Walk this way ...

There was a time, which now feels like another lifetime, when walking 5 km/3.1 miles was really no problem for me. Before I had a car, I used to walk a lot more, because there was never a bus going where I needed one to go to, when I needed one. Walking was free, even if I did tend to arrive a little sweaty. But as life and the demands of household, work and leisure got busier, using a car was the only solution. I would have had to take leave from work to deal with solicitors, estate agents and banks when I bought my first house in 1991, if I hadn't had a car. But with a car, I got lots more done, and walks were more scheduled events.

Even then, I had started getting pain in my feet from arthritis, although it wasn't formally diagnosed. My GP at the time told me it was gout and if I didn't agree with his diagnosis, we had nothing more to talk about. He also said I had to lose weight and should join WeightWatchers. I explained that all the WW classes clashed with my dance classes and rehearsals, I preferred to dance. He said I should stop the classes because of my gout. It was clearly not gout (he didn't even look at my feet!) Sorry, I digress. It's one of those things which still rankles after all these years.

So back to the present day, 5k feels impossible to me now. My right knee is still painful, waking me at night, giving me stabs of pain when I'm just sitting. The trouble is, I've started to feel my lack of exercise and I know I need to move. Just standing for 20 minutes to do things like cook and wash up leaves me ready to sit down again. My legs shake, my knee gives way, my feet hurt. I'm even starting to feel it in my hips. Bloody arthritis!

But managing osteoarthritis includes strengthening the muscles around the joints and keeping them strong, and pain does not necessarily mean more damage. I have to move or seize up entirely. Use it or lose it! I used to enjoy walking, if I could go at my own pace, in good weather, with birds, trees, water and preferably without many people.

It's the time of year when everyone is signing up for walks and runs, exercise programmes, diets, going vegan or teetotal for a month. I had previously investigated 'Couch to 5k' plans before, but there seems to be an assumption that it will be for a run and that you can already walk for an hour.  Then I found a 'beginners' couch to 5k walk plan and it sounded just about right. If I can stand for 20 minutes then I should manage the five 15 minute walks in the first week. It's about 10-13 weeks long, but although it would be great to be able to do it sooner rather than later, I'm not going to pressure myself into that timescale. I've been lucky this week, with high pressure giving lovely weather instead of the high winds and rain, some of it frozen, we've been having for what seems like weeks. Months, even.

Because the idea glimmered in my brain a couple of months ago, I bought myself some new walking shoes, and a running (walking!) belt which will  hold my (now new!) mobile, house key and hanky. It has an elasticated belt, so it fits comfortably and I can tuck the sleeves of my fleece in when I get hot. I took advantage of this week's lovely weather and did 3 walks, overdoing it on the second one because I got a bit carried away; the weather was so gorgeous and there were birds to look at and dogs and their walkers to greet.

Brunel Trail: The tantalising onward view at my 1 km turn-round point

I'm tracking my walks on Strava, which shows me little maps and motivates me to do more.

My knees and feet aren't really feeling any the worse for the exercise, but the other muscles in my legs, which haven't had much use since November, really ache. I was ready for a rest day today. Then I need to do two walks and have another rest day, and see if next week I can do five 20 minute walks. I expect I will plateau for a couple of weeks, but that doesn't matter.

I'm not looking forward to the next one as much - the weather is due to change, but hopefully so too will I!

The word of the month begins with D ....

I've suddenly become totally dissatisfied and utterly fed up with my baggy body and frankly ridiculous belly. There. I've said written it. I'm not sure what happened; I still believe in body-positivity, but just feel that for me, enough is enough. Time for things to change, starting with my diet (again).

The last time I made major changes was in 2012-3, when I was awaiting an operation on my foot and the osteoarthritis in my knees was in full flare. I stopped eating meat, swapped a whole load of foods for lower fat, lower sugar versions, really concentrated on salads and seasonal, healthy eating. I did lose a little weight, despite times of frustration when I couldn't seem to shift the scales or get much done outside.

I kept a spreadsheet of the weight loss, and it shows I lost 8.3 kg in 2013. Mind you, half of that was in the last week, when I was ill. My habit of being ill before Christmas means that I start each recorded year at Yule a couple of kilos lighter than I might otherwise be, and then start the new calendar year having put a couple of kilos back on! Thus it was in January 2014, then, despite best intentions, things went sort of pear-shaped, before becoming positively more rotund with the stress of moving house in 2015. At the time I moved house, I was at my heaviest ever - all those take-outs and comfort-eating of chocolate!

I'm now 8 kilos lighter than I was 3 years ago, and 4 kilos lighter than at the start of this year. It's better than nothing, but too little, too slow! My weight bobs around like a cork. I lose 0.6, then 0.7, gain 0.9, lose 0.1. gain 0.4, lose 0.2, gain 0.6, lose 0.3 (bringing me back to where I started). Aaargh, pass me the chocolate ice-cream! Seriously though, it just means that my healthy eating is fine for maintaining my current weight, not losing it!

With a couple of friends now a shadow of their former selves and another couple singing the praises of the Keto Diet, I decided that some positive action was necessary. I remembered a conversation I had with someone years ago, about my craving for (addiction to?) carbohydrates. She suggested that my craving stemmed from an inability to process gluten properly. At the time, I didn't pay too much attention because I love bread and it doesn't cause me bloating, stomach pains, tiredness or any of the other symptoms usually quoted for gluten intolerance. Since then, I've discovered that it may be more to do with an inability to process carbohydrates effectively, so reducing my carbohydrate intake would certainly do no harm.

Rather out of character for me, I signed up for the 'Low Carb Program', endorsed by Diabetes.co.uk, mostly for the recipes and inspiration. I'm going to ease myself into this rather than charging headlong into their meal plans, as the vegetarian 40 day challenge involves eating an average of 3 eggs per day just in the first week, and shopping for over 70 items. I haven't costed it out precisely, but I'm pretty sure it would blow my budget to smithereens, not to mention the impact on the fuel bills (and time!) for all the extra cooking involved. Some things look tempting, so I'll begin to experiment and be a lot more mindful of the carbohydrate content and portion sizes.

It's good that the warmer weather is here and I can indulge in salads.