I've always had a love/ hate relationship with exercise. As a child I swam a lot, did the odd bit of netball for school but I didn't work my way through the BAGA badges or go to ballet. My exercise was mainly tearing up and down my road on my bike and running around with the other kids in the street. As I got into my teens I didn't really do anything exercise wise (apart from running about after boys!), it was only when I got to university that I started being more body conscious and that was as a result of going out with a Sports Science student who made me feel fat most of the time and wouldn't hold back from commenting on how I could do this and that to improve myself. I went to the gym on and off for years as a result of that relationship.
Eventually I realised that I was throwing my money away, I would join, go a lot for a month or two and then never go again. Instead of going to the gym I started to enter into fitness challenges, like 5k and 10k runs and a swimathon or two. And that kind of thing really is the way to float my fitness boat. I can safely say that my best motivation to get fit in my life was my wedding. I went to a personal trainer and did boxing and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The confidence it gave me and the way I felt about my appearance was brilliant. I didn't wimp out of my sessions with rubbish excuses and I found I could wear the clothes I wanted to.
Since then I've had two kids and in between having them I used the excuse that I was going to have another child at some point so there would be no point me getting into shape until I'd had baby number 2. Well now I find myself in that position. Child number 2 is on the scene and 6 months later I'm now urging myself to get out and do some exercise! And guess what in the last 3 weeks I have! I have Zumbaa-d!!! Three times!! And I've done 30 lengths at the local pool. I also bought some new running trainers so I have to get out in them and I've also signed up to this years Marie Curie Swimathon.
I intend to blog about my fitness and exercise achievements as and when, it won't necessarily be a weekly thing but I do think that making some commitment to write about it will make me do at least 1 thing a week.
What do I want to gain from exercising? To be honest, it's not really weight loss that I'm after. I'm 5 foot 11 inches and 11 stone 4lb if you really want to know, so well within the normal weight boundaries for my height. Obviously if I'm going to exercise and be healthy I probably will drop a few pounds, but what I really want is to tone up and *feel* fit. I want to get to the point that exercise makes me feel energised, pretty hard when my nights are interrupted by the baby and my daytime's are super busy running around after 2 kids. I want to fit into some jeans that have been in the back of my cupboard for a couple of years now. Favourite ones that I had to wave the white flag to. So there you go. I commit to get fit.
I'd love to know if you're also on a fitness drive and what you're up to, let's spur each other on - tweet me, facebook me. We can all do with encouragement sometimes when it's winter and the TV and comfort food are calling......let's do it together!
Monday, 30 January 2012
Photo When I Feel Like It... Noah
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Farmhouse Breakfast Week - How did we fare?
As I mentioned in an earlier post we were asked to take part in the Farmhouse Breakfast Week Challenge and I think we did pretty well, here are the day by day photo's to prove it:
Day 1: Porridge, Orange Juice & Tea
Day 2: Muesli with honey and banana & Orange Juice
And here's a little montage (using my new Frametastic App!) of days 3 (Muesli), 4 (Toast with Blackcurrant Conserve & Banana), 5 (Breakfast Energy Bars) & 7 (Toast with Blackcurrant & Blueberry Preserve).
Day 6, there was a breakfast but I forgot to take the pic! Saturday mornings are always so manic as I'm on my own with the kids and we have to be out of the house by 9.15 to go to MAD Academy.
Research conducted about breakfast suggests that:
Well I would say that I agree with the notion that breakfast benefits your mood. With my baby boy getting me up around 5am most days of late I would say my mood is definitely a bit off key until breakfast time! I am happier after breakfast and I think a healthy breakfast sets a person up for the day. I have found that far from being rabbit food, muesli is actually quite filling!
What did I learn from it?
As I'm off work on maternity leave I would say that my breakfast habits are generally quite good at the moment as I have two kids to give breakfast to and so it would be weird for me to not sit down with them and eat while I'm feeding them/ they are eating. What I have learnt is that it is nice to vary what we have for breakfast, we don't have to have the same things every day and also this week was the first time Isla had honey. I told her what it was on the first day and where it came from and the second day she was really sweet and asked 'Mummy, can I have some bees please?' I knew exactly what she meant! It's nice for the kids to learn things over breakfast! She also liked the idea of having banana cut up on a plate and taking as much as she wanted for her porridge. Anything we can do to encourage her to further improve her eating habits is good in my book.
Will I keep it up?
My breakfast habits tend to go haywire when I'm at work, so I would like to think that I would keep up the good habit of having a healthy breakfast everyday. Sometimes I'd have it but really late when it's almost lunchtime, other times I would skip it altogether.
Here are a couple of recipes and ideas for you to liven up your breakfasts:
Breakfast Energy Bars - make these up to munch when short of time
100g Butter
200g Clear honey
200g Rolled Oats
150g Mixed Seeds
100g toasted flaked Almonds
100g Sultanas
50g Ground Almonds
2 tsp Sesame Seeds
Pre-heat oven to 180C
Heat the butter & honey in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients except sesame seeds and press into a 22cm square baking tin. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds.
Bake for 15 mins until golden. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into 12 bars. Leave in the tin to cool completely before removing.
Honey & Yoghurt Porridge with Banana - A must on a winters day!
50g Jumbo Oats
1 ripe banana
50g fat free greek yoghurt
350ml semi skimmed milk
2 tsp clear honey
Place the oats in a saucepan. Mash half the banana and mix with the yoghurt (keep 1 tbsp aside), milk and 1 tsp honey then pour over the oats. Heat to just below boiling and simmer gently for 7 - 8 mins, stirring.
Pour into a bowl, slice the remaining banana and scatter on top, add the 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt and drizzle over the remaining honey.
If you'd any further breakfast recipes then go to www.shakeupyourwakeup.com/breakfast
We were sent a hamper of breakfast items to help us on the way to a week of healthy breakfasts. Thank you for asking us to take up the challenge, we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Day 1: Porridge, Orange Juice & Tea
Day 2: Muesli with honey and banana & Orange Juice
And here's a little montage (using my new Frametastic App!) of days 3 (Muesli), 4 (Toast with Blackcurrant Conserve & Banana), 5 (Breakfast Energy Bars) & 7 (Toast with Blackcurrant & Blueberry Preserve).
Day 6, there was a breakfast but I forgot to take the pic! Saturday mornings are always so manic as I'm on my own with the kids and we have to be out of the house by 9.15 to go to MAD Academy.
Research conducted about breakfast suggests that:
- breakfast eaters have lower levels of stress
- a bowl of cereal in the morning could help ward off PMS
- people who eat breakfast are more likely to be in the ideal weight range than those who don't eat breakfast
- breakfast is essential for breast feeding mums - vitamin D is key and this can be found in many cereals
Well I would say that I agree with the notion that breakfast benefits your mood. With my baby boy getting me up around 5am most days of late I would say my mood is definitely a bit off key until breakfast time! I am happier after breakfast and I think a healthy breakfast sets a person up for the day. I have found that far from being rabbit food, muesli is actually quite filling!
What did I learn from it?
As I'm off work on maternity leave I would say that my breakfast habits are generally quite good at the moment as I have two kids to give breakfast to and so it would be weird for me to not sit down with them and eat while I'm feeding them/ they are eating. What I have learnt is that it is nice to vary what we have for breakfast, we don't have to have the same things every day and also this week was the first time Isla had honey. I told her what it was on the first day and where it came from and the second day she was really sweet and asked 'Mummy, can I have some bees please?' I knew exactly what she meant! It's nice for the kids to learn things over breakfast! She also liked the idea of having banana cut up on a plate and taking as much as she wanted for her porridge. Anything we can do to encourage her to further improve her eating habits is good in my book.
Will I keep it up?
My breakfast habits tend to go haywire when I'm at work, so I would like to think that I would keep up the good habit of having a healthy breakfast everyday. Sometimes I'd have it but really late when it's almost lunchtime, other times I would skip it altogether.
Here are a couple of recipes and ideas for you to liven up your breakfasts:
Breakfast Energy Bars - make these up to munch when short of time
100g Butter
200g Clear honey
200g Rolled Oats
150g Mixed Seeds
100g toasted flaked Almonds
100g Sultanas
50g Ground Almonds
2 tsp Sesame Seeds
Pre-heat oven to 180C
Heat the butter & honey in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients except sesame seeds and press into a 22cm square baking tin. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds.
Bake for 15 mins until golden. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into 12 bars. Leave in the tin to cool completely before removing.
Honey & Yoghurt Porridge with Banana - A must on a winters day!
50g Jumbo Oats
1 ripe banana
50g fat free greek yoghurt
350ml semi skimmed milk
2 tsp clear honey
Place the oats in a saucepan. Mash half the banana and mix with the yoghurt (keep 1 tbsp aside), milk and 1 tsp honey then pour over the oats. Heat to just below boiling and simmer gently for 7 - 8 mins, stirring.
Pour into a bowl, slice the remaining banana and scatter on top, add the 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt and drizzle over the remaining honey.
If you'd any further breakfast recipes then go to www.shakeupyourwakeup.com/breakfast
We were sent a hamper of breakfast items to help us on the way to a week of healthy breakfasts. Thank you for asking us to take up the challenge, we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Project 366 - Now called a Photo When I Feel Like It....
I didn't last long before I stopped posting photos every day! It wasn't the photo taking that was a problem (I take millions of these kids, Isla is so over it now!), it was the getting on the blog bit! Evenings are tricky. I'm tired by 8pm. Knowing I'll be up in the night means I skip to bed at 10pm. So I've renamed this "Photo When I Feel Like It", and it'll be sods law that I'll probably manage this daily (yeah right!)...So here's my favourite of today. Isla with Cousin M.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Friday, 20 January 2012
Weaning with HiPP Organic
Noah has really taken to food, I kind of knew he would as he's a big lad and milk really wasn't cutting it for him anymore. He was beginning to watch us so closely while we were eating, even moving his mouth mimicking us. He'd grab for food if I was snacking on something while I was holding him.
The HiPP range is so varied and best of all it's organic so you know its full of goodness. I started Noah off on the baby cereals that you mix with formula and he wolfed those down, as he did with the fruit pouches (winner of the gold award for Best Baby food Product in the Mother and Baby Awards) and then the jars. The only one that he really didn't take to was the tender potato and carrot, I don't blame him though, if you're given the choice between that and My First Sunday Dinner, I know which I'd choose!
I filmed him tucking in so you can see how much he is enjoying his food.....
Things I learnt from weaning with Isla is to not get too precious about mess. I used to get really stressed about food going everywhere. This time round I'm more relaxed about it. I realise now that food must be fun and there should be no negativity associated with it. I've noticed that quite often Noah likes to hold his own spoon so I have a few spoons on hand so he can have a play with it too (the more the better as he's going through that dropping everything on the floor phase!). Since being on maternity leave we always try to have meals altogether as a family and I think that is really important. With Isla we would give her meals at a different time to us and I think that really didn't help with all the fussiness we went through with her - I'm relieved to say that she is actually getting really good with food now and I do attribute that to our family mealtimes. Although the majority of Noah's food at the moment is being fed to him by me, I'm also giving him finger food so that he gets used to handling food himself.
All in all, weaning is going really well so far. Thank you to HiPP Organic for sending us their yummy food. It can be bought from all good supermarkets and recently in Sainsburys they've had a deal for 10 jars for £5. Bargain!
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