5:2 Diet

June 4: A bit of everything kind of day

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Today was an achieving kind of day. So many lovely things happened.

I received my new second-hand phone in the mail and spent a few hours setting it up (but it still doesn’t seem to be complete). But, wow, does it work faster than the one I was using in the interim, after mine died. While this was loading, I spoke with my sister on the home phone for about 40 minutes. Thanks for calling, Judy!

Then I met my friend Leonie for lunch which is always a good laugh. And then I went grocery shopping, because from Monday next week I start the I Quit Sugar program.

Recently, Leo has mentioned (in a lovely way) my skin has been looking less than glowing, and I’ve also been feeling less than energetic (despite all the garden work). The I Quit Sugar blog and program has been on my radar for a long time – a long time – and until now I’ve never thought it would be beneficial had the nerve to attempt it.

But in the guise of 2015 being the year of fitfor15in15, I thought why not give it a try?! It’s another experiment, and it will be interesting to see if giving up unnatural sugars for eight weeks will make a difference to my energy levels, my moods, my skin and my general well-being.

I have been eating a fair bit of sugar lately (hello M&M Peanuts!), so after years of thinking about it, it’s time to have a go. A few months ago, I did the 5:2 Diet, which was interesting, and I did lose two kilos in that month, but it’s not so much the weight I’m worried about, it’s the sense of feeling good. And I hate counting calories – boring!

So, here’s to the new experiment. If it’s as good as all the testimonials say, then I’m looking forward to jumping out of bed in the morning and not having any afternoon slumps. (Maybe I should put down that phone first thing in the morning too!)

This afternoon, I started filling in all the holes in the lawn, where the weeds used to be. While in the back part of the garden, near the forest, I found this wonderful, small, empty, pale blue and brown speckled bird’s egg. I did an internet search, but am still unsure as to which species it belongs to. Do you know?

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Not the best quality, sorry. Can you identify which bird it comes from?

It was a lovely thing to find, while tipping and patting dirt into holes. I just hope the baby hatched of its own accord, and wasn’t eaten by a falcon! When my back was hurting after an hour of being in the garden, I lay down on the grass, looked up to the clear blue sky, and watched a falcon swirling overhead. They really are magnificent to watch … I just hope that baby bird lives!

When I called it quits in the garden for the day, I had a beer with our neighbour Liliane, sitting back and relaxing and enjoying the wonderful warmth. Alas the Alps were covered in mist and cloud, but it was still so lovely to be soaking up our wonderful surroundings.

And last but not least for today, I’m on a mission to learn new things.

With help and encouragement from Freda, I’ve decided to join the 30-Day Challenge, from zenhabits. Well, I haven’t so much as signed-up on that website, I’m just doing my own thing, so to speak. I like reading Leo Babauta’s blog, it’s one of the minimalism blogs I mentioned here.

My challenge is to learn the names of three to four new plant varieties per day. The goal is to be able to recognise and name more than 100 new plants, which is about 94 more than I currently know.

Freda was quick off the mark to help with yesterday’s post – they are white campunala and pink thrift or sea thrift.

The two new ones for today are the tiny creeping phlox ‘candy stripe’ which I have in a heavy pot as part of a mixed gathering of perennials (its flowering days are just about over for the year), and the tall and hardy crocosmia x crocosmiiflora which is in my little garden. I love the colour and its long, majestic, slender leaves.

Creeping phlox 'candy stripe' which flowers early spring

Creeping phlox ‘candy stripe’ which flowers early spring

Crocosmia which flowers July and August

Crocosmia which flowers July and August

It was quite fun typing things into Google, such as “perennial plant with long green leaves and red or orange flowers” and seeing what pictures came up. What would we do without the internet?! The creeping phlox I stumbled upon by accident (looking for another plant, which hopefully I can name tomorrow!).

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May 19: Feeling flat … and new nutrition guidelines

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It’s amazing how the weather affects my moods. It’s raining, grey and the sky feels like it’s only a few feet off the ground. Do you feel weird when the weather’s less than appealing? Especially when it comes hot on the heels of a lovely day?

Of course, it could also have something to do with the book I’m currently reading, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I’m halfway through the story of Theo and it’s quite depressing – a life going, or possibly already gone, off the rails. Maybe I should listen to more of Cary Elwes’ audio book As You Wish, which is his behind the scenes account of the movie, The Princess Bride. I love that film – maybe I should watch it to lift my spirits!

I feel like I’m here, but not here. Know what I mean? I’ll snap out of it when the sun shines again, I’m sure.

My friend Sandra sent me this very funny article yesterday about living in a foreign country and trying to speak the language. Sandra has German, Swiss German, English and Spanish under her belt, so she’s on fire. I’m making limited progress with German and have really no idea what’s being talked about 40% of the time when I hear Swiss German, so I can totally relate to the problems in this story. I had a good laugh … and then gave a hefty sigh, because unfortunately it’s so damn true!

We finished season one of Luther last night, the BBC series starring Idris Elba. I’ve been told seasons two and three are better, thank goodness! That whole storyline with Alice was laughable.

Do you remember growing up seeing posters of the food pyramid (that put fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and grains etc into a graphic) about how much we should eat? If not, have a search on the internet because there are a hundred versions. Actually, no don’t bother with the old one because the new one is more important. Here is Nutrition Australia’s new healthy eating food pyramid. What do you think about the new weightings for foods? Less grains (used to be the bottom layer) and more veggies seems smart, and there’s no section for treats anymore – is that achievable? Maybe only for the dedicated! It’s printed out and stuck on the fridge, as a friendly reminder.

The more research I do, the more I keep seeing/reading that diet is more important than exercise and maybe, just maybe, it’s slowly sinking in. There was definite success on the 5:2 Diet, about 2kgs in four weeks, but I hate counting calories. What a drag! I have to stop eating chips or chocolate biscuits as an after-dinner snack … and don’t get me started on the Berliners! I had just one on the Swiss Camino, on the horrid third day, walking on busy roads. (I suppose one benefit/problem of walking on a busy road is the shops!)

So tonight we’re having couscous with vegetables for dinner and I’ll make a vanilla chia seed pudding for breakfast. The fitfor15in15 exercise today will be 15 minutes of bedtime yoga – my butt injury isn’t fixed, so I’m taking it easy after yesterday’s 4km run.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May 4: The force was strong on Monday Runday

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Not only is it Monday Runday, it’s also Star Wars Day … May the 4th be with you.

The fourth, I mean force, was strong today on my 5km run. Apart from stopping to take the odd photo and having to walk 200m to get rid of a stitch (again!), I felt really good and was happy with my time. I think I’m so worried about being dehydrated and getting that weird pain in my ears, I overcompensate and drink too much water before I head out.

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At the beginning of the run, one of these tracks was a little creek

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Looking towards Sariswil

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These calves looked so cute, I had to stop for a photo

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So sweet – they ran over to say hello!

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Maybe I smelt good, but I doubt it

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In the end, they all lined up for their 15 minutes of fame

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Saw a man using a strange machine in the fields, and waved … and maybe ran a little harder! Such a dag

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Rape seed in full bloom

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I startled this heron (?) in the puddle and it flew off majestically

I had thought about taking a longer route, but then chickened out at the last minute. Probably a good thing, as it was really humid (no wind too) and I ended up having to shed top layers and run in my tank top – first time that’s ever happened in Switzerland!

As part of my cool-down, I walked back to the tulip field (I measured it as 550m from our house) but the ducks from yesterday were gone. I bought a bunch of solid hot pink flowers as consolation.

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Magnificent tulip with insects!

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The bunch from yesterday, downstairs

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The new bunch from today, upstairs

The tulips aren’t going to be around for much longer – I’m almost tempted to collect a bunch of beautiful white ones, with pointy tips, tomorrow!

This morning was rainy and pretty miserable, so while waiting for a break in the weather, I mended the split in the backside of my apple-green cotton trousers. Initially I thought my pants would only be good enough for garden work afterwards, but I think I did such a good job, and the thread matched so well, I can wear them out again. (Can’t believe (and am very thankful) a hotel sewing kit carried that colour!) Then again, I may have been without my glasses when looking in the mirror … And after taking this photo, I’m now having second thoughts. I’ll wear a long top. 🙂

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Maybe my mending effort wasn’t so invisible after all …

All this rain has made our next holiday plans a bit sketchy – from next weekend, we’re planning to walk the first third of the Swiss Camino, from Constance to Einsiedeln. It should take about five to six days of walking, and is only 93km long, but if it’s going to be too wet, maybe we’ll have to rethink our plans. We walked the second (middle) section from Einsiedeln to Thun in 2012 and hopefully we’ll complete the third and final stage from Thun to Geneva before too long.

  • Physically Fit: Monday Runday – 5km jumping across the muddy puddles
  • Mentally Fit: Walking to the tulip field again and talking to the calves
  • Nutritionally Fit: Sixth day of fasting (500 calories) on the 5:2 Diet (and start of the final week perhaps?)
  • Minimalism: Mending the green pants

Have you been out wandering in your neighbourhood recently? I’d love to hear about what you see when you go walking or running.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May 2: Getting back on the bandwagon

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It’s been wild weather here for a few days, and Leo is at work attending to some flooding on his building site. What a pain that’s going to be – sourcing pumps and people on a Saturday.

This afternoon, we’re going to the BEA, which is Bern’s agricultural exhibition, kind of like the Royal Shows in Australia and the UK and, I imagine, State Fairs in America.

There’ll be cows, horses, tractors, and wursts on the grill. (That Oxford comma was very important, otherwise it would sound like the animals and tractors would also be on the grill!)

We’re going with Pastora and Leo, Sandra and Tom and Iva, whose husband Marko is away for work, so it will be a hectic afternoon of German. Good for my mental fitness. Maybe some beers will be consumed later on. Not so good for my physical fitness.

I feel like I’ve fallen off the sweaty exercise bandwagon a bit lately but was very pleased when I stood on Liliane’s scales yesterday – two kilos lighter than last month’s ‘weigh-in’ (when I clean their house, I use their scales!). I don’t trust scales much, and definitely don’t feel the need to own any, but I do feel slimmer (and stronger!). Maybe the 5:2 Diet is working for me?

Speaking of the 5:2 Diet, I only did the 500 calorie day once (Monday) last week. I’ll do two again next week. And speaking of weigh-ins, the Mayweather v Pacquiao fight is tomorrow morning Swiss time (at about 6am they say). It starts very late tonight in America. I wonder if it will be a fizzer? I look forward to reading all about it and watching the highlights.

In order to boost my cardio fitness a bit, I did Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Workout Level 2 again (the last time was March 2). I should have done Level 3 but I was in a bit of a hurry and didn’t want to search for something.

She really makes you sweat, ol’ Jillian, which is why I keep coming back to her workouts, along with the duo from Fitness Blender. This time, I actually did most of the walking to plank and push-up exercises on my toes, not on my knees. Hallelujah! My arms are hurting quite a bit too, because of that and various lifts with weights that were tough. Yahoo! Overall, I find it a great 25-minute workout.

  • Physically Fit: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Workout Level 2
  • Mentally Fit: Going to the BEA with friends
  • Nutritionally Fit: Back to two days per week on the 5:2 Diet next week
  • Minimalism: Loving my stretchy black and white Marimekko dress I bought in Melbourne with Gabby. Today I’m tucking it up to wear as a top with jeans – love clothes that serve more than one purpose!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 20: 5km run, walk, run, shuffle, walk, run … argh!

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The first tulips of the season from the self-pick farm. The stems were quite short but I wanted some colour

Today was a beautiful day and the wind was cool and strong – not enough to stop me going for a run. Well, that’s what I thought as I was leaving the house!

After last Monday’s effort, where I felt I could run my best time on the 4km track, I started off on the 5km loop and within 800m had an ice-cream headache. Mine comes inside my ears and it feels like both ear drums will explode. The wind was cool and fierce and before I knew it, I had to walk. That’s the first time I’ve ever had to walk this year. Couldn’t even manage a shuffle in some parts. I’ve been told it could be because I’m dehydrated but I thought I had that covered today. 😦

While it was disappointing, and slow, it was still good to be outdoors, taking in all this:

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Leaving our property and heading into the woods

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I stopped running about here. Windy!

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Nice view of the Alps

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Soon this will all be yellow rape seed

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Clouds and sunshine … and wind!

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Even walked most of the downhill

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Empty animal houses on the homeward stretch

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The cows were back in the sunshine at my favourite property

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The Alps and cows again

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A study in cow

I spent a lot of time on the computer today, listening to the Tibetan bells and ocean sounds, setting up a Google+ account for fitfor15in15. I wonder if it will be worth the trouble?! My friend Kate from The Outdoor Diaries helped out. Thanks Kate!

  • Physically Fit: 5km walk/run
  • Mentally Fit: Setting up Google+ for the blog. It still needs a lot of work and I need to learn more!
  • Nutritionally Fit: Third fasting day on the 5:2 Diet – 500 calories
  • Minimalism: Avoiding the Icebreaker website. I love their gear!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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I didn’t plant this tulip in my garden! The wind must have brought it here

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Same goes for these two!

April 16: Skipping, a nice surprise and day two of fasting on the 5:2 Diet

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While outside this afternoon, putting seed into the bird feeder, I heard the sound of alphorns from a neighbouring village wafting on the breeze. I love the sound of those horns – it’s so melodic and calming. Swissrose, are you often surprised by such sweet sounds too?

To make the most of it, I abandoned my plans to do yoga and grabbed my skipping rope for 15 minutes. Luckily, the constant (and sometimes sporadic!) thwack on the concrete terrace didn’t drown out their songs. A huge falcon was circling over the forest as well, so right now, after listening, exercising and nature spotting, I feel very relaxed.

A day with no plans meant a day of fasting. After the success of the first fast day on Monday, where I almost gave myself lockjaw eating a massive salad, I knew today was going to be more than achievable. So here’s how I broke down the 500 calories allowed on the 5:2 Diet:

  • Breakfast: 100g natural yoghurt with 5g goji berries – 64 and 16 calories
  • Lunch: 63g boiled egg – 102 calories
  • Snack: 104g kiwi fruit – 63 calories
  • Dinner: Stir fry thingy: 54g carrot – 22 calories, 214g zucchini – 36 calories, 50g bacon – 157 calories, tspn olive oil – 40 calories
  • Grand total: 500 calories exactly

By not having Monday’s glass of milk with protein powder, there was room to make a more appealing dinner. But I’ve promised I won’t waffle on too much about the 5:2 Diet, so here endeth my talk of food.

It’s been a day spent on the computer. I wrote another book review, sent a job application and sorted out my iPad’s detachable keyboard, so I now know what the function, alt and command keys actually do. And no, I didn’t find the exclamation mark. (Oh no, I hear you say!) I did find an upside down exclamation mark and a lot of Greek-looking symbols so I think this keyboard isn’t set up for English typing! Not to worry! (Can you tell I’m using my normal computer?! … !!!)

For giggles, I also looked at my stats for posts on fitfor15in15. By far the most popular story I’ve written is “The KonMari Method, with gusto!” Published on February 2, the story has been read every day without fail, and as of this afternoon, it’s been viewed 478 times. I have no idea how readers are being led to it, but I’m guessing most traffic comes from searching the internet for information about decluttering expert Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method (read my review of her book here).

Living with less is a very popular topic, which has been gaining momentum for years. And this month it cracked the bastion of buy buy buy consumerism – Vogue Magazine. I originally read the story of Prerna and Parag Gupta on LifeEdited.com and went to the Vogue website to read the whole story, here. All these kinds of stories make my eyes widen and my pulse race. I love hearing about people who’ve packed it all up and in, so to speak, to downsize, de-stress and hit the road.

Sometimes I wish I’d sold or given away all my things in Australia. They’re all currently stored in mum’s unit block, and I pay for the privilege of keeping memories. Every time I visit, I check to see it hasn’t flooded or isn’t infested with cockroaches and occasionally search for something I think I’ll need (like a trench coat, which I didn’t wear once this winter). I know, in the future, I’m going to wonder why I kept this stuff. I’m beginning to wonder about it now.

  • Physically Fit: Skipping for 15 minutes
  • Mentally Fit: Sorting out my iPad keyboard; applying for a job in Zurich; alphorns and the falcon
  • Nutritionally Fit: Fasting on the 5:2 Diet, 500 calories
  • Minimalism: Reading about Prerna and Parag Gupta; thinking about storage woes

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 13: 4km run, 40 minute walk and day one of the 5:2 Diet

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Sunshine, garden lights and purple blooms

What a glorious day! Best day of spring so far. A light, warm breeze, 20 degrees Celsius and plenty of sunshine – perfect conditions for a run.

Because I’ve been eating like a queen the past week, I decided to do the 4km circuit rather than the new 5km track, to ease myself back into the running swing. It all felt good – I was powering through the course and did the second kilometre in under 6 minutes which is a first for me. I actually felt like I was running today, rather than shuffling.

Then at 2.5km, I saw a friend of Liliane and Rene’s in her garden with her grandchildren, so stopped for a decent chat.

Then at the 3km mark, the cows from my favourite farmhouse were being taken from the sheds into the little field across the road, so I watched and waited as they made their way into the sunshine.

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Achtung! Cows crossing

Thinking I was home and hosed for a good sprint to the finish, I ran into the neighbour from the big farmhouse who has two small children. She was pushing them in a pram, so I walked the final 500m with them.

Even though it was a stop-start run, it was still great to be outside and I’m happy with the way I was feeling. Maybe another day this week I’ll try the circuit again and see what time I can manage. Today, I would have been on track for my best time, I think.

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How’s that for a view? Taken on the run home

Once home, I put on a wider brimmed hat and walked down to the local supermarket to buy some dinner things. That round trip is 40 minutes. I waved to a friendly farmer and felt my toodles (wobbly fat on the upper arm) swing in the breeze, but I’m pretty confident there’s less than the beginning of the year!

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This friendly farmer gave a wave, so I gave him a doubly enthusiastic one back, toodles and all!

Today is the first day of the 5:2 Diet. I’ve been planning it in my head for a little while. So far so good.

  • Breakfast – a medium grapefruit – 80 calories
  • Lunch – a boiled egg, 50g – 78 calories
  • Two cups of peppermint tea – 0 calories
  • After-run snack – vanilla protein powder in a 200ml glass of milk – 71 calories and 136 calories respectively (the milk needed to be used. Normally I don’t drink cows milk but didn’t want to waste it!)

That totals 365 calories. Dinner is going to be a mixed salad:

  • 100g lettuce leaves – 7 calories
  • Two medium tomatoes – 44 calories
  • Half a cucumber – 32 calories
  • A spring onion – 12 calories
  • Two small carrots – 41 calories

That totals 136 calories (no dressing – a teaspoon of olive oil has 40 calories!), for a grand total of 501 calories. So that’s that! If you can see anything wrong with my calculations, please let me know – being a novice calorie counter means I’m bound to make some mistakes. But hopefully not.

I was dreading the whole calorie counting rubbish but found an excellent service on Google. We have a small set of kitchen scales which made the measurements very easy. In Google search, I typed in “how many calories in a tomato” etc and this came up – how convenient! You can put in any food and it will tell you. My friend Bec also sent me a list of veggies and calories she compiled when she did the 5:2 Diet a while ago, which is a great help.

So there you go. Hopefully I can make it through another few episodes of “The Killing” tonight without getting the munchies, because there’s nothing left for today (that milk was a doozy!). How many calories are in 100g of oil-popped popcorn? The whole day’s allowance! Damn. Maybe tomorrow 🙂

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 12: Lorena’s special day and bedtime yoga

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Lorena with her godparents

Today was Leo’s niece and goddaughter’s first communion (her name is Lorena), so we were near Zurich with his family. First up we had the service, then 23 of her nearest and dearest drove to Germany (doesn’t that sound hilarious?! We drove 40 minutes to Germany – still freaks me out) for lunch at an Italian restaurant in Erzingen.

Lorena’s extended family from her father’s side come from Sicily and all the relatives there today were Italian (and still are, surprise surprise!). Hence the choice of this restaurant because they know it has amazing food and brilliant red wine. I’d drive there regularly, too, if we lived so close.

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Lorena in her first communion dress. She looked like a princess

After four hours of eating, we drove home and made a beeline for the couch to watch four more episodes of “The Killing”. It’s now 10.22pm (22.22 for those who like numbers) and I am totally stuffed. Literally and figuratively.

It’s been a great week – I’ve consumed like a queen and been to France and Germany twice – but the time has come to say goodbye to eating whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it, in an attempt to shift a few pesky kilos and try a self experiment to see if food holds more sway than exercise.

Tomorrow I’ll do my first ‘Fast Day’ of the 5:2 Diet, which means I’ll eat 500 calories. Heaven knows what 500 calories looks like (I need to do more research on that) but I think a bowl of homemade natural muesli with seeds, nuts and natural yoghurt for breakfast will be a good start, and whatever lettuce leaves I can scrounge together might make a main meal. 🙂

Would it be superfluous to say I really, really … REALLY … don’t feel like exercising tonight? My body’s a lump of lead. So I’m going to do 15 minutes of bedtime yoga – again! – then send my weary lump to La La Land.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 1: No fool for food and HIIT

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Hope you didn’t fall for any nasty April Fool’s Day jokes today! For me it’s been a day of research – not much silliness at all – inspired by Bec’s comment on March 30’s post.

She suggested watching a BBC documentary which aired in 2012 called ‘Eat, Fast and Live Longer’ by Dr Michael Mosley. Very, very interesting … Mosley, a regular on British television and one of the authors of the 5:2 website, talks about the benefits of fasting (but not prolonged fasting) to slow the aging process. This is all sparked by his desire to be fit in all its forms. “I want to be mentally active and I want to be physically active. I want to stay younger for longer,” he said. fitfor15in15 can relate to that!

There’s not much we can do about our genes, which play a big part in our longevity, he said, but most of us do have a say in what we eat. “It seems it’s not just about what eat, but how and when we eat it.” They use research results of Alzheimer’s disease in mice and discover that fasting stresses the brain like exercise stresses the muscles – in a very, very good way. The research shows hunger makes your brain sharper.

Mosley researches calorie restricted diets, which are high in plant-based nutrients but lower in protein, fasting options (86 hours in a row) with miniscule calorie intake per day during that time, alternate day fasting (ADF), and the 5:2 Diet.

Alternate Day Fasting, or ADF, is similar to the 5:2 Diet (which I mentioned before, that sees you fast for two non-consecutive days per week (500 calories for women, 600 for men) and eat normally for the other five) but you alternate every second day instead. They call it a fasting day then a feeding day.

Mosley decides at the end to try the 5:2 method for five weeks, and is very happy with the results. I wonder if he founded the website before or after the documentary? In any case, if you have an hour, click through and watch the documentary. As usual, I have no affiliation with any links on this site, I’m just putting it out there as “food for thought” ahahahahaha.

Here are some other articles from www.huffingtonpost.com about intermittent fasting and more from The Guardian, asking is it too good to be true? Here’s one from Men’s Health as well, about ignoring intermittent fasting.

What do you think? There’s so much contradicting information, it’s hard to know who to believe. I think the 5:2 Diet/Fast Diet, could be worth a try. Of course, like everything, it’s not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all plan for everyone (especially pregnant women and those already underweight). But it’s not as extreme as the other three Mosley researched, making it sound like it could be the option for me, for at least a month or two!

I think today could already be counted as a fasting day – I’ve only had homemade muesli (without the cranberries and currants but with added oats, goji berries, shredded coconut and cashews) with fresh blueberries and natural yoghurt. Might as well start now! Shame I have no idea how many calories are in that small bowl! That’s probably where the confusion will lie, and where I’ll have to start doing more research about what constitutes 500 calories. Ugh, I’ve never been a calorie counter, but here goes. All in the name of research!

Fuelled by my new plan, I tried out a new workout found on an Instagram site called fit.co. Unfortunately I can’t link to Instagram here (I need to learn how to code!). The workout had a girl on the beach doing five exercises, so I decided to do each exercise for a minute, with a 10-15 second ‘breather break’ in between, with three repetitions of the whole series, totally 15 minutes of actual HIIT (high-intensity interval training) exercise.

The exercises were:

  1. starting in a lunge position, swing up the back leg (bent) and jump off the ground with the front leg too, arms strong, 30 seconds each side
  2. arms extended plank with alternate leg coming towards your elbow (she did a push up at the same time as bending her knees in – no way, not possible for me!)
  3. knees high running on the spot
  4. arms extended plank, dropping down to alternate elbows and then back to hands
  5. jump up, then do a controlled roll backwards on the floor so your feet touch the ground behind your head, then roll back up, planting your feet and jumping up

Needless to say, I had none of the style of the girl in the video! I had to modify a few things too.

  • Exercise 2: I did the first full minute pass with legs straight, on my toes, then on the final two passes, I had to drop to my knees for the final 15 seconds, because my arms were shaking so much
  • Exercise 3: My knees were not coming up to a flat position in line with my hips
  • Exercise 4: On every pass I dropped to my knees at the 15-20 second mark. My arms were shaking too much and my shoulders hurt
  • Exercise 5: I could not roll back up and stand up to jump in one flowing move. I had to push off the ground behind me, with my feet splayed to each side, not together like in the video. I have no idea how she did that. Another goal?

Right now, I’m kind of seeing stars and am very sweaty, but it feels like everything has been given a good workout. And all in 15-20 minutes.

That’s probably enough for today. Tomorrow I’m going to write a bit about mindfulness, spurred on by a comment from Judy on yesterday’s post.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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A surprise came in the post! Gabby, in Melbourne, sent a canister with peppermint tea and an insulated mug with bamboo strainer! Thank you Gab, I love it xx

March 30: 30-minute HIIT workout

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Have you seen today’s guest contribution from Sal Book? She proves you can change a ‘never never’ attitude to a ‘let’s do this’ attitude with time and patience. What an inspirational transformation! If you didn’t see it, read about Sal’s memorable story here.

Her enthusiasm for running made me want to go for a run today. (Actually, I first read her story on the bus home from the city last week, and if it hadn’t been for a pair of boots and some heavy bags, I would have jumped off and tried to sprint home!) Unfortunately, it’s going to be raining here for the foreseeable future, so another 5km run in the forest remains a carrot at the end of the donkey’s string. Yes, I am the donkey.

It’s been a cruisy few days in the fitfor15in15 exercise stakes, so I thought I’d go a bit harder on core today with another workout from Fitness Blender. This 30 minute total body workout, which is also called Intense at Home HIIT Cardio and Abs Workout – Abs on Fire, requires no equipment and lived up to it’s name.

I couldn’t complete some of the exercises as fast or as well as the trainer, Daniel, which is no surprise really, but I laughed out loud when he piped up at one stage with “This is a bad idea.” I couldn’t agree more – we were both sweating like maniacs at the end! He definitely made it a tough workout. To paraphrase an Alicia Keys song … “My abs are on fiiiyyyyerrrrr!”

With it blowing a gale outside – the wind was so strong it uprooted our flagpole – I spent a lot of time on the computer today. My 52 Books Challenge for 2015 is running behind schedule, but finally I’ve written another review. Last week I finished The Lotus Eaters by Marianne MacDonald in three hours – if only all books were that easy – and you can read more about it here if you fancy.

fitfor15in15

The view is clear without the fallen flagpole with the Aussie flag. It is fixable!

Judy mentioned in a comment on my diet/food dilemma post about the 5:2 diet. Have you heard about it? If not, you can read more about it on the official website here, on the BBC Good Food website or in Marie Claire’s ‘definitive guide’ on the pros and cons, including some recipes for the two fasting days. The main crux of the plan is you eat normally for five days and have a reduced calorie intake for two non-consecutive days per week, like a form of fasting.

I had heard about it before but hadn’t done much research. For someone who has a phobia about cooking a different meal every night, this could be the perfect solution. Maybe April is a good time to start? Luckily, Leo made a risotto for dinner last night and we have enough for tonight as well – the perfect lead in to a new idea to shift a few pesky wobbly bits. Would you be interested in joining me?

Wishing you a wonderful day.