Tamar is openly sharing her journey on her blog and there are lots of other lovely things to see there too, so pop on over for a visit and join in over the next 9 weeks of Feel Better Friday if you are inclined to. I took on two of Tamar's goals personally tailored, I am drinking more water and doing a plank a day and I have also started to use the App she suggested.
I began on Monday. My first effort was with making a conscious effort to drink more water. I drank almost 4 litres of water that day, the second day I drank around 3 if I recollect correctly and these last few days have been colder and I am averaging between 2L and 2 1/2L on cooler days.
Now if you are unsure of what a 'plank' is pop on over to Tamar's Feel Better Friday post from last week where she has a lovely image of it. My first attempt at this was a weak 10 seconds. I have a tendency to weak lower back problems and as I have put on more weight recently and crept into the 'overweight' category according to the BMI index, strengthening my core is something that is a great goal for me. This takes so little time and I feel a difference already. My lower back feels taller and my shoulders seem straighter. Its so bizarre to me that the tiny fraction of my day I am currently spending doing this is making me more conscious of and improving my posture. I am at a 15 second hold now and aim to do this for a few days until I feel quite strong at it then will increase by a few seconds :) If you to try this, over the course of time you will be stunned at the muscle groups you can feel it in!
I use my fitness pal as an Iphone App but you can use it from your computer or on Android. Click on the image above to go to the website. The App has enabled me to finally commit to losing a few Kg in a healthy way and without much effort or self pressure. I finally see Caloric intake and Cardio exercise as an equation that I just never got before, I knew it existed but didn't 'get' it. I am snacking less and eating fewer empty calories I think this is probably because I am full of water. Its helping me to just make wiser food choices and it doesn't feel like punishment or hard work.
My skin, particularly on my face, is beautiful at the moment and I can only contribute this to the water consumption. To help me I leave an empty glass on the kitchen bench, I have measured its capacity and know it to be 350ml. The glass is situated where it is easily seen and by my Tea making area. I start and end the day with 350ml, if I am wandering a bit aimlessly I have a glass of water, before I have a cup of Tea I usually drink a glass of water :)
While Tamar and I are both doing this for different reasons The benefit of self care is empowering me in a way I didn't expect and that is an added bonus, as none of the things I am doing take much effort at all! A group of us are supporting and encouraging each other with the #feelbetterfriday on twitter and instagram and if you want to be my friend on the my fitness pal App I am girlswearblue but you will have to let me know who you are there as I am not accepting unknown people IYKWIM.
Let me know if you are going to take on something from one of Tamar's posts and I will keep you updated with what I am doing and my own progress here :)
As you know I took on increasing my water intake from Tamar's post last week and I feel like drinking more water is back to becoming a habit, I have managed between 3 and 4 L most of this week...waking twice a night those first few nights to wee was annoying though! lol!!
ReplyDeleteThis week I am going to keep up the water and work on adding some exercise (including a plank a day which I successfully put off all this week *rem*)
I might have a look at My Fitness Pal, I didn't realise you could use it without a fancy phone.
I look forward to tweeting #feelbetterfriday with you again next week and see you back here Friday :)
J.xx