Reflections on my health, fitness and wellbeing
I am so incredibly proud of myself for completing the Yorkshire three peaks! I honestly don’t think I had it in me before starting this health and fitness coaching. I am stronger, fitter and weigh less which all contributed to my being able to tackle the 24 miles with over 1,500m elevation.
I stumbled across this recipe the other day and I have made it twice since as it is soooooo delicious! Also really easy to make. It’s full of protein and fibre so a great addition to my day! If you cut it into 12 slices then it has around 123 calories, 7g protein and 2g fibre.
I’ve been reading, watching TV programmes and listening to podcasts about the gut microbiome quite a bit recently and I’m becomming increasingly interested in doing what I can to make mine healthy (particularly after having a bowel cancer scare 18 months ago). After a couple of friends told me about their home made kefir, I decided to give it a go and I’m obsessed!
I have used the Kefir Company starter cultures which are so easy to use! I will have a go at using some live grains at some point but, for now, this is so easy.
I blend the prepared kefir with what ever soft fruit I have got around and then pour it over oats, leave it in the fridge overnight and have some delicious over night oats for breakfast every day. I usually add some grapes, a chopped up pear or what ever fruit takes my fancy.
Before I add the extra fruit, the overnight oats with home made fruity kefir comes in around 10g of protein and 5g of fibre so a great start to the day!
There’s lots of information about the health benefits of kefir on the internet but I’m not an expert so I’m not going to say which sources are the most accurate. It’s worth having a google though if you’re interested!
What an achievement! Fee and I completed the Round Sheffield Run on Saturday. I was a bit apprehensive about it as it is further than a half marathon (although you only run 20Km of it) but we both found it relatively easy and we didn’t ache nearly as much as we did at the end of Brighton Half Marathon 2 years ago. So what has changed? Well, losing weight will obviously make running easier but also we are both doing regular strength training which is really paying off
I’m reading Mo Gawdat’s “Solve for Happy” book at the moment and it’s making me stop and think about what makes me happy. It really is the every day things. This view from my back door stopped me in my tracks this morning when I got home from dropping Dan at school. This is my commute when I’m working from home!
Although I’ve had a really good week of sticking to my calorie allowance and exercising, I haven’t lost any weight this week. So, I thought it would be a good time to remind myself of all the other wins that I’ve had over the last 11 weeks and why I am doing this:
So I haven’t lost any weight this week – who cares! It is definitely worth sticking to the programme so I can reap all of those benefits!
Another example of a food diary to show how I stay within calories!
This weekend was Fee’s birthday camping weekend. Ordinarily I would have stocked up on prosecco, beer, gin & tonic and it would have been wild. I would have drunk and eaten too much then felt rubbish on Saturday and made an excuse to not go on the walk that we had planned. However, this time, I am doing dry June so no alcohol passed my lips and something truly amazing happened. I had a fantastic time! Not once did I regret my choice to not drink. I had a minor twinge when Fee brought out a bottle of chilled champagne on Saturday afternoon but I just got a glass of Kombucha and joined in. The teeny tiny twinge passed in seconds! I really enjoyed the walk on Saturday even though it tipped it down with rain. (I didn’t fancy a swim like some of the bonkers people I was with though). I honestly think I had a better time than if I’d been drinking. Most people had a nap on Saturday afternoon – I meditated for 20 mins then felt really refreshed and read my book for a while. If you told me right now that I could never have an alcoholic drink ever again, I probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid!!
People keep asking me what I’m eating and how I manage to stay within a calorie allowance of 1520 so I thought I’d post some examples of what I’m eating on different days. This was a very chicken focussed day so not so great for my veggie friends but you could substitute the chicken for Tofu or Tempeh to get the protein!
My favourite low calorie breakfast at the moment. 0% fat yoghurt (I have about 100g) and fruit. This one worked out at less than 150 calories! The protein in the yoghurt keeps me full all morning – in fact I had this and a bag of 44 calorie popcorn then ran 13.65 km before I needed to eat again!
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