And therein lies my entire philosophy about life and exercise.I am conscious that by blogging again I am about to unleash even more mirth and merriment amongst my dear family and friends than even the blog http://theoldbakery.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/sometimes-it-is-time-to-paddle-your-own.html caused.
One of the potential downsides of running the B&B is that we often have food that has not been chosen by guests from the breakfast menu about to go out of date, which rather than letting it go to waste, we consume. Then you have the freshly baked cake for every guest which means that there is usually some bits of cake just past their best to be eaten up too. Whilst this could be seen as a bonus, in reality it doesn't do much for our once trim figures (admittedly some while ago now). I'd naively thought that having swopped an office job for life in the B&B last summer that I'd feel fitter and healthier but no such luck - it doesn't seem to have made any difference and now I'm back in an office job so I'm back to where I started.
Something more drastic was called for and therefore in August I took the plunge and attended our local community gym (in the village hall). I'd thought I'd just go for a bit of gentle exercise; you know the sort you can do sitting down, like an exercise bike or a rowing machine or at a push the treadmill - all just about within my capabilities. But the lady that runs the gym had other ideas. Apparently cardiovascular exercise is better for you, so she has introduced 'LtLtL' - otherwise known as Ladies that Love to Lift! That's weight lifting to you and me. Not even an excuse of tennis elbow made a difference (not from playing tennis of course but from lugging around training materials - and being too stubborn to ask for help).
So on and off for the last two months I've been trotting down to the gym of a Monday evening and learning all the exercises and I'm now officially trained and can make up my own routine of lifts. All was going well until Mike decided to join me last week. And there is no-one more evangelistic about a sudden cause than a newly converted fitness freak (just like a smoker who has quit and is the biggest critic of others who are still addicted to the weed). He's even splashed out the princely sum of £9.99 for new jogging bottoms so there's no going back now.
Apparently he didn't know that carbs contained lots of calories so now we're on a barely any carbs at all diet. I've scarely seen a potato pass my lips for over a week now (I was allowed two with our roast dinner last night although he didn't have any(!)- and we won't mention the jacket potato (with lots of salad) that I sneaked in whilst at work tday). Instead he's found a potato replacement. Whilst at the cash and carry last week he picked up a box of 6 cauliflowers for only £2.50. So we've had cauliflower soufflé twice - although I have to admit that was yummy so much so that I had second portions. Mashed cauliflower as a substitute for mashed potato isn't quite so good. And a cooked breakfast without toast - what's that about? As for rice, risotto or the occasional Chinese takeaway or my favourite, pasta - well who knows when I'll ever have that again. From now on it's protein - because red meat helps restore all the muscles you've torn whilst lifting heavy weights - and more cauliflower.
And now I'm being pitched in competition against him. Tonight at the gym I was about to do some deadlifts (lifting a bar with weights on either end up to your hips and down again 8 times then repeat the series of 8 twice more i.e. 24 times). Earlier I'd lifted 15kg in lifts above my head (although I was told next time it should be 20kg). I must admit I did a double take when told to put all the weights on the bar...yes she did mean all of them, which added up to 46.5kg (which is a lot in anyone's book). Then we were challenged to take it in turns to lift the bar again, 3 lots of 8 times. Of course I can't be beaten but how is that right that someone 10 inches taller and somewhat heavier than me gets to lift the same - thank goodness I had that potato to pull me through!
So dear family and friends who are visiting us in Norfolk over the coming months, do come prepared with recipe suggestions for cauliflower and sneak me in a bag of crisps to ease my potato craving!
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