Simple living in the country - back to basics

Suffolk_lass

Apart from my slightly too tight trousers and 2nd boob on top of the bigger one, oh, and a jowly face (think chicken) my weight has increased by 12 pounds since I retired in Feb 19. Bigger than the weight loss is the loss in condition. I used to walk about a mile between various trains and in addition around an office and surrounding streets. It's just not good enough really and I will have to get a grip. I got rid of my bigger clothes after losing over 3 stone and I don't want it back. I am gradually paring back the naughtiness after writing down what I was eating (it took a day and a half to realise how ridiculous my diet is at the moment). It is the fitness thing I need to get a grip of though.

I love the description of the chickens helping. Still smiling. I wonder if that is what our bees were doing when they accompanied Mr SL back to the car last week. I think not!

Well done for draining the swamp and killing the crocodile to get that application monkey off your back!

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, that's a veritable safari Park of an image there SL! 😂😂😂😂😂

I think all that incidental walking makes a huge difference to fitness levels. Before we moved i was regularly walking 4-5 miles a day just to work and back, between buildings, then more if I went into town, or to a friend's house. Never really noticed it as 'exercise'.  Now there's nowhere within walking distance really, and 'going for a walk' feels like more of an effort than just walking to work...

Anyway, fitness watch thing should be arriving today so hopefully that will encourage me to get off my backside! Tis a gloriously sunny day today, so maybe I'll convince myself to get out at lunchtime for half an hour...

Baileys_Babe

In the couple of years before 2020, my weight had been slowly creeping but it jumped up by nearly 3 stone during lockdown. This is something I would like to get a grip on along with getting fitter. The walking I did daily as part of my previous life (at work, public transport) made a big difference but walking for the sake of walking holds no joy.

carrotstick_2

I've recently started to follow your diary as we are moving out of town and to the country in the next couple of weeks and find your diary so far very relatable!

Another one here who has gained during the pandemic. My exercise consists of walking downstairs to my working from home desk, and walking the children to school! I've gained a stone in total and I definitely need to get rid of it now. Finding the time isn't easy. 

Ramouth

I’m another who has put on weight over the last year.  I don’t think it is just the reduced exercise for us.  I think we learned to see food as the fun bit of our day.  Now trying to get out of that mindset but it isn’t easy and we are still snacking too much.  I realised we had a problem when SO asked what was for “breakfast dessert”!

Cheery_Daff

carrotstick_2 said:

I've recently started to follow your diary as we are moving out of town and to the country in the next couple of weeks and find your diary so far very repeatable!

Another one here who has gained during the pandemic. My excercise consists of walking downstairs to my working from home desk, and walking the children to school! I've gained a stone in total and I definitely need to get rid of it now. Finding the time isn't easy. 

Welcome carrotstick! 😊😊 enjoy your country move! Is this your first time living in the countryside? Or you going to a village, or something even more rural? You're definitely right that finding time isn't easy!

Ramouth said:

I’m another who has put on weight over the last year.  I don’t think it is just the reduced exercise for us.  I think we learned to see food as the fun bit of our day.  Now trying to get out of that mindset but it isn’t easy and we are still snacking too much.  I realised we had a problem when SO asked what was for “breakfast dessert”!

Ha, I LOVE the idea of breakfast dessert 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 that's brilliant 😂😂 Yes, so many bad habits, each in themselves maybe not too bad but together they all add up. A lot of my issue was not having a kitchen, and a lot of stress, which just combined to munching on whatever was handy, and eating a lot of toast and cake, and not much veg...

Back on the case now though. Not making any grand intentions, just making an effort to eat proper meals, plenty of veg, and more exercise.

Meetings have all finished, and I'm tempted to go for a walk, but the pesky sun has gone in! Pah! Can't really leave it til I've finished work though as it'll be dark, so I suppose it's now, and then work a bit later...

carrotstick_2

Thank you, we will be moving to a small holding on the outskirts of a hamlet. Slightly different to what the children are used to, but I was brought up in the countryside so you could say that I am going home. 

Fortune_Smiles

carrotstick_2 said:

Thank you, we will be moving to a small holding on the outskirts of a hamlet. Slightly different to what the children are used to, but I was brought up in the countryside so you could say that I am going home. 

Sounds very similar to where we are @carrotstick_2.

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

carrotstick_2 said:

Thank you, we will be moving to a small holding on the outskirts of a hamlet. Slightly different to what the children are used to, but I was brought up in the countryside so you could say that I am going home. 

Ooh, how lovely 😊😊 good luck! 

Well, I did drag myself out for a walk, but not a long one - it was pretty soggy and grim! Still, blew away a few cobwebs. 

Had a load of roast veg and a linda McCartney pie for tea, and spent an hour running about with the hoover and duster and cleaning things. Then a bit of yoga, and now I'm on the sofa waiting for Mr cheery to get back.

My new watch tells me I've managed 5049 steps today (which included my rather short walk) - not great, but not too bad considering I've not been anywhere aside from walking out to the end of the lane, and have been working all day.

Apparently I never had more than my 6 minutes of stress, so that's nice 😂😂 can't tell you what I was stressed about - probably when one of the chickens jumped far higher than I though she would and knocked the tub of chopped up grapes onto the floor, pesky thing 🙄😂😂

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon MSE chums 😊

A lovely sunny day here today. We started with cafe breakfast (as is often the case on a Friday) and I did some plotting and scheming.

I was planning to oil the skirting boards in the bedroom, but realised I'd not filled the gaps where they join at the corners, so I really needed to check the filler/oil combo first. Left that to dry, cast my eye about for something else to do... and have ended up painting the rest of the kitchen 😂

I'd started it before they put the worktop on, then Storm Arwen hit and it was just too damn cold and dingy without electric or heating and I had other priorities than painting the kitchen 😂 then the worktop got put in, then it was Christmas, and I never finished it, and we wavered about the colour....

But now I'm just painting the whole thing this colour anyway and living with it for a while - got to be better than bare plaster, we've already got the paint, and if necessary we can paint over it in a year or so.

And I do actually like the colour, just wasn't sure about the combination of that and the worktop, but the more I put on, the more I like it 😁

Here's a little glimpse...