It’s been a long week. Not in any way related to my new lifestyle, just a typically long, slightly chilly, end of November/start of December week. So, how are things in healthy land?

Exercise

Going well so far. Like I said last week, the early stages of starting any new regime are always easy, because you see results very quickly. The Pilates videos I’ve been doing (from Blogilates.com) are becoming a bit easier – I can push through for more reps, and I can just go for longer in general, so both my strength and stamina are improving. I’m working out for 6 days a week – fairly demanding, but while I’m doing a kick start, I want to really push myself. I’m doing a kind of ’90 day challenge’, and after that’s over I’ll settle into a more socially acceptable regime.

I also decided to buy a set of 3 Tracy Anderson DVDs from Ebay. I’ve followed a few of her webisodes and I like her teaching style. People seem to absolutely love her or hate her, and I’ve read a lot of angry comment-leavers denouncing her as a ‘fraud’….slightly alarming. I’ll be writing a more in depth review once I’ve got my DVDs and sampled them properly.

Eating

Slightly more tricky has been the diet quandary. I’ve never had issues with being careful with my eating, but the problem has been knowing when to stop. I make tiny alterations and keep doing so until I’m segueing from a normal healthy diet into just eating some rocket leaves with nothing on them and calling it ‘lunch’. This week has been interesting, but red flags have gone up. I started with cutting out caffeine and most sugar two weeks ago, then this week I’ve cut out wheat, and more or less cut out dairy. The temptation is always for me to stop replacing things with healthier options and just keep restricting myself.

I’m trying not to do that, as I want this to be something sustainable. So I’ve created rules. I’ve told myself that if I really want to have something, I’m allowed it. I have to eat 5-6 small meals a day, and I’m not allowed to go under 1200 calories a day. And so far, it’s actually been working. I’m not skipping meals and my blood sugar level is remaining stable because I eat every couple of hours. Skipping meals is another danger zone for me – I went for over 3 months in late 2009 when I didn’t eat lunch, ever. Just a small breakfast and dinner. It’s bad habits like this that I’m trying to unlearn. It sounds naff and totally hippie-ish, but I’m trying to learn to respect my body.

I went to a detox cookery course in Kensington on Thursday, and I learnt a lot about nutrition and how best to get it from the food you eat. For example, we learnt that pouring coconut milk over a fruit salad helps to prevent the sugariness of very sweet fruit hitting your bloodstream. And we also learnt that Coconut oil (or butter) is a fantastic ingredient that the body uses as energy instead of fat. Everything we ate had tonnes of garlic and herbs in, and most things we ate were either raw or cooked at very low temperatures. I learnt that kale, broccoli and herbs like coriander actually give your body calcium! If you’re interested, the company were called Nosh Detox and you can visit their site at http://www.noshdetox.com.

Anyway, I was pretty inspired by it, and cooked the whole three course meal at home on Friday night. So to sum up, I’ve learnt a lot this week, but I’ve also spotted problematic areas. I just want to prove to myself that I can eat a healthy diet without a) becoming obsessive or b) cutting out meals. I’ve also learnt that I respond well to solid rules, as long as they’re healthy. So here are my rules:

1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
2. Eat at least 5 portions of fruit/veg
3. Eat 5-6 small meals a day
4. Don’t skip any meals
5. Never go below 1200 calories
6. No caffeine, sugar or white bread/pasta
7. Limit dairy
8. Be good 80% of the time but if I really want it, have it
9. 30 minutes muscular structure and 30 minutes cardio every day
10. Only weigh myself once a week, if that – weight is not the important thing

And there we have it folks, the end of my week two of healthy living. Why don’t you check this to see how I got in such a horrible state in the first place: https://ameliaflorencesimmons.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/how-advertising-destroyed-my-health/

Also, happy December everyone! I’m already feeling festive!