Half way through Moonwalk training

This time in six weeks I will have completed the Moonwalk 2016; I may not be able to move but hopefully I will have completed it!

We have been given a training plan which I am following near enough to the letter! I am still going to Kettlercise twice a week and can definitely notice my fitness levels increasing! Last Saturday was a 10 mile walk, at  steady pace, and we accomplished that in 2 hours 15 minutes. I was very happy with that. I am hoping to complete the 26.2 miles in under 6 and a half hours, that is an average of 15 minute/mile. I am aware that due to the amount of people taking part that the first 2 hours may be fairly slow by the standard that I am currently training at.

On Thursday we did our first interval training session; this was a 6 mile walk and we walked as fast as we could for 1 minute then slowed it down for another 2 minutes before repeating the interval. As you can see what we achieved was amazing! Pace at 13.15 minutes/mile!!

Yesterday we did a 12 miler which was distance and speed; I have to say that the interval training on Thursday really helped. I have to admit that I found the last 2 miles tough but I would assume that is because I had done a 'Last chance training session' on Friday night and by the time we hit 10 miles every muscle in my body was aching; particularly my shoulders and neck. That might have something to do with a 12kg kettlebell and lifting it over my head #nopainnogain !!!

12 miles is nearly half way; 2 hours 45 minutes to achieve that is also really positive. IF we maintained that sort of speed across the 26.2 miles then we should complete the Moonwalk in 5 hours 45 minutes giving us a 45 minute leeway on my target time!!! Anything faster would just be running!!

If you would like to sponsor me you can still do so, any amount would be greatly appreciated. 

The start of Moonwalk training . . . for real!

So this week I started my #MoonwalkLondon2016 training in earnest.

I have been walking around 8 to 10 miles every Sunday since Christmas and this week it's now less than 11 weeks until the actual event!

We have been given a 12 week training plan which I have adapted to fit around what I currently do. By that I mean exercise and my life!

This week was three, 3 mile walks. It was recommended that we walk at a steady pace but as I have been doing fairly long walks for some time I wanted to see whether I could actually walk at pace and sustain it! Sunday was the first time I did it and I was walking on my own. I find walking on your own is more difficult than with someone as you don't have someone to help set the pace. I was really happy; I did 3.25 miles in 47 minutes, averaging 14.12 minute miles.

I did the second walk with a friend who will, hopefully all being well, complete the Moonwalk with me. We did the same distance averaging 14.11 minute miles. Great! I also felt that this is a manageable pace. Obviously, I am not sure that I can keep it up for 26.2 miles but that is what the training is all about!

When I devised the plan I'm not sure that I had thought properly about walking on a Friday night! As I walked home from work on Friday after a long week at work all I could think was I can't do this. I am very aware that an awful lot of the challenge is in your head and it can convince you not to do something. As soon as I got home I put my walking gear on and headed straight back out. I did exactly the same route and averaged 4.28 miles an hour and did it 2 minutes faster than I had on Tuesday night. I was very chuffed!! 

I know that I have said this before but I will repeat it again. I am someone who needs to have a plan of action. If I don't then I am likely not to do something. I like structure and order. I printed the 12 week plan onto A3 and have taped it to my fridge. I have crossed off every day and have done each day that I have planned, even the pilates, which was surprisingly harder than I thought that it would be!

So week 1 down and only 11 to go until the night of Saturday 14 May. I have bought myself a #walkthewalk bumbag this week which I will use for the first time tomorrow. I have been wearing a jacket and getting very hot; the only reason that I wear the jacket is to keep my house keys and phone in. I now have something to carry them in and it looks very fetching! 

The next plan of action is to set up my fundraising page because the main reason that I a doing this is to raise money. Obviously, there are some other benefits happening along the way!

Six weeks into 2016. . . how are you doing?!

We are now at the end of the first six weeks of the year. For me, that means that I have got through the first six weeks of the Spring Term and am now having a well deserved break!

So how have your new year's resolutions been going?! Are you still going strong or have you slipped a bit?! I am going to chat about each of the things that I have been doing; awesome notes and saving; weight loss; and finally Tessa's Moments!

Awesome notes and saving

I have now got £21 in my savings jar, having saved £1 in week 1, £2 in week 2, etc. It is amazing how a little can add up. I am aware that I may not be able to sustain this for the whole year but I am planning to keep going for as long as I can. If I get to week 30 (that's the end of July) I'll have £465, week 40 (that's the beginning of October) £820 and week 52 £1378!

My jar is filling nicely with awesome moments; I can smile warmly, now, thinking about some of the notes that I can remember in the last six weeks, so when I open it at the start of 2017 I may have to have a party to share some of the laughs that I will have with others!

Weight loss

This blog has been being written in my head for some time and up until this week I was going to write something along the lines of the tortoise and the hare and slow and steady winning the race and not rushing things. I will still say all of that but in six weeks I have managed to lose 8lbs, 5% of my original starting weight. I had set myself a goal to be back at my healthy BMI range by week seven and last week did not think that was possible but after the weight loss that I had this week I am really on target to achieve that:

Week 1: 1lb gain (first weigh in after Christmas and New Year)

Week 2: 3lb loss

Week 3: 1.5lb loss

Week 4: 0.5lb gain

Week 5: 1lb loss

Week 6: 3lb loss

I have lost a total of 9lbs since rejoining Weight Watchers and know that it just takes a bit of work. . . and commitment! 

I just want to add that I am keeping an eye on my weight loss to see if there is a pattern. I am a very boring eater and although what I eat is generally healthy, I tend to eat similar things every week. This would suggest that I should be losing the same amount every week but as you can see that's not true! Let's see what the weight loss looks like in another six weeks and see if there is a pattern. . . 

Tessa's moments

As part of my blog I have previously talked about headaches, trouble sleeping and other perimenopausal symptoms. I had a migraine at the beginning of December, which resulted in two days off work, and another one between Christmas and New Year that had me confined to bed for another two days. 

I was 'bullied' by the girls at work into going to the doctors and very much thought that the discussion would be me giving into HRT as I couldn't see any other way forward. I will not use the word depression lightly but I will say that the migraines were starting to get me down. . . significantly. 

The doctor I saw said that due to concerns raise in the medical community that doctors were now very reluctant to put women on HRT. Phew. . . at least I did not have to deal with that! We then had a discussion about SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and trying to deal with my symptoms or trying to manage the migraines when I get them. I think that anyone reading this who has suffered with migraines will know what my response was! Now this is the bit where I don't really know what the doctor is talking about but I'm putting my trust in him to give me something that might help!

I arrived back at work with my prescription for Fluoxetine to be informed by the girls at work that I'd been given Prozac. Does he think I'm a slightly crazy, middle-aged woman??!! He does know me, even though he'd only just met me!!!

I went home, did some research before taking the first pill, and then decided that it couldn't do me any harm. For those interested, I started taking the Fluoxetine on day 10 of my cycle, and the doctor told me that it would take at least two weeks for the drug to get into my system so it may not help so much with my cycle that month. I'd only been given a 30 day supply to start with and told to go and get some blood tests done. 

I went back four weeks later, having taken 27 pills, and having gone through a cycle. Did I get a migraine? Yes, but it wasn't half as bad as it had been for the two months before and it had helped with some of my other symptoms; the night sweats were not as bad and the waking up, and being awake for 2/3 hours in the night for up to 10 days before I come on, were greatly reduced. It did still wake at around 2.30am but was able to get almost straight back to sleep. The other added bonus was that normally challenging behaviours in teenagers were met with a very chilled out Tessa!!

The doctor gave me the results of my blood tests and informed me 'that I was ovulating like a trooper'! Thanks!! I'm not sure that this is what I wanted to hear but I do know that perimenopausal symptoms can present for up to ten years before you actually go through the menopause. Let's hope that the Fluoxetine continues do work!

So, in 7 weeks time I will be 47. I hope to have lost another 7lbs by then. I will be well and truly into my #Moonwalk training. I'll have also done the Grizedale Go Ape zip line with two awesome and probably slightly scared friends! 

What's different now?

Someone asked me some time ago to tell them when I had found the answer to getting back on track! I am not sure that I have the answer but I do know what works for me.

I think that it's actually like a jigsaw. When all the pieces slot together then it makes things easier. You need to know what you are doing, have belief in what you are doing, follow it and believe in yourself. But

sometimes it can take a while to find the right pieces although you know where they should go you can't actually place them!

I regularly say that almost everyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows exactly what to do but sometimes it's not as easy as that.

It's the end of January and I've been 'properly' following the weightwatchers plan since 4 January. The first week; post Christmas weigh-in, I put on 1lb. I lost weight for the next two weeks; 3lbs and 1.5lbs. At this week's weigh in I gained 0.5lbs. My total loss for the month is 4lbs; but 5lbs lost since I rejoined in the middle of December. Am I happy with that? Honestly, I would have wished for more. I know from experience why I gained weight this week. I have done a lot of walking and this week did my first #kettlercise class in over 3 years.  The side effects of that have meant that I have not been able to move for much of this week without being in total agony! It's good agony as I know that I have worked my muscles but what I have had is known as DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness! It is a common phenomenon which not only includes muscles soreness, 24 to 48 hours after your workout, but can also include loss of strength, decreased range in motion, mild inflammation and an increase in two to three pounds or more in body weight! DOMS is common in people who are new to resistance training or a response to a change in exercise routines. That would be me this week! If I didn't know this I could have been very disappointed but I know that losing weight is not something that happens overnight. It is a lifestyle change. I will be continuing with the walking, kettlercise classes and following the weightwatchers plan. 

The beauty of that thought is that it is February. I have already noticed that as this month has gone on my walk to and from work has changed dramatically. When I walk to work in the morning it is already not so dark and coming home on Friday night I could almost say that I was not walking home in the dark. I am hoping in another couple of weeks that I will be walking home in daylight!

My mood is already better at that thought, as I really have had it with the 'winter blues'! So, I face the month of February in a positive mood looking forward. Let's see what next month brings.

Time for reflection

Yesterday I did one of those things on Facebook that you will all have seen and possibly done; what does your name mean in Japanese? I am not sure how it does it but so many times when you do these kinds of things they come out very close to who you are! Mine said the following;
'You are an incredibly generous person and always find a way to get on well with other people. You also can't help but feel responsible for those around you and try to help them out whenever you can. You handle setbacks well because you know that it's only by learning from your mistakes that you grow as a person.'

I am hoping that those of you who have never met me have realised that whilst reading this blog that I am always honest; those of you that have met and spent time with me will know that is what I am - honest. My reason for starting the blog was to try and help at least one person with something that I write and I know from comments that at least one person has been encouraged to do something that they might have ignored had they not read what I'd written plus also to make sure that I was 'walking the walk'!

I have thought about this post for some time and I was going to do two separate posts to discuss a couple of topics but I realised that they actually intertwined so I'm just going to do one post! 

This year has been an interesting one. I won't say difficult as I know that for some of you reading this your struggles this year have been huge; much more than anything that I have been through.

This time last year I weighed 10 pound less than I currently do and at my lowest weight, approximately 5 weeks later, 15 pounds less than I currently do. This may not seem a lot to some of you but for me I can really tell it in my clothes! So I have struggled with my weight all year; I am not the heaviest that I have been but I do need to take control. I know why I have struggled and I hope that someone might take some positive from the comments that I am about to make. When I started on my last serious weight loss journey, just over 4 year ago, I had a destination to go to; a friend's wedding. It was my goal and I was much more successful than even I thought that I could be. The problem that I have had since is that I have had no 'real' goal, apart from maintaining my weight. 

Last year I went on holiday with my best friend, Hannah, so I suppose that was a goal; I needed to still look good in my bikini! Since then, apart from being within 5 pounds of my goal weight at the beginning of December (my WeightWatchers goal anniversary), I really haven't had that one thing to aim towards. . . that is until now!

Around this time 11 years ago I was participating in the Cycle the Nile challenge; something that still makes me really proud to have completed. At some point on that trip my room mate, Anne, and I bought belly dancing outfits and 'talked' about trying to do the Moonwalk the following year. It never materialised but, a couple of months ago, I had a 'Tessa Moment' with regards to doing the Moonwalk. On Tuesday this week entries opened for the Moonwalk 2016'; at 9am I was straight on it signing up! The theme is carnival. I have already got some fantastic ideas to decorate my bra! For those of you that do not know the premise of the Moonwalk, it is a marathon distance, 26.2 miles, power walk. The mission of the charity is to 'raise money, raise awareness, get fit and have fun!' Walk the Walk came into being 15 years ago when 13 women power walked the New York City marathon in their bras to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. To date the charity has raised in excess of £79 million for vital breast cancer causes. 

The Moonwalk covers so many bases for me! Since I acknowledged the lump that I had in my armpit and faced my fears I have wanted to do something whilst I am fit and healthy to raise money for breast cancer causes. I enjoy walking; if my mother reads this she will have one of those laugh out loud moments as she probably never thought that she would hear me saying that! Plus there will be added benefits for me . . . I will be forced to take control and will need to train for the event. 
                                  
I also have plans for an outfit!! I did a bit of Google searching for carnival outfits and found this! Wouldn't it be great to customise my bra and wear some shorts that look a bit like this?! I'm also thinking a head-dress as well!?! Three friends have also signed up and I have created a group name of Tessa's Moments, of course!

To pull this outfit off I need to be fit. . . my stomach will never look like that but I can try!! 

So with this in mind I have had to reassess what I am doing. I posted a couple of weeks ago that I had started Insanity. I have to admit to failing miserably!! I did not get passed week 1; I just could not start week 2. The thought of it filled me with dread! I need to do exercise, obviously I have been walking to and from work most days and a couple of longer walks at weekends but I have to do something else. . . and something, more importantly, that I enjoy. I've said that I own several exercise DVD's and even which one I love the most; really I should have read what I was writing!!! I have always said that exercise should be enjoyed. . . so with that I got my Kettleworx (kettlebell) DVD's out. I love it; 20/25 minutes of exercise 3 times a week. Totally manageable! I have also been using my rebounder if I haven't done my 12000 steps a day then I get on my rebounder and do them. It's another great form of exercise.

So what's the goal? Initially, it's to lose 7 pounds in the next 6 weeks (Christmas party!); if it's more great but as I always say I'm setting a realistic target. I need to post each week about how I'm doing! I need to use this as my confessional or meeting or whatever you want to describe it as!

Moonwalk 2016 here we come . . . fitter, healthier, smaller and raising money for good causes plus doing it with great friends and maybe meeting some new ones along the way. . . 

So I'm trying to learn from mistakes that I have made this year and encouraging anyone else out there reading this that if it's gone 'a bit wrong' then start again. Are you back where you started and are feeling despondent? Don't . . . try and learn from your mistakes and start again. . . take one day at a time and congratulate yourself when you get successfully through that day. That's what I'm doing!!! I've managed 8 days in a row! Wow!!