Walking : Weight Loss : Walkloss

OK, this isn’t strictly about walking (although I’ve been ever so good despite nasty, freezing cold weather). I saw this on another site and it struck a chord with the ex-credit controller in me…..

The one that gets you moving everyday of course. I’d love to think I could spend a couple of hours in the gym each evening, or play netball twice a week or train for the London marathon but I won’t and I’ve finally stopped wasting money on gym membership and running magazines. Like many people, I’ve grown up believing there is a magic formula to weightloss and the fat will just melt away if I stick to my alloted calories, points, syns or carbs/proteins and exercise to a schedule devised by someone who has never met me. Such is the grip of the diet industry, it has become perfectably acceptable to live on breakfast cereal or liquid shakes all day or waste hours in front of the tv jumping along while some C-List celebrity shakes their arse in your face. Sometimes, it takes years of failure and let downs before you realise that eating a bit less and exercising a bit more is all it really takes.

I choose to walk because it’s something I enjoy and can stick at. I’m lucky enough to live in a little town surrounded by beautiful fells and moors, canal paths and city walks so I get the variety I crave and the chance to explore places I’d never think of going to in the car. I can roll out of bed at 6am and chuck a coat and boots on and get out on my own for a couple of hours and it feels great, and well, it just feels like the most natural thing in the world to do.

Hurrah – first walk of 2009 done and dusted! I’d be a lying liar if I said that actual walking itself took up the entire 2 hours that I had set out to do…..there were many, many stops to catch my breath or have a little rest but it *was* a couple of hours outside and moving so I’m reasonably happy. I can only improve.

I weighed myself this morning, made a little note of the number and put the scales back where they came from. I’m going to try very hard not to look again until the 1st Feb – hopefully by then I’ll weigh a few pounds less than I do now. I’m usually pretty hung up about weighing myself – I’ll get the scales out at least every 2 days and record my weight in a spreadsheet that calculates whether I’m on track or falling behind. All very obsessive I know and I’m not falling into that trap again – every single time, without fail, that I’ve seen a gain I’ve ended up bingeing on rubbish food.  I know that my weight fluctuates wildly depending on what I’ve eaten, what I’ve been drinking, time of the month etc but I still throw my hands up in the air and tell myself I can never lose weight just because I’ve seen a gain of one silly kg. Every single time. If I can just have the common sense to weigh myself once a month then – as long as I’m walking and eating healthily – the scales should show a loss and I can just focus on getting healthy.

Although it’s pretty rare that I listen to the radio or any kind of music when out on the hills, having something to occupy my brain on my early morning walks into town and back is essential. Not only does a good podcast or radio show drown out the traffic and make the time go a bit faster, but it gives me a chance to catch up on the news and reviews I may have missed. Now that I’ve upgraded my phone to a Blackberry Bold (wooohooo) I’ve lost the FM radio that came with my previous mobile (boo) but I’m catching up with an even wider range of podcasts which is a GOOD THING. Here are ten of my current favourites:

1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews – Radio 5

Unmissable weekly film review from the good Doctor and Mr Mayo. I’m not much of a film goer but I haven’t missed a episode of this in 2 years and it’s a treat I look forward to every Friday.

2. Collings and Herrin Podcast

This is a brilliant but quite extraordinarily rude weekly show by journalist Andrew Collins and comedian Richard Herring. If you think swearing is funny (which I do) then this round up of UK news and celeb gossip is a must.

3. Pods and Blogs – Radio 5

“The week’s news as seen by bloggers, podcasters and citizen journalists” says the website and I couldn’t have put it better myself.

4. Excess Baggage – Radio 4

Travel show – perfect listening on a grim Yorkshire morning.

5. Ramblings with Clare Balding – Radio 4

Different walks around the UK – much more interesting than I’m making it sound here.

6. Speechification

Not a podcast as such but a collection of Radio 4 shows on mp3 – some absolute gems including comedies and documentaries.

7. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams

Too few and too far between but a wonderful treat

8. 606 Football Phone-in – Radio 5

Especially when the incomparable Danny Baker is in the chair.

9. The Outdoors Station

Excellent podcasts about backpacking, hiking etc in the UK. Bob Cartwright is a legend!

10. Countryfile

Informative podcast about the UK countryside and the happenings within it.

I’d be very interested in hearing your recommendations

After a hair raising few hours (due to a lack of technical ability on my part) I’ve managed to upgrade this blog from WordPress.com to WordPress 2.7 – and I’m really pleased with the results. I particularly wanted to use this theme (Frozenage) as I absolutely adore the winter and walking in snow is one of my most favourite things to do in the whole world. Hope you like it!

OK, back to business. I’ve had quite a few comments/emails regarding the walking for 2 hours a day thing. Consensus seems to be it’s a great thing to aim for but a little over-ambitious and, well, frankly extreme. As I mentioned before I’m lucky enough to work from home so I can fit in a long but very early morning walk without panicking about showering and catching the train into the city. However, even if I have to get up at 5am to fit in a walk I’ll just have to grit my teeth and do it. Walking everyday is a must but unless I give myself a goal that stretches me day in and day out I’m afraid I’ll slip back into old habits – missing the odd day, then the odd week, then the odd year…..

It was this article http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/21472/hours-fat-fit that made me sit up and take notice. I’m not diabetic but I’m absolutely on the way to being one if I carry on eating the crap that I do, I know that. Walking for 2 hours a day and eating a healthy diet can only improve my health and hopefully reverse some of the damage I’ve done to myself and it’s something that I know I can do and something I can stick at.  All the naturally slim people I know walk everywhere and eat good quality food only when they are hungry – I think that speaks volumes.

As another New Year approaches, millions of people are yet again gearing up to lose weight as one of their resolutions. I too am hideously guilty of this but only because a) I’ll just be fighting a losing battle over Christmas and will end up binge eating for the sake of it and b) being the OCD-lite kinda gal that I am, I want to be able to achieve all of the weight loss in 2009. I also like the idea of being the one who bucks the trend and sticks to what they set out to do – nothing better for wiping the smile off the smug faces that say it’s not possible. I gave up smoking on New Year’s Day four years ago and haven’t touched a cigarette since which I’m pretty chuffed about considering I was up to 40 a day at that point. So it can be done – all it takes is as much motivation and perseverance as it would at any other time of the year

Because I feel I need to get it right from the very start i.e. 1st January, I’ll do my first 2 hour flat walk on NYE so I can start the New Year with a proper hill walk (I won’t really blog about the flat walks unless something extraordinary happens as there’s only so much you can say about a walk into town and back).  I fancy a really good walk along the Rochdale canal on New Year’s Eve – either from Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden (which actually takes me about 3.5 hours to do but what the hell) or Tod to Littleborough or Rochdale.  I never used to take much notice of the canal until I came across this brilliant site http://ealees.com/walks/hebden.html which made me smile so much I started to incorporate a canal bank walk into my schedule every 3 weeks or so.

With a good flat walk under my belt I can then start the New Year with a hike up a hill. Living where I do I’m ridiculously spoilt for choice – an hour or so in the car and I can be in the Southern Lakes or the Peak District, half an hour will get me to the Forest of Bowland or Saddleworth Moor.  Better still, a 30 second walk from my little terraced house will get me onto the foothills of the Southern Pennines from where I can hike for hours and hours in pretty much all directions.  I’ll have to see how the weather is and how achey I am from the day before but I really fancy a walk up Pendle Hill as it’s not *too* much of a challenge but will certainly get the flood flowing – especially if it’s a blowy, rainy day (which, being Lancashire, it will be).