30 day Shred: Day 5

Halfway through level 1 and it's definitely getting easier. It's by no means easy but I no longer feel like I'm dying at the end of the 20 minutes. 

One side effect is that as I'm eating breakfast an hour or more earlier than I used to (I can't workout on an empty stomach and then need time to digest so I don't get indigestion), I'm finding I'm really hungry at 9ish. Any suggestions? 

30 Day Shred: Day 4

Woke up much less achey and it's definitely getting easier to step it up during the circuits. Still dripping with sweat at the end but it doesn't HURT which is nice!  

30 Day Shred: Day 3

Well that was a struggle getting started! Woke up particularly stiff and needed a lot of warming up before I felt I was exercising at the right level. The first circuit was particularly challenging (why oh why does she put press ups first??) but I got into it in the end. 

Lesson learnt from this morning: keep the door open, it got stiflingly hot in my lounge! 

30 Day Shred: Day 2

Woke up with sore shoulders and thighs, amazingly not sore abs! The Fitness Pilates class I've been taking is working. 

Completed level 1 again, definitely know it'll get repetitive by the 10th day! For the most part I'm still following Anita (she's the lower impact demonstrator) but trying to take it up a notch every so often. 

Feeling sweaty but good! 

30 Day Shred: Day 1

I am a broken woman.

But seriously, that was hard and I'm dripping with sweat but I feel good, if a little shaky! I really enjoy Jillian Michael's teaching style. 

We'll see how it goes tomorrow when I do it before work. 

And being me I've created an insert for my planner! 

It's Banditapple paper from a sample request I made a while ago. The paper is gorgeous to write on but as it was smaller than regular MTN inserts and larger than field notes I have known what to do with it. I needed 5 double page spreads for 5 weeks of food tracking so I slipped 3 sheets under the central elastic of my bullet journal. The front page is my exercise and measurements tracking and I'll use the back page for weekly measurements tracking. So I don't lose it I've added a large Martha Stewart tab to the side. 

Major weight loss set back!

I've been on a weight loss journey since January 2013, managing to lose over 2 stone in a year. I gave myself a target weight and a never-go-above-this-weight-again weight (NGATWA). I haven't had the most successful six months as I haven't got to my goal weight yet (2 and 1/2 stone below starting weight) but I've been successful in not going above the NGATWA weight ... Until this week. 

I turned 30 last week and have had a fabulously decadent week full of cake, barbecued meat and general gluttony. Unfortunately this translated to a telling off by the scales this morning: I've gone over the NGATWA weight. Only by 1lb but it signifies the amount I've let myself slip these past few months. I've not been tracking my food (having cancelled weight watchers in March due to non-use) and my fitness level has gone way down due to injury and general laziness. 

So this was a wake up call and I need to tackle the problem. 

What am I going to do about it? One number and two words: 30 day shred. 

What's that you say? Well here's the product description:

Jillian Michaels, the superstar of America's fitness trainers, is committed to getting big results. As your own personal trainer, Jillian will guide you through her exclusive 3-2-1 Interval System that combines strength, cardio and abs to blast through calories for a dramatic 30 day shred. The DVD includes three complete 20-minute workouts which progress by level of intensity. Start with Level 1 and advance through to Level 3- in no time you'll achieve a lean shredded body.

A couple of friends have tried it (I'm not sure if they completed it) and say it's hell for 20 minutes but you get results. The reviews seems to say the same thing.

Brilliantly we have 31 days until we head to the US, so I'm starting tomorrow. I'm going to get up early every day and do my 20 minutes, then blog about it. It also means I can track it in my planner! I'll take before, during and after photos, plus track my weights and measurements to see the change. I wish I had taken pictures and my measurements at the start of the entire endeavour but hey ho! I'll try and do a review with each week or 10 day level as well. 

I'll track my food consumption in my bullet journal then transfer to MyFitnessPal in the evenings. 

Wish me luck, and I'll see you tomorrow! 

Month in review: April 2014

Another busy month! I seem to keep saying that...

On 1st April we celebrated 2nd Peachcroft Brownies' Opening Party. We've been open since January but wanted to celebrate at the end of term, and all the girls plus Snowy Owl took their promises. Parents, siblings, grandparents, guiding friends and church representatives filled our venue, it was noisy! The girls all completed their hostess badge by acting as waitresses for tea, coffee and cakes.
 

 

 Speaking of Brownies, we've now completed a full term. This term we have learnt about Brownies and Girlguiding, had a Pantomime night, played board games, came to Brownies in our pyjamas, watched a DVD and made pizzas, did lots of craft, visited the Oxfordshire Gang Show, visited three countries in one night for Thinking Day and thought about International Women's Day. We've had a pow-wow, and met a live chicken!

The last time we saw the girls in the Spring term was the Big Brownie Birthday Circus Day for Abingdon Brownies. Over 200 girls in a local school learning how to balance, juggle, spin plates, make juggling balls and have their faces painted. It was a brilliant day and the girls received their Circus Performer badge. I was part of the organising committee for the day so I got flowers and a special badge too!

I've been having some back problems so I've started seeing an osteopath. Sophie (brilliant name!) basically pummels my back for 45 minutes every fortnight in a bid to make my spine and the attached muscles move. My brother-in-law is training to be an osteopath and while it would be great to get him to sort me out, he lives 150 miles away!

Our annual work Easter Quiz took place on the last day before our Easter break (Oxford employees get from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday off). Lots of colleagues from the Exam Schools filled a room in the King's Arms... and the Student Financial Support/admin support team came LAST.

As we get so much time off for Easter, and Mr H had taken a week off work, we decided to head to Wales to try and find an aqueduct from his childhood memory. Well we found it in a border town called Chirk! It was such a lovely mini-break, we strolled over the aqueduct, and then headed underneath and took loads of photos. We also visited the station as his Dad used to live there and get the train to school everyday. We smelled the chocolate from the nearby Cadbury's factory, and paid a flying visit to Chirk Castle. The day ended with an adventure up a HUGE hill to Castell Dinas Bran and the Horseshoe Falls.

    National Trust in welsh is looonnnggg

(See that blue dot? That's our car!)

We stayed in a hotel nearby then got up early to drive across the country (see map) to Thetford in Norfolk to meet Mr H's family for our nephew's birthday present of Go Ape. This is the second time we've been (we've also been to the one in Bracknell) and it's half amazing to climb and go over crossings in the trees, and half terrifying for someone with mild vertigo like me!

The Big Brownie Birthday celebrations continued with a train journey to London. First Great Western offered a free train to Oxfordshire Brownies, so over 500 of us headed to Oxford station early on the last Saturday of April. We were encouraged to decorate our carriages which was a so much fun, and the girls met lots of other brownies.

Once we were in London we headed to the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens (about a 15 minute walk from Paddington). This place was a mecca for kids, and so secure! They actually have the words 'no unaccompanied adult' on the website. We had a lovely picnic then the girls had about an hour to play. There's a giant pirate ship, a music playground, plenty of places for hide and seek, plus all the usual playground stuff. We bought ice creams for the girls for the walk back which definitely helped tired legs!

On the train back the girls got an activity sheet to fill, including getting signatures from as many people as possible, those leaflets were covered! We also received special badges to commemorate the day.

Trinity term at Oxford started again on 28 April and I held a training event for the Moritz-Heyman Scholars interested in teaching, tutoring, and volunteering in access and outreach activities. We had a small group of 20 attend to hear speakers from the Undergraduate Admissions office, University College, the Student Union, Teach First, Frontline, Oxford Hub and Schools Plus. I don't get to spend a great deal of time with individual Scholars as there's so many of them so this was a great opportunity to get to know better a few of them.


So that's April! May is definitely going to be busy as I turn THIRTY (did I mention that??), my little sister turns 16, and there's two bank holiday weekends!