Getting Fit

Building on from my post about getting fit I have first and foremost been coke free now for over a week. While I wouldn't say I drank a lot. I did tend to have a 600ml bottle at work with lunch then a glass or 2 in the evenings (Mostly on weekends). I have started to feel the benefits already. For starters I do not feel as bloated, I find anything fizzy just makes my stomach swell. Once I cut that out of my diet I really do notice the difference, its probably a belt size I'd guess.

Secondly I've been drinking plenty of water, I keep a pump bottle on my desk at work and fill it sometimes 6-7 times a day, I find this really useful come evening walk time as I don't need to carry a bottle with me because I'm already well hydrated. I just have to large cups when I'm home and feel good.

A result of these first two changes has been a good nights sleep, I prefer to work 7:30-4:30 and when I'm not wired on sugar from coke and lollies I'm able to get to bed by 11:30 and get up at 6. This means I get into work earlier, am able to get an on site car park (saves $4 a day) and can leave at 4:30 getting a head start on the peak hour rush.

I've also been eating breakfast every day for a month now, something I always love but tend to skip given I eat at work and some mornings are busier than others. I find this makes me also eat a smaller lunch, and then not want to snack mid afternoon.

The home meals have also been good (well they always are, snacks are the enemy), I think we had take out once last week (after arriving home from camp) and that's about it. I like to keep most of our meals relatively simple. I'll usually do 1 type of meat (sausages or burgers/rissoles or chicken fillets) with veggies (potato, carrot, peas & corn) 4-5 nights a week. Depending on what we get at our grocer I also like to throw in cauliflower and broccoli and every so often Mamma bare does these in the nicest bake. We'll do a rice dish once a week too, usually beef stew and rice (sometimes curried) or butter chicken & rice. We have also sort of unofficially made Fridays homemade pizza night, again very simple, I make the dough from scratch and usually top them with simple toppings like tomato base, cheese, ham & pineapple or pepperoni. I've slowly perfected it over the past year or so. Even though in the scheme of things this is probably our "worst" meal of the week we get the children involved with making the dough and topping the pizzas. Combine that with the fact that we know every ingredient going in makes them a far better option over takeaway pizza (which I have to say I have no desire to have again),

I've also been taking an apple or two into work with me for snacks, apples are something I hated as a child but living in the country allows us to shop for fresher fruit and veg at lower prices and when the quality is so much better I really enjoy apples.

More on walking. I've started my regular circuit again. I had to delay this because of some minor injuries over the past few weeks (more on that later). According to Google maps its just shy of 8 kilometres with at least 1/3 of that (the final stretch) being uphill. Uphill is always my preference, for some reason (probably my 6'7 hamstrings) I prefer to run up hill rather than on the flat. This works because by the time I have reached the home straight I'm nice and loosened up and limbered enough to bring it home at a faster pace. Unfortunately my trainers are a bit second hand, I have to tape my heels to avoid blisters (until I can shop for a new pair).

Lastly an indirect change I've made that is helping me improve my fitness is Driving to work, I rode a motorcycle rain hail or shine for the past 3 years and while its sooooo much more fun, commuting to where we currently live is tiring, mainly because its all on 2-5 lane freeways, lots of gridlock and very taxing on me mentally, you need 150% concentration riding in these conditions. The commute from where we are building our dream house does not have any freeway riding (yay!!). Taking the car has allowed me to get set in a bit of a routine. We are anti-routine with the children, but for us to fit the things we need to get done into a day amongst 6 children under 10 requires some organisation. I basically get home from work, start dinner while mamma bare goes for her walk, then serve dinner when she returns, then after dinner is cleaned up and children are getting ready for bed (or playing) I can then go for my walk. It all hinges on me getting up and to work early each day so I can leave by 4:30, get a good run home & so on.

Hoping I can continue on this trend, or at least get set enough so that the interruption of Mr C's surgery in may doesn't throw things into too much disarray.

Until next time