A weighty issue

For years I've been rather blessed - I've been able to more or less eat what I fancy (at uni I could demolish one of those huge Dairy Milk bars and see no side effects- y'know -the really big ones designed for sharing), but then at the end of last year I started a desk based job. Not just any desk based job - one with a coffee shop serving home made cakes for less than a quid (I know! Less than a quid!) and lunchtime cheers of "yeah, sod it it's Tuesday, let's have fish and chips for lunch!", post work trips to the pub (rose spritzer please) and an endless supply of sweet treats in my office drawers. I used to hate reading articles in lifestyle magazines about eating healthily at work (perhaps it was just my envy of all those in 9-5 office jobs while I was hating retail) but now, I can kind of see how tricky it can be to eat sensible at an office job when you can just pick at food all.the.damn.time. In retail, outside of your lunch break there was no time for extra snacking. It's silly, as I do like fruit, veg and healthy options; my sweet tooth is the downfall and once I get a taste of chocolates or sweets it's game over.

In just 8 months my change in habits (a bag of crisps here, a bottle of cherry cola there) has taken it's toll, making me half a stone heavier already. Now, frustratingly, as someone naturally a little smaller it brings on comments of "oh well, it's not going to hurt you're only little", and right now, it may not be the end of the world, but if my habits continue I will be at least a stone heavier by the end of the year! To give context, I have gone from 8st to 8.5st  - so not devastatingly huge - but it got me thinking; weight isn't just about what's healthy, or what supposedly looks good, it's really about how you feel, and right now I just don't quite feel like myself.

My rather delicious afternoon snack today - I often buy fruit
reduced at the end of the day, not only because it's a flipping bargain
but it's also when the fruit is ripest, sweetest and yummiest! 

I used to eat FANTASTICALLY at work when I started my first full time job in retail - cereal or porridge for breakfast, nuts and seeds to snack, a home made sandwich and a huge fruit salad for lunch, and combined with being on my feet all day it was easy to stay slim. On my days off I ate whatever I fancied - usually a huge bowl of breakfast cereal mid morning and half a pack of biscuits in the afternoon, far from ideal, but shh, it was only two days a week.

So, wary of being a cliche, this Monday is a fresh start, eating habits are back on track and exercise is planned in. I was constantly active as a child and teen- dancing, swimming, gym, netball, basketball...and the key was having it on fixed days and times. Now it's too easy to go "nah, I'll run tomorrow as I'm tired / it's chilly / I have housework to do / I need to gaze at the cat / *anything to avoid it*

If I had a pool like this I would swim
every freaking day

Today I am off work and went for a swim for the first time in a long time. I used to swim for a club and training was brutal - we averaged 120 lengths in a 90 minute session with additional sprints and relay races at the end - to really force every last bit of energy from us. So today I started gentle, with the aim of doing 50 lengths instead of just swimming till I gave up. It worked lovely, did 10 lengths to warm up, small rest, another 20 lengths, small rest then my last 20 lengths. I got into the only designated "proper" swimming lane, making it easier to keep up the pace and I also pictured my old coach barking at me to "KICK THOSE LEGS HARDER EMMA" and this memory certainly gave me a kick up the backside. Before I knew it I had done 50 lengths in 45 minutes, and despite the jelly legs I felt great. That's the thing-those post exercise endorphins definitely aren't a myth.

It also reminded me that exercise shouldn't be a chore - all the activities I did as a youngster I did because I loved them, so I am trying to recreate that and have found a netball group to join in September that I can't wait for. I am also hunting down a good local street  dance / hiphop class that is just for adults. 

This post has ended up far longer than planned, and also far more like a diary entry than I intended! Today has just been a reminder that it really is ok to be any size - as long as you are comfortable and look after yourself - and most of all do the exercise you LOVE! Be it the gym, swimming, running, dancing, team games, whatever it may be, if you actively look forward to it then you are already on the right track.

I've now bordered in to preachy / lifestyle magazine style of writing, so to offer reassurance I did spend the rest of my morning curled up with endless cups of Earl Grey and a book on the sofa - my jelly legs had earned it after all!