Exercise excuses no more

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You might find it quite bizarre that a girl who talks about and enjoys cake as much I do would suddenly decide to go onto a health kick.

It’s certainly not a new year’s resolution. For as long as I’ve battled with my non existent thyroid, I’ve struggled to lose weight.

We eat reasonably well (just check out my Instagram feed) and rarely eat takeaway. We don’t keep full fat milk in the fridge or white bread in the cupboard. We don’t drink juice or soft drink and limit treats like pretzels or dips to Friday nights. We rarely drink alcohol during the week. But still the scales climb stealthily upwards.

Over the years I’ve been a frequent flyer at Weight Watchers and Lite n Easy. I understand that healthy food in will equal a healthy body weight. But diet alone won’t get you there.

The answer is exercise.

Exercise does not come naturally to me. Never has. In primary school my PE report cards were predictably unimpressive – Diana needs to apply herself more.

I didn’t like PE. I didn’t like my teacher. He had ropey arms with bulging veins and a tan that looked like he lived in a solarium.

I needed patience and gentle nurturing, not being forced to run the cross country (hyperventilating the whole way) and swim in the swimming carnival. I loathed PE class. I developed many phantom illnesses and period pains to get a free pass into the sick bay.

I wasn’t particularly adept at ball sports either; lacking a certain hand-eye coordination and natural reflex to make me useful for the netball or softball team.  Wearing glasses didn’t help either. I was petrified the ball would shatter the glass. I still wince when things get thrown at to me.

I dabbled in calisthenics and was disappointed to master the splits the week after they handed out the medals. Leotards, fake tan and blue eye shadow didn’t become me.

Surprisingly I did ride my bike all around the neighbourhood  as well as walk to the bus stop a kilometer away. If only I’d known then that this activity was just as valid as that from organised sports, perhaps I wouldn’t have the same aversion to exercise I have now.

Exercising is a hassle. I’m too busy. I have to get the housework finished, reorganise the study (today’s excuse), the dishes washed, the washing hung out, the shops are too far away…… I have a million excuses for why I never quite manage to get out and do some.

My biggest excuse is I can’t go out for a big walk because I’m a SAHM and there’s no one to look after Olive while I do it.

A few months ago I accidentally liked the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation Facebook Page.  Every couple of days I’d get an update on the latest challenge and motivation tips. I ignored them to the best of my ability.

Quite simply I don’t prioritise exercise – unlike Mr Di-licious who now runs around the Tan a couple of times a week after work as well as walking the dog every morning at 5am. But those early starts and late finishes makes it near impossible for me to get out there alone too.

Hello 2013 and Olive starting prep. I’ll be able to allocate time every day to go for a big walk. Never mind that it’s still a few weeks away.

Pride got the better of me earlier this week. I was invited to come over for a swim at a friends place and reluctant to bare myself in bathers. I was talking to my sister about it and expressed my reluctance to go in the pool. She asked me why and tears pricked my eyes. “Just look at me I said.”

I pretty much decided then and there that I had to do something constructive about my weight and excercise that didn’t involve signing up for a gym membership that I’d never use. When I checked in on Facebook, there was another update from Michelle Bridges. I finally clicked through and found out more about the 12 Week Body Transformation (12WBT) program. Within two days I had signed up along with two other girlfriends.

I need something that motivates me, tells me what to eat and how to exercise. 12WBT offers all of this as well as an amazing forum where you can connect with other people in your Round. There’s even a local group to me who are organising group walks – awesome!

I won’t be blogging in detail about the program because its a condition of joining that you don’t. Nor will I be sharing any of the official 12WBT recipes. What I will do from time to time though is report on how I’m going with it all.

Don’t worry. Life is Di-licious won’t turn into a diet blog. I’ll still be cooking treats for Olive’s lunchbox and making cakes for celebrations. I will still use real ingredients like butter and sugar. But you might notice that I start including a couple of the easy healthy recipes I’ve tried from  published cookbooks.

The round doesn’t start until Feb 11. Until then they run a warm up pre-season that helps you familiarise yourself with the program.

In the spirit of this I’ve already rounded up a couple of Michelle’s cookbooks and will start including her recipes in our weekly meal plan. I’m inspired already by how simple they are to prepare. The photos are tantalising too.

So after a bit of soul searching, I’ve finally run out of excuses to not find time to exercise and I’m just going to do it. The journey begins with the first step.

How do you find time to exercise?

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