On eating healthier

Part of our plan to be fitter and lose weight is to eat healthier. (I am stating the obvs here)

See, the trouble with moving out of home is the amount of freedom you have to sit on your couch alone in your house eating nothing but cheese and popcorn and chocolate. Then you get married and you feel the need to impress your spouse with delicious cream and butter soaked meals. Now, facing 30 we're chubby and slightly under nourished.

I struggle to trust the advice of dietitians because none of them seem to agree with each other. So my theory is to just eat more like my mother and grandmother prepared food (since my grandparents are all getting to or past 90 years old it seems they probably figured out something about staying healthy). So the diet we're on is more fruit and veggies, less salt sweets and deep fried food and generally trying to eat smaller portions of fresh home made meals instead of take aways.

In a first for blogging for me, I thought I would share a recipe of what healthy (more or less) dish I like to make.  tonight for dinner I made savoury rice. It's my mothers recipe which I picked up by observation which means I can never get it exactly how it takes when she makes it. But this is a pretty good second best.  I present one tasty simple meal with mostly ingredients you can find at home or at a normal shop. I usually make up the quantities according to what is available in The fridge. The baby marrow and sweet corn are not negotiable and are the key to the flavour of the meal. 

FRANKIES TASTY RICE

Rice (if you are well organized and have the time, try soaking it for 40 minutes before cooking - especially if it is brown rice)

Onion - chopped into blocks

Peppers (any colour of the traffic light) - chopped in blocks

Baby marrows - sliced

Sweet corn (frozen type) 

Bacon

Optional extras : chicken stock, mushrooms, pepperdew, chilli, garlic

1. Cook the rice. For a touch of decadence, cook it in chicken stock instead of plain water.

2. Fry the onion, peppers, baby marrows and bacon on medium-low heat. You only need a splash of oil if any because the bacon usually is a bit fatty. Be patient and cook for a while - You want the onion to soften and caramelise and the bacon and baby marrows to get a bit of a crispy crust. Mushrooms, chilli and garlic can also be added here.

3. When the veggies are close to done, microwave the sweet corn and add it at the last minute along with pepperdew desired as well as a splash of lemon juice and a sprinkling of pepper. 

4. Add some herbs to the cooked rice (I experiment with a touch of thyme, Italian herbs and parsley what ever the nose thinks is right at the time)

5. Combine veggies and rice and mix. 

Serve with a smile.

And there it is, my attempt at sharing my cooking skills. 

As for gym newbie-ing, we managed three sessions last week but were too tired last night to go sweat out our case of Mondays. We will be gearing up for session number four just now. No signs of increased fitness yet... Only sore muscles.

Tales of a gym newbie - the second visit

While it is easier to start getting in fit in summer than in winter, starting gym in the same week as Christmas and the festive season is not smart for those wanting to lose weight. 

So after our tremendous first session (all 30 minutes of wheezing heaving vomit feeling glory) we got busy with celebrating and enjoying food and wine and other good things with friends and family and didn't get around to going back for two weeks. 

But today I went back to work after a nice summer holiday on leave and so it seemed fitting to restart our new get fit endeavor.

Now I have seen all the comments on the social networks about all the crowds spoiling the gym for the few who have the habit of it by all going to gym in January. But I will not be put off... I will be in that crowd trying to be a better shaped person too.... And hopefully be there by Valentines and Easter and Winter and Spring. 

So we packed our access cars and our towels and cooled water bottles and sports bras (well just one of those) and strode purposefully into the gym trying to not look like losers. 

First up was warming up with some running. I dutifully remembered the lessons of starting Run Walk for Life and did some slow then fast then slow then faster then slightly slower then  much faster then slow down. I confess it is pretty good to get back into the running part of getting fit. 

Then we went again to the Super circuit and once more tag teamed the machines and the stair hopping ... Which lasted all of three machines cycles since stair hopping is pretty bloody hard work and your bum jiggles in front of the orbital machine-ers. 

I have a personal bane machine in the circuit. Mean Machine number 8 which is the one that makes you pull the weights down like you're a flustered chicken. I can't even do two lots of five repetitions on the smallest weight. It makes me feel quite pathetic. I'll have to confess my weakness to the excitable trainer soon to find an alternative to build up my arm strength to face the machine. 

After we did the whole circuit, we went to cool down on the orbital machine (since we started on the treadmills) except the orbital machine. Is like a run away puppy, there just isn't any going slow on it! We both kept getting error messages "heart rate is too high!!" Yeah we know, our legs are being rotated off. My personal goal now is to make it a minute going backwards while not holding one with my hands. I'll call it the Super Balance Achievement.

We promised ourselves to try again on Wednesday this week... Like two days time. Go team Frankie and MrT!

Tales of a gym newbie - the second visit

While it is easier to start getting in fit in summer than in winter, starting gym in the same week as Christmas and the festive season is not smart for those wanting to lose weight. 

So after our tremendous first session (all 30 minutes of wheezing heaving vomit feeling glory) we got busy with celebrating and enjoying food and wine and other good things with friends and family and didn't get around to going back for two weeks. 

But today I went back to work after a nice summer holiday on leave and so it seemed fitting to restart our new get fit endeavor.

Now I have seen all the comments on the social networks about all the crowds spoiling the gym for the few who have the habit of it by all going to gym in January. But I will not be put off... I will be in that crowd trying to be a better shaped person too.... And hopefully be there by Valentines and Easter and Winter and Spring. 

So we packed our access cars and our towels and cooled water bottles and sports bras (well just one of those) and strode purposefully into the gym trying to not look like losers. 

First up was warming up with some running. I dutifully remembered the lessons of starting Run Walk for Life and did some slow then fast then slow then faster then slightly slower then  much faster then slow down. I confess it is pretty good to get back into the running part of getting fit. 

Then we went again to the Super circuit and once more tag teamed the machines and the stair hopping ... Which lasted all of three machines cycles since stair hopping is pretty bloody hard work and your bum jiggles in front of the orbital machine-ers. 

I have a personal bane machine in the circuit. Mean Machine number 8 which is the one that makes you pull the weights down like you're a flustered chicken. I can't even do two lots of five repetitions on the smallest weight. It makes me feel quite pathetic. I'll have to confess my weakness to the excitable trainer soon to find an alternative to build up my arm strength to face the machine. 

After we did the whole circuit, we went to cool down on the orbital machine (since we started on the treadmills) except the orbital machine. Is like a run away puppy, there just isn't any going slow on it! We both kept getting error messages "heart rate is too high!!" Yeah we know, our legs are being rotated off. My personal goal now is to make it a minute going backwards while not holding one with my hands. I'll call it the Super Balance Achievement.

We promised ourselves to try again on Wednesday this week... Like two days time. Go team Frankie and MrT!