Gym again - good!

Had to take the calf lifts a bit easy this time as they hurt (a lot!) during Chi Kung after our last time, on Sunday. I've switched from Tai Chi to Chi Kung as the class times are earlier but it can be a challenge at times.

So, care of calf muscles, but we still had a good outing and everything else went well. In fact, more than well.

I asked one of the staff about the core exercises as I wasn't at all sure that what I was doing was right. She came to help but asked me why, when my instructions mentioned raising one leg at a time, I was raising both legs together. I couldn't understand this and said, oh no, I couldn't do that and never had been able to as I had no strength at all in my tummy muscles.

How astonished I was when she said that's what I was doing! So, the core must be getting stronger - I could never do that, and have been extremely frustrated all through the yoga classes I've been to. Yippee!

Plodding along

Failed dismally to buy some new clothes on Saturday. Not at all happy as the size 18 was too big, size 16 was too small - in the same trousers for heaven's sake! The positive side is that I'm even considering a 16 though... and not from the 'fat lass' shops either. A lot of walking, but probably rather counteracted by drinking a pint of S.A. Brains' beautiful brew whilst watching Wales winning the rugby.

Still, the food side of things was fairly good, although I did have a bowl of chips (hand-cooked posh artisan 'fries' actually - tee hee) with my lentil burger. Couldn't eat them all but they were a lovely treat.

Went back to the gym on Sunday morning and really enjoyed it. Did my 15 mins on the (Concept II) rower - no problem, unsurprisingly enough, but what amazed me was that I then did 15 mins on the stepper!

You could have knocked me down with a feather! The other day I just could not get the hang of it and it nearly killed me, but on Sunday we somehow clicked and I stopped fighting it. 15 mins wasn't exactly a doddle but it was do-able, and with enough energy left for 5 mins on the cross-trainer. Now, that is still a bitch and 5 mins is quite enough for now.

Then it was on to the weights machines and I think I remembered most of what John told me. Struggled with the two upper body pushing ones (heaven knows what they're called) but the rest went OK. Put the leg press up to 130lbs as 100lbs was way too easy.

The core stuff wasn't quite so good though. Don't think I can really remember what I was told, so it seemed very hard. Also, I know there were quite a few stretches I need to do each time, but I could only think of a handful and I'm sure there were more.

Also not so good is doing all that in the gym then coming home to clean out the fish tank (a long job!) and then do a huge pile of ironing. By the evening I was soooo tired... and rather grumpy.

Back to normal on Monday but missed out the morning exercises - sadly. I'm very achy (and not just from the gym) and had a lousy night so it was just too rushed. A stormy, wet & windy walk at lunch was wonderful though and did me a lot of good on a stressful Monday. I'm off to Tai Chi in about an hour so am munching a bowl of fresh fruit with a pint of water - that'll do me good too.

Another milestone (sort of)

Was weighed again at the GP's surgery. I'm down to 90kg which means I've lost 5kg in the last thirteen weeks. I'm going to have to admit that I'm not overjoyed at this as I thought I'd done better, but the nurse assures me that this is good steady progress. It's hard to be cheerful about this but I need to get my expectations to be more realistic.

Let's have a look on the positive side. Since I started in June I have lost four inches from my waist measurement, slightly more than that from my belly & hips. There's an inch less of me around the upper arm and two and a half inches less around the upper thigh. Amazingly, my bust measurement has only dropped by one inch!

So, I've changed shape, lost quite a bit of flab and definitely feel fitter. The walking and rowing have both increased and I've signed up to start another set of Tai Chi classes after this one.

I have to have become a healthier person because of this and it isn't as hard as I thought (feared) it would be. The trick is to make small changes, gradually doing more as they become easier to manage. I've got to be positive and keep at this - it IS working and I'm already getting more love to the square inch.

Tai Chi

I've started a Tai Chi class. One and a half hours on a Monday night. Add this to the rowing (up to 300 strokes per day now) and more walking (about 25 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening) and I'm certainly more active than I was.