The cause - who knows?

OK I have been missing again. I have another excuse - it is on my face this time. I have suffered with what I have labelled "winter eczema" for what seems like forever and it was mainly on my legs and mainly in winter. I only learned a couple of years ago that it goes hand in hand with the Hashimotos (autoimmune disease) that I have. Well three to four years ago it moved to my neck and once again only in winter so one would assume it is temperature related. Now it is on my FACE !!!! I thought initially it may have been from a product I was using but I'm not so sure now. I haven't seen my holistic GP as she takes weeks to get into but I did send her an email. She knew about Roger as I saw her in the Hospital coffee shop one morning. Her take on it is that it is STRESS related. And it possibly could be. Anyway I have left off all makeup and was initially putting just Bio Oil on it but yesterday I decided to try some coconut oil and that has helped immensely. The redness has gone and it is just dry and scaly now so fingers crossed it disappears without any scarring.

Goals - I managed to get out there for a 2km walk this morning and will ramp up the distance as and when I can. I will also get the tape measure out and take some measurements - I have been saying this for months but I WILL DO IT when I get off here and I'll add them to this post.

Food - After multiple failures with my home made stuff I have pulled back and am only going to stick with things I know work for me. A lot of the creations (particularly bread and cheese) have been thrown out and the ingredients were quite expensive. Anyway that's it for me today. I plan to come back once a week with a further report.

Measurements: B = 115 M = 111 W = 109 H = 118 T = 53

Wake up call

Hi Blogosphere...yes I have been missing again but I think you will forgive me this time. On Sunday 9 June my DH had a major heart attack and it is only thanks to the Ambos that he is still with us. A bit of a wake up call for both of us. He will now have to join me in doing some form of exercise (walking mainly and perhaps some stat bike when he has the all clear).

He is not coping very well with having to rest. He is not allowed in the garden and can't drive until Sunday and gets quite agro with me when I try to stop him doing stuff. So I am going to butt out and hopefully he will not try anything much for the rest of the week. After that he can start introducing more energetic stuff and can at least drive.

Anyway back to my stuff. Prior to the heart attack, I had a bit of a melt down with most of the stuff (bread mainly) I cook not working out for me. I have therefore modified my approach and with some help from my holistic doctor (a herbal remedy to help with my gut issues) and I think my muffin top is not as big as it was. Of course it could be a couple of meals I skipped while Roger was in hospital. Once upon a time I could not have done that.

So I have introduced a couple of gluten free store bought items and plan to write myself a small structured exercise weekly program (which can be altered for inclement weather). I managed a workout at the gym on Monday and plan to go twice a week to do weights. Also plan to do some long walks but they may not be first thing in the morning (too cold and dark in winter). So watch this space.

I know it is half way through the month but I WILL take my measurements and hopefully a couple of cms will go missing by the end of June

5kms today

Hi Blog.... sorry I've been missing again. Life just gets in the way sometimes. I have only been doing small walks up until today as I didn't want to upset Mr and Mrs Achilles before the Mothers' Day Classic (TODAY). I managed to complete the 4km walk plus another kilometre to get a bit out of the area so hubby could pick me up. So far I have walked 20kms since the beginning of the month. I didn't quite make my goal of 50kms for April but will aim to make it for May. I still haven't got hold of the tape measure but I WILL get it out one day - hopefully before the end of this month so I can track the progress for June. Lots of new recipes have been tried out and the English Muffins were a success so I have finally found something I can put my egg on in the morning. Also have a decent banana bread recipe that works every time. Just need to find some more evening meal recipes as we seem to have slipped back into our routine meals. Having said that we do have a home made lamb/vegetable soup some nights especially when we have had a "heavier" lunch. Anyway that's it from me for the time being. Have to go and do some Photography homework.

Better get a wriggle on

Today would have been Mum's birthday and this was one of her favourite expressions. She had quite a few passed down from her very English mother and grandmother. Anyway I have just realised I have quite a few kms to go to reach my goal of 50kms and not a lot of days left to do it in - so I'd better get a wriggle on. Tomorrow we are leaving early to do a Wine and Cheese trip up to Mt Tamborine so won't be walking at all. I will have to schedule two reasonable walks on Sunday and Tuesday and should just scrape it in. One achilles is starting to give me curry. I think I will have to resume my ankle exercises and see if that helps. I did read somewhere a week or so ago that those of us with Hashimotos can have problems with Achilles - GRRRR. Hopefully, one day when I get it totally under control or it goes away (and it can I believe) I will be able to increase my walks. In the meantime I am going to look into the Primal/Paleo Crossfit regime and see if I can work that into my off walking days. Anyway I will be back at the end of the month to report on all the goals and set new ones for May. Catch you then.

Hills are harder !

Hi Blog....sorry I have been missing for a while as I was ticked off with Runkeeper. The PC version had a bit of a hiccup and wasn't showing the correct map of my walk for me to screen print to here. However it has sorted itself out now and today's walk is shown above. I took considerably longer to walk a shorter distance than the walk I did on 2 April on the flat. (See below for that walk). I think I will alternate my longer walks and try and increase the speed and length in each spot. Achilles are just squeaking a little today so won't walk at all tomorrow and may pop down to the gym instead to do some weights. After a seminar on making Sourdough and Brie on Sunday watch this space for my first attempt at both. The cheese may be a while as I need to source some utensils and products before I can commence. Only need some decent flour to attempt the Sourdough (I may use Spelt flour from Flannerys.

Getting there slowly

I managed a 4.75km walk today down at Main Beach - yay. It is a lot easier walking down there as it is much flatter than the area here near my house. I managed a faster speed as well and so far Mr and Mrs Achilles are behaving themselves. It is a shame about the beach though it is a mess. It is very difficult to get down to walk on the sand as there has been about 5 to 6 metres washed away and formed sheer cliffs. Looks like I will reach my goal of 40kms for the month as there are a couple of days to go and I only have less than 2kms to get there. Also reached the recipe goal - probably went way past it as there have been quite a few new recipes made in the last couple of weeks and I have quite a few more to try out. I'm yet to make my chicken soup as Roger made another one of his lamb shank vegetable soups and there is still some left. Not too sure about the losing 5 cms goal as I haven't measured myself yet. However I think the bulge beneath my waist isn't quite as pronounced as it was. I will get the tape measure out on 1 April and perhaps take a few more spots and record them to make it easier. Nothing much more to report so I'll catch you next time.

Yay - 4kms today

I managed to walk 4kms today and it was quite hilly also. Will gradually increase the distance and the speed so watch this space. Both achilles are OK so far but will probably do a shorter walk tomorrow (have to deliver some brochures anyway and that slows me down) and another longer one on Monday.

Also took a pic of my little chocolates made using one of my new Aldi moulds. The other mould is small bunny rabbits which I will make closer to Easter. These have some cashew nuts in them and are yummy.

Feeling a lot better now I have ditched the restrictive diet and am going to be doing some cooking this weekend. I have found a yummy creamy chicken soup recipe, or at least I found it yesterday - hopefully I can find it again.

Anyway enough from me - catch you later.