I grow them in tubs as well - well, they are in troughs - they grow along our boundary walls in and amongst the roses. I get ones that are stringless with red flowers which looks great because my roses are all white.

My food bill has gone down about £35 since I started ordering on-line. I was surprised at how much impulse buying I used to do. Yes, our food is probably more boring than it used to be (very healthy) but at least I don't get cupboards and freezers full of stuff I don't / shouldn't eat any more.

I had EXCELLENT news at the doctors today. I went for a follow up blood pressure reading and it has gone down to 127 over 78 which is in the normal range - and my pulse is 55 and my cholesterol test result was 3.1! I'm celebrating with an extra glass or three of wine. I even had the practice nurse asking me details about my 'diet'. Yay!!!! She wasn't too impressed when I told her it wasn't so much a diet as a change in lifestyle which involves lots of EXERCISE. She said she doesn't have time for exercise, then she laughed saying she knows how her patients feel at her Diabetes and Heart Clinics because thats what they say to her.

Yeah Sarah - well done Just goes to show how shedding the pounds does make a difference not only to how we look doesn't it. You must be really proud of yourself.

I work in health care and I'm always having to talk to patients about their lifestyle and I must admit that I do feel a bit of a hypocrite at times well, perhaps I should say all of the time

I've definitely decided that I'm going to try the food delivery diet for a while - you could market it - devise whole shopping lists for people at different calorie levels

Maybe if I don't spend so much time in the supermarket then I'll have more time to exercise

Hi all, busy day yesterday. I nearly cracked at work, it's too much at the moment. I'm going

I went to gym last night, moaned about yoga and the noise again, no refunds, but they are going to sound proof the room properly, who knows when though??? And no pilates tonight So I'm weight training instead. I had a good run yesterday, spent an hour on the treadmill, running and walking. I can run solidly for 5 minutes now, which is an improvement, and my asthma wasn't an issue at all last night!

I'd love to have time for an allotment, or even live somewhere where we can have pots. Our house is right on the street, we have no yard at all. I've tried flowers in pots on the windowsill, but the chavs get 'em.

Hello all!

I had fun at the gym last night! I did an hour and a bit training by myself - back and abs. I did this decline ab bench thingy, it was at about 45 degrees or more, with my legs in the air and my head on the floor! I think I impressed the blokes in the free weight area since an eerie silence followed my set of 16 oblique twists on the thing! Then I did a "body conditioning" class, which was like aerobics (grapevine, little heel digs etc) then with some floor work with little dumbbells - I picked the heaviest set and they weren't heavy enough! THEN I had an induction with the trainer dude and 2 other lovely indian ladies. They were quite slow with the equipment and the trainer kept saying to me that I could go if I wanted to, but I hung around cos I wanted him to show me stuff like the squat rack and some strange latteral raise machine that I'd never seen before. I doubt if those 2 ladies will come back though, they didn't seem particularly interested in trying out the machines! I suppose that's how gyms make their money!

I really really enjoyed my gym time last night, I'm buzzing! I'm going again tomorrow, I think today would be quite an effort since I have 2 hours kickboxing tonight. And I have to get petrol at lunch too...

Last 2 days eating have been quite high calorie, I think it's those Hob Nobs! BUT today I finally got my mojo back! I feel almost like Super-Frus again! I've got some great food for today and it works out at 1650kcals, so that's lovely. I'm even feeling quite hopeful for a healthy weekend!

I wish I had some garden space AND time to garden We have a balcony which has our living Christmas tree on it... I suppose I could plant some tubs there... I feel a trip to Homebase coming on!

Hi y'all...

Frus, have you had your body fat measured lately? I'd love to hear what percentage you are! My guess is it's probably pretty low!!

Believe it or not, it is hard to grow veg here in Florida. The soil is not very condusive to it. I suppose I could plant some tomatoes in a bucket and see how they do....I'm not much of a gardener, really. I'm a convicted plant-killer...

I am 23% Bf if my scales are to be believed Which is acceptable, and I can see some sort of definition, but I'd REALLY like to be around 17-19, just so I can look ripped!

I've stocked up my fruit bowl this morning! I wanted to buy a pineapple, but I wouldn't have been able to carry it back on the bike, shame, I would've had a great fruit basket picture!! A guy just walked in and asked if I've won a prize... I have a HUGE fruit bowl and an easter egg on my desk (half price, belgian chocolate!), I told him I'd just been shopping!

DH's day off today and he had an early job interview - so I went along for the ride and so that we could do a little shopping on the way home. I nearly bought an elliptical stepper trainer and they also had a very nice rowing machine which DH would like but reason prevailed because we can't fit any more exercise equipment in to the spare room and the garage hasn't been sorted out yet.

Now - you will be able to explain - what exactly IS the meaning of the word elliptical in elliptical stepper trainer - is it the moving arms bit?

We stopped off at the shop where I bought all my work out clothes because it had a massive sign saying 'FURTHER REDUCTIONS' OMG I thought they were cheap the last time I got them but this time they were down to 80 to 90% off, i.e. those crop legging thingies are reduced from £19.99 down to £1.99, sweat tops down from £29.99 to £2.99, Reebok jacket down from £50 to a fiver!! So I bought LOTS. I also got some jeans in Matalan - lucky I tried them on first - DH said I should because he thought the ones I put in the basket looked bigger than me. I'd chosen a stretch size 18 low rise and they were big round the so I only needed a 16!!!!!! I got all excited and tried on a pair of waist high ones but even the size 18 was still a little snug around the waist - so I stuck with the low rise size 16! Lots more abs and obliques work needed. I think its time to throw away all my size 24s and 26s!

You can grow just about anything in a tub - runner beans are very pretty grown that way and herbs are always useful. I actually grow tumbling cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets all hung around the outside of the garage. I like growing food stuff best - flowers are pretty but I get a feeling of accomplishment when I eat something that I've grown.

Frus - you mean you didn't put the pineapple down the inside of your leather jacket??? Owwwwwwwwwwwww! I made a mistake with my Tesco order this week and instead of ordering 5 bags of grapes I got 5 kilos of grapes - good job we both like grapes!

When we got home I found a phone message from the nurse at the doctors asking me if I'd mind going in and having a little chat with her and a couple of her colleagues about what I'm doing to get fit. I don't know if its because they want to do the same themselves or whether its so they can use me as an example to prove to their other patients that it is possible to reduce BP, pulse, cholesterol and sugar levels through exercise and diet??????

Would you believe it, we had to drop all those magic pancakes off at DH's work - and the blokes were slamming them in the microwave and shovelling them down immediately - but they were shaking HUGE quantities of sugar over them.

I presume the eliptical bit means the shape prescribed by the "pedals" on the stepper - an elipse/oval. Eg pedals on a bike travel in a circle, but pedals on the eliptical kinda travel further on the horizontal bits, in the oval shape. KWIM?

Sarah - I need to go to that SHOP! I need cheap workout clothes now I'm a gym bunny!

Oh and about the pineapple - I would've put it down my jacket, but I already had a bag of biscuits and salad down there! Good job my jacket's too big, plenty more room for shopping!

Its called Sports World - I dunno if they are a nationwide chain and I dunno if they always sell their stock this cheap - I'm waiting for another couple of weeks before I go back because, by then, they might well be paying people to take it away!

When I first got those long cropped leggings thingies I did wonder if I'd wear them but they are SO much more comfortable for doing weights in than shorts - and they are great for doing anything which involves grovelling around on the floor (like abs). I only use the shorts for the exercise bike.

I used to shove all kinds of stuff down my leathers - memories of a frozen chicken stuffed down my jacket which partially defrosted all down me one hot summer day! Oh - the joy of going to Sainsbury on a bike.

Yup - having had a go on an elliptical trainer today I do know what you mean. OMG - DH is looking at the rowing machines on the Argos website on the laptop as I'm typing... I know - I'll just turn off the hub/router thingie before he places and order!

Oh yeah Sports World! I did get a load of stuff in there Ox St store... They are always closing down and re-opening!

Hello everyone

Grey old day. Got caught in the rain have really curly hair.

No gym this evening for me. I feel a bit tired. So I'm going to have a night
in front of my tv. Speaking of my gym the bloody air conditoning has broken
down. It's been like this now for two weeks. They don't mind taking my direct debit thought. Oooh what a cranky thing I am when I get going.

I could definitely do with a visit to Sports World. I wore my new Next joggers last night they are terrible. A size 12 but what an awful fit. They had felt snuggish around the tummy I thought.But after about thirty minutes in them they felt terrible and looked just as bad too. Dont bother with Next sports
wear its absolute b ........x They cost me £16.99 too what a complete and
utter waste of money.

I spoke to my son about growing runner beans in a tub he is up for it and also a pot of spuds too.

Take care everyone

Michele

You can get a dustbin thingy for growing spuds - you keep topping it up with gro-bag or garden soil and you end up with a bin full of lovely new potatoes. Growing spuds in the garden is a pain in the because they take up so much space.

We've just decided to go back to growing cut and come again baby salad leaves in tubs. At least it stays fresh! I bought some salad leaves from Tesco which costs £1.85 only delivered 2 days ago and its gone slimey already - yuck!

I like growing cherry tomatos on my window sill - they grow into a little bush and look really pretty - a couple of plants can keep me going for weeks and weeks

I bought a couple of those growing herb pots the other day - the ones that don't stay alive for very long when you get them home - in the past I've ended up chucking them and wasting a lot of the herbs as they wilt - but I had a brainwave - I stripped the plants almost bare and put the leaves (mint and corriander) into a freezer bag and they're brilliant - they haven't gone watery like some stuff in the freezer - they look like they've been freeze dried - great - and now the plants are starting to produce more leaves!

Sorry if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, but I'm so impressed with myself I just felt that I had to share it with you

Positive Step No 1 - I'm sitting here listening to my iPod doing Sudoku (sad git, I know) and Steve Winwood - Valerie has just come on - and I find myself jigging around in my chair - so I've started compiling my 'walking music'; every time I hear something that makes me move around, on it's going, and hopefully that should keep me motivated on my walks

I hit the gym last night, I ran for 20 minutes then did weights. The running is coming along nicely. I'm swimming this morning and taking the rest of the day off exercise wise. I've signed up for Nike rockstar and Body Combat for next week for some fun cardio.

Not much to report I'm afraid. Been really busy at work, but impressed I'm still exercising and not using being completely exhausted as an excuse to slack off on the workouts!!!