If you have read this blog, or known me, for any length of time, you will know that I have been battling with my weight for probably the last 7/8 years in the sense that I want to lose it and am finding it really difficult.
Over the many years, I have tried lots of different things to try and get there. 5:2 diet, Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Fasting, Starvation, self punishment for days where I over ate, vigorous over exercise (whilst still eating horrendously).... the list goes on. I always gave up. Either I didn't see the change fast enough, or I made excuses like I don't have the time, I don't have the money, I'm fine the way I am..... All the excuses and the only person I was screwing over was myself.
I know this won't be easy but this time, I am not giving up!
In the run up to my wedding and honeymoon, I was pretty good so that I felt good in my wedding dress and to be honest, I felt amazing on my wedding day and I love the photos of my dress. I don't see a fat girl in a dress - and usually I would be fulling photos of me apart, going over every little flaw.
But on the honeymoon, I indulged to the max and loved every minute of it. I am now the heaviest I've been in a long time and probably nearly the heaviest I have ever been. For health reasons and because Martin and I want to start trying for a family pretty soon, I know that I need to get my weight under control. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin but I also want to make sure that I am the healthiest/fittest I can be for when I start growing a human!!
So, in this day and age, where else would I go to do some research..... social media obviously. I have been following lots of women and their fitness journeys and seen some of them take on the 80 Day Obsession challenge. I messaged a few of them for some more details and got chatting to one amazing women quite regularly. I decided that after the honeymoon, I wanted to give it a try. So, she became my coach and I started the challenge....
What I love is that you can do them all inside your own home! No running out to the gym, no trying to fit travel to the gym around busy work schedule! Which is perfect, especially when term gets busy.
There is quite a bit to wrap your head around - one half of the program is all about timed nutrition. That is where I need to make sure that I am on point. Fitting in the correct meals at the correct times and around exercise.
Week 1 has been fantastic. I'm really grateful that I'm still on school holidays so I have had a lot of time to get my head around the nutrition plan and tried to fit my meals in the best way that I can. I've been looking at different recipes too, really excited to try them out!
I can't wait to see where this adventure takes me. 73 days to go!!!
Holiday Vibes
Showing posts with label workout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workout. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 August 2018
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
365 Days: Have Something To Work Towards!
With no sign of things calming down at work at the moment, I've had to give myself some serious goals to work towards. The last few weeks have been literally mental! Half term came and went in the blink of an eye. I spent the week off seeing friends, catching up on sleep, being treated to a night away for our anniversary...... and not much time at all working out. I did lots and lots of walking but no runs, no swims, no classes..... NOT GOOD!
So, because it seems I cannot get myself exercising unless I have a goal to work towards, I have set myself two challenges between now and February half term! The aim is to get me up and moving around so that some of this spare tyre goes away. I'd like to look a little slimmer in the family Christmas photos this year!
The first challenge I have set myself is a swim challenge. At my gym, the pool has this gadget called a SwimTag. I'd never heard of it before until I started swimming there - basically, it's a pedometer that you wear in the water, around your wrist and it tracks your swim. How many lengths you've swam, the time you swam for, the time you rested for in the pool between your lengths, your average pace - all sorts! SwimTag links up to a website which keeps logs of all the swims you have done whilst wearing a swimtag wrist band.
Another feature of the website, is it's virtual challenge set up. You can 'swim' around parts of the world, different landmarks, cities, islands, canals etc. It's great fun and a little challenge never hurt anyone. My parents when to Venice for their wedding anniversary this year and had a wonderful time and because of that, I have set myself the challenge to swim around Venice before Christmas. Every time I swim, I will put on a swimtag and it should update the meters I swim in the pool online. I have to finish the challenge by Dec 31st this year. I want to start a new swim challenge in the new year.
I've not done my first swim yet, but once I have, I'll screen shot the updates and post them in a blog entry.
The second challenge that I have given myself is a little more long term. I am going to run a half marathon in February. The Hampton Court half marathon. It's been a long time since I have done any running and even longer since I've been in a run/race (apart from my triathlon). The longest distance I have ever run is a 10K so I am really excited to push myself past my last achievement and extend my running ability.
Also, for me, running is the best way to shift some pounds. So to have a major goal, which means major training, will hopefully really get the weight dropping off. First training happening today - hopefully do 5km and see what my time is like. I've got a long time to train so I'm hoping to bring my times down on my distances as well as get used to longer runs.
I downloaded Strava onto my phone yesterday to track my running and I've added a few friends who are also training for the half marathon. Just another way to keep myself accountable. If I see that they are running and I haven't... I'm sure as hell going to need to go for a run too! Hopefully, that'll mean we all do a good amount of training before the run.
I'm actually really excited for this half marathon, it'll be a great way to get to my goal, really improve my fitness and muscle tone and it'll be a huge achievement which should spur me on to keep going. As the race approaches in February, sign ups should open for my next HumanRace triathlon too - just another event to work towards.
Stay tuned for updates on my first few workouts working towards both of my challenges!
Megan
So, because it seems I cannot get myself exercising unless I have a goal to work towards, I have set myself two challenges between now and February half term! The aim is to get me up and moving around so that some of this spare tyre goes away. I'd like to look a little slimmer in the family Christmas photos this year!
The first challenge I have set myself is a swim challenge. At my gym, the pool has this gadget called a SwimTag. I'd never heard of it before until I started swimming there - basically, it's a pedometer that you wear in the water, around your wrist and it tracks your swim. How many lengths you've swam, the time you swam for, the time you rested for in the pool between your lengths, your average pace - all sorts! SwimTag links up to a website which keeps logs of all the swims you have done whilst wearing a swimtag wrist band.
Another feature of the website, is it's virtual challenge set up. You can 'swim' around parts of the world, different landmarks, cities, islands, canals etc. It's great fun and a little challenge never hurt anyone. My parents when to Venice for their wedding anniversary this year and had a wonderful time and because of that, I have set myself the challenge to swim around Venice before Christmas. Every time I swim, I will put on a swimtag and it should update the meters I swim in the pool online. I have to finish the challenge by Dec 31st this year. I want to start a new swim challenge in the new year.
I've not done my first swim yet, but once I have, I'll screen shot the updates and post them in a blog entry.
The second challenge that I have given myself is a little more long term. I am going to run a half marathon in February. The Hampton Court half marathon. It's been a long time since I have done any running and even longer since I've been in a run/race (apart from my triathlon). The longest distance I have ever run is a 10K so I am really excited to push myself past my last achievement and extend my running ability.
Also, for me, running is the best way to shift some pounds. So to have a major goal, which means major training, will hopefully really get the weight dropping off. First training happening today - hopefully do 5km and see what my time is like. I've got a long time to train so I'm hoping to bring my times down on my distances as well as get used to longer runs.
I downloaded Strava onto my phone yesterday to track my running and I've added a few friends who are also training for the half marathon. Just another way to keep myself accountable. If I see that they are running and I haven't... I'm sure as hell going to need to go for a run too! Hopefully, that'll mean we all do a good amount of training before the run.
I'm actually really excited for this half marathon, it'll be a great way to get to my goal, really improve my fitness and muscle tone and it'll be a huge achievement which should spur me on to keep going. As the race approaches in February, sign ups should open for my next HumanRace triathlon too - just another event to work towards.
Stay tuned for updates on my first few workouts working towards both of my challenges!
Megan
Wednesday, 8 June 2016
A Very Long Absence....
So, I haven't written anything on this blog in such a long time! Life got pretty crazy and my blogging just sort of drifted off into obscurity.
Since I last posted I've lost a stone, fallen in love, moved into a flat with my new man, put back on nearly all of the stone that I lost, landed a new job and probably a lot more along the way.
Living with a man isn't half interesting..... getting to know someone's most private habits and nuances is an interesting journey to embark on. Who knew that the way someone squeezes the toothpaste tube could be so frustrating??!!
It's been a really intense few months, bloke wise, trying to impress a new family. A new part of a family you are hoping to become a part of. The pressure of that is immense at times, making sure that I don't let my other half down, making sure that I impress the people closest to him and show them the best version of me.
For me, this all very new. I've not met a boyfriend's family since I was about 14 and you had no choice but to have tea with the family after school if you ever wanted to see your 'boyfriend' outside of the classroom. But this, this is proper, grown up, I-think-this-is-forever kind of love and meeting the family of that sort of love is quite genuinely terrifying (sometimes).
Having said that, all of the family I have met, I've loved straight away and have made me feel so welcome into their little (or actually not that little) clan. I've still got lots of family members to meet as well apparently..... so there are more nerves and anxiety and stresses to come. :P It's all part of this amazing new journey of meeting all the people who are going to be a major part of my future. I can't quite believe how stupidly happy I am, how lucky I am to have found the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with and for them to feel the same.
Because I'm so stupidly happy, the weight loss/training has gone a little off the rails which is one of the reasons I wanted to start blogging again. I think if I put more focus on writing about my weight loss and training for my next triathlon, it might encourage me to actually stay on track a little more. I'm trying to courage M (my man) to do the same. Hopefully, we can get fit and healthy together, and then enjoy being slightly slimmer on our holiday to Croatia in the summer.
I've got a triathlon in just over a month and training has been really tricky since Christmas as my back has been pretty dodgy since then. There have been weeks where I literally haven't been able to do more than walk because I've been in so much pain, which means that I'm really behind on where I'd like to be fitness wise for my upcoming event. I doubt I'm going to get a PB this time around which is quite frustrating really. I can remember the buzz I felt at the end of last year's triathlon when I knew that I could get round the course faster than I'd completed it.
I know that I am smaller than I was when I competed last year, and I still have time to slim down about but I do seem to be finding it very hard to say no to the bad foods. It's becoming all too easy to skip a workout and come home to M instead. I know that this is pretty stupid and counterproductive to feeling good about myself. Spending time with M gives me the same happy feeling that I get when I work out, and it's so much more tempting to come home for dinner and a cuddle than it is to slog it out in the pool or in a gym class.
So, this needs to change.... quite a lot of it really. The eating habits, the work out schedule, I need to stop skipping the gym to see M.... I mean, I live with him, he's not going anywhere in the extra hour that I might spend in the pool/gym.
So my new blog posts will pretty much be about my weight loss, training, eating habits. If I can hold myself accountable to my (very few) readers then maybe I'll be able to get back on the band wagon and shift some weight.
I've started to doubt myself again and started to dislike what I look like in the mirror. It was such a great time when I actually liked what I saw in the mirror and didn't worry about my big, wobbly belly during the day in whatever it was that I was wearing. I want to get back to that point. Just before Christmas, I felt really great about the way I looked and now.... I feel pretty flabby and unattractive most of the time.
So, here is to getting back on track, a pound at a time, no crazy diets, no banishing certain foods, no deprivation.... just steady, sensible training and diet. I know it works, I know that I have done it before and that I can do it again. I just need to keep it up and not let my new found love sabotage my goals.
Stay tuned in for updates.
M xx
Since I last posted I've lost a stone, fallen in love, moved into a flat with my new man, put back on nearly all of the stone that I lost, landed a new job and probably a lot more along the way.
Living with a man isn't half interesting..... getting to know someone's most private habits and nuances is an interesting journey to embark on. Who knew that the way someone squeezes the toothpaste tube could be so frustrating??!!
It's been a really intense few months, bloke wise, trying to impress a new family. A new part of a family you are hoping to become a part of. The pressure of that is immense at times, making sure that I don't let my other half down, making sure that I impress the people closest to him and show them the best version of me.
For me, this all very new. I've not met a boyfriend's family since I was about 14 and you had no choice but to have tea with the family after school if you ever wanted to see your 'boyfriend' outside of the classroom. But this, this is proper, grown up, I-think-this-is-forever kind of love and meeting the family of that sort of love is quite genuinely terrifying (sometimes).
Having said that, all of the family I have met, I've loved straight away and have made me feel so welcome into their little (or actually not that little) clan. I've still got lots of family members to meet as well apparently..... so there are more nerves and anxiety and stresses to come. :P It's all part of this amazing new journey of meeting all the people who are going to be a major part of my future. I can't quite believe how stupidly happy I am, how lucky I am to have found the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with and for them to feel the same.
Because I'm so stupidly happy, the weight loss/training has gone a little off the rails which is one of the reasons I wanted to start blogging again. I think if I put more focus on writing about my weight loss and training for my next triathlon, it might encourage me to actually stay on track a little more. I'm trying to courage M (my man) to do the same. Hopefully, we can get fit and healthy together, and then enjoy being slightly slimmer on our holiday to Croatia in the summer.
I've got a triathlon in just over a month and training has been really tricky since Christmas as my back has been pretty dodgy since then. There have been weeks where I literally haven't been able to do more than walk because I've been in so much pain, which means that I'm really behind on where I'd like to be fitness wise for my upcoming event. I doubt I'm going to get a PB this time around which is quite frustrating really. I can remember the buzz I felt at the end of last year's triathlon when I knew that I could get round the course faster than I'd completed it.
I know that I am smaller than I was when I competed last year, and I still have time to slim down about but I do seem to be finding it very hard to say no to the bad foods. It's becoming all too easy to skip a workout and come home to M instead. I know that this is pretty stupid and counterproductive to feeling good about myself. Spending time with M gives me the same happy feeling that I get when I work out, and it's so much more tempting to come home for dinner and a cuddle than it is to slog it out in the pool or in a gym class.
So, this needs to change.... quite a lot of it really. The eating habits, the work out schedule, I need to stop skipping the gym to see M.... I mean, I live with him, he's not going anywhere in the extra hour that I might spend in the pool/gym.
So my new blog posts will pretty much be about my weight loss, training, eating habits. If I can hold myself accountable to my (very few) readers then maybe I'll be able to get back on the band wagon and shift some weight.
I've started to doubt myself again and started to dislike what I look like in the mirror. It was such a great time when I actually liked what I saw in the mirror and didn't worry about my big, wobbly belly during the day in whatever it was that I was wearing. I want to get back to that point. Just before Christmas, I felt really great about the way I looked and now.... I feel pretty flabby and unattractive most of the time.
So, here is to getting back on track, a pound at a time, no crazy diets, no banishing certain foods, no deprivation.... just steady, sensible training and diet. I know it works, I know that I have done it before and that I can do it again. I just need to keep it up and not let my new found love sabotage my goals.
Stay tuned in for updates.
M xx
Friday, 19 June 2015
#100happydays Days 64 to 70
Oooo we are getting very close to the end of this #100happydays project.
Day 64) Another new PB on the run. Feeling great! It blinking hurt though!
Day 64) Another new PB on the run. Feeling great! It blinking hurt though!
Day 65) Not so much happy as it is funny! I was gardening at after school club yesterday in my sandals and got really dirty feet! The first thing I said to Belinda when I arrived at ballroom was 'I need to go and wash my feet.' Got a very strange look in return - obviously! So here is me... Washing my feet in a sink at a village hall....
Day 66) Looking super hot in my swimming hat tonight at Shepperton Lake.
Day 67) Our first strawberry is turning red our veggie patch at school!
Day 68) It's 'Beach Day' at school today! Rocking the floral maxidress. Love the colour and the pattern of this dress. Looks a bit odd with the white top underneath but as I'm wearing it at school, I can't wear anything low cut for safeguarding reasons. But it's still a lovely dress!
Day 69) My sister painted my nails for me! The are so beautiful, shame that they are already chipping off.
Day 70) I was absolutely exhausted on Sunday after 2 nights of dancing and getting in after 3am. I spent all day on Sunday switching between napping and colouring. I have not been that tired in a really long time!
A fantastic week! Had loads of fun over the weekend but it did end in a major bed day as I was utterly shattered! Check back in soon for this weeks happy days.
M xx
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