Selfies…..Why?

Why do we indeed? Or why do I? I get ribbed for it constantly. So why do I put up with it and still live in the selfie revolution? Another brutal truth today, it’s all about image, whether it be body image, facial, how do people perceive me, in my case all of the above. I don’t take hundreds to get it right, if it’s not right it gets deleted, I don’t photoshop them as I’ve been accused, I should take that one as a compliment. Yep I use filters, not all the time but maybe half the time.  I’m happy to post ones without makeup for the haters, but also because I’m fed up of seeing pictures on social media of all these 20 somethings that have so much contouring, make up, editing, filters that the photo isn’t actually them.  Sod the poor bloke that picks one for a date without actually meeting them first. 

Barefaced, no editing, no filters

I see myself differently in a picture than I do in the mirror, I accuse mirrors of not being flat if I look fat and so on. Without a doubt I see myself differently than others see me, and what no one until now knows is that one nasty comment, believe me I get a lot, my self esteem is destroyed, then my  determination to improve ignites , bootcamp, Hiit, running, cycling, change my hair colour, cut my hair, grow my hair, lets have another tattoo the routines begin again. Having said all that the lovely messages I’ve had from all sorts of people, most I know but some I don’t make me just as determined to keep it all going.

no filters, loads of slap, brilliant lighting

The bottom line is I do it for me, I do care how people perceive me, how they see me, if I didn’t care I wouldn’t bother. I think a lot of people can relate to what I’ve written tonight.  

Holiday Time!

Mad week at work, still packed in PT Monday 7am Hiit Tuesday 6.45am, Wednesday 6.15am DNA Bootcamp, Thursday running round the garden for 2 hours trying to catch my cat! Saturday morning woke up in Riviera Del Sol, Spain, got the old man on stop watch duty and did a 30 minute Hiit session on the huge balcony overlooking the pool and sea. Perfect. I had packed my skipping rope and resistance tube sadly unbeknown to me my foam roller got taken out! My session consisted of:

1 min skip/ 1 min burpees 6mins in total.            

1 min/1 min 6 mins in total on resistance tube, band pull a parts concentrating on the rhumboids and pull downs 

1 min jumping squats/1 min Bulgarian Split squats  (quads) 6mins in total 1 min sit up holding 5l water bottle above head/ 1 minute Russian Twists using water bottle

2 minute plank, 45 second full side planks 

Day 2 the plan was a 10k run along the seafront, it weren’t happening my calf muscles were as tight as buggery, where’s my foam roller when I need it the most? I settled for 7k of slow miles. I did however come across something good 

 I stopped for a little go but having issues with my shoulder at present so didn’t overdo it.

Before anyone says “you’re on holiday woman” I know I’m on holiday, this is part of my holiday, it’s not a chore to keep my fitness up, I enjoy it and why undo all my hard work? I’m drinking and eating out I am watching what I eat to a certain degree but it’s good I enjoy eating healthy food. Remember it’s a lifestyle not a diet.

Brutal Truth

Count down to my holiday begins! The naturist in me will soon be released! Only joking I do wear bikini bottoms, regardless there’s nowhere to hide any imperfections, I’m even frantically rubbing bio oil into my scars from my op 3 times per day.

This week has seen me focused on what I’m eating and drinking again, although had a few blips. Physical activity has been spot on.

Monday 7am personal training session with Brett, later in the afternoon  45 minutes on my abs in the garden.

Tuesday 6.50am DNARAW Hiit session at the gym, mad day at work, hill effort session with Springfield Striders RC in the evening .

Wednesday 9am personal training session with Brett, worked until 6.15pm then did a sociable easy paced off road run from the pub. I did stay for food this time as have avoided it in the past and I couldn’t resist the steak and ale pie followed by a Belgian waffle http://www.theredlionmargaretting.co.uk   Great pub , very friendly staff and lovely food.

Thursday I took as a rest day, long day at work instead. 

Friday I had booked in for the Hiit session with DNA bootcamp in the evening, I was horrified to receive an email saying it was cancelled. What was I to do? Open my Dropbox folder with my PT Tabata exercises on from Brett and got stuck into that for an hour. Happy Days.

Saturday, my pregnant friend Nikki offered to pace me round Parkrun. I only took her up on this as normally she is way to fast for me. By now my entire body is aching, I had low expectations for a PB. Amazingly I smashed it! PB by 15seconds thanks to Nik’s words of encouragement and pointing out the next person I was to “pick off” I also rode there and back. At 12pm it was the club’s annual BBQ, now I will be honest, 1 burger, 13 chipolaters, too much vodka to count, Prosecco, head stands, handstands later we carried it on in town until 2am. I infact went on a 14 hour bender!  I didn’t have a kebab though folks 

Sunday, yep I got up, rode to Terling, ran 8.3 miles off road, rode home 15 miles in total. The run was tough, my legs tired, soo much so I tripped, couldn’t right myself and managed to land on my shoulder, band my hip and my head!! I’m now totally destroyed.

There you go, my weekend is now a right off where eating is concerned, tomorrow’s a new day, all is not lost.

From The Beginning, Well Almost

I’ll keep it as brief as I can.  From a young age I battled with my relationship with food, I put some of it down to the fact my parents would not let me leave the table until I had eaten everything on my plate, as probably with a lot of you.  The effect in latter life was not being able to go to a buffet without wanting to clear the table personally,  I had a massive hatred for food wastage, though those are just a couple of examples.

As an adult I discovered exercise, by my late teens, early twenties food was winning the battle, I found the more I exercised and less I ate the more weight I lost, years of yo-yo dieting ensued.  Back then the weight came off from where I wanted it to, therefore still managing to retain my boobs, so with my tiny waist and big boobs a short career in glamour modelling began, until my boyfriend at the time put paid to that. I don’t have many regrets in life but that is most definitely the biggest, at 18 years old putting a boyfriend before what could have been a lucrative career.

All through my twenties my weight would fluctuate between 8 and 10 stone. Thirties, marriage, two children. Exercising got harder and harder until I discovered running, I could step out of the front door and just run. 8 marathons,20 something half marathons, and countless 10 milers, 10k, 5k, 5 milers, on or off roaders I’m now the Ladies Captain of my local running club the Springfield Striders.

Life with a young family, running my own business, having a husband that would work 24/7 made fitting in exercise extremely difficult, marathon training was almost the third person in my marriage, you become selfish, but you have to be, you have to be strict and regimented and nothing else mattered, well in my head that’s how it had to be. To my horror I gained weight marathon training!!!  How the hell could that happen? I’ll tell you how, I treated it like pregnancy, it became my reason to eat!!!

2014,I took up boxing and started cycling just more stuff to try to counteract the fat. 2015, Bootcamp, more importantly HiiT (high intensity interval training) I started to notice I was getting that definition back. I wanted more of this!! I had a little chat with Brett from DNA bootcamp about diet, he gave me lots of pointers and was always happy to help with any of my questions. I soon realised from the diets he showed me that they were mainly high protein. That was it I changed the way I ate, I had been addicted to carbs, gradually I ditched them, no panic though as natural carbs are everywhere, very quickly the weight started to drop, muscle started to build, my running improved massively.

This was a lifestyle change, not a diet……….