Gaining more energy

I started an outdoor fitness group last night. This unusual behaviour was prompted by a customer who is also a fitness trainer (he used to train me when I went to the gym, quite a few years ago). He now runs his own outdoor fitness company and invited me to join a ten-week programme, for free. He's such a great guy and said 'just come along, join in'. The class started a two minute walk from work, I had no excuses! So I did.

There were eleven other people in the group and we did all sorts of mad things. It took me almost 16 minutes to run up a mountain (as you do). I had to walk/run most of the way, but I still got there. It brought home to me just how unfit I am. Walking and yoga, as much as I love them, don't get your heart rate up.

I had a little bit of a headache at the top of the mountain, and had visions of me all burnt out and shaky like after a full-on aerobics workout, but I will just take it easy and know my limits.

The class is twice a week so I will be off again on Thursday. I'm so happy that I was offered the opportunity to try this class as I would never have gone looking for it on my own. It reminded me how much I enjoy running and exerting myself. It's such a pleasure to exercise outside too. I just can't get excited about being inside a gym, walking nowhere on a treadmill.

After my shower when I arrived home I was like a jellyfish. It felt so good. I slept the sleep of the dead too.

I've been feeling a bit lately like something is missing - and it is high energy. I've been so 'busy' wafting around being serene that I've not been that productive. I need to get busier at the shop and finish all my work projects and I need to be more organised with my time at home.

I've been keeping on top of things at home but my main stressor which I want to resolve is our small home-office. Usually it is reasonably tidy with my sewing machine and overlocker, a bookshelf with my French Chic folders, knitting and embroidery supplies, wrapping paper, ribbons and cards etc.

Then recently my grandmother-in-law went into a rest home (at 98, good effort!) and her home which she had lived in for seventy years was cleaned out. Because I am the only one in the family who is even faintly crafty, I have inherited all her knitting yarn, tapestry wool, vintage sewing and knitting patterns, fabrics, buttons and fascinating old sewing equipment.

It is all wonderful stuff, I feel so blessed to have it, and I have been sorting through it, putting like things together. Next I have to merge it with my 'stuff' and declutter at the same time. The poor little office is rather full right now.

One of my days off I want to pull everything out of the office (which could take over the entire living room it is attached to) and then put back in order, editing as I go. I will have to start this first thing in the morning if I want to finish by dinner time.

But for now, looking at fitting two more exercise classes into my schedule each week is testing my time management skills (and meal planning since we get home an hour later than normal). I am making sure being busy forces me to be more organised and motivated, rather than feeling awash, like I have been lately.

30 Chic Days – Day Ten

Day 10: Go for a walk

Honestly. Just head down your driveway and go for a walk. You don’t have to put on exercise shoes, but I don’t think you should wear high heels either. Perhaps something in between? Wear your normal clothes and take a walk, either from work, or from home. Even if it’s just ten minutes around the block.

You will get some vitamin D from the sun, a bit of fresh air (don’t worry too much about vehicle pollution unless you are walking along a motorway) and move the blood around your body.

You will connect with your neighbourhood and have time to think. If you can combine an errand with a walk, so much the better. I never feel more French than when I walk to the post office or bank, or to pick up a library book.

Now that I have rescued poodle Atlas, I look for excuses to take short walks. Everyone needs to see how handsome he is! We’ve had more takeaway coffee this week than any other week in history I think.

So grab your sunglasses, put on a bit of lipstick and take a stroll, just like your ideal French girl would. Mine, Sabine, has been around a lot lately!

And even though you are unlikely to be strolling the streets of Paris, just imagine you are. It's almost as good.

Moving Like a French Woman

I was re-reading a chapter of French Women Don’t Get Fat today. It was chapter 10 - ‘Moving like a French woman’. In it she makes some interesting points about French women and exercise.

Mireille says traditional exercise where you change into your workout gear doesn’t go with being French. She describes it as a great, joyless effort cutting two hours out of your day to travel, change, learning and waiting to use machines, showering, drying your hair and so on. And you have to pay for it. I couldn’t have written it better myself. She describes exactly why I am not a gym bunny anymore.

She also mentions an ‘overheated’ workout can do the opposite for you than a milder exertion. It revs up your appetite so you eat more afterwards. And if you decide all that energy expenditure is just too much to put up with, you quit. It can encourage the ‘all or nothing’ mindset.

I couldn’t agree more. I remember some particularly high-energy aerobics classes when I left the gym on a Saturday morning literally shaking. And I was ravenously hungry. My poor body, all churned up. And then I looked around for the nearest horse to eat...

I think it comes down to what suits you. Some people thrive on high-energy workouts but I know for myself they are counter-productive to my health and tranquillity. I much prefer gentle exercise as part of how I live my life.

Walking outside either at a fast-paced clip or a leisurely meander depending on my mood, how much time I have and whether I feel tired or energised that day is my favourite form of exercise. I also feel really fortunate that I have found an enjoyable yoga class to add to my walking.

Yesterday our teacher echoed my walking philosophy. She said you will have days when you have lots of energy and feel great, and days when you feel tired and want to be more gentle on yourself. On these types of days it’s hard to even find your balance, you’re wobbling all over the place (in yoga at least). And it’s true!

In the past I’ve felt guilty if I’ve had a ‘slack’ gym workout and either pushed myself to try harder or left the gym feeling guilty because I didn't take full advantage of my workout time. Now how much fun does that sound? Again, it’s down to the individual – there are plenty of people who enjoy the high-octane effort of a gym workout, but I’m not one of them.

My husband and I have had this conversation a few times – he knows how much I enjoy my gentle pursuits of walking and yoga, and he’s told me how much enjoyment he gets from his hard-out cardio and weights gym sessions 3-4 times per week.

In her book, Mireille encourages us to increase our walking by adding regular ‘dedicated’ walks to our day. Start small and make smart strolls a part of each day. It could be walking part way to work (I drive, but often walk to the bank, post office or library during the day. When I worked in the city I would use my lunch hour to walk from the bottom of town to the top to visit the library or just for a stroll) or walking for 20 minutes after dinner to aid digestion and wind down before bed.

Of course you won’t want to wear stilettos, but you don’t have to wear chunky sports shoes either. There are many styles of comfortable flats which allow you to be comfortable and look good in your normal day clothes too.

When I travelled to London, I had a number of days where I was a sightseeing group of one. It was lovely to have the day to myself, but to have friends to meet up with at night (they were working). One of the days I caught the tube to Chelsea/Sloane Square area and just walked around imagining I lived in one of the gorgeous pastel coloured terrace houses and eventually made my way to a shopping area and another tube station where I rode back to my friend’s home later in the afternoon. Not a typical touristy outing but I’ve always enjoyed seeing how people live, and not just gawping through the gates of Buckingham Palace (although I did that too of course).

I’ve done this a few times in my own city. I think I’ll do it again soon. The area we live in is pretty boring and out of the way, and not really suitable for walking, but I can drive to a lovely, older area and park the car. Then the plan is to walk as if I lived there and enjoy the beautiful homes, perhaps stop in a cafe or window-shop. Enjoyable exercise is what I’m all about.

Countdown to 40

In a few months I will turn forty. I'm very happy to be going into the next decade. I feel like I'm already 'getting a good run at it' (as my husband says) with starting this blog and working out how 'chic' is defined in my life.

One thing that is still bothering me though, and which I've sat back and had a think about, is my figure. I stopped posting my Chic Eating updates as it was stressing me out. Saturdays came around very fast and what if that week hadn't been particularly noteworthy?

So I relaxed and thought to myself, how can I change this. Still no to Weight Watchers, it's too strict for me, but giving myself free rein is a recipe for disaster. I sat down a week ago and drew up some 'guidelines' for the way I want to live, to enable me to slim down slowly and quietly.

My guidelines are not a diet, and there are no quantities listed. Here they are (I've called them Countdown to 40, just for fun) -

Sunday to Thursday – alcohol-free nights
Friday night – Bubbly Friday (we've had Bubbly Friday for years)
Saturday night – snacks and drinks

- This means I've cut down drinks to two nights a week (from probably 5-7 nights, even one glass of wine each evening adds up to a lot of calories) and I only eat snacks one night a week. I've decided I would rather have some camembert and crackers than potato chips, but if I want potato chips that's fine too, only on Saturdays.

Salad with lunch every day
Vegetables with dinner every night

Protein at every meal, eg:
- Egg with breakfast
- Tuna with lunch
- Lean meat or fresh fish with dinner

One piece of fresh fruit every day

If I crave something sweet after a meal – 1-2 squares dark chocolate
If I crave savoury snacks, a small amount of rice crackers and cheese

Early nights – in bed by 9.30pm at the latest, preferably 9pm, to give plenty of boudoir time for reading and moisturising before lights out at 10pm.

Green tea first thing in the morning with blog time (6am)
Drink water all day

Two yoga classes per week
Three one hour walks per week (two included to and from yoga)

I have to say, having my guidelines has really helped me stay on track and have a balanced week with plenty of nutrition and good sleep. I started out by writing down what my perfect week would look like and added things as I thought of them.

I also like that they are not just about food, but incorporate lifestyle habits to aim for as well. I am still using my Chic Eating principles most of the time too (I can have anything I like as long as it is 'Chic' and 'Real').

If I ever feel like slacking off, maybe pouring a glass of wine on a Wednesday, I remember my Countdown to 40 list and I feel newly remotivated. I also have the Word document open on my laptop most of the time, so I see it whenever I'm on the computer.

Handling unpleasant people

When I first started attending a local yoga class a month-and-a-half ago, I went once a week. I have been enjoying it so much that I decided to double my attendance rate to two classes per week. I also decided to purchase a concession card rather than just paying casual rates.

I went to my additional class yesterday morning. It is at the same place, with the same teacher (she is so good – a perfect mix of being gentle, firm, and fun, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the physical body and yoga). The only thing that is different are the people. I have gotten to know the faces of the folk in my Thursday class, but the Tuesday class are not the same faces. That’s fine, I don’t go to chat. There is a nice atmosphere but everyone is there to do their own yoga workout. Perfect.

Just as Stephanie is working on dealing with awful workmates, so I found myself yesterday morning at my new yoga class with some unpleasant and attention-seeking class attendees. Because there were only about eight of us at the most it was particularly noticeable. One of the women thought she had the right to disturb everyone else’s peace by saying such stupid things out loud as ‘this is excruciatingly painful’ and ‘oh it feels like my fingers might snap off’.

Sure most of the other people including me were probably thinking these things, but we didn’t feel self-important enough to decide that the others wanted to hear about it. She first drew attention to herself near the start of the class when she declared to the teacher ‘last time we did this pose you told me to do it differently as I couldn’t feel anything’ and then later on as the teacher walked around tweaking our poses ‘don’t stop doing that, it feels great’. It seems she treats the group class like a private lesson.

Now, unlike Stephanie, I don’t have to spend five days a week with this person (and her friends who giggled and laughed at her proclamations), but I pay a not-unreasonable amount to attend this class and enjoy the peace and quiet of a small group of people all with the same goal of bettering their physiques in a relaxing and gentle way.

I sincerely hope she doesn’t come to this class too often. And if she does then I suppose I’ll have to work on ignoring her. When I was walking back to work I saw her and her two friends heading into a cafe no doubt to call out inane observations loudly. At least the noise of the coffee machine would drown them out. No such luck in a quiet yoga class.

I thought to myself ‘that figures’ when I saw who one of the friends was. She was a late arrival to the class. We are asked to come five minutes early to get set up with our mats and props so we are relaxed and can start on time.

Last week I arrived dot on time (stressfully so, not a great start to the class) – I grabbed everything I needed and made as little disruption as possible. Not this one yesterday, she complained in a loud whisper (so we could all share) about her two children being sick, she was half-sick herself, and on and on. Meanwhile the whole class waited.

I remember a similar type (they’re scattered around carelessly everywhere unfortunately) who used to attend the same Weight Watchers meeting as me. She came along every week with a friend or two and would loudly claim she wasn’t losing weight and that Weight Watchers didn’t work, and asked how could you tell the size of a medium apple. When told it was as big as would reasonably fit in her hand, she snorted and said ‘I can fit a bloody big apple in my hand, so it must still be a medium-sized one’.

Yeah love, it’s a large apple that’s making you fat, not the giant bag of M&Ms you went on about eating last week. Do such people realise how tiresome they are? It’s a shame I have wasted mental energy on remembering this woman, and it must have been about twelve years ago if not more.

I have been wondering what Sabine, my ideal French girl would do in the yoga situation. I was quite shocked at the main loudmouth’s rudeness yesterday, and I admit I did give her a small ‘look’ at one stage. My plan will be to ignore her (these people love any kind of attention, good or bad) and focus on my own thoughts as well as the teacher’s voice.

Sometimes I find myself listening to a person’s cellphone conversation and just because you can hear it, your brain starts thinking about it. So tuning out her boorish honk is my goal.

That was always my mother’s advice about annoying people at school – ‘just ignore them and they’ll go away’. Here’s hoping.

Thank you for listening.

Rest, and Yoga

At the moment I’m feeling a bit like a rest. And rather than try and make myself snap out of it, I’m just going with the flow. I realise now there are times when I enjoy going hard and decluttering/cleaning/organising/crafting/cooking at home, and times when the exact right thing to do is read the new Tori Spelling book I have out of the library for an hour (or two). I can’t tell you how much I love Tori and her books and DVDs.

I don’t know what it is, she’s supremely tacky and such a self-promoter, but she’s just so funny and enjoyable to watch/read. I have terrible, really trashy taste in tv and books sometimes. Where else except our house would you find Keeping Up With The Kardashians sitting next to Two Days in Paris and various French arthouse movies.

So I’m enjoying the quiet time right now. On my last day off work (Wednesday, since I work Saturdays) I wasn’t much in the mood for being productive, so I did what I have to do - make the bed, wash the clothes and towels and hang them out, empty the dishwasher, prep dinner and then... I put some chocolate brownies in to bake (from scratch) and watched a couple of Kardashians episodes while filing my nails.

Being slothful and trashy is blissful sometimes.

I actually don’t know what the point of this post is except to say that it’s OK not to be ‘on’ all the time. Part of being human (and being female) is having restful time too. And be gentle on yourself.

My arms and shoulders feel deliciously worked out from yoga yesterday – we had to attempt (everyone else – all four of them - ‘did’, I ‘attempted’) a handstand or half-handstand. The half-handstand involved doing a downward facing dog pose (pictured above) with your feet against the wall, and then walk your feet backwards up the wall until they are quite high up. Yes really. It was so hard. But apparently it will get easier and I will be quite proficient at walking backwards up the wall one day. Yay.

In spite of the description of this exercise I am still really enjoying yoga, and even though it is strenuous, I always look forward to it (unlike the gym). The room has no music, it is peaceful and serene with a gas heater going (it’s winter here) and sometimes incense. Everyone is very friendly and normal and it’s a pleasure to attend.