Healthy living support thread for feminists

[SeraOfeliaFalfurrias]

In response to a few discussions we've had down the pub - there are some of us who are striving for better health through better diets and more exercise, but who struggle among the usual support groups where it's all about looking better rather than good health. And it certainly can be tricky as a feminist, walking that fine line between not conforming to beauty ideals through dieting and making sure you actually look after your body through a healthy lifestyle.

So here is a support thread for those of us who are trying to eat better and get more exercise.

Me, I could do with losing a bit over 2 stone to get back to a healthy weight. I had an ankle injury after running a marathon about 3 years back, and between not being able to exercise and the stress of my PhD (I'm a stress binge eater) I gained 3 stone and lost all my hard-earned fitness. I'm finally getting back on track, I've lost nearly a stone and am hitting the exercise hard again. The hardest bit has been getting back into running - while my ankle is better, my joints are really feeling the extra weight I'm carrying. It's also hard to do karate when your wobble gets in the way of you doing a good kick and you get out of breath when sparring. So I need to lose weight in order to enjoy my sports hobbies again. I'm taking it slowly, doing Slimming World but not religiously - I'm not in a hurry to lost the weight, but I also need to watch that I don't take it so slowly that it never happens!

Yesterday I ran 8km, which is really encouraging as I was still going strong at the end. Just a couple of months ago I was run/walking 5km and would have welcomed death at the end! So I feel like some kind of switch has been flipped and my body now "remembers" how to run. The down side is that both ankles are aching and stiff today.

My diet has been rather rubbish the last couple of weeks, including a few binges, and I put some pounds back on, but I'm in that good place mentally now and hopefully ready to focus on getting my body healthy again. I loved being lean and fit and athletic, and I'm not getting any younger (thoroughly middle-aged), so I feel like the window of opportunity for getting myself in a sustained state of good health without drastic measures being required is closing!

Just checking in and saying good night!

Morning. I'm going for a taster session with a personal trainer this morning. Only because they were having an personal training open day at the gym, I can't sign up to paying for sessions, so I feel a bit guilty.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to tell her about my goals etc. I'd quite like her to show me the weight lifting section of the gym, I've never ventured in, but I don't want the whole session to be about that. I need to work on cardio too.

Have fun trying out those weights, feckity!

Welcome to everyone else who has joined.

At work so can't chat, just reporting a good Combat session at the gym this morning and mind still firmly in healthy eating mode. Sadly, I left all my fruit at home so lunch will be a bit boring.

I'm trying to resist the impulse to jump on the scale every morning. I know the numbers aren't supposed to matter and I know I'm supposed to be taking it slowly. But it's hard. Especially when you're on a "good" streak and feel you deserve some kind of reward.

PT session was good, I tried the bench press - I managed to lift the bar for a couple of sets, which apparently is a good start! I can't imagine putting actual weights on it in addition. I'm quite tempted to pay for some sessions with her as she was good and I liked her. Hmmmm

I weigh every day. I know you're not supposed to, but I've never had the patience for that kind of thing. As long as you don't beat yourself up if it wavers up and down a bit, and keep focused on the general trend I think it's ok.

That's good news, feckity! Though I hear you on the pennies! I'm too wimpy for a personal trainer anyway, and even though I know my way around the weight machines I'm still a bit nervous about heading into that part of the gym. So I stick to my Body Pump class. It has weights, I get to add more every now and then and it's set to music!

A friend back in Surrey has just qualified as a PT and is using all her friends as guinea pigs. I'm quite cross this didn't happen before I moved away!!

Another good day so far today, though I am aching all over from Monday's exertions, not helped by adding another class this morning.

Tomorrow morning I'm going for a run. I said it so now I have to.

FF- I'm glad you enjoyed the weights. I think it's something that more women should do but I also know that there a few reasons why more don't.

You're also right about weighing yourself daily to. It can have some good points but it's mostly about the weekly trend

can i jump in please?

i so need a safe place to talk exercise and running, without the talk of needing to fake tan my legs or worry about body hair

if you want to do that, fine by me, but please can we just talk about the exercise*

*me thinking out loud

Not done any exercise today but got bought lunch yesterday and are only half of it because I was full enough after that

Very tired today so need to avoid my usual recourse to snacking!

Me too Yonic. Rubbish night's sleep, and that always makes me want to eat sugary crap all day. Which only ever makes me feel worse, so it's completely pointless.

Morning all! We had Chinese last night, which was definitely not worth the calories (I ate many spring rolls). Won't order from that place again! Never mind, I got in a 5km run this morning. How is everyone else doing today?

Hi, I've name changed with all the password reset things going on.

I've not been brilliant on the food front, I took dd1 school uniform shopping yesterday which we both hate, so I bribed both of us with lunch out and an ice cream. Oh well, its not like we do that every day.

On the plus side, I have been more active this week. My pedometer app says I've done 10000 steps each day, as well as swimming twice this week so far.

mermaid, I've had the exact opposite few days - pretty good on the food side, but really inactive. I've also had three full days being alcohol free and I'm driving to a birthday party tonight so I won't drink there either.

I meant to say earlier, I probably wouldn't have gone running this morning if I hadn't promised to on here, cos I stayed up far too late watching Casino Royale last night and would happily have stayed in bed for an extra hour this morning. So hopefully that means this group is working already!

Sera There's nothing like promising a bunch of strangers on the internet that you're going to do something for motivation.

It's also almost impossible to lie, because what would be the point?

I did well at the cafe in the park earlier. The dds both asked for a chocolate crispy cake, I just had a tea. Then dd1 said she didn't like hers, so then it was staring at me, challenging me not to waste food. However, I had a narrow escape as just as I decided to eat it, dd2 managed to drop hers on the floor, so I swapped it for dd1s. Phew. I only had a brief internal tussle over whether to still eat the one that had fallen on the floor

It's a pain in the arse this dieting business. Also, my triceps hurt from the training session yesterday. And I was awake from 3am to 5am this morning. Frankly it's amazing I haven't scarfed a whole packet of biscuits.

Pilates tomorrow, and the gym with DH on Saturday. He's offered to spot me so I can have another go at the bench press. But I think that might be weird.

When DH comes to the gym on a guest pass we tend to spend a fair proportion of the time floating in the jacuzzi, but I'll attempt to work a bit harder this time.

I'm planning on swimming again this evening, if dd2 goes to sleep early enough. I've promised myself that if I can get out of the house by 8:30 then I'll go, but if it's later then I won't because the pool closes at 9:30.

I really haven't done well on the food front today though I've had sausage and chips for dinner because dd1 has a very fussy friend round for dinner and I refuse to cook different meals for different people. I also had ice cream at the park with dd2. I'll do it properly again tomorrow.

Hi everyone, can I invite myself to join in? I was on an old three healthy meals and no snacking thread that faded away, and with the death of the thread my motivation has disappeared too. It being the school holidays hasn't helped either.

I'm lifting weights at the gym and absolutely loving feeling stronger. I've also recently graduated from the c25k and struggling to know what to do next.

Today has been a write off food wise (chip shop take away tonight) but tomorrow is a new day.

Well done on weights purple!

I actually didn''t snack today - it helped i'd pre bought lunch and dinner and only just had time to stop and eat them. Had a mini magnum tonight but that was conscious and worth it

What do you do with the weights Purple? (Besides lift them, I mean...) I want to get into weights but I'm not sure whether I should be aiming for the small barbells (one in each hand things), the machines or the big bench press type things.

There are some other podcasts on the nhs page for once you've finished C25K. I didn't get on with them particularly, with the one I tried you were supposed to use the music to match your pace and I almost died the first time I tried it. Though I never got to running 5K in 30 minutes, if you're managing that you might be better placed to have a go.

I have a personal trainer (who is wonderful) and she encouraged me to try a lot heavier than I would have naturally gone for. She was really good for showing me the right form and correcting anything I was doing wrong so I didn't injure myself. Quite often gyms will give you free sessions or point you in the right direction if you get a friendly one.

We do a mix of hand weights, barbells and some of the machines in the gym (mainly the cable ones). I'd recommend body pump classes which are great fun. Normally it's heavy weight fewer reps or light weight with lots of reps. I'd still class myself as a bit of a novice and what I'd class as heavy I'm sure proper lifters would laugh at but I've actually got shape to my arms for the first time in my life. There's actually a weights section on here somewhere which would be worth a look.

Thanks for suggesting looking for more podcasts-I don't know why I didn't think of that! I might try improving my 5k time first before looking at going further. There's a park run here with massive hills which looks good but scary so maybe I'll brace that. First goal might be to run the whole thing!

Parkrun is great, definitely give that a go. I got really into it a while back, I want to go back at some point but Saturday mornings have got busy recently.

I have to think about this personal trainer thing. You can buy packs of sessions at my gym, rather than sign up to sessions every week for however long. Would there be any point to having a session every two weeks to give me the pointers and train by myself in between?

FF- I think that's a good idea. Once you've got form sorted then there are plenty of good programs to follow on the net. A P.t can help with your form and then you can follow a program you've got else where or follow the P.Ts program if it's good.

Without getting too meatheady into it, IMO your better off starting with big multi joint exercises like a squat or bench press. These will help you use my calories, build muscle, help your movement overall.

Right I need some motivation to getting on the trainers and out of the door for the first run of the C25K. Not now I hasten to add as I am at work and got a plateful!

But some time in the next week I need to get off my arse and do something!

Parkrun sounds great. We've got one near us. I'd like to be able to do that (and not come last).

Go for it scallops. I don't know where you're at with fitness at the moment, but I know I found the first few run/walks pretty hard when I did it first time round. But if you stick with it you can make progress really quickly, it's amazing. And the lovely Laura on the NHS podcasts is so great, she says all the right things at the right time and you feel she's really talking you through the whole thing. Well I did anyway

PELVIC FLOOR!