Sitting is the new smoking…

Soaking up the sun on 19 July 2018. Hurry up summer 2019!

… So we all need a standing desk or sitting elliptical trainer:

The fact that I only manage a couple of hundred steps on my pedometer most days at work has been a major concern of mine for years.  At the start of my career, I used to often do outdoor clerking, client home visits or visits to prison and detention visits. This meant that I was often out and about and could achieve 10k steps daily without much difficulty.  These days however opponents would shriek if a senior fee earner or partner did the outdoor clerking on a case and would challenge the firm’s bill on the grounds that a less experienced fee earner could have completed the task/s more cost-effectively.  Bearing this in mind, it is not surprising that it is harder and hard to achieve weight loss let alone avoid weight gain.

Sitting at my desk is not the only factor at play.  I also tend to take more car journeys these days – even though I am yet to pass my driving test.  Ridiculous that I still cannot drive – I know! This is a story for another day.  When I worked in Central London and commuted mainly by Tube, I had at least a 20-minute walk to and back from the Tube station plus all the walking about to make any connections.  When I was not walking, I was cycling.  Stopping these activities has clearly had a negative effect on my body’s ability to burn calories and maintain muscle mass.

Back in 2016, I remember posting an article in my Facebook group about standing desks. I actually seriously considered getting one of those.  Apparently, if you stand at your desk all day, you burn more calories and maintain better muscle mass.  I am always on the lookout for ideas to keep active so QVC’s Today’s special value for a gadget called the Cubii Jr really caught my attention.  I have checked online and it would appear that there is another product called the Cubii and that this upgrade can be paired with a Fitbit via WiFi.  QVC is selling this elliptical trainer for about £159.99 with no additional charge for posting and packaging so I have pretty much decided that I am going to buy one and try it for 30 days.  I will let you know how I get on.

2018 got worse and worse but hopefully 2019 will be a much better year

I started 2018 full of optimism and excitement especially after I decided to go on holiday for Easter.  The pre-holiday bubble of anticipation and excitement kept me going until the actual getaway time.  Saipan was amazing as you will know from reading my Saipan series blog posts but then I returned down to earth back in London with a bump.  Spring and summer were both frantic and ended with even harder bumps but by Autumn the year had disintegrated into a white-knuckle ride and by the time November came around I was considering running away to join a circus because it felt like life was in free fall. I managed to get some much needed rest by Christmas but the holiday period was a damp squib and not the lovely trip to Mexico that I had hoped for.  I refused to put up any decorations or send out any personal Christmas cards to friends or family and I did no special shopping which had the added benefit of stopping me from binge eating.  There was no sign of Christmas in my home.  I had considered going for mass but changed my mind and had a lie-in instead. Christmas 2018 was not quite Bah Humbug entirely, but it was really close.

I often cope with problems by compartmentalising them.  This means for example that I might ignore a leaking tap at home to such and extent that I don’t think about it when I get to work.  At work I will then deal with another problem which I completely clear out of my mind on return home to the leaking tap and so on.  This strategy works really well for me most times, until I accumulate so many different compartments that I start to forget why I am feeling what.  I then have to get all compartments out and examine them closely. This process can be painful and Christmas is often not the best time if you live on your own like I do.  On the upside, this exercise gives me a lot of time to reflect and I find that before long things bottom up out and my mood is on the up.  I started the week dreading the working week because I was still in a very reflective mood but the week felt much better at the end than it did at the start.  I think my mood is truly on the way back up. Fingers crossed.

I finally weighed myself and I still weight 161lbs. No suprise Christmas weight loss but no weight gain either. I will take that as a postive.  

Until next time it’s 

#NoToTheYoYo

#YesToAstableWeight

#NoTimeToPauseForMenopause

#YesToAstableHealthyWeight

#Menologues


Julie

Author Julie

Lawyer (co-founding partner/solicitor of a legal aid practice), blogger, feminist, lover of fashion & beauty. I believe that there are two types of people - the living and the dead. Age has nothing to do with it.

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