15 minute strength. I really was feeling lazy, but I am pleased I did my exercises. Honestly, I am pleased, despite what the following face says!
I’m not smiling cos I have no energy left!
So now I’m relaxing, writing up my post while the hairy bikers grace my tv. Looking forward to some time dedicated to reading your blogs!
A (slightly mournful) disclaimer – just to let you know, this hasn’t been a proud day, but it’s been a great day. I promised myself the blog would be honest, warts and all.
Today has been a great day, work was not too busy, until about 4.45pm anyway, got loads to do tomorrow morning!
I managed to do the exercise programme review blog which I’ve been meaning to do for ages.
I had a bit of a lay in this morning and was woken by my gorgeous niece who wanted to wish me a happy birthday, I also got to speak to my nephew, their mum, and there may have been a murmer from our youngest niece! There is no better way to be woken up 😍
My daughter and her partner popped in with a beautiful card and lovely presents (naughty as they’ve already got a pressie on order), Paul also spoiled me with card and pressies (naughty as he’s already bought me a foraging day)!
My mum in law bought me ciggies from duty free, and my sister in law bought me a voucher for one of my favourite restaurants!
On top of all this, I’ve had loads of lovely messages!
Talk about SPOILED ROTTEN!
So, let’s get on with business!
Food – 28g natural nuts, my salad, 1 banana, 2 shortbread bickies and 1 chocolate, bickies and choc courtesy of my daughter and (one day to be) daughter in law! Salad. I purposely didn’t have egg and fruit to try and counter the treats.
Salmon with oven cooked onion, squash, courgette, onion and mushroom, with a bit of quinoa. Added the quinoa as Amy joined us for dinner, so was making food go further. I would like to say at this point, I fought hard to stop a Chinese order being made!
And then…… chocolate cake! I have already portioned the remainder out and tubbed it up ready to give to the family.
The dome by the way is hollow, it’s a smash cake!
Me and PaulMe and Amy, who decided to use a bit of plastic as a hat!
Fluid – 200ml milk, 3 teas, 1l water. There will be no more fluid in about 20 minutes, I only had to get up three times last night, and I’m sure that’s because of my fluid intake curfew!
Exercise – Paul’s alarm didn’t wake me this morning, my body was obviously clinging onto sleep, so I didn’t do exercise first thing. I did do my planned stretches during my lunch time, but nothing tonight.
So, a bit of damage limitation, not enough though I fear, but a wonderful day!
Tomorrow will not be brilliant either, however I’ve only got a small cake for the office, I might even get away with having no cake! In all honesty, I’m not sure I have that much self restraint!
I’m hoping this post finds anyone who feels like they may want to give some exercises a try, but are not sure where to start, or are nervous. I’ve been there too, am still there! but hopefully this post might just give you a little positive nudge to explore some options 🙂
As ever, please remember dear readers, I am not a professional in health, exercise or medical stuff – I like my backside on a chair, in front of a couple of computer screens!
When I first started this journey of mine, I was determined to follow NHS guidelines for exercise and changing my diet.
We know the most successful way to find our healthy selves is with a split of approximately 20% exercise / 80% healthy food, and that we should be aiming to lose between 1lb and 2lb per week.
My journey is evolving all the time, with food and nutrition a question pops into my head, I look it up, and find ways to tweak stuff, hoping to find my optimum path.
I’m finding my exercises are being tweaked as well, I started out knowing this was going to cost me very little money, just stuff like a step platform, comfortable exercise clothes (which I ended up not needing.. yet). So, the obvious place to go is to YouTube – and what a great site it is (is platform the right word?). I haven’t looked back!
I’m not perfect, I still fall out of the habit of exercising, and there are loads of days where I feel like just sitting down and not moving, sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed. But the one thing I do know, I’m a great deal more healthy and flexible than I was only 3ish months ago!
There are hills I’ve climbed recently that I could barely crawl up before, I can almost run up stairs, I can get out of a chair without needing help or support. For me, I’m so glad I choose to exercise as well as change my diet.
FYI – NHS recommends 150 minutes moderate activity each week or 75 minutes of more energetic activity each week. Moderate exercise means we are slightly out of breath, energetic activity really gets the heart going! And it’s recommended we do a mixture of cardio plus strength (resistance). Also worth bearing in mind, is that activity levels is accordingly to our own bodies, for instance, energetic activity for me will be moderate activitiy for Paul.
There should also be rest days involved, exercising tears muscles, this is natural, it’s the rebuilding of the muscle that helps them to grow, so rest days are important.
Being well over 200lb at the start of this, and still over 200lb now, means there is a lot of pressure being put on my joints, and that can be painful, and, well, i’m allergic to pain! However the first day I exercised it was the first programme only, 10 minutes of step, now, only 3ish months later I’m doing loads of different things.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!
Find something you enjoy doing! the worst thing I found is getting bored of a routine, as soon as that happens we will find reasons not to do it!
My first programme – Cardio – low impact
I started out doing step, this was something I had enjoyed on my wii fit years ago, so knew I would probably like it, and therefore not give up! This programme takes approximately 10 minutes.
I found my co-ordination for each exercise improved after just a couple of sessions , I couldn’t go as fast as the trainer, so went as fast but as safely as my body would allow, this also improved the more sessions. I did buy a step platform, only cost about a tenner though. I found I was able to do this regime two times at once very soon after first starting exercising.
My tip if you decide to try this, don’t try and keep up with the trainer, and don’t worry about the moves being perfect, both will become easier with each session – in fact there are still a couple I can’t do well.
My second programme – Strength – low impact
The second regime I started using was for strength, this is a 15 minute programme which loops 3 x 5 minute sessions with several different exercises. Again, this is a low impact programme, and quite easy on the joints. Each exercise is quite easy, not too much needed with co-ordination. There is one floor exercise, this is the plank. Yes, the plank was and is tough, but I urge you to not give up until you’ve cried that you can’t do it at least three times (I know my body’s more able to cope with this because when I first started, there was a LOT of grunting and straining noises – I don’t make them now :D)
I have bought dumbells for this programme, but I started out using matching cans of beans! After just a a few weeks I noticed I have biceps and triceps – they’re not huge, but they are there!!!! I found that totally motivating. I also noticed I have more muscle on my thighs, can’t see it, but I can feel it!
For me, I know that as I have some visible muscle, and as I can feel my thigh muscles, I know all my other muscles most be improving too. It’s good knowing the muscles are improving even if they are covered in lard!
My tips if you decide to try this, don’t rush, take you’re time, listen to the coach (I find him really motivating!). Don’t worry about dumbells until you are sure you wish to do this regularly, cans or water bottles are fine. And don’t over push yourself, listen to your body, you will notice improvement the more you do it.
My third programme – Cardio – 7ish minutes – low impact
So after a while, I wanted to try something extra, I was after something quick that I could use as a bit of a warm up to my other exercises.
The programme I found was perfect! This was a short 7 minute cardio programme, it’s low impact, no floor exercises, and it did get me out of breath!
There is one exercise I still can’t do very well, even though I’ve been doing it for weeks, not sure what my problem is with it, but hey ho, I’ll keep trying!
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is nervous about stepping into the world of exercise, I find it quite gently and steady, and again, take your time with it, the instructor even tells you, if you find it too hard, slow it down. No equipment needed on this, though do clear a bit of space as there is a bit of backwards and forwards and side to side movement.
My tips should you decide to give this a go – if you want to dip your toe into exercise but are nervous, please please do give this a go. Take your time, your abilities to keep up and find your co-ordination will improve quickly.
My forth programme – c25k – Cardio
I wanted something cardioy to get my heart working harder for longer, hence checking out this.
Now at present, this is not for me, however there are plenty of people I follow who love this programme. As such, I thought this would be a great programme to share. If you would like to know about my rather funny disaster please copy this link (apologies, not sure how to get the link over) tryingtolose.food.blog/2019/09/25/couch-to-5k-and-there-my-campaign-ends/
c25k – long hand – couch to 5 km – exactly as it says on the tin!
This is a free app you can download to your phone, and then it trains you over the course of 9 weeks from not being able to jog at all to the point where you can jog for 5km. The programme encourages you to repeat weeks as and where needed, so this is something to be done in your own time, though it is necessary to make time three times a week to do it.
My tip – make sure you have good trainers, a water bottle and ear phones! If pounding the path sounds like something you can get yourself into, do find a free app on your phone and give it a go – there are too many people out there who have used this and love it for it to be a rubbish programme!
My fifth programme – stretches
I was a bit annoyed that the lunges from my second programme didn’t seem to be improving. I also didn’t feel I was getting as much out of the stretchy part, so thought I’d find something that would help me out.
This is a good 20 minutes stretching programme, I can’t stretch very far on any of the exercises at the moment, but I have noticed an improvement in my lunges so I believe the exercises are doing the job.
This is also a nice relaxed kind of programme, despite the stretching I feel, I like to do this in the morning, and am trying to get into the habit of doing it every morning.
There is a bit of work on the floor, I have new, thick carpet, so it doesn’t bother me, however if you have laminated flooring or hard wearing flooring, you might want to invest in a gym may or carry mat. There is also a leg stretch exercise which I find easier with a resistance band – they’re chip as chips! and can be used on lots of other programmes. There is also an exercise where a stool or stool height piece of furniture is used – i use a sideboard.
I would recommend this to anyone, whatever your fitness level (apart from super stretchy people – i suspect they don’t notice much with this – i’ll let you know when i get to that point :D) – you will feel the stretches, but that means it’s working!
My tips for this, is if you want flexibility, do give this a go, it’s quite a relaxing programme, insofar as the background music goes, and there are no hard and fast bits. I will re-iterate, you will feel the stretches, so push yourself, but don’t push too hard!
My Sixth programme – more intense than those mentioned above
This was an emergency and rushed find due to the issues with my airwalker! BUT it’s great! this is a quite intense 30ish minute programme, split into two 15 minute sessions, and a cool down that definitely gets the heart going.
Individually each exercise is easy to start with, but boy, you will start to feel it. There are two instructors on this, I follow the easier option, this is definitely my limit at the moment.
There is no on the floor exercising on this.
There are burpies, but copying the easier trainer, I use a side board. Dumbells are also required on this (I use 1lb). I would not use cans or bottles of water on this as the exercise movements may mean momentum can make them slip out of your hands, and as you’ll be looking at the tv or computer when doing this…. you get the picture!
My tips if you fancy giving this a go, do this if you’ve been exercising for a couple of months, or feel confident that your level of fitness can cope with half an hour of exercise. Listen to your body, there are some exercises on this where I give up on the dumbells, that is absolutely fine – if you need to you can too. If you can’t keep up, don’t worry, as with anything, if you enjoy the workout and/or the benefits going at your own pace, you’ll be more likely to carry on, and reap long standing benefits. You’ll find improvement the more you do this.
My Seventh programme – Zumba!
I wanted to try something a little different, so I clicked on a 10minute beginner workout Zumba programme – I’ve done it once, I loved it, I will do it again, I have NOOOOO rhythm!
Lot’s I can’t co-ordinate correctly, but as with any regime, that will come with time!
I don’t really have any tips on this as I have only done it once, what I will say is that I really enjoyed doing this, it was fun! so if you fancy having a little look, and you’re not worried about looking like a donkey in your sitting room, then please do give it a go!
My eighth programme – MYSTERY!
I did receive a message from another blogger recommending I check out their site, I remember thinking it sounded quite good, especially as they are adding park exercises, and who doesn’t need fresh air! I just need to find that message and or site!
So for now fair folk, do give the links a check if you want to know what’s been working for me, or just check out youtube and bloggers sites for different options, don’t be scared – I’m obese (at the moment), and a smoker (at the moment) – we’re in this together! find the thing that works for you, and do, please do, let me know what you find, what you like, and how it’s going!
Obsession Most women approach the scale much differently from men. We place huge value on that magic number. Our self-worth can be affected drastically in a moment depending on what happens when we step onto that great diviner of all of our flaws, faults and shortcomings. 699 more words
Talk about achy! I was a bit worried I had no hamstrings, given I never felt the stretch I was supposed to be feeling… I’m relieved to say my body IS normal… since my cardio yesterday I can confirm my hamstrings have been stretched 🤣
Today has been a great day, my lovely workmates spoiled me rotten for my birthday (which is tomorrow, but I’m working from home tomorrow).
I did eat a couple, uh hum, SIX chocolates! But I countered some of the naughtiness by not having my banana or my egg. I’ve left the chocs at work, my boss is a chocolate monster, so I expect they’ll be almost gone by the time I get back.
I’ve bought a small choc cake and fruit juice to take into work on Thursday. Calorie wise, the cake portions are 279 calories, I shall substitute against healthy food. I know I’ll be missing out on the nutrients, but this is life.
I was shocked how hungry I was today, who would have thought not having 1 banana and 1 egg would make that much difference! I find this very interesting, obviously there’s something to be said for fibre and protein!
During the day I had 28g nuts, 160g fruit and my salad.
Went to mum’s tonight for our fortnightly girls night. My sister gave me a great funny birthday card from her and her husband, and a card from her daughters, which they had written themselves, so SWEEEEET!
Mum gave me a lovely card, a voucher for Yours, a new pair of jeans maybe? And a bottle of one of my fave perfumes, coco mademouselle! So spoilt!
Mum cooked up a nice dinner of pork, broccoli, carrots and spuds. I left quite a bit.
Paul’s made me some yoghurt with seeds and honey.
Fluids – 200ml milk, 3 cups tea, 1 glass of water, half a can of Pepsi max. I don’t seem to be able to get my water intake up, I shall try to make a more concerted effort tomorrow.
I haven’t had any fluid for the last hour, other than a mouthful for tablets. Hopefully this will help me get a decent nights sleep.
Exercise – I didn’t get up early enough to do my stretches (bad nights sleep), and I miss them. I’ve only been doing the stretches recently, and I neither know nor care if it’s psychological, but I’m convinced they do help with my flexibility.
I usually do a 7 min beginners cardio programme for a warm up when doing my strength programme, today I switched up to an 11 min moderate cardio for a warm up, and almost kept up 🤣. I followed this with my 15 minute strength programme.
In an ideal world I would have also done the next level strength programme, but I’m not sure if I could have physically done it, and I certainly didn’t have the time!
Nevertheless, that’s 26 minutes of exercise, 26 minutes more than I would have done a few months ago!
I had a couple of really good nights sleep a couple of nights ago, but last night was one of the bad nights. Not quite as bad as I’ve had in the past, but bad enough.
I dropped off somewhere between 11pm and 11.15pm, then woke at around 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and 6am. Up at 7.15am.
This is not unusual for me, though is at the more extreme end, although there have been times when I’ve also been getting up every 45 minutes.
I don’t really understand why, it’s so frustrating, I hate feeling so knackered during the day. I was tested a couple of years ago for diabetes, when I was fatter and less healthy than now, there was no sign at that time of diabetes.
So, I thought I would do some digging and see what I could pick up to increase my chances of a good nights sleep.
Here’s some interesting facts:
BODY’S IMMUNITY
During deep sleep, immune strengthening chemicals start circulating in our blood stream. With disrupted sleep, especially over longer periods of time, we are likely to have a weaker immune system, and are therefore less able to fend of the germs!
CAN HELP US TO KEEP SLIM
So sleeping less can mean we are putting on weight (although in my case, that is only one factor!). It’s been found that people who get less than 7 hours sleep a day tend to gain more weight, this is due to two substances; Leptin – if sleep deprived we have a reduced level of this chemical, this is a chemical that helps us to feel full. Ghrelin – this is a hunger stimulating hormone, and if sleep deprived we have increased levels of it!
MENTAL WELLBEING
So how do you feel when you’ve had a crappy night sleep? I feel grouchy, tired, grumpy. And I’m more snappy and find I have to work hard not to bite some poor souls innocent head of their shoulders! With continued lack of sleep HELLO increased chances of depression and/or anxiety! GREAT!
And let’s not forgot Cortisol, the hormone linked to stress – providing we get proper sleep, this hormone level goes down, woebetide anyone in my way!
HELPS PREVENT DIABETES
According to studies, there seems to be an increased chance of type 2 Diabetes for those of us who get less than 5 hours sleep a night. It looks as though our bodies change the way it processes glucose with reduced sleep.
LACK OF SLEEP CAN DECREASE SEX DRIVE
Research has shown that both mean and women have lower libidos and less interest in sex if they have poor quality sleep, and men who suffer from sleep apnoea tend to have lower testosterone levels.
OUR HEARTS!
For those suffering with long-standing sleep deprivation, we can expect to have an increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and higher levels of chemicals which are linked to inflammation, possibly putting extra strain on our hearts. When we are in deep sleep (that’s the bit where our eyeballs aren’t doing the ole’ rapid dancing!) our pulse and blood pressure lowers, giving a well needed rest and recovery session to our hearts and blood vessels.
DEEP SLEEP REPAIR TIME!
It’s also during deep sleep that our bodies work hard to repair our muscles, organs and other cells.
JEALOUSY!!!!
A tongue in cheek, non medical consequence of lack of sleep for me!!! I know, I’m really petty!!! but there is a small part of me that gets really, really jealous when Paul wakes up, after a full 8 hr stretch of sleep, and positively SKIPS to the loo and stands there, for what seems to be MINUTES!!!! I’m sure it isn’t that long a time really 😀
So, there we have it, loads of reason to get a good nights sleep. Great, let’s all just bunk down and wait for the marvelous land of nod to take us into the blissful 8hrs slumber!
Oh wait, we can’t! if only things were so easy and under our control!!!
Well, some good news is, there are loads of tips to try, and with luck, some of them will help!
TIPS TO HELP US SLEEP
Get plenty of bright light exposure during the day, there has been some evidence that found insomniacs had improved sleep quality and amount after 2 hours of exposure
Reduce the blue light exposure from laptops and phones during the evening, as this tricks our natural body clock into thinking it’s still daytime! there are apps we can get for this (I’ll definitely be looking into that!)
Cut out the caffeine from later afternoon onwards.
Try to get into a routine of waking up and going to bed at the same time everyday, even weekends.
Try to cut out any alcohol
Set the temperature to a cooler temperature, between 18-20 degs C seems best for most people.
Don’t eat late in the evening
Have a soothing bath or shower – nice and warm – not too hot
Exercise Regularly, but not before bed.
Try not to have any fluids 2hrs before bed
Keep a fluid in and fluid out diary
If nothing seems to help, it’s time to see the Doc!
For me, there are several things I’m going to try, there are several things I really can’t try. But for a good nights sleep, I’ll do what I can.
I’ve found out some really interesting facts about sleep, I do hope this post finds anyone who could really do with some pointers. There’s links below for the websites I’ve used.
Fingers crossed for a better nights sleep tonight!!!!
I’m not going to eat the yoghurt after all. This is a shame, I think I’ve mentioned before, this is something I’ve added to my diet for two reasons, dairy increase – I want to give my bones as much chance as possible for health, and gut bacteria – apparently proper Greek yoghurt (not Greek style) probably helps feed all those helpful little blighters that reside in our guts!
I’ll have a glass of milk before bed, that at least takes care of the dairy aspect.
Also feeling rather pleased. I’ve done my cardio now (it’s a HIIT programme, 37ish mins with warm up and cool down). Paul played on his phone as he did a run this morning, but he thinks there’s no way I could have done the routine a few weeks ago! We kind of know this ourselves, but when our nearest and dearest tells us what we really could do with hearing, it feels great! 😊
Anyway, that really IS enough from me for one day!
Evening all, hope you are all well, and for those who aren’t, hope you feel better soon!
I was hoping to do stretches each morning, then alternate cardio with strength each evening. I missed my morning stretches!
However, I had yet another good night sleep, only had to visit the bog twice last night WOOHOO!!
My thumb, which I decided to cook last night is fine today, a bit tender, but not painful, thank goodness for icy water! I’m too much of a wimp to deal with pain 🤣
Speaking of pain, my monthly and coccyx pain is being managed well, Paul found half a box of my prescription pain killers, for which I am extremely grateful this month.
This evening we had three pork chops, fat removed, and added to a pre packaged Stir fry mix and ginger sauce added. Quick cook rice with soy sauce added and an egg broken in.
I do love a quick dinner, especially on Monday evenings!
I’ll be having Greek yoghurt later this evening with seeds and honey.
Fluid – uh hum… 200ml lactose free milk, 4 cups of tea, 1 chai latte and 1 can of Pepsi max. No water and empty calories in a total of 5 teaspoons of halfspoon sugar!
Exercise – none so far! But there’s a 30 minute cardio workout with my name scrawled all over it!
And here we are again, a place I have very little chance of ever visiting, so let’s have a little delve into the internet and find some facts about this wonderful island!
And as ever, if you dear reader would like to add a great fact, please do comment 🙂
Barbados is a small island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean – so, plenty of beaches! Surfers paradise on the east side, toe dippers paradise on the west side.
Who doesn’t love the voice of Rihanna! she was born in Barbados
Barbados has the third oldest parliament in the world! parliament opened it’s doors in 1639!
Want to know where the name Barbados comes from? Well, the name is derived from The Bearded Fig Tree! The bearded fig tree is native to the island, and was growing in abundance when the island was first discovered. The tree is even symbolised on the Barbadian flag!
Barbados became independent from Britain on 30th November 1966. I bet the party in 2016 was one not to be missed!
Windmills, they get everywhere! In 1846 there were 506 windmills!
When mums want to comfort their crying babes, they dip the leaves of the Barbadian national flower, the Pride of Barbados, into breast milk and let the babies suck on it!
“Pride and Industry” is the national motto
Rum, sugar and molasses are just three exports from Barbados – sounds like a very happy and sweet place to be!
Be happy if a mongoose crosses your path, it’s considered good luck! mongoose were first introduced to Barbados to help against rats.
Who knew! grapefruit is a hybrid fruit, which was invented in Barbados!
Barbadian children must attend school until they are at least 16, and the teachers are doing great work! There is a 99.7% literacy rate, ranking Barbados 3rd globally!
Sir Garfield Sobers – for a nation that loves cricket – this gentleman was their hero! Also known as Gary Sobers, he played for the West Indies for 20 years, from 1954 to 1974!
Barbados loves folk and pop music, with elements of western classical and religious music. There is also a great jazz and calypso scene. Spouge is an indigenous style of music dating back to the 1930s and is a mixture of calypso with other forms, most preferred – ska!
So there we are, just a small handful of interesting snippets! Remember, if you would like to add your snippets, please do comment 🙂 Below are links to the websites I’ve used.
Trying to lose! 