FAT-SCRAP TRAIL Day 5

Apple....
BREAKFAST: porridge with soya milk and large tablespoon of raspberries
LUNCH: Oatcakes with tomato puree, avacado and slice of cucumber on each. Small bowl of natural yoghurt with tablespoonful of raspberries.
DINNER: Jacket potato with low fat houmous, large salad made with lettuce, baby plum tomatoes, cucumber and celery. Fruit salad made with three tablespoons of forest fruits and small banana.
SNACKS: 4 dried apricots.
EXERCISE: 45 minutes circuit training session with Sue, two and a half hours yoga.

Ok now those of you who read the above ‘exercise’ carefully may think I am totally and completely mad!!! I am lucky not to work on a Thursday and doing yoga is how I like to spend most of my day. Yes, I did do two and a half hours of yoga with a circuit training session sandwiched in the middle! I admit to being a bit of a yoga nut but I love it and love the energy it gives me. Also today it gave me the best stretch ever, though I don’t doubt my muscles will still hurt tomorrow!
Great circuit training today! Really enjoyed using the cross trainer and the rower for the first time. I have always avoided these in the big gym I go to as I didn’t know how to use them properly and somehow I felt so silly asking, I felt like I should know?!! I can’t say I enjoyed the pull ups! Sue put up this rather strange looking contraption in her door frame and it was sooo hard!!! I don’t think I have any biceps or triceps.. or if I do they must be the size of anchovy fillets because they are so weak! I’m looking forward to seeing an improvement in my upper body strength over the coming weeks.

I loved the challenge of something new today. Being in Sue’s friendly little gym with just Pear and Sue I felt so comfortable and not afraid to ask if what I was doing was right. No one laughed at me; we all laughed together and encouraged each other along. After my day of feeling rather low yesterday I’ve had an amazing day today. Feel on top of the world actually. Pear really helped me today – she made me feel I wasn’t alone with my cravings for an apple turnover as she too had a challenge yesterday with some biscuits her daughter had made. We are both really proud we didn’t give in to our temptations! I can’t wait till our next session on Sunday morning and our weigh in then! We’ll be one week in by then – what a great achievement that will be!

Pear....
BREAKFAST: Bowl of porridge made with Soya milk, spoonful of raspberries and blueberries
LUNCH: Cold brown rice with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, carrot and chicken
DINNER: Meal out with a couple of girlfriends at the Lime Leaf – Bowl of soup and prawn green curry with coconut rice
EXERCISE: 45 min Session in Gym with Sue and Apple, 60-minute dog walk and 90 min shovelling snow!!!!

What a busy day I’ve had today!!!! I had a nearly solid sleep last night and felt so much better for it. My headache was virtually gone and I had a spring in my step! After popping to work, it was the dreaded hour of pain at Sue’s…..as you can probably tell, I really am not a fitness freak and do struggle to enjoy exercising. Still, I do have to say the session was good, I had a giggle with Apple, Sue was making us do pull ups and hold it there for as long as possible…mmmm that didn’t happen for either of us but it was a challenge, which by the end of the month you never know, hopefully we should be a lot lighter and our muscles more developed and be able to succeed.
On my way back, I was driving up my close when I got stuck going up the hill. A kind man helped me out for about 15 mins shovelling the snow from under my tyres (I thought my journeys today were too easy in these conditions!). Still got home safely, had lunch and walked the dog. On my way back my neighbour (lady) was out shovelling the snow of her driveway. I took the dog back in and just about to take my boots off, when I felt guilty (as we share part of the drive), so turned around with shovel in hand and helped her. I think I still had lots of energy from our session and felt great! After finishing our drives, I then said to her I would go and shovel part of the road I got stuck on as if it stays like this I would struggle tomorrow. So I went over and she followed (bless), by this time my arms were burning, still we persevered and 90 mins later we were done!! Oh that was hard work, but totally satisfying. Mind you it didn’t help much, lots of neighbours were stuck coming home from work further down the road!!! Well let’s see how my energy levels are tomorrow as to whether I clear the whole street!! …..Actually no I doubt it, after all I’m not Wonder Woman!!

And then I got a message on my phone do I fancy a girls night out with a couple of friends? I did stop and think do I, don’t I? Will I have too many temptations? But then I said, no I’m going to get these challenges so go for it. So rang them and said yes, up for it, I will drive and don’t mind where we go. (After all you’re never going to be able to choose the restaurants all the time). So we went to Lime Leaf (Thai) and had a lovely meal….and for a change I had a bottle all to myself.......Just a shame it was sparkling water!!!

Me….
BREAKFAST: Porridge, berries, natural yogurt, seeds
LUNCH: Left over curry with left over rice, potatoes and fresh spinach added, orange
DINNER: rice cakes, humus, peanut butter, celery, cherry tomatoes
SNACKS: apple, pistachio nuts
EXERCISE: 60 mins dog walk (easy) 45 mins workout (hard) 30 mins dog walk (easy)

I felt really hungry for breakfast so had a larger portion of porridge and extra seeds which kept me going till after our workout at 12. Then, starving again so decided to have hot meal for lunch. This was very filling and tasty and by dinner time I wasn’t too hungry so just had a lighter bite. I always prefer eating a main meal at lunch time; it defiantly feels more natural and enjoyable.

Interestingly, I felt energised after the workout and didn’t get my usual afternoon slump, actually, thinking about it, I haven’t had a slump all week …and that’s unusual!! I have a type of colitis condition which does leave me with bouts of tiredness and IBS type symptoms and, over the years, have tried various elimination diets to see if they might help but, while they may for a while, my symptoms usually flair up again. I believe that this is due to the stress that the elimination diets caused me as I usually felt deprived, negative or awkward. I am wondering now if eliminating the dairy, wheat, sugar and alcohol altogether is going to make a big difference to my symptoms..And this time I do not feel stressed about these eliminations…. more excited about having a healthier diet!

Day 6