Day 3. Week 1.

I was up and at'em at a decent hour this morning and asked the husband if he wanted to come for a ride or walk with me...of course he said no but I did not let that put me off.  It was windy so I was umming and ahhing about what to do and in the end decided to chance it and ride into daughters then walk up the hill.   Hmmm...it was windy!   I should have taken a beanie as my ears are a bit sore now from the wind.    Easily had an hours moving done and still home just after 7 ready for a coffee.  I do like getting it done in the mornings as then it is over and done with and out of the way and anything done later throughout the day is a bonus.  The morning moving can be fun as it is not being done because it *has to be*

Todays Eating:
coffee
oatmix.  Added a couple of walnuts to it this morning as well.
coffee.
2 sm sl pizza.
salad x 2 cups
coffee
oatballs.
egg and veg quiche type thing, no pastry or crust.
Bit of fruitsalad.  Not 2 serves 

The oatballs are something that I mix up when I want something *treaty*  It is honey and peanut paste mixed together then oats, ground flax, bran...whatever I have on hand, added and mixed in, formed into marble sized balls.  Sometimes it is put in the fridge to go hard and it is better that way.  I only make a small amount as I want it otherwise I would eat too much of it.

It was half past 5 and I thought that I hadn't had any fruit yet, not sure how that happened.  I wasn't hungry though as I'd just had the eggy thing.   Think that I must get in some fruit over the next 3 hours.....Had some but not the 2 serves so no points for fruit today.  Never though I'd miss points on fruit!  Too funny.  Not enough water either.  Will do better tomorrow.

Only 31 points today.  Oops!

Week 1, Day 2.

Woke up around 5ish this morning, couldn't be fagged getting up but kept thinking about this challenge and wondering what exercise I'd fit in...eventually decided on a short bikeride before I needed to leave so up and dressed and rode the small block.  That took around 15 - 16 minutes so leaves a min 15 to go.  I figure I can get that in easily with running around the yard with the kids.  If I get a halfhour walk in that will get me the 2 bonus points.  Will see what happens.

Food today:
Coffee.
oatmix
nuts
coffee
watermelon, sm slice
fishcake
pizza and 2 cups salad
apple
two cups cook vegetables, *minced* Italian sausage on top.
Orange

The watermelon looked nice but I should have known, it is too early in the season so it was not very nice.  Not nice enough to have another piece that's for sure.  One of the best things about Summer is Watermelon season so I am always surprised at myself when I have some too early knowing it will not be nice.

Was going to have an egg a couple of hours after the veg, not because I was hungry but because I didn't think I'd had enough protein for the day.  Wondering if I should have.  Would it be better to have had it or not....

The thirty minutes exercise was easy enough, there was running around with a 2 year old and some side stepping and walking on the spot instead of sitting and reading, walking around the yard while they played instead of just standing or sitting and watching them...

Had to make an effort to get the water in because I wasn't home and didn't have my bottle with me so didn't think about it enough. I need to remember to take my water bottle with me to work as drinking too much at once just to get the amount up isn't good.

37 points again. 
It will be nice to get that amount for 5 days this week but I admit it is an effort.  We are only 2 days in and I was thinking that it will be easy but I can see that I am going to have to be thinking about it all the time until it all becomes routine again.

Food Diary. Week One, Day One.

Mon 29th
5.30 coffee.
Banana
Breakfast. oatmix, coffee
Strawberries.
Lunch. Pizza, few slices, cup and a bit salad.
coffee
cup salad
Orange
Tea.  Four cups cooked veg, grated cheese on top.


Daily Points - 37.

Day 1 was like most of my days will be.  We grow our vegetables and some fruit so these are easy to get in as they are here and that's what we eat.  Exercise has been my downfall lately and that is what I want to get back into on a regular basis and if it wasn't for this challenge I would not have gone for a 35min (7km) bikeride this afternoon, I would have been happy with the mowing this morning. 
I measured the salad at lunchtime and the veg for tea to make sure that I was getting the amount I thought I was.  I wont need to do this all the time because I know, more or less, what a serve looks like.
I drink water so the 2 litres of that will be easy enough.  I will count the nettle tea and the water kefir in that 2 litres and most days I will drink way more than 2 litres.
I usually eat more than 2 bits of fruit, sometimes it could be way more, like 5, 6, 7 serves.  Some people will see this as a problem but we eat what we grow and when the fruit is here that is what we eat.  This morning for example with the Strawberries...there would have been more than a cups worth eaten throughout the morning as I was out working around those gardens and they were ripe...

I'm not home for the next couple of days but lunches are put away and have 2 cups of salad in each days lunch.  Veg are cooked and ready for tomorrows tea and I will cook eggs or fish when I get home to go with that.  Breakfast will probably be the oatmix.

Eight Week Challenge.

I spoke too soon about being better.  I thought I was so went out for the day on Saturday, did too much and was sick again on the Sunday.  Still not well this morning BUT...instead of moping around playing the *poor me, too sick, not well, can't do* card I woke up determined to get a bit more positive.    So I signed up for an 8 week challenge with some like minded people and it starts today.

The challenge is based on a points system, we get so many points for doing different things, like 5pt for 30min exercise, 3pt if we drink 2 litres water, points if we eat 3 serves of vegetables more if we eat 5, points for fruit...stuff like that, with a maximum point value for this week being 240.   One of the things is to keep a food diary, that will give me 5 points for the day so I will use this blog to do that. 

So as well as being fitter by Friday I will also see how many points I can get by the end of Sunday.  

I am putting my chart on the fridge so it will be seen and can be filled in as I go.  There are no excuses now.

I might fall short on the exercise points this week but I have something to work towards with other people doing the same so we can encourage and support each other.  

I think it will be fun.

It will be fun!

Friday, Not Fitter but Better.

It's Friday and there is no way that I could possibly be fitter than last week  
But I do feel better and the cold thing is starting to go.
Tomorrow we will be out and there will be quite a bit of walking so hope that doesn't send me back at all.

I am going to get back into the moving this week and I will be fitter by next Friday.

Still Sick.

Tuesday and I am still sick.  It's not even 7am yet and my head has started to hurt.  I have been up since 5.30 so maybe it's time for something to eat but I don't really feel like anything yet.

I have been outside and started splitting some blocks of wood but had to give up after not too many.  It's going to take a long time to get that pile shifted...Of course the son will come out one day and do it in 10minuites and I kinda think I should leave it until he does but I also think I should do it myself, I want to do it myself...just not today.

I haven't done any walking or riding for ages and it will be at least another couple before I try so I am going to be back where I started, again!  I wonder how many times I will keep trying this before I give up...

OK, I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP...I will eat chicken and veg soup throughout today, have a sleep when I want to and tomorrow I will wake up feeling alright.  The mowing can wait, the woodpile can wait...there are a few things that shouldn't wait but I will see go I feel about them later, maybe a small bowl of oats and a kefir smoothie will get me going.  Lets try.

Eating Healthy. But sick too often.

I used to pride myself on never getting sick.  Everyone else around me would be coughing and sniffing and feeling crook but I'd be fine.  I said it was all the healthy living I did.

I am still, mostly, living healthy but lately I have had more colds than I am used to and I don't like it.
I'm starting to think what's the point of eating mostly fresh, unprocessd foods if I am still going to get sick.  Even the Nettle Tea hasn't warded off the last 2 colds.

My husband eats crap and drinks Coke, lots of servo food when away working....He also smokes, drinks, doesn't exercise. He works, hard, during daylight hours, stays up all night more often that I think is good for him...He quite often eats toast for tea, white bread!! instead of the yummy meat and veg concoction that I have made.  He never eats breakfast, doesn't drink water...He has colds less often than I do, he is rarely sick.  He is fitter, stronger, smarter than me.  If you compared the way we each ate and lived then it would seem that I should be the healthier one.  I'm not.

I work with kids and if they are sick I am starting to think that it will soon be my turn.  Up until a year or so ago I was pretty sure that their germs wouldn't affect me, and they didn't.  But now...Makes me cranky.  Seems like a lot is making me cranky lately...lol.   That's not really the case...I just wonder why.  Why does the healthy eater get sick more than the crap eater.

And what can I do about it?   I am due for more blood tests, maybe I am low in Iron again....
Any ideas please on how a healthy eater can get sick less often?   Without factory processed pills and potions!

October 13-19.

Saturday.  Rode 3km  Walked, not fast, 4 hours.
Sunday.  Mnnn...Nothing?  Used the stepper for a bit...
Monday.  Okayyyyy, nothing again?  Was at work.
Tuesday.  Walked!  Did the Chuditch trail again.  4km of hilly bits and steps.
Wednesday.  Hour and a half walk...an hour of that around town so a bit hilly.
Thursday.  Not well so nothing.
Friday.  As above...Probably could have walked or ridden today but didn't...and now I have a cold!! 

Am I fitter than last week...don't know.  I sure don't feel it so maybe not.  I will start again on Monday...the cold should be on it's way out by then and I should be less cranky too.

Goal Walk, Not Cancelled But...

You know how I wrote that I was going to do my goal walk to the weir tomorrow, ...well I don't think I'll be able to.  I have been useless this afternoon, even after a sleep I hurt all over, can't walk properly, hands are useless, my shins are sore, I feel like...lets just say, not well!   After some tablets and a proper sleep tonight I should wake up feeling alright tomorrow except maybe for the shins.   I think the Chuditch Walk, the hour and a half around town, the mowing, the stepper, too much.  The sore shins are due to walking uphill in shoddy shoes but the rest was caused from overdoing things.  As I do.  I might try for the walk on Sunday...At least a section of it.

And yes, feeling extra useless because really, I should be able to walk up a hill by now, I started this blog 2 years ago and I am no better off than I was way back then.  If I kept at it I would be able to, Stupid!   Yep feeling cross!  lol.

Todays Walk.

I was suposed to go to work today but arranged for the daughter to go instead.  She is not an early morning person though so I decided to walk into her place and bang on her door to make sure she was *upanatem* on time.  Nearly there though and I decided that instead of the 30 minutes I'd get by going to her place then home again that I'd walk up the hill, around the block, then home again, getting in an hours walk.   I called her, she was up so I crossed the road and started.

Many, many! years ago when I lived in town I used to walk these streets most days.  Up the hill, the whole town block (small town not a big city type town) up a few more streets then back down to where I lived. It took a couple of hours and it was fun as I was doing it with a group of friends.   Things change and for various reasons the walks stopped.  Fast forward and I don't think I could walk the town block if I tried.   Apart from the town being a lot bigger now I am fatter, unfitter, sorer, older, no-one to walk it with...

But this morning was just going to be up the hill to the top street, around a bit then back down to my crossover and the 15 minute walk back home.  I planned on it taking an hour.    Well how unfit am I!   It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I did get to the top of the hill in the time I thought I would but after that I started feeling it in my shins.  It was still OKish but I did need to go slower and coming back down I *forgot* what road I needed to take so an extra 10min was added on.  I also had the time wrong so went further than I needed to and by the time I was back down at my crossover I had been walking for more than an hour.  The 15min walk home took nearly 20 so all up I had been walking for more than an hour an a half.  And felt like I'd been walking all day!

Maybe it was too much after yesterdays walk.  Maybe it was the shoes, maybe I thought I was better than I am.  I have planned on doing my *goal walk* this Friday...and am now wondering how good of an idea that is.  I will still attempt it, I will have my phone and will call my personal taxi if I need to but I will be so cross with myself if I need to do that.

I wont walk tomorrow but should ride then and don't know yet if the woman I ride with will stop by this afternoon or not.  Need to wait and see.  I don't have her number and she has 2 big dogs so I don't like going into her yard if she is not around.  I missed her Monday and yesterday because of her or me working and don't know if she will be around today or not.  I will be ready in case she shown but if she doesn't I *could* go for a short on later...

I have mowing to do today but am not sure if I should...well, of course I should but I am really not feeling up to it so will wait and see how I feel later.

Now...I am going to rub some more Deep Heat on then get stuck into the days jobs.

Chuditch Walk, LPR, Dwellingup.

LPR= Lane Poole Reserve.

Daughter wanted to do this today, she wasn't keen while up there camping last week but as it gave me another chance to do it I took it with out  too much complaining.  When husband and I did it last Friday we really only did half of it as we started at one end but when we reached the other end instead of turning around and coming back along the same track we came back along the other side of the brook and that was not as hilly or steppy.   This time I can honestly say that I did the whole lot.  I do think it's silly to have a walk that doubles back on itself when it could have been made as a circuit route, maybe not as long but I wonder how many people actually do get to the end and just turn around and come back the same way.  

The main sign says the whole walk is 4km, taking 2 1/2 hours.  The sign above says 3.8km and no, it's not 200mtres further along.  I'm taking the 4km. Why, because we did have a bit of a walk from the car, the loo was a bit of a way up a hill then back down to the path, back to the car after the walk, it sounds better...  Not sure where they get the 2 1/2 hours to walk it from.  I am not very fit and me and the daughter did it in around an hour and a half.  You'd have to be going pretty slow to take the 2 hours, maybe if you had small kids with you...

 We started the walk from the Nanga Mill campsite area and this is the little bridge at the beginning of the walk.

Over the bridge, to the left, follow the sign...






                                                                   Along the path...

                                                           
                                                                    Down there...

There are areas where the edges have given way but it's safe enough if you stick to the path

.Down a gravel road for a bit...

 Left down some steps...

 Then up the path...

 Up some more...

 And still up...

                                                    Oops, now where, which way do we go...

                                                                         That way...

 Daughter says this is how the path got it's name...

Hmmm the rock might have spots like a Chuditch does but I don't think so...

There are a few little bridges along Nanga Brook, making it easy for getting from one side to the other without getting your shoes wet.

 After walking for a bit we come to Nanga Road.  

We need to cross over here and continue the walk on the other side.

  But be aware.  Sometime the path is closed for a bit while the mines kill a bit more Earth. 

A short walk into the other side and we can look back and see the gate that we drove through to get to Nanga Mill and the start of our walk.

The walk this side is not as close to the water but it can still be heard as it babbles merrily along through the undergrowth.
There are a couple of tents over the creek in the Nanga Townsite camping area. Won't be long now and we will be at the end of the walk...or more precisely, to the halfway point.




And then the batteries in the camera went flat.  Never mind, we will come back and take photos of the last section another time.

Second Week, October 7-12.

Second week and things are much the same. 

Saturday.  Nothing...No reason, just couldn't be fagged.  Not good!
Sunday.  Walked small block, 3.6ish km.  Rode big block.
Monday. Walked down L's road and back up hill, 30 minutes or thereabouts.
Tuesday, Work so nothing there.  Finally used stepper when home.  20+ min over an hour.
Wed. Stepper but not for long enough.
Thur. Walked a bit but sat around the campfire for too long.
Fri.   Walked around 7 km in 3 walks over the morning. 

Happy with the walking today...Pity I don't do it more often.  If I did I would be well on the way to managing that hill I want to climb.  Wanting to walk to weir next  Friday...Was wondering if I should even try as the more I try to push the less I can breath but this mornings walk shows that I can walk further than I think...if I only get up and actually do it.

Walking The Walk.

We have been away on an overnight campout up at Lane Poole Reserve, Dwellingup so I have at least had a couple of walking stints this week.  Because of them I *think* I am fitter today than last week.  Maybe.  I mean there was a lot! of huffing and puffing as we walked along the path that was the Chuditch Walk Trail.  And I mean a lot.  But I have walked more this week than any other for a long time. 

I have done this walk a few times before...or thought I had.  I walked along a path to where this trail ends so believed that I had done this walk but yesterday I came across a sign that showed I hadn't been on the right track at all.

I decided that I'd do the right Chuditch Trail and as I was sitting around the fire pit with 6 other adults this morning I issued them all an invitation to join me in this walk.  Told them that it was only 4km, took, according to the sign that couldn't possibly be right, a couple of hours...No-one was interested.  Now I'd already walked a couple of k's earlier while waiting for husband to wake up and a bit more with the grandkid after that and I am fat and unfit but was ready for more so I was disappointed that no-one else thought it was a good idea.  Husband was kind enough to come with me so I thank him for that.  He is not a walker but the lovely man came because he knew I'd rather not go alone.

This trail has steps, and a lot of them.  Uphill steps too.  I reckon that anyone that can't do this walk wont be able to do the Bluff Knoll climb so any of the group that plan on coming with us next year could use this walk as a practicing tool.

There are many nice walks in this reserve and I know I say it every time after I go up to Lane Poole but I am going to make an effort to get a few more in before the end of the year.   It's so close to home there is no reason that I couldn't go up every month at least and get some decent walks in.

October Goal.

I'm thinking that because I'm not doing enough I need to set some walking goals and get it down in writing so it sticks in me head.   There is no way that I will be able to walk up Bluff Knoll next year if I don't start getting real about it all pretty darn soon. So:
Before the end of this month I WILL walk up to the weir. 

Probably not from here though...I will ride into T's place and use that as my starting point.  For the first one anyway.  Eventually I will walk all the way from here. 

I think this walk is a bit further than 5km, all up hill.  I did drive it last week to see how far it was but then drove somewhere else and forgot to write it down.

I know it can be done...I have seen people doing it.  The only difference between me and them, that I can see, is they are younger, fitter, thinner and actually doing it.
I bet before they started that they thought they couldn't.  I bet their first time was hard on their legs. I bet they enjoy it now...

I have even seen kids riding up this hill.  OK, we all know that kids can do just about anything, 45 years ago I probably could have ridden up this hill, no hands and with a blindfold on...OK, maybe not the blindfold...My point?  Other people are doing it and there is no reason that I can't do it too. 

This Weeks Moving.

Well, I have to be fitter this week than I was last week.
I haven't done as much as many others but I'm happy that I seem to be getting back into again.

Saturday.  Nothing...No reason, just didn't think to.
Sunday.  Rode small block.  3.6ish km.
Monday.Walked and rode, small block.
Tuesday, Work so nothing. (did kick a football around with a 5 year old during the afternoon)
Wed.  At work so nothing.
Thur. Walked the small block in morning so 3.6km.  Rode the big block in afternoon.
Fri.  No walk, mowed instead.  Rode the big block plus extra in the afternoon.

Was a bit useless Tuesday night so I'm thinking the footy games shouldn't happen again.  The walking is fine but the riding is leaving my arms and hands sore but that's OK, they'd probably be soreish anyway as I have been whippersnippering and mowing as well and that always makes me hurt.

I need to do at least the same next week, more will be better though.

Six Months...Still Counting.

So I have less that 6 months before I need to be fit enough for that mountain/hill climb.  I just know you are all wondering how I am going with the training for it thing, yeah?  Not all that great, not even a little bit good.  Real bad in fact.
How the blank am I going to be fit enough when I don't do anything to get fitter?  The answer is...I'm not.  And that will be a problem.

I did think that it might have to be put off because of the husband's back but he assures me he will be fine and it is still on.  Well there goes that excuse.  So I suppose I better, again, get stuck into it.

I haven't walked up to the weir yet though I did drive up there a couple of weeks ago to see how far it was...then drove somewhere else and didn't write the numbers down so still don't know.  Husband thinks around 5km but driving up there I'm sure it's more.  And it's all up hill!  I know, that's the point but still.

I am going to walk up there this month though, after the school holidays are over.  I can always ring the daughter to come pick me up if I can't get back again.  

Over the last week I have walked around the small block, ridden around the small block, ridden around the big block...Not been home the last couple of days but am tomorrow so will walk the small block in the morning and maybe ride it in the afternoon.  I have someone to ride with now so hopefully we'll do it a few times each week.


Small block is 3.6km,  Big block is 5+km.