Month: February 2015

February 12: A minimal 15-minute workout

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Something odd/off/unwanted decided to make a home in my stomach tonight, so I’m not going to write much. My fitfor15in15 minimum effort involved the little stepper machine … for, surprise surprise, just 15 minutes. I didn’t even have the strength to hold the tins.

Then I ate another handful of M&M Peanuts and now I’m off to bed.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

(Don’t blame the chocolate! I’ll be fine tomorrow – and I’ll do a proper workout!)

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Another wonderful sunrise, followed by a clear and sunny day

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The snow on our roof and around the pool edge is going … going …

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A free range chook on my walk to the bus

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I’m still interested in buying a bike – maybe an electric one so I can ride into the city?

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And the sun sets on another day. Taken from behind the garage

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Looks like pink frosting on a white cake

February 11: 15 minutes of squats and sit ups and … chocolate

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As part of Monday’s celebration, Leo bought me a 500gram bag of my favourite chocolate – M&M Peanuts. They’ll be finished tomorrow. Oops. This was NOT part of the fitfor15in15 plan … but gosh, they’re a whole world of yum for me.

Must. Stop. Eating. M&M Peanuts (tomorrow … when the bag is finished). I know I’m addicted, despite not feeling all that great after eating them. Sugar overdose, perhaps? The idea of that crunch gets me all excited, but now, gorged, the thought of half a kilo of chocolate in mah belly is not so cool. No more good news please. I can’t handle the treats.

I spent this morning in the city and then had a lovely lunch at my friend Claudia’s. She cooked a three-course lunch so I didn’t feel like dinner … but still managed to fit in a lot of those coloured balls. 😦

Because I was all juiced up on the little suckers, I did the minimum 15 minutes tonight – squats, lunges, sit ups and knees up with the tin cans going all over the place (in specific movements, not willy nilly) while watching the series Arrested Development. (We’re a little late to the party on this one and have just started watching season one.) But, sorry, back to the exercise …

While shifting my weight from one leg to the other in a side-to-side movement, I could actually feel the muscle above-and-to-the-right of my left knee, and above-and-to-the-left of my right knee. I’m sure they have proper names. But for now, let’s just call them WOW 1 and WOW 2. There are actual muscles there! They moved. Real muscles. Not fake. Gob-smacking, jaw-dropping get-out-of-town real muscles. I haven’t felt the muscles there since The Camino in 2011.

It’s amazing how doing 15 minutes at the moment doesn’t feel hard enough. Maybe exerting myself can be my new addiction? Must up the ante tomorrow … or maybe Friday … when all the nuts are gone.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Oh, and here are some photos from today …

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Taken about 8.45am, on my walk to the bus

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It might be too hard to see, but on this little cleaning cart is a witch broom, just like in Harry Potter. They still use these stick brooms to clean the streets here

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A quick stroll along the Aare river in Bern

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Using English expressions is sometimes considered cool. The play on words with Aare/Are is part of a safety campaign for swimming in the glacial river, which runs very fast in summer when all the snow has made its way down from the mountains

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I think I may have found a good set of stairs to jog up. Looking up to the final part …

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… and looking back down to where I’d come from. A potential killer workout

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Walking across the Aare back into town. I’d been at a meeting in the building under the bridge, which was an old brewery. Sadly, no beers there now, just lots of fitness classes!

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Walking the road home. It’s amazing how quickly the snow has melted, after just two sunny days

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Icy fields

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And finally, the view that greeted me from home

February 10: Beautiful day for a 90-minute walk

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Despite still being around -2 degrees, the sun was out and it was time to walk! I may have walked the regular path, but there’s always something new to see, a subtle change, something unexpected … Today’s fitfor15in15 was magical!

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A clear and bright sunrise promised big things … and delivered

The birds seem to have come back in the past few days. I bought some bird food yesterday after collecting my work visa (yes! We celebrated last night with an Aperol Spritz. Yum), but there haven’t been any nibbles so far, despite seeing and hearing plenty of my favourite little sparrows.

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Come on birdies! Come and get it!

The path at the start of the walk had been churned up by a tractor, which made for a hard slog, but once out into the sunshine, it didn’t matter!

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A harder slog than normal

Then it was through the houses and up and over the hill in to Möriswil …

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A funny little cloud

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Another house has put out some food for the birds

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An icy, uphill path made for some interesting times

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These sheep have never been here before! What a great surprise!

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Friendly faces (and not so friendly-looking bums!)

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Their clanging neck bells made a stop-start melody

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This path leads to Möriswil, but the village in the distance is Säriswil

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People have put a lot of love and care into this fellow!

And again, Möriswil provided new things to see and experience …

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A lovely piece of nature’s art from a gutter

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Drainage art

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An old Stoeckli used for storage now. A family probably lived in it 100 years ago, or more. Our Stoeckli is over 150 years old

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One of the beautiful houses in the neighbouring village of Möriswil. I walk here often

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A heavy duty icicle at the little ponies’ house

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Smooth to the touch

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The horses weren’t interested in a pat today – they had fresh hay! Move on woman!

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Not many hours spent in this hammock at the moment! Can you spot the dog in the driveway?

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The trusty yellow Wanderweg signs

Then it was back into the forest and out the other side for a big surprise!

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This sign means trucks CAN’T go through here at any time. In Australia, a slash through the middle means you can’t, but here, just the red ring means no permission. “Kein Winterdienst” means the road isn’t serviced/maintained in winter

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Walking through snow like this reminded me of walking barefoot through soft sand. Hard going!

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Someone’s been wanderwegging through the fields!

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I jogged through the colder, shaded sections

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Straight and true

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Patterns

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Unfortunately, the trampoline had a private sign on it. I was keen for a bounce!

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A misty Alpine outline

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Talk about getting a surprise! This skier came out of nowhere. I’d never seen anyone skiing around here before! It’s farmland!

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Peter stopped for a photo and we talked for a while. He’s lived in this area his entire 67 years, and had been exercising/skiing for two hours when we met

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Off he goes. Thanks for the chat!

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Bye bye Peter! Would have been lovely, looking at the misty Alps the whole way home to his village

I did my best impersonation of a first-time roller skater on a frozen section of path, and almost fell over from the shock (and laughing at what it must have looked like!). All part of the winter fun. Then it was home to do some work.

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Achtung! I nearly came a cropper on this icy section. It would have been hilarious to watch as I over-corrected myself for about five seconds

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I love the contrast between all the colours. So fresh and clean, you can almost smell it

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The final stretch home

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Patches where no snow goes

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Hey! Another snowman

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A little less elaborate, but still just as sweet

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Back home. There was a flower garden in there a few months ago. Who walked through it?

Have you been for a walk in your neighbourhood recently? You might think it’s boring and you’ve seen it all before, but it’s an ever-changing experience. You never know what you might see or who you might meet – I wouldn’t have seen the sheep and met a true local today if I’d stayed at home. Go on … go for a wander.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 9: A momentous day!

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Well, today goes down in my Swiss history as a very important day. This morning, I collected from the local council office … my very first Swiss working visa!!!

After three years, I am now allowed to apply for any job in Switzerland (before a company would have had to prove to immigration that I was the only person in the EU who could do the job, because there are no work agreements between Australia and Switzerland. I’d applied for several jobs with no luck) – that’s two years earlier than the standard five-year waiting period for non-EU people.

And I can now volunteer as well! Without the work visa I couldn’t even offer my services for free. Hopefully there’s an animal shelter nearby that could use some help … or a farm that needs apples picked in season … or people who require assistance with their English … the list goes on. It’s such an incredible feeling! Endless opportunities.

I walked down to the council office feeling a huge amount of trepidation. The letter arrived last Thursday, saying my visa was ready to be collected, but it didn’t say if it was the work visa or just my regular yearly visa (which didn’t allow me to work). I couldn’t go on Friday, because I was in Lausanne, so today was the day.

That walk will stick with me for a long time … the feeling of what if … or maybe what not … but I was almost unwilling to arrive for fear of bad news. I took photos on the walk … wasting some time perhaps/putting off what felt like the inevitable … and then I walked in and the woman said “Yes, it’s a work visa!” I told her I could almost cry, and I almost did. Instead, I did a little happy dance in the foyer, which is a very un-Swiss thing to do!

So today, things have changed. I’ve even applied for my first job already!

Now for a quick 15 minutes of fitfor15in15 exercise, so I can celebrate with champagne when Leo comes home! Maybe I should just dance around the lounge room like an idiot?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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In the distance, they’re chopping down trees from the forest. Hopefully they’re also planting some new ones too

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Until now, this little pond has been free from ice. It was a cold weekend

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A local artist has many figures in his or her garden

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This little shop, in another garden on the walk to the bus, sells eggs, potatoes and so on, using an honesty-box system

February 8: The good, the bad and the joyous

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Just a short post today – it’s late and I’m ready for bed!

We had a lovely brunch at Sandra and Tom’s house this morning, and I enjoyed pouring over their new house plans. They begin building in April/May. For a while in my mid-teens, I entertained the idea of being an architect, until a cousin’s husband (who is an architect) asked me how much I enjoyed physics, with regards to acoustics and so on. There ended my architectural dreams. The science forces were not strong in this one.

Back home, we hunkered down on the couches to watch the second-last show in our 26-episode set of “Inspector Montalbano” (I’m going to be so sad when it’s finished – we’ll probably have to go back to the beginning and start again, as a weekend won’t be the same without him!) and then ruined the satisfied mood by watching Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “comeback” movie, “The Last Stand”. In an unsuccessful attempt to make it end faster, I did 20 minutes on the step machine with the baked bean tins. My arms feel good, but are still pretty flabby.

So that was Sunday, February 8. This week, it’s time to get stuck back into studying the nutrition course I’ve been neglecting – there’s a lot of catching up to do. I’d like to find two more workouts to add to my morning routine, and read more! Also I’ll write a review of Marie Kondo’s book, which now makes me look at everything and ask “Does it spark joy?” This little beanie, which was on a fruit juice bottle a few weeks ago, now lives on my computer, and every time I look at it I smile. It definitely sparks joy, and may need a friend or two. The beauty of minimalism – isn’t it all in the eye of the eggholder? *groan*

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Seeing this little chap every day really gives me a boost

What’s sparking joy for you at the moment?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 7: No kicks from kickboxing

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Adding yoga to my morning routine today has really boosted my energy levels (and appetite!). I did 15 minutes of meditation this morning, upping it for the first time from the normal 10, then five minutes of stretching. Straight after that, I did the fantastic morning yoga routine from Sadie Nardini from Thursday’s workout. But instead of making this my workout for today, I’ve stuck with the plan to make it part of my morning routine, and will do it every Monday morning from now on. What a way to start the week!

I’m still looking for things to add to my morning routine, say on Wednesdays and Fridays, so if you see any other great 15-30 minute morning workouts, please let me know! And if I find any, I’ll let you know too, of course.

Figuring I was already in my exercise gear, I took a little break and then did my fitfor15in15 workout for today – a 25-minute kickboxing class I found through Net Fit using the digital box attached to our television. You can find it here on YouTube, if you’re interested in also trying it, but before you get too excited, like me, please keep reading.

Several hundred years ago, a friend Valli and I went to kickboxing classes after work once a week to bash out some frustration and feel fitter. After realising we didn’t enjoy kicking each other in the shins, we called it a day. But I’ve always liked the idea of kickboxing (with a bag) and can’t believe it’s taken me so long to think about adding it to fitfor15in15. Finding this routine made my heart flutter a bit. And then it started …

Instructor Becky gets 10 out of 10 for enthusiasm and technique, but the routine was – I feel so mean saying this – terribly boring. I really don’t want to write that, as Becky was totally into it, but the workout, the music and possibly her high-fiving enthusiasm had me smirking, groaning and rolling my eyes. This workout was not worthy of high-fives!

The urge to stop was strong, but I persevered, hoping it would get better. I hardly broke a sweat, despite doing the squats and punches as over-enthusiastically as Becky. Another bug-bear was the camera work, which occasionally missed the change of exercise while focussing on the back-up people, who, like the viewer, were also clueless as to what was going on. It all came across as very amateurish.

My search for another kickboxing workout with better music, some better exercises and a lot less cheese will continue. Everything I find/try can’t be a winner, so I shouldn’t be too disappointed, but this is the first one I’ve started without checking what happens (which I do when I watch workouts on my computer, to see if they hold my attention). Others have been vetoed and never attempted – I want to bring you the good stuff!

And on that note, I wish you a wonderful rest of the weekend (while I will probably be struck by lightning for being horrible about someone’s pride and joy).

Here are some articles, videos and images I found interesting this week:

Another article that came along at the right time, about food affecting our energy levels.

Don’t want to go to the gym? Here’s a simple article about getting fit without four walls.

Mum found this one! I like to dance, but have no style, unlike Bob Hope and James Cagney who look like they had a ball making this clip.

Something funny to watch for people who love New York, want to go to New York, have been to New York, or never want to go to New York. I love NY, accents and puppets too, so it’s a total laugh-out-loud winner.

And last but not least, I’ve been giggling for days about this picture. Thanks Shailesh!

February 6: Less active than planned

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Well, today’s grand plans went out the (train) window! Yesterday, I wrote about doing that morning yoga routine again, but forgot a very important point … I was catching an early train to Lausanne to see Cooper dance in the Prix de Lausanne!

So there was no time for exercise this morning. Leo dropped me at the train station around 7.30am for my first excursion to Lausanne, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, on the Lake of Geneva. The train trip from Bern takes one hour and six minutes. It’s hard to believe I haven’t been here before!

The irony of Nicole (who’s been there for a week) being my tour guide wasn’t lost on either of us.

The city itself is lovely, but it was so cold we didn’t spend a huge amount of time being sightseers. We went to Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts as well, and I really enjoyed many paintings from Felix Vallotton. Our favourite was this mooing cow by Eugene Burnand. The (painted) light on the animal was so clear and amazing.

We then made a mad dash to the auditorium and watched the selections for tomorrow’s finals – only 20 dancers will make it through. Some amazing young talent in that line up, and hopefully Cooper will be chosen. If not, he danced beautifully and will hopefully be snapped up by a dance school or academy.

So my 15 minutes of exercise was done too late tonight, in the office, doing squats and lunges and general movements, using my beloved chickpea tins. My aunt Julie said they should contain hummus by now!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 5: Amazing morning yoga

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Another winner found today! After jumping around so much yesterday, I searched for a 30-minute yoga routine and when I saw this video from instructor Sadie Nardini, called 30 Min Morning Wake Up Yoga Flow, I was sold. It’s morning here, and surely morning yoga would be nice … and calm … and relaxing … and … WRONG! It was a massive strength workout.

Wow, I think I may have found something to add to my morning routine. Currently I meditate for 10 minutes and stretch for five. But lately I’ve noticed I squirm and wriggle for at least the first few minutes of the meditation, and this morning, I was preoccupied with rubbing my knees so they would bend comfortably to a sitting position. Yesterday’s Banish Fat Boost Metabolism workout has left its mark – I’m not as sore as I thought I’d be, but I’m still feeling it.

When I’m settled into the meditation, and my spine is straight, my breathing calm and my wrists feel like they’re a part of my knees, I really feel like I’m in the zone …  and then the music stops and I ‘have to’ stop. So maybe tomorrow I’ll bump it up to 15 minutes of meditation and then go straight into this workout from Sadie (check out her website here).

Ooohhhh, it was tough. I am no yoga practitioner, or advocate really. But this was great. I felt my hips cramping. But then they stretch out. My shoulders, back and arms feel like I’ve been lifting weights. It was impossible to do all the exercises as well as she did, but it was totally worth the effort.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. I’ll be doing this again – maybe tomorrow, so I can feel the benefits again. Then I’ll mix up my morning routine each day, and do this workout every, say, Friday. What do you think? It won’t be counted as part of my fitfor15in15 workouts, it will be counted as my morning routine.

Do you mix up your morning routine? Or does that defeat the purpose of it being called a routine?! What do you like doing in the morning?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

February 4: Tomorrow, I’ll be sore!

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Yes, that headline rhymes on purpose 🙂

Wowee, I found a good workout today! My friend Sandra and I were talking yesterday about Jillian Michaels, who’s very popular in America and has also been one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser USA.

I’ve done two of her workouts previously, on January 7 and January 19, and they took roughly 30 minutes each. Today’s workout, “Banish Fat Boost Metabolism Complete Workout”, was about 54 minutes of solid movement and I worked up the ‘best’ sweat I’ve had since beginning fitfor15in15. (No photos. Not pretty.)

These women are machines! If you can ignore the terrible, repetitive warm-up music, the rest of the soundtrack is pretty inoffensive … or maybe all my creaking, crunching and cracking and Jillian’s instructions filled my head. The workout is intense! Every circuit is done twice, which is good because for the first circuit you’re pretty much making sure you’re doing some of the exercises correctly.

When it came to all the jumping moves, I ended up just going with her beginner’s recommendation of squats for the second pass of each circuit. Jumping and coordination were beyond me in the final 10 minutes. As were the full planks. I was on my knees. Begging it to stop.

But I TOTALLY recommend this workout. You don’t need any weights, just a mat for the floor exercises and a full glass of water (how can these three trainers not drink any water in 50 minutes?! Phew!)

Exercising this afternoon really changed the day. When I woke up this morning, I was flat. It was a low day, a slow day, a shallow day, a hollow day. I couldn’t even be bothered to get out of bed to do my morning routine. I did it in bed. How slack is that? It was cold … I was cold … and I felt old.

But I (figuratively) slapped myself a bit and prepared to leave the house for my lunch appointment with a former German teacher, Claudia. Not surprisingly, forcing myself to shower, get dressed, put on some make up, walk to the bus (oh my, was that walk cold!) and talk German and English for three hours really lifted me up. Thanks Claudia!

And on the walk home from the bus, I was positively gagging to start exercising, and not only because the Siberian wind (well it was coming from the north east, so it has to be from Siberia, right?!) had frozen me through. I was keen to move, and sweat … and, ok, feel warm. That’s why I chose something I haven’t done before, and something more than 30 minutes long.

And you know why I think I felt so bad this morning? I couldn’t work it out, but then I thought about what I’d eaten in the past two days – Monday night pesto pasta, Tuesday morning muesli with natural yoghurt and Tuesday dinner leftover pasta … ahhh, not one piece of fruit or a vegetable in sight! All processed foods. I’m no expert but I think that very much had something to do with why I felt so bad this morning. Plus, I probably didn’t drink enough water yesterday …

So the better nutrition plan is gaining legs. And speaking of legs, I need to go rest mine!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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Love the layers of snow on the pool edge

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This is the road to our house. It was a bit tricky walking on this today, but still better than the shortcut in shin-deep snow. Boy it was cold walking between these frozen fields

February 3: Rebecca-Louise Smith workouts

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Don’t you love it when you find something that backs up your own way of thinking, just after you’ve thought it? My nutrition at the moment isn’t ideal, but during the month of February I want to wean myself off some (not all!) of the “bad” things and introduce other alternatives.

There are courses out there providing recipes and eating plans for 8-12 weeks, such as I Quit Sugar and Kayla Itsines (to name just two of many!), but at the moment, for me, they feel slightly overwhelming – just the THOUGHT of cooking all those new dishes every night saps me of energy! Cooking has never really been my thing (eating on the other hand is a totally different story!), so the pressure of learning another recipe, and going through the motions, every night gives me the shivers.

And then this morning, I read this article from Leo Babauta, who writes the very popular website zenhabits. He hit the nail on my head!!! Well, he hit the nail on the head of what I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks. Jumping into something new is tough. We’re all gung-ho about it and enthusiastic, then reality kicks in. We falter, and then get mad at ourselves for faltering. And then give up, because, hey, we’ve faltered.

By keeping the expectations realistic, the flow and transition should be smoother. That’s why this site is fitfor15in15 – apart from being a catchy title, the idea behind it is very simple. Just 15 minutes of exercise a day. Some days you’ll want to do more, like me today, and some days you’ll struggle through the minimum, but by making it a regular, and achievable, habit, it’s not so tough; the thought of it isn’t draining.

So for nutrition, just like starting to exercise, I’m using the whole ’21-days to make a habit’ concept, and hopefully by the end of this month I’ll be less inclined to buy the not-so-healthy option and actively search for something better. Baby steps! (I’m going to miss those jam doughnuts …)

Now (mmm … doughnuts …), onto today’s exercise …

I felt like doing more today, something intense! Searching “tough exercise” on YouTube resulted in these two (and other) videos from Rebecca-Louise Smith, who appears to be a pilot as well as a fitness trainer.

First up, I did her Military Boot Camp Workout and then went straight into the 7 Best Ab Exercises, for a combined total of 25 minutes.

Even the realisation that I had to do burpees in the first video didn’t put me off! Ok, I may have groaned in disbelief, but incredibly, I did them (still with shabby form, I suspect) and it wasn’t too bad. And the planks at the end of the second video were tough. I went to my knees after about 10 seconds – all part of the process, I know, and something to aim higher for next time.

I’ll definitely keep a lookout for Smith’s videos again. On her website, she says being healthy requires 80% proper nutrition and 20% fitness – something I hadn’t read before. These words have provided another boost in this year-long campaign to look at what I can do better, to make me feel better.

Wishing you a great day. (It was a bit cold here, so that’s why I stayed indoors!)

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Chilly