Fit by Christmas?

[marvelousdcomics]

For anyone who read my other thread, you'll know I have a few things going on with dd at the moment (EDs, gender questioning, depression, anxiety etc). These things are improving. I've been so worried/stressed that although I used to be healthy, I got lazy and began eating rubbish food. Lots of it. I'm 5'2" and 123lbs, so not overweight, but I was around 100lbs where I was happy. My dd's latest ED was binge eating (which she is almost recovered from). She told me last night she wanted to be healthier, and would I be healthier with her? I said yes. I've told her its about health, not weight - we wont be weighing ourselves, just eating lots of healthy food and incorporating exercise (done barely any past few months).

Do you think its possible to be fit by Christmas? I ideally do want to lose a couple of pounds & tone up, but don't want to project anything onto dd. Does anyone want to join? We could post daily food/exercise diaries. Thank you.

I think you could be fitter by Christmas.

But you need to be careful that your Dd doesn't swop her disordered eating for over exercise.

I work in the fitness industry. There are lots of men and women that I know that are 'recovered' from eating disorders. In actual fact that have swopped it. They eat well, even eat chocolate, sweets etc (or whatever their fear foods were) but exercise far too much. It's not recovery and can be very dangerous.

I will! I am trying to project healthy life for my kids as I have let things slide myself and I am not really doing the right thing. Things need to change - hence up early on a Sunday (OK for me!) - waiting for an Ocado order of good food to eat on a meal plan .. too many weeks of no organised food means a pretty poor diet here as we both work full time.

I went to gym yesterday and completed Week 5 Day 1 of the c2k for about the 8th time .. determined to finish it by Xmas..

I am using the Joe Wicks cook books as they are perfect for this - full of good foods and lots of veg but not diety at all .. everyone can eat the meals and I can adjust easily to suit me as I do need to drop a bit of weight..

you sound amazing to do this for you DD - great role model for her .. what are your fitness goals for Xmas?

Why the deadline? Generally you should be looking at all over lifestyle changes for a consistently fitter lifestyle. Setting deadlines usually ends up backfiring.

Yes, you could make a noticable difference in 3 months.

What exercise appeals to you both?

There's C25k or swimfit plans if you want programmes to follow. Dance, classes cycling, team sports etc

Phillip, hi, yes I'm very aware of that. I've said we'll do some sort of exercise every day but we are not going to be overdoing it by any means. Shes very on board with it and says she justs wants to be healthier. I'll watch her very closely.

Manc, hi! My goals for Xmas are to be able to run for quite a while without stopping, be a bit more toned overall, lose a bit of body fat and to be setting a good example for dd.

Thefitfatty, its not a deadline for overall Christmas, its just the nearest place that I want to be able to look back and see changes. Being healthy is a lifestyle, I know, I just want to see a comparable difference in my fitness between now and then

Mrs, thank you for response. We both love running, swimming, ball games. I like yoga too, dd loves gymnastics. I have the C25K app on my phone but have never used it!

I agree it's far too easy to get hooked in to over exercise for the endorphins and rewards from people's comments and weight loss etc. Better to get her thinking about what you can do together in the course of your normal day like walking to the shop rather than driving, cycling to school/college/work rather than bus etc etc I too need to lose weight and tone up but have no opportunity day to day,organised activities are best for me for motivation! Good luck

Hi ZigZag, I know how easy it is to get hooked. I was the same at dd's age, but thankfully that didn't last long. For the first week we'll take it slow, so just going for a walk/light jog every day or so. I also have the 30 days shred DVD (which I've never opened) which I'll probably get done - although dd wont be joining in I don't think. Today we're making a meal plan for the week, making sure its healthy but with enough food on it. Thank you

Why don't you find a "fun" Christmas race and book onto it, to give yourselves something to aim for?

Round here we have a Pieathlon, which is only three miles and involves three pie stations. Everyone is in Christmas fancy dress.

There's also a New year's Day race that we do, which is around four miles and again, fancy dress.

I bet there's something similar of 3-4 miles in your area. You could do c25k until then, to get your running fitness up, and then not only would the race be fun but you'd have a lovely medal/ T shirt/ pastry brush (yes really) to show for your efforts.

C25K sounds promising in these circumstances, because it tells you to run only three times a week, and increases the distance/time in small chunks. So it wouldn't be easy to take it to excess.

And there are enough weeks to Christmas to complete it, and I think the idea of entering a festive race is a good one. There's a Santa Run not far from here, and I think it's a 5k. So if you have one near you, it might be a target.

And when running 5k (with or without walking breaks) you could add a weekly Parkrun.

Thank you Running and Auntie! That's a great idea about the festive race, I've always wanted to compete in one. DD will love it, thank you

Thefitfatty, its not a deadline for overall Christmas, its just the nearest place that I want to be able to look back and see changes. Being healthy is a lifestyle, I know, I just want to see a comparable difference in my fitness between now and then

You should certainly feel a difference by Christmas, if not see one as well. But try and focus on making it manageable and an easy slot into your life. That way you don't have to worry about your daughter obsessing about it. :)

Thefitfatty thank you We plan on just incorporating exercises when we have time, and eating healthily but not obsessively. Obviously I'll keep a close eye on dd, but she is a lot better than she was previously.

Thank you for all replies, may come back later to add a food/exercise diary for today.

I am dealing with ED potential (12 & 10) with my daughters at the moment. (My mum's anorexic and I was anorexic and bulimic when I was younger too - the long-term health problems resulting from this are discussed freely with my daughters) We have just started the "Couch to 5k" app together in an effort to get me fitter. At the moment it's fun and they know that they could probably run a million miles more than I could and they jolly me along (and stir outrageously). As long as it's still fun for them, I'm happy(ish) to torture myself every second day. They made me buy purple running shoes that look like they're covered in unicorn vomit as well. I think that this old fitness lark might be a good thing to do with your daughter.

Hi Justilou, thank you for response (sorry I got it late). My mum was also anorexic, and is unfortunately still battling binge eating. She has beginning of osteoporosis and heart problems due to her anorexia years ago. I'm hoping to put a stop to dd's ED's once and for all