Another year.

Another year, means another year to try & live a healthier life, kick some bad habits out the door and to lose weight. I may not have been on track last year but there is no harm in trying again this year. For many reasons there are definitely some things that need to change & I really need to do it this year. I need a big kick in the bum & I'm glad the hubs is quite good at that! As I sparked up this morning he decided to announce his plan of quitting & going cold turkey & that I should probably do the same. Note: We managed to kick the nicotine habit in 2008: I lasted a month, he managed a year and in all honesty the reason he got back into the habit was because I was still puffing away & that we were surrounded by smokers when we were living in China (50 odd outdoor instructors and 40 out of the 50 smoke!). Its bizzare everyone assumes outdoor instructors/educators are super health conscious.  Outdoor Instructors may look physically fit and could run a mile without breaking a sweat (in reality we're not; we have some of the biggest drinkers and nicotine addicts in our industry! PS: There are obviously some who are super healthy-so not ALL people in this industry are binge drinkers or heavy smokers-thats just me gross generalising!). On a positive note: I am proud of my alcohol consumption in 2012; the odd glass here and there but I think binge drinking is no longer part of my life. So here's to a new year of trying again. I may fail and make mistakes a couple of times but hey at least I'm trying.

  

Something to think about:

"If your food can go bad, it's good for you. If it can't go bad its bad for you"

Translation: Anything with preservatives/instant/tinned etc aren't good for you. Always go for fresh food!

Booting October out the door.

My fitness and health regime has gone flying out the door with the rest of the year. What have I accomplished? Its November and my fitness/health regime is almost completely non-existent. Spent half of October in bed with chicken pox which wreaked havoc to my skin and my overall health has been shite. One minute I had the appetite of a small child and the next I could have eaten an entire cow. Since I was confined to my room, my meals were delivered right to my bedside-so there goes physical exercise. Surprisingly, despite my lack of physical exercise I didnt put on any extra pounds (thanks to my fickle minded appetite!) but I feel physically sluggish now! As for the gaps between July (my last post) and now its been quite a ride.

July/August
I was actually eating healthy and having loads of physical exercise. I came back feeling great! These are the perks of a very physical work life. As an outdoor instructor, I can go for days without rest (think: energizer bunny) HOWEVER I have a feeling it is one of the reasons why I was so sickly right after. Am not the young person I was before and unless I continue working my body to exhaustion I may end up screwing my health all together! 

September
A month of coughs, colds & fevers. Significantly reduced physical exercise as I was tied to my desk in the office. 

October
Started the month feeling lethargic which then led to chicken pox. WOohoo. 

November
Time to get off my arse and gear up to get my health & fitness back on track. Spots and all..

No time like the present? (again!)

Fat Shmat

So the last post was March! Where has time gone? It's a pity I cant say the same about my weight. 
I haven't been terrible but I know I haven't put in as much effort as I should. It has been a very manic couple of months at work and am having a bit of time for 'Me' in July which means a dedicated month where I  won't be able to make any excuses for not watching my diet and exercise. It will still be a busy month but it will be a month of work on the computer. SO I need to stop having so many fat days and have fit days instead. Gym, kickboxing, Zumba, running-- bring it on!  

Eat. Sleep. Cry.

So it has not been a great start to the year, with a death in the family (my beautiful grandmother), the last thing on my mind was whether that chicken drumstick will go straight to my thighs. Recent events have definitely affected my fitness and health. I didn't gain huge amounts of weight but I have significantly reduced exercise and physical activity for the past month. Thinking of adopting some of my late grandmothers lifestyle preferences into my own 'fitness regime'. She was a formidable woman; back in her day she didnt need exercise because when she was my age she was an active woman; tending to 6 children, a farm of animals, a field and orchard of plants, trees and vegetables and her frequent travelling with my grandfather. They didn't eat the 'processed' crap that we consume and is readily available in supermarkets these days; everything they ate was fresh and nothing went to waste. So 2 things of what she used to do and I plan to include in my goal to losing the flab;

1) Reducing processed food and try to consume more fresh food/ingredients instead. (realistically
    I don't think I could eliminate processed packaged goods; ie herbs are from bottles, we cant grow certain
    herbs here!)
2) Make exercise part of my daily routine. Ie taking the stairs, parking miles away and then walking.

Hey Nenek I miss you and yes I will live healthily and try to make the right choices. Even if I fail once in awhile; it wont be the end of the world. R.I.P my dear grandmother.

Whats with all the spots?

My body has been completely screwed by the past weekends event. No I did not spend the weekend binge drinking and eating bon bons on the sofa. I spent Thursday and Saturday looking after my grandmother in the hospital which meant no sleep throughout the night till the early morning and then hitting the sack mid-morning only to skip my meals and eat at odd hours. My body has gone haywire because of it, I feel like a hormonal teenager would with spots coming up all over! I stayed up for almost 48 hours Sat-Sun as I was trying to adjust my body clock for the week ahead, it worked but am feeling rather lethargic now! Am dashing off to run more errands, I think I can hear that 3rd cup of caffeine is screaming my name.  

good to know!

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