1 Million steps Challenge- Day 7

This is the pond at Burnham Beeches. It was part of our walk through this parkland which has a rich history.

We started our walk from the Beeches cafe and went north as guided by our very informative and knowledgeable Chris. She explained the route we were going to take and where there would be interesting sites to see and learn about. For me personally, the walk was a little tough because I am not used to hilly climbs, but did manage to finish the whole course. I will post pictures rather than words, which are self-explanatory about the beauty of this historic place. I also managed to add just over 10 thousand steps on this 3.8-mile walk towards my diabetes.UK challenge of a million steps by the end of September 2022.

From next week, I will do weekly postings so as not make this journey boring and too lengthy. I’m hoping that all my followers will keep supporting and liking the blog so I can grow and write about more diverse topics as well.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/burnham-beeches/

1 million Step Challenge-Days 2-5

The Precipice Walk by Jeff Buck is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

After my fruitful and enjoyable day 1, I had to take it easy and catch up on my life’s daily issues. But I still managed to walk 5383 and 8223 steps respectively. These were easy to achieve as I did some tending to the garden on a beautiful sunny day and caught up with tidying up.

Today, the 4th of July, American Independence Day. I decided to go on a walk near my house which I had wanted to visit many many times but never got around to it. And I was in for a treat. This place has been here since 2000 and was developed by British Airways, which owns Harmondsworth Moor. I have reblogged an article from Hillingdon Libraries to enhance the true essence and history of this beautiful parkland. I hope that the information and historical data are interesting for my readers.

As you can see, how beautiful the scenery looks under a shiny blue and white sky. This was my starting point and as walked along the paths, I saw unusual plants and grasses that grew wild all over. As I had never been here I was walking blindly as there were no clear signs or route markings. But discovering new places is a great feeling right?

and above is proof of that natural beauty. I was stopping intermittently to take in the sites and take photos, instead of walking the [aths for my step challenge. Who wouldn’t? I was awestruck by the beauty so I couldn’t help it. I have had a really great evening walk. My step count photo shows that I achieved my goal for today.

Also very happy to report that my total so far toward the million steps challenge is 43,063. Still on target and looking forward to discovering more of this beautiful country. Keep following for more of the same.

Walking Back to Fitness..Part 1

My journey to walk back to fitness started in September 2021. I am on a mission to get my life back, enjoy every moment along the way and never give up. When a person becomes so ill, he or she may give up thinking they can’t carry on anymore. I probably felt the same in the beginning but I’m not for quitting. I always make an attempt at completing any task I take on and walking back to fitness to regain my life after getting Covid 19 was number one on my list.

Here I will tell you about my challenges and walks since September 2021 and then I will write about the first major challenge I took on in March 2022. I will share some pictures of some of the wonderful trails and walks that I have already completed. And then in part 2, I will write about my new challenge for Diabetes.co.uk where I will attempt to reach a goal of half a million steps between 1st July 2022 and 30 September 2022. The challenge is for a million steps, but I have chosen a realistic half a million steps. Anything I achieve over my target will be a bonus.

My first walk to get fit took place inside my house! Yes, I was able to walk from the lounge through in dining room and back via the kitchen into the lounge. I went round in circles walking as fast as possible and started with a five-thousand steps goal. It was difficult but I managed it and slowly moved into the garden where I did the same thing, creating a trail of circles on the lawn! This had to change so I started visiting the local Pippins Park where there was already a track laid out for walking or running. There is an outside gym which I also started to use. It was not long before I was achieving over five thousand steps during my walks. Somedays, when it was cold during the winter months, I found it difficult but not impossible, and I always had the house to fall back on.

My walking challenge took me to various National Trust sites and Runneymead and the Magna Carta park were my favourites. The paths are well laid out and walking beside the River Thames is always a great bonus. I visited Claremont Gardens in Esher and Bookham Common in Maidenhead. The one I enjoyed immensely was Cliveden House. This place has great gardens but the house and Thames Path behind the big house is a beautiful place to visit. There are 45-minute boat trips taking in some spectacular scenery of the tower on top of Cliveden House, which has a golden glow when the sun shines on it. I visited many places of beauty and interest. And during the final week of March 2022, I visited FAro in Portugal where I completed my 31-day challenge. Phew!

I have already mentioned my first challenge for Marie Curie Cance Care. That started on 1st March 2022 with 10k steps a day.

This is in Laleham near Staines where I walked along the Thames path towards Ashford Middlesex, where some of the views are really beautiful as well as the Riverfront properties which have some spectacular views.

The above photos are a sample of some of the places I visited. Walking not only improved my health with a significant weight loss but my mental health improved as I had the time for a lot of self-reflection and it gave me the opportunity to assess my then state of mind and where my life was headed. I would recommend walking to anyone that has the physical ability to do so. Although I started my walks alone with a good Audible book or some music, I found that joining a group called the Windsor and District Ramblers, which are part of the Ramblers.org site, gave me the chance to interact with like-minded people and have discussions along the way on many a varied subject. This made my walks interesting, and enjoyable. They recently celebrated 27 years as a local Ramling group.

Some more photos from Faro in Portugal.

From Tomorrow 1st of July 2022, I am starting my million-step challenge for Diabetes UK. I hope that my followers and new ones will support and encourage me along the way. See you all in the next chapter.

Walking Back to Fitness

Photo by Yogendra Singh on Pexels.com

In September 2021, I decided to get my fitness back. I had contracted Covid 19 in January 2021 and had spent 10 days in hospital in an isolation ward. Let me tell you, it was scary and very unpleasant, especially since I didn’t know that I would go home. My only contact was by video calls and I found that despite spending a short 10 days in the hospital, they were like 10 years to me. It was a lonely ward. No one was able to talk to each other due to distancing rules. There were 4 separate side rooms and 3 beds. The side room patients were in a bad way and during my stay, 3 patients died.

So, upon my discharge, I was isolating for more than three months as my breathlessness was quite bad, but I was recovering slowly. I needed to get fit and be able to walk upstairs without getting breathless. By September 2021, the first jab had been administered and I was waiting for my second one. I started going out and began taking short walks. First a thousand, then two and so on until I knew that I could walk for at least an hour without stopping. And I began setting myself challenges where I would walk until I had to stop.

By January 2022, my fitness was back to the old days, but I also needed to lose weight. In my previous blog “New Beginnings” I mentioned my goals, which I am still in pursuit of. I started to follow strict eating habits and took control of my diabetes status, which wasn’t that good. Fast forward to March 2022 and I took on a challenge for Marie Curie Cancer care to walk ten thousand steps a day for the whole of March for 31 days, and I am very happy to report that I did this comfortably by achieving more than the 310k target. In the coming days, I will publish more stories on how and where I achieved the 10k-a-day step challenge. I hope that my loyal followers and some more new ones will stay with me and encourage me to achieve my next challenge, starting in 01July2022. More on that later.

This is my link to the million-step challenge that I will be taking on from 1st July 2022.
step.diabetes.org.uk/fundraising/anil757

Any donation however small will be appreciated greatly. Please follow my progress on the JustGiving page. Please share the link with your followers so that we can raise money and awareness for Diabetes. Thanking you all in advance…Anil

New Beginnings-Week 1

Today, January 3rd, 2022, I have started what I said I would do, and that is to lose weight and reverse my diabetes. My current weight of 91.2 kg will be brought down to 80kg in eight weeks following Dr. Mosley’s advice in his book “The 8 week Blood sugar diet”. The book sounds very logical in its approach to weight loss and sugar control, as explained in detail by Dr.Mosley.

I am almost a vegan, not fully converted yet so I am having to amend or change some of the recipes provided at the end of the book to suit my lifestyle. But I will keep to the minimum of 800 calories and allow up to 1200 calories on bad days. Coupled with exercise and good eating habits, my target should be reached.

I’ve been a diabetic since 1992 and determined to get off the tablets completely and the two daily injections which work in combination with the medication. I managed to get in more than my 5000 steps daily target by doing an average so far of 6900 with a maximum of 9000. Light to moderate exercise daily for fitness and the all-powerful positive attitude. Nothing ventured nothing gained, right.

This is the day one log. Starting weight 91kg, Blood sugar level at 8.9mmol, and blood pressure at 115/77 with a pulse rate of 79. So a good start to the day, and have almost reached the daily calorie count of 800.

I didn’t cook today as I ate out at a family member’s house. But tomorrow will be different.

A very good start to my sugar check this morning. It was at 6.1. That made me happy. I was on track.

I was up quite early so I decided to do half of my daily walk in the morning for 15 minutes and 3000 steps. Nearly there, but just under by a few 100 steps. Not to worry because I had all day to catch up.

By lunchtime, I had run a couple of errands and then had a Greggs vegetable bake and cinnamon tea followed by a satsuma. I was warned by someone not to drop down to an 800 calorie diet as it would prove to be dangerous due to my diabetic condition, so I have allowed myself to go up to 1200 calories.

I managed to finish all my steps by 7.30pm and had walked for a total of 45 minutes. And also burned about 300 calories in the process, but I broke my target and achieved 7144 steps. Hooray for me. Self-appreciation for self-encouragement. And what interesting food did I have for dinner?

I made myself a Tofo salad. I marinated the tofu in soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and achar(pickle) masala, drizzled it with some olive oil, and air-fried them. Yum. I had the tofu with a portion of little gem lettuce, 1 tomato, cucumber, grated carrot, green pepper, and edamame beans, topped with vinaigrette. Yum again.

Now, I have to be creative tomorrow…….So instead of writing daily, I think weekly will be more digestible(no pun intended). From day three, I had to be more careful as I was constantly thinking of food and what I could eat that would not pile on the calories. I have started to munch on cucumbers, carrots, sugar snap peas to avoid the carbs and maintain my sugar levels. I was advised to increase the daily intake of calories from 800 to about 1500. That is why the weight loss has slowed. I managed to lose 1 kg, but it’s a start. The exercise is going well with the achievement of more than 5000 steps a day. I have been averaging 7000 steps and also 15 minutes on the static bike.

All in all, I’m pleased with my first week’s progress, although I didn’t lose the expected 2 or 3 kg. But positively thinking, making the start, and maintaining the momentum in the first week has boosted my confidence. I know I can do it too. Week two to follow….

New Beginnings

After opening up about my emotions in my last article, “My Emotional State-Revisited”, Today, the first day of 2022 is my chance to start anew. Start by moving forwards with a renewed vigour. I aim to put the past few years in the back of my memory bank, hopefully, to remain as memory, that I am taking as my lessons in life to go forwards.

So what are my plans for 2022.

1/ Get my life back on track. Start Dr. Moseleys 8 week plan to reverse my diabetes. I had started in November 2021, but couldn’t keep a regular pattern. But now I have set the plan, and after tweaking Dr. Moseley’s diet plan to suit my vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, I will succeed. Watch this space for the 8-week journal of my weekly record of changes to my weight, blood sugar levels, and fitness. Also. I will be sharing the recipes that I will be creating for my personal needs.

2/ My website shoutyourheadoff.com will get more posts on a regular basis on my movement forwards and on positive tones. I need to get back my self confidence and my inner strength to cope in any given situation. Once again, watch this space.

3/ A new domain by the name “harshaskitchen.uk” will be launched where I will be posting videos and recipes from my grandmother’s days. so once again, watch this space or rather look out for “harshaskitchen.uk.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the readers and followers of my blogs on “shoutyourheadoff.com” I want to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year and a quick return to normality by ridding the country of the Coronovirus. Stay Safe, And look after each other.

Explore and Discover day at British Airways Engineering

A great day out at the Explore and Discover day at the Engineering base at Heathrow. Amazing presentations and shows lined up for all tastes. I particularly enjoyed the simulator experience that my son and grand daughter went on. Also managed to get Harsha on it as well. The sun was out, atmosphere fantastic and very enjoyable. Saw a Michael Jackson tribute act…I’m sure after seeing this ,he’s in hiding somewhere!!!

Cancer Changed My Life. Pt 2

As I entered the house, my first thought was to protect Mum from my fears. Her own fragile state of mind needed careful handling. I went into the lounge and sat down. We had some normal chit chat and then I got up to make some tea and sandwiches. As I entered the lounge with a tray in my hands, I saw immediately that Mum was having an epileptic fit and was frothing at the mouth. She was semi conscious.Once again,I felt that lonely dread,but quickly gathered my emotions and rang for an ambulance.It was the 2nd of April 2007. And it was about four in the afternoon. I followed the ambulance back to the hospital that I had had only left a short time back. My mind was  racing here and there. Loneliness engulfed me.In the rush to get to Mum to hospital,I had forgotten to call a family member for help. Mitesh was in North London and Rakhi was at her college. No one could have got to me in time except my sisters or Brother. But I didn’t want to panic anyone into rushing to the Hospital in case Mum got released soon from there.

My problems had taken a back burner. I didn’t know which way this was going to play. I had my pre assessment as well at the very same hospital tomorrow! How am I going to cope with all this and what is happening.Mum got admitted to Ward 9 west at the Hospital and she was on a drip and on oxygen. Her state of health was not good, but I had to leave her there and go home.

Early next morning,3rd April,I attended my pre assessment for my operation to remove one of my tonsils. Everything was arranged and then I went to Ward 9 west for my visit to see how Mum was. She was sat up in bed looking a little worse for wear,but better than yesterday. I sat down next to her and was immediately lost in deep thought.What is tomorrow going to bring? How bad is the cancer ? How long ? Can’t bear the thought. I’m already worried about how my family are going to cope without me. I’m worried deeply about Mum. She doesn’t have the mental capacity to cope. Her memory is not good. She has not been able to look after herself at all without any help. She doesn’t even dress herself like she used to. And then Tish and Rakhi. What will become of them? Try as I must, I can’t dispel these negative frame of my mind. I am numb with fear but having to show bravado that doesn’t exist ! Putting on a brave face is not easy in these circumstances.But try I must.

Late evening, I get ready to go back to an empty house.My thoughts are stuck in one place. Tomorrow, 4th April. Big day. I do my daily prayers and ask for guidance and strength to cope. I have not discussed my problems in detail with anyone as yet apart from Bipin. He knows my troubles up to a point. I haven’t told Tish or Rakhi yet.

I arrive at the hospital and go to Ward 3. I am being prepared for the operation that will determine the type of cancer and at what stage it is. I’m lying on the operating table and the nurses are chatting away nicely at me. I can’t remember when I fell asleep after the anathestic was administered. I can remember being woken up and told to sit up. There is only a slight soreness in my throat. I’m offered a cup of tea and some toast. I’ve got to eat.I’m also a diabetic.! About midday I’m told I can leave. The operation was successful,and results should be available in a few days.The numbness in my head doesn’t go away. The negative thoughts are never ending. All I can see ahead is doom and gloom.

As I enter Ward 9 west, I am once again forced to change my demeanour. Mum musn’t have any clue to my troubles. Her state of health hasn’t improved. She has already been here 3 days.I don’t know how much longer she will have to remain in hospital..She has many battles to overcome. And mine are just beginning !

I’m not about to be defeated though. I’ve already accepted that I have to fight this demon and win the battle ,and come out of it to move forward in our lives. The road is a long haul and so many obstacles to overcome.