Sunday today and the 3 of us are off to the Army (our Church) soon!  Must take my pedometer to add up the few steps I can cover and so avoid too many steps for later today.....

Yesterday I did manage my 1050 steps but it was hard to walk for over an hour round and round the park alone.....on top of a meal I probably didn't need!!  This is the worst possible thing for me in stepping - to feel that I have to push myself to complete the 10k.

I am not a night person....I should always do my stepping early when I am fresh and raring to go....and so I will from now on.

So today I will walk this afternoon and tomorrow as we prepare for Spain I will walk to shops and get last minute things done which will use a good number os steps.  

My objective is to get used to this amount of exercise and then increase it through the holiday in Spain.  I then have to focus on food and cutting that out!

Bye for now.

Hi again - well what a two weeks!!

I really suffered today...my mind was on work, work, work, (motivated by holiday, holiday, holiday) and then Alex's Prom so with little thought I took a lift to work for an 8am meeting and a lift back at 5:20 so that I could be here for Alex dressing for her school Prom.  So the result was that at the end of the day as I settled  to watch Eastenders (ah poor Hev) my steps were lacking by over 7000 steps - wow!  

So work was good - my team were great and Alex and friends were lovely - thanks too to Rudy who came especially to be with Alex today and catch up - they enjoyed that and Rudy stuck around to see the girls off to Prom.  My stepping came a bit late and although I did go for a long walk - I got fed up walking alone and finished over 2000 steps at home - hard work and not to be recommended.

Stepping out of doors is interesting - Beckton looked nice this evening and was peaceful - but indoors it is hard work as I jiggle about - conscious of extra beef moving around.......

So where to from here?  Well that is it I need to maintain now.  For me this means that I need to build into every day time for stepping (dancing works too - I should have gate-crashed the Prome eh?) 

During my holiday this should be perfectly possible - wish I could wear my pedometer in the sea to count effort but I need to step on top of that!!

I need to mention my work colleagues and friends - Fridah has topped the charts - almost 30k steps some days (including jogging) - she actually looks fantastic!  Preeti too walks and walks more each day which is fantastic and Isabella and Amanda have been amusing - Amanda walks her dog each day and makes Isabella jealous because Is. is up at 4:30 each day and is competitive!!! 

Now what about the public health no smoking team?  Well they are challenged by the wonderful HR Team.....and want to try another two weeks!!

Bye for now......off to work out how I will step over the week-end......even although officially I have week-ends off!

This is good news - one more day of the work pedometer challenge and I have kept up - this is good for me.  Now I can't count the times I have started 'challenges' and lasted a day...calorie control; low fat; low carbs; gym; swim etc.  Diets are hopeless - the first smell of chips or chocolate and I weaken.  Now this way is different......ok the shape is not changing much YET but it will when I maintain the 10k steps plus.

Watch this space....tomorrow I finish the two week work challenge but this becomes personal then and I won't be beat!!

I got through Friday - having walked to the interview at Francis House from home and then back to Warehouse K in the afternoon - and stepped over 13k steps........that did feel good but I was so tired with all the 'hot' walking in the week that I took a lift home and stopped for fish and chips!!

Psychologically though this increased exercise has been good for me......it is amazing how easy it is to work long days and not do a lot else during the weeks so this is a new start to try to retain some balance about life whilst losing out on much needed toning and shaping!!

Working locally does enable me to start work before the phones start ringing and before many people arrive which is good for my sanity but it is also far too easy to stay late each evening and feel guilty leaving close to 5!  That's absolutely fine of course as long as I can take some time back but diaries fill up and demands increase the more that we do!!!

So I need to be disciplined - watch this space......

Well I did say not to laugh at me if I am walking funny by Wednesday - that is today and I am certainly walking funny!!

Have to say that although I am delighted by today's (day 3) 13410 steps I am now so keen for the week-end when the pressure is off for 2 days!!!

Today was challenging because I chose to complete my steps during the working day given that I had no evening to 'step'.  I enjoyed my walk to work (at East Ham today delivering R@S training) but realised that to achieve my target (and team commitment) I would have to walk at least part of the way home.....what I had not anticipated was the ferocity of the sunshine - I was like a lobster when I arrived home.  

I managed to cool down sufficiently to attend Alex's award evening and was so proud of her because she not only received achievement awards but her speech was excellent.....I was into public speaking too by Alex's age but I did not have the poise and confidence she has - fortunately she is like her Dad and doesn't colour up or panic like me!!

So did I see anything new today or learn something new?  East Ham looked particularly nice today and there are some cracking houses there ........very nice!  I was a bit unfamiliar with the route I took today and when I reached familiar ground (West Ham football ground) I felt safer and better.  This made me think about people at work and their reactions/responses to anticipated changes.  I generally enjoy new areas of life - like the variety of new streets and things to see....but it can be disconcerting to be out of the familiar........I hope I am always ready to embrace change and respond positively to it.  

Bye for now......until tomorrow when I step again early to work and then I'm off to the West End to a Job Centre Plus event when I will be talking about working in partnership!