My 2020 Wellness Journey

I've wanted to write this post for a long time but haven't quite known how to go about it. I think it's because often the notion of health and fitness feels very personal and I got to thinking that nobody would be in the least bit interested in what I am eating and how much I am choosing to move and stretch my body these days. And yet the few times I've mentioned exercise here on my blog in the past six months or so I've received an unexpected amount of interest in what I'm up to, so I thought I may as well just crack on and share my journey with you. If this isn't something you wish to engage with then please feel free to click away, I won't be offended I promise! Normal Attic-style blogging will resume in the next post.

I've titled this post "Wellness" as I think this is a really good way to look at how we make lifestyle choices. The World Health Organziation defines wellness as "...a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." I also found this quote which I think says it nicely >> "...wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you’re thriving." 

Yeah to all that, especially the idea of adopting daily habits which make you feel great, I'm all for it.

So today I thought I would briefly touch on the things that I've made an effort with this year which have made a great difference to my physical and mental well being.....

• Taking my vitamins
• changing my diet (and losing weight)
• daily exercise
• hydration (and cutting back on caffeine and alcohol)
• daily routines and good sleep.

:: VITAMINS / SUPPLEMENTS ::

Something I've made a real effort with during the past six months is making myself take my vitamins every day and not just on the odd day when I happen to remember. As I've suffered with deficiencies before, I make sure to take natural iron and a high strength vitamin D (I take the little D capsule October to March, but take iron all year round). I also take a Vitamin B complex as I definitely notice this makes a difference to my energy levels. And lastly the bright yellow offering is the turmeric capsule - I've only been taking this for about three weeks (I take it for it's anti-inflammatory properties as I suffer with osteoarthritis in my knuckles and finger joints). I shall keep you posted once I really get stuck into my next big crochet project.

:: DIET ::

I shall try and keep this brief as I know it can be a difficult subject for many. I also want to say that I am not in any way trying to tell you what to do, or to give diet advise - I just thought it might be helpful to document what I myself have done to regain my healthy weight after a decade of being overweight. I've also recently tried to make changes to my diet in an attempt to reduce inflammation (to help with the discomfort of arthritis).

A few weeks before Christmas last year when I was at a particularly low ebb, I finally faced up to the fact that I wasn't in a good place with my physical health and this was affecting my mental health. I was coming through a particularly frustrating time with the peri-menopause, suffering with the most annoying aches and pains in my hip and lower back which kept me awake at night. After many months of poor sleep I felt so exhausted and run down that I decided something needed to change. The most immediate thing that I felt would help was to regain some control of my eating/drinking habits. I was more then 2 stone (14.5 kg) overweight for my short 5 ft 3 height, so I went all in with my commitment and joined my local Slimming World group.

Up until writing this post I had no idea that Slimming World was purely a UK organisation, I had assumed that it was worldwide. Well, I've learnt something new today! Those of you in the UK are probably familiar with Slimming World and there is lots of information online too. From the start I knew this would be a healthy eating plan that I could pretty easily stick to as there is no weighing or time consuming calculations involved and the meals are very family friendly. I won't go into too much detail about the diet itself, but if it's new to you and you are interested, you can find out more information about the basics here and here.

The thing I enjoy most about this way of eating is the focus on whole foods. The SW plan is centred around home cooking using fresh, whole ingredients, with an emphasis on fruit, vegetables, lean protein, pulses, beans and pasta/rice/grains/potatoes, all of which you can eat freely (yes, as much as you like). For someone like me who adores fruit, salad and veggies and loves cooking with fresh ingredients, this felt like a wonderful way to enjoy good nutritional health and lose a little weight in the process.

Foods which contain fibre (such as wholegrain cereals and wholemeal bread) and foods which contain calcium (milk and cheese) must be eaten as part of your diet every day for health reasons, and these are in controlled amounts. 

And then there are the treats - these are still allowed (nothing is off limits) but again, in controlled amounts. So foods high in fat and refined sugar (which includes alcohol) are part of the diet (yay!!) but it's not really possible to indulge too much. A biscuit, a glass of wine, a little chocolate - I still eat all these things, but now only in small quantities. I was surprised how quickly I got used to it, but then I really was determined to stick to the plan and make it work. My head was in the game and I was 100% committed.

As the weeks went by, I started to see my weight drop. It was quite a slow and steady process for me and I did manage to lose weight most weeks. As the months passed, I began to re-think my eating habits, changing my focus away from the numbers on the scales and thinking more about how best to nourish my body. I stopped eating products which contained artificial sweeteners as I found my digestive system didn't really like them very much. In fact I eat very little refined sugar at all these days (a biscuit, or a little good quality dark chocolate is pretty much it). And with the exception of fat free Greek yoghurt (which I genuinely love) and a certain brand of light cheese spread, I don't eat anything that is marked as low sugar or low fat. So I eat proper butter, full fat cheese, olive oil for cooking etc, but I'm very watchful of the quantities. I also started to reintroduce things like nuts, seeds and avocado to allow some healthy fats into what is essentially an extremely low fat, low sugar eating plan. 

And my goodness me, I do feel SO MUCH BETTER for the changes I've made. It has been quite remarkable really. It took me  7 months to reach  my target (I've lost 2.5 stone in total which is 15.8kg) but best of all I have managed to keep it off since the start of July. I have so much more energy, I sleep better (mostly, although still get troubled by an aching hip/lower back which I know is purely due to hormonal crap), and I just feel more like the happy ME I used to know and love a decade ago. My body works better going up stairs and hills, and I am not nearly so sluggish and stiff any more.

Although I would say my diet is now pretty "clean" I do still enjoy treats. With regards to caffeine, during the start of Lockdown in March when all cafés were closed, I had around 3 months of home-made coffee and was entirely caffeine free. But since life opened up again, I allow myself one caffeine brew a day (which as you know I ADORE), then I switch over to decaf. It's a good balance I think.

Its the same with alcohol and sugary sweet treats - I still have them but really in moderation. A single glass of prosecco/wine once a week and on special occasions I enjoy a piece of cake or a pastry. I admit I do have fantasies which involve a warm pain au raisin going straight into my face, but I manage to keep my cravings under control.

:: EXERCISE ::

As you know I love love love walking, and have been a walker all my life. J and I have always walked for pleasure and so I'd say that on the whole I am a reasonably active human. I like climbing hills, and I like my daily routine which involves walking everywhere as opposed to sitting in a car.

It may sound odd but I've never really considered walking as exercise. I think of it as a leisure activity, an enjoyable pastime, or as something that needs to happen if I want to get from A to B.

I treated myself to a Fitbit at the start of the summer holidays (I needed a new watch, and this seemed like a good idea). Oh my gosh, I absolutely love it! I'm still in the honeymoon stage as I haven't had it for very long (since mid August I think) and I am ever so slightly obsessed with my daily numbers. I average 15-16 thousand steps a day (on a normal kind of school-run week day) which I think is pretty good. 

Like I said, I don't really think of walking as exercise (although the fitbit does) - to me, exercise is the thing you do to get sweaty, increase your heart rate and strengthen your muscles. I guess hiking/hill walking does that, but an actual proper workout (leaping about wearing trainers and stretchy clothes) isn't something that I felt the need to do. And then Lockdown happened.........

.....and along with many thousands of other families we began to join in with the daily live PE session with Joe via YouTube. In the weeks when I was doing this with Little B, we were using my crochet blankets as exercise mats, and I wore a very old pair of baggy leggings and a t-shirt. Sometimes I did it in bare feet, sometimes I put trainers on, but it was all very low maintenance. All I really needed was the motivation and a big bottle of water.

Little B and I were really into doing this together at the start of lockdown, and every weekday morning at 9am we would spend half an hour working out together. It was loads of fun and I can highly recommend it if you would like an introduction to HIIT exercise (high intensity interval training). This is where you typically do 30 seconds of full-on exercise, then have 30 seconds of rest, then 30 seconds of a different exercise and 30 seconds rest etc. It's fast and fun, and I was amazed at how quickly it improved my strength, flexibility and stamina.

Joe's PE workouts are sometimes a bit on the silly side (obviously aimed at entertaining children and encouraging families to exercise together which I think is brilliant) but the workouts are tough enough to really make a difference to your fitness levels.

When the PE sessions finished at the start of the summer holidays, I found to my astonishment that the habit of daily exercise had well and truly rooted itself and I knew without a doubt that I wanted to continue on my fitness journey. I invested in an exercise mat and began to follow a more grown-up workout routine - enter the world of Chloe Ting. Chloe is a very popular YouTube fitness instructor with more than 15 million subscribers. Her workouts are pretty tough and to be honest I think I would have found them too hard if I'd come to them without having done any previous workouts.

I worked through a couple of her exercise programmes, but I eventually found them just a bit too long/hard so I started to put together my own schedule using shorter combinations of her free videos. 

Towards the end of the summer holidays in August, J showed me an article in the paper about an online fitness instructor called Lucy Wyndham-Reed. I took a look at her videos on YouTube and decided to give them a try - they appealed to me because they only lasted for 7 minutes which I felt would work for me once we returned to our school routine and I would have to fit my exercise into a tight morning schedule. Oh, I LOVE these exercises, they are fabulous. Seven minutes, seriously!!! The HIIT ones are my favourites as I really enjoy the intensity of them - you do seven different exercises and each one lasts for one minute with a 15 second rest in between. They go by so fast that before you know it the seven minutes is up and you've tucked a full body workout under your belt. I can highly recommend them ((on YouTube)) - I usually do a warm up first, then do two of the 7 minute ones back to back. I do this five days a week, Monday to Friday, and it as become an important part of my wellness journey. I do still do some Chloe Ting and Body Coach HIIT when I feel like a change, but the 7 minute LWR are my definite favourite.

Getting into regular exercise isn't easy from a mental point of view and it's very easy to put it off and procrastinate around it. I know because I have spent many, many years thinking about trying to exercise and never actually doing anything about it. The way I approach it these days is to set my intention the night before. I lay out my workout clothes right where I can see them beside my bed (yes, I invested in some proper workout leggings and a sports top and I love them) and I tell myself that as soon as I get up I will put them on and commit to making myself feel good. I set my alarm and I get up, get dressed for my workout and don't allow myself any excuse to wriggle out of it. Soon enough it became a habit that I don't even have to think about any more, it's just a regular part of my routine, a great way to start the day.

The thing I like most about Lucy W-R is her positive attitude. She has this phrase : "exercise is an investment in your future health" which has really stuck with me. Coming through the peri-menopause is hard, I had absolutely no idea how hard it would be or how flippin long it would last! I love to think about making my body as strong and healthy as it can be to carry me forward through this decade of mental and physical change. Committing to a daily exercise routine goes beyond wanting to lose weight or drop a dress size and becomes more about my vitality, my energy, my heart health, my strength and my mental wellbeing. And about beating those pesky hormones into submission too. All those things. I am investing in myself, and it feels soooooooo good.

:: HYDRATION ::

This is something I've really had to work on this year as drinking water doesn't come naturally to me (I'm a passionate coffee drinker, enough said). However it's an important part of the Slimming World routine, making sure you drink enough water each day to help with weight loss. But also, I find it does help with my concentration and my general well being if I keep myself hydrated throughout the day. I have this 600ml Systema bottle ((from Amazon HERE)) which I use throughout the day and I make sure to drink at least three of them. I always polish one off with my morning workout, and a second one when I do my daily walk through the woods. The third one gets drunk more slowly with my breakfast and lunch usually. I also drink two glasses of water with dinner so I manage to drink my two litres each day.

:: SLEEP and BEDTIME ROUTINES ::

If you've been reading my blog during the past few months you will no doubt have gathered how much I value my sleep and how much I adore my bed. I think having a routine and getting enough sleep is vitally important to maintain a good level of wellbeing and I try very hard to make this happen for myself. I have a few rules which I find help enormously....

1. I keep my mobile phone out of the bedroom - it gets plugged in to charge downstairs and I don't look at at after 9pm or before 8am.
2. Lovely cotton bedding and comfy feather pillows - bed should feel like a luxury. I also like to sleep with the window open (even in winter) as the cool fresh air does help me to sleep better.
3. I try and keep set times for going to bed and getting up. I am usually in bed by 9.30pm - I light my candle and allow myself at least half an hour to relax with a book or a magazine. I find I'm usually ready to sleep between 10 and 10.30. My morning alarm goes off at 6am and I allow myself an hour to get up, re-hydrate (usually a hot water with lemon and ginger) and wake up fully. No phone or emails at this time though, as tempting as it is to browse! Workout begins at 7am, no procrastinating!

Ahhh, this has turned into a mammoth blog post, well done if you've made it through to the end. I hope you've found my journey of some interest, it has certainly been a year of positive change for me, despite the restrictions of lockdown and all the emotional ups and downs. I am happy to report that I do feel well, really well actually. And despite the ongoing floofy brain and hormonal cray-cray, I feel better now than I have for many years. I'm determined to make my fifties a fabulous, thriving  decade of my life, and right now I do believe I'm on the right track.

If you have any questions, please do leave them in the comments and I will answer/help as best as I can.

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ps the above photo was taken on 31st July this year, a sunny day trip to paddle in the sea at St Annes. I was in my happy place and oh, it was glorious! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Comments

[Amaranths]

I’d just like to add something which has helped me enormously with my terrible menopause symptoms, especially hot flushes and night sweats which have left me exhausted (I have ME as well and my body currently hates me lol) and waking up every two hours for months, I was exhausted, tearful, sweaty, uncomfortable and bad tempered. Then I discovered, quite by accident, about sage as a supplement - I was on Amazon looking at vitamins and anything else to help with menopause when in the “ this is what other people who looked at this have bought” bit of the page I noticed lots of people had bought sage tablets, so, as you do, I went to have a look and see why.

It turns out that sage has been used for centuries to help with menopause symptoms and for general inflammation. The reviews were all saying how people were now sleeping though and their hot flushes had gone, so I thought I’d give it a try as by this point I was desperate. It did take three weeks to work and I do have to take a large dose, which isn’t true of everyone, most people seem to manage on the normal dose and lots seem to find it only takes a week or so to work, but it completely and I mean TOTALLY eliminated my hot flushes day and night. Just......gone. I was astonished and I’m not ashamed to say I had a little cry with relief the day I realised it had actually worked, I was so exhausted with it all.

There are lots of different types, but these are the ones that see, to work best for me. I don’t know what’s in them that affects the hot flushes but whatever it is, it’s magical. I gave them to my daughter to try as she’s always suffered from night sweats and it’s completely got rid of them for her too. She uses a different brand to me but they seem to work just as well for her.

So here’s the one I use and I hope that this will help someone else, especially if like me, you’re trying to avoid HRT and need something to stop life being quite so miserable with hot flushes. Give it time, and try upping the dose if you don’t get any results. I have to take 8 of these whoppers a day but I don’t care, I’m flush free and that’s good enough for me! Plus the anti inflammatory effect is making a difference to my arthritis too, I’ve been able to reduce my painkilling medication as well, so a double win.

( I hope it’s alright to post the link, please do remove it if not).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sage-Tablets-2500mg-Standardised-Rosmarinic/dp/B07TVSY8CM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=Sage+tablets&qid=1605219653&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzNlJVRTU5QVFES0JFJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTM0MDA3MjhQUDBEM09ER0VFQSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjY2NjA3MzM4SU1POTNENEFPMyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Judy Bell]

Hello Lucy, when i read this today i felt like i was reading about me...except your diet is so much better than mine. Thank you so much for sharing your journey...it made me feel very connected to you as I think we may be on a very similar journey even though Im in Australia. We spend most of our lives looking after everyone else and I believe at our age its time to put ourselves first. Take care x

[Silvia]

Thanks for this post! 💖
After 7 months of lockdown I thought I never exercise again!
But I do! And I'll give a try to Lucy, 7 minutes sounds like a nice start🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️
Congratulations for your effort!!!

[Patty]

Well done adjusting food and exercise routines. I find sticking with any exercise program difficult....perhaps a smartwatch would keep me on the task.

[Coastal Ripples]

A fascinating post Lucy with lots of great healthy ideas. Exercise is my number one important factor to keeping healthy and happy but I agree diet too is so important. Glad you have made such progress this year :) B x

[Lily Veenendaal]

Dear Lucy,
Thank you so much for this post!! It is good to read that a thing like this can actually be done!You have given so many useful links, especially about the food. Being in the peri menopauze is just awful and annoying and there seems to be no end to it. But now I have new inspiration to get the better of it. I want to add that I have been doing Tai Chi for years now, and it has helped really much for pains in the joints etc and it is always fun!!

[Karen]

Thank you for sharing your journey. It's inspired me to take better care of myself.

[Marcille]

Thank you so much for sharing, it was very interesting and inspiring! Congratulations on your wellness success!

[Penelope]

I just caught up with your post and am happy to read about your “journey” also. I, too have started one myself and feel sooooo much better. I found that once I gave up the sweet stuff, it stopped calling my name. 😄. You have great advice about the exercise and I will look up those you tube sites. Keep up the great work.

[Sarah F.]

Thank you for sharing this information. I can’t wait to check out those exercise videos, seven minutes sounds awesome to me :) You’re always inspiring.

[Helen]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G total inspirational post thank you for sharing :)

[Miriam Faulkner]

So great to read your wellness journey and I’m delighted for you that you are reaping the rewards of your efforts! I’ve just checked out the other Lucy and her 7 minute workouts and they look great! Definitely something I could manage. Thanks lovely x

[Holly]

Well done, Lucy. I have the same amount to lose that you did and you have inspired me. I've read for years and never left a comment. I want you to know how much I love the glimpses of life there in your attic, your town, the rolling hills.... Your blog is art made life and life made art.

[Jacquie Welbourn]

Oh, thank you so much for the motivation and wonderful recommendations Lucy. I've just followed your link and done a HIIT with Lucy...she's great, so achievable and just what I need to get back into a more structured exercise routine. I do some squats and knee lifts daily, but I needed to mix it up a bit and this is exactly the incentive I needed. Well done on your wellness journey. Some of your photos won't load but I had noticed how trim you were looking these days over on Instagram. It's such a positive thing to do, to invest in our wellbeing and you are wonderful at sharing in an inclusive way.
lots of love
Jacquie xxx

[Karen]

Hi Lucy, since March and the start of isolation here, my husband has been working from home and we’ve been walking during his breaks on the computer (he needs to get up and stretch and just can’t sit any longer). We do between 2-3 miles a day. I’ve been cooking ‘cleaner’ also and have noticed my weight drops little by little each week. I will be checking out the videos you mentioned for added exercise. I’ve just entered my 60’s and feel better than I’ve felt in years. I feel we have so much in common. I really do appreciate the Amazon links you add, the company has been a Godsend during isolation! Thank you.

[Charlotte]

I applaud your great efforts to wellness.

[Jane H]

Lovely post and thanks for all the useful links, I'm feeling perimenopausal too AND very stiff/creaky after 7 months WFH. Can recommand Dr Salisbury book for learning to listen to when you are sated and when you are genuinely hungry. I went vegan at the start of lockdown which was pretty radical, but I am losing slowly. Motivation goes out the window on Friday night, I can't be left unattended with chocolate or alcohol! :)

[Sandra]

You've made wise and excellent choices for getting back to health and losing some surplus weight in the process! We owe it to our bodies to look after them as best we can. I cut out all sugar and dairy and gluten in wheat and cereals. All of these things create inflammation in our joints. I make delicious breakfast muffins from almond and coconut flour and even the odd birthday cake with almonds replacing flour and Xylitol (a natural sweetener from Birch bark) instead of sugar. I just allow myself one square of 78-85% cocoa chocolate each day. It has really paid off too.
I eat ewe's or goat's cheese occasionally, it doesn't have the same inflammatory effect as cow's dairy food.
Doing exercise is a wonderful way to keep fit as well.

Let's keep up our healthy way of living!

[Denise]

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, BRAVO! You look so happy and healthy 😊 and I truly enjoyed your post about your journey and new routines. I’ve recently begun the same journey after menopause dragged me down an unwanted path. Five weeks in and 10 pounds down and I already feel so much better. I’ve been concentrating on whole foods and sleep but am ready to add exercise to my routine. Thank you so much for the links, particularly the 7 minute workouts as these appear to be just what I would enjoy and could commit to. Love your blog and all that you share. Again, thank you! And Bravo! Xoxo

[Mary H]

Good for you for taking care of yourself! Thanks for sharing the information.

[Juliann]

Looks like a lot of folks are interested in your wellness journey. I have had a Fitbit for years and I still love it. Working on staying asleep here. Been waking up much too early. Maybe I need a new pillow! Thanks for all the details and links.

[Kathy]

Well done for putting this year to good use.
I do enjoy reading your posts but it does make me quite sad that you link to Amazon so often. They really are a bad company and there are so many alternatives. Let’s face it you probably pay more tax that they do.

[Tineke]

Well done, keep it going! So proud of you.

[Julie Hodges]

Lovely post Lucy, I found Slimming world 20 years ago, lost the 2 stone I wanted to, and have kept it off ever since. It's not a diet, but a healthy eating plan. Have rejoined recently as I want to lose another 0.5stone, and my daughter in law wanted to join. We are both doing it online. It's lovely to have someone doing it with me, as I have 2 son's and a husband who don't have weight problems. I can recommend turmeric for osteoarthritis, it really helps my hands, when I had to stop for 2 weeks when I had an op, really noticed the difference. I only take them on alternate days, but it works for me. Thanks for all the info about exercise videos, need to do more than just walk each day. Thanks Lucy.

[Linda]

Well done Lucy you have done great and look really great too, I wish I had your willpower. xx