Move it, shake it (more weight loss shenanigans)

www.wisewellwoman.com

There is a whole host more to talk about with regard to food/not food, drink/not drink but let’s leave that to one side for the moment.  There was also another big factor or six that kicked my issues with food right into touch but I don’t want to scare you off too soon.  So let’s stick to the tangible stuff for now.  Baby steps, eh?

Next step (ho ho)...  Exercise.

Truly our bodies are built to move. We weren’t designed to sit at desks all day; to slump on sofas. If you want to be fit and healthy, to be strong and slim, you don’t just need to look at what you put into your body but also how you use it; at calories out as well as calories in. 

*sigh* Maybe in my next life, eh?  :)

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with exercise all my life.  When I was at school I used to dread Wednesdays with every ounce of my eleven-year old being. Wednesday meant gym and gym meant ritual humiliation in front of thirty-odd classmates. Try as I might, I couldn’t do a handstand, let alone a cartwheel (though, weird thing, I can do them perfectly in my head).  The vault could have been a skyscraper. None of it helped, of course, by having to wear thick navy cotton knickers (oh guys, come on! How could you do that to teenage girls??) 

So, despite being a pretty good squash player and quite nifty on the netball court; despite cycling up killer hills and doing extreme outdoor challenges in the mountains, I dubbed myself a failure at sport. I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one and that many of us cite school sport fear and loathing as part of the reason why we don't do any exercise at all.

BIG MISTAKE.

Seriously.  I said I wasn’t going to lecture and that I wasn’t going to tell you what to do but honestly, if you want to look and feel great, you simply gotta get moving. One way or another. I don’t care what you do – just do something!  C’mon, you don’t need me to tell you why. Exercise keeps our hearts and lungs working as they should and helps prevent cardio-vascular disease. Stress levels plummet after a good hard workout or game of sport (stress hormone levels are allowed to return to their resting levels and feelgood hormones are boosted).  Regular exercise helps control blood pressure; boosts our immune system; keeps a whole pile of diseases at arms’ length; soothes our sleep patterns and boosts our sex lives. Weight-bearing exercise can help stave off osteoporosis and so on and so forth.

And yes, if you’re using up calories with exercise it’s far easier to lose weight. 

If you Google my husband's name, this comes up!

Honestly, there really aren’t many good reasons or excuses for not exercising. A few health conditions make it difficult (and in some cases impossible) but generally a good fitness instructor can tailor a routine for pretty much anyone.  Some systems – like chi gung for example – can even be adapted for people who can’t get out of a chair. Can’t afford the gym or fitness classes? Walking, running, dancing, swimming in the wild, playing games with your children are all free. 

But anyhow, it’s up to you. All I can say is that it works for me. What I did in this past crazy year was to try out a whole bunch of stuff, to find out, for the first time, what I really enjoyed doing.  First stop was the gym.  We have a (tiny) gym here in Dulverton, literally two minutes from the house, yet I’d never been.  Why?  I dunno.  So I started getting my cardio fitness back on the bike, on the cross-trainer, the rower, the treadmill.  Got back to lifting weights.  It was tough at first but I took it slow, had a programme I followed, and gradually it got easier.  I'm lucky in that my mate Trisha works there and she loves nothing more than challenging us to do new stuff - like the form of extreme masochism that goes under the name of TRX and the frothy joy of super sets. Can I promise you something?  Gyms aren't scary. Really - not the good ones. And, as Frankie points out, you won't go bulky by using weights - it's a fallacy.

No! It won't! www.stumptuous.com - check it out

But I also love working out with other people, to music, so I added in some classes.  After a bit of trial and error (nope, I will never be a belly dancer and nope I still hate jazz so jazzercise is not an option; circuits are okay; Pilates so-so) I found the mix that worked for me. 

TRX - this is EVIL! But fun... :)

So now I do Zumba twice a week because it is, quite simply, the best fun ever. It’s a great all-body workout, sexy as hell, and it’s the one and only thing that has ever really sorted out for good and proper the back pain I used to get from spending most of  my day hunched over a desk.  Then I do Kettlercise twice a week too – usually outdoors by the river – because slinging a kettlebell is also great fun as well as a stunning workout and we have one helluva laugh.  Then, of course, I walk the SP and Exmoor isn’t exactly known for being flat so that’s a workout in itself.

Yes, I do a lot of exercise.  At least an hour a day; more if I can.  I’ll use any chance I can to get my body moving. On the rare occasions I cook or do housework, I shove on some dance music and fling myself around. On the rare occasions I watch TV I usually sit on the fitball and do a few weights while I’m there.  Or I get down on the carpet and plonk myself into Plank in front of the fire. J

Why? Because I enjoy it and I love how it makes me feel. I can get high as a kite on endorphins when I exercise. Crazy high. Better than any drink or drugs. Honesty also compels me to say I love how it makes me look.  Cutting calories in food will make you lose weight; it may make you slim. But exercise will make you toned.  And, by heck, do I love toned.  As I’ve said before, I don’t want a skinny body; I want a seriously strong, sensual body.  Working out has given me seriously toned muscles.  Go on, have a prod - my thighs are rock-hard!  Okay, so I’m not totally there yet – the washboard stomach is still more in my head than in my abs.  But one day…

What does my quasi-guru do? He's far more of a back to basics guy: he runs, swims and plays extreme Mario Kart with his son. Plus yoga (which is worth a whole post all to itself, so that is what it will get). Plus something else which we’ll talk about in more detail in a day or so... J 


btw, do read the comments - Frankie has added a lot of really useful links that you may like to follow...  Thanks, Frankie. xx

What is 'normal service' and when will it be resumed, for feck's sake?

jenniferfinchphotography.blogspot.com

Now then, about yesterday.  I was going to do another ‘normal’ blog post but then…well…stuff happened.  I got distracted.  And part of me, a big part of me, went ‘NO! Gotta do the post, gotta get this stuff out there.’  Because, see, I’m one of life’s grafters. I’m a Capricorn for feck’s sake – put a mountain in front of me and I’ll climb it, doggedly, step by step, even with blisters. Stick a river in front of me and I’ll swim it.  Say jump! And I’ll bloody try to fly. I used to blame it on my school, on the good old protestant work ethic they drummed into us but really I think it goes back earlier than that.

I have always been a strainer. In fact my mother confessed that the look of intense pained concentration on my face, even when I was having a crap, used to annoy the hell out of her. I was one of those children that liked lists; that liked organising and being organised in my self.  I also loved being in control. Hence I invented clubs with long lists of arcane rules and regulations and made my long-suffering, more easy-going friends jump through hoops. I wrote and produced plays (never liked being an actor, much preferred calling the shots).  I guilt-tripped my classmates into creating vast collages which I would then cheerily foist onto local retirement homes, whether they wanted them or not.  I wasn’t even ten years old – bossy little brat.

Then my father died (of lung cancer) and the extrovert stuff died with him. But I was still driven. I collected badges (yeah, I was a Queen’s guide) and I collected exams. The same at work. Always in control, always with an eye on the next step, always challenging myself. Once I even challenged myself to see how many books I could get published in a year (I think it was six).

I plot. I plan. I ponder. I like to pin down. To be precise. Perfection? Yeah, ideally. J All those bossy plosives, eh). Promises? I try and keep ‘em. Processes? Hell yeah, keep it neat and orderly, broken down into tidy points. 

Which is all well and good. To a plosive point. But you also miss out if you blinker yourself; if you only look straight ahead at the winning post. Sometimes you have to loosen up, drop the whole control freak thing and follow the flirts.  I’ll explain about the flirts more later on (cos Flirting is a whole big Thing and I’m not talking ‘bout giving someone the eye down the pub).  I learned this in the Labyrinth BIG time. That a comment, a phrase, a song, a poem, a word even, could send you skidaddling off down a whole new wormhole. And that the ‘aha’ moment or the Great Insight or the start of the whole change thing doesn’t necessary happen when you sit down and start at Page One. Sometimes it sneaks up behind you and tweaks your pigtails. Maybe – when it comes to Big Important Things – one shouldn’t try to pin them down and dissect them.  My quasi-guru talks in a mixture of poetry, music and provocation – trying to pin him down is like trying to herd the wind.

So, yesterday, I remembered that – or rather, he reminded me - and I followed the flirts and so yesterday’s post was as much a part of the journey as anything else.

But, anyhow, tomorrow I shall endeavour to return to what you term ‘normal service’. More of the How I Lost Four Stone stuff.  Though you do realise that the whole weight thing really isn’t the Holy Grail, don’t you? And you do realise that I’m as much a learner as you, don’t you?  We’re all in this together. As long as we’re as clear as muck on that… J

Meanwhile…For those who may be struggling with Symphonic Bridges and Pro-Vocation, good news! I’m translating The Cave, previously only available in Polish.  What d’ya mean, I don’t speak the language? I am extremely fluent in Polandish.  How could I not be? I’m an interpreter, after all…  ;)