Project 40- Week 22

The cough continues. To be honest it’s probably now the defining part of my personality, what’s Heather like? Oh well she coughs a lot.

Honestly it’s exhausting and I’ve started to try and train a bit more but I feel quit light headed and just have zero cardio capacity.

I’ve been given another steroid spray, some steroid tablets and an inhaler to try and clear whatever is causing it and I’m really hoping it starts to work quickly so I can get a few decent runs in ahead of next month. So far it’s basically made me feel worse but I’m optimistic!

I’m also hungry, like all the time. I think it maybe has something to do with not always being able to taste much, so i juts always want to eat more (and I like eating at the best of times anyway). I’m going to try and be more mindful in April because I feel like dropping a couple of pounds will assist the runs.

Really hopeful that within the month I’ll be ale to get back to moving more without always trying to tackle a cough – i feel like this would be a bigger win than running two half’s in May!

Calories in 60 Seconds

  • The Energy Balance Equation = Calories in V Calories Out
  • You burn a certain amount of calories just existing (Your BMR)
  • You burn some calories depending on your activity levels through the day
  • This combined is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
  • This is your Calories Out
  • Everything you eat has a calorific value, everything you eat in a day gives you Calories In.
  • If Calories In and Calories Out are equal consistently you will maintain your current weight
  • If Calories In is more than Calories Out consistently (creating a surplus) you will gain weight
  • If Calories In is less than Calories Out consistently you will lose weight
  • Calories In being less than Calories out is the definition of a Calories Deficit
  • Consistently is the key word, one day in surplus or deficit will not make a difference
  • If you want to lose weight and are not you need to review Calories In
  • You could keep Calories In the same and look at increasing Calories Out but this may be difficult to do depending on your current activity levels
  • It may be ideal to look at both reducing Calories In a little and increasing Calories Out a little
  • Calories are calories regardless of whether they come from fat, carbs or protein. Different amounts of calories make up different foods but when it comes to being in a calorie deficit how those calories are made up is not relevant

Project 40- Week 21

As we approach the end of the first quarter of the year, which quite frankly feels like it’s flown by, I feel a bit like I’ve massively underachieved. 

In terms of training I’m way out from where I planned to be for my goals, in particular the two half marathons I’m doing in May.  My goal had been not to just run them but actually enjoy running them, feel comfortable and in a position to push for a time rather than just get round.

As much as I’ve tried to keep on top of training, the never ending cough has just prevented me from running or at least doing so for any extended period of time. Most runs have been a mixture of running and walking (with coughing fits in between).

I’m readjusting my goals for these and looking to get in the best place I can (the cough does seem to be improving a little) and then enjoying them rather than thinking about times. In reality I do then have the second half of the year to then push for more performance based goals once (hopefully) I’m healthier.

Adjusting your expectations and not getting despondent is actually quite difficult. There’s so much out there about sticking to plans no matter what, pushing through, no pain no gain and so on, that sometimes it can feel like defeat to adjust goals to something more manageable.

I think that mind set is why a lot of people give up on new training plans and goals after a while. If it doesn’t work out perfectly straight away you can end up feeling like a failure or guilty and it’s almost easier to say maybe it’s not for me or I can’t so it.

From my point of view though, doing these half marathons will still be an achievement. It will still have positive effects on me (both physically, mentally) and I can always try again over the coming months to hit the milestones in terms of performance I originally wanted to.

For most of us, a not perfect change, is still going to be massively beneficial (albeit not quite as Instagram post worthy) and so sometimes we need to just modify things a bit and keep going.

Monday

Monday morning. New week. Here’s some reminders if you are looking to get fitter, slimmer, healthier.

  1. Aim to exercise 2-3 times. Block out 5 times in your diary, if you miss a couple no harm, if you make all 5 appointments with yourself you’ve over achieved.
  2. Try and add an extra 10 minutes walk into each day this week to increase your steps a little.
  3. Drink a glass of water once every hour.
  4. Track what you eat in MyFitnessPal, see where you are in comparison to your calorie goal.
  5. If you aren’t in a calorie deficit try and reduce your intake by 200-500 calories a day.
  6. Hit five portions of fruit and veg a day. Try to mix it up, eat a range of colours.
  7. Eat 1.5 x your body weight (in kg) in protein a day.
  8. Struggle to get to sleep? Try drinking your last coffee at midday.
  9. Stretch. For a few minutes day, when you’re watching TV or at the very least once this week.
  10. Identify one thing you struggle with and decide on one small change you can make to improve.

A Quick Guide to Non – Exercise Activity Thermogenesis

NEAT

  • Burns more calories per day than exercise
  • Measuring your daily steps is an easy way to monitor / increase your NEAT
  • Generally a goal of 10,000 steps per day is considered to be good for the average person
  • 20,000 steps a day would be considered active
  • If 10,000 currently seems unachievable look at your daily average right now and try and increase it by 10% for the next week. Keep doing this every few weeks as you adjust to the change.
  • Each 1,000 steps added to a person’s day reduces risk of mobility loss
  • Don’t just focus on steps though, think about moving more in general (dancing, playing with the kids, housework, shopping)

Therapy or Therapeutic?

Ask a lot of people who are into fitness why they train and you’ll get an answer that refers to mental health. There’s been a massive shift in recent years from people training purely for aesthetics to people training for how it makes them feel.

Exercise is a great stress relief, moving more literally releases endorphins, it can improve confidence, possibly get you outdoors and getting fresh air. So yes training can be incredibly beneficial to your mental health.

Viewing training as what your body can do and something that makes you feel better makes exercise a positive action rather than a form of punishment, where you train to eat more or change your appearance and size.

What exercise isn’t though, is therapy. It can be therapeutic of course it can. If I’m a bit stressed or anxious going to the gym or for a run can help alleviate the symptoms. If i don’t train for a few days I can feel the difference to my mood, largely because I actually enjoy the time I’m running or lifting, it makes me feel good, is a break from whatever is going on and a chance to blast some music and focus on me.

But exercise can’t replace therapy or solve actual problems. If training is literally the only thing keeping you sane or making you feel better it’s time to look at the issues exercise is acting as a sticking plaster for. The issue when you get to this point, is if you can’t train for whatever reason, you end up feeling terrible. When you feel like training through an injury because that would be better than how you’d feel if you took some time off, or rest days sound like a terrible idea because even though you’re knackered and burnt out a day off would make you feel guilty.

The benefits of training for mental health can’t be denied but we always need to remember that for it to be a benefit it needs to complement our life rather than dominate it, which means knowing when to rest even if you really want to train, when to pull back, when to take it easy and then appreciate what you are still able to do when you can train.

Project 40- Week 19

My cough has still not gone.

I’ve had a clear X-ray and other things ruled out which is positive, overall I’m pretty healthy. I just. cannot. shift. the. cough.

It’s tiring, i have a constant headache, my ribs hurt, my throat is sore and whilst I know my lunges are clear I feel like I’m drowning and my breathing is terrible.

Starting to get a bit concerned about running the half marathons I’ve signed up for. I’m not running fit and training at the moment feels impossible, I can run for about 5 minutes before I feel breathless so getting any long runs in prior to May is starting to feel doubtful. My aim for these half’s hadn’t been time based but I wanted to get to the start line confident I could get round comfortably and actually enjoy it (as opposed to last May when getting round by any means necessary had been the baseline) and I’m annoyed with myself that I’m not going to get to that point in time because my body is not playing ball.

It’s not just that, I teach classes and at the moment I just can’t do it – I can’t do cardio for myself let alone talk, and think and focus on people and what they are doing at the same time as trying to stand upright whilst exercising.

I’ve got some more steroids to see if that helps shift some of the build up and hopefully make it possible to actually exercise but at the moment I’m just generally feeling sorry for myself, I know exactly what I’d say to a client in my position but self enforced rest is incredibly hard when you’re used to training most days!

International Women’s Day 2023

Rather than being a day where people post pictures of women with hashtags hopefully there will also be posts focusing on this years theme (if you’ve read my blog for a while you’ll know every years there’s a theme).

This years International Women’s Day is about embracing Equity. So what does that mean?

For years women have campaigned for equality – being given the same opportunities as men. But equality relies on us all starting from the same point to begin with. In reality that doesn’t happen. It’s not just that girls and boys tend to have different experiences growing up and face different challenges to one another but even amongst women we all start from different places and have different levels of advantage or disadvantage and that means even two women given the same resources won’t be on an equal playing field to one another.

The idea of equity is that to create equality we need to ensure people have what they need to succeed. People with past advantages may need less now than their peers and rather than that being seen as unequal it should be embraced to allow others the same opportunities they have had. Of course beyond International Women’s Day this message counts for all. Where can this fit into the world of fitness though?

Gyms can be intimidating places, especially for new people, people with injuries, those coming back from illnesses, people starting back again after a long hiatus. For people who for whatever reason might need to take more tests, modify their movement, need a little more help in whatever way. Male or female it’s the fitness community and instructors / PTs role to help anyone who doesn’t feel like they’re in a position to just start exercising and provide the tools and a safe environment for them to train in a capacity that works for them.

International any day can end up being lip service but days creating actual conversations that help people think about things in different ways or consider different ways of thinking of things can have lots more benefits to a nice photo and a hashtag.

Hybrid AF

Are you Hybrid athlete?

Recently this phrase has become a full on trend on social media. So what is a Hybrid Athlete? Well officially someone who excels simultaneously in both strength and endurance activities, but essentially someone who trains for multiple disciplines or in multiple ways.

Is it really a new thing? Honestly, no. Lots of people have always done a mixture of heavy lifting and cardio, things like Crossfit where multi functional fitness is the aim, lifted and ran. It is however getting more attention now and with this new (not new but trending i guess) name gaining more recognition.

People who maybe once almost exclusively lifted might now consider running as a bigger part of their training or add in other types of exercise rather than being of the mindset ‘I do this and this is the best form of training and all other types of training are inferior’ mindset.

In this sense the growth of the Hybrid Athlete is a good thing. Multi functional programmes with variety and a mixture of cardio and resistance fitness can help people become more robust overall, not just leaner or stronger, but generally better equiped to live a healthy every day lfe.

When we talk about functional fitness or say a workout contains functional moves, we are essentially saying it will help up in every day life (carrying things, picking up kids and so on). Not focusing on one form of movement can help benefit you in the same sort of functional way as you are working on being more robust and fit overall rather than excelling in one particular way.

The other benefit i see from this type of training is the mindset benefits, in terms of confidence as you try new things, get used to stepping out of your comfort zone and expand you skill set. It also takes the idea of training away from being a means to an end to lose weight or achieve a certain physique and makes it a more feel good about yourself thing

The chances are you do already train Hybrid without really thinking about it, but you can use the new buzz word as a reminder to try new exercise trends, train outside the box, give new things a go and see where they take you.