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In actual fact, #553minutes.
Let's revisit. I first blogged about the #1800minutes challenge here and then I did another update here and a little bit more here I started out so well, I really did. And then #finalproject took over and my life was #prettymuchwellover
553 minutes. I'm actually quite ashamed. I mean on the one hand it's 553 minutes that I did spend time moving about and not just sitting on my arse. But it's a very long way off #1800minutes. And to be fair to myself I think the whole finishing my final project for Masters did have to come first but it's pretty rubbish. Will I ever just be totally into exercise? Will that magically happen when I turn the big 4-oh next year? I highly doubt it.
On the other plus side, Wavey and I are totally into our evening stroll and each and every step was faithfully recorded throughout the challenge. We even got our shiny new trainers muddy last night as we stomped through some previously untrodden ground, despite living in this village almost my whole life! We came home with seriously hot feet syndrome and pretty much abandoned our trainers at the door:
And again on the plus side, the 553 minutes combined with eating healthier did help me drop a few pounds and a dress size - this is not too shabby an outcome at all.
I shall continue to walk. I shall continue to log my minutes in my little iPod. And I shall continue to hope that one day the gym bunny will sneak into my head and make me long for exercise. When that day does happen I might start my own challenge ... but don't hold your breath.
However it doesn't end there! Clearly I am a sucker for some kind of challenge. This time I'm taking part in a photograph challenge on my new love, Instagram. Come and join in the fun, my profile is here
Hopefully I will be better at that challenge.
Over and out.
I seem to spend a lot of days counting at the moment. I wake up and I count down the number of days until my first major deadline (20), then I count again for the BIG deadline, the one where there is no going back (33). I'm also applying for jobs at the same time so I count down the days until their deadline, although a lot of these agency jobs don't seem to have any deadline at all which surely can't be right. Then I'm putting all my different sections into one big document and counting the number of words to make sure I'm within the limit and wondering exactly how much editing I'm going to have to do to achieve that. For a gal who is none too fond of numbers that is a whole heap of counting.
Today has been a non-motivated kind of day. Yesterday was hugely motivating and I got absolutely loads done and felt good. Today I feel a bit useless and remain uninspired - lots of staring at blank screens waiting for words to be formed. This kind of sums up the whole portion of this final study thing. Self-study: two very tricky words. It's so easy to be lazy, distracted, procrastinate, I'll just make one more cup of tea before I sit down to start typing, read one more blog, watch one more episode of Gossip Girl...what is really hard is saying right kid, time to get on with this and stop messing the eff around.
Truth is, I think I'm done. I've had enough of this academic nonsense, I want a job again. A real job where I feel useful and needed, where my day is filled with actual achievements and I'm not a few feet away from the kettle and the giant tin of chocolate egg tastiness. Oh and money, oh how I miss money. I know, I know, it's almost over, I only have 33 days left until the whole thing has to be handed in, but today those 33 days feel like years. I want them to hurry up but I also don't want them to hurry up in case it all ends in one massive big panic...
Sheesh, nothing like a pity-party to entertain the masses.
In other news, my #1800 Minutes challenge is progressing. I've done a total of 400 minutes (more counting). I think it's safe to say I'm not going to complete the challenge but this I don't feel too bad about at all. It has got me moving and trying to regiment my exercise. It's safe to say I was never going to turn into a gym bunny. I'll own up to my final total at the end of the challenge (last day in May) and will keep plodding on. I am a ploddy donkey. I don't know where I came up with this term but it seems to fit my life at the moment. Here's a picture of a well-known donkey who definitely looks ploddy:
Normal service to be resumed shortly. Plod, plod...
10 days in and 121 minutes down. I know it doesn't seem like very much, and I also know that I'm seriously going to have to up my game if I stand a chance of actually achieving the #1800 Minutes, but for me it's a good start. I've been motivated to do exercise, and even if it's only 20 minutes or so it's got to be better than 0 minutes, right?
The truth of it is I'm actually enjoying it. Not in a yeah let's get pumped maaaaan type of way, but in a more sedate, hmmm even though my heart is pounding this is feeling good kind of way. The barre exercise DVD is really fun and I was chuffed today to be able to achieve a reverse plank, although there's a juvenile part of me that always ends up giggling at this kind of thing, mainly due to my bottom. My bottom is pretty big, I have ample booty, and whenever you have to do stuff like a reverse plank the people on the DVD are so elevated from the floor as they have teeny tiny bums, but me? Always grazing the carpet, no matter how high I lift. It's an equal blessing and curse, as I'm sure J-Lo would agree...
Oh and did I mention that today I had completed my exercises by 8.10. As in AM. Oh yeah, I was up and at 'em George Mcfadden. (Anyone who knows me well, knows that this is a serious accomplishment). Stay tuned for more exciting #1800 Minutes updates...
Day 3.
Total minutes so far: 44.
Total minutes still to do: 1756.
New experiences: working out with hand weights.
Surprise to self: can still move arms #shocker.
And here's a photo of my fab new running shoes. Confession: they haven't actually been out for a run yet but they have walked. Briskly. Up steep paths. Whatever, I'm proud.
If I've got my maths right (which trust me will always be questionable) 1800 minutes equals 30 hours. 30 hours between now and the end of May doesn't seem all that much. Until I remember that it's all about exercise.
I was reading one of my blogs the other day which was all about this 1800 Minute challenge and before I knew where I was I'd clicked a link and signed up! I still don't know what happened there. Actually that's not entirely true, I believe I was thinking, oh this will be motivational, let's sign up. The thing is, I find it really hard to get excited about exercise. I'm sure I've blogged many times about this but I just don't get it. I have friends who love it. LOVE IT. They practically drool when it's gym time they're so excited. But me? Not so much. I've joined so many gyms in the past, paid hundreds of pounds for months on end and barely swiped my card twice. I long ago vowed to never join another gym.
These days I exercise at home. One advantage of not being at work. Plus it's either free - there are tonnes of free workouts online, who knew?! - or pretty cheap if you buy a DVD as it's a one-time buy. My two most recent purchases have included a Barre workout DVD and some handweights, and this was before I signed up for this challenge! I don't know about you but I'm quite impressed with that commitment.
Which of course brings me neatly round to the purpose of this blog post. The #1800 Minute challenge. I hereby pledge to try to do at least 1800 minutes of exercise between today and the last day in May. It's for me, it's for fitness, it's for health...ok it's for a prize draw. If you want to join in you can still sign up here and join me in my journey...BARF! I shall post on here along the way. It won't be glamorous, but it might raise some chuckles. Whose with me?
