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Fat Girl Fit

Be fearlessly unapologetically you

Category: Fitness

Him

Him is my husband.  So I thought I would write a post about him as it is pretty much him that got me here today.

A few years back he ended up in hospital with a very bad leg.  When I say very bad I mean very very bad.  It was bright red, boiling hot, extremely painful and they didn’t know what had caused it or why.  It was similar to one of those doner chunks of meat you see rotating on a spit in a kebab shop – I would try and lighten the mood by asking him if he wanted chilli sauce and salad with that?  It was also similar to the leg of a lady in a town near us who hands out lucky heather – we avoid eye contact with her and the leg I am referring to has elephantiasis – again I would joke and ask lucky heather?

Anyway my point is whilst they did not know what was wrong they said that exercise would help to regulate the blood flow – I won’t go into details but basically the blood was going down to the foot (or hoof) and not back up again – hence the kebab leg or lucky heather leg jokes.  So he started to exercise.  And pretty much became addicted – my husband without being able to train is one moody little madam!

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The help he is giving me he also had when he began from one of his best friends Darren who really helped him getting started with the running!  This shows them at a couple of events and you can see his progress made and he is still going strong.

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His passion is cycling but it has developed into duathlons and triathlons and he has lost over a whopping four stone!  His start weight was 17 stone 4 pounds and he is now at 13 stone.  I will share his before and after picture – it is like that episode of Friends where “someone ate Monica”!  I have never met someone with his will power it makes me sick!

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He has inspired me to get into it with the running and cycling!  He started out just like me – overweight and not that good at any of it and with hard work has completely changed and taken to it!  I’m so proud of him (and not one bit jealous – ok maybe a little bit)! He is training to be a cycle coach and I know he will be great at it!

He is the one when I say I feel like everyone is looking at me that says so what, let that spur you on and prove them wrong!  When we first ran together I wouldn’t run past a pub we pass on our park loop as I felt like everyone was probably laughing at me and he would, very poetically, say f*ck them you are doing more than they are!  This was totally me and now I run past that pub (I still avoid eye contact – I am not quite there yet)!

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I am always at the finish line for his events and he mine and it makes a huge difference having the support!  We’ve done quite a few events together now as well!  Between us we have quite a medal collection.  Anyone that knows him knows he loves a medal!  They are hanging on our dining room chairs and every time his get knocked they make a noise and he says what’s that noise?  One day I will wrap them in bubble wrap, cut the medals off or just hide them maybe!  He’s never vain when it comes to the medals though – always subtle ha ha!

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Don’t get me wrong he was never a cheap date and it is now more expensive as it is twice the cost for kit, equipment and event fees – I have everything pink and don’t need all the best stuff and he is a pampered princess and a spoiled brat – he will happily admit it too!

I don’t want to go on too much about him as he will get a huge head and I won’t hear the bloody end of it!

I will say though that a lot of people say it is not the best idea to train with your partner but I haven’t found that – he has helped me hugely though he does push me and I swear a lot at him.  But during cycle events I have never once visioned wrapping my bike around his head as he pushes me to go faster or tackle a horrible hill – no never once!  Nor have I ever wanted to trip him up and run away during a running event when he tells me to keep going and that I am doing great when I feel like I might puke – nope not at all!

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Category: Fitness, Running

My furry running partner

Tonight I swam – headed to the gym after work to get it done (before I changed my mind). Did my usual of getting changed, scoping out how many people are in the pool and getting in with as few people as possible seeing me in my costume! Do you remember as a kid ever running to get into bed as quick as you can before the monster underneath the bed gets you? That’s a similar scenario to me getting into the swimming pool.

I swam 1km in my gym pool, which is 40 lengths. I must admit I spent most of the time thinking about getting home to eat dinner!

Probably a good thing I didn’t run tonight as my furry running partner wasn’t up to much – this was her for most of the evening:

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I’m sure if I got her lead out she would go crazy as she usually does. She’s a funny little thing our April pup – with many strange ways! Spins around a few times before she goes on the wooden floor which I think in her world is clearly made of molten lava.

I do love taking her with me on a run and it kills two birds with one stone – she gets her exercise at the same time as me.

However, running with a dog does have its draw backs:

  • I almost fall over because of the dog on pretty much every run
  • she once got scared by a bird and ran in front of me so suddenly I ended up in a heap on the floor
  • she runs by the side of me mostly but if she needs to stop she generally does so right in front of me mid run – she’s kind like that
  • she has to run around every lamp post, which is helpful
  • she has to jump into every puddle, run through every patch of mud and on our park route will always run ahead at the lake and jump in as I catch up – the swans are not keen on her and I know she’s in the water as i get nearer and hear the hissing
  • I spend most of the run watching her every time she stops – pee or poo? Of course I pick up after her (sorry for the subject of poo but it’s a thing that happens as a dog owner) but she always manages to do it no where near a bin! So I am the crazy fat girl, bright red face, puffing and panting and running with a bag of dog poo until I get to the next bin!

Good job she’s cute!

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Category: Fitness

Chicken soup for the soul!

What to do with a leftover chicken carcass? Don’t throw it away!! Make soup!

We had chicken for dinner yesterday and as it is so cold and I am out a lot running hot meals are a favourite at the moment and so I figured it was an excuse to make more soup and it’s healthy and good for you!  I have to plan ahead otherwise when I get hungry I will either a) go into full on meltdown mode or b) destroy my sons left over Christmas chocolate (and I mean the entire family sized bar of Toblerone – easy)! Here’s how:

  • 1 x chicken carcass
  • 2 stocks or celery chopped
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 1 onion diced
  • Chicken gravy granules or sachet
  • Leftover chicken shredded
  • Rosemary or basil to season (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to season

Literally put everything (except the chicken meat) in a large enough saucepan and add enough boiling water to cover the ingredients. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 mins. Using a large colander or sieve you can remove the bones and carcass. Then add the shredded chicken to the stock – can be as much or as little or have none and keep as stock!

Will keep in the fridge for 4 days or can be frozen.

Healthy! Cheap! Yum!

Enjoy x

Category: Fitness

Soup anyone?

It’s not just about the exercise it’s the food as well. I love food. I love making it and more than that I love to eat it!  Eating healthy is not all boring as I am finding out so will share some recipes if I think they might be of interest to people.

In a bid to get organised with some lunches this week I made a huge batch of soup today – butternut squash and chilli – its really tasty!

Ingredients:

  • 2 large butternut squashes diced (seeds removed)
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 sweet potato diced
  • 900ml vegetable stock
  • 300ml low fat creme fraiche
  • 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
  • salt and pepper to season

You can either roast or boil the butternut squash and sweet potato. Brown the onion and garlic. Add all ingredients together (will need a large saucepan for this) and simmer for five minutes. Blitz in a blender for 10 seconds (might need to do this in a couple of batches depending on the size of the blender).

This freezes really well too and is a filling, healthy and tasty soup. Especially with this vile UK weather at the moment a nice hot soup is more than welcome – it defrosts me after a run in the cold, wet and wind, when I usually return and feel like I could eat everything in sight!

Enjoy!

Category: Events, Fitness

2014 Events

Looking back and writing this blog I am actually surprised at the events I did if I am honest.  I used to laugh at my husband for his ever growing medal collection and yet I find myself right at this moment looking at my little collection that I will be adding to this year!

I cycled a total of 1,740km, 12,860 metres of elevation, 49 bike rides and 37 runs totalling 95 hours and 52 minutes and gained 21 QOM’s (queen of the mountains are basically awards where you get the best time for a certain segment of a route).  My longest ride was 133km, and got 533 medals on Strava (an app to record all of this information from a gadget I also don’t really know how to use but does technical stuff to record the rides and runs and my husband swears blind that I need them).

In 2014 I took part and completed the following events:

  • Sport Relief 25 mile bike ride
  • Tour de Tendring 60 mile bike ride
  • Hertfordshire 50 mile bike ride
  • Essex Explorer 60 mile bike ride
  • Little Havens 60 mile bike ride
  • London to Southend 54 mile bike ride
  • Essex castle 76 mile bike ride
  • Prudential Ride 100 mile bike (that was only 86 miles) – yes i did it! In torrential weather hence they cut short part of it but I did it!
  • Essex Season Ender 42 mile bike ride
  • Electric Run 5k running event
  • Two Race for Life 5k running events
  • Race for Life Pretty Muddy 5k running event
  • Colour Run 5k running event
  • Nike Run to the Beat 10k running event
  • Even took my running gear with me to New York when on a weeks holiday and did a 7.5k run

colourrunelectricrunlittle havenpretty muddyruntothebeatseasonenderwigglemedals

Now to plan the events for 2015!  What have i become?!

Category: Cycling, Fitness

Clippy shoes!

I had been dreading the moment for a long time and put it off for as long as I could but I had given in and purchased some cleats for cycling otherwise known as clippy shoes.  As I have said before my husband is part of a cycle club, all of whom have helped me massively, but all of whom use cleats and had told me endlessly it was the way forward if I wanted to carry on cycling on the road.

The concept baffled me – you have different pedals and you wear special shoes that clip into the pedals?  Is that not hugely dangerous or just a stupid thing to do? I was told it would give more power and all cyclists wear them and I needed them.  So the hubby changed the pedals – I get his hand me downs so it works out great for me as cycling is not a cheap sport and as a new cyclist I couldn’t justify the cost of some of the expensive items so I get his pedals etc and he gets to buy new ones.  I think I missed a trick here somewhere! Or am just a great wife – I will go with that one 😉

So beginning of April we head off for our first ride with my new shiny white clippy shoes.  At the first road we had to stop at there was no traffic so we paused, signalled and continued without unclipping and then got to some traffic lights with my husband on his bike to the right of me.  Apparently you should always unclip with your left foot so that if you do fall you fall into the pavement rather than the road and potentially a car (short bike ride that would be)! Up until now I had been wearing trainers and so I stopped at junctions and must admit this was my biggest fear – stopping on the bike.  I couldn’t get the simple concept of getting out of my seat when stopping so would break and lean and hope for the best!  Like I said sporty I am not! Also in the trainers I always put my right foot down.  So we stop at the lights and I unclip with my left foot and lean to the right.  With the foot that is still clipped in. Luckily my husband was there and sort of pushed me over to the other side and all was ok, lights changed and off we went.

Shortly after we reached a second set of lights and I did the same thing.  Idiot.  Thank god I fell on my husband both times otherwise I think I would have just curled up in the foetal position until the world just passed me by out of sheer embarrassment!

Anyway we finished our 20 mile ride testing out the new shoes and although I was really really nervous I got home in one piece although i very quickly put the clippy shoes back in their box!  Out of sight out of mind!

clippy

Category: Events, Fitness

My first event EVER!

I will start at the beginning.  So I was ready for my first event.  Well I was not ready but I had signed up for it with a number of people and it was for charity so there was no backing out of it now!

In February 2014 I took part in my first cycling event – a 25 mile cycle ride for Sport Relief.  Having a husband who is part of a cycle club helps as we are surrounded by so many lovely people from the club and everyone is more than happy to help newbies like me!  I wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish the distance and was grateful to be riding with some lovely people as the ride was actually fun, though I am sure I was probably a grumpy old cow on the route if the members of my group were being totally honest with me.

We set off from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.  My husband had set off with a friend earlier for the longer 50 mile route and we would meet at the finish line so I would have someone cheer me on rather than me cheering someone else, which would be new for me!

As we cycled one lady with our group, Lisa, sang a lot of Prodigy so that made it fun!  Another lady with our group, Sophie, is a whippet and would speed off up hills as I huffed and puffed my way up them trying not to die from an asthma attack (I don’t have asthma but that is how I feel when cycling up a hill or in fact any sort of incline).  At the top of one hill I wanted to take my jacket off as I was getting hot and so our group stopped by the side of the road and one of the guys in our group, Nate, made me laugh as I had taken off the jacket and was oblivious to the fact that my cycle jersey was unzipped so I was completely flashing him my chest!  Little things like this with lovely people make any event fun ( not that I plan on regularly flashing people on events!) and so we set off for the finish line – me more red than usual from just exercise as I was also blushing.

Nearing the finish we got stuck at some traffic lights and a lady cycled up next to me and started making friendly chat asking me how the ride was and what distance I had done – 25 miles of course as 50 miles to me then seemed an impossible thing to attempt! Midway through talking to her I realised she was Victoria Pendleton and so in my true stupid form pointed at her and said ‘Oh my god you’re Victoria Pendleton’ because of course she needed to be reminded of who she was! I should point out I can be dim but when people are in full cycle gear including helmets and glasses you don’t often recognise them instantly.  At this point my husband had caught up with us and started cycling with us – us being me and Victoria Pendleton! He has a crush on her so that was hilarious pointing out to him who she was and his voice getting progressively higher as he more or less squeaked hello.

We finished and I got my medal and then to top it off I got a photo with Victoria Pendleton!

Ride complete and medal earned!

One happy lady on a bike!

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Welcome to Fat Girl Fit!

Welcome to Fat Girl Fit!

Be Fearlessly Unapologetically You!

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Level 2 Qualified Coach & Commissaire

Foher Class of 2026 Ambassador

Wainwright Bagging

100 Women In Cycling 2021

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Exploring Sweden’s West Coast In Our Campervan

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Our last couple of days were spent in Eksjö 💙💛 . D Our last couple of days were spent in Eksjö 💙💛.Day 1 was travelling to the new campsite and spending some time exploring the Eksjö’s best preserved historic wooden town, which is the largest in Europe, dating back to the 15th century. .Day 2 included a 5 mile hike close to our campsite through the woods and along an old disused railway line.  Then we hired a row boat to go around the lake, followed by a swim.  Also (somewhat randomly the campsite we were on had an Irish night so you know when in Sweden…. Attend an Irish night?!)..As we left we thought it would be rude not to head to the local moose safari that we are going to visit today!.#eksjö #exploringsweden #fatgirlfit
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