This is a new venture for me starting today. Having felt really down for a few days, since my weigh-in last week when I found out that I am now 12.5 stones, I am trying to pick myself up and do something to improve my overall health and fitness…

Me today 20/07/18: no makeup, just me!

Today is the baseline:

Facts and figures

I am being brutally honest with myself here:

• Height: 5ft 4ins
• Weight: 12.5 stones
• BMI: 29.6 Overweight
• Chest: 42ins (to nearest inch)
• Waist: 37ins
• Hips: 43ins
• Neck: 16ins
• Bicep: 12ins
• Wrist: 7ins
• Thigh: 25ins
• Ankle: 9ins
• Clothing size: 14-16

Diet

This is roughly what I eat each day:

• Banana as soon as I wake up. This is because I wake up every morning feeling nauseous and am often actually sick and the banana seems to help.
• Breakfast at around 8.00: a small bowl of porridge made with milk and a tiny bit of sugar and salt. Pot of tea.
• Lunch at around 12.00: usually a sandwich made with two slices of wholemeal or 50:50 bread, pâté or cheese spread, no margarine. Handful of cherry tomatoes or a small salad. Sometimes supermarket sushi instead of the sandwich.
• Mid afternoon snack: this is where I tend to be “naughty”. Could be any one (or sometimes two – I am being honest) of the following: banana, slice of bread and jam, small packet of crisps, piece of cake, or a small bun. Plus tea.
• Dinner at around 18.30: small piece of meat or fish with veg and potatoes, maybe with gravy or a sauce, or a fish pie and veg, or cottage pie with veg, or a small ready meal. No pudding.
• Evening: no more food, just decaff tea or water. Sometimes Elder Son “persuades” me to eat something from his huge cache of sweets. See, brutal honesty again!

All day I drink tea with a small amount of semi-skimmed milk, plus lots of water. I switch to decaff tea after 18.30. No sugary drinks at all. I have to be careful about food because crumbs and other items can set off my cough and a lot of things give me severe acid reflux so no: toast, biscuits, chocolate, berries, oranges, mashed potato etc. Sometimes I have to eat another banana if my blood sugar levels are dodgy between meals and I have one ready at all times.

Exercise

At the moment, virtually none at all. I stay in bed for most of the day reading or watching TV on my iPad and try to go downstairs for a few hours. On most days, that means about three to four hours mainly watching the TV or doing a few limited things. Other activities that I might manage on a reasonable day include making drinks, making my lunch, putting the washing on, tidying my bedroom, emptying the dishwasher – simple housework tasks. I cannot do anything strenuous or that might raise any dust.

On a good day (not having many of these this year) I might go out with Lovely Husband and walk around a garden centre then sit down and have a cup of tea. I occasionally go to a local supermarket or out for a pub lunch, but this is very rare. There are also doctors’ and other appointments. At the moment, I am not driving and LH or Younger Son do all of this.

I try to go up and down the stairs at home a few times each day, but this makes me very breathless. Simple tasks such as hanging out washing have the same effect. Cannot cook, because that sets off coughing attacks. Cannot stand still for long because that brings on fainting spells.

What I am going to try to achieve:

An overall improvement in fitness levels and muscle strength, and the loss of about two to three stones in weight.

Improvement plan – diet

• Cut down on sweet treats and increase intake of fruit and vegetables.
• Replace pâté sandwich with tuna, tinned salmon or pilchards. Or try eating more eggs instead. More salad items plus perhaps a plain yoghurt to help with calcium intake.
• Replace afternoon treat with an apple and a small piece of cheese.
• Cut down on other carbs.

Improvement plan – exercise

• Try to walk around the block on alternate days for the next two weeks.
• Try to use chair gym on alternate days for the next two weeks.
• Generally move more during the day. Go downstairs to fetch my own meals and drinks instead of asking for help. Try to do more household tasks.

I will try not to stress if this cannot happen on some days because of illness!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Best wishes,

🍏🍎🍅🍌🍅🍎🍏