Review, goals, thoughts and obsessions
April has been a pretty good month, I have:
- Really focused on my running training including improving my speed and increasing my mileage from 8 miles to 10.5 miles
- Changed up my speeds and resistance levels for my cardio intervals on the gym equipment
- Maintained my weight
- Continued to focus on having a healthy mind set around fuelling myself properly
To be honest I think this month has been very much a case of things just ‘ticking along’ nicely which is always good. What I did plan to do this month and kind of failed on was refocusing on my push up goal and make good progress on my diet and nutrition advisor course. I did get one assignment completed but I really need to be doing more.
Thoughts on weight maintenance
I wanted to write a little bit about the whole weight maintenance thing. I won’t go over the whole story in detail but for any new readers: I was over weight, I lost weight, I reached a plateau and was happy enough at that weight. Then I started loosing more, went vegetarian and lost even more and now I’m trying to maintain my weight without actually getting any smaller! Just for background info I’m 5’6 and a UK size 8 – 10, I do not want to get any smaller than this, as for me I feel I look scrawny and still want to hang on to a few curves! However that is where the fun starts, after literally years of dieting I have struggled with getting out of the ‘weight loss’ mind set and moving into the weight management / eating for optimum health mind set.
This month I have maintained my weight and have only weighed myself once so I feel like I’m making good progress. I feel like I’ve been fuelling myself better and my general approach to eating for health rather than skinniness has really improved. I have a much more relaxed attitude to eating when I am hungry although I am still struggling with some demons that come out when I worry that I’m eating too much and will put weight on but I really feel that I’m better able to silence them. Overall I feel like I’m going in the right direction! I think that having more awareness of calories although without actually calorie counting every day has helped me to ensure that I’m eating enough. I’m tending to shoot for around 2000 cals a day as this seems to be right for my size and activity levels.
Goals for May
- Have an awesome time in NYC!
- Complete at least 4 assignments for my course
- Increase my maximum running distance from 10.5 miles to 12 miles
- Continue to work on my speed
- Work on my push up goal
- Stick to my new training plan:
Monday – AM gym based workout – speed intervals on treadmill 15 min, cardio intervals on gym equipment – 45 min (sticking at current levels), abs and core plus push up practice
Tuesday – AM Yoga, PM Body Pump class (if working late then 30 Day Shred DVD and Yoga before work)
Wednesday – AM run – around 6 miles / 10k mix of speed work, hills, recovery run depending on how I feel, abs and core
Thursday – AM – Yoga, PM gym based workout – 3,2,1, system for 1 hour including push up practice (if working late then 30 Day Shred DVD and Yoga before work)
Friday – AM gym workout – 3,2,1 system (working alternate muscles from Thursday workout) for 45 minutes OR at home yoga DVD
Weekend – REST DAY / Long run
Running training
I’m going to start taking a more structured approach to my running as detailed above – 3 runs a week consisting of a short treadmill run working on speed, a mid distance run working on speed, hills or a recovery run and a long distance run. I have the Great North 10K in July and the Great North Run Half in September. I’m really aware of not wanting to aggravate my old knee problem which came up about this time in my training last year so I will be making sure I take it easy when needed, doing lots of stretching and yoga!
May Obsessions
I am currently obsessed by Pinterest which I discovered via Sofia’s blog. For visual inspiration seekers like me it is amazing! Here’s my Pinterest page check it out!
I also spent some time today sorting through my old magazines, now that is an obsession! I love my magazines :-) I like to go through old ones and tear out pages with recipes, workouts, style ideas or anything inspirational. I have 4 files full now!
Loving this Orange Blossom Flower water too:
I added it to yoghurt for breakfast the other day and I’ve been popping a few drops in glasses of plain iced water for a little flavour, so good!
I am crazy about strawberries right now! I can’t help buying up several boxes when they are on offer they are just delicious. One of my most vibrant food memories is going strawberry picking with my aunt and uncle down south and eating sun warmed strawberries straight from the plant, fabulous!
…and obviously:
5 days and counting!
May Sponsors
Just a quick shout out to my May Sponsors, Viva Pure, Nakd and The Raw Chocolate Company. I have an awesome May Sponsor giveaway coming up so keep checking out the blog for more details to come! I have sponsors lined up for June but anyone interested in becoming a blog sponsor for July drop me an email at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com
Have you had a good April? What are your goals for May? Any current obsessions you’d like to share?
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