Lifestyle Changes 1

I've been reviewing my lifestyle goals at the end of each month and this has been an invaluable tool in making the necessary changes to achieve the lifestyle I desire. However, in one aspect of my life, probably the most important, I am not seeing the improvement I want so am changing things round to make health and fitness my main focus.

I'm already eating healthily in terms of the types of foods I eat so now need to tweak things to kick-start the weight  loss. I know I can do it as I have previously lost three stone through calorie counting. Of course I'm now back to where I was before that (at the time) successful attempt. I've been comfort eating during the lockdown so, on weighing and measuring myself to record my starting point, I was delighted to find that there is no change at all - same weight, same measurements - since November 2019. I haven't maintained a constant weight since then and know there have been gains and losses but it helps to know that overall, I have stayed the same.

I eat a fairly restricted diet anyway because of food allergies but I have noticed that I am further restricting the foods I eat through my meal choices. With this in mind I've been looking at the changes I can make to increase the variety in my diet. I'll be basing my eating on the Slimming World (SW) plan but I won't be rejoining, at least not for now. I'm aware that whatever I do needs to be a re-education and lifestyle change rather than a temporary diet.

At the moment I'm calorie counting (which I know isn't SW but better to make a start while the time feels right) and am looking for recipe ideas to add more variety to my meal choices. When I'm ready I'll sort out some online supermarket deliveries, aiming for fortnightly deliveries, which should make it possible to have plenty of fresh fruit and veg at home, and will then follow the SW plan as much as I am able - healthy extra As won't feature too often in my diet because of allergies.

The fitness side of things is slightly more difficult because of joint pain. I'd like to say I'll do 'X' number of minutes every day but realistically, that's not going to happen. I'm making an appointment to see my doctor about the joint issues (and also take the opportunity to review blood pressure and complete blood tests) as, although he's advised that exercise will not cause damage, my left knee is now continually swollen and something isn't right. 

I'm currently aiming to do fifteen minutes at least every other day which is not enough but better than nothing. I am also making a conscious effort to be more active during the day. I keep busy but for the majority of my interests am seated so, unless I make the effort, it is really easy on days without housework to reach the end of the day and have walked fewer than 1,000 steps. I don't have a target in mind, just the wish to generally be more active and spend more time on my feet.

I'm in no rush to join the madness following the easing of lockdown and still intend to isolate at home as I have been doing, but I am ready to see more than the inside of my home! I've already worked out that walking alone, either locally or by driving to somewhere isolated, is a very  low risk activity so I plan to make myself do this regularly from now on.

I went out for a walk yesterday morning, following the pathways which criss-cross this part of the village. Here's one of them which gives plenty of room for social distancing - the path itself is over six feet wide. 

To show just how close this is to me I looked back and photographed my home - the one with the yellow dot above it - this is just around the corner within a few steps of my front door, so I really have no excuses!

I walked in the other direction yesterday. Imagine the path in the photo above continues to the left and the following photo would be what you see. This leads up past the football field and tennis court, towards the primary school.

There weren't many people about. I paused my walk at the tennis court for a few minutes and, through the fence, watched four adults playing a mixed doubles match - they apologised for all the swearing when they realised I was watching! The only other people I saw when I was out was a lady walking her dog and a family playing football. Usually on a Sunday morning there is a football match in progress, either one of the adult local league games, or one of the younger children's league games. 

I turned back towards home to follow the path at the end of School Lane and was delighted to see that the local council has made a start on their promise to create wildlife areas. This patch was designated as a butterfly area so has been planted up with all sorts of wildflowers. It looks beautiful, so much better than the neglected place it used to be.

I was out for about thirty minutes and for the second half of the walk had definitely developed a limp, but it did me good. I mustn't forget the benefits to my emotional well-being! 

Other changes have been planned but health and fitness is my main focus. I'll update you on the rest in another post.