Firstly a little bit about me. I am a 58 yr. old woman with two married Daughters and who is proud to be a Grandmother to two gorgeous Granddaughters. I help care for my youngest Grandchild who was born with an undiagnosed genetic disorder (you can read more in my SWANSONGS blog which has a link at the top of the page) and also do volunteer work at her SEN Nursery.
I am what I consider to be a fairly healthy person, I hardly ever have need to go to the doctors, but like a lot of women of a ‘certain age’ I have slowly been putting on a few pounds here and there over time. I have also been aware that I was getting a bit less energetic than I used to be and sometimes getting a little out of breath when doing certain things that required a bit more effort. This was starting to bother me.
According to my BMI I am in the overweight category. Not by too much now as I have lost a few pounds since I decided to keep this log, but I felt it better for me if I was in the healthy weight range and so initially that was my goal.
I have to say that I am not very good at sticking with things that I don’t like doing, even if it is for my own good. I get bored, I make excuses and I eventually quit. I have tried various diets, some worked for a bit and I did loose weight but then I got bored with having to calorie count, weigh everything and deny myself some of the treats and food that I did enjoy. I gave up.
I have a Wii games console and have an array of exercise programmes and dance routines. Some of these I still do and enjoy, but I don’t rely upon them solely for my daily exercise as doing the same routines every day can get a bit monotonous.
So what is my grand plan and where does the 5k come in?
Well to start with I have decided that a calorie controlled diet is not for me. Having said that, doing calorie counting for a while did give me an insight into portion control (I have always had a big appetite) and so I am trying hard to eat less per meal and also to choose healthier options. The more I read and the more weight loss programmes I watch, it seems to me that the one message that does come across loud and clear is if you eat more than your body needs the excess will be stored as fat. This is only common sense really.
But how do you know how much your body needs if you don’t count calories?
It would appear that we already have a built in calorie counter. Our brains are equipped to tell us when we have had enough by giving us that ‘full’ feeling. It is thought that it takes about 20 minutes for these messages to get through so there is a lot to be said for eating more slowly and chewing more. I for one have always had a tendency to ‘bolt down’ my food and I am very guilty of 'making room for a bit more’ if I am eating something that I really enjoy. These are habits that I need to break if I am to succeed in losing weight.
I need to eat less so it is important I make the right choices. To help with the portion control I have switched to eating from a smaller plate which helps. Eating a balanced diet is important and rather than cutting things out altogether I have found it easier to just eat less of the bad things and more of the good. To help me decide which foods fall into which category I have downloaded a chart which I have on my fridge to keep me on track. This divides food into three ‘traffic light’ colours an example is below:
Foods in the red column are high energy low nutrients so should only be eaten occasionally.
Amber foods are high energy – high nutrients so some from this group should be eaten daily but not too much.
Green foods are low energy – high nutrients and these can be eaten as much as you want.
| Red | Amber | Green |
| sugar, syrup, honey, jam. | Meat, poultry, oily fish, white fish & shellfish | Bananas, apples, pears, oranges etc, dried fruit, tinned fruit in juice |
| Non sugar free Fizzy drinks, non sugar free fruit squash, sweetened fruit juice, tinned fruit syrup | Eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, beans, lentils, peas, low cal baked beans, peanut butter, nuts | Carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, parsnips, turnips, onions, beetroot, mushrooms, peppers and sweet corn. |
| Sugar coated cereals, cakes, sweet biscuits, chocolate & sweets | Bread (esp wholegrain), plain biscuits, porridge, unsweetened breakfast cereal, potatoes, rice & pasta | EVERY DAY DRINK 1 LITRE OF WATER |
| Butter, cream, margarine (unless low fat), oil | ||
| Pastry, pies & pasties | ||
| All fried foods, sausages, chips, burgers | ||
| Many convenience foods |
By trying to stick to this as much as possible I have found that I can still enjoy some of the foods I like without the guilt. For example I still enjoy our Friday night chippy tea but I just have a smaller portion.
A while back I found the Couch to 5K plan on the internet. I downloaded the podcast, got myself some running shoes and started the plan. I found that this was something I was really enjoying despite the fact that I have never run before.
As a child I had problems with my knees which would cause my legs to give way at times and also give me a lot of pain as a child. My ‘dodgy knees’ have been my excuse for years despite the fact that the pain seemed to go away once I had reached my teens.
A few weeks into the running though I was struck with severe pain in my foot especially upon getting out of bed in the morning. I never went to the doctors about this but researched on the net and asked advice from a physiotherapist. It looks like I had plantar fasciitis which is a common injury amongst runners I believe but is not necessarily caused by running. Once again I gave up.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to give it another try as my foot was now better, the sun was shining and I did miss being able to get out in the fresh air and clear my mind by just concentrating on the run. This time I had downloaded the RunKeeper app. onto my android phone as I was able to track my running route via Google maps which I found a useful tool. This app also has various training programmes on it, including the couch to 5K, it gives you your average pace and also the calories burnt. I started to enjoy running again.
At first I was content with just running but then recently I learnt that a friend of my Daughter’s had not only just completed her first marathon but had also raised money through sponsorship to enable my Granddaughter to have certain specialist equipment. Up until a few years ago she had never run before. She had commented that during the low points of doing the marathon she had kept thinking about my Granddaughter Jess and this had spurred her on. This had such an impact on me and I decided there and then that I would stick at the running and aim to be able to run 5k in the New Year and also to enter a fun run and raise money for charity at some point.
So far the running training has been going well and I am definitely getting more stamina. At first it is just a matter of walking a bit then jogging a bit alternately then building up gradually. I have been using my phone app to track my run rather than the podcast, as I like to listen to my own music on my mp3 player and so far have just been doing a combination of walking and light running for about 20 mins. Last time I managed to run for a longer period and my average pace has gone up slightly. I have scheduled the proper couch to 5k training to start on the 30th December. The reason for this is that I wanted to build up a bit of stamina first and also once I had started the programme I want to be able to stick to the training days wherever possible so I thought I would get Christmas out of the way. I am very aware that the weather can have a big effect upon my training as well during the winter months, the cold is not a problem, neither is the rain, but it would be foolish to go out in ice and snow.
At the moment I try and get a run in every other day, with a rest day in between. I do not want to rush into things and risk injury which would put me back. On the days that I am not running I still try to do some form of exercise like walking or a weight training programme on my Wii.
Now to reveal my goals:
I am 5’ 3” and at the moment I currently weigh 143lbs and I would like to loose around 5lbs as my first goal. This would get me into the top end of the healthy weight range. It may seem a small amount at first but for me I know that if I aim too high and do not see results I will get despondent and so achieving a few pounds loss each time and being able to maintain that weight will be better motivation for me.
I would like to be able to run for a distance of 5k.
Another way of motivating myself is to update this blog and record my progress on a regular basis.
If you would like to follow my progress then either sign up to my coffee & waffle blog via e-mail or if you are a Facebooker then visit Anne Hawkes Blog Page and hit the like button. Links are on the right hand side of this page.
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