Health, Diet, Exersise and Thyroid post :)
Trying to get back to the healthy diet and regular exercise that I was doing so well with last year has proved difficult.
I started well at the New Year 2015 as we all do with good intentions and felt that I was doing brilliantly I even lasted past the month which people find hard. In March I broke my arm and that set me back a little with the exercise but maintained the healthy diet. As the summer went on it became harder to go out power walking as I was mostly power walking in my breaks from work which are always 2-4pm, the hottest part of the day. I don't do too well in hot weather and although we didn't exactly have much of a summer it was warm enough for me not to enjoy the walking at all.
In October I took 5 months off work and travelled to Portugal and Spain with all intentions of maintaining a healthy diet and doing power walking as much as possible. Well you know what they say about best laid plans? The biscuits and cakes are the problem, there is more choice than ever in Spain in the supermarkets and I am too weak not to buy them! Add to that the drive through France and popping into a Patisserie every morning for a croissant and pan au chocolate! Power walking turned into strolls on the beach and all to quickly the stone (6.3kg) I lost last year crept back on again.
I returned to work in April and have hardly done any power walking, sometimes due to the heat of the summer but also have just lost the will to do it. I have still been buying too many cakes and biscuits and know it has to stop!
Because of my Hypothyroidism I am on Thyroxine every day and there are mixed experiences online as to whether it helps you loose weight or whether it makes it harder to loose weight. In theory you should be able to loose weight more easily as it should speed up your metabolism but that certainly isn't the case for a lot of people. By the time I was diagnosed and started treatment I was already faltering on my diet and exercise so it is hard for me to judge.
I have been doing some more research and it seems that I might need to tweek how I am taking the drug as what I am reading now suggests taking it at night rather than in the morning as I was first advised. I found an article titled 'How to take Thyroxine so that it actually works' and that makes some suggestions I haven't heard before so I am going to swap from mornings to night time and see if that helps. I will set my alarm so as I take it at exactly the same time too and take it with half a pint of water (I can see night time trips to the toilet becoming a regular thing!) Also I do eat quite a few soy based products when I am not working so these need to go I think.
So that's the medical side sorted. Well sorted for now with a new plan and we'll have to see how it goes. Next the exercise, Autumn is hear and slowly we are getting a bit cooler temperatures so I can resume my power walking. I have set a date, 4th October to start getting back on track with the exercise. This is the next time I am back at work for 2 weeks and will have 14 afternoons of 2 hours free to exercise. I am allowing myself 2 free afternoons as I may need to go shopping or do something else but for 12 of those afternoons I will be building up my power walking again.
I will start at 30 minutes for 4 sessions then 35 minutes for 4 sessions and so on until I am back to 60 minutes with warm up and warm down time extra. If the weather is too hot (which I doubt as it will be October) then I will have to take that as one of my 2 free afternoons if possible and if it is absolutely hammering it down with rain then it will be aerobic workout in my room for the length of time I should be walking. I will start just on the flat around the village where I walk and hope to be easily doing 60 minutes by the end of the year.
In the new year I am going to start some hill walking and hope to build that up as my goal is to walk the length of the Malvern hills in April/May time. I haven't set a date yet although I hope to quite soon as it will give me something to aim for. The route is about 10 miles and takes in about 12 hills! I don't intend to power walk it but hope I can complete it in 6 hours. There are lots of ups and downs so really need to practice my hill walking (something I've never been to keen on!) I hope to raise a bit of money for charity at the same time.
I just need to make sure I am walking at least every other day when off work as this is the time I tend not to walk, well I walk but slowly! That will actually be more of a challenge as I am far more disciplined when I am away working.
So that's the exercise sorted, well the plan is in place I just have to keep to it. Writing it here helps a lot. It helps me record what I want to do properly and also I feel I have told people so I have to stick to it. Silly really as I am doing this for myself by myself and so just promising myself I am going to do it should be enough!
Now the dreaded food issue... there are some things I am realising... I often eat when I am not even hungry, I eat when I'm bored, I eat as a 'treat', I eat to fill some sort of emotional gap. The psychologist in me knows I need to examine these issues, I am going to start by really being aware of being hungry and only eating when I am. I need to stop 'treating' myself to foods that are unhealthy and get rid of this notion that a 'treat' is a sugar/fat soaked baked product. I am a great believer that a little of these things is no bad thing but when I am at home I eat cake or biscuits or ice cream or some sort of sweet pudding every day. At work I don't tend to but although my diet is healthy I know my portions are too big. My healthy eating was always about not worrying about my portion size for my main meal but I know it is too big and I need to rein that in.
So on the same date as the exercise starts I will once again try and change my eating habits for good. Setting a date might seem weird to some but it worked for me with giving up smoking, which I might add was a damn sight easier than giving up cake! I absolutely need to stop having sweet stuff every day and I need to cut down my portion size. I am hoping that as the first 2 weeks of it will be at work I will find it easier than being at home.
Wish me luck dear readers, October 4th is where it's at, new month, new me lol. My aim is to loose 2 stone (12.7 kg) by 4th April exactly 6 months and then maintain that weight afterwards. I have no ambitions to be a skinny size 8 just a healthy weight will do thanks!
Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading :) xxx
I started well at the New Year 2015 as we all do with good intentions and felt that I was doing brilliantly I even lasted past the month which people find hard. In March I broke my arm and that set me back a little with the exercise but maintained the healthy diet. As the summer went on it became harder to go out power walking as I was mostly power walking in my breaks from work which are always 2-4pm, the hottest part of the day. I don't do too well in hot weather and although we didn't exactly have much of a summer it was warm enough for me not to enjoy the walking at all.
In October I took 5 months off work and travelled to Portugal and Spain with all intentions of maintaining a healthy diet and doing power walking as much as possible. Well you know what they say about best laid plans? The biscuits and cakes are the problem, there is more choice than ever in Spain in the supermarkets and I am too weak not to buy them! Add to that the drive through France and popping into a Patisserie every morning for a croissant and pan au chocolate! Power walking turned into strolls on the beach and all to quickly the stone (6.3kg) I lost last year crept back on again.
I returned to work in April and have hardly done any power walking, sometimes due to the heat of the summer but also have just lost the will to do it. I have still been buying too many cakes and biscuits and know it has to stop!
Because of my Hypothyroidism I am on Thyroxine every day and there are mixed experiences online as to whether it helps you loose weight or whether it makes it harder to loose weight. In theory you should be able to loose weight more easily as it should speed up your metabolism but that certainly isn't the case for a lot of people. By the time I was diagnosed and started treatment I was already faltering on my diet and exercise so it is hard for me to judge.
I have been doing some more research and it seems that I might need to tweek how I am taking the drug as what I am reading now suggests taking it at night rather than in the morning as I was first advised. I found an article titled 'How to take Thyroxine so that it actually works' and that makes some suggestions I haven't heard before so I am going to swap from mornings to night time and see if that helps. I will set my alarm so as I take it at exactly the same time too and take it with half a pint of water (I can see night time trips to the toilet becoming a regular thing!) Also I do eat quite a few soy based products when I am not working so these need to go I think.
So that's the medical side sorted. Well sorted for now with a new plan and we'll have to see how it goes. Next the exercise, Autumn is hear and slowly we are getting a bit cooler temperatures so I can resume my power walking. I have set a date, 4th October to start getting back on track with the exercise. This is the next time I am back at work for 2 weeks and will have 14 afternoons of 2 hours free to exercise. I am allowing myself 2 free afternoons as I may need to go shopping or do something else but for 12 of those afternoons I will be building up my power walking again.
I will start at 30 minutes for 4 sessions then 35 minutes for 4 sessions and so on until I am back to 60 minutes with warm up and warm down time extra. If the weather is too hot (which I doubt as it will be October) then I will have to take that as one of my 2 free afternoons if possible and if it is absolutely hammering it down with rain then it will be aerobic workout in my room for the length of time I should be walking. I will start just on the flat around the village where I walk and hope to be easily doing 60 minutes by the end of the year.
In the new year I am going to start some hill walking and hope to build that up as my goal is to walk the length of the Malvern hills in April/May time. I haven't set a date yet although I hope to quite soon as it will give me something to aim for. The route is about 10 miles and takes in about 12 hills! I don't intend to power walk it but hope I can complete it in 6 hours. There are lots of ups and downs so really need to practice my hill walking (something I've never been to keen on!) I hope to raise a bit of money for charity at the same time.
I just need to make sure I am walking at least every other day when off work as this is the time I tend not to walk, well I walk but slowly! That will actually be more of a challenge as I am far more disciplined when I am away working.
So that's the exercise sorted, well the plan is in place I just have to keep to it. Writing it here helps a lot. It helps me record what I want to do properly and also I feel I have told people so I have to stick to it. Silly really as I am doing this for myself by myself and so just promising myself I am going to do it should be enough!
Now the dreaded food issue... there are some things I am realising... I often eat when I am not even hungry, I eat when I'm bored, I eat as a 'treat', I eat to fill some sort of emotional gap. The psychologist in me knows I need to examine these issues, I am going to start by really being aware of being hungry and only eating when I am. I need to stop 'treating' myself to foods that are unhealthy and get rid of this notion that a 'treat' is a sugar/fat soaked baked product. I am a great believer that a little of these things is no bad thing but when I am at home I eat cake or biscuits or ice cream or some sort of sweet pudding every day. At work I don't tend to but although my diet is healthy I know my portions are too big. My healthy eating was always about not worrying about my portion size for my main meal but I know it is too big and I need to rein that in.
So on the same date as the exercise starts I will once again try and change my eating habits for good. Setting a date might seem weird to some but it worked for me with giving up smoking, which I might add was a damn sight easier than giving up cake! I absolutely need to stop having sweet stuff every day and I need to cut down my portion size. I am hoping that as the first 2 weeks of it will be at work I will find it easier than being at home.
Wish me luck dear readers, October 4th is where it's at, new month, new me lol. My aim is to loose 2 stone (12.7 kg) by 4th April exactly 6 months and then maintain that weight afterwards. I have no ambitions to be a skinny size 8 just a healthy weight will do thanks!
Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading :) xxx
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