Depression Forums

Other Depression & Anxiety Related Illneses => Eating and Drinking Disorders => Topic started by: Amanda_George on November 30, 2018, 11:34:53 AM

Title: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on November 30, 2018, 11:34:53 AM: Just checked the NHS website and I'm verging on being obese. I know I need to lose weight so my New Year's Resolution is going to be to drop a single clothes size from 16 to 14 for skirts and trousers (I'm ignoring the top half of me 'cos my huge but totally natural boobs mean that I'll always be size 16 for tops) during 2019. That'll take me down to being half the size I was when I came out of hospital (Neurology ward) back in 2003.

I'm taking the weight loss slowly by increasing my exercise (walking the pup every morning) and cutting down on portion sizes. It's taken 15 years but I'm getting there slowly.

Is there anyone who wants to join me with my New Year's resolution? Either losing a clothes size if you're overweight or gaining a clothes size if you're underweight? I'm avoiding the pressure of Weight Watchers and Slimming World etc, I'm just re-educating myself to become healthier is all.

Anyone want to join me? Please?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on December 10, 2018, 01:39:14 PM: I am :happy0064:

Well I am obese anyway but I am struggling as I don't have any will power, nor has Rick. We belong to a health club so we don't have any excuse for not exercising. Knowing someone else who wants to lose weight will help me get more motivation.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on December 10, 2018, 03:37:55 PM: Quote from: Pip on December 10, 2018, 01:39:14 PM
I am :happy0064:

Well I am obese anyway but I am struggling as I don't have any will power, nor has Rick. We belong to a health club so we don't have any excuse for not exercising. Knowing someone else who wants to lose weight will help me get more motivation.

I'm the same way, Pip. Don't pressure yourself to lose a kilogram a week or anything, go by your clothes. I weigh 75kg and I'm 5 foot 1 according to last years "over 40" MOT with the nurse, but I've gone from size 28 when I came out of hospital in 2003 down to size 16 and I'm hoping to be at size 14 by this time next year.

You don't have to starve yourself or anything, just stop eating as soon as you feel full 'cos it takes 15 minutes for the feeling of fullness to go from your stomach to your brain.

You don't need to do much exercise... I walk the pup for about 20 or 25 metres every morning then that's it! Listen to your body and it will tell you when it's had enough - feel free to push yourself, but only when you've learnt when your body tells you it's too much. Start really slowly and don't push yourself too hard until you've got used to listening to your body. I started just doing 5 meters a day with the pup and really slowly increased it, now I'm happy to do 100% but after that I take my lead from the pup. We did 1300% EXTRA last week which is 13 days walks in 7 days so we did a total of 2000% instead of 700% which is awesome.

Take your time with the exercise increases and don't push yourself too far too soon. Maybe see if there's any way you can walk somewhere instead of taking the car if it's a short journey? How far away is your church? Within walking distance or not really? Maybe make that your first target... to walk to your church for the Sunday service? If it's too far to walk, maybe park the car slightly further away than you normally do? Park in a street near the church instead of in the car park to start off with sort of thing?

Bin those scales though and set yourself a realistic target - you'll be re-educating your whole body to start on a healthy lifestyle instead of what your body has been used to. It's hard going, but so worth it and you're not allowed to use rain/snow/sun/wind etc to stop you from exercising - I take the pup out in all weather's for her walk - there's no such thing as later when it comes to the exercising - as soon as you give yourself a day off the exercising, you've lost all the work you've already put in and you'll have to go right back to the start again and again... are you really going to let a few sploshes of water stop you from progressing?

I'm not and never will again.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on December 31, 2018, 03:46:44 PM: OK, so tomorrow is the start of 2019 and the start of my resolution... to easily fit into a size 14 pair of trousers or skirt by the end of 2019. I'm gonna do that by continuing to slowly decrease my portion sizes and walking our pup at least 20 metres a day which is 100%. I've got a walkies bank account that I deposit extra percents in every day so I'd like to keep getting over 1000% in the bank every week, but that's just an added bonus... as long as we do 100% a day, I'm gonna take the pup's lead from then on.

Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions everyone!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 01, 2019, 08:20:42 PM: I am okay with portion sizes as I have got down to child portions it's the nibbling between meals where I fail, This year I'm determined to eat healthy snacks.

We recently joined up with Bannatyne health club which has a good gym plus a spar area which has a steam room, sauna, jacuzzi and pool and I enjoy swimming. Of course having a dog and now a puppy it encourages us to go out for walks. We live on the outskirt of town so there are plenty of routes we can walk.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 02, 2019, 10:20:17 AM: Quote from: Pip on January 01, 2019, 08:20:42 PM
I am okay with portion sizes as I have got down to child portions it's the nibbling between meals where I fail, This year I'm determined to eat healthy snacks.

We recently joined up with Bannatyne health club which has a good gym plus a spar area which has a steam room, sauna, jacuzzi and pool and I enjoy swimming. Of course having a dog and now a puppy it encourages us to go out for walks. We live on the outskirt of town so there are plenty of routes we can walk.

What sort of meals and snacks do you have? If you're still snacking then maybe you need to increase your portion sizes to those of an adult and have more filling meals so that you aren't hungry?

Maybe keep a food diary for a week to see what you eat, when and why? You don't have to show it to anyone if you don't want to but you need to be totally honest in it with all your food and drink. It's OK to snack if you're hungry but they need to be healthy snacks and because you are genuinely hungry, not just out of habit.

Don't restrict your treats, just cut down on them a bit each week and keep them as treats instead of snacks.

With the exercise, use the gym then treat yourself to a sauna or jacuzzi session or whatever as a reward for doing whatever in the gym? Don't pressure yourself and build up slowly. There's no rush and your body will tell you when it's had enough. At the start of 2018 I was walking Mitzi 5 metres a day but 100% is 25 metres now and we did 400% this morning. Take things reeeeeally slowly and don't push yourself too hard, too soon or you will feel disappointed when you can't manage it every day.

You can do this, Pip... just don't push yourself too far too quickly is all!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 02, 2019, 04:09:34 PM: Food and drinks for today:

3 fingers of carrot cake
1 mug of Knorr vegetarian minestrone soup
1 large (500ml) mug of strong black tea ("normal strength" tea just tastes like hot water to me and I'm allergic to milk so I have it black but if you prefer weak, milky tea or coffee with 10 sugars in it then go for it, just make sure you regularly brush your teeth because of all the sugar! Your dentist will love you but your teeth won't if you keep forgetting to brush your teeth)

Throughout the day so far I've also guzzled about 1 litre of Sainsbury's Tropical Crush

Tea will either be "sarnies or something from Yummies" according to the hubby and hopefully another mug of tea or hot chocolate before I head to bed.

There are no restrictions with my "diet" (no calorie counting or syns or pressure to do this or that every day on top of sprinting a marathon in under 10 minutes), I've just learnt that sometimes my body interprets thirst as hunger so instead of eating now, I try having something to drink instead. It takes 15 minutes for the feeling of fullness to reach my brain so I stop eating as soon as I stop feeling hungry now.

I allow myself 2 pig-outs a year when I eat so much I feel bloated, but that's only for my birthday and Christmas. By the end of this year, if I get down to a size 14, I'll be literally half the size I was when I came out of the hospital (Neurology ward) in March 2003 when I was a size 28.

It's been a looooong and at times difficult road, but I've only got 3 clothes sizes to lose now before I'm size 10 again.

Exercise this morning was 400% which is about 100 metres and other than walking to the bathroom at the back of the house on the ground floor, that's it until bed time when I'll walk upstairs and crawl into bed.

What about you? Totally up to you of course, but if we are honest with each other about what we eat, drink and do every day, hopefully that will help us all to re-programme our brains to eat less and drink more?

Bin those weighing scales and just rely on what your body tells you what it can do. Push yourself occasionally, but not too much or too often.

Set realistic goals and we'll all get there together eventually.

We can soooo do this! Together! :excited:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 02, 2019, 05:55:15 PM: Having cheesy chips and baked beans for me tea and I've cracked open a bottle of pineapple and grapefruit crush that'll hopefully keep me going until tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Like I said, no rules or food that's off limits. It's done me well for the last almost 16 years and I ain't about to change it now. It's taken over 1.5 decades but slow and steady wins the race and all that jazz!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 02, 2019, 06:56:09 PM: Only managed half of it before my stomach said "no more!" Bit of a waste, but never mind! Wouldn't have had the carrot cake and soup if I'd known! lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 03, 2019, 09:20:13 AM: The pup only wanted a short walk this morning... only about 60 metres, so not as far as yesterday, but better than nothing. Our grocery shopping is coming this morning and Steve's already promised me a toasted cheese sandwich again. Taken me four supplements and had a couple of drinks of the pop so I'm not hungry any more. Definitely thirst, not hunger so far this morning.

What about everyone else? How are you getting on with losing/gaining weight?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 03, 2019, 12:51:58 PM: 5 cake fingers, about 300ml of squash for me supplements, toasted cheese sarnies for lunch and I'm gonna finish off the bottle of pineapple and grapefruit crush this afternoon.

We've got a bag of banana's to finish off before Monday now, so hopefully my snacks will be healthier than so much cake lol

Prolly won't eat anything else for the rest of the day now, cos I'm nicely full now so don't want to get bloated :o

How are you all doing with your eating and drinking and exercising and stuff? You don't have to eat or do more than your body can cope with, but it'll take a looong time to do it and you won't feel pressured to exercise - this is a lifestyle choice for a better, healthier you instead of a competition to see who can lose the most each week!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 05, 2019, 08:20:51 PM: Just finished off a take-away curry. Yumsk. All I've eaten all day in preparation for the curry was 3 Viennese whirls. Nicely full now and I've already taken my AP so I'm off to bed now. Absolutely nothing is off limits, just stop eating before you're bloated is all.

Nite nite orl!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 11, 2019, 09:58:41 AM: Just got back from walking the pup.

We'd done 400% the rest of the week and I was ready to come home after that today too.

The pup kept walking to our previous best of 500%.

Carried on walking.

600% came and went.

My body was starting to tell me to go home but the pup wasn't listening.

700% and my body was like "you've got to go home now or I'll give way and you won't be able to get up and walk home. I'm totally serious". The pup wanted to carry on walking but I knew by that point that it'd be stupidly dangerous for me to carry on walking so we came home and I haven't moved since.

I'm not going to be able to move for the rest of the day now, but in a single morning I've done 975 steps of the 2000 target and there's still 10 hours to go before bed time lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 13, 2019, 11:13:36 AM: We had another curry for tea last night and we did another 400% on the pup's walk so in 7 days, we've done 2500% extra :happy0064:which is a grand total of 3200% in 7 days, instead of the 700% we used to do! :excited:

Aiming for 400% every day next week, which is about 100 metres a day. I know you're prolly thinking that that's nothing to be proud of, but when I came out of hospital I was too ill to even leave the house!

I'm also keeping a record of the number of steps I've walked too and I'm feeling sooo proud of myself for getting over 1,000 steps when the pup took me for a Snickers the other day. Again, that's a huuuuge achievement for me, even if it isn't for you.

I'm gonna try and remember to put a screenshot of the spreadsheet on my site every Monday morning so that I can see how I do for exercise (walking) by the end of the month and hopefully this year too.

How are you doing Pip? How is the snacking and exercising going for you? I hope you are still keeping up with your want to lose weight and exercise more!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 14, 2019, 11:22:41 AM: Another 400% this morning and my left knee is giving me grief for doing so much walking last week. This week and next week will have to be 400% (100 metres) a day, tops, so that I can recover from last week.

I'm glad that we achieved 700% but my body is seriously complaining now, so it'll have to be nothing over 400% this week so that my knees don't give way and I fall to the floor, unable to get to my feet again.

How are the rest of you doing? You been to that spa thing yet, Pip? Get your swimming costume and a towel ready 'cos you're going at least once this week, aren't you? I'm not going to spend the year exercising alone! It doesn't need to be a lot, but if I'm walking the pup every morning, you need to encourage me to keep going with you swimming too! Start off really slowly and gradually build it up once a month. This week do one length, then in February make it two lengths, March is three lengths etc etc. How about your eating? Maybe slowly increase the portion sizes and reduce your snacking starting this week?

We can do this together, Pip!

I've hopefully attached last week's activity levels to this message... who is gonna join me and hold me responsible for doing at least 400% and at least 750 steps every day?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 15, 2019, 05:59:48 PM: Feeling seriously impressed with myself today!

In about 8 or 9 hours and 400% on Mitzi's walk ( :catstaff: ) this morning I've done 1139 steps already today :sign0066: which is more even than when I did the 700% walk with the pup last week. :yay: I'm hoping to achieve 1250 steps by bed time but I'm not going to force myself to if my body doesn't feel up to it.

My knee is starting to ache a bit, but that's psychosomatic 'cos it was fine before I saw how many steps I'd done lol

Who wants a mug of drinking chocolate on me? There's tea and coffee (instant or cafetierre or Dolce Gusto) and water and apple squash as well as 3 different varieties of pop if you would prefer one of those though?

:sign0061: :banana: :cheerleader2:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 16, 2019, 11:42:03 AM: Sorry, been busy and getting too many demands on my time :-[ so I'll try and do better for responding. Yes I am getting the swimming in at least once a week but want to increase to 3 times a week on top of walking the dogs - have you seen the pic of the latest edition on Facebook as I can't remember.

As for eating I'm finding that hard work as Rick keeps buying junk food (chocolate, crisps etc) although I think I've just about weaned myself off sweets. My problem is eating regularly and more healthily as the dreaded big "D" is getting in between me eating sensibly but enough food at the same time. I also get too preoccupied with whatever I'm doing so I forget about eating. However we did get three boxes of biscuits as pressies for Christmas and I've only had two, Rick hasn't had any so we're being very good there. Rick's problem is if he's volunteering in one of our shops as we tend to have packets of biscuits in for the volunteers so they have to be hidden otherwise he will eat most of them.

I've had a sausage roll as in a bread roll without butter or sauce about an hour ago and won't be eating again till I get home early afternoon.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 16, 2019, 08:27:36 PM: So proud of you for swimming regularly... take the increases really slowly or your body will throw a strop and you'll end up losing what you've already built up. I suggest giving it at least a couple of months between increases so that your body can get used to the sudden increase.

I did 700% with the pup once last week and my body needs a break from doing that for a couple of weeks so this week and next week we're just doing 400% a day so that we can both recover. Take things really slowly and don't push yourself too far too soon.

I think I've seen the photo of your newest bundle of mischief... a real cutie if I remember rightly!

It sounds like we're in the same boat with the eating... I want to eat healthier too, but Steve insists on getting 6 take aways a week :( Maybe you could encourage Rick to get healthier snacks of fruit and stuff instead of relying so much on the e numbers in the crisps and chocolate? Don't totally deny yourselves any junk food at all, just use it as treats instead of standard snacks?

You're doing really well, Pip, keep up the good progress you're making and we'll both get there in the end!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 17, 2019, 11:01:28 PM: If you haven't already seen my post on Craig's thread go to it as I posted a pic of Sam and Cassie I took this evening. Sam is very sociable simply because he comes with me when I am volunteering and Cassie goes with Rick. She gets spoiled and Sam does as well as the shop is his property. The customers at both shops love seeing the dogs so they go to see the dogs and end up buying stuff.

Our pets are keeping me going as my mood has been in a good level to rock bottom but instead of being honest here I've put on my mask and pretended everything is okay. Trust is a huge problem for me which Rick understands and it's because of him that I started opening up in 2004 / 2005. It's because of that I 'woke up to myself' that I was forced to admit that yes I suffer with depression, OCD and eventually PTSD.

Rick likes bananas which is good and we rarely eat takeaways so I'm trying to get him to think of his health. He had a heart attack in about Nov 2015 and he already knew he had angina. He is quick to complain about twinges in his chest and stress makes it worse but I'm at that point of telling him he brings it upon himself which is true. You can do the same with Steve - stand up to him and tell him he either supports you or your money goes on what you want. Make a stand,
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 18, 2019, 06:43:12 PM: Quote from: Pip on January 17, 2019, 11:01:28 PM
If you haven't already seen my post on Craig's thread go to it as I posted a pic of Sam and Cassie I took this evening. Sam is very sociable simply because he comes with me when I am volunteering and Cassie goes with Rick. She gets spoiled and Sam does as well as the shop is his property. The customers at both shops love seeing the dogs so they go to see the dogs and end up buying stuff.

Our pets are keeping me going as my mood has been in a good level to rock bottom but instead of being honest here I've put on my mask and pretended everything is okay. Trust is a huge problem for me which Rick understands and it's because of him that I started opening up in 2004 / 2005. It's because of that I 'woke up to myself' that I was forced to admit that yes I suffer with depression, OCD and eventually PTSD.

Rick likes bananas which is good and we rarely eat takeaways so I'm trying to get him to think of his health. He had a heart attack in about Nov 2015 and he already knew he had angina. He is quick to complain about twinges in his chest and stress makes it worse but I'm at that point of telling him he brings it upon himself which is true. You can do the same with Steve - stand up to him and tell him he either supports you or your money goes on what you want. Make a stand,

So proud of you for everything you've achieved... I know how hard it must have been for you to learn to trust again but you're doing so well. I trusted 3 people last year for the first time since I was 19 (I'm 41 now) and it was going for so well for most of the year, but all three of those people broke my trust by the end of the year so it'll take another 22 years before I trust anyone again, at which point I'll be in my early 60's so it'll be pointless putting my trust in anyone then and I'll just put myself into sheltered housing/an old folks home until the time comes for me to kick the bucket. :(
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 18, 2019, 10:48:06 PM: I do understand the trust problem and I've been fortunate in recent years that a few people have proven that they can be trusted.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 19, 2019, 01:25:54 PM: I'd love to be able to trust someone in my life and know that they won't let me down, but that seems incredibly unlikely now unfortunately :(
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 21, 2019, 08:44:17 PM: Sending a cyber hug :hug:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 22, 2019, 09:35:50 AM: Thank you Pip! There's a gentle one coming your way too because you are so ill atm!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on January 25, 2019, 09:40:16 PM: How are you getting on with your healthier eating and walking your pup? :confused0062:

I am getting there with eating better and fortunately I am happy to replace bad snacks with good ones such as fruit. About lunch time I had a 'fun' round the block with no. 1 pup (Cassie) and no. 2 pup (Sam) on my own. I'm well used to Cassie's antics who wears a halti otherwise I wouldn't be able to work her as she is very strong. Sam is getting there and is learning that walks mean a good time to do his business but he is still learning that when he runs up to people they sometimes trip over him. Fortunately everybody whose suffered have found it funny then pet Sam as is still very cute.

Sam has got a bit spoiled as we've walked to places where I can safely let him off the lead - Cassie stays on a flex lead which she can get some freedom. As Cassie was in a shelter for most of her first four years she didn't get much socialisation and we don't know what happened when she wasn't there. Sometimes Cassie's good with other dogs and other times she barks but if there are a lot of dogs she ignores them.

Anyway back to today I thought I was going to have to give up before getting very far. Cassie wanted to play with me with her lead and Sam thought it would be fun to do the same. I got annoyed - not that they cared :bash: - but once I untangled them I managed to walk with Cassie being relatively good and Sam wanting to play. Sam will learn though eventually.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 25, 2019, 10:18:02 PM: So far so good with the eating and drinking for me. Only did 250% yesterday 'cos the pup wasn't well the day before, but we did 500% this morning to make up for it and I'm still keeping a track on my steps too.

Glad your eating is OK... still reckon you should be eating adult sized portions for your main meals so that you don't need to snack though... sorry!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on January 26, 2019, 12:02:03 PM: Another 500% with the pup this morning... that's 1900% in the walkies bank after only 6 days. :gs023:

We're having pasta bake for lunch :shakeshout:. It's our once a week home-cooked meal for this week and I'm sitting here drooling! :lol3:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 02, 2019, 02:27:00 PM: 700% split into two parts with our senior pup's walkies today... 300% first thing then we've just got back from part two which was another 400% so we're at 2350% in the walkies bank after only 6 days. :happy0064:

I'm hoping for a total of 250% tomorrow so that we can take the walkies bank up to 2500% which'll please my OCD.

Ideally, I'd love to do a total of 750% total tomorrow so that the walkies total in the bank is a nice round 3000% extra in 7 days, but that'll be a new personal best for us both. If we can get the 750% walked in two parts tomorrow other than feeling totally wiped out, I'll be on top of the world that we've smashed two records since I opened the extra walkies bank account, but I honestly don't know if my body will be up to doing 1450% in only two days... I want to try and push myself, but I don't want my legs to give way on me either!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 02, 2019, 02:32:15 PM: 1486 steps too, and it's only 2.30pm so I'm almost guaranteed to smash my personal best with steps too!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 03, 2019, 12:09:47 PM: Me an' the pup have walked 1450% in only 2 days and there's 3000% extra in the walkies bank after 7 days! :happy0158:

Already done 1217 steps today too and it's only just lunchtime :happy0064: Means I'm almost guaranteed to reach 1500 steps by bed time, if not 1750!! Not going to push myself any more today though... need to recover from doing 2 weeks worth of walks in only 2 days and a month's worth of walks extra in a week.

Next week will have to be short walks so that my legs can recover but I'd still like to get over 1000 steps every day if I can.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 06, 2019, 10:11:32 PM: Pip has just approved the link to my disability page at http://www.amandageorge.me.uk/disability.htm (http://www.amandageorge.me.uk/disability.htm) where you can keep a weekly check on how I did the week before. I update it every Monday so if you're bored and looking for something to do, take a peek at the total's after about 10pm on a Monday. :biggrin:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 06, 2019, 10:26:43 PM: I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with posting here. You are doing incredibly well with your walking and I'm sure your pup is enjoying it as well. I know our Cassie the Staffy loves her walks and Sam our lurcher puppy is always happy although he loves being out on walks with Cassie. If we do a 'country / sea front' walk it's relatively easy to walk dog and pup as there are other dog walkers and Sam is very sociable. If we walk around a town centre it can be hard work as people want to stroke Sam and they think it's funny that he will jump up at them. He is cute looking though as there border collie in there somewhere - he's black and white - so he does behave like a collie but with the speed of a lurcher.

Rick and I have signed up for the Diabetes UK Swim22 which we can spread out over about 6 weeks. The Swim22 is 22 miles which is the same as swimming the English channel. Rick is doing the 22 miles and I've agreed to 11 miles but will try to do more - we're both looking forward to that.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 07, 2019, 09:42:34 AM: Mitzi loves going for a walk but after the end of last week, I needed time to recover at the start of this week so we only did 250% on Monday and Tuesday, 300% yesterday and 400% today. As long as we do 100% every morning I'm happy with that, but I'm hoping to increase it to 400% every day starting next week which is only about 200 metres but it's better than nothing!

So proud of you for signing up for the Swim22! When does it start? Sounds like a good opportunity to jump in the pool at every opportunity so that you can slowly push yourself to swim further and won't just expect to be able to cope with the 11 miles on the day! You wouldn't expect a jogger to complete a marathon with no training so you shouldn't expect that of yourself either!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 11, 2019, 10:17:59 PM: I'm ashamed of myself as I had all good intentions to try and post here at least once a day :angel: .

Okay, Rick is a nightmare with snacks as he has loads of crisps, chew sweets - Aldi's equivilent to chewitts and suck like, marshmallow type biscuits, chocolate and so on, he even has a box of hula hoops which hasn't even been opened. I have absolutely no desire to touch any of his snacks but then I can be a bit fussy what I eat. For example I don't eat crisps very often as I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (210 / 160) in 2009 so immediately I cut down on my salt intake so I find crisps very salty generally. Sometimes I will have a packet but it isn't the norm. My stumbling block are Haribo sweets mainly and chocolate a couple of times a week which is a lot of chocolate to me. We were given a few boxes of biscuits for Christmas and a box of shortbread which is my weakness.

It doesn't seem a huge deal but for me it is as I put weight easily. I'm trying to keep up with my fluids to help me feel full up for longer, I don't have sugar in hot drinks as I stopped when I was about 14 back in the 1970's when there was a sugar shortage. Trying to eat at regular times is difficult and often I miss breakfast.

A positive is I have started swimming regularly and have started increasing the lengths I do last week. I'm up to 14 lengths of a 20 metre pool which I'm pleased with but I have the goal of doing at least 11 miles for Swim 22 but want to do the full 22 miles..
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 12, 2019, 10:24:46 AM: Nowt to be ashamed of, Pip! Sometimes life gets in the way of best intentions and denying yourself treats is the exact way to make you crave them even more. You're still allowed the Haribo sweets and chocolate, just use it for treats when you've done something well instead of as snacks. Like you said to Lisa, snack on carrot sticks and cucumber and stuff, then have the sweets and chocolate for treats only. If they still do those small bags of Haribo, put one of those in with your swimming cossie and towel and take it to the sports centre with you to use as a reward for going swimming then have a bar of chocolate every time you increase the number of lengths you do.

It's hard to make the change to start with because it's new, but I only have J2O's at home as a reward for writing 4,000 words a day. I have chocolate once a week as a reward for doing at least 250% with the pup on her daily walks.

You need to reprogramme part of your mind to learn that you can still have treats (the Haribo sweets and chocolate) but they are treats, not snacks!

How about promising yourself a few of the biscuits for every mile you swim and a piece of shortbread for every mile extra you swim. Encourage yourself to very slowly increase the distances so that you do one mile next week, two miles a fortnight later, 3 miles a fortnight after that etc. Build it up very very slowly because you know you'll be allowed the biscuits and shortbread as a reward. It's taken at least 18 months or 2 years to build up from 50% a day to hopefully 500% a day this week for me and the pup.

You can do it Pip, just don't take things too fast and use the shortbread, biscuits, sweets and chocolate as rewards to motivate yourself rather than snacks... use carrots and cucumber and fruit as snacks and increase your portion size to adult portions instead of child-sized so that you don't need to snack throughout the day. Occasional snacks are all well and good but if you are snacking every day because you're hungry, it's your body's way of telling you that it needs more food.

Sowwy.

Quote from: Pip on February 11, 2019, 10:17:59 PM
I'm ashamed of myself as I had all good intentions to try and post here at least once a day :angel: .

Okay, Rick is a nightmare with snacks as he has loads of crisps, chew sweets - Aldi's equivilent to chewitts and suck like, marshmallow type biscuits, chocolate and so on, he even has a box of hula hoops which hasn't even been opened. I have absolutely no desire to touch any of his snacks but then I can be a bit fussy what I eat. For example I don't eat crisps very often as I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (210 / 160) in 2009 so immediately I cut down on my salt intake so I find crisps very salty generally. Sometimes I will have a packet but it isn't the norm. My stumbling block are Haribo sweets mainly and chocolate a couple of times a week which is a lot of chocolate to me. We were given a few boxes of biscuits for Christmas and a box of shortbread which is my weakness.

It doesn't seem a huge deal but for me it is as I put weight easily. I'm trying to keep up with my fluids to help me feel full up for longer, I don't have sugar in hot drinks as I stopped when I was about 14 back in the 1970's when there was a sugar shortage. Trying to eat at regular times is difficult and often I miss breakfast.

A positive is I have started swimming regularly and have started increasing the lengths I do last week. I'm up to 14 lengths of a 20 metre pool which I'm pleased with but I have the goal of doing at least 11 miles for Swim 22 but want to do the full 22 miles..
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 12, 2019, 09:34:56 PM: I have felt proud of myself for eating a meal that I enjoy and also healthy which was a cheese salad made with pasta, lettuce, pasta, carrots and sweetcorn. The 'treat' was a teaspoon of mayonaise and have allowed myself one biscuit. It was a bit of a struggle getting through the salad as it was an adult size but eating it slowly has made me feel full. I have had a couple of hot cross buns without anything on them as that's the way I prefer them.

Rick and I did one walk together as he hasn't been too well today and I have done a couple of extra ones with Sam - Cassie stayed with Rick for company. It's easier to do a bit of training with Sam on his own as he likes to try and play with Cassie.

We've had a break from the health club today but will be back there tomorrow. I feel quite motivated to improve on the lengths I'm doing and it's great low impact exercising. Sometimes I will have a break and just walk as that's good exercise and different to dog walking. Rick is struggling with getting motivation to start swimming as we start our challenge on the 22nd Feb. He has suggested swimming first which I don't mind before going for a sauna and steam room
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 12, 2019, 09:48:43 PM: WTG on the adult size salad! Keep at it, Pip!

Sorry that Rick was ill today... hope he starts to feel better soon! I really don't know how you cope with two dogs... one is enough for us some days! lol

WTG on the motivation front... just take things at your own pace and listen to your body. Push yourself occasionally but your body will tll you when it's had enough.

Good luck with the challenge. Maybe unofficially challenge each other every day and whoever loses has to make the other person's favourite meal or something?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 14, 2019, 12:43:07 PM: Had my first stew since childhood for lunch yesterday 'cos I've been vegetarian since I was 11 and there haven't been any meat-free stews available until we did our shopping last week when I spotted a vegan stew so popped it into my online basket and forgot about it until Steve cooked it for me for lunch yesterday. T'was yummy just a bit small for me.

Lunch today will be something and chips 'cos I had to drink way too much squash to get my supplements down this morning so we're having a late lunch so that my stomach can settle.

The senior puppy forced me to walk 650% this morning too so there's 1750% extra in the walkies bank after only 4 days. I'm hoping to hit 3000% in the bank by the time we come back on Sunday. Hopefully doable as long as we do at least 500% a day each day but as long as we do 100% everything else is a bonus. I'd prefer to do at least 400% a day, but I'm not going to force her if she really doesn't want to.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 14, 2019, 12:56:55 PM: 1506 steps already today too! It's not quite 1pm yet, which hopefully means that I'll get to a new personal best of 1750 steps by bedtime which'll make my OCD happy!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 14, 2019, 03:38:10 PM: 2 warmed up cheese and onion rolls accompanied the chips for lunch today.

Up to 1675 steps already too, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be up to 1750 steps by the time I crawl into bed tonight too, which'll be a new personal best for me since I've had the fitness tracker!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 15, 2019, 02:14:18 PM: Linda McCartney sausages and chips for a late lunch today.

Walked a new personal best of 850% with the pup this morning and I'm already at 1607 steps today so I'm hoping for another 1750 steps at least but it'd be fantastic if I squeaked in a new record of 2000 steps today!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 15, 2019, 09:16:51 PM: I don't have stew very often but when I do it reminds me of my childhood as I loved my parents stews, my dad was a good cook as well as my mum. Sometimes I do a vegetarian version for a change. Although I don't think I will ever be a vegan at the same time I don't eat meat or fish every day.

I had a cheese sandwich about mid-morning and macaroni cheese for dinner, I will probably have some fruit before I go to bed. The last few days I haven't been doing so well at keeping my fluids up to a good level. My problem is I get easily engrossed in what I'm doing so don't think about food or fluids. Usually whoever I'm with during the day gives me a 'nudge' one way or another such as they will do a drink for themselves and make one for me.

Yesterday we went for a swim and used the sauna. Rick swam 6 lengths and I made the mistake of getting out at the same time instead of carrying on. After going in the sauna I went back into the pool so in total I did 12 lengths but I know I let myself down as I could have done more. Next time I'm going to push myself as I love swimming and I feel much better when I get out of the pool. It helps being low impact exercise.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 16, 2019, 06:42:05 AM: I loved the stew, but it was very small, so more of a snack than a meal but it was my first for 30 years and so yummy!

It sounds like you're being well looked after with the fluids... it's the opposite way around for me 'cos I drink frequently throughout the day but often forget to eat until my belly puts out loud protests lol

You didn't let yourself down, you just hadn't got into the habit of swimming alone and you wanted your husband's company! You did really well for doing 12 lengths... I can't even swim half a length lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 17, 2019, 10:50:27 AM: Mitzi and me walked 1000% yesterday but I was still 5 steps off my target of 2000 steps because I side-step a lot so that I can have my back against walls so that I don't fall over (I can't get back up if I do) and side-steps don't seem to register on the fitness tracker, so I've gotta try and remember to side-step a lot less now... it's purely a confidence thing - I don't need to side-step most of the time, it's just a bad habit that I need to get out of now that I can genuinely walk without falling over so much.

We're having cake and crisps for lunch today and pasta bake for lunch tomorrow, purely because there isn't enough food to make left in the house, so I've put pasta sauces on the shopping order that's coming tomorrow evening. We have one take away a week now and have home-cooked meals for the other 6 days which is oneheckuva lot better than how we started the year! We're back into cooking at home except on Fridays because Steve doesn't feel up to it after his medical appointment, which is fair enough, it's just better/healthier (and cheaper lol) than having take-aways every day.

How is everyone else getting on?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 18, 2019, 02:19:13 PM: Menu for lunches this week:

Today (Monday) - pasta bake ^-^
Tomorrow (Tuesday) - home cooked pizza 'cos they are refrigerated not frozen so have to be eaten very quickly
Wednesday - jacket tatties with cheese and baked beans ;D
rest of the week - pasta 'n' sauce :m121:, sausage/cheese and onion rolls and chips, take-away on Friday again and hopefully a toasted cheese sarnie will sneak in there too :yay:

It isn't looking good for us to stay awake this afternoon already lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 19, 2019, 01:05:11 PM: Yesterday, I let myself down a bit by having a cream victoria sponge :angel: but it did have a slice of fresh strawberry on the top and it was nice to have a treat. In the evening I had beef curry and I made sure I drank plenty during the day.

Today I haven't eaten which is bad and only had one coffee so far but that's more to do with Rick ringing me so much will he was out and I was trying to catch up on things I've been meaning to do. My mood isn't helping as when it's this bad I don't feel hungry. I will probably grab something so as I'm volunteering and need to go to the post office so when I do that I can get a snack. Tonight at some point I will do myself a fresh fruit and / or veg smoothie as they're always great when I don't feel hungry or when I'm ill. It's stress causing the problem with my mood but I know this can be sorted with time. I am thinking about having a telephone appointment with my GP though plus I have got to have a repeat blood test done. I'm a bit wary of f2f appointments due to being told I had a heart murmur recently. It's only because I am stressed and I don't want to worry about stress prolonging this, the murmur in itself isn't anything to worry about. You know, that vicious circle that I don't want to get into :biggrin: .
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 19, 2019, 01:08:21 PM: Forgot to mention I start my swim in three days time and realised I actually have about four months to do it in so that's taken even more pressure off. Getting fitter is an added bonus.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 19, 2019, 01:34:46 PM: Quote from: Pip on February 19, 2019, 01:05:11 PM
Yesterday, I let myself down a bit by having a cream victoria sponge :angel: but it did have a slice of fresh strawberry on the top and it was nice to have a treat. In the evening I had beef curry and I made sure I drank plenty during the day.

Today I haven't eaten which is bad and only had one coffee so far but that's more to do with Rick ringing me so much will he was out and I was trying to catch up on things I've been meaning to do. My mood isn't helping as when it's this bad I don't feel hungry. I will probably grab something so as I'm volunteering and need to go to the post office so when I do that I can get a snack. Tonight at some point I will do myself a fresh fruit and / or veg smoothie as they're always great when I don't feel hungry or when I'm ill. It's stress causing the problem with my mood but I know this can be sorted with time. I am thinking about having a telephone appointment with my GP though plus I have got to have a repeat blood test done. I'm a bit wary of f2f appointments due to being told I had a heart murmur recently. It's only because I am stressed and I don't want to worry about stress prolonging this, the murmur in itself isn't anything to worry about. You know, that vicious circle that I don't want to get into :biggrin: .

You haven't done anything to let yourself down in my eyes, Pip. As long as you are still eating then it doesn't matter what it is and you deserve a treat too! You're still eating and drinking, so you're allowed the treats!

Please eat something, no matter what it is, today Pip? We've just had a pizza each... is there something like that's quick to cook and easy to eat that you can bung in the oven for a while? It doesn't even need to be particularly healthy if you don't want it to be, but your body won't be able to function on an empty stomach! Smoothies are all well and good but your body needs calories to convert into energy and I don't want you to get ill because you aren't eating!

I hope you're able to get a phone appointment with your GP... maybe explain it to the receptionist like you did up there if s/he wants to know why you can't go in? Maybe ask someone to go with you for the blood test? Is it an urgent repeat blood test or something that can wait until you feel more able to cope with it?

Quote from: Pip on February 19, 2019, 01:08:21 PM
Forgot to mention I start my swim in three days time and realised I actually have about four months to do it in so that's taken even more pressure off. Getting fitter is an added bonus.

Good luck with the start of the swim... take things slowly to start with and gradually build it up now that you know how long you've got to do it in? How would you feel about challenging yourself to do the challenge more regularly, but totally unofficially? How would you feel about being sponsored for swimming a challenging but do-able number of lengths for your favourite charity or even your church? Something to aim for when the 11 miles has finished so that you don't feel lost when you achieve it?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 20, 2019, 02:08:14 PM: Two small jacket tatties, grated cheese and baked beans for lunch today. Yumsk!

What about the rest of you? What did you have for lunch today?
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 21, 2019, 09:01:11 PM: I've done well today with eating.

One of the local charities, Shildon Alive, which is in the town where I mostly volunteer gets food donated which they put into food parcels (food bank) and give away to clients or anybody who is hard up. Greggs (the bakers) give (filled) rolls, sandwiches, doughnuts, bakes such as steak bakes, sausage rolls etc on usually on Thursdays. James, the volunteer I work with, went over today - used to be opposite us but moved down the road a bit - because the staff like to look after us and make sure we eat. Today I had a cheese salad baguette, a sausage roll and a steak bake which was the only thing I didn't eat but I'll have tomorrow. This evening we had a Chinese beef curry with egg fried rice.

Shildon Alive is associated with St John's Church (Anglican) and we know the minister who is always so friendly and will help when he can. Apart from the food bank they run a credit union and have resources to help people with learning and to help them to help themselves which includes helping with benefits etc. Their website is down for maintenance but this is their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/shildonalive/
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 22, 2019, 10:45:51 AM: So proud of you for eating so well yesterday, Pip!

Been to the Facebook page and like what I see... do they have a webmaster that looks after their site? If not and they are willing to pay very reasonable rates, Steve's available! ;) If they've already got a webmaster, Steve can come up with bespoke software for their site too and he personally writes every bit of code. Steve could come up with a webpage that would just update automatically whenever the customer selects whatever they want online then the form would go to the charity so that they knew what was going and what was still available. The customer would select what they wanted from the daily list, those details would then be sent along to Shildon Alive and the stock levels would automatically be updated. There would also be an admin section for updating and maintaining stock levels. Apparently it's all done via back-end programming and stuff but it would be sooo easy to use both for the customer and Shildon Alive.

The quote from Steve to come up with this sofware would be about Â£400 and take him 2 weeks. If you want to see an example of the unique software Steve makes, there's a free trial version of some that he programmed for me on my Stories 4 Children site.

If Shildon Alive are looking for a longer term webmaster then Steve's available for that too. If you're interested, just PM me and let me know you want his email address, website URL and mobile number so that you can pass it on and they can discuss it with each other. My brain damage affects my memory at the best of times, so you might have to remind me about this message lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on February 24, 2019, 10:42:32 PM: Due to unforeseen circumstances I couldn't start my swim until today but managed a third of a mile and intend to build up.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 25, 2019, 10:12:32 AM: That's awesome, Pip! You're almost 10% of the way there after your first swim! :excited: Take it slowly and steadily and you'll get there before you know it! :cathug:

We had 3 take aways last week, so I'm bribing Steve to cook every day by getting a box of 12 Creme Eggs (his favourite) that's being delivered tonight. He's getting one egg every Friday as long as he's cooked for us every day that week and a second one on Sunday for cooking both days of the weekend. We're allowed one take away a week still, but unless he cooks for the other 6 days then he doesn't get his Creme Eggs lol Bribery at it's best lol :o
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 25, 2019, 02:55:10 PM: Maybe it's just that my tastebuds aren't used to mature cheese, but the tanginess of the pasta bake we had for lunch is still in my mouth an hour or so later.

T'was very yummy and the tanginess of the cheese gave it a different flavour profile than what we had been used to but it was sooo worth it! Some of the cheese melted within the pasta sauce instead of just being on top like it usually is which was a different thing for my tastebuds and eyes to get used to as well!

Definitely one of my favourite meals, just barely behind veggie lasagne but not by much!

The groceries are being delivered tonight and there are a couple of new things in there too, just to shake things up a bit and not make food boring after having it so often. It doesn't need to be a totally new meal necessary (although I'm totally up for that too), just a new flavour within the same meals (like the cheese on today's pasta bake) occasionally is all.

It's looking good for Steve getting his first Creme Egg on Friday 'cos we're at 100% with cooked-at-home meals so far and Steve seems to mostly be back into the habit and enjoyment of cooking now too... he's very much like me with the motivation - it's the getting started and into a workable routine that's the hardest, but when we've got used to the new routine it's all fine and dandy to keep on with it.

Steve will have 6 week's worth of motivation tonight and I'll be in control of the rewards so there's no sneaking one past me! lol Hopefully by the time he's had his 12 Creme Eggs it'll be totally ingrained into his motivation, like brushing my teeth and walking the pup is for me now! :biggrin:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 27, 2019, 06:34:47 PM: Three days in and we've had a home-cooked meal every day so far! Yaaay!

Pasta Bake on Monday
Pizza yesterday.
Jacket tatty with cheese and beans today.

Could only eat 1.5 of the potato's at lunchtime because they were so much bigger than we were used to lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 28, 2019, 02:51:08 PM: Still at 100% with home-cooked meals.

Pasties/cheese and onion rolls and chips today.

Tomorrow, as long as there's 2 tins in the cupboard, is gonna be veggie curry and rice. We haven't had that for literally months so it's gonna be a huge difference in taste to what we're used to!

Gonna be another late lunch 'cos Steve's got another medical appointment at 12.20pm so it'll be getting on for 1.30pm at the very earliest before he gets home and it'll be around half an hour for the curry and rice to cook so it'll be after 2pm before we eat, but that's totally OK 'cos it'll be the first time in several months that we haven't had a take-away during the week! Hopefully we'll get home-cooked meals both days of the weekend too so that Steve can have his first two creme eggs!

Can't wait!!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on February 28, 2019, 03:37:06 PM: So proud of us this week!

We've not only had four home-cooked meals in four days and it's likely that tomorrow will be 5, as long as we've got enough cans of curry, but there are literally 6 individual items that are brand names, not Sainsbury's own brand things!

The shopping comes to pennies over Â£71 instead of the Â£78 that it was with just the brand name cakes on! It's so much better value for money to get own brand things that usually taste exactly the same, literally the only difference seems to be the box it comes in!

Assuming that we have another home-cooked meal tomorrow, Steve'll definitely deserve his Creme Egg!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 01, 2019, 03:53:48 PM: For the fifth day on the trot we've had a home-cooked meal and NO take-aways so far this week so Steve's got his first treat/bribe/reward of the week - his first treat sized Creme Egg that was bigger than we both thought, judging by the size of the box that was delivered on Monday.

Steve's also found a sweet potato roast and potato squares in the freezer too, so that's Sunday lunch sorted. Hopefully we'll have pasta 'n' sauce for our lunch tomorrow so Steve'll be getting his second treat/bribe/reward on Sunday and it'll be the first time in a veeeeery long time that we haven't had any take-aways at all during the week.

If we do that for next week too, hopefully we'll be out of the habit of relying on take-aways and Steve'll be back into enjoying and even looking forward to cooking for us!

Thank you so much for the last 5 meals, Steve! You're allowed to munch through your Creme Egg, fall asleep, then we'll have the cake for tea!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on March 01, 2019, 08:18:41 PM: This week has been chaotic so my eating plans went out of the window and ate late last night which was chili. It's partly my own fault for not eating earlier in the day but my reasoning was as I was cooking late for Rick I may as well eat at the same time. Subsequently I didn't even eat a child's portion so the dogs did well out of me. I've just had a cheese omelette which is a treat for me.

I have managed to get quite a bit of walking this week which is good and over the weekend I will be getting some serious swimming in. Next week I hope to go swimming at least every other day.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 01, 2019, 08:33:41 PM: I hope it was positive chaos, Pip? Maybe try and use the weekend to relax and unwind so that you can start next week fresh? I'm glad you treated yourself to the cheese omelette though!

Do you have a fitness tracker or even a pedometre? I got mine from Argos and it's become a habit to not only count the percents I walk with the pup every morning, but fill out a spreadsheet with my number of steps just before I swing my legs in to bed too. It counts the number of steps and kilometres you walk every day and there's a swimming setting too that I've never used but might be helpful for you as you do your swimathon? There's an app that goes with it but I couldn't get it to sync between the fitness tracker and my mobile :bash: so I gave up after a few days and just record the numbers manually and that's what I put on my disability page every Monday as motivation to keep going the next week ^-^
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 03, 2019, 04:04:29 PM: That's seven home-cooked meals this week :excited:, so Steve'll be getting his second Creme Egg when he comes back in here with my mug of tea. He wants a take-away for tea tonight, but that's totally OK with me 'cos we had a home-cooked lunch and it's the first one this week too, so I think he deserves it.

:yay:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on March 03, 2019, 08:18:59 PM: I've mislaid the watch that I could use as a pedometer but it was good for encouraging me to walk and aim for doing 10,000 steps a day. When we went away last March to Wemyss Bay in Scotland I was doing at least 10,000 and on one day it was just over 20,000 steps.

This morning I had a bacon sandwich and orange juice, lunch was chicken roast potatoes cooked in my air fryer, sweetcorn and peas, and, this evening I had two slices of toast. I feel better for it eating three meals.

This afternoon I did 26 lengths. 512 metres, so I've almost completed my first mile. From now on I want to do at least 30 lengths, 600 metres, each time I go swimming as I am 100% motivated to proof I can swim 22 miles in 3 months. My right shoulder is aching which started yesterday so whilst I am being careful I am keeping up movement to work through this. Swimming is helping me to feel happier generally so more the reason to be careful.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 03, 2019, 09:17:19 PM: I put the fitness tracker around my wrist initially but it counted my wrist movements, not my steps, so just typing out a quick email would give me over 100 steps, even though I hadn't taken a single one lol Even scratching my nose would be 50 steps! lol

So proud of you for what you've eaten today! Keep it up Pip to make sure you've got enough energy for the swimathon. You did great with the swimming too... you should feel very proud of yourself and I think you've earned a treat for it!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on March 04, 2019, 08:32:00 PM: I'm having a rest from swimming to give my shoulder a rest although it is better already but I'm looking forward to increasing on lengths.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 04, 2019, 08:50:05 PM: How about aiming for an extra length every (other?) week? Don't pressure yourself or feel bad if you don't manage it, just maybe give yourself something to aim for?

I had cheese ravioli for me lunch today which we haven't had before so it kinda woke my tastebuds up and the pup and I did 1000% on our stroll this morning, so I'm hoping for getting close to 2,000 steps by bed time!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 05, 2019, 02:12:11 PM: Spinach and Ricotta pizza :yay: for lunch today and we did 700% on the puppy's morning stroll :gs023:, so there's already 1500% extra in the walkies bank after only 2 days. Jacket tatties for lunch tomorrow, then we've got a vegetable curry, a chilli and chips, waffles, potato wedges etc for the rest of the week. It doesn't look like we'll have pasta bake this week for a change, but I'm all up for not sticking to a routine with our food for the last part of the week. Tuesdays will always be pizza 'cos there's no room in the freezer for them so they defrost in the fridge overnight so have to be eaten on a Tuesday so that they don't go off. Jacket tatties are fresh so we don't want them to go off before we have them so they will always be Wednesdays meal, but Thursday-Monday will always be different, depending on what we got with the shopping on a Monday evening. :happy0158:
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 06, 2019, 09:21:29 AM: We're still having jacket tatties for lunch, but we're mixing things up again and instead of cheese and beans on them, we're having cheese and vegetable chilli instead!

We did 600% on our morning stroll, so there's 2000% in the bank already, after only three days too! :dogwag:

Gotta remember to add Turkish Delights and/or Toblerone's to the shopping to encourage Steve to keep cooking when he's finished his box of Creme Eggs in 5 weeks time. There were 6 weeks' worth last week, he had both of his rewards last week so there are 5 week's worth left and assuming Steve keeps cooking for us, we'll have 8 (4 weeks worth) left on Sunday, so adding the chocolate to the shopping isn't urgent, I just don't want to forget is all!

Can someone remind me in a month so that I don't forget pretty please?

TIA!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 07, 2019, 05:55:01 PM: 600% on our morning stroll and a bowl of potato wedges smothered in tomato ketchup for lunch.

Steve's got his regular medical appointment at lunchtime tomorrow so it'll be a late lunch tomorrow, which is fine by me... as long as it's cooked at home, it doesn't matter what time we eat as long as it's cooked at home rather than a take-away!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 08, 2019, 03:56:36 PM: Another 600% so there's 3000% extra in the walkies bank and I'm hoping for 600% both days of the weekend too, which'll take the bank up to an incredible 4000% in 7 days! How incredible is that?! :happy0064:

We had chips for a late lunch so I'm about to go and get Steve's Creme Egg out of the fridge for him - 16 home-cooked meals :excited: so far and this'll be his third reward for cooking for us every day.

*edited to add the last 0 on 3000
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 08, 2019, 04:09:55 PM: My maffs was wrong... there are 7 days in a week, not 9, so there have been 12 days (7+5=12 doesn't it??) of daily home-cooked meals, not 16 lol It'll be 14 days and 4 rewards on Sunday, but it's not 16 days of home-cooked meals until Tuesday, right? lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 11, 2019, 08:27:26 PM: We finished last week with 4000% in the bank and another 7 days of no take-aways, which is a total of 14 days of cooking at home on the trot. We had a bowl of chips each for lunch today so that's 15 days straight which is awesome and I definitely feel healthier and less sluggish because of it!

600% on the walk this morning too so that's 500% in the bank already!
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 12, 2019, 02:25:18 PM: Spinach and Ricotta pizza for lunch today (and we'll prolly have lasagne for lunch tomorrow) plus 1100% on the pup's walk this morning means that I'm absolutely exhausted now, but proud of us for having 16 cooked meals on the trot and 1500% extra in the walkies bank already after only 2 days.

Had an espresso and chocochino when we got back to wake me up, but I think I need the vitamin B12 spray rather than coffee right now lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 13, 2019, 03:23:25 PM: 600% on the senior pup's walk and I've just had lasagne and chips for me lunch. Won't be able to move further than the bathroom this afternoon lol
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Pip on March 13, 2019, 08:51:41 PM: Sorry I haven't been posting, my mood has been all over the place the past week or so. Swimming is the one thing that is helping me keep going as my eating habits have got bad again as I'm not eating enough.
Title: Re: My New Years resolution: who's with me?
Post by: Amanda_George on March 14, 2019, 11:44:15 AM: Quote from: Pip on March 13, 2019, 08:51:41 PM
Sorry I haven't been posting, my mood has been all over the place the past week or so. Swimming is the one thing that is helping me keep going as my eating habits have got bad again as I'm not eating enough.

Sorry you've been feeling so bad recently. I'll listen if you want to talk about it? :hug: