Having given up work I am determined to try and get some fitness back and some weight off, helped of course by the doctor telling me to lose some weight, do more exercise and drink less.

The exercise part

We are getting on a bit so aches and pains are the order of the day. I put in an exercise mat (well beach mat, everything has a dual purpose when living in a tin box) with the intention of doing daily stretches and strengthening exercises. Last year the mat never came out. This year I realised at the start that I wasn’t going to lay in the pouring rain or even snow in a car park doing sit-ups so time for a rethink. The only place in the van where you can lay down fully stretched is the bed, so the bed it is. Timing is so important, to do exercises daily it has to work for your day, so for us after our morning cup of tea and before we actually get up we do a quick 10 minutes of exercise based on the needs of our old bodies, back stretches and stomach strengthening mainly. At the bottom of the blog are the exercises we do.

Then there is the cardio part of exercise, cycling, walking, running and occasionally swimming. We always (never missed a day yet) do at least a 1 hours of exercise. Running is the one I find the hardest, I only just this year cracked 5K and I still struggle when the path is up a mountain or the temperature is above 30. Running is also the only one we “do” as an exercise, normally on a move day. We tend to alternate days between walking and cycling. We cycle to a place, walk around the place of interest, and cycle back. Or we do a walk into the hills or some other beauty spot. Normally we are out and about for about 5 to 8 hours and the distance covered varies. It is fair to say that the hardest walks have been some of the shortest in distance but had a high elevation gain, same with cycling.
Swimming only happens, strangely enough, when we have access to a swimming pool. Nothing is nicer at the end of a warm day that’s involved a fair bit of exercise than to flop into the pool and do a mile (often a little short of that). Swimming has always been my favourite form of exercise, although I expend so little effort I’m not sure it can be classed as exercise, I’m slow and steady when it comes to swimming.

So I’m finding exercising in the van is easy, well let’s be honest, I find exercising now I’m not working easy. I do wonder if this routine will be maintained when the only attraction to visit is St ives, Cambs.

The diet

It’s a lot easier when you’re not working. The temptation to eat because you have had a rough day, or because you need an excuse to get up from the desk all disappear. It’s still a case of every mouthful of food puts weight on. I have managed to loose 14K since Christmas, my clothes are all falling off me. The one belt I bought with me has been attacked with the corkscrew to put extra holes in it. Like a lot of people I find dieting hard, if I overeat only a small amount I put weight on and no amount of exercise seems to increase the amount I can eat. John on the overhand only has to eat food and he loses weight. I’m not calory counting or anything just avoiding eating and when I do eat I avoid as much processed food as possible. It’s hard but I’m getting there.

Our morning exercise routine

• Back stretch,bridge pose held for 30 secs.
• Laid on back raise legs and shoulders about 4-6 inch, hold for 30 secs
• 15 bicycle crunches
• 15 Sit Ups
• Supine spinal twist on right 30secs
• 15 leg raises while laid on right hand side
• 60 second plank
• 15 cat/cow back stretches
• 15 press ups
• Cobra for 30 secs
• Supine spinal twist on left 30 secs
• 15 leg raises while laid on left hand side
• 15 crunches
• Pelvic floor exercise
• 10 shoulder shrugs (up and down)
• 10 shoulder shrugs (back and forth)
• 10 head turns to left and right
• 10 head nods up and down

Also when brushing teeth, stand on one leg for 1 min then other leg for 1 min.