From Stody to Stodgy

It’s been two weeks now since Stody and I have really dined out on it but since then haven’t stopped eating! The observant amongst you may have noticed my challenge of losing 50 pounds in weight (from my heaviest). Exercise really doesn’t make that much difference it’s the calorific input that does (surprisingly!) and I have truly fallen off the wagon with this challenge in the last 2 weeks. My progress so far is that I have lost about 37 pounds – slowly and painfully but the truth is that I only have to look at food and the weight returns like an old friend. So I had mastered the art of not picking at food between meals and not eating sugar for several months and the pounds were going – however in the last 2 weeks will power has gone on holiday and bags of mini eggs together with sausage sandwiches, pork pies and various cakes have all passed my lips. I really don’t want to lose my progress – it has been hard won and it is the way to a healthier future for me, so putting it out there on here will hopefully help me to recognise what I’m doing and get back to a healthy eating regime?

No more sausage sandwiches!

On a more constructive note, last weekend saw me and my sister walking 19k of the North Norfolk coastal path from Brancaster to Hunstanton on a lovely spring day. We saw a red kite hovering above in the sky – really impressive and striking. Together with the numerous frogs who were completely distracted by their annual opportunity for some hanky panky, this came to 41 native species already identified of the 50 I set myself as a challenge. The Bassett hound spotted on the beach took my dog tally to 45!

I have also started the process of The Quilt! I don’t have any experience of making a quilt and have asked friends, family and colleagues for 50 designs and for some people to make up the squares! So far, just a week in I have had some lovely ideas coming from colleagues, young people and other people who are interested – creative minds all working separately but coming together in the making of an object of potential beauty – it’s great! The idea is to make it up by the end of the year and then sell raffle tickets throughout 2018 and raffle it off. If you are interested in becoming involved please let me know. 

However the big news of the week is my new bike – it’s lovely!

This is my secret weapon for the triathlon which is coming in 5 weeks time! I had a trip out on it yesterday which went well – I had the usual challenge of being able to stop (reference skiing blog!) but was getting on top of that and had become familiar with the old toe clip phenomenon when the two combined against me. I learnt that if I stop at a junction and try to put my foot down (reasonable as that seems) when it is in a toe clip then I slowly and painfully fall sideways until I hit the road! Again – it didn’t hurt too much and I won’t do that again!
Today I’m going on a guided tour round some Norfolk roads on my bike with my friend who will no doubt give me some good tips about both stopping and toe clips!

So my focus for the next few weeks is the triathlon, 250m swim, 16k bike ride and 3k swim – my aim is to complete in under  an hour and a half. My problem is that I’m a bit like a dog with 3 balls – I don’t know which one to chase, so I’m in danger of never stopping exercise or doing nothing at all! Task for today is to make a training plan! 

Oh and lastly – another PB in the park run (30.22) – jelly legs again but very pleased with the time. I am feeling confident that I will get to my challenge of a parkrun in under 30 minutes in the not too distant future. So onwards and upwards towards a life free of sausage sandwiches  and pork pies!