Weigh in

Well I knew I was going to do badly on the weight loss this week. I've been entertaining family for the majority of it. There have been meals out, wine, chips (french fries), ice cream, crumpets and much much more. I'm actaully surprised I put on as little as I did. I've also not been keeping my food diary which won't have helped.

So, how did I do...

Last week's weight: 9st 12.75lbs (62.9kg)
This week's weight: 10st (63.5kg)
Weight gain: 1.25lbs (0.6kg)

Let's hope next week is better.

Insoles doing their thing.

I've had a busy week as I've been entertaining family. This has involved a fair bit of short bursts of walking. In an attempt to get my feet sorted before my next visit to the podiatrist in August I have been wearing my insoles every day (except when wearing sandals). Today I am really feeling the effects of it and surprisingly, not in my feet.

For many years when I was young I suffered from a lot of pain and trouble with my knees. I was on and off crutches, saw physios, I was told it was growing pains and then not growing pains, cartalidge problems, muscles problems... I put up with it, I did the exercises the physios gave me, I got on with life. When other health problems took over my life in my early 20s the niggling pains and aches paled in to insignificance.

This morning as I got out of bed I realised that the insoles are finally doing the job that years of physio never succeeded. My knees and legs were killing me! It wasn't the usual sickening ache that has plagued me for years, instead all the muscles that hold the knee in the correct position and control its movement were hurting. With my feet in the correct position (and therefore my knees also in the correct position), my leg muscles are once again learning to do what they should have been doing all my life. Yeah it hurts but it's a happy pain of knowing that it is helping.

Rambling on the River

After weeks of sticking to my walking ban, I gave in to temptation today. The conservation trust I work with had organised a sponsored river ramble. A nice leisurely stroll along the 12.75 mile river walkway. It was for the charity I volunteer with so technically it wasn't walking it was volunteering.

I rounded up The Boy and a couple of our friends (my usual walking partner had a surfing accident yesterday so wasn't able to join us) and we headed off to the start at Balerno. The guys missed the bus and having not slept last night, my brain wasn't functioning enough to think to ring them and see if they were getting a later bus.

It was a really nice day, the sun shone and the trees provided a welcome shade. After 5 miles we stopped for lunch at the visitors centre and first check point. We'd found out that our friends got the later bus so we waited for them to catch up before proceeding on.

My friends need to learn to tell me to slow down if I'm going too fast for them. Apparently I'd been walking too quickly, but none of them bothered to tell me to slow down until after the walk.

The rest of the walk was enjoyable, it took us along the prettier parts of the river and down to where the river joins the sea (well the Forth). I was so glad to be out walking again. My feet niggled at times and my knees ached from lack of use recently but other than that, it was a lot better than expected.

The volunteers along the route at the check points were lovely and very enthusiastic, though I really need to learn their names.

Now I'm back to the walking ban and the hope that my feet continue to heal.

Insomnia

Well it's Sunday which means it's weigh in day.

After 5 failed hours at trying to sleep this evening, I gave up and at 4am decided to get up and get on with the day. When I do my weights I like to try and keep the conditions as similar as possible each time. To do this I weigh myself first thing in the morning before I eat or drink anything.

As I've been up half the night and nibbling and drinking through that time, I'm not going on the scales today so yesterday's weight will just have to do.

Last weight: 10st 2.25lbs ((64.66kg)
This week's weight: 9st 12.75lbs (62.9kg)
Weight loss: 3 1/2 lbs

Realistically though my weight loss this week has been closer to 1 1/2 lbs as I was bloated with intolerances at my last weigh in. However, I have now dropped below the weight that I felt I'd be happy at if I didn't manage to get to my goal!

Second Blog

As promised, here's a link to my volunteering blog. Obviously there's not much there yet but it'd be great if you'd like to take a look.

Volunteering in th Rain

Branching out...

This year I've really enjoyed keeping my training blog. There's something nice about writing down your thoughts and knowing that some complete stranger, possibly on the other side of the world is taking the time to stop by and read what I have to say. It has also been lovely to look back and see what I've been doing, it's almost like the diary I never managed to keep as a kid. I miss it now that the tendonitis and shin splints have stopped my training and I'm finding myself wanting to write about other things so I can continue blogging.

I'm contemplating expanding. I feel as I have at least 4 more marathons to go before I achieve my goals I should keep this blog to my training/health related anecdotes. As such, I'm contemplating starting a second blog. I hope you'll come along and read that too. I'd like to start to write about my new voluntary work. I'm also hopefully getting a garden in the next month so it'd be nice to keep track of that as well. Maybe I'll keep the theme and call it "volunteering in the rain". I could start a recipe blog and call it "cooking in the rain", no wait, I'm getting carried away now.

I'll be back here with my training once my feet are healed but in the meantime I might be over there too. In case anyone is interested in my volunteering I'll come and drop a link when it's all set up.

Food intolerances

Food intolerances suck. There's a number of things I can't eat, some make me very ill, whilst others bloat me up to the size of a giant balloon and leave me in a really bad mood.

It seems last week's weigh in was a fluke, the days either side I was down to 10st 1.75lbs (64.3kg) and by Wednesday this week I was sure I'd be in to the 9st weights as I hit 10st exactly (63.5kg). Then it all went wrong. I had an accident with some cayenne pepper and had way too much of it. That on it's own would have been ok if I hadn't then gone out for cocktails where they gave the equipment just a cursory dip under the tap each time which further contaminated my system with citrus.

So now what was beginning to be a reasonably flat stomach is a swollen little pot belly, I've gone back up in weight and I'm grumpy as hell.

Last week's weight: 10st 3.5lbs (65.1kg)
This week's weight: 10st 2.25lbs (64.6kg)
Weight loss: 1.25lbs (0.5kg)

Volunteering

Today has been great. I headed out down the Water of Leith to join the Conservation Trust with their river clean up. Nice bunch of people. Did an hour of litter picking on and around the river. Quick tea break then it was upriver to pull invasive plants. It was a bit of a scramble to get to the site on the river bank where the Himalayan Basalm was growing. Never having been to a clean up before I wasn't sure what to expect so had chucked my Crocs in my bag just in case I needed to go in the water. Didn't take me long to volunteer to put them on and pull the basalm that was unreachable from the bank.

Absolutely loved it and can't wait until the next session. Really enjoyed the 2 mile stroll there and then back again but I think The Boy will need to get his bike fixed up for me so that I can get to the further away sessions.

Jupiter Artland

I had such a lovely afternoon today. I went out to a local sculpture garden with some friends. It's set in an 80 acre estate of a country house and the path takes you through a beautiful woodland as you discover sculptures and artworks, buildings and statues. Today wasn't a "walk", I'm not allowed to do that remember, but I did greatly enjoy my "stroll at a reasonable pace" around the woodland between pieces.

I wish I'd turned my tracker on to see how far I'd done, especially after walking up and around all the hummocks in the "Life Mounds" piece.

Failings

Ok, I know it's not really a failing, I haven't put on any weight since last week, I just haven't lost any either. However, here's why I fail.

I know exactly why I haven't lost any, as by Friday morning I had lost 1.75lbs (0.8kg). Then I was tempted by friends and a trip to the pub, chips and several glasses of wine. I am so disappointed in myself because I went out for "one drink" but then they started buying bottles of wine.

Not holding out much hope for next week either as I have an assignment due which means copious amounts of tea and a strong craving for toast. Oh well, I don't HAVE to lose weight every week.

Last week's weight: 10st 3 1/2 lbs (65.23kg)
This week's weight: 10st 3 1/2 lbs (65.23kg)
weight loss: NONE!

High Hopes

I had high hopes for today's meeting with the podiatrist. Unfortunately they were quickly laid to rest. It appears I still have very bad tendonitis in my shin and foot and so walking is out of the question for at least another 6 weeks. It's just a case of carrying on with the R.I.C.E treatment and waiting it out. I know deep down in the long run this will help me, but it really is hard to deal with right now, especially when I want to be out enjoying the summer.

Weigh in

Well after my horrendous inability to lose weight whilst training I really hadn't expected to progress as well as I have. I know you lose more in the first few weeks as your body sheds water from the fat cells but it leaves me hopeful of reaching my ideal weight (most likely before November) and definitely reaching my "I'll settle for that" weight).

I knew this week would be hard, I had a number of meals out with my family and then drinks with friends, all of which are not conducive to weight loss. So, how did I do...

Last week's weight: 10st 5lbs (65.91kg)
This week's weight: 10st 3 1/2 lbs (65.23kg)
weight loss: 1 1/2 lbs (680g)

Tea with old friends

I set out today in inappropriate footwear (though the sandals were very appropriate for the weather) with the aim that I couldn't walk fast and keep them on my feet. I was due to meet an old friend in town for tea so I took a gentle stroll down the canal. By the time I'd met her, we'd wandered, drank tea, wandered some more, gone down a dead end and back and got home, I'd done about 4 miles. It was gloriously sunny and it was great to be out.