The last time I went swimming was approximately ten years ago. I remember swimming maybe a length and a half before feeling like I was having a heart attack. It scared me so much that I got straight out and never got in again...until Saturday. I had wanted an exercise to do on a Saturday…
Category: Personal Wellbeing
Adding Skin Care to my Morning Routine
I have never had a skin care routine. Most things make my eyes water so I honestly look and feel much better without any product on my skin. That was until I watched a YouTube video on science based skin care. This has been a bit of a game changer for me. The skin care…
Night-time Body Balm
Y'all know sleep eludes me most of time and I'm always trying to find something that might help. Last weekend, I stumbled upon a magnesium based recipe for body balm. Magnesium is what is in bath salts (which I use most nights) and is thought to improve sleep. I had been so impressed by the…
Consequences
Today I weighed myself as normal. I was delighted to see the scales flick and then settle at the longed for number, seen once, two weeks ago. Yes, it had taken me exactly two weeks to lose the seven pounds I put on during my holiday. Of course, I was pleased and not just a…
Do The Next Thing
Spending ten days away from home, visiting friends and family in Northern Ireland, was bliss. We all had a much needed break and came back home energised. However, three days later, I felt like I needed to go back on holiday again! I was EXHAUSTED. To be honest, I was a bit concerned. Why so…
Creativity
I'm not sure if it's because I'm now off the amitriptyline but creativity is oozing out of every single one of my pores right now. I am drawing, painting, writing, reading, journaling, sewing, home making, baking... You may or may not know that I took the amitriptyline to help me go to sleep at night…
General Progress in April
Apologies again, this will probably not interest anyone but I want to keep record of changes each month for both encouragement and accountability. Weight loss over April = 7Ib. Blood pressure = Lowered from 130/90 (average) to 120/80 (average) Resting Heart Beat = Lowered from 70 to 60 beats per minute Centimetres lost lost over…
Gym Progress During April
I have taken my cardio outside the gym with a 50 minute walk with Harvey each morning. This means I am now only at the gym three times a week doing weights each time. This gives my body a day off in-between workouts to recover. My gym sessions last between 40-60 minutes and I go…
Understanding the Rhythms in Your Day
I was a die-hard night owl. I mean a real bonafide night owl. Exhausted most of the day (usually due to a really poor night's sleep) and zing! when I should be slowing down for the day, I'd suddenly come to life! Rinse and repeat. Deciding to come of amitriptyline was a very difficult decision…
Sleep Score App
I began using a new to me app at the weekend and I've been blown away by how good it is and how much it does completely for free! I've been wanting to track my sleep with a bit more precision for a while. Mainly so I could figure out what needed improving. Sleep is…
My Resting Pulse
I got an alert this morning on my phone. It told me that over the past three months there has been a new trend in my resting pulse. Intrigued, I clicked on the alert to find out more. Apparently, my average resting pulse used to be 70. It is now 62. Not a huge difference,…
Finding Joy in the Process
As I was on my walk today, I saw a green woodpecker walking down the trunk of an old tree and into a hole. I smiled contentedly, drawing a deep breath and paused. Looking round me, the sun streamed through the trees giving new meaning to the term rays of sunlight, there was chirping all…
A Smaller Plate
One of the things Noom does really well is to use research to explain eating habits. It then twists the research around to give options for overcoming specific bad habits we might not even know we have. For example, did you know that you eat less is there is less food available? And you also…
Non-Scale Victory
Twenty years ago, I gave birth to not one but two babies, who together weighed in at 13.5 Ib. They were five weeks early so goodness only knows how big they would have been if they'd lasted until term. Ironically, I don't usually give birth to high weighted babies. Thomas and Abigail were both just…
Five More Ways to Improve Your Sleep
Here are five more tips for a good sleep: 1. Sort Out Your Circadian Rhythm by Time Regulated Eating I promised I'd be revisiting this! Time regulated eating has been shown to be optimum for good health and good sleep. I'm probably going to write a whole journal entry for this but suffice to say…