Hmmmm, the small start....

Well after a phone call from my doctor late last week, I shall stop beating myself up for feeling too tired and unwell to exercise and having only achieved 15 minute walks on the treadmill.  You see, not only do I have Barmah Forest virus (nasty mosquito borne disease), but I have had glandular fever as well.  Oh dear.  No wonder life's been a bit of a struggle.  Still walking 15 minutes on the treadmill now that  I'm on the recovery end of the glandular fever.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BODY!!!  Too much illness. Crazy.

A better day

I had the best day I've had in awhile today.  My pain level is way down and my energy levels don't suck. My energy crashed for about 3 hours this afternoon but I didn't need to sleep and I'd been quite busy around the house. I've been struggling to cope with basic stuff around the house for more than a month now so it was good to be able to put some neglected things away, throw some washing on, and do a bit of a tidy and my Flylady morning routine. I wanted to keep going but made myself stop so I don't go backwards and fall in a heap.  I'm going to hop on the treadmill for another slow 15 minutes shortly and then we'll see how I pull up tomorrow. I am hoping for another good day. Fingers crossed.

Edited to add: Walk went ok.  First 10 minutes my body ached and screamed at me and I felt wobbly -as in unsteady on my feet - not referring to wobbling fat :) The final 5 minutes felt fantastic and my energy was much better during this time than it has been all day I think.  It's 20 mins post walk and I still feel good. 

A Small Start

After being nudged along by Fleur's comment,  I have managed to do 15minutes on the treadmill. It was very slow, but I did it. I waited until I'd been off bed rest for a few days and then gave myself a rest day afterwards.  That means today is another 15 minutes on the treadmill. We'll see how I pull up.  Felt much better this morning but have crashed this afternoon.  Should have walked in the morning!!  I wonder if there are any other people out there trying to lose weight while simultaneously dealing with serious and inconveniently limiting health conditions?  It's a hard slog people and creates a bit of a different experience to losing weight as an otherwise healthy person.  Nothing to do but keep getting up and moving forward.  Oh, weighed in recently at 85.6kgs.  I'm going to set myself a goal of being able to exercise consistently again and I'm going to focus on losing 9kgs (20pounds) as inspired by Dawne. Even if it takes me 9 years I will lose it!

A little nudge

I've been thinking lately that I really should start posting here again.  My focus has been on finishing my course and recording my artistic journey over at Hearts Landscapes.  I started at the local Curves gym just prior to Christmas and was really enjoying it until I fell ill with another bout of the mosquito borne disease that floats around my body. Sneaky thing.  I've been really wiped out and in pain for about 6 weeks so haven't been to the gym for about the last 4 weeks. I'm not up to going back but am going to start doing some light yoga and and walking for 15minutes to see how I go. My weight has stayed reasonably stable although I'm up a few kilos on my lowest weight last year.  So, thank you to Fleur for inspiring me to get back to recording my progress.  Let's hope I have something good to write about.

Couch to 5k update

Hmmm, sore knees put an end to my C25K last week but I intend to get back into it again next week.  On the activity front I've been super busy around the house and garden. Today I managed to get in 14 567 steps or 8.29kms without leaving my yard.  I'm doing resistance work in the form of digging, weeding, carting tubs of garden waste, throwing or kicking balls for the dogs, raking etc.  I'm feeling pretty good and my body is coping well with all the activity. I'm careful to mix up the types of movement I'm doing to try and prevent aches and pains.  For the first time in years gardening isn't leaving me in quite horrible and often debilitating pain.  Woohooo!!  I'm so happy, excited and grateful for the health I have at present. I am so close to good health I can sniff it!

I made a big decision last week and cancelled my Weight Watchers subscription.  My weight loss has been so slow that I'm finding it hard to continue justifying the $50 per month fee.  I have been losing slowly whether I count propoints or not (have experimented) so have decided to take a break. I can rejoin if I even feel the need to but I can still count points if I want as I have all the books, knowledge, trackers etc.  I feel good about the decision, actually I feel relieved and interestingly have found it easier to eat well since cancelling. 

So, where do I go from here? 

I'm going to keep moving each day much as I am now. I either work in the house and garden and count my daily steps or I hit the treadmill, cycle or walking path for intentional exercise.  I also do some yoga most days.  I started yoga ....wow, 19 years ago. I was living in a remote community in far north Queensland's Cape York and my yoga teacher was an elderly French woman who had done her training in India many years previously.  Her classroom was a cement brick room in the rainforest, fully screened to keep the mossies out.  Now, my yoga practice relies heavily on the use of some wonderful DVD's I have by Louise Wiggins.  Her approach to yoga is lovely and the variety of her sequences  throughout her DVD's is really great.  Some are similar to Thai Chi and Chi Kung, others are more 'pure yoga' sequences.  Love them and love Louise.  I haven't been back to the pool due to ahem... a togs malfunction - pants fall down. Oops. Being winter togs are very hard to find so I'll wait until they hit the shops again and get back into it.  By then our pool here at home should be warm enough to use too.

As for my eating, I'm going to stop stressing about points (but use the knowledge they've given me about the cost of some foods). It feels rather unnatural to me.  I'm going to focus on planning my meals and eating instinctively and mindfully and see where that takes me over the next couple of months. I shall keep weighing myself regularly and if I start to move up the scale I'll kick my butt or head back to Weight Watchers.

All in all my life it in a pretty good place at the moment. I feel happier, stronger and more relaxed than I have in a long time.  I feel engaged in life outside the home as I've had the energy to go out to movies, to eat out etc with Jeff. I also LOVE my weekly art classes which are giving me so much.  Socialising with the other fantastic students. I am part of such a lovely group of people, it's really special.  I'm loving the 'doing' of art and am redeveloping so much confidence as I unfurl my talent to work with the skills I'm learning. I feel like my life is richer and has more of a purpose now other than just surviving and focussing everything within me on getting through my day and healing.  I'll keep you posted.

Wishing you all well.

Couch to 5k day 3

Wow!  I've completed week one of the couch to 5k. (Only 8 weeks to go.)  I don't really know how to feel about it....surprised, celebratory, relieved, shocked.  Really can't gather my thoughts and put a finger on exactly what I am feeling.  I procrastinated for 24 hours before getting on the treadmill for day 3 and although I stretched, my feet and shins still hurt a little. Not as much as last time though which is good.  I still struggled with the 1 minute run sections. Mentally and physically.  I can see improvement there definitely though as I recovered much, much better between running segments. I think I'm in for more character building than muscle building, fat stripping on this journey from couch to 5k.  As soon as I finished my little inner voice said "Wow! Done! Now next week I have to run for 90seconds each time. I'll NEVER be able to do that."  Such a seductive and convincing voice.  A week ago I would have said that I'd NEVER be able to run for one minute let alone complete a whole session which include 4 x1mins of running, then backed up and did it 2 more times.  So I'll have to keep this in mind next week when my self-doubt and lack of confidence start screaming at me again.  How much do we stop ourselves from doing in life because we listen to that voice?


Edited to add:  It's almost an hour and a half since I got off the treadmill and wrote the above post and I'm feeling really good.  Body feels ok and mood and general feeling of wellbeing have lifted to a lovely level.  I'll keep hoping the runners high hits me during the run instead of 90 minutes later!

Couch to 5k day 2

My body coped really well after my first Couch to 5k session.  No pain - my legs did feel a little 'used', but not sore. I experienced no fatigue either so that's a BIG relief and a big 'YES' to continuing.  So after a brief half hour of procrastination I got my butt on the treadmill and got to it. My feet and lower legs really stiffened up and felt sore during the run so I think I'll do some stretching prior to my warm up. The session looks like this....

• Warm up walk 5 mins (I do this at about 4.5km and speed it up closer to minute 6)
• Jog 1 minute (I'm doing my jogging/shuffling at 6km per hour)
• Walk 90 seconds (I'm doing 2 minutes between 4.7km and 5.2km)
• Jog 1 minute
• Walk 2 mins
• Jog 1 minute
• Walk 2 mins
• Jog 1 minute
• Cool down walk 5 minutes 

So I effectively run for 4 minutes all up.  Before becoming ill I used to have a lovely fluid running style and now I notice that I am doing that odd shuffle that you sometimes see runners do.  I can't seem to make myself run any differently and it feels odd.  I know, I know. I've just started. Just look at what I've overcome to get here. Give it time etc.

Am I enjoying it? Not really. :)  I feel good when I've done it - more mentally than physically. I've battled mental demons - who screamed and yelled at me yesterday - and it always feels good to overcome those nasty little voices in your head.  "I can't. I don't want to. Only do half a workout etc" Became "No choice. Just do it. You CAN do this. Only x seconds to go before you walk again. Good girl. etc"  I even woke this morning thinking about going for it again, but I'll follow the programme properly and walk today then get back to the jogging tomorrow.  I'm starting to feel a small glimmer of excitement that it may be possible for me to write here one day soon "I've just run my first 5k".  Putting the cart before the horse but I have to have something to dream of and aim for!  Stay well everybody and keep taking those little steps daily to improve your health and your life.