Little Pickle's Plan for Perfection

Little_Pickle

Hello all!

Okay, things have to change BIG time for me.

I recently started smoking again after giving up for 3 months.
I drink at least one glass of wine or beer every night (more at weekends).
I do no exercise to speak of.

I don't need to tell you what this does to my body / state of mind, but it is also costing me a fortune!

SO! I have the following plan:

From Monday 29th September 00:00 midnight Sunday / Monday) I will:
Stop Smoking
Only drink at weekends (and only a little).
Start exercising regularly.

At the moment my figures are:
Smoking: Around £27.00 per week
Drinking: Around £30.00 per week (wine and beer in London is expensive)
Exercise: £0.00 (work membership).

That's a rough total of £57.00 per week on hurting myself both physically and monetarily.

my H2B is going away for work for 2 weeks on Sunday, so thought this was a great time to put my plan into action (I'll be really grumpy I should imagine!) as he won't have to put up with me moaning!

I'll use this as my diary and come back nearly every day to let you know how I'm doing...

LP
xox

Penny_Watcher

Good for you! :T

Can I recommend taking up jogging/running. I took it up about 4 months ago and it's flippin' brill :j. I was struggling to run for 60 seconds when I first started and now I can run for 5k without stopping. I've lost shed loads of weight and for the first time in years I actually feel fit and healthy. :rolleyes:

You get a natural high from exercise which should help with kicking the weed/reducing the booze doldrums. Think about how lovely you'll look on your wedding day .

Little_Pickle

Oh WOW! PW!!!!! Well done sweetie! That's an amazing story!

I think I may just do that! I can't run for toffee and I look stoopid when I do it too!

wedding won't be until 2010 but I want all that changes to be a change for life rather than just for the wedding IYSWIM?

How often do you go out and what do you think is the best time of day?

xox

breezerockz

Hi,
i walked alot, which was easier on the joints. i also had a low fat diet, and made sure i had all essentials vitaminsetc in the foods etc, i lost alot of weight, and i still have treats at weekends, walking and healthy diet, plus plenty of water,( which is hard to drink at first, but i always carry a bottle with me) ( i have about 2-3litres per 24hours) look at gillian mckeiths diet, ou are what you eat, its great, and once you get used to it very tasty. and i do eat choolate etc sometimes. but it is a lifestyle change.
good luck on your new lifestyle.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If you tend to reach for the demon weed when you have had a couple to drink, it might be a plan to lay off the booze completely for a little while, just to reduce the likelihood of your resolve weakening!

Baybee1984

Good luck with this!

Penny_Watcher

Little_Pickle wrote: »

Hello all!

Okay, things have to change BIG time for me.

I recently started smoking again after giving up for 3 months.
I drink at least one glass of wine or beer every night (more at weekends).
I do no exercise to speak of.

I don't need to tell you what this does to my body / state of mind, but it is also costing me a fortune!

SO! I have the following plan:

From Monday 29th September 00:00 midnight Sunday / Monday) I will:
Stop Smoking
Only drink at weekends (and only a little).
Start exercising regularly.

At the moment my figures are:
Smoking: Around £27.00 per week
Drinking: Around £30.00 per week (wine and beer in London is expensive)
Exercise: £0.00 (work membership).

That's a rough total of £57.00 per week on hurting myself both physically and monetarily.

my H2B is going away for work for 2 weeks on Sunday, so thought this was a great time to put my plan into action (I'll be really grumpy I should imagine!) as he won't have to put up with me moaning!

I'll use this as my diary and come back nearly every day to let you know how I'm doing...

LP
xox

Well..... now that you ask

I started with Robert Ullreys Couch to 5k podcasts (recommended by someone on here). Just stuck them on my iPod shuffle and went for it. At first it's 5 min walk + 60 sec jog + 90 sec walk + 60 sec jog + 90 sec walk for about 25 minutes 3 times a week. For goodnes sake if you do decide to go down the podcast route don't over do it - I hurt my knees because they weren't used to the pounding and had to take about 10 days off. The podcasts slowly gets your body used to exercise. Pah - don't worry about looking daft - it's all in a good cause.

Week 2 cranks it up a bit (can't remember but something like 90 sec jog + 60 sec rest), but you don't move onto Week 2 until you're comfortable with Week 1 IYSWIM. Then Week 3 is a bit more running and a bit less walking and then on and on until Week 9.

When I could run a little bit (prob 5 mins without stopping) I joined a beginners running group (the local Womens Running Network had a taster course) and that really helped. Running with someone else makes you push ahead.

I usually go out by myself now every other day for between 4 and 5k usually just pavement pounding, but sometimes I take the dogs through the woodland footpaths (when it's not muddy). Because I'm a SAHM I'm free to go out during daylight hours, usually about 10ish after I've walked the dogs.

You'll need a pair of properly fitting trainers and a close fitting sports bra (please don't try running without one - you do yourself no end of mischief). Other than that just wear whatever is comfortable and take it slowly - your joints aren't used to it. Also I found eating a banana about a hour before setting off gives you a real boost of energy. Oh and don't run when it's too sunny 'cos you might overheat and strangely running in the rain is quite nice as it keeps you cool.

Can I just add that if I can do it (44 and still overweight even though I've lost lots) any one can. Good Luck to you LP :j:T:j

And on that note I'm going to bed. Nighty night :wave:

harryharp

Well done Penny Watcher from keeping up the podcasts. I think I met you on another thread when we were both starting out with it. Unfortunately I got a sore achilles tendon after a few weeks, so thought I'd better stop until it calmed down. It's been OK now for quite a while, but I have never resumed the running:o

Even bought some special running gear from Lidl:o

After reading your about success I am determined to start running again! Will have to start again from the beginning though:rolleyes:

Yes, Little Pickle, I can definitely recommend Robert Ullrey's plan. Let us know how you get on with it if you decide to do it.

Penny_Watcher

harryharp wrote: »

Well done Penny Watcher from keeping up the podcasts.

Thank you! Have to confess I couldn't jump from running for 5 minutes to running for 8 minutes on the podcasts so I joined the running course. I found it too easy to stop if I was by myself.

But by fair means or foul I did actually get to 5k in the end :rolleyes: .

You must get back to running. Not very MSE having your running kit in the wardrobe.

timcrips

£57 per week thats £2964 Per year
£57 Per week thats... in the average adult life span an amazing ....£177,840

Now thats got to be worth it, good luck my fellow MSE Member

Kandipandi

Please come an join the giving up smoking thread - i quit over 7 weeks ago now and the support on there has been brilliant, and everyone else is going through the same thing. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=445572

Good Luck x