I’ve been struggling to think of anything inspiring to write this week, and after some consideration, I realised this is because I do not feel inspired.
I feel bad for saying this, as really, I am very lucky. I am going on holiday twice this year – we went to Devon at the end of May, and we are going to Center Parcs at the beginning of August.
These two breaks are 10 weeks apart, and I thought this would be a good time to focus on nutrition and exercise with a view to looking the best I can at Center Parcs. It will be my first ‘swimsuit’ holiday since before Covid, and although I am a believer that a ‘bikini body’ is any body dressed in a bikini, there is still a certain pride I take in making sure the body I dress in a bikini is one I am happy with. My goal was to tone up and tighten my tiny amount of muscle through a combination of cardiovascular exercise, weight training and walking.
As I write this, I am halfway through the 5th week and not happy as things took quite a rapid downturn at the end of week two.
I could make all the excuses under the sun. I won’t, although I think it is fair to say that things have not helped. As the temperatures soared my body decided that it was going to have an… erm… extra cycle… for no reason what-so-ever. This meant 3-4 days of light headedness, nausea, weakness, tiredness… I couldn’t even grip the weights at the gym, let alone move them! My steps dropped down to nearly nothing and the chocolate cake came out.
I got through it and started week 3 with renewed resolve. Then my car got a puncture. Now I couldn’t get to the gym, or my classes. I don’t know why my steps dropped again this week because really the opposite should have happened, but for some reason my car problems sent me into a spiral of lethargy and despondency.
Then I got a cold. A nasty cold. A cold that bunged me up and made me tired and made me not want to do anything at all. Then I had to have my tooth filled. This didn’t really affect anything at all, but it didn’t make me happy!
Now in-between all of this, I have been putting in some work. I did Race for Life. I hit a personal best at archery. I’ve been teaching every class I have been able to get to and have walked the dog more or less every day regardless of how I have been feeling. But I can’t really say I have been challenging myself. And that was the idea. To do something that challenged me and made me feel that I had accomplished something.
As I write this July starts tomorrow. That is 38 days before I go away, and if I really want to make a difference, and I do, it is time to knuckle down.
So stay tuned!