mental health day

having a mental health day today. and don't we all need those some days. yes sireeee we do.  my german tutor and friend petra came for a visit this morning. we hadn't seen each other since july. a whole season has passed. that's the longest we've been apart since I arrived here 2 and a bit years ago. i've missed her. we had so much to catch up on. so many stories to share. it was wonderful. so no stretching or exercising has been done today. but i have had a great mental health day and that does wonders for the body and soul.

Alison 

Did it again and the motivation for it

Yep, did it again. Pulled on the trackies after a bit of morning blog reading and headed downstairs to the 'room of doom'. So here I am again, pretty happy with myself! Just have to remember to go easy, baby steps and all that.

There have been times in my life where I have embraced exercise and diet with that all or nothing kind of gusto. Only for a short time though. A few weeks later I'd be tired, sore and grumpy and would easily fall back to into the arms of my bad old habits. Mmmm, it was comfy there. Yo-yo diet and exerciser, yes that's me. 

But now that I'm older and wiser (well older anyway, i know this because my knees hurt a lot after doing about 3 lunges) I have learnt from my previous attempts and this time I'm really (really) going to try to give it a serious go. This time it's going to be a far more gentle approach and with the thought of it as a 'new way of eating' and not just a 'diet'. My focus will be more on on my health this time around, not just weight loss like it was back in the old days in my 20's & 30's. 2 kids on and a chronic inflammatory disease in my lungs has changed my view on life.  Now it's time to actually get serious about things and pull myself out of a 10 year rut!

So today, back downstairs I plodded. Did 5 mins stretching, 10 mins on xtrainer thingy, 5 mins on rower and then another 10 mins stretching including some girly pushups, hip extensions, squats and some extra stretching for the lower back (had a bit of a sore back last night). Basically I follow the exercises in this video put together by James Duigan (Elles personal trainer) from here. Then back upstairs to have a protein shake to wash down a vast array of vitamin tabs! Also included some Total Greens in my shake. 

I managed to avoid chocolate & vino yesterday, it was hard but I did it. No coffee but quite a few teas and one really naughty cuppa was when the kids came home from school and we had some afternoon tea. Naughty me had a cookie or 2. But I promise to faithfully improve on this afternoon tea addiction, in time. Well, try to anyway (my sweet tooth is a killer!). 

Dinner was pretty good, I thought, baked chicken with white beans, cherry toms and red peppers with a mixed leafy green salad. Followed dinner with a mandarin and then later a 'sleepy time' tea (peppermint, camomile and fennel) to help me sleep. 

Dinner tonight is tuna pasta salad. 

So, all in all I think I'm off to a good start. Will see how we go tomorrow.

** just wanted to mention where my motivation came from yesterday. I like to read through my favourite blogs in the mornings (because I can). And 2 really stood out yesterday. Both totally different blogs, but both written from the heart. The Clea Salavert Library, dedicated to the memory of one very special little girl. I find so much inspiration in this one little blog. 

**And on the health and fitness side of things, DaniV from Health and Fitness Mum has been a bit of an inspiration for me since stumbling upon her blog.  I really liked her body love post and it got me thinking about my own body and which bits i like (might join in the body love blog, but a bit scared to) and which bits i don't ie. the bits I need to change. So I've made a start on those bits. Thanks for a kick start to my motivation. 

Alison 

pretty excited...

Pretty excited here, think I've finally got some of my mojo back. Some of the old light is shining again. Don't know how it happened, don't know how the switch was flicked but whatever and however it happened i'm pretty excited that it did!

So after moping about for a week (and previous to that much more moping had already been done for quite some time) after my good friend and her family left last week (after a wonderful 8 days visiting us here in munich - oh it was so good to have some company from home) and having eaten my way through a small mountain of chocolate to dull out the pain of missing them (ummm, yes it really was a small mountain) I've finally got myself back on track. Started this morning with some exercise - only a little, but it's a good start right? Any is better than none? Yes sireeee it is!

So i'm thinking if I  write  about it, it could be good motivation for me to continue on with it, as I really, and I mean R E A L L Y  need to shed a few kilos before we come home to Oz at Christmas. I'm back up to around 86 kilos - ugh!!  My motivation usually wanes after a few weeks, but this time I'm hoping to keep it topped up. I HAVE to fit into my summer clothes when we go home - plus I need to lose some weight before I fly - it absolutely kills me to fly - 24 hours on a plane - I hate it with a passion.

This morning, after having a little look through some of my favourite blogs - which is my source of inspiration, I headed downstairs. Put on some music, did some stretching and hopped on the cross trainer for about 10 mins (after I had dusted it off and removed any pieces of Lego what would impede its use). Mental note to self: must read up on heart rate - not too sure that mine was in a good range (mine was more into the ''ohmygoodness that is a little on the high side, isn't it'' range).

Then hopped onto the rowing machine (yes, again after giving it a good dust off and removing any Bioncles/ Star Wars lego bases that had been built around it) for 5 mins. Back onto the cross trainer for 5 min warm down and then some more stretching - incorporating some inner thigh exercises that I pulled out of the memory bank from about a million years ago when I used to be much, much more fit and healthy, some lovely yoga stretches (oh boy that feels good), managed to do the Plank (or is it called The Bridge now?) for a total of 40 seconds, which I thought was pretty good for someone who had almost forgot how to do them, and some girly push ups. Oh and some squats. Only did one rep of about 15 for most, but will increase as the days and weeks roll on. But as I said I'm pretty happy with just being able to do what I did and I'm happy with that - tis a huge start! Yay to me!!

Oh and as for diet, it's now after midday and as yet no chocolate! Hey, it's a great start.

 pretty happy with myself for just getting on with it and 'just do it' (as they say)! 

Alison

this is the type of motivation I need! pic from here

Alka...lize yourself!

Found this all important info on acidity and alkalinity today on The Suveran's blog...

How to be disease free - Alkalise yourself

"Ideal DIET is Alkaline 80% to Acid 20%, ACID is the basis for disease. Disease cannot prosper in PH above 8.5 (easy to test your PH), keep your ph high, and you can’t lose...
enjoy life…dis..ease free."


"DID YOU KNOW THAT IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR DISEASE TO LIVE IN PH ABOVE 8.5?…..DID YOU KNOW THAT JUST ABOUT ALL OUR FOOD AND DRINK IS ACIDIC?"

Motivation, Inspiration and Life Coaching

For me, finding motivation can be as simple as a bunch of flowers

I'm thinking about how to get more focused, find some motivation and inspiration in all aspects of life ... life coaching may help perhaps?  I'm struggling at the moment with understanding how I got to this point in my life where I feel like I have completely spiralled out of control on all fronts including my health, mental health and fitness. Winter is setting in (hate winter) which is depressing the life out of me (!) and I'm so home sick it's truly ridiculous (to the point of wishing my life away - how I got to this point, I really don't know), I've lost the battle of the bulge (again) and really, really need to find my focus and motivation again. I know what I need to do to lose the weight, but finding the motivation is a huge problem at the moment.

So I'm on the look out for inspiration...

Found this blog this morning....

Living Savvy Life Coaching Blog

**Looking for some more life coaching / motivation links to add to this list.

Also, I know I need to include a few simple things in my life that I seem to have let slip or forgotten about lately. Things that make me happy. Things like just having a fresh bunch of flowers in my home, only buying fresh, whole and organic (when possible) foods. Use that Farmers Market each Thursday in my local area and buy fresh foods and remember they have flowers there too (very affordable ones).

Maybe the key to getting motivated and back on track again is using this one little word 'simple'... start simple - use it as a mantra - simple, simple, simple...

Simple things to remember - get moving in the morning - exercise first thing before you can put it off. See this video on Sarah Wilson's blog about ''The Fuzz'' - very MOTIVATIONAL!

The thing to remember is the other word that goes with 'simple' and that word is 'discipline'.  That word seems to have slipped out of my vocabulary and I need to get it back again. Be disciplined in these simple things like making the beds in the morning - again thank you to Sarah Wilson's blog for this post on The Secret to Happiness - Make your bed, everyday! Simple and it works - if you stick to it.

Ok, so I have a small list of things on the go to help with the motivation already... read up on life coaching, practise your 'simple' method ie, get moving first thing in the morning - do the exercise and stretching before you find an excuse to put it off, buy a bunch of fresh flowers and buy fresh, whole foods....and make your bed!!

Now, go and do some stretching to get rid of the Fuzz...

Alison 

the elimination diet

Matthew is really keen to do the Elimination Diet he got from Craig at 3D Personal Training. He's done it before and got excellent results. He wants me to do it this time as well. I know it will do wonders for me, but I just need to psych myself to do it. ''The Elimination Diet'' - just its name strikes fear into my heart!   Ugh....I think I can, I think I can....

Craig's Elimination Diet

Also a fabulous product I wanted to keep track of so we can order when we get back to Oz is Total Greens - it's been a great boost to my immune system and also to regulate acidity.

anti-infammatories

anti-inflammatory information from the troo health care blog

the difference between food intolerance and food allergy - another post from the troo health care blog