My Exercise History Or Lack Of and My First Blog Shoot!

Where do I start when it comes to my history of exercise?! 

I’m one of the few adults left who has never visited the gym, not once. I hated PE at school and my hatred of sport and anything competitive went from there.
Ironically, I studied at Loughborough University, well known for its sporting achievements. During my second year, I lived in a small block within a hall of residence with 9 others, one was a canoeist, two played handball for England, there was a rugby player, an athlete who competed for England in the 400m, a footballer who played for her county, 2 trainee PE teachers, a hockey player and then there was me (I hope I remembered all that correctly, it was a few years ago.) I think I went swimming maybe 5 times in my 3 years there, and for about 3 weeks I toyed with the idea of being a cheerleader (my love of American teenage novels being acted out, remember Sweet Valley High?!) Anyway, you get the idea, I was the least active person on campus!

This post also contains pictures from my first blog shoot. Doesn't that sound fancy! Trying to look natural whilst a camera is pointed at me is impossible!! I almost always ended up laughing or blinking. I gave up and posed at one point or went for pics taken from behind! I'm including those I'm most happy with in this post and then adding some outtakes at the end. Because this blog isn't about showing I'm perfect, it's about showing I'm not. I'm sticking to my pledge that every photo on here will be taken by me or feature me.

As a child, my parents took us walking every weekend so I always liked to walk. In my early twenties, me and my then housemate used to walk everywhere. We had just moved to a city, had no car and weren’t fond of buses so we would even walk to the cinema and back, that was 40 minutes away. I would say that was the fittest I have ever been.

(DISCLAIMER: I never dress like this to walk but thought it would look good in the pics, professional hey!)

I have on occasion joined an aerobics class (yes it was a long time ago, does anyone ever do aerobics now?!) I only ever lasted a few sessions.

As I said in my post on healthy eating, I have always been lucky enough to be thin so I didn’t have much motivation to exercise. I regret it now.

Since being diagnosed with CFS at the end of 2015 over doing it has left me exhausted, achy, unable to control my temperature and foggy headed as well as more emotional amongst other things. I therefore reacted by doing less, normal human nature I would imagine. Sadly, I am now less fit than ever and I just think it is making it even harder for my already weak body to manage normal activity levels.

I intend this year to build my fitness back up. I will take it slowly, managing your activity is vital with CFS as you can so easily do too much, I don’t want that to leave me scared to do anything though. On Friday I start a course of gym based physio. I also am trying to get out 3 times a week and walk. I always walk when I’m doing the school run too, it’s not far but it all helps. When I’m ready I want to add in a swim each week too. I want the goals I set to be achievable so this is a positive process, I have a habit of aiming too high, failing quickly and giving up so I must start small this time and build on each achievement as I go.

My two children both got bikes from Santa and have both mastered riding them so walking whilst they ride is a fun way to get some gentle exercise too.

As I have said before I intend this to be the year I face my fears and improve my mental and physical health. I will chart my journey through this blog to motivate me, keep me on track and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Outtakes. Hope they make you giggle.

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