Month: March 2011

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1940’s Fitness

I posted this to my regular blog I keep on my employers web site first but thought it was important as part of the 1940’s Experiment to share this on here…. people were on a day to day basis more active during the 1940’s and I think exercise will be key to losing weight and improving my general health….. PS Just got back from another brisk walk during my lunch break- am on a roll….. woo hoo!

Frugal Fitness

In my ongoing quest (have been procrastinating about this for 10 years) to lose weight and get fitter, one of the stumbling blocks (OK excuses) for me, for my lack of exercise, has been the cost of gym membership, swimming pool membership etc etc ad nauseum.. Finally, and I do mean finally, I seem to have got my well padded arse into gear and for the past 10 days I have taken a leaf out of “Forrest Gump’s” achievement bible and simply “started walking”..

Walking is free, walking is frugal, walking is a safe exercise to do if you are as large as I am. But the walking I really like to do is hiking….being outdoors, feeling the cold wind on my face, walking and laughing with my kids, being silly, while all the time moving forward, burning the fat.

I’ve taken advantage of the various trails around Bridgewater. I use the Centennial trail for a short walk during my coffee break at work (it’s literally just outside the door), the kids and I walked the woodland trail around the duck pond last weekend and on saturday we drove to Miller Point Peace Park….. There is so much to see and appreciate while hiking, it is never boring!

In addition to gauge my fitness level improvement, I have been going to HB Studios Sports Centre in Dayspring once a week. The rubber elevated track is wonderful to walk on and the air is climate controlled so walking conditions are perfect. It’s just $2 a session (you can walk for as long as you like). Walking once around the track is 200 metres, 5 times is 1 km and 7 times is 1 mile. 10 days ago, I walked as far as I could and was horrified that all I could manage was 2 laps…. part of the reason is that when I walk a quite severe crushing pain kicks in around my lower spine. This is simply weight related as it always massively improves the more weight I lose….(another incentive to keep on going!). On Sunday Em Hobbit and I popped over to the sports centre to walk the track again. I ended up walking 6 laps in total (4 on one go followed by a short rest and then another 2). This was a huge improvement in just one week and it has supplied me with a much needed dose of motivation.

Above all, what I have liked about the hiking we have done is it gets us out together as a family and we have FUN…and exercise is good for producing endorphins and yes I really do feel quite wonderful for a few hours afterwards!

FUN is free and I like that…

Coming next: A fabulous school initiative that all schools should participate in to not only teach our kids how food grows but to inspire a healthier diet http://www.classroomvictorygarden.org. At the Hobbit House we will be planting our very own!

 

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OMG I love you ALL!!!

OMG I love you all!!!! Your comments are exactly what I needed and promise to answer all this weekend on my days off!

I didn’t visit my blog for a week… I have been thinking so many things through. Painstakingly analyzing minute details of my psyche. Mentally preparing myself to surge forward and grasp this sucker by the throat (jeez I never knew I could be that violent!) and finish the job. There is no doubt in my mind that more than anything else I want to rid myself of 100 lb on top of what I have already lost. According to my scales this morning I am down 55 lb from my heaviest ever weight and despite, at times, not eating 100% wartime rations, am still down 25 lbs from when I originally started the 1940s experiment.

I’ve been looking at my shape in the mirror. There is not a lot I like about the body I wear. Not so much that I am saggy and should you see me in silhouette after I’d placed an antennae on my head, I would indeed resemble a teletubbie (except not so young and cute) but simply that the fat suit I wear stops me from being the person I am inside sometimes. I am playful (despite my 45 years)… I love hugging and giggling and am affectionate towards fellow human beings (if they don’t put barriers up). But sometimes I hold back, afraid that folk will think me strange, I guess it is all to do with lack of confidence now that I wear a different sized body.

Today I have taken another step. I brought my sneakers to work with me and grabbed an exercise t-shirt and after work I go to the indoor walking track to start an exercise routine. It will be difficult at first, my weight causes a painful crushing sensation on my spine when I walk for extended periods of time but I’ll push through it bit by bit until it gets easier as my weight continues to drop. I am committing to go 3 times a week. My goal today will be to complete a minimum of two laps without stopping….

In the 1940s people were far more active than we are as a society today so to be successful in my experiment I have to keep busy. I may not be digging for victory in the fields like a Land Army girl but I’ll certainly be heading towards victory in my own way…

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Not 1940’s but my other passion..

I hate waste… I guess the 1940’s housewife during WWII would have been very mindful of waste. Supplies were scarce, foods were rationed and many manufacturing industries were scaled back. People were encouraged to “Make do and Mend”, use their food scraps up and what they couldn’t use was donated to the community “pig swill” bin or fed to garden livestock.

In todays society we should perhaps take notice of this early form of recycling..

And that is another of my passions… trying to make things last longer, repairing, reusing, not throwing things away because we need something newer and shinier…

And that is precisely what I did with my beautiful bouquet of Valentine’s Roses this year. I couldn’t bare to see them just thrown away so I kept them and watched them as they became crispier and crispier. Work colleagues made comments that it was about time I perhaps threw them away but I waited. And today my roses were dry enough to make “Valentine Rose Petal Pot-Pourri” and now I can treasure the petals for many months more..

CLICK HERE FOR MY HOW-TO WITH PHOTOS!