azziria Member

I share my life with a husband who is tall, lean, and can still wear (comfortably) the tux that was bought him for his 18th birthday (he's now 45), and two children who have inherited their father's long, lean physique and high-burning metabolism. Add to that the fact that one of those children is a girl of 12 (nearly 13)…

First thing: go slow. The biggest mistake I made when I first started running was trying to go too fast. Forget speed (that will increase with distance and time) and just concentrate on going that bit further or bit longer. I'll hold my hands up here and say that I was slow - still am, although now I can run 5 miles…

If you've already been exercising regularly,I'd say carry on but listen very carefully to what your body is telling you. I hiked up mountains until I was 6 months pg, and swam half a mile three times a week (my last half mile was the day the baby was due - he arrived 5 days late but I stopped swimming because I got worried…

48 and finally learning to love myself enough to take care of myself properly. My family are all ultra-lean athletes, and I've spent a lot of time promoting their health and not prioritising my own - I'm trying to find more balance and get myself into shape too :)

Part of being a runner is accepting that there are days when you just can't (or shouldn't!) run! Listen to your body, take the rest it's telling you it needs, and enjoy your next run even more :)

I make a chilli or bolognese sauce with lean mince, eat mine with a big helping of steamed vegetables and serve it to the rest of the family with pasta or rice (my partner and my kids are all tall, lean and very active, so need the calories). That way I balance their needs with mine.

I completely understand where you're coming from here! I grew up in a large portion, clean-your-plate house (raised by people who could remember wartime food rationing), I love food, and I've always struggled with portion sizes. One thing I've realised relatively recently is that I've been eating too fast. Now I'm making a…

I'm 5'6". When I was 17, I weighed 141 lbs (and thought I was fat, how daft is that??), but that would be far too thin for me now. I currently weigh 164 lbs, I'm aiming for 154 lbs, but I know from experience that I look and feel good at anything under 160, especially given I run, swim and cycle quite a lot so always carry…

Last Wednesday I ran 5k after work, and it hurt. Every step was tough, it took sheer bl**dy-minded willpower to finish, I hated every minute, but I did it. Fast forward to Sunday, 6a.m. and raining. Dragged myself out of bed and onto the roads to make myself run 5k again. And guess what? Ran 8.1k straight (5 miles), could…

Holding down a full time job, finishing up an Open University degree (finally reached my last course!) and raising two teenagers.

Another cyclist here :) Where I live (Cambridge, UK) it's very flat, so lots of people cycle. I cycled a lot before I had my children, then after having my daughter 12 years ago I signed up for a London to Paris charity ride as an incentive to lose weight and get fit again (working on the principle that if I told everyone…

If you really can't stay away from the scales, how about you accept that, stand on them every day if you must, but stop stressing about it. Make yourself a chart and stick it somewhere you can see it when you weigh yourself (or shortly afterwards) and plot your weight on it ONCE A WEEK, same day each week. That way, even…

Both my partner and my 14 y.o. son read almost as voraciously as I do.

When I talk about my husband I refer to him as my 'partner', because that's what we are - equal partners.

I will replace one item of lost school uniform a year. After that, the cost of replacing it comes out of the culprit's allowance. And when they broke my lamp (after being told twice in quick succession to stay away from it) I made them not only pay for the replacement but also the mileage for me to drive to Ikea and back…

Well done Zara! I ran a Race For Life today, too - such a great atmosphere, and everyone is so supportive :)

Does your mom view your eating out together as time spent together? I know that now my kids are teens it's harder to find things to do together where we really connect and get a chance to share talking time. If that's the case, then maybe you should offer to cook for her, make one meal a week at home something special you…

I have 'my' wine glass where I've measured out how many mls it holds, and I count the wine as part of my daily calorie allowance. Either I drop a potato or bread in favour of a glass of wine (for example, tonight we're having salmon, new potatoes and veggies for dinner, so I'll drop the potatoes and have a glass of chilled…

I log exercise that I go out specifically to do, like running/swimming/cycling. I only log walking if I go out for a walk and walk fairly briskly, not just nipping to the local shops or walking around the office. And when I log the running/cycling/walking I always log them at the slowest rate to make sure that I don't…

You could of course be one of those people who carries a lot of fat around their internal organs, in which case if your weight loss is from losing that particular fat then you've done your health a lot of good by dropping those pounds, even if they don't show externally.

In those latest pictures you look like who you are meant to be, if you get what I mean. Well done!

Hawaii.

I have the extended version of all three movies... Aragorn has been one of my crushes since I first read the book at about 12 or so, and Viggo brought him to life on the screen *perfectly* (love me some scruffy hot ranger!). If Aragorn hadn't been right I'd have had to walk out of the cinema and not watch - so glad that…

Wait 15 minutes. If after the 15 minutes is up you still crave it, eat one reasonable-sized (i.e. not huge) piece. Take the time to savour and appreciate every mouthful, and then log it, move on without guilt and don't beat yourself up about it, because you obviously (for whatever reason) needed it. I often find that,…

I like these :) You're right about the pizza and candy, often having a small piece stops you from obsessing about it and eventually caving in and eating loads. Another thing that sometimes works for me when I crave something is to wait 15 minutes or so... if after that time I still want it, then I have it, enjoy it and…

Go her! And good for you setting a healthy role model :) My daughter started running the 5k Race For Life with me when she was 4 (and yes, she ran most of it - she got so many cheers because she was tiny that it really pushed her on) and we've run it 'together' ever since (this year will be her 9th Race For Life).…

One of my favourite colleagues brought in birthday cake today that he'd baked himself. It looked delicious and he'd gone to a lot of trouble to make something that we'd like. So I ate a piece - just one piece, and not too big a piece - and savoured every mouthful, and it was wonderful. Life needs balance, and this sort of…

I'm happily married to a guy 4 years younger than me, but if I were to start dating again, it would depend on the guy - attitude/character and physical condition (I like 'em tall, lean and active) are far more important to me than age.

I *love* running in the rain, jumping puddles and feeling like a kid again :) I also like the way that people driving past in their cars so clearly think I'm mental for running in the rain, when in fact I'm having the best time!

Falling pregnant with my son (too much champagne, not enough precautions, old enough to know better... 'nuff said!). He's fourteen now, utterly gorgeous and shaping up into a very fine young man, and having him in my life has enriched it more than I can possibly say (well, him and his younger sister, who was planned with…