Judith Wills
Have to keep telling myself not to be impatient. I’m paying the price for 40 years of sitting at a desk and long periods of physical laziness and being 61, I suppose. It’s tough. Thank goodness I have a year to be 'fit or bust', am beginning to think I really will need every day of it, if not to reach target weight then certainly to get myself physically fit. There is absolutely no way I am going to be burning up thousands of calories through exercise for many a week yet.
Spent an hour in the spare bedroom yesterday sorting through old clothes. Tried on various items to see if anything fitted, or might possibly fit in the months ahead. Not sure if this was tragic or highly amusing. Anyway I got Tony in to take some photos and a short video so you can decide which of the two it is.
A couple of things to note:
1. Clothes sizing is a nonsense – some items in an 18 I can hardly get in (indeed I found a couple of size 20 tops and several things marked XXL - yikes), while others labelled 14 are not that much too small. That’s why I don’t thnk of myself as any particular size. Manufacturers and shops really ought to co-ordinate their sizing policies.
2. I found half a dozen or more things still with their shop labels attached – proving that I am no different from the average female who apparently always has several unworn items in her wardrobe. Very annoying. The main reason for this is so many of us buy things that don’t fit 'at the moment'. We say, 'well if I diet for a couple of weeks I’ll get into it'. I thought I was more sensible than that, but obviously not.
Whilst some garments (too young, too worn, too past the moment) are going to the charity shop or for recycling, optimistically, I am keeping quite a few of the smaller items I used to really like, in the hope I will be able to get back in them.
Fashion editors always used to say, if something’s been in your wardrobe more than a year and you haven’t worn it – give it away. Nonsense! I really don’t like waste, particularly waste of money, and why buy new stuff if some of this old stuff could be just as good?
In my book, when it comes to clothes, ten years old is brand new, fifteen is nearly new, and those (vintage?) lime green Pineapple Studios leotards and leggings, circa 1990, are looking me up and down very expectantly indeed in the hopes of a last whirl or two on the exercise mat before they die - see right. I even found a pair of cotton jeans I used to wear constantly in my late twenties – six inches off my belly and I will be able to get in them again - see the video below.
Now they REALLY are vintage, like me – but with a bit of TLC, they'll be as good as new. Hope I will be, too.
Ate yesterday: Indonesian pork fillet stir fry with carrot, broccoli and green beans, served with a few noodles mixed with beansprouts. Before Saga, I would have skipped the beansprouts and had many more noodles. Also had homemade soup for lunch, using almost the last of our stored Crown Prince pumpkins from last year see below for a recipe demo!
It’s still cold enough for soup, that’s for certain. And you can use any orange-fleshed pumpkin or squash, such as butternut, which seems to be for sale all year round, if you don’t happen to have any stored pumpkins in your larder!!
Exercise summary for week three
Exercise Room (rower, bike, stepper):
Days Done: 3
Total mins on equipment: 53
Total cals burnt: 359
Total distance covered on rower/bike: 7.72km
Outdoor walking this week: 1½ hrs
Stretching/light weights/simple floor exercises in bedroom: 2 hrs