Joanne the Coach

Exercise Time

It was something of a shock to realise that I am turning 40 at the end of this year.  (Though now I'm a bit bored of waiting for my fortieth and am thinking of saying I'm already there.  Better to say you're a bit older, so everyone thinks you look well, rather than say you're younger, so you look like you've had a rough life.)

The main thing I want to squeeze out of my thirties is health.  I want to be fit 'n forty, rather than fat n' forty.  But too many visits to Audrey's Chocolates were getting in the way of that, so at the start of this year I decided to start exercising more.  Minimum 3 times a week to be precise - sometimes more, rarely less. 

Below is an article from the archives about how you can find time to exercise.  Though really I think it all boils down to finding an activity that you enjoy enough to want to get up off your bum and do it.  Currently I enjoy BodyCombat, because of all the the Power Ranger moves.  Never thought I'd be strangling imaginary villains in public, but there you go.  Also enjoy Wii Fit, because you can pretend to be a penguin.

Here's the article, hope it's useful to you:

TIME MANAGEMENT FOR EXERCISE VIRGINS

'Well, I just don't have time for exercise' - how many times have you heard (or said) that one?   The flesh may be willing, but the timetable is weak.  Still, it can be easier than you think to find time for exercise if you apply some basic principles of time management to it.

Write your exercise plan in your diary just as you would any other appointment.  Think about what might stop this happening and how you can make it happen – who do you need to tell?  What preparations do you need to make?

One common mistake is to attempt to cram 3 sessions of exercise in, when all you’ve ever done before is run for a bus.  If you were to try to do anything new so often it’d feel like a lot, and be almost impossible to stick to.  Start slowly and build it up.  For the first 3 weeks, aim to exercise once a week.  Once this is well established, gradually build in more sessions so that it feels like a natural progression rather than a big chunk out of your life.

Another approach is to look for ways to build activity into your every day life – park in the furthest corner of the supermarket, get off the bus a stop early, always use the stairs instead of the lift.  Look for opportunities to be active and you’ll find them.

Above all, make it juicy – if going to the gym makes your heart sink, but swimming makes it sing, stick to swimming.  It’s amazing how easy it can be to find time to do something you enjoy.  After all, how do you find time for watching the telly?  Or sex?

Look for something about the experience that you’ll love and want to do again.  Try out new activities until you find one you enjoy – if you’re prone to that old ‘I hate exercise’ excuse, remember that you may only hate the exercise you’ve tried so far.  Things have changed a lot since school gym class.  Your local fitness centre may offer everything from yoga to pole dancing to kickboxing.  It may not be the activity itself that gets you going – could be the chance to spend some time by yourself at the gym, or meeting up with friends at the aerobics class. Most gyms have facilities for you to watch TV or listen to the radio at the same time, so aim to go when one of your favourite programmes is on.

 Often it's not so much a case of lack of time but lack of energy that's the real problem.  In this case it’s a chicken and egg situation – as you do more exercise, your energy levels will increase.  But you’ll never know until you give it a go.  It’s all a question of priorities – if it’s important enough to you, then you will find the time to do it.  If world leaders and CEOs can find time to exercise, then so can you.

(c) JoanneMallon 2008

Working Mums - By Your Chubby Kids We Shall Know Thee

More parenting bollox in the news to try and trip up those of us doing the working mother mambo.

As reported by BBC News, a study from the Institute of Child Health claims that children of working mothers are more likely to be obese.  So add that to your list of stuff to feel guilty about - then burn it.

The study's researchers are reported as saying: "Long hours of maternal employment, rather than lack of money, may impede young children's access to healthy foods and physical activity.  For example, parental time constraints could increase a child's consumption of snack foods and/or increase television use."

Note the use of vague, wobbly language in that quote - mothers working long hours "may" stop their children having healthy food and "could" lead to increased snacking & TV watching.  Not that they definitely do, just that they might have an effect.  Just as paternal working hours, location, other priorities and the man in the moon may also have an effect. 

This study appears to take a very all or nothing approach, contrasting the full time working mum (she bad, she eat chips and watch TV) with the stay at home mum (she good, she make nice food).  But what about the increasing numbers of women who adopt a mix and match variation of this - the part-timers, the flexible-shifters, the self-employed?  The trouble with these sorts of surveys is that they tar all working women with the same brush, even when you've done your best to find a working pattern that also gives you time with your kids.

The Kellogg's Family Health Study (of which I'm a panel member) showed that parents are their children's greatest role models.  So if you have a generally healthy and positive attitude to food and exercise, then your kids are likely to adopt this also.

There probably are some good lessons to be learned from this study - it's quite an indictment of the UK's culture of presenteeism and long working hours.  I hope it doesn't become another stick to beat working mothers with, though I suspect it will.  The Daily Mail are probably raising their cudgels with glee already.

Secrets of Beating Overeating

Meanwhile, back with the obesity experts....

Last week I went to a meeting of the Kellogg's Family Health Study Panel, where we plot to make the world a healthier place to be.  It was interesting to hear what some of the UK's leading authorities on obesity reckon is the answer to beating overeating.

1.  Eat consciously - Think about what you're eating and how you feel about about it.  So no aimless grazing in front of the TV or snacking on the run.  Don't eat standing up, sit down and enjoy your food instead.

2.  Use a smaller plate -   There was strong feeling that current calorie recommendations (2000 a day for woman, 2500 for men) are too high.  We just aren't active enough to justify it.  Use a smaller plate and you'll naturally cut down without feeling deprived.

I like the fact that these guidelines are simple, make sense and don't label foods as being inherently 'good' or 'bad'.  So have that chocolate bar if you feel like it.  Just make sure that you do enjoy it.  And use a plate the size of a postage stamp.