And the quest continues. Low down..... A slim and fit but not particularly healthy Jac meets Al- svelt, fit and muscular. They fall in love and before long all those gym sessions are abandoned for time spent together nurturing their budding relationship. Both love good food, so they cook together and eat together. Al's a bigger eater than Jac - who eats big for a girl anyway, but Jac reckons she can match Al's portions. Love grows, and so do their waist lines. 7 years down the line and Jac realises this cannot go on. She's gained 20kgs (44lbs) and even though people exclaim when she says she has 44lbs to lose and ask her where these 44 extra lbs are, making her feel she's okay, doesn't look that bad, she knows she needs to shift them somehow. So, she embarks on a healthy eating programme, with the majority of her food being of the raw veggie and fruity kind, with a few fresh veggie and fruit juices and smoothies added for extra nutrition. She also takes up exercise and starts running but gives up as it's so darn hard, plus her trainers are not very good at supporting her joints (she learns of this months later)! Takes up walking and gets a
FitBug pedometer to track her progress. All is well, weight coming off. Signs up for a work netball team, which is great as it's brand new, so all levels of fitness allowed. Training to start in August. Can't wait. Also goes away to Cornwall for 5 days and rides on a tandem bike with Al (see, Jac cannot ride a bike, so has to ride with someone!), loves it so much she signs up for riding lessons. Excting too! By July she's halfway, having lost 22lbs of the 44. But, those cheeky old eating habits are creeping back after she let go whilst on holiday. She's on a plateau, weight isn't coming off, yet she's not gaining..... but if things carry on, she'll gain again, steadily, won't she? Netball training starts - every Tuesday. She loves it but boy, her body is in shock! The training only started gently and only on half a court but it certainly isn't a stroll in the park! She learns she needs to get new trainers as well as banding support for the old creaky joints! Apparently, her 2 year old trainers are way overdue a renewal!
Trainers should be changed after every 500 miles OR every 6 months, whichever comes first. It's no wonder she couldn't keep up with the running months ago, in those old, shock-absorberless-knackered trainers! Weighs self on the 12th of August - 2 lbs up. She cannot allow this! Need to act ASAP! but, She'll get on track next week, right? Have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Al is doing wonderfully! He's got himself a
FitBug as well, and is doing so well and is paying attention to his diet with the help of FitBug and
PruHealth. He's so into it, doing tens of thousands of steps on his fitbug a day and working out pretty much 5x/wk. He's finding out calories in different foods, and not just that, he's taking an interest into researching on different foods and their nutritional values and is learning about his diet! For the first time ever, Al is keeping a close eye on those calories, and Jac cannot believe it! And he's slowly but surely losing the whatever how many pounds he gained over the 7 years of coupling happiness. Yet he's not depriving himself of anything. He'll eat whatever he fancies, but will choose the better options - organic, clean and not laden with pesticides, hormones and artificial food 'enhancers'. Jac is proud of him, but needs to get back on track as this is a milestone. The Al is improving on himself. He's moving away from the belief that 'if it's not swimming in fat it's not tasty'. He prepares dinners that are so filling, so nutritious and only totalling 400-500 calories. Green salad with tuna salad to accompany. 2 salads for dinner - yum!. Green salad with a chop. Beetroot salad with salmon. Salad with steak. The daily doses of big pasta bowls and potatoes and rice that were common in this household are history. And Jac is thankful. It does not take nagging to transform. It takes education. And Jac's Al is educating wonderfully and Jac is loving it. Al found out that a slab of rump steak has half the amount of calories of a similar amount of pork. And salmon is heftier than mackerel. All this from
PruHealth health promo e-articles. It's all good. And what is more, both their PruHeatlh premiums are coming lower next year. Jac is heading for gold status, Al is going for silver. He might make gold, but he started late - we'll see, he's motivated. Either way, they're saving a third at the very least on their premiums next year. That's why PruHealth is good. They reward you for being healthy. Now, Jac and Al believe they've always been healthy as they've consumed healthy food for a few years now, just more than they should have done. But, they are getting even healthier, as ther are always improvements to be made.
And that's the low down, written by me (Jac) in the third person.
Off to the Lottie now for some garden workout and a walk to boot to and from the allotment! I really am loving the healthy us! And Al is playing a good part of it, driving some of it and not just me, which is the really good bit!
Till next time,
Love and health dear readers!
