Anonymously blogging her journey from fattish to fabulous, @onlyeatsguitars has given up fasting (hurrah, for us, healthy eating is the only way to go). And, and, AND she’s started running! Baby steps, but we all start somewhere. We’re delighted for her and will be standing by with running tips when she’s ready for them (indeed, we’re in the process of writing a new series on starting to run – maybe we can send her a preview copy).
It’s been a roller coaster couple of weeks. Not in terms of weight loss; that’s flat-lined. More in terms of decisions made and being brave. I’ll explain.
Fasting is not for me. The fast days feel like a punishment; the feast days feel out of control. My main issue with weight gain and loss is psychological. I comfort eat, I treat myself, I indulge when I deserve. I love food. Really good, really posh, lovely food. And cheese and chocolate and three courses and taster menus and eating out and having people round for dinner and I just get fatter and fatter. Left to my own devices I gain weight.
When I got together with my husband, a chef, twenty-odd years ago, we gained six stone over a two year period. It was love. It was a ménage a trois – me, the husband and food. That’s why Slimming World worked for us. For those not familiar it’s low-fat, with a touch of food combining thrown in. Fruit and veg are always unlimited with a choice of protein or carbs and then stuff like chocolate, bread, cheese, butter and booze are fairly limited. We (he) rose to the culinary challenge and we ate amazing, beautiful food and lost lots of weight – over seven stone between us. But twelve years later we were bored and maybe I needed to check out an alternative in order to properly remember why Slimming World works. Oh, and the weekly classes are awful, a real drag. The upshot is that we are going to try to do it for a month – without going to a class. And see what happens.
My real achievements this last fortnight have been with exercise. I went swimming! I took my teenage daughter and we swam, and went in the jacuzzi, and it was really really lovely. A real treat. And we’re going again this weekend. I’ve also made some baby steps with running at the gym. I did three minutes, then four, then five. So, now, I can run for a whole five minutes. I know it may not sound like much but I’m going to keep increasing it by a minute each time and when I can do it for fifteen minutes I’ll try to run outside.
Just to catch you up on couple of issues that I discussed in my last post. My bra issue has now been resolved, I have still only lost four pounds and I’m confident about getting out of breath. The challenges for the next two weeks? To kick start the weight loss again, to keep going with the running and swimming and to try out a class at the gym. The class will be the biggest challenge. I’m dyspraxic, which means I’ve got poor co-ordination, no balance and I’m not brilliant at left and right. I’m also still pretty unfit.
Any suggestions? Please tweet me @onlyeatsguitars
What should you do when you get injured? I’m not talking ice, rest, compress etc. This isn’t going to be a medical advice post – Mum’s the only doctor in Veggie Runners, and she’s a doctor of philosophy, so not much good for a broken ankle or other injuries. This post is talking about things to do in the weeks after your injury, when you don’t hurt too much any more, are prowling around the house like a feral cat, and still have 4 weeks until the doctor says you can run again.
