Fit Before 50 #FitB4Fifty

Well I have realised that I have just over 2 years before I hit my next decade and I have still failed to get into a healthy shape! Having battled with my weight for most of my adult life and it feels that for the last 8 years I have lost the same stone repeatedly over and over again... Oops! So now I need to get it right and keep it off so that I am a lot fitter and healthier before I hit my half century. 

Obviously its not going to be a quick fix as I proved in the past that it doesn't work as it doesn't stay off. It needs to be sustained and embedded into my lifestyle to get it off and keep it off for good. This mean that I have to look at both strands of healthy living:

Diet

Exercise

Most of what I have done in the past has concentrated on exercise which works until for whatever reason I stop exercising (this has been through injury, heat, the needs of my children or work pressure). Then I come unstuck as my diet is not up to scratch... Therefore I need to put a lot more effort into that strand...

My son realised yesterday that one reason I don't eat as healthily as I could because of his limited food choices. He struggles to eat things off this list. He has told me that I need to force him once a week to eat one of my more healthy meals! Wish me luck with that one... but it may be that he is mature enough to cope now.

So what do I need to do to improve my diet?

• eat more vegetables and fruit
• eat more whole grains
• reduce fat and sugar intake
• eat more fish and lean meats
• eat less processed foods

Of course I need to carry on exercising and keeping it consistent. This needs to include both cardio and strength exercises. My son is back into cycling now so we can do that together. Running I can do various lengths of run to mix it up a bit. I also need to do core strengthening such as yoga or pilates. At the moment I can't afford classes or gym membership so it will all be done at home or for free.

If anyone has any tips or wants to keep me on track then please shout! I am also up for working with brands as a partnership to get me in shape.

Parkour #1 - Kendal

One of the other things my son was inspired to do by Kendal Mountain Festival was some parkour or free running. He has done the odd little bit but today decided to try some of it out on our walk into and back from town.

He has watched some seasoned parkour athletes on YouTube and so had seen what the basic moves are. To get more advanced he will obviously need to:

a) practice

b) build up his body strength

c) learn more techniques 

For now though I don't think he is doing too badly for being self-taught and not having a gymnastics background:

#FitnessFriday A Mixed Bag

My weekly parkrun photo has reached the point where I have been brave and ordered the next size down shirt for my 50th milestone! It will be appearing soon but not for tomorrow's run as not being delivered in time... It has been a mixed bag this week as this morning I had put back on the weight I had lost last week... Not sure how much of that is due to a tummy bug that appeared yesterday... So what did I do right or wrong this week:

1) Diet

Not sure I have done too fabulously this week for various reasons - although I ate none of my home baking on Wednesday! I definitely didn't get anywhere near my 5 day on fruit and vegetables most days. That must be something to work on next week.

2) Fitness

I am not sure what I have done to my leg but I have only managed 2 proper runs since my last post. One was a decent parkrun:

#FitnessFriday Running Further

It has been a good week all round and it has culminated in a 2 and half pound weight loss this week! So I must have done a lot of things right:

1) Diet

I have eaten some healthier things this week and reduced the rubbish to an extent. This week this has included a chicken and avocado salad with damson ketchup for a dressing:

2) Fitness

I am sticking to the quality not quantity of runs to help my body to recover! First up was parkrun on Saturday which was just sub 33:

On Monday I had a chance to have a go at the 5k route to the north of town again whilst my son was at athletics. I was really pleased with being nearly a minute faster and again at around 33 minutes:

#FitnessFriday Abs and Back to Routine

How does Friday come around so quickly? It doesn't help that we are back to school and things get a lot busier. However it does mean that, for the moment, I have more me time as I haven't had any supply work yet! This was my parkrun update photograph this Saturday when I was pleased with a sub 34 time without busting a gut:

I thought I had tried pretty hard this week to it is quite frustrating to have lost less than a pound in weight! So what did I do right or wrong this week?

1) Diet

I had some really good moments like this vegtastic meal thanks to produce from my aunt's garden:

Obviously not done brilliantly with such a small loss but it was an improvement.

2) Exercise

This is one area I am pleased with the results of! I have run every day this week except Thursday (combination of a late night with my son at casualty and a hair cut!). I have mixed up my distances and elevations, also the weather! There have been trail runs and road runs. As you can tell by these photos some runs were better than others:

#FitnessFriday September Goals

Well its the start of a new month and nearly a new school year so its time I assessed where I have got to in 2017 and what my goals are for this month. This was my progress photo on Saturday and I do look so much better:

The scales are not my friend as I have actually gained a pound this week for a change so far of - 1 stone and 1.5 lbs! So I decided to get the magic tape measure out for the first time since May and see my progress in inches as well as in a photograph:

• Bust -3 inches
• Waist -4 inches
• Hips -2 inches
• Widest part of hips (over tummy!) -3 inches
• Left bicep no change
• Right bicep -1.5 inches (can you tell I am right handed!)
• Left knee -2.5 inches
• Right knee -1.5 inches
• Left thigh -2 inches
• Right thigh -1 inch

A total of 20.5 inches so no wonder I look like I have lost a lot more weight. So let's look at what went right and wrong this week...

1) Diet

Its been an eating out or entertaining friends week so the calorie count has gone up... Meals like the 10 oz burger I ate aren't exactly going to help me with my calorie intake (although I didn't need tea that night!). I have been given some vegetables from my aunt's garden so I will be making a conscious effort to do better this week... There were some good meals like my prawn salad lunch:

2) Exercise

I have been chipping away at my running deficit and I am now only 112 km behind, I now need just under 3.6 km a day of running to make my target:

I am still trying to mix up my runs a bit (check out the links to the right) and even braved one of the tougher routes through town:

#FitnessFriday A Step in the Right Direction

So its time to see how I have done since last Friday when I committed to losing the weight  had put back on and running more! First up how is the 1000 km challenge going:

So that's another 25 km achieved and I am now only 119 km behind instead 122. I can still do this as I had worked out I needed to run 3.67 km a day for the rest of the year so with a few longer runs to make up for missed days I will earn that medal...

What about the rest of my fitness plan?

1) Diet

I have been increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables in my diet as I wasn't hitting the 5 day. Have to admit its probably more fruit than veg though... This week I also ate oily fish a few times at lunch with both tuna and smoked salmon as I know I have been missing out on this type of food. A good lunch looked like this:

#FitnessFriday Time for Action

Having had 2 weeks away on holiday after a very stressful half term my weight has been heading in the wrong direction! Not only that but I am slipping further and further behind in my 1,000 km running challenge:

So I need a multi pronged approach to getting back first of all to where I was 2 months ago on the weight front and then to keep up the momentum.

1) Diet

On holiday pretty much anything goes and portion sizes seem irrelevant! Now things are back to normal (if there is such a thing) I need to be more careful. I have started to drink herbal teas in the afternoon instead of caffeinated coffee:

I am making sure that my fruit and vegetable intake is increasing and that portions of protein and carbs are decreasing. Yesterday I even whipped up my own cupcakes so that they were a healthier naughty treat (although my son and his friend ate half of them straight off...):

#FitnessFriday Who cares about the scales!

The school holidays have a mixed effect on my fitness. I have more time to exercise but I also have more time to eat and drink rubbish! So the scales were not my friend this week but I am another 3 inches down on a month ago:

What I am pleased about is the amount of walking and running I am clocking up a lot of which is with my 10 year old! After a big family lunch on Good Friday  I went for a nip around our 2 km block at home with him:

#FitnessFriday on Good Friday

No picture of me at Fell Foot this week as we were away last weekend but I will be back there in the morning! With it being the school holidays everything is out of sync but I am trying to fit in as much fitness as possible even if its just walking to the train station for my weekend away... Speaking of which after over indulging with friends I headed out on Monday night for a gentle 5 km run around my favourite route:

So it wasn't the fastest run ever but I really didn't push myself. It just felt good to be out running in Kendal again:

On Tuesday we had our 18 holes of Foot Golf which was a nice gentle walk with some kicking of footballs on the way round! 

#FitnessFriday on a Friday for a change!

Well after not running for a couple of weeks I am getting back into it! I also managed to get my first Lycra shot for ages to show what losing 16lb looks like:

As you can see it was very wet at Fell Foot on Saturday and I was lucky to come in under 35 minutes in horrible conditions but it felt great to be back:

I decided as it was stunningly sunny on Sunday to go out on my long country run and found it almost too hot even though it was beautiful:

#FitBitchesMOVEment #SlimmingSunday Catching up!

Oh dear I haven't done a fitness blog post since the 20th of February! Time for a quick catchup then an update.... I was in Northumberland for half term and I managed 2 runs whilst away. The first with my 10 year old during Storm Doris! You can see how wild it was by the state of us after only 2km:

We did plenty of walking on the nicer days as the beaches were beautiful. Whilst out we spotted markers for a 10k to Ultra event that took place the day we left, its on my bucket list! Instead I managed to get out for a 5k run which included a return leg along the beach:

#FitnessFriday Speeding Up

I am keeping up the momentum for the moment and after running 7 km on last Friday night I hit my 20 km target once again. For the longer run I employed a run/walk strategy of 60/30 seconds and it kept my pace pretty even - except for the serious up or down hill bits:

It was lovely to see another 4 lbs gone when I stood on the scales on Saturday. I am sure this will slow down now I have gone through the 10 lb barrier. Here is my weekly comparison pic (taken by an adult this week):

The smile is partly because I had knocked a whopping 2 and half minutes off my previous parkrun time and I was feeling great:

#FitnessFriday Keeping it up

The reality of juggling being a busy teacher and a mum whilst trying to get fit and be healthy hit home on this third week. We all needed a lie on Saturday so I missed parkrun and had to have my comparison photo taken indoors. A total of around 6 lbs gone is already making a big difference:

As I had missed my 5 k run I decided to multi task and run into town as the bank was closing in half an hour's time. Its useful to be fit enough to get there more quickly:

I really didn't feel like I'd done enough towards my necessary mileage so headed out again and managed a 5 km route too with my fastest time since November :

On Sunday we went for a 4 mile hike and after I'd dried off and warmed up I went back out and did my first non stop 5 k for a long while:

#FitnessFriday A good start to 2017

The end of my first full week of getting fit in 2017 and how did I do? Well here is the one week on post parkrun picture next to last week's:

I had to tighten up the waist band on the running belt as I had lost 3 1/2 pounds! So that is a great start to giving up booze and exercising more. My daughter is now running with me and on this Saturday completed her unicorn medal event. I also received my first bling of the year:

Having her wanting to come out with my when I do my 2k block on a weeknight is a great motivator. She was so proud of herself when she ran the whole way without any walk breaks at all (and had energy left to sprint off and leave me at the end!):

#FitnessFriday Starting off in 2017

I knew that over the second half of 2016 my eating went to pot, my running was almost non existent and I was drinking a little bit too much wine. My parkrun times were all over the place and by New Year's Eve I was in really bad shape (PS my sports bra had come undone at 2k in so I look even worse!!):

Standing on the scales on New Year's Day showed that I had gained a stone in a year and was the heaviest I had been for a very, very long time... So what am I going to do about it?

1) Run more

When I was running regularly I was more toned and my weight went down not up - not exactly rocket science! So I signed myself up for a 1000 km challenge for which I will get a medal if I can complete it... A tough ask when you need to go 20 km a week but I am willing to give it a go. To encourage me I am putting in money into a tin:

• £1 for a minimum of a mile
• £2 for over 5k-9k
• £3 for over 10k-14k etc...

I am mixing up:

• runs around the block for which I have found a 2 km route
• park runs at 5 km - I am 16 away from my 50 so need to go more often
• longer runs such as one along the river Kent
• occasional club runs when I can escape!

By Wednesday I had clocked up 20 km in 4 days! Follow me on Strava.

2) Eat better

With a busy life and fussy children I have been eating junk on the run since September... I am planning on more home cooked food especially with a lot more vegetables! The wine is off the menu until February when I will let myself have the odd glass.

I am going to be joining back with my old diet & fitness instructor next week to get more help with both the diet and a different form of exercise! She is offering the incentive of the biggest loser each month getting a cash prize... 

So watch this space and hopefully there will be a lot less of me as the year progresses!

Kicking off the summer fitness campaign #UKFitnessBloggers

Well over the last few weeks the exercise has been poor, the diet worse and the weight has gone up... So when term finished on Thursday I kick started my summer fitness campaign with a 1 mile run around the block:

It felt good:

Then I walked to collect my son from school and we went into town to the library etc. I inspired him by saying I needed to hatch an egg in Pokemon Go:

#FitnessFriday Don't panic its less than a month until the Brathay Half Marathon!

Before I write about this week I realised that I had blogged that I was going to run the Langdale 10k but I never said how I did! I somehow managed probably my quickest 5 k of the year on the outward leg and then hadn't left enough in the tank for the return (though somehow it was my 3rd fastest time back up Chapel Stile). The lack of training showed and the warm weather didn't help but I finished with a smile and not in last place:

The following day we did the Kendal Colour Dash as a family and had a whale of time. My run wasn't anything special as I was taking pictures and still recovering from the day before:

So now we are back on this week proper and I feel like I have finally got some decent running in! On Tuesday I repeated my short route from the week before and it was 3 minutes quicker than the previous one:

#FitnessFriday Back out running

A combination of working full time and an everlasting cold means that I have't been running much - not panicking about the half marathon!! So I was very pleased to get back to Fell Foot Parkrun last Saturday which was on the original meadow route. With a still snotty nose I was well off my PB but glad to be under 34 minutes:

Let's hope I am a bit faster tomorrow all though the course is going to be a bit boggy after rain tonight! Following the parkrun I took my son on 3 trails with National Trust and clocked up a lot of walking:

Fitness Friday: Brathay Half Marathon training week 5 #ThisGirlCan

This week we haven't had any medical crises so I have managed to fit more of my marathon training schedule into the week! I would like to do some form of fitness every day in February in order to keep me on track and make best use of my gym membership.

So on Monday I headed across to the leisure centre for a 30 minutes on the cross trainer to kick start my week. Its such a great feeling to get those endorphins pumping after a stressful weekend!

One of my difficulties has been getting a longer run in each week. So on Monday I plotted an 8km / 5 mile route using the Run Go app so that I had a loop of the right length.  The route combined hills and level bits for variety and I listened to an audiobook on the history of England to keep me going:

I think I was pleased with myself:

As Wednesday is my son's running club I was out for a couple of kilometres of stop/start running. Just enough to count as exercise but not a proper run!

Yesterday I decided that I needed to work on my stamina. The training programme said an easy 40 minute run but instead I aimed for a non-stop 5 km (something I hadn't managed yet this year!). Again I plotted a route on Run Go, so that I had no excuses for cutting it short, but tried to avoid hills so that I could plod on. Very pleased that I not only didn't walk at all but a) kept a steady pace b) ran my fastest 5 km of the year so far (still not back to my PB from this time last year...):

My end of run grin was even bigger:

Today I have been to the cyclone spinning class at the leisure centre for some cross training. Boy is it hard work "and up another quarter turn.."

All of the hard work this week has paid off with a decent 1.5 pound weight loss! Yay. So its onwards and downwards with the weight and upwards and faster with the running... Let's see what happens tomorrow at Parkrun..