Fit(bit)ness goals

I remember, it must have been a couple of years ago now, going on a walk with D and my parents out in the Dales. I was just coming to the end of some kind of chesty cold / cough type bug and feeling a little under the weather but nothing that some fresh air and sunshine wouldn’t fix. Well. I soon began to struggle. Any sort of gradient and my chest felt as if it was filling up with phlegm; I was coughing incessantly to try and shift it which not only wasn’t helping but was making breathing difficult. I started to get light headed and, at certain points, was struggling to summon the energy to both cough and put one foot in front of the other. It was horrible. Fortunately, there was a convenient point where the route of the walk intercepted a main road and my Mum and I settled down on picnic table for a hot drink while Dad and D finished and then came up in the car to collect us. So all’s well that ended well and a week or so later, the bug cleared itself up and I was absolutely fine.

But I mention this because I remember at the time thinking about how I have always taken the fact that I am not, particularly, physically restricted and that my distaste for exercise and attendant lack of fitness has never had a massive impact on my life. I have always been fit enough to do what I wanted or needed to do. I can go on walks, even ones with hills, tramp round cities and museums, go up and down stairs. I mean, yes, I’ll probably be redder and sweatier and slower than you, but I can do it. I have never, before or after that walk, actually had to say – you know what, I physically can’t manage this. And I am becoming acutely aware that this is an extraordinarily lucky state of affairs, and one that will not continue indefinitely unless I make some changes to my lifestyle.

I’ve always thought to myself – when I’m slimmer, that’s when I’ll start. I’ll start running. I’ll join a gym. I’ll do a Zumba class. But the weight loss needs to come first. What rubbish. Look at the amazing Lesley –she definitively proves that you don’t need to be pin thin to be incredibly fit and bursting with vitality. Just reading her blog makes me feel tired. But the results speak for themselves – she absolutely glows with health. I want that glow!

And, full disclaimer, I also want lots of Fit Points to shore up my daily and weekly Smart Points allowance. Yeah, come on people, this is always going to come back to the food, isn’t it? But I do think that Fit Points are one of the best things about the WW programme because seeing them build up is a great incentive for greedy cows like me. You have to earn a baseline of 4 points before you can start adding them to your bank (so, for example, if you earn 8 Fit Points in a day, 4 of them will be available for you to eat if you so wish). You don’t have to use them – and, indeed, since starting back on WW I haven’t needed them but the important thing is that they are there.

So I’ve clipped my Fitbit Zip to my bra and I have been making concerted efforts to up my steps. I have tried to incorporate little changes – getting off the bus to and from work a couple of stops earlier, for example, and popping out for a fifteen minute wander at lunchtime. The photos on this post were taken as D and I walked the seven mile Meanwood Valley Trail yesterday afternoon; the first time in a while that we’ve been out walking for walking’s sake. I’ve even dusted off my trainers and fired up the treadmill for a couple of Couch to 5k sessions which I’ve found HARD. But plodding along to an episode of “Queer Eye” or my rather eclectic Spotify “Running” playlist makes it bearable and a friend at work has started doing it as well, the end goal being we go for a run after work and then undo all our hard work with several stiff gins. Hey, whatever works to get me moving, I’ll take it.