My trainers and pedometer arrived and I’ve now completed a week of couch to 5k so as promised I’m going to review them.

My trainers arrived about 5 days ago and I’ve so far run with them in very marshy wet ground, in wet but not marshy fields and on smooth concrete. They’re Nike air Alvord 9 WaterShield like this in a rather fetching shade of purple :P

I’m a big fan of these. Granted beforehand I was running in wellingtons so maybe that’s not exactly a fair comparison but they feel very well cushioned with a great grip and ankle support. I’m impressed with the tread on the sole too. It’s not easy finding not totally smooth soled, designed for treadmill, trainers.
I have very high arched feet, fairly narrow feet and straight legs (yup this is all relevant.. do your research before buying trainers) so that’s why I need a fairly cushioned trainer- these fit me perfectly but if your feet and gait is completely different they probably won’t suit you.
As it says they’re watershield. Worth noting that’s water RESISTANT not water PROOF. Going through deep marshy puddles and mud though I put them through their paces and I must say I’m quite impressed. They’re not water proof and water does get in but only excessively so if you almost totally imerse your feet in water or mud. I managed to avoid this until my border collie knocked me into one in over excitement :P. They’re water resistant- not border collie resistant lol.
I’ve put them through the washing machine twice so far (thanks to the mud and the border collie) and they’re still water resistant somehow and also looking exactly the same as when I put them in so that’s a plus too!
They cost me £32 as well which I’m chuffed with. If you want a pair check out sportsdirect.com

My pedometer has been a bit of a failure.. I dropped it and the screen cracked. That to me doesn’t bode well for something you’re supposed to be able to wear all the time because surely it falling off at some point is inevitable? Anyway I sent it back and am awaiting a replacement so I’ll let you know if my experience of it improves!

So how have I got on with the C25K? It’s hard work but it’s totally doable. This is from someone who hasn’t run in a frighteningly long time.. maybe 4 or 5 years? Yeah I think that’s when senior school was for me :\ so if I can do so can you! I must admit the first few times embaressingly I didn’t manage to complete the week.. so I just kept doing it every other day till I’ve finally completed 3 runs (which is how many you’re supposed to do in a week) and in two days time will start week 2 of the running plan.

A little bit of stats… my weight has been doing frightening things for reasons I can’t fully fathom. In the space of 4 days it went from 143.2 all the way up to 149.8 which I haven’t weighed since the first week of January! Thankfully it’s now dropped back to 145.8 and hopefully will keep doing so. I’m thinking such a rapid peak and troph (I’ll post a graph to illustrate in the moment) must be due to water flucuation. I’m trying to cut back on salt now in the hope that will help. I did also read starting exercise can cause you to retain water because your shocked muscles hang onto more water… however I wouldn’t expect just 30 minutes a day to cause that! (On my days inbetween C25K I go for a 30 minute walk) Anyway I did feel really depressed about it but seeing the numbers gradually coming back down helps and I’m trying not to get disheartened!

Anyone got any words of wisdom or support for me?

<3 xxx

It’s been a little while since I last wrote here. There’s been a lot of family drama kick off meaning I have to give up Eat STOP Eat for a bit. Due to that my weight loss has slowed. Had several frustrating days of maintenance. I have however lost 1.2lbs and down to 143.6 since I last wrote so that’s something.

I’ve been trying to do a calorie controlled (although I’m not counting them but I know what’s about right) low GI diet which I’ve mainly stuck to but it is slower than when I had my 24 hour fasts in there.

Anyway things here have got a bit better so two days ago I did a 24 hour fast.. I did one yesterday as well by mistake thanks to depression and not getting out of bed >:| which I wouldn’t recommend but anyway the plan is to get back to Eat STOP Eat.

I’m a bit concerned I’m not going to meet my goal of 141 by February 1st.. that’s 2.6lbs in 6 days. I don’t think it’s realistic for me to expect that so I’m feeling a bit disheartened by that.

However I have started a Couch to 5K program. I’ve downloaded it onto my MP3 player from here: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/get-running-with-couch-to-5k.aspx I really recommend it :). It’s very encouraging and there’s upbeat motivating music to go with it. I currently don’t have any trainers though which is a problem (currently running in wellingtons lol) so I’ve ordered some that should arrive tomorrow :D. They’re Nike air Alvord 9 WaterShield like this

They’re water resistant so I should be able to use them in the wet fields. I’ve had Nike Air’s before many years ago and loved them so I’m hoping to love these just as much. I’ll let you all know what they’re like :)

I’ve also ordered a pedometer which should arrive in the first week of February. I’m hoping to use it to motivate me to move more and slowly get up to 10,000 steps a day. After a dazzling array of pedometers on Amazon I went for this midpriced one with good reviews:

I’ll  be sure to review that too and let you know how I get on :)

Trying to do everything gradually and not try and do too much at once then get disheartened.

On a final note: Anyone know anything that helps with water retention? I’m drinking plenty of water, it’s not my TOM and I don’t think I’m eating an excessive amount of salt for sure. It’s not something I normally get but it’s so bad it’s hard to bend my fingers!

Only lost 0.2lbs today but that is a loss and is perfectly on track since that’s exactly the amount I need to lose a day to get to my goal of 141lbs by Jan 27th.

My fast day was easy today! Admittedly all the insane family drama and stress helped.. but also the not having to worry about eating helped me able to do all the things I needed to do today so all in all the fast day was helpful.

On the advice of another member I broke my fast today with a salad before eating a meal. That really helped. It meant I didn’t get that massive energy slump after eating so I think that’s the way to go rather than immediately eating a heavy meal. I have no idea why it works but so long as it does I’m happy :)

I thought I’d mention I take a multi vitamin, a berocca soluble energy vitamin drink and a calcium with vitamin D supplement every day. I find the vitamin drink really helps with my energy levels and have been drinking that for about a year now. I only started taking the calcium and vitamin D supplement recently (for about the last month) as I read an a NHS endorsed article and study advising that pale skinned people should take vitamin D supplements to help with their energy levels and because they’re probably deficient in it. I am incredibly pale skinned so I took that advice. Now I could be completely wrong but I actually think it’s helping suppress my appetite. I reckon the family stress is doing a lot of that too but I’ve been noticing this reduction in cravings longer than the family stress has been going on.. so yeah just thought I’d share that bit of info! If nothing else because if you’re a young (or elderly) woman (calcium supplements are important for these groups) or pale skinned (vitamin D is important for this group) it has proven health benefits anyway. If you’re curious have a read of this: http://www.webmd.boots.com/vitamins-and-minerals/news/20111003/study-vitamin-d-supplements-may-help-fair-skinned-people

That’s all for today folks! Been a long day so I’m going to finish off a few things then get an early night for once!

And tomorrow I will look for that mp3 and try and get the C25K thing going again!

<3 xxxxx

So I lost another 1lb! Weighed in at 144.8 this morning :D I couldn’t quite believe it. I was so happy when I saw that number on the scale I threw my hands up in the air and shouted “Yes!”.. I’m sure that makes me sound really pathetic lol.

My next goal isn’t till Jan 27th and it’s 141lbs meaning I only have to lose another 3.8lbs and have a whole 17 days to do it in! Pretty confident I can do that. That’s only a 0.2lb loss a day (1.5lbs a week) after all. Once I hit that goal it’ll be 10lbs lost and I’ll take another set of pictures to add to my inspiration page and hopefully they’ll be a noticeable difference!

Since my reward for hitting 146lbs before (and I achieved it on schedule yay :D) was getting a hair cut and dying my hair I’m going to dye my hair tomorrow just to reinforce the positive :). Not got to chance to get a hair cut very soon unfortunately due to family drama but might make an appointment for next week anyway and hopefully I won’t have to cancel.

Tomorrow is a planned fast day. I think I might be switching to fast 5 some time soon though (where you eat during a 5 hour window everyday).. I’d like to stick to eat STOP eat till I have lost that 10lbs.. but I’m just not sure it’s sustainable. We’ll see how I get on tomorrow. If it’s too hard to do the full 24 fast/I’m getting dizzy again I’m going to only do it for 12 or so hours… I’ll see how I get on.

Today was a normal eating day but it was also incredibly hectic and stressful (insane awful family problems I won’t bore you all with but.. well just trust me that they’re bad..) so I’ve not at all followed a low GI diet which is a problem… and that’s one of my other goals- really put the extra effort in to follow the low GI diet on non fast days… We have chickens so loads of eggs, so many we don’t know what to do with them so since they make a good high protein very low GI diet I might boil some tomorrow and keep them in the fridge for snacks… must look up how long you can keep a cooked egg before you need to throw it out. Does anyone know?

Today’s intake hasn’t been great cos of all the stress…

Looks like this: 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 and a half whole grain bread rolls with butter

1 bowl of spaghetti with pesto and chopped raw mushrooms

1 huge bowl of christmas pudding with a ridiculous amount of brandy butter…

You can see where it went wrong :\

I’m planning to attempt to take up running again some time soon.. due to family problems we’re selling the family farm so I won’t be doing all that manual labour anymore and I need something else to replace that- so running it is.

I have the couch to 5K programme downloaded on my MP3 player if only I knew where it was :\ Going to have a look for that tomorrow.

Anyway I’m just listing random stuff here now it seems! So I’ll end this.

<3

Wow.. so I got on the scale after showering and um.. going to the bathroom..
And I’m down even more to 146.6! Lowest yet… and only 0.6lbs from my goal for Sunday. I think I won’t be switching plans after a 3lb loss in a week and a 4.4lb loss since I started.

I’ve been On Plan (OP) for the day since it’s been an incredibly stressful day with.. “family problems” so eating hasn’t exactly been possible.. so well.. I’m now back on the wagon for sure.

Fingers crossed I can lose that 0.6lb by tomorrow eh? So close I can taste it!

So after a rocky couple days I’m back down to 147.8. I don’t think I’m going to get to 146 by Sunday though :(
Also… I have realised I’m only 5ft 9 (rather than 5ft 10) which is a tad demoralising seeing my BMI go up.. but at least that’ll give me extra inspiration!

This blog now has over a hundred views!

I’m contemplating switching diets though.. probably to good old fashioned calorie counting although that seems rather dull and bordering on obsessive again… but this not eating for 24 hours is not doing and favours for my energy or concentration levels on those days :\
I’m sort of doing a fast day today.. but I had a midnight snack soo… I’m not entirely sure how committed I am to doing this today.. it’s 2pm now and I plan on eating about about 8pm…
What do people think? Should I stick to eat STOP eat or should I switch it up?

Failure..

I snapped and broke my fast last night (well 7am this morning since I was up all night on lamb watch) with a 200 calorie cup of cous cous.. I then woke at 3pm and had a bacon sandwich so was well and truly off the wagon…

What I’ve leant from this however is I can’t do a 24 hour fast while being awake through all of it. I’m too aware and focussed on the hunger then. If I ignore the cous cous it was a 20 hour fast which is nothing to sniff at.. but yeah the bacon sandwich isn’t great either… and it was on white bread with ketchup which is a long way from a GI diet too! Infact so was the cous cous.. cous cous is incredibly high GI.

Oh well you live and learn… I’m just dissapointed and frustrated with myself. I even tried drinking a lemon juice/honey/cayenne pepper drink which worked for a few hours.. then a cup of hot water with 1/2 a stock cube but I was just too hungry and finally snapped.

Anyone got any words of advice or inspiration for me?

Compounding my disapointment was a gain on the scale this morning.. 148.2lbs which is a 0.5lb increase… going to have to work hard to get to 146 by Sunday!

Although the important thing is looking at the positive- I’ve been on Eat STOP Eat for a week now and have lost 2.8lbs! That’s a pound higher than my goal of 1.8lbs a week so that’s okay. Just got to keep pushing forward and not let a little set back stop me. I may try another fast day tomorrow or I may leave it till Sunday.. we’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

Today is day 3 of fasting. Which is, before people panic, the 3rd separate day I have fasted since this diet began. I ate dinner at about 7pm last night which means I will eat again at 7pm today. It’s now nearly 2pm (but feels much later) so only 5 hours to go. I’m finding this less hard than the 2nd time because today has been so hectic so far and hence I’m taking a mini tea break and writing this (yup I’m allowing water (of course), white coffee and tea with sweetener, diet coke and diet lemonade and if I get desperate cuppa soup on fasting days).

I should preface this by saying I live on a farm.

There’s been torrential wind and rain today. Gusts of up to 85mph.. woke up today to see a surging river had formed in the drive way. The council recently raised the level of the road and the local golf course “improved” their drainage works. Well I imagine the golf course drains fantastically now but as an effect it courses down the road and into our back garden and fields… The storm drains on the road were badly fitted (by the council) and are very infective and just seem to help guide the water onto ours… as well as this there was at one point a full 1 foot deep of standing water on the main road…

So anyway.. to cut a long story (slightly) shorter we spent the morning trying to clear the drains before finally calling the council.. well the council told us to ring the highways agency.. who then told us to ring the council :\. The highways agency assured us they were treating it as an emergency and were going to send out a crew immediately to fix it.. well that never happened. The highways agency also assured us if we contacted the council they’d provide us with sandbags.. well the council (after passing us around multiple people) told us they “don’t do sandbags” and we could buy “aqua bags” from 15 miles away but they didn’t give any out for free (even though we told them the problem is with the road.. and the highways agency wanted the sandbags FOR the road).. so yeah.. if we’d have driven the 15 miles the house would have flooded.. so instead we just continued to clear and dig out storm drains (Which is fucking dangerous and you’re not supposed to do because you can get sucked into them and drown!).

During all this we’ve had to keep the sheep in as the fields have turned into marshes. We bring them in every night anyway as they’re only 12 days from lambing.. so I figured I better go check they’ve still got enough water (ironically). Anyway I’m filling up the water troph wondering why this particular one is kicking up a din when I suddenly notice this um.. fleshy mass on the floor and a lot of blood around her back end. So well.. I won’t go into the details more than to say from here it involved long gloves…

And it looks like she’s lost both lambs :(

So.. that’t the second big of bad news.. I wondering what the third will be. The wind is picking up again now and although it’s finally stopped raining it’s supposed to get worse tomorrow/tonight… can that count as the 3rd thing or is that still part of the 1st?

Oh and I’m at 148.0 today (I don’t normally include the point cos well.. you can get obsessed with things out of your control- water changes but it is satisfying seeing the .0. So that’s 3lbs lost! I’m hoping after today’s fasting and again on Saturday by at least Sunday I might be 146 so will have lost 5lbs in 10 days! Here’s hoping!

:) xxx