Unbelievably eight weeks has passed already and today is the last day on our Pete Cohen course. It really seems amazing that is has been eight weeks since I began this journey, but boy what a lot I’ve learned.
Last Monday we had a great session, with everyone very positive and having had a good week. The exercise session was hard but achievable - I wouldn’t expect anything else from Russell now. Now I’ve had a very positive week, did my 30 minutes of walking or an excercise session every day and kept caffeine and alcohol free for every day bar one – I had some wine with my lunch yesterday as I was treated to a lovely lunch at the Griffin in Fletching for Mothers Day. It was lovely drinking the wine but more than ever I realised I love wine for its flavours not its inebriative effects. Just two glasses made me feel totally squiffy and by 9pm I had a dreadful headache. I really didn’t expect there to be such an obvious link between such a little alcohol and a bad head! But I survived and will try to keep clear of alcohol for the rest of Lent.
I know I’ve lost some weight but it will be interesting to see how much – and how many inches. Russell has warned us not to expect too much as all our excercise will have built muscle, which weighs more than fat for the same volume. My muscle tone has improved considerably and I’ve noticed that I ache less after horse riding and can trot and canter for longer periods before I get tired. I’ve also noticed that I seem to have a better lung capacity when I’m singing – I sing in a couple of choirs as I find it very good for de-stressing.
I’m very keen to continue with the whole Pete Cohen plan, as do all the other girls on the course. Some would happily sign up again for the whole 8 week course, which says a lot for how good it is. We’re all planning to continue meeting every Monday up at Freedom Leisure Uckfield and Russell is going to put on an exercise class just for us. We thought we’d chat together for 15 minutes and then have a 45 minute session, varying resistance exercise with some spinning or other forms of exercise that we’ve wanted to try but were all nervous of going into established classes with lots of fit, skinny women to make us feel inadequate!
So tonight we’ll find out what Russell can organise for us AND we’ll all be weighed and measured to see what we’ve actually done to physically change in the 7 weeks we’ve followed Pete’s plan. Psychologically we’ve all come a long way – huge amounts of positivity, more self-confidence and self-belief that we can change our bad habits. As Russell predicted, just the change in what we wear to exercise in reflects a very different feeling – from baggy, shapeless t-shirts, to figure-hugging tops and leggings.
I’ll lot on tomorrow for my final blog to report the full results.
