Summer Fitness Plan 2016: week 4 recap

Four weeks in and one thing is very clear: my body is working against me and sabotaging itself.  In the past four weeks there has been one very bad fall and some accident-prone bumps and bruises along the way.  Finally, just a few days ago I accidentally bashed my left knee off my desk drawer pedestal at work, resulting in a lot of pain.

I also had a very busy week at home which meant that I never made it to the gym at all, however increased my walking to a minimum of 2 miles per day.  I also got back on the exercise bike to try and pedal the pain away.

And then there was the dieting.  I had a very good week, eating all the right things and cutting out the junk food. So by the time my Friday weigh-in came, I expected, finally, some good results.

Wrong.

For I had gained 2½ lbs.  In one week.  I don't even gain as much as that on holiday.  In previous weeks, I felt pretty downhearted about gaining, or not losing.  This week I just felt angry and frustrated, and wanting to just ditch it all for good.  My boss suggested that the gain was probably due to building muscle, whilst one of my friends at work helpfully suggested that because I am now three years menopausal (which in itself caused a huge weight gain and a major down-turn in my physical and emotional health) and "of a certain age" that I might want to start feeling happy in my own skin and accept that this is how it's going to be from now on.  I can understand that; people's bodies do change, and having gained a ridiculous amount of weight over a very short period of time, maybe it wasn't all just comfort eating. Maybe middle-age spread is a thing after all.

But I can't even blame genetics - no-one in my family is even remotely overweight, both my mum and gran were very slim at my age.  And then I see people at the gym, who are a lot older than I am, who are in very good shape indeed. So I'm not giving up just yet, although dieting continues to depress me if I'm honest. Especially when it's not bringing results.

So a new week starts here - will this be the week when that turnaround finally happens? Answers in 7 days. In the meantime, in the immortal words of Rihanna it's time to work-work-work-work-work....

Update:  An hour after writing this post, I returned to the gym for a 45 minute workout, followed by some improvised aqua-aerobics and a brief attempt at a swim - I managed a breadth of the pool (don't laugh, that was a major achievement!).  That session this afternoon was very important: I tried out some new equipment including the rowing machine and a spinning bike.  I also realised how much I like being at the gym, and that there is genuine enjoyment there rather than it feeling like a chore. Which is something to build on in the coming weeks.

Summer Fitness Plan 2016: week 3 recap

I didn't do a recap last week as it was a total write-off: I had a bit of a pain-relapse after my fall, so the gym was a non-starter.  And then it was Eurovision week, so everything else had to wait!

I started building up my fitness again at home and the pain eased off enough for my long-awaited return to the gym at the start of this week.  Since I always feel very tired when I come home from work, my bright idea was to go to the gym first thing in the morning, before going to work.  That originally sounded quite ambitious but it worked for me.  Even at 7.30 am, the fitness fanatics are pounding the treadmill, or giving it the full Sir Bradley Wiggins on the exercise bikes, and as for the weight-training area....well the less said the better.  Then this out-of-shape, unfit, middle-aged woman walks into the room, and she just feels like a square peg in a round, super-fitness-shaped hole.  But everyone has to start somewhere.  I quickly turned my fear into this aloof gym persona, where I just walked through the door with my head held high, and my iPod on, with a "gym playlist" packed full of 'dance bangers', ready to tackle my half-hour workout.

I repeated my early morning visit on Thursday morning, and by then my confidence had increased a little, although I still feel uncomfortable entering the weight-training area....anyway that didn't put me off the shoulder press and leg curl machines.  My favourite at the moment is the leg press, because I'm trying to build up strength in my legs and reduce the constant pain which has been a side-effect of that huge weight gain of the past couple of years.

Apart from the gym visits, I was back into dieting-mode this week, so what could go wrong?  Well, I gained weight.  Half a pound to be precise.  Which I'm really not too bothered about, it's only half a pound.  So we'll call it muscle mass :)

Summer Fitness Plan 2016: week 1 recap

Well, a lot has happened in the past 7 days.  The story so far...

I took out a membership at the local sports centre last weekend.  On Monday I had a day off work and thought I'd use it constructively.  First stop, the pool, for an aqua-aerobics class to ease myself in. That really did the trick, although it's tougher than it looks to do all those exercise moves in the water!  I also had a few stretches in the pool to help loosen up some very stiff leg muscles.  A quick trip to the sauna and then home for a while before returning to the sports centre for a pre-arranged gym induction.

I have always found the idea of going to a gym to be very intimidating, so it was an achievement even walking through that door.  However it wasn't long before I was trying out all the various machines.  As I have an exercise bike at home, it was good to try out some variations including a recumbent bike.  The cross-trainer was more difficult than I remember, as my co-ordination is not the best!

Having left the gym feeling a little tired, but also with a feeling of triumph that I'd plucked up the courage to go, I headed home.  However, shortly after returning home I had a nasty fall in the house which resulted in excruciating pain and some horrible bruises all over my legs.  So I could forget a quick return to the gym and the pool will have to wait until those bruises have cleared up.

Happily, the pain didn't last too long (although I'm still badly bruised so can forget the pool for a while) and I was back in the gym on Thursday, trying out some more of the equipment.  My fitness journey has a long, long way to go, but I've made a start.

Since coming back from holiday I've been trying to eat healthily.  It was a very pleasant surprise to discover that I'd lost 1¼ lbs since my last weigh-in before our holiday.

This week: hoping to slot in a couple of trips to the gym in-between what is going to be a very busy week indeed.  Not only is it Eurovision week but there's lots of other stuff going on as well.

Doing the thing I said I'd never do...

Regular readers of this blog over recent years will be well aware of my numerous efforts to lose weight and get fit.  But here we are almost halfway through 2016 already, and I have now reached a point where the most drastic measures are required.  Prior to my holiday in Madrid, I had started dieting again and weighing-in every week.  After just a couple of weeks it had already taken its toll on my emotional wellbeing.  Can dieting make you feel depressed?  In my case it did, and pushed me completely over the edge, turning me into an anxious wreck.  Yes, that's what two weeks of dieting did to me.    

One major fact became clear: just as in 2010/2011 when I had my most successful phase of weight loss, I combined healthy eating with exercise.  But fast-forward a few years and it's all very different. My fitness levels are at rock bottom and my weight is the highest it's ever been.  The past two years have taken a horrible toll on my mental and physical health.  I have reached a stage where I now need help and support to get back to an acceptable level of fitness.

So today, I did the thing which I said I'd never do.  I took out a membership at the local sports centre, which includes the gym, swimming and fitness classes; the plan is to get stuck in over the next 4 calendar months and see where it goes from there.  Hoping that my fitness level is in a better place by the end of August and I can then cancel the membership and go back to doing my own exercising at home.

Today I bought a fab new swimsuit, one of those "swim dress" things which cover a multitude of flabby bits!!  Looking forward to getting back in the shallow end with my hilarious attempts at "swimming" which is more like aqua-aerobics really (!)

In the meantime I'm keeping the healthy eating and weigh-ins going, but I'm not going to get so stressed about it this time as there will be the mood-boost provided by all that exercise, fingers crossed :)

Progress reports on my Summer 2016 Fitness Plan to follow on here every Sunday from now until the end of August.