Well done Kylie! I hope you enjoyed pilates.

Veggie - I hope fat club party was good too.

I think I'm going mad - I've entered another 5k race. I'm addicted! Except then I had a scare this morning - my ankle has been playing up after I ran for the bus (a long way!!!) in my work shoes. They're flat, but they're not my running shoes and my ankle didn't like it. I warmed it up a bit on the bike and it seemed OK so I managed a 5k speed session on it without too many problems, but it's been a bit niggly all day so I'm going to swim tomorrow.

There was sooooooo much nice food at fat club party :T :hungry: Cheesecake, carrot cake, banana bread, couscous, WINE ;) :D stuffed mushrooms, bean things, fruit, cuddly toy :p casserole and much more! Not forgetting veg sausage rolls (mine) :devil: It was good to test out lots of sw recipes mmm.

Morning all, it's 5.25 in the morning :D

What a busy day I had yesterday, up at 5.30, walked to the village to get a bus at 6.25, swum from 7 until 8, went to work, went to the gym, strolled on the treadmill to kill some time before Pilates......phew!

I adored Pilates, it was fantastic. With the core work I do in the gym, I already use some classic Pilates moves (although I didn't quite realise it) so the class was fine. It was challenging, but in a good way!

According to the Spark People website, I burnt over 1000 calories yesterday, and I'm really hungry today!!! Luckily the milk fairy has been, so I can have porridge!

:cb: Wooo for calorie burn!

I will retry the flapjack recipe. I think it's actually quite healthy since there's not much butter or syrup in them... I'm not sure about the protein powder since someone says that whey protein gets denatured after you cook it.

I went to kickboxing last night which was cool, but I appeared to have lost my mojo :( I did some jumping side kicks and managed to kick one of the instructors in the bits! :rofl: :o Ah he'll live! I've been asked if I want to be a proper instructor from October... For money :D I think it would be good!

Anyway, I'm not feeling so tired today after my lie in yesterday. I've got another kickboxing lesson tomorrow morning, then I'm going to try on wedding dresses! My friend is coming with me and is going to take some pictures, so of course I will post them to see what you all think! :D

Then we're off to Brussels on Sunday, because there was an offer on Eurostar... :dunno:

Woo Hoo!!!! WELL DONE!!! Even if you don't take it, at least its great to know what they think of you. Would you be able to combine that with your current job - or do it instead - or do you prefer your current job???

:( :( :( Do you want the good news first, or the bad news.....

The bad news is that I didn't do so well at my medical. My blood pressure is much too high, especially in view of my family history. Luckily I didn't have to go through all the lecture about making changes to diet/exercise, etc, because the nurse just happened to be someone I see regularly walking her dog on the Moors. She has regularly commented on my walking and weight loss have chatted about the low GI diet so she already knew that those changes have already been made.

So she's taken some blood for more tests and is arranging yet more BP readings including and ECG next week. :(

The good news is that DH had to punch another hole in my belt because it has got too big again - and then told me I looked like a bag lady :love: in my size 24 jeans so we went shopping. I came home with 6 pairs of size 18 jeans and a couple of tops. :)

Apart from the medical I had a lovely day yesterday, we went Cleethorpes beach and ran around with the dogs, throwing balls in to the water and George even went in a fetched some (previously unheard of!) and after the medical we went out to dinner. I don't have the full day off when it comes to food, just dinner.

I'd do it as well, just for some extra cash. I don't think I'd make enough to jack in the day job! :lol: I think I will take it, for one or two lessons a week. It's not till October, so I will be purple or brown belt by then anyway...

What a bummer about your bp, but the things that you do can only be helping :hug:

6 pairs of 18 jeans :eek: You'll be a 16 before you've worn them all ;)

Frus your such a star!!!

Sarah, sorry about your blood pressure. I get mine done at the gym. It's become a running joke, when Paul, the senior instructor does it, it's high. When one of the girls does it, it's normal!!!

I have classic "white coat" blood pressure, and always ask for it to be done at the end of my appointment rather than the beginning, as I have usually settled down then.

I'm sure it will start to go in the right direction with all the effort you are putting in.

I had such a good time at Pilates. I was a bit nervous, there were only three of us, and the other two were old hands. I think the instructor was a bit worried I would be left behind and she started by giving me easier versions of stuff to do.

She soon discovered that I had been doing a lot of core training and said how supple and bendy I was. I never knew I was supple!!! It must be all the swimming.

So I'm now doing yoga once a week and pilates once a week! Swimming twice a week, walking 4 times a week. And somewhere in there is weight training and cardio!

No time to eat! Now that's a plan!

6 pairs of jeans is nothing, my wardrobe is half full of jeans all of which are too big for me. I live in jeans and I get through a couple of pairs each day (walking in a peat bog area guarantees I get filthy each morning).

How really lovely to be able to combine something you really enjoy with earning some extra dosh. Excellent! :)

If some hunky fitness instructor were to take my BP I'm sure it would be through the ceiling :o but I was okay when my BP was taken, because it was someone I know and like I felt very relaxed. I also was so sure it would be okay! She got me to sit for a while and took it again before I left and the reading was the same. Its probably a genetic thing because virtually all my immediate family and my dad's side of the family had it and some of them were quite slim. She did warn me about not doing too much strength training but I think the problem with weight training would really come with those great big weights and not the 5lb dumbells I use - but maybe I won't increase the weights as I was planning to....

I just checked and my BP yesterday was almost the same as it was in 2002 and in 2000 - so I don't think I'm going to pop my clogs any time soon.:crossed:

I'm interested in why she advised against weight training? WHY?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weightlifting/AN00637

I just read on the blood pressure association website that you should "also include activity that strengthens your muscles and helps you to stay supple and flexible. These kinds of activities might include climbing stairs, walking uphill, yoga, pilates, and gardening." So gardening and stair climbing are strength training exercises are they? :rolleyes: Just don't get me started on Yoga and Pilates being about strength training either... Or giving you "long muscles" :lol:

I think you're right about the heavy weights, but as long as your perceived exertion is enough but not too much... I would think you're ok.

Lol! 2 Frust - after reading that list my BP went through the roof!!!

Hehehehe Paul isn't a hunky trainer, he's very normal, now if it had been Lall at the other gym, well, the reading would have shot the machine in half! :D My new gym has no cute instructors :( And no one seems to care about your medical history there, which I find worrying.

I love Pilates and Yoga and I don't care that they're not strength training :lol: They do help keep you supple and flexible though. I think the Blood Pressure Associations definition of strength training and Ms Frus might be a bit different. Not that I wouldn't want our gym filled with people of a certain age with high blood pressure training with us, in fact, I would love it, but I think the whole notion of weight training scares people.

Has anyone seen the womens weight lifting in the Commonwealth Games??? The women are lovely. I was watching the 63 kilo class (my goal weight) thinking how great they looked.

My trainer doesn't seem to understand that I want to do more lifting and not girly "toning". We have a great weights area but I need some guidance before I get in there. I am going to "have a word" next week, and see if I can get some proper training happening.

I'm not dissing Pilates or Yoga - I'm thinking about doing "power yoga" after pay day comes and I can rummage around on Amazon! But strength training? Gimme a break! :lol:

I saw a picture of the Canadian strength trainer on Stumptuous... wooooeeee! How strong is she?? I wanna be an olympic lifter for 2012! :rofl: Better give up the kickboxing then! :lol:

:lifter: Woo hoo!! MY BFL book finally turned up. Its only taken nearly a month! I ordered it 'used' from an American seller on Amazon - I won't be doing that again.

I dunno why she told me to be careful with the strength training - probably the reason on the Mayo website, I suppose spiking the BP could bring on a stroke or something. Having said all that, I've just finished an hour of strength training - I really enjoy it, I love the feeling of my muscles being stretched (or whatever it is thats happening to them) and I like the warm glow they're left with. My cardio is all the walking I do although, on wet days like today, when I only walk 90 minutes I also do 30 minutes on the stationary bike.

The way my husband does gardening it really is strength training.

:lol: I used to do Power Yoga when it first got popular. I had a Barbara Currie video and I only stopped doing it because for some reason it used to make me feel nauseous. I think the problem I have with all exercise videos/DVDs is that after 5 or 6 goes at it I have had enough of the same voice droning on and usually the music as well.

Which one is Pilates, is it the one where you do small intense movements?

Not really, Pilates is a lot about core stability. It's similar to yoga but a bit more vigorous. It can consist of just mat work, which is what I did, or there are heaps of machines that can be used, a bit like toning tables.

I've not tried any videos, but I thought I might try Yogalates. They're Australian, but Ozzie accents kinda annoy me now, it doesn't sound right :lol: