Hate To Exercise

15th January 2021

I’m trying to get into a habit of posting a little online diary entry on more regular basis, something to keep my readers entertained as I seem to acquired a few followers (thank you by the way) – I just can’t get into it. But you know what, I’m not a serial blogger, I’m not doing this for financial gain or renown, I’m just doing it for fun. At the beginning it was a challenge – both the cycling / exercise and regular reporting, then it became an something to keep me sane during 2020 lockdown, now I’m doing it to vent – vent my frustration at 2021 and the continuing saga that is Covid. Hopefully eventually I’ll write for pure entertainment value.

In a meantime, there’s also very little to report.

I mean – we just had Christmas – soooooo, was any exercise or diet keeping going to happen? Was it heck!

That said – the me from XXXX years ago wouldn’t even contemplate exercise or sticking to a food regime during a Christmas period. The me now – well, at least I contemplated it. In actual fact I still managed to squeeze in a 25 minute HIIT session Monday before Christmas, and for the most part whilst I indulged in turkey and trimmings, and extra chocolates and that massive slab of Christmas cake I made – I haven’t overeaten. For one – I only put reasonable amount of food on my plate, so there was no meat or tatties spilling over the edges; and secondly – I didn’t go for second helpings. Oh, I could have done!! I absolutely could have done – but I think it just shows the mind-shift that has occurred in my brain over the 9/10 months of 2020; thirdly I stuck with my routine of weighing myself to judge what I might indulge in. I know some dieticians, physicians and psychiatrists would tell me not to – but this is my way of keeping control of my weight. I find that the minute I stop tracking it, I start gaining it. As it is, I get up in the morning – and depending on what the scales tell me, I either have a day of being totally good, or a day where extra pieces of chocolate or second helping of pigs-in-blankets goes down very well without feeling guilty. It’s the regime I kept on for 8 months of 2020 and which contributed to me losing over 10kgs in weight. Each to their own as they say.

Thus over the Christmas period – whilst there was hardly any exercise, and also not too much overeating – I’ve limited my gain weight to 1kg/2lb and still enjoyed fairly unhealthy amounts of wine, way more chocolates than my slightly-dairy-intolerant body can copy with and definitely few too many roast potato’s

After Christmas – I have a confession to make – I managed to get away for a few days to a place with sun and a swimming pool. That guilt aside – whilst away stuffing my face on way too many nice restaurant meals, I did manage to squeeze in a healthy amount of walking each day – which means there was only another 3lb weight gain.

And now – now it’s after Christmas and the world still sucks. Right about now I should have been on a plane heading to Cambodia for 10 days worth of cycling holiday. The reason I started this blog/diary and exercise in the first place. I really want to swear quite rudely right now. But I won’t – at least not on paper – in my head I’m cussing like there’s no tomorrow. Anyway – I’ve decided that I will now re-book my cycling holiday for 2022. Surely, I mean surely – the world will be back to normality by then, right? I mean how much longer can we continue like this???

Right, I’m digressing again – so, yes, re-booking my cycling adventure to 2022. This does mean that I will have to start cycling again………….. Oh dear. I’ve not been on a bike since…….. I don’t know, have a look at my back diary entries – it’s sometime in the summer 2020, right before the last holiday was cancelled and I threw a massive tantrum. But yes, as soon as we get out of January and I have a chance to speak with the travel agent – I will be booking that trip after all. Same time next year basically. This does mean that sometime in the near future – this little diary will be back – up and running with my regular updates on my cycling progress, my hippo weight progress, and generally my life progress. Except this time round I’ll be starting fitter and slimmer.

Speaking of slimmer – you should see my pictures in a swimming costume now. I’m not about to post them here – but just imagine a hippo in a swimming costume – you know that one from the Disney movie (that was me last January), and now imagine a smaller hippo in a swimming costume 🙂 . One with a waist line.

In truth, I ain’t Cindy Crawford, and I still carry few extra pounds on me – but this was the first time in many years when I’ve put on a swimming costume and felt good about myself. It was a feeling on par with that one strutting my stuff down the street in tight leggings, or exercising in the garden of the holiday cottage last September. That extra tire which disappeared from around my waist, has left me looking more toned and slim – I’m regaining my hour-glass figure and it feels good. Here was one pic from my holidays I didn’t mind sharing with my friends.

So no, let’s see if I can get to my next weight loss goal. I’ve surpassed the last one by 3kgs. Next one is only 3kgs away. Like I said before, I’m keeping it small – I don’t want to over-do-it, but I also want to give myself goals that are achievable.

And with that in mind – I’ve done my first HIIT session of the year- and then I haven’t been able to use my legs for 3 days. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but…… 3 weeks of not exercising, that first session was painful. I now need to get back into a swing of things and more regular exercise, and back with the food sensibility too.

Right, I think I’ve bored you enough, dear reader. Hope this entertained you for at least a little bit. See you again soon(ish). Over and out.

Title – “Habits (Stay High)“ – song by Tove Lo, found it on Spotify

I think when it comes to losing weight specifically, everyone has their own method – their own little secret. I’ve heard a number of them from friends, online websites, gym instructors, doctors, etc. All sharing their hints and tips, and swearing that theirs is the best, theirs works. The thing is – I believe that amongst all of it, you have got to find your own – one that works for you. We’re all so different from each other – doesn’t matter how many similarities there are in our lives, appearance, genetic make-up – we’re all individuals – which is why what works for one person, even though on the face of it should work for another, doesn’t. So what’s my little tip…..my little secret….. mine…. mine is soup.

Do you recall that saying – Breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and dinner like a pauper. Personally I think there’s a lot of truth in that. I mean why the hell do you need a three course meal or even a 1 course – that’s heavy meat and two veg, plus pudding of course – at 6pm in the evening, when all you’re going to do is lounge about on a sofa for a couple of hours, before going to sleep. There’s no opportunity at all to work-off those massive amounts of calories. Doesn’t matter how much exercise you’ve done during the day, how physically you’ve been working – you should fuel up before. After all, you don’t fill up the car with petrol after you made the journey, no?

Now, I’m not the sharpest knife in the draw, plus like many people, sometimes you just have to arrive at the destination yourself to see the truth. When I started to think about it, I’ve realised that part of my issue with trying to lose weight was not necessarily when I was eating or even what – but how much. (although we get to the when in another post)

Having finally made my own discovery in this field, that’s when I switched to soup for dinner; and I don’t mean that stupid cabbage soup fad. Oh cabbage soup works, but only as part of overall regime (it’s a strong word, need to find another), not on its own, and not just cabbage soup. Ridiculous fad. I cook a cabbage soup too, don’t get me wrong, but it’s one of many varieties in my arsenal. I make a whole host of other soups – some more filling and chunky almost the consistency of stews, others light and practically drinkable, like a miso soup with few noodles.

The thought process being – I find soups easier to portion control. There’s only own size bowl in my house and I only ever serve one a bowl – that’s it. Regardless of which soup I serve – light laksa, or heavy leek and potato – it’s only ever one bowl. I batch-cook the soups once or twice a week and what is not eaten on the evening, is portioned into a 400gr capacity box and frozen, to be defrosted another evening, without having the stress of cooking, or worrying about how much I need to weigh out. Occasionally when I can’t be bothered to cook, there’s a fabulous brand of soups call Cully & Sully – oh yummination. It’s their old soup boxes that I keep for my own batch-cooking. Their soups are also very light, perfectly portioned and low in calories. It’s been a combination of my own soup-batch-cooking and the Cully & Sully smoked haddock chowder (yum, just thinking about it), that’s played a huge part in my weight loss last year.

The other thing about soups, is that by the sheer fact that they have more liquid/water in them, their calorie content is reduced – making them a lighter meal, and thus allowing me to still have my sweet fix in the shape of a biscuit and 2 pieces of celebrations a bit later on.

I know some people find soups boring and how can you just eat soup for dinner every night. Well – I don’t think of it as soup – it’s a meal. That’s it. Plus, my soup cooking has expanded to cover almost all corners of the world, and I’ve even experimented with making certain stews into a more soupy consistency, e.g. chilli con-carne. With that one, I throw a handful of rice into the pot, to bulk it up, but in the end it’s still not as heavy as a chilli-con-carne meal. I mean, have a think about it – most of us, if we have a chilli-con-carne dinner – that usually involves several big spoons of heavy chilli, plus rice, on a big plate. Often there are some extras – creme fraiche, cheese, maybe some nachos. Make that into a soup – and it becomes a smaller meal.

But shhh…….don’t tell anyone, soup is my secret. What’s yours?

BTW. Cully and Sully sometimes share some of their recipes on their website. Really easy to follow. Don’t want to put these guys out of business – and unlikely, as there are days when I still can’t be bothered to cook and they are my go to comfort – but I can highly recommend. If you like fish – their Smoked Salmon & haddock chowder – finger licking good.

Forming “Habits (Stay High)” – Tove Lo

Shhhh…..It’s a secret