My Fitness Project: Week 1, Day 1 (19/06/14)

This morning, despite vowing to myself to have an early morning walk last night, I had a celebratory end-of-exams lie-in until 11am - it was totally worth it, even if I did miss out on the walk! For my breakfast I had a bowl of Kellogg's Bran Flakes (with milk), a banana and a cup of tea (strong with a teaspoon of unrefined sugar and a splash of milk). This breakfast is full a fibre, which is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system. Bananas are also a good source of minerals (such as potassium and magnesium). After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day - especially when it's healthy!

Due to such a late wake up and breakfast, I ended up having a late lunch too (4:00pm is some people's dinnertime!) But I didn't feel hungry at all, but admittedly I should've at least had a glass of water in between my breakfast and lunch (but oh well!). For lunch I concocted a very luscious plate of shredded Norwegian smoked salmon with a rocket and baby leaf salad, lightly drizzled in the Hellmann's Fat Free Vinaigrette. I also cut a small apple into 4 which added a lovely and natural sweetness to my lunch (I'd also recommend this for when you are in need of a snack). A meal full of iron and other minerals and well as the healthy essential oils in the fish. This was all washed down with a delightful cup of peppermint tea ((cooled down of course) in my cup from a Christmas market I visited in Berlin last year - even better!)

Today's lunch: smoked salmon and a leafy salad
with sliced apple and peppermint tea.

After  lazing around at home since I'd woken up, at around 5.00pm I went for a walk around the block.  This may not sound like very much but, according to my pedometer, it was 1231 steps (out of the daily recommended amount of 10,000 steps) - not bad for a quick breath of fresh air!

Once I got in from my bimble (small walk) I treated myself to a very delicious, healthy and satisfying snack: M&S Fat Free Greek-style yogurt with raspberries, blueberries, chopped up strawberries, grapes and to finish it all off, a small dashing of honey on top. This was delightful! The yogurt is lovely and creamy - not what you'd expect to a Fat Free one to be like - and the honey really added to the dish, giving it a lovely sweetness and extra flavour. With this I also had a glass of water: clarify, hydrating and calorie free!

My lovely mid afternoon snack: fruity, tasty and healthy!

Tonight's dinner was the very simple but very yummy Spaghetti Bolognese packed with lean minced, lean bacon, beef, red peppers, chopped tomatoes, onion and garlic (no wonder everyone has been avoiding us this evening!). And there was enough left over for another meal - an added bonus! Admittedly, I did have this with white, refined spaghetti even though one of my conditions is to eat more wholemeal foods, but we still had some left to use up and - within reason - I don't believe in waste. So once that is used up, I shall be using wholemeal spaghetti.

A yummy (bit slightly naughty) dinner

Look at the leftovers!

This evening my mum and I put on our trainers, grabbed a bottle of water each and packet of tissues (anyone else find that their nose runs on walks too? No pun intended!) and we went on a charming walk (or march) - approximately 6919 steps - in a delightful woodland area which is practically on our doorstep - at one point I even went for a sprint, but not for long as I soon lost my breath and got a stitch which only encouraged my motivation for my fitness project further, so that I can get fit enough to be able to run a good distance. Not only was this walk extremely peaceful but it also gave us a good, yet not a too strenuous, workout: our upper thighs were really beginning to ache by the end of it. It was really nice to explore parts of my hometown with which I am less familiar, as we have very rarely used that walkway. We ought to use it more - it will be especially great for the dogs too and it's a good distance with benches at frequent intervals which will be great if we start to run properly too (but hopefully the fitter we get, the less we'll need them!).

Here are some pictures of the scenery we we were lucky to have this evening:

Proud to say that we didn't sit on that bench, we carried on going!

Sunlight on the trees

Bird boxes

Am I the only one who thinks that this tree looks like a Picasso painting?!

To round off the evening nicely, I firstly treated myself to a Milbona Fat Free Mint & Chocolate Sprinkles yogurt from Lidl with blueberries and raspberries. Yum yum! The best thing about it is that the yogurt is just like a Müller Corner Light yogurt but they are a lot cheaper (only 31p. Bargain!) so we stocked up, understandably! And then to perk up after tonight's England World Cup defeat, I treated myself to a cup of  tea (like this morning) and had a Daim bar and a Cadbury's Curly Wurly (what a lovely treat it was too!) Does anyone else like dipping their chocolate in their tea too? (I've even got my mum into it!)

A yummy and healthy dessert

A tasty and bargain yogurt!

Nowt like a cuppa tea and chocolate

Fin.

My Fitness Project

As of yesterday, exams are FINALLY over (WOO!) meaning that my summer holidays have officially begun (again, WOO!).  This means that I now have a lot of time on my hands. I am the type of person who needs to be doing something - I do get bored easily after the first few days of lounging around at home during the holidays (don't get me wrong, I am partial to the odd box set and duvet day!).

Generally, I am reasonably healthy - I consciously try to eat a balanced diet - however, I am not a very active person in practice and I definitely need to do A LOT more exercise. In fact, I find that if someone even refers to exercise I often make a jokey comment about how little of it I do. And I've decided that I am going to change this.

Yesterday evening - as a way of clearing my head of all the exam stress - I decided to go on a long walk (approx. 2.8 miles) as I find walking to be away good way of calming down and relaxing. It was a lovely, clear evening and lots of people were out walking, running and cycling and the atmosphere was filled with the mutual motivation of those out and about exercising . This inspired both my mum and I to do some more of these evening walks and eat more healthily (we even stopped off at the shop on the way home and picked up fat free yogurt and the tastiest and juiciest soft fruits) and then we assigned ourselves with the project of getting healthier, fitter and in shape over the next 10 weeks of the summer period.

Here are my plans:

Fitness:
As I have recently turned 16 I can now go to my local gym and fitness facilities on my own during the day instead of waiting for my mum to come home after a tiring day at work. But apart from at the gym, I don't plan to use any specialist fitness equipment and instead take advantage of what my local area has to offer for free. I also plan to start off my fitness routine by walking, cycling and swimming more. This is also great because not only will I be doing exercise but I'll also discover more of my home surroundings and the dogs will get longer walks too! I also want to be more proactive too. By this, I mean doing things such as walking to the gym and cycling to the swimming pool instead of going by car or bus (which is good for both me environment. BONUS.)

Diet:
Firstly, allow me to establish that in no way am I going on diet designed for extreme weight loss or to change my body image, my priority is to maintain a balanced and nutritional diet. I believe that it is very important for me to get a good mix of all the food groups within my daily diet in order to become (and stay) healthy. I also want to make healthier choices such as: choosing healthier snacks like fruit instead of a packet of crisps and choosing low fat/ fat free alternatives. I also would like to minimise the amount of processed foods I consume daily and use healthier alternatives such as wholemeal breads, pastas and rices and brown sugar instead of their refined counterparts. I wish to drink a lot more water on a daily basis and meet the recommended intake of 1.6 litres a day for a women* (2 litres for a man) whether it be straight from the tap or in drinks such as teas (I love a good cup of peppermint tea!) and have fewer fizzy and sugary drinks. Obviously, alcohol isn't an issue for me at my age, honest! BUT, I am NOT going to deprive myself of treats but instead consume them in moderation, which is an another basis of a healthier life in which I strongly believe. (For example instead having a big bar of chocolate every night eating a smaller bar in it's place (e.g. a Daim or Curly Wurly instead of a Double Decker) it's surprising how much more you begin to appreciate chocolate this way!).


Why am I writing this blog, then? I am going to use this blog to track my fitness progress - and allow myself to see the developments I am making along the way - but it will hopefully keep me motivated to keep on going but also in those times when I may fall backwards slightly in my routine (I am human after all!).

But why am I tracking my project publicly and online? Well, hopefully, me sharing my progress and motivation to get fitter will inspire others to reach their health goals too!

My targets:

1 - to get healthier, fitter and in shape.

2 - to redo a 20km charity walk that I did last year (in approximately 6 weeks time- only with fewer breaks to regain my breathe (excusing loo and food breaks!)

3- to go out for meal or have a takeaway and not feel guilty! 

So, stay tuned if you wish to see my progress and what the next 10 weeks bring!

See you at the finish line!

*information sourced from the NHS Choices - Live Well website